In The Line of Jesus Christ

Matthew 1. 1-17

I had a professor in Bible College who used to say, "You may not want to look back on your genealogical line. You may find things there that would be better left uncovered."

Matthew begins his gospel with this long list of names because he is writing primarily to the Jews of the First Century and in keeping with the prophecy of the Old Testament they expected their Messiah to be born of a certain family. 

We are given details in the ancestral line of Jesus that tells us about people who were far from being perfect, in fact many of whom committed huge sins.

Unusual to find women listed in a Jewish genealogy. The mention of one  of the ones we are looking at this morning had committed adultery. One was not a Jew and one was a prostitute.

Jesus and the woman caught in the act of adultery.

So the Lord has put into the genealogy of the line of Joseph these four women, in order to display the grace of God, in order that any of us, through our failures, can still identify with God's plan of grace and love for men. None of us are excluded. God has already included in His program people who had made a mess out of their lives, people who had had great personal failures in their lives, people who had immoral stains in their lives and still God used them in His total plan. And thus, it encourages us who also have stains, who also have failures, that God can still use us in His plan.   It's exciting to see the inclusion that God makes in this line coming to Christ.

Not only outwardly righteous Jews are here but sinners and those of other nations as well!

Let's look closer at who some of these people in Jesus' line were:

1. Joseph and His Brothers v.2

Judah

Genesis 37:26-27 Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed. The sin of greed and treachery.

Genesis 38:15-16 When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he went over to her by the roadside and said, “Come now, let me sleep with you."

Sin of adultery.

The temptation of here...

Genesis 39:6-9 So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?"

Genesis 50:15-20 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong which we did to him!” So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father charged before he died, saying, ‘Thus you shall say to Joseph, “Please forgive, I beg you, the transgression of your brothers and their sin, for they did you wrong.”’ And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him. Then his brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.” But Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in God’s place? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive. 

Yet, it was through Judah, not Joseph that Jesus was born. Yet Joseph typifies Christ Jesus. He forgives his brothers for their sins against him, fully and completely. He comforts their hearts that their sins will not be held against them but rather that he will care for them and protect them and their families.

Genesis 50:21 So therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.” So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. 

2.  David and Bathsheba v.6

In the line of the Messiah! 

David committed adultery with Bathsheba.

She became pregnant as a result.

He covered this sin by having Uriah, the Hitite, her husband killed and took her into the palace, covering his sin and coming off looking like a hero!

Psalm 51 is his repentance.

Solomon was born later to Bathsheba and David.

Temple built.

Golden Age for Israel.

Jerusalem elevated in the eyes of the world like never before or since then and not until Jesus comes again1

3. Manasseh

2 Kings 21:10-12 The Lord said through his servants the prophets: “Manasseh king of Judah has committed these detestable sins. He has done more evil than the Amorites who preceded him and has led Judah into sin with his idols. Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. 

A wicked king of whom nothing good was said or could be said is in the line of the Messiah! 

God's grace and power over sin in our family lines! 

Yours, mine.

God used all kinds of people with stained backgrounds, family disasters, people full of sin of greed and lust to b a part of the Messiah's Ancestry line.

God ruled and overruled in this ancestry line. His grace are greater than our sins! His purposes will be fulfilled. We should not go on sinning so that grace may abound. God forbid! But our sin doesn't destroy God's purposes. He Keeps On Working!

1. We Have All Sinned. Romans 3.23

The facets of sin are many. A person may be positive and seemingly patient but not a believer.

Sin separates us from God, puts us at enmity with Him. Have you heard a person protest when you try and witness? They tell you that they have been

a good citizen, that you don't need to go to church to be a Christian, that they never killed anyone...

2. We all need a Savior.

1 Timothy 1:15 It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. 

We were helpless. 

Our goodness was not enough.

Jesus took upon Himself flesh. 

John 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. 

He was the sacrifice for our sins.

Hebrews 9:26b now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. 

3. Jesus takes away the sin of the world.

John 1:29 The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 

4. Christmas is about the Savior, the Son of God, the Suffering Servant coming to earth to save men from their sins.

5. Christmas is about God Keeping His Promises.

Many prophesies concerning Jesus Christ in the Old Testament.

He kept His promises to Abraham and David that night in Bethlehem!

He is faithful to all His Promises.

O Holy Child of Bethlehem,

Descend on us we pray

Cast out our sin and enter in

Be born in us today

This is why Jesus came. This is the fulfillment of the promises made to Abraham and David. God’s Son Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners and build a holy nation and kingdom of priests through His spiritual offspring, the family of God.

Personal Testimony...

My sister-in-law conversation on Thanksgiving. 

This week completes 30 years as pastor here.

She and my brother were married by me in Oct 1984 this summer I will officiate at the marriage of their second son. I left their wedding in a made the 

over 750 mile trip from New Brunswick Canada to Bay Shore to interview with the church. I was 28 years old. I had three girls ages 7, 5 and 3.  We were 4 of 28 family members (1 adopted) that gathered to give thanks this year.

They all married guys from Bay Shore. They have given me 8 grandkids.

We talk about the negative consequences of decisions more than the consequences of right and godly and good decisions. I had no idea what that decision to come here would mean but 30 years later this past week we saw some of the fruit in our family of it. We went around the table as we ate and gave thanks. Two people were touched by the LORD through the prayers of this church and healed. They know it. Tears of joy flowed. Praises went up to God.

My Journal Entry This Morning

November 30, 2014

First Sunday in Advent

Habakkuk 1:5 “Look at the nations and watch—and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your daysthat you would not believe, even if you were told. 

Rudy and I talked yesterday about our Thanksgiving Feasts and how International they were. He had Russian girls and a Korean young  man at his house while I had Margret from Germany, Ali from Pakistan and Nora from Venezuela. Alyssa, Mike's fiancé, had just landed a few days before from a Medical Mission to Haiti.

Huge things happened. Between the two of us we had people born in Europe, Asia,  and South America. We also had large gatherings, the most either of us has ever had at one Thanksgiving. If you put the two gatherings together it would be the size of a small church! Joy abounded. 

I believe it is a foretaste of what is to come! Here we go, LORD!

To the world Jesus came into, His own did not receive Him. The nativity scenes around the church speak of that fact. Yet as the words by Dr James Allan Francis goes,

Today we look back across 20 centuries and ask, What kind of trail has He left across the centuries? When we try to sum up His influence, all the armies that ever marched, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned are absolutely minuscule in their influence on mankind compared with that of this One Solitary Life…

I know the effect He has had on my family. You know what He has done in yours. We know what He wants everyone to come to repentance. 

God  is on the move today. Things are happening in ways we never dreamed of. We are in the spiritual line of Jesus Christ! The best is still ahead!