I invite you to turn with me this morning to Matthew 1. Matthew 1, as we read together and consider this morning the first 17 verses of Matthew 1. Beloved, hear now the Word of God. A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Aminadab, Aminadab the father of Nashon, Nashon the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab. Boaz, the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth. Obed, the father of Jesse, and Jesse, the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah's wife. Solomon, the father of Rehoboam. Rehoboam, the father of Abijah. Abijah, the father of Asa. Asa, the father of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat, the father of Jehoram. Jehoram, the father of Uzziah. Uzziah, the father of Jotham. Jotham, the father of Ahaz. Ahaz, the father of Hezekiah. Hezekiah, the father of Manasseh. Manasseh, the father of Ammon. Ammon, the father of Josiah. And Josiah, the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon. After the exile to Babylon, Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel. Shealtiel, the father of Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel, the father of Abayud. Abayud, the father of Eliakim. Eliakim, the father of Azor. Azor, the father of Zadok. Zadok, the father of Akeem. Akeem, the father of Eliud. Eliud, the father of Eleazar. Eleazar, the father of Matthan. Matthan, the father of Jacob. And Jacob, the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. Thus, there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ. Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, once again, in this season of the year, peace on earth and goodwill toward men will be heralded by many who don't even know what that means. Many will celebrate what is called Christmas, but very few will celebrate Christ's birth. Many will indeed tell you, Sure, Christmas has something to do with a baby who was born and laid in a manger in Bethlehem, but very few really know what the birth of the Savior is really all about. Yet that's exactly what it's all about, right? He is the Savior. Which means that saving was needed. And beloved, while many see Christmas as a time to reward those who have been good all year, you don't want to be naughty, you want to be nice. By the grace of God, we know that Christ's birth points to the mercy and grace of God. Not giving what we deserve, but instead giving what we don't deserve. Christ's birth, you see, is not about our goodness or anything of that nature. But Christ's birth is about His humiliation because of our sin for the purpose of our salvation from sin. And it's important for us to focus on the humiliation of Christ because only when we understand the reason for His humiliation and only when we understand the need for His coming and only when we understand the eternal benefit for believers that belongs to the believer through Jesus Christ, only then can we truly celebrate the birthday of our King. And only then will the words of the angel to the shepherds, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy, Only then will that mean the world to us. And therefore this morning, in somewhat of an uncharacteristic fashion, we want to consider the Word of God as Matthew records the genealogy of Christ. You might think I chose this passage because we have a baptism and we have a family line here this morning. That's not true. I'm sorry, but it's not true. You might also think this is a strange portion of Scripture to preach on. What in the world can the minister say about a passage like this? I used to think the same thing. And I'm sure this passage of Scripture is not particularly a favorite of anyone here. If I were to ask you, what is your favorite passage? Or what is one of the passages that means the most of you? I don't think any one of you would say, Matthew 1, you know, the genealogy. Let's go there. Or Luke, you know, where the genealogy is there. Or Numbers, the genealogy is back there. In fact, most of us, if we read it, we might be tempted to read the first couple of verses and then when the names get difficult and unfamiliar and hard to understand, we might skim 10 or 12 verses. You know, yeah, yeah, so-and-so, and yeah, him and her, and yeah, so forth and so. Oh, yeah, Joseph! Joseph, husband of Mary. Now we're back in line again. Now we're back on track. We know that. We wonder, why is this passage of Scripture in the Bible? What is it that God wants us to learn? What does He have to teach us from this passage? And actually, Matthew tells us why it's here already in the very first verse. A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. See, Matthew was writing primarily for the Jews, and genealogies were significant for the Jewish people, especially with regard to inheritance. And if you remember the law of Moses concerning inheritance, how the land was to be passed on, It wasn't to be sold in Naboth's vineyard. Remember that? He wasn't going to sell it. It's got to stay in my family. And if land was sold because of poverty, on the year of Jubilee, it was to be given back. Inheritance was important. In the same way, genealogies were significant. Abraham was their father. And they knew from Scripture that the Messiah was to come from the line of David and that David's son would forever sit on the throne. The Jews knew prophecy. They knew it well. And Matthew in the very first verse of his Gospel says, This is the One. He is the fulfillment of prophecy. This Jesus Christ is the divinely anointed Savior, the fulfillment of prophecy, the rightful heir to the throne of David, and the true seed of Abraham. And then to support that, Matthew traces the line from Abraham to Jesus. Many of you will remember in adult Sunday school as our leaders began to teach us from Matthew a year ago already, Dr. Godfrey clearly pointed out that the three sections of 14 doesn't point to a literal, that it includes every single generation in the genealogy there. Some were indeed skipped. But he gives us a representation. And through this genealogy, you see, God not only reveals that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of prophecy with regard to His family line, But His family line reveals the urgent need for His coming. In fact, you remember the words of the angel to Joseph in verse 21. She will give birth to a son and you are to give him the name Jesus because He will save His people from their sins. And therefore, this genealogy is not only Christ's human family line, but it is a representation of all of God's people. This genealogy reveals the sin and misery in the world and even in His human family. And ultimately, this genealogy reveals Christ's humiliation even before He came. I preached to you this morning the prelude of the Savior's humiliation visibly seen in His family line. Boys and girls, a prelude is something that comes before our organist. Willie played a prelude before the service. It comes before the service. Here we have a prelude. A prelude of humiliation, pointing to the Savior's humiliation. And of course, there's so much more here that could be said, believe it or not, than what first meets the eye. We don't have time to say absolutely everything that could be said. In the same way, I cannot simply approach this passage as I normally approach a text. But instead, we will, as best as we are able, we will look at these 17 verses, the whole passage, and consider it in two ways. First of all, we consider the sin and judgment in his family line. And then we want to consider the mercy and grace of God demonstrated on his family line. Now, as we read through this list of names, indeed, some of them are not familiar to us at all. We've never heard of these names before, and they're listed nowhere else in Scripture. While on the other hand, some of these names are very familiar to us, as they recall, they bring back to our minds specific Old Testament historical events. Yet as we look back over the family line of Jesus, even though that line includes heroes of faith like Abraham and David, this family line is nothing to brag about. No doubt our great-grandfather here this morning hopes that his great-grandson can brag about their family line as well as the grandparents and the parents one day. We desire that for all of our children. They might be able to say something good about their heritage. But there's nothing to brag about in this family line as Matthew records it. It would be like some of us finding out that our family history was filled with idol worship and deceit and prostitution and adultery and murder and so much more. And we might expect that of all families, Christ's human family line would be like a hall of fame. But it's more accurately, like a hall of shame. And this genealogy reveals over and over again the reason why Jesus Christ had to come to this earth humbled as a man to suffer the wrath and punishment of God against sin in order to redeem his people. And it reveals the world's situation, really, throughout history. Now again, we can't examine every individual because, for one thing, we don't know much about them all, but yet with many of them, historical events are recalled that remind us of the sin and judgment in the Savior's family line. Beginning with Abraham, believe it or not. with Abraham. And just to point out a few details of some of these individuals, the sin of Abraham, first of all, he was born into an idol-worshipping family. His father was an idol-worshipper from Ur of the Chaldeans. And then we think of the battle between Sarah and Hagar. Abraham and Sarah thought they needed to give God a little bit of help in fulfilling His promise, so Sarah says, take my maid, Hagar. Maybe I can have a son through her. And the judgment then includes that there's a battle between the sons, between Ishmael and Isaac. And that battle continues today as the Arabs are sons of Ishmael and the Jews are sons of Isaac. Then there's Jacob. When we think of his sin, even the boys and girls here understand that they know the sin of Jacob. He was a deceiver, right? He was deceptive. He liked to trick people. He stole Esau's birthright by bribing him with a bowl of stew. And he stole Esau's firstborn blessing by pretending to be Esau and deceiving his father Isaac. The judgment includes that the Edomites were descendants of Esau, but enemies of Israel. And when Christ was born, Herod the Great, who was an Edomite, a descendant of Esau, was reigning in Israel and he tried to kill the baby Jesus. And later on we think of Christ and another Herod at Christ's trial. And we think of the confrontation there between the son of Esau and the son of Jacob. And we move on to Judah and his daughter-in-law Tamar. The sin. Judah marries a Canaanite woman. They are given three sons and they choose a wife named Tamar for their firstborn son. Their son dies. And according to the laws of the Leverite marriage, the second son is given to her or her to the second son. He dies also. And then the third son is kept from her. Later on, Judah goes into one whom he thinks is a prostitute, who really was a Tamar, his daughter-in-law, dressed as a prostitute to trick him. And he lays with her. She becomes pregnant. We know according to verse 3, she gives birth to Perez and Zerah. Perez being in the line of Christ. Then there's Rahab. Rahab was a Canaanite. from Jericho. She made her living by being a prostitute. And then there's Ruth. She was a Moabite. And if you read Deuteronomy 23, you are reminded there, we are reminded that the Ammonites and the Moabites were to have no place. The Israelites were to not have anything to do with the Ammonites and the Moabites. And there the historical situation is recalled of King Balak calling Balaam to come and curse the Israelites. And of course, Jehovah would not allow that to happen. but Ruth was a Moabite and as well the Moabites and Ruth therefore she was a product of a relationship of incest by Lot and his daughter both his daughters and Moab was the son of the oldest daughter by Lot and then there's David certainly this is a high point isn't it in history he was called in scripture a man after God's own heart he was a war hero and he was loved Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands. There's got to be a high point in this genealogy, right? Wrong. And even the genealogy points this out. In verse 6 we read, David was the father of Solomon whose mother had been, it doesn't say Bathsheba, it says Uriah's wife. The sin being reminded there that he commits adultery with Bathsheba when he finds out that she is expecting his child he murders Uriah by having him placed on the front lines and then he tries to cover the whole thing up. Nathan the prophet comes to David and tells him a parable about the rich man who had a visitor come to him and instead of taking one of his own livestock to prepare and place before his visitor, he takes the single solitary sheep of a poor man. The sheep was like a child to that poor man. And David in his anger says he's to be put to death. And Nathan says, you are the man. The judgment there with regard to the sin with Bathsheba, the Lord says that the sword will not depart from the house of David. Adversity would be against him from his own house. And we see that too. Beginning with the death of that infant son. And then Amnon, David's son, rapes Tamar, another Tamar, David's daughter, by another wife. Absalom kills Amnon. And Absalom then rebels against his father later on. Then there's Solomon. Solomon's sin. 700 wives, 300 concubines, which was clearly against the command of Deuteronomy 17, where it says the king is to not have many wives, lest his heart turn away from the Lord and into sin. The judgment is that that's exactly what happens. He turns away from the Lord and God raises up adversaries against him, namely Jeroboam. And then there's Rehoboam, Solomon's son. His sin was that he wouldn't listen to the wise counselors, the wise old counselors of his father to be nice to the people and they will serve you forever. Instead, he listens to his foolish young friends that he grew up with and he became more oppressive and lashed out with more oppressive measures than his father. The judgment is that the kingdom is split and ten tribes are stripped away from Rehoboam to form a new kingdom. The kingdom of Israel versus the tiny kingdom of Judah left to David's family. And with many of the rest of the names listed here who reigned as kings, not all of them reigned as kings, but with those who did, we read the same sad commentary again and again in the history in the kings and in the chronicles. We read he did more wicked than those before him and did not follow in the way of David. And we see this especially with Manasseh, who reigned 55 years and his sin, it says, he was more wicked than the Amorites and the Canaanites that God had driven from the land. In 2 Kings 21, we read that he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood. And in verse 6 of that chapter, also he made his son pass through the fire, practiced soothsaying, used witchcraft, and consulted spiritists and mediums. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger. Judgment? God says he will not relent. He will not back off of destroying the kingdom because of Manasseh's wickedness. And it would be so bad, the Lord says, that whoever hears of it, Both of his ears will tingle. The judgment also included the announcement of captivity for Judah, which of course happened later on. There's Jeconiah. We're probably not overly familiar with him, but he was the son of a righteous king of Josiah. His sin was that he failed to follow the righteous reforms of his father that his father had started, and under his rule then the kingdom ends in Judah. Jeconiah marked the end. The judgment was that even he himself was taken into captivity and put into prison. And we don't know much, if anything, about the rest of those listed here, especially during the time of the exile or after the exile. We don't know much about them until Joseph, husband of Mary, and we really don't know a lot about her either. But we do know that during and after the Babylonian captivity, no longer were there any kings who physically ruled for Jehovah over his people. God's people became vassals, servants, subjects of foreign powers. The kingdom was in dust and ashes. And we see there is sin and judgment in every stage of this genealogy. There's nothing to boast about. Nothing. No room for pride. And now it's true, of course, that we've only listed the bad things. And there are many godly qualities, especially as we think again of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David. And there are those of whom no sin is listed in Scripture whatsoever. But the truth is that even the best in the list stood in need of redemption by the blood of the promised Redeemer. But this line ends, beloved, with the rightful heir to the throne of David being born and laid in a manger because there was no room for him in the inn. And he lived in Nazareth, no doubt, learning to be a carpenter. Beloved Jesus Christ marks the end of the genealogy in Matthew's list, yet in reality, he marks the beginning of eternity for his spiritual family. Again, Matthew in verse 17 divides this genealogy into three groups of 14. And as Dr. Godfrey had reminded us in Sunday school, it is not all inclusive. Not every single generation is included. But he divides it up to highlight three key moments in Israel's history which are stated in verse 17. In the first group, the origin of David's house is confirmed. It begins with Abraham, the founder, the father, the one with whom God made His covenant. In the second group, we literally see the rise and then the fall of David's house. The rise to power of the kings and then the fall as well. And in the third group, after the exile, before the time of Christ, David's house, as one commentator says, is eclipsed. We know what an eclipse is. A lunar eclipse is when the earth is between the sun and the moon and it hides the moon. Or a solar eclipse is when the moon blocks the sun from the earth, but in either case, something is hidden. It's removed from sight and that's exactly what happened with David's house. It was removed from sight. Yet an eclipse isn't necessarily total, is it? Boys and girls, when a tree is cut down, the roots deep underneath the ground remain. We consider that last week's Sunday evening. Isaiah speaks of the Messiah, the son of David. And when he says in chapter 11, verse 1, a shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse, from his roots a branch will bear fruit. This prelude of the Savior's humiliation is marked by the sin and judgment in his family. Yet this genealogy of Christ is also a story of God's mercy and grace demonstrated on his family line. First of all, the mercy of God is seen in that He didn't completely wipe out His covenant people. In His grace, He always preserved a remnant of those who were faithful to Him. In fact, we can once again go through this same list which reveals the sin and judgment and we can recall God's grace poured out upon them as recorded in God's Word. Again, beginning with Abraham. He received God's grace when God chose him out of all the people of the earth to covenant with him and brought him to the promised land and gave him the promises of his grace. Abraham would be given the land and God would make of him a great nation. And the whole world would be blessed through him. And God's grace is seen in the miracle of Isaac's birth to a mother who was well past childbearing years and a father, as Scripture says, who was as good as dead. And then Jacob and his son Judah received God's grace when God brought them down to Egypt. Notice I didn't say when He brought them out. But when He brought them down to Egypt where they could grow into a great nation without the fear of being absorbed by the people around them. Remember, before they went, they were about 70 strong. You see, the promised seed was about to be lost in Canaan. Judah is a picture of that. Marrying a Canaanite woman. But Egypt, you see, was like an incubator which isolated and protected Israel so that she could grow. Then Ruth and Rahab both received God's grace in that they were foreigners, Gentiles, considered unclean. But they are grafted into the covenant community. Both are in the line leading to Christ. And through them, God demonstrated that He intended to save the world. Not in the sense of every person, but those who would be saved by grace through faith would be drawn from every tribe, every tongue, and every nation. And then David. In spite of his sin with Bathsheba, he deserved death. He is not put to death. He is not killed, but lives to see his son on the throne after him. And the covenant with him continues. Jesus is called the son of David. And David's throne continues eternally through Jesus Christ. And then add to Rahab and Ruth, Tamar, Judah's daughter-in-law, and Uriah's wife, Bathsheba. And what's interesting here is that normally women were not included in the listing of the genealogy, but these women, who are all in the line leading to the Messiah, are a picture of the impurities and the foreign blood in the royal line. And along with all of the other names, many, as we have pointed out, whose sins are clearly revealed in Scripture, again like Judah and like David, These women are a picture of the sovereign electing grace of God. You see, none of these people deserve to be included in the Messiah's family line. But they were chosen by the grace of God. And it is through this family line that God fulfills His promise to send to the Savior, Jesus Christ. And then we have to mention Manasseh, that wicked king of all those years. And here we see a beautiful picture of God's grace. Again, the Bible records in 2 Kings 21 that He filled Jerusalem with innocent blood and therefore God sent Him into captivity by the Assyrians and put Him into prison. Sometime read 2 Chronicles 33 verses 12 and 13 where it clearly says that it was there that He repented, believe it or not, of His sin. God in His grace reached down to this one who was worse than God's enemies, the Amorites and the Canaanites. He repents of his sin. God hears his prayer and restored him to his throne in Jerusalem, thus beginning a revival that was continued by his grandson Josiah. It says at the end of verse 13 in 2 Chronicles 33, Then Manasseh knew that the Lord is God. You see, beloved, God did not let the line of His people die out. Throughout history, Satan continued to strike again and again and again at the heel of the seed of the woman. But he could not render her extinct. He could not put that line to death. And all along this line, the Lord promises to Abraham and David, God's promises were still alive by God's grace. And even though His people forsook Him, He did not forsake them. And these covenant promises found their fulfillment in Jesus Christ. He is the culmination of God's grace, not only to this genealogy recorded here, but to all of His people who have lived, who do live today, and who will live until He comes again. Those who are guilty of the same sin and deserving of the same judgment that is reflected in this genealogy, including you and me. During this time of year, as we celebrate in a special way the birth of the Christ child, the incarnation of God. We must remember that this baby that was born in Bethlehem, this rightful heir to the throne who had no throne, this son of a king who was born and laid in a manger and not a palace, we must remember that He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He is to be worshipped and adored. And thus, just as those listed in this genealogy did not deserve to be a part of His earthly family, We don't deserve to be a part of His heavenly spiritual family. We too, beloved. Each one of us is the reason that He had to come. But because He paid the penalty for sin and removed God's wrath, by the grace of God, those who believe in Him have been adopted as sons and daughters of the Heavenly Father. And because of His shed blood, beloved, our covenant children have hope. That's why Jacob has hope. All of our children, the children of believers, have hope. We as parents, Mark and Rachel as parents, as we are called upon and promise indeed in our promises of baptism, as we are called upon to raise our children, we are going to teach them about the Lord Jesus Christ, that He is the Savior, because saving was needed. My saving, your saving, the child's saving was needed. And our prayer is that God would work mightily in the hearts and lives of all of our covenant children. That one day, the Spirit of God would take the teaching given to them and they would see it and understand it and believe it and say, I believe! And to claim the promises that God has given to them, signified and sealed in baptism. Say, yes, my sins are forgiven for the sake of Jesus. It's interesting that this time of year, Many celebrate Christ's coming as if it's some sort of an extra special blessing upon a world that really was pretty good already. Kind of like putting sugar on sugar-coated cereal. And to so many, the baby Jesus is an added bonus to those who deserve Him. His coming was a coming of innocence, they say, to show us who are already good how to be better. He is a reward to us, they say. Well, congregation, He was innocent. But He came because of guilt and shame. His own earthly family line was a picture of this. Jesus Christ came to this earth because of the sin of man and because of an offended God. That's no reason to celebrate. That's no reason to shout for joy. He came as a baby to a world that did not deserve Him, but instead despised Him. Yet, He came so that those who would believe on Him by the grace of God would have life and have it abundantly. That is a reason to celebrate. And that is a reason to shout with joy. In this season, may we remember the words of the angel to the shepherds, do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. See, this is true blessing. There's nothing greater. Do you know it? As God's people, may we speak of this blessing with our lips in our daily life. And may we demonstrate this blessing through our actions in our daily walk. And may we always be humbled knowing what we truly deserve and at the same time be filled with that immense joy because of the blessing of God's grace. He came. Our Lord came. Because of an urgent need. The world needed a Savior. His own family line needed a Savior. You and I need a Savior. Do you know Him? Do you believe in Him? Is He your Savior? As believers, we can take comfort today. Because this child who was born, this son who was given, named Jesus, Indeed, saves His people from their sins. Amen. Shall we pray? Father, indeed, so often we find so many reasons to boast and be proud. Even in the generations as we witness the faith handed down from generation to generation. But may we not be fooled, O Lord, into thinking that we deserved the Lord Jesus Christ. May we be humbled with the knowledge of knowing that even our best works are as filthy rags, completely stained with sin. And that Jesus came, not because we deserved Him, but because we needed Him. May we never forget that. May we teach that to our children, to our neighbors, and to all the world. May you continue, O Lord, to be faithful in building your church and gathering together all those who belong to you from the foundation of the world and prepare her as a bride adorned for her bridegroom when Jesus Christ comes again. Father, we rejoice in the line of our Lord Jesus Christ and most of all that Jesus Christ has come. He has paid the ultimate price that He will come again to receive His own unto Himself. In that joy and in that comfort, we pray these things. In His name alone. Amen.