Title: The Generation
of Jesus Christ
Text: Matthew 1:
1-17
Date: 2-29-2020
Place: SGBC, New
Jersey
Matthew 1: 1: The book of the
generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. 2: Abraham
begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren; 3: And
Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat
Aram; 4: And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat
Salmon; 5: And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and
Obed begat Jesse; 6: And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat
Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias; 7: And Solomon begat
Roboam; and Roboam begat Abia; and Abia begat Asa; 8: And Asa begat Josaphat;
and Josaphat begat Joram; and Joram begat Ozias; 9: And Ozias begat Joatham;
and Joatham begat Achaz; and Achaz begat Ezekias; 10: And Ezekias begat
Manasses; and Manasses begat Amon; and Amon begat Josias; 11: And Josias begat
Jechonias and his brethren, about the time they were carried away to Babylon: 12:
And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and
Salathiel begat Zorobabel; 13: And Zorobabel begat Abiud; and Abiud begat
Eliakim; and Eliakim begat Azor; 14: And Azor begat Sadoc; and Sadoc begat
Achim; and Achim begat Eliud; 15: And Eliud begat Eleazar; and Eleazar begat
Matthan; and Matthan begat Jacob; 16: And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of
Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. 17: So all the generations
from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the
carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the
carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.
Matthew 1: 1: The book of the
generation of Jesus Christ…
Only twice in scripture do we find this
phrase The first time is Gen. 5:1: This
is the book of the generations of Adam; the second is here—Matthew 1: 1:
The book of the generation of Jesus Christ.
God made Adam and Christ heads of their people: from Adam all the
human race came; from Christ all God’s spiritual race come
This is one of those passages we are
prone to skip over because isn't it is just a list of names? No.
2
Timothy 3:16: All scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is]
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
Proposition: This genealogy of Christ declares Christ
is the promised Messiah, the salvation of his people.
Divisions: 1. The Faithfulness of God 2.
Salvation by Grace 3. Christ’s Condescension
THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD
Matthew 1: 2: Abraham begat Isaac; and
Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren;
Notice, how this genealogy begins with
Abraham. Abraham is the father of the
faithful. God called Abraham first after
the flood and promised him salvation in Christ.
And God promised Abraham that Christ was coming through his family tree.
Genesis
12: 1: Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from
thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: 2;
And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy
name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3: And I will bless them that bless
thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the
earth be blessed.
Genesis
22: 18: And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed…
Galatians
3:16: Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to
seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.
We see God’s faithfulness because God
brought to pass every word. We follow
Abraham’s genealogy and we see God fulfilling his word faithfully—"Abraham
begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren; And
Judas begat Phares…And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat
Solomon…” Again, as God promised
Abraham, God promised that Christ would come through Jesse
Isaiah
11: 1: And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch
shall grow out of his roots:…
Then God faithfully fulfilled his covenant
promise. Think of the wars. Think of the divisions of men and countries. Israel was even carried captive into Babylon. Yet, God was ruling it all to fulfill his
promise to Christ and his promise to Abraham.
Numbers 23: 19: God is not a
man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he
said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make
it good?
Isaiah 46: 9:…I am God, and there is
none like me. 10: Declaring the end from
the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet
done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:…11:…yea, I
have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it,
I will also do it.
Brethren, we have great peace knowing that
God is faithful to full every promise. Nothing
hinders our sovereign God, “Faithful [is] he that calleth you, who also will
do [it].” (1 Thes 5:24)
SALVATION BY GRACE
Matthew 1: 2: Abraham begat Isaac; and
Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren;
Abraham had another son, Ishmael; But
Ishmael was of Abraham’s will and works; Isaac was the elect son of God’s
promise
Genesis
21: 12:…in Isaac shall thy seed be called.
Romans 9: 6: Not as though the word of
God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of
Israel: 7: Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all
children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. 8: That is, They which are
the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the
children of the promise are counted for the seed. 9: For this is the word
of promise, At this time will I come, and Sara shall have a son.
God promised Isaac—so was Christ and
so is each elect child. Isaac was born by a miraculous birth—so was
Christ and so is each elect child. Salvation
is by God’s grace, not by man’s works.
Again, in Jacob we see salvation by
grace—“And Isaac begat Jacob” Isaac
had another son, Esau. But Jacob was God’s
chosen.
Romans 9: 10: And not only this;
but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; 11:
(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or
evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works,
but of him that calleth;) 12 It was said
unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. 13: As it is written, Jacob have I
loved, but Esau have I hated.
There was no difference in these two:
same father, same mother, both conceived in sin. But before they were born God chose Jacob by
free grace and God passed by Esau.
Romans 9: 14: What shall we say then? Is
there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. 15: For he saith to Moses, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will
have compassion. 16: So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him
that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Everything in salvation is by God’s free
grace. By grace God chose his people. By grace God redeemed his people. By grace God calls and keeps his people.
John
1:13: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the
will of man, but of God.
Salvation is by the grace of our
triune God.
1
Peter 1: 2: Elect according to the foreknowledge OF GOD, through Sanctification
OF THE SPIRIT, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood OF JESUS CHRIST:
grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied
CHRIST’S CONDESCENSION
Matthew 1: 3: And Judas begat Phares
and Zara of Thamar;… 5:
And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab [Rahab]; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth;… 6:…and
David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias;
Throughout the rest of the genealogy only
fathers and sons are mentioned. But here
four women are mentioned. Each of these
women, along with the men, were guilty of being great sinners. If you were sovereign would the genealogy of
your Son include a sinful incestuous union such as Judah and his
daughter-in-law Thamar? What about a sinful
harlot such as Boaz born of Rahab the harlot?
How about a sinful, Gentile Moabitess like Ruth? Or an adulterous and murderous relationship
such as David who committed adultery with Bathsheba and then killed her husband
to cover it up? God did. He did
it to show us that Christ condescended to save sinners! God included all these sinners to manifest
that Christ came to save sinners who could not save ourselves.
Everyone in this genealogy are sinners
in heart as bad as those sins we see outwardly.
Even after calling his people, we find Noah come out of the ark and in
very little time get drunk; Moses got angry smote the rock twice; Peter denied
the Lord three times and tried to leave the gospel. They were all sinners!
But that is the only kind of person
Christ came to save!
Matthew
2: 16: And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners,
they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with
publicans and sinners? 17: When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that
are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to
call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Think of the condescension! The Son of God humbled himself and became a
servant then died a cursed death to save chosen sinners!
Philippians
2:6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant,
and was made in the likeness of men: 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he
humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
And to think we have trouble forgiving
someone who sins against us far less!
The most beautiful thing about our Savior is how lowly he came down to
suffer to save sinners like us.
Hebrews
2: 10: For it became him, for whom [are] all things, and by whom [are] all
things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their
salvation perfect through sufferings. 11: For both he that sanctifieth and they
who are sanctified [are] all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call
them brethren… 17 Wherefore in all
things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a
merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make
reconciliation for the sins of the people.
We get in our flesh and become too
proud to reconcile with someone who offends us.
But when we offended our God infinitely worse, our merciful and faithful
high priest came down—made of woman like unto his brethren; he came down—made
under the law like unto his brethren;
God came down--made sin like unto his brethren; he came down—made a curse like unto his
brethren; at last he came down—buried in
borrowed tomb. And by his precious blood
he washed all his black sheep white as snow.
Isaiah 1: 18: Come now, and let us
reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be
as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
Sinner, come down, come to Christ, God
promises this will be so of you. What is
keeping you from believing on Christ and confessing him before men? Pride! What is keeping us from having mercy on offending
brethren? Pride! God hates pride! But God loves his dear Son! He made himself
the least in the kingdom of God to save sinners like you and me. So let us come down! Is any too proud, to good, to identify with
us sinners? Christ came down to save his
people; now let us come down to be saved by Christ.
AMEN!