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[1:00] Thank you.

[1:30] Thank you.

[2:00] Thank you. Thank you.

[3:00] All right. So, Matthew chapter 1, and we're going to begin reading at verse 1. We'll look at essentially the first 17 verses, but we'll just read a few of these verses to kind of give you a flavor of what Matthew's doing here with this genealogy.

[3:15] So, let me invite you, if you're able to stand, to please do so as we honor the reading of God's Word. Matthew chapter 1, verse 1, his gospel starts this way.

[3:26] The book 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.

[3:38] Jacob, the father of Judah and his brothers. Judah, the father of Perez. And Zerah by Tamar. And Perez, the father of Hazron. And Hazron, the father of Ram.

[3:50] And Ram, the father of Mimedad. And Mimedad, the father of Nashon. And Nashon, the father of Salmon. And Salmon, the father of Boaz by Rahab.

[4:02] And Boaz, the father of Obed by Ruth. And Obed, the father of Jesse. And Jesse, the father of David the king. Now, jump down to verse 17.

[4:14] So, all the generations from Abraham to David were 14 generations. And from David to the deportation to Babylon, 14 generations.

[4:26] And from the deportation of Babylon to the Christ, 14 generations. Who's glad they came to church tonight, right? Here we go. Let's pray together.

[4:36] Pray with me. Pray for me as we ask God to teach us this evening. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you that we get this opportunity on a Saturday night right here in this place to study your word.

[4:48] Come and talk to us. Lord, help us truly understand the best news in the entire world, which is that God is with us.

[4:59] And we pray this in Jesus' name and all God's people said, amen. Amen. You can be seated. Victoria Hill never understood how she could be so different from her father.

[5:12] Her looks, her temperament, her personality, everything was different. In fact, so different she used to joke that maybe she belonged to the mailman.

[5:24] But what was a joke actually turned into no laughing matter. When Victoria was age 39, she started battling a health issue.

[5:36] And she was puzzled why there was no history of that health issue anywhere in her family. So she decided, as many do, to do one of those DNA kits.

[5:49] And what she assumed would be a routine test actually turned into a shocking discovery. For starters, Victoria learned that she had way more siblings than just the one brother that she'd grown up with.

[6:08] In fact, Faith Family, she learned she had 22 other brothers and sisters. She reached out to a few of them, and that's when she learned the bombshell news.

[6:23] Victoria's father was not the man that she'd grown up with. Her real father was a fertility doctor by the name of Burton Caldwell. A doctor who was supposed to be helping her mother and father conceive, but instead was using his own sperm without them knowing.

[6:44] It's what's known in the medical community as fertility fraud. And if that discovery wasn't shocking enough, it got even worse for Victoria.

[6:57] Evidently, Dr. Caldwell had been doing the same thing with several other couples in the area. So when Victoria's DNA test revealed all of those half-siblings that she didn't even know she had, she discovered that one of her brothers had been her high school sweetheart.

[7:19] She had almost married her brother and didn't even know it. Now, if she'd been from Tennessee, that wouldn't even be an issue, but whatever, all right?

[7:30] So that's beside the point. I'm from Tennessee. I can say that, all right? Nothing like a good old incest joke to start the sermon. Victoria, calm down, calm down, right?

[7:46] Victoria, as you can imagine, like put yourself in that situation, she was devastated. In fact, in an interview with CNN, this is what she said, quote, I was traumatized.

[8:00] Now I look at all these pictures of my childhood and wonder if any of these people could possibly be my sibling. Now listen, on many levels, Faith Family, that's a disturbing story, right?

[8:16] Wouldn't we agree on that? That's disturbing on a lot of levels. But put the extremes of Victoria's story aside, it's disturbing simply to discover that the family you thought you were from was not your family at all.

[8:33] And why is that? It's because we all know how important it is to know where you came from, right? It's important to know where you came from. In fact, that's the reason why there's been such a growth over the years with DNA kits.

[8:48] People want to know where they came from. They want to know more about their family story. It's why people will hang pictures on the wall to capture that sense of legacy and heritage.

[9:00] It's why people collect pictures and put them in scrapbooks to keep those family memories alive. It's why people will come together for the holidays and gather with multiple generations to be able to celebrate together.

[9:16] It's why sometimes as you get older, you will even go back and revisit your childhood home. All of us, to one degree or another, are interested in knowing our family story.

[9:30] Amen? We're all interested to some degree or another. You may be at different levels. But we all want some sense of knowing where we came from. But here's what I also know.

[9:40] As interested as you are in your own genealogy, you're not that interested in anybody else's. Am I right or am I right?

[9:53] If someone you don't really know wanted to spend all day showing you pictures of people that have no relevance to you, you would get bored really quick.

[10:04] Then do you know what the klutz did? I know and I don't care. You know exactly what that feeling is like. I don't want to see another picture.

[10:15] I don't care about your great, great, great, great grandmother. We are interested in our genealogy, but we're not that interested in anybody else's. And I wonder if that's why we're so disinterested in biblical genealogies.

[10:31] Be honest. You skip these sections. You'll get a few names through and then you jump to the next section, sinner. Right?

[10:42] Because here's why is because you think this doesn't really have any relevance to you. But listen to me tonight, faith family.

[10:53] If you are a child of God, if you are a Christian, biblical genealogies are your genealogy. Because they are telling the family story of God's people.

[11:09] And that is precisely how Matthew starts his gospel. And it is fascinating. This is actually why we're stopping to take time to look at this is because I know most of you in your casual Bible reading jump over a lot of this.

[11:25] And I'm like, no, you've got to stop. There are some really fascinating things in the genealogy that Matthew gives us. In fact, what you're going to discover tonight, and this will not shock you if you've been a part of faith family for very long.

[11:39] This genealogy preaches the gospel of Christ. Notice first of all here that Matthew's genealogy tells the story of a messianic fulfillment.

[11:52] In other words, what Matthew is showing us here is who Jesus is. It's the reason why he gives this genealogy. His main goal of recounting all these names is to show you that Jesus is the fulfillment of all the Old Testament messianic.

[12:13] He's the one who's chosen to make the gospel of all the Roman Catholic promises. Are you with me? That's his big idea. That's his main goal. And it is fascinating to a biblical nerd like myself how he does this.

[12:25] Look at verse 1. The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Now, you don't need to be a biblical scholar to already get a sense of who Matthew is trying to connect Jesus to.

[12:42] He's clearly trying to connect Jesus to Abraham and to David. But to show you how he does this, you need to go a little bit deeper. And this is the really fascinating part.

[12:55] Look at verse 17. So all the generations from Abraham to David were how many? 14. From David to the deportation to Babylon were 14.

[13:07] And from the deportation of Babylon to the Christ, 14. Isn't that fascinating? Don't you find that interesting? In other words, he's saying there's 14 generations from Abraham to David, 14 generations from David to the end of the exile, 14 generations from the end of the exile to the Christ.

[13:29] There's just one big problem. There are way more generations than that. Matthew, historically, there are way more than 14 generations between those time periods.

[13:46] Matthew omits several generations. Which is why the critic of the Bible will say, See, I told you the Bible is full of errors.

[13:58] I told you the Bible is full of contradictions. Matthew here says there are 14 generations throughout all these three different time periods when we know historically there's more than that.

[14:11] Shut your Bibles because it's full of errors. To which I would say, If you think Matthew has made an error, then you are the one who has made the error.

[14:25] And the reason why you're assuming that is because you have made one of the most common mistakes that people make in biblical interpretation. Are you still with me? I know the Bible nerds are.

[14:36] You're still with me. You'll be with me the whole night. Right? Listen, listen. Matthew here does something that's very common with ancient writers. You've heard me talk about this before.

[14:47] It's so important because I want us to get the Bible right. Amen? And one of the most common mistakes that people make is that they will take ancient writers and force them into a modern mindset.

[15:04] Let me explain. What I mean here is in the ancient world, authors would often use numbers as a way of showing meaning.

[15:17] Hang with me. In other words, Matthew's intent here is not to give you every generation. Don't assume that.

[15:29] Matthew's goal in giving you this is not to give you every generation. His intent is to give you three sets of 14, all of which are historically accurate.

[15:42] It just doesn't include all the generations. Are you still with me? Say yes. Okay. Keep in mind, Matthew's a tax collector. The bro knows numbers.

[15:52] Right? He's not an idiot. Okay? So give him that at least. Now, why three sets of 14? Now, before I answer that, I need to explain one more thing in understanding how ancient languages and ancient writers worked.

[16:11] In ancient languages, particularly like Hebrew, you'll notice that every letter has a numerical value. Every letter has a numerical value.

[16:22] And what that means is is that you can take a word and that, and by the way, the reason why they did this is because often their letter system and their number system were the same thing in the ancient world.

[16:35] And so what this allows you to do is to take a word and actually come up with a numerical value. So you can take, for example, the Hebrew word Yahweh and you take each letter, it's not the vowels, it's just the consonants, you take each letter, add up its numerical value, and it will give you a total number.

[16:56] Everybody with me? Right. Once you realize that, it becomes very clear with what Matthew is doing here, and it is genius.

[17:09] It is absolutely brilliant. Lean in. Lean in. Matthew gives you three sets of what? Fourteen.

[17:20] Guess what the numerical value of David's name is? Fourteen. Fourteen. If you count from Abraham, verse one, down to Jesus, verse 16, guess how many generations you'll have?

[17:38] Forty-one. Guess what the numerical value of Abraham's name is? Forty-one. If you take the total number that Matthew gives you, which is forty-two, right?

[17:54] I am from Tennessee, but I know three times fourteen is? Let me get my toes out here and get it right. Forty-two. Listen. Guess what the numerical value for the word Messiah is?

[18:08] Forty-two. In other words, listen, Matthew organizes this genealogy not to give you every generation.

[18:19] He organizes it this way to make one primary point and it is His primary point. Namely, Jesus is the messianic fulfillment of the promises given to Abraham.

[18:33] He is the true Davidic king. He is the one who saves His people from exile. Jesus is the fulfillment of all the Old Testament promises of God.

[18:48] He is the one in whom all the nations are blessed, Abraham. He is the one who reigns on the eternal throne, the true king of kings.

[18:58] He is the one who sets the captives free. Jesus is the long-awaited and much-anticipated Messiah. That's His point.

[19:10] Isn't that brilliant? And all the biblical nerds said, Amen, give me more, right? It's brilliant. It's genius. But you'll miss that if you just casually read by.

[19:24] No, Matthew, being so gifted with numbers, organizes this in such a way to make his point clear. And that is, all of the promises given through Abraham and David find their yes in Jesus.

[19:41] God is with us in the birth of this baby. God is with us in the person of Jesus Christ.

[19:55] Who said genealogies aren't fascinating? It's fascinating. However, listen, if Matthew doesn't give us all the generations, nor did he intend to, then why did he pick the ones he picked and omit the others?

[20:12] Is everybody following that question? If he didn't give us all of them, nor did he intend to give you all of them, why did he pick the ones he did and leave out the ones that he omitted?

[20:24] Well, that leads us to our second point, which is why Jesus came. The genealogy not only reveals who Jesus is, it reveals why Jesus came.

[20:37] Of all the names that Matthew could have included, I tell you what, he sure included a cast of characters. And once again, as a biblical teacher, it is really hard for me, maybe almost impossible, to get you to fully understand the shock of what Matthew is doing here.

[20:58] So I'm going to try my best to explain it to you. Now, most of you probably know, if you've studied a little bit of the ancient world, that family was everything, right?

[21:10] And in many ways, today, family is everything for a lot of people. But man, in the ancient world, family was everything. It was your inheritance, it was your legacy, it was your security, it was your identity.

[21:24] Do you remember Naomi in the book of Ruth when she lost her whole family? And she essentially said, I have nothing. I have nothing. She had nothing because she didn't have family.

[21:37] It was everything in the ancient world. So if because family was everything, here's what you would do in the ancient world. Think of your genealogy almost like a resume.

[21:48] How many of you show of hands have ever filled out a resume? Okay, yeah, most of you. Have you ever noticed how on your resume, you always include the good things and you don't include the bad things?

[22:00] Anybody ever done that? Or if you give references, okay, it's like, call my mom, she's the only one that loves me, right? It's like, that's about the only reference I have. You're always going to highlight the good and minimize or maybe even omit the bad.

[22:16] Or think of it this way. If you did your genealogy, you would want, if it were true, you would want everybody to know that you're kin to Abraham Lincoln, right? That Abraham Lincoln is in my genealogy.

[22:30] You wouldn't necessarily want anybody to know that you're kin to Cousin Eddie, okay? So, right, let's just ignore that part, okay? I don't even know who he is. Is everybody tracking with me?

[22:41] Say yes. Well, that's how it worked. And so, for Matthew to give a genealogy, you would anticipate him to highlight the good and ignore the bad.

[22:54] Which is why what he includes in this genealogy is so shocking. Now, the next little bit may get a little uncomfortable to you, but it's just all Bible.

[23:07] It's all Bible, and so I apologize if you're a little uncomfortable, but I'm going to shoot it to you straight, okay? Here's who Matthew includes. Starts with Abraham, verse 1 and 2.

[23:19] Now, this would make sense because Abraham's the patriarch, so of course you're going to include him, but if you know anything about Abraham, you know that he's a liar. On multiple occasions, Abraham lies to cover his own skin.

[23:36] And then there's Jacob in verse 2. Jacob's a deceiver. His very name, Yaakov, means deceiver. He deceived his brother out of his birthright.

[23:47] He deceived his father out of a blessing. He deceived his father-in-law out of his daughter. Then there's Judah, verse 3. He's a philanderer.

[23:58] He takes a prostitute by the name of Tamar. So not only does this list include a man that took a prostitute, then it actually includes a prostitute.

[24:08] Verse 5. Rahab. Rahab is a Gentile prostitute. She ran a brothel in Jericho. Why in the world would you include her in this genealogy?

[24:23] She ends up marrying Solomon, kind of a fishy dude. You'll get that later, alright? And then Rahab marries Solomon, and they give birth to, remember, Bohunk?

[24:38] Good old Boaz. Oh, Bohunk. Boy, was he a man. So dreamy. Anyways, Bohunk marries Ruth.

[24:50] Verse 5. Ruth is a Moabite. The Moabites were children of incest, going back all the way to the days of Lot. She'll marry Boaz and become a part of David's line.

[25:05] Then you have David in verse 6. Do I even need to tell you what David did? Is there a commandment David didn't break? And then he, through Bathsheba, has a son by the name of Solomon, verse 6.

[25:22] He was the son through an affair with Bathsheba, and Solomon had more wives than Hugh Hefner. Like, literally. He had all kinds of concubines.

[25:34] Well, then he has a son by the name of Rehoboam. We're at verse 7. Rehoboam was divisive. Listen to me. Rehoboam was so divisive that when Solomon dies, Rehoboam will cause the nation to split into two different kingdoms, the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom.

[25:54] Then you have Jehoram in verse 8. He was the fifth king of Judah, and listen, he killed six of his brothers because he saw them as a threat to his own throne.

[26:09] Then you have Manasseh in verse 10. Dude was pure evil. He was engaged in all kinds of sorcery and witchcraft. Read about it in 2 Kings chapter 21.

[26:22] And he sacrificed his own son to false gods. Does anybody want me to keep going? Maybe not. That's just 10 of the list that Matthew gives.

[26:34] Anybody feeling better about your family right about now? It's like, maybe these num-nums aren't so bad after all. Jeez. I mean, if you thought Victoria's family story was a mess, imagine finding out that your family tree is full of liars, murderers, deceivers, and prostitutes.

[26:54] Now let me get to my point. And I don't apologize for the graphic information. It's just Bible. And the reason why I don't apologize for it is because you've got to understand it to get Matthew's point.

[27:08] I marvel, I don't know about you, but I marvel at the people that God chose to be a part of the Messianic line. I look at this and I think, God, you know, you could have chosen more virtuous men and women.

[27:24] And here's the point. Listen, listen. Matthew intentionally includes them. Now let me emphasize that a little further.

[27:35] He could have just focused on the Jews, but he included Gentiles. Sorry, ladies, I don't mean to offend you, but this was in a patriarchal system.

[27:48] He could have just emphasized the men, but he included women. And in emphasizing the women, he could have included names like Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, or Leah.

[28:05] Instead, he does not even list them. He gives you Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba. Do you feel what I'm trying to get you to feel?

[28:17] You should be shocked that Matthew would include these people. I mean, if you're going to omit certain generations, omit them.

[28:28] But if he did, you'd miss the point. Here's the point.

[28:39] Preach, preacher. Matthew uses the numbers, three sets of 14, to reveal who Jesus is. He's the fulfillment of the Messianic promises of God.

[28:52] And then he uses the names to reveal why Jesus came, namely, to save sinners. The worst of sinners.

[29:05] The vilest of sinners. All sinners. Christ came to save. Amen.

[29:17] Amen. Matthew wants his readers in going through this genealogy to understand this point so clear. Here it is. that Jesus is not only the promised Son, He's the needed Savior.

[29:34] There is no one in all of this genealogy that did not need to be saved. And Christ came to save them all, including you and I.

[29:50] Is that not exactly what the angel tells Joseph? We'll look at this later in Matthew in verse 21. She will bear a son and you will call His name Jesus for He will, say it, save His people from their sins.

[30:09] Praise Him. Praise Him tonight. Praise Him. He has come. God is with us. And there is no sinner too far.

[30:19] He cannot save. We say this a lot here, but I'm going to say it again because it is so core to our culture here.

[30:32] And it is this, that God uses imperfect people to accomplish His perfect purposes. If He can't use imperfect people, He can't use anyone.

[30:45] Because there is no one perfect but Christ. Now let me bring this to your heart for just a moment. Please listen in because I know there are some of you struggling with this.

[30:56] If you have ever looked at your life, if you have ever looked at your past, if you have ever looked at your situation and thought, I have done too many terrible things for God to love me, for God to forgive me, for God to use me, look at the people in the family line of Jesus.

[31:19] And it will comfort you and encourage you of this very gospel truth. Who's ready for the gospel? Here's what the gospel preaches and it's this.

[31:32] Righteousness before God, that is a right standing with God, cannot be found in your family tree. It is only found at Calvary's tree.

[31:47] He is our righteousness. He is our salvation. Not our own resume. Jesus saves.

[31:59] Isn't this fascinating? Don't you love, don't you love genealogies? I mean, the way Matthew puts this together with the numbers communicates his very point that Jesus is the fulfillment of the messianic promises.

[32:14] And then he includes specific names that, be honest, you would have left out, but he doesn't because he wants to communicate the gospel message of who Jesus came to save.

[32:25] Now, if you're paying close attention, and I do think sometimes in your Bible reading you read too fast. Sometimes in our Bible reading it's like, well, my daily Bible reading says I have to read this chapter, and so you just read the chapter because you've got to check the box and say you read the chapter.

[32:43] Sometimes all you need to do is read 17 verses over and over and over and over again so you don't miss what's right in front of you. Because what happens is we read through this genealogy, in fact, we get bored by the fifth name and we check out, and it's like, no, if you would read this over and over, there would be things that would begin to jump out at you that would make you think, wait a minute, why?

[33:10] Why did he say this? Why is that there and it's not here? And if you're paying close attention as you should, what you will discover is a detail, a missing detail, in the way Matthew structures his genealogy.

[33:28] And that leads me to my third point, and that is who Jesus came for. Who Jesus came for. Now, pop quiz, class, right?

[33:39] Because this feels a little bit like class. Do you remember how just a few moments ago, and it was just a few moments ago, so surely you remember it, I told you that if you start with Abraham and you go to Jesus in verse 16, you'll get 41, which was the numerical value of Abraham's name.

[33:57] Does everybody remember that? Say yes. Then how do you explain this? So all the generations from Abraham to David is 14, from David to the deportation to Babylon, 14, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ, 14.

[34:19] Now again, in Tennessee, you can check my math, three times 14 is 42. Right? I'm pretty sure that's right. My math skills are impressive. Thank you very much.

[34:34] So if you said there's 42, why did you only give me 41? I mean, the hillbilly math doesn't add up, right? Right? I mean, Matthew, you're like the worst tax collector ever.

[34:47] I would never have you do my taxes. You can't even count. And what does the critic again do? What does the biblical critic say? See another contradiction. I mean, we're not even but a few verses in and there's already two contradictions that we found.

[35:01] Why would you ever trust the Bible? To which I want to say to them, you're just lazy. You're lazy. You're not taking the time to do the hard work of actually studying the Bible.

[35:16] Amen? Because faith, by the way, I'm not calling you lazy faith family. I love you. Okay? If you would take a closer look, Matthew has left you a clue.

[35:29] Lean in. Look at verse 2. Abraham was the father of Isaac and Isaac the father of Jacob and Jacob the father of Judah say it, and his brothers.

[35:44] Okay? Question? Why that phrase? Because lots of these people have brothers and sisters and they don't get mentioned. Why does Matthew emphasize and their brothers?

[36:00] Now, you might be quick to say, well, it's because it represents the twelve tribes of Israel and Matthew wants to make sure and include that in the genealogy. Well, that's true. The thing is, Matthew does it again.

[36:12] Look at verse 11. And Josiah, the father of Jeconiah, say it, and his brothers at the time of the deportation of Babylon.

[36:28] So, if you take a close look at the structure of this genealogy, here's what you've discovered. Is anybody zoning out tonight? How could you? This is fascinating. I think so.

[36:40] Watch. Listen, listen. In the first set of 14, he mentions the phrase, and his brothers once. In the second set of 14, he mentions the phrase, and his brothers once.

[37:01] In the third set of 14, which is actually just 13, he doesn't mention and his brothers at all. The reader is supposed to be asking, where's the missing number?

[37:17] Where's the 42? And, while you're hunting, where is the and his brothers in the third set? Now, some of you are thinking, pastor, you really need to get a life.

[37:28] That's probably true. But, I think you're just making a really big deal out of nothing. Am I? Am I? Right answer. No, I'm not.

[37:40] I would submit to you that Matthew has left you a clue to go looking for the other set of brothers.

[37:54] And, you'll find it. this is fascinating. And, it has everything to do with you. Listen. Matthew 4, 18, 19.

[38:08] While walking by the sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers. Simon, who's called Peter, and Andrew, his brother.

[38:19] And, his brother. Huh. Casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And, he said to them, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

[38:34] Who are we dealing with? We're dealing with the call of the disciples. The beginning of what we will know to be the church. And, what does Jesus call them?

[38:47] Brothers. They're brothers. Now, keep reading. This actually happens a lot in Matthew. I'm just giving you two examples. This is the really, even more fascinating one. Look at Matthew 12, 46.

[38:59] And, while he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother, come on, biblical nerds, and his brothers.

[39:09] There's the phrase I've been looking for. Stood outside, asking to speak to him, but he replied to the man who told him, well, who is my mother and who are my brothers?

[39:23] Same phrase in Matthew one. Oh, my. Oh, my. Oh, my. And stretching out his hand towards his disciples, Jesus said, here are my mother and my brothers.

[39:43] Please don't stop there. For whoever does the will of my father in heaven is my brother.

[39:59] Listen, listen, listen. Who is the 42nd generation missing in Matthew's genealogy? Who is the missing set of brothers in the third set?

[40:14] The disciples to be sure, but anyone who does the will of the father, meaning faith family, anyone here this evening who is a follower of Jesus Christ belongs to the family of God.

[40:33] Amen. This genealogy is your genealogy.

[40:46] This story is your story. This family is your family. Regardless of what your family situation is this Christmas, you have a family.

[41:06] You have a family. For you belong to the family of God. Look at what John says in John 1 12 and 13, but to all who did receive Christ, who believed in Christ's name, he gave the right to become children of God who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh, but you were born into this family by God.

[41:52] In Christ, you have an eternal family. Isn't this fascinating? Who doesn't love genealogies?

[42:03] So let's look at it in summary and we'll close. Here we go. Here it is. The numbers show us who Jesus is. All the 14s and 41s is Matthew's way because he's brilliant with numbers to let his audience know.

[42:20] Do you know all those promises given to Abraham? Do you know all those promises given to David? Those promises have now found their yes and amen in Jesus. He's here. God is with us.

[42:32] the anticipated Messiah was born in Bethlehem. Then the names show us why he came.

[42:44] He could have omitted others but he chose to include these. Why? To let everybody here tonight know the very kinds of people Jesus came to save.

[42:56] That he will save his people from their sins. And then that little nuance that little missing 42 the third set of brothers shows us for whom Jesus came namely he came for the world.

[43:17] In brilliant fashion Matthew gives us this genealogy to make sure you know this this Christmas. Jesus is the true Messiah.

[43:28] Jesus saves the worst of sinners sinners and God so loves the world. Faith family it may not be to the level of what Victoria experienced but we have all been shaped by the families from which we have come.

[43:53] Your genealogy matters sinners. And the truth of the gospel is that every single one of us were born into a family of sinners.

[44:06] Paul says it this way therefore just as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin so death spread to all mankind because all sinned.

[44:20] we come from a long line of men and women who have fallen short of the glory of God. And that's why the birth of Jesus is the best news in the world that he came to save sinners like us.

[44:39] And because of that faith family as I close listen regardless of what's in your genealogy you can have a new family tree. Let's pray.

[44:53] Father thank you so much for the gospel in Matthew's genealogy. Thank you for your grace.

[45:05] Thank you that in Jesus you have come to be with us forever. And you call us brothers.

[45:20] Oh what a gift to be given a forever family in the person of Jesus. And in all the ways that family can sometimes hurt, disappoint, leave us confused about even our identity, all of that can find its satisfaction in the family of God.

[45:51] And I pray this evening if there is anyone here who is outside your family that today they would believe in Christ.

[46:03] As John said in John 1 which we read, to those who believe, to those that receive him, he gives the right to be called children of God.

[46:15] Thank you for this gift, the gift of salvation in your son. And tonight we celebrate it as we remember the cross through communion. In Jesus name I pray.

[46:26] Amen. Bluetooth Bluetooth Bluetooth!

[46:44] !