[0:00] A word of prayer. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for our time together today.
[0:11] We thank you for this privilege we have of worshipping you. Help us not to neglect this great privilege. Understand as we come together just now, we're not doing so to form a social gathering.
[0:25] We're not doing so to form a gathering of like-minded people. No, we are here today to represent a gathering of your people, of sons and daughters, of brothers and sisters, united together in the fact that we have a risen Saviour who lived that perfect life, who died on the cross of that horrifying death, who rose again, who now is eternally at the right hand of the Father on high, making intercession for his people.
[0:57] We are united together in the fact that we love that Saviour because he loves us. Help us to understand that today. We come to this place of worship.
[1:09] We bring to this place just now, we admit and we confess, we bring to this place so many distractions of this past week. Will you first and foremost lay aside all the distractions that shouldn't be in our minds just now, the distractions of sin, of dark things, of evil things.
[1:27] We then bring before you the distractions which are right and the distractions which are not sinful. The distractions and the pains and worries of this past week which we have had to bear in various ways.
[1:40] We bring before you just now the pains of those here who are going through complicated life situations. The pains of some here who are going through health situations, who have had health scares and health worries, who are in the ongoing process of receiving treatment for various things, whether that's public or private, whether that's known about or not.
[2:03] Pray just now for those suffering with various physical pains, those here today suffering with various types of mental pain, those here suffering today worrying about the mental and physical well-being of their loved ones.
[2:18] Or we come just now with such complicated lives, such complicated stories, and we bring these things before you. Pray just now for those here who love you but who feel as if your faith is growing smaller rather than growing, who feel as if their faith is growing further and further away from you rather than closer and closer to you.
[2:37] We bring them before you, Lord. We ask that you would increase their faith and increase their understanding that you do not change. Through all the circumstances of life, you remain the same. Pray just now for our friends who as of yet cannot say that they know nor love Jesus, who as of yet cannot say that they understand what it is to follow him, but who have an interest in knowing more, who come out a week after a week and month after a month, and indeed decade after decade, who have been to this place.
[3:05] We ask that through your word even today, you would speak to them, that you would open their eyes, that seed would be planted through your word just now, that they would come to see and perhaps understand truly for the first time that there is hope in Jesus.
[3:22] Pray today for those who are hurting for various reasons, those who are hurting for reasons of past hurts, wrongs done perhaps many years ago to them.
[3:34] We also bring just now before you perhaps any in our number here, or any attached to this congregation, who have faced great wrongs even from the hands of your people. Lord, we ask you to forgive, Lord, them for that.
[3:48] Any here who have faced great wrongs from the hands of those who called upon Jesus and who claimed to be yours. We ask the Lord for a healing for them. They would begin to see that the church, it is made up of saved sinners, who at times are still great sinners.
[4:05] But it's made up to worship a saviour, who is saviour to all who come to him. But we are often poor representatives of you. We are often poor witnesses.
[4:16] Lord, we ask you would take that poor witness, forgive us for it, and use the small offering we have for your glory.
[4:29] We thank you, Lord, for the events of this past week. We thank you for the coming of the brothers from Presbytery as they spent time with us, as they did the necessary work behind the scenes of seeing and checking and making sure that things are well in this congregation.
[4:47] We pray just now for our own session just now. We thank you for these brothers also. We pray especially, Lord, with the weeks of hard work which went into that report, which went into all the questionnaires and all the work that was done behind the scenes.
[5:00] Lord, we thank you for the diligence of brothers to complete that work. We pray for ourselves as a wider congregation. We thank you for the great joy we have of unity, that we love one another, and that love is evident even to those who are visiting with us.
[5:17] We ask that we carry on. We ask we would find no reason to fall out, and if it is a falling sight, Lord, that you would intervene, and that things would be sorted out and stopped, and things would be made clear, and that brothers and sisters would be in peace once more.
[5:34] We give you praise that peace is truly a gift from you. We do pray for the ongoing peace of our congregation. We thank you for it. We remember ourselves. We remember also what's going on this week with your help and your guidance.
[5:47] We pray for the Bible study on Tuesday. It would be a time of refreshing, a time of joy for us as we begin delving into your word, as we begin as brothers and sisters, around tea and around time together, just to delve into the glorious truths of Scripture and see what it is you are saying to us from it, as we spend time looking at the Apostles' Creed, that ancient, ancient creed, that very earliest of confessions, as your people put into words what it is they believed about you and why it mattered to them.
[6:22] We give you praise that we are part of a worldwide church this day. We're not praying just for ourselves. We also pray for our brothers and sisters around our island, our nation and our world.
[6:32] We bring before you, especially just now, our brothers and sisters at this moment in Greenock, those who are seeking to serve you in that area, those who have for many years sought to serve you well.
[6:44] And we see, as we see a small congregation perhaps, a small congregation without a minister just now, but they are seeking to serve you well. We ask you to bless them, encourage them.
[6:56] We pray for them in their time of vacancy. You would keep them united. We ask that in your time, you would send to them one who would lead them and guide them, one who would be an under-shepherd over them, one who would be a servant to them.
[7:11] We also remember further afield, our brothers and sisters in Uganda who are in mourning just now of the attacks of recent months. As those who joyfully go out with the gospel seed are having to return home in mourning, and some of them never returning home ever again to their families, having faced the, not just the scoffing, but having faced the real punishment of proclaiming Jesus, who have faced beatings, lashes, and the lashes, attacks, and murder for simply daring to call themselves here.
[7:52] Lord, we do pray, Lord, for the wider country of Uganda. We pray for the wider gospel cause in that place. We give you praise that we know there are many congregations and many churches in that great country who love you and who have been worshipping you for many years.
[8:05] We pray for them as they face the rise of militant Islam, as they are facing increasing terror attacks against their church buildings and against their individual Christians.
[8:17] As we hear more Christians losing their lives in that country week after week, we pray, Lord, for justice to be done. We pray, Lord, for natural justice, but we also pray, Lord, for eternal justice. Dear God, who sees the suffering of your people, who hears their cries, that not one single drop of sweat nor tears nor blood falls from your people.
[8:37] It is not known to you and seen by you. And you are building your church. You are building your church in the face of persecution. We pray just now for the good news that even in Uganda there are many who were once following a different faith, who were once following the God of this world and they are turning to follow you.
[8:56] You are building your church there even in the face of great misery and great persecution and great sadness. As we pray, Lord, for that nation, we pray once more for ourselves in Tulsa.
[9:09] We pray for ourselves here as we face the same God of this world. We pray, Lord, for safety and protection for your people. Keep us safe from spiritual attack, we ask, and if we must endure it, we ask you to remind us and give us the strength to find our hope and our support in the armour for which you have given us.
[9:28] We pray, Lord, for safety for us as a congregation as we plan ahead, as we look forward to various ideas and events this new year of reaching out finally into this congregation after so many months, reaching out again to this place and proclaiming the good news that there is a risen Saviour and he brings hope and he brings life, but also the gospel news that there must be repentance.
[9:54] We must indeed forget ourselves and come to him and find our hope in him and him alone. We pray just now once more for our friends who gather here, those who have interest in the gospel, those who come here week after week who have many questions in our minds.
[10:09] We ask that you give them the opportunity to find an answer for these questions. They would know that we have here a friend group of fellow friends here who know them and who love them and who would long to see them come to know Jesus for themselves.
[10:26] We ask, Lord, of tears at times that you would come into the lives of our friends here today, those who have attended the means of grace for many years but who have yet shown at least no outward signs.
[10:38] We pray just now for those who are showing no outward signs but those here we are sure who in their heart of hearts who know or are beginning to know you, who in their heart of hearts are beginning to be convinced that there is a saviour that he has come to save them that they can trust and believe and be loved and be saved by him.
[11:01] We pray, Lord, for that quiet behind-the-scenes work. You bring it, Lord, to fruition in your time. Bring it above the ground that we'd all join in with their joy and call them our brother and call them our sister openly.
[11:16] Until these days of blessing come to our own congregation, we ask, Lord, that you'd keep us, keep us faithful in these days of small things, these testing days, these trying days where there's much to worry about and much to stress about even in terms of the gospel work.
[11:33] Declining numbers, declining figures, declining and rising ages. Lord, we bring these worries and we trust that we leave with a God who can transform. We leave our congregation with you.
[11:45] We leave our community in your hands and we give you praise when we come to our God who can take life from death and light from darkness.
[11:55] We do pray for days of refreshing, days of revival, days of renewal in North Tolstead. Until these days come, help us to serve you faithfully, help us to serve you diligently, relying on Jesus and on him alone, the author, the perfecter, the finisher of our faith.
[12:18] It's in his name and it's for his sake we ask these many things. Amen. Let's read in God's word. We're taking a break, as we said last week, from the Gospel of Mark.
[12:31] Our series will begin later on next year with the Lord's help. We're turning today to the Gospel of Matthew. The Gospel of Matthew.
[12:42] We have a very short three-week series, Matthew chapter 1, a very short three-week series ahead of us, looking at the Incarnation. As you might expect, this is the time of year we think about it, but why not?
[12:58] And we're looking today at the people of Jesus, his lineage. And next week we see the prophecies about Jesus in the Old Testament. The week after that we see then with the Lord's help the promises of Jesus.
[13:12] What does it mean that Jesus was born? Why does it actually even matter? But today, Matthew chapter 1, we see the people of Jesus. Let's hear the word of God.
[13:23] Of course, we've come just now to a long list of names and perhaps we're tempted to skip over these names and to tune out that these names are important, as we'll see later on. The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
[13:38] Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez, and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, and Ram the father of Aminadab, and Aminadab the father of Nashlon, and Nashlon the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king, and David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoshaphat, and his brothers at the time of the deportation to Babylon, and after the deportation to Babylon,
[15:10] Jehoshaphat the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Elakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Mathan, and Mathan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.
[15:50] So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ, fourteen generations.
[16:07] Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with a child from the Holy Spirit, and her husband Joseph being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.
[16:27] But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
[16:42] She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet.
[16:55] Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him.
[17:08] He took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son, and he called his name Jesus. Give praise to God for his holy and his perfect word.
[17:21] Let's sing once more again, singing from Psalm 89. Scottish Psalter, Psalm 89. This time, verse 27 of the Psalm.
[17:34] Psalm 89, verse 27. It's on page 347. Psalm 89, verse 27. We can sing down to verse 34.
[17:47] I'll make him my firstborn, more high than kings of any land. My love I'll ever keep for him, my covenant fast shall stand. His seed I buy, my power will make forever to endure, and as of the days of heaven his throne shall stable be and sure.
[18:07] Psalm 89, 27 to 34. To God's praise. I'll make him my firstborn, for most high, the kings of any land.
[18:30] Father, their kingdom, have! God's love that regenerate for him, King, mine is forever to live Like a nun, false child, sound This thing I find, my love will be Forever new and new A gospel in its heart and its throat Shall still be not sure But if this children shall foresee
[19:36] My lost and hope are still And in my innocence shall not know But wonder of my will With my lost and hope With my lost and hope With my home and new hands I will still live there I will still be not sure
[20:36] My lost and hope are still His trembling ear.
[21:10] O great, O change, for with my love I see.
[21:26] Let's turn back to the chapter we had, Gospel According to Matthew, chapter 1. As we said, we can just take the first verse.
[21:39] We're looking at the section from verse 1 down to verse 17, but just taking the first verse tells us the very purpose of the book of Matthew, the purpose of this section at least.
[21:51] The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham, and so on. As we said over the next three Lord's Days, all being well, we hope to take three different aspects of the incarnation, of God being born of human flesh, of Jesus entering into the world.
[22:15] Looking today, just briefly, at this long list, this long list of names, and perhaps some names jump out at us, but being honest and being truthful, as we read these long lists of names, I don't want to speak for you, but at times I find myself, I don't want to say tuning out, but I think, well, if they're just names, what do these names mean to me?
[22:40] Well, every one of these names is important. And we'll see later on, hopefully, that every one of these names has real importance. Now, there's a whole series here going through every one of these names, and I'm sure there's time for that one year.
[22:54] But just today, we'll take just four names. And we'll take four of the five women mentioned in this list. Now, the fifth woman, we'll come back to her, the first woman, I should say, Tamar, we'll come back to her another day.
[23:11] She features, hopefully, the Lord's help in next year, in a series next year. So we'll come back to her. But just today, looking at these four women we find here, and we see four women, who I'd argue personally, who summarize the rest of the list.
[23:28] In these four women, we see the sins, the failures, the successes, the good and the bad, of the rest of the list combined together.
[23:39] It's interesting here, though, in this list, we do see, of course, it's fathored by, fathored by, fathored by, the four women, the five women, Matthew points out, they're there for a reason too.
[23:51] And we'll see later on just how important they are to the story. Friends, as we look together at this family tree of Jesus, we are reminded that the history of Jesus, his people, the ones he came from, they are a mixed bunch, to say the least.
[24:13] If I was to ask you, who are your people, who's your, who's your doing, who's your story, you might list off some of the people in your family history.
[24:24] I'm assuming most of us would give just the highlights, just the good ones. We often miss out the more notorious names, perhaps, that are attached to us in our family history.
[24:36] But that wasn't done for Jesus. The good, the bad, and the very ugly are named in this list of people who are his ancestors. Humanly speaking, the line of generation from the start down to Jesus.
[24:53] And for each of the four women we look at today, we can see why each of these women were so unlikely to be part of the ancestry of the Messiah, but also the reasons these women were gloriously used by God to be glorious examples of the kind of people who Jesus loves.
[25:13] As we see this today, as we see these four women, I want us to look at these women and ask ourselves and think about the fact that God uses the most unlikely people to accomplish his purposes.
[25:27] People we wouldn't choose. You wouldn't want half these people to be in your lineage. You really wouldn't. There are murderers and cheaters and evil men and some pretty not great women either in this list of people.
[25:41] But God uses them. God, through these men and these women, through these sinners, God brings about his purposes.
[25:52] First of all, looking at the first, the second woman we have here, the first one, we're looking at Rahab. Rahab appears in verse 5, end of verse 4, verse 5, the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab.
[26:13] Now, there's no time today to go through all of the accounts of these women and their individual stories. Indeed, Rahab will feature again next year in a series we have coming up, but we'll touch briefly today on Rahab.
[26:24] And most of us, I'm sure, know at least the outlines of the story, you have Rahab the prostitute, Rahab the Gentile. Rahab has spent her whole life doing that side of that type of business.
[26:37] She's a Gentile. She's a pagan. She's a city about to be destroyed, of course, by the Israelites. We all know the basic story. And there she is. Her whole life, she's been there and she's known as being a prostitute.
[26:51] She's known as being a woman who has given her life over to that side of sin. And with that, we are sure, she's a woman, I'm sure, who's faced great trouble, great pain, great misery in herself and in her experience.
[27:06] Probably faced much abuse and much heartbreak, a life of shame, as her whole life surmounts to nothing more than to be used by those who are full of lust and full of evil themselves.
[27:21] A Gentile prostitute living in the walls of a city that are set to be destroyed by God's people. It's interesting that you think Rahab living in the walls.
[27:33] These are walls which, of course, would come down very quickly. Her whole life, she lived in the walls and there's plenty of houses in the walls. It wasn't unusual to have that. It was a good use of space.
[27:45] The outer wall, the inner wall, and there's a space in the middle. Well, shove some people in that space and make use of it. There's a glorious image here. In this city which is about to be destroyed and leveled to the ground, this most unlikely of woman who had no care nor concern for most of her life about who God was, the true God, and about his people, she lived her life of rebellion in these walls.
[28:13] And if it wasn't for God's grace, she would have been destroyed along with the walls themselves. But God knew Rahab.
[28:25] God saw Rahab. When the spies come and she takes them in and she hides them and she lets them go safely when the coast is clear and she then lies for them and protects for their safety.
[28:39] Rahab is a woman who, although she has a sinful situation in her life, although her whole life is dedicated towards sinful actions, she cares enough and she understands enough to know that God is real.
[28:55] The God of the Israelites is a true God and she trusts that he is faithful and honest enough to his word that he will keep her safe. So Rahab, of course, asks the men that she look after them and she asks if only they would ensure her safety and the men promise her safety because the city is destroyed and the walls are destroyed and we know they count there.
[29:17] But in Joshua chapter 6 we then read after the city has been conquered but to the two men who had spied out the land Joshua said go into the prostitute's house and bring out from there the woman and all who belonged to her as you swore to her.
[29:34] So the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her and he brought all her relatives and put them outside the camp of Israel.
[29:50] A completely unlikely candidate to see in the lineage of our saviour this foreign Gentile prostitute but she's saved she's rescued and she and her relatives are brought close to the camp of Israel.
[30:07] Her relatives live outside the camp but they travel with the camp they're still there and we know that well how do we know that? Because we see her name here.
[30:19] Rahab has gone from a foreign temple serving prostitute in a pagan land to now being part of the children of Israel.
[30:30] She now trusts in Yahweh her life is now one of service to him and love for him so much so that she has a child of one of the people of Israel.
[30:41] She is engrafted into the family she is now part of the family there's no shame here this is no secret dealing that took place no she is part of the people she has put her full faith her full hope in Yahweh and because that is true she's been engrafted into the children of God made part of the family and she is the mother of Boaz the mother of Boaz what a beautiful story what a beautiful image our first women were looking at here who would have had no hope would have been destroyed with the hundreds if not thousands of others who were killed that day if it wasn't the care and protection of God from Rahab we have Boaz and Boaz of course who marries Ruth again we come to
[31:46] Ruth Gentile and we see Ruth in Ruth's story and we'll cover Ruth again next year or the year after the Lord's help but in Ruth's story we see that not just a Gentile but also Naomi her mother-in-law actively discourages her from following her back home to Israel she tells her not to come with her we see here as Naomi says to Ruth in Ruth chapter 1 see your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods return after her your sister-in-law but Ruth out of her love for her husband we are sure and her love for her mother-in-law out of her loyalty to Naomi
[32:54] Ruth speaks and we see this glorious section let's read it together Ruth answers back to Naomi saying go home leave me our lives are gone they're destroyed I am miserable the Lord's abandoned me go back to your God go back to your people and Ruth says this Gentile woman says do not urge me to leave you or return from following you from wherever you go I will go where you lodge I will lodge your people will be my people and your God my God where you die I will die and there I will be buried may the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her she said no more and we know the story of Ruth she comes home with Naomi Naomi who feels so abandoned and so uncared for by God and we'll touch on that God willing this evening actually in our other series but we'll see that later on and she feels so hopeless and abandoned and Ruth the Gentile is there this foreign woman who knows nothing of the customs or the
[34:06] God of Israel but she's learning and she's growing and she's slowly becoming part of the community she goes out to the field and she does her work of course where Ruth eventually meets the owner of the field she meets this certain man called Boaz Boaz who of course is the son of a prostitute Rahab Boaz who has no right in being there in himself if it wasn't for his mother being grafted into the tribes of Israel but Boaz was born an Israelite and there he is and he meets this foreign woman of course in time the story unfolds and love grows and Ruth is included into the people of God because of the care and love of God and the care and love of Boaz she is one of God's people one of the area one of the children of Israel and we see at the end of Ruth the glorious reality that Naomi took the child
[35:08] Ruth's child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse and the woman of the neighbouring neighbourhood gave him a name saying a son has been born to Naomi they named him Obed he was the father of Jesse the father of David such was the love of Naomi for her grandson it's almost as if it was her son God took a Gentile woman who had nothing to do with Israel apart from she married a husband who himself was in great sin and even marrying her and God took Ruth and they were part of Israel Rahab before her then Ruth unlikely candidates but God uses so far we've seen a prostitute we've seen a Gentile a foreigner we then see Bathsheba being mentioned here and here well she's not by name you have to be quite careful here but you see down in verse 6
[36:17] David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah the wife of Uriah of course was Bathsheba and again we know the accounts I won't go through it in detail but just to summarise for us as we go through a breakneck speed to these four women Bathsheba why is she unlikely to be part of the lineage of Jesus well there's plenty of reasons plenty of reasons of course of course Bathsheba if you have time this evening it's 2 Samuel 11 you find and 12 you find the story of the account there Bathsheba is spotted by David the cowardly king the rest of the army is going to battle and David should be in battle with them but David decides to stay at home and David stays at home away from the battle and he's at home on his own effectively and he's on a mission it seems David spies on this woman now this woman she is bathing naked on top of her house and often even commentators they'll somehow bring sin to her for doing this she's on top of her house she's there for a reason thinking no one else would see her she's doing a ritual bath she doesn't seem to be any sin the bible seems to give no sin to her for doing that she's doing something that's okay to be doing it's not her fault that David is somehow above somewhere else in a citadel somewhere spying down on her and David spies down this cowardly king who's not going to war for whatever reason it's a whole different sermon series here he's not going to war he's spying down on this woman and
[38:00] David the king then of course orders and the wording is very clear in Samuel he orders he demands really the literal wording is that she be brought to him there is much debate it's not for us today to debate over how much sin was Bathsheba in in this situation but I'll just say just and this is just for myself thinking it loud but it's worth pondering I think how much power did Bathsheba have in his context the king of the land says to you I demand to see you right now I don't know how much power you have in that situation to say no but either way David demands to see Bathsheba either way there is sin there is adultery is committed there is the whole sad situation that of course they sleep together and David then goes about trying to murder effectively does murder
[39:05] Uriah and is complicit at least in the manslaughter of Uriah but it's murder let's be honest to you he ensured his death and of course the child is born the child sadly dies a sad story which should just be a sad incident in David's life it shows us how weak of a man he is how much of a sinner he is and really we might hear nothing else ever again of Bathsheba this woman who was dragged in front of David this woman whose life was destroyed because of lust by King David but no this woman is mentioned again she is seen again we lose the first child a whole sad story but we know that later she has Solomon again 2 Samuel chapter 12 she has Solomon and from that lineage we see the progression of course towards Jesus the David and Bathsheba situation it is complicated it is grim it is just full of sin however you look at it it's bad it's very bad it's a sad situation she's lost her child but now she's a second child and from this second child we see the lineage of
[40:27] Jesus a sad situation but also a sovereign situation God takes this awful sinful sad situation and sovereignly works it together so that Solomon is born and the line continues down towards Jesus we find then of course the final woman mentioned in this section that's Mary herself unmarried Mary why is she an unlikely candidate to be part of Christ's genealogy we know ourselves the story but just to bring it to the fore for us once more Mary's a young woman a very young woman we can say with near confidence she's 17 at the very oldest and that's a high estimate a very high estimate she's 17 at the oldest much likely she's younger than that and that's a custom of the day it's not saying it's right or wrong but it's a custom of the day they married young the life expectancy was different of course and the context was different but either way they married young and here's young
[41:38] Mary who is suddenly now pregnant now we know the story we know that the situation of that those around her certainly would not have believed we are sure a word of it and we know later on they didn't and we'll see that later on again the stories I'm alluding to is next year we're looking at the woman of scripture a woman of the Old Testament and a woman of the New Testament and we'll see in greater detail their stories so I'm not trying to be too deep today because there's time for that but safe to say Mary imagine yourself how hard a life that poor girl had she knows the story and Joseph knows the story and they are faithful and they believe God and they've seen the angel they've seen the words they've heard the words they know what's taking place Mary's visited of course Elizabeth and she knows that whole situation she knows it's true and later on they go to the temple and they meet in the temple that further confirms the story is to be true at the same time
[42:41] Mary is 16 years old 15 years old 17 maybe and she's pregnant and she's not married yet and she's living in a town a small unknown town a tiny area can you imagine the shame can you imagine the stories can you imagine the rumours poor Mary I wonder if we forget sometimes the reality of Mary she's a young girl late teens mid teens more likely betrothed but not married how unlikely a candidate the Messiah would be born from this woman but there's of course great beauty in her story she is a faithful woman she believed God and she trusts in God and regardless of the complicated I'm sure of the shameful situation she faced she believed that God's plan was God's plan also not forgetting that Mary had by her side a faithful almost husband at this point he wanted to be read here a good man a kind man a just man he wanted to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to and he acts as a just man does we then see in Mary's story not just a good man and a faithful woman we also see of course a glorious
[44:11] God who who cared for Mary who kept Mary and we see that our saviour is born from a sinful woman born to Joseph and Mary you see that here and Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary verse 16 of whom Jesus was born who was called Christ briefly and we'll cover this in detail in a few weeks but how come we can say Joseph was Jesus of the line of Joseph because he wasn't he wasn't his blood born child it's a very western view that it's a very western modern view it's very patronising to have that view and to apply that view onto another culture see in the culture of the day and indeed still in the culture especially of this day when you as were adopted a child that child was yours now of course we have that in our own culture plenty of children who are adopted today and people we know who are adopted and they are very much part of the family but as much as we believe that and understand that there was so much more in this day there was no difference there was no adopted children and children it was your child so the second that
[45:34] Joseph agreed to marry Mary and carry on the process Jesus was Joseph's child he was adopted yes perhaps he wasn't his physically literally but he was his and Joseph was his father that's why we can say of certainty that the lineage of Joseph going back to David is the lineage of Jesus we make a separation between perhaps children which were produced and children which are adopted the reality is in this context there's no differentiation that's a modern thing it's a western thing that's our culture it's not their culture for them their child is their child whether adopted or found or naturally born to them there's no difference whatsoever we see poor Mary young Mary faithful Mary in summary in these four women we find unlikely ancestors we find unholy people we find
[46:40] Jews we find Gentiles we find some who are faithful but many who are unfaithful and many who are downright sinful as we come to look at Jesus and the incarnation that gives us hope because Jesus has come to save people who were just like his ancestors friends Jesus has come today to save those who think they are holy but who are unholy those as aware who are Jews those who are Gentiles those who have been part of church context and those who have no church background Jesus has come to save the sinful the faithless the hopeless the evil he has come to save as we see the genealogy of Jesus we are reminded that he is a saviour who takes on the sins of all his people and his people come from a background that is so varied and so strange at times and we think if you ever think to yourself surely the gospel is not for me surely this good news isn't for me then even look back to this passage and look to yourself at some of the names mentioned here and see their stories the most awful bunch of people at times the most strange bunch of people the most odd bunch of people yet
[48:03] God in his wisdom and his love he brought a saviour down the line from them to show us that he is a saviour for them the good the bad and the ugly the miserable the sinful the evil he is a saviour come to save his people and all are welcomed to become part of his family all and it's amazing I will stop into this it's an amazing ability we have and the Christians here will confess that they once had the same ability you'll hear a minister say the gospel is for all people and that word all enters into our minds we take the word all and it's all apart from me how we do that is incredible at times the gospel is for all people that is the gospel message not all will respond guarantee that the gospel goes out each Sunday and in this context friends the gospel is from this side to this side it's for all people if you're here today listening to this the good news is for you whatever caveats you want to add to that in yourself you're creating them for yourselves
[49:25] Jesus' lineage shows God has come to make a saviour for all people all types all sorts all shapes all sizes all backgrounds all stories all personalities all kinds of quirks whatever reasons and excuses we all have you will find them in this list of weird and wonderful characters he has come to save every single type of person those who think we're good those who think we're not those who think we're worthy those who think we're not worthy and so on and so on and so on the gospel is good news to all who hear it and all who respond to it now one thing keeping you from Christ this day is your refusal to come to him and there is deep theology and that and you might say well what about this and what about that once you're saved you can discuss this and that until you are saved nothing else matters of the deep things of God other than the fact do you know Jesus are you responding to the invitation we find even in this lineage of Jesus that he comes from a mixed people because he is to be the saviour of a mixed people and friends we are very much a mixed people that's good news for us and the hope for us is he is able eternally able to save and save to the uttermost all shapes all sizes all conditions all life stories come to him and find in him that he is truly the promised saviour of all who come to him let's bow our heads now a word of prayer
[51:02] Lord we thank you for the good news as a reminder today the good news is that all throughout time you have brought from this list of people generation after generation year after year person after person you have brought them in your perfect planning to being useful parts of that plan to bring about the saviour of your people as we see the personalities and all the variety in that list we come to and we bring before you lord the variety we find even in this building today different stories different circumstances we ask lord you be a saviour to your people even here today that those here today who as of yet haven't come to acknowledge jesus as saviour haven't yet come to understand that he has come to live and to die for his people and that people are made up from all the different groups we have seen today we ask lord this to be the day we hear perhaps the first time from your word that salvation is for them if only they would come and take it for themselves help us lord to go forth in peace just now to go home in safety to spend the rest of this day using it well using it for your glory in rest and reading and discussion and in prayer whatever that form that may take pray for our families and those who we love bring all these things before our glorious living saviour the lord jesus christ amen we can sing together the great words of hope we have in sing sams and sam 40 sing sams sam 40 that's on page 51 we can sing verses five down to verse nine the wonders you have done oh lord how many and how great they are your plans for us are far beyond our power to number or declare you did not ask that calves or goats be brought as sacrifice for sin but you have opened up my ears you did not seek burnt offering psalm 40 verses five to nine to god's praise the wonder you have done oh lord that many hands are great may are your plans for us has is must be oh przyj k okeh
[54:16] God bless you.
[54:46] I declare, Lord, I have come. It's written on me in the school.
[55:05] I want to give you my heart. Your love is in my heart and soul.
[55:25] And the holy dove I was there and so Tower Ofshare. Here does this iron open the road.
[55:46] I live, O sin, my lips have gone.
[55:56] You know all this about me, Lord. In the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, both of you now and forevermore. Amen.