WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.799 Okay, we're going to go on to begin a new series today. I mentioned this before that 00:00:07.799 --> 00:00:16.640 we're going to work through the book of Matthew right into New Year. I got willing that we'll 00:00:16.640 --> 00:00:23.359 look through the Gospel of Matthew. But leading up to the end of the year in Christmas time, 00:00:23.359 --> 00:00:27.240 we're going to look at the early chapters of Matthew. And so today we're going to be 00:00:27.239 --> 00:00:38.239 looking at Matthew chapter 1 and verses 1 to 17. And see if you... this is a genealogy, 00:00:38.239 --> 00:00:43.640 so it's the genealogy of Jesus. So see how many names you recognize. Lots of difficult 00:00:43.640 --> 00:00:47.679 names. If I get some of the pronunciations wrong, please forgive me. But we're going to 00:00:47.679 --> 00:00:55.840 read verses 1 to 17 of Matthew's Gospel. It's on page 807 of the Q Bible if you have that. 00:00:55.840 --> 00:01:01.720 In the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham, Abraham 00:01:01.720 --> 00:01:07.079 was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and 00:01:07.079 --> 00:01:13.320 his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of 00:01:13.320 --> 00:01:20.080 Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, and Ram the father of Aminadab, and Aminadab the 00:01:20.079 --> 00:01:26.359 father of Nishon, and Nishon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rehab, 00:01:26.359 --> 00:01:31.799 and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father 00:01:31.799 --> 00:01:37.039 of David the king. It's the first section. And then David was the father of Solomon by 00:01:37.039 --> 00:01:42.120 the wife of Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, 00:01:42.120 --> 00:01:47.039 and Abijah the father of Asaph, and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat 00:01:47.040 --> 00:01:52.560 the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzair, and Uzair the father of Jotham, 00:01:52.560 --> 00:01:57.740 and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, and Hezekiah the father 00:01:57.740 --> 00:02:03.480 of Manasseh and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Jesiah and Jesiah the 00:02:03.480 --> 00:02:09.780 father of Jechinaea, and his brothers at the time of the deportation to Babylon, that's 00:02:09.780 --> 00:02:16.800 the second section. And after the deportation to Babylon, Jechinaea was the father of Shealtale, 00:02:16.800 --> 00:02:22.760 And Shaltiel the father of Zerubbabel and Zerubbabel the father of Abihuud and Abihuud 00:02:22.760 --> 00:02:28.040 the father of Eliachim and Eliachim the father of Ezor and Ezor the father of Zedok. 00:02:28.040 --> 00:02:34.439 Zedok the father of Achaem and Achaem the father of Eliod and Eliod the father of Eliezer 00:02:34.439 --> 00:02:41.000 and Eliezer the father of Mathan and Mathan the father of Jacob. 00:02:41.000 --> 00:02:46.520 And Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary of whom Jesus was born who is called 00:02:46.520 --> 00:02:47.600 Christ. 00:02:47.600 --> 00:02:52.280 So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations and from David to 00:02:52.280 --> 00:02:58.000 the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations and from the deportation to Babylon to the 00:02:58.000 --> 00:03:01.760 Christ fourteen generations. 00:03:01.760 --> 00:03:09.040 So this is the Word of God and we give thanks and praise that we have time and freedom to 00:03:09.040 --> 00:03:10.920 read His Word together. 00:03:10.919 --> 00:03:18.159 So there's a series on UK TV called Who Do You Think You Are? 00:03:18.159 --> 00:03:23.439 And it's a series which where celebrities trace their ancestry discovering secrets and 00:03:23.439 --> 00:03:25.159 surprises from their past. 00:03:25.159 --> 00:03:32.039 It's a fascinating program really and I think it's especially fascinating for the celebrity 00:03:32.039 --> 00:03:36.199 who's delving into their own past and into what their life was like. 00:03:36.199 --> 00:03:42.039 Ainsley Harriot is a chef in the UK, he found out that his great-great grandmother was a 00:03:42.039 --> 00:03:43.039 slave. 00:03:43.039 --> 00:03:50.159 Matthew Pincent the great Olympian Roar descends from William the Conqueror and there's a scroll 00:03:50.159 --> 00:03:55.399 at that time which stated that that Norman King was related to surprise, surprise Adam 00:03:55.399 --> 00:03:56.399 and Eve. 00:03:56.399 --> 00:04:00.839 And so the program made the connection that Matthew Pincent was related to God. 00:04:00.839 --> 00:04:03.319 Well, we could have told him that. 00:04:03.319 --> 00:04:06.199 And that's true of course of every one of us. 00:04:06.199 --> 00:04:13.680 So we find that these things are interesting and significant people's past and people's 00:04:13.680 --> 00:04:14.680 genealogy. 00:04:14.680 --> 00:04:20.399 But in sermon preparation we've always been told, you know, in your university class maybe 00:04:20.399 --> 00:04:23.879 or in any presentation, the introduction is really important. 00:04:23.879 --> 00:04:27.839 Make the introduction gripping and convincing and interesting. 00:04:27.839 --> 00:04:34.919 And so here we have at the beginning of Matthew a genealogy, a list of difficult names to pronounce 00:04:34.919 --> 00:04:40.120 that you've probably already drifted away from and is boring and irrelevant. 00:04:40.120 --> 00:04:43.039 Or you think it's boring and irrelevant to have that at the beginning. 00:04:43.039 --> 00:04:48.039 What a start to Matthew's gospel when he's talking about the most important person in 00:04:48.039 --> 00:04:49.159 the universe. 00:04:49.159 --> 00:04:55.159 But the reality is that a genealogy and this genealogy is hugely significant and hugely 00:04:55.159 --> 00:04:57.000 important. 00:04:57.000 --> 00:05:02.680 It's important because we know, every one of us know the origins matter. 00:05:02.680 --> 00:05:04.600 You know, who are you? 00:05:04.600 --> 00:05:06.639 Where do you come from? 00:05:06.639 --> 00:05:10.720 In Scotland and the free church people ask, who are your people? 00:05:10.720 --> 00:05:11.720 Who do you come from? 00:05:11.720 --> 00:05:12.720 Who do you belong to? 00:05:12.720 --> 00:05:18.800 And you know, it was one of the first questions we asked when we meet people in our lives. 00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:23.199 The media, when someone becomes famous, one of the first things the media do is delve into 00:05:23.199 --> 00:05:27.759 their past to find out maybe any skeletons in the cupboard that might be there that they 00:05:27.759 --> 00:05:33.879 can expose and embarrass the celebrity or the famous person with. 00:05:33.879 --> 00:05:38.319 Well, we worship in Jesus' name. 00:05:38.319 --> 00:05:43.240 Jesus is our Lord and Savior and we recognize that He makes huge and significant claims 00:05:43.240 --> 00:05:44.240 in His life. 00:05:44.240 --> 00:05:49.120 And so it's important that we also ask the question, well, who is He? 00:05:49.120 --> 00:05:52.039 What are His origins? 00:05:52.040 --> 00:05:57.200 What He says about us and what He says about Himself, what is it based on and where does 00:05:57.200 --> 00:05:58.879 He come from? 00:05:58.879 --> 00:06:03.879 And it matters, you know, and it matters the promises He makes that they are based on something. 00:06:03.879 --> 00:06:08.640 You know, as I mentioned in the prayer, you know, we're getting bombarded just now with 00:06:08.640 --> 00:06:09.640 promises, aren't we? 00:06:09.640 --> 00:06:16.120 Every time we turn on the television, the Tories and the Labour Party and the SMPs and the 00:06:16.120 --> 00:06:19.840 Greens and the Lib Dems, all of them, they're promising the world. 00:06:19.840 --> 00:06:22.000 They're promising all kinds of things. 00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:24.959 And they're promising that they'll have all the money to do all these things. 00:06:24.959 --> 00:06:30.639 They are empty promises and I'm no politician, but I'm telling you they're empty promises. 00:06:30.639 --> 00:06:35.759 They will very few of them be able to fulfill what they are promising to us. 00:06:35.759 --> 00:06:41.000 And so we lack trust in our politicians because they make these great claims, but we know they 00:06:41.000 --> 00:06:46.519 will not fulfill them, at least some of the most significant ones. 00:06:46.519 --> 00:06:53.639 Now Matthew was written to a Jewish audience, the original readers, the Jews, were learning 00:06:53.639 --> 00:06:57.000 and He wanted them to learn about Jesus. 00:06:57.000 --> 00:07:01.639 And they wanted to know who Jesus was and they wanted to understand. 00:07:01.639 --> 00:07:14.039 If you go forward with me a little bit to Matthew chapter 13 and verse 55, we find that Jesus, 00:07:14.040 --> 00:07:19.680 when He's in His public ministry, goes to Nazareth and when they see Him, they say, 00:07:19.680 --> 00:07:22.319 isn't this the carpenter's son? 00:07:22.319 --> 00:07:28.800 Is not His mother called Mary and are not His brothers James and Joseph and Simon and 00:07:28.800 --> 00:07:31.879 Judas and are not all His sisters with us? 00:07:31.879 --> 00:07:34.879 Where then did this man get all these things? 00:07:34.879 --> 00:07:38.439 And I wonder when Matthew heard that, that he thought, well I'm going to need to put 00:07:38.439 --> 00:07:43.600 a genealogy at the beginning of my gospel so that people understand who Jesus is so that 00:07:43.600 --> 00:07:45.240 they can trust Him. 00:07:45.240 --> 00:07:49.360 Therefore I want just this morning for a short time to look at two things that this genealogy 00:07:49.360 --> 00:07:53.439 teaches us about the living Savior, about Jesus Christ. 00:07:53.439 --> 00:07:59.439 The first is that He's an expected Christ and the second is that He's an unexpected 00:07:59.439 --> 00:08:06.720 Christ, or the unexpected Christ, the expected one and the unexpected one. 00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:11.800 And if we know anything about the Jewish past, the Jewish people, they were a people from 00:08:11.800 --> 00:08:15.240 the Old Testament who were expecting a Messiah. 00:08:15.240 --> 00:08:16.720 They were expecting a Redeemer. 00:08:16.720 --> 00:08:22.960 They were expecting someone to come and redeem them, the great Redeemer. 00:08:22.960 --> 00:08:28.639 And so what you find in this passage, the 18 verses, the beginning of Matthew, is basically 00:08:28.639 --> 00:08:32.519 a name check that goes right through the Old Testament. 00:08:32.519 --> 00:08:38.360 It goes through famous people in the Old Testament because the Old Testament is the 00:08:38.360 --> 00:08:44.680 history of God's revelation to His people about who He is and about what His purposes 00:08:44.680 --> 00:08:47.680 and plans were. 00:08:47.680 --> 00:08:54.159 And it reminds us even in this short section that we have that all of the Old Testament 00:08:54.159 --> 00:08:58.840 and all the names of all the people in the Old Testament are pointing to the fulfillment 00:08:58.840 --> 00:09:05.159 of the promises that were made in the Old Testament to bring a Messiah, to bring a Savior. 00:09:05.159 --> 00:09:12.799 And you see at this point, it all seemed that God's promises had collapsed and failed. 00:09:12.799 --> 00:09:20.799 This was a poor minority people in a land that had been invaded and taken over by the 00:09:20.799 --> 00:09:25.679 Roman Empire and had been scattered all over the place, and it seemed that God's promises 00:09:25.679 --> 00:09:29.079 seemed a million miles away from being fulfilled. 00:09:29.079 --> 00:09:32.439 I will talk about that for a moment. 00:09:32.440 --> 00:09:38.800 So is the expected Christ. 00:09:38.800 --> 00:09:44.760 And this genealogy is a selective genealogy, okay? 00:09:44.760 --> 00:09:50.880 It's very highly stylized and it's formed in a kind of literary way. 00:09:50.880 --> 00:09:57.240 So there's three very distinct groups of fourteen names, which Mark, I kind of pointed 00:09:57.240 --> 00:10:02.240 that out in the reading, the three stages of the Old Testament history, the time really 00:10:02.240 --> 00:10:07.680 three major stages of redemptive history, from Abraham to David, then from David, the 00:10:07.680 --> 00:10:13.519 King to the exile, and then from the exile when the people of God who were disobedient 00:10:13.519 --> 00:10:16.120 were taken into exile to Babylon. 00:10:16.120 --> 00:10:18.560 From the exile then to Jesus coming. 00:10:18.560 --> 00:10:23.000 So there's these three sections and we don't have time, there's lots of interesting little 00:10:23.000 --> 00:10:27.279 things that we could find out and speak about and share from this section, but we don't really 00:10:27.279 --> 00:10:29.080 have time to do it. 00:10:29.080 --> 00:10:34.440 But what we do notice, I'm going to just pick out a couple of names and look at some names 00:10:34.440 --> 00:10:37.040 just to see why it's significant. 00:10:37.040 --> 00:10:44.320 Because what Matthew is doing is setting out the royal and the messianic claims of Jesus. 00:10:44.320 --> 00:10:52.200 And these claims revolve around Jesus being the greater son of Abraham and of David. 00:10:52.200 --> 00:10:55.400 You know, it starts off with a line of Abraham and then it goes on to speak about the line 00:10:55.400 --> 00:10:56.800 of David. 00:10:56.799 --> 00:11:00.159 And they both had promised sons. 00:11:00.159 --> 00:11:06.559 Remember Abraham was an old man and he had a son and this was a son of promise and it 00:11:06.559 --> 00:11:12.479 was a promise that he would inherit the land and great mountain nations would come from 00:11:12.479 --> 00:11:13.479 him. 00:11:13.479 --> 00:11:16.839 It's in Genesis 15.4, I think that is maybe on the screens. 00:11:16.839 --> 00:11:19.159 And behold, the word of the Lord came to it, that's to Abraham. 00:11:19.159 --> 00:11:23.839 This man shall be your heir, your very own son shall be your heir. 00:11:23.839 --> 00:11:26.240 It was Isaac. 00:11:26.240 --> 00:11:33.639 And David also had a promised son and that son was Solomon, that's in Psalm 89. 00:11:33.639 --> 00:11:38.480 And David speaks, I will appoint him to be my firstborn, the most exalted of the kings 00:11:38.480 --> 00:11:39.480 of the earth. 00:11:39.480 --> 00:11:40.960 I will maintain my love for him forever. 00:11:40.960 --> 00:11:42.720 My covenant with him will never fail. 00:11:42.720 --> 00:11:46.879 I will establish his line forever, his throne as long as the heavens endure. 00:11:46.879 --> 00:11:49.039 Great promises to their sons. 00:11:49.039 --> 00:11:51.680 But neither of them really fulfilled these promises. 00:11:51.680 --> 00:11:52.680 Solomon died. 00:11:52.679 --> 00:11:56.719 Isaac's died, they were both failed in many different ways. 00:11:56.719 --> 00:12:04.959 But we also recognize that in the Old Testament what God was saying in terms of these physical 00:12:04.959 --> 00:12:11.439 sons of Abraham and David were to be fulfilled in a greater son that was to come, Jesus Christ 00:12:11.439 --> 00:12:15.519 in Galatians 3 verse 16. 00:12:15.519 --> 00:12:20.240 Paul says, the promises that were spoken to Abraham to his seed, the Scripture does not 00:12:20.240 --> 00:12:27.279 say unto seeds, meaning many people, but unto your seed, meaning one person who is Christ. 00:12:27.279 --> 00:12:32.600 And so there's this link between the sons that were promised to Abraham and to David, 00:12:32.600 --> 00:12:38.680 not finding their fulfillment in history up to that point, but finding their fulfillment 00:12:38.680 --> 00:12:40.759 in Jesus Christ. 00:12:40.759 --> 00:12:45.440 So what Matthew is reminding the Jewish people to whom he first read unto us, that Jesus 00:12:45.440 --> 00:12:52.960 is the coming of the King better than Solomon, coming to establish a kingdom better than the 00:12:52.960 --> 00:12:58.320 promises given to Abraham and to his seed and to the land that he was to be given. 00:12:58.320 --> 00:13:05.160 And we know that both of these promises up to this point, the messianic hopes, had been, 00:13:05.160 --> 00:13:10.480 it seemed to have failed, that God had failed in His promises. 00:13:10.480 --> 00:13:15.879 The kings were just a shambles over a long period of time. 00:13:15.879 --> 00:13:20.080 And also that the land that they had been promised, they were exiled, we'd talk about 00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:24.879 the exile, they'd been exiled from it and they were scrabbling around and it was now, 00:13:24.879 --> 00:13:27.879 it was occupied by the Roman powers. 00:13:27.879 --> 00:13:33.480 God had abandoned them, God had left, they were vassals unto Rome. 00:13:33.480 --> 00:13:41.399 But I think what their reminder to us is that the Old Testament is a preparation for a promise 00:13:41.399 --> 00:13:48.080 that was yet to find fulfillment and found its fulfillment in Jesus Christ. 00:13:48.080 --> 00:13:57.920 In chapter 2 and verse, Matthew chapter 2 and verse 14, it says, when Jesus fled to 00:13:57.920 --> 00:14:02.600 Egypt after he was born, this was fulfilled what the prophet had been spoken by the prophet 00:14:02.600 --> 00:14:07.440 and that's the prophet Hosea out of Egypt, I have called my son. 00:14:07.440 --> 00:14:13.600 And that son is spoken of in Hosea as the greater Israel, as the true Israel. 00:14:13.600 --> 00:14:22.159 And so the coming of Jesus is pointing towards a blessing for all nations. 00:14:22.159 --> 00:14:28.360 The fulfillment and the great promise to Abraham and also in the great commission, go and make 00:14:28.360 --> 00:14:32.519 disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy 00:14:32.519 --> 00:14:33.519 Spirit. 00:14:33.519 --> 00:14:40.039 And it's pointing not only to that but it's pointing to Jesus as the everlasting King, 00:14:40.039 --> 00:14:43.279 King and a Kingdom. 00:14:43.279 --> 00:14:44.759 And that, is that relevant? 00:14:44.759 --> 00:14:48.039 Well, that's all very interesting maybe, but is that relevant? 00:14:48.039 --> 00:14:49.039 Is that relevant to me today? 00:14:49.039 --> 00:14:50.440 Of course it is. 00:14:50.440 --> 00:14:57.399 Of course it is because Jesus comes as God, he comes as God for every person to bring hope 00:14:57.399 --> 00:15:03.439 and salvation, to be the Messiah for every individual and for every individual in every 00:15:03.439 --> 00:15:04.439 nation. 00:15:04.439 --> 00:15:11.840 And he comes and he will return to finally bring fulfillment in the new heavens and the 00:15:11.840 --> 00:15:13.039 new earth. 00:15:13.039 --> 00:15:20.279 His offer then, the offer of Jesus is the offer of the belonging that we crave, belonging 00:15:20.279 --> 00:15:30.600 in the land, belonging with identity who lordship over our lives, the identity and the lordship 00:15:30.600 --> 00:15:31.600 that we need. 00:15:31.600 --> 00:15:34.600 Why is that significant? 00:15:34.600 --> 00:15:40.319 Because sin in our hearts means we are adrift from the living God, that without Christ we 00:15:40.320 --> 00:15:58.360 have a broken identity, without Christ we are people who are autonomous but find that 00:15:58.360 --> 00:16:03.600 desperately disconnecting but yet we can't let go of it. 00:16:03.600 --> 00:16:08.640 We want to be lords in our own lives, yet our lives so often without Christ are in a 00:16:08.639 --> 00:16:12.840 mess because we take authority and we take direction ourselves. 00:16:12.840 --> 00:16:14.840 We want to save the world. 00:16:14.840 --> 00:16:19.519 Rowan was speaking about the book and about the environment and we see that just now. 00:16:19.519 --> 00:16:23.720 We see so many people just wanting, desperately wanting to save the world and the environment 00:16:23.720 --> 00:16:26.199 but we really can't. 00:16:26.199 --> 00:16:27.199 We can't do that. 00:16:27.199 --> 00:16:32.319 We can't save the world, we can't save ourselves, we can't live forever in that great longing 00:16:32.319 --> 00:16:33.319 that we have. 00:16:33.319 --> 00:16:34.879 We can't do that because we die. 00:16:34.879 --> 00:16:40.759 And so we find that in this genealogy Matthew is pointing to Jesus as the only answer to 00:16:40.759 --> 00:16:47.320 every one of our shadowy longings, to every one of our deepest hopes and the answer to 00:16:47.320 --> 00:16:48.960 all of our greatest fears. 00:16:48.960 --> 00:16:57.120 He's utterly and completely and passionately relevant to our everyday lives as human beings 00:16:57.120 --> 00:17:02.600 as that is exposed and explained here in this genealogy. 00:17:02.600 --> 00:17:03.840 So is he expected Christ? 00:17:03.840 --> 00:17:10.880 Then secondly, he's also the unexpected Christ. 00:17:10.880 --> 00:17:12.880 God breathes this genealogy. 00:17:12.880 --> 00:17:14.120 Remember that. 00:17:14.120 --> 00:17:15.360 God breathes this genealogy. 00:17:15.360 --> 00:17:16.880 All of God's Word is God breathed. 00:17:16.880 --> 00:17:18.519 It's His living Word. 00:17:18.519 --> 00:17:23.799 He inspired Matthew to include this dull and boring genealogy this morning that's sending 00:17:23.799 --> 00:17:25.799 you all to sleep. 00:17:25.799 --> 00:17:28.039 Isn't he? 00:17:28.039 --> 00:17:30.360 He does that. 00:17:30.359 --> 00:17:35.799 And every name that's included in this is significant. 00:17:35.799 --> 00:17:36.799 And we don't have time to look at that. 00:17:36.799 --> 00:17:39.359 We've looked at Abraham and David and Jesus Himself. 00:17:39.359 --> 00:17:45.199 But I just want to pick out another five names altogether because the inclusion of these 00:17:45.199 --> 00:17:49.399 five names is highly unusual in a Jewish genealogy. 00:17:49.399 --> 00:17:51.039 Highly unusual. 00:17:51.039 --> 00:17:56.479 But it's also very important because what we are reminding ourselves is not just for 00:17:56.480 --> 00:18:02.759 the inclusion of these five names but also with all the names that Christ is unexpected 00:18:02.759 --> 00:18:06.720 because He comes from a messy line. 00:18:06.720 --> 00:18:11.440 The two giants of the faith, Abraham and David, great men, men of courage, men of grace, men 00:18:11.440 --> 00:18:13.559 of God. 00:18:13.559 --> 00:18:18.880 Hebrews says that Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness. 00:18:18.880 --> 00:18:22.079 The Old Testament speaks about David as a man after God's own heart. 00:18:22.079 --> 00:18:28.639 And Abraham laughed at God's promise of a son and he was deceitful about being married 00:18:28.639 --> 00:18:30.720 to Sarah, being his wife. 00:18:30.720 --> 00:18:33.119 He lacked faith, he was afraid. 00:18:33.119 --> 00:18:38.559 And David, of course, we know he stole another man's wife and covered it up with murder. 00:18:38.559 --> 00:18:44.720 These great pillars of the faith were frail and failed in their own strength and they 00:18:44.720 --> 00:18:46.240 needed a Messiah. 00:18:46.240 --> 00:18:48.799 They needed a helper. 00:18:48.799 --> 00:18:52.759 But there are also five women on this list. 00:18:52.759 --> 00:18:58.039 That would not have been expected in a Jewish genealogy of the day. 00:18:58.039 --> 00:19:02.000 Women would not have been included in that line. 00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:09.359 And therefore it's highly significant that God includes these women in Jesus' genealogical 00:19:09.359 --> 00:19:10.359 line. 00:19:10.359 --> 00:19:17.399 There's Tamar, look up her story in Genesis 38, who acted as a prostitute to trick her 00:19:17.400 --> 00:19:25.240 father-in-law Judah, who had broken promises to her about a future husband. 00:19:25.240 --> 00:19:31.120 And who, when he's exposed for his sin to her, says that she is more righteous than 00:19:31.120 --> 00:19:32.120 I. 00:19:32.120 --> 00:19:38.560 Ruth is the second one who comes from a Moabite people, Moabite line, a people who are incestuous 00:19:38.560 --> 00:19:45.040 and a sexually brutal people, but who she herself came to faith in God and who said 00:19:45.039 --> 00:19:50.960 to Naomi her mother-in-law that, you know, you are, your God will be my God, your people 00:19:50.960 --> 00:19:53.159 will be my people. 00:19:53.159 --> 00:19:58.879 And there's Rahab, the Canaanite prostitute that we looked at her story not that long 00:19:58.879 --> 00:20:09.200 ago, who lived in that hugely brutal and violent and sexually destructive city of Jericho, 00:20:09.200 --> 00:20:14.119 but by faith put her trust and relationship in the living God. 00:20:14.119 --> 00:20:18.479 And Bathsheba, the fourth woman who's actually not even mentioned by name here, but it's 00:20:18.479 --> 00:20:22.559 called Uriah's wife, because that's who she was, because it's just that constant reminder 00:20:22.559 --> 00:20:27.639 that it was Uriah that was killed so that David could have an affair with Bathsheba. 00:20:27.639 --> 00:20:33.959 And the great king that came from them was Solomon. 00:20:33.959 --> 00:20:41.039 And the ignominy of David being exposed as the guilty one, you're the one, said Nathan 00:20:41.039 --> 00:20:45.759 the prophet, you're the one who's done this terrible thing. 00:20:45.759 --> 00:20:55.240 And then Mary, the mother of Jesus, the ignominy of Mary being labeled an immoral slut, a teenage 00:20:55.240 --> 00:21:01.119 unmarried and pregnant in that society, the mother of our Lord. 00:21:01.119 --> 00:21:07.240 So we have, and we could go through all these names, but it's really significant. 00:21:07.240 --> 00:21:15.039 These, these lives are recorded for us, and they are proudly included in the genealogy 00:21:15.039 --> 00:21:20.880 of Jesus, because the genealogy is God's great leveler. 00:21:20.880 --> 00:21:27.200 And it reminded the Jewish, particularly the Jewish religious people of the day, who were 00:21:27.200 --> 00:21:36.839 intensely nationalistic and racist and moralistic, believing in their own goodness, that God's 00:21:36.839 --> 00:21:44.039 line in Jesus Christ was a messy line and was filled with people who needed to be redeemed, 00:21:44.039 --> 00:21:49.519 and women who they had, they would have had no time to include in any part of Scripture 00:21:49.519 --> 00:21:56.919 in many ways other than as reprehensible examples. 00:21:56.919 --> 00:21:58.599 The genealogy is a great leveler. 00:21:58.599 --> 00:22:03.959 It's a great leveler to remind us that we are equally precious to God. 00:22:03.960 --> 00:22:07.279 We are in His genes. 00:22:07.279 --> 00:22:11.600 These people are in Jesus' genes. 00:22:11.600 --> 00:22:17.360 Galatians 3 verse 28 reminds us in a sense what that genealogy is speaking of. 00:22:17.360 --> 00:22:21.759 There's neither dune or Greek, there's neither slave nor free, there's no male or female, 00:22:21.759 --> 00:22:23.200 for you're all one in Jesus Christ. 00:22:23.200 --> 00:22:26.680 Now that's what the genealogy is saying. 00:22:26.680 --> 00:22:30.640 I think I've said this before in Scottish parlance, it would be we're all Jock Tampson's 00:22:30.640 --> 00:22:37.400 Burns, it's a great leveler, we're equally precious to God. 00:22:37.400 --> 00:22:43.240 There's no place, particularly within the Christian church, within the church which has embraced 00:22:43.240 --> 00:22:49.520 and taken Christ as Savioural place for inequality, for racism, for that unrelenting obsession 00:22:49.520 --> 00:22:54.080 with division and with separation and with discrimination. 00:22:54.080 --> 00:23:00.200 The body of Christ, you know, unity is such a significant and important part of our understanding 00:23:00.200 --> 00:23:09.200 of being Christians, that we should display that unity with every fibre of our regenerate 00:23:09.200 --> 00:23:16.080 nature, because our unregenerate nature and its sinful residue fights against unity. 00:23:16.080 --> 00:23:21.559 It wants to be divided, it wants to be separated out, it wants to judge, it wants to be better, 00:23:21.559 --> 00:23:25.680 it wants to say that we earn more favour from God. 00:23:25.680 --> 00:23:32.360 Think how quickly we judge and criticise and polarise and mock and ignore and care less. 00:23:32.360 --> 00:23:38.400 We need to read this genealogy more, because it reminds us of who we are and it reminds 00:23:38.400 --> 00:23:42.680 us that we are sinners saved by grace. 00:23:42.680 --> 00:23:46.320 And maybe you're here today and you don't think you need a Saviour. 00:23:46.320 --> 00:23:48.480 I hope not. 00:23:48.480 --> 00:23:51.200 I hope not. 00:23:51.200 --> 00:23:56.519 Because as long as well as being equally precious to God, we are equally needy of God. 00:23:56.519 --> 00:23:57.920 This is a broken picture. 00:23:57.920 --> 00:24:01.000 You know, it's like that series, Who Do You Think You Are? 00:24:01.000 --> 00:24:07.240 Some of the guys and girls that are on that get really nasty shocks about the kind of, 00:24:07.240 --> 00:24:10.400 the background that they come from, not what they expect. 00:24:10.400 --> 00:24:16.480 And so when we read a genealogy like this, it's like a mirror into our own souls. 00:24:16.480 --> 00:24:18.840 It's like a mirror into who we are. 00:24:18.839 --> 00:24:28.439 You know, we see how the Old Testament faith equates truth and faith with a recognition 00:24:28.439 --> 00:24:31.119 of brokenness, need and failure. 00:24:31.119 --> 00:24:36.519 I don't know how the Jews didn't see that, but I do, because so often I don't see it. 00:24:36.519 --> 00:24:38.720 And we can be self-righteous and proud. 00:24:38.720 --> 00:24:43.439 And don't really think we need, don't need prayer, don't need a Saviour, don't need Jesus, 00:24:43.439 --> 00:24:44.439 don't need these things. 00:24:44.439 --> 00:24:46.480 And we think we're fine, we're okay. 00:24:46.480 --> 00:24:53.599 But this genealogy reminds us that we are a people who are broken who need a Saviour. 00:24:53.599 --> 00:24:59.920 And I think it's interesting, I like to do a study on this, how much of it revolves around 00:24:59.920 --> 00:25:09.120 uncontrolled sexuality, that search in humanity for intimacy, for fulfilment, for pleasure 00:25:09.120 --> 00:25:14.279 and for power in all the wrong ways. 00:25:14.279 --> 00:25:19.920 Taking God's gifts and abusing them, making autonomous decisions about freedom and ending 00:25:19.920 --> 00:25:24.680 up in enslavement and sadness in Missouri. 00:25:24.680 --> 00:25:28.720 So the genealogy is a great leveler. 00:25:28.720 --> 00:25:33.639 And we finish with the last verse of the genealogy. 00:25:33.639 --> 00:25:38.240 And Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called 00:25:38.240 --> 00:25:40.240 the Christ. 00:25:40.240 --> 00:25:45.559 God the eternal Son, born of a virgin. 00:25:45.559 --> 00:25:53.839 We have this as a legal line of Joseph, the father of Jesus, his legal line. 00:25:53.839 --> 00:26:01.279 But it says very specifically that he's, Jacob is the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, 00:26:01.279 --> 00:26:07.319 not the father of Jesus, the husband of Mary, whom Jesus was born, who is called the Christ. 00:26:07.319 --> 00:26:13.919 Jesus breaks into the cycle of human reproduction by the power of the Holy Spirit, entering 00:26:13.919 --> 00:26:20.159 our world, taking on human flesh, being identified with us in our brokenness and our sin, becoming 00:26:20.159 --> 00:26:26.480 one of us, but yet different from us in His perfection. 00:26:26.480 --> 00:26:29.480 And He comes to be our representative. 00:26:29.480 --> 00:26:34.720 He comes to be the one who dies in our place, to redeem us, to beautify us, to bring us 00:26:34.720 --> 00:26:41.240 into His family line, to dignify us so that we become part of His genealogy, and to give 00:26:41.240 --> 00:26:47.920 us that belonging and that purpose and that forgiveness and that healing. 00:26:47.920 --> 00:26:51.960 And that's why it's great to be a Christian, because we are brought into the genealogy of 00:26:51.960 --> 00:26:58.360 Jesus Christ, into His family line, and we become the inheritors of His promise, promise 00:26:58.359 --> 00:27:05.279 of His loving Lordship over our lives, and also of a new heavens and a new earth, the 00:27:05.279 --> 00:27:09.879 land which we will inherit on that last great day. 00:27:09.879 --> 00:27:12.839 What a Savior we have. 00:27:12.839 --> 00:27:18.159 And so the question for us is one of trust. 00:27:18.159 --> 00:27:19.159 That's really what it's all about. 00:27:19.159 --> 00:27:20.159 It's one of trust. 00:27:20.159 --> 00:27:21.159 Do you trust Him? 00:27:21.159 --> 00:27:24.799 I said in that early prayer, do you trust His words? 00:27:24.799 --> 00:27:30.240 Do you only trust Him when they agree with your own thoughts, or with your own will? 00:27:30.240 --> 00:27:34.960 Or do you trust Him when things are happening you don't like, and that aren't an answer 00:27:34.960 --> 00:27:35.960 to your prayer? 00:27:35.960 --> 00:27:36.960 Do you trust Him? 00:27:36.960 --> 00:27:39.839 And do we face up to that that He is worth trusting? 00:27:39.839 --> 00:27:42.399 His promises are being fulfilled. 00:27:42.399 --> 00:27:44.879 Jesus is the great promise of the Old Testament. 00:27:44.879 --> 00:27:46.319 We face up to that, and we live that. 00:27:46.319 --> 00:27:49.720 We live that particularly when things are tough. 00:27:49.720 --> 00:27:55.600 We trust Him that He loves us, that He is our best at heart, and He will take us home 00:27:55.600 --> 00:27:56.600 to be Himself. 00:27:56.600 --> 00:27:58.880 What a great Savior we have. 00:27:58.880 --> 00:28:01.400 Amen. 00:28:01.400 --> 00:28:08.680 Thomas, maybe would you go down for the kids at this point and invite them to come back 00:28:08.680 --> 00:28:09.680 up? 00:28:09.680 --> 00:28:16.839 And I'm going to pray just before we welcome some of our new members today. 00:28:16.839 --> 00:28:17.839 So let's pray. 00:28:17.839 --> 00:28:23.159 Father God, we ask and pray that you would help us today to understand who you are. 00:28:23.159 --> 00:28:27.319 It does seem like an incredibly boring and dull passage, just a list of names, but we 00:28:27.319 --> 00:28:32.439 remind ourselves that it's bedding the person of Jesus Christ in the history that goes before 00:28:32.439 --> 00:28:40.559 Him, and in the promises that lead up to Him, and in the redemptive story that God is telling 00:28:40.559 --> 00:28:43.119 in the Old Testament leading to the person of Jesus. 00:28:43.119 --> 00:28:51.079 We thank You that He didn't just drop from heaven in a kind of random expression, but 00:28:51.079 --> 00:28:59.959 He is the fulfillment of promise, and He is the Messiah who is expected but yet hugely 00:28:59.959 --> 00:29:00.959 unexpected. 00:29:00.959 --> 00:29:07.239 And maybe today there are people here who have expectations of Jesus that aren't right, 00:29:07.239 --> 00:29:12.599 or who have been unexpectedly challenged by Jesus today, and we pray that that might be 00:29:12.599 --> 00:29:18.639 the case, that You'd bless and guide us and speak to us and challenge us from Your living 00:29:18.639 --> 00:29:26.279 word today and that we would know and understand the beauty of who You are, and Your relevance 00:29:26.279 --> 00:29:32.559 to us, and Your power, and the newness that You offer us in Christ, and the Lordship that 00:29:32.559 --> 00:29:40.519 is good for us, the parameters of following You that are good, and that we have been created 00:29:40.519 --> 00:29:42.439 to live within. 00:29:42.440 --> 00:29:46.279 So help us today, God, we pray, and help us as we celebrate the Lord's Supper just to 00:29:46.279 --> 00:29:52.559 enjoy that time together, to know Your presence, for those who are vesting with us that they 00:29:52.559 --> 00:29:58.600 would enjoy the sacrament and the communion together with us, and that Jesus would have 00:29:58.600 --> 00:30:00.360 all the praise and all the glory. 00:30:00.360 --> 00:30:04.200 We ask it in His precious name, amen. 00:30:04.200 --> 00:30:09.200 Now, before we celebrate the Lord's Supper, I'm going to welcome some new members to the 00:30:09.200 --> 00:30:10.200 congregation. 00:30:10.200 --> 00:30:16.440 Do this four times a year now, and we welcome new members, and we have 12 new members to 00:30:16.440 --> 00:30:24.200 welcome today into the congregation, and we ask them a few questions just to kind of seal 00:30:24.200 --> 00:30:29.559 their understanding of membership and ours, and also ask the congregation to a question 00:30:29.559 --> 00:30:32.799 just to remember them in prayers as well. 00:30:32.799 --> 00:30:37.420 So today we've got a lovely mixture of people coming into membership, some are transferring 00:30:37.420 --> 00:30:43.840 membership after being with us for quite a while, others are fairly new to the congregation, 00:30:43.840 --> 00:30:46.080 and some are members for the first time. 00:30:46.080 --> 00:30:50.759 They all love Jesus, and they've all put their trust in Him, they live for Him, and they 00:30:50.759 --> 00:30:58.039 see the important place of the local church in their lives and in God's purpose for His 00:30:58.039 --> 00:30:59.039 people. 00:30:59.039 --> 00:31:06.360 They see that in terms of worship and community and support and friendship, and a place where 00:31:06.359 --> 00:31:14.599 they can learn and serve and be served, a place of spiritual oversight and pastoral care, 00:31:14.599 --> 00:31:21.319 a place of refining faith to live among fellow sinners saved by grace, all travelling towards 00:31:21.319 --> 00:31:22.319 heaven. 00:31:22.319 --> 00:31:29.519 So, I'm just going to introduce them briefly, and we'll put their photo up on the screen 00:31:29.519 --> 00:31:32.679 so you know who they are, because some of you might not know who they are, and then 00:31:32.680 --> 00:31:36.480 after I've done that I'll just ask them to stand up and just, they can all together answer 00:31:36.480 --> 00:31:39.039 the questions in one really. 00:31:39.039 --> 00:31:42.480 So, two are unable to come today, but I'll explain why. 00:31:42.480 --> 00:31:48.279 So, Callum Cameron, who you know, and Callum is a minister in training with us, but after 00:31:48.279 --> 00:31:53.400 a long time he's moving his membership from his previous Presbytery and previous congregation 00:31:53.400 --> 00:31:57.120 in Fentosh to be with us here in Edinburgh. 00:31:57.120 --> 00:32:02.600 Lois Ferguson, who has been worshiping with us for a couple of years, never joined a church, 00:32:02.599 --> 00:32:05.000 and is now joining the church. 00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:09.759 She's a nurse in Edinburgh, and so as a nurse she is working today, and is unable to join 00:32:09.759 --> 00:32:12.279 us sadly. 00:32:12.279 --> 00:32:20.240 James Fowlergill, who moved recently to Edinburgh from Dingwall to work in the city, and we're 00:32:20.240 --> 00:32:25.240 very grateful to have James joining with us in worship. 00:32:25.240 --> 00:32:32.920 We've got George and Sheena Innes, there we go, had a handsome couple coming to worship 00:32:32.920 --> 00:32:36.240 with us from Kirk Liston, that's where they live, and they've supported many churches 00:32:36.240 --> 00:32:39.640 over many years, and they've been believers for many years. 00:32:39.640 --> 00:32:43.839 George travels the country as a lay preacher as well. 00:32:43.839 --> 00:32:50.359 Blythe McKenzie, who is studying in Galashiels, makes the effort of coming up to Edinburgh 00:32:50.359 --> 00:32:55.639 every Sunday for fellowship and to be among God's people and to worship with us. 00:32:55.639 --> 00:32:57.719 Blythe is studying in Galashiels. 00:32:57.719 --> 00:33:05.679 Then we have George McKenzie, who is also a worship with us, who moved from Lewis to 00:33:05.679 --> 00:33:12.599 Edinburgh, having previously visited often with her beloved late husband Ian, who we 00:33:12.599 --> 00:33:18.759 also knew and loved when they came to worship and to be in holiday in Edinburgh. 00:33:18.759 --> 00:33:25.720 Cheryl Morris, who's marriage to David, has brought her to Edinburgh and is a move from 00:33:25.720 --> 00:33:26.720 Cambridge. 00:33:26.720 --> 00:33:35.519 And also Esgrid and Rachel Sycohal, and Esgrid and Rachel, Rachel looking very colourful 00:33:35.519 --> 00:33:36.519 there. 00:33:36.519 --> 00:33:40.200 They study and work in the city, they've been worshiping with us for a while and we're 00:33:40.200 --> 00:33:43.440 delighted they're coming into membership with us. 00:33:43.440 --> 00:33:51.360 And last but certainly not least, John and Becca Watson, who is also working with us, 00:33:51.360 --> 00:33:53.960 recently moved over from Nashville with her family. 00:33:53.960 --> 00:33:56.279 John is a minister in training with us. 00:33:56.279 --> 00:34:01.920 He is at home this morning looking after a sick child, so can't be with us. 00:34:01.920 --> 00:34:10.800 He's preaching tonight, so we're very pleased that Becca is with us and able to join in membership. 00:34:10.800 --> 00:34:12.960 So I'm just going to ask one or two of these questions. 00:34:12.960 --> 00:34:15.880 When I ask all those who are joined, just to stand up. 00:34:15.880 --> 00:34:19.400 You don't need to move from your seats, you're fine, just where you are. 00:34:19.400 --> 00:34:22.240 Spread throughout the congregation, that's what we like to see. 00:34:22.240 --> 00:34:24.480 And just we can all answer together after these questions. 00:34:24.480 --> 00:34:29.159 Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, the only saviour of sinners in whom you put 00:34:29.159 --> 00:34:36.199 your personal trust and hope as a sinner needing forgiveness, grace and spiritual life? 00:34:36.199 --> 00:34:40.440 Do you resolve in prayerful reliance on the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit 00:34:40.440 --> 00:34:43.920 to live as a disciple of Christ? 00:34:43.920 --> 00:34:47.679 Do you promise to support this church family and its worship and work with your gifts and 00:34:47.679 --> 00:34:51.720 graces to the best of your ability? 00:34:51.720 --> 00:34:56.039 And do you submit yourself to the pastoral care, teaching and discipline of the spiritual 00:34:56.039 --> 00:35:00.559 leaders of the church and seek its peace and prosperity as we promise to love and care 00:35:00.559 --> 00:35:01.559 for you? 00:35:01.559 --> 00:35:06.400 Now the congregation, you can all answer this, we do. 00:35:06.400 --> 00:35:10.200 If you're part of the congregation today, if you're visiting, feel free to say we do, 00:35:10.199 --> 00:35:12.119 but it will be a lot to remember. 00:35:12.119 --> 00:35:15.960 Do you promise to pray for our new members, welcome them warmly, love them as part of 00:35:15.960 --> 00:35:21.599 this church family as you've been doing and together help them grow in grace as we all 00:35:21.599 --> 00:35:23.599 seek to do? 00:35:23.599 --> 00:35:24.960 Excellent. 00:35:24.960 --> 00:35:25.960 You may sit. 00:35:25.960 --> 00:35:26.960 Thank you. 00:35:26.960 --> 00:35:30.359 And I'm going to pray for you all now. 00:35:30.359 --> 00:35:35.199 Father God, we ask and pray that you would bless this welcoming of new members into the 00:35:35.199 --> 00:35:36.199 congregation. 00:35:36.199 --> 00:35:41.039 Thank you for it and we pray your blessing on each of them, we know some have been part 00:35:41.039 --> 00:35:44.559 of the congregation for quite a while and some are new to the congregation. 00:35:44.559 --> 00:35:49.759 We pray that you would help us to integrate one another with one another, that we would 00:35:49.759 --> 00:35:56.000 love each other, that we would be patient and gracious and kind, that we would learn 00:35:56.000 --> 00:36:00.119 from each other, that we would support one another and that we would remember that huge 00:36:00.119 --> 00:36:07.199 and significant reality of the unity of the church and the unity of the gospel that so 00:36:07.199 --> 00:36:15.039 often we want to break and divide and yet is crucial to us all being indwelt by the 00:36:15.039 --> 00:36:17.079 Spirit of God. 00:36:17.079 --> 00:36:21.920 So Father, we pray that you'd bless them and bless our time together this morning around 00:36:21.920 --> 00:36:23.239 the Lord's Supper. 00:36:23.239 --> 00:36:29.719 We pray that it would be a time of reflection and a time of blessing for us and we pray 00:36:29.719 --> 00:36:36.159 that you'd bless the bread and the wine that we have taken to be used today in the community. 00:36:36.159 --> 00:36:37.480 We thank you for it. 00:36:37.480 --> 00:36:43.039 We thank you for the symbolic supper that we eat together reminding us of your great 00:36:43.039 --> 00:36:48.399 work, not only of incarnation but especially of atonement on the cross of the death and 00:36:48.399 --> 00:36:54.279 resurrection of Jesus which is crucial and central to us and who we are. 00:36:54.279 --> 00:36:59.519 So we pray that you continue with us and bless us around the table of the Lord at this time 00:36:59.519 --> 00:37:01.840 for we ask in Jesus' name, amen.