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Please turn in your Bibles to 
Matthew chapter one. Matthew one, I'll begin reading 
in verse one, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the 
son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham begot Isaac. Isaac begot 
Jacob and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers. Judah begot Perez 
and Zerah by Tamar. Perez begot Hetzron and Hetzron 
begot Ram. Ram begot Aminadab, Aminadab 
begot Nashon, and Nashon begot Salmon. Salmon begot Boaz by 
Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot 
David the king. David the king begot Solomon 
by her, who had been the wife of Uriah. Solomon begot Rehoboam, 
Rehoboam begot Abijah, and Abijah begot Esau. Asa begot Jehoshaphat, 
Jehoshaphat begot Joram, and Joram begot Uzziah. Uzziah begot 
Jotham, Jotham begot Ahaz, and Ahaz begot Hezekiah. Hezekiah 
begot Manasseh, Manasseh begot Ammon, and Ammon begot Josiah. Josiah begot Jeconiah and his 
brothers about the time they were carried away to Babylon. 
And after they were brought to Babylon, Jeconiah begot Shealtiel, 
and Shealtiel begot Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel begot Abiad, Abiad 
begot Eliakim, and Eliakim begot Azor. Azor begot Zadok, Zadok 
begot Achim, and Achim begot Eliad. Eliad begot Eleazar, Eleazar 
begot Mathan, and Mathan begot Jacob. And Jacob begot Joseph, 
the husband of Mary. of whom was born Jesus, who is 
called Christ. So all the generations from Abraham 
to David are 14 generations. From David until the captivity 
in Babylon are 14 generations. And from the captivity in Babylon 
until the Christ are 14 generations. Now, the birth of Jesus Christ 
was as follows. After his mother Mary was betrothed 
to Joseph, before they came together, She was found with child of the 
Holy Spirit. Then Joseph, her husband, being 
a just man and not wanting to make her a public example, was 
minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought about these 
things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, 
saying, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you, 
marry your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the 
Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a son, 
and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from 
their sins. So all this was done that it 
might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the Lord through the 
prophet, saying, Behold, the virgin shall be with child and 
bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which is translated 
God with us. Then Joseph being aroused from 
sleep did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took 
to him his wife, and did not know her till she had brought 
forth her firstborn son. And he called his name Jesus. 
Amen. Well, let us pray. Father, thank 
you for this account of our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for 
this gospel, according to Matthew, and for what it testifies concerning 
the Savior. We thank you that he saves his 
people from their sins. We thank you that he did not 
come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. God, we 
all confess our sin, our waywardness. We confess, Lord God, that we 
have broken your law, that we have not done those things that 
you command us. And Father, how we praise you 
that we have refuge in Jesus Christ alone. We pray for any 
and all who have come here that do not know Christ as Lord and 
Savior. We pray that your spirit would 
take the word and apply it to their hearts and cause them to 
see their great need and cause them to see an even greater Savior. 
And our Father, I pray for your people that we would marvel at 
the glory of God revealed in this genealogy, who we ask through 
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Well, instead of looking 
at every single name that is listed here in the particular 
genealogy, we'll focus primarily on three things this morning. 
We'll notice the emphasis in the genealogy. Secondly, the 
climax of the genealogy. And thirdly, the summary of the 
genealogy that Matthew gives us. Remember that verse one serves 
as an introduction to the genealogy, but as well to the entirety of 
Matthew's gospel. We learn from verse one that 
this gospel is concerned to demonstrate that Jesus is in fact the Messiah, 
the one whom God promised to send to save his people from 
their sins. Secondly, this gospel demonstrates 
that Jesus is the son of David, the Davidic king, the one who 
would make good the promise of 2 Samuel 7, that God would station 
a king at his right hand to rule and reign forevermore. And then 
thirdly, this gospel is designed to demonstrate that Jesus Christ 
is in fact the son of Abraham, that one to whom the Father, 
God, gave the promise that in him all the nations, yea, all 
the families of the earth would be blessed. We see in Galatians 
3.16 that the promise was made to Abraham and his seed. He does 
not say seeds plural, as to many, but rather singular, he is talking 
about the Lord Jesus. So when we see David mentioned 
here, we ought to think King Christ. When we see Abraham mentioned, 
we ought to see Jesus the fulfiller of the promises of God and the 
surety of a better covenant. Well, let's just jump into this 
genealogy that and look first at the emphasis in the genealogy. We need to notice that Matthew 
does not work for the Palestinian Census Bureau. He's not an agent 
of the state of Israel functioning to do a strict chronology or 
a strict without succession genealogy. Rather, his is a theological 
emphasis rather than a chronological. One commentator mentions that 
the Greek verb translated begot here in the New King James does 
not require immediate relationship, but often means something like 
was the ancestor of or became the progenitor of. There are 
several persons that are missing. There are several people that 
do not fare into this genealogy. As I said, Matthew's goal and 
aim is more theological in nature or more covenantal in nature 
rather than strictly successional or chronological. His relationship 
to Luke's genealogy. If you look at Luke 3 in comparison 
with Matthew 1, you will see a lot of similarities, but you 
will see some differences as well. There's a lot of pages 
written on this particular subject. I'm going to boil it down into 
two sentences. Matthew's emphasis is upon legal 
throne succession, while Luke shows the actual line, or in 
other words, Matthew gives Joseph's legal lineage. Luke is natural 
lineage. He deals with the actual persons. involved physically with Joseph 
line where Matthew is just simply trying to show us the legal succession 
to the throne of David. It comes from David down through 
the various kings of Judah. Joseph is a descendant of him, 
and therefore Jesus Christ has legal right in terms of this 
genealogy. Now, the significance of this 
cannot be underestimated. I already alluded to this idea 
that David, when you take the Hebrew noun or the Hebrew word 
for David and you look at its numerical value is 14. We see 
an illustration of this in the book of Revelation. His is the 
number of a man. It is 666, the number of the 
beast. And what we see there is that 
Hebrew words, when you boiled them down, you could get the 
numerical value. And in the beast or the case 
of the beast, his number is 666. Well, David is 14. David is the 
14th one. mentioned in this genealogy. 
I think what Matthew is trying to direct our attention to is 
that Jesus does come in fulfillment of this covenant made to David. Now, remember the Davidic covenant. 
We'll look at that in more detail in a few moments. But God established 
that unilaterally. There are certain covenants in 
the Old Testament where God and the people join together. Then 
there are those that God establishes unilaterally. And the Davidic 
Covenant is one of those. We see very shortly after David 
and Solomon, there is then a division between the nation or in the 
nation of Israel. You have ten northern tribes 
and you have two southern tribes. You have a divided monarchy. 
You have kings ruling in Israel and you have kings ruling in 
Judah. And these kings ruling in Judah were not godly men, 
all of them. They were, in many respects, wretched men. We'll 
focus on a few of those in just a moment. But God was sure and 
true to his promise. Regardless of what man does, 
God will fulfill his plan of instituting a Davidic king that 
will rule and reign and have dominion from sea to sea forever 
and ever. So the Davidic kings quickly 
demonstrated infidelity to their calling, and yet God did not 
relent with his promise. In fact, you'll see that in the 
books of 1st and 2nd Kings from time to time. When a certain 
king does miserably, it says, yet the Lord carried through 
with his promise to have a son of David on the throne. Now, 
notice in this genealogy, it begins from Abraham to David. It begins from Abraham to David. And again, we're not going to 
spend forever looking at the particular names. I just want 
you to see the pattern that is employed, and then we'll pull 
out a few tidbits sort of along the way. The genealogy begins 
by tracing the line from Abraham to David. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, 
and then Judah and his brothers. I mentioned this last week. It's 
not to suggest that the twelve sons of Jacob are insignificant. It is rather to highlight the 
son Judah. The scepter was given to the 
household or to the tribe of Judah. Remember, if Matthew's 
purpose is to display Jesus as the Davidic king, it makes perfect 
sense that he says Judah and his brothers. Remember, Jesus 
is the lion from the tribe of Judah. It was Judah entrusted 
with the scepter to rule and reign and to function in that 
royal capacity. Following through, we see that 
then it goes to Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Hezron, Ram, Aminadab, 
Nashon, Salmon, Boaz by Rahab, Obed by Ruth, Jesse, and then 
David. And then Matthew picks up from 
David to the exile. The exile was that time when 
God chastened the southern tribes. It's giving you a bit of history 
here. I believe this is very important for you to understand. 
It's very important that you get some of this so that when 
you're reading the New Testament, especially a very Old Testament-ish 
book like Matthew, it'll help you to make sense of it. After 
the division of the monarchy, after the division of the kingdoms, 
there were ten northern to Southern, as I mentioned. The ten Northern 
were judged by God through the superpower of Syria in the eighth 
century BC. And then it was only the tribes 
of Judah continuing on with the king, the Davidic kingdom in 
Judah. Now those people had broken covenant 
and rebelled against God such that He then judged them in the 
6th century BC. At this time it was Babylon who 
was the superpower. And so God sends Nebuchadnezzar 
and the Babylonians in He refers to Nebuchadnezzar as my servant, 
and he sends them in to judge the southern tribes of Judah. 
They then go into exile, or into the captivity. This was a crucial 
event in Israel's history, and this is what Matthew is doing. 
He is showing us from Abraham to David, from David to the exile. Now notice the various kings 
that he mentions. David, Solomon, Rehoboam, Abijah, 
Esau, Jehoshaphat, Joram, and then there's three kings omitted 
here. Why he does that? Commentators speculate, but we 
don't know for certain. They would be Ahaziah, Joash, 
and Amaziah. Now, in that particular time 
frame, there was also a usurper to the throne. Her name was Adaliah. She was a queen, a wretch of 
a queen, but one nonetheless. We'll just sort of leave her 
out altogether. But then picking up, he goes 
on to mention Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Ammon, 
Josiah, Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim are omitted. And then he picks 
up with Jeconiah and his brothers. Jeconiah is Jehoiachin. He was the one that was on the 
throne when Babylon came to town. Now, for a time, his brother 
Zedekiah served in Judah as sort of a caretaker king. It wasn't 
the real deal. But it was Jehoiachin that was 
on the throne when Babylon ultimately rooted and destroyed Judah. So that's the overview. Now, 
just let's think about these kings for a moment, because I 
think it helps us to appreciate something of God's sovereignty. 
Out of 19 kings in Judah, Nineteen kings after the monarchy was 
divided. So, you've got David and then 
Solomon. Jeroboam challenged Rehoboam 
and that was the division of the kingdom. So, from Rehoboam 
down, not counting Adaliah, you had nineteen kings that sat on 
the Davidic throne. Of those nineteen, only seven 
kings of Judah are described as having done what is right. 
So God is not working here with some very polished, wonderful, 
righteous people. This is going to be very evident 
as we continue in the exposition. God sovereignly rules in the 
midst of mayhem, mess and chaos. When all around us appears as 
if it's falling apart, we cannot forget our God is in the heavens. He does whatever he pleases. So that if an ungodly king sits 
on David's throne and plunges the entirety of the nation into 
abysmal, defective, wicked sin, it does not shake God and it 
does not stop his promises. Of those seven who are mentioned 
who have done what is right in the eyes of the Lord, only three 
of them have a favorable comparison with David. Those are Esau, Hezekiah, 
and Josiah. Now, I want you to turn back 
to 2 Samuel 7 for just a moment. I want you to appreciate what 
we are observing here. God the Lord has instituted His 
Davidic King. God, the Lord, overruled the 
history of the world. God, the Lord, overruled the 
history even of wicked men, so that in the fullness of the times 
He could bring forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the 
law, to redeem those under the law. Notice 2 Samuel 7 at verse 
12. When your days are fulfilled 
and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seat after 
you. Now, just to set the context for just a moment. David is sitting 
in his house at this particular time. We must imagine that it 
was a very nice house because he begins to have a bit of conviction. The chapter starts off with David 
basically scratching his head saying, how is it that I'm dwelling 
in such a beautiful house and yet God lives in a tent? It's 
not a good question, right? We ought to think like that more 
often than we do. Why is it that I have everything 
in the world, but I'm such a miserly, greedy, hoarding wretch when 
it comes to God's mission? That's similar to what David 
is doing here. Why do I have all this benefit, 
all this blessing, all this goodness, and yet God is still in a tent, 
still in the tabernacle? David wants to build a house 
for Jehovah. He wants to build a house for 
Yahweh. Now, God would fulfill that, 
but it would be through David's son, Solomon. But for the time 
being, here's what 2 Samuel is all about. David wants to build 
a house for Yahweh. God says, no, David, I'm going 
to build a dynasty out of you. You want to build me a house? 
That's great. We'll get to that under your son. But for now, 
what's important is this dynasty. This dynasty of kings. This house 
for my name. And so that's why he is now telling 
him that these words, verse 12, when your days are fulfilled 
and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after 
you who will come from your body and I will establish his kingdom. 
He shall build a house for my name and I will establish the 
throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father and he shall 
be my son. If he commits iniquity, I will 
chase in him with the rod of men and with the blows of the 
sons of men. But my mercy shall not depart 
from him as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you 
and your house and your kingdom shall be established forever 
before you. Your throne shall be established 
forever. It's a beautiful statement. Matthew 
one answers this. Notice, God says, I will establish 
the throne of his kingdom forever. Notice what he says. He says 
death does not void this promise. He goes on to say that sin does 
not void this promise. He goes on to say that this will 
be an everlasting kingdom. If you read Matthew 1 and the 
emphasis upon David, the emphasis upon the royal son, Jesus, and 
you forget 2 Samuel 7, you're going to be going, what's all 
these various names have to do with anything? But when you see 
son of David and you go back to this Davidic covenant, you 
hear the sure promise of God coming into play, coming into 
fruition. You see, in the announcement 
by Matthew, when he says Messiah is here, David's son is here, 
Abraham's son is here, we ought to worship and praise and glorify 
and honor our God. The church for various generations 
had been singing, come thou long expected Jesus. And we live in 
light of that blessed event. We live in life of that incarnation. We live in life of the fulfillment 
of these promises made by God to his servant David. He says 
that death cannot void it, sin cannot void it, and that it will 
be an everlasting kingdom. That's what Matthew wants us 
to appreciate in his genealogy. And then he goes on to highlight 
exile to Jesus. He mentioned mentions Sheol to 
you, who is who is given to us in First Chronicles three and 
then Zerubbabel, who fares in Ezra, Nehemiah and Haggai. The rest of the men we know nothing 
about. Not that they're unimportant. 
It's not that they're insignificant. It's just that we don't have 
any record of them in our Bibles. Zebiad, Eliakim, Azor, Zadok, 
Akim, Eliad, Eleazar, Matthew, Darmathan, and Jacob. They at 
least made it into Matthew chapter 1. They were part of God's plan 
to see that, in fact, that royal lineage came to Joseph. And then 
he mentions, we need to appreciate that that's what he's doing here. 
He goes from Abraham to David, from David to the exile, and 
then from the exile to the Lord Jesus Christ. And that brings 
us to consider, secondly, the climax of the genealogy. That's 
verse 16. Jacob begot Joseph, the husband 
of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. So the 
legal line is established through Joseph, but notice the physical 
line. It is clearly established, remarkably 
so through Mary alone. The grammar is beautiful. Matthew 
couldn't have made it clearer that Joseph was not a part of 
the physical generation of Jesus. The of whom there refers specifically 
to Mary. It is a feminine relative pronoun. It points directly to her. Notice the change in the tense 
of the verb as well. All these men listed and indicated 
in the genealogy begot, begot, begot, begot. Not so in the case 
of our Lord Jesus, of whom was born passive. Suggestive of a 
different agent. That's what verses 18 to 25 are 
then going to explain. He is like them in the sense 
that he fulfills the role of Davidic king, but he's not like 
them because he's without sin. His origin is from on high. His 
origin comes through the unique agency of the Holy Spirit. Mary and Joseph could not be 
further separated in this particular instance. Again, what Matthew 
is doing is holding before us the Lord Jesus. He is setting 
before us this unique one, this only begotten son, this one in 
whom all the promises of God are yea and amen. Parsons says 
legally, Jesus stands in line to the throne of David. Physically, 
he is born of a woman found to be with child through the Holy 
Spirit. Another commentator says the climax of the genealogy is 
threefold. The coming of the Messiah, the 
woman who bears him, and the sovereign control of God who 
directs the process. He was born. And then verses 
18 to 25, fill that in for us. And God willing, we'll take that 
up next week. But that's the climax. That's 
where this is all going. From Abraham to David. From David 
to the exile. From the exile to Jesus. This 
One who is like David in terms of being the royal son. But He's 
different from David because He's David's Lord. Remember when 
Jesus asked the Pharisees whose son is Messiah, whose son is 
the Christ? And they say, the son of David. What does Jesus then say to them? He says, but why then does David, 
under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he doesn't say inspiration, 
I think that's the meaning, or by the Spirit, he says, call 
him Lord. St. David do this in Psalm 110, 
verse 1. Yahweh said to my Lord, sit at 
my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. You know 
what the Pharisees did? They couldn't answer. Their own scriptures testified 
that he would be divine. Their own scriptures testified 
that he would be unique. They cannot say, oh, there's 
not enough literary merit within the text of Scripture to evidence 
that Jesus is, in fact, God. Oh, yes, there is. It's just 
that you've rejected him. You are God haters. You are rebels 
and you have apostatized. That's the issue. This whole 
genealogy is to set forth Jesus, the son of David, the son of 
Abraham. And that brings us thirdly, to 
consider the summary. Since we've already looked at 
this, we'll just briefly pass over. Verse 17 is the summary. So all the generations from Abraham 
to David are 14 generations. From David until the captivity 
in Babylon are 14 generations. and from the captivity in Babylon 
until the Christ are 14 generations. Again, if you take the Scripture 
and you look at it like a Census Bureau report, you are going 
to be frustrated. Matthew's emphasis is theological. It is Christological. It is covenantal. He is showing that Jesus has 
legal throne succession and he has the right and the prerogatives 
to rule as David's greater son. So that's a brief exposition 
of the genealogy. Let's close by making some observations. First thing we need to notice 
are the women in the genealogy. The women folk. There's some 
interesting women folk in this genealogy. There are five of 
them. Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, 
and Mary. Five women. Different, probably, 
as the day is from the night, but similar in many respects. The first thing I think that 
Matthew wants us to get is that God is not the God of the Jew 
only, but also of the Gentiles. Remember, that will fare large 
in Matthew's Gospel. Since Jesus is the son of Abraham, 
that means that all of the blessings of God will come upon Gentiles 
will come upon the families of the earth. Pastor Kim read that 
in Luke 13. The parallels in Matthew chapter 
8. Jesus is condemning unbelieving Israel. He says, I tell you the 
truth from the east to the west, many will come. They will sit 
with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God is enacting His promises 
to Abraham through Jesus Christ the Lord. Two most certainly 
were Gentiles, Rahab and Ruth. Rahab inhabited Jericho. Ruth 
was a Moabitess. Arguably, Tamar was a Canaanite. Bathsheba is not even by name. She is called here the wife of 
Uriah. What was Uriah? He was a Hittite. So even if she was an Israelite, 
by marriage she had become a Hittite. It's an amazing reality, isn't 
it? These several women demonstrate something of God's saving purposes, 
that it transcends the people of Israel, that it extends to 
the Gentiles also. A second thing that these women 
have in common, again, not every single one of them. Mary wasn't 
a Gentile, but we do see some similarities here. Another thing 
interesting about these several women is that they're sinners. 
They're sinners. Now, don't anyone go from here 
today and say, Pastor Butler says women are sinners. Women 
are sinners. So are men. We'll look at a few 
men in just a moment. But notice these people. I don't 
know who of you use Robert Murray McShane's reading calendar, but 
you just read Genesis 38. It's a very unsavory portion 
of Holy Scripture. Judah commits incest with Tamar. You see, God's not working with 
sterile, righteous instruments. He's working with sinners. And 
even in the midst of that horrible situation, the line is preserved. Spurgeon says, Observe the dash 
of unclean blood which enters the stream through Judah's incest 
with Tamar. Oh, Lord, thou art the sinner's 
friend. When you see Tamar in this genealogy, 
you ought to break out in a good stanza of amazing grace, how 
sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but 
now am found, was blind, but now I see. God used one of the 
most unsavory acts that men can conjure up to keep the seed alive. And then we have Rahab. We don't 
need to explain much about her. We just need to fill in the rest 
of her name. Rahab the harlot. You have Smokey the bear, you 
have Rahab the harlot. It was almost as if at birth 
they gave her honor birth certificate. Rahab, middle name the, last 
name harlot. I doubt her parents actually 
did that, but that's how we know her and understand her. Rahab 
the harlot. Or as Dr. Davis refers to her, 
the shady lady from Jericho. See, when you're reading this, 
you ought to stop for a moment and say, God saved a Rahab. God used a Rahab to be the great, 
great, great, great grandmother of David. He's good. He's gracious. He's merciful. It ought to give us zeal to pray 
for people who preach the gospel to prostitutes. It ought to give 
us zeal to preach the gospel to prostitutes or sex offenders 
or those engaged in all manner of wickedness. Because if God 
could save Rahab the harlot, he can certainly save harlots 
today. You see, you don't want to run 
too fast through these genealogies. We've got Bathsheba. Again, she's 
not mentioned by name. I think what Matthew wants us 
to appreciate here is something about David's sin. Which we'll 
get to in just a moment. She was the wife of Uriah. You 
know what, brethren? She was guilty, too. The text 
of Scripture does not suggest that David raped her. It suggests 
that it was an adulterous affair. And so there are two parties 
willingly engaged in the act of adultery. So as you read through 
this, think about that for a moment. Think about the fact that God 
has had mercy on a Tamar, on a Rahab, on a Bathsheba. Now, that's not to suggest that 
Ruth and Mary were without sin. Contrary to the Roman Catholic 
institution, Mary was a sinner. She needed the Savior. She rejoices 
in God, our Savior, in Luke's account. A third thing that is 
interesting about these ladies Is the providential birth associated 
with at least some of them. Providential birth. It's going 
to help the reader as we get to verses 18 to 25. Right. This is a providential 
birth. It's not generally the case that 
people are virgin born. It's never the case that people 
are virgin born. So, this situation involving 
Judah and Tamar, again, though a gross, horrible thing, nevertheless 
was overruled by God to preserve the specific line. It's already 
mentioned. Rahab herself becomes the great, 
great, great grandmother of David, king of Israel. There's a lot 
of greats in there, but nevertheless, she's connected to David. Ruth 
becomes the great-great grandmother of David. Bathsheba gives birth 
to Solomon, through whom the line continues on. So again, 
a horrible situation involving adultery and murder, yet nevertheless 
is overruled by our God in his providence to bring about a good 
end. So you come to the genealogies 
and you'll see that God does take the crooked and make something 
straight out of them. You know, there are many other 
providential births, just by way of an aside, that we ought 
to remember. The barren women who give birth. 
Sarah was barren, wasn't she? Rebecca took 20 years before 
she was impregnated. Rachel, Mrs. Manoa, never even 
tells us her name. Remember, Manoa is the father 
of Samson. Mrs. Manoa had the womb opened 
by God Most High. Hannah. Remember, godly Hannah 
and first Samuel chapter one. Also, Elizabeth. Right, in Luke 
chapter one. Why do we point that out? Because 
there's a long history of God's providential dealings with reference 
to birth, so that when we get to verses 18 to 25, The believing 
Israelite who had read his Bible faithfully wouldn't be shocked. He would be amazed. He would 
stand in praise. He would worship. But he wouldn't 
be a naturalist rejecting such things as the virgin birth. God 
is in the business of this very sort of thing. So the women in 
the genealogy are quite instructive and for various other reasons. 
But we'll move on to the sinners in the genealogy. Notice that 
lady. Distinguish the women from the sinners. You are sinners. But some of these kings out sinned 
these ladies. David himself. David himself. A man after God's 
own heart. Acted like a thug. Took the wife 
of one of his mighty men. Do you know that later in Chronicles, 
Uriah is identified as one of David's mighty men. This Hittite proselytized over 
into Israel and demonstrated his fidelity to the throne by 
being a mighty man for his king. When David was found out because 
Bathsheba was pregnant, he tried to trip Uriah up, and Uriah expressed 
fidelity over and over and over and over again. You see what 
Matthew is saying? When we get to verse 21, we won't 
be surprised. He will save his people from 
their what? From their sins. Matthew is a 
wonderful storyteller. Matthew is a wonderful foreshadower, 
and this genealogy, if meditated upon and reflected upon, will 
give you a lot to think through in terms of Christ's redemptive 
work. Notice Solomon is mentioned there. How did Solomon end? Not well. I remember being a new Christian. 
Whenever we'd have a visiting preacher come to our church, 
my brother-in-law would you know, if they had a question and answer 
time, this would be his question. He would say, you know, Solomon 
didn't end well. I mean, he sinned grievously. How do we take, then, that Solomon 
wrote much of the Scripture? You know, in his mind, that was 
a bit of a perplexing issue, right? Everybody with me? Everybody following me? Solomon 
wrote the Proverbs. Solomon wrote the Song of Solomon. 
Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes. These are documents given by 
inspiration of the Spirit. It's taken me a long time, but 
as I think through it, I think what God is showing us, or at 
least demonstrating, perhaps by way of an aside, is that the 
value of His Word transcends the character of His people. So that even if Balaam's ass 
is to speak the truth, you need to listen. Even if a man who ends poorly 
has spoken the truth, you need to listen. Doesn't Jesus underscore 
this in his dispute with the Pharisees? They sit in Moses 
throne or sit in Moses seat. You do what they say. You do 
what they tell you. Just don't do what they do. You 
know what, brethren? What abides is not my character 
or yours. What abides is not our faithfulness. What abides is not our life. 
What abides is the word of the living God. And you know, you ask the question, 
if God didn't use sinners, there'd be no one to use. He's got to 
pick up a David. He's got to pick up a Solomon. 
What about Ahaz? Again, just picking out a few 
of these people. Ahab started a new era in wickedness in Israel. We read that he walked in the 
way of the kings of Israel. He was a king of Judah, but he 
was acting like a king of Israel. You see, I mentioned out of those 
19 kings in Judah, there were seven that were described as 
having done what was right in God's sight. There were three 
amongst that subset that were characterized as being like David. 
Israel never had a good king. The northern tribes never had 
a good king. They had famous persons like 
Ahab. was married to Jezebel. Wretched 
people served the throne there. And so when the Kings tells us 
or when the Book of Kings says he walked like the kings of Israel, 
he's telling us something powerful here. He goes on to say, indeed, 
he made his sons or son pass through the fire. That doesn't 
mean that he, you know, put on hot coals and he had a son that 
was able to meditate and sort of walk along these coals. You 
know, like some of these ninja guys or samurai or whoever. You 
know, I've been able to walk through the... It means he killed 
him. He made him pass through the fire and sacrificed to a 
pagan god. Ahaz set the bar even higher 
in terms of wickedness. according to the abominations 
of the nations whom Yahweh had cast out from before the children 
of Israel. And he sacrificed and burned 
incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green 
tree." And then you've got Manasseh, which, if you look at this as 
well, godly parents do not insure godly children. You see sovereign 
grace at work in this arrangement. Hezekiah begot Manasseh. Hezekiah was a good king. Hezekiah, 
for all intents and purposes, was a godly man. But he had a 
Manasseh. And from Manasseh came a Josiah, 
who was a very godly kid. What's the point? Is the point, 
be a bad parent and God will deal with your wickedness? No. 
The point is, seek to be faithful. Strive to be consistent. Use 
the word of God as the means to rear your children. I pray. Jacob, I loved and he saw I hated 
God is sovereign in his arrangement. We read a prayer letter this 
morning of a new church established in the Dominican Republic. They 
took a name that I don't think would be popular here in North 
America. The Chosen in Christ Bible Church. Not great. The Chosen in Christ 
Bible Church. That just doesn't fit in with 
the church names in North America. The Oasis. The Paradox. The Journey. The Good Feeling. They haven't quite developed 
there yet. The Chosen in Christ Bible Church. That's awesome. A Hezekiah can have a Manasseh. 
Conversely, a monastic can have a Josiah. Oh, the depths of the 
wisdom, the riches of God. Who has become his counselor? Who has entered into the seat 
of advising the Almighty? We need to come with Paul after 
exulting in the electing, predestinating power of God. He says, for of 
him, and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory 
forever. I think genealogies like this 
illustrate that point very effectively. Ralph Davis comments concerning 
Manasseh, his 55 years constitute the longest reign of any king 
of Judah or Israel. Yet in them he wiped out Hezekiah's 
reforms, exponentially increased wickedness and exhausted the 
patience of God. Just think about that in your 
daily life. Why is it that God would allow 
and not only allow, if we believe the Bible, decree and purpose 
a Manasseh to serve for 55 years? Why not Hezekiah? Why not Josiah? Why not an Esau? Why would you 
let a wicked, horrible man sit on the throne for 55 years? Psalm 115, verse 3 is something 
that needs to be in our hearts. Our God is in the heavens. He 
does whatever He pleases. If you are not content with that, 
you need to repent. God knows what's right. God has His decree. God is executing it through His 
works of creation, providence, and redemption. Now, I mentioned 
last week, 2 Chronicles 33 tells us that Manasseh repented. Manasseh 
repented. God is gracious. God is good. Why did the author of Kings leave 
that out? I think it was probably to tell 
us too little and too late. As Ralph Davis says, he is demonstrating 
or illustrating that a sudden end of life conversion is not 
the preferable way, but rather a life of faithfulness and perseverance 
and doing the will of God. And then the very exile, the 
fact that verse 12 says, And after they were brought to Babylon, 
That wasn't because God is capricious. God is arbitrary. God says, I 
just want to send them into Babylon. No, they had acted like Babylon. 
They had acted like the Canaanites. They had gone away from the Lord. 
It was an act of judgment. They're going into Babylon, their 
exile bespeaks of corporate sinfulness and wickedness and faithlessness 
to the covenant that God had established. That's what we see 
here. One commentator says, Knox Chamberlain 
says already at the beginning of Matthew. This is beautiful. 
Get this, please listen. We learn that God deals with 
actual people, not ideal ones. He enters into covenant with 
the fallen and the guilty terms applicable to all of Jesus ancestors, 
Mary included. I had an interesting conversation 
the other day. It was at the Bible's permission. I'm looking 
at the Christian books, and a fellow said, if God gave me something, 
I wouldn't break it. I looked at him and I said, what? 
That doesn't normally happen to me, but, you know, I don't 
care. I kind of want to see where he's going with that. He says, 
Moses, Moses, God gave him the Ten Commandments and he broke 
them. And then in a bit of covenantal, 
what I thought ingenuity, I said, well, God's given you those same 
10 commandments and you've broken them. That's not where he was 
going. He was talking about the fact 
that God with his own finger wrote these two tablets, gave 
them to Moses. Moses saw the people engaged 
in idolatry. So he cast those tablets down 
and they break. He says, that's just too outlandish 
for me. I can't accept that. I do not believe that is true. 
There is nobody who would ever take something that God gave 
them and throw it on the ground and destroy it. Now, I suspect 
that most of us, those born again by the Spirit, we run in an opposite 
direction. We run in a different way. We 
would expect men to smooth out narratives. We would expect men 
to hide the nasty details. We would expect men to try to 
cover their heroes so that they look a little bit more heroic, 
wouldn't we? We expect God to tell us 
the truth. We expect God to give us the 
cold, hard facts. as nasty as they may be, as unsavory 
as they may be, as much as they de-heroize our heroes. The fact that this man was lamenting, 
not lamenting, being maybe a wiseacre, saying, well, Moses threw that 
down, I just can't believe that. That is all the reason why we 
ought to believe it. God tells the truth. He gives 
us these unsavory details about these various people so that 
we won't trust in our earthly heroes, but in the divine hero. See, I suspect that why God does 
what he does here is to display and demonstrate that Jesus stands 
head and shoulders above all these earthly men. that in the 
background of wickedness and heinousness and vileness and 
evil, God is working out His plan, imperceptibly at times, 
but always sure, always steady, until we get to this passage 
of Scripture. Until the fullness or in the 
fullness of the time, God sent forth his son born of a woman 
born under the law. We expect Messiah's ancestors 
to be just the sort of persons given us in this genealogy. We expect it because what God 
is doing is telling us you cannot trust in them. You cannot trust 
in you. You cannot put your faith in 
what you perform. You cannot. You must look to 
the one who alone saves his people from their sins. So far from 
these unsavory characters displaying the falsity of God's word, these 
unsavory characters point to the veracity and the truthfulness 
of God who gives us these things so that we will go to the Lord 
Jesus Christ. So, we see the women, we see 
the sinners, and we see sovereignty. If you have missed that, then 
may I suggest you go home and re-read this, re-read 2 Samuel 
chapter 7, go through the various kings that are mentioned, and 
watch. Several times along the way, God highlights His fidelity, 
His faithfulness to the spoken word of 2 Samuel 7, that He would 
install His Holy King on that hill of Zion. that He would, 
in the due time, according to His plan, according to the riches 
of His grace, bring forth Jesus Christ to save His people from 
their sins. Sovereignty is what keeps this 
motley crew together. Sovereignty is what brings Jesus 
forth. Sovereign power is what results, 
or brings forth rather, our salvation. It's not hung on a thread. It's 
not hung on an unsure promise. It is hung on the fact that the 
God of Abraham, the God of David, the God who sends his son Jesus 
into the world, is faithful to his promises. Do not miss the 
sovereignty of God in this. And if you have not believed 
the gospel, I invite you to consider these women and these sinners. I invite you to consider the 
fact that Christ has come to save sinners and that he has 
come to institute a worldwide mission. I love the way Matthew 
ends. Begins with Abraham, ends with 
Abraham, even though he's not mentioned by name. You ought 
to think Abraham when Jesus says, all authority in heaven and on 
earth has been given to me. Go therefore and what? Go therefore 
and what? Make disciples of all the nations. So if you are here this morning 
and you have not believed the gospel, Believe on the Lord Jesus 
Christ, who is the Son of David, who is the Son of Abraham, and 
who saves to the uttermost all who draw near to God through 
him. Well, let us pray. Father, we 
thank you for the Word of God, and we thank you for this genealogy 
and its instruction to us. We thank you that all the parts, 
all the details, coalesce in the coming of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. How we thank you that he is the fulfillment, how we 
thank you that he is the guarantor of all the promises of God, and 
that he is the surety of a better covenant. We just pray that this 
gospel would be proclaimed, that his life, his death, his resurrection 
would be preached in the world, and that a great multitude of 
sinners would believe on him and receive the forgiveness of 
sin and a righteousness that avails with God. We pray that 
for our own meeting here, Lord God. For any and all who do not 
know you, we pray that you'd open their hearts. We pray that 
you would cause them to see their own sin and to see the Savior 
set forth in Matthew's gospel. We pray that by your grace and 
for your glory, they would believe, they would repent, and they would 
have everlasting life. We would ask that you would go 
with us now, Father in heaven. Grant us grace to honor and glorify 
you on this day. Bring us together tonight as 
we reflect again on the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, the 
fact that He has indeed paid it all. And we pray in Jesus' 
name, Amen.