Psalm 33. Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous. Praise befits the upright. Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre. Make melody to Him with the harp of ten strings. Sing to Him a new song. Play skillfully on the strings with loud shouts. For the word of the Lord is upright, and all His work is done in faithfulness. He loves righteousness and justice. The earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord. By the word of the Lord, the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth, all their host. He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap. He puts the deep in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. For He spoke, and it came to be. He commanded, and it stood firm. Amen. Let us turn now in our few Bibles to page 8. Genesis 12, 1-9. This is the calling of Abram, the great father of the faith. Page 8, Genesis 12, verse 1. So is the reading of the holy, inspired, and always preserved for God's people for all generations, the word of the Lord. Now the Lord said to Abram, go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. So Abram went out, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. And Abram took Sarah his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the Oak of Moreh. At that time, the Canaanites were in the land, and the Lord appeared to Abram and said, To your offspring I will give this land. So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent with Bethel on the west, and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord, an Abram journeying on, still going toward the Negev. Thank you for your word, Lord. Bless it to our hearts in the power of your Spirit. Now you may turn in your new Bibles to page 807. We'll be looking at Matthew chapter 1 and the genealogy of Christ. And then we'll be in Matthew for a couple of more weeks when I have opportunity to exhort. So here we are, Matthew 1. Verse 1, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham. This is the Word of God. 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 Amminadab. And Amminadab the father of Nishan. And Nishan the father of Salmon. And Sammon 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 Urim. And Urim 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 Iconia, and his brothers at the time of the deportation to Babylon. And after the deportation to Babylon, Iconia was the father of Shelteel, and Shelteel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel, the father of Abiud, and Abiud, the father of Elakim, and Elakim, the father of Azor, and Azor, the father of Zadok, and Zadok, the father of Akim, and Akim, 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. So all the generations from Abraham to David were 14 generations. And from David to the deportation to Babylon, 14 generations. And from the deportations to Babylon to the Christ, 14 generations. Thus is the reading of the Holy Preserved Word of the Lord. We thank You, Father, for Your Word and Your faithfulness through all these generations that You've shown us, helped us to understand what Your Word has to say through the power of Your Spirit. Amen. In Genesis 3.15, God promised that He would raise up a Savior to redeem His people from their sin. This was the seed, He was called. And the seed would be bruised by the serpent, by Satan, but he would ultimately gain victory for God's people. God is steadfast. His promises are always true. And Matthew gives this genealogy to start his Gospel as a statement showing God's faithfulness to His people through all time. And there are three names especially prominent. Abraham, the father of faith. who also was promised a seed through whom all the nations would be blessed. And King David, the man after God's own heart, who was also promised a seed. And this would be a royal seed. And this seed would continue David's royal line for eternity. And we have our Lord Jesus Christ, the fulfillment. of Abraham's seed and David's seed. And we see the book starts off with the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. And verse 17 ends with, so all the generations from Abraham to David, and from David to Babylon, and from the deportation of Babylon to Christ. So these three names bookend the genealogy. So we're going to take a look at those, and from the start we are shown in this book that Jesus is the Christ. Because Christ is not a name. It's a title. It means anointed one. Messiah. So Matthew is proclaiming this to his readers from the start. That Christ is the Anointed One, the Messiah. He is the seed of David. He fulfills the Davidic line. And ultimately, He's the seed that was promised to Abraham. So, our first point is Abraham is promised a son, Isaac, and he's also promised a seed who will continue throughout eternity. And Abraham, as we read earlier, he was chosen by God to leave his land and go into Canaan, and God promised to bless him. And then later on, he's promised that God will send his seed in chapter 17. We are told that that he will have a child at the age of, well, he was at that time 99 years old, and Sarah was 90. And so he gave to Abraham a promise that he would have a son, a son of promise, and this would be Isaac. Even though they were well advanced in age. In chapter 22 of Genesis, Abraham is further promised. Starting at verse 9, When they came to the place which God had told them, and Abraham built an altar there, and placed the wood in order, and he bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. This is chapter 22 of Genesis, verse 9. Now ten, and Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. So he said, here I am. He said, do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him for now I know that you fear God since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. And Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of the place the Lord will provide. As it is said to this day, in the mouth of the Lord it shall be provided. And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven and said, By myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, you have not withheld your son, your only son. Blessing I will bless you and multiply, and I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven. And as the sand which is on the seashore, your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice." So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to Beersheba. And Abraham dwelt at Beersheba. Here we have Abraham hearing God call him to sacrifice Isaac, and he's faithfully going to the mountain as the Lord has called him to, and builds an altar as Isaac set upon it. And the angel of the Lord speaks out from heaven, and this is the incarnate pre-incarnate Christ speaking to Abraham from the heavens. He calls to Him. And He tells him, no, don't. Just stop now. There's no need for this now. We see that you fear the Lord. We see that you have great faith. And He keeps Abraham from completing the sacrifice. And even more, He says that, I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your Son, your only Son, from Me. That language should sound familiar. That's the foreshadowing of what God the Father would say to Jesus Christ, as He was God's only begotten Son. Or I should say, that's Jesus in John 3.16 when He was with Nicodemus saying He was God's only begotten Son. And so we see that God has spared Abraham's son of promise, Isaac. Yet He will not spare the Son of Promise, Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son. Jesus will be the sacrifice, ultimately, which will save the people from their sins. Furthermore, we see that this great faith that Abraham had, what was it? Abraham believed in God's promise, starting with Isaac. And we know that Abraham trusted in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We know this because of Hebrews 11. When it speaks about this event right here, it tells us that by faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. And he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, and Isaac your seed shall be called. Concluding that God was able to raise him up even from the dead. From which he also received him in a figurative sense. Isaac knew that even if his son were to be sacrificed, he would be raised from the dead. He believed in the resurrection. He believed in the promises of God. He knew that God was faithful. So the angel calls to him a second time and he praises once again Abraham for demonstrating his faith. restates the previous promises that he's made to Abraham, and he speaks to him saying, In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed my voice. He speaks of the seed which is going to be Jesus Christ Himself. all the nations we blessed through Abraham. And that is the very beginning of our genealogy in Matthew 1. And we see that the same promise is given to Isaac. And then Isaac's son Jacob gets the same promise just a couple chapters later. And so Abraham would have been alive, very likely, to see these promises given to his son and his grandson. What a blessing. What a God we serve. And then we see at the end of Matthew 1 verse 6, the first set of 14, we see The name of David pop up at the end of the first set, and then he begins the second set, and David was the father of Solomon. David's the second prominent name that we see in this genealogy, and he was given a promise by God as well. He's promised a throne and a kingdom. And we read a brief understanding of this in Psalm 89, verses 3-5. I have made a covenant with My chosen. I have sworn to My servant David, Your seed I will establish forever and build up Your throne to all generations in the heavens. We'll praise Your wonders, O Lord, Your faithfulness also in the assembly of the saints. So God makes this promise. He makes this covenant with David. Saul had been rejected because of his sin. And God chose David. Saul was not a man after God's own heart, it was said. But David was a man after God's own heart. God had been working on him. He placed His Spirit upon him. And he was ready. for God to make this promise to him. We read here that His seed will prosper forever. The seed of Abraham has now come through to be the seed of David. And the scope is narrowing. The seed is narrowing from Abraham and all of His sons and grandsons. Now it's coming down through the line of David. And we see that this seed is immediately fulfilled in Matthew chapter 1 because all the rest of the names are descendants of David. Those are all people descended from His royal line. And furthermore, David is promised by the Lord that his throne, his royal throne will continue forever. And this is why, we'll see here, these genealogies are very important. Because as we know, discipline of the Lord upon His people for their sin. And yet, King David's descendants were kept track of in minute detail through these genealogies. The Lord had the people keep track of who the true descendants of David were and also in the priestly line as well. which was essential in fulfilling God's Word, but it would also give the people hope and something to hang on to. They would know that God's promises are true, and then we read that God's faithfulness will be forever remembered. The heavens will praise your wonders, O Lord, your faithfulness in the assembly of the saints that we know in the heavens. He is praised every moment of every day. And here we are in this church today, praising the Lord, calling upon His name, remembering His promises, and understanding who Christ is and what He has done for us. And we see this third listing of names in this genealogy. This demonstrates that even though this list of names followed the deportation to Babylon, that even the faithlessness of God's people and sending them into Babylonian captivity, even this spotlights God's faithfulness to His people and in keeping His promises. He sends His unfaithful people into captivity. And He did this because of the sin of the people, the rejection that they had of Him. And especially that came to a head with the wicked, wicked king Manasseh, whose name is actually in this genealogy. These names don't spare those who... This genealogy doesn't spare those who would cause great embarrassment. Manasseh was the king who even allowed pagan worship in the temple of God, and that's when God said, that's it! You're going to do this in My holy temple? That's it. And yet, we even get word in the Chronicles that Manasseh eventually turned to the Lord. So God's even faithful in Manasseh's life, yet it brought about a kind of a pagan infusion of worship at that time. Great confusion for the people. And shortly after Manasseh's death within a generation, or two, the people were sent off into Babylon, and the Babylonian captivity took place. And the people seeing this genealogy while they're in a foreign land, they would be blessed They would see that God is being faithful. He's been faithful. He will continue to be faithful. And then we had 400 years of silence. From the end of the Old Testament to Matthew 1, God was not speaking through His Word to His people. There was silence. And then our last point is Jesus is the promised seed. He is the King. The fulfillment of the Abrahamic seed and the fulfillment of the Davidic seed. And God breaks His silence and sends His Son. The seed that fulfills everything. God is speaking to His people again. The Word of the God is falling fresh upon His people. And we can follow this from even the seed of Eve in the garden when God promised that after their fall from grace that He would send His seed And even though he would be bruised by Satan at the crucifixion, that the seed Jesus Christ would crush Satan's head at his resurrection. Jesus is the Anointed One, the Messiah they've been waiting for. They would read verse 16 and see Jesus was born. who is called Christ the Messiah. This would give the people great hope. And Jesus is that fulfillment of the seed promised to Abraham. The seed of salvation for all nations. And we'll go on to read that Jesus had a supernatural virgin conception. And that was foreshadowed previously in the life of Abraham. 99 years old. I believe he was 100 years old when he had Isaac. And Sarah was barren. It was a supernatural act of God to bring forth Isaac from a dead womb. And now Christ is born to save dead sinners. Born of a virgin. conceived by the Holy Spirit. And the promise given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob for all the nations, that all the nations would be blessed through them is fulfilled as Christ is the Savior to all the nations. To the Jew first and then to the Gentile. And that is us. We are part of that seed now. And then we also know that the King is born. The King of glory, Jesus Christ, the ultimate seed of David. He is the final King. in the line of David. There are no more. We don't see any physical king in Judah right now, in Israel, no. This was fulfilled in Christ. He is the King of kings. The last king necessary. Fulfilling everything that was said of David. There is no temple in Jerusalem. There is no king. There is no sacrificial system. Why is that? Because it's all fulfilled in Christ. Christ is the Israel of God. And we who are in Christ are His seed. The Israel of God. This should give us great hope and love for God. As we see, He keeps His promises. God does. He can and He does keep His promises. He has to. That's who He is. And even though as God's people, we are weak and we sin, And it seems like we make it impossible for promises to be fulfilled because of what we've done, who we are. But God is wise where we are not. And He has always been able to work in and through, around and even over His people as necessary. Just like Abraham, And his sin is well documented. Which would have caused the line of the Messiah to be cut. But God's promise remained true. He kept His promise through Abraham. And David's sin is well, is well documented. But God is faithful. And He worked through David and He worked through others. He worked through a constant state of sin in Israel that caused their rejection and sent them into exile. But God's promises are just that. They are promises and He will be faithful. He can do no other. In Christ's birth and incarnation are the ultimate fruit of this truth. He is the seed first promised to Eve in the garden, and then to Abraham, and then to David. Great is His faithfulness. Now we are of His seed, the church, which Christ purchased with His blood and confirmed with His resurrection from the dead. While Satan bruised Christ's heel at His crucifixion, Jesus crushed Satan's head when He rose from the dead. And now, if we have trusted in Christ, we know that He died for the sins of His people. We trust in Him. We are the stars of the heavens and the sand of the seashore, which God had promised to Abraham. Amen. Thank You, Lord, for Your faithfulness in all things, and you're sending your Son, that the Word would become flesh and dwell among us. We praise you that He came to save His people from their sins, because we all need that salvation. We pray, Lord, that you help us to dwell upon God's promises, His faithfulness to all generations, and give us wisdom to grow in Him through the power of Your Spirit. We pray this in Your Son's name. Amen.