The Gift of Salvation
No matter what our sinful condition,
we should accept total forgiveness
by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ
who lived, died, and rose again
to redeem us from all sin.
Here now is Gene Getz:
The key phrase in this Principle
is "total forgiveness." Total forgiveness.
And it's related to the genealogy of Jesus Christ.
Total forgiveness as it relates
to the genealogy of Jesus Christ.
Now, genealogies can be rather boring.
But when you look a little more in depth
at this genealogy, you see some things
that are absolutely amazing in terms of forgiveness:
why Jesus Christ came into this world.
So, let's take a look at the genealogy of Jesus Christ.
And so, we read right from the very beginning:
The historical record of Jesus Christ,
the Son of David, the son of Abraham.
And what Matthew does here--
it takes us all the way back to Abraham.
And let me just simply say,
Genesis chapter 12 begins
the story of Abraham.
And in some respects, that's where
the story of redemption begins.
God's wonderful plan of redemption.
When he reached down into a pagan world.
Where none was righteous; no not one.
Chose a pagan man by the name of Abram--
later called Abraham--his wife Sarah,
and led them out of their land
into the promised land.
And began to unfold an amazing story of redemption.
We have what we call the Abrahamic covenant,
going back to Genesis chapter 12. Verse 1:
The Lord said to Abraham:
Go out from your land...
He was basically in a pagan land
there in the Mesopotamian valley. He says:
...your relatives, [go away from them,]
and your father's house
to the land that I will show you. ...
That land, of course, was the land of Canaan.
Abraham didn't know where that was.
He may have heard of it, but it's a long ways away.
And he didn't have a Mapsco.
He didn't have a GPS.
He was following the Lord.
God was his GPS. And God said:
I want you to go this way.
And so God continued
the promise. He said:
...I will make you into a great nation...
That great nation, of course--
we know was unknown to Abraham
when he got that promise--was the Jewish nation.
God continued. He said this:
...I will make you into a great nation,
I will bless you, I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
I will curse those who treat you with contempt...
If you know anything about biblical history.
If you know anything about history generally.
You know that that has come true in many situations.
Where God blessed those who blessed [his] people.
But God brought hardship on those who didn't.
Eventually, God's grace extended.
But that's a part of human history.
And it's going to be a part of the future history
in God's prophetic plan.
But notice, he says this:
...all the peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.
That's us. Both Jew and Gentile.
And that we know is a prophecy
regarding Jesus Christ, the Messiah.
And that's why Matthew takes us
all the way back when he says:
The historical record of Jesus Christ,
the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.
So that's the first observation in this genealogy.
It's very significant.
But there's a second observation. In this genealogy,
we encounter at least four women.
And it's very interesting.
There's a question. Why would Jesus
include these four women?
The answer is that it demonstrates
God's grace in a marvelous way.
Because when we look at the character
of these women, God wants us to know--
through these women, these four illustrations--
that his grace and forgiveness
extends to the whole world.
Because some of these women were Gentiles.
They were not Jews.
But they had a Gentile background.
Let me illustrate just with these four women.
We have in Matthew 1:3:
Judah fathered Perez and Zerah by Tamar.
Tamar was involved in an
incestuous relationship with Judah.
That is a sordid story where Tamar
actually feigned to be a prostitute in order
to mother a child through her father-in-law.
And it's a sordid story.
You see, God just lays it all out.
Judah was at fault. She was at fault.
But God zeroes in here in this genealogy on Tamar.
Then we have in Matthew 1:5:
Salmon fathered Boaz by Rahab.
Rahab's a very familiar figure in the Old Testament.
She was a Canaanite prostitute there in Jericho.
But the fact of the matter is,
we have a marvelous story of redemption
right there in the Old Testament
when you read in Joshua how
she had come to faith and believed that God
was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
It's a marvelous story of redemption
of a woman who was a prostitute.
Then we go on.
We have the third woman. Matthew 1:5b:
Boaz fathered Obed by Ruth.
Ruth was a Moabite whose genealogy
began with an incestuous relationship.
And that relationship was Lot.
Who was seduced by his oldest daughter.
Who gave birth to the nation of the Moabites.
Ruth was one of them.
And it's a marvelous story.
You see what God did even in the Old Testament
through Ruth--who eventually married Boaz,
a Jewish man. Then we have Matthew 1: 6b:
[Then] David fathered Solomon by Uriah's wife.
It's interesting that Matthew does not
record here the name of this woman.
But we know it was Bathsheba.
Uriah's wife, Bathsheba, was involved
in an adulterous affair with King David.
Another sordid story, which in reality is worse
in some respects, because David was a man
after God's heart and he knew better.
But in this case, he was seriously responsible.
But Bathsheba, of course,
was responsible as well,
because of this adulterous relationship.
Now why, again, would God record this
in the genealogy of Jesus Christ?
Because it was through this genealogy
that the Messiah came into this world.
In that sense, he identified with the
blood line, in a sense, of these women.
So why does the Holy Spirit list this?
He wants us to know.
God wants us to know
that God forgives all sin--both Jew and Gentile.
And especially through the promise in Jesus Christ.
In fact, some of these women like Rahab,
looked forward to the cross even though they didn't
understand it. God honored their faith
just like he honored Abraham's faith.
And they were made righteous by faith.
We of course, know the end of the story
in the sense of Christ coming into this world
to be the Messiah, and the Savior.
And that of course is Matthew's story.
Now, there's a third observation.
I mentioned Abraham. I mentioned these four women.
But some of the most notorious and evil
kings of Judah are listed in Jesus's genealogy.
Most notorious. For example:
Hezekiah fathered Manasseh.
What do we read in 2nd Kings?
This king, Manasseh, "shed so much innocent blood
that he filled Jerusalem with it
from one end to another."
And yet, Jesus came through the line of Manasseh.
It's an incredible story right here in the
genealogies of God's love and God's redemption.
Not just for the Jews, but for the whole world.
Jews and Gentiles. And that's why we have the
privilege of being here this evening as His children,
understanding through the Spirit of God,
this marvelous, marvelous story
of redemption in Jesus.
So, here's a question for Reflection and Response:
What does the genealogy of Jesus Christ
communicate regarding God's incomparable
and immeasurable grace toward[s] all human beings?
Well, this leads us back to the Principle.
So let me just restate the Principle,
which we began with,
which I call "The Gift of Salvation."
No matter what our sinful condition,
we should accept total forgiveness
by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ who lived,
[who] died, [and who] rose again
to redeem us from all sin.
We know from the Gospels, John particularly said:
He came into His own.
He came into His own people.
He was a Jew.
His own people didn't receive Him.
But to all who received Him--both Jew and Gentile--
to them He gave the power to become sons of God,
to those who believe on His name [Jn 1:12].
And in "believing on His name" simply means
that He's the great I am.
I am. I am. I am.
He is the one who always was.
Without beginning, without end.
We say: I was. I am. I hope to be.
But Jesus Christ said: I am. I am. I am.
Without beginning and without end.
The Savior of the world.