Matthew 1:1-18 - Skip Heitzig

[Music] welcome to expound our weekly worship and verse by verse study of the Bible our goal is to expand your knowledge of the truth of God by explaining the Word of God in a way that is interactive enjoyable and congregational we call this a textual community let's rejoice and learn God's Word in an interactive and enjoyable new way in 1972 a minor burglary took place at the Democratic National Committee in Washington DC and led to the downfall of an American president Charles Colson was one of the most powerful men in the administration of Richard Nixon as special counsel to the president Colson was known as the evil genius and Nixon's hatchet man while a member of the committee to re-elect the president $250,000 was authorized for intelligence gathering against the Democratic Party during the campaign the break-in became known as the Watergate affair and led to Coulson's indictment and guilty plea to Watergate related charges he was disbarred and sentenced to 1 to 3 years in federal prison prior to serving his prison term Colson met with Tom Phillips president of Raytheon Corporation at Phillips home it was there that Phillips introduced Colson to someone who would change his life forever that night Charles Colson the once powerful and now disgraced political insider met Jesus Christ and decided to follow him while in federal prison God impressed upon Coulson the need to reach prisoners with the gospel upon his release Charles Colson founded Prison Fellowship dedicated to transforming the lives of prisoners by reconciling them to God their family and the community through the power and truth of Jesus Christ Matthew was a tax collector living in Capernaum he was wealthy important corrupt and even hated his friends were those who could help him gain more power and more influence Matthew was a Jew but as an agent of the Roman Empire he was an outcast from his cultural and spiritual family while at his post in the tax collection office a man from Nazareth named Jesus walked by he stopped looked directly into the eyes of Matthew and said follow me in that brief exchange Matthew knew at once that what this man had to offer was a far greater value than money or political power he knew that his sins could be forgiven Matthew told his friends about Jesus he wanted them to know the joy that followed forgiveness and that Jesus was the way to have their sins erased like Charles Colson Matthew never looked back bah Louis as expound begins a verse-by-verse journey through the book that the Holy Spirit inspired Mathieu to write we'll learn about the majesty of Christ and hear the perfect words of Jesus as he teaches his followers the ways of God we'll see the plan of God fulfilled in Christ's obedience on the cross and rejoice in his conquest over sin and death welcome to the book of Matthew Father we are so grateful having been able to study through Genesis and through Exodus to now bounce into the New Testament and to read a New Testament book before going back into the old and and seeing how it all ties together Lord I pray that you'd help our minds to retain the information but help our hearts to rejoice in the transformation that will occur because of it father we I especially am so thankful for a body that has been conditioned to loving Scripture and a loving the depth of Scripture and studying it in depth Lord I pray that as we grow together as a body on the same page literally as well as figuratively that we would we would because of our nourishment be good representatives of Jesus Christ in this community it's in his name we pray amen from the Old Testament to the New Testament here's something that is helpful just to frame a timeline the Old Testament the Old Covenant the 39 books from Genesis to Malachi were written over a period of over a thousand years a thousand years plus more history than that is included in those 39 books but it was written in about or over a 1000 year period whereas the New Testament was the events that happened in a single lifetime it's a much shorter period of time than the Old Testament and yet the Old Testament is what anticipates looks forward to and predicts the New Testament the Old Testament is waiting for the fulfillment of all of the promises that it is made especially in Jesus Christ and so to get into the New Testament in the first book we can't wait to piece those things together now here's a little formula that I found is very helpful in the relationship of the Old Testament and the New Testament the new is in the old contained the old is in the new explained once again the new the New Testament is in the Old Testament it's anticipated it's spoken about the new is in the old contained but the Old Testament is in the new explained all that was promised is explained and you're going to read especially in Matthew this was written that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of by the Prophet that's a phrase that is mentioned 16 times in the Gospel of Matthew as the Old Testament is being fulfilled in the New Testament now between the old and the New Testament our 400 years 400 years often called 400 silent years not because nothing happened during those 400 years in fact what I'd like to do for just a few moments is tell you what happened to bring you up to speed because a lot has changed but between the closing of the Old Testament book of Malachi and the opening of the first chapter of the book of Matthew 400 years 400 silent years they're called that because simply God didn't say anything during those 400 years there was no divine revelation given after Malachi there was a pause God pushed the pause button anticipating the forerunner that was one of the last predictions that someone who would represent the Messiah would come on the scene pointing the way to the Messiah and that is John the Baptist so here's the deal when we're in the Old Testament we find out that medo-persia is in charge of the world when we close the Old Testament we open the New Testament suddenly Rome is in charge not only that but the people are speaking a new language the language of the captivity Aramaic the language though that most people in the world are speaking and reading is Greek so a lot has changed how did we get to that point well if you'll remember and you don't have to turn there you'll remember that Daniel was able to translate for Nebuchadnezzar a vision that he saw remember King Nebuchadnezzar saw that huge metallic image that had a head of gold and it had chest and arms of silver and it had a stomach and thighs of bronze and then legs of iron and feet partly of iron and partly of clay and Daniel comes in he goes I know what that's about what you saw Nebuchadnezzar is a succession of world governing empires kingdoms beginning with you Babylon you're the head of gold but after you an inferior kingdom the medo-persian Empire will come and take over and they did and then that's where the Old Testament leaves off the medo-persian Empire allow the Jews to return back from their captivity there was sort of a lag time as people didn't want to build the temple but they were into building their own homes until a couple of prophets come along and say hey is it time for you to build your own homes instead of building the kingdom building God's home in Jerusalem and and more or less that's where the Old Testament stopped but Daniel predicts two more kingdoms that will rule the earth the third kingdom is the kingdom of Greece as history pans out from the New Testament perspective looking back Greece ruled the world under Alexander the Great and then eventually Rome how did it happen well while the medo-persian Empire enjoyed their newly found victory over the Babylonians there was a man over in the West who was able to unite two countries Greece and Macedonia his name was Philip Philip of Macedon he was very sick but he was now the rival Empire in the West against medo-persia in the East to make a long story short philip was assassinated most believed by medo-persians but Philip had a young son named Alex we know him as Alexander the Great when he was growing up his dad Philip didn't really see much hope for him because Alexander was a bookworm he liked to read a lot and he was a kid indoors and not much outdoors so to help him he decided I better give him a good tutor and so a tutor by the name of Aristotle helped young Alexander to become great well when Alexander was 19 years old his dad was assassinated this did something inside of young Alex he decided I'm gonna take vengeance upon my enemies and Alexander the Great took the banner of spreading Greek culture and Greek victory around the world beginning with the medo-persian empire and he conquered them in fact so Swift were his victories that even he himself was surprised within ten years Alexander the Great controlled the entire known world all of it from Egypt to Syria Asia Minor Asia all the way to India he was in charge of when he was 29 years of age he ruled the world and he was bored because there were no more world's for him to conquer two years later he died in Babylon of a drunken stupor he died as a washed-up drunk owned the world controlled the world not happy miserable while he was dying they asked him to whom shall your kingdom go and Alexander said give it to the strong now Alexander had four strong generals one named Cassandra one named Lisa mcus one named Ptolemy and one named Seleucus the kingdom was divided into four sections under those four generals Cassandra got Macedonia and Greece Lusa Micah's took Asia Minor and Thrace Seleucus took Asia including Syria and Ptolemy took Egypt for many years there were rivals within that split Kingdom as to who would be in charge and the main rivalry took place between the kings of the north that's the Seleucid kings the Syrian kings and the kings of the south the Ptolemaic kings the Egyptian kings now if you have a map you now understand the dynamic because sandwiched in between the north of Syria and the south of Egypt is a little country known as Israel so always in their disputes with each other Israel will get the brunt of it they're the ones that are going to be in the crossfire and that's exactly what happened for years and years and years Israel was in the crossfire however there was one notable king of Syria named Antiochus the fourth remember that Antiochus the four Antiochus the fourth gave himself the illustrious name Antiochus or thais Antiochus thais Epiphanius which is I am God manifest in human flesh he had a he had a pride issue he even had coins minted that said he was the victorious illustrious one God who came down to the earth he so hated the Jewish people that they became the subject of his attack he marched on them several times he stopped the sacrifices in the temple at one time it was so dramatic that the Jews called this the abomination of desolation he loved and worshipped the gods Zeus he commanded that a pig be killed on the altar of sacrifice in the outer Court of the temple that the temple be desecrated that all of its holy vessels be taken and seized that circumcision would be stopped and that everyone would worship Zeus horrible period of time and this continued until 165 BC when a group of people down south of Jerusalem in a little tiny village named Modine these group of Hasmonean priests under the leadership of one Matt death ayah said we're not going to worship Zeus and when one of the the League eights one of the the the representatives of the Syrian Empire was their commanding the people of his village to worship Zeus there was pushback by Mattathias and he revolted and it staged a Maccabee in revolt that continued with him and his sons under the leadership of his most famous son judas maccabees you've probably heard of the Maccabee in revolt if you haven't heard of that at least you've heard of Hanukkah right the Jewish holiday that's how it developed eventually they were able in 165 BC to push out the Syrians completely from Jerusalem and start temple worship once again to Yahweh ridding the temple of the false worship to Zeus and as legend says there was only one cruse of oil that would light that golden menorah for one day but miraculously it lasted eight days and that's where Hanukkah or the festival of lights was born so the Hasmonean Jewish revolt they got control back of their city of Jerusalem they they had control of Judah once again and this continues until 63 BC when the Roman Emperor Pompey takes over everything and the Romans marched throughout the known world including Israel including Jerusalem and now once again Judea Jerusalem the Jews are under foreign occupation this time not medo-persia not Greece but Rome just like Daniel predicted the Roman Empire took over the world now something else to fill in the gap the Greek language as proposed by Alexander and then his four generals had become a language that took over the entire world because it was so exact it was so complete with its tenses and its cases and the ability to communicate in such an exact way it became the lingua franca of the world everybody spoke at it was the trade language everywhere it was so important that 72 Hebrew scholars in 285 BC in Alexandria Egypt took the Hebrew Scriptures and translated it into the Greek text it became known as the Septuagint version of the Old Testament and it is that version that is quoted most often in the Old Testament everybody is speaking Greek and the exact language the Greek language becomes what most people speak there's something else the temple that had been rebuilt from the Old Testament times it had fallen because of the Babylonian captivity it was rebuilt under Ezra and Nehemiah and zerubabbel Herod the Great when he is in charge of the area of Judea decides to sort of build a temple on steroids that's the best way I can describe it I mean he took what Solomon did and made it even more grand huge makes the tabernacle look like you don't even want to mention it huge so now you have this enormous temple in Jerusalem and you have an office in Judaism that has never been anywhere in the Old Testament you never read of a synagogue in the Old Testament number once suddenly you come to the new testament and it's the synagogue of the Jews or this synagogue here and this and you had multiple synagogues in the city of Jerusalem along with the temple this synagogue we believe came from the necessity of the Jews in foreign captivity since they had no temple there to devise a way to go through the laws of the Old Testament and meet together so in Babylon they developed a Sunnah go gay in Hebrew synagogue the gathering together the place where you gather together and they would gather together read the scriptures and make comments the rabbi's would say this is what Moses meant and this is how we ought apply it to our lives so now we open the pages of the New Testament Rome is in charge and we know why a temple and the synagogue are present and active and now we know why people are speaking Greek as well as Aramaic and now we know why so all of that brings us up to speed historically for the New Testament now we have the first four books known as Gospels gospel is an English word it's an anglo-saxon word it it originally is called Godspell and Godspell means good news the Greek word euangelion is translated gospel but it means the good news and principally it's the good news about Jesus Christ there are four Gospels this bothers some people I don't know why it it delights me because I'll put it to you this way remember the old movies the old black boy ever to sit down watch an old black-and-white movie in it's like and this camera angle has been on this actor for like ten minutes now good but they like switch to another angle because this is getting like really boring and you compare an old movie with very few rapid technical changes to a new movie or turkey and it's like keeps you going and for people like me with attention deficit disorder that's what I've been told that I have by a few good friends the newer forms of communication are good for me so when you look at the four Gospels it's as if the Holy Spirit is the producer of the film of the life of Jesus and he has four different camera angles the authors of which have a different agenda material is selected and placed in those Gospels specifically to tell a different side of the story of Jesus Christ now the first three Gospels Matthew Mark and Luke are called synoptic Gospels because they follow up a synopsis the same material the same outline the same approach John departs from that approach and writes it completely different but all four of them the three Synoptics as well as the Gospel of John all have a particular emphasis Matthew is emphasizing Jesus as the sovereign the king the Lord the one predicted by the Old Testament mark portrays Jesus as the servant the one doing going out immediately and accomplishing the will of God Luke portrays Jesus as the Son of Man relating to mankind one of us compassionate showing emotion given the title and often repeated in Luke the Son of Man the fourth gospel speaks about the Son of God all four Gospels have a an audience in mind Matthew was written by a Jew for the Jews that's why I mentioned 16 times in this book he will say this was done so that it might be fulfilled what was written by Isaiah or Jeremiah or whatever prophet he is showing the Jewish people this man Jesus fulfilled prophecy it was written to the Jew the Gospel of Mark was written to the Romans to show that Jesus was the perfect servant completely immediately doing the will of his master something a Roman would respect that's why you read so often in the Gospel of Mark the word immediately immediately and and then geez just like it's like a script of somebody busy working fulfilling his master's will Luke was written for the Greeks the Greeks emphasized the perfect man Jesus is seen as the perfect man the son of man John was written really for the whole world for God so loved the world John 3:16 and the idea is that we might believe in him these things were written that we might believe that Jesus is the Son of God now besides having those emphasis they have another kind of emphasis matthew emphasizes what jesus said that's why in the Gospel of Matthew don't be surprised when you read about these great discourses that are covered in depth like the Sermon on the Mount and other ones by Jesus what Jesus spoke is important to Matthew what Jesus did was important to mark so it's a shorter gospel and it's rapidly moving in its pace Luke is emphasizing how Jesus felt he's the son of man he relates to us he shows compassion he has a love for people he reaches out as seen in what he says what he does the miracles he performs but John as we've been studying on Sunday morning it's not really about what Jesus said or about what Jesus did or about how Jesus felt it's really about who Jesus was and that's why he's given the lofty place of deity so that sort of in summary fashion introductory fashion we haven't even gotten to verse 1 helps us understand the Gospels now the title says the Gospel according to Matthew who was Matthew tax collector he worked for the IRS which means everybody hated him in those days people hated the IRS even more can you believe it than they do today here's why Rome occupied the land anybody that would work for the enemy in any kind of social service including collecting their taxes was seen as a sworn enemy considered scum of the earth as low as a prostitute and so you would often have coupled the phrase tax collectors and sinners in the same sentence because they didn't see a difference one was as bad as the other one was the other let me tell you how taxes work they were much less fair than they are today there was such a thing in those days called tax farming and senators or wealthy citizens get this purchased the ability to collect taxes for five years from the central government of Rome over an area so a senator or a wealthy citizen would fork up the money buy the right to farm the taxes and would collect the taxes from the people and and whatever more beyond what was required by Rome they could keep for themselves that's why they were so hated because they knew these tax collectors were sniffing them we're telling them really what was owed and making a profit off off the backs of the working person hence tax collectors were ostracized if not legally officially certainly practically they were kept out of temples that were kept out of synagogues and no wonder I believe when we get to Matthew 9 if that's before the Lord comes back at this rate no wonder in Matthew 9 when Jesus just walks up to Matthew just walks up to her and says Matthew follow me that was enough I mean I used to read then go and he like dropped everything and followed him nobody had spoken a nice word to him in like 10 years let alone a religious person like a rabbi saying I am choosing you to follow me it's like I'm dropping everything I'm with this guy because Jesus invited and paid attention to somebody that no one had any regard for at all but the way we know Matthew was Jewish because his original name was Levi or levy probably from that tribe now we have verse 1 the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the Son of David the son of Abraham the book begins with two words in Greek be Blas Ganassi use the book of the Genesis or the origin or it says here genealogy but it's the book of the Genesis of Jesus Christ the origin of Jesus Christ now what follows are probably not your favorite verses in fact probably most of you don't have any of the genealogy or the names underlined you probably don't say my life verse is like Matthew 1:4 because Matthew 1:4 has all those names that are like how to say that name who cares about that name why our genealogy so important and why do we begin the greatest story ever told with the genealogy it sounds so boring not to a Jewish person it was paramount let me explain that if you had land and you were in a tribe you would want to know your genealogy and past the genealogy on because if you ever had to sell that land and that land could ever be purchased again by a kinsman redeemer a go well you had to prove the genealogy to get the land back and so that the land could within the tribal allotments genealogies were all important number one number two if you were a priest to get this you had to prove your genealogical ladder all the way back to Aaron unbroken unbroken you had to show every single generation from where you are all the way back to Aaron unbroken or you couldn't serve as a priest if a priest were to marry a woman a Levite she had to prove her genealogy for at least five generations when we come to the book of Ezra Nehemiah when they come back from the captivity the priest Ezra the scribe Ezra looks for the genealogical records of some people who come back from Babylon go I'm a priest I'm gonna serve in the temple but they were disbarred from serving because it says their genealogical records were not found you can't find the record you can't prove that you're all the way back to Aaron you do not serve so it was important for land transaction it was important for the priesthood but that makes it all important for the Messiah if you're gonna say this guy is the Messiah the first question is prove it where was he born what tribe does he come from there are predictions made in the Bible of what tribe he's to come from and where he's to be born if you're telling me this one is the Messiah as fulfilled by all of the prophets of the Old Testament I want some genealogical records several years ago a man walked into my office and told me he was Jesus I looked up at him and I said well first of all I was disappointed but I didn't tell him that I looked at him and I said okay what tribe are you from was my first question what's your tribal allotment and he looked at me like I was from the moon yeah he does I don't think even think he answered the question then I said okay let me ask you this question where were you born and he said I was born in Pittsburgh that's when I asked him to leave my office and never come back it wasn't Bethlehem it wasn't the tribe of Judah I knew right off the bat this can't be the Messiah this can't be Jesus interestingly two weeks ago I get a postcard from Jesus well at least you said he was Jesus and he gave me a a website and he said on the front it's not every day that you get a postcard from the returned resurrected Christ and it was handwritten and also it was from the Pennsylvania area I don't know if it was the same guy so this is the book of the genealogy or the genealogical record of Jesus Christ the Son of David the son of Abraham the son of David is a messianic term when you read the son of David it means more than just a descendant of David but it is used in a special term to refer to the anticipated Messiah that was to come that is why when Jesus was out healing people you read it in the Gospels the question was could this be the son of David no they knew he was a descendant of David but in using the term could this be the son of David unmistakeably they meant the one predicted that would rule and reign and bring in the kingdom that son of David cuz this could this be the son of David when Jesus is going to Jerusalem on the way to Jericho the Baker says son of David have mercy on me the Bible closes in revelation 22 with Jesus saying I am the root and the offspring David so the son of David when you read that it's a messianic term he's the son of David or descendant of David and son or descendant of Abraham now we'll read all the way through to verse 17 we're gonna read three sections of fourteen generations forty-two generations are listed from Adam to Christ they're broken up Nimonic Lee that is in three sections of fourteen so there is literary as well as genealogical symmetry now why'd they do that I'm glad you asked they employed these kind of mnemonic devices so you could memorize this you go memorize this yet people memorized their genealogical records in fact today it is very common among African tribes for them to be able to trace their lineage all the way back generation after generation names names names this is before computers this is before typewriters this is before the printing press everything was written by hand on Scrolls and so people memorize things in genealogical records especially this important of a messiah would have been memorized so it's its place in an easy format Abraham begot Isaac Isaac begat Jacob Jacob begat Judah and his brothers Judah begat Perez and zerah by Tamar Perez begat hezron hezron begat RAAM RAAM begat him a minute dab a minute dad begat nahshon nahshon begat Salman that's not salmon it's not a fish Salman begat Boaz by Rahab Boaz begat obed by Ruth Oh bad B got Jesse and Jesse begat David the King David the king begat solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah her name was Bathsheba solomon begat roboam rebo and begat Abijah Abijah begat asa asa begat Jehoshaphat Jehoshaphat begat joram joram begat Isaiah Isaiah begot Jotham Jotham begot a has a has begot Hezekiah I know you on the edge of your seat Hezekiah begot Manasseh Manasseh begot Ammon and begat Josiah Josiah begot Jeconiah I would underline that if I were you and his brothers about the time they were carried away to Babylon and after they were brought to babylon Jeconiah begot she LTL she LTL be God zhirova Belzer overbuilt be gotta buy you to buy or be gotta like him 'like him begat azor azor begat zadok zadok begot him and naheem begat eliud Leu begat eleazar eleazar begat matthan matthan begat Jacob or Yaakov Jacob begat joseph the husband of mary of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ so all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations from David until the captivity in Babylon are fourteen generations from the captivity in Babylon until Christ are fourteen generations so we have that symmetry and we deal with here the three major stages of Jewish history from the patriarchy of Abraham to the monarchy of David that stage one from the monarchy of David to the captivity of Israel that stage two from the captivity of Israel to the Nativity of the Messiah that stage three so all three major stages are covered now what's cool about this and we'll mention a few names there are some pretty great names in this genealogy but there are some surprises in the genealogical record have you ever had a relative or maybe you have one maybe there's a relative somewhere in your family and it's it's the one you don't mention that often it's that weird uncle maybe was in prison for most of his life or just you know would off the deep edge and you just don't bring him up much Jesus had a lot of them in his family tree this is the family tree and there are knots on the family tree some great ones like Abraham and David but some not-so-great ones as we have seen so some of them were just priced to read let me give you a few things because I do believe we have time here's the deal either way we're going to end on time it's just a matter of how much we're gonna cover as I read through this there's just something that it comes to the forefront of my mind it's going to be very obvious but it needs to be underscored the Bible always makes an appeal to history the Bible isn't just a spiritual book apart from the historical record and documentation in which it resides as a context it has a literary it has a historical context the Bible is history the Bible appeals to the facts of history it's not some weird mythological book like the Greeks have about winged horses flying up and then and things that that never existed or don't make sense it appeals to history in fact when it comes to Jesus Christ we're dealing with someone to whom every time we write a check or live a single day we pay tribute to the fact that he divided time from BC to AD no check is valid no document is considered valid unless it bears testimony at the top or at the bottom of the birth of Jesus as soon as you write the date you have attested to the fact that in our calendar we are recording the fact that Jesus split time it appeals to history it also appeals to prophecy Matthew will demonstrate that Jesus was predicted over and over and over again throughout the Old Testament and will appeal to prophecy this was written that it might be fulfilled by the Prophet when I was born nobody predicted my birth there was never a family meeting bust saith Uncle Fred Lou and Agnes will have a son his name shall be skipped no predictions were made it was just another birth but Jesus uniquely 330 times was predicted in the Old Testament think about that number over 300 we think about 330 times now I will say that when my son was born I had people come up and make predictions they would say the Lord spoke to me and told me you're gonna have a girl others came up and said the Lord spoke to me and told me you're gonna have a boy well there's only a 50/50 chance here right it's not like wow big margins 50/50 and some were right and the others we stoned because they were false prophets no I'm just kidding what makes Jesus so unique is the number of predictions that he fulfilled from the Old Testament and some of those predictions were made by or to some of the ones listed in the genealogical record to Abraham for example mentioned in verse 1 God said in you all the families of the earth will be blessed all the families in the earth will be blessed I believe that ultimately is not about the fact that the Jewish people had a lot of Nobel Prizes in their history though they did but ultimately the world would be blessed by bringing forth the most important Jewish person ever and that is the Messiah Jesus that's how the world gets blessed one day he will rule and reign over all - David also mentioned in the genealogical record for you and for your house you will have a kingdom that will endure forever Isaiah said unto us a child is born unto us a son is given the government will be upon his shoulders his name will be called wonderful counselor mighty God Prince of Peace everlasting father upon the throne of David and over his kingdom to order it and establish it from this time forth even forevermore those are just three there are 330 predictions that are made if you can find the book by Peter stoner called science speaks I recommend it to you let me tell you who he was Peter stoner was a mathematician and a astronomer I had to slow down because I didn't want to say astrologer that wouldn't be good for him he was a mathematician and an astronomer and was a professor emeritus at Westmont College in Santa Barbara California stoner was a believer and as a mathematician and understood the science of probability statistic giving he calculated the odds of Jesus Christ fulfilling the predictions made I'll just give you a summary form it's a short little read but it's filled with statistics Peter stoner said the odds of Jesus Christ or for that matter any person in history fulfilling eight not three hundred eight predictions that Jesus fulfilled and he he listed several of them the odds of anybody fulfilling that eight would be one in 10 to the 17th power to illustrate it and you've heard me do this before stoner said you could take the entire state of Texas or as some people in Texas like to say the sovereign nation of Texas and you could fill the state with silver dollars two feet thick if you pre-marked a silver dollar and blindfold at a man and sent him throughout the state of Texas to find the silver dollar you mark the odds would be one in 10 to the 17th power or the odds of one man in history fulfilling only eight predictions then stoner said the odds of Jesus or for that matter any man in history fulfilling sixteen offices would be one intent to the 45th power using silver dollars stoner said with that many silver dollars you could have a ball and this is how big the ball is follow me here the center of the ball to measure from the center of the ball to the outer edge circumference of the ball would be 30 times the present distance of the earth to the Sun that's 93 million miles times 30 that's the measurement from the center to the outside edge that's how many silver dollars you'll need paint one send someone in the ball to find the silver dollar it's the same odds of Jesus fulfilling 16 of those predictions it's a fun little book because then stoner goes on and he says for the odds of Jesus Christ fulfilling not eight not sixteen but I don't know what was a forty eight that was at forty eight prophecies would now be one in ten to the one hundred and fifty seventh power and stoner instead of using silver dollars it's an impossibility to even get that big and visualize that he starts using electrons and can you imagine selecting and choosing an electron so it's just a fascinating what it's called science speaks by Peter stoner was published years ago I have a copy as a mathematician and as somebody who studied probability he showed that the Bible always appeals not only to history but also to prophecy and Matthew does as well several times in this book now go back and notice some of the names Abraham he's mentioned right off the bat he's a man of faith right we read about him but he was also a man of unbelief wasn't 8 twice he lied about his wife being a sister because he didn't trust God David is also mentioned in verse 1 and other verses first King greatest king of Israel man after God's own heart also an adulterer and a murderer and a cover-up artist in verse 2 Jay as mentioned if you remember your Bible you know that he was a classic cheat notice what's named after him Judah Judah was a womanizer as you start going through this I hope you're starting to see a personal connection a personal application do you ever feel because of your own failure I'm not worthy to be in God's family I'm so corrupt I recognize my own sin I try and I fall and I fail I'm just not worthy let me just say you're in great company right here in the genealogical records notice the ones the Bible includes to place in the genealogical records of Christ if you go down to verse 3 you start noticing something very strange for a genealogical record the mention of women in it that never happened four women are mentioned and they're not the greatest women women were not considered worthy enough in those days to be placed in genealogical records only men only males and that's simply because women were regarded this is not a biblical concept it was a customary concept that a woman regarded as the property of her father and eventually the property of her husband and so right off the bat in the Gospel of Matthew we start seeing the door of liberation being opened and it wasn't Gloria Steinem who liberated women was Jesus Christ there women are included in his genealogical record let me tell you how bad it was back then there was a prayer that some pious men would pray daily and it went like this God I thank you that I'm not a slave a Gentile or a woman that's how bad it was they're included here and the first one in verse three is Tamar you remember her from Genesis chapter 38 she dressed up like a prostitute and lured her father-in-law into having sexual relations incest and twins came from that because of that relationship she's mentioned in the record of Christ in verse 5 Rahab is mentioned Rahab the woman who lived in Jericho hid the two spies also called Rahab the harlot she was converted to Yahweh she believed in God after those two spies came and was saved at the Battle of Jericho next in line chapter five or verse five Ruth Ruth is a great gal but not genealogically she was a Moabite as' and Moab was a country that came from an incestuous relationship between lot and his daughters in Deuteronomy 23 it says no Moabite shall enter the congregation of the Lord up into the tenth generation but she was the one who was also converted she said to her mother-in-law after all the men died in that family where you go I will go were you Lodge I will Lodge your people will be my people your God will be my god she becomes the great-grandmother of King David if you look also in verse 6 it says doesn't even mention her name David the king begat solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah that's Bathsheba she was a gal bathing on the rooftop when David looked and looked again and fixed his eyes on her and lusted after her and committed adultery with her and got her husband killed and you know that story the first son of that relationship died the second son was solomon he is included son of David 2nd or 3rd king of Israel if you were a historian going through this genealogical record you go through here and you'd Muse you'd say it's as if somebody ransacked the Old Testament and and tried to find and make the Hall of Shame rather than the Hall of Fame but I love this Jesus the friend of sinners even in this record shows how God throughout history has reached out to different people to make them as friends now we get to verse 18 see if we can finish that verse now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows may I just say in case some of you don't know Christ is not his last name it's his title and yet it would seem some people think it's his last name I remember hearing a person I think it was at a hospital I worked out he yelled out jesus H Christ and I walked up to him and I said excuse me but I don't know if you know this or not but Christ wasn't his last name what I guess I just I got him in min rant and he was upset that I corrected him it wasn't like the Christ family and there was Joseph Christ and Mary Christ and little Jesus and the mailbox read the Christ family his name was yeshua ben yosef jesus the son of Joseph of Nazareth Jesus of Nazareth and he had to be distinguished that way because it was a common name a lot of kids were named Joshua that's Jesus is the equivalent of Joshua Yeshua means Jehovah is salvation Christ is the Greek equivalent Christos of the Old Testament Messiah the Hebrew Messiah or Messiah and by the way the idea of Messiah the word means to rubber to smear and it comes from the inaugurating process of kings and priests when they would pour rub and smear olive oil over a person and so Messiah simply means The Anointed One of God he's the one god anointed to be the savior and ultimately the king he's the Messiah he had been long awaited for generations when he came on the scene and this is how it happened after his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph before they came together she was found with child by 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 showing the relationship of Joseph and I'll tell you why probably next week as I'm looking at the time the relationship in the lineage historically legally of King David because the greater son of Joseph will be his adopted son Jesus 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 you will bring forth a son and he will call his name Jesus you will call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins so 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 will call his name Emmanuel which has translated God with us then Joseph being aroused from sleep did as the angel of the lord commanded him and took him to his wife and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn son and called his name jesus now I wanted to finish the chapter at least technically I could say we cover chapter 1 but there's much more to say let me just sort of bring this to a close by saying that in those days sexual purity was regarded as the highest possible gift a person could give to another person on their wedding day that they had saved themselves for each other so to be found pregnant when she was found pregnant was at least worthy of being ostracized in the very least in the very most she could have been stoned to death as well as the man who did it and here's why every relationship began with an engagement and then followed with a betrothal that's what we're dealing with here the betrothal the engagement began when you were a baby just a little tyke a little lad or a little lass and you may not even know the person you're gonna marry you will meet them later on your parents would tell you you don't choose them your parents will choose them for you parents have friends that have a nice little girl and you have a beautiful little boy and you go she's a cute little girl and we are in this tribe and so let's let's draw up engagement papers now why was that done because it was believed that such a choice as marriage was too important and too delicate to leave to the dictates of one's own heart that the heart is deceitful and wicked and and I know we all want to choose our spouse but I'm not a lot of people that have done that and didn't always work out as well as it perhaps should have so that was the idea let's protect that marriage so engagement started early about a year before the marriage ceremony was the second phase the betrothal it was a legal contract you were legally married during the betrothal we would call that the engagement it's the equivalent of being engaged that's where you get to know each other you talk you share background there are no sexual relations whatsoever the only way to unbind a betrothal is with a legal divorce it was so binding that if the husband or the betrothed man before the wedding date died she was called a virgin who is a widow and that's a phrase you find in Paul's writings a virgin who is a widow that is she's betrothed but they didn't have the wedding day he died Joseph finds out Mary's pregnant he knows he didn't do it he can only assume another man did it he's heartbroken he's crushed but he loves Mary and respects her so much he doesn't want the public shame the public scorn or the stoning and decides I can do it privately and it will protect her at least for a while until she really shows the first several months I can get her situated and then the angel visited and said don't be afraid now we're out of time and we'll talk next week about something very interesting and very crucial very Cardinal in your faith it's called the virgin birth and even though certain scientists will say well you know virgin birth parthenogenesis they call it isn't unusual among some species it's not miraculous and they will show several organisms that can do it never happened before at a human level we'll talk a little bit about biblical parthenogenesis virgin birth next week also something else very interesting there's not one genealogy but there's two genealogies and they're both completely different one is found in Matthew and one is found in Luke and why that is is so crucial because without it without it mankind would be absolutely doomed forever they're just a little teaser until next week let's pray father we thank you we thank you I marvel every time I get a chance to read through the Word of God some new section some section to be refreshed on some portion some verses to dig deep into I marvel at the intricacy of your spirit and superintending the writing of it the prophesies included in it the history that has appealed in the midst of it and Lord we walk away with an even greater respect for the book that we call the Bible the scriptures Father in Heaven we believe ultimately you you wrote it you superintendent it and you meant as the main object of this book to be your son the Lord Jesus Christ we have seen just an even snippet form that the Old Testament the old is in the new or the new is in the old contained and the new the old is in the new explained thank you Lord that we live in a country where it's not illegal to have a portion a copy of the scriptures we know there are countries where people are killed if found with one or if Jesus is mentioned or people are followers of him Lord I pray that we would take advantage and become intense students of the Word of God that we might go out from here and bless our community and bless our nation our world as truth bearers we can choose his name Amen

Channel: Calvary Church with Skip Heitzig

Views: 17,895

Rating: 4.7991633 out of 5

Keywords: Calvary, Albuquerque, Skip, Heitzig, Sermon, Matthew, Calvary Church, genealogy, ancestors, 400 silent years, time between the testaments

Id: _wGHnegjLFk

Length: 63min 18sec (3798 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 11 2018