Jesus, the promised seed

As you take your seats, would you open your bibles with me to Matthew Chapter one. Matthew chapter one, If you'll remember, we were traveling through a series of messages titled One Big Story, and the series was about looking at very familiar Old Testament passages and their connection to redemptive history, the way that we could read all of Scripture and see the person and work of Christ and see God's redemptive plan regardless of where we were in scripture. Well, technically we have completed that task. Those ten messages are done. But now we will look at Matthew Chapter one as a sort of culmination of all of that, as we see everything that we have looked at before come to fruition in the Birth of Christ. Matthew Chapter one, we've just had a genealogy, so we'll go down to verse seventeen. So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations. Now, the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way when his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph. Before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit, and her husband, Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, bear, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. And this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. Behold, the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the Angel of the Lord commanded him. He took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son, and she called his name Jesus. We look at this time of year, we are reminded of a number of things, not least of which is the significance of the events about which we just read. The birth of Jesus. It's the most significant birth in the history of mankind. It's split time and half. When you ask someone what year it is assumed in that is AD. It is twoenty and seventeen AD. What is ad anno dominie year of our Lord? No man who has ever been born has ever had the significance of this man and his birth. There are many men whose births we acknowledge. There are men all over the world who are the founders of their particular nation or the most beloved president in their particular nation. They died. Jesus is celebrated when he's born. There are a few whom we celebrate in this way, usually royalty. When royals are born, the world will watch and take notice and acknowledge, although usually angels don't attend amen. But that's just a few individuals, and rare is the individual who is royal and therefore is birth is attended and acknowledged, and also achieved so much in their life that their birth is remembered long after they are gone. But even the individuals whose births we remember, those birthdays we mark, they fade off into history, and eventually there comes a time when there's a generation that doesn't know or remember who the individual was, and if some other famous individual happens to be born on that day, will actually replace the celebration of that person's birth with the celebration of another person's birth, and they will be forgotten. A friend of mine, Mark Deverry, passages a church, Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, d C. And they have a lot of interns who come through the church. And one of the things that he likes to do with individuals there is to walk around because Capitol Hill, it is right there on Capitol Hill, They're right in the middle of everything, and you can walk around just a few blocks within a few blocks of their church, and there are dozens of statues, and he likes to walk around with young people and ask them who's that, And invariably they don't know someone who did something so significant that there is a statue of them in the capital of the most powerful nation on earth, and we don't know who they are. And yet with Jesus, it's not so nearly two thousand years later and his birth is still acknowledged and celebrated. But that is not without controversy or difficulty. And here's the difficulty when it comes to our celebration of the birth of Christ. And I have to say that the last two years living here, the last two holiday seasons living here, have been refreshing because the part of the world that we come from. By this time, you are absolutely overwhelmed with Christmas. It starts around October and it's just endless. Every radio station that you turn on, every television station that you turn on, there are television stations that play nothing but but Christmas movies twenty four hours a day. And after a while, as a Christian, you begin to feel guilty because deep in your soul you start saying, oh Lord, please let Christmas go. I mean, I love Jesus, but please just let's let Christmas be over with. And after it's over because of the huge production, there is often a massive depression that people experience because nothing could possibly live up to the hype. And it is amazing the number of people who not only don't know Jesus, but despise Jesus and yet still celebrate Christmas. Listen to this. This is an article that appeared a few years ago Telegraph in London. A Christmas tree that costs eleven million dollars and is thought to be the most expensive ever decorated has been unveiled at Abu Dhabi's Emirates Palace Hotel. Now, for those of you who don't know Abu Dhabi, is that that's the headquarters of the United Arab Emirates. That's a Muslim nation. That's a nation where if their Muslim citizens convert to Christianity it's a crime. And they put up the most expensive Christmas tree in the world. The hotel's general manager was quoted on Thursday as saying the forty three foot that's thirteen meters faux fur has one hundred and thirty one ornaments that include gold and precious stones such as diamonds and sapphires. There were also Rolex watches hanging on the tree. It is the latest extravagance at the Emerge Palace hotel, which boasts its own marina, heliport and a vending machine for small gold bars. Go to the vending machine and buy a small gold bar. Why if Christmas is all about the birth of Christ, would a place where Christianity is despised celebrate the holiday and have the most expensive Christmas tree in the world. I'll tell you why, Because we have conveniently divorced the holiday from the Holy One, and it is now possible for people, on the one hand, to be full on all Christmas, all the time and no Jesus. You can even sing Christmas songs all day long with no Jesus. Have a holly, jolly Christmas, no Jesus. Jingle bells, jingle bells, no Jesus. Chestnut roasting on an open fire, number one Christmas song in the world, no Jesus. You follow that to its logical conclusion. Country where it's a crime to be a Christian has the most expensive Christmas tree in the world. You could be arrested in Abu Dhabi for preaching the gospel Christmas tree, no problem. But why? It is because we've decided to treat Jesus like any other man. We've decided to believe that his birth is celebrated because of the things that he accomplished in his life, and in doing so, we ignore the real reason that his birth is significant. Let's look at those reasons, shall we. From Matthew Chapter one. From Matthew chapter one, why is the birth of Jesus significant? And if any of these undergirded the symbols. We wouldn't have a Christmas tree in Abu Dhabi. First, because Jesus is from the promised line. He's from the promised line. Chapter one and verse one of Matthew, the book of the Genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Matthew is writing his gospel to a Jewish audience, and he wants to communicate to his Jewish audience that Jesus is the promised Messiah, that he is the one who was foretold. And one of the most important aspects of this is that Jesus is from the right line, because if you're not from the right line, then you're not the Messiah. So Jesus is son of Abraham, and that's included here in the Genealogy Genesis twelve one through three. Now the Lord said to Abram, go from your country, and from 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. The Messiah has to come from the line of Abraham, but he also has to be the lion of Judah. We find this in Jesus as well, and the genealogy demonstrates for us that he is of the line of Judah. The Messiah has to be Genesis forty nine, eight through ten. Judah, your brothers shall praise you. Your hands shall be on the neck of your enemies. Your father's sons shall bow down before you. Judah is a lion's cub from the prey, my son, you have gone up, He stooped down. He crouched as a lion, and as a lioness. Who dares rouse him. The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his fears until tribute comes to him, and to him shall be the obedience of the people's So this Messiah, this king, has to come from the line of Judah, but more specifically, he has to be from the seed of David. And again Matthew makes this clear. Tewod Samuel chapter seven, verses twelve through seventeen. The Dividic Covenant. The Dividic Covenant is a multi layered covenant. Of course, David does not understand fully what all of this means. And there are realities in the Dividic Covenant for David then, just as there were for Judah then and for Abraham then. But there are others that were far more significant and far reaching, that would only be fulfilled in Christ. But listen here, when your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall 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. Whoever this is is going to have an everlasting kingdom. I'll be to him a father, he shall be to me a son. He commits in equity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men. But my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you, and your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever. In accordance with all these words, And in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David. There is a king who will come from the line of David, who will reign on the throne of David for ever Romans fifteen twelve. And again Isaiah says, the root of Jesse will come. Even he who rises to rule the gentiles. In him, will the gentiles hope. Notice a couple of things there. Number one, the root of Jesse that connects him to David. David is the son of Jesse. So Jesus is this root of Jesse that was promised. But notice that he is also the blessing to the gentiles, which connects him to Abraham. Because God said to Abraham and you, all the nations of the earth will be blessed. So we celebrate the birth of Christ, because in the birth of Christ we see the promised one who is of the right line finally come. We also celebrate the birth of Christ because Jesus is freed from the curse of sin. He is free from the curse of sin. Of this now verse eighteen. The birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way when his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. This is incredibly important, and there are those who want to throw away the idea of the virgin birth, as though the virgin birth is not all that significant. There are theologians of note who have argued that whether the virgin birth happened or not doesn't affect their faith. I argue that their faith is in another Jesus. The virgin birth matters. It's everything. Genesis three, p. Fifteen. The fall occurs in Genesis chapter three, and then there is a promise that is made in the form of the curse to the Serpent. I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring or seed and her offspring or seed. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. So the promise to deal with Adam's sin, the promise to deal with the fall, is the promise that a male child. Jesus had to be male. Even the pronouns matter. In the word of God, Amen he him. A male child will be born from a woman, and this male child born from a woman will set right what Adam has set wrong. But there's a problem, and the problem is this, that every child born is born in sin because of Adam and the fall. How then can you have a male child born of a woman who will free us from sin if he inherits original sin himself. The answer, he can't be born from a man. Listen to our confession, Chapter six, paragraph three. They Adam and Eve being the root, and by God's appointment, standing in the room instead of all mankind. The guilt of the sin was imputed and corrupted nature conveyed to all their posterity, descending from them by ordinary generation. I'll explain those words in a moment. They're important, being now conceived in sin and by nature. Children of wrath, the servants of sin, the subjects of death, and all other miseryes spiritual, temporal and eternal. Unless the Lord Jesus set them free, all have sinned and falls short of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no, not even one. So if we're going to have a savior, the savior has to be born of a woman, because that's what God said. But the savior can't be born of a man, because if he is, he inherits original sin, and if he inherits original sin, he has no original righteousness to be imputed to us, so that we can be justified by faith. This is everything. It's everything, Romans twelve, Romans five, beginning in verse twelve. Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sin for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given. But sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who's sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come Folks. This is why the birth of Christ is significant, because he is one who is born of a virgin, and being born of a virgin, he is free of the curse of sin. He is not born by ordinary generation, as the Confession says. You see, if Jesus is just a special man who was born like all other special men, then perhaps perhaps he could have some merit of his own, although because of original sin, that wouldn't do him any good. But he would not have any merit that he could impute to you. Nor could your sin be imputed to him, because he would not have enough merit to take it upon himself and survive without the virgin birth. There is no salvation without the virgin birth. Jesus is just another sinner. This matters every thing now a little aside here there is a difference between virgin birth and immaculate conception. Virgin birth, yes, immaculate conception absolutely not. The Roman Catholic doctrine of immaculate conception is this that Mary was chosen because she was without sin. That's why she was allowed to be the mother of Jesus, because she was without sin. Well, what Rome does with this doctrine is they just pushed the problem a little further away, because if Mary was without sin, how could she be without sin if she was born of altogether ordinary generation. The other part of this problem is that Rome argues that not only was Mary born sinless, not only did she live sinless, but she also died sinless and never knew a man. Even though the Bible says that Jesus had siblings, the Bible teaches the doctrine of the virgin birth. The Bible condemns the doctrine of immaculate conception. It is heresy from the word go, and it is blasphemy and ultimately it leads to mariolatry where we worship Mary and pray to Mary as comediatrix with Christ. Why because she was the sinless one. Grossly unbiblical and absolutely blasphemous is the doctrine of the immaculate conception virgin birth. Yes, the Bible teaches it clearly, unambiguously immaculate conception. The Bible teaches things that just simply would not allow for it. We would have to turn scripture on its head in order to believe in the immaculate conception. Thirdly, Jesus is also the promised Savior. He's the promised Savior. This is why his birth matters. We don't celebrate because a really good man was born one day. We don't celebrate because a man who did some really good things and taught some really good things was born one day. We celebrate because the savior of the world was promised and then he was born. We celebrate because all of us were condemned to die in our sin, but someone had to come and undo what Adam had done. We celebrate because if there is no Christ, there is no hope for any of us. The promised Savior came. Look again at the text beginning of verse nineteen, and her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. Now that's a very nice way of saying, rather than having her stoned to death. But has he considered these things? Behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David. Mary and Joseph were both of the line of David and the tribe of Judah. Both of them, do not fear to make meant to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. His name in Jesus, for he will save his people from their Say that's what's coming, The Savior's coming. The angel doesn't say, Joseph, this is a very important boy who's going to be a very important man. No. No, this he is a child conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary. This is the one who will live a sinless life. This is the one who will die of vibarius atoning death. This is the one who will make full satisfaction before God for the sins of his people. Marry that girl, raised this boy, He's your savior. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and you shall call his name and Manuel. Actually, I've actually had people to argue that, you know, well, Jesus is not the promise Messiah, because the prophets say that his name is going to be Emmanuel, but his name was actually Jesus. Help you if that's the come on now, by the way, I'm glad to engage in this conversation because it helps me a great deal, because that means that at least you acknowledge the fact that the prophet said one called Emmanuel was going to be born of a virgin. Right, we called Emmanuel, which means God with us. When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the Angel of the Lord had commanded him. He took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. That means afterwards he did amen no immaculate conception, and he called his name Jesus. That's interesting if this were a real contradiction do you think that the angel would be dumb enough to say, listen, don't put her away. She's gonna have a son. You're gonna call her name Jesus, because he's gonna save his people from their sins. And this is gonna fulfill the promise of the prophet who said that the virgin was gonna bear a child named Emmanuel. But you're not gonna name him Emmanuel. You're gonna violate that and name him Jesus. The prophet said he would be called Emmanuel God with us. A virgin is going to bear a child, and people will say, of this child, that's God with us. His name is Jesus, which means he saves his people from their sins. Why though, does he save his people from their sins? Because he is God with us. He's the God Man, born of a virgin, wrapped in flesh, very God, of very God, and our savior. This is why a poor boy is born and dignitaries come from afar. This is why the angels don't just show up, but they go get shepherds from the field. Why it's not enough worship in that room the shepherds have to come. Why because he's going to be a really good holy man who does wonderful things and says memorable things, and then he's going to die like every other man. No, because the Promised One, Abraham's offspring from Judah's line and David's. See, he was born because one freed from the curse, who can thereby free the rest of us from the curse. Because our sin can be imputed to him, and his righteousness can be imputed to us. And through his active obedience in keeping the whole law, he earns righteousness on our behalf imputed to us. And through his passive obedience in accepting the death of the cross, he pays the penalty that we owe to God. And only because he was born freed from the curse is this made possible. That's why we celebrate. We celebrate because the promised Savior has come. That's why. And you don't need an eleven million dollar Christmas tree to celebrate that. In fact, if you have an eleven million dollar Christmas tree, it's because you have no idea what this means. Huh, you have no idea what this means. An eleven million dollar Christmas tree is an affront to this truth. It's an affront to this reality, because an eleven million dollar Christmas tree says, here we are in the season of excess. Here we are in the season of obs seen sinful worship of wealth and commercialism. An eleven million dollar Christmas tree does not say, we are sinners in need of a savior, and he has come. And here's the other thing. If you could put a price tag on something that would say that eleven million dollars wouldn't be enough. Amen. And so on the one hand, it's far too much and on the other not nearly enough. This is the crux of the matter. Everything before this points to it, because this is everything. Every thing after this is a result of it. Because this, this, this is what matters. And so when we read the rest of the Bible, and this one big story on the left side of the book, remember it's pointing to this. There is one who's coming who will fulfill the promise, keep the law, pay our penalty, and save us from our federal head Adam. And everything after it is just a validation all the way to the end, to the consummation of all things. Because the Savior was born, born of a virgin, born under the law, to save those who are under the law, and he's our only hope. You are trusting in anything other than the person and work of Christ, you are still in your sin. If you are coming to Christ as anything other than what you've heard here, then you are not worshiping the right Jesus. You've missed him. You've missed him. You might as well go and erected eleven million dollar tree because you missed him. But if you understand that you are justly condemned because you were born in sin and shaped in iniquity, If you understand that you are in desperate need of one who will pay the penalty that you owe and grant you righteousness that you do not have, and if you understand that this is your only hope before a holy God, then come and welcome to Jesus Christ. Let us pray, Gracious God, our heavenly Father, We thank you, We rejoice in you, We rejoice in your goodness to us. We rejoice that, because of your great love for us, you sent your son from heaven to live a life that we could not live, and to die of death that he did not owe, to save of people who are not worthy, And for that we are grateful Grant by your grace that we might offer you a sacrifice of praise, and that in Christ our praise might too be made worthy and acceptable. Grant that those under the sound of my voice would leave this place knowing that it is Christ, and Christ alone who saves, and not we ourselves. Grant that as we depart from here, we might do so with a higher and grander and greater vision of the worthiness of the Son of God, who died for sinners. And Grant that we might proclaim this from the rooftops, especially to those who are much more inclined to an eleven million dollar tree than they are to a lowly manger. Grant that Christ might be seen, that he might be known, that he might be worshiped, and that he might have the fullness of the reward for which he died. We asked these things and his name, and for his sake. Amen.