God’s promise is “yes” to you in Jesus.

Sermon Transcript

That’s right. This morning we are going to learn together from a list of names. And if you’re secretly wondering, “why in the world are we doing this?”, or “Can this be at all relevant to what I’m going through?” Don’t be embarrassed. You’re not alone. It is a bit strange. This list of names is called a genealogy; it’s the human family tree of Jesus Christ. Genealogies come up from time-to-time in the Bible. When we come to genealogies in the Bible, we typically treat them a bit like the terms of service prompt for a software update: skip. Who reads those? No one. But there is more to biblical genealogies than meets the eye and this genealogy in Matthew 1 may be the most significant of all. The beginning and end of the genealogy reveals what God is saying to us through it. Here is how it begins: Matthew 1:1 – The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Here is how it ends: Matthew 1:17 – 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. It’s ok if you’re unfamiliar with Abraham and David. For now, the most important thing to know is that God made a glorious promise to Abraham, clarified that stunning promise to David, and is fulfilling that promise to us through Jesus Christ, who is the son of David and the son of Abraham. Far from being like meaningless terms of service, through the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the one true God is saying to us: “I am the God who makes a promise, a promise that gives eternal hope in all seasons, and fulfills it through my Son, Jesus Christ.” And that brings us to the big idea of our passage this morning: God’s promise is “yes” to you in Jesus. The genealogy teaches us that God’s promise is “yes” to you in Jesus. The big idea raises three important questions that we’re going to answer in succession this morning: 1. What is God’s promise? 2. Who does God keep his promise to? 3. How do we get in on God’s promise?

WHAT IS GOD’S PROMISE?

Your body, from head to toe, is held together by a skeleton. Your skeleton holds the whole thing together. Similarly, the message of the Bible from beginning to end is held together by a glorious promise that God made with a man named Abraham about 4,000 years ago. And that promise is “yes” to you in Jesus. So, what is God’s promise? Genesis 12:1-2 – 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. [2] 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. God’s promise to Abraham included three things: Land, numerous offspring, and blessing to the nations of the world through his offspring. Now, to understand the significance of the promise that God made to Abraham you have to understand what is wrong with the world. Have you ever wondered why the world is the way that it is, with all of its sin, suffering, and death? It wasn’t always this way. In the beginning, God created man in his own image, male and female, to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth with image-bearers. It was very good. Adam and Eve were God’s offspring, in God’s land, intended to fill the earth with God’s blessing. After Adam and Eve disobeyed God, God put a curse on the earth, Adam and Eve were kicked out of the land (the Garden), and eventually the nations of the earth were scattered in unbelief. So, when God promised Abraham land, offspring, and blessing to all the people-groups of the earth, God was promising nothing less than a reversal of the original curse, a setting right of everything that went wrong with Adam and Eve. Ok – that’s God’s promise that is “yes’ to you in Jesus: offspring, land, blessing to the nations.

God’s promise to Abraham began to be fulfilled as Abraham had a son who had a son who had a son, all the way down to David, Israel’s greatest king. David is the hinge point of the genealogy because God clarified his promise to Abraham to David. 2 Samuel 7:12-13 – 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. [13] He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. The promise to David gives even greater specificity to the promise that God made to Abraham. There will be one specific, eternal ruler from David’s family and he will secure the promise of offspring, land, and blessing given to Abraham. That is the promise that is “yes” to you in Jesus. Unfortunately, David’s son Solomon and the kings in Israel and Judah after him went from bad to worse, with a few noted exceptions, until the people had so broken faith with the Lord that he finally deported his people out of the promised land to Babylon, just as he deported Adam and Eve out of the land of Eden. But God didn’t give up on his promise that is “yes” to you in Jesus. Listen to what God said to the exiles in Babylon: Jeremiah 29:10-11 – “For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. [11] For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. God’s plans for welfare was to keep his promise: an eternal ruler from David’s family and he will secure the promise of offspring, land, and blessing given to Abraham. That’s God’s promise that is “yes” to you in Jesus: land, offspring, and blessing to the nations of the earth. Sounds amazing!

Of course, this raises our second question: who does God keep his promise to? Before we get to that question, I want us to slow down and consider something: God makes a promise to his people. Have you ever considered the wonder of that? The God who created everything from the atom to the Andromeda Galaxy makes promises to his people. That’s amazing. I’ve never made a promise to an ant. God is comparatively greater than me than I am to an ant. God has made a glorious three-part promise that is “yes” to you in Jesus. Consider what that reveals about God. “You know what kind of a person makes promises? A father. A dictator doesn’t make promises. He makes threats. A general doesn’t make promises. He issues orders. But a Father makes promises. Our God—your God—is an everlasting Father” whose promise to Abraham is “yes” to you in Jesus. Is that what you picture when you think about God? A Father who makes promises that are all “yes” to you in Christ?! That’s awesome. Let’s put the awe back in Christmas. We are low on awe these days. Awe dispels our fears, cheers our sadness, and inspires our obedience. What could be more awesome than this: God’s promise of land, offspring, and blessing is “yes” to you in Jesus.

Ok – second question:

WHO DOES GOD KEEP HIS PROMISE TO?

The Lord Jesus’ family tree reveals that God keeps his promise to the undeserving. The undeserving! Isn’t that a relief? Our unworthiness can’t wrestle God’s promise of land, offspring, and blessing out of his hands. That’s a relief. To all who sin and need a Savior, to all who have blown it and wonder if there is any hope left, to all who are weary and heavy-laden, stand in awe of the God who makes promises and take heart because God keeps his promise to the undeserving. Jesus’ family tree is proof of that. Let’s look at some highlights.

Abraham – At one point Abraham got so impatient with God’s promise to give him an offspring that he sinfully took matters into his own hands and fathered a child with a woman that wasn’t his wife. God keeps his promise to the undeserving whose faith is real, but at times wavers. Take heart. Isaac – Isaac was a weak father who couldn’t keep his two sons from nearly destroying one another. God keeps his promises to undeserving parents. Jacob – Jacob was a trainwreck of a man. He spent most of his life manipulating people and trying to lie his way into blessing. God keeps his promises to the undeserving. Judah – Judah, the head of the tribe from which Jesus Christ descended, had a real weak spot for prostitutes. Are you stumbling toward the light, struggling to walk in sexual holiness? Don’t give up because God keeps his promises to the undeserving). Rahab – Rahab herself was a gentile and prostitute who trusted in the one true God. Has your life up until now been one of rebellion against God? Don’t stay far off. Turn to Christ in faith. He keeps his promise to the undeserving. Ruth – a gentile woman with a terrible past and a desperate present whose life is proof that God redeems and provides. David – an adulterer and murderer. Though he was repentant, God’s discipline was severe. No matter how devastating the consequences of sin, bring it into the light. God keeps his promises to the undeserving. Rehoboam – A young fool who took advice from other young fools and destroyed the United Kingdom. Manasseh – worshiped every god but the one true God. Deportation to Babylon. The people became so wicked that God kicked them out of the land promised to Abraham and yet that wasn’t the end of the story because God keeps his promises to the undeserving. God brought them back. After the deportation to Babylon. The one thing you probably noticed is that you don’t recognize any of them. We don’t know their names, but God used them to bring his Son into the world. You never know the story that God is writing for His glory through your undeserving life.

Every person in the genealogy of Jesus was sinful and undeserving, but God keeps his promise to the undeserving. Stand in awe of the God who makes promise and rest in the arms of the God who keeps his promise to the undeserving. Nothing in this world and none of our sins will ever wrestle out of God’s hand his promise to secure offspring, land, and blessing promised to Abraham through a king from David’s line. This brings us to our final question:

HOW DO WE GET IN ON GOD’S PROMISES?

How do we become an offspring who enjoys God’s blessing in God’s land forever? Answer: Only through faith in Jesus Christ. The only way that anyone anywhere can get in on God’s promise is by receiving and resting in Jesus Christ alone for salvation. The genealogy of Jesus Christ is at the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew in order to teach us that all of God’s promises to his people find their fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the promises can only come to you in Jesus Christ. In fact, the Apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 1:20 – For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.

To get in on God’s promise we first have to see that Jesus is the ruler from David’s family who secures the promise of offspring, land, and blessing given to Abraham. According to the New Testament, Jesus Christ is the one true offspring of Abraham. Galatians 3:16 – Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ. The baby in the manger was the offspring promised to Abraham thousands of years earlier. In his life, the Lord Jesus Christ succeeded where Abraham, Israel, and David failed. He was tempted in every way that we are, yet he never sinned. He was the true offspring of Abraham. The Bible says that the wages of sin is death, but since Jesus never sinned death had no claim on him. When Jesus, the offspring of Abraham, died on the cross he was taking our place, paying our eternal sin debt, dying the atoning death that we need for our sins. But Jesus did not stay dead. On the third day he rose from the grave and is now seated at the right hand of the Father on the throne forever. Jesus is the offspring of Abraham and the eternal ruler from David’s line. And now anyone who repents of their sins and believes in Jesus can get in on the promise that God made to Abraham and David. Galatians 3:29 – And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise. God’s promise to Abraham has been fulfilled in Jesus. Anyone from any nation who repents and believes in Jesus experiences God’s blessing of forgiveness of sins and eternal life! But what about the land? Schreiner: The promise of land was realized at first in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, for his resurrection represents the arrival of the new creation, and it will find its final fulfillment in the new creation. Listen to how the land promise will be fulfilled for all who trust in Jesus Christ. Revelation 21:1-5a – Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. [2] And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. [3] And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. [4] He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Friends, this is the meaning of Christmas. God is adopting the undeserving out of Hell and into his family, giving us the blessing of forgiveness of sins, and promising us eternal joy in a promised land that will never end. All you have to do to get in on it is repent of your sins and trust in Jesus Christ. All of God’s promises are “yes” to you in Jesus. Believe the promises, savor the promises, and live radically for God’s glory because nothing can wrestle them out of God’s hands.