Family Matters

Good morning church. It's good to see you and it's good to be in the midst of the throng of the people of God as we worship him.

And as we bring together the word of the living and everlasting God. If you please can turn to your

Bibles in Luke chapter three, as we continue our series in Luke's gospel. When you have that, please do stand for reading of God's word.

We're going to be in Luke chapter three, starting in verse twenty three. Now, let me just give you as a pretext, there's going to be some hard names in here.

And so I mess up or fumble, please don't judge me. At least not too harshly.

These are the words of the everlasting God from Luke chapter three, starting in verse twenty three.

Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age, being the son, as was supposed, of Joseph, the son of Helai, the son of Mahat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jani, the son of Joseph, the son of Matthias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Ezlai, the son of Negai, the son of Maph, the son of Matthias, the son of Simeon, the son of Joshek, the son of Jotha, the son of Joanna, the son of Risa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Sheltiel, the son of Neri, the son of Melchi, the son of Edai, the son of Chosam, the son of Elmadan, the son of Ur, the son of Joshua, the son of Lyser, the son of Joram, the son of Mahat, the son of Levi, the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonah, the son of Eliakim, the son of Melia, the son of Menah, the son of Mahata, the son of Nathan, the son of David, the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salah, the son of Nishan, the son of Aminadab, the son of Admon, the son of Arnai, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Neor, the son of Serub, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah, the son of Canaan, the son of Ephrax, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalo, the son of Canaan, the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

You may be seated. This is the Word of God. Father, we do come before you thankful for your word, asking that you bring forth illumination, truth, power, from thy good word onto the hearts of thy people so that we may receive that which you have implanted for us today.

We ask Lord that you would strengthen us by your mighty right hand, give us in this moment, meet in due season for the glory of your name and for the advancement of your kingdom here on this earth.

In Jesus' name we do pray, amen. So when reading names of the

Bible that you don't quite know, the skill that you have to learn is just do it with confidence.

Just read it out loud with confidence. I remember when I was a kid and I was learning to learning to play the clarinet and the recorder.

I wasn't quite cool enough to learn how to play the guitar or the piano, so I had to go with the clarinet and had to go with the recorder.

And when the music teacher asked me, okay, which note is this? And I just remember vaguely saying, is it this one?

And I wasn't sure, I wasn't confident, and I didn't know which one was the right answer. And she says, listen, always give your answer with confidence, even if it's wrong.

So I've always taken that to heart. And so even when it comes to reading biblical names, that might be a little bit difficult. If you don't know what quite how to pronounce it, if you have confidence, other people will believe it.

So just go with that. It's part of our teaching today, part of our sermon, and part of the series that we're going through.

One of the underlying themes here, as we set up this messianic expectation of Jesus Christ, his earthly life, his earthly ministry, is this concept and idea of family.

It prevails also through other Gospels, such as John's Gospel. John opens up his

Gospel a little bit differently. We're not going to go into John's Gospel quite right now, but you know the monologue and the dialogue that we see in John's opening chapter.

It starts something like this, in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the

Word was God. He was in the beginning with God, and all things were created through him.

Not one thing exists that exists apart from him. In him was life, and that life was the light of men.

And it goes on to talk about how this Jesus, who's coming to the world, this Word who becomes flesh, has now made a way for us to become children of God.

Children who've now been grafted in, who've been adopted into the family of God.

And we just read, we just spent a moment here in Luke chapter 3, reading the genealogy of Jesus Christ.

When I was a kid, and I was still learning the Bible, and even as an adult, maybe some of us have the same perspective.

I always wondered, why did they waste time on all these folks, all these names that I can't even pronounce?

Like why is this important? Why is this in the Bible? And I want to tell you that this is something that's often overlooked, underappreciated, but what

I think is at the heart of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, is a legacy of family, and it's a demonstration that family matters.

Particularly, the lineage of Jesus Christ, his royal bloodline, that gives him the divine right and prerogative to be the

King of Israel, and the King of God's people. It also establishes him as the legal one who would come as the proper

Messiah, descendant, not just of Adam, but of Abraham, with whom

God made a covenant with. And not just a descendant of Abraham, but also as a descendant of David, whom the

Lord God also made a covenant with, promised him a kingdom and a kingship that would never be brought to an end, and he brings us all the way to the magnificent person of Jesus Christ, in whom is both the legal right and the proper right to be the

King of God's kingdom. In the opening verses that we read from this morning, in Luke chapter 3 verse 23, it says

Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about how old? How old was he? 30.

I just turned 31 this past week, and so I look at this and I think, man, why did it take

Jesus so long to get in ministry? I've been in ministry since I was 23. Why did it take

Jesus so many years to enter ministry? I even know a couple of old -school

Southern Baptists who say that you shouldn't be in ministry until you're at least 30. A lot of people hold that perspective.

And as I become older, I've actually started to adopt that, you know, maybe that wasn't so bad of an idea.

A lot of things I could have still have yet to have learned and appreciated before entering into this grand office, into this grand work of ministry.

And Jesus was about 30 years of age, and I think that there's actually a great purpose in this.

So if you're following the notes, if you're new to our church, we'll invite you that in a bulletin that you're given. There's notes and insert that was given to you, and you can freely put in the information as we go along this.

Jesus was 30 when he began his public ministry. Now he was actually the same age as Joseph when he began serving

Pharaoh. Joseph also being one of the descendants named here in the genealogy and lineage of Jesus Christ.

Joseph was about 30 years old when he began serving Pharaoh.

This is a significant number then, as we see in Scripture in Genesis 41 -46, Joseph being the age of 30.

The same was true also of King David when he began his reign, according to 2

Samuel 5 -4, that King David was also 30 years old.

Now this is also in agreement with when a priest would enter his

Levitical duties, such as laid out in Numbers 4 -3. We won't go into reading all these verses of Scripture, but the references are there for you to examine in your free time.

Why was Jesus 30 years old when he began his ministry? He's the son of Joseph, and Joseph began to serve

Pharaoh at the age of 30. He's also the greater

David, the king of God's kingdom, who also started his ministry, his rulership, at the age of 30.

He's also the priest of God's people, the true and proper priest of his people, therefore entering into his priestly duties at the proper time, at the age of 30.

All things in Scripture have a purpose, and everything in the life of Jesus has a purpose behind it, and an order behind it.

Jesus came on the scene at the right time, at the right moment, for the right purpose.

Jesus was 30 years of age when he entered into his ministry. He is fulfilling the office of prophet, as we see with Joseph.

He's also fulfilling the office of king, as we see with David. He's also fulfilling his role as priest, as those who are of the tribe of the

Levites. Jesus is indeed then our greater prophet. He's the greater

Joseph. He's also our king. He's the greater David. He's also our priest, the greater

Levite. There is no one like Jesus, amen? And so when we look at these little details, we might overlook them and think that they have no great significance in Scripture, but I'm here to tell you this morning, all things are written, are written for our instruction.

They're all written for our benefit. They're all written for a purpose, and as we see here in Scripture, even something as benign as when

Jesus entered into his ministry, or who his parents were, or who his ancestors were, all these things have a grand purpose in establishing

Jesus Christ as a true and rightful Messiah. Therefore, these things are not to be overlooked or belittled in Scripture, but rather we should examine these things under the proper light so that we understand what it is that God is trying to get to us through his word, what he's trying to communicate to us, to communicate about his son

Jesus, for all of Scripture testifies about Jesus. So as we look at this text of Scripture together this morning,

I want to establish some things for us as a kind of an undercurrent as to why we're examining these things.

I want to give you a reason why I think that the genealogy of Jesus actually matters.

If you're following along the notes, I want you to follow this. The genealogy of Jesus matters because it establishes his messianic line.

It's a mouthful there, but I want you to write that in there if you can. A messianic line. Going back to King David and also as a son of Abraham.

You see, the story of the Bible, in part, is the story of family. Don't believe me?

Notice what the opening text of Scripture is. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. He's creating his family.

He's creating a space for them. Before you and I have a family, we first have to create the stage for it. We have to create the environment for it.

We marry, we buy a house, we stage things. When the baby's about to come into the world, what do we do?

We buy the things necessary for the child. The bed, the blankets, we paint the room, we set the stage so that we can have that family.

And in the beginning, when God creates the heaven and the earth, what he's doing, he's setting the stage for his family. He's creating the environment for his family.

And then it goes on to say that God made man in his own image. Adam and Eve, both male and female, created in the image of God.

He creates his family. He makes his offspring. And we even have names for them,

Adam and Eve. Then after that, what do we see in Scripture? Fall of Adam and Eve.

But yet, God bringing forth hope through the seed of the woman, through her family, through her offspring, through her womb.

God would save his family. God would save humanity.

And he goes on. We see the redemptive narrative of history working out through particular peoples.

Abraham, for instance. Noah. God's saving humanity through families.

And then God makes a covenant with these people. He promises them a land, inheritance, and family.

Because what was it that Abraham, in his old age, what was it that he was missing?

His own family. Much of the story of the Bible is really a story of family, and the importance of family, and the importance of the name, the importance of the legacy that came before us, and that's going to come after us.

And so again, in part, the story of the Bible is a story of family. God, who eternally exists in the eternal loving relationship of the

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, created the heavenly hosts and the sons of man to be a part of his royal family.

Unfortunately, as we know from history, and we know from the biblical narrative, humans rebelled against God's arrangement for the family.

Humans rebelled against God's family arrangement, and the theme of redemptive history is God restoring us back to the family through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

That's what God is doing throughout the Bible. He's using the family. He's using his

Son, the gospel, to restore us so that those who put faith in his name can become children of God through faith.

So we enter again into the family arrangement that God has made for us through faith in Jesus.

And so again, the genealogy of Jesus matters because it establishes his messianic line. Why is that part particularly important?

Because if the promises that were made in the Old Testament, particularly that through Abraham the seed would come by which the nations would be blessed, that God made a perfect arrangement, a covenant with David, that his son, that his descendants would reign forever on the throne.

If these things cannot be traced back into history, and if Jesus does not have a connection to these individuals, then he could not be the

Messiah. And Jesus, in order to fulfill Scripture, in order to fulfill prophecy, has to have a lineage that goes back to David, back to Abraham, back to Adam, to the seed of the woman who would come in Genesis chapter 3 to undo all the effects of the serpent who allowed, who led us into a rebellion against our

Creator. Then, I want you to, if you can, turn to your

Bibles in 2 Samuel chapter 7. Now I want you to notice what it is that the

Lord says to his servant David, or concerning David.

In 2 Samuel chapter 7, starting in verse 12, it says this, and these are the words of the

Everlasting God to his servant. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers,

I will raise up for 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, and I will be to him a father.

He shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with a rod of men, the stripes of the sons of men.

But my steadfast love would not depart from him as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before you.

And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me.

Your throne shall be established forever. In accordance of all these words, in accordance of all this vision,

Nathan spoke to David. You see the theme here as God spoke these words on to his servant

David through the prophet Nathan was this, that God was going to establish for him a kingdom that would last forever through his offspring.

Therefore the coming king of God's kingdom, the Messiah, had to be the son of David.

And what's of interest here in this text is that God makes a particular arrangement and a promise to David that unlike the king that came before him,

King Saul, when he rebelled God cut him off from the royal lineage. His and his descendants were no longer allowed on the throne.

Instead now it would be David's descendants, David's lineage, that would reign from the throne.

He says even if they should sin I will discipline them but my steadfast love will not depart from them.

Showing that God's faithfulness, his steadfast love would continue from generation onto generation, culminating in Jesus Christ.

And that he would establish the kingdom forever and that the throne of David would be established forever.

Brothers and sisters this is why Jesus Christ had to be of the lineage of King David because God promised to him that his throne,

I want you to write this in there, would last for how long? For a generation?

For a time? For a season? No friends, forever. God's throne is forever.

Therefore when we look at the historical narrative of Scripture and we see how God is progressing his goals, his kingdom throughout all generations, we see this moment here in redemptive history in Luke chapter 3 as a pivotal scene.

This is when Jesus comes into the world, we see the narrative of his incarnation, the narrative surrounding his birth, then that of his early life in ministry when he's baptized by John the

Baptist, he's entering into this role as prophet, king, and priest.

And now we see that what his work and accomplishments and the work of accomplishments of those who came before him, namely his fathers, his lineage, his genealogy, those who came before him, establishing him as the legal one, the legal son of David, the legal one who has the right over the kingdom.

Now what's of interest here as well, we're going to look at a few Old Testament texts of Scripture, but I want you to know this to be true as well.

If you can, please turn to Isaiah chapter 11. I want you to examine this text with me and we're going to be looking at a couple of Old Testament verses because of all the names that are mentioned in Luke chapter 3, we have to understand the connections that are being made here.

In Isaiah chapter 11, who was

David's father? Does anyone remember? Jesse, that's right, that's right.

Good work, young ones. And it says in Isaiah chapter 11, starting in verse 1,

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit, and the spirit of the

Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of the knowledge and of the fear of the

Lord. Let's go all the way down to verse 9. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the

Lord as the waters cover the sea. Verse 10, In that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal for the peoples.

Of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.

In Luke chapter 3, not only is Christ a son of David, but he's also the son of Jesse, of whom it says of Scripture that from the shoot, that is the family, the offspring of the stump of Jesse, shall come one on whom the spirit of the

Lord shall rest, and on him shall be wisdom and understanding, might and counsel, knowledge and the fear of the

Lord. And upon him it shall be that he will firmly establish the kingdom or the mountain of the

Lord above all other mountains, above all other kingdoms. Mountains in Scripture are a picture analogy of nations.

And no one shall come upon God's holy mountain to destroy or hurt it.

That's God's kingdom. For the earth shall be full the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

And in that day the root of Jesse, that's our Messiah, our Jesus, shall stand as a signal for the peoples, and the nations shall inquire of him.

And brothers and sisters, can I tell you, we are living in such days. How do we know?

Brothers and sisters, just take a moment to look around this room and see the diversity that exists here.

Different skin colors, different nations, ethnicities, backgrounds. It is a perfect picture of the fulfillment of Isaiah chapter 11 verse 10.

That nations, even represented by you, represented by your bloodline, by your lineage, have come to inquire of the

Lord and to learn of him so that the nations and that the world itself shall be covered with the knowledge of the

Lord as the waters cover the sea. And though all of us with different skin tones, different family backgrounds, different ethnicities, we come together in this space, we come together in this room, and we are actually but one family.

We are indeed the family of God. Family matters because you are a member of God's family should you be in Christ this morning.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, we should look to this with great anticipation, with great joy, that the

Messiah would come from the stump, that's the family tree of Jesse. I want you to write this in the notes if you're following along.

I know there's a lot of notes today, but I promise this is for your benefit, that Messiah would come from the stump, that's the family tree of Jesse, who is

David's father, and the Messiah would be from the royal family of God, both in his humanity and his deity.

Now, this is of great importance as we speak of the Savior, brothers and sisters, that Jesus is not only one who is of the right lineage as to his humanity, but he's also the one who is legally able to rule

God's kingdom because he himself is also God. Jesus is

God. How do we know this? Again, I referenced earlier in John chapter 1, in the beginning was the

Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and all things came into existence, into being through this

Word. And the Word, in verse 14 of John 1, became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory of the one and only from the

Father, full of grace and truth. And herein lies the mystery of the Trinity, that there is but one

God, Yahweh, Jehovah, the Lord Almighty, who exists eternally in three divine persons,

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Not three gods, but three divine persons in the one true and eternal

Godhead of Jehovah. This is the God whom we serve. And God, in the fullness of time, came to be born of a virgin, to live a holy, righteous, perfect life, the life that you and I can never live, because he is the one exception in human history to have lived without sin.

Even as we've read through these great names, and maybe you recognize some, maybe others you didn't, but such great names that we read in the lineage and genealogy of Jesus Christ, such as Levi, such as Judah, such as Joseph, such as David, such as Jesse, such as Noah, such as Methuselah, such as Enoch, such as Mahalel, all these great names of the faith of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and others, yet Jesus Christ stands unique even amongst those who came before him, because Jesus alone was he who lived without sin.

Every other name that came before him, starting with Adam, sinned.

Every single one, yet Jesus Christ stands unique, and that he was the only one who lived a perfect, holy, blameless life, to atone not only for the sins of those who would come after him, you and I, but also to atone for the sins of those who came before him, his genealogy, his lineage, his family, so that in Christ there is not one of his children or not one of his family members that are lost, either in the dispensation of the

Old Testament or the dispensation of the New Covenant. Both covenants in Christ are fully satisfied, and there is but one family in Jesus Christ, made up of Jew and Gentile, made up of those in the

Old Testament and the New Testament. We're but one family. We have but one hope, and Jesus lives this perfect and holy and blameless life because he is

God, and he alone can bear the full punishment of God, his wrath that abides upon sin, and Jesus Christ righteously, perfectly fulfills the needed requirement to bring us closer to the

Father through his shed blood and through his perfect obedience, so that through faith in Jesus Christ, you and I can again be children of the

Most High God, so that we too become grafted into this royal genealogy, this royal lineage that Jesus himself had and shared in, so that through our veins, through faith, runs the royal blood of Emmanuel, God with us.

This is such a beautiful illustration of the gospel, and of interest, we don't have time to go into all the references here, but in Jeremiah chapter 23, the prophet makes a, there's a word that comes from the

Lord to the prophet, that the one who would come forth from David's branch, this king that would come to reign over God's kingdom, that he will have a particular name, and this name by which he shall be called, shall be

Jehovah our righteousness, or Jehovah Yehovah Sikinu, our righteousness in Hebrew, that this one would come and he would be

Yahweh, Jehovah God, come in flesh to become our righteousness.

Jesus is not only the royal of the right royal lineage as to his humanity, but he is also

God, therefore fulfilling the prophetic framework needed for our

Messiah, that he would not only be born of the right family lineage, but that he himself would also be divine as to his true nature.

Now there is a question that is often brought up that maybe you have encountered from time to time as a

Christian. There are those who will say that the Bible contradicts itself, and one of the so -called contradictions that come forward is the genealogy of Jesus Christ.

Now you may not be a scholar, but you may have read this before in scripture, and you may have compared it to Matthew's account of Christ's genealogy, and you may see that there's actually some differences, maybe what some would describe as discrepancies between Luke's genealogy and Matthew's genealogy.

To spare some of the difficulty here, I'm just going to simplify this for us, and I want to make this easy for you.

There are some minor differences in the names, and it actually starts off right away here in the text of scripture in our main text in Luke chapter 3, and it says in verse 23,

Jesus when he began his ministry was about 30 years of age, being the son as was supposed of Joseph. Now Joseph being his adopted father, remember that Jesus Christ was not born naturally through Joseph, rather Joseph was the adopted father.

Jesus Christ came into the world through what's often called the Immaculate Conception.

There was a perfect conception that God, through the Holy Spirit, put forth the life of his son

Jesus Christ into the virgin womb of Mary, and therefore bringing forth the perfect Son of God, he who was born without sin, without a fallen nature as we inherit our sin from Adam, and yet it says as was supposed, meaning that is implicit that there is an adoption that is here at play.

Now I would say both Mary and Joseph were of the royal lineage and bloodline of David, and also of Abraham, which would be obvious because they're both

Jews. All Jews descended from Noah, all Jews ascended from Abraham, all the

Israelites have a common father in Abraham, therefore it would be no stretch to say that they were all part of the same family, the nation of Israel.

But in particular to the differences between Matthew's Gospel and Luke's Gospel is that in Luke's Gospel, here's what

I want you to write down the notes, Jesus is the adopted and legal son of Joseph.

Now that's important friends, because on both sides of the lineage from Mary and from Joseph, it must be established that Jesus has a legitimate right to rule as the

Messiah, as the King. So not only does he have the blood right through Mary, but he has the legal right through his adopted father by whom birth rights were then conferred to in the ancient context of the world at the time.

It was only through that means by which things such as property, things such as wealth, inheritance would be passed down through the father to the son.

Therefore we must recognize this important truth that Jesus is the adopted and legal son of Joseph. Luke and Matthew's genealogy differ in that different fathers for Joseph are named.

I want you to write this in there, we may not have time to go in depth into this, but the references are there for you in scripture. Matthew 1 verse 16,

Jacob is Joseph's father in Matthew and Hali and Luke.

Why the difference between the two? Why does one gospel give us one name for Joseph's father and another name for the other?

There's many good reasons why that could be the case. I'm going to give you what I think to be the most likely of them.

Mary's father is likely Hali, and Mary's father would have adopted

Joseph as his own if he bore no sons for purpose of inheritance.

Thus both Matthew and Luke, both sides of the biological lineage of Jesus Christ are established firmly.

So why the difference? Hali and Luke's gospel? Because he is

Mary's father. Hali is Mary's father. Now if Mary's father,

Hali, if Hali had no sons, he would have adopted then Joseph to be his son in order for there to be a proper transfer of lineage, property, names, rights.

Which is why again there's a discrepancy between Luke's gospel and Matthew's gospel in regard to who

Joseph's father is. But no contradiction exists here.

What both gospels are firmly establishing is that Jesus Christ has a royal right to the lineage and the seat of David's throne.

Therefore scripture is actually being very comprehensive, not contradictory here.

It's actually giving us more information so that we can make a firm reasonable argument for the royal lineage of Christ from both sides, from his adopted father and from his biological mother.

Therefore as we continue on I want you to notice how the scripture concludes here in this chapter, chapter 3 of Luke.

The last one, the last verse in verse 38, Jesus is the son of Gnos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam.

Adam in Hebrew, Adam literally means man. Christ often refers to himself, the title that he is most designated by in the

New Testament Gospels is the title son of man, son of Adam. But he's also, he's not just the son of Adam, he's not just the son of man, he is also the son of God.

You see the pedigree of Jesus in Luke's gospel goes all the way to Adam, all the way to Adam.

So that it would be of no confusion that this

Christ is indeed truly human. He is truly son of man, truly son of Adam.

And in that all of us here today have a common root and ancestor with Jesus Christ.

All of us in that way, in that sense are connected to Jesus Christ.

Because all of us, of all the nations of the world, all the families of the earth have a common ancestor in Adam.

Isn't that marvelous? Isn't that amazing that all of us have that common father in Adam?

But there's also tragedy to that as well. Because all of us have a common ancestor in Adam, we all also share in the common woes and the common sinful nature of Adam.

We're not plagiarists that believe that all of us are born essentially good, but instead we believe as scripture teaches that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

And as Romans chapter 5 teaches, all of us have received an inheritance, a nature fallen due to Adam.

And we are all under the federal headship of Adam. Therefore the one who would come into the world to be perfect, holy, blameless, live the life that you cannot live, had to also come from that common root, from that common man, from Adam, yet born miraculously without sin.

So he can bear upon himself the punishment of Adam and the punishment of humanity, so that we too, through again faith in Jesus, can become children of God.

The pedigree of Jesus in Luke's gospel goes all the way to Adam, establishing him again, if you're son of God.

Now why do you think this matters? All the names that came before him, all this information, all this data, what does it do for us?

What implication is there for us? Again, the implication is clear.

Jesus' family tree matters because through him we too may become children of God.

Jesus' family matters because those who came before him paved the way for the

Messiah and the Savior of the world. You and I matter regardless of our family pedigree, regardless of our nationality, regardless of our skin tone, regardless of our ethnicity, regardless of those who came before us, we too matter.

Why? Because if we belong to Jesus, we belong to and are indeed a part of the family of God and there's no greater privilege or joy than to be part of that family.

Friends, family matters and there is no greater family than the family of God because it includes all of us.

The elect of Christ, the elect of God from the foundation of the earth, Jew and Gentile, black and white, of all ethnicities, of all tones, of all languages, of all barriers and backgrounds, we are included in this grand family.

And this, brothers and sisters, is good news that there was one who came from the royal lineage of David, born as a son of man to live the life that you and I could never live, holy, perfect, blameless, set apart from sinners.

By the death that we deserved on a cross next to two criminals, bearing upon himself the guilt and shame of humanity, so that by grace through faith all those who confess their sin and look upon him would receive salvation.

Just as those who were in the wilderness in the days of Moses, when they were bitten by the snake, had to look upon the snake on the pole to be saved and to be healed, so we too must look upon him who has been lifted up, not by human hands but by God the

Father, who raised Jesus from the dead. And we look upon him as it says of him in Scripture, that should he be lifted up, he shall draw all men unto himself.

And so, friends, the invitation is for you and for me today that if you acknowledge yourself as a sinner, knowing that you are indeed also a son of Adam, you've not only bearing the guilt of Adam, but you bear your own guilt, of your own shame, of your own sin.

And you come to this Jesus who's been presented to you today, not only as the one who is of the right royal lineage, but is also himself

God in human flesh. You come to him today and say,

Lord Jesus, I know I'm a sinner. Not this synthetic sinner's prayer, but rather knowing from the heart that I am a sinner, a son of Adam, and I need a

Savior. And praise the Lord, the Savior has come and his name is

Jesus. Receive him as Lord. Walk in him.

Be rooted in him and established in him, so that you may have the joy and peace of being part of God's great grand family.

Let us pray. Gracious Heavenly King, even our blessed

Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we thank you, Lord, for the testimony of Scripture, which is true, that you too came into this world born through the virgin womb, came with those who came before you, setting forth this incredible story of redemptive history.

We thank you, Lord, for the good news that you have come into this world. We thank you for the good news that we too, though alienated because of our sin from a holy, righteous, and just God, can now be brought near through your perfect work of obedience, through the shed blood of the cross, and that we too, even now, may enjoy peace, peace with God.

And Lord, we pray that you would help us in this moment to recognize our fallen state. But should we be in Christ this morning, may we also rejoice in knowing that our state is not just that of a fallen creature, but one who has been redeemed by the blood of Jesus, one who has now been brought and grafted into the family of God.

Lord, we pray for those who are here this morning who do not know you, who may be under a false gospel, who may not have ever even heard the gospel until today.

We pray, Lord, that you would do this work in their hearts, that they too would open to receive this good news, knowing that they're sinners and knowing,

Lord, that the Savior has been provided in Jesus Christ. May you lead all men unto yourself, as you promise in your word, so that the name of Jesus Christ may be made great among the nations, and that all those of the nations shall come and inquire and find rest in Him, and in Him alone we do pray.