Hope Has Come

Narrator: The story told most in all the world and indeed, in all of history, is not an ancient legend nor a fairy tale. It's not a story of conquest or world domination. It's the story of God coming to earth as a baby. When the angels first announced this baby's birth they did so not to royalty or nobility, but to a group of lowly shepherds saying "unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior which is Christ the Lord." Unto you a savior. The savior was for them, for everyone from the pasture to the palace, God was coming in the flesh to seek and to save. And somehow this infant child would one day be the rescuer of humanity, the sacrificial lamb whose destiny was determined before the creation of the world. In other words, His first breath was just as important as His last. He is the Lamb who takes away our sin. This is the Lamb of God.

Pastor Wes: In Galatians chapter four we read these words: "But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship." That in a nutshell, is the message of Christmas. Christmas wasn't just an event, something that happened and then went away; it was so much more than that. Christmas is all about the heart of God for all mankind. The heart of God for you, for me. It is about a coming, the coming, the coming of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.

In this Scripture, we just read it tells us that God, just at the right time sent His Son. Now God's timing is always perfect, although sometimes it doesn't feel like that to you and to me. I love what author and pastor Timothy Keller said. He said if you tried to put your time frame on God, you will struggle with feeling loved by Him and it will be your fault because He does love you. This passage in Galatians tells us clearly that God loves us. In fact, He is the most invested in us of anyone else. It said at just the right time He sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law.

Of all the things that means, it surely means this one thing, that Jesus understands us completely because He came to be one of us. He doesn't understand us in the same way that a student studying a subject from the outside would gain knowledge about it. Jesus understands us because He entered in to our situation. He stepped in to our time in space. He was a baby. He was a child. He was a middle-schooler. He was a high-schooler. He was a college-age young adult. He was a son, He was a friend, He was a brother, He was an employee. He understands us because He came to be one of us.

But He didn't just come to understand us. He came, the Scripture tells us, to redeem us. Why? Because every single one of us, when we are born we are born in bondage. Bondage to sin. Now that manifests itself in a thousand different ways, but at it's core, it is you, it is me, it is us saying to God, "no thanks. Not you God, me." We tell God no. No, you're not in charge of my life. No God, I'm in charge of my life. I'm my savior, I know what I need best, not you, me. I'm God of me.

And the very thing that God created us for, relationship with Himself is on its own and of ourselves, not possible. We are separated from God by our sin, we are separated from purpose, we are separated from ultimate meaning and fulfillment, in bondage to our sin and there is a price tag on our heads. And payment for our sin, the Bible tells us is death, eternal separation from God forever in a place of justice and judgment called hell. God loves us enough to tell us the truth. Because God is just, there has to be payment for sin. And it's an eternal payment because it is against an eternal God.

But that is not what God wants for us. That is not His heart for us. And so He sent His Son to be a rescuer, to be a savior, to be a messiah, to be a redeemer, to redeem us. He lived the perfect life we couldn't live, and then He died the death that we deserve. He took on Himself, on the cross, every single one of our sins, all of our guilt, all of our condemnation, anything that could be slated against us, Jesus took on Himself. One time, on the cross, and He paid for it all. He died, three days later rose from the grave conquering sin, hell and death. And He comes to you and to me. And He offers us redemption. He offers us forgiveness of sin, He offers us a cleansing, He offers us freedom from the shame of sin, from the bondage of sin.

And when we turn from our sins, and say I don't want that, Jesus I want you and we place our faith in Christ He gives us eternal life, a relationship with God that we were designed for, a relationship with God that starts here and never, ever ends. And as a result, we get to walk with God, we get to know Him, we get the enjoy Him, we get to experience His love, we get to experience His purpose, and we get to live the life that He wants for us forever. That's what it means to be a Christ-follower. All because Jesus came, all because Christmas is real.

Today we're going to look at some things that quite honestly we need God's help to fully grasp and understand because on our own we just won't get it. But here's the great thing. God has given us the Holy Spirit to be our teacher of His Word, and so I'm going to invite you to pray with me and for us to pray together and ask God to speak to us. Because I don't want you to miss, if you walk out of here and go wow that was kind of inspirational or whatever, we've missed it. God doesn't want His Word just to be inspirational. He wants His Word to grab a hold of us, to change us, to align ourself towards Him and His heart. He wants that for you today. He wants that for me today. So I'm going to ask you if you would, just bow your heads and close your eyes right where you are, and just pray silently and just ask God to speak to you. Push everything else to the boundaries of your life right now and say God, I want everything that you've got for me today in this moment. Pray that please. If you would please pray that God would help me to communicate His truth accurately. Thank you.

Jesus, we bow before you and we acknowledge that you are the King of the universe, you are the King that we need. Lord I pray that in this time, in this moment even though it's brief, Lord the right words would go to the right people at the right time. Lord you would do what only you can do in our hearts. May we be open to you, give us ears to hear, help us to respond, may we be overwhelmed by the truth that we look at today. Thanks, Christ. You're awesome. In your name, we praise you Jesus. Amen.

If you would please open your Bibles to Matthew chapter one. Matthew chapter one. The gospel of Matthew is the first book in the New Testament. If you don't have a Bible with you, you can grab it on your electronic device or there's one in the pew before you or in the place where you are I know there's Bibles available, so grab those because I want you to see something.

Now we're all familiar with the classic Christmas story, right? You have Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, you've got the angels, you've got the shepherds, you've got the wise men and we know all of that. But today, today we're going to look at what I believe to be the least looked at, the least paid attention to part of the Christmas story. But it is awesome.

How many of you guys, honest, let's just be honest. How many of you really love Christmas, I mean you love Christmas? How many of you wish you could put Christmas decorations up year-round? All those, yeah, yeah, see, right, right? I love Christmas too. I love it. So here's the thing. Whether you love it, you just like it or you're crazy about it, it's time to get Christmasy. Okay? Are you ready? We're going to get into the Word, man just get ready to be in the Christmas mood, ho ho , here it comes.

Matthew chapter one, verse one. Ready? Here we go. A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son on David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, the father of Ram, and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nashon the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz whose mother was Rahab and Boaz the father of Obed whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon whose mother had been Uriah's wife. Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asaph, Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, Joram the father of Uzziah, Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amos, Amos the father of Josiah and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the exile of the Babylon. After the exile to Babylon Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Achim, Achim the father of Eliud, Eliud the father of Eleazor, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ.

Boom, right? Yeah, come on. I know, right? I mean, who's in the Christmas spirit now? Yeah! I know some of you are going like, is he serious, is he kidding, what just happened? I don't, I don't know what's going on right now? Am I dreaming? What's happening? Yeah. Look it, here's the truth. I'm willing to bet that none of you put that passage on any of your Christmas cards this year. I'm just taking a wild guess. None of you arranged all those names with your family's photo right in the center saying "Merry Christmas". I'm pretty sure, I mean, right?

Whoever wanted to play one of these guys in the Christmas play. Do you see that scene? I mean, here's the teacher,. Okay, here we've got the stable over there, okay who wants to be an angel, who wants to be a shepherd, Jimmy, who do you want to be? I want to be Zerubbabel. You want to drink a Red Bull? What did you say? Be Zerubbabel. You're going to the Hula bowl? Zerubbabel. Go over there, stand by the hay, Jimmy. That kid's weird. Right? Nobody's doing that. And yet, here's what we believe. Here's what we believe as Christ followers, as Christians. We believe that all Scripture is God-created including the names which we just read. Alright?

Now, here's the thing. As I've studied this passage and as we're going to press into this a little bit today, I get so excited about the Christmas story. Because this genealogy, as we will see, the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the family line that you could trace, the genealogy of Christmas, you will see that this demonstrates the power of God to use anything and anyone for good for His purposes and for His glory. We're going to see that today.

So I want us to look at these names that this passage of Scripture that is somewhat unfamiliar, I mean you guys have ever had your quiet time in that passage, I just wondered. Okay, thank you. Somewhat unfamiliar. I want to look at it through a lens of something that's probably very familiar, a verse of Scripture that we would probably say as Christ followers that we're familiar with. Because the two are greatly connected. Romans 8:28. It says this: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose."

That is not just a plaque or a bumper-sticker, that is a stunning promise that only almighty God can make. Two words in that verse jump out at you - "all things". All things, what does that mean? All things. That means all things. It means the big things, it means small things, the great things and the not-so-great things. Look it, you know what I know, life can be messy, can be crazy, can be fun, it can be painful, it can be suddenly tragic. Often things that happen to us are not our fault, but sometimes they are. All of that is included in those two words. All things. All things include your great choices, your awesome choices, your foolish choices, those choices that like oh, I so regret that choice. Your wicked choices. The tragic choices that you have made and the tragic choices that have been made against you. All of that is included in "all things".

Now God does not say in that verse that they're good. Many of the things that happen in our lives, they're not good. They're messed up and there are consequences to those. What God does say is that He will take those things and work them for good. Like off-colored pieces of thread, He weaves them into the tapestry of life that He is creating that will be both stunning and amazing and beautiful.

And that verse lands us in a very real place of encouragement. Why? Because of the first three words of that verse, "and we know". And we know. It's like inside information. We know this and we know. We are convinced of what--that God is able, that God is able to take your trouble, your problems, your issues, that broken relationship, you know that fractured thing that happens, you know, back there in the day, you know, this thing that happens this day, that awful diagnosis, that bad grade on the test, that blank, you fill in the blank for you. Every single one of us has things that we can fill that blank in, right? God says I take all of that, I will take all of that, all of it, all things and work it for good.

That verse holds deep encouragement for us and holds weight in our lives because of the first three words, "and we know". It doesn't say and we feel, okay? This is not anchored in the whimsy of our emotions that are so temporary. This is anchored in the propositional truth of who God is. That He is able, and we know it, and sometimes we just need to go back to what we know. Sometimes in the midst of stuff that's just chaos and going on, we need to go back to what we know, and we know that in all things God works for the good.

Now, that promise is conditional. Conditional. In that verse it's not for everybody. "And we know that in all things God works for the good" of what, "of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose". Those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. God says I will work all these things for the good of those who have given themselves to me and continually give themselves back over to me. God says I will even take the junk of their lives and I will use it as a part of the amazing story of grace that I am telling. And we can have confidence that coming down the road, maybe even right around the corner is good. Why? Because God said so. And we don't need to look any further to see evidence of this than Matthew chapter one, the genealogy of the coming of Jesus Christ.

Now, quick context. Genealogies in ancient times, they were big deals. They were a big deal. In fact, Josephus who was an ancient historian, he said that in New Testament times many, many, many Jewish families would keep very meticulous ancestral files and it was also known and widely practiced especially among the royal class that they would scrub their genealogies. That means that they would edit them. It they looked at the genealogy and they didn't think that somebody made the cut like they would kind of be an embarrassment to them, they'd just erase them. They'd edit them out. They'd be going through and go okay, that's great. Oh, oh remember Uncle Ustus, he thought he was a camel, yeah he's out. Okay, we'll just take him right out. And then you'd go right through so that when somebody looks at the genealogy they'd be going oh my goodness, look at all these people, so courageous, so amazing, so incredible, so majestic, no wonder you are who you are. Because in that day genealogies were kind of a way of saying hey, look this is what I'm all about, this is who I am.

But when we look in Matthew chapter one, the genealogy of Jesus Christ, we see a very, very, very different picture. Start with me. Look it, first name out of the gate. Verse two. Abraham was the father of Isaac. Abraham, now he was the great man of faith but he had some moments in his life, not too cool. At two separate times in his life he lied, bold-faced lied. Not just kind of shaded the truth, bold-faced lied to two different pagan kings because he didn't trust that God could take care of him. Not exactly a shining moment for him. And then there was the incident where he took his wife's maid-servant and he slept with her in order to try and have a son. Yeah. That happened. And it was his wife's idea. What? That's ancient TMZ stuff right there, man. That's what that is, right?

Yeah, keep going. And we're just, by the way, we're just hitting the highlights. There is so much more, but we're just hitting the highlights because of time. Look further down, verse two. Jacob the father of Judah. Jacob the father of Judah. The reason that Judah is in there is because Jacob lied, Jacob lied and deceived his father into getting the birthright. The birthright also a very big deal in that day and age. And that was supposed to go to the oldest son. Okay, and it involved the blessing of the father as well as property, lands, money, goods, it was a big deal. The oldest son, Esau, in this case was supposed to get it. Jacob, the younger son lied, deceived his dad, stole the birthright from Esau. What happened? As a result Jacob blew us his family. Turned Esau, his brother against him and Jacob had to take off. He was on the lamb.

And as you read the story of Jacob, you find out a lot of nasty things happened to him. A lot of bad consequences because of his sin. Because, because, because, that is what happens when we sin. Alright? It doesn't just effect us, it effects everybody around us who cares about us and even some people who don't care about us. Sin effects us and we see that.

But it was because of Jacob's choices that he eventually met, married Leah, which is a whole another interesting story all on its own and she gave birth to Judah. So the reason Judah is in here is because of Jacob's wrong, wicked stupid choices, and he now is an ancestor of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. Wow. What does that tell us? Well, on the one hand you see that you make wrong choices, it's ugly, it's nasty, it's awful. And yet, on the other hand you see that God, He didn't just work around those bad choices, He worked through them. God is bigger than his wrong choices and He actually works through them to fulfill the promise of the coming Messiah. That's Romans 8:28 stuff right there.

You want more? We got more. There's more. There is in this, five women. Five women that are mentioned in this genealogy. Let me tell you why that's kind of amazing. Ladies, if you were to live back in that time, you would be pretty much nobody. Alright? Sorry, I just let you know, in that day and in that time women had basically no status. In most cases they were like a piece of property, maybe a little bit better. Alright. They couldn't testify in Jewish court, they couldn't testify in Roman court. Society wasn't interested in what they had to say. So the fact that they were mentioned, five of them mentioned in this genealogy, all on its own is pretty radical. It's really amazing.

When you press into it a little bit more to see the ladies who are mentioned, and there's a whole bunch of them Matthew could have mentioned that God, by inspiration, could have said hey Matthew, I want you to highlight this one, no, the five that were mentioned, you've got Moabites, Canaanites, this is a Jewish genealogy, okay. Not Jewish people, in fact these were enemies of the Jews. You've got a woman in here who deceived her father-in-law into sleeping with her.

And then you've got a prostitute mentioned in there. This is a woman who sells her body for sex. How'd you like to find that out on your Ancestry.com? Hmm? Yeah, my great-great-grandfather, he was a mayor. Yeah, my great-great-grandfather he was a president. Yeah, my great-great-grandmother was a hooker! Who's posting that on their social-media feeds? Nobody. Nobody. And yet, here they are all in the genealogy of Christmas.

And this one, this one, as a guy, this one just blows my mind. Blows my mind. Wait, let's see. Yup, blows my mind. Look at verse six. David was the father of Solomon whose mother had been Uriah's wife. Whose mother had been Uriah's wife.

Let me tell you the back story now. David - shepherd boy, fought Goliath. You remember that? Remember that scene? {sound effects} No more special effects - unbelievable in this message. That was David who eventually became king. Well, David got anointed as king. The problem is there was already a sitting king. O.k. - Saul. Not happy about it. He wasn't excited about that.

In fact, he became bitter, envious, jealous, hateful towards David - so much so that he wanted to kill him. And so he got his army together and he wanted to hunt David down and actually kill him - take his life. That would be like today if President Obama hated you and got together his secret service and some of his guys that are experts in killing and started to track you down - to kill you. That's kind of what was going on here.

Now David wasn't on his own. David gathered them around him - a group of 30-37 guys that were his band of brothers. These were brothers in arms, man. They ran with him. They believed in him. They fought side by side with him. They fought for him. They were willing to lay their lives down for David. Arguably David owed not only his kingship but his very life to these guys.

And according to 2 Samuel, guess who one of these guys was? Ready? Here's the big reveal - on the screen please. Among the Thirty were:...Uriah the Hittite. Uriah wasn't just some faceless soldier in the midst of thousands. He was one of the core group of David's fighting warriors of David.

Fast forward several years. David's king. Uriah sat on the battlefield. And in a moment of deep lust David takes Uriah's wife, brings her into the palace, sleeps with her, gets her pregnant, tries to cover it up, tries to cover it up, tries to cover it up. Eventually has Uriah executed. Killed him. Horrible. Awful. Tragic. And Matthew, by taking that little phrase and putting it right here - "whose mother had been Uriah's wife" - takes that whole sordid detail - puts it right out there on the table for everybody to see. For everyone to see.

And as you step back and you kind of survey this genealogy - do you know what you see? You see a whole bunch of people who often, I mean often, got it horribly wrong. You've got dysfunctional families. You've got misfits. You've got outsiders. You've got those who had horrific moral failures. All of them, all of them included in the most important genealogy of all time. The genealogy of the King of kings and the Lord of lords - the coming One, the Redeemer Jesus Christ. Why? Why in the world would God do that?

Here's what I believe. I believe that in this genealogy of Christmas - it tells us and traces for us the coming of Christ - that God was holding out to us and is holding out to us a heart-pounding, jaw dropping, unbelievable gift not only for Christmas, but for all year round - the gift of hope. Incredible, rock solid hope. And we see it in his genealogy in at least three ways.

As you look at this genealogy the first way you see that we have hope, first one is this: Nothing can keep God from keeping His Word. Nothing can keep God from keeping His Word.

The great thing about this genealogy is that it tells us that the coming of Christ is anchored in history. It's not made up, right? It's actually a historical document. The coming of Christ was not made up. It wasn't a legend. It wasn't a story. It wasn't a long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away, o.k.? As cool as that is, it's not what this is. Right? It was an actual thing that took place. You can trace it. You can see that Jesus' coming is actually anchored in history. These were real people. They really lived. They really existed and Jesus really did come. And you can trace it. And what that tells us is that God keeps His Word. He keeps His Word. And no amount of dysfunction or mess ups or wrong decisions can keep God from fulfilling the promise that He gave.

That's enormous hope for you and for me. I mean that lands enormous hope on us, because you can have confidence in what God says. The promises that He has made in His Word, you can have confidence in that. And He has made a bunch. I will never leave you or forsake you. Nothing can separate you from My love. I will always be with you. My sheep they know My voice. I give them eternal life. I put them in the palm of My hand and no one can steal them out. I mean, we have promise after promise after promise that is rich and it is real. And God says I'm good for every single one of them. Want proof in real time? The genealogy of My Son tells you as you trace it down - boom. Wrong choice. Boom - here's another sin. Boom - here's another mess up. God didn't go oop - derailed my whole plan. Nope. God says I'm going to work right through it. I'm going to fulfill what I promised - the coming of My Son.

Nothing can keep God from keeping His Word. That's true for you. That's true for me. That's true for all of us. And we see it and the hope that it gives us here in this genealogy of Christmas.

Second way that this thing gives us hope is that no matter your story, God can work through you for good. Think about that for a moment. No matter your story, God can work through you for good. It's what He did here. Now here's the thing. God didn't have to use these people. He could have picked somebody else. Somebody cleaner. Somebody nicer. Somebody better. Right? By cultural standards anyway. More accepted by the religious people of the day. Nope. God chose to work through these dysfunctional people and all of their junk. Why? Because He wanted you to see His grace. This thing is dripping with grace and mercy and God. And He includes all of this in history in His story for you and for me to give us hope - that if He did it with them, He can do it with us.

Now I need to say something and I need you to really hear me, because Satan will try to twist God's word because that's what he does. And if you were starting to lean this direction with your thoughts after reading this, then you're missing it. And here's what I mean. Satan would love for you to look at this genealogy and come away with this conclusion: well, it's pretty obvious. I can sin however much I want and God will still use me. If that's where you're kind of leaning, I would say a few things to you.

First of all, do not confuse what the Bible reports as something that the Bible recommends. O.k.? Don't confuse what the Bible reports as something that the Bible actually recommends. One of the things that I think speaks so well for the authenticity of the Bible is that God put it down just like it actually happened. The good. The not so good. The awful. He didn't whitewash any of this. He puts it down. Here it is. But just because the Bible speaks on it, just because the Bible reports it doesn't mean the Bible recommends it.

I work with college kids. I'm the college and young adult pastor here. Love it - so glad I get to do it. Been working with students for a long time. And I've had this conversation, o.k. Now it's interesting, I've never had this conversation and this question asked me by a girl. Never. Ever. I've been doing this for a long time. No girl has ever asked me this question. I only get it from dudes. I only get it from guys, o.k.? A guy will come up to me and go, hey, Wes. I've been reading the Old Testament. I'm like, good for you, that's awesome! That's a good thing. And he'll go yeah, you know what I've been finding? I'm like, oh, here it comes. He says you know what I've been finding? I've been noticing that a lot of guys in the Old Testament - they got a lot of ladies in their life. There's guys that got a lot of wives, man. So God must be pretty good with that. Right?

You know, I'm looking at them and in the back of my mind I'm going, bro, you're having trouble negotiating one relationship, o.k. Do you really think adding ten more would be a good idea? You know, you really think adding that to your roster is a good move on your part? Do you really want that much estrogen in your life? I mean, really? Right? Huh?

After the first service I had a guy come up to me, one of my college guys - he goes, were you talking about me? I'm like, yeah, in fact I've got your picture. I'm going to put it on the screen. No, I'm just kidding. I'm totally kidding. No, that's fine. Yeah.

Look it - just because the Bible reports something doesn't mean that it recommends it. In fact, if you follow the stories in the Bible, you will see that people who make choices outside of God's recommendation, outside of His specific instructions - man, it's not good. It doesn't end well. For example in the case of polygamy, God says hey, my design - one man, one woman, covenant, committed relationship for life. That's marriage. That's my design. Anything outside of that, it's going to not end well. And you see that as you follow these stories. So just because the Bible reports it doesn't mean that it recommends it. So to think, as you read this genealogy - hey, the Bible's talking about all this sin and God used them so obviously that's good for me.

Second thing I would say to you is as you read the narratives through and the different stories, here's what you're going to find. Sin carries consequences. Nobody walks away unscathed. Because of the eternal law that God has set in motion. This is how things work, the law of sowing and reaping. What you sow you will reap. It's a law. It's like the physical law of gravity. And just because I don't want to believe in the physical law of gravity - it doesn't matter. Because if I was to step off this stage and think I'm going to fly up? You know, it's not going to happen. The moment I step off this stage gravity's going to own me. The law of gravity is going to operate in my life in a very real way and there's going to be consequences. Same thing with the law of sowing and reaping.

If you came upon me and here I am - I'm planting seeds. And you go, hey, Wes - what are you doing? I'm like, hey, I'm planting apple seeds. Yeah. And I go, hey, man, I'm going to have a great crop of tomatoes. It's going to be awesome. And you're like, what? I'm like, yeah - I'm planting apple seeds and I'm going to have an incredible crop of tomatoes. And you'd be like, are you vaping again? What's going on? What's happening to you? Don't you understand? This doesn't work. That's not how it works. Right?

And we laugh at that, but how often is that the case in our own lives? How often do we plant one thing and we expect something different? We plant seeds of sexual immorality, we look at porn, we have conversations, we entertain fantasies in our mind and we think we're going to reap a healthy sexual marriage. We plant compromise - little seeds of compromise - and we think we're going to reap a life of integrity. We plant apathy in our relationship with Jesus Christ and we think we're going to reap a vibrant faith. We're not. Do you know why? Because it's not what we planted. What you sow you will reap.

The Bible tells us - God is crystal clear about this. Galatians 6 - The one who sows to please the sinful nature will from that nature reap destruction. Not might, not could, odd are... Will reap. What you sow you will reap. And if you choose to sow sin, you will reap the consequences of that. So to look at this genealogy and walk away thinking, hey, I can sin as much as I want and God will still use me and that's a good decision. Wrong. You've got it wrong.

And finally, I would say the Bible is not light on sin. Ever. And this is just something that you and I as Christ followers - look it - we've got to get honest with ourselves. Often. We need, on a regular basis, to allow the Holy Spirit to pick over the landscape of our spiritual life. And we need to see, in our lives, is there something that I am trying to justify, that I am trying to negotiate about? Because if there's something in my life that I am trying to protect or tolerate or if I am nurturing or even loving the very things that Jesus died for, my heart is in a desperate dangerous place and that should scare me to the core of who I am. And it should scare you as well.

God does not want us to look at this and see all that we see and draw the conclusion that sin's a good decision, and it's o.k. because God will still use us. Because it's not what He's trying to communicate. What He's trying to communicate, I believe, through this genealogy is this - that its consistent with the rest of Scripture. As we look at this and we see people who are broken, who got it horribly wrong on many occasions and yet we see the grace and the mercy of God who is bigger than our sin, who is bigger than the sin committed against them and that He will take their lives and He will work in their life and through their life even in the midst of their brokenness - for good. That gives us hope. That gives us hope. Like I said, if God did it with them He can do it with us. He's bigger than your failures and your brokenness and my junk. He's bigger than all of that. And as we look and we see how He fulfilled His promise in the coming of Christ, that gives us hope.

So the next time - listen - the next time the enemy comes to you and whispers in your ear and says, hey, man, you're too weak. You're not good enough. You're too big of a disappointment to God. He'll never use you. Go right to Matthew one. Read through all those names that you can't pronounce, and allow the wonder and the hope of Christmas to wash over you all over again. Because God did it with them, He can do it with you. Because He can take all things - work them for good.

And finally, the final way that I believe this genealogy gives us hope is this: the power of God's grace to bring you in is greater than the power of sin to keep you out. The power of God's grace to bring you in is greater than the power of sin to keep you out. I mean just take a look again at this genealogy and all the people that were here and all the things that they did. Just like them, you, me, none of your story, none of your junk, none of fill in the blank for you that's not good - none of it is stronger than God's ability to bring you in and put you in His family. If you repent and believe, Jesus will take you in. And that is the same for a life of a prostitute or the power position of a king. It's the same.

Look it, we all sit at the Christmas table as equals. We all sit here at the Christmas table the same. We all got here the same way. None of us get to the table by our own activity - because I'm good enough, because I can do this, because God owes me, because I checked off all the boxes and now God I deserve to be here. No. None of us get to the Christmas table except by God's grace through Jesus Christ. That means we all sit there as equals.

And as you look around that table, you know what you see? You see everybody. Everyone, every single one of us - we're lost, but now we're found. Yeah. We're unworthy, but now we're accepted. Completely guilty, completely forgiven. Equally broken, equally embraced. And that gives us hope. Real, solid, everyday, grinded out, hope. The hope that God will say to you and say to me no amount of your sin, no amount of your junk, no amount of your brokenness - none of it is stronger than the power of my Son to bring you in and give you salvation and sit you at the table. None of it. Nothing, nothing can keep Him from taking you and putting you in His family line. That is the wonder and the power and the hope of Christmas because Jesus came, the Lamb of God.

Listen to me - listen. If you don't know this hope, you can and you can know it today and it's why God brought you here. It's why you're watching online - because He wants you to know Him. Because he knows your brokenness. He understands your situation. And I'm not just talking about, hey I prayed a prayer once and now I'm going to heaven so everything's o.k. I'm talking about do you believe? When John 3:16 says, God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him - not believes about Him but believes in Him. That means you fully surrendered your life to Christ to say I'm lost. I'm a sinner. I need a savior. I'm following you. I'm all in. Change my life. You've got me. You're my King. You're my God. You're my Savior. That's what that means. And if you've never done that and you don't have the hope, you can today. That's why Jesus came. And if you're here and a Christ follower and you do have it, then live in the reality of that, man.

Maybe some of you, you're a believer but you've kind of gotten off course a little bit. You've listened to the lies of the enemy. You've listened to him berate you because you're broken and you think God is just of you. That's not true. Jesus died for everything that could turn God's face away from you. He died for it all. His position is forever changed from a position of righteous judgment to a position of open armed acceptance and forgiveness. The prodigal son - the only thing that kept him out there the junk with the pigs was his decision, not his father's. The only thing that will keep you in your junk is your decision and not God's. Not God's. If you're a Christ follower, live in the reality of the hope - the hope that this genealogy of Christmas - the coming of Christ tells us that God is at work, that He keeps His word to you, that good is coming, that you can have hope because Christmas is real, because Jesus is real.

Let's pray together. With your heads bowed and your eyes closed just for a moment. Thank you so much for your attention. Man, this is the critical moment in every time we gather together for a time of teaching from the Word. What did God say to you? What did His Spirit who is so passionate about you - what did He speak to you about and what do you need to do about it? What is He calling you to? What is He calling you to? If you're here and you're a Christ follower, respond to your heavenly Father who is so fully invested in you and counts you a delight - wants to work through your life for good. What is He talking to you about? What do you need to do about it?

Last question. You're here and you don't know Jesus Christ. You've never invited Christ into your life. You don't have a relationship with Him. If you died today, you don't know where you'd go. Well that can change for you right now. Change for you right now. If while I've been speaking or even the songs that have been sung, that truth has been going on - it seems like somebody is just knocking on the door of your heart, that's Jesus. It's now me. It's Him. If you're here and you want to invite Christ into your life. You want to give your life to Christ then man, do it. Right now, do it. Right where you sit, give your life to Jesus. Tell Him what you want. Turn your life over to Him. If you're here and say Wes, I'm not exactly sure how to express that. I get it. Let me give you some words. Somebody loved me enough to give me some words. Let me give you some words. Just pray these words silently. Not out loud - in your heart. Mean them as your own. They're not magic. Prayer is just the way we voice our heart to God. Just say something like this. Silently just say, Dear Jesus, I'm a sinner. I get it. I need a Savior. I believe you died for me. You rose again to give me life. You love me. You want me. I want you so I turn from my sin, I repent. And I turn to you. Jesus, come into my life. I want all of you and I want you to have all of me. So I'm all yours. I believe in You. I'm all yours and I will declare it.