Mike Bickle explores the pre-existence and genealogy of Jesus, emphasizing His divine nature as the uncreated God and His intimate relationship with the Father. He contrasts the genealogies presented in Matthew and Luke with John's profound declaration of Jesus as the Word, who existed before time and is fully God. Bickle highlights the significance of Jesus's incarnation, His role as the source of spiritual life, and the importance of recognizing His deity amidst contemporary debates. The sermon culminates in a call to embrace the fullness of grace and truth found in Christ, encouraging believers to deepen their relationship with Him.

And in this session, we're going to look at three different passages that all relate to Jesus's early beginnings or his pre-existence. Matthew opens up with Jesus as the son of David. Luke, he gives the genealogy of Jesus as the son of man. But John, he goes far beyond that. He goes right to the Godhead and says, Jesus has more than a human genealogy. He is the uncreated God. He's pre-existent. Now, the reason John takes that approach is because the main theme of his gospel is the deity of Christ and Jesus's relationship to the Father. That's the unique focus of the gospel of John. As I said in the earlier session, that the deity of Jesus is being hotly debated among people who profess to be believers. And all of our faith is built upon the reality, the truthfulness, the reliability of his deity. That is not a truth that's up for debate or discussion. The Bible is absolutely clear. He is God and all that come to him receive him in that way. We're going to look at John chapter one, which is a massive, I don't know if that's the right word, it's a chapter with verses one to 17, with so many, verses one to 18, statements of truth. You could write a book on almost every phrase in John chapter one, verses one to 18. But paragraph A, John begins his gospel with this mystery of the transcendent, uncreated God. I mean, the God before time, the God that existed long before Genesis one. He's transcendent, he's wholly other than, superior than all that exists. And this God fully identifies with broken human beings. John declares that this man, Jesus, is the preexistent uncreated God. And then it goes on and says, but he became a man. The incarnation means he became a man. Of course, the question we say, why would one so great stoop so low to raise us up so high? It's because he desires that we would be his eternal companion forever. And that we would be fully gods, that we would give ourself to his father, and we would be in partnership with him forever. That's what he desired. Paragraph B, let's go ahead and look at this chapter again with so many nuggets of truth. We'll just look at it ever so briefly. John describes Jesus as the word of God. That's an interesting title that the Holy Spirit gave Jesus, because the scripture is called the word of God, and Jesus is called the word of God. Now, the scriptures reveal God's mind. They reveal God's heart. They manifest his beauty, his majesty, his excellency. And Jesus does this very thing for the father. But verse one, John takes us way back, long before Genesis one, before time began. He brings us to a place that our finite minds can't even grasp, in the beginning. Now, this is before time. This is the eternal past. And we don't even, we can't grasp that with our finite minds. So John just lays it, in the beginning was the word. Now, in a moment, he's going to tell us who the word is. It's a person. It's a man. I mean, the word became human. But he goes on, he says, and this word was in deep fellowship with God, the father. When the Bible talks about God, often it's referring to the father. In other words, there was a delightful fellowship between the person called the word and the father. And of course we know in the fellowship of the spirit. So the Trinity is indicated here. But John says the word was more than just an expression of God, more than just a revelation of the father. He's more. The word actually is God. He's a separate person from the father. The Godhead is three persons co-equally God, constituting one Godhead, one God in three persons. So John is saying, not only does he perfectly express the father, but he is as much God as the father is. The word was God. What a dramatic statement. Verse two, he was in the beginning with God. So John makes it clear. He's a separate person from the father. He's with the father. Verse three, he goes on to magnify Jesus's power and majesty. Everything was made through him. Now, instead of calling him the word, John uses the pronoun him. It's a person. And he goes on to say, there's no exception. There's nothing that came into existence that did not come through his creative power. I mean, what a statement of the majesty of Jesus in that one statement right there. Verse three. So what John is doing right from the beginning, this is kind of not really his genealogy, but his introduction to Jesus, just like Matthew gives a genealogy with Jesus as the son of David and Luke gives a genealogy of Jesus as the son of man. John is putting Jesus in relationship to time. He's from the beginning in relationship to God, the father. He's with God. He's equal to God. He puts him in relationship to creation. He's the creator of everything. Puts him in relationship to redemption, to the human race. And he goes on and develops that throughout John chapter one. Let's look at number one under B. This idea that Jesus is called the word of God. In Revelation 19, that's the name that's written on him. That's, that's kind of an abstract thought that he is the word of God. Well, the word of God, God, the father has many deep desires and many thoughts that have not been expressed that aren't seen by anyone in the natural realm. They're hidden. They're hidden in God's heart. They're unexpressed desires and thoughts. But when the word of God comes forth, those unexpressed ideas are now expressible. They're now discernible to people, to angels. And God says, I'm going to choose one person that's going to give an open expression to all that's in my heart. I'm going to do it through one person, the God man. He'll be fully God and fully man. He will physically give manifestation to those unspoken desires. They're going to become audible and expressed through this man. That's why it's called the word of God. Later on in verse 18, right here in John one, it says that Jesus declared the father. He makes God understandable. He makes him understandable. Now, when we read something in the scripture, the word of God, the written word, and it confuses us and we think, wait a second, it seems like it doesn't make any sense. What we, what I do, I go to the living word, the personality of Jesus. I heard one preacher say, Jesus is perfect theology. And when I can't figure out something in the written word, I look at the living word, what Jesus said and did. It will line up with what Jesus said and did. And that's the grid that helps me interpret the written word is my interaction with the living word, because all of the values and the truths and the plans and the ideas and the sentiments that are deep in the father's heart, they are expressed through Jesus. That's what's John saying. Now, again, Jesus is preexistent. He said later on in John 17, verse five, he said, father, glorify me with the glory that I had with you before the world was created. Give me the glory I had long before Genesis one ever happened. That's John 17, verse five, paragraph two, God created through the word. Jesus is identified in scripture as the creator in Genesis one. God, the father had deep thoughts in his heart. Deep plans about the heavens and the earth and the natural realm. And the world was formless and void in the spirit of God was moving. The spirit of God was in power, but the word, the darkness stayed in place in the world. I mean, imagine God, the father's already okayed the plan for the heavens and the earth. And when we talk about the heavens, we're talking about the sky, the atmosphere around the earth. We're not talking about the heavens where God dwells, what it talks about in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. It's talking about the atmosphere and the galaxies around the earth. Well, the earth is formless and void, but God, the father's already has the plan approved. It's already established. The spirit's there in power, but the darkness remains. And then God said, it's Jesus that is talking about. Let there be light. God gave expression, the audible word and the spirit moved in power. When the living word declared the intent of God's heart. That's one reason God calls him the word of God. It's through his words that the father's plans and desires are made known and they come to pass and the spirit releases them, but not until Jesus declares them. See, and that's the glory of intercession. Jesus joins us to himself as his bride. He says, I'm the chief intercessor. You're joining with me. You're going to say what God says like I do, and the spirit will release it in power when we say it. So as heirs of Christ and the bride of Christ, we join him in this ministry called saying what's in God's, the father's heart. So the spirit releases it in power. That's how we function. It's called intercession. Paragraph C verse four, John goes on and says, he's not just the source of natural creation in Jesus is life. And this life is the light of man. Now there's verse five and the light shines in the darkness, but the darkness doesn't overpower it. That's what the word means. The darkness doesn't overpower the light. Very significant statements here. Paragraph one, there's two primary Greek words for life. There's the, there's the, the word Sukkot, which is the life we receive when we're born natural life. That's what it normally means. It speaks of natural life. All human beings, all animals have that Sukkot life. They have natural life. But Zoe is a different type of life. And the word Zoe is usually is talking about spiritual life or supernatural life. And what John is saying here, Jesus is not just the author of natural creation. He is the source and the dispenser of giving spiritual life. He fills the void in the human heart. He's the only one that has the life that satisfies and brings the fullness and contentment, the human heart. And so we can, in our Sukkot life and our animal natural life, we can try to fill our spirit hunger with natural things, more honor, more money, more pleasure, but it can't touch that deep part in our spirit. And John is saying here in this man is the source of that Zoe life that will satisfy an only source that will satisfy the deepest cry of the human heart. And so we're constantly trying to satisfy ourself in the natural realm. When we were created with a spirit man that needs Zoe life and John is saying it only comes from this man. Don't even try to find it somewhere else. Paragraph two, John makes a very strong statement that the darkness can't comprehend or overpower this light. Wherever this light shines and it's accepted and it's agreed with, it will overpower darkness. And the pastoral application of this in our own lives, we can get ensnared in the darkness of addiction or immorality or bitterness or depression or dullness or any kind of fear. Just any kind of darkness can ensnare our heart. And we all are touched by various applications or expressions of darkness. And sometimes we get tempted to focus on the darkness itself and we can't get rid of darkness by just warring against darkness. The way we get rid of darkness is by letting light in. You know, if the room's full of darkness, you don't go outside and get a bucket full of light and try to pour it into the room. Doesn't work that way. You can't push the darkness out of the room by human force. You turn the light out and the darkness instantly goes. And what John's saying here, this man is life. He's the source where the human heart, the created order, humanity will find satisfaction and fulfillment. And he says that life is stronger than any addiction, any darkness, any phobia, anything. If that light is yielded to focused on it overpowers darkness, it's superior to everything that exists in the created order. That's what he's saying here in John chapter one, verse four and five. I mean, these are verse four and five is very powerful, practical, pastoral application to our heart of the glory of who Jesus is to us in a personal way. Roman numeral two. Well, he goes on verse six and he says, there was a man sent from God, John the Baptist, and he came to bear witness to the light. And his point is John didn't claim to be the light. He came to bear witness of the light, but the glory of Jesus is seen here in verse six by the quality of the man that God sent to announce him. God wouldn't allow Jesus and his glory to come unannounced. First, he sent Gabriel to Mary. Then he sent the star to the Magi, the wise men from the east. Then he sent the angels to Bethlehem, to the shepherds and on and on. And here he raises up the most dedicated man who's ever walked on the earth. Jesus said the greatest man ever born of a woman and God, the father saying, the glory of Jesus requires a man of this dedication to announce him. He's worthy of being fully given over to as John is the picture of. John spent his entire life, you know, his teen life in his twenties. He died when he was just a little bit over age 30. He spent his, all of his young adult life preparing and giving himself fully. And the message here is God sent this man. Jesus is worthy of that kind of abandonment and that kind of witness from the human race of which John is the, I mean, the prototype of radical dedication. But the point is Jesus, the uncreated God is worthy of that kind of loyalty and announcement and giving witness to. And John is a picture of it. Top of page two, verse nine, John's going on a bit more to describe the glory of Jesus. He said in essence that Jesus is the true light that gives light to every man or every person coming into the world. And that's an interesting phrase. That's a big statement. Now he's a true light and contrast to the devil who the scripture says in second Corinthians 11, verse 13, he appears as an angel of light. There's many demonic, deceptive spirits and much deception in the world. And, and John says, this man is the source of what is true. He is truth. He's opposite of the deception that fills the earth. It's promoted by men and by demons, but he's the true light in another way that in the old Testament, there were many types and shadows. There, there were pictures of Jesus's ministry through the old Testament sacrifices in the tabernacle. And those things were pictures of Jesus. They were a dim light. But John is saying, Jesus is the full light. He's not a type and shadow. He's not a whisper. He is the full expression of the light. He's the true light. Then he makes this unusual statement that it gives Jesus is the source that gives light to every man. What does that mean that he gives light to every man? The scripture lets us know right here in paragraph B that all people have a general revelation of God. All human beings have a general revelation of God through the dual witness of conscience and creation says in Romans 2 15, God wrote his law on the conscience in the heart of every single person. There's a witness of truth. It's not a full witness, but it is a witness that God is real. Every person has a conscience and it takes work to dull it and silence it. It takes work to do it. And there in our youth, we step across the line and said that didn't feel right. And it's not the whole truth, but the witness of the truth and Jesus, John gives Jesus credit for that because he's the source of that ministry to you called your conscience. And then Romans chapter one says, you look up and see the sky and the created order. That is a witness of God too. It's not a complete witness. It's not a full witness, but every person, the Lord's John is saying Jesus has brought some dimension of light. And if they will respond to the light of conscience and creation and begin to inquire about the true God, God will move heaven and earth to bring the specific revelation of Jesus to them. But what John is saying here is that Jesus is even the source of moving on people through creation and conscience, even before they know him in salvation in a personal way. Verse 10, this one, the word who dwelt before time, this one, the word who was with the father, this one who created all things, this one, the word who is God equal to the father verse 10, he came into the world as a man. I mean, this is staggering. He came into the human experience, the uncreated God who created everything stepped into the planet in humanity. That's again, the incarnation. He became human verse 10, but John laments. So the world was made by him. They didn't recognize him and what this verse is doing. It's magnifying his power and his glory and talking about the tragedy that he didn't recognize him though. He created them and though he put light in them, the light of conscience and even the created order itself, but they couldn't connect the dots with who he was. Then it became more specific than just the nations did not figure out who he was. Verse 11, he came into his own, the Jewish people as the fulfillment of the old Testament prophets as the fulfillment of the old Testament types and shadows, and Israel did not receive him. So the world is charged with ignorance. When he came, they didn't get who he was. The Romans didn't get him, but Israel's charged with rebellion. He came right to them as the fulfillment of the types and shadows of the old Testament sacrifices and all the messianic prophecies. And they rejected him paragraph C verse 12, but as many as receive him, he gave them the right to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but born of God. Well, what's happening here is that verse 12 gives us the human side of salvation, what God requires and verse 13 gives us the divine side of salvation, what God provides. So in verse 12, as many as no matter how sinful, does it matter if they're Gentiles? Because the Jews thought that only the Jews could be saved. John said something radical. As many as the most sinful, rebellious, evil, broken, rebellious, Gentile who hates God and Israel and everything, if they repent, as many as, he'll give them not just free forgiveness so they escape hell, more than that, he will give them the right in the other translations, use the word, the power. It's more than just a small privilege. It's the power to be accepted into the family of God and to fellowship with the Trinity, God, father, and Holy Spirit in a way that's far beyond what the angels will ever experience. This is a radical statement. As many as, no matter how sinful, Jew, Gentile, doesn't matter what condition, if they will believe, they receive the power of God to be received and established in the family of God with the very seed of God, the Holy Spirit dwelling in them forever. Radical transformation, forever, billions and billions of years, resurrected body, ruling and reigning forever. They're in the family. They're in fellowship with the father, son, and Holy Spirit forever. But the human side is they have to believe. Now, some ministries have taken this idea of belief, they've reduced it to what preachers have called easy believism, which means intellectual ascent. You know, they get somebody to repeat a prayer and intellectually ascent. Do you believe Jesus was God? Sure. You want him to be your Lord? Yeah, I guess if you want me to want him. Yeah, sure. Yeah, that's right. That's good. You're saved. And believing is far more than intellectual ascent. Biblical New Testament believing is this giving of ourself to him and his leadership and fullness. Now, we don't do it well, but we do it with all of our heart. Believing means embracing his leadership, believing he's God, believing he's king, believing he's savior. So much so we give ourself fully to him. We don't earn anything. But in the response of believing is a full giving of ourself based on our gratitude for who he is. So some people have taken believing and they've teased it apart from a heart commitment. They say, well, if you require a heart commitment, then you're earning salvation. But to believe he's the king and the creator, to believe he's the John one God is to give ourself fully to him. Those are inseparable ideas. That's the human side. Verse 13 is the divine side, what God provides. He said, these people that are brought into the family. I mean, we're talking about brought into God's family forever. Everybody wants to be in a royal family. I mean, that's an amazing privilege to be in a royal family that's divine that lives forever. He said, these guys, these people, verse 13, who were born, they're not born of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of men, but of God. When it says they're not born of blood, what he's saying that ancestry and hereditary background and tradition is not going to get you into the family of God. Some people say, well, I'm born in a Christian family. I have a Christian heritage. You know, my uncles or my grandfather was a preacher and hey, I've, and Jesus says, John says, no, no, it's not about your ancestry. It's not where you're born. It's not how dedicated your ancestors were. It's not those that are born of the flesh. Meaning we can't force somebody into believing we can present the truth. But at the end of the day, our efforts that are not aided by the grace of God won't move their hearts. Now we always give the efforts because we never know what God's going to do. But what John's saying is this, it's more than human effort. It's more than just the will of flesh. I want my friend to be saved. So therefore I'm going to corner him. I'm going to put tracks under his pillow at night, and I'm going to kind of trap him into going to a conference and get a bunch of people around him. They're all going to prophesy over him. And then I'm going to bring him out to a Christian movie and I'm a lock him in the door and we're going to witness and prophesy over him. And John says, no, that doesn't work that way. I've tried a few of those things, but they're born of God. It's an act. It's a supernatural act. It's a miracle. It's a, it's a supernatural thing. When the human heart says, wait a second, this is real. This is real. That's why believing means embracing and giving ourself again. We give ourself and we stumble and fall many times, but the giving of ourself is real and it's full. Salvation is a revelation. It's not just logic. It's not that if we can win a bait and give them better ideas than they have, like somebody says, well, let's go to the, the, uh, place and debate the person. And we'll bet use better logic and prove God's real. The problem isn't intellectual ever. The problem is always a heart issue. John chapter seven, verse 17, Jesus told the Pharisees, he goes, if you were willing to obey, you would believe the problem. If you're believing is not intellectual, you're not willing at the heart level. And when we understand that, then we can cooperate with the grace of God more in our efforts towards others. But then we rejoice in the fact that how did it break through in your heart? It was the grace of God, the glory of God. God went after you. He convinced you and he's worthy of us giving everything to him. Okay. Paragraph D verse 14, the word became flesh. This is one of the great statements in the word of God. Jesus took on human nature. At that moment, when Jesus was conceived and then born there in the person of Christ was the union of two natures, the only person in existence with the union of two natures, the father and the spirit don't have a human nature. No other human is the uncreated God, Jesus alone, and his person is the union of two natures. He's fully God and fully man. That's why he's referred to as the God man. Paul said in first Timothy three 16, he said, great is the mystery that God, the John one Genesis one God, it's human. He goes, this staggers our mind. It's staggers the angels still. It's awesome beyond our human imagination. The full implications of this great is the mystery. Of this glorious reality that God became human, the word from the beginning became flesh and he dwelt among broken and fallen, weak men and women. Verse 14 John says, we means the apostles. We beheld his glory. He goes for three years. We saw things indescribable in their glory. John saw him on the Mount of Transfiguration when Jesus was in prayer and his face shown like an angel, his clothes became bright and Jesus's divine nature was manifest in glory in a way that John had never seen Peter, James and John and on the Mount of Transfiguration and Matthew 17 and they saw his glory. They saw him walk on the water in the storm and command it. They saw him do incredible miracles, but beloved now as new Testament believers, Paul says, we can behold the glory of the Lord. Second Corinthians three 18 by reading the word and engaging with the spirit and doing the works of the kingdom and walking in the kingdom community, we see glimpses of his glory all around us. Paul said, we can behold his glory, not in the full direct way the apostles did when Jesus was in the flesh, but we have glimpses of his glory and it transforms us. Paul said in second Corinthians three 18 the glory of the only begotten of the father, this unique begotten, the father brought him forth in this unique way of being the only one that possesses the two natures, fully God and fully man. So he's brought forth in this unique dynamic, fully God, fully man, begotten of the fathers is the phrase that's being used to describe that. He's the only one. There's not, there's not another angel. There's not another human. There's not another person in the Godhead. This will ever happen to. He's the only one brought forth by the father in this way. And this man full of grace and he's full of truth. Paragraph E and of his fullness. We have all received grace for grace or one translation says grace upon grace upon grace, meaning God heaps grace in favor on us day after day. He gives us new grace as we interact with him. We never, ever exhaust the supply of grace. It's new every single day and every sufficient, I mean, in every circumstance there's grace sufficient for us to carry our heart in peace and to walk in victory. Grace upon grace, verse 17, John says, well, let's go back to Moses because Moses was the great man of the old Testament. I mean, it was Abraham. There was David, but Moses was in a category of its own. And the, and the leadership of Israel, they're always talking about Moses. How amazing is Moses, you know, on the mountain and saw the glory of God. Like no man ever did Moses, you know, multiple, I mean, divided the red sea and all these incredible miracles happened in Moses. There's nobody like Moses in the old Testament. Verse 17, John says, you know, Moses was good. And the law was given through Moses. And Moses had a supernatural ministry that was second to nobody in the Bible besides Jesus. But the law was given to him. Sin was revealed to the law. Justice was revealed to the law. Many good things were revealed to the law, but he said, grace and truth came through Jesus. Because in the law, we don't have a revelation of God's personality in fullness. We don't have the gracious tenderness of God. God was tender in the old Testament, but it wasn't made known through the teaching of Moses. Through the teaching of Moses, we understood justice. We understood what was right and what was wrong in many ways. But we didn't understand the affectionate delight, the graciousness of God's heart. Now God had revealed it a bit to Moses, but it was never something that was revealed and carried through the Old Testament with any kind of emphasis. But Jesus came and he brought the truth of God's grace that was always true, but he brought it to light. But notice, he brought grace and truth. Now some people really like grace, but they can't tolerate truth. They want the gracious tenderness of God and his delightful way and his open-heartedness, but they don't want God's words. They don't want God's ways. But truth and grace are forever joined in fullness in the man and in the message of Christ Jesus. And many in the church try to separate grace and truth. Jesus didn't only bring grace. He brought truth. And when Jesus, I remember the passage in John 6, where Jesus had many disciples, he multiplied the bread, then Jesus started giving him some heavy stuff. And many of the disciples, they said, we don't want to follow you no more. We're offended at you. And Jesus looked at Peter and says, Peter, do you want to go too? I'm not changing my message because you don't like it. I am the witness of my father's truth. And I am the manifestation of my father's grace. And grace and truth don't contradict or cancel each other out. And many of the disciples, they withdrew from Jesus and they didn't want to follow him no more. They were offended. They didn't like truth. When Jesus went to his own hometown in Nazareth at the synagogue, they loved his miracles that they heard stories of. He had done miracles in the other places and they were excited and they loved his teaching. They said, your teaching is amazing. Aren't you Joseph's son? He goes, yeah. And then Jesus started giving the message. And they got so angry at him that they drove him to the edge of town to throw him off a cliff. They wanted grace, but they didn't want truth. And Jesus is the fullness of both of them. So don't let some well-meaning, I don't mean well-meaning, I said it wrong. Some religious Christian rhetoric let you pull those things apart and make them contrary in opposition to each other. Jesus is full of grace and full of truth and they fully go together forever. Verse 18, come to the end of this introduction of John. He says, no one's ever seen God at any time, not even Moses. Moses saw more of the glory of God than any other man in history. But he never saw God physically in the way that Jesus has been face to face with the father from eternity past. And when John was writing this passage, Jesus in his physical body had been raised from the dead, ascended up to the right hand of the father and was with the father face to face. It says in verse 18, no one's ever seen God face to face besides Jesus. And listen, I love this statement. He is in the bosom of the father right now. This phrase, the bosom of the father, it's such a tender phrase. It depicts the close, affectionate relationship, this tender communion with the father. Matter of fact, it was John, John 13, verse 23. He's the one that put his head on Jesus's bosom at the last supper. That's how John describes what happened to the last supper. He put his head on Jesus's chest, excuse me, at various meal occasions and dinnertime. It would happen on occasion that one member of the family would lay their head on the chest of the other. And it, uh, in the scripture in Deuteronomy 13, it talks about a man and a wife taking to his bosom. It talks about a child and a father, the father taking the child into his bosom. There's other examples. It's this tender embrace of affection and trust. And one of the most powerful statements here in John, he says, John says, Jesus is in the bosom of the father. He's not just at the right hand reigning. He's in this affectionate interchange with the father forever. And he's wooing us to enter into that with him. John says, I did that some with, with Jesus, John 13, verse 23. He goes, but that's where Jesus is with the father. What he's saying is this is my description and introduction of the man Christ Jesus. Let's turn to the top of page three. Well, let's look just briefly, John one. You can't really say it's the genealogy of God because God didn't have a genealogy, but it's Jesus's history with God from the beginning, Matthew one, Jesus's ancestry through Joseph and Luke three, it's going to be his ancestry through Mary. We'll just look at this briefly, kind of let you look at it more in your own time, but Matthew chapter one starts the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Now, right from the beginning, because remember, Matthew wrote to the Jews, revealing Jesus as the King and the Messiah that the Jews were looking for. That's who Matthew's focused on. Luke is writing to the Greeks and he's talking about the humanity of Jesus. Jesus is the son of man. So he's going to take a different approach than Matthew, the son of David. That's the great King of Israel. And the Messiah is going to be a King like David, but the son of Abraham, that's a little bit different because God made a covenant with Abraham that all the nations would be blessed through Abraham seed. All the nations would be touched and healed and blessed. In other words, a description of Jesus, the savior of the world. And this very first statement, Matthew is tying together two old Testament covenants, the covenant that the nations would be blessed through Abraham and the covenant that God would raise up an eternal King over all the nations through David. Now, the reason this was important, paragraph one, the Messiah had to be traced back to David's royal family line to be accepted as the King of Israel. They were saying, no, prove it to us that he is of the line of David and of the line of Abraham. Now it's interesting, well, more than interesting, significant that Mary's ancestry goes back to David and Abraham too. So though they had two different family lines, they both led to David. Joseph came through David's son, Solomon, and Mary came her line through David's son, Nathan, two different sons, but both had the father, David. Paragraph two, there's over 50 genealogies in the old Testament. Today, because of all the scattering of the Jews and all the destruction, most Jewish people don't have any historical records. There's attempts to kind of put pieces together, but there isn't strong historical, credible evidence of genealogies for the Jews like they used to have. And so somebody would say, who, how do we know that the Messiah that's coming is the son of David? Because we can't prove it. Matter of fact, the last man that had a claim that was provable in history with a genealogy as the king of Messiah that can be proved to the nations is Jesus. He was the last one that the nations have record of that claimed to be king that have a historical genealogy. He was the last man that we still have record of his genealogy. There's no other man that could claim it except for Jesus. So the Jews are a little bit in a quandary trying to figure out how they're going to figure out who the Messiah really is. They've got to tie it to Jesus. I mean, to Abraham and to David. Now, paragraph B, Matthew's genealogy goes through Joseph, starts with Abraham and works down to Joseph and Jesus. Luke is opposite. Luke doesn't start with Abraham and go down to Jesus. Luke starts with Jesus and works his way backwards to Adam, all the way back to Adam in the garden of Eden. One of the genealogies begins with Jesus, the Luke three and the other one ends with Jesus. Matthew chapter one, paragraph C. Why is there even a genealogy? Well, I just mentioned that to the Jews, they had to have proof, historical proof that other people could verify that he was the son of David and the son of Abraham, or he did not have the right to rule the throne of David. It had to be verifiable with many witnesses that could verify the historical records. And they had them. But there's a bigger reason, or there's another reason for the genealogy. The genealogy reveals God, his personality. Because God, Jesus is the only person who ever handpicked his genealogy. He picked his grandparents. He picked his great grandparents. I mean, from Genesis one, he looked down, he picked all of the people in his line. No other man has ever done that. Now to the Jewish people, well, and other nations as well, having a good genealogy or a genealogy with noble people was very important social status. It was very honorable to have honorable people in your genealogy. And if you had criminals and wicked people in your family line, that brought an unfavorable light upon your family. So the Jews, they would always kind of, they didn't really want people to know if they had trouble in their genealogy. But Jesus is opposite. He handpicked his genealogy and it has murderers, immoral men and women, wicked kings. Jesus says, I want them all there because I want to send the message that as many as received me, I want them. I want to identify with the whole human race, all of them. I don't want just the good and the noble. I want everybody. His message is his commitment to identify with human weakness and failure. It doesn't put him off. He says, I want them in my family. That's who I'm going after. So he's approachable to all without any reference to race. He picked Jews and Gentiles to age. He picked old and young to sex, male and female to social status. He picked Kings and he picked peasants. He picked intellectual giants and illiterate people in his line, deeply spiritual and deeply flawed rebellious people who were entrenched in sin. They were all there. Paragraph one. Now you'll notice when you read this later, there are four women in this genealogy. And it was highly unusual for the Jews to ever put women in the genealogy because the legal line of being an heir was always through the father. Always. This was a very unusual thing, but Jesus, but the spirit insisted on it. And you'll notice that of the four women picked, three of them were involved in immorality. Tamar, Rahab and Bathsheba. Tamar played the harlot to trick her father-in-law. You can read it in Genesis 38. It's a pretty deceitful. I mean, the father-in-law Judah, he went to a harlot. The harlot was his daughter-in-law, but she was disguising herself. All kinds of trouble. Rahab was a professional prostitute. Jesus said, I want her in my line. She was a Gentile. She wasn't of the faith of Israel. Bathsheba committed adultery. And her husband was murdered by David. Jesus said, I want her as my grandmother. And Bathsheba had one son, Solomon, where Joseph, many generations was born. And the other son, Nathan, when Mary was born. So both of them have Bathsheba and David as their grandpa and grandma way back there together. You know, way back. Ruth was a Moabitess. That was the Moabites were enemies of Israel. They were Gentiles. They were idolaters. Jesus said, I want him in my family line. Now, top of page four, paragraph E, there are three periods that Matthew distinguishes each of them, 14 generations. Look at verse 17. Now, all the generations from David, from Abraham to David are 14. All the generations from David to the Babylonian captivity are 14. And all the generations from the captivity of Christ are 14. Number one, the first period was the period of the patriarchs and the judges. This is when Israel was birthed and established as a nation. Number two, the second period was the period of the Kings. There were a few good Kings, but most of the Kings of Israel were wicked. And it brought the whole nation into apostasy and ended up in the destruction of Babylon. That was a very sad time. The third period was from the Babylonian captivity. When they returned back to Israel to the birth of Jesus, this period of 600 years about was a very hard, very difficult time. It was a time of silence. There were no prophets mostly through that time to the last 400 years. At least that was a bit of a bland, dull time with very little history. That was notable except for the Maccabees. Paragraph F, just to mention briefly, the next three, four minutes, Jesus's ancestry through Mary. Now the ancestry in Matthew starts with Abraham and works down to Jesus. This one starts with Jesus and goes all the way back to Adam, way past to the guard of Eden, because Jesus, Luke is emphasizing his gospel was to the Greeks. And it was emphasizing Jesus's love for humanity, not just for the Jews. So it goes back to the garden of Eden. And Jesus says the whole group, the spirit of saying is in my genealogy. Jesus wants to identify even all the way back to Adam, all the human race. Paragraph four, I just got a few little thoughts here. You could read on your own in paragraph F, but look at back to paragraph four or verse 38. It says it goes all through the genealogy. It goes back and he's the son of Seth and Seth was the son of Adam. And Adam was this unusual phrase, the son of God, like what? It's the only time where Adam is called the son of God. Now this is before Adam sinned. He was, in other words, created directly by God. And what, what Luke is wanting to do very strategically here is to create a contrast between the first Adam who fell in sin and the last Adam, Jesus, who represented the human race, who triumphed. And very significantly, the genealogy in Luke three, the reason it's not in Luke one, it's in Luke three, because right before the genealogy, Jesus is baptized in water and anointed with the spirit, then the genealogy, then right after it, he goes into the wilderness to be tempted in the same way that Adam was tempted in the garden of Eden. So Luke lodges the genealogy, bringing it back to Adam, placing it strategically after Jesus is baptized and anointed, but right before Jesus is tempted and he's making a very deliberate correlation between Jesus and Adam. And he's saying the first Adam fell and bring destruction to the whole human race. But the last Adam is succeeding. And in the parallels, they're very, very specific and very deliberate. And he's going to bring the restoration of the human race back to sonship with God. As many as receive them, receive him, they will be have the right and the power to be children of God and to be born of God. And so that's what Luke's major point is in his genealogy. Amen. Let's stand before the Lord. I'm gonna encourage you to worship team as you're coming out to go back to the John one, verses one to 18. That is like one of the high points of scripture. Again, every phrase is absolutely loaded. And just that we just covered it in about 25 minutes and that's a really fast to cover it. But I wanna identify that passage to you as one of the main ones you really wanna go deep on. I wanna encourage you to take the notes out and get some other commentaries and tease apart those phrases. Talk to the Lord about them. Thank you. Let's just go before the Lord here. Jesus, that you chose harlots, murderers, sinful man to be in your genealogy because you love us. Oh, you're the glorious uncreated God, full of grace and full of truth. We thank you that you became man, walked on the earth, endured the rejection in your generation. You didn't draw back. You didn't shrink. You didn't quit. Jesus, we love you. Lord, we wanna be yours. Worthy is the lamb to receive the full reward of that which he suffered for. The full commitment of his people. Holy Spirit, I just ask you. Come right now and stir our hearts. We wanna love this man more. We wanna love this glorious man that thought through every detail before it happened in his life. Made so many statements to us about how dear we are to him. Holy Spirit, I ask you to come and touch us. You're the beautiful one. You are the beautiful one. Glorious God, we love you. Oh, how we love you, Jesus, Jesus. Oh, how we love you, Jesus, Jesus. Oh, how we love you. Lord, come and mark our hearts. You're the beautiful one. Come and mark our hearts, Lord. Oh, how we love you, Jesus. Oh, how we love you. Just sing this with me. You're the man that we love. Jesus, oh, how we love you. You're the man that we love. You're the one we long to get. You're the beautiful man. Oh, God, we're so blessed. He says, God says, Jesus gives grace upon grace. There are some of you that need a fresh supply of experience in the grace of God today. You're in a difficult circumstance or you've been in a struggle. You need that renewed confidence and that renewed refreshing of the Holy Spirit's presence. I want to pray for grace upon grace. On anybody that would like to receive that tonight, I want to invite you to come forward. Grace upon grace. Grace upon grace upon grace. For Jesus came to bring the fullness of grace. Lord, I ask you for the winds of your spirit to blow upon us. So let your spirit to blow. Lord, you said to as many as will believe, you will give grace to them. Lord, I ask you for the wind of refreshment. We thank you for your grace, Lord. I thank you for grace. We declare grace, a fresh grace upon grace now. There is none like you. He is the true light. You are the true light that enlightens our hearts. In you is life, Jesus. Lord, I ask you for the wind of refreshing to blow. Speak, beautiful mind, I am listening, listening. John said that in him is life. And it's our temptation to go to broken cisterns to get satisfaction. John said he's the source. The Lord's calling some of you to realign yourself. To find your life in him. Though there's other blessings, but they'll never satisfy our heart. Never. John declared in him is the life. Grace upon grace flows from him. So I invite you to realign your heart all through the room. I speak grace. You are the true light. Lord, I ask you for the wind of renewal, the wind of refreshing. The Lord says, look to me. Don't look to other sources. I will be the wind to you. I want to invite the ministry. She can come up. Any others that are in any kind of leadership in our business. Come on up. Or in our spiritual family. That's the other one. I believe you are my soul. I believe you. To me, I will not disappoint you. Beautiful man. For I am the true light. I am the light of life. In me is life, not in those others. I can give you what no one else can. The heart. What I ask you for encounter. Holy spirit encounter right now. Beautiful man. Lord, I ask you for encounter. I ask you to touch our hearts tonight. Lord, as we look to you as we believe you are the true light. As we realign to be true tonight. Disappointing. Things in the last months. The Lord says it's not the end of the story. I have a plan that's bigger than the end of the story. For the answers in my hand and in my word. Don't draw back and don't let go. For your heart is in my hand in a way you don't understand. See the cry in your heart. I see the pain. I experienced pain. I understand I'm sympathetic towards you. You are my beloved. You'll see. Put everything out for good. For I will be near to the broken heart it says the Lord. I have plans you don't understand. For Jesus is a bosom of the Father. And he's saying I want you to be near my heart. I want you to rest your head upon my heart. Even now as my servant John did. Come close to me. Let me hold your heart. Let me renew your vision. Will you believe again? Will you not let go? Don't draw back. For I will turn your desert into a garden. I'm coming, I'm coming, I'm coming to you. Cause you know me best. And all my fountains are on you. For I am the life. You know. I am the life your heart is craving. My heart is craving you. It really is me that you're looking for. It's you. So I'm gonna walk away from the lesser things that don't really satisfy. It's been you all along. It's been you all the while. It's been you my heart desires. All along. Lord I ask you to touch our hearts with your seal of love. Lord you promised the seal of love to touch the heart. Psalm of Solomon 8.6 I pray for that seal. The revelation of tender love. The encounter of your heart. All across this world Lord I ask you. Psalm of Solomon 8.6 Lord I ask you to encounter our heart. By your love. It's been you all the while. It's been you all along. My heart is longing for. It's been you all this time. It's been you all the while. It's been you all this time. My heart is longing for. It's been you all this time. It's been you all the while. It's been you all along. My heart is longing for. So come and be the seal upon my heart. I ask you for encounter of the seal of fiery love tonight. Visit us tonight Lord. Encounter our hearts. All over this room Holy Spirit move I ask you. In a fresh way this very moment. You think of me. When you hear my name. When you see my face. Let it be my. Thoughts of me. Come to your memory. A story told. Let it be mercy. Don't remember me. According to my sin. But remember me. With compassion. When my voice is heard. Around your throat. Let it strike your heart. With love alone.