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When God Became Man

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When God Became Man

Lessons:

1. Matthew 1:1-7— A Genealogy of Grace (1:1-17). Forty-two men, five women & Jesus. The amazing message is hidden in a hard-to-pronounce genealogy.
a. Defrauded Tamar (Genesis 38): No PAIN is too deep for God’s Grace.
b. Defiled Rahab (Joshua 1-2, 6): No PAST is too bad for God’s Grace.
c. Despised Ruth (Genesis 19; Deuteronomy 23; Ruth 1-4): No PROBLEM is too big for God’s Grace.
d. Defeated Bathsheba (2 Sam 11-12): No STAIN is too deep for God’s Grace.
e. Determined Mary (Matthew 1-2; Luke 10-2): No TASK is too great for God’s Grace.
 
2. Matthew emphasizes Joseph’s tie to the royal line of David through Abraham, David & Solomon vs. Mary’s bloodline in Luke going back to Adam. Though Mary’s line is also a valid one, it has the curse on Jeconiah (Matthew 1:11-12; Jer. 22:30). Joseph & Mary’s families knew each other and trusted each other enough to betrothe Joseph & Mary.
 
3. A Bio of Joseph (1:18-25)
a. Matthew 1:18-20a—Sought God with his problems.
b. Matthew 1:20b-23—Listened to God v. 20 for guidance.
c. Matthew 1:24-25a—Obeyed God v. 24 with his actions.
d. Matthew 1:25b—Honored by God v. 21, 25, for his obedience.
 
4. The Testimony of the Wisemen (Matthew 2)
a. Matthew 2:1—The Wisemen came to Jesus.
b. Matthew 2:2—The Wisemen sacrificed their time, their schedule, their comforts, security & resources for Christ. It was a LONG journey.
c. Matthew 2:11b—The Wisemen presented what they had to Jesus. They didn’t send it to Him, they brought it and gave it to Him personally, themselves. Some lessons for us:
i. Come to Him Yourself
ii. Sacrifice your time, freedom, and comfort for Him
iii. Present what you have to Him
iv. Personally Worship Him
 
5. So many contrasts: Herod was insecure and hated Christ as a rival; the leaders ignored Christ, and were indifferent to His arrival, but the Wisemen insistently sought Him and loved Him. What simple lessons can we draw from the Wisemen?
a. God has servants in the most unexpected places.
b. God gets glory from unexpected people.
c. God is found only by hearts and not heads.
d. Finding God is costly.
e. True faith is unstoppable.
 
Application Prayer: Lord, like Bathsheba I believe that no stain is too deep for Your grace. Like Tamar, no pain is too great for Your grace. Like Rahab, no past is too bad for Your grace. Like Ruth, no problem is too big for You. Like Mary, no task is too great. I believe You God, and ask for Your grace to help in times of need. Amen. Lord, You guided Joseph and he responded. Help me to humbly surrender and follow Your plan. Lord, You also called the Wisemen to sacrifice and be a part of your plan. They did and were so blessed. I want to also insistently seek, love, follow, and worship You. Help me to so today.

Transcript

Welcome again. We’re back to the 52 Greatest Chapters of the Bible study that we’ve been doing. This is the 25th week, I can’t believe it. I hope you have your Bible. As you can see. I have had an incredible week. In fact, I have so much, you can’t quite see it all. I can see it reflecting in my lens. I have studied chapter 1 and chapter 2 backwards and forwards. Marked, there’s almost no space left, on my page. I’ve typed all of that in for you and also everything that I recorded, here in my journal. I’m going to share that with you today. I’m just so excited. We had the privilege this morning of someone from one the 52 Greatest Chapters Study Groups, they are actually someone from Michigan and they’re in one of these study groups. They said hey, I’m missing my class this week, at 6:30 AM, because I’m here. They had actually traveled through the same city that we’re in, recording and working in the studio. It was just such a blessing to finally meet someone that’s in one of these groups, that’s outside of the original groups that we started. What a blessing to see that.

You can see on the slide in front of you where we are. This is week 25. We’ve just started in the New Testament. I’m only going to touch on the framework of the New Testament in this class. Next week, when we’re in the sermon on the mount, I’m going to talk about the transmission of the scriptures. How we got the Bible. How we know that we have the actual manuscripts that were inspired by God translated into English.

Here’s the theme, the King of Kings came to Earth. That’s when God became man. The birth of Christ, which is what we’re studying, is all about what throne… what God we’re bowing before. Either the god of our making, which is what the Sadducees, the Pharisees, King Herod bowed at or before the throne of the King of Kings Himself, our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

I want to emphasize, I know every week some of you join us and for some of you, you’re getting ready to flip to a different video because it’s a slow start. Here’s what you’re in, you’re in a one-year long, once a week Bible study, where we personally read the scriptures and journal. I lead this study, like I’m sitting across the table from you. In fact, I’m sitting at a table and I’m looking at you, like you’re seated on the other side of the table at Panera or at Starbucks. I’m trying to encourage you to spend seven days with God and His word, and through His word do what you see on the slide.

“Your words were found.” That means that you devote yourself to the reading of God’s word on a daily basis. “And I ate them.” That means you don’t just let your eyes pass over the words and just try and get it done in the typical American style, progress. In America the idea is, we got to finish, get through it, whether or not we get anything out of it. That’s not what the Lord wants. What the Lord wants is for us to eat His word, to meditate upon it. That’s why I encourage you to take the whole week and goes through both chapters, Matthew 1 and 2 each day. I have some ideas for you that I am going to share in just a minute. “And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing in my heart.” What happens? Stick with this study, you actually see the miracle of what God planned. He planned that when we find His word to be our daily bread, Matthew 4:4, when we do that He begins to do what you see on the slide, transform us. His word inside of us is the “joy and rejoicing of my heart.” Many people find joy in shopping, or find joy in their hobbies, or find joy in sports, or in music, or in money, or in substances, or in immorality, they just find joy somewhere. God said, you can find, look on the screen, joy and rejoicing in your heart through the word of God. How? Look at the ending of this verse. “For I’m called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts.” Do you see? Bible study helps us to identify our connection with God.

Devotion, get in the word every day. Meditation, do everything you can to think on God’s word. I’m going to share some ideas. Writing notes down and recording them in your journal, underlining everything you can that jumps out as you’re reading the scriptures. Then, through that prayer of application each day, from what you find, the transformation as you identify with the Lord.

Here’s my idea, for a lot of you this is maybe new. I’m going to try and get my phone out of my pocket. What I’ve done personally, onto my smartphone I’ve downloaded the scriptures and I have them in iTunes. I’ve ripped the CDs and put the 72 CDs to have the whole Bible in here. That was where I began. Then, I began to get different versions of the Bible. This right here is my normal Bible. This is the New King James Bible. I started actually right here with the old King James. Then, I got a dramatize NIV, right here. Then, I supplement it over here with the ESV. Some of you are trying to take a screenshot, look in the description of today’s number 25 on YouTube. I have a link for you to all of these. I found out, I didn’t even know this, I actually bought the physical CDs and put them in the CD drive that’s no longer in my computer. I had to buy an external one and now, I found out that on Amazon you can actually download all this stuff. If you’re in whatever their club is, it’s free. Follow the link and look all this up. It’s very interesting.

What I’m saying to you is this, find a way to digest the scriptures, meditate on the scriptures. Here’s what I do. One thing I do is I read in the New King James following along with the NIV right there, Dramatize Bible. The dramatize means that they have different readers/noises. A woman is a woman’s voice, and a man is a man’s voice. If there’s a storm, you hear it. That’s what dramatized is. They’re like actors. I’m following along in my study Bible here and when I hear different words it’s like doing a word study, it’s how they translate the Bible. My main base is the Bible that I read every day, and which happens to be this one over here, the New King James.

Once I’ll read it, just read it silently, me looking at it. Then, the next time, the next day I will listen to it on the New King James over here, this Study Bible. The next day, I will read with my eyes, but listen to the ESV. Do you see how, what happens is, it’s like doing a word study. This translation in my Bible is a standard translation, but the New International emphasized some of the Hebrew words, or the old King James emphasize some of the cadence or the beautiful symmetry that’s in the English language to communicate. Each of these translations is a little different. What I’m saying to you is, whatever it takes. Listening and reading, or just reading, or just listening.

By the way, I’m doing this, especially because I did hear from one of you and she said, my 25 year old son is handicapped. He’s never read a word in his life. He has no ability to read. He listens to you and watches you all the time on YouTube. He tells me that he’s got to learn how to read, because you can only read the Bible. I’m sorry. Did you know that most people didn’t read the Bible in Bible times, they didn’t even have a copy. They only heard it being read to them. That’s why, right here, all of these choices. Amazon has all these versions that you can download right to your phone for free if you join whatever it is, their audio music club. I encourage you to get into the word. See what the slide says? “Your words were found.” Find them whether you’re reading, whether you have multiple paper Bibles, whether you have all these audio Bibles. Eat them, which means chew on them, and think about them, and let the Lord transform your life through His word. That’s my challenge to you and there are some resources.

What we’re doing is the devotional method. Remember, you go to our website discoverthebook.org to get these papers you see in my journal, you can download them, or you can go to our Facebook page. There’s actually a Facebook page called 52 Greatest Chapters of the Bible. If you go there, download these first of all, it gives you this list of what chapters we’re covering and it gives you what you see on the screen, this devotional method. For every one of the passages we study I make a personal title. I, every day, I find a new title for what I read. A one phrase summary. Then, I’m noting all the lessons. Finally, I write an application prayer. That’s what I do each day.

Welcome to the New Testament. We’ve spent 24 weeks going from Genesis through Malachi, not every verse, just 24 key passages, the greatest of the Old Testament chapters. We’re going into the next section. The next section are the 28 incredible passages that summarize the whole New Testament to make 52 passages. Here we are, week 25. We’re in Matthew 1 and 2. Here’s my very first time through. I titled it, look at this momentous title… this monumental title, Christ’s Birth. There’s so much there, but that’s all I wrote. Christ’s Birth.

Next week we’re going to the sermon on the mount. We’ll talk about how we got the Bible, Jesus’ view of scripture, and all those key studies. Then, we’re going to the end of Matthew, the great commission. Which isn’t just the great commission, it’s the resurrection of Christ, it’s the women at the tomb, it’s the doubting disciples, it’s the bribed guards, all that’s in the 28th chapter. I called it the great commission the first time I read it through. Then, we’re going on into Luke, a couple chapters, and then another week starting the Gospel of John. Some exciting weeks ahead.

In fact, that couple that we intersected with, met, on our journey today it was such a blessing. The husband who’s in one of the 52 Chapter satellite studies said to me, He said, what do you think of this week’s chapter? I said, I think it’s the greatest chapter that I’ve studied yet. The problem is, when you spend a whole week studying any of these passages, that you follow this digestion, meditating, and reading, and listening, and doing whatever it takes… every week becomes my favorite.

Do you remember the overview of the Bible already shared with you; I want to underline it in your mind. Paul, if you remember divided the whole Bible into three parts. In Acts 17 he says the first two chapters are meet the creator, then from Genesis 3 through Revelation 5 we see Him as the Redeemer who came, and lived, and bled, and died, and rose again, and is coming back. Then finally, the Bible closes with our Creator become Redeemer, as the Judge. Do you remember that three-part? We’re right here in the Redeemer part, for almost all of our study. This was week number one right here (Creator), and this is week number 52 (Judge). We spend 50 weeks looking at Christ the Redeemer, He is the theme of the Bible.

Now this list that you can get on our website, this is the 250 events of Christ’s life. I’ve not yet mentioned this. This is one of the key resources from now on, through all of our chapters in the Gospels. Which we’re doing, Matthew 1 and 2, 5 through 7, 28. Then Luke 10, Luke 15, John 1, John 3, John 10, John 19, John 20. There’s so many of the Gospels we’re covering, you need this. Look what it is. Here are the events in order. There are 250 recorded events, a little more than 250 during Christ’s ministry that are in the Gospels. Here are the Gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. These are parallel columns. The idea is Luke 1, Luke’s purpose in writing, look at this, is only right here in Luke 1:1-4. It’s not in Matthew, Mark, or John. God becomes a human being. That’s the second event of the Gospels. Nothing about that is in Matthew or Mark or Luke, but right here it’s only in John. Do you see? Four Gospels and where the event is.

Look at this, the ancestors of Jesus. In other words, His genealogy. What two books are those? Matthew and Luke. Then, the angel talking to Zacharias in the temple is only in Luke. These are in chronological order. This chart is amazing. It’s each event in the life of Christ in chronological order as recorded in the Gospels, probably the most valuable tool for you to put together what’s going on in the New Testament.

If you combine reading and listening, and using this chart, and taking notes, It’s like going to Bible school, these 52 greatest chapters of Bible and reading the footnotes in the MacArthur Study Bible, that so many times I’ve reminded you of. I’m going to reflect some of those in this class.

Here we are. Before you get bogged down, we’re in event 8, 12, 13, 14. Those are the ones that are exclusively in Matthew. Do you see that? Here, we saw the ancestry. Then, we saw the angel talking to Joseph, His coming, and then all of Herod and the Wisemen. Every chapter, I’m going to always locate these for you. This is what you’re looking for, you’re looking for things that are only in the book that we’re studying, or the ones that are in all the Gospels. That’s like God putting it in bold caps. You ever get a text where someone has the cap key locked, or an email? It’s just in your face. When God wants to emphasize something, he puts it in all four Gospels. There are very few events that are in all four Gospels.

In Matthew, we’re looking at Joseph and Mary going from Nazareth down here to Jerusalem, on through to Bethlehem. They couldn’t find a place; they end up in the stable. Then, the birth of Christ and the angel warns them. They go to Egypt and then they come back. As they’re coming back, they find out that Archelaus, Herod’s son, is ruling. They get out of his way and go all the way back to Nazareth. That’s what’s going on in the birth of Christ. On a map here’s Egypt and here is Israel. Right here in the Mediterranean Sea, the Dead Sea, and the Sea of Galilee, to give you a little overview.

Here’s another thing, now remember everything happens somewhere, that’s why we use maps. This is actually from a map showing you, the cave under the inn where Jesus was born was within sight of Herod’s largest palace. That building you see right there, it looks like a castle on top of a volcano or something, it’s a manmade mountain. This is called the Herodion, like King Herod, Herodion. That was the third largest building that was ever built in the ancient world. Yes that, third in the whole world. Do you know what it was? It’s almost one square mile of palace. It’s almost one square mile. It’s just short. A square mile is 640 acres. This thing was around a 630 acre palace. By palace I mean, long colonnades, and swimming pools, and waterfalls, and amphitheaters, all grouped together within one place where people were staying in a palace. That’s where Herod lived, while Jesus was born in a stable. Do you see the contrast? It’s going to show up with the Wisemen in just a minute.

Here’s the Herodion overshadowing the place where Jesus was born. Herod, to meet with the Wisemen, comes up here to Jerusalem and we’re going to see his palace there. Sea of Galilee, Dead sea, Jordan River, Israel. Everything happened somewhere. The Wisemen entered the gated guardhouse fortress. That’s also where Pilate meant Jesus after Gethsemane. It’s now called in modern times, in Jerusalem it’s called David’s Citadel, and it’s still there today. The only part that’s there today is this little corner right here, but all of this was Herod’s palace.

By the way, it had 600 guest rooms. This one, this is not the one that was overshadowing His birth, this is the one in Jerusalem. You can see it right here. This is Jerusalem, this is the temple you’ve all heard of right there, southern steps where the Church was born, the temple itself and the Holy of Holies right there. Look right here, that is Herod’s palace. This whole thing is the city of Jerusalem. This huge palace, the 600 bedroom mansion of Herod’s was unbelievably ornate, and beautiful, and huge.

This is a rendition, a scale model, a 1:50 scale model. This is the place the Wisemen came in Matthew 2:1-12. Over here as the guard room I showed you, that’s still in Jerusalem today, hasn’t fallen down yet. This is the palace that’s being excavated underground. It was incredible. This is just a model of what the archeologists think it looked like. Actually, I’m going to show you the archeologists have found since this model was made. This model was made in 1967. Right here, the archeologists found the main gateway into this palace. There’s another gateway that we go through here, and there’s another one, when we take tours. Bonnie and I lead tours. In fact, right now we’re doing a virtual study tour on YouTube, going to every one of the key 52 sites that are in the scriptures.

Not only did everything happen somewhere, everything happens some time. This is a Panorama of sacred history. In this course we go from creation, that’s 1 and 2. Fall of man, 3 and 4. We covered all that, the flood, Abraham, the Exodus, and David. We’re right now going from the time of the exile, where we looked at Zechariah, which was the last part of the Old Testament where we finished up last week and now, we’re here at the birth of Christ. We’re going to go all the way through Revelation, the ending, right there. This is just to give you a little idea. Genesis covers from creation through the time just about the Exodus. All the rest of the Old Testament goes from the Exodus through the exile. There are 400 silent years. Then, we have the New Testament. This whole period of Bible writing is 1,600 years. 40 plus authors who all were used by God to write the scriptures.

What happens between where we were in Zechariah and now, at the birth of Christ? There’s just a lot going on, and we’ll talk about it next week, with the Assyrian Empire, the Babylonian Empire, the Persian Empire, the Greek Empire. We’re in the Roman times. In those 400 years, it was monumental for the history of the world, between Zechariah and the time of Christ’s birth. Big events for the New Testament world are, the Romans conquered Judea in 63 BC. The Parthians come back through and drive out the Romans. The Romans come back three years later with Herod’s help and retake Judea. Herod the great succeeds his father Antipater. Then, the great battle between Octavian, who defeats Mark Anthony and becomes Augustus Caesar, which catapults us into the birth of Christ.

Real quickly, a chronology. Tiberius was appointed. He’s mentioned in Luke 3:1 the ministry of Christ began the fall of 28. We’re using the dates that we saw in Daniel 9, Sir Robert Anderson stating, which you also can see if you look in your MacArthur Study Bible.

This is the Roman Empire. This is the Holy Land; the city of Jerusalem is called Aelia Capitolina. Look how the Roman Empire stretches from right on the edge of Persia or modern day Iran, all the way up to the Scotland border, Morocco all the way to the end of Europe, across the Alps here. That was the Roman Empire, the whole Northern Africa and Egypt, and the Middle East gulf region. That’s the Roman Empire.

What was it like? It was dangerous, especially for Christianity. I don’t know if you’re following the news, but I just read an article this week that’s been examining this church in Canada that was shut down, because they wouldn’t wear a mask. Remember, we’re in the COVID time, it’s coming off, and most of America is getting vaccinated. The vaccinated don’t have to wear the mask and all that. Back when it was mask all the time and distancing, this church got shut down. They actually put fences around it and wouldn’t let anybody come there because the people didn’t wear a mask. This reminds us of, look at this, living for God in a dangerous world.

Here we are in the life of Christ. Jesus died, and was buried, and rose again. Returns to Heaven in the Ascension. That’s the Gospels. Then, we have the first-generation Church, we’re going to cover that as we go through the epistles. Then we have, basically the martyrdom of the most famous apostles Paul and Peter, and many of the rest of them. Then, we have the last living apostle, John, writing the book of Revelation on Patmos to the second generation. Most of these people are like us. They had never seen Jesus Christ. They live way after His Ascension. What they were living in is the Roman war. The Gospels and epistles had spread and their knowledge of Christ, and His Church, and all the events were second hand. There were people, like John and some of the apostles, that they remember telling about it but primarily they were reading the written account. They were living in dangerous times by faith. That’s the purpose of that chart. It was hard.

Real quickly. This is my journal. I just have a normal notebook. In the description for this video, I show you a link to just a normal mole skin notebook. I write the same thing every week. The title: The Arrival of Jesus the King. Why there are Four Gospels. The Birth of Christ. Each time I write something different. For you to be able to read it, I typed it. Here it is. We’re on week 25, Matthew 1 and 2. The title of this one is: The Family Tree and Arrival of Jesus Christ. Here’s the summary. Christmas, that’s what Matthew 1 & 2 we normally associate with, was the greatest event since creation. It took place in a sleepy little village just five miles from Jerusalem. God came from Heaven, was wrapped in baby clothes, laid in a stone feeding trough called a manger. That’s what a manger is. It’s a stone, animal food holder in a stable. He was only welcomed and worshipped by two groups of people, outside of His own family. These two groups, the shepherds… that’s the group in Luke… and the Wisemen… that’s the group in Matthew that we’re covering in Matthew 1… were poles apart socially, economically, culturally, ethnically, and in every other way but spiritually. The whole unrest we’ve seen in America in the last year and a half, all the riots, and everything else shows how ethnically troubled we are in our country. Spiritually, the Bible breaks down all those barriers. You know what the Bible says? There’s neither “barbarian Scythian, slave nor free,” Jew or Greek, we’re all one in Christ. Look at this, when the shepherds and Wisemen met at the feet of Jesus, they worshiped on common ground. That’s a picture of the New Testament Church.

When you read and when we get to the book of Romans, I’m going to point out to you that Paul ends the book of Romans in chapter 16 with this long list of people’s names. If you take the time to look up every one of the names in your study Bibles and all the tools you can, what you find is some of them were slaves. How do we know this? Because of their names. There’s the name, Tertius. T E R T I U S. Do you know what Tertius means? Third. There’s another guy in the list called Quartus. Do you know what Quartus means? Fourth. You say, what does that mean? When you were a slave, you didn’t get a name. You were either born first, second, third, fourth, fifth. You were fifth child of whoever, of the man that works in the stable because you were a slave. When you get to the book of Romans, Tertius and Quartus are listed side-by-side by Paul, next to senators, the highest you could be in the Roman Empire without being the Emperor himself. That’s what Christ can do.

That’s not a very good picture, but this just off a Christmas card. The Wisemen, that’s I wanted to remind you what we’re looking at and their gifts. In the summary I said, they gave gifts of faith. We read that these Wisemen, remember from Christmas, presented gifts of gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. The significance is what you’re going to learn this week. That’s why I want you, as you’re reading, to note these things. Use your study Bible and all the other tools. Gold speaks of Christ as a King of Heaven. Frankincense speaks of His role as both the Great High Priest and the Perfect Lamb. It was a perfume only fragrant when it was brought in contact with fire, which means Jesus had to suffer as the King of Heaven, as the perfect Lamb, and the Great High Priest.

Myrrh smells like a funeral home. It’s the sacrificial death. Harvested only when a tree is bruised and stripes are cut in the bark, the myrrh tree is like this. They take their machetes, and they hack the bark of the tree. Resin oozes out to heal the cuts. That is what myrrh is. It’s only produced by cutting, injuring, and wounding. Do you remember what Isaiah said? Do you remember way back? How many weeks ago was Isaiah 53? We studied; He was wounded for our transgressions. Look at this, myrrh speaks of Christ sacrificial death, resin that flows healing balm to the damaged bark of the tree. Suffering has always been associated with the death and burial of our Lord.

The Wisemen, by the gifts they presented to Him, express their faith in His deity, that He was the Golden King. Second, their adoration of His sinless life, that He was the perfect Great High Priest and Lamb. Finally, they anticipated His sacrifice, dying Himself for the sin of the world.

By the way, the Wisemen, the Magi came to this side of Jerusalem’s walls. These are the modern day walkway going up from the Jaffa gate. We’re standing at the Jaffa gate going upward, north. These are the 1517 AD Suleiman walls built on top of the Herodian walls.

Look at this. This is Herod’s palace coming up from the southwest, looking at it. In a moment I’m going to show you a slide of us sitting right outside this gate, the last group of pilgrims we took over there. This is the 600 room palace that Herod was in when the Magi, most likely either came in this gate or came in this gate. We aren’t sure what the inside looked like. The archeologists just guess. They either came in the gate we’re going to sit at in just a minute when I show you the slide or they came in this gate. They looked at this palace trying to find the King.

Listen to what I wrote in my notes. Against all odds these Wisemen believed Christ when they had never seen Him. I’ve never seen Him except with the eyes of faith. You’ve never seen Him except with the eyes of faith, through His word. They are just like us. They believed in Him when the scribes and Pharisees were unbelieving. Everyone around them did not believe in Christ. Have you noticed that people around you don’t believe in Christ? I remember growing up in a sheltered Christian family. I got to my high school class and one of my teachers in high school laughed at Christians. Then, I got to college at Michigan State University. My professor said, some of you are Christians and believe mythology. I’m going to get you out of that bondage to your mythology. Have you noticed that we have to believe when most of the people, authoritative people, around us don’t believe. That wasn’t all, the Wisemen believed when they saw Him as a little infant on Mary’s knees, and they worshiped Him as King. That was the crowning point of their faith.

Think about this. I really relate to the Wisemen you’re going to study this week. Here’s why: They saw no miracles. I haven’t ever seen Jesus walk on water, multiply bread, put eyes into blind people, heal their leprosy. They heard no teaching to persuade them. I never got to listen to Jesus teaching the sermon on the mount physically. I have read it and I believe every word. I know it’s His word and I hear His voice, but I wasn’t there. They saw no signs of divinity or greatness to overawe them. Jesus didn’t do some magnificent display. They saw nothing but a newborn infant, helpless, weak, and needing care like any of us.

There we are, sitting at the steps. We’re filming. There’s the camera, there I am teaching. These are, actually right here, this is the rock hewn steps. I have the groups, when they go over there, sit on those steps. You’re sitting, most likely, on the steps the Wisemen used when they came up from Bethlehem or came from the Rift Valley when they came from the east. They came up to this gate. This was the normal, external gate. I tell the group, you’re sitting right where the Wisemen were, that are so much like us, that you read about Matthew 1 and 2. Remember, they’re real people in a real place, like you see on that slide, that met Jesus. We’re going to learn so much from them.

Here’s the biggest lesson I got this week; Saving Faith. When they saw that infant, they believed what they saw was the divine Savior of the world! It says in chapter 2, verse 11, “They bowed down and worshiped Him.” We read of no greater faith than this in the whole Bible. It is faith that deserves to be placed side-by-side with the thief on the cross. The thief saw someone dying a death of a criminal yet prayed to Him and “called Him Lord.” These Wisemen saw a newborn baby on the lap of a poor woman, and yet they worshiped and confessed He was Christ. Blessed indeed are those who can believe this way.

Here’s everything typed out from my journal, just for you to see. In Matthew 1:1-7 we have, what I called in my journal, a genealogy of grace. There are 42 men and five women. That should jump out at you, women aren’t ever in genealogies in the Bible. Of course, Jesus. There’s an amazing message hidden in those hard to pronounce genealogical names. There’s Tamar, from Genesis 38, who was defrauded. You can read about that in Genesis 38. There’s Rahab, who was a defiled woman, in Joshua 1, 2, and 6. There’s Ruth who was despised as a Moabite. There’s Bathsheba who was defeated in her marriage, in her life. Then, we have determined Mary, who had a cloud over her, her whole life. They all said that she had this baby illegitimately. In Matthew 1 & 2 and Luke chapter 10.

Look at this, from Tamar we learned, no pain is too deep for God’s grace. From Rahab we learned, no past is too bad for God’s grace. From Ruth we learned, no problem is too big for God’s grace. Do you see this repeated, God’s grace? That’s what this genealogy is about. It’s a genealogy of the grace of God that brought salvation. From Bathsheba, there’s no stain that’s too deep for God’s grace to wash away. Then from Mary, there’s no task that’s too great that we can’t get the strength and help in time of need.

Next thing I did in my journal, the second point is Matthew emphasizes Joseph’s tie to the royalty line of David through Abraham. David and Solomon versus Mary’s bloodline going back to Adam. Did you know that? Have you noticed? There’s a difference in the genealogies. Joseph’s is different than Mary’s. Mary’s line is also a valid one, it has the curse on Jeconiah. That’s dealt with. Joseph and Mary’s families knew each other and trust each other. Let me show you what you can read in the study notes about that. In just a minute I’ll show you a chart of those two genealogical lines.

Here’s the third thing I learned. From Joseph, by the way today, this fellow from a group in Michigan… I said, did you notice that Joseph doesn’t say anything? There are no recorded words of Joseph, the stepfather of Jesus in the Bible. We know he talked. Do you know how we know that? Because it says, “You shall call His name JESUS.” At the birth of a firstborn, at the birth of any child, they were named by the father in the Jewish way of life, in their culture. When, at the circumcision of Jesus Christ, the priest looked at Joseph and said what is His name? Joseph got to be the first human being to call the Lord Jesus Christ by name. He said, call His name Jesus. That was because, in Matthew 1 it says, “He will save His people from their sins.” This is such a good chapter. I hope you realize how excited I am about it. It’s all about salvation, and grace, and normal struggling people like Joseph and Mary, and relentless pursuers like the Magi, and the hard-hearted religious leaders and Herod.

Joseph sought God with his problems, that’s in verses 18 through 20. He listened to God for guidance, 20 to 23. Obeyed God with his actions, in verse 24. Honored by God for his obedience.

Here’s that genealogy. Matthew records Joseph’s genealogy, Luke records Mary’s. The difference is Matthew shows that Joseph came through Solomon, his line. Luke shows that Mary came through another son of David’s called Nathan. The reason is right here, Jehoiachin was cursed. He was one of the kings. See the kings? Manasseh, Amon, Josiah, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin. God said, no descendant of his will sit on the throne. Notice, none of those are kings. He was the last one that was able to sit on the throne as a rightful heir. All the rest after that, God said nope, they’re not successor of the throne of David. Solomon’s brother, Nathan, also had a family. They went all the generations down to the time of Christ. That line through Mary gave Jesus rightful heirship. There’s royal and rightful heirship to the throne of the house of David.

The Wisemen, now we’re in chapter 2 in my notes. The men come to Jesus. They sacrifice their time, their schedules, and their comforts. By the way, it was a long journey, 1,200 miles riding a camel. 2:11, they presented their gifts. Here are the lessons. Come to Him yourself. It’s nice to send someone a present, it’s really nice hand it to them. Do you know what these Wisemen did? They didn’t send Jesus a present for His birth, send Him flowers or something, they came. Do you know what real worship is? Not just letting the worship superheroes sing the great songs and the great speakers speak the great things, it’s me personally coming to Jesus myself. Most of my worship flows from time in the word.

Many times, I’m sitting, recently where Bonnie and I were filming, we’re missionaries full-time. Any of you that are this long in the video and don’t even know who we are, we’re missionaries. I was a pastor for three decades, and now we’re missionaries. We travel all over the world, a hundred and some thousand miles a year flying, and speaking in different countries to next generation, a lot of tent making, missionaries that actually earn their own living to be a witness in their country. I was sitting in one of those far off places and looking off. The breeze was blowing, and it was blowing the pages of my Bible. I just put my hand down and I looked up. I just thanked the Lord out loud for what I had just read. I said, I can’t believe that you did all that for me. I came to Him personally. See right there, come to Him yourself. Sacrifice your time and freedom. Do you know one of the greatest gifts you can give to Christ today is? Instead of listening to constant tunes and an awful lot of them are from ungodly people, by the way, that are popular. Why don’t you use your mobile portable device, like I showed you earlier, to get the Bible on there. Did you know you can listen to the whole New Testament, in 18 hours? That’s how long it takes to listen to the whole New Testament. Do you know how long it takes to listen to the whole Old Testament? 54 hours. Do you know how long the whole Bible? 72 hours. Think of all the games you play, the movies you watch, the music videos you watch, and all the music you listened to by the hours. Just think how transformational if you get the Bible into your Air Pods, or your earbuds, or whatever you use. Present what you have to Him. You know one of the greatest things you can do is, say Jesus here I am, I want to serve You today. Don’t say someday, say today. Personally bow before Him, give yourself back to Him.

By the way, the Magi, where did they come from? Judea was a buffer between Rome and the Parthians their horrible enemies. The Magi were from the Parthian Empire. That’s why they came so far. They were a hereditary priesthood in the Parthian Empire. Who is the Parthian Empire? They came from where Daniel was, and they came by themselves. I don’t think they came alone. In ancient times you didn’t travel those 1,200 miles with stuff without guards. Do you remember when Ezra came to the promised land, you read about, when Nehemiah came? They came with guards. These guys were probably escorted. Magi were high ups in the Parthian Empire, they probably came with guards. Their question is, where’s the one that’s born the King of the Jews, which was a real put down for Herod. He wasn’t born the King of the Jews; he took the throne. He wasn’t from the right line of David.

Where did they come from? Most likely they were the Magi we read about in Daniel, the Wisemen. That’s what Magi is wise man. It’s the term for these Wisemen magicians. Actually, a lot of those around Daniel weren’t believers. They were into witchcraft and everything else. After Daniel, remember how Daniel taught them about the coming kingdoms and he talked to them about the end times? Daniel 2, 7, 9, and 11 are all about the future. Probably Daniel got this Bible study going because he was a student of the Bible. Through generations, for 500 years, they kept studying. God honored their study and sent them to be the ones to come to Christ.

Here’s my conclusion of these two chapters. So, many contrasts. Herod was insecure. He hated Christ as a rival. The leaders, the religious leaders ignored Christ. Herod was insecure. The leaders were ignoring Christ, indifferent to His arrival. How far was Bethlehem from where all of these, Herod and the leaders were? Five miles. They weren’t willing to go five miles to see Jesus. They didn’t want to inconvenience their schedule. What are lessons we can draw from the Wisemen? God has servants in the most unexpected places, like the Parthian Empire. God gets glory from unexpected people. These were foreigners. Only poor people and foreigners came to honor Christ at His birth. The lowest level of society; shepherds, outcast, and foreigners. God is found only by hearts and not by heads. The talking heads, the illumined ones, the spiritual leaders didn’t seek Christ. Only those whose hearts were tuned in, like shepherds, like Zacharias and Elizabeth, like Simeon and Anna, like Joseph and Mary, like the Magi. Finding God is costly. Probably took them months, those Magi, to get there. True faith is unstoppable. I hope that is growing in you and your time in the word of God.

Remember every week this is the highlight. Seven times, when I get done with my reading or listening and my writing, I summarize. Here’s one of them. It’s a prayer. I’m going to pray this right now, just to give you an example, in every class, the purpose of this. This is from my whole study, and I put together a lot of days into one.

Lord, like Bathsheba I believe that no stain is too deep for Your grace. Like Tamar, no pain that I’ve ever experienced is too great for Your grace to deal with. Like Rahab, no past is too bad for Your grace to use. Like Ruth, there’s no problem too big for You. Like Mary, there’s no task that’s too great. I believe You God, I ask for Your grace to help in times of need. Lord, You guided Joseph and he responded, helped me to humbly surrender and follow Your plan. Lord, you also called the Wisemen to sacrifice and be a part of your plan. They did so, and were so blessed. I also want to insistently seek, love, follow, and worship You. Help me to do so today.

That’s just 3 of the seven days. I hope that you’ll do this application prayer and actually express your heart to the Lord. By the way, you know what really works really well? Find someone, to tell them that you want to share your application with them. What you’ll do is, you’ll stimulate them to love and good works. Maybe you’ll stimulate them to want to read the Bible. Maybe, you’ll even open the door for you to share the Gospel with them. It’s very transformational to share what God is doing in your life.

Real quickly, I remind you, Bonnie and I are full-time missionaries equipping frontline, tent making missionaries and servants all over the world. Mobilizing those next generation partners. I just was working with a young man who is a lay pastor in Australia. He says, I’ve been watching the videos, I’m learning to study. I have a couple of questions; I’m working in my local church. He said, I’m actually teaching. The pastor is letting me teach a group, he’s keeping an eye on me. He says, I can never go off to Bible School, but I’m tuning in to these videos. I’m marking, and I’m reading, and I’m taking notes, and I’m buying the resources to study for myself. That’s what God called us to do.

Bonnie and I put this prayer card out for you and say, when you think of it, as you’re doing your 52 Chapter Study, pray for us. This is our small group and I’m asking you, as our small group, pray for us as we serve the Lord with you. You pray and we teach, and we pray that the Lord will equip you to start a small group wherever you are. Serve the Lord in every way He’s gifted you and called you to do.

Have a good week in Matthew 1 & 2 all week long. When I come back next week, Lord willing, we’re going to jump into the sermon on the mount. We’re going to talk about how we got the Bible, the book we can trust. Have a good week studying. See you next week.

Slides


Check Out All The Sermons In The Series

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