When you read a book, how do you
begin?
If it's a novel, I usually read the
last chapter first, see how it came out,
see what it's worth reading.
If it's not a novel, I find myself
looking at the table of contents and say,
what's this thing all about?
I don't know whether it's worth paying the
price, the scandalous price that we have to
pay for books today.
You better think three times before you pay
it, because you may be disappointed.
Some of us have.
We bought some books and discovered that they
weren't worth half what we paid.
Well, when you read this book, God's Word,
it would appear to me that the way
to read it, and a lot of people
do, they begin with the very first page,
of course, with Genesis chapter 1.
And if they're unconverted people, that is, they
don't know anything about the Bible, don't know
anything about the Savior, they begin reading Genesis
1, and it's a bit intriguing for the
first couple of chapters.
But then after a little while, you have
to push yourself a bit to read on
in the book.
And then when you come to Exodus, that
might intrigue you for a little bit, because
it's sort of an adventure story.
It's a record of history.
But I must admit that when you get
to books like Leviticus and Numbers and even
Deuteronomy, interest begins to wane a little bit.
And then when you get to some other...
And finally, a lot of people just close
the Bible, or else they begin skipping about
to find some portion they think they can
understand.
Well, this morning, I want to read to
you, first of all, what I consider to
be one of the most fascinating portions of
this book.
It's the first page of the New Testament.
If you have your Bible or Testament there,
I would invite you to turn to that.
And we're going to pick up the story
not where most people do at this time
of the year, which is down along about
verse 18, but because I know you'll be
utterly fascinated by the early portion, we'll begin
reading with verse 1.
The book of the generation of Jesus Christ,
the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Abraham begat Isaac, and Isaac begat Jacob, and
Jacob begat Judas and his brethren, and Judas
begat Pharaoh and Zarah of Tamar, and Pharaoh
begat Ezra, and Ezra begat Aaron, and Aaron
begat Ammonitab, and Ammonitab begat Nason, and Nason
begat Salmon, and Salmon begat Boaz of Rahab,
and Boaz begat Obed of Ruth, and Obed
begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David the king,
and David the king begat Solomon of her
that had been the wife of Uriah.
Hold on there.
Don't go to sleep yet.
I'll wake you up if you do.
You're probably saying to yourself, wow, what have
I got into this morning?
And what if we got into having him
with a passage like this?
Well, hang in there.
Solomon begat Roboam, Roboam begat Abiah, Abiah begat
Asa, Asa begat Josaphat, Josaphat begat Joram, and
Joram begat Osias, and Osias begat Joaphim, and
Joaphim begat Achaz, and Achaz begat Ezechias, and
Ezechias begat Manassas, and Manassas begat Ammon, and
Ammon begat Josias, and Josias begat Jeconias, and
his brethren about the time they were carried
away to Babylon.
And after they were brought to Babylon, Jeconias
begat Salathiel, and Salathiel begat Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel
begat Abiud, and Abiud begat Eliakim, and Eliakim
begat Azor.
Azor begat Zadok, and Zadok begat Acham, and
Acham begat Eliud, and Eliud begat Eleazar, and
Eleazar begat Mathan, and Mathan begat Jacob, and
Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, of
whom was born Jesus, who was called Christ.
So all the generations from Abraham to David
are 14 generations, and from David until the
carrying away into Babylon are 14 generations, and
from the carrying away into Babylon under Christ
are 14 generations.
And that's the way the most fascinating book
in the whole world begins.
And perhaps some of us are fascinated in
the total boredom, because we say, I can't
even pronounce those names, and who are they
anyway?
It's rather interesting to me that very few
people memorize these verses.
I've also noticed that in most of the
Christmas programs that we perform at this time
of the year, there is seldom a reference
to even this whole portion of Scripture, yet
here are actually 17 verses of the Bible.
This book that we claim to be the
inspired word of the living God.
And how defensive we get when someone attacks
that position, when we say that we believe
that the Bible is inspired of God, that
every word in the Bible is given by
divine inspiration, not here by human accident, but
here by divine intention.
We go on and we refine our theories
of biblical inspiration, and we say we believe
in plenary inspiration.
That means that every portion of the Bible
is equally inspired.
That's the reason why a red-letter New
Testament or a red-letter Bible is really
quite superfluous, because the words of Jesus are
no more inspired than any other words in
the Bible.
They're all there by divine inspiration.
And we say we believe in plenary inspiration.
Every part of the Scriptures, no matter what
the subject, is fully inspired of God.
We even extend that to the very words
of the Scripture.
Then why, I ask again, why are we
so neglectful of such a huge portion as
this?
Seventeen verses, all of them prelude, by the
way, to the greatest event of all history,
the entrance into the stream of humanity by
God, Emmanuel, God with us.
How important is this passage of Scripture?
Now, I want this morning just to concentrate
on it, if I can.
And for a little while, let's notice one
or two peculiarities about this genealogy.
Actually, as you recognize, it is the record
of the family background, humanly speaking, of our
blessed Lord.
It traces Him from Mary and through Joseph
all the way back to Abraham.
So you may say this is the family
record of our Lord's genealogy.
Why is it put here in the Scriptures?
Why doesn't Matthew reserve it for some other
place?
Luke seems to me a little more devious.
He introduces us to a genealogy, too, but
he kind of cloaks it a bit, captures
our interest, and before long, we absorb it
along with the rest of the record.
But doesn't it seem odd that Matthew should
stick it right here on the front page
of his gospel?
And, if you please, the front page of
the New Testament.
Well, there has to be a reason for
that.
I not only believe that the Bible is
the word of God, inspired of God, but
I think, to some degree, the Holy Spirit
very definitely directed those who arrange the books
of the Bible, too.
Where they are on the shelf of divine
inspiration is not there by accident, but there
by divine design.
So that the gospels, indeed, come first.
We would feel a little odd if our
New Testament began with the book of Romans.
It wouldn't be a bad idea, but we'd
feel a little strange.
We'd become accustomed now to the way that
books are arranged on the shelf of the
divine library.
But, again, I say, isn't it strange that
this genealogy, this rather dry record that we
whizzed through, and I admit that I may
have mispronounced some of those names, but you
don't know whether I was right or wrong
anyhow.
So your pronunciation might not be more correct
than mine.
But I practiced a bit after breakfast, so
I'd be sure to get it through.
At any rate, there has to be a
reason for this.
Now, let me make an observation or two
at the beginning.
First of all, you know this record that
we're reading was also a record that was
kept in the temple of Jerusalem.
And anybody who came along and said, I
am descended from, and would name one of
the twelve tribes, he could prove his claim
very easily.
Go to the records in the temple and
they could trace it back and say, You're
right, you're from the tribe of Levi.
Or you're a Reubenite, or you're a Gadite,
or you come from Benjamin.
We know, there's the record.
And every Jew knew that Messiah, the long
-promised Messiah, would come through David.
No doubt about that.
There was no question concerning his lineage.
No theological debates or discussions about that accepted.
So that when Jesus Christ came, and claims
were made, either by himself or others, that
he was of the lineage of David, that
could easily have been proven.
And isn't it interesting that his enemies, when
they were picking at where they could find
a flaw in him, not once do you
discover that the critics and enemies of Jesus
Christ ever said, You're a faker, you're a
phony, because you did not descend from David,
we can prove it.
They knew better.
His claim to Messiahship in that area was
a valid claim that could not be denied.
Now, it's interesting to know this, however.
If Jesus Christ's claim to be the Messiah
of Israel could be validated by a bona
fide genealogical record, when the temple was destroyed
in A.D. 70 by the Romans, all
those records were also destroyed.
And that means that any Jew who comes
on the world scene, from Jesus till now,
could never prove that he was descended from
David.
There are no records extant to prove that.
So you'd have to either take his word
for it, or find some other evidence that
he would be descended from David.
Now, I don't know what the Antichrist is
going to do when he comes.
He may conjure up some records of some
sort that might substantiate his claim to be
Messiah, and thus deceive the nation of Israel
in that hour.
But it is so that this genealogical record
has disappeared, and therefore no other Jew can
come on the scene and claim with validity
that he's descended from David, and therefore, therefore,
is Israel's Messiah.
There's another observation that must be made.
If you will look down the line, let
your eye run down the line, till you
come to verse 11, you read the following.
And Josias begat Jeconias and his brethren about
the time they were carried away to Babylon.
I'd like you to turn back to the
Old Testament, to the book of Jeremiah, and
chapter 22 of that book, where there is
a fascinating prophecy made.
There was a king named Jehoiakim, who was
the king of Judah at the time that
Jeremiah is writing here, in the 22nd chapter
of his prophecy.
And this Jehoiakim was a wicked king.
He was so wicked that God said, don't
bury him like anybody else with any reverence.
Let him be buried like an ass is
buried.
An animal dumped in a grave somewhere.
Such a wicked man was this man Jehoiakim.
Now he had a son, and his son's
name is Jeconias.
Jeconias.
But in the prophecy of Jeremiah, that shortened
to Coniah.
You know, sometimes here's a fellow named William,
and we call him Bill.
Here's a man named Samuel, and we say
his name is Sam.
We cut it short.
So Jeconias was cut short to Coniah.
And hear what the prophet Jeremiah says about
the son of Jehoiakim, Coniah.
Verse 24, As I live, saith Jehovah, though
Coniah, the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah,
were the signet on my right hand, yet
would I pluck thee hence.
And I would give thee into the hand
of them that seek thy life, and into
the hand of them whose face thou fearest,
even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar, king of
Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.
And I would cast thee out, and thy
mother did bear thee into another country where
you were not born, and there you'll die.
But to the land whereunto they desire to
return, thither shall they not return.
Is this man, Coniah, a despised, broken idol?
Is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure?
Wherefore are they cast out, he and his
seed, and are cast into a land which
they know not?
O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of
the Lord.
Tell you, when a prophet writes like that,
you better listen.
Tune up your hearing device.
Stretch your ears.
I'm saying something very, very important.
Earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the
Lord.
This is a specific and important.
Write this man childless.
If he has twenty kids, you put it
down in the record he didn't have any.
Write it in the record that he's childless.
A man that shall not prosper in his
days.
Now here's the heart of the prophecy.
For no man of his seed shall prosper
sitting on the throne of David and ruling
any more in Judah.
God, through the prophet Jeremiah, binds himself, here,
binds himself to a statement that no descendant
of Coniah will ever sit on David's throne.
God says, I'm going to extend the curse
upon this man all the way down to
the end of time.
Now, that's a shocker.
When you realize that his name appears in
Matthew 1, 11.
And Josias begat Coniah and his brethren about
the time they were carried away to Babylon.
And if you run the thing straight down,
you bring it to Joseph, the husband of
Mary.
If this says anything to us, it says
that God had to intervene in a supernatural
way when he brought his son into our
world.
He could not be the son of Joseph.
Impossible.
Then if he could not be Joseph's son
and still have a valid claim to the
Messiahship of Israel, whose son was he?
Joseph would have denied the paternity of Jesus.
And nobody else knew who it was.
And I say to you on this Lord's
Day morning that by dictionary definition, the son
of an unknown father, born out of wedlock,
as Jesus Christ was, for Mary and Joseph
were not yet married, has a dictionary definition,
a title we don't like.
He's a bastard.
And Jesus Christ was either the supernaturally born
son of the living God, or he was
a bastard.
And there is no in-between choice.
That's why this genealogical record now begins to
assume tremendous importance.
One more thing that I must say, and
with this I want to pursue to the
end of my time.
Here you will find the clues of what
this book is all about.
You pick up any book and you turn
to the table of contents, it will tell
you what the book is about.
What's the story of this book?
What are its contents?
Well, Matthew says, if you'll listen carefully, I'll
disclose it to you, but I'm going to
wrap it up in a genealogical record.
What's this book all about anyhow, the Bible?
Is it a book about science?
No, not at all.
Whenever it speaks on science, you can trust
it, it's absolutely accurate.
Is it a book on history?
No, not really.
When it speaks on history, you don't have
to worry about it, it is historically correct.
It has withstood the shocks of twenty centuries
and more of criticism.
Is it a book on psychology?
Oh, it's the most accurate psychological record you'll
read anywhere.
You will never discover in any textbook on
human psychology truth closer to reality than you'll
find in the Bible.
Run it down.
It's a book that talks about a dozen
or more subjects.
But is that what the book is all
about?
No.
The book has one great theme.
Somebody said, what is the story of the
Bible?
Well, the story of the Bible can be
summed up in a single sentence.
It's the story of man's complete ruin in
sin and God's perfect remedy in Christ.
Period.
And that's it.
That's what the book is all about.
And any time and everywhere and on any
subject that the book speaks about, it all
eventually comes back to that main theme running
all the way through the book from cover
to cover, redemption.
What is God most interested in this morning,
ladies and gentlemen?
The salvation of sinners.
The redemption of the lost.
I say that because in our contemporary church
activities, we've got a hundred thousand programs.
And the assemblies of believers all over get
all excited and all wrapped up.
And I'm not saying we ought not to
be interested in social issues.
We can't be blind to them.
But I fear that the main thing is
being overlooked.
We have one reason for existence.
Only one.
The evangelization of a lost world.
The declaration of the glorious news of the
gospel that God was in Christ on Calvary's
cross, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing
their trespasses unto them.
Because he made him to be sin for
us.
He who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him.
Now, how are those clues disclosed in this
book, in this genealogy?
Let me see if I can point it
out to you.
In the Jewish, in the Middle Eastern culture,
and this is a fact of cultural history,
ladies, so please don't get angry with me.
It doesn't matter who your mother was.
Who cares?
Of course you had to have a mother.
But that's not important at all.
Not your mother.
It's your father.
He's the main one.
And when you're tracing back to your family
tree, you talk about your father, and his
father, and his father, and his father, father,
father, father, all the way back.
Never mind his mother.
Nobody bothers with the mother, except just incidentally.
Therefore, it's a rather remarkable thing that four
women appear in the genealogical record of Jesus.
Right here in Matthew 1.
That is a unique feature of this genealogy.
Let me note them with you.
And I'm going to do this.
I'm going to read those verses, repeat them
again, that include these women.
Verse 3, There's the first woman, Tamar.
The second woman, verse 5, That's the second
woman.
And Boaz begat Obed of Ruth, the third
woman.
And Obed begat Jesse.
Jesse begat David the king.
David the king begat Solomon.
Of her that had been the wife of
Uriah.
That's the fourth woman.
She's not named, but she's identified.
She's Bathsheba.
Four women appear.
And when you look at these women, by
the way, they were not always women of
high repute.
And let me reread those verses.
If you drop those women's names out of
the record, it will not in the slightest
affect the validity or the credibility of the
record.
The record is absolutely unaltered if you drop
them out.
Notice.
Let's go back again.
And Judas begat Pharaohs and Zarah.
And Pharaohs begat Ezra.
And Ezra begat Aram.
Have I changed anything?
Not the least.
I've just left out Tamar and dropped out.
And Simon begat Boaz.
And Boaz begat Obed.
And Obed begat Jesse.
Has that changed the record any?
Not the slightest.
Except that we just dropped those ladies' names
out.
They were really basically superfluous.
And we read on.
Jesse begat David the king.
David the king begat Solomon.
And Solomon begat Rehoboam.
Rehoboam begat Abiah.
Abiah begat Asa.
And we left out of her that had
been the wife of Uriah.
That hasn't changed the record one iota.
They are superfluous as far as the validity
of the record is concerned.
But they are meaningful as far as the
purpose of the Holy Spirit is concerned.
The fact that they are inserted becomes a
deliberate thing.
God deliberately put their names in.
Why?
Because, you see, each one of these women
have to do with the story of the
book.
Which is the story of one who came
to save his people from their sins.
Let's back up for a minute.
Let's start with the first woman, Tamar.
Now, I haven't the time this morning to
develop that story.
But just to refresh your memory, you know
Judas was an old scamp, by the way.
And he had a friend.
The trouble with Judas was he had some
rotten pals he hung around with.
And he hung around with a fellow named
Hiram.
And Hiram was probably a Gentile.
He was a pagan.
So, you remember on one occasion he and
Hiram went up country to shear some sheep
or to buy some sheep.
And when they got up there...
And by the way, before that, Judas had
married a woman and had three sons.
Ur, Onan, and Shelah.
And he got a wife for the first
son.
And her name was Tamar.
And he was such a rotten character.
He was a wicked man.
It just says the Lord killed him.
That doesn't mean he just died.
It means that God deliberately cut short his
life.
God killed him.
The Lord killed him.
And according to custom, the other two boys
were not married.
It was right and proper for the widow
to be taken by one of the brothers,
the remaining brothers.
And so she was married to Onan.
And the Bible records that he did that
which displeased the Lord, so the Lord killed
him too.
Knocked two of them off.
Now if you're a father and you've got
three kids, three boys, and you've got a
woman that's already knocked off two of them,
what are you going to do about the
third?
Well, you're just going to hesitate and postpone
the marriage, I think.
Well, that's exactly what Judas did.
He postponed the marriage.
And he said to this girl Tamar, he
said, When this boy gets old enough, you
can have him.
And he was just a youngster.
So she waited a while, and a couple
of years passed by, and she began to
realize that Judas wasn't going to keep his
word at all.
And the reason he wasn't going to do
it was he was afraid there was something
wrong with her.
I don't think they had AIDS in those
days, but whatever it was she had, he
was afraid of.
And so he thought, I'm not going to
let her have my last son at all,
Sheila.
And she sensed that.
And she knew that he was not going
to keep his purpose.
So, you know, when she found he was
going up country, she got up there ahead
of time, and she put on the clothes
of a harlot and sat by the roadside.
And he got up there, and it was
a lonesome night, and he propositioned her, and
he went in unto her, and the Bible
says she conceived.
And then you remember, she was smart enough
to say, You pay first, you know.
And he said, All right, but I don't
have anything with me.
Well, she said, I'll take what you got.
I'll take your ring and your bracelet and
your staff.
Now, that's quite a price to pay for
one night's pleasure.
But he said, In the morning, I'll send
you a kid from the flock.
He said, All right, I'll keep these till
the kid comes.
And so after the night was over, and
in the darkness of the morning, you remember
she took off her harlot's garments and put
on her widow's garments, and she went back
home.
So the next morning, he sent Hiram, his
friend, to find this harlot and pay off,
and he couldn't find her.
And everybody around said, There was no harlot
here.
You're dreaming.
They said, There must have been.
No, there wasn't.
So he came back, and Judas said, Well,
I tried, didn't I?
And he went home.
And three months later, the ladies down at
the well began to notice something.
That's the best place.
You know, go to the marketplace and hear
all the gossip.
And some of the women said, Have you
heard the latest?
Have you noticed?
Tamar is pregnant, and she's a widow.
Think of that.
So they ran right off to Judas to
tell him.
They said, Bring her here, and we'll set
her on fire.
We'll exact the penalty of the law.
We'll burn her.
She's been so wicked and unfaithful.
And just as they were about ready to
toss her into the flames, she said, Just
a minute.
Would any of you like to know who
the father of my unborn child is?
Every woman in that crowd dug her elbow
into the ribs of her husband and said,
You shut up and be quiet, buddy.
Don't you throw anything.
I've got to find this out.
So she was as safe as she could
be as long as she kept her secret.
And the men wanted to know, too.
And so finally she said, I'll tell you
who it is.
It's the one who owns the signet ring
and this bracelet and this staff.
There it is, Judas, her father-in-law.
And he had to admit that she was
more righteous than he.
And so the pregnancy went on.
When it came time for birth, she had
twins.
And those twins were, as it says here,
Pharis and Zarah.
They're right in the genealogy, the line of
Judah.
Tell me something.
Why do you think the Holy Spirit put
Tamar's name in there?
Wouldn't it have been better to have buried
that sordid story so that very few people
would have a curiosity enough to look it
up?
No.
As soon as you hit Tamar, you say,
who's Tamar?
You go back to the story, and there
that sordid story comes to the surface.
I'll tell you why.
Because this person about whom this book is
written came not to call the righteous, but
sinners to repentance.
Sinners as wicked, as cunning, as sharp as
Tamar.
Do you know that's the basic part of
the message of redemption?
He came to call sinners.
It was Tamar's sin that brought her into
contact with the coming Redeemer.
And it was your sin and mine that
brought us into contact with him as well.
Well, might we stand right here at this
point and say, thank God that the Holy
Spirit brought Tamar in.
I'm as bad, or maybe I was worse
than she.
But if she's brought in in order that
her sin can be pardoned and cleansed, then
there's hope for me as well.
Now move on, just another.
The second woman, Rahab.
And I must hurry, because I can see
you're getting hungry.
And I'm hungry too, by the way.
But anyhow, we go on to the next.
And Salmon begat Boaz of Rahab.
I don't have to go through that story
in this audience.
You know who Rahab was.
Five times over in the Old Testament and
New Testament, she is called Rahab the what?
Ah, you said it.
You can't even say her name without somehow
mentally adding the adjective to it, can you?
Rahab the harlot.
But did you notice something about this woman?
When she is resurrected, I don't mean physically,
I mean her story is brought back up
to the surface to be included in the
divine record in the New Testament where you
find her listed among the greats of faith
in Hebrews 11.
It's not her harlotry, it's not her wickedness,
not her past that is brought to mind,
but it's her faith.
Faith.
This woman somehow, don't ask me how, I
don't know how the mystery of it worked,
she had faith enough to believe that God
was on the side of the Israelis and
that God was going to deliver Jericho into
their hands and that God would save her.
She had faith.
It might have been like the grain of
a mustard seed.
Just a tiny bit of faith, but it
was there.
And it worked for her.
And Rahab not only saved herself, but saved
her whole family as well.
Say friend, I'm glad that Rahab is included
because it was her faith that brought her
into contact with the Redeemer.
If it was Tamar's sin that brought her,
it's Rahab's faith.
I don't understand the mysteries of faith.
I don't understand it at all.
I don't know how it can be, ladies
and gentlemen, that in this vast sea in
which we are living, this vast universe whose
dimensions, whose boundaries are being pressed back farther
and farther by modern science and technology until
we are just a tiny infinitesimal speck of
dirt whirling about in this universe, which if
God should blow it from His hand in
the morning, it wouldn't change this vast universe
of ours a single bit.
Nothing would be affected.
I don't understand how on this tiny little
speck of dirt God has put creatures made
in His own image and His own likeness
and that in the midst of all of
them, any one of them who cries out,
God, I believe, the Almighty Creator of this
universe responds to that faith.
Don't ask me how.
I don't understand the mysteries of the workings
of faith, but I know that in the
day of judgment, when all men stand before
God, I'm counting upon the fact that by
grace have I been saved through faith.
Faith.
Dare to believe God.
And God works on behalf of those who
trust Him and believe Him.
Rahab.
Now when you come to Ruth, you've got
a totally different kind of a woman.
Tamar and Rahab were not so nice, but
Ruth was different, except Ruth had a problem.
And again, I'd love to review that story
with you this morning, but I haven't the
time to do it.
Beautiful, beautiful story.
But you remember when Naomi came back with
just Ruth from the land of Moab, where
she had picked up this beautiful girl as
a daughter-in-law.
She left behind her husband and her two
sons in their graves in Moab.
And Naomi comes back to Bethlehem, an embittered
woman, who says, don't call me Naomi anymore.
I have a new name, Mary.
Mary Marah.
Bitterness.
I'm the bitter one.
Jehovah's dealt bitterly with me.
He's robbed me of everything.
And standing right beside her was this beautiful
woman.
And she was too blind in her sorrow
to see that God had given her a
magnificent asset.
But then you remember, you know the story.
Boaz came on the picture, on the scene.
And he fell in love with Ruth maybe
at first sight.
I don't know.
But he wanted her.
Only thing is, how was he going to
get her?
Well, because she's related to Naomi, and he's
related, there's a law in the Bible.
But I must say, first of all, that
there's another law that was the big hurdle
over which they had to jump.
There was a law written in the book
of Deuteronomy that a Moabite was cut out
from the congregation of Israel for ten generations.
Think of that.
And so Ruth was right in the midst
of that law that excluded her.
She could never become a Israelite.
She could never have fellowship with the people
of God.
Despite the fact that she had said to
her mother-in-law when the moment of
parting came, your God will be my God.
Where you go, I'm going.
I've learned something.
I've learned the truth about the living Jehovah
God, and I put my trust in Him.
Here's a believing woman, but she's cut out
by the law.
The fact that she's a Moabite, she can't
come in.
Yeah, but there was another law.
In a way, it was a higher law.
It was the law of the kinsman-redeemer.
When somebody related could buy up the inheritance,
and you remember how Boaz found to his
dismay that there was a relative a little
closer than he, and he had some problems
with that.
So he went to that relative, you remember,
and he said, by the way, you know
there's a possession that belongs to Naomi.
It's up for sale.
You want to buy it?
The guy said, yes, I want to buy
it.
He said, oh, by the way, you also
have to buy her daughter-in-law, Ruth.
Now, that man must have had a pretty
persnickety wife because he thought, oh, boy, if
I take that beautiful woman home, I'm in
trouble.
He said, oh, all of a sudden I
remember I got a mortgage coming.
I can't do it at the bank.
I can't pay.
I can't buy.
I'll surrender my right to you.
And Boaz said, that's exactly what I wanted
all along.
And so he picked up the inheritance, and
he bought Ruth.
But she loved him, and he loved her.
And you know, the whole story of the
book of Ruth is not just that romance.
It comes right down to the last couple
of verses of the book where it gives
a little genealogy from Boaz to Obed and
Obed to Jesse and Jesse to David.
And that's the way the book ends.
And that's inserted right there.
What was it that brought Ruth in contact
with the Savior?
It was that the law, the law that
condemned her, that shut her out was put
aside by the higher law of the Redeemer,
the kinsman Redeemer.
And you know, I was shut out, and
you were shut out by the law of
God.
The ten commandments and the law of God
condemned us forever to be shut away from
the divine presence until there came one who
was written about in this book, the Redeemer,
who bought us and paid such a price
that he might redeem us unto himself.
Now, there's that fourth woman left.
See, Tamar's sin brought her in touch with
the Savior, and the Savior came to call
such sinners as Tamar.
Rahab's faith, yes, and he came in order
that men might put their faith and trust
in his finished work.
That's what the story of the rest of
the book is about.
And then the story also talks about a
law, the high law of Calvary that is
even supersedes and goes beyond the law of
Moses that condemns us.
Now, when I hit this next one, I
was in trouble.
What could I say about Bathsheba?
I don't know.
Only one thing.
Somewhere in the great sermons of Charles Haddon
Spurgeon I read, and I don't even know
where it is any longer, a little sentence.
He said, whenever I'm in trouble and I
can't explain a verse in the Bible, he
said, I make a beeline for Calvary shouting,
grace, grace, grace, all the way.
And so that's exactly what I did.
I started with Bathsheba and I didn't know
where to go, so I started straight for
the cross and I cried, grace, grace, grace.
And it seems to me the only thing
that brings Bathsheba in touch with the Savior
here, the Redeemer, is the grace of God.
Just the grace of God.
It's that same grace that brings you and
me into vital relationship with our Redeemer.
Well, there it is.
Wrapped up in the genealogical record is the
statement the Savior came to call sinners.
He came that men might put their faith
and trust in Him.
He came in order that He might institute
a law that would bring in sinners condemned
and shut out by the law.
He came in order that He might expound
the marvelous characteristic of God that is not
found anywhere else.
His sovereign grace that reaches out to all
men everywhere and brings them into relationship with
Christ.
Now, there is just one woman left.
You noticed that, didn't you?
Of course, Mary.
We come down to Mary.
Oh, we've heard so much during this Christmas
season, indeed, about Mary.
But there's just one thing about her that
really thrills me.
It's the miracle of how God, how God
came to dwell in the womb of a
woman.
Almighty God, maker of heaven and earth, shrank
Himself in such a proportion that He was
the embryo created there supernaturally.
Indeed, but there He was.
And Mary carried about in her body for
nine months the incarnate God.
What a miracle.
But do you know that that miracle is
repeated over and over again?
I don't know how it can be, but
I know this Bible teaches me, the rest
of this book teaches me that just as
really as Mary carried in her body the
incarnate Christ, you and I carry in our
bodies the risen Christ.
He dwells within.
Oh, the miracle of it.
And it is a miracle.
This is not the first birth.
This is the second birth, the new birth
in which the Lord Jesus Christ comes to
dwell in the body of those who trust
Him.
And so it all comes down possibly to
the one last thing.
It's all wrapped up in a name.
She shall bring forth a son, and thou
shalt call His name Jesus, Savior, for He
shall save His people from their sins.
That name, that wonderful name, betokens who it
is that came in order that He might
do all of this.
I know of a world that is sunk
in shame, where hearts are all faint and
tired.
But I know of a name, a glorious
name, that can set that world on fire.
Its sound is sweet.
Its letters flame.
Oh, I know of a name, a wonderful
name, because Jesus, Jesus, Savior, is centered.
Father in heaven, this morning, we're so grateful
to Thee that this book tells us of
the One who came in order to draw
us who were enemies in our minds by
wicked works and reconcile us to God.
We know it's our sin that brings us
in touch with Thee, dear Savior, for Thou
didst come to call such as we are
sinners.
We thank Thee that Thou didst respond to
our faith and trust in Thee.
We thank Thee, too, for that law of
Calvary that sets aside, as far as the
penalty is concerned, the law of Moses, the
law that would condemn us.
And we thank Thee for that amazing grace
that found us when we were yet lost
in darkness and sin.
And we humbly thank Thee this morning for
the mighty miracle of the new birth and
Thine indwelling.
Thank Thee, Savior, for this record.
Amen.