Latest / HBCWestminster / 2.16.20 Luke 3:21-38 Pastor Danny Gardner

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2.16.20 Luke 3:21-38 Pastor Danny Gardner · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  Well, let's get to God's Word. I'm in Luke chapter 3. We're going to begin in verse 21, and we'll read through to the end of the chapter. You'll notice this is the genealogy of Jesus. This is pretty much a list of names this morning, but we'll talk about why genealogies are important and what they really mean to us. How do we apply portions of Scripture like this? So I'm in Luke chapter 3 and verse 21. If you're able to stand in honor of God's Word, I would ask you to do that now.
• 0:35
  and hear the word of God. Now, when all the people were baptized and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove and a voice came from heaven. You are my beloved son. With you, I am well pleased. Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about 30 years of age, being the son, as was supposed, of Joseph, the son of Heli, the son of Mathet, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi.
• 1:06
  the son of Janai, the son of Joseph, the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Nagai, the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Samin, the son of Josek, the son of Jodah, the son of Joannan, the son of Ressa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Nerai, the son of Melchi, the son of Adi, the son of Kosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Ur.
• 1:36
  the son of Joshua, the son of Eleazar, the son of Jorim, the son of Mathat, the son of Levi, the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim, the son of Malia, the son of Mena, the son of Matatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salah, the son of Nashon, the son of Amminadab, the son of Admon, the son of Arni, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez,
• 2:06
  the son of Judah, the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, the son of Sarug, the son of Rehu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah, the son of Canaan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalil, the son of Canaan, the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam.
• 2:34
  the Son of God. And Lord, we would ask that you would teach us according to your word. We see so many fathers searching for you in other places, but Lord, you have graciously revealed yourself to us in your book. And we ask for grace as we study. Lord, send your Holy Spirit to illuminate your scriptures and to show us who we are by showing us who you are. And it's in the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you. You can be seated.
• 3:11
  Well, there are certain states in our country that have been deemed flyover states. They are called so because they have a small population and no real reason for tourists to visit. I won't name any now in the case that I may offend someone in the room who might have grown up in one of these states, but let's just say that a couple of them rhyme with Anzis and Abrasca, okay? We come this morning to the genealogy of Jesus and what...
• 3:43
  In most of our Bible reading plans, if we're honest, is a flyover passage. There's no real reason to linger. We might be tempted when we come to a list of names like these just to skim over it and move on, if not for that funny Old Testament passage that Christ quoted during his temptation. The devil said, why don't you turn that rock into bread? Jesus said what? Man doesn't live by bread alone, but by every...
• 4:15
  word, every word from the mouth of God. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, do not think that I've come to abolish the law of the prophets. I've not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. For truly, he said, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Now, an iota is not a little green guy with big ears. Rather, the smallest
• 4:42
  Letter in the Hebrew alphabet, the yod, the smallest letter. It would be the equivalent to our English letter Y. Not a dot, not even a little accent mark will pass away from the law until it is all accomplished. Even the smallest details of God's word, Jesus said, are inspired. There may be flyover states, but there are no flyover texts. Now, not every genealogy may be important and applicable to our lives, but certainly Jesus's is.
• 5:12
  And so what then do we do with the genealogy of Jesus? Every human philosopher, in fact, I believe that every human on earth at some point grapples with about half a dozen basic questions, and foremost among them are these. Who am I? Right? Every single human on earth at some point asks that question. Who am I? Where did I come from? And why am I here? Is there a purpose for my existence? And the search for these answers
• 5:41
  can cause us to do some pretty drastic things. I imagine the freshman in high school dramatically changing his or her appearance, changing their personality, changing even their likes and dislikes just to fit in. Because they're not sure who they are. They're wondering about their own identity. And so they'll go through these massive personality and appearance changes. So desperate, I think, for attention and acceptance that they're willing to throw away who the Lord made them to be.
• 6:11
  And unfortunately, that tendency is not unique to freshmen in high school. I was speaking with one of our young adult ladies this last Thursday. She said that in one of her college classes, and she attends a very large university up the hill that direction.
• 6:26
  One of her college classes, the teacher asked a large group of students how they would identify themselves according to three categories. So how would you identify yourself? But then he limited the options. You've got to be one of these three. And if I may just boil down, she explained to me all of the intricacies and nuances of each of the three, even had titles for each of them. But boiled down, basically the three categories are this. Are you consumers? Are you contributors? Or are you religious? That's funny.
• 6:57
  You know, she was the only one, and I'm proud of her for this. I'm proud of her. She was the only one in the entire class who said she identified as the latter. All of the others said they are contributors to society. And when I asked her if she really is the only religious student in the room, she emphatically replied, no. The others just didn't want to say anything, so they wouldn't draw attention to themselves. Knowing who you are, knowing where you came from, helps to combat against this unhealthy tendency.
• 7:30
  You know why people are so fascinated with the idea of being native. Native. You see the bumper stickers and all of that. The argument is that because I know where my family came from, I know better than others what is going on. Right? That's the basic argument. And this has led to, and modern technology has even made possible, a recent fascination with ancestry. I believe that Tomator said it best when he quipped, I don't know where I'm going. I only got to know where I've been.
• 8:02
  And knowing and understanding our past, I think, gives us great insight into this basic philosophical question. Who am I? Where did I come from? And why am I here? Many of you know that I came from Southern California. In fact, Los Angeles County. You know, very few Angelenos, and that's what they're called if you grow up in Los Angeles. Very few Angelenos are actually from there. Almost all are from somewhere else and transplanted within the last few generations. That sounds familiar. That's most of Colorado as well.
• 8:30
  My parents were both from California. My mom, whom you know, she goes to this church and is here with us this morning, was raised in a town called Torrance near Los Angeles City. My dad was from Central California in a farming community called Merced. My dad's parents were Paul and Thelma Gardner. Paul, my grandpa, whom Pearson is named after, Pearson Paul Gardner, was raised as a corn farmer in Iowa.
• 8:58
  He enlisted in the Navy right after Pearl Harbor. He was pretty ticked off about that day, and so went down to wherever the recruiter was and signed his name. He served in the Navy through the Pacific Fleet and through the Pacific War in World War II, was at many of the famous battles that now they make movies about today. He was awarded the Purple Heart. He eventually, when he came back from the war, opened a body shop repairing and painting cars, but stayed in Southern California because the weather in Iowa leaves something to be desired.
• 9:30
  You know, this is just a little piece of my family history and a piece that I'm proud of. My understanding of my family's past helps to direct me into my own future. Can you imagine? I mean, that's just a couple of generations. Can you imagine being able to trace your family tree all the way back to Adam? That you would say, I know the names.
• 9:56
  And I know the basic information about every generation between me and Adam. Can you imagine how that would help to guide and direct you? The path has been laid out for you. Our study this morning is a study of both the heavenly and earthly family lines of Jesus. You'll notice the first couple of verses, verses 21 and 22, the Lord from heaven, the Father from heaven actually makes a statement, you are my beloved son.
• 10:24
  That's the beginning of Jesus' genealogy. His genealogy did not begin with Joseph and Mary, right? His genealogy begins with this declaration from the Father himself. You are my beloved son. So there's this heavenly heritage combined with his earthly heritage. And so that's what we're going to look at this morning, how these two lineages helped to define the framework for Christ's ministry. He knew exactly who he was. He knew exactly what he was sent to do from his...
• 10:53
  birth. And so let's look at both of these genealogies and how they then impact our own purpose, mission, ministry on earth. And so let's notice first, verses 21 and 22, Jesus' heavenly lineage. Jesus' heavenly lineage. Look at verse 21.
• 11:11
  Now, when all the people were baptized, right? John the Baptist, we've talked about him on the shore, on the bank of the Jordan River, baptizing as many as wanted to come for the repentance of sins because the kingdom of God was at hand. And it says, when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were open. And so you imagine Jesus climbing down into the water. And we know from parallel texts, we know from parallel texts, right? That Jesus was baptized by...
• 11:38
  John the Baptist, in the water along with this whole train of people, that in that moment when he was baptized, the heavens were opened, the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came from heaven, you are my beloved son, with you I am well pleased. Now we know that the story of the Bible is the story of Jesus. It's not about anybody else. It's not about anything else. The entire book chronicles testimony.
• 12:05
  eyewitness accounts of dozens, if not hundreds, hundreds of people, eyewitnesses who had witnessed and encountered Christ and experienced his grace and then told that same story to others at Christ's baptism. We don't see one of these human testimonials. Rather, we hear the testimony from God himself. It astounds me that there was ever any confusion regarding the identity and authority of Christ on earth.
• 12:35
  How could there be any confusion? This, in a public setting, is a declaration of the grace and favor of God on his son, the father himself. To make such a public declaration seems impossible to deny. Now, a couple of notes regarding Christ's baptism. First, why was Jesus baptized? Why did he have to be baptized? Now, we, his followers, are baptized. And in fact, I don't know if this isn't...
• 13:05
  news to anybody in the room, but you're sitting in a Baptist church, right? We baptize people. And so we know why we are baptized, right? We are recipients of the grace of God. We receive his forgiveness through our faith in him. We receive his forgiveness, and we make that transformation in our hearts public by being baptized, by getting into a big giant bathtub.
• 13:29
  Right? And getting dumped. And it's meant to represent as we go under the water and we, for a moment in time, are buried. Right? We come back out of the water. We say raised to newness of life. And that's what we mean. We are identifying with Christ and his baptism. We are identifying with the church through the ages.
• 13:50
  who have been baptized, and then it is a symbol of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. That's who I follow. I follow the one who was buried and who was raised. That's my Savior. That's my Lord. And so that's why we are baptized. But Jesus didn't have any of that. Jesus wasn't the recipient of God's grace. He was the one pouring out God's grace. And so why did he need to be baptized?
• 14:15
  Now, we've said from the beginning of our study that Luke's gospel was written to convey the universal human inclusion into the kingdom of God. You say, what on earth did you just say? In other words, no one who expresses genuine faith in Christ will be left out of the kingdom. No one. Regardless of ethnicity, of gender, of station in life.
• 14:42
  of severity and frequency of sin. If you express genuine faith in Jesus Christ, you will be saved. Jesus said in John chapter six, no one who comes to me, no one who comes to me will I cast out. The gospel of Luke is the gospel for all people, regardless of who you are, regardless of what you've done. And Jesus' baptism was a declaration of this truth. Jesus was baptized.
• 15:10
  in the Jordan River, just north of the Dead Sea. It's the lowest place on earth. And we have in the United States here, the lowest place in our United States is a place called Death Valley. Death Valley is about 100 or so, 130 something feet below sea level, okay? So if you can imagine how deep that is, it's like you've got the ocean here, right? And then you've got Mount Whitney, the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California here.
• 15:39
  It goes up and then actually goes below sea level. That's Death Valley down there. It is an awful place. It is very appropriately named. I mean, you die. If you go there, you die. I think it's a state park or national park. It might even be a national park. I mean, I don't understand why. It's to keep all of those developers, I guess, from putting condos there. Nobody would go there. It's awful. There's no water. Death Valley. It's 132, I think, feet below sea level. The Dead Sea.
• 16:09
  The Jordan River, where Jesus was baptized, is 1,200 feet below sea level. It's 10 times lower, 10 times lower than Death Valley. And that's where he was baptized. There's a reason it's called the Dead Sea.
• 16:28
  right? Water goes in there and can't get out because it only flows downhill. There is no way to get that water out of there unless you pumped it up over the 2,000-foot mountain. Does that make sense? That's where he's baptized. He's baptized there in the Jordan River, the lowest place on earth. And you can imagine him being lowered into the river and for a moment in time becoming the lowest man on the planet. In that moment,
• 16:57
  There was nobody on earth lower than him. And you can imagine him in that moment thinking, this is why I came. I humbled myself. I took the form of a servant. I am now the lowest person on the planet. No one is below me and I am willing to save them all, even the lowliest of them. I have made myself lower. And beloved church, do not be tempted to think that you can't be saved.
• 17:27
  that your sin is too bad, that your life is irreparable. That's the voice of the enemy. That is not the voice of God. In those low moments, consider the baptism of Christ. That's first. Why was he baptized? To show his humility. But second, because Christ's baptism puts on display the Trinity. Now, this is one of the clearest times in Scripture when all three persons of the Godhead showed up at once. The son was being baptized.
• 17:55
  The Father was declaring His approval. The Holy Spirit descended on Him like a dove. Now this passage flies in the face of Islam, which teaches that there is one God and He has no son. This passage flies in the face of Hinduism, which teaches that the number of gods is countless, that you only need be sincere to the God you choose. This passage flies in the face of modalism.
• 18:24
  which teaches that God simply has to change who he is to fit the occasion, like changing his mode. Sometimes he's the Father, sometimes he's the Son, sometimes he's the Spirit, but he's really just one God. He's just changing masks, and that's not what this says. In the baptism of Christ, we see all three distinct persons of the Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, all in the same place, all here in the baptism of Christ.
• 18:52
  That's first. That's his heavenly lineage. But notice second, his earthly lineage. You know, I'm not going to go through and read all of those names again. I did practice all week reading all of those, making sure I could understand them all and I could actually pronounce them all. I still stumbled even once. Here are some simple notes regarding the genealogy of Jesus. First, in regard to his earthly lineage, there are actually two genealogies of Jesus recorded in Scripture, and they're not the same.
• 19:22
  If you compare this account, Luke chapter 3, with Matthew's account in Matthew chapter 1, you'll notice that they are completely different genealogies. And you may say, well, why the discrepancy? The answer is simple. Matthew records his lineage, Jesus' lineage, through Joseph. Matthew chapter 1 is Joseph's family line. Luke's, however, is Mary's. And so if you look at verse 23, when it says,
• 19:50
  Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about 30 years of age, being the son. Now here's the key. You've got parentheses there. Being the son, what do the parentheses say? As was supposed of Joseph, the son of Heli. Listen, Joseph's dad's name wasn't Heli. Mary's was.
• 20:14
  Mary's dad's name was Heli, and then you trace back. Her grandfather's name was Mathat. Her great-grandfather's name was Levi, and so on. This is Mary's line, as was supposed. You may say, why? Why is it important to note that he had two different genealogies? In reality, we all do. We have our father's line. We have our mother's line. But why are they both recorded here, one in Matthew 1 and one in Luke 3?
• 20:42
  Joseph and Mary were from David's line, but they were from different sons of David. And some of you guys have heard me talk about this before. We'll have to go quickly through this. I will usually preface this explanation by saying, do not presume upon the grace of God in your life. Do not presume upon the grace of God. Many of us, myself included, trample all over the free grace of God. And here's what I mean.
• 21:13
  David was given a promise, right? We call it a covenant, the Davidic covenant. He was given a promise. What was that promise? The what? Okay, his line would never pass away, right? David goes to God and he says, I want to build you a house. Do you remember this? He felt convicted. That's really what was going on. He felt convicted. I'm living in this beautiful palace, but the ark of the Lord is living in a tent.
• 21:37
  Now, the reality is God never asked for anything but a tent. I think he intentionally wanted to live in a tent to remind us of the temporal nature of this earth, okay? But nevertheless, King David, a man after God's own heart, says, I'm living in this beautifully paneled house. You can imagine his granite countertops and all of that, okay? I'm living in this house. The Ark of the Covenant is living in a tent. So he goes to God, and he says, I want to build you a house. And God says, I'm not going to let you build me a house. You'll be an adulterer and a murderer, right? Those things had yet to come.
• 22:08
  He says, I'm not going to do that. You have blood on your hands. You're a man of war. I'm not going to let you build me a house, but I'll let your son do it. Okay. And so Solomon would build me one. He says, I'm not going to let you build me a house. Instead, I'm going to build you a house. You remember, here's the Davidic covenant. I'm going to build you a house and your throne will be established forever. The Davidic throne would never wear out.
• 22:30
  All right, there would be one on the Davidic throne for all time. Now we know with hindsight that he was talking about Jesus there, that Jesus would sit on David's throne and that he would never be thrown off of that throne. He is on that throne.
• 22:44
  Forever. And so here's what happened. David passes the throne on to his son Solomon, who passes the throne on to his son Rehoboam. There's a split in the kingdom. Everything becomes a nightmare. For 400 years, you've got these kingly lines, but they're all corrupted. They're all messed up. You read the books of 1 and 2 Kings, and you're like, are these the people of God? I mean, it's sacrificing their own sons to false gods. I mean, it's crazy stuff starts happening. You get all the way down to this one guy named Jehoiakim.
• 23:14
  Jehoiakim, and this is Jeremiah 22, okay? Jehoiakim follows in the line of David. He's sitting on the Davidic throne and Jehoiakim, who becomes known as Jeconiah, okay? Jeconiah and Jehoiakim are the same guy. Jeconiah says, I'm not following God anymore. Now I'm summing some of this up, okay? I'm not gonna do it. And he basically says, God promised David.
• 23:41
  that I could never be deposed, right? Because I believe that God fulfills his promises. I've got God backed into a corner. Do you understand his thinking? I can act however I want. God can't do anything about it. See how he presumed upon the grace of God. Jeremiah 22, the Lord makes a statement. He says, even if Jeconiah...
• 24:06
  were a signet ring on my finger, even if he were the very symbol of my kingdom, I would take off that ring and throw it away. Write down Jeconiah as if childless. I'm aborting his reign, okay? And Jeconiah probably thought, what? Oh, you can't do that. You can't do that. You said there would be one from David's line on the throne forever. He didn't consider the fact that David had a lot more sons.
• 24:40
  Right? And so that's what you see. What you see in Matthew 1, Joseph's line, Joseph actually came from that Davidic kingly line. He came from Solomon. He came from Rehoboam. He came all the way through. In fact, Jeconiah is in the genealogy in Matthew 1. He could trace his line all the way back to David through Solomon. Mary's line, still from David's line, was not through Solomon.
• 25:08
  It was through a lesser known son named Nathan. I just read his name, Nathan. Nathan, no doubt named after who? Nathan, right? Nathan, I mean, Nathan was probably named after Nathan. Nathan was the name of the prophet who rebuked David, right? Gently, but nevertheless rebuked David for having stolen another man's wife.
• 25:34
  And David later had a son named him Nathan, and that is who Jesus came from. From Joseph, the right line. From Mary, the right line. A second little note here, a feature of the genealogy of Jesus, at least the earthly genealogy, is that both genealogies, Luke chapter 3 and Matthew 1, fulfill God's promises to Adam, to Noah, to Abraham.
• 25:59
  and to David, and therefore give Jesus the right to rule. Now, there are a lot of names in this genealogy, but a few stand out. A few stand out. If you guys like to underline or circle in your Bibles, I would recommend circling. You can go from the end and move backward, but obviously the son of God, right? The son of Adam. Now, that is important because one of Adam's own descendants, in fact, one of Eve's descendants, would be the one to come.
• 26:28
  and to make all things right. Adam is listed. If you continue moving back, you'll notice Noah. Noah was charged with repopulating the earth. He was given the Noahic covenant that God would never again destroy all of humanity. And through Noah's line, the Messiah would eventually come. There's Noah. If you go back a little farther, you'll notice Abraham. Abraham, from your line, Abraham, I will bless all peoples on earth. And then if you continue moving back, you'll see David.
• 26:58
  There he is. Both genealogies fulfill God's promises to Adam, Noah, Abraham, and David, and therefore give Jesus the right to rule. Third note about the earthly genealogy of Jesus is its summary. It can be summarized very simply. Jesus came from whom he needed to come from in order to do what he needed to do. He came from whom he needed to come from in order to do what he needed to do. When Jesus
• 27:29
  read his own genealogy. It helped to shape and mold and clarify his mission. He understood when he read the genealogy that he was the Messiah from heaven given to the Jews and to all people ultimately. You say, what about us? What does this have to do with us? What about our lineage? Our earthly lineages I've found even in my own life are difficult to trace.
• 27:59
  You know, I get back to grandparents, and I can do pretty well. I remember them. I go to great-grandparents. Things start to get a little bit foggy. I start to have to send text messages to other family members. Like, what was their name again? And I remember to go into my great-grandma's house. Her name was Blanche in Iowa. I remember that one time. I think I was four. We were living in here in Denver in the time. We drove some, like, Datsun station wagon across the country. I was four, right?
• 28:25
  fleeting memories of this. I remember breaking down in the middle of nowhere and my dad hitchhiking to get us out of there. There's no cell phones, right? Hitchhiking. And so I remember the four of us, my little sister and I, she was one, two maybe, I'm four, she's two.
• 28:44
  hitchhiking, getting into the back of this semi-truck that had pulled over to pick us up. We got into the cab of this semi-truck, my dad, my mom, four-year-old and two-year-old, and I remember hitchhiking, getting to Iowa, okay? So I have this memory. That's what I've got of Blanche. Other than that, you know, I don't really know. Just a few generations back, our earthly lineages, I think, are difficult to trace, and some of us even have terrible finding details just a few generations. But do we have a heavenly lineage?
• 29:14
  If the earthly one is hard to find, doesn't clarify much, leaves us with more questions than answers, what about our heavenly lineage? You know, there was a day when a man came to Jesus. His name was Nicodemus. This is John chapter 3. He asked Jesus about how to be saved. And Jesus said, you must be born again. You must be born again. That was intentional language. You must be born again. Your life almost has to start over. There is a spiritual life that only God can grant so that God in heaven becomes...
• 29:46
  Your father, do we have a heavenly lineage? Yeah, if you've been born again, you do. What does that heavenly lineage endow us with? Why does it matter? What does it matter to us that we have a heavenly lineage? A few things. First off, I think our heavenly lineage, the fact that we know who our heavenly father is, provides us with a footing. Consider those children raised in foster homes, never adopted, eventually what they call emancipated. It is always difficult for those children to develop a sense of identity.
• 30:16
  because they don't know who their family is, who their friends are. Some of them don't even know what school they go to. They move around so much. But 1 John 3 says, how great is the love the Father has lavished on us that we would be called children of God. And indeed, that is what we are. It gives us a footing. It gives us security. You never again have to guess who you are. You never again have to have a freshman year of high school. Right? That's great news.
• 30:47
  You never have to guess. You never have to change to try to gain people's acceptance. You already have that. Ephesians chapter 4 talks about the church being firmly rooted, firmly rooted. Hallie and I, on Friday, celebrated what I believe is our 23rd Valentine's Day together. 23, it means it's our Michael Jordan Valentine. One of my favorite things about our marriage is that I no longer have to guess. I just don't. It's 23, you know. Very rarely am I confused.
• 31:20
  or nervous around my wife. Like I just don't get nervous around her. I did back in the day. You know, I was nervous around, not now, our history and the challenges we face and the obstacles we've overcome and the roots we've grown together make us immovable. And the Lord wants the same for you spiritually.
• 31:37
  Your heavenly lineage makes you firmly rooted and immovable. Second, what does it do for us? The fact that we've been born again, that we have this heavenly lineage, what does it do? It gives us a family. And I think another of the greatest blessings in coming to know the Savior is that not only are you on your way to heaven, that's the big one everybody knows. But I think the one that is often neglected is that you actually become a part of God's family on earth until you get there. You're not alone. It's not like you become saved and then you're alone until the day you die. You get this.
• 32:08
  And it's a big deal. You get brothers and sisters, real genuine brothers and sisters in Christ. If you don't know your earthly lineage, like I have no idea where I came from. I have no idea how that happened. I don't know. If you don't know your earthly lineage, take heart. Your family is sitting around you. Don't say you don't have a family. We're here. We eat together and we sing together and we read together and we rejoice together. We weep together because we are the family of God.
• 32:40
  Last, that heavenly lineage gives you a future. In fact, Ephesians 1 says it gives you a right to the inheritance, to the inheritance. You're a child of God. Philippians 1 and verse 6, he who began a work in you will be faithful to complete it. It's not like you just get saved and then it ends. He says he will continue to grow you and sanctify you and stretch you. And we would be remiss, I think, to fly over the genealogy of Jesus.
• 33:10
  It's meant to remind us who he was and why he came, but more than that, it helps to remind us who we are and why we are here as well. Let me pray. God, thank you for the time together this morning. Thank you for the genealogy of Christ. God, may it encourage our hearts. And for those of us, Lord, like me, who have trouble finding even an earthly heritage further than just a few generations back, may I take heart because and be encouraged because my family is sitting here.
• 33:40
  And God, may we take heart knowing that my earthly lineage is taken care of, but more than that, my heavenly family is taken care of as well. That we are through faith children of God. We've been born again. That you've lavished your love on us to call us your children. And indeed, that is what we are. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.