Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Song number lasso.
Lasso.
Still stands.
175.
With it.
He is good.
Hey, everybody.
My name is Muhly.
I am here to talk about the cycle service.
He is number 175, He is number 175, He is just like His great love.
He is number 175, He is just like His great love.
He is number 176, He is number 176, Jesus loves the little children.
Jesus loves the little children.
I would say that, right?
From the beginning of the story.
Jesus loves the little children.
For instance, I would really sing
Jesus loves the little children
Oh, the children of the world
And the black and white
They are precious in His sight
Jesus loves the little children
All the children of the world, Jesus died.
Jesus died.
All the children of the world.
All the children of the world, Jesus died.
Jesus died.
All the children of the world.
Jesus died.
All the children of the world.
All the children of the world, Jesus died.
Jesus died.
All the children of the world.
All the children of the world, Jesus died.
Jesus died.
Our Bible reading please go to the book of Matthew.
Matthew chapter 1 and we are going to read the verses
1-17. Matthew chapter 1
verses 1-17. Please say amen when you are there.
The book of the generation of
Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham we get Isaac
and Isaac we get Jacob. And Jacob we get Judas and his brother.
And Judas we get Phaedas and Zada of Tamar. And Phaedas
we get Asram and Asram we get Adam. And Adam we get
Amminadab and Amminadab we get Nahasson and Nahasson we get Solomon.
And Solomon we get Boaz of Rahab and Boaz we get Obed
of Luke and Obed we got Jesse. And Jesse we get David the king
and David the king we get Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias.
And Solomon we get Zoboam and Zoboam we get Abir and Abir
we get Asa. And Asa we get Josephat and Josephat we get
Jordan and Jordan we get Uzzias. And Uzzias we get
Joatham and Joatham we get Ahaz and Ahaz we get Isaacias.
And Isaacias we get Manasseh and Manasseh we get Ammon and Ammon we get
Josias. And Josias we get Jehonias and his brother and about the time they were
carried away to Babylon. And after they were brought to Babylon Jehonias
we get Salalphel and Salalphel we get Zorubabel. And Zorubabel
we get Abiut and Abiut we get Eliakim and Eliakim
we get Asa. And Asa we get Sadok and Sadok we get Achim and Achim we get
Eliud. And Eliud we get Eliaza and Eliaza we get
Methan and Methan we get Jacob. And Jacob we get Joseph
the husband of Mary of whom was one Jesus who is called Christ.
So all the generations from Abram to David are
fourteen generations and from David until they're carrying away into Babylon are fourteen
generations and from they're carrying away into Babylon until Christ are fourteen
generations. Let us pray. We thank your father for the first
service and we also ask you to bless the next service. We ask you to open our hearts
to listen to your word to understand it. To love you and your word more
and also obey you in the middle of our faith. And we ask also to anoint the preacher in his name
Amen.
Alright we're starting a new book. We're in the book of Matthew. We're going to start here in Matthew chapter 1. We're just going to cover
the genealogy here today. I'll have a bit of an overview and then just cover these verses.
Today's sermon is probably going to be a little bit shorter but you know
we should be done on at least normal time. But the name of the sermon is
Dueling Genealogy. So in this sermon we're going to be comparing Matthew 1
to Luke 3 for a while. So we're going to be going back and forth to Matthew
and Luke. Those are two primary spots. This is a very informational sermon.
So put a bookmark, a ribbon or something in Luke 3. We'll be going
back and forth between Matthew and Luke. And let me just say a few things as
an introduction before we start the sermon. Obviously in our Bible
we have four gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
And sometimes people try to compare these books and try to say well here's a contradiction
this says this, this says that. And of course we're going to cover
those things as we go through the book of Matthew. But what we need to understand is each of
the four gospels has a different primary focus.
Now John is sort of its own thing because it's very different than the other three.
And John is certainly the book that's going to teach you salvation by faith
alone. It's also going to teach you the nature of God. However
the book of Matthew also teaches salvation by faith alone.
So does the book of Mark. So does the book of Luke. But it's not really the primary
focus of the book of Matthew. It's more the primary focus of the book
of John. When it comes to the book of Matthew
one thing it's really proving is that Jesus is the king of the Jews.
That is something that's very clear in the book of Matthew. There's many reasons
we know this. Number one, the word kingdom is used
54 times in the book of Matthew. By far the most.
And this phrase in the Bible in the book of Matthew
son of David appears 16
times. It only appears three times in the book of
Mark and Luke. But 16 times in the book of Matthew. You say why?
Because it's proving he has a right to the kingly heritage. So he's the son
of David. He has a right to sit on that throne. He has that
genealogy. Now let me just tell you to start off. Matthew 1
and let me just say this. The genealogy in Matthew
is known as a descending genealogy.
It descends from Abraham to
Joseph. And then it says this in Matthew 1 verse 16
it says and Jacob begat Joseph
the husband of Mary of whom was born Jesus who is called
Christ. Now it does not say Joseph begat Jesus because he did not.
But it says it traces the lineage from Abraham
to Joseph and then it says that Jesus was born of
Mary. This is a descending genealogy
from Abraham to Joseph and then it mentions Jesus Christ.
This is a genealogy of Joseph and Jesus being basically the adopted or raised
son by Joseph has a right to the kingly heritage. But you're
seeing the genealogy from Abraham to Joseph. It descends.
The book of Luke is the opposite. It starts with Jesus
and it ascends instead of descending. So it goes
back in time instead of going forward in time.
And the Bible says this in Matthew 1 verse 17
So all the generations from Abraham to David are 14 generations.
You go back in time to Abraham and then you descend to David
and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are 14 generations.
And from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are 14 generations.
Now go to Luke chapter 3.
So the book of Matthew starts with Abraham.
It does not start with Adam because it's trying to prove to you
that Jesus has the right to sit on the throne. It uses the son of
David as a phrase and it descends. The book of Luke on the other hand
in Luke 3, it starts with Jesus and it is going to
ascend. And notice what it says in Luke 3 verse 38
Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth,
which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.
Now the book of Matthew does not go all the way that far back.
It doesn't start at that point. The book of Luke on the other hand, it is going to
ascend all the way back to Adam. You say, well why? Because what is the book of
Luke trying to prove? That Jesus is the son of man.
That is what it's trying to prove. Now we understand that Jesus Christ
was 100% God and 100% man.
And of course Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all teach that. But there is
a very different focus. And so Matthew is trying to prove he has a right to sit on the throne.
Whereas in Luke it is proving that he is the son of man.
And go back to Matthew 1.
Matthew chapter 1.
So the book of Matthew is proving that Jesus is the king
of the Jews. It uses the word kingdom. It calls him the son of David over
and over and over again. Because that is what it is trying to primarily prove.
Now I want to show you something else from the book of Matthew as well. We will talk about Matthew 1
verses 18-25 next week. But I want to read these to you
and I want you to pay attention to something.
Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise. When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph
before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
Then Joseph her husband, being a just man
and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her
on a privilege. So in verse 19 the Bible mentions Joseph
and we are getting the mindset and the thoughts of Joseph
not of Mary.
Verse 20, But while he thought on these things, behold
the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son
of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in
her is of the Holy Ghost. And so he is thinking on these things
an angel appears to Joseph. It doesn't mention an angel appearing
to Mary. Verse 21, And she shall
bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people
from their sins. Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken
of the Lord by the prophets, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child,
and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name
Immanuel, which being interpreted as God with us. Then
Joseph, being raised from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bid
in him, and took unto him his wife, and knew her not, so she had brought forth her firstborn
son, and he called his name Jesus. Now in this story
the Bible shows us that Mary and Joseph are married
they're espoused, it's husband and wife, they're spouses with one
another, but they've not come together physically as a man and wife do.
Now in different cultures marriage is done differently and it's even still done today
but many times in the Bible what you're seeing is that the way marriage is done is different
than today. And in their situation they legally get
married, but they're not yet together. Now the purpose of that
would be that he's probably saving up money to prepare for their home
but that is what you see here in Matthew. So he's legally gotten
married, but they have not come together yet. And we're
getting Joseph's thoughts on the matter. Now here's the thing, Joseph doesn't
just knock on Mary's door and talk to her about this, because they're not around
each other. He doesn't give her a call
because that did not exist back then. So basically here in Matthew
we see Joseph's thoughts on what's going on, he hasn't talked to Mary, he doesn't really know
what's going on, he just has his own thoughts, and an angel comes to Joseph and says
hey don't worry, she did not cheat on you, she's
just with child of the Holy Ghost. Go to Matthew 2
Matthew 2
verse 13
And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord
appeareth to Joseph in a dream,
saying Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and
flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word, for Herod
will seek the young child to destroy him. When he arose, he took the young
child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt, and was there until the death
of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophets,
saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son. Once again
the angel appears to Joseph. We are getting Joseph's thoughts.
We don't know what Mary's thoughts are. Doesn't mention it in Matthew 1,
doesn't mention it in Matthew 2. You say why Brother Stuckey? Because this is a
genealogy of Joseph in the book of Matthew. That's why it focuses
on Joseph. Now, if you're just starting in your Bible and you
read the book of Matthew, you wouldn't even question that. I mean, some
of you right now are saying, well, Brother Stuckey, of course it's of Joseph because it mentions Joseph.
Here's the thing, though. The father of Joseph has a
different name in Matthew and Luke, and that's where the Bible contradiction supposedly
comes in. With the book of Matthew, we're seeing in Matthew 1,
the genealogy is traced from Abraham to Joseph. It's a
genealogy of Matthew, and we have the verification because it mentions
Joseph in Matthew 1. It mentions Joseph in Matthew 2. It's his
perspective. It's his genealogy. Now, here's the thing. We understand
that he was not biologically or genetically the father of Jesus.
Go to Luke 3. I'll show this to you. Luke 3.
Luke chapter 3.
And the Bible's
very careful to tell you that Joseph was not
the father of Jesus. It says in Luke chapter
3, verse 23,
And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being
as was supposed the son of Joseph,
which was the son of Heli. So it says here, as was
supposed. Okay? Because Jesus was not biologically or genetically
the son of Joseph. He was raised by Joseph.
Because Mary was conceived from the Holy Ghost, and so
the father of Jesus Christ was God the Father. But Mary
was the mother of the man, Jesus Christ, which that's why in the book of Luke
it goes all the way back to Adam to say he's the son of man. Because he was
100% God and 100% man. So here's the thing. In the
book of Matthew, we see that Joseph's genealogy
traces all the way back to Abraham. Even though
Joseph was not biologically the father of Jesus, since he
raised Jesus, Jesus would have a right to sit on the throne.
Okay? That's what we see from the book of Matthew. Matthew 1.
Luke, on the other hand, I believe
is a genealogy of Mary and not a genealogy
of Joseph. And this is something that people say, well, this is a
contradiction. Which is it? Who's the father of Joseph? It's quite simple.
The genealogy of Matthew is a genealogy of Joseph. Abraham
begot all the way to Joseph. Right? And then it mentions
Jesus Christ, but it doesn't say he's begotten of Joseph. It's a genealogy of Joseph.
Luke, on the other hand, is a genealogy of Mary. Okay?
Now, notice what it says in Luke chapter 1. Go to Luke 1.
Luke 1.
Of course, your question would be, well, Brother Stuckey,
if that's the case, why is it in Luke chapter 3
it mentions Joseph, it does not mention Mary? Because Joseph is
representing Mary as the husband. And when it says son of Heli,
it's saying son-in-law of Heli. When you're seeing son of
in the Bible, sometimes it can be the grandson, sometimes it can be the nephew.
I mean, it's not always son as we think of son in our modern day.
And so when it's saying son of, I believe that's saying the son-in-law
of Heli. So the actual name of Joseph's
dad was Jacob. Now, doesn't it make a lot of sense
that a dad named Jacob would call his son Joseph?
Especially if they believe in the God of the Bible and they
grow up reading the book of Genesis. I mean, of course, they're going to think,
hey, Jacob, what are you going to name your son? We know it's not going to be Roman.
Is it going to be Joseph, Benjamin, or Judah? Which are you
picking? It would make sense that a man named Jacob that's following the Bible
would name his son Joseph. It makes perfect sense.
Luke chapter 1, verse 26,
and in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God onto
a city of Galilee named Nazareth. To a virgin
espoused to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David. So Joseph is
of the house of David. His genealogy traces back, we already saw that.
And the virgin's name was Mary. So in Luke 1, verse
26 and 27, we are seeing that Gabriel is appearing to
Mary, not to Joseph. Now, did an angel appear to Joseph?
Yes, but that's mentioned in Matthew. Why? Because the genealogy
in Matthew is a genealogy of Joseph. In Luke,
it mentions Mary. Why? Because it's a genealogy of
Mary in Luke 3. Verse 28, and the angel came in under and said,
Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou
among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast
in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her,
Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God. And behold, thou shall
conceive in thy womb, and bring forth the Son, and shall call his name
Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest.
And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. And he shall
reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing
I know not a man? How is this possible? Because I am a virgin, is what
she sang. And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come
upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore
also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son
of God. Now go to Luke chapter 3.
Luke 3.
And I'm not going to show you the rest from the book of Luke,
but the book of Luke focuses on Mary, Mary, Mary. But the
book of Matthew does not. We don't know what Mary's thoughts are in Matthew
chapter 1 or Matthew 2. We do not see an angel appearing.
We're getting the thoughts of Joseph. The focus is on Joseph. You say, why? Because
Matthew 1 is a genealogy of Joseph. Luke, on the other
hand, I believe is a genealogy of Mary. And you know what? People have
different opinions. If your opinion's different, that's fine. I would just
say nothing's accidental or coincidental. So if you're trying to figure out, well
who was really the father of Joseph? Well, it would seem like the genealogy
in Luke is a genealogy of Mary because it's proving Jesus is the son of man.
And of course, he was the man Christ Jesus
born of Mary. But Joseph is not his
biological father. He gets none of his physical humanity
from Joseph because he's the son of God, which is why it
makes sense that Luke would be about Mary and Matthew would be about Joseph.
Luke 3, verse 31,
which was the son of Malaiah, which was the son
of Manan, which was the son of Matatha, which was the son of
Nathan, which was the son of David.
Now the Bible tells us here in Luke 3, verse 31, David had a son named
Nathan. Okay, now if you're familiar with the Old Testament, you're thinking
didn't David get rebuked by a man
named Nathan after his sin with Bathsheba? Yes, he
did not get rebuked by his son, though. Okay, that's not his son that is
rebuking him. What that would seem to indicate, though, is because David
is not the spiritual leader. He is the king.
He was obviously a godly person, but he was not the spiritual leader. The spiritual leader is Nathan.
And it would appear that even though he got rebuked very strongly by
Nathan, he respected Nathan and even named a son
named Nathan after the man of God. So if I
rebuke you, you should name your son Matthew. That's what I'm saying.
Right? And so obviously I'm joking.
You know, if everybody starts naming their son Matthew, I would find that kind of weird to be honest.
But David respected the man of God, and he had a son
that he named Nathan. Okay? Here's the thing, though.
Which son of David became the king?
Not Nathan. Who's the most famous son of David?
Solomon. Solomon becomes the king. You say, why? Because
Luke 3 is not trying to prove to you
the kingly right of Jesus Christ to sit on the throne. If so,
it would mention Solomon. Now, both the genealogies trace through David, but
we see a big variation here, because the other one mentions Solomon. This one
mentions Nathan. You say, why? Because, well, Nathan wasn't the king. It's not trying to prove.
What it's doing is going all the way from Mary, and it says
Joseph the son of Heli, which is the son-in-law, traces all the way
back to Adam to prove that Jesus Christ was man. He is
the son of man. Matthew, on the other hand, is proving he has a right
to sit on the throne and be the king. Now, there's a few other things
to mention here in Matthew and Luke.
In Luke, it uses this phrase
the son of. Now, when it says the son of,
that could be the son-in-law. It could be the adopted son.
It could be the biological son. I mean, it can mean a lot of things in the Bible.
Oftentimes, you're seeing somebody will call someone their son, and you're thinking,
I thought you were the uncle. Why are you acting like their dad? Because
it's not always meaning what we would mean as son in our modern
day. So, the word son of can be used
to mean a few different things. It does not mean that biologically or genetically they're your son.
If you adopt someone and raise them, then they are your son.
But as we talked about recently with Jesus Christ, he is the only begotten son,
meaning he has the very nature of God. When you use the
word begat, that is different. If you say
I begat someone, that means you're not saying they're your adopted
son. You're not saying you raised them. You're not the stepfather. No, no,
you are biologically the father. So, when the genealogy
of Matthew is saying begat, begat, begat, it stops after Joseph.
It doesn't say Joseph begat Jesus. Why? He didn't.
He raised him. But Jesus did not
genetically or biologically have the nature of Joseph in him because Joseph wasn't
his biological father. He raised him. There's a difference.
So, there's a difference in the wording here for a specific reason.
When it's saying begat, we know from, go back to Matthew,
Matthew 1 verse 16.
When it says Jacob begat Joseph, that means
genetically. That means biologically. It's not saying
there's a man named Jacob that raised Joseph. It's saying biologically
genetically, Jacob begat Joseph.
Now, here's the thing. In the book of Matthew, it mentions
42 generations. Here's the thing.
There were a lot more than 42 generations
from Abraham all the way to the time of Jesus Christ.
When you use the word begat, it can
skip what we would think of as a generation. So, for example,
the name of my father is Curtis Stuckey. You could say that
Curtis Stuckey begat Zephaniah Stuckey. Why?
Because biologically, Zephaniah comes from my father.
Right? Genetically, my son
comes from my father. So, in this Matthew 1
list, there are many generations that are being skipped. You could say that
Abraham begat Joseph and skipped every single one because
genetically he comes back all the way. So, when it's using begat,
it does not give the opportunity to have a stepson or
son-in-law or whatever, but actually biologically, genetically, that is what
it's telling you in Matthew 1, from Abraham all the way to Joseph
and then Mary is where Jesus comes from. So, it does not say
Joseph begat Jesus. Whereas with the phrase
son of, it is a little bit different. So, go back to Luke 3.
Luke 3.
And so in Luke 3.
23, as I said, where it says, Jesus himself began to be about 30 years of age
being as was supposed the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli.
When it says Joseph is the son of Heli, what's the answer to this contradiction?
What's the name of the father of Joseph? Jacob.
Now, it's always possible that Jacob was the grandfather
of Joseph from Matthew 1, or the great-grandfather. I would just say that it makes sense
that Jacob would name his son Joseph. I believe that's actually
literally the father. I don't think there's a skip generation there from Jacob to Joseph. I think it's telling
you exactly who the biological father of Joseph was.
When it says which was the son of Heli, it's not that
specific. It's not saying that Joseph biologically
or genetically is the son of Heli. He could be the son-in-law.
He could be the adopted son. And what I'm saying is
it's perfectly reasonable that they would mention the name Joseph to represent
his wife, and what he is is the son-in-law of Heli.
So we're seeing in Luke 3 the genealogy of Mary, which traces all the way back to Adam,
proving Jesus is the son of man. Of course,
he is genetically, biologically the son of his mom.
100% man. 100%
God, because he directly comes from God, which is why the Bible never says that
Joseph begat Jesus. And it's very careful to say, as was supposed.
I mean, even when Mary said, your father and I have
sought the sorrowing, and Jesus rebukes his mom Mary, it says, wait a minute.
So this also shows us Mary is the mother
of Jesus. She's not the mother of God.
And here's the thing. Jesus Christ is 100% man, 100%
God. He's not 50% man and 50%
God. You say, Brother Sucky, how can that be?
Well, I mean, the Bible says it's a great mystery. God was manifest in the flesh.
No, we cannot perfectly understand this.
Now, we see the things that make sense, because here's the thing. Jesus Christ was sinless.
Sin is passed down, according to the Bible, from
father to child.
My kids are sinners. My kids are makalit. Why? It's not my wife's
fault. It's my fault, according to the Bible.
Right? And that's the way sin is passed down. Well, everybody has a sin nature.
Everybody does wrong, except Jesus. You say, why?
Because who was his father? God. And he did not have a sin
nature that was being passed down, because he is the Son of God from eternity
past. He's the only begotten Son of God.
So in Matthew 1, you don't have to turn there, but there are
generations being skipped, and we need to understand that when you're reading it,
it's not naming every single name. It's interesting that the
Bible does it in groups of 14, but what's
taking place is it's taking you to very famous
spots, and kind of like, hey, remember these 14 and these 14 and these 14.
Here's the thing. If it mentioned every single person in Matthew 1,
nobody's going to memorize that. Nobody's going to remember it.
So the Bible's using significant characters, significant events,
significant people that people are going to be aware of in Matthew
chapter 1. Now, go to Luke 3, verse 35.
Luke 3, verse 35.
And I'll show you one other thing that's interesting in these genealogies.
Luke 3, verse 35.
And then it says, which was the son of Sarach, which was the son of Ragu, which was the son of
Phelak, which was the son of Heber, which was the son of Salah, which was the son
of Canaan, which was the son of Arphaxad, which was the son of Sem or Shem,
which was the son of Noe or Noah, which was the son of
Lamech. I want you to notice at the end of verse 35, it mentions
Salah, S-A-L-A, okay? Then it mentions
Canaan. Then it mentions Arphaxad. So when you're reading
this, Arphaxad is the father of Canaan, is the father
of Salah. Arphaxad would be the grandfather
of Salah, okay? Go to Genesis
11. Genesis 11.
Genesis 11.
Genesis chapter 11, verse 10.
I get it. Today's sermon
is not the most practical. It's informational. You should be happy.
It's going to be a shorter sermon, more time to fellowship. Next week we'll get to the more
practical sermons. But there's a lot of interesting things even in this genealogy,
especially because there's a lot of false doctrines that are out there, and all information,
all scripture is good for us. It's good to learn whatever we learn from the Word of God.
Genesis 11, verse 10. These are the generations of Shem.
Shem was 100 years old and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood.
So Arphaxad is born two years after the flood, begat and two years
after the flood. And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad 500 years
and begat sons and daughters. And Arphaxad lived five and thirty
years and begat Salah. And Arphaxad
lived after he begat Salah 403 years and begat sons and daughters.
Now if you're just reading Genesis chapter 11, what you would say is Arphaxad's the father
of Salah. But is he the father of Salah?
No he's not. He is the grandfather of Salah.
Right? There's an added name that is actually skipped
in Genesis 11. And here's the thing. When it says begat, as I mentioned,
you can skip. Arphaxad begat Salah, and he did because
Salah genetically has that very nature in him.
But Arphaxad is actually the grandfather of Salah.
Now Arphaxad is born two years after the flood,
and it says that he's 35 years old. Now when you just read this in Genesis, you think nothing
of it. 35 year old man has a son.
Perfectly realistic. Right?
But then people scoff at this and say, wait a minute. You're saying a
35 year old is a grandfather? That is exactly what I'm saying.
Arphaxad was a grandfather at the age of 35.
And here's the thing. People scoff at that, but
that is completely possible.
I mean, somebody can have a child at the age of 17. Right?
I'm sure throughout history there have been many
people that were grandparents in their 30s. It's completely
possible. My sister got married when she was 17.
Right? And then she got pregnant immediately, and they had a child, and it's just like,
you know what? And here's what you have to understand. This is two years
after the flood when Arphaxad is born. Nobody's going to
college during the days of Arphaxad. Nobody's going to high
school. Right? There's not a whole lot going on. Hey, what do you want to do on the weekend?
Do you want to go to the amusement park? The flood wiped that out.
Right? There's not really a whole lot to do. Do you want to go to the movies? I mean, we don't
have any movies anymore. Do you want to go listen to that rock band perform?
I mean, there is no rock band. There's not a whole lot going on. And what is
the big command God gave to His people after the flood?
Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth.
You say, what? Because there's nobody around. And so the big commandment
is, hey, you know what? Get married and have children. And so
it's completely reasonable that Arphaxad got married
at a young age. And of course, you know what? Throughout history, people got married
at earlier ages. In our modern day, it's more
unique for someone to get married before the age of twenty.
But it still happens all over the world. As I said, my sister got married at seventeen. There's nothing
weird about it. You're an adult by that age. And of course, at this time, you know what?
If it's right after the flood, people needed to learn to grow up
and be a man or a woman at a young age. Right? I mean,
obviously, mom and dad needed a lot of help. It's like, hey, we need a lot of
help getting stuff done because I've got to build a house for us now.
Right? You know, it's just like, you know, everything would have been a lot harder then.
So what I would say is, logically, people would have been growing up at a younger age.
Here's the thing. I mean, obviously, most people are not grandfathers at the age of thirty-five.
That is by no means a contradiction, though, because it's completely
possible to be a grandfather at the age of thirty-five.
I mean, very easily, he could have been a father by the age of seventeen.
And his son becomes a father at the age of eighteen. Seventeen
plus eighteen is thirty-five. It's not like it says twenty-five.
Right? If it's twenty-five, you'd be like, whoa. Or a great
grandfather at the age of thirty-five, you'd be like, whoa, a great grandfather.
Being a grandfather, though, that is completely possible at the age of thirty-five.
Go to John chapter seventeen. John seventeen.
Now, honestly, in Matthew one, and in the genealogy of Luke,
there are a lot of so-called Bible contradictions that come up, like,
well, who's the father of Joseph? I mean, is it Heli, or is it Jacob?
I mean, you've got an error there. And, of course, if you first hear that, and you look
at these genealogies, you'd be like, I don't know.
Or people might ask, well, why do they skip names in the genealogy?
It's like, it's a mistake. It's like, no, it's not a mistake. I mean, even in the book of Genesis,
there's a name skipped. I mean, it's completely fine to do that. You don't list every single
name, nor do you have to. And the word begat, by its very meaning,
means genetically, or by nature. So, yes, you could say the great
grandfather begat, you know, his great grandson, and skip a couple
generations. There's nothing wrong with that. And it's something they've done throughout history.
Whereas, son of is different than begat.
And I don't think there's any skipped names with the son of, because it's really trying to prove
he is the son of man. But begat, we certainly see skipped generations
in Matthew 1. It's a lot more than 42 generations.
So it's not something for us to back away and say, I don't know how to answer this. It's like,
yeah, it doesn't name every single name. There's nothing wrong with that.
It's perfectly fine to skip generations along the way.
And, you know what, what we would look at as a generation is every single
one. But biblically, it's not always that way.
It can use four generations into one. There's nothing wrong with that.
Because this person still begat this person. It just didn't mention every name
along the way. John 17, verse 17.
The Bible says this, sanctify them through thy truth.
Thy word is truth. I mean, people pull up the genealogy in Matthew 1
and they say, hey, there's contradictions. There's errors. There's problems.
How do you answer this? Here's the thing. If you don't have an
answer to the Word of God, what that means is you don't question
the Bible and you realize you need to study more. You don't question
the Bible. You need to learn more. Right? I mean, obviously,
when you're reading Matthew and Luke, you're not necessarily digging in and studying
every verse. And then when you compare them, it's a good question. Well, who's the father
of Joseph? I think it's pretty easily answerable.
Joseph is the son-in-law of Heli, and Joseph is representing Mary.
But it says Abraham, all the way to Joseph, begat all the way.
Jacob begat Joseph. Jacob is the father of Joseph. Go to Proverbs
30. Proverbs 30. Proverbs chapter 30.
Proverbs chapter 30, verse 5.
The Bible says in Proverbs chapter 30, verse 5,
every word of God is pure.
He has a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto
his words lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.
Look, every single word, every single verse in this Bible is pure.
It's perfect. It's the Word of God.
Now, here's the thing. This doesn't mean that we know how to answer every single question
there is. There's going to be things that you don't know.
Look, if you take a math test with a hundred questions, you're not going to be able to
answer everything. It's not the end of the world. As long as you get an A,
that's what counts. It's like, yeah, if you were to come to me with
Bible questions, let me be completely honest, I will not be able to answer everything that you have.
People might ask me a question, and I would say, that's a good
question. I'm not sure. There's probably people in this room
that are thinking, yeah, I've asked Brother Stuckey questions before, and then sometimes
he told me, I'm not sure. I'll have to study that out. I'm not sure off the top of my head
that's a good question. People come up with questions I've never thought of,
or sometimes there's questions that I have thought of, and I don't know the answer.
Here's what's interesting. Sometimes I have questions that I don't know the answer, and I've tried
to study it and memorize it. I pray about it, and I'm not sure.
Then I'm like, well, one of my favorite pastors is a priest on this chapter. Let me listen.
Maybe he has the answer. Then you listen to the sermon, and they just skip
over the verse. It's like, okay, well, I guess they don't know the answer
either. There are things that we don't understand.
It doesn't mean that we question them. To be honest,
Matthew 1 and Luke 3, these are questions I've had before about the genealogies.
Those are good questions. I don't know how to reconcile all these things or what's
the difference. Then you hear a lot of opinions, and the opinions don't
match one another. Then all I said is, okay, maybe I just need to study it out
for myself. If I do not know the answer, it's not
the end of the world. Look, when you're reading the Bible, I think it's a good
thing to have a pen with you and
take some notes as you're reading the Bible. At the same time,
don't just stop at every verse you don't understand and say, you know what? I'm not moving
past this verse until I get it. You're going to be in Genesis 1-1
to the end of your life.
Why does it mention heaven before earth? It's like, until I
figure this out, I'm not moving on. It's just like, look, if you don't know
the answer, you just move on. I think it's good to take note of stuff
and then try to keep it organized so the next time reading through, you might
find out what the answer is. You read, and there's an answer somewhere else in the Bible.
At the end of the day, there's things that you don't know. It's easy to get this mentality
where you can't read the Bible. You say it's too intimidating.
It's like, Brother Stuckey, how can I read the book of Ezekiel?
I mean, I don't understand it. News flash! Most people don't
understand Ezekiel. Nobody understands all of Ezekiel.
News flash! The book of Isaiah is confusing. News flash!
The book of Zechariah is confusing. There are things that are hard to be understood.
And even in the Bible, you see Daniel writing, and he's like, I don't get this.
Zechariah is like, I don't get this.
And so, look, if godly people don't always know the answers, it's okay not
to always know the answers. It's okay to read the Bible
and not understand everything found in this book. Now, of course,
you want to know the answers, and I get that, but don't have this defeated attitude.
Go to 1 Timothy 3, and we'll close up. Or 2 Timothy 3. 2 Timothy 3.
2 Timothy 3.
But, I mean, here's the thing. If you go online
and try to find the answers to these so-called contradictions in Matthew 1 and Luke 3,
you know what you're often going to find? Copiest error.
Right? I mean, the original Hebrew, the letter's this,
and they mistranslated it as this.
You can see how they easily did that because there's that little dash that they missed.
That's what they say. They say it's hard to translate from
the Hebrew to English. They just made a mistake. That is not the correct answer.
They did not make a mistake. Every word of God is pure.
Every word is perfect. There are no mistakes.
It's just called some things we just might not have the answer to.
Look, if somebody shows you a verse and says, well, see,
you can lose your salvation. Well, here's the thing. We've got hundreds
of verses that say eternal life. Hundreds of verses that say
everlasting life. I mean, it's a gift.
I mean, neither show me and pluck them out of my hand. I mean, there's so many scriptures that say
you can't lose your salvation. Here's the reality, though. Somebody could pull up a verse to me
and I might not know the answer.
When I first got saved, if somebody showed me, well, faith without works is dead, I'd be like,
well, I don't know, but it's eternal life, and that's what I believe.
Now, of course, now I know the answer to that verse and that passage, but here's the thing.
What I'm saying is sometimes you don't have the answers, and that's okay.
You don't have the answers, but the answers are found in the Word of God.
It just means we need to study more and learn more and be patient
and focus on the things that you do know and you do understand
rather than focusing on the things that you don't always understand.
2 Timothy 3, verse 16,
All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God.
The genealogies are in there for a reason. You might not know why, but there's a purpose.
You might say, Brother Stuckey, I mean, the memorization, I mean, Matthew 1,
1-17, that's so hard. Would you rather memorize Leviticus 13
today for the Bible memorization prize?
I mean, the Matthew 1 is actually probably easier than Leviticus 13, but here's the thing.
Leviticus 13 is not what you would say is the most
important passage. And yet, I think, you know, if you were here for the first sermon,
you'd agree. Actually, you know, it makes a lot of sense. There's a lot of good information in there.
Why? Because all scripture is given by inspiration of God
and is profitable. Let's close it in a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and just getting
to study this out in Matthew chapter 1 and the genealogy in Luke 3 and ask you to help us
to study your Word and love your Word and know your Word and pay attention as we're going
through the book of Matthew. Help us to understand all of these things and glean a lot of wisdom found
in the Word of God and focus on what we do know as opposed to things that maybe we don't
fully understand. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen.
First stanza, ready, sing.
Singing