The Family Grace Built // Rev Craig Gyergyo

So he's called the son of Abraham, the son of David. I wish I had time to go into the son of Abraham, but I will do this. I want to talk about the son of David because Jesus is called the son of David. And, and God's people had long awaited a son who would overthrow the powers of darkness and evil. This was a promise that, that the Jewish people were clinging to. And they understood that this one, the Messiah, would come from David's lineage, King David of the Old Testament. [00:06:00] (30 seconds)  #SonOfDavid

This is, this is prophetic. And this is, you know, a kingdom that'll never end. That's what's being referenced here. This is all subsequent, by the way, to David's death. How does that take place? It takes place through Jesus. And Matthew is saying that the long awaited king, he's arrived. That's how the New Testament begins. He's here. And Jesus is not just another name in a long list of names, a sequence of names. [00:07:05] (27 seconds)  #TheKingHasArrived

And the deal is this, because it shows us that we've always needed a greater David. We've always needed a son of David who was better than David himself. One who claimed his bride, not with another man's blood, but with his own blood. That's what this is pointing to. One who defeated not Goliath, but death. You see this. One whose end was not the grave, but the throne in glory. [00:08:43] (29 seconds)  #GreaterDavid

And that's this, that God loves real stories. Not idealized stories. Do you hear that? God loves real people. And the eternal word didn't, you know, enter into and descended to some sanitized world. He stepped into our imperfect families, our very human stories. And the genealogy tells us that what God does is this, that through Jesus, he brings sinners into his family. [00:12:37] (29 seconds)  #RealStoriesMatter

I love it. David, the king, great reputation, right? In most ways. But, but he's listed here and he's no better than the prostitute. He's no better than the deceivious person. And neither are we. You know, a lot of times we pray on Sunday morning, we'll say, we have not loved you, God, with our whole hearts. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. And what we're doing is we're getting low and we're humbling ourselves. And we're saying, we don't add up. Not in the way we act. Not in the way we think. Not in the way we speak. In no way. [00:13:19] (33 seconds)  #AllFallShort

The new birth, he says, is not of the will of the flesh. It's not by determining in your mind that you're going to be a Christian, that you become a part of the family of Jesus. Doesn't work that way. You cannot make yourself a part of his family. And again, you can't talk yourself into it. You can't make yourself. You cannot do it. [00:16:36] (23 seconds)  #NotSelfMade

The new birth also is not of the will of man. In other words, it's not by the efforts of others. There's no pastor. There's no priest. There's no archbishop who can make you a Christian. It is by the will of Christ that you enter into the family. It is through his shed blood. It is through his broken body. And the Lord does something. This is what he does. He does something in your heart that makes you a part of Jesus family. It's a new birth and it's done by God. [00:17:02] (34 seconds)  #BornOfGod

Not all those who merely believe in him. You know, many people say, I believe in Christ. I believe in God. I believe he lived. I believe he died even. I believe he rose again. I do believe that Jesus is who he said he was. But even that doesn't necessarily make you a part of the family. It's when you receive him. That's what scripture teaches us. When you receive him. When you yield to him. When you surrender to him. [00:19:24] (28 seconds)  #ReceiveJesus