 And so we're going to be going through the gospel of Matthew, and what we'll do is I'm going to take you through the first chapter. Now the first chapter, verses one through 17, we're going to look at, I'm going to just basically cherry pick of you. Well, I'm going to take a few things out of chapter one, verses one through 17, because that's the genealogy. And then I'm going to move into verses 18 through 25 and pick up and teach there out of those particular verses. And so, beginning at verse one, Matthew chapter one, and reading just the first few verses. Matthew writes, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham begot Isaac. Isaac begot Jacob. And Jacob begot Judah and his brothers. Judah begot Perez and Zara by Tamar. Perez begot Hezron. And Hezron begot Ram. Ram begot Aminadab. Aminadab begot Neshon. And Neshon begot Solomon. Solomon begot Boaz by Rahab. Boaz begot Obed by Ruth. Obed begot Jesse. And Jesse begot David the king. David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Araya. And I can continue reading and I know you just love that if I read all these names, but I'm not going to. I'll just go to verse 17 where he says all the generations from Abraham to David are 14 generation from David until the captivity in Babylon are 14 generations from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are 14 generations. And so we begin a study in the gospel of Matthew. I'll say one thing briefly and then we'll move into our introduction which I find interesting when you look at verse three here. I just find this personally interesting. This is the first Hispanic in the Bible, Judah begot Perez. But anyway, there you go. There are four gospels that you have in your New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Each one of those gospels had a particular reason. There's a reason for each one of the books that you find in scripture. There's always a motivation. There's a desire to communicate a certain thing and each of the gospels have a purpose. When you look at the gospel of Mark, for example, Mark was written for Romans. And when you know that Mark was written for Romans, you'll also see as you study the book of Mark that because Romans saw the highest ideal as being a servant of the state, Jesus will be portrayed in the gospel of Mark as a servant. And you'll see that one example will be at the baptism of Christ. When Jesus Christ received baptism in the gospel of Matthew, you'll see this when we get there, in the gospel of Matthew. When you see Jesus receiving baptism, it says the Holy Spirit led him into the wilderness to be tempted by the enemy, by the devil. But when you look at the same account in the gospel of Mark, it says there that the Holy Spirit drove Jesus to the wilderness. Two different words, emphasizing two different aspects of Jesus. And so you'll see that being driven to the wilderness gives you the understanding that Jesus was under orders, whereas Matthew wants to demonstrate to us something different, which we'll see in just a moment. So Mark was written to the Romans, emphasizing the servanthood of Jesus. Luke was written to Greeks. And Greeks had an ideal. The ideal man for the Greek was the perfect man. And so when you go through the gospel of Luke, knowing that Luke was written for the Greek reader, well, Luke is the one who emphasizes Jesus being the son of God as well as the son of man. He is perfect humanity. You see that in the gospel of Luke. When you look at the gospel of John, John was writing to both Jew and Gentile. And so as he was writing, there was a heresy that was on the ascendancy, if you will, or at least had been around for a little while. And it was called Gnosticism. Gnosticism taught that spirit is good and matter is evil. That's one of the forms of Gnosticism. And so John, when you read his introduction, introduces an entirely different way than you see in Matthew, Mark, or Luke. Because John begins by saying, in the beginning was the word, the word was with God and the word was God. And he goes on to say, and the word became flesh and dwelt amongst us. And we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten son of God, full of grace and truth. And so what he points us to is the fact that God who is spirit has taken upon himself human flesh because he's writing as an apologetic and explanation for Christians who believed that God actually took upon himself human flesh. When you look into the gospel of Matthew, Matthew was writing to Jews. And that'll give you some understanding because throughout the gospel, he utilizes the Old Testament to prove scripturally that Jesus Christ is the anticipated savior. Somebody writes because Matthew's purpose is to present Jesus Christ as the king and Messiah of Israel, he quotes from the Old Testament more than any other of the three gospel writers. Matthew quotes more than 60 times from prophetic passages of the Old Testament demonstrating how Jesus fulfilled them. And as we go through Matthew, you will see this quite often. He quotes Isaiah, he quotes Micah, Hosea, the Psalms, Zechariahs. He will do that because he's giving to us an insight into the fact that Jesus Christ fulfills the Old Testament prophecies. Now we know that the author is the apostle Matthew and we know that Matthew was called by Jesus Christ, but before he was called, he was a tax collector. Matthew worked for a high rank in Roman official and he had the job of collecting taxes. There was a set amount established for taxes and anything collected above that amount was profit. So he was greatly despised because he worked for the hated Roman government. Tax collectors were ranked as chief sinners along with prostitutes and Gentiles. And yet Matthew was called by Jesus Christ and we'll see that in chapter nine when Jesus was passing by and he was seated there in receipt of taxes and Jesus said to him, follow me. Now the date of this gospel, one last thing before we get into a few things here in chapter one, the date of this gospel is right around the years 58 to 68. And the reason that it is dated in that general area is because the temple was destroyed in AD 70. And yet you see Jesus in the temple, even preaching in the temple. So obviously this was written prior to the destruction of the Jewish temple. And so conservative scholars say that it was written anywhere from the window of 58 to 68 AD. The gospel of Matthew, Matthew by the way means gift of God. And he's given to us a gift here in this gospel. Now it begins by simply saying the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. So this is intended to establish his right to the throne of David. When you read your Old Testament, you're going to see that in 2 Samuel chapter seven, there is a promise that was given to King David through the prophet Nathan, concerning one who would be born from David's lineage who would be the king. In 2 Samuel chapter seven versus 12 and 13, Nathan told David, when your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you who will come from your body and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house from my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. He says in verse 16 in your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you, your throne shall be established forever. And so there was a promise that God gave to David that his throne would be established forever. So when you look at the genealogies, there are two genealogies that you know of in scripture. One is found in Matthew, the other is found in the Gospel of Luke. Matthew's genealogy is the lineage of Joseph and that establishes Jesus' legal right to the throne of David. But Luke's genealogy found in chapter three gives us Mary's genealogy, which establishes Jesus' bloodline and racial right to rule. Now when you look at Matthew's genealogy, it not only gives to you and itemized account of his lineage, but it also reveals God's grace. Now within this genealogy, I wanna spend some time looking at just four names. Four names that will reveal to us the grace of God as we see it in the Old Testament. And each one of these names belong to a woman and each one reveals God's incredible grace to us. The women, Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba. It's interesting to note that Bathsheba is mentioned, but as you look at verse six, it doesn't mention her by name. It simply says David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah. God didn't even refer to her by name, just referred to her by reputation. Tamar, who is Tamar? Why would she be included? Well Tamar is remembered in Genesis chapter 38 all the way in the Old Testament book of Genesis. And chapter 38 of Genesis speaks of how Tamar portrayed herself to a man by the name of Judah as a prostitute. She was a Canaanite woman. She was the daughter-in-law of Jacob's son, Judah. When you read chapter 38, you see what happens in chapter 38, how it's recorded. And you see that God had slain her husband. Her husband's name was E.R., was Ur. And he sinned greatly against the Lord. He was very wicked and the Bible simply says and God killed him. Well, when he died, he had a brother, a brother who was the next oldest. His name was Onan. And so there was, during that day, there was what was called the Law of Leveret Marriage, which means that the older brother, should he die without leaving behind seed and air, then the next oldest brother was bound by law to marry his older brother's widow and produce seed. But the child that would be born through the younger brother is going to be regarded as the oldest brother's heir. So Onan did not want to fulfill that. And so the scripture says, he simply spilled his seed on the ground. And God saw that as great wickedness and slew him. Well, there was yet one brother, a younger one, his name was Shailah. He was to be the husband of Tamar, but Judah withheld him from Tamar. He told Tamar, why don't you go home to your father's house, remain in mourning until Shailah is able to marry you and produce seed and have offspring and all. And so she did, she went and waited. She waited a long time. And when he should have been given to her as her husband, Judah withheld Shailah from her and she was aware of that. And so she found out that Judah was going to be in a certain area. And she went and sat on the roadside, dressed as a prostitute. She hit her face with a veil. Now Judah's wife had died and he had had the appropriate time of mourning. And so he was lonely for a woman and he's walking or caravanning, whatever. And he sees this woman on the side of the road and she's dressed as a prostitute and he goes and negotiates with her and she says, what shall be the price for you to be with me? And he says, I'll give you a lamb. She says, I don't see one with you now. Do you have a pledge? And he says, I do. And he gives his signet and a cord and a staff, which all belong to him and represent him and all that he is. And he gives that to Tamar and he goes into her and he goes back to where he's staying and sends one of his men to go back to the location that Tamar had been with the lamb, but she's disappeared. She's gone. And so the messenger comes back and says, I can't find her. There's nobody there. And so Judah says, well, she ripped me off. There's nothing I can do about it. And he leaves it alone. Well, a few months later, it's brought to his attention that Tamar is with child. And so he sends for her and says, bring her back. We're going to burn her. She's going to die. And he brings Tamar back to him and says, how is it that you did this and all? And the woman says, well, the one who the signet and that the cord and the staff belong to, this is the one who is guilty of making me pregnant. And he sees them and obviously recognizes that they're his. And he knows that he's the one who is guilty of that great sin. As a result of that, he says to her, you are more righteous than I. And she ultimately has twins for as in Zara. She finds herself in the genealogy of Jesus. The second one that we look at briefly is Rahab. Rahab is found in the book of Joshua chapter two as well as chapter six. And we know her story. She was an inhabitant of a city called Jericho. And the Jews were marching in to take the land and all and two Israelite spies that entered into Jericho. And so she hid them and protected them, only making them make a promise that when they came to take that city that her family would be preserved and her family indeed was spared when Jericho was destroyed. She found her way into Jesus's genealogy. There's a third woman there. Her name is Ruth. Ruth was a Moabite. God said concerning the Moabites, Moab is my wash pot. He didn't have a lot of affection, but she was married to an Israelite, a man by the name of Malone. And her husband had died. And so what happens, it's found in the book of Ruth is she followed her mother-in-law Naomi back to Israel and she lived as a convert to the Hebrew religion and she eventually married a man by the name of Boaz. She became the grandmother of King David. You have Bathsheba. Bathsheba is prominent in 2 Samuel, chapters 11 and 12. When I say King David, to anybody who reads their Bible, the first thing they'd normally say isn't oh, he wrote a lot of Psalms, or they don't say that he was ruddy and handsome and a warrior and he slew Goliath, all of that's part of the story of King David, is the second king of Israel, powerful man, a warrior. They know all of those things, but if I say even to somebody who doesn't know God, if I say what do you associate when I say King David of Israel, they say Bathsheba, Bathsheba. And he's obviously famous not only for his victories, but also for his defeats. And we know the story, I don't have to give it to you in great detail. It's a time when kings go off to war, but David remains in his palace. He lives in the upper tier and all the rest live below him on a hill. And while he's there looking down this hill, he sees a beautiful woman, she's bathing, and everything within him begins to be aroused in. And he says, who is this? I want her to be brought to me. And they try to warn him. They say, is this not Bathsheba? She is the wife of Uriah. Uriah is one of David's mighty men. He's one of his most trusted and loyal men. He's devoted to David. But David's already got in his mind that he's going to be with this woman, and he uses his power, his authority, and he takes her. He has a relationship with her. She becomes pregnant. We all know the story. And she tells David through a messenger, I'm with child. And David attempts to get Uriah to go and spend time with his wife, but he's a loyal man who's on the battlefield and on two different occasions. David calls him in to speak on two different occasions. David says, go be with your wife. But on those two different occasions, Uriah refuses to do so. So David says, and within himself, there's only one solution. I'm going to have to get rid of this guy. Put them in the heat of battle. As the troops withdraw from protection, he ends up dying, Bathsheba. How interesting the grace of God has revealed here to us to people like Tamar, people like Rahab, and people like Bathsheba. Even his inclusive love is revealed so beautifully through Ruth Amorbitus. The genealogy that we see before us really is a beautiful testimony of God's grace in the ministry of Jesus Christ. The Bible in Luke 1910 says that this way, the Son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. And we see God's grace revealed. Now I mentioned to you verse 17. In verse 17, it speaks up from Abraham to David, and then from David to Babylonian captivity. And from the captivity until Christ. And those basically are three sets of 14 generations which is intended to reveal God's grace at work in three periods of Jewish history. Now how was his grace most wonderfully presented? Verse 18. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. After his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought about these things, behold an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you, Mary, your wife for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a son, you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet saying behold a virgin shall be with child and bear a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel which is translated God with us. Then Joseph being aroused from sleep did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife and did not know her till she had brought forth her first born son and he called his name Jesus. The birth of Jesus is as follows. What we have here is a simple straightforward introduction. He's simply saying these are the events surrounding the birth of Jesus. Christ who is the savior. I want you to note this. This is written as historical fact. This is not written as a myth. This is not written as a fable. This is not written as an allegory. This is not written in any other way other than straight history. That's how it's being presented to us. He's not making up a story. He's not trying to give a reason for the things that are about to be said that are mythical. He's saying no, this is what actually happened. You need to understand that when you read your Bible that the birth of Jesus Christ was written in such a way for us to understand the miracle of his birth. And he wants to give us the details for us to understand that this was truly the holy thing that took place. In 2 Peter 1.16 the apostle Peter said, we were not making up clever stories when we told you about the power of our Lord Jesus Christ and it's coming again. We have seen his majestic splendor with our own eyes. And so what we have here are events surrounding the birth of Jesus Christ that are not mythological but are historical. And it speaks concerning this. Notice how it says to us in verse 18 after his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph before they came together. She was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Now over time, there have been many things taught and written concerning this young woman, Mary. It's interesting to note that scripture does not give very much information concerning her. When you begin to read your Bible and you look for the different passages that she's found in, you really don't find much information about her. You know certain things. We know her as Mary. But her Jewish name is not Mary. Her Jewish name is Miriam. And her Greek name, what you find in the New Testament is Maria, which is why we call her Mary. We know that she lived in a small town called Nazareth. We know that she had a sister also called Mary. She had a cousin named Elizabeth. She was from David's line, that her father's name was Eli. We know that she was a virgin when she miraculously conceived Jesus. We read that she had a deep obedient and humble faith in God. And we know that she recognized that she herself needed a savior. You see in Luke chapter one, verses 46 and 47, Mary said, my soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit has rejoiced in God my savior. So she was born with an Adamic nature also. She had a sin nature and was in need of salvation. She rejoiced in God her savior. So not only did she birth the savior, but she needed that same savior she gave birth to. Very few things written concerning Mary. The last time she's mentioned by name in scripture is in Acts chapter one, verse 14. So much has been written and taught about her, but scripture does not emphasize Mary. It emphasizes Jesus Christ. We also have Joseph. Joseph's father's name was Jacob. He lived in Nazareth and he was a construction worker. He was a craftsman, a carpenter. Mary and Joseph were more than likely very young when they became engaged. Girls during that day were generally 12 or 13 years old and boys were normally a few years older. Now I want to show you a couple of things here. I want you to see how it says here in verse 18. After his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph. He used the word betrothed. The look at verse 19, Joseph her husband being a just man. And so it speaks of betrothal and yet it speaks of marriage in the same passage. Now for us, that would be a little interesting. Listen, in American culture, betrothal is engagement. So you're engaged but not regarded married to be married. You're married after the ceremony, but that wasn't the way it was in Hebrew marriage. Hebrew marriage customs involved two stages. You had the betrothal and you had the marriage ceremony. Now Hebrew marriages were normally arranged marriages and a marriage contract was drawn up and would be sealed by a dowry. The dowry would be paid by the groom's father. And you're going to see this later on. I'm going to point this out sometime from now, but the bride price, it's called the bride price. The price was based on the value of the bride. So the more valuable, the greater the bride price. Years ago I was doing a wedding and I don't charge for weddings and so I had the groom and I actually, it was one of those things. Well, you'll understand in a moment. Didn't really know the couple, but you know, I was just asked to do something. But anyway, I was doing the wedding and she wore a veil and when I said I pronounced your husband and wife, he turned to me and he says, what do I owe you? I said, for what? So what do I owe you for conducting the wedding? And I said to him, just give me what you think she's worth. He gave me a dollar. I lifted up her veil and I gave him 50 cents back. But anyway, just seeing if you're with me, just a joke that never really happened. I'm just teasing. I'll get the letters, send them to David Bustamante, care of Calvary Chapel. The engagement or the betrothal was an indefinite period of time. It was normally around a year and it served as what we would call today a probationary period, but you know what it was to actually test? It was testing the faithfulness of the bride, the faithfulness of the bride. And during this period, the groom and the bride had very little social contact. They were legally married, yet they did not consummate the marriage until after the wedding ceremony. They were regarded as husband and wife. That's why you'll see betrothed and husband, his wife. You'll see that because in Jewish marriage custom, when they became betrothed, they were legally married. They just did not consummate their marriage until the ceremony of marriage, which like I said, would take place, usually around a year later, would take place and then they would consummate it in their honeymoon, if you will. So as this is taking place, notice what happens. Before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. She's pregnant. Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. So that emphasizes the fact that Joseph and Mary had no intimate relations. Sexual purity was then, and still is, highly regarded. The Bible tells us in Ephesians 5-3, let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you, such sins have no place among God's people. So Mary's pregnancy is presented as miraculous because her virginity was important evidence of her godliness and purity of life. Well, there's only one way for a woman to become pregnant. Joseph knows she's pregnant and he begins to think, what am I going to do? Notice again in verse 19, Joseph, her husband, being a just man, but not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. He's thinking, what am I gonna do as a righteous man, as a moral man? This is not something I can do. What are my options? Well, there was a great penalty for that sin. It's so different today, it's hard for us to get our minds around this, isn't it? Today you have so many people putting birth announcements in the newspaper and they've had a child, they're not married, but they put it in anyway because they're proud of, they have the whole thing as if they were married couple and so it's really, it's dulled us in terms of what is right and what is wrong and a lot of us has simply accepted the way it is and say, get along with it, you know, it's the times now and all of that. Well, that's never been true during the Bible times, neither is it true today. God still puts a high premium on purity. Joseph is thinking, what am I going to do? I have options. You see in the Old Testament, in Deuteronomy, chapter 22, verses 23 and 24, the law was very clear about this circumstance. It says, suppose a man meets a young woman, a virgin who is engaged to be married, and he has sexual intercourse with her. If this happens within a town, you must take both of them to the gates of the town and stone them to death. The woman is guilty because she did not scream for help. The man must die because he violated another man's wife. And in this way, you will cleanse the land of evil. Well, obviously, Joseph was certain Mary had been with another man. She had left for Nazareth and she was gone three months. She visited her cousin Elizabeth as it's recorded in Luke 1.39. So as he's thinking, it's quite obvious what she did is she went there, visited her cousin, and while there, she got involved with the guy, got pregnant, came back pregnant. What am I going to do? So he's considering his options. And so he's a righteous man. He's a gracious man, a compassionate man. You see, God had been compassionate to Joseph. So Joseph was a righteous man, not a self-righteous man. He knew Psalm 103 verse eight, where it says, the Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. And so he makes a determination. What I will do is I will divorce her, but I'll do so secretly. I don't want to make a public example of her because a public example could go so far as to have her put to death. So he's thinking in a righteous fashion, but this man, well, his heart is broken because this woman that he had been engaged to is pregnant and Joseph is not the father. Verse 20, while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you, Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bring forth a son. You shall call his name, Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. Stop being afraid literally when he said, do not be afraid, stop being afraid. Joseph, God is in control here. The child has been conceived through the agency of the Holy Spirit. This is God's son and she's gonna bring forth a son and you shall call his name, Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. The name Jesus, Jehoshua. In Hebrew means Jehovah is salvation. God is doing a work, Joseph, to save mankind from their sins. Here I can get a little bit loud. Forgive me, I'm gonna do my best not to. But I have been in the first two services and who knows, I might become a little loud again because I get real caught up with this. While I was in Houston, I was given the opportunity to preach and teach on Sunday morning at the church that I was at. And I gave a study out of Matthew and I shared, do you know what? God's message of the gospel is a transforming message. God gives us his word and he gives us his promises and God gives us his power so that our lives can be radically transformed. If any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. All things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. And I said to illustrate that, I wanna share with you about what God does. Yes, you can clap, I feel very, yes, God changes lives. Absolutely. And I shared about that and I said, listen, you know, and I told a short story, you know, these people don't really know me and so I wanna introduce myself to them. I share how I brought my mom and my dad to Christ, my sister to Christ, my brother to Christ and I'm sharing about how good God is, how that I started a Bible study, a young woman came to that Bible study, she was saved in that Bible study, I eventually married her and that's how Marie and I got together and I was sharing about the grace of God and the goodness of God and the love of God and the transforming power of God and as I was sharing about that, I said, you know what? He can take you, he can take you, no matter what you've been and where you've been and he can radically transform you. I used to be into the drugs and the immorality and the alcohol and all of that but God transformed my life and he can transform lives. You need to understand that and you need to embrace that. He took my mom, he took my dad, he took my brother, my sister, my other sister and I began to share about what God can do in a person's life and how God can make you brand new and he washes you clean from your sin and as I was sharing about that, I said, you know what? My sister Rebecca was rebellious against the things of the Lord. All of you know this, I'll say it quickly. My sister Rebecca was rebellious against the Lord. She went into a lesbian lifestyle and lived as a lesbian woman for over 20 years, over 20 years. And I said, and she gave her testimony here at this church and as she shared her testimony, she shared how my mom could be unkind and indeed my mom could be before she was saved and even later on, she could be very unkind. My mom was not just one who would verbally abuse her children. She physically could abuse her children. And I don't say that with any negative about my mom. It's just a fact, it's just true. Mama could be mean. And she could say the meanest things. So I was not raised in a home with a lot of love, with a lot of embracing. I was raised in a home where I was afraid my mom could go off and be very cruel. She was. Just a fact. She loved deeply, but she could also because of her pain and her medications and all of those things. There was another side to my mom that I grew up aware of. Again, I do not say that in any way to bring dishonor to the memory of my mother. I loved her with all my heart to the day she died, regardless, that was my mom, my Becky. Becky wanted love. She entered into a relationship with a woman. Before you know it, she was with more than one and then the years passed by and then Becky got saved. And this is the story I was telling the church. Becky got saved. Becky had been with mama and mama had been cruel. Becky got saved and when my father died, Becky had my mom moved to her house in New Mexico and took care of my mom for 12 years. And my mom in her last year of life was in a lot of pain. She fell, she broke her back. She broke three ribs. Her back never healed. Her ribs never healed. Her body couldn't heal. And so for the last year of my mom's life, my mom was in severe pain. Every day had a little bag that she had in constant pain every day and her mind, mama went into dementia and her mind started slipping and she reverted at the end to the cruelty that she used to have with the kids. And Becky would be in there caring for her mama and one day mama would say to her, Becky'd say, mama, why are you treating me like this? Why? And mama says, I hate you, I always have. That was what mom was saying in the last year of Becky caring for this woman who had no one else to care for her. And Becky'd call or I'd speak to her and she'd say, Dave, mama's not being nice to me. Mama's being cruel. And I'd say, better you than me. No, I'd say, good thing I don't live in New Mexico. And I'd say, baby, because I love my sisters and I call them baby in Sweden. I said, baby, just hold on to Jesus. God has done a work, love her to the end. She needs your love, she needs your patience, honey. Father forgive her. She doesn't know what she's saying. Hold on. And Becky, Becky would, and then one day my mom was in her arms and my mom died being held by the woman that not too long before she was saying, I don't know, Becky, I just hate you. And I was sharing with the church, forgive me the emotion, it's very real to me and it comes out, forgive me. But I was sharing with the church, God's power transforms you, that you can be a new creation in Jesus Christ. And even if someone has harmed you, you can love them at the end because of the power of the Holy Spirit and the transformation of the gospel. And I said, you need to know, this is the gospel that transforms lives. And a woman comes up after the service mad, wants to get to me. I say, Marie, come on baby, take her out. She got to the pastor and she was trying to get to me. She says, I want to talk to both of you. I will not come to a church that is so filled with intolerance. This is my first time to be here and the hatred that came out of that man for people like me. She has four children, apparently left her husband, living with a woman. She's a lesbian. And she thought I was condemning her for her sin. So Ron, my friend opens the Bible and says, let me show you what the word of God says concerning the lifestyle that you've chosen. The woman says, I know what the Bible says. I was raised the Baptist. I know what it says. It's just a small sin. It's a little sin. No big deal. Sin being little is an attitude the world has. It's no big deal. We're all doing it. It's all right. It's no big deal. So what? Yeah, I knocked her up and we put the birth announcement in. We're not married. It doesn't really matter. My wife hasn't given me a divorce yet anyway. And we're proud that we're going to have this child. That's the world's idea of what pride is. That's the world's idea of announcement. And yeah, I understand. I do. I understand the world. Part of it for a long time. I understand it, but it minimizes. It minimizes sin and it minimizes the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And anybody, anybody who minimizes sin doesn't know the grace of God because the grace of God was given to us to save us from the power of sin not to give us permission to continue in it. That's why God gave us grace to be changed. Not to make excuses. Not to say it's a small sin. How small is it? Jesus took upon himself. My sin was tacked on a cross, beaten for me. His head was swollen. His face was ripped open. His back was shred. And you're saying that's small. That is not small. That is the love of God. And it transforms lives when you embrace it. That's what it's all about. That's what it's all about. We aren't speaking of a mental ascent to the reality of a God who may be good. We are speaking about a God who took upon himself human flesh and died on a cross for us to set us free from sin. That's Christianity. Anything less than that is a sham. Jesus Christ is the Lord of this world. All have sin and fall short of the glory of God. There is none good. No, not one. The wages of sin is death. It is appointed unto men to die once and after this the judgment. But God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. If you hear his word and believe on him and confess with your mouth that God raised him from the dead, Jesus is Lord, you shall be saved. That is the gospel. I will not water that message down. It is the gospel. And don't back off and don't back down. It is the only message God ever gave and we will give that message faithfully because that's what God has called us to do. I told you, I get fired up by it, I do. That is the purpose of my existence to talk about the grace and love and transforming power of Jesus Christ who took upon himself my sin. And that's why the angel could say, stop being afraid. God is with you, fear not, Joseph, because that holy child that has been conceived in her womb, he shall be known as Jesus. He will save the world from their sins. What a message, what a God, what grace. And when Joseph heard that, he obeyed. He took Mary to be his wife, knew her not till after she gave up her firstborn son. You see, the Bible makes it very clear that Joseph and Mary had normal marital relationships. As a matter of fact, when we get to chapter 13, we're gonna see that she had other children because in Matthew 13, verses 55 and 56, the question is asked, is this not the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? His brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas, and his sisters, are they not all with us? Where did, where then did this man get all these things? So you have brothers and sisters that are mentioned. They weren't his, they weren't children from a previous marriage with Joseph. That's not mentioned in scripture. They were not relatives. That is not what's mentioned in scripture. It's just a simple reading of the scripture. He knew her not until she brought forth her firstborn son and what he did do, he called his name Jesus. This baby grew to be a man. This man laid his life down for our sins. Jesus is the savior of the world. And Joseph had the joy of raising, think about that for a minute, the son of God. But an amazing man Joseph must have been and what an amazing woman Mary was.