The genealogy of Jesus. Matthew 1:1–17
Abraham → David → Solomon → Joseph → Jesus. (My point is Mary wasn’t pregnant with the seed of David, David was the adoptive father, Mary’s genealogy came from Abraham directly).
Job 35:7–8
“If you are righteous, what do you give to Him?
Or what does He receive from your hand?
Your wickedness affects a man like yourself,
and your righteousness a son of man.”
Job 22:2–3 (spoken by Eliphaz)
“Can a man be profitable to God? …
Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous?”
Luke 17:7–10
“Does he thank the servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not.” (v.9, KJV)
The presenter attempted to convince me that all our righteousness is nothing but rags before God.
I responded that yes, it is nothing but rags before God.
I grew and threw away childish things. I was not proud of some of the things I did as a child. I definitely know that there is none that is righteous. I don’t think those things appeal to me now that I am older. I’ve had to go through stages of refinement from my madness, to understand that I was not okay.
Tamar Is Not Desperate
I looked at this guy, and he wrote that Tamar was a woman that was desperate.
I really do not like when you describe Tamar as a woman that was desperate.
Tamar had an agreement with Judah. He couldn’t keep to his agreement. He wanted to play smart, and she outsmarted him.
Some women know that men prefer prostitutes. Tamar did what most women would do: she dressed as a prostitute. Men prefer cheap sets.
She got pregnant for Judah because he promised to give one of his sons to her. He went out of the bargain trying to play smart, because his sons were not ones that wanted to be responsible.
I don’t think she was desperate. It was an agreement. They were trying to slide her. The way they painted her was that Tamar was desperate and it’s good to be desperate.
Sin in a generation reproduces itself.
Zachariah, Doubt, and Generational Patterns
The holiest of the holy person, Zechariah, was going to the temple to pray.
When the angel of God came and told Zechariah that he was going to have a baby, and that he should be John the Baptist, who would preach repentance—Zechariah doubted.
Because he doubted, he could have a son, ie John the Baptist, John the Baptist, who saw Jesus Christ baptized, still had confusion. He was asking, “Is this the Messiah?”
There’s a tendency that sin replicates from one generation to another.
The Genealogy of Jesus and Misinterpretation
This man was trying to convince me that doing sin was okay.
Jesus’ mother was a virgin. Jesus used someone that was holy to come out.
Let’s say the genealogy of Jesus came from the male side. They will talk about the male side and who they married. It was from Joseph’s lineage that King David’s lineage came from.
But Joseph’s seed was not used. Mary was fertilized by God.
Mary traced her own back to Abraham.
Joseph traced his to David.
The promise had to come because Joseph was the adoptive father.
Bathsheba and the Danger of Justifying Sin
When they talked about the genealogy of Jesus, they mentioned women like Bathsheba.
Typically, David slept with Bathsheba. And people try to justify it by saying God still allowed Bathsheba.
What Bathsheba did was terrible. She was married. A married woman was called, and she couldn’t say no?
If you were the man married to her, and another man set you up to kill you just to take your wife, would you say what she did was good?
What she did was very bad. God said it was very bad.
God did not only deal with David—He allowed consequences. The child conceived died because it came through adultery. Not only did King David lose the son he loved the most – Absalom, David wanted to die in his stead as a result of killing Uriah to placate David for the loss he gave him SOLOMON.
That is not something to justify.
Willful Sin vs Ignorant Sin
When they say, “I was conceived in sin,” it does not mean willful sinning.
Willful sinning is different.
The Bible says if I know what sin is and I do it, there is no justification.
A child can be pardoned because they don’t know. But when you know, and you still do it, that is different.
David, Consequences, and Loss
This man tried to justify David’s sin.
But David lost his child.
He also lost Absalom, the child he loved.
God told David: you killed Uriah, and I will take something you love.
David knew why Absalom died. That’s why he blamed himself.
Then Solomon came later.
Generational Sin
From Rahab to David to Solomon, you see patterns.
David had many wives. Solomon had many wives.
Sin replicates.
You may not know it, but when people tell you sin is okay, know that there are consequences.
Personal Responsibility and Free Will
The book of Ezekiel 18 explains that each person bears their own sin.
Everybody has a choice.
You cannot say someone is holy by themselves. God makes a person holy.
Righteousness is not owned—it is given.
Righteousness and Its Reality
People think doing right brings reward on earth.
But Jesus Christ said:
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness.”
Even Abraham was counted righteous because he believed, not because of works.
Any person that you see that is living a life that they are worthy of God, it’s only God that made that person holy.
A lot of people think that if you are doing what is right, you will get something good. God used the Babylonians, not the righteous people.
There’s one thing to do sin, there’s another thing to try to justify sin.
Book of Leviticus 20:8
“I am the LORD which sanctify you.” (its God that makes us holy)
Also:
Leviticus 21:8
“For I the LORD, which sanctify you, am holy.”
He used Cyrus, the king.
You can’t say that King Cyrus was righteous.
But he used him.
These were people that didn’t even have a righteous background, and he used them.
It’s very possible that God can refine someone.
But that’s because he chose to refine the person.
We always keep forgetting that it’s the Lord, my God, that makes the holy. God makes people holy.
It’s not because any race is good, or any person is good, or any slate is good.
Righteousness is something that people are, rather than something that is imparted to us through Christ Jesus to enable us do what is right.
It’s not something that we own.
If I wear a coat to cover myself because I am cold, that coat might not be mine.
I am just wearing it over my body because I want to be warm.
That doesn’t mean that it’s mine.
In essence, if you want to marry who you want to marry, marry the person, but do not attempt to justify it.
If you want to sin, sin. But believe God out of it, right?
Because God’s ways are perfect.
He does not endorse sin.
Humans that do evil and then try to say that God allowed it because God is merciful.
You hear the Bible say, often say something like, “You see a righteous man perishing in his righteousness.”
Solomon will say, “Don’t be overly righteous, you don’t want to die before your time.”
Anybody that chooses to live a righteous life lives a lonely life.
Righteousness in terms of how we see it.
When Jesus came, Jesus will say, “Blessed are those that are persecuted for righteousness.”
Every time that God ascribes righteousness to a person, he will tell them that their reward is in heaven.
When Abraham was accounted to him for righteousness, did he have any great works? No.
Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him.
He didn’t have any physical thing he could see. He just believed God.
That’s why some people say that there’s no reward for righteousness.
Because on Earth here, there’s possibly no reward for it.