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If you're here with us for the first time, you've picked an excellent day to join us because from today onwards, we begin a brand new journey in a book of the Bible called the book of Matthew. You say what is the book of Matthew?  Well, the book of Matthew is the very first book in the New Testament. Now some of you may be asking, what in the world is New Testament?  I've never opened the Bible before.  Well the Bible, in essence, is made up of two parts - the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament is written before Jesus came and the New Testament is written after Jesus has already come so you have the Old Testament and the New Testament and Matthew is the first book of the New Testament and I believe Matthew is in the first position in the New Testament because it seeks to answer a very important question - a question that the entire Old Testament presents. You say, what's that question?  Well, the Old Testament, that's a lot of material there, the Old Testament ask, I believe, this question - who will save man from his sins - who is the Savior - who will be able to deliver us from sin and death and the devil, that's the Old Testament.

You say why, why, why is the Old Testament asking who is the Savior because the Old Testament begins like this. It begins in the book of Genesis, how the Bible tells us, God created the heaven and the earth and everything that is in it.  God told us that this world He made is a beautiful, flawless, perfect, glorious world. Man is made in purity, innocence, godliness to know God and to be known by God but the Bible also tells us that the devil came into this world to tempt Adam and Eve, the first human beings formed.  He successfully seduced them to rebel against God.  God said, you cannot take, you can have everything in this world I've made, you're to rule over everything, but there's only one fruit, one fruit, of one tree, you cannot take off but the devil came, seduced Adam and Eve and they took of that fruit and ate of that fruit in clear defiance and rebellion against God so in that, they sinned, they rebelled and the Bible tells us, then that they have fallen into sin and now they're fallen or plunged into a world of darkness and sorrow and pain. What they did incurred the curse and the wrath of God upon humanity and upon all the world - you can read all of that in just the first 2, 3 chapters of the Bible, that's the Old Testament so the world now is in darkness, in pain and sorrow, death came into the world, alienation from God came into the world, we are cut off from God and it's all dark and gloomy but in the midst of it all, God gives a promise of bright hope. He says to the devil, and indeed to all of humanity that He will send someone to save this world from sin.  This world is entirely corrupted and tainted with sin. It's, it's corrupted now but God says there will come a day where the works of the devil will be reversed, will be, the devil himself will be crushed, God gave that promise in Genesis, chapter 3 and verse 15. He spoke specifically to the devil, to the snake, to the serpent… I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring. This offspring of the woman, this man that will be born, this Savior-man who will come, He shall bruise your head oh serpent, He shall absolutely crush your head even though you shall bruise or crush also his heel so this is the first, very first promise of a Savior in the Bible.

It is right in the beginning of the book of Genesis, so ever since then, man has been longing and eagerly anticipating the coming of this Savior.  I think Eve was excited when she was pregnant with a child, she says oh, maybe this is the one, of course we know from history that is not the one but years went by, decades went by, centuries went by, thousands of years went by and there is no one yet who could save us from our sins, no one yet who could crush the devil so the Old Testament unfolds it -  its history there is no priest, no judge, no king, no prophet who could do this, who could save man from their sins so the entire Old Testament, there reveals this history of longing of the King or the Savior who will save us from our sins so, in summary, you say, what's the Old Testament about?  The Old Testament in very simple way is asking this question - who will save us from our sins - so now when you come to the book of Matthew, Matthew tells us the answer, he says it's very clear, it's very simple, who is the Savior? Matthew cries Jesus Christ! Not Samson, not David, not Solomon, not Abraham, not Moses, they all were used by God but they could never save man from their sins. Jesus Christ - He is the One.  He is the One promised in Genesis 3.  He's the One who is going to save us from our sins.  He's the One who is going to wash us clean. He's the One who's going to bring us back to God - Jesus Christ!  Matthew shouts this cry, not alone because he has other friends, other witnesses who say the same. You have Mark who shouts it is Jesus Christ.  Who is the Savior?  Mark shouts Jesus, Luke shouts Jesus and John shouts Jesus - they all tell us the good news that Jesus Christ is the Savior.  By the way, that's why I think your first four books of the Bible - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John - they are called the Gospels - the word Gospel means good news - they all tell us the good news that the Savior is already here and His name is Jesus Christ so four of them say the same thing, four witnesses, wow, powerful isn't it?  One person you may not believe so much but four together say it's clearly Jesus and they do not just repeat after each other but they all corroborate together, they all in a sense, enhance the understanding of who Jesus is. The Bible tells us in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John about the life and times of Jesus and I think they all speak and tell of an angle and perspective of Jesus in a unique way.

Matthew speaks about Jesus as King that you will read and find out as you go through the Gospels.  Mark writes about Jesus as the Servant, the suffering servant.  Luke presents Jesus as Man, very strong elements of that in Luke's writing.  John writes about Jesus as God so the four of them gives us four angles about the life of Jesus.  For example, you want to know about Jason Lim?  Not very interested but okay – if, if, if, if, if you're, if you're, if you want to know about Jason Lim, you probably would like to speak to a few people, don't just ask people here in church, but ask my wife, she will give you a different picture of Jason Lim, ask my two kids, they will give you a different picture of Jason Lim, ask my school teacher and he will give you a different perspective of Jason Lim but when you add all these perspectives together, you know Jason Lim much better and these four writers wants us to understand Jesus much better so together they write the Gospels.  They tell of the same thing but in a sense unique in their own ways and it's because they wrote to different specific target groups.

Matthew writes a lot to the Jews.  Mark is really writing this for the Romans.  Luke writes the Gospel for the Greeks and John for one and all. I think this might be familiar to some of you but today, we'll just going to focus and read, indeed, from today onwards, we are going to look at Matthew and how Jesus is the King and how this book of Matthew is written for the Jews.  Now, the Jews have a history of knowing the Old Testament and the prophecies that relate to the Savior so you read Matthew, repeat a lot this phrase - that it might be fulfilled, that it might be fulfilled, that it might be fulfilled and so on…. say why is Matthew so long-winded, so “cheong hei” [cantonese=long winded], no he's not “cheong hei” - he's trying to appeal to the Jews who are familiar with the Old Testament that Jesus is the promised Savior, the promised Savior King that's why so in summary, I, I hope I've given you a helicopter view of the entire Bible but as we summarize this, the book of Matthew is really about this.  Matthew declares the good news that Jesus Christ is the promised King.  I'll say this again because this is important, Matthew declares the good news that Jesus Christ is the promised King, the promised Savior King, if you would and this will be the theme that runs through the 28 chapters in Matthew.  Now Matthew is not a short book. It's long, 28 chapters and it might take us a long time, er you ask Pastor - how long are we going to go through Matthew.  I, I don't know.  I've not done this myself but as a gauge, we did the book of Romans some years ago.  There were 16 chapters, we took how long? 2 years so you do your own math, alright, 28 chapters over 16×2 huh…er…you figure that out but I want to say that it's a wonderful book because it's about the central person in the Bible, Jesus Christ and how He is indeed the promised King and what it means to you and to me.

The book of Matthew, 28 chapters can be divided into five parts - they all start with R but today I just want to share with you the first R, and it's about the Revelation of the King.  This takes us some 10 chapters actually.  The Revelation of the King really means the King is now presented to us, that's what it means.  The King comes onto the scene of the world.  He is presented before us so in the first 10 chapters you're going to read a lot about His birth, about His servant, His ambassador who is going and prepare the way.  You're going to read about the King's anointing.  You are going to read about the King's adversary, the devil.  You are going to read about the King's address - how He spoke and what He spoke about the sermon on the mount, the King's speech and then you are going to read about the King's authority over all things - sickness, nature, demons, this is our King so the first 10 chapters the Revelation, the presentation of the King.  Hey I hope you are all excited about it.  He's our King, Jesus Christ.  I'm not talking about Donald Trump. I mean if it's Donald Trump, you probably go home right now but this is Jesus Christ, the King of kings, the Lord of lords.

Now, if you are all excited, we are going to start alright. We are going to start by looking at the first 17 verses in chapter 1 and I'm going to read them to you, just hang in there, even if you don't quite understand what this is all about aright so let's go.  Matthew one verse one says the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon and after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ so all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ, fourteen generations…..huuuuu ……

I'm sure at the end of this reading you must probably be looking like this - what in the world just happened?  I mean you just read so many names that I can't even pronounce, let alone, let alone know, what's the significance, man?  Pastor, this is, this is so boring, I don't understand why you should talk about this and indeed that's why many people, when they start reading the Bible, they turn to a passage like this and they say wah, the Bible is ridiculous, right, I mean I think most of you will start reading the Bible with Genesis aah, you may read until Genesis 6, 7, 8 you say “aiyoh” [local slang: oh] so so difficult.  Let, let's try the, the New Testament, the one with red letters so you go to Matthew and when you flip open Matthew said “wahlau” [local slang: wow] the first 17 verses and your conclusion is the Bible is too difficult. Some of us may even think the Bible is irrelevant. Why would you write something like this and so pastors may not even preach or deal with a passage like this and some of you who are writers would think Matthew must be an idiot, who would start a book in this way?  This will never make it to New York Times' bestseller list so what's this got to do with your life and my life, what's this all about?

Well, I think it only makes sense if you understand what Matthew is all about in the first place so what is Matthew all about? The book of Matthew declares the good news that Jesus Christ is the promised King.  Matthew is not writing this to be the bestseller in Jerusalem.  He's writing this to prove and to show how Jesus Christ is the promised King.  How do you know the “Mao Shan Wang” [supposedly the best grade] the durian you bought is really “Mao Shan Wang” – you got to have tests, you got to have objective markers to assess and so how do we know that Matthew's claim is indeed accurate that Jesus is the promised King.  Well, there are objective markers.  I'm so glad we went through the Christmas series and that makes this so much easier today but during the Christmas series, we, we try to show you that Jesus Christ and His coming was not a knee-jerk reaction or an afterthought. This was planned long time ago and the Bible tells us that this coming of the Lord Jesus Christ will be authenticated by some critical characteristics. For example, this Savior King - He must be of the offspring of Abraham. He must be an offspring of Abraham and your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies and in your offspring, Abraham, in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed so we see a higher specificity with regards to the promise of the Savior. Genesis 3, quite vague, the woman's offspring, one of them will crush the serpent's head. All we know is that is one and all we know is that it's a man, offspring of a woman but fast forward 2000 years to Genesis 22, then we are told another detail about the Savior. He will be an offspring of Abraham that's what we know and in this offspring shall all nations of the earth be blessed, and then you fast forward another thousand years and you have greater specificity now in that this Savior is not just a descendant of Abraham but he will be a descendant of David after you, this offspring who shall come from your body, I will establish His kingdom so from man to a seed of Abraham, to the seed of David and that He will be King, this is the progressive unveiling or revealing of who this Savior of the world will be so in order for anyone to say I am the Messiah, I am the promised Savior, he must prove these two points at least, many more points, but minimum, these two that He must be the son of Abraham and He must be the son of David and that's exactly why Matthew chapter 1 verse one begins like this, the book of the genealogy, the origins of Jesus Christ, His ancestry as it were - He is the son of David, the son of Abraham. You say, are you sure, Matthew goes on to detail for you - yes forty over generations, it looks like this – I, I, I don't even know my genealogy I'm quite sure, I don't know where I can trace it to, probably to my dad, that's it or my grandfather, beyond that I don't know, but for the Jews, they were very meticulous in keeping track of genealogy in time past. Why were they so meticulous? One of the reasons is because they knew that God's promise of the Savior must be the son of Abraham, the son of David and if you look at this from Abraham to David to Solomon to Jeconiah to Zerubbabel to Jesus Christ, these three are key to Matthew, Jesus is the son of Abraham, the son of David.

This is really important to the Jews. I mean, the Jewish people, they were all waiting for this so when they met Jesus they didn't ask, oh so are you the One who will save us from our sins?  Well, they are looking for someone like that but it is synonymous to this term - son of David.  They understand that the son of David is not an ordinary descendant but the son, the One promise in second Samuel, the One who will be a King, the One who will save us from our sins, the One through whom all nations be blessed so they ask Jesus - is He the son of David the One, the Messiah?

Matthew 20 verse 30, Lord, have mercy on us, son of David. I mean I can give you 10, 20 verses about how this phrase - son of David is so prominent in the Bible.  You know when I first read the Bible I never really understood the term, son of David, I mean, I just read it and assume it was someone special, but hey, when you look at the Bible, you look at the promise God gave to David it all makes sense and is so big in the mind of a Jew and then in second Timothy, that's what Paul wrote about Jesus, risen from the dead, that's important - He's not a dead man but he is a risen Savior. He's victorious over sin and death and this is who He is, offspring of David. This is so important that Jesus Himself in Revelation would say I am the root of David, and I also am the descendant of David - this is a profound statement so is Jesus really qualified to be the Savior, absolutely because He is the son of Abraham, the son of David so Matthew declares the good news that Jesus Christ is the promised King.

Now folks, this, you got to be sure if you want to buy anything - a car, a house - you make sure every detail is correct, right, no scam, no cheating.  I just read yesterday that someone bought a tree for $10,000, thinking that it's some precious tree that is used to make furniture for ancient empress and then only to find out that when it's brought to the assessor, it's worth only $30!  I mean, it's like wah “kek sim” [hokkien: heart pain] ah!  What about you oh we all preach and all of you came this morning because you say yah this church is a Christian church.  This church believes in this person called Jesus Christ and I believe Jesus Christ is going to save me but what if Jesus is not the one, errrp… you wasted your life so it's really important for us to know Jesus is the promised King and that's what Matthew sets out to do in the entire book and he also begins with that in the genealogy so the world looks at Matthew 1 versus 1 to 17 as a jumbled mess right?  Wa! so many names you try pronouncing yourselves, you try…. huh…errr…it's a long list of unpronounceable names, doesn't make sense, don't see the picture, seems to be so redundant until you understand, it's all about Jesus, it's all about the Savior, it's all to answer that Old Testament question - who is the Savior and Matthew says look here, very clearly from genealogy, He fits the bill, He's the real deal - Jesus is the promised King.  Now, I spent quite a long time, just to explain the significance of Matthew and in this passage but I just want to end with some applicatory thoughts.  I want to end by maybe encouraging you in how this passage may be helpful for us. I mean to us it seems just like a long list of names, but I think it's extremely helpful.

First of all for some of you who are here, you came to this church this morning, because maybe you're looking for something in your life, you are searching, you're in trouble, you, you feel at a loss, you're looking for purpose. Maybe some of you are convicted about your sin and you want to be saved, whatever that means to you. We all are searching for something because we are cut off from God and I want to tell you today that you can be reconciled with God.  Now, this is not a church that gives false promises not given in the Bible, we're not here to say you come to church and God is going to give you all the solutions to life's problems. This is not a church - we are not saying that when you come to God, He's going to remove all your pains and sufferings, no, but this is what we say, that there's a gift of salvation that is offered through Jesus Christ, the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ - what do you mean salvation, saved from what - saved from our sin. When man sin against God, God said I will crush the serpent's head because He's here to tell us He's going to save us from our sins and I say to you the world doesn't need to wait anymore Jesus has come and there is this gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. You know God did not promise salvation because man said, God, I will do more things for you!   I am going to pay you back.  No, no, no, no, man sinned, they were ashamed of themselves, they were not going to do anything to save themselves!  They can't anyway and in that helplessness, God gave that promise of hope. Jesus is given to you today, when you can't do anything to earn that salvation - it's a gift freely given by God.

Thousands of years ago, people will be waiting for the coming of the Savior. Today, you don't have to wait. He has already come 2000 years ago, Jesus Christ and the Bible tells us, there is no salvation anywhere else. Salvation is found in no one else. You know why it is so important for the church to declare Jesus Christ. I mean, if Jesus is just one of the ways to God, we don't have to preach so hard, we don't have to urge you to be witnesses, to be Gospel light, you don't have to, if it is just one of the ways to God but the Bible tells us, salvation is found in no one else.  There is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved that's why we preach the message of Jesus, that's why you need to hear and to believe this message of Jesus because there is no way anyone else can be saved - Jesus said I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father but by Me. For thousands of years, no one could do it until Jesus came and since then no one else could. In fact no one else today can prove He is the Messiah, because no one today can prove that, can prove that He is the son of David, or He's the son of Abraham, because all the genealogical records were destroyed when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in AD70. I mean it's just historical facts and the Bible tells us there's no one else who can fit that bill.

My friends, this is an important choice, only Jesus saves, he that has Jesus, he that has the Son will have life with God and he that has not the Son has not life with God.  Do you know Jesus? You say what did Jesus do?  Well, He crushed the serpent's head. How did he crush the serpent's head - when He went to the Cross! Jesus was born as man, so that he may die for man. He did not become an angel because he did not die for angels but He became man that He may die for man and on that Cross, He became our substitute, He sacrificed Himself, He took our sins in His body in His soul, He was there to shield man from the wrath of God, the just wrath of God against wicked sins, there like an innocent lamb, the Bible says the Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world and on that Cross, He cried out, it is finished, the debt is fully paid on that Cross, Jesus paid for your debt of sin and my debt of sin that's what He did and with His death, He defeated death with it, with His death, He defeated the devil and sin and hell and the Bible tells us He rose again the third day, and whosoever believes in Jesus has everlasting life. This is where Jesus figuratively his heel was crushed, but this is where spiritually the devil's head is fatally crushed.

My dear friends if you remember nothing else, remember this, God loves you. He loves us so much that even when we sin against Him when we are filthy and rebellious, He did not leave us alone, He did not forsake us, but His unconditional love meant that He would come to give His Son, his only begotten Son, that He may go to the Cross and die to save you from your sins and God is calling you and I today to repent and believe because the Bible, this is God's Word, whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. Mind you, not a nice or comfortable life, but eternal life, eternal life means knowing and having a real relationship with the eternal God and the eternal son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

I pray today, you will not just come to church but you come to Christ. I pray every single soul seated right here, you will be searching your heart, your life and don't just come week after week, complacent that you know God when you don't. Maybe today you think that by coming to church you are going to earn righteousness before God and God is to let you in the church because let you into heaven because you have been in church or because you put money in the offering bag or because you serve or because you do this and do that. No, no, no, no, we are accepted before God only because of Jesus. May you come to faith in Him so the genealogical records prove to us the Savior is already here, there is hope for you and me but let me share with you a second thought as I meditate upon the genealogy and that is this - a very clear point I think you will realize, and that is God is the ultimate promise maker and the ultimate promise keeper, it's amazing!  I, I make promises in my life and I think I don't keep them. I tell my wife I'll be back at 2:30, but actually I got back at 3 o'clock. I mean I, I, I, not that I didn't want to keep it, but I, I just couldn't keep it. I mean I was held up. I was not able to control many things in life and maybe that's your case, you have made promises and you've failed before or other people have made promises to you and they've not kept the end of the bargain and you've been disappointed but you know when you look at the genealogical records, when you look at the life and times of biblical characters up to Jesus, you say, you must say one thing wow God is amazing!   What He says in the Bible, what He promises will always, I say that word, always, always, come to pass, for sure, “bao jiak” [hokkien: literally guarantees good stuff when place in the mouth] come to pass. He will never fail even when it's very difficult, to be honest when you look at Genesis 6, if I was God, I say that referentially of course, I might as well say forget about this world it's too bad already why - because in Genesis 6, the Bible tells us the thoughts of man was only evil continually. All, every thought of man was only evil continually I mean it's a shocking statement.

Some of us, we think we are kind by nature, sometimes have bad thoughts Genesis, Genesis 6 tells us, every thought it's wicked and evil against God, but you know God did not let that deter His promise made in Genesis 3. He found a family, Noah, and through that family, a Savior will be born.  Abraham and his wife were aged.  Sarah was postmenopausal, cannot bear child anymore, humanly speaking, but that was not a problem for God.  David sin against God and God might have rescinded that promise but God did not but God kept to His promise.  Israel kept committing spiritual idolatry and adultery against God but again God, though He sent them to Babylon never forsook them.  God is the ultimate promise maker and keeper.  Now, His timing however, is not the same as ours. There's a difference. We tend to measure God's faithfulness based on our own time frame. For example, today you may be going through trials and you say God I pray that you will heal me. You know what your thinking is - if you are faithful God, you will heal me right now, now, now, I am sick, now if you are faithful, heal me and if God doesn't heal you now, you say you're not faithful la.  I pray already you never answer one [Singlish] eh but God's timing is not our timing!

See when God promised the Messiah, the Savior, Adam and Eve thought it's within that generation, but no, it's 4000 years later. You know when we look back and if you were to interview Adam and Eve today, they say yeah, yah, we were wrong we, we look at God, we look at His plan based on our very limited mindset and time frame but when I look at the grand plan of God, He is faithful and His plan is so much better.  My friends I want to say to you - your God is always faithful and He is sovereign.  He will always keep His word.  He can, He will and He can and I say according to what He said in the Bible, He must because He is unflinchingly righteous and just, you can trust in this God.  You know He is so good, He is so good that He will save man steep in sin, He is so good that even in His ancestry, there are plenty of famous people but a lot of infamous people, sinful people, despised people, but that's all part of God's plan to work out salvation, to work out His faithfulness for us all to see so maybe this day, you are right now going through a trial maybe a miscarriage, maybe a difficulty in your family, maybe a new diagnosis from the doctor's office, life is breaking apart and the first thing you say is God - maybe you're not faithful, then go to Genesis, go to Matthew chapter 1 verses 1 to 17 and listen to what God says, what Matthew declares, Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham, exactly as God had said so thousands of years ago, this is the character of our God and so today, you can anchor yourself on His character.  You can anchor yourself in His Word.  The Bible tells us this is His promise by the way the promise of God is that all things work together for good to those who love God.  All things, ALL, all includes nice things and includes not so nice things, unpleasant things, difficult things, sorrowful things, heart wrenching things but all things are used of God by a faithful great and good God to work out something in your life, to work out what we call or the Bible says is good, good, not in a sense of comfort but in a sense of character that we will be more and more like Jesus and in the light of eternity, this is what is truly good and you can trust your God.

I always mention how when I was in trial I've to cling on to God, in what, cling on to what?  Cling on to His character, cling on to who He is, cling on to the fact that He is faithful and, and that's why we sing songs like in His time, because we, in our time frame, we think He is not faithful but this song reminds us He makes all things beautiful in His time so Lord, please show me every day as you're teaching me your way that you do just what you say.  What did God say all things work together for good to them that love God, amongst many things and so we pray, Lord, give us such faith to trust in You and Your timing, just like how we would trust that You bring this world out of darkness via a Savior.

You know we sing another song, I am loved by the King and it makes my heart want to sing.  This is the secret to the Christian joy. The Christian joy is not because everything around me is smooth and easy. The Christian joy is because I am loved by the King.  Life is difficult, family's difficult, work is difficult, health is difficult, relationships are difficult. There're a lot of painful things around me, but I am loved by the King and it makes my heart want to sing.  My God is faithful.

Lastly I want to say this.  If the genealogy proves that Jesus is the King, then I say to you serve your King.  Serve your King? Say pastor does it mean every one of us has to come full-time on staff here at Gospel Light, we go be missionaries?  No, no, no, no, that's not what I mean.  The Bible tells us, we serve the King in our office.  The Bible tells us, we can serve our King in our companies because the Bible tells us when you work in the company you're not really working for your human boss.  Sure, these are authorities God has placed over you, submit to them, do well, do an excellent job for them but you must know at the end of the day you don't serve men, you serve the King, you serve Jesus and in your various places of employment, you are to shine for Jesus, you say how?  By living the Christian life, by living out the Gospel, by speaking out the Gospel, this is what we sometimes say in this church, you must live the Gospel and give the Gospel, because God did not call you in this life, just to do a good job in IBM for the sake of money, for the sake of earning a living, nothing wrong with earning a living but you don't just work for that, you serve the King and the King, Jesus has called us into this world to rescue many more out of the kingdom of darkness to come into the kingdom of light, the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

I like what CS Lewis has to say here… enemy-occupied territory that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful King has landed you might say landed in disguise and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign of sabotage.   Take a while to digest.  I took a while to digest but Lewis is right, this world is ruled by Satan, do you know that? No, no, no, Pastor you're wrong.  This world is ruled by God, yes, ultimately, it is God, but God has in His infinite wisdom allowed the devil to be the king of this world now.  The Bible tells us he is the prince of the power of the air. The Bible tells us that he is the god this world, g, small g of this world. Satan is the god of this world.  I mean Satan is ruling right now, this is the world of darkness.  It is enemy-occupied territory.  One day it will not be but today it is but Christianity is the story of how the rightful King – you see Satan was the usurper. He wanted to usurp the place of God in creation. Well, one day, the rightful King landed, who is the rightful King? Jesus Christ - He landed that in a sense, in disguise.  Many people did not recognize Him.

Today however, He lives on in the hearts of those who follow Him and those who follow Him are what we call Christians, followers of Jesus, disciples of Jesus and God has called all of us to take part in a great campaign of sabotage - to rescue people from this kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light, to wage war against falsehood and deception and lies, and to bring people to the light of God. Do you know that's your mission?  Let me ask you.  Do you know that's your mission but no, Pastor I'm trained as a dentist.  Okay that's fine.  You mean your whole life you just want to be a dentist. I mean nothing wrong with being a dentist, of course.  I say that because there are many dentists here somehow.   I am a pilot, I'm an engineer, I'm a teacher, I am a finance industry worker… hey that is not your identity!  You're called by the King to serve the King. We are all on a mission, not to make money but to make disciples.   I know that after I say this, you still don't believe me.  You may believe this or accept this intellectually but so I want to pray that maybe you think a little bit more this week about this, I am called by the King to live on in this enemy-occupied territory not to enjoy enemy-occupied territory, nor to bail on to sink my roots in enemy-occupied territory, but to rescue the perishing, and I'm going to do that, where God has placed me, I don't necessarily have to fly to Timbuktu or Africa, right where God has placed me - Shenton Way, Orchard Road, Ubi, whatever, wherever, I will live out the Gospel and give out the Gospel. I will tell people about Jesus and I'll live a life that honors Jesus because I serve my King.  Would you do that? Would that be your heart cry to begin the series in Matthew Jesus is King - then live in obedience to your King.

I like this statement. There are five Gospels… I say huh! I thought there're only 4?  Read on… there are five Gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and the Christian!  Most people will never read the first four.  Many people would not open the Bible once unless they read your life once, when they see you live out the Christian life, give out the Gospel message, maybe they will start reading the rest of the Gospels but live in such a way that people will say you are the fifth Gospel, you are the person who will declare the good news of Jesus Christ.

I want to end off with a rather somber note, because I think it's important for us to know that if we serve our King, we're not going to have life easy here.  It seems easy in Singapore, in modern-day that's, that's what it is but hey, you should never take that for granted.  Serving the King means that the prince of this world is going to be upset with you. You know that you are going to face trials and tribulations, persecutions in this world.  I, I just read about this man this weekend. I just thought I'll share - his name is Polycarp.  Say who is Polycarp - sounds like some fish?  Well he's not a fish, he is arr…said to be a disciple of John the Apostle and who was one of the key church leaders in his time. Polycarp was apprehended at the end of his life, at 86 years old by the Roman soldiers, forced to recant of his faith in Jesus.  Forced to say Jesus is no king but Caesar is my king. Polycarp refused to do so. He said “86 years I have served Him, and He has done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King and Savior?  You threaten me with a fire that burns for a season, and after a little while is quenched but you are ignorant of the fire of everlasting punishment that is prepared for the wicked.  Bring what you will.”

If you really know Jesus as King, you will serve Him with your life, but maybe today you say I refuse Jesus as King then listen.  One day this same King, Jesus is going to return and there will be everlasting punishment in fire for those who refuse to humble themselves before this King.  Behold your King the good news is that Jesus Christ is that King.

Let's bow for a word of prayer together. Maybe you're here today for the first time and you do not really know if you are saved, I say to you make that sure this morning, make that sure this morning when you realize how sinful and helpless you are, how you are cut off from God, how you are incapable of bringing yourself back into this relationship with God. You can't, you can't, you can't but Jesus has already paid the debt for you and my friends, the Bible tells us clearly Jesus is the King.  He is the Savior, the appeal of the Bible is straightforward and clear - repent and believe in Jesus for eternal life. I pray this morning, you will humble yourself before this King who conquers us by love that you repent and believe.

Would you right now pray in your heart? Lord, help me to believe.  Grant me salvation and life. You are the King and you are my King.

Maybe this morning, you're going through hardships and trials and pains and sufferings and you always wonder if God is going to hear your prayer, if God is going to be faithful, if God is going to come through for you?  I say to you, it is time.  He will do just what He says and He said some amazing things in the Bible about you that all things work together for good to them that love God, if that's you, He is going to work it out for you. However, not in your time frame and maybe not in the way you expect but it's always going to be better.  He is good, He's better always than our good so hang in there, keep trusting, keep believing, do not let go of this anchor of your soul, trust Jesus, obey Him.

Maybe this morning, you find your heart, tempted and lured away by the things of this world. You know what this enemy-occupied territory, the devil is really good at duping you and fooling you to chase after false gods so that you are kept away from serving your King, the devil, though he's been in a sense disarm on the Cross, he is still very much in the business of deceiving you.   Serve your King - make disciples make it your goal to be a Gospel light.  Study the Scriptures, keep yourself in the disciplines of faith - that you may grow, that you may be equipped, that you may be mature, that you may then really be a blessing to those around you - that's God's call for your life. We go for seminars, we go for trainings, for finance, for skills, for medicine, we go for all these trainings but the training, the supreme training for the supreme work of our life - the Bible, the scriptures, discipleship mentoring, my friends, would you devote yourself more to these things and live the Gospel, give the Gospel.  Serve your King, labor for that which last forever.

How do you use your finances? How do you use your time? That's what it means to serve your King so Father this morning, we want to thank you for a very simple look at the passage in the Bible.  Thank you that from the pages of Scripture, we get to understand you more and I pray Your Spirit will indeed help us to have a more and more accurate appreciation of who You are, not a God who is a figment of our own foolish imagination, but that's stunning, amazing supreme God as revealed in Your word that we may trust You, believe in You and serve You. Bless each one here, we pray in Jesus Name, amen.

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