(upbeat music) - Today on Growing Through Grace. - He came to identify with us at the point where we identify with our sinfulness. Jesus, do it, do it now because I've come to identify with sinfulness. Did he need to be baptized? No, but he did so to identify with all of us. And if you're gonna be saved, you're gonna have to repent. ♪ I love you in your grace ♪ ♪ You have your end on me ♪ ♪ And all that I do ♪ ♪ Love will keep me strong ♪ ♪ I love you in your grace ♪ - You're listening to Growing Through Grace with Pastor Jacka Bielen, a Morning Star Christian chapel in Whittier, California. As we finish up the week and get back to our series in the Gospel of Luke, we'll pick up our study from last time in Luke chapter three, verses 16 through 38. As Pastor Jack finishes up this passage of Jesus' willingness to be that perfect example, even in the obedience of being baptized. The chapter concludes with Luke's proof of Jesus' human lineage. So let's join our teacher for this lesson. Here's Pastor Jack. - John could not, would not. Compromise his message. Could he have lived longer had he toned it down a little bit? I think he probably could have. Is there an easier way to minister to people and still be liked? Sure. But the message isn't a likable one initially because no one likes to think about themselves as sinners. Who do you think you are? Well, I'm just like you. Well, you don't know who I am. I know who I am and you're just like me. It's hard to preach your message, but is it more effective to water it down? It is not. If you go read Mark chapter six, you read that when John was finally arrested, one of the things that came up and the reason he was arrested was his comments about Herod's political romantic life. It was very public knowledge. But if you go and read when John was put in prison, it says that he and Herod had long talks together about a lot of things and that for a while, Herod listened to him gladly. So John was a good witness to the guy. Did it get him killed? It did. It did. But faithfully, he continued to bear witness to Jesus. And that's exactly where he started. I think when Paul wrote to the Corinthians in chapter two of second Corinthians, he said to some people, we are the aroma of death. That leads to death while to others. We are the aroma of life. Who can be sufficient for this? But that's really what you have, even as you go out of here this morning. You have a gospel that can lead people to eternal life or have them to realize they're headed into a place of eternal judgment. Who's sufficient? Well, we're not, but God is. As you allow him to be the Lord of your life. But evangelism does that. And notice that John, he was preaching. He was warning. He was inviting people to admit that they were sinners. That's John's message. You're a sinner. Now there's one coming after me who can fix that. But you're the sinner. You're the one who needs this help. And we will read in Luke later on that the Pharisees will say, well, we don't agree, so we're not getting baptized. And that was their own choice. But they would answer for that choice. So don't be ashamed of the gospel. Tell people. I know it's hard to hear you're a sinner, but you're a sinner. What's worst is nobody telling you, and then you die, and now you're judged. Warn them. Love them. John was faithful, even though, as Luke said, it cost him his life. But he pulls this out of the chronology just to say, this is how it ended up for John. Go back to the present tense, verse 21, when all of the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also came to be baptized. And while he was praying, the heavens were opened. The description of Jesus' baptism by Luke is pretty sketchy. By that, I mean, he doesn't exactly tell us where. Doesn't exactly tell us how many people were there, what day of the week had happened, what month it took place, why Jesus would come to be baptized at all. Matthew helps us a little bit. Matthew records that Jesus came into the Galilee area to John to be baptized, so he was in the north. Not so much where John was baptizing oftentimes in the south, but in the north. John tried to stop Jesus. He said as he was coming, and as we read from Luke, it seemed to be at the end of the day when everyone had been baptized. It was the end of things. He was the last one in, if you will, that John said, look, I need to be baptized by you. I need to be confessing my sins instead of you coming to me. I need to repent. And Jesus said, just allow it to be so for now. For in so doing, it is fit that you fulfill all righteousness, and thus he allowed him to be baptized. We know from John chapter one that John the Baptist himself only learned of Jesus and who he was by a word that he had received from the Father. In John chapter one, verse 33, John had written this. I did not know him or John the Baptist, but he who sent me to baptize with water said, upon whom you see the spirit descending and remaining upon him, he's the one that will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. And then John writes, I have seen and I testify now that this is the son of God. John's hesitancy in baptizing Jesus in Matthew was not because he knew he was the Messiah, because he didn't know yet. He hadn't seen the spirit fall like a dove from heaven upon him. But he had had a relationship with Jesus for 30 years. They were cousins. He had seen that Jesus far outdid him in terms of right and wrong. He had that picture of him and said to him, I should be getting baptized by you. But it wasn't until the baptism that he realized who he was dealing with and that the Lord had caused him to know now the Messiah himself, because the Lord needs to reveal to us who the Lord is. We can all see Jesus is good. A lot of people is always just a good man. He does sing good. He just seems like saying it always says the right things. No, no, he's the Messiah, different. But that requires spiritual insight. Jesus was completely righteous. Jesus was sinless. But John didn't realize, John the Baptist, until the baptism had taken place and the Holy Spirit fell from heaven upon the Son of God, as Jesus was praying. He came to identify with us at the point where we identify with our sinfulness. Jesus, do it now because I've come to identify with sinful men. Did he need to be baptized? No. But he did so to identify with all of us, because if you're going to be saved, you're going to have to repent. And you're going to have to meet Jesus at a place where you realize you don't have anything to offer him, but you've got a lot that you need from him. And so it is. That's how baptism works. That's what baptism was all about. That's how salvation works. He didn't come to confess his sins, but he came to be our Savior for those who would confess their sins to him. He made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that we could be the righteousness of God in him. We could be saved in him. The voice of approval for his willingness and his love is heard here. This is my beloved Son. With you I'm well pleased. Jesus is coming to be baptized. This is really a promise, if you will, early on, that he was going to go pay the price. I'm here to meet man in his sin and deliver him from him, to save him. His public acceptance of that saving work. We will read when Jesus is in the garden three years down the road, John chapter 12, that Jesus will be an agony. And he'll say to the Lord, "Father, save me from this hour." And yet, then you read, "But for this hour I have come." This is the purpose for my coming. This is why I am here. And again, he will say in the garden, "Father, glorify yourself and the Father's voice will say, I have glorified it and I will glorify it yet again." And notice that at the baptism it was Jesus who was praying, praying as he came out of the water. Luke, as he focuses on the humanity of Jesus constantly, goes out of his way to point out Jesus' habits of prayer. As his ministry began to grow, chapter 5, Jesus more and more pulled away and began to pray more often, it seems, at least pointed out by Mark. When he had to choose the 12 apostles in Luke 6, he went away for a night to pray. When he had to tell the apostles' ancestry of Philippi, this is our last year we're headed for Jerusalem. I'm about to be arrested and murdered. He first went aside to pray. In chapter 11 of Luke, you will see the disciples coming to Jesus one time just saying, "Hey, could you teach us to pray like you'd pray?" The Lord was constantly praying. In fact, he praised for Peter in his denied, praised at the Mount of Transfiguration. He praised for hours in the garden. I think there are seven specific times in the book of Luke where Jesus is pointed out by Luke and says, "Look at his prayer life," as our example. There are lots of Greek words for prayer. This one is the general word for worship. Not for petition, petition is what we're good at. Hi, Lord, I'm here again, I need a lot of stuff. Let me give you a list. That's prayer of petition. This is prayer of adoration and worship. Often our prayers are getting. God would like our prayers of blessing, too. I think sometimes we miss out on that. But baptism for us is to be a time of worship. Thank you, Lord, for saving me. Thank you, Lord, for forgiving me my sins. Thank you, Lord, for pouring out your spirit upon my life. Well, three things happen here, verse 21 and 22, as a result of Jesus' baptism and this being his public, if you will, presentation to the world of who he is and why he's come. Number one, the heavens are opened. Supernatural kind of revelation, for sure. Second of all, the Holy Spirit descends in a bodily form like a dove upon him. And John said that he saw it in chapter one, verse 32. I saw it with my own eyes. By the way, a dove had never been used before this time as a symbol of the Holy Spirit in the Bible. Why a dove? Jesus would come with fire. And yet his offer is reconciliation. His offer is peace. It's the gentleness of God's desire. He invites us to come. So the Holy Spirit comes as a dove to bring peace to man. And then there's this voice from heaven. Two physical manifestations and then a roar, if you will, from the clouds. There are three times that the Father speaks to his son out loud. One is here. One is on the Mount of Transfiguration, John chapter 12, as Jesus heads for his sacrifice at Calvary. And then there is that one as he approaches the garden as well. Jesus called his death across his baptism. Don't I have a baptism to be baptized with? So for us, baptism speaks of our death, the old life, the old ways. Remember, it is preceded by repentance, a turning away from our old life, and then a turning to the Lord, help me. Send your spirit to burn within, to enable, to make new. The voice quotes here to Jesus two messianic verses. One of them in that of Psalm chapter two, verse seven, we read that this morning. And the other one, you might sold the lights out of Isaiah 42. One, speak of him being the king, right? We read that this morning. Isaiah 42 speaks about his suffering and his willingness to suffer on our behalf. What exactly pleased the Father? Well, in retrospect, 30 years of obscurity and preparation as Jesus of Nazareth. In prospect, looking ahead, his sacrifice was about to take place. The road was now marked, and he would walk it faithfully. Isaiah 53, I think it's verse 10, you read these remarkable words. It pleased the Lord to bruise him. It pleased the Lord to bruve him, to put him to grief, to make his soul an offering for sin, so that his seed, if you see his days, the pleasure of the Lord will prosper in his hand. It pleased the Father to send his son. It pleased the Father that his son came. And the result was failing and flawed children of sin, of the first Adam, would be redeemed by the blood and the triumph of the second one. I'm well pleased in you. It is why the Father is able to say to you, if any man is in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things have passed away. Behold, everything has become new. You become God's children. God takes you in. Quite a day, this baptism. We read in verse 23, and Jesus himself began his ministry as about 30 years old, and being as was supposed, the son of Joseph, the son of Helai, and I won't read any of these until you get to verse 38, which says, and the son of Anish, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, and the son of God. Jesus came to his public ministry about 30 years old. If you've read the Old Testament numbers, chapter four, you know that the priests began their ministry, publicly at 30 years old. They, by the way, retired as 50. What are we doing, Ron? But they were allowed to be apprentices from the age of 20 to the age of 30. Now we're given by Luke here at the end of this awesome experience, a genealogy of Jesus that might on the surface look a little bit confusing. I don't think that's Luke's intention. I think it is intention to make, because it's in the context of, the Lord has come to save the lost, to identify with those that are repenting of their sins, to lay the act to the root of the tree, to bring judgment, and yet the powering out of God's spirit as a dove who can bring peace. And so that's the context in which we find this presented to us here. There are many Old Testament genealogies. There are 10 in the book of Genesis alone. So when we get to those, we'll do chapters at a time. There are many in first chronicles as well. God has a purpose for preserving these lists. Jacob would say to his son, Judah, there in chapter 29, no, no, no, no, 49, at the end of chapter, in chapter 49 of Genesis, the scepter or the rulership or the ability to rule will not depart from Judah nor a log ever between his feet until Shiloh comes, until the Messiah comes, you'll have a chance to rule yourself. It is one of the things that caused such consternation for the Jews in Jesus' day, 'cause the Romans had taken all of their ability to rule themselves away. And so they thought, looking at that promise, God hasn't come. He's made a promise, he hasn't come, but he did come. And he was there and he would reveal himself. So the genealogies were important for the times that the Lord used them and you can find the Messiah from Adam to Abraham to David to Jesus, all of those men being given promises, significant promises about their descendancy that pointed to Jesus. The problem today for the Jews, by the way, is that there are no records available anymore for descendancy, they just have to guess. Those records were destroyed. They were kept until Jesus came, and then with the attack upon Jerusalem, most of those records disappeared. They were burned, they were taken, and their usefulness was gone. And the reason is we don't need anymore priests, we don't need anymore descendants, we have Jesus, he's come. So there's no sense keeping them. Here in Luke, the genealogy appears to be that of Joseph, if you read beginning in verse 23. However, there are great differences between this one and the one that is Joseph's in Matthew chapter one. For one thing, Luke goes in the reverse order. He goes back, he ends up, I read verse 38 on purpose, to go back to the Lord. There are no genealogies that end with God. It usually goes forward, this one goes backwards. The genealogies also, by comparison, are completely different between Joseph and David. Matthew lists Joseph's father, his name, as Jacob. Here it is listed as Helai. In Abraham to Jacob, David, the genealogies are both the same, Matthew and Luke. This is no doubt Mary's genealogy. The one in Matthew is Joseph that goes through Solomon. It has in that list a fellow named Jekoniah, Matthew chapter one, verse 11 and 12, who was judged in the Old Testament by the Lord is never being allowed to sit on the throne. So Joseph, though he was from that tribe, he was no way going to be able to have someone sit on the throne. It was a cursed line, if you will. And Joseph wasn't Jesus's father anyway, right? He was, but he was there. So he could not have been the father. Matthew gives, like I said, Joseph's ancestry by birth. But here's what happens if a Jewish woman married but had no brothers, like Mary's Joseph. Her father would become able to legally adopt Joseph as a son and as an heir. And Mary's father was named Helai. So whereas Matthew gives Joseph's ancestry according to birth and it shows that he doesn't qualify to be the king, Luke gives his ancestry through Mary by adoption, if you will. And this is Mary's family tree. She's the mother, Joseph is not the father. And notice what we read here in verse 23 as was supposed that he was the father, he was not. I think the real emphasis though, that is important is in verse 38. And I think that's why you find it here in this chapter. And that is the striking central reason is that life terminates with and your hopes terminate with the Lord. Like I said, there's no parallel in the Old Testament where genealogy ends with the name of God. But I think that's Luke's point to begin with. Jesus is none other than he's the son of God, but he's also the son of man. And we're all his offspring in the sense of physical life, but sin has alienated us from him. And so we need to save you. We need to save you. So Luke sets before us Jesus, son of God, the son of man made flesh, but from now on in his public minister, he will show us the heart of God as he fans the flames of repentance and warns of the flames of judgment. He'll be the reason, he'll be the lynchpin, he'll be the door upon which swings everybody's life. He's come to save, to adopt, to bring you into his family of faith, it's his idea, to your benefit, but like those in the crowd with John on that first century meeting, you're gonna have to decide. Is he the Lord or not? But he's the one that John says, I can't even tie his shoes, but he's great. And he knows the hearts of man, and he will pour out his spirit and he'll show you who he is and who you are and what you need. And so come and repent, and the people did, and many would not. Same's true today, some will come, some will not, but the answer will still be the same. And our hope as well, Jesus Christ. Are you one of the ones who have come to the Savior? If not, do so today. Just open up your heart and let him in. We've been listening to a study taken from Luke chapter three, verses 16 through 38. This has been the third part and conclusion of a three part study, taught by Pastor Jacka Beeland. If you'd like to get the entire message, we do have that available for you. All you need to do to order, simply contact us and ask for study number 42, 43. It's always helpful for us to know the radio station that you're listening to. So be sure to mention those call letters when you get ahold of us. As we look around at our society, or even closer to home within our own family members, you may come to realize that depression is very prevalent and has literally become an epidemic, leading many to seek drastic measures for relief. Pastor Jacka has written a book that's titled Hope for the Hopeless. In this book, Pastor Jack uses the solid truth of God's word to outline our hope during times of need, whether it be as a result of depression or fear. So if you'd like to get Pastor Jack's book, Hope for the Hopeless for yourself or for a family member or friend, or if you'd like to get today's study, just dial our toll free phone number at 866-88-Grace. That's 866-88-4-7223. 866-88-4-7223. You can also order by mail, just to dress your letter to Growing Through Grace, PO Box 1954, Whittier, California, 90609. And as always, we have this and all of our resources online at growingthroughgrace.com. Just log on to growingthroughgrace.com. And that's gonna wrap it up not only for today, but for this week. We do look forward to being with you again in our next program. So until then, as you daily walk with our Lord Jesus Christ, may you continue to grow in His grace. Growing Through Grace is a listener-supported ministry brought to you by Morningstar Christian Chapel and Whittier, California, the coverage apple outreach. (soft music)
