The Temptation of Jesus – Part 1
Luke 4:1-13 (1-2)
December 10, 2017

Following along in Luke’s gospel
We just learned from Luke who this Jesus is.
He is the Son of God as proven by at His baptism,
And He is the Son of Man as proven by his lineage.

He is the God-Man.

Well, still in the mode of revealing Jesus to us
Luke now singles in on what is
THE MOST IMPORTANT ATTRIBUTE OF JESUS.

Have you ever wondered what the most important attribute that Jesus possesses is?
• His power?
• His love?
• His mercy?

Certainly all of those are important realities of Christ,
But there is one attribute of Christ
That rises above the rest in regard to importance.
HIS HOLINESS

This becomes clear to us the more accurately we understand the gospel.
This becomes clear to us the more accurately we understand salvation.

The chief need of humanity is made clear throughout the Bible.
It is NOT significance or comfort or self-worth, or even love.

THE CHIEF NEED OF HUMANITY IS RIGHTEOUSNESS.
The reason is because God is righteous
And God demands righteousness from us.

Leviticus 19:2 “Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.”

The problem of course is that none of us have it.
Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

What is more God’s wrath abides on those who are not righteous.
Romans 1:18 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,”

So as you understand who God is and what God requires
Then one need really rises above them all.

More than money, more than comfort, more than worth, more than love,
I NEED RIGHTEOUSNESS.

And since I have already blown any shot of producing it on my own,
I need someone who can provide it for me.

The greatest need of humanity is
For someone to supply them with righteousness.

And this is what the gospel says that Jesus came to do.
2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

According to the gospel it is the miracle of IMPUTATION.

THE GOSPEL TEACHES THAT
• For those who place their faith in Jesus Christ, that their sin is imparted to
Christ and His righteousness is imparted to them.

• And as a result Christ would suffer for sin on the cross and we will enjoy the
benefits of righteousness in the presence of God.

• That means that Christ, even though sinless, would be treated as though He
were a sinner and we, even though sinful, would be treated as though we
are righteous.

That is the miracle of the gospel.

But for it to actually work it FIRST REQUIRES that
Christ does indeed have genuine righteousness to offer.

• If He is not holy, then He cannot impart that holiness to us.
• If He is not righteous, then He cannot impute justification to those who believe
in Him.

In short, if Jesus is not morally and spiritually and ethically and mentally perfect then He cannot save.

And for the sake of proclaiming the gospel,
It is vitally important that His holiness be proven.

Where do the gospel writers go to prove the righteousness of Christ?
They don’t go to the synagogue (everyone acts better in Church)

They go to the wilderness.
• They go to a time when He is alone…
• They go to a time when He is stressed…
• They go to a time when He is tired and hungry…
• They go to the time of His temptation.

After this period, Jesus will either emerge as holy or sinful.
This is the day of His great testing.

He was declared well-pleasing at His baptism, here He is about to prove it.
Look at those first 2 verses.
(1-2) “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He became hungry.”

This incident is one of those moments in history where
God’s plan and Satan’s plan seem to be running in the same direction.

That does happen at times.
The best example would be the cross.
Satan and God were both for it.

The difference of course is in their purposes which are never the same.

John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

God’s purpose in this temptation is to REVEAL the perfection of Christ.
Satan’s purpose in this temptation is to RUIN the perfection of Christ.

The important thing to understand is that
Neither would have sought out this temptation if Jesus had not been holy.

This temptation is occurring because Jesus is righteous.
God is here demonstrating it.
Satan is here attacking it.

And we will certainly get into the specifics of this temptation.

However,
• Because temptation is such a real issue,
• And because this passage is such a good case study regarding it,

I want to take an opportunity here at the beginning to sort of
Make some general observations as an introduction to this passage.

I think it is beneficial at the outset of this text
To say something with regard to the nature of temptation
And how Christ defeated it.

• So forgive me is this sermon follows a little bit of a different flow than you are accustomed to,
• I promise we’ll return in the coming weeks and walk through this story more thoroughly,

But first some general observations
And things I think we all need to make sure we learn
As we study this passage.

TEMPTATION IS COMING

We are aware that Jesus entered the wilderness,
And in verse 2 we read “being tempted by the devil”

In fact Luke actually records to us 3 of the major temptations that Satan hit Jesus with.
• (3) “If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”
• (7) “Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours.”
• (9) “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here…”

And then of course we read in
verse 13, “When the devil had finished every temptation…”

We clearly see in this passage that Satan had absolutely no qualms
About approaching the Son of God
And throwing temptation after temptation at Him.

If Satan would have the audacity to approach the Son of God
In order to lead Him into sin,
It should all but confirm in your mind that he is coming for you too.

Peter promised:
1 Peter 5:8 “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

We should never forget that OUR ENEMY HAS BUT ONE GOAL
And that is to “steal and kill and destroy”.

He will unceasingly tempt in every possible way,
And one can adamantly say he will NOT BE FAIR about the way he does it.

LOOK AT CHRIST’S TEMPTATION.
• Here he attacks Christ when He is alone,
• He attacks when Christ might be walking in pride (after baptism)
• He attacks when Christ might be walking in fear (before His ministry)
• He attacks when Christ is physically vulnerable, having not eaten in 40 days.

He has never been looking for a fair fight.
He seeks to devour when the time is best for him to be successful.

Remember the issue with Job?
Job 1:8-12 “The LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.” Then Satan answered the LORD, “Does Job fear God for nothing? “Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. “But put forth Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse You to Your face.” Then the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him.” So Satan departed from the presence of the LORD.”

Do you see how Satan was not interested in temptation until the odds where shifted in his favor?

HE DOES NOT FIGHT FAIR.

You understand why some of your greatest moments of temptation
Come at some of your greatest moments of weakness.

IN PSALM 38 David is in the midst of heart-felt confession to God because he has greatly sinned and he is suffering for it.

In fact David says:
Psalms 38:2-4 “For Your arrows have sunk deep into me, And Your hand has pressed down on me. There is no soundness in my flesh because of Your indignation; There is no health in my bones because of my sin. For my iniquities are gone over my head; As a heavy burden they weigh too much for me.”

David had sinned and God was disciplining him as a result.

And as if that were not enough, the enemies of David
Seized that opportunity to also “kick him while he was down”.

Psalms 38:16-19 “For I said, “May they not rejoice over me, Who, when my foot slips, would magnify themselves against me.” For I am ready to fall, And my sorrow is continually before me. For I confess my iniquity; I am full of anxiety because of my sin. But my enemies are vigorous and strong, And many are those who hate me wrongfully.”

You must understand that about the enemy.
He will and he does seek every opportunity to lure us into his snare,

And often times he works the hardest when we are the weakest.
• When life is hard…
• When the job is hard…
• When sickness or affliction occurs…
• When we are exhausted…

Then comes the enemy with his temptation
Seeking to make the pain go away and make everything better.

If we are to serve Christ faithfully,
We must understand the inevitability of temptation.
YOU NEED TO KNOW THAT YOU ARE BEING HUNTED.

We’ve often used that analogy of the deer feeder.
• How fortunate the deer feels to have found a machine that will put free corn
right on the ground.

You and I know it is a trap.
THERE IS A HUNTER.

Psalms 10:7-10 “His mouth is full of curses and deceit and oppression; Under his tongue is mischief and wickedness. He sits in the lurking places of the villages; In the hiding places he kills the innocent; His eyes stealthily watch for the unfortunate. He lurks in a hiding place as a lion in his lair; He lurks to catch the afflicted; He catches the afflicted when he draws him into his net. He crouches, he bows down, And the unfortunate fall by his mighty ones.”

Temptation is coming.

Another thing we know about temptation, but from this passage and from the rest of Scripture is that:
TEMPTATION IS COMMON

So Satan tempted Jesus for 40 days while He fasted…
Then Satan tempted Jesus with those big 3 after He fasted…

And then we read:
(13) “When the devil had finished every temptation…”

That means that the enemy used
Every possible temptation he had at his disposal on Christ.

The writer of Hebrews concurs when he writes:
Hebrews 4:15 “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.”

Christ faced every temptation which Satan had to offer.

I’m just making the point that while Satan will tempt,
He is not unlimited in his temptation.

And in that we remember the statement which Paul made about temptation:
1 Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”

One of the blessed realities about temptation is that
God does not allow Satan to have unlimited imagination
In regard to your temptation.

I’ve often heard people say things in regard to their sin like,
• “Well you just don’t know what a struggle that is for me”
• “I’m sorry, but I just have a stronger desire in this area than other people.”

And the reality is that this isn’t true.
While temptation is coming, we are also promised that it is common.
“No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man”

The remarkable thing for Christ is that
While we may never face the entire gamut of Satan’s tricks Christ did.

He faced every single temptation.

And that teaches us another thing about temptation.
TEMPTATION IS COMPREHENSIVE

That is to say that
Satan will use any and every temptation which God will allow.
He has no moral code or no sense of mercy
Which would cause him to back off out of pity.

He will relentlessly tempt with everything necessary
In order to cause you to fall into sin and under the wrath of God.

Do not read lightly that phrase regarding Jesus that Satan
“finished every temptation”

And in fact, the only reason Satan retreated on this day was because he was continually proven unsuccessful in his efforts to defile Christ.

He only left “until an opportune time”

And of course we saw him return.
• We remember Satan using Peter to try and talk Jesus out of the cross, prompting Jesus to say, “Get behind Me Satan”

• We certainly remember the agony of the garden when Jesus sweat drops of blood praying, “Not My will but Yours be done”

• We can only imagine the temptation of Pilate saying, “I have authority to release You”

• Or of the Chief Priests daring Him to “come down off the cross” and prove Himself to be the Son of God.

Satan was not finished, but on this day Satan was unsuccessful.

The point is that Satan will go as far as he can every time
If that is what it takes.

And I simply want you to understand those facts about temptation.
Certainly that is what Jesus is up against.

And because that is the case, I think it would also do us good
At the outset of this text to look at some of the reasons
WHY JESUS WAS SO SUCCESSFUL AGAINST SATAN’S SCHEMES.

If the enemy is going to be that ruthless
I think it is that much more important to know how to overcome him.

The first is obvious to us:
JESUS WAS FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT

“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan…”

This is such an important reality.

And I might also add that it is the shining characteristic of those who serve God most faithfully throughout Scripture.

We already saw that
• John the Baptist was “filled with the Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb” (Lk. 1:15).
• “Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit” (Lk. 1:41) when Mary arrived after conceiving the Christ child.
• Zacharias was “filled with the Spirit” (Lk. 1:67) when he prophesied about Jesus after John was born.

But this was also true of
• The believers at Pentecost who “were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues” (Acts 2:4)
• Peter was “filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 4:8) when he stood to preach in Jerusalem.
• In Acts 6:3 when the early church faced division over the feeding of widows Peter commanded the church to set aside men who were “fully of the Spirit” to take care of the ministry.
• Stephen was one such man who was “full of faith and of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 6:5)
• When he spoke before the Sanhedrin, and while facing his stoners was “fully of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 7:55)
• Both Paul and Barnabas were men who were said to have been full of the Holy Spirit.

This is a common reality of those
Whom God used the most in regard to His ministry.

In fact, being full of the Holy Spirit is a command for believers.

Ephesians 5:18 “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,”

If you’ve never pondered it, that is an interesting command.

• It is obviously different from being indwelt by the Holy Spirit which is a promise which occurs at salvation.

• We are never commanded to be indwelt by the Spirit, but we are commanded to “be filled with the Spirit”.

And for those who do not remember our study on the Holy Spirit
From a few years ago let me remind you of a companion passage
Which gives great explanation to this reality.

In Ephesians 5 we read.
Ephesians 5:18-19 “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;”

In Colossians 3 we read an almost identical statement:
Colossians 3:16 “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”

Obviously being filled with the Spirit and letting the word Christ dwell within you richly are comparable realities.

When we talk about being filled with the Spirit
It is not a command to get more of the Spirit,
It is a command to let the Spirit have more of you.

IT IS A COMMAND FOR YOU TO BRING EVERY ASPECT OF YOUR LIFE
INTO SUBMISSION UNDER THE WORD OF CHRIST.

It has always made the most sense to me
When I think about that weedy soil from the parable which Jesus gave.

Matthew 13:22 “And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.”

Or do we remember King Amaziah?
2 Chronicles 25:1-2 “Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem. He did right in the sight of the LORD, yet not with a whole heart.”

Which also explains to us why David prayed:
Psalms 86:11 “Teach me Your way, O LORD; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name.”

We are talking about a person who removes the weeds of their heart
And who allows God to have every aspect of their being,
Every crevice of their heart.

It is a person who fully submits
All that they are and all that they have to the will of God.

You ask, “Why does being filled with the Spirit make a person better able to resist temptation?”

Galatians 5:16 “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.”

The reality is that when you allow
Even a small piece of the flesh to remain in control then
I can tell you what piece the enemy will seek to tempt.

But if you crucify the flesh and are filled with the Spirit
You immediately remove any hand holds for the enemy to cling to.

Let me remind you again how temptation works:
James 1:13-15 “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.”

The power of temptation is not found in the devil.
The power of temptation is found in the flesh.

All temptation is,
Is when the devil offers you something your flesh already desires.
If you are walking by the flesh, you are in a world of hurt.

However, if you are filled with the Spirit and have crucified the flesh,
Now you’re ready to resist the temptations of the enemy.

This is where Jesus walked.
Jesus was filled with the Spirit.

JESUS WAS FOLLOWING THE SPIRIT
“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days”

What does that mean?
The Holy Spirit kept whispering in His ear, “Turn right, take 5 steps, now turn left”?

NO It means that for that
He was seeking the things that were important to the Spirit.

For example:
Romans 8:12-14 “So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh — for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”

Notice there Paul speaks of the believer
Who is doing everything he can to kill sin in his body,
And Paul reveals that the only power to do that comes from the Spirit.

Then he says, “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”

That is to say, “all who are being led by the Spirit to put to death the deeds of the body, these are sons of God.”

The implication there is that being led by the Spirit means
We are not only letting the Spirit fill us, but also have His way.

This is why Jesus is in the wilderness.
• He is there, free from distraction,
• He is seeking to allow God to do whatever He pleases in His life.
• It was no doubt a time of seeking God’s face, seeking God’s word, and seeking God’s will be personally and in regard to ministry.

He certainly wasn’t in the wilderness because the flesh desired it.
He was in the wilderness that
He might crucify the flesh and give full ear to God.

THE IDEA HERE IS FOCUS.

And that leads to the third thing about how He overcame:
JESUS WAS FOCUSED ON GOD

Did you catch what Luke wrote?
“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He became hungry.”

Again, I would remind you what fasting is and what fasting is not.

There are those today who think fasting is some sort of ultimate leverage to get God to answer your prayer request.
It is sort of like Opie on the Andy Griffith show who has determined to hold his breath until Andy gives in and ups his allowance.

“I’m going to just sit here and do without until you answer me!”

There are those who view fasting just like that.
Like it’s some sort of gimmick to really cause God to jump to it.
(almost as powerful as “liking” or “sharing” a post on facebook)

That is not what fasting is.
Fasting is any time the spiritual takes precedent over the physical.

And Jesus provides the prime example.

Did you catch what Luke said?
“He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He became hungry.”

• He wasn’t walking around like the Pharisees with a gloom face, moaning about how hungry He was, making sure God noticed just how much He was sacrificing.

“Oh God, I’m terribly hungry,
But I’m doing without because I want You to answer.”

Not at all.
Jesus didn’t even get hungry until the 40 days were over.

Not because He had some sort of super-body that didn’t need food,
It’s because He was so focused on the things of God
That He never actually even desired physical food.

From that perspective
I think it’s pretty telling that we don’t naturally fast more often.

Our lack of fasting (and I am the worst) really only indicates
Our lack of genuine concern over the things of God.

We are more often most concerned about the things of the world.
• What will we eat?
• What will we drink?
• What will we wear?

Christ overcame temptation because
He was not distracted by the flashing lights and noise all around Him. Christ was focused on the Father
Christ was listening to the will of the Spirit in His life.

Now, didn’t Jesus tell us to do the same?
Matthew 6:31-33 “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

And perhaps now we have a better understanding of why He said that.
• It wasn’t that Jesus was trying to deprive us all of good things.
• He was instead trying to equip us to better handle the temptations of the enemy.

He knew how temptation worked.
He knew how Satan attacked.

And He knew that a preoccupation with the things of the world
Would only make us that more susceptible to temptation.

Jesus overcame temptation because
• He was full of the Spirit,
• He was led by the Spirit
• He was focused on the things of God, not the things of the world.

There is some really valuable insight there regarding temptation.

Incidentally, I think you can also see a living example in Jesus
Of exactly what Paul referred to in that famous Armor of God passage.

Ephesians 6:10-17 “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH, and HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, and having shod YOUR FEET WITH THE PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

You can actually begin to see in this confrontation
That Jesus is the epitome of what Paul was describing.

Paul spoke of a person who daily walks in truth and therefore moves about freely.
• While Satan lies a couple of times in this encounter, Jesus never does. He remains truthful at all times.

Paul spoke of a person who covers their most vital organs in righteousness.
• Certainly Jesus demonstrated this, never falling into selfishness or greed or immorality.

Paul spoke of a person whose feet where standing firm upon the gospel.
• Certainly Jesus stood firmly upon this, trusting in God’s promises over Satan’s counterfeit offer.

Paul told us to take up the shield of faith because the enemy would shoot darts of doubt at us.
• You actually see him shooting these darts at Jesus, especially in regard to the fact that Jesus circumstances seem less than desirable.
• Here is Jesus; hungry without food, and the enemy fires a dart of doubt.
• Here is Jesus; facing the cross before He receives glory and the enemy fires a dart of doubt.
• And yet each time Jesus chooses faith in God’s plan over what the enemy declares.

Paul told us to take up the helmet of salvation, which is of course to guard the mind from evil thoughts and doubts,
• And that is probably the most fascinating reality of all of this to me.
• People tend to picture this scene as Jesus quoting verses to the devil so as to stop him, but in reality Jesus is quoting those verses to Himself as His own personal guide against the devil’s lies.
• Jesus is trusting in God and continually guarding His mind with the word.

Paul spoke of one whose only offensive weapon is the word of God, and we certainly see that with Jesus.
• No bragging, no arrogance, no threats, no pompous claims, just the truth of Scripture.

And there is probably more we could say here in general regarding temptation, but we’ll hit some of that as we actually work through the text.

I just think it’s important at the outset
For you to understand how real and deadly temptation is
And how to overcome it.

Jesus is the ultimate example of this, and He will pass with flying colors.

This beyond all else fulfills what the writer of Hebrews promised.
Hebrews 2:18 “For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.”

Hebrews 4:14-16 “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

He most certainly is our help in the midst of our temptations and troubles.
He proved Himself worthy here against the enemy.

The Exclusivity Of Faith – Part 1
Acts 15:6-11
December 3, 2017

As you know we have been discussing SOLA FIDE

Thus far we looked at:
THE NECESSITY OF FAITH – and that was made obvious to us because of Hebrews 11:6

Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”

Obviously then we know that faith is necessary for salvation.
• However we also said that no one during the Reformation really debated that.
• Even Rome agreed that faith was necessary for salvation.

So next we looked:
THE EFFECTIVENESS OF FAITH – if we’re going to determine if faith alone is required for salvation then we need to figure out if faith alone is enough.

Are there any examples of people who only gave God faith who still ended up being saved?

And of course here we looked at Romans 4
And saw that this was precisely the case with Abraham.

“Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

Faith is all he gave.
Now of course we did take a look at Abraham’s faith and determine that it must be true faith in order to produce justification, but it did answer our question.

Faith is enough – Faith is effective.

So we have learned that faith is necessary,
And we have learned that faith is effective,
(which is to say that it is up to the challenge.)

Tonight I want to move a little further and look at:
THE EXCLUSIVITY OF FAITH

THE DIFFERENCE HERE IS THIS.
We have seen that faith can stand alone, just as it did for Abraham. What we are looking at now is that faith MUST stand alone.

Let me put it another way.
• We know that if all you bring to God is faith, then God will save you.
• What you must also understand is that if you try to bring anything else in addition to faith then God WILL NOT save you.

Because saving faith trusts in God 100%, not 95%
It’s not just that faith is effective, it’s that faith is also exclusive.

Now we have a word for when people try to bring God something in addition to faith to obtain salvation. That word is LEGALISM.

Legalism is defined as: “Dependence on moral law rather than personal religious faith.”

So Legalism is any time people try to trust in their own actions
Either in addition to or instead of God’s actions.

And it really doesn’t matter how much or how little a person does,
Any action regardless of its size, that a person does to earn God’s favor,
Only reveals that their faith is not complete.

They don’t fully trust God to accomplish salvation
Because they see the need to supplement God’s work in some way.

That is legalism.

And it is universally condemned in Scripture.
It’s really somewhat surprising to me that anyone would even have to debate that salvation is by faith alone since Scripture is so overwhelmingly clear on this issue.

But, regardless of the clarity, it remains a debate

For Example:
• Certainly Rome with their indulgences and deeds of penance fail to understand.
• Seventh Day Adventists who hold that the Sabbath must still be honored.
• Hebrew Roots Movement which also adds in the dietary restrictions of the Law.
• Or even the Church of Christ who see repentance, baptism, and obedience as equal partners with faith in order to secure salvation.

So I think it will be worth our while to study this threat of legalism a little
And to SEE HOW THE APOSTLES HANDLED IT.

Legalism was a very real problem of the early church.
Thanks in large part to that dominating influence of the Pharisees
Those who were coming to Christ out of Judaism
Had an enormously difficult time letting go of their rituals.

And all of that might have been well and good,
But something happened which forced the issue.

GENTILE SALVATION
When Gentiles started getting saved
It forced the church to answer the question
Regarding just how powerful faith was and how necessary the Law was.

What you may not realize is that
The church answered definitively on the issue.

Not only did the church say faith alone was enough for salvation,
The church went the extra mile and declared that
If you try to add anything to faith then you can’t be saved.

The early church and the apostles whole-heartedly affirmed SOLA FIDE

What we’re going to do over the next several weeks is listen in while some of apostles address this issue.

• I want you to hear from Peter
• I want you to hear from James
• I want you to hear from Paul

But because the study will take quite a while to get through,
I want to make sure you have the answer ahead of time.

PETER will teach that:
LEGALISM TESTS GOD

JAMES will teach that:
LEGALISM TROUBLES GENTILES

PAUL will teach that:
LEGALISM TRASHES THE GOSPEL

If you try to add anything to faith as a requirement for salvation
Then all you will do is distort the gospel and lose salvation.

We’re going to start in Acts 15 and the first ever church council
Which was convened for the purpose of answering the question of SOLA FIDE.

It all stemmed around one key question in the early church.
SHOULD GENTILES BE REQUIRED TO BE CIRCUMCISED?

Now, more than a health issue, this was a covenant issue.
“Are Gentiles required to become Jewish in order to be saved?”

You had a large number of Jewish believers
• Who still believed that their commitment to Judaism
• And their adherence to the Law was vital to their salvation.

And now you have all these Gentiles who are entering the fold
• Who have never been circumcised and who are not under the Law,
• And it really pushed the question.

The issue boils over in Acts 15.

Acts 15:1-5 “Some men came down from Judea and began teaching the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” And when Paul and Barnabas had great dissension and debate with them, the brethren determined that Paul and Barnabas and some others of them should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders concerning this issue. Therefore, being sent on their way by the church, they were passing through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and were bringing great joy to all the brethren. When they arrived at Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them. But some of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed stood up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to direct them to observe the Law of Moses.”

SO LET’S BUILD THE SETTING A LITTLE.

• These men from Judea where teaching this legalism we are talking about.
• Notice their statement: “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

Not only where they upholding a works-based salvation,
But they were ALSO INDICATING that
None of these uncircumcised Gentiles at Antioch were even truly saved.

• Forget that they already had the Holy Spirit…
• Forget that they had already been walking in submission to Him…
• Forget that they had a love for truth…
• Forget that they had a love for the lost…
• Forget that they had left paganism to worship Jesus Christ…

These men came down and indicated that despite all that,
They were still not saved.

And so naturally Paul quickly rose to the defense of the Gentiles.
(He was after all the apostle to the Gentiles)
(2) “And when Paul and Barnabas had great dissension and debate with them, the brethren determined that Paul and Barnabas and some others of them should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders concerning this issue.”

Paul didn’t agree with their assertion one little bit.
He did not hold to their works-based doctrine of salvation
And he challenged them head on.

However, their argument was compelling enough that instead of just dismissing these men from Judea, notice what the church did.

“the brethren determined that Paul and Barnabas and some others of them should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders concerning the issue.”

This was a serious debate, and these Gentiles wanted to know.

And so what we have here is literally a debate that threatened
Not only to wreck the church, but to split it right down the middle.

We know the path the Jews took to salvation.
• They were chosen of God, and entered into a covenant with Him.
• They then broke that covenant repeatedly.
• Christ then came and purchased their pardon.

That was their path to salvation.

But now we have these Gentiles coming to Christ
From a seemingly different path.

They didn’t get circumcised…
They didn’t accept the Law…

They bypassed all of that and came straight to Christ
And that was very confusing to the Jews.

And that is the basis for the issue regarding circumcision.
NO, THEY HAVE TO DO IT LIKE WE DID

PERHAPS YOU’VE BEEN CONFUSED, MANY ARE TODAY
There are plenty of Scriptures in the Old Testament
That clearly command circumcision.

Genesis 17:9-14 “God said further to Abraham, “Now as for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. “This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised. “And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you. “And every male among you who is eight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations, a servant who is born in the house or who is bought with money from any foreigner, who is not of your descendants. “A servant who is born in your house or who is bought with your money shall surely be circumcised; thus shall My covenant be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. “But an uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”

In fact years later as God has called Moses back to Egypt
God nearly killed Moses simply because he had not circumcised his son.

Exodus 4:24-26 “Now it came about at the lodging place on the way that the LORD met him and sought to put him to death. Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin and threw it at Moses’ feet, and she said, “You are indeed a bridegroom of blood to me.”So He let him alone. At that time she said, “You are a bridegroom of blood” — because of the circumcision.”

In fact, not being circumcised was really a statement of being Godless.

Remember David’s reproach of Goliath?
1 Samuel 17:26 “Then David spoke to the men who were standing by him, saying, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should taunt the armies of the living God?”

Circumcision was literally “THE” sign
Of being in a covenant relationship with God.

It wasn’t just the physical part, but what it symbolized about your heart.
Deuteronomy 30:6 “Moreover the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live.”

Jeremiah 4:3-4 “For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, “Break up your fallow ground, And do not sow among thorns. “Circumcise yourselves to the LORD And remove the foreskins of your heart, Men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, Or else My wrath will go forth like fire And burn with none to quench it, Because of the evil of your deeds.”

Even Paul would tell the Romans:
Romans 2:28-29 “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.”

So circumcision was an outward picture of an inward reality
And according to Scripture it was the most important symbol.

I mean a man could even be cut off from his people if he didn’t do it.
And this is just a few of the Scriptures that could have been quoted during this debate.

And I think you can see how this would have been a confusing issue.
It’s no wonder this issue became as big is at did.

So Paul and Barnabas and others are off to Jerusalem to settle the issue.

(3-4) “Therefore, being sent on their way by the church, they were passing through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and were bringing great joy to all the brethren. When they arrived at Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them.”

Paul really sounds confused doesn’t he?
• The debate is supposed to be that these Gentiles aren’t yet saved
because they aren’t yet circumcised.

• But that didn’t stop Paul from stopping in every town on the way to
share about God’s salvation of the Gentiles.

Perhaps it was Paul’s zeal to speak of Gentile salvation
That caused the issue to flare up again in Jerusalem.

(5) “But some of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed stood up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to direct them to observe the Law of Moses.”

Now there it is again, there is a group
Who wants to say that Faith Alone is not adequate for salvation.

At the heart of the discussion was: SALVATION
What is required for a man to be saved?

And to answer the question the council of Jerusalem is about to convene.

(6) “The apostles and the elders came together to look into this matter.

The implications of this are huge.

THIS MESSAGE RAN THE RISK OF WRECKING THE ANTIOCH CHURCH.
(You’ll see later that this will be James’ main point when we get there)

In fact later in the chapter when the church in Jerusalem responded
With a letter to the church in Antioch they wrote:

Acts 15:24 “Since we have heard that some of our number to whom we gave no instruction have disturbed you with their words, unsettling your souls,”

THIS MESSAGE ALSO RAN THE RISK OF DISTORTING THE GOSPEL.
(You’ll see later that this will be Paul’s main point)

BUT TONIGHT WE WILL ZONE IN ON WHAT PETER HAD TO SAY.

#1 ACCORDING TO PETER: LEGALISM TESTS GOD
Acts 15:6-11

And Peter’s first point is that requiring circumcision ignores God.
How?

You’ll see that Peter basis his position
On what God personally taught him on the matter.

GOD CHOSE GENTILES
(7) “After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brethren, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe.”

Do you remember Acts 10 and Peter’s Gentile encounter?

It is really one of my favorite stories.
TURN TO: ACTS 10
• (10:1-8) An Angel tells Cornelius to send for Peter
• (10:9-23) God tells Peter to go with Cornelius’ men (took a lot of persuasion)
• (10:24-29) Peter says, “Look I came even though it’s wrong, what do you want to know?”
• (10:30-33) Cornelius says, “I have no idea, I was just told you had something to tell me.”
• (10:34-43) Peter gives a half-hearted, unemotional, fact only explanation of Jesus and how they had followed Him.
• (10:44-46) The Gentiles obvious believe and God gives them the Holy Spirit.

And here was Peter’s response:
(10:47-78) “Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?” And he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay on for a few days.”

Peter there actually made a decision right then and there that
These Gentiles (despite no adherence to the Law)
Were fully saved and he ordered for them to be baptized.

PETER IS DRAWING ON THAT ENOUNTER HERE.

And we clearly see that:
• Peter didn’t choose the Gentiles.
• The Jerusalem church didn’t choose the Gentiles.
• God sent Peter to Cornelius
• There was only One who wanted Gentiles saved, and it was God.

In fact, this is quite humorous.
In Acts 11 Peter gets in trouble for going to the house of a Gentile and Peter shares the story with the Jews.

Can I show you their response?
Acts 11:17-19 “Therefore if God gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?” When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, “Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.” So then those who were scattered because of the persecution that occurred in connection with Stephen made their way to Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except to Jews alone.”

The only person who wanted Gentiles saved was God.
And God saved them.

And Peter’s argument is that if you try to argue that they aren’t saved, then you are actually working against the plan of God who chose them.

Peter also wanted this council to know that, not only did God choose these Gentiles, but:
GOD CONSECRATED GENTILES
(8) “And God, who knows the heart, testified to them giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us;”

God has a unique and special way of setting apart those who are His.

WHAT IS THAT METHOD?
He gives them His Holy Spirit.

Romans 8:9 “However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.”

And Peter said, God gave them the Holy Spirit.

That is to say that if you were to ask God
If these Gentiles were saved, then God’s answer was clear: YES
(even though they had not been circumcised)

God chose them, God consecrated them:
GOD CLEANSED GENTILES
(9) “and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith.”

Not only did God choose them and consecrate them,
God also cleansed them.
That is to say, HE CHANGED THEM!!!

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

A mark of a genuine believer is the process of sanctification in their lives.
These Gentiles had left pagan lifestyles filled with idolatry to walk in righteousness and serve Jesus Christ.

GOD DID THAT IN THEIR LIVES.

And this is Peter’s point.

God Chose them, God Consecrated them, God Cleansed them
And all of that without ever circumcising them.

To come in now and declare the necessity of circumcision completely ignores all that God has already done in their lives.

• Was God’s choosing and consecration and cleansing all for nothing?
• Did God accomplish nothing by this?

By coming in now, you ignore the obvious work
God has already accomplished.

And that opens the door for Peter’s great point:
LEGALISM TESTS GOD

(10-11) “Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? “But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are.”

Now that is really an interesting statement.
Peter directly confronts his opponents.

“Now therefore why do you put God to the test..?”

I think we all know the implications and problems of this.
Namely you aren’t supposed to put God to the test.

Matthew 4:5-7 “Then the devil took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, ‘HE WILL COMMAND HIS ANGELS CONCERNING YOU’; and ‘ON their HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP, SO THAT YOU WILL NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.'” Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it is written, ‘YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.'”

Hebrews 3:8-10 “DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME, AS IN THE DAY OF TRIAL IN THE WILDERNESS, WHERE YOUR FATHERS TRIED Me BY TESTING Me, AND SAW MY WORKS FOR FORTY YEARS. “THEREFORE I WAS ANGRY WITH THIS GENERATION, AND SAID, ‘THEY ALWAYS GO ASTRAY IN THEIR HEART, AND THEY DID NOT KNOW MY WAYS’;

You don’t test God.
You don’t push Him to prove Himself to you.
Jesus preached that “an evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign”

And yet Peter says that these people,
By enforcing circumcision were testing God.

“by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear”

It will do us good to understand what Peter means by this yoke.
“Why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?”

You know what a yoke was.
It was the device that was thrown over the neck of an ox
To make it possible for him to pull a plow or a cart.

The very presence of yoke indicated work.

And Peter said that the yoke Israel carried
Was a yoke they were not able to bear.

WHAT WAS THIS YOKE?
It was the Law, and more specifically it was the requirements of the Law in order to be saved.

For those Jews who sought to earn or deserve their salvation
Through their adherence of the written command,
The attempt was literally exhausting.

There were so many commands and so many requirements that the daily grind of trying to keep up with it all would have literally exhausted a person.

Keeping the entire Law was really impossible.
It was a yoke they could not bear.

And certainly this mentality was one of the things Jesus appealed to.
Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

That was Jesus saying that He could accomplish for them
What they could not accomplish on their own.

SO THE YOKE PETER REFERRED TO WAS SALVATION BY WORKS

We can see that it is foolish to keep that yoke in place,
But more than that, it is dangerous because:
KEEPING THAT YOKE IN PLACE ACTUALLY TESTS GOD.

HOW WAS REQUIRING CIRCUMCISION PUTTING GOD TO THE TEST?

By ignoring God’s obvious work and now requiring their own conditions
They were calling into question the effectiveness of God’s salvation.

Remember the Israelites?
Exodus 17:1-2 “Then all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed by stages from the wilderness of Sin, according to the command of the LORD, and camped at Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water that we may drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?”

Then after Moses brought water from the rock
Exodus 17:7 “He named the place Massah and Meribah because of the quarrel of the sons of Israel, and because they tested the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us, or not?”
They called into question the REALITY or GENUINENESS or EFFECTIVENESS of God’s salvation.

And that is what these Judaizers and this sect of Pharisees had done.

They completely ignored God’s salvation of the Gentiles,
Called it into question
And then declared that more was needed.
WHO WERE THEY TO CHALLENGE GOD’S SALVATION?

Furthermore you are requiring something of them
That we couldn’t even live up to.

You are completely overlooking God’s work and enforcing your own.

“We believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are.”

Peter says, “We aren’t saved by our works, we aren’t saved by our efforts, We were saved by grace.

• Which one of you earned God’s favor?
• Which one of you achieved righteousness on your own?

The only reason you are saved is not because
Circumcision earned you the right to be saved,
It is because God was gracious to you.

You didn’t atone for your sin, Christ did.
You didn’t satisfy God’s righteous requirement, Christ did.
He graciously granted you salvation when you did not deserve it.

But see, to require circumcision (or any other works)
Is to minimize the grace of God
And to call into question God’s ability to save without your help.

DO YOU REALIZE THAT?
If you say that salvation is not by faith alone then you are actually testing God and saying that you don’t think God can accomplish it without your help.

That’s like if you go out and hang a tire swing in your yard for your kids,
And then someone comes up and says, “Hey, wait, before they use it let me go put some extra brackets on there just in case you don’t really know what you’re doing.”

That is what adding works to the requirement of salvation says to God.
• It says You’re salvation is not complete.
• It in effect tests God.

Can we agree that this is extremely problematic?

God actually condemned an entire generation of Israelites
For having this mindset.

Do we not remember that famous statement about them?
Psalms 95:8-11 “Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, As in the day of Massah in the wilderness, “When your fathers tested Me, They tried Me, though they had seen My work. “For forty years I loathed that generation, And said they are a people who err in their heart, And they do not know My ways. “Therefore I swore in My anger, Truly they shall not enter into My rest.”

That was a generation that rejected SOLA FIDE
• It is not that just that faith is necessary
• Nor is it just that faith is effective
• It is that faith is absolutely essential

Next time we’ll see as James weighs in on the subject.

Son of God, Son of Man
Luke 3:21-38
December 3, 2017

In Matthew’s gospel we come across
A very pivotal moment between Jesus and His disciples.

• He has traveled with them into the region of Caesarea Philippi and He asks
them straight up regarding their concept of who He is.

Matthew 16:13-16 “Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

The issue there is one of absolute importance.
Who do you say that I am?

Today we ask, “Who do you say that Jesus is?”

The theological term would be: CHRISTOLOGY
What we believe about the person of Jesus.

And BEING ACCURATE about this is of absolute importance.
• Namely because we are told to believe in this Jesus.
• And because we are warned not to believe in a false version of Jesus.

Remember what Paul told the Corinthians?
2 Corinthians 11:3-4 “But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.”

It wasn’t enough to simply “believe in Jesus”,
They had to believe in the right Jesus.

We also know that the END TIMES will be marked as a time when phony Christs will be plentiful.
Matthew 24:23-24 “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘There He is,’ do not believe him. “For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.”

Beyond that we know of many heresies that have arisen since the days that Christ walked the earth.

WHY DOES IT MATTER?
Because our salvation rests upon our faith in who He is and what He did.

A false Jesus is a false Savior
And therefore a false hope to all who trust in Him.
So figuring out who Jesus is, is an issue of extreme importance.

Now, in Luke’s gospel we’ve already been given several very good yet brief descriptions as to who Jesus is.

First we listened as Gabriel spoke to Mary:
Luke 1:32-35 “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.” Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.”

• “great”
• “the Son of the Most High”
• “He will rule over the house of Jacob”
• “holy Child”
• “Son of God”

We also remember Zacharias giving us some insight into who Jesus is after John the Baptist was born and his mouth was opened:
Luke 1:68-69 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people, And has raised up a horn of salvation for us In the house of David His servant”

• “a horn of salvation”

We remember the announcement of the angelic host when the appeared to the shepherds on the night Jesus was born.
Luke 2:11 “for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

• “a Savior”
• “Christ the Lord”

When Jesus was taken into the temple for His dedication, there we heard Simeon’s prophetic announcement of Him.
Luke 2:30-32 “For my eyes have seen Your salvation, Which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples, A LIGHT OF REVELATION TO THE GENTILES, And the glory of Your people Israel.”

• “Your [God’s] salvation”
• “A Light of Revelation to the Gentiles”
• “the glory of Your people Israel”

And of Course we just finished the ministry of John the Baptist who also identified Jesus in a very specific way.
Luke 3:16-17 “John answered and said to them all, “As for me, I baptize you with water; but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. “His winnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

• The “One…who is mightier than I”
• The One who “will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire”
• The One who will “thoroughly clear His threshing floor”
Those are all brief and yet very important descriptions
Regarding who Jesus is that Luke has already given us.

But Luke is a far more thorough person than that.
He’s not going to count on that we picked up on all of that,
So Luke is going to definitively answer the question: WHO IS JESUS?
Luke will devote the remainder of Ch. 3 to definitively answering that question.

And to go ahead and break the suspense,
Luke really has two main answers regarding who Jesus is.
Jesus is Son of God and Son of Man

Perhaps you’ve heard the phrase before called “The Hypostatic Union”.
It was the term given at The Council of Chalcedon in AD 451

To answer the heresies of contemporary theologians
• Like Arius who taught that Jesus was a created being
• Or Appollinarius who stated that Jesus’ divine nature had displaced His
human mind and will (not fully man)
• Or Nestorius who said that Jesus had two separate natures combined in one
body (a hybrid, but two separates)
• Or Eutyches who taught that Jesus human nature had been absorbed and
Jesus was divine (but not human)

The Council of Chalcedon met to clarify the person of Christ.

They wrote the Chalcedonian Confession which affirmed that
Jesus is both consubstantial with the Father according to the Godhead and consubstantial with us according to manhood.

To put it simpler, He is both fully man and fully God at the same time.
It is a mystery to be certain and yet it is of the utmost importance
In terms of theological significance and salvation.

Beyond that, it is also the truth which Luke will reveal about Jesus here.

Let’s look at what Luke has to say about who Jesus is.
#1 SON OF GOD
Luke 3:21-22

The baptism of Jesus is a significant event for a number of reasons,
But perhaps one of the most important is that
At this event we have all 3 persons of the Trinity present.

This exposes the present-day heresy of Modalism held by the “Oneness Pentecostals” which believes that God simply reveals Himself in various modes, either as Father or as Son or as Spirit, but that He is not all 3 at the same time.

The baptism of Jesus defends the nature of the trinity and reveals that God does in fact reveal Himself in 3 distinct persons at the same time.
If you want a brief explanation that perhaps we can better wrap our minds around regarding the nature of God and the person of Jesus, it has been defined like this:
• God is 3 who’s and 1 what
• Jesus is 2 what’s and 1 who

All of that can be seen at His baptism.

We see all 3 persons very distinctly revealed here at the baptism of Jesus.
• We have the Devotion of Jesus seen in His participation in baptism.
• We have the Descent of the Spirit upon Jesus in bodily form.
• We have the Declaration of the Father regarding who Jesus is.

It is quite a significant event.

Now, Luke is not unlike the other gospel writers in the sense that
LUKE ONLY RECORDS WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO HIM
In regard to the point he is making at the time.

That is to say, Luke has never been as concerned about answering all of the questions, so much as he is about making his point.

And that is seen here as well.

For instance, we read:
(21) “Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus was also baptized…”

And we sort of want to stop right there and ask, “WHY?”

Well, I want you to realize that Luke doesn’t tell us,
Because that is not important to the point he is making.

Now, since we do have the other gospels, and because it is a very curious question, we do know the answer.
Matthew 3:13-15 “Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him. But John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?” But Jesus answering said to him, “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he permitted Him.”

• According to Matthew, John the Baptist was just as perplexed as you and I
might be.

• John was baptizing for repentance and so it most certainly didn’t seem to fit
that Jesus would need to be baptized.

• But Jesus revealed that He was not baptized for repentance and forgiveness.

• Jesus revealed that He was baptized in order to be obedient and to fulfill all
righteousness.

In that reality then we understand that His baptism
Was in many ways like His circumcision at 8 days old.

Jesus didn’t require that either, since He did not have a sinful heart.

Jesus did both as a means of identifying with sinful humanity.
• Jesus was circumcised because the people He came to save were circumcised.
• Jesus came under the Law because the people He came to save were under the law.
• Jesus was baptized because the people He came to save were baptized.

He was coming to identify with sinners.

Beyond that, His baptism was a command to Him from the Father
As the means through which God would reveal Him to the world.

Listen to what John’s gospel has to say:
John 1:29-34 “The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! “This is He on behalf of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’ “I did not recognize Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water.” John testified saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. “I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ “I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.”

John’s gospel doesn’t give us the live account of Jesus’ baptism.
John’s gospel gives it to us on a day when John the Baptist has a “flashback” of sorts.
John sees Jesus and remembers the day he baptized Him.

To which John says, “That is how I knew He was the Messiah, because God told me I would recognize the Messiah when the Holy Spirit descended upon Him like a dove.”

John says,
“I saw it happen, and I’m telling you that Jesus is the Messiah.”

That reality seems to be more in line with
Why Luke includes the baptism of Jesus.

Luke isn’t concerned with telling us why Jesus was baptized,
Luke is more concerned with what happened at His baptism.

And that is that at His baptism the other two persons of the trinity
Made it absolutely obvious who this Jesus was.

Because after Jesus was baptized we read:
(21b-22) “while He was praying, heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice come of out of heaven, “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.”

Those are two very impressive announcements there.

First we have the DESCENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
“the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove”

Now, don’t get confused.
• This is not (as the gnostics would say) where the man Jesus received the God-Spirit allowing Him to do miraculous things.
• The Spirit which they would also departed from Him just before He died.

That is not what is happening.
Jesus is NOT here being “baptized in the Holy Spirit”

Jesus is already God.
• Remember Gabriel announced that He would be conceived by the Holy Spirit that He would be the Holy Child and that He (from the womb) would be considered the Son of God.

What you have here is the Holy Spirit making His deity evident
And revealing the ministry He is about to have.

It is a ministry that Jesus will adamantly reveal very soon.

Luke 4:16-19 “And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.”

Jesus says that “I am that prophesied servant of God
Who is anointed by the Holy Spirit to proclaim the salvation of God.”

That is first made evident at His baptism.

You have here the Holy Spirit making it obvious that Jesus is the Savior.

And in total harmony with the Spirit
We also have the DECLARATION OF THE FATHER.
“And a voice came out of heaven, “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.”

First the Spirit made it obvious who Jesus was,
And then the Father made it obvious.

First, “You are My beloved Son” which of course SPEAKS TO HIS DIVINE NATURE.

Philippians 2:6-7 “who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.”

He is in very nature God, but chose to let go of the glory which comes with that
In order that He might also put on humanity.

Colossians 1:15, 19 “He is the image of the invisible God…For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him,”

Jesus is God in the flesh.

Hebrews 1:3a “And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.”

So first God makes it obvious that
This man who has come for baptism
Is not the same as every other man who is also there.

This man is also divine.
This man is also the very Son of God.

And beyond that this man is absolutely pleasing to the Father.
“in You I am well-pleased”

That’s quite a contrast from the rest of the crowd
Who had recently learned that they were in such trouble with God
That the axe had already been laid at the root of the tree.

Unlike them Jesus was holy.
Unlike them Jesus was perfect.
Unlike them Jesus was pleasing to the Father.

And of course all of this is important as we begin to contemplate
The expectation of God in regard to an acceptable sacrifice for sin.

But you see here what is important to Luke.
Luke simply wants you to know who Jesus is,
And God Himself made that extremely evident at Jesus’ baptism.

Jesus is the Son of God.
That is announced both by the Holy Spirit and by the Father.

Jesus is Divine…Jesus is Deity
He is the 3rd person of the Holy Trinity

Son of God
#2 SON OF MAN
Luke 3:23-38

Well here we have one of those very exciting and interesting genealogies that everyone loves.

The Old Testament has several, but Luke gives us one of only two in the New Testament. Of course Matthew has the other.

What I hope is that you haven’t always just skipped over these two genealogies and assumed that Matthew and Luke were just duplicating information.

There are some obvious differences.

First, you should probably recognize that
• Matthew’s genealogy is descending (Starts with the past and moves forward
to Jesus),
• Luke’s genealogy is ascending (starts with Jesus and moves backward
through His descendants)

Why is this?

Matthew and Luke have two very different reasons for including these statements of lineage.

Matthew’s purpose is to show WHAT Jesus is.
• Namely Matthew is showing the Kingly Line and thus revealing that Jesus is
the rightful King.
• So Matthew works from Abraham through David and down to Jesus.

But Luke is revealing WHO Jesus is
• And so he starts with Jesus and works backward
• Matthew puts the focus on the lineage, Luke puts the focus on the person of
Jesus.

Perhaps you also notice that Luke’s genealogy is quite a bit longer than Matthew’s.
• Matthew only travels from Abraham to Jesus.
• Luke travels from Jesus all the way back to Adam.

Maybe you notice that while Matthew includes 4 women in his genealogy, Luke includes none.

And all of those are really minor differences.

WHAT IS THE BIGGEST DIFFERENCE?

Both reveal the genealogy of Jesus and yet, ALL OF THE NAMES (except for a few) ARE DIFFERENT.

Have you ever compared them?
They aren’t the same, not even close.

When you read Matthew’s genealogy you are at least struck with some names that you’ve heard before.

Solomon, Rehoboam, Abijah, Asa, Uzziah, Jotham, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Josiah

We know those names, we see them all listed in the book of the Kings of Israel.
But Luke’s list?
“Mattathias…Josech…Joda…Melchi…Addi…Cosam…Elmadam…Er”
I mean, who are these guys?

One thing we are sure of is that
MATTHEW AND LUKE ARE NOT GIVING THE SAME LIST.

Well, it’s rather obvious what Matthew is doing.
• He is revealing that Jesus is the rightful political king of Israel because His
lineage can be traced right down the kingly line.

• That was a central reality to Matthew’s ability to prove that Jesus is the rightful
king and Messiah.

BUT THAT IS NOT LUKE’S GOAL.
And that is not Luke’s genealogy.

Now one of the confusing things about Luke’s genealogy
Is the common way that verse 23 is translated.

In my Bible it reads, “When He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age, being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph, the son of Eli,”

So when you read it, it sounds like Luke is saying that
Joseph is Jesus’ dad and Eli is Joseph’s dad.

That is NOT what Luke is saying.

I don’t know if you’re familiar with what is called “The Definite Article”

In English we only have one and it is the word “the”.
And it is used for a number of reasons
But one such reason is to refer to people or objects that are unique.

That is also true in the Greek language.

Now, what your translation and my translation does not make clear is that Luke uses the definite article (“TOU” in the Greek)
For every single name in this list except for one.

Luke does not use the definite article for Joseph.

What does that mean?
For Luke’s writing purposes it means that Joseph’s name is intended to be parenthetical.

So if you want to better understand this verse as Luke wrote it,
Then you need to put A PARENTHESIS around the phrase
“as was supposed, the son of Joseph”

And that makes this verse read entirely different.

Here is what Luke is actually saying.
• It was commonly assumed that Jesus was the son of Joseph (and
of course that makes sense to us since Mary and Joseph were married).

• It was commonly assumed that Jesus was the son of Joseph but
He was actually “the son of Eli”.

“Eli” was not Joseph’s dad.
Matthew’s gospel makes it clear that “Jacob” was Joseph’s dad.

Now this is why it is also significant that you understand that
LUKE DID NOT INCLUDE ANY WOMEN IN HIS LINEAGE.
If he had, then he most certainly would have included Eli’s daughter
WHO WAS MARY.

What you have in Luke is not Joseph’s genealogy,
It is Mary’s genealogy.

Now, why would Luke use Mary’s genealogy instead of Joseph’s?
Because Luke’s goal is to reveal to you (not that Jesus is the rightful king)
But that Jesus is…HUMAN.

THE NAMES LISTED IN THIS LIST
ARE THE BLOOD THAT PUMPED THROUGH JESUS’ VEINS.

Now in that, there are some very interesting realities.
Because while most names are different,
There are some names that are the same.

We still see David in this lineage, and therefore everyone before David is the same, including men like Abraham.

Why is that important?
Well because God made some pretty significant promises
To both of those men.

Consider David:
2 Samuel 7:12-16 “When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. “He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. “I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men, but My lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. “Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.”‘”

Psalms 89:27-29 “I also shall make him My firstborn, The highest of the kings of the earth. “My lovingkindness I will keep for him forever, And My covenant shall be confirmed to him. “So I will establish his descendants forever And his throne as the days of heaven.”

That means that if Mary doesn’t come from David’s line
Then Jesus has no blood claim to the throne.

Certainly he has a political claim through Joseph,
But Jesus was not Joseph’s blood. Mary has to come from David.
And she does. Not through Solomon, but through Nathan.

Now, what you may not realize is that this interesting tidbit also answers another difficult question in Scripture.

It is called the “Jeconiah Problem”
Jeremiah 22:24-30 “As I live,” declares the LORD, “even though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were a signet ring on My right hand, yet I would pull you off; and I will give you over into the hand of those who are seeking your life, yes, into the hand of those whom you dread, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans. “I will hurl you and your mother who bore you into another country where you were not born, and there you will die. “But as for the land to which they desire to return, they will not return to it. “Is this man Coniah a despised, shattered jar? Or is he an undesirable vessel? Why have he and his descendants been hurled out And cast into a land that they had not known? “O land, land, land, Hear the word of the LORD! “Thus says the LORD, ‘Write this man down childless, A man who will not prosper in his days; For no man of his descendants will prosper Sitting on the throne of David Or ruling again in Judah.'”

• God promised that Jeconiah would never have a son who sat on the throne.
• But Jeconiah is clearly listed in Matthew’s lineage in Matthew 1:11.

Many wondered how David could have a son on the throne
When Jeconiah was clearly promised that he would not.

And the answer is seen here.
David has a son through Nathan and Mary,
Not through Solomon and Jeconiah.

That’s pretty remarkable isn’t it?

Beyond that, do you remember the promises God made to Abraham?
Genesis 22:18 “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

Now Paul clarified that verse for us
Galatians 3:15-16 “Brethren, I speak in terms of human relations: even though it is only a man’s covenant, yet when it has been ratified, no one sets it aside or adds conditions to it. Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ.”

Paul revealed that the promise made to Abraham WASN’T MADE to Abraham
And every human who could trace their lineage back to Abraham.

That promise was made only to Abraham and to Christ.
If we want to be partakers of that promise then we must be “in Christ”.

That is also what Paul meant when he wrote:
2 Corinthians 1:20 “For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us.”

And so we find that Jesus was in fact
A blood relative of David and Abraham.

In fact, Jesus can be traced all the way back to Adam,
The first human God ever created.

Now what is the point in all of this?
JESUS WAS HUMAN

You can learn a lot about Jesus from Matthew’s genealogy,
• But you CANNOT LEARN that He is human because Joseph was not
his biological father.

We learn about Jesus’ humanity from Luke’s genealogy.

He was as human as it gets.
• He had a blood mother…
• He had a blood grandfather…
• He had blood descendants…

The same blood that pumped in
Adam and Abraham and David and Mary also pumped in His veins.
HE WAS HUMAN.

And that is the second answer Luke gives to the question: Who is Jesus?
He is the Son of God.
And He is the Son of Man.

He is Fully God and He is Fully Man.
• Do I fully understand it? No
• Can I fully explain it? No
• Can we scientifically prove it? No

But if you want to be saved, then you must believe it.

WHY?

Because if Jesus is not Fully God then He has no capacity to bear an eternal amount of punishment on sin.

Do you realize that on the cross we are saying that Jesus bore the sin of all of God’s elect for all eternity, and yet we also believe that not one single one of those elect could sufficiently ever fully pay that debt by spending eternity in hell?

No mere man can accomplish such a feat. Jesus had to be God.

We would also understand that if He is not God then He is only human and therefore also bears the same fallen condition as Adam and thus not suitable to be a Savior.

The reality is that Jesus had to be fully God in all respects,
And God emphatically testified to that fact at His baptism.

But He must also be fully man, or else He cannot be the sacrifice for men.

We already learned that substitutes of a different type are not acceptable.
Have we not seen that it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin?

Jesus had to be man to bear the sin of man.
Jesus had to be a man to be faithful high priest for men.

In short, He had to be both God and man
So that He could be a mediator between God and men.

ANY JESUS WHO IS LESS THAN BOTH CANNOT SAVE.

So Luke begins the ministry of Jesus
By emphatically revealing exactly who He is.

Jesus is the Son of God and Jesus is the Son of Man.
Fully God and Fully Human.

• He is the One anointed with the Holy Spirit sent to save.
• He is the rightful heir of David’s throne sent to rule.
• He is the seed of Abraham sent to inherit the promises.
• He is the Son of God able to accomplish it all.

That’s who He is.

The call is for you and me to
• Trust in Him for the salvation that only He can provide.
• Submit to Him as the rightful King.
• Abide in Him as our source of the achieving promises.
• Worship Him because of who He is.

I invite you to do that this morning.

The Forerunner – Part 4
Luke 3:1-20 (15-20)
November 26, 2017

If you’ve been with us the past few weeks then you know that while Luke 3 has not necessarily been enjoyable, it has been absolutely ESSENTIAL.

We have been looking at the ministry of John the Baptist
Who came for one purpose and that was to prepare us for Jesus.

John’s goal has been simple.
• He is working to expose our sin…
• He is working to show us our condemnation…
• He is working to reveal to us the judgment which comes as a result…
• He is working to lead us to repent of that sin…

And while pushing for this John will accept no false response.
John is not about to let up until
Our entire mindset and attitude regarding sin changes.

It has been HARSH
It has been PAINFUL
And yet at the same time we are so grateful

This morning we are going to bring the ministry of this forerunner to a close,
But let me remind you again about where we’ve come in this powerful chapter.
#1 JOHN’S CULTURE
Luke 3:1-2

Very simply put John ministered
In a time of Roman domination and Jewish extortion.
An extremely pagan government and an extremely hypocritical church.

It is suffice to say that truth and righteousness
Where not high on the list of cultural priorities.

#2 JOHN’S CALLING
Luke 3:3-6

This culture was sinful and that was a problem
Since the Holy One was on His way.

The One about whom Malachi said:
Malachi 3:2 “But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap.”

And again Malachi said:
Malachi 4:1 “For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze,” says the LORD of hosts, “so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.”

So we quickly realize that the sinful culture in which John lived
Was in no way ready for the Holy One who was about to arrive.

John was called to bring about repentance.

Or again as Malachi said:
Malachi 4:5-6 “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. “He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse.”

• We had children in Israel who would have been unrecognizable to their fathers (that is the Patriarchs who were men of faith)

These people had so far strayed from the faith and devotion of Abraham
That one could hardly even refer to them any longer as his children.

John came to lead the people to repentance
TO RESTORE THEM TO THE FAITH OF THEIR FATHER.

He came as Isaiah said,
To straighten out crooked hearts and to smooth down idolatrous souls.

He was called to make these people ready for the coming Holy One.

#3 JOHN’S CONFRONTATION
Luke 3:7-9

Since the people were so far out of whack and so unprepared,
• John began to confront his sinful culture
• And he refused to simply allow them to go through some symbolic ritual.

With John it was either repentance or bust.
He confronted them on every level.

He confronted their SINFUL NATURE – that they were a “brood of vipers”
He confronted their SUPERFICIAL MOTIVES – “who warned you to flee”
He confronted their SHALLOW COMMITMENT – “bear fruits in keeping…”
He confronted their SHAKY THEOLOGY – “do not think…Abraham”
He confronted their SORRY DISCERNMENT – “axe is already laid…”

There was no way
John was going to let them do what they had always done,
Which was bring some token offering to God
And expect that all was square.

John went after the very root of the problem
And revealed to these people that because of their sin
They were under the very REAL and NEAR judgment of God.

Something had to change or God was about to wipe them out.
#4 JOHN’S COMMAND
Luke 3:10-14

John’s penetrating warning certainly got the attention of the crowds
Because they all responded with the same question, “What shall we do?”

And so John had no problem telling them.
• Show Compassion
• Stop Corruption
• Seek Contentment

But really even more than that John told them to stop loving the world.

The problem with this generation is that they had grown
To value the world more than they valued righteousness.
We know that because they willingly
Sacrificed righteousness in order to gain the world.

That was their root problem and it had to change.

Because the King who was coming was not coming to offer the world.
He was coming to offer righteousness.
And if they didn’t get their priorities straight
There is no way they were going to be willing to follow Him.

So…
• John commanded these people to let their love of the world go.
• John commanded these people to repent of their love of money.
• John commanded these people to flee from their idolatry.

And that is where we left off.
John is not messing around.

This morning we want to look at the final two points of John’s ministry.
#5 JOHN’S CLARIFICATION
Luke 3:15-18

What we notice is that
John had at least succeeded in one aspect of his ministry.
He had captured the people’s attention.

My dad used to talk about all the time when he would come home from a sale with a new load of horses; and we’d ride them to see what they were. Inevitably you’d have one that just didn’t handle right and dad would say, “That horse needs his attention got.” (That meant he was fixing to get in the loading shoot with that horse and wouldn’t leave until that horse knew who was in control)

Well, John has just completed his little stint in the loading shoot
And it is safe to say that he has the people’s attention.
In fact, he has their attention to such a degree
That there is a universal question regarding John.

(15) “Now while the people were in a state of expectation and all were wondering in their hearts about John, as to whether he was the Christ,”

Now they don’t think that because John has worked some testifying miracle or because he has even fulfilled some Messianic prophesy.

They are wondering if he is the Messiah because
They have never met anyone who cares so much about holiness as John.

• His passion for righteousness and his willingness to forsake the world was absolutely foreign in every regard.
• He was such a contrast to anything they had ever seen, it caused many to wonder who he was.

John’s gospel gives a little more insight into this curiosity:
John 1:19-28 “This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” They asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” Then they said to him, “Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?” He said, “I am A VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, ‘MAKE STRAIGHT THE WAY OF THE LORD,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.” Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. They asked him, and said to him, “Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” John answered them saying, “I baptize in water, but among you stands One whom you do not know. “It is He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” These things took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.”

They didn’t know who John was,
But they knew he had to be someone special for this guy was different.

Beyond that, I think there is ANOTHER ASPECT about John that would have definitely been on the mind of at least some of the Jews.

TURN TO: EZEKIEL 36:22-32

If you are familiar with Ezekiel you know that he was a priest in Israel who had been deported to Babylon during the time of the Exile.

While there God used this man in a prophetic role to reveal
• That God was angry because of how Israel had profaned His name through their idolatry
• And His plan for cleansing them of that idolatry.

That is what we read about in Ezekiel 36.
(READ 22-32)

What you have there is a tremendous picture of salvation.
It is actually Ezekiel’s version of the same New Covenant that Jeremiah promised.

It is where God promises to take a people who have messed up
And will Himself clean them and cause them to become holy.

How will God accomplish this?
• He will first wash them with water
• Then He will fill them with His Spirit which will cause them to be obedient.

And thus God says in verse 29, “I will save you from all you uncleanness…”

That was a prophetic promise from God.
And to at least some extent this had to be included in the expectation
That is referred to here regarding John.

INCIDENTALLY, it is the exact same thing Jesus referred to during His conversation with Nicodemus.

John 3:1-5 “Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, ” Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”

That reference to “water and the Spirit” was a reference to Ezekiel 36.
It speaks of both repentance and regeneration.

AND I BRING THAT UP BECAUSE
That is also the same reality that John is about to speak of.

(16) “John answered and said to them all, “As for me, I baptize you with water; but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

Now because we just read Ezekiel 36 and John 3
Perhaps you have a better understanding of what John is talking about.

• These were idolatrous people.
• They loved the world.
• Through their love of the world, they had profaned the name of God.
• And as a result of this sin, they were a people under the judgment of God.

John came to be part of the solution.

WHAT PART DID JOHN PLAY?
“As for me, I baptize you with water;”

This is a reference to Ezekiel 36:25
Ezekiel 36:25 “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.”
It is the same water that Jesus referenced in John 3:5.
It is that cleansing which God said must occur.

Paul referred to it in Acts 19 (which we saw last week in reference to those unsaved disciples of John)
Acts 19:4 “Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.”

And this is what John is telling the crowds here.
• I certainly fulfill a role.
• I certainly have a purpose.
• I am the one who comes to lead you to repentance, to in effect wash you from
all of your uncleanness.

But if you’ve read Ezekiel 36
Then you know that you need more than I provide.

For Ezekiel indeed spoke of being washed with water,
But there was something even greater that Ezekiel also referred to.

Ezekiel 36:26-27 “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”

Certainly the people needed to be led to repentance and to be washed of their uncleanness, but that is not all they needed.
They also needed the power to obey God in the future.

If all they had was John’s baptism,
• Then it would have been no different than any other Old Testament ritual.
• They would have had to return daily to continue to be washed and cleansed
over and over and over again.
• Because although they would have been repentant, they would have had no
power to ever overcome sin in their lives.

And this is why John emphatically pointed to Jesus.
“but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

Do you hear what John is saying?
• Yes, you need repentance.
• Yes, you need to be washed.
• And this I can do.

But you also need God’s Spirit to give you the strength to live holy,
AND THIS I CANNOT GIVE YOU.
(I am not mighty enough to do that.)

But there is One who is.
And He is on His way.
He is “mightier than I”

In fact, if you want a comparison, “I am not fit to untie the thong of His sandals;”

That was a task usually done by the lowest and most unworthy servant,
And John says, “I’m not even worthy enough to do that for Him.”

But when He comes, “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit”

And thanks to Ezekiel 36, you now know what John is referring to.
• He is referring to salvation.
• He is referring to regeneration.
• He is referring to God’s Spirit moving within a person and subsequently causing that person to walk in obedience.

It is probably necessary that we do clarify this a little,
Because the charismatic movement has totally hijacked this term
And confused masses of people.

The charismatic movement has said that the “baptism of the Holy Spirit”
IS A SECONDARY EVENT TO SALVATION.

• It is when a saved person prays for a “secondary filling of the Holy Spirit” in
which God then super anoints a person with His Spirit into a new and
greater and more enlightened and more powerful closeness to God.

• This “secondary filling” or “baptism of the Holy Spirit” is also accompanied with
speaking in tongues and other miraculous abilities and manifestations.

Now, as much as I would love to go into all of that right now,
We don’t have near enough time.
(If you want to know more go to our website
And listen to our sermon series on the Holy Spirit which we studied a few years ago)

What I simply want you to understand this morning is that
The baptism of the Holy Spirit is NOT some secondary filling
Or some additional experience to salvation.

THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IS SALVATION.
Let me be clear, if you do not have God’s Holy Spirit
Dwelling inside of you then you are not a child of God.

The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the absolute tell-tell sign of a genuine believer.
Romans 8:9 “However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.”

John 7:38-39 “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'” But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”

Acts 2:38-39 “Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. “For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.”

It is clear that all who believe in Christ receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
He is not merely given to the most loyal of believers,
He is given to all believers.

The question is WHY?
And that is the answer which is given in Ezekiel 36.
TO ALLOW YOU TO LIVE HOLY.

That is why He is called the Holy Spirit.
His main work is to make you holy.
His main work is to work out sanctification in your life.

And the One who has the power to give you this Holy Spirit is Jesus.
John 14:16-17 “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.”

John 16:7 “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.”

Acts 2:32-33 “This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. “Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear.”

AND THAT IS WHAT JOHN IS REFERRING TO.
• This crowd has profaned the name of God through their idolatry.
• They most certainly need to repent and to be washed,
• But they also need to be filled with God’s Spirit that they may be holy.

Now, let me say one more thing about this baptism of the Holy Spirit.

There are two words in the Greek that refer to baptism.
There is BAPTO and there is BAPTIZO

The word used here is BAPTIZO.

There is actually a usage of both of these words in ancient Greek culture
That help us see the difference very easily.

Oddly enough it is from a man named Nicandor and it is a pickle recipe.
But in that recipe here is what he says.
You first take the cucumber and BAPTO that is “dip” that cucumber in boiling water and then he says to BAPTIZO that cucumber into the vinegar

Does that spell it out for you a little?
You dip that cucumber into the boiling water,
But you leave it in the vinegar solution until the very properties of that cucumber are changed into a pickle.

That is what happens with the Holy Spirit.
• It is not some experiential dip where you feel all better for a moment.
• It is a full blown immersion into that Spirit and you stay there until the very
properties of the person are changed.

This is what is referred to in passages like:
2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

You never thought a pickle could teach you so much about Christianity did you?

In John’s day you had a lot of clean cucumbers,
But you didn’t have many pickles.
(that relates to the church today as well)

John said, I can most certainly wash you, but I cannot transform you.
Only One can “baptize you with the Holy Spirit”
Only one can make you holy.
Only one can save you from your uncleanness.

This was John’s way of saying, “You must run to Jesus!”

But if you’ll notice the Holy Spirit ISN’T THE ONLY THING
John said that the coming One would baptize people with.

John also said that He would baptize people with “fire”.

Here is another widely misunderstood analogy.
Because the charismatic movement tries to make the baptism of the Holy Spirit something different than it is, they also distort the notion of fire. They liken this to the “tongues as of fire” that appeared above the believers in the upper room and thus say that is what John is referring to here.

IT IS NOT.
A proper Biblical hermeneutic will tell you that context is key.
John tells us exactly what fire means in the very next verse.

(17) “His winnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

So when John speaks of “fire” what does he refer to?
JUDGMENT

• When a farmer went out to harvest the wheat, they just took a sickle and cut down the entire stalk.
• They would then beat that stalk on the ground to shake loose the grain from the head.
• They would then take a “winnowing fork” (pitchfork) and toss everything up into the wind.
• The grain was heavier and would fall straight down and the “chaff’ or empty stalks would blow in the wind several feet away.
• After gathering the grain, he would then “burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire”

So now John has just explained to you exactly what this Holy One will do.

He will come and give you two options.
• You can either have salvation, which is the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
• Or you can have judgment, which is the baptism by fire.

And incidentally, everything John speaks of in regard to that judgment
Can be summed up in the word “thoroughly”

You will not find a reference to judgment in Scripture that is not thorough.
That is to say He never fails to gather a single piece of grain
And He never fails to burn a single piece of chaff.

SO LISTEN TO JOHN NOW.
The people want to know who he is, and John is clear.

Look, I have a role to play, and that is to lead you to repentance
And to wash you of your uncleanness.

But there are two things I can’t do because I’m not mighty enough.
1) I can’t totally save you because I can’t make you holy.
2) I can’t finally judge you because I am not powerful enough.

So in one sense John just told the crowd that they should repent,
But if they don’t, there is really nothing he can do about it.

And that is the reality of every single preacher I know.
I can tell you what the Bible says, but if you choose not to believe me,
There really isn’t really anything I can do about it.

One person today wears a T-shirt which says, “Only God can judge me”
And to an extent they are correct.
But that should terrify them, because John says that He absolutely will.

Jesus is coming, and you will either believe in Him
And be made holy with the baptism of the Holy Spirit
Or you will reject Him and be destroyed in the baptism of fire.

(18) “So with many other exhortations he preached the gospel to the people.”

That is to say that John continually tried to push people
• To the forgiveness that is found in repentance
• And the salvation that is found in Christ.

But a good question at this point would be:
WHY WOULD ANYONE CHOOSE THE BAPTISM OF FIRE OVER THE BAPTISM OF THE SPIRIT?

Well, let’s look at a case study:

John’s Culture, John’s Calling, John’s Confrontation, John’s Command, John’s Clarification
#6 JOHN’S CAPTURE
Luke 6:19-20

Luke actually skips many chronological events here.
There is actually a great deal of ministry that occurs in between Luke 3:18 and Luke 3:19, but Luke is making a point.

So Luke fast-forward’s to the capture of John
And mostly to reveal to us why people wouldn’t listen to him.

(19-20) “But when Herod the tetrarch was reprimanded by him because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the wicked things which Herod had done, Herod also added this to them all: he locked John up in prison.”

Mark’s gospel gives a little more of an explanation.
Mark 6:17-20 “For Herod himself had sent and had John arrested and bound in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, because he had married her. For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death and could not do so; for Herod was afraid of John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. And when he heard him, he was very perplexed; but he used to enjoy listening to him.”

That’s pretty remarkable isn’t it?

We see exactly why Herod locked John up.
• John was telling Herod that he was living in sexual immorality and that he should stop.
• He had stolen his brother’s wife, had married her, and was now living adultery with her.
• Herod didn’t like that message so he sought to silence John.

Luke’s gospel adds “and because of all the wicked things which he had done” insinuating that John confronted Herod for more than just this.

The remarkable things is that Mark said that
“he used to enjoy listening to him”

And that tells us a great deal about people who are enamored with the message of truth, but yet unwilling to yield their lives to it.

Of course you know that Herod will end up beheading John,
BUT THE POINT LUKE IS MAKING IS A SIMPLE ONE.
• Regardless of the fact that John preached the truth…
• Regardless of the fact that John offered forgiveness…
• Regardless of the fact that John revealed salvation in Jesus…
• Regardless of the fact that John warned of judgment for rejecting Christ…

We still find that there were plenty of people who rejected.
• We still find that there were people who refused to repent…
• We still find that there were people who refused to believe…
• We still find that there were people who settled instead for the baptism of fire…

AND THE REASON WHY IS VERY IMPORTANT.

John’s message could be seen in one of two ways.
In fact, as you’ve listened to John’s message
You have listened to it in one of two ways.
In your heart you have already made this distinction.

You either listen to John’s sermon and see it as a tremendous message of hope, or you listen to John’s sermon and see it as horrible message of judgment.

I can also emphatically tell you
WHAT MADE YOU CHOOSE ONE OR THE OTHER.

The difference that determines whether you thank John’s message is full of hope or full of dread is what you think about your sin.

If you hate your sin and want it removed
Then John’s message is full of hope because he offers forgiveness in
response to repentance and he offers the Holy Spirit to all who believe.

But if you love your sin and want to keep it
John’s message is full of dread because the refusal to repent leaves
only one option and that is the coming fire of judgment.

Your view of your sin dictates what you think about John’s sermon.
Your view of sin dictates whether or not you really think
John was preaching “the gospel” (i.e. good news).

Incidentally, Jesus said the same thing to Nicodemus.

John 3:18-21 “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. “But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”

Those who love their sin run from Me
Those who hate their sin run to Me

JESUS IS EITHER SEEN AS GOOD NEWS OR DREADFUL NEWS
DEPENDING ON WHAT YOU THINK OF YOUR SIN.

And Herod is the proof.
Herod saw John’s message as bad news and the coming Messiah as a threat
Only because Herod didn’t want to part with his sin.

And yet those who hated their sin and wanted it gone
Saw John’s message as good news and the coming Messiah as their long awaited hope who could finally free them from their sinful hearts.

And friends, that is where we are this morning.
There is no doubt that John’s message is direct, and bold, and penetrating, and convicting, and confrontational.

However, if you see it as negative and harsh
That only reveals that you still love your sin and don’t want to part with it.

I invite you at this moment to change your mind about sin and see that it only leads to judgment.
I invite you to throw it aside and run to this Jesus whom John spoke of who alone can forgive your sin and make you holy.

And if you do, Jesus promises not only to forgive you,
But also to baptize you with His Holy Spirit
That He might make you new.

Luke 11:9-13 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. “For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened. “Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? “Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

If you ask God for forgiveness and salvation and holiness
Through Jesus Christ, God will grant it.

He will give you the Holy Spirit when you ask.

Let me close with one final quote from John the Baptist.
• It comes from John’s gospel on a day when John’s disciples leaving John to follow Jesus.

When they asked John about it, here was the end part of his answer:
John 3:30-36 “He must increase, but I must decrease. “He who comes from above is above all, he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. “What He has seen and heard, of that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony. “He who has received His testimony has set his seal to this, that God is true. “For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for He gives the Spirit without measure. “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand. “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

That was the point John wanted you to see.
RUN TO JESUS.