The Exclusivity of Faith – Part 2
Acts 15:13-21
December 10, 2017pm

As you know, we are still discussing the doctrine of SOLA FIDE,
And even more specifically we have begun talking about
THE EXCLUSIVITY OF FAITH.

• We know faith is NECESSARY since “without faith it is impossible” to please God.
• We know faith is EFFECTIVE since “Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness”

What we are examining now is that faith is also EXCLUSIVE,

Which is to say that if you try to bring God anything in addition to faith,
Then He will not save you.
You must bring Him faith and you must bring Him faith alone.

To attempt to bring faith and something else
Is what is referred to as LEGALISM.

Legalism is simply when people lean upon their own religious works as a means of appeasing God.

And it really doesn’t matter if a person does this a little or a lot,
It is all legalism.
For a person either wholly trusts in the work of God for salvation
Or they trust in God’s work and their own.

What we are learning is that legalism is never acceptable to God.
• If you try to bring God works at all as a means of justification, He will not save you. You must come by faith alone.

And in order to examine the issue we have turned to the moment when the EARLY CHURCH was forced to definitively answer this question.

• While it is true that the church exploded on the scene with Jewish converts, it
did not take long until the church was being flooded with Gentiles.
• Gentiles were leaving paganism by the boatloads and where streaming to
Christ.
• In fact, all of those letters you have in the New Testament where letters written
to Gentile converts.

The Corinthians – The Galatians – The Ephesians
The Philippians – The Colossians -The Thessalonians

Those were all predominantly Gentile congregations.

And the problem for the early church is that this influx of Gentiles
Was threatening to rob the early church of her distinct Jewish feel.
And so it didn’t take long until a certain group of individuals
Sought to put their foot down.

Acts 15:1 “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.”

As we saw last week, this caused quite a stir.
• Paul and Barnabas rigorously debated them,
• But it was such a confusing issue that the church at Antioch decided that Paul
and Barnabas needed to go to Jerusalem to see Peter and James and get this matter straightened out.
• And that is what they did.

Paul and Barnabas went to Jerusalem
When they arrived they told everyone about these new Gentile believers.

And then we read:
Acts 15:5 “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.”

They just couldn’t get past their Jewish preferences.

And as we said last week, the issue at hand is an obvious one.
You won’t see the actual words in the chapter,
But this church is about to look into the matter of SOLA FIDE.

That is really what is on the table.
Are Gentiles saved by faith alone?
Or, do Gentiles need to participate in certain works in addition to their faith?

What we said that we want to do is to listen in to some of the leading apostles of the church to find out what they have to say on the matter.

You may not care what Luther, or Calvin, or Zwingli had to say about the issue, but here we are talking about the apostles of our Lord.

Last week we listened as Peter took the floor, and we said Peter’s point was simple.
#1 ACCORDING TO PETER: LEGALISM TESTS GOD
Acts 15:6-11

Peter recounted how God had literally forced him
To go and bear witness to the Gentiles.
(We even saw how half-hearted Peter was in his efforts)

And when Peter revealed the truth of Jesus Christ in the gospel,
God did the rest and Cornelius and his companions were saved
And instantly baptized in the Holy Spirit.

This hit me this week, but Cornelius was really
The New Testament equivalent to Abraham.
It left Peter a little shocked,
But he most certainly wasn’t confused about what had happened.

Acts 10:47 “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 so just like that, God had chosen to save Gentiles.

And Peter’s point was that God did that without having first required their circumcision or adherence to the Law.

Acts 15:8-9 “And God, who knows the heart, testified to them giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us; and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith.”

That is to say, God declared that these men were saved,
And God did this by putting the exact same seal of approval on them
That He placed upon us; namely the Holy Spirit.

And then came Peter’s big question.
Acts 15:10-11 “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.”

Peter said that these who were now requiring circumcision even after God had declared them saved were putting “God to the test”

That is
• They were challenging God’s ability to save.
• They were challenging God’s judgment that they were worthy of the Holy Spirit.

These people would basically determine to look at God and say, “We don’t think You should have given them the Holy Spirit. That was wrong. We don’t think these people have done enough yet to be saved, and therefore You should not have given them the Spirit.”

They were in effect questioning God’s salvation.
They were testing God.

And history is very clear that God is not ok with that.
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 another generation who questioned God’s salvation
And we see that God was not too pleased with them.

Obviously we don’t want to do that.
And so Peter’s point was a powerful one: LEGALISM TESTS GOD
If you read verse 12 you’ll find that Paul and Barnabas spoke next, recounting all the mighty deeds God had done through them in order to reach the Gentiles, but we’re going to come back to Paul’s argument.

Tonight I want to listen as James chimes in.
Now James is an important apostle to listen to on this matter
Because James is often quoted by the legalistic camp
As their chief spokesman.

Those who debate against SOLA FIDE just love to quote James.

James 2:14-26 “What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS,” and he was called the friend of God. You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.”

They love to quote that and then argue that James is saying
That faith alone is not enough.

We actually discussed these verses a few weeks ago when in Romans 4, but James is NOT SAYING that works are required for salvation.

• James is not talking about the means of justification at all.
• James is talking about the characteristics of true faith.

If you were to ask James if man is justified by faith alone,
James would say, “Absolutely! But it must be true faith.”

But because he is often misunderstood,
People assume that James is not a proponent of SOLA FIDE.

Well, let’s listen in tonight as he chimes in here at this Jerusalem Council
About whether or not Gentiles need anything other than faith to be saved.

#2 ACCORDING TO JAMES: LEGALISM TROUBLES GENTILES
Acts 15:13-21

Which is to say, legalism runs counterproductive to God’s plan of saving Gentiles. Legalism hinders what He seeks to do.

Let’s look at what James has to say.

3 things
1) HIS OBSERVATION (13-18)

• Up until now James has just sort of sat back and listened as everyone gave their two-cents on the issue.

• But in verse 13 he chimes in, and we find that James had been carefully listening and testing everything he had heard.

(13-15) “After they had stopped speaking, James answered, saying, “Brethren, listen to me. “Simeon has related how God first concerned Himself about taking from among the Gentiles a people for His name. “With this the words of the Prophets agree, just as it is written,”

These 3 verses actually make me love James even more
Because we find that James had 1 authority on the matter.
James is a proponent of SOLA SCRIPTURA

• Sure, he listened to Peter’s testimony about going to the house of Cornelius.
• Sure, he listened to Paul talk about all the miracles God had done through him.

But neither of those ranked as high to James as God’s revealed word.
James was testing what they were saying by the Bible.
James was forcing their experiences through the filter of Scripture.

What James found was that
Scripture affirmed what these two men had been saying.

And James quotes Amos 9:11-12
(16-18) ‘AFTER THESE THINGS I will return, AND I WILL REBUILD THE TABERNACLE OF DAVID WHICH HAS FALLEN, AND I WILL REBUILD ITS RUINS, AND I WILL RESTORE IT, SO THAT THE REST OF MANKIND MAY SEEK THE LORD, AND ALL THE GENTILES WHO ARE CALLED BY MY NAME,’ SAYS THE LORD, WHO MAKES THESE THINGS KNOWN FROM LONG AGO.”

Now this is a very important and significant passage.

If you are familiar with Amos,
• Then you’ll realize that Amos preached a lot of judgment toward Israel in regard to their sin.

• However, in this passage Amos began to look past the judgment of Israel to the time of her restoration.

• Amos saw that after all the judgment occurred, Christ would return and would totally rebuild Israel and restore them to their rightful position.

• Of course Amos spoke of the millennial kingdom and the 1,000 year reign of Christ.

But Amos also gave a very important piece of information.
Not only would God be saving Israel,
But also “all the Gentiles who are called by My name”

What is so special about that?

The significant thing is that here we are in the millennial kingdom
And God is still referring to them as Gentiles.

If they had been circumcised, or if they had come under the Law
Then they no longer would have been referred to as Gentiles,
They would have been referred to as proselytes or even Jews.

What Amos revealed was that during the millennium
God will have saved Gentiles who never did become Jewish.
That means they never did come under the Law
And they never were circumcised.

So…
• If Amos prophesied it in the past,
• And God confirmed that it will be that way in the future,
• Then what does that say about their present argument?

Obviously circumcision and adherence to the Law is not necessary,
And Scripture affirms that.

According to Scripture,
Gentiles can be saved and will be saved apart from circumcision
(or adherence to the Law.)
It is NOT a requirement.

So, all of those people in Acts 15:1 were WRONG.
All of those people in Acts 15:5 were WRONG.

First we saw his observation
2) HIS JUDGMENT (19)
“Therefore it is my judgment that we do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles.”

Now that is a loaded statement.
James could have just said, “So we should let them in.”

But he went further.
He actually gave a rebuke to those who started this whole controversy
And that rebuke was that they “do not trouble” them anymore.

See, according to James: LEGALISM TROUBLES GENTILES
That is to say that legalism seeks to hinder the evangelistic efforts of God.

Peter said that legalism was doubting God.
James said that legalism is actually getting in His way.

I’d say that those are some pretty serious issues
That one should definitely avoid.

But let’s talk a little deeper about what James actually meant here.

“do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles.”

First, please notice that James recognized that
We actually had Gentiles here who were “turning to God”

These were people who were leaving their pagan religions
And their pagan deities to begin to worship the God of Israel.

Paul spoke of the Thessalonians like this:
1 Thessalonians 1:9-10 “For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.”

Or consider what occurred at Ephesus:
Acts 19:18-20 “Many also of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices. And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of everyone; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing.”

I mean this is remarkable.
People are leaving their entire culture and legacy and traditions behind.

I want you to imagine how difficult this must have been for so many of them.
• It is hard to go against your very own culture…
• It is hard to reject the deity of your entire city…
• It is hard to go against the god of your fathers…

THESE PEOPLE SUFFERED.

Paul said of the Thessalonians:
1 Thessalonians 2:14 “For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews,”

These people made a very difficult choice
To abandon their idols and to worship Jesus.

And yet, James notes that
Whereas the church should have been encouraging them,
The church actually did them no favors either.

Instead of welcoming these Gentiles into the fold,
The church actually caused “trouble” for them.
That is to say, the church made it even more difficult.

The word “trouble” translates PARENOCHLEO (pay-ree-nah-klay-o)

It is from two words:
PARA – which means “beside” (i.e. “parallel”)
ENOCHLEO – “to annoy” or “to crowd”

It is used in:
Luke 6:18 “who had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled (enochleo) with unclean spirits were being cured.”

Hebrews 12:15 “See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble (enochleo), and by it many be defiled;”

The idea is that when these Gentiles
Abandoned their pagan religions to run to Christ,
James said that the church was quick to come beside them.

But the church didn’t come beside them to help them,
The church came beside them to “crowd” them
Or to “annoy” them or to “trouble” them.

(you understand this; crowds make everything more difficult.
Just think about rush hour traffic here)

And they did so by adding more requirements to salvation than even God had required; namely circumcision and the Law.

Imagine the struggle of leaving your pagan religion
And all the persecution that accompanied it to run to Jesus,
Only to have people tell you that there was a whole lot more
You had to do than just trust Jesus or God still wouldn’t take you?

And so according to James, only faith mattered to God.
• And if you determine to add more conditions than that, then you run the risk of discouraging believers who have already done all that God required.

AND THAT IS A PROBLEM.
When we add expectations to salvation we actually work against God, who is calling sinners by faith alone.

Beyond that, one can only imagine how discouraging this must be to people who have already forsaken everything to come to Jesus.

Remember this story?
Galatians 2:11-14 “But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For prior to the coming of certain men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision. The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, “If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

I don’t think it’s surprising that Paul was so angry there.
• Can you imagine how discouraging that incident must have been to these Gentiles, who despite having left their pagan religions and trusting in Jesus were still being treated like they weren’t really good enough?

Or consider the letter to the Colossians:
Colossians 2:16-19 “Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day — things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.”

There again we had a group of people who were trying to make Gentiles jump through more hoops before they would consider them as pleasing to God.
Things like:
“festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day”

And Paul’s response was, “Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize”

What did he mean?
He was referring to the joy of salvation.

These people had left paganism and run to Jesus
• And found forgiveness in Christ
• And access to the Father
• And the indwelling of God’s own Holy Spirit

And yet this group of Jewish legalists wouldn’t even let them enjoy it
Because they kept pointing out all of these other things they had to do.

Those are people who: SUCK THE JOY RIGHT OUT OF SALVATION!

AND THAT IS WHAT JAMES IS REFERRING TO.

God is saving these Gentiles by faith alone.
• Amos said He would
• Peter saw Him do it
• Paul has been used countless times to do it

And yet you people are determined to work against it
By requiring something God never did.
STOP MAKING IT HARDER ON THEM.
Stop troubling them!

So the point is clear.
• Not only does legalism test God.
• Legalism also troubles Gentiles

That was James’ judgment on this issue.
He NEVER was a proponent of adding works to salvation.

His observation, His judgment
3) HIS ADVICE (20-21)
“but that we write to them that they abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from what is strangled and from blood. “For Moses from ancient generations has in every city those who preach him, since he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath.”

I want to cover these verses, not because they add to James’ point about troubling Gentiles, but BECAUSE THEY HAVE CONFUSED many people and I want you to have a handle on the situation.

Some have been confused that
No sooner did James concur that no extra works were needed,
Than did he turn right around and give 4 commands to the Gentiles.

“that they abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from what is strangled and from blood.”

Now FIRST, you need to understand that
Some of the things on this list are sinful and some are not.

For example, Paul was very clear that meat sacrificed to idols is perfectly edible.
1 Corinthians 10:23-26 “All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify. Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor. Eat anything that is sold in the meat market without asking questions for conscience’ sake; FOR THE EARTH IS THE LORD’S, AND ALL IT CONTAINS.”

There is nothing wrong with the meat.

However, Paul continues:
1 Corinthians 10:27-30 “If one of the unbelievers invites you and you want to go, eat anything that is set before you without asking questions for conscience’ sake. But if anyone says to you, “This is meat sacrificed to idols,” do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for conscience’ sake; I mean not your own conscience, but the other man’s; for why is my freedom judged by another’s conscience? If I partake with thankfulness, why am I slandered concerning that for which I give thanks?”

So someone would then say, “So eating the meat is not wrong unless you know that meat has been defiled by idols?”

And the answer is yes, but only because it might offend your brother,
Not because the meat is somehow tainted.

For Paul even said, “If I partake with thankfulness, why am I slandered concerning that for which I give thanks?”

Point being, eating the meat is not a sin in and of itself.
• Now, fornication most certainly is a sin either way.
• Beyond that, I’m not aware that Scripture forbids meat that has been strangled, or even from blood (such as in a blood transfusion, etc.)

So why would James command these Gentiles
To abstain from those things?
Isn’t he being legalistic?

NO

First of all, James didn’t add anything that these Gentiles must do.
His only command is “abstain” not “do”

Secondly, he doesn’t command this for the sake of Gentile salvation, but for the sake of church unity.

After dealing a crushing verdict to zealous Jews
Who want to keep all of their Jewish traditions,
James turns around and addresses the Gentiles
And asks for them to be considerate as well.

James tells us why he wants Gentiles to abstain from these things.
(21) “For Moses from ancient generations has in every city those who preach him, since he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath.”

That is to say that there are Jewish people everywhere.
Not necessarily Jewish Christians, just Jews period.

And to those Jews these 4 issues were huge issues.

• IF I tell Jews to quit requiring circumcision so that I don’t trouble Gentiles who are being saved,
• THEN I am also going to tell Gentiles not to do things that would be detestable to Jews which would trouble them from being saved.

Could you imagine if
• The local church filled with Gentiles worshiped God in the same manner as those pagan feasts they just came out of?

• They were eating strangled meat and animals sacrificed to idols?

• Do you think those Jews are going to easily run into that church to worship Jesus?

Absolutely not!
And that is James’ point.

He is not adding requirements to Gentiles in order to be saved.
He already acknowledged their salvation and condemned any and all legalism.

He is merely asking that both sides show a little respect
With regard to the extreme differences that are seeking to come together.

It is the same thing we learned from Paul,
Who argued adamantly that Gentiles should not be circumcised.

And then in the very next chapter in Acts we read:
Acts 16:1-5 “Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. And a disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek, and he was well spoken of by the brethren who were in Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted this man to go with him; and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. Now while they were passing through the cities, they were delivering the decrees which had been decided upon by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem, for them to observe. So the churches were being strengthened in the faith, and were increasing in number daily.”

Paul didn’t circumcise Timothy so he would be acceptable to God.
Paul circumcised Timothy so he would be acceptable to the lost Jews he was about to preach to.

I hope you see the difference.

But none the less, the point remains.

LEGALISM BRINGS NO BENEFIT,
IT ONLY TROUBLES THOSE WHOM GOD IS SAVING.

Think again about that ridiculous statement in the beginning of Acts 15.
Acts 15:1 “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.”

• Can you imagine how that statement must have sounded to God?
• God had already saved them, who were these people to say otherwise?
• God wanted them saved, who were these people to try and make it harder?

Legalism is such an offense.

Jesus, incidentally, dealt with this all the time too.

This story comes to mind:
Luke 13:10-17 “And He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And there was a woman who for eighteen years had had a sickness caused by a spirit; and she was bent double, and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your sickness.” And He laid His hands on her; and immediately she was made erect again and began glorifying God. But the synagogue official, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, began saying to the crowd in response, ” There are six days in which work should be done; so come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead him away to water him? “And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound for eighteen long years, should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day?” As He said this, all His opponents were being humiliated; and the entire crowd was rejoicing over all the glorious things being done by Him.”

Talk about a kill-joy!
Could they not see that this woman had just been healed?

But there was no rejoicing, only legalism.
This synagogue official wouldn’t even let this woman rejoice in her deliverance, he instead troubled her with guilt.

We could throw that older brother in the story of the prodigal son into that same boat; refusing to let everyone celebrate.

That is what legalism does.
It is the same thing Peter and James are arguing against here.
• Legalism tests God, which greatly angers Him.
• Legalism troubles Gentiles, which also greatly angers Him.

And so we are learning, it’s NOT JUST that God prefers faith,
IT’S THAT God doesn’t want anything in addition to faith.

God wants faith and faith alone,
When you try to add in human works to the equation
You’re going to anger God.

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.