The Sonship of Jesus

[0:00] You can be turning to Luke chapter 3. Luke chapter 3. In a minute we'll be reading verses 21 to 38.

[0:18] And before I get into the message, I have practiced, and I know you guys are gracious, but there's a whole ton of hard names. So bear with me as I read through the genealogy in just a moment.

[0:34] Luke chapter 3. We'll read starting in verse 21 in a moment. Trying to find the right person for an important job is so difficult.

[0:50] Are they good people? When you start looking at a person, is it a good person? Can they think on their feet? Will they show up on time every day?

[1:05] Will they last? Are they the right person for the job? Sometimes when you think you've found the right person, a couple of weeks into the job, something happens, and you find out that there was some aspect of the job they didn't really know.

[1:25] Or, even worse, you find out that there's been some sort of failure in the past that comes back to cause them trouble, and now you've got to let them go because things aren't working out.

[1:39] Today's text will deal with the performance and the qualifications of Jesus. Now, it won't deal with this whole performance, but the performance in his life to this time.

[1:54] The work he had to do, the work he came to do, required perfection. And the position he was called to had some insurmountable qualifications to fill.

[2:12] But he did it. Let's look at Luke chapter 3, starting in verse 21. I'm going to read down, like I said, to verse 38. Now, when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove.

[2:36] And a voice from heaven, a voice came from heaven, You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased. Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about 30 years of age, being the son, as was supposed, of Joseph, the son of Hili, the son of Metah, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Janani, the son of Joseph, the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Elsi, the son of Nagai, the son of Maath, the son of Matthias, the son of Simeon, the son of Josach, the son of Jodah, the son of Jonanen, the son of Risa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Nerai, the son of Melchi, the son of Adi, the son of Kosam, the son of El-Madam, the son of Demoni, the son of Demoni, the son of Jezus, the son of Eliezer, the son of Joram, the son of Metah, the son of Levi, the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonan, the son of Eliakim, the son of Mele, the son of Mena, the son of Metah the son of Nathan the son of David the son of Jesse the son of Obed the son of Boaz the son of Sala the son of Nashum the son of Amminadab the son of Admin the son of Arnie the son of Hezron the son of Perez the son of Judah the son of Jacob the son of Isaac the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah, the son of Canaiah, the son of Arfaxed, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleo the son of Keanon the son of Enos the son of Seth the son of Adam the son of God let's pray together

[5:00] Father I thank you for this passage and even though we've come to part of this being something that we would glaze over or skim over if we were doing our Bible reading here I thank you that there is real substance here there is amazing substance here I thank you for what this speaks about as far as our Savior is concerned what this speaks about as far as God is concerned overall and I pray Father that you would make that clear and making that clear would be an encouragement to your people would be a means of hearing the gospel for those who don't know you and I pray that it would be down to your glory and that we would be people who rest in what Jesus has done in Jesus name Amen well as we go back to verse 21 we have recounted or we've preached through all the things that have gone on to this point and I won't rehearse them all you're mostly familiar with them it's come to the point lastly we looked at how

[6:14] John the Baptist had prepared the way for Jesus and Luke quotes a phrase from our passage from Isaiah and the it's familiar passage to us the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord and every valley should be filled and every mountain hill shall be made low and the crooked shall be made straight and the rough places shall become level ways and all flesh shall see the salvation of God and so John has been preparing the way for the Messiah it's time all the work that John has done now John stays on the scene at least another six months still preaching but as he's preaching those disciples who come to him then are are relayed on to Jesus but he stays on the scene but it's time the main part of his ministry is done he's done what he's been called to do

[7:18] John was to prepare the way and now the way has been prepared for the beginning of Jesus' ministry and that's what we're getting into now today as we look at this passage we're looking at the beginning of Jesus' public ministry now it's public in that things are done out in the open at this point but it's not public in that Jesus doesn't preach yet in fact there's going to be another 40 or so days before Jesus opens his mouth to declare anything about his ministry but his ministry has begun this is the beginning of his public ministry and John has prepared him for that so in verse 21 now when all the people were baptized and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying so John has been setting the stage saying prepare the way of the Lord and people have been baptized and now even Jesus is baptized it's time he's been calling people to repent and they've been repenting and we looked last time at the fruit of that repentance and all the things that John had been sent to do have taken place and it is time

[8:31] Jesus was baptized and was praying now we're trying to be really careful to look at what Luke says not what all the gospels say and I'm going to disappoint you today and then I'm not going to get into what Jesus' baptism means Luke doesn't deal with the reason for Jesus' baptism in this gospel and if you want to know why Jesus was baptized I'm going to steer you to Matthew 3 15 but don't turn there now because you'll miss what the Lord is doing here so leave those thoughts out of your mind it's not time to know why Jesus was baptized it's time to know that Jesus was baptized it's a time marker it's a way of saying everything has been fulfilled and now it's time for the ministry of Jesus to start you will find several interesting things in this passage one of the things that's interesting in this passage you look for repeated words and what is the most repeated word in this passage anybody except articles

[9:50] I think I've heard it it's son it's son the word son is repeated I didn't count many times here and this whole passage talks about this son that is coming the ministry of the son the qualifications of the son and it's really broken down into two groups we're going to see the qualification of Jesus as the divine son of God and then we're going to see the qualifications as Jesus the human son of God and although there are many repetitions of the word son the most important three are at at in verse 22 and then in verse 23 and then verse 38 those make the important distinctions about the son of God and so

[10:52] Luke wants us to know that Jesus is certainly qualified to fulfill the ministry he's about to accomplish why because first of all he is the divine son of God Luke 3 21 and 22 says the heavens were opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove and a voice came from heaven so there was this supernatural we're only going to get into a part of it to begin with supernatural attestation someone's giving testimony supernaturally to the divinity of Christ and so here again not getting into why but Jesus is baptized as he's finished baptized being baptized he's praying and as he is praying it there begins to be a supernatural sight it says the heavens open now we don't know what that looked like

[11:54] I want you to recognize though it is a supernatural sight I would liken it to the parting of the Red Sea or the parting of the Jordan River whatever it looked like in the heavens there was a situation where people could see that the heavens had opened so something special is going on here I have never seen the heavens opened I look forward to a day when the heavens will be when Christ comes down and I'll be taken back and all of us who know Christ will be taken with him we're looking forward to that day but there after Jesus was baptized and while he was praying the heavens opened and God was the only one who could do that and so it's a miraculous attestation to who this one was who was beginning their ministry and it says then also that the Holy Spirit came down out of heaven like a dove from those opened heavens the Holy

[12:59] Spirit comes down and you can imagine if you see this dove like form come out of the heavens you would imagine that it comes from God and this dove like form comes down and it rests in Christ and so there's been this supernatural sign heavens open dove came down but what we love to look at is the voice this is a voice you would think of the situation at Mount Sinai where God declared his law here God declares something else he says in verse 22 you are my beloved son with you I am well pleased the voice speaking from heaven was addressing Jesus the one that the dove had just come down from the opened heavens to light upon you pretty obvious if the voice is coming from the same place that the dove came from and says you he's addressing

[14:05] Jesus God is addressing this one the spirit came upon and called him his beloved son it's evident nothing is talked about as far as reaction we don't get John's comments like in the other gospels but that's not important here because we're looking at what Luke is trying to tell us Luke is trying to point to who this one is this is my beloved son and it's evident that all the people at that time understood that for God to call a man his son was to say that Jesus was divine you say how can you say that because when Jesus claimed the father as his father they knew exactly that he was saying he was divine so this statement from God is saying that Jesus is divine there's this opening of the heavens there's this dove coming down people were to get the message that this is

[15:12] God's son Jesus was God's son Jesus was God's loved special son there's no other one that's designated like this now we're now if we're trusting in Christ we're called sons of God and he is our father but we are sons of God and he is our father not because we are directly related to him like Christ is we are sons of God and call God our father because we are brought into Christ we share Christ's relationship there Jesus is God's beloved his loved his special son he's the only son he has that's like this and even though we are in Christ we are not like that son but we share those benefits those blessings and so

[16:13] God goes on to say more he says I am well pleased with you I am well pleased in the next verse we learn that Jesus has lived on this earth for 30 years we know from scripture that Jesus was born without sin he was born of a virgin we know that he perfectly obeyed God he kept all of God's commandments so young people as Jesus was growing up no matter how much his brother James poked him he reacted rightly no matter how much Joseph misunderstood a situation and wanted to discipline wrongly Jesus never did anything wrong for 30 years

[17:15] Jesus has lived the perfect life never disobeying his parents never acting in selfishness or for self ambition always doing all the commandments of God perfectly for 30 years he had been the perfect son and now God's saying this one is my son and I am well pleased in the life that he has lived can God say that about any of us not in ourselves we heard Romans 1 this morning in a couple weeks we'll get to Romans 3 and many of you are familiar with Romans 3 but already in Romans 1 we see that we're people who do all kinds of things based on our own desires and lusts we commit sin and and just run into it there has never been anyone that has been perfect except

[18:24] Jesus now if you're trusting Christ as Savior you have 30 years of childhood young adult righteousness perfect righteousness if you're trusting Christ you have that perfect righteousness so rest in him because Jesus the father is pleased with you as he is pleased with his son but as we look at this passage God has said this is my beloved son with you I am well pleased and so God has declared indeed this is his son he's perfect he's done everything right he is divine I am pleased but that's not all that's declared in Luke's argument about

[19:27] Jesus Luke argues that Jesus is the human he's not only the divine son of God and perfect he is the human son of God now as we address this next part we recognize that Jesus is without sin but we're not trying to prove his sinlessness in this we're trying to prove his relation to us and his relation to other people all the things that are qualifying things are qualifications for him to be the Messiah so Jesus is the perfect human son of God and first of all humans live in time Jesus lived in time and was therefore human again verse 23 says Jesus when he began his ministry is about 30 years of age 30 years of age means that he had lived in time 30 years he was truly human but not only do humans live in time humans have a lineage and

[20:36] Jesus had a lineage now there's interesting words here as it begins this actually is a very interesting genealogy it's upside down from most genealogies most genealogies start with Adam and talk about his sons this genealogy starts with Jesus and he says he was the son of but talks about their fathers it's pointing it's all pointing back to Adam ultimately that's the goal of Luke having set up this genealogy the way it is is to point back to the fact that Jesus is a true human related to Adam but as we start this we see in verse 23 that as Luke starts the genealogy he starts out and says he was about 30 years of age being the son and then the

[21:38] ESV has it in quotes or parentheses other versions do not it says as was supposed now in some versions something like that you might wonder is this something that was put in there to make it more understandable that's not the case that's here that is exactly what's going on in the original the as was supposed is not it is Luke's comment it is an inspired comment it is not the comment of people who wrote the ESV Bible or the NIV Bible or the ASV Bible whatever this is the word of God so as he says as was supposed as Luke begins the genealogy of Jesus he's understanding that people in Jesus' day who knew Jesus knew his family just assumed that he was Joseph's son now of course Jesus was born by virgin conception and he

[22:43] Mary was pregnant with Jesus before Joseph and Mary came together in marriage but they did come together in marriage and that act of coming together in marriage made Jesus then to be the legal son of Joseph and so he was then an heir of Joseph by adoption people all along thought that Jesus was Joseph's true son they thought Mary and Joseph were lying we get that again in Jesus ministry when they the Pharisees hint at Mary's unfaithfulness and having slept with Joseph before they were married and it was just the common thought of the day that yeah sure Mary claims that this was a virgin conception but now we know that that doesn't happen and so he was supposed he was thought to be!

[23:38] the son of Joseph but in that position he was legally adopted and had all the rights and privileges that Joseph would have and we know from Matthew and we're not going there but we know from Matthew that and even from earlier in Luke that Joseph was of the tribe of Judah of the line of David he was in fact of the kingly line of David Joseph could have been king of Israel and because Joseph could have been king of Israel Jesus being his legal heir not heir roar but heir!

[24:21] He could have been king of Israel he had every right to be king of Israel but Joseph's lineage had a problem there was a problem in this lineage!

[24:40] Okay let's think from the opposite direction we're going to start only with David we're not going to go back all the way to Adam like this genealogy just for understanding this section because as you look from David up in this passage you will not recognize much of any of those names you may recognize him but there's only one name in that list after David from David up that you can see in scripture there are no lists of these names anywhere and so it points to a problem David had a son his son he had many sons his son's name was Solomon who became king Solomon was great and wise lived righteously before the Lord for a while his wives turned his heart he began to seek other gods and a son was born to him Rehoboam by name and Rehoboam became king and

[25:41] Rehoboam did some foolish things he lived a mixed life as unto the Lord and and the kings of Israel from then on some good some bad getting worse some still good getting worse or worse and some still good and it got to the point where Israel and says according to my covenant you must be cast out of the land and they were Israel first and then Judah and then when the kings were taken to Babylon Jeconiah had a son whose name was Caniah and or maybe that's the same person I forgot but anyway this one Caniah we'll call him Caniah because it's what I was talked about he caused the kings of Israel problem and this was something that

[26:42] Jeremiah prophesied Jeremiah 22 verses 24 to 30 as I live declares the Lord though Caniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were a signet ring on my hand yet I would tear you off and give you into the hand of those who seek your life into the hand of those of whom you are afraid even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans I will hurl you and the mother who bore you into another country where you were not born and there you shall die but the land to which they will long to return there they shall not return is this man Caniah a despised broken pot a vessel no one cares for why are he and his children hurled and cast into a land they do not know!

[27:36] land land hear the word of the Lord thus says the Lord write this man down as childless a man who will not succeed in his days listen to this part for none of his offspring shall succeed and sitting on the throne of David ruling again in Israel there would never be a king after Jehoiakim's son that would ever reign again in Israel why because they had just become so sinful they had so badly broken the covenant and so here's this family tree built upon David and it has grown up and grown up and grown up till Jehoiakim's son Kaniah was so sinful that God says I've had enough none of them will be king!

[28:31] and so the tree is no kings from that line of David forevermore who would rule over the king of Israel and yet it was that line that was promised it was that line through whom God would build a house it was through Solomon that that house would be built that David's covenant would go on and so we have an heir who can't reign we have many heirs who can't reign what were we to do how could God's promises because Jesus has already promised to be the king of Israel and having been adopted into the family of Joseph he now had the legal right but he was cursed but he wasn't

[29:32] God foretold a solution Isaiah 11 1 there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit I gave you the illustration of a tree on the line of David that would be cut down because of Caniah God says though there will be the reestablishment of a connection to David by means of a branch that would grow out of a root you ever gone into your yard had a good living tree you had to cut it down for some reason you cut it down and you don't do anything with the stump you leave the stump there next spring what do you see little suckers little small trees of that root and if you leave them there they will grow into a tree they will grow and flourish

[30:36] I've seen fruit trees do that especially grow up and we have a pear tree where my folks live that at one point it was totally lopped off and now it looks ugly but it bears good pears and God promised that there would be a branch that would be reestablished now you're going to have to look into the passage that we're talking about look at verse 31 you'll have to go amongst the bunches of names in the midst of those names you'll see the son of Mele the son of Mena the son of Mata the son of Nathan the son of David wait a minute where has Nathan ever been talked about in scripture as being part of the line of Christ Nathan was the third son of David by

[31:36] Bathsheba he was Solomon's older brother but through the branch of Nathan the Messiah would be provided hezekiah 12 verse 10 and I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy so that when they look on me on whom they have pierced they shall mourn for him I'm reading much more but so much of it talks about Christ that's why I'm reading more they shall mourn for him as one who mourns for an only child and weep bitterly over him as one weeps over a firstborn on the day the morning in Jerusalem will be as great as the morning for the land shall mourn each family by itself the family of the house of David by itself and their wives by themselves and the family of the house of Nathan by itself and their wives by themselves and the family of the house of

[32:38] Levi by itself the way it goes on let me just jump down to chapter 13 the first verse here on that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness the tree the main tree of David was cut off at Jeconiah the devil thought he had won he made the kings of Israel so sinful that God had to cut them off but all along God had been prophesying God had been planning that there would be a branch that grows out of the root Nathan now it's not Nathan that says you are the man when he talks to him about the sheep this is his son Nathan and he grows up and the Jews were fastidious about keeping their lineage Joseph and Mary went back to

[33:38] Bethlehem Mary went there too because she was of that family and they would have had the records of Mary's lineage Jesus is the rightful son of David as the virgin born son of Mary who is of the family of David through Nathan so we have this amazing situation the Israelite kings Judas kings became so sinful they were cut off cursed none could rule but that was the line that inherited the promise and that line was connected to Jesus through Joseph as his adopted son it was important that he was his adopted son he got the legal rights without the cursings but God had been making a way and it was through Nathan that Mary was born and Nathan was David's son and that had been prophesied and even though Satan would be working against the things of

[34:39] God Jesus was qualified though there was a curse against his family Jesus was qualified to be our savior and he would indeed come as the son of David through Nathan but still legally the son of David through Joseph and Solomon and all those people he would come and by his work there would be!

[35:00] Now the lineage of Jesus continues back through David which is an interesting thing you go to Matthew and Matthew doesn't deal with anything before Abraham but Luke does why?

[35:20] Because Luke was written to people who were Gentiles and Abraham was not their primary concern Abraham was a man of the Jews and so Luke goes back through Abraham but he doesn't forget Abraham he names the seed of Abraham Jesus was of the seed of Abraham and was therefore able to fulfill another obligation another requirement and that was Genesis 22 18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed he's talking about Christ Galatians makes Galatians the book of Galatians makes that clear he was talking about Christ the seed of Abraham and so now Jesus in his lineage is related to Abraham but he goes back further goes back through the lineage from Abraham back to Noah back to Adam Jesus is truly human because he's the son of

[36:23] Adam all Jews can trace their lineage back to Adam and that's not a mistake I didn't mean to say Abraham all Jews can trace their lineage back to Abraham but they were more concerned with all Jews can trace their lineage back to Adam but they were more concerned with Abraham but all Gentiles can trace their lineage back to Adam and so of all the qualifications needed for a Messiah to save as was prophesied or spoken of as Luke prophesied or quotes from the book of Isaiah back in chapter 3 verse 6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God well if all flesh will see the salvation of God and it's going to make any difference that Messiah had to be related to all flesh and not just the Jews and so God in making Jesus qualified as a human made him related to

[37:26] Adam of course all men were related to Adam but Luke's point is that very thing all men were related to Adam what Jesus was coming to do was not just for the Jews what Jesus was coming to do was for anyone in the whole world Jesus is truly human so the Messiah can be a Messiah for all people including us including us here Jesus is a Messiah for us but I'll take just a minute as we're getting close to end here to point out that there's such an odd phrase at the end of this if you look at this genealogy and in the end of verse 38 let me read 38 again the son of Enos the son of Seth the son of Adam the son of God and that's purposeful was

[38:27] Adam the son of God yes Adam was created by God there's an odd sense in which you can say all are God but he fell and took all his creation all his race into sin but here's Jesus Jesus was related to that same Adam, but he was conceived by God in the Virgin Mary.

[39:13] And not only was he without sin, he was without Adam's sin. And at 30 years old, in all the temptations that you and I face until we got to 30 years old, he has been perfect.

[39:28] He has never failed. So, at this point, and of course we know for the rest of his life, but at this point, God is well pleased with him.

[39:40] You can say in a very real sense, now it's not done, but you can say in a very real sense, for 30 years, Jesus has been earning a perfect righteousness as a human being, not tapping the resources of his divine nature to make it so he can obey.

[39:59] He is depending on the Holy Spirit as you and I need to do to be able to obey. And he has lived a perfectly righteous life for 30 years. Kids, you may mess up when your brother pokes you, but Jesus didn't.

[40:14] And if you're trusting Christ as Savior, you have the righteousness of a perfect one who went through the same things you do. Grown up, same thing is true of you.

[40:26] God is well pleased. So we have this comparison with Adam. He is without sin, but he's without Adam's sin. He's lived a perfect righteous life.

[40:38] God is well pleased with him. He is God's greater son. I think that's why it was dealt with first.

[40:51] You are my son, my only beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. He is God's greater son. He's truly human, yet without sin.

[41:02] Truly human, able to die. Truly human, so he can be our substitute. And yet at the same time, he's truly God, able to endure the wrath of God against sin.

[41:19] A wrath that those who do not know Christ will endure for all eternity, never ending. Jesus, as the God man, could take the wrath of God for his people against him on the cross in the time it took him to suffer on the cross.

[41:37] As truly God. And because he's truly God, as God's son, he is of infinite value and able to pay for the sins of all his people.

[41:48] If it was just me, if there were some way I could be perfect and some way I had never sinned, but since I am only a man, maybe I could take the place of one person.

[42:01] But because Jesus was the God man, perfect in every way, he was of value to redeem what he gave in payment was of value to redeem all his people.

[42:15] Jesus is the God man, the Messiah for all mankind. He fits all the qualifications. We began talking about job qualifications.

[42:26] None of us could fulfill this position. There's only one person qualified to be the redeemer of all men. God's beloved son having taken on flesh, he was born of Mary.

[42:39] All his life he lived perfectly and in him God was well pleased. So the account of his human lineage is amazing. God worked so amazingly through the lives, through the lives of sinful people.

[42:57] He didn't keep people from, you know, Jeconiah sinned and Caniah sinned worse. God didn't keep them from, in letting them choose their way, God still worked so that there would be a line until Joseph with the legal right to David's throne.

[43:15] But the same time he worked through another man whose family lived and prospered, may have been godly, we don't know, there's no indication, until a young woman who was righteous before the Lord.

[43:29] God said, I'm going to, there's going to be a birth, you're going to conceive and bear a child. So his work is amazing.

[43:41] He did all that to fulfill all the requirements to be the perfect Messiah. Christian, do you glory in that?

[43:52] all that's been done. An intricate work, God has done it all. Jesus has done it perfectly. Will you not rest in what he's done?

[44:05] Tomorrow, you'll wake up and maybe you're a carpenter and three minutes into the job, the first thing you will do is hit the wrong nail. But your reaction will be paid for by Jesus.

[44:22] And so, it's all done. He did all that needed to be done in order for there to be an acceptable sacrifice, a qualified sacrifice for you.

[44:34] Will you not rest in what he's done for you tomorrow with a hammer or the next day with a co-worker or a young person the third day with your brother or sister who just won't leave you alone?

[44:48] Christ has done the work for you. Friend, this Savior's work is big enough, full enough, complete enough, perfect enough to stand for you.

[45:00] And I'll just go back to the illustration that Jesus gave Nicodemus when he wanted to know how to be saved. When Israel sinned, God says, put a bronze snake on a pole.

[45:14] And when they were bitten by the snake, all they had to do was to look at that bronze snake to be spared from the death of that snake.

[45:26] And Jesus, as he was speaking to Nicodemus, says, being saved is just like that. It's so simple. You know your need.

[45:37] I'm a sinner. It's like being bitten by the snake. I know I'm a sinner. That's the only deliverance. Look to the one who was hung on a tree for us.

[45:50] And so if you're here today, there's a perfect Messiah. There's everything you needed. He fulfilled every requirement and obligation.

[46:01] He just offers salvation to you if you will but turn from your sin and trust him. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for your word.

[46:12] I thank you for the things that are here. And I pray that as we reread the first part of Luke again in the future, we would see again that our Savior is completely sufficient, completely qualified to be the Savior that we need.

[46:32] And that happening was not happenstance but the work of a powerful and great God who's showing his love towards us. And I pray that you would help us as Christians to rest in the work of Christ and that you would be with those who don't know you, young person or grown up, that they would come to rest only in the work of Christ and what he's done for us.

[46:54] We pray in Jesus' name.