Father, as we come before you this morning, we like to raise
up our voice, Lord, in gratitude, in thanks and in
praise for who you are. As angels in heaven always
proclaims, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.
So Father God, we thank you for who you are, the Almighty God,
the majestic and the glorious God.
And this morning, Father, we thank you for the opportunity
that we have to remember your Son our Lord and our Saviour
this morning. Who are Lord God, did not
consider equality with God with something to be grasped.
But as the Scripture says that he came down and took upon
himself man, and there on the cross of Calvary He shared his
precious blood for each and everyone.
So we thank you, Lord, the that we had the remembrance this
morning of your Son, our Lord and our Saviour.
And so far we thank you that we can gather together as one, as
brothers and sisters in Christ. And for the opportunity or law
that we have this morning, we give you our thanks.
We also like to pray for our Sunday School children as they
go to their classes. Father, we thank you for each
and every little child. We know a lot that they are they
are all gift from God and our prayer and our desire is to see
each and everyone of them not only grow to come to know you
personally, but grow to be tremendous, tremendous men and
women for the Lord. And so we pray and commit each
and one of them into your into your hands and also the for the
Sunday School teachers. We thank you for their
commitment, thank you a lot for their ministry, and we pray for
our enabling Lord this morning as a share word with these
little children. We pray for Andy too a lot as he
comes and opens to us God's Word and continues the series in
look. You pray for prepared lips a lot
as He shares Your Word. That Father, the words that are
proclaimed, we pray would fall on prepared hearts.
That You prepare the hearts of each and everyone of us a lot to
receive Your word. That Your word would bear fruit
in our lives. And Father God, we once again
thank you. We come at this time into your
hands and save your precious, and in His worthy name, Amen.
Good morning, Church. The kids are lucky they don't
have to listen to the genealogy today.
A couple of weeks ago there was a robbery in France at the
famous Louvre Museum, the most visited Art Museum in the world.
The thieves disguised themselves as construction workers, they
wore hivers and they got this big furniture elevator.
As you can see, they broke into the museum on the 2nd floor with
an angle grinder and they stole priceless jewellery worth over
$100 million and left without being caught.
They weren't subtle at all. They were quite obvious and
obnoxious. You would expect thieves to be
thieving sneakily and and quietly and suddenly, yeah.
But these these thieves were loud and obnoxious, and they got
away with it. Those who saw them probably
assumed that they were indeed construction workers.
There's a video on YouTube of these two Aussie guys who who
experiment to see the amount of places they could get in if they
just carry around a ladder and it's surprising.
I don't wanna attempt you, but they got into he's the places
like this cinema 5 star hotel. It's crazy and I'm an Asian and
unfortunately, as Asians look quite similar, I'm mistaken for
a Filipino and Indonesian Nepalese quite a lot.
I remember Claire and I were in Bali and an Indonesian came up
to me and said, ohh, snorkelling guide said are you local?
Are you local? I said no, no I'm not Julie.
I was like, that's a good accent.
So identification is important. We need to know who people are,
who they truly are. We need to trust people with
credibility. So for someone like the Messiah
or the Christ, the promised Son, how can we have assurance who
this person is? And we will see in today's
passage. So if you please turn with me to
Luke chapter 3, we'll be reading from verse 21.
Before we read, I'll just give a bit of context.
Up until today's passage, we have seen a contrast between
John the Baptist and Jesus. We saw the foretelling of John
when the Angel Gabriel approaches Zachariah to reveal
that his wife Elizabeth will be a a son who's called John and
that he would turn many hearts of Israel to God.
He would go before the Lord God. He would run ahead of the Lord
to prepare the hearts of Israel to receive him.
And then we saw the foretelling of Jesus when Gabriel approached
Mary to reveal that she will bear a son.
Jesus will be called Son of the Most High, Son of God, and he
would be given the throne of David and will rule over Israel
forever. So John's role was to prepare
the hearts of Israel to receive the Christ who was far, far
greater. And right before today's
passage, we see the culmination of John the Baptist and his
ministry. He is completing his ministry,
bringing the people of Israel to God, bringing them to repent
before God, and preparing their hearts to accept Christ.
And people then wonder whether John is the Christ.
And John clarifies, No, he is not.
I'm not the Christ. The Christ is far, far greater,
and he says that he baptises with water, but the Christ
baptises with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
And we saw in Billy's message, John's Baptist baptism was
merely symbolic and physical, but Christ baptism is spiritual.
John merely heralded repentance. But Christ has the power over
souls. He is the power to save souls.
He is the power to judge them. So John is saying, no, it's not
me, it's the Christ. And the Christ is far, far
greater. And now we'll see how God
beautifully clarifies and confirms to the people of Israel
that Jesus is the Christ and that He is far, far greater.
So verse 21 Now when all the people were baptised, and when
Jesus also had been baptised and was praying, the heavens were
opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form
like a dove, and the 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
Heli, the son of Method, the son of Levi, the son of Melki, the
son of Janai, the son of Joseph, the son of Matthias, the son of
Amos. The son of Nahum.
The son of Esley, the son of Nagai, the son of Math, The son
of Mattathias, the son of Simin, the son of Joseph, the son of
Joda, the son of Joe, and then the son of Risa.
The son of Zerubbabel. The son of Shealtiel.
The son of Netty. The son of Milky.
The son of Edi. The son of Kosam, The son of El
Madam. The son of Err.
The son of Joshua, The son of Eliza, The son of Joram, The son
of Methylate, The son of Levi, The son of Simeon, The son of
Judah. The son of Joseph.
The son of Jonam, The son of Eliaquim, The son of Malia, The
son of Minna, The son of Metaphor, The son of Nathan, The
son of David, The son of Jesse, The son of Obed, The son of
Boaz, The son of Salah, The son of Nahshon.
The son of Aminadab, The son of Edmund.
The son of Annie, 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 Tedder, The son of Nahor.
The son of Surug, The son of Rough, The son of Peleg, The son
of IBA. The son of Sheila, The son of
Canaan, the son of OFAC, said. The son of Chem, The son of
Noah, The son of Lemec, The son of Methuselah.
The son of Enoch, The son of Dared, The son of Mahalia, IL.
The son of Canaan. The son of Enos, The son of
Seth, The son of Adam, the son of God.
Thank you. Alright, the worship team will
come up now and I So in verse 2122, we see that when Jesus was
baptised, the heavens were open, the Holy Spirit descended on him
and the Father spoke saying, you are my beloved son with whom I'm
well pleased. And the way was prepared by John
and the people were in expectation of the Christ.
And we see here a scene, a beautiful scene, with all three
persons of the Trinity, the other two persons, the Holy
Spirit and the Father. And the Father powerfully
clarify and confirm and identify that Jesus is the Christ, God's
beloved Son. The Holy Spirit descending upon
Jesus marks his anointing for his mission, and it descends
like a dove, which signifies peace and gentleness.
Right before the passage, John says to the people of Israel
that the Christ was mightier than.
I will baptise you with this Holy Spirit and with fire.
And the fire signifies OHH connotates judgement.
But here the Holy Spirit is in peace and harmony with Jesus.
This then reinforces what the Father says.
You are my beloved Son, with whom I'm well pleased.
Jesus is in perfect peace and harmony with both the Holy
Spirit and the Father. So this clearly identifies him
as like them, as divine as the sun, the sun of God.
This whole scene echoes the prophecy in the Isaiah 42.
So if you can, please turn to Isaiah chapter 42.
This prophecy speaks of the Messiah or the Christ.
It says, Behold my servant, whom I uphold, very similar to to
today's passage, my chosen, in whom my soul delights.
I have put my spirit upon Him. He will bring forth justice to
the nations. He will not cry aloud, or lift
up his voice, or make it heard in the street.
A bruised Reed he will not break, and a faintly burning
Wick he will not quench. He will faithfully bring forth
justice. He will grow.
He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has
established justice in the earth and the coast lands wait for his
law. And so in the scene and Luke,
God is identifying Jesus as the servant, the one who will come
and deliver justice to all the nations.
And God is clarifying and introducing the role and mission
of the Christ. The Christ would come as a
gentle, lowly servant, but He would also come to deliver
justice to the nations. So God and versus 21 to 22 is is
clearly confirming to the Israelites who were an eager
expectation of the Christ, that Jesus is the Christ.
Jesus is him, the perfect Son of God.
And I've just recently finished my degree and soon I will attend
a graduation ceremony and at the graduation I'll receive a a
certificate of my degree and it will be signed by the chancellor
who was who has the highest authority in the university.
And this is to confirm the degree certificates legitimacy
and to assure the one who looks at it that it is valid and that
it is real. And if you can trust in my
degree being legitimate, how much more can we be confident
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, confirmed by the
Father who has the highest authority?
He is confirmed by the Holy Spirit as well, who anoints him.
This heavenly event at Jesus baptism was seen by those who
were an eager expectation for the Christ.
They were wondering if John was the Christ, but it was Jesus and
God confirms that with this the scene to give them hope and
confidence that Jesus is Him and he is far far greater.
He is the Christ who proclaims the Kingdom of heaven, who
proclaims good news to the poor and freedom to the oppress.
And Luke recalls this for us who lived 2000 years later, so that
we can also have hope and confidence that Jesus is the
Christ, the perfect Son of God. Although he was, he was human
like us, He he was baptised like a human.
God makes it abundantly clear that He is divine.
He is like the Holy Spirit and like the Father.
So God powerfully confirms that Jesus is the Christ, the perfect
Son of God. And this is much like the
Transfiguration when Jesus is seen in his glory and the Father
speaks from heaven to the disciples, saying, this is my
Son in whom I'm well pleased, Listen to him.
God is saying to us. He's pointing us to his Son and
he's saying, turn to Jesus. This is the one you should
follow. This is the one you should trust
in. There is no one else like my
son. There's no greater hope than the
hope found in Jesus. Jesus is your King, your
Saviour, your God. So whatever your situation,
whether you are in uncertain times or facing hardship, you
can have assurance of the hope you have in Jesus, God's perfect
Son. You can trust in Christ who in
the end He will complete His mission and bring you out of
your hardships and bring you in to His presence.
You may be stuck in some committing the same sin over and
over again, and I know what this is like.
And when this happens, I doubt Christ's perfect sacrifice for
me. I doubt whether God will accept
me, and this is the doubt. Christ who live perfectly for
us. Remember, Remember, God didn't
accept us. We are sinful and broken
creatures. God is not pleased with sinners
who constantly fall short of God's glory.
Gordon, accept us. He accepted Jesus.
God is not pleased with sinners. He's not pleased with us.
He is well pleased with Jesus, so we who have put our faith in
them are found in Him. We are chosen in Christ.
He is pleased with us not because of anything we have
done. He's pleased with us because he
is pleased with Jesus, the perfect Son of God.
So God is pleased with the Jesus, so be found in him.
Put your faith and trust in Jesus.
He is credible. He is trustworthy.
Now from verse 23, Luke gives us the genealogy of Jesus.
And I remember when I was little, my mom told me to read
the Bible and reluctantly I opened up my Bible.
OK, I'll read and opened it to Assam.
It was simple and easy to read. It's about light and darkness,
something like that. Very simple.
I could with my very limited brain power.
I could understand. I could get the general meaning
application from it, but then my daring mum, I don't know what
she was thinking, told me to read Matthew.
So I opened it up to Matthew chapter 1.
Who's Jehoshaphat? See a fat person?
I don't think I got through half of the names in their genealogy.
I was thinking, what's the point of this?
Why does this matter to us? Why should I care?
I thought it was stupid, honestly.
And now, ironically, I'm here giving a sermon on a genealogy.
But this is something that I've learned quite recently.
The Bible isn't something you just read, it's something you
study. The more you study, the deeper
you know God. And the deeper you know God, the
more you praise him and worship Him for who He is.
And when you study passage like Luke's genealogy, you you begin
to appreciate it more when you understand its significance.
And I love being given passages I wouldn't normally care about
because it forces me to study it.
And when I study it, I begin to love it.
So the genealogy is very important and it it's still
Scripture, it's God breathed profitable for, for teaching,
for correction, for reproof, so that the man of God may be
equipped. It's still scripture, so the
genealogy was very important to the Jews.
It was. It was used to prove their
tribal identity. For example, for land
inheritance, priests had to be under Aaron's line, so they
would use a genealogy to prove whether they are descendants of
Aaron. But also for those claiming to
be the Christ, a genealogy would prove whether they are indeed
the Christ. Why?
Because there are Old Testament prophecies.
Throughout the Old Testament, God has foretold the coming of
the Christ. God promised that the Messiah
would come through a specific line.
And as we read through the genealogy, we we see how God is
faithful and He keeps his promises and we see that God's
promise is truly fulfilled in Jesus.
Now there are some people who think this genealogy contradicts
the genealogy and Matthew. Both genealogists record Joseph,
the father of Jesus, but they are different all the way up to
David. Matthews genealogy goes to the
line of of Solomon. Luke's genealogy goes to the
line of Nathan, and Christians have offered many ways of
harmonising the supposed contradiction.
For example something Joseph had had two fathers, so Jacob the
father of of Joseph recorded in Matthew would be for example
Joseph's biological father but Helly and recorded and Luke's
gospel would be for example Joseph's legal father through
maybe adoption or something called levirate marriage.
But I think what makes the most sense and the easiest solution
is that Matthews genealogy traces Jesus line through
Joseph, but Luke is tracing it through Mary's line.
And this makes more sense because in Matthew the focus is
more on Joseph at the start of Matthew and not Mary, and it's
genealogy traces to Joseph. So it seems more natural that
Luke, who focuses more on Mary and not on Joseph, would trace
the line through Mary. Now at first glance this seems
problematic since Luke says son of Joseph.
But the usage of son of here is not necessarily biological.
It can mean illegal, illegal father.
It can indicate a legal relationship and look even adds
as was supposed if you can, if you can see in in in that verse
which hints at the legal relationship between Joseph and
Jesus. Either way you take it, Jesus is
the fulfilment. He's the fulfilment of God's
promised Christ. Either way you take it,
throughout the genealogy we can see God's sovereignty in
fulfilling the promise. Earlier we saw how the Angel
approached Mary and foretold Jesus birth and he he says the
Lord God will give him the throne of his Father David.
Jesus is the fulfilment of God's covenant with David and this can
be found in First Chronicles 17, verse 11 to 14 and says when
your days are fulfilled to walk with your fathers, I'll raise up
your offspring after you, one of your own sons, and I'll
establish his Kingdom. He shall build a house for me,
and I'll establish his throne forever.
I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.
I'll not take my steadfast love from him as I took it from him
who was before you, but I'll confirm him in my house and in
my Kingdom forever. And it's thrown shall be
established forever. And Jesus fulfils us through
David, through the line of Nathan.
Secondly, Jesus fulfils the prophecy that the the King will
come from the tribe of Judah. This is found in Genesis 49
verse 10 where Jacob was prophesying over all his sons,
and he prophesies over Judah, saying, the sceptre shall not
depart from Judah, nor the ruler staff from between his feet,
until tribute comes to him. And to him shall be the
obedience of the peoples. O Christ will rule as king of
Israel from the tribe of Judah descended from David.
According to God's promise, Jesus fulfils us.
Thirdly, Jesus is the fulfilment of God's covenant to Abraham.
This is found in Genesis 22. It says, surely I will bless
you. I will surely multiply your
offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the
seashore, and your offspring shall possess the gate of his
enemies, and in your offspring show all the nations of the
earth. Be blessed because you have
obeyed my voice and pull. And the New Testament confirms
that this is talking about the Christ in Galatians 316.
He says now the promises were made to Abraham and to his
offspring. It does not say enter offsprings
referring to many, but referring to 1 and to your offspring who
is Christ. And God reestablishes this
covenant with both Isaac and Jacob.
So Jesus is the son of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, who would die and
rise again for all nations and rule over all nations.
Jesus will be a blessing to the world, and so this is fulfilled
in Jesus. Fourthly, Jesus is the
fulfilment of the seed of the woman, and this is found in
Genesis 315 when God is cursing the serpent who deceived Eve and
says, I will put my hostility between you and the woman and
between your offspring and her offspring.
He will strike your head and you will strike his heel.
Right from the fall of humanity. God promised that an offspring
of Eve would defeat the serpent and Jesus is the fulfilment.
Being the son of Adam who would die and rise again to defeat sin
and death and ultimately defeat Satan.
Jesus is the fulfilment. He is the second Adam.
Through the 1st atom came sin and death, but through the 2nd
atom came eternal life through Jesus.
So God is sovereign. He's in control, has plan and
has decrees will come to pass. And in Ephesians chapter one, we
read that God works all things according to the counsel of as
well. And we see that in this
genealogy time and time again God has kept his promises.
He is faithful God and His sovereignty has made it
abundantly clear who the Christ is.
God promised Christ would come through a specific line from
Adam to Abraham to Isaac to Jacob to Judah to David.
So the genealogy further verifies and confirms Jesus
identity. It confirms his role and
ministry. It clearly proves that Jesus is
indeed the fulfilment of God's promised Son.
So we can be clear on who Jesus is and what he came to do, and
so we can have confidence in him.
But I think the most intentional part of this genealogy is that
Luke traces Jesus, traces Jesus line all the way back to Adam
and to God. Matthew's genealogy stops at
Abraham. Why?
Because he's writing to the Jews and he wants to show the Jews
that Jesus is Jewish and and is in the royal kingly line.
That's why he traces the line through David's son Solomon, not
Nathan. He wants to show the Jews that
he is the fulfilment of the promised king of Israel.
He even skips generations to have three sets of 14
generations and the Hebrew name for David adds up to 14 when
it's letters are given its numerical value.
So Matthew was stressing Jesus is Jewish and he is the promised
king of Israel, son of David. But Luke's genealogy doesn't
stop at Abraham. It goes all the way back to Adam
and ultimately to God. And I think he does this
intentionally to show that Jesus is the King and Messiah for both
the Jews and the Gentiles. And it makes sense why Luke
would do this, since he's writing to Theophilus.
He wanted the officers to have who is a Gentile.
He wanted him to have confidence in the faith.
Luke is emphasising that Jesus is a son of Adam, like all of
us, and so on the cross he represents not just Israelites
but Gentiles also. But it also wonderfully displays
the scope of God's salvation. Jesus came to represent
humanity. He came to represent humanity.
He died and rose again, not just for the sins of Israel, but the
sins of the whole world, so that anyone who places their faith in
Christ is justified. And this is the greatest news.
Earlier in Luke at the temple we saw Simeon take up Jesus in his
arms, praising God, saying Lord, now you are letting your servant
depart in peace according to your word.
For my eyes have seen your salvation, that you have
prepared in the presence of all peoples a light for revelation
for the Gentiles, and for glory to your people.
Israel. Paul and Romans 327 to 30 says,
is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles?
Also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God
is one who will justifies The Who will justify the circumcised
by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.
And Ephesians 213 to 16 Paul writing to Gentile, says, But
now in Christ Jesus you who were once far off have been brought
near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who
has made us both one, and has broken down in His flesh the
dividing wall of hostility, that He might create an in Himself
one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might
reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross.
There was a time when God was mediated only in Israel and the
temple. God administered himself through
Israel. Us Gentiles were far off.
Jesus took away that great chasm through the cross.
Through his work on the cross, He broke down the barriers so
that both Jews and Gentiles can come to God and faith.
This is the greatest news ever told.
Jesus is the promised Son of God, the Christ, the Lamb of
God, who takes away the sin of the world.
Praise God that He has provided us Jesus, the fulfilment, the
promised Son, and praise God that He has brought us Gentiles
near to God by the blood of Christ.
Remember these truths, always remember them, and let it change
the way you live. So in this passage, after the
focus of John the Baptist goes away, God powerfully points us
to Jesus and proclaims that he is the Christ.
He is the perfect Son of God. You know one thing I hate is
Google's 2 factor authentication.
Like it's so admin. I just want to sign in.
I don't wanna have to tell you who I am.
But in this passage, I love it. And this passage God uses
Google's 2 factor authentication.
One, the heavenly of affirmation through through the scene with
the Father and the Holy Spirit, the anointing of the Holy Spirit
and the Father declaring that Jesus is God's beloved Son.
And two, through the genealogy of Jesus, where we have seen God
time and time again prove His faithfulness and prove that He
keeps his promises, God is proclaiming Jesus credibility
and is urging us to hope in Him, to rely on Him, to follow Him.
John the Baptist is gone. The prophecies are fulfilled.
So now turn your eyes to Jesus, hope and him.
Rely on Him and follow him. Let's pray.
Our God and Father, we are so in awe of of who you are of of your
faithfulness, of your sovereignty and keeping your
promises. We thank you for for providing
your Son. Thank you for making it so
abundantly clear and confirming to us that Jesus is the Christ,
your beloved Son. We thank you for him.
Thank you for what this means for us, that we we have a
saviour. We have the one who live
perfectly, who live the life we couldn't, and who died and rose
again, who has brought us Gentiles near to you, and who
has been alight to both Jews and Gentiles.
We thank you for him, and we thank you that he is the
fulfilment, that he is the promised King, that he will one
day rule over the earth, and we thank you that he is King.
Lord God, we pray that these truths will change us, will give
us hope and confidence and assurance in whatever situation
we are going through. Lord God, we thank you for your
provision for your salvation. Jesus Christ, in whose name we
pray, Amen.