If you have a Bible turned to the gospel of Luke, the third chapter,
I've entitled this message,
The Humble, Glorious King.
We've been looking at John the Baptist in his proclamation and his radicalness.
You ever been accused to being radical?
Man, that's just a, you guys are just Bible.
thumpers. Yeah. I like being a Bible thumper. Been called to Jesus freak. I'll take that one too.
I think I got called oral Roberts once, once, Oral Roberts. Who remembers at Oral Roberts?
Oh yeah, quite a few of you. So I kind of take issue with that, but it's all right.
But it's all right. But it's... But it's... This, this...
book, this, this, this savior that we claim as our own. And he is our king. And he, some of the things he did
and said was wild. And even, even what we're going to look at today was maybe a little bit out
out of character or what people, religious people, so to speak, was looking for. And so we, we got clear down to
verse 20. I'm going to start in verse 21 and just read verses 21 and 22 and then we'll pray.
But John has been telling the people to get ready. Right. Get ready. He's coming.
The Messiah is coming. And Israel had been looking for this and the prophets had been preaching about
this for millennia. And Zah, millennia is a millennia.
More than one.
And so he tells the people that this powerful Messiah that is coming,
he is going to offer to us a baptism of the Holy Spirit
or a baptism of fiery judgment.
Which one do you want?
Right?
A baptism of the Holy Spirit or a baptism of a fiery judgment.
And you're either in one.
of the other camps. There's no middle ground. And so I hope you've purposed in your heart and made a serious
decision to follow Jesus. If you haven't, I want to give you an opportunity to do that at the end of the
service today. But John tells him when they come to him and they hear him preaching and no doubt they're
convicted. You ever been convicted just by hearing the word of God? I read the word of God and I go,
Oh, no. I'm dead. Right? I mean, I mean, you just, yeah, you, you, it's, it's powerful. The word. It speaks to us. You know, it's alive, the Bible says. And, and that conviction. And so the people, as they're convicted, they come. And what do I do? What do we do? What do? What do I do now? And John just kind of lays it out for him, right? In essence, what I shared last week, the four things, where he says, be generous, be honest, be humble.
And don't be greedy.
Well, we're all sunk, right?
Because we're all not these things in our nature because of the sin nature.
You know, I read that.
I read that there was a letter as actually it was a report.
It was a report.
It was the Minnesota Crime Commission report back in the 1920s.
and it starts out with every child is born a little savage.
Right?
He's selfish, he has nothing to offer.
All he thinks about it is himself.
He wants his playmates toy.
He wants his uncle to watch.
And if somebody does not, and to not get that,
he's so seized with anger that if he were not so helpless and little,
he would murder everybody in the room.
That's us. That's our fallen nature. Right? We have this sin nature and the world does not like to embrace that.
Right? Why do when somebody, you know, somebody runs for an office, man, you start digging up trash, man.
We'll get some trash on this guy. Duh. Because we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, the Bible says.
Right. So you're going to get dirt on anyone. Because nobody.
has rose above that depravity.
And we start getting a handle on it when we come to Jesus
because he forgives us of it.
And he starts leading us into a way that is good.
Because the Bible tells us Romans chapter 3,
there is no, none good, no, not one.
Wouldn't that a song? No, not one, no not one.
Right?
We all like sheep have gone astray.
There is none who does good.
And so John is bringing this message to him and they're going, man, what do we do? What do we do?
And he sees, he repent for the kingdom of heaven is a hand.
And we know that he's preparing the way for the Messiah to come.
That's why I'm convinced. That's why Jesus said he was the greatest of all the prophets.
Because he preceded, he was that one right before and pointing everybody to the Messiah, this John, the baptizer.
And so, let's read, verses 21 and 22.
When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus was also baptized.
And while he prayed, the heaven was opened.
And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon him.
And a voice came from heaven, which said,
You are my beloved son.
In you, I am well pleased.
Let's pray.
Lord, thank you.
Thank you for showing us the way.
Thank you for being the way for us for us.
and willing to come and humble yourself.
And you truly are that humble king.
But Lord, we know that you're coming again as a glorious reigning king and a warrior king.
And so, Lord, we just, we want to worship you.
We want to find ourselves in a place of walking by faith when you come.
And so would you prepare our hearts, Lord, as we look at your word this morning,
that it would bear fruit in us, Lord, that it would take root.
And Lord, that it would have that impact, that it's,
It's so good at, Lord, dividing the soul and the spirit and the bone and the marrow and a discerner of the
intents of our heart. Even today as we sit here and we hear these words, Lord, may it change us.
And into being more like our God, our forerunner, our mediator, the Lord Jesus.
And it's in your name we pray. Amen.
So John comes along and it says, and all the people were about.
And this was a baptism of repentance, right? They recognized that their sin was wrong and they're going into the
water as a, as an idea of cleansing from that sin. And it stayed there. We see in Acts 19 when the people at
Ephesus, Paul asked him, he says, hey, have you received the baptism of the Holy Spirit since you
believed? And they go, we've never heard of such a thing. That's, that's Hick-Talk, but that's what they said.
We've never heard of such a thing. Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
What baptism will you baptize with? And they said the baptism of John.
The baptism, right? They'd heard about Jesus and they were willing to repent and they were baptized with the
baptism of John. And we know that the Holy Spirit comes and comes upon them.
And but they were also there received water baptism as well.
And really what they're doing,
there is an identification. So John baptized with the baptism of repentance, right? And people were
turning from their sin. But our baptism is more of a baptism of identification. Like the other night
when we baptized on Christmas Eve, I always read Romans chapter 6, right, where it says we identify.
As we get baptized, what we're doing is it's not for the cleansing or washing of sin.
That's already taken place when you come to Jesus.
right? A lot of people get baptized. They go under the water and they come up a wet sinner.
Their sins haven't been dealt with. Right. We deal with our sin at conversion when we accept and
believe, right? When we confess with our mouth of the Lord Jesus and believe in our heart that God is
raised him from the dead, the Bible says, you're saved. You're saved from your sin right then.
And you're washed.
I always share.
Revelation chapter 1, verse 5, where it says that Jesus washed us from our sin, not with baptism,
but with his own precious blood.
Revelation chapter 1 verse 5.
It's just like, thank you, Lord.
Right?
He did it.
And so for us.
And so our baptism is a baptism of identification.
We're identifying with the death, speaking of going under the water,
and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus coming up out of the grave.
That's what our identification is.
And so in Matthew, when Jesus comes to John, we don't see it here in Luke,
but in the gospel of Matthew, there's a conversation that takes place, right?
And it says then Jesus is Matthew chapter 3 verses 13 through 15.
Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized.
It's the same thing that's going on in Luke right here.
And John tried to prevent him, saying,
I need to be baptized by you and are you coming to me?
But Jesus answered and said to him,
Permitted to be so, for thus it is fitting for us to us to be.
to fulfill all righteousness.
And then he allowed him.
But Jesus does it for a different reason, right?
To fulfill all righteousness, it says here.
Now, in your Bibles, there is the little word there in verse 15.
And it's where it says, permit, this is Jesus speaking.
He says, permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us.
the us there is not talking about Jesus and John.
It's talking about the triune God, the Trinity.
Us to fulfill all righteousness.
Because you and I and even John the Baptist,
he had no righteousness of his own.
None of us do.
What do we call that when we think we're righteous?
Self-righteousness, right?
Which is a stench in the nostrils of our God.
If you think you're righteous because of you, you've just deceived yourself, right?
Because there is none righteous. No, not one. No, not one. There we go again. No, not one.
So let us, us. This is, it's like a conversation within the Godhead.
We see it back in Genesis, right? Let us make man in our image after our likeness.
Yeah, but isn't God one? Yes, God is one. But he's three in one. How's that work?
I don't know.
I just know the Bible teaches it.
Right?
I had a guy that called me here a while back,
and I think I might have shared it with that.
I can't remember.
And he just wanted to argue about this point.
He doesn't believe in the Trinity.
And I'm just like a good gracious.
But the best way to explain it is just go look in the mirror, right?
We are created in the universe.
image of God. Right? We have a body, mind, and spirit. Three and one. We're three and one.
We bear the image of the, the almighty God, the creator of the universe. And that's, have you ever
talked to yourself? Well, we're not Jesus when he's praying there. He's talking to him.
Well, in a sense, yes. But do you ever talk to yourself? All the time. Listen, Dan's talking to himself
right now.
But our Lord's baptism in water was a picture of his.
But our Lord's baptism in water was a picture of his work of redemption.
It was through his baptism of suffering on the cross that God fulfilled all righteousness.
And so that's what he's, you know, and so people will say, well, if he's the savior, the Messiah,
why does he need to be baptized?
So I'm going to just give you three ideas that some commentators believe.
Number one.
Number one is to identify with us, right?
Jesus was baptized to identify it with us.
Here is Jesus, the sinless one, identifying with you and I who are sinners.
You and I are sinners.
And the Bible says that he became like sinful man.
He's like us, but he did not send.
Christ never sent.
I think it's just so cool.
Jesus is willing to identify with me, right?
And take on this body of flesh.
Did you ever get tired of this thing?
And it's just nasty.
I got this thing with my...
I better not go there.
But Hebrews tells us, right, in chapter four, the same one is the word of God passage, right?
It says, we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses,
but was in all points tempted as like us.
yet without sin. He fully identified with those of us who need to express repentance by baptism
to identify with us. That's number one. He identifies with us. The sinless Christ came and went
through baptism. And just like once we repent, we give our heart to Jesus, we identify with him
and his death and we go through baptism. Number two is to verify. Number two is to verify.
right? To verify, especially for John the Baptist.
If you remember anything about John the Baptist, he was, well, what he said about Jesus,
but he comes to a crisis in his faith when he's in prison.
Right? Jesus, John's saying all these things about Jesus. Behold this, the Lamb of God
that takes away the sin of the world. Right. And he had talked about him here. And Luke, he's the one who,
I'm not worthy to undo his sense.
And John's talking about this, but then when he's in prison, right? In Matthew
11, he goes, could you go ask Jesus if he's the one or should we look for another?
You know, I think John heard the rumor that they asked for his head. And obviously, we know,
we know hindsight that his ministry's over. Here he is a 30-year-old man and his ministry's done.
Life's over. That's it. You're gone. You're out. And so he's got a moment of doubt. Maybe a faith crisis. If you're here today and you have a faith crisis,
can I just tell you? Just put your faith in Jesus. No, but you don't understand. There's a crisis.
Right. Well, that's how you fix the faith crisis is put your faith in Jesus.
is pretty simple, right?
Well, and I know a lot of us and I probably would agree with you.
It's easier said than done sometimes.
Right?
And so he verifies,
he verifies what John was saying about him.
And he verifies everything that the prophets said about him.
And so.
you know, there's times in all of our walks, I think, that sometimes things get a little sketchy, you know,
and you ask yourself, you know, you're praying, I've done this, sitting there praying,
and I'm going, is there really somebody there?
Because sometimes it feels like nobody's there.
And, um, but God says that if we will seek him with all of our heart, we will find him.
Seek him without doubting.
And, um, and that's a hard thing to do.
But the bottom line is, right?
We, we put our faith in him.
And he will prove himself.
to us over and over again.
And so he's verifying John's claim.
He verifies what Isaiah says in chapter 11,
a rod will come out of the stem of Jesse.
And a branch will come out of his roots.
And the spirit of the Lord will rest upon him.
And so here we see the fulfillment of the Spirit of God
resting upon Jesus.
and what we just written here.
So he verifies what the, actually the Old Testament, the law, the prophets, and Jesus said,
and the Psalms, all those things that were written about him are going to come to pass.
And as they begin to come to past, it was verification that he was in fact,
who John said he was and he eventually who he will say he is.
And I think I quoted it.
Maybe I quoted it last.
week. I quoted a lot, actually, the C.S. Lewis quote about Jesus, right? And the things that he
did and said and who he was and what others said about him. He is either a lunatic.
He's absolutely insane, right? He's a liar and a very good one at that. Or he's Lord.
And so you can't, you can't read through God's Word. And you can't read through God's Word.
and come to a neutral position of who Christ is.
He's either your Lord or he's one of the other two to you.
So secondly, he's verified to John and others.
And thirdly, the third reason is to prophesy.
right? It's for him to be baptized is prophetic of what's going to happen.
It's pointing to something's going to happen some three years later to Jesus.
He's going to go into the ground and he's going to come back to life three days later,
never to die again. And that's what sets him apart.
That's why this room has people in it right now.
Because we believe that to be true.
Could you imagine if you just,
that's a great story, but yeah, I don't think I can buy that one.
So it's a picture.
Because baptism was done by immersion,
somebody was brought under the water
and brought under the water, Paul speaks of, right, there in Romans 6, as death or burial, and the resurrection.
So, too, as he come up out of the water, we walk in the newness of life, or, or,
embracing the resurrection.
Because if we believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead, it says, we're saved.
And that is, that's glorious.
That's glorious especially, especially in the face of death.
Right?
So I, this last week, I had a dear sweet woman that I love so much growing up and
and got to go give her a kiss on the cheek and tell her I loved her.
And she responded.
And four hours later, she was gone.
Just gone.
right.
Death is, it's powerful, right?
Because this person that you touch and you've talked to and you've been around your whole life,
all of a sudden, there's just like this, it's just a surreal experience, right?
It kind of puts an empty, well, maybe not even empty, but especially if they know Jesus,
but just this emotional tumult in your heart, you're going, wow, that is, I'm
I was just me and my mom were face to face like this when she took her last breath.
And I'm just going, she's gone.
She's gone.
Dorothy, the other night, she's gone.
They leave.
Where do they go?
Good question.
Do you know where you're going?
They leave.
Okay.
And they're going somewhere.
Right?
It's that fiery judgment that we talked about at the beginning.
Or it's that glorious community.
this communion with the Holy Spirit in the presence of the mighty God and the holy angels.
One or the other.
And it's before us every day.
Just this week, right, with the plane crashes.
It's like, the world is falling apart.
Who wants to fly?
My hand ain't up, right?
It's just, you know, all the scuttle butt about Boeing and the,
the laxed, you know, manufacturing and stuff.
You're just like, wow, no, my horse is looking better all the time.
Long as they don't buck.
Yeah.
I do not know how many times I have read Luke chapter three,
but this one jumped out at me.
I'd never seen it before where it says, and it came to pass that Jesus was baptized, and while he prayed,
Jesus prayed, he's standing in the water, right?
He comes to this psycho dude, right?
It dressed in buckskins and in our vernacular, buckskins and, you know, a belt, and, um,
totally out of the norm.
And he comes to him to be baptized.
And while he's there in the water,
Jesus prays.
And some, well, was he?
This is the,
we had talked a couple weeks ago about the incarnation, right?
Fully God and fully man.
This is the man Christ Jesus
praying to the Creator.
the universe. This is the man Christ Jesus praying to the universe. He not only come to identify with us,
but he came to be an example for us, folks. If the son of God saw fit to pray, what's our prayer
life like? I'm convicted by this, right? Because usually I can point at you guys,
but there's always three more pointing back at me. Right? What's our prayer life like?
because it's powerful prayer.
And it's one of the most powerful things that we have available to us,
but it's the thing least used, I think, in our Christian walk.
But he shows us this example,
how a man is in a relationship with God.
And he comes up out of the water,
It seems that this is after. If we just go chronologically through the verse, it just seems that he comes
out of the water and he prays. Now, we don't know what he prayed, but we do know the father's response, right?
This is my son in whom I'm well pleased. Right? And he just pictured for all of you what he's going to do for you.
And what are you going to do with that? And what do we do with that? I mean on a daily basis.
right?
Because I know a lot of people, man.
Jesus is only a fire escape.
Only it's on fire when their tail end is on fire, do they pray?
Right?
I know a lot of people like that.
I remember living with this guy down in Texas,
and we would get in these talks, right?
Now I was backslidden.
I was smoking weed with this guy and being a scumb bum.
But in those quiet moments, you know, in our little, you know, T.HC. stupor, you know, I would, I would, we would get in these talks about God and about Jesus.
And I would tell him that I, you know, what I'm doing ain't wrong.
God doesn't mind that little stuff, he says.
I'm going, what are you talking about?
Right?
God has tuned in to everything.
And he was saying, they only pray about big things, right?
And I, and I, it's funny because him and his wife are believers now.
This was, this was 30 years ago.
But him and his wife are now believers.
He's realized, no, no, no, no, you pray about everything, right?
And so it's just cool.
But the Lord confirms him here.
I think of this is really a fulfillment of Isaiah.
If you have a Bible, please turn there to Isaiah chapter 42.
Just some good stuff.
This is a good memory verses here and powerful stuff.
And it says in Isaiah chapter 42, verse 1, it says,
Behold my servant whom I uphold.
Is that what?
Am I in the right place?
Okay.
He says, behold my servant whom I uphold.
My elect one in whom my soul delights.
Ring a bell.
I have put my spirit upon him.
He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.
He will not cry out nor raise his voice, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
A bruised reed, he will not break.
And smoking flax, he will not quench.
He will bring forth justice for truth.
He will not fail nor be discouraged till he has established
justice in the earth and the coastlands shall wait for his law.
Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread forth the earth.
And that which comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it,
that'd be you and me.
Take a breath and just think about that one for a minute.
And spirit to those who walk on it, the Lord,
have called you in righteousness.
and will hold your hand.
I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people as a light to the Gentiles,
to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison,
those who sit in darkness from the prison house.
I am the Lord.
That is my name and my glory.
I will not give to another.
This is Jesus.
This is Jesus fulfilling something that was written about him 700 years prior to him coming to
the earth.
What are the odds?
of that. Right? That's the verification of the power of the word of God. And you and I need that in our life.
You need the word of God in your life. Proverbs 1520 says, a wise son makes a glad father.
Jesus is that, right? This is my son in whom I'm well pleased. The father is glad about Jesus.
He's glad about what Jesus did.
The Bible says in Isaiah, it pleased the Father to bruise him on our behalf.
God was pleased to do that for you and I.
That we would have this pathway, this bridge to heaven that otherwise were sunk.
Prayer is a conversation with God.
You talk to God and God talks to you.
Well, some people say, well, I talk to God.
God doesn't seem to be talking to me.
Okay, I got lamb baste you with a quote from my baby brother.
Rick Brown, you know, he's pretty techy.
He's got some little quotes on the internet and here is one of them.
Rick said, don't say God has been silent when your Bible is closed.
Right?
He always had a way with words.
Don't say that God has been silent when your Bible has been closed.
Because God primarily folks speaks to us from his word.
Now that doesn't mean that God doesn't show you things.
God doesn't lay things on your heart.
I just had somebody talk to me yesterday and said, man, this little boy, he's just, I just been
thinking about him all the time. And I'm convinced that God will do that. He'll put people on your
heart, people to pray for. And when you don't know what to pray for, that's where that Holy Spirit
comes in and praise God for that. It's awesome. Notice what happens, though, as Jesus is baptized
and praised. An explosion of the triune God happens.
This is one of the greatest passages in the scripture of the Trinity.
Right?
So Jesus, the man, prays to the creator of the universe.
God, the son, is speaking to God the Father, right?
This happens also in Hebrew 1, verse 8 and 9.
This is the father speaking to the son.
And it says, but the son, to the son, he says,
The Father says, your throne.
This is the Father speaking to Jesus.
So check this out.
People say, well, the Bible doesn't say that Jesus is God.
Well, I beg to differ, but the Father does.
The Father says that Jesus is God.
And who's greater in authority than Him?
Anybody?
No.
So it says, your throne, the Father says to the Son,
Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.
A sceptor of righteousness is a sceptre of your kingdom.
You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness.
Therefore, God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions.
Right?
So here's the father speaking to the son.
God the father speaking to God the son.
And then you have God the Holy Spirit coming down upon the man Christ Jesus.
in the form of a dove.
And so verse 23 says, now Jesus himself began in ministry being about 30 years old.
That's when the priests were ready to start in ministry.
Is when they were 30.
And so he's ready to roll.
He's got the Holy Spirit.
If you haven't received the Holy Spirit, right?
Now, by that, I mean, in Calvary circles, right, we would break it down,
where the Holy Spirit is with you, leading you to Jesus, right?
Because the Bible says apart from the Holy Spirit, nobody can say that Jesus is Lord.
Nobody can do that, right?
And so that's the Holy Spirit, the Para, the with, he's with you.
And then the Holy Spirit comes in you at conversion when you, you, you,
You confess the Lord Jesus and you believe in your heart.
Then the Holy Spirit is in you.
And the Bible says that when the Holy Spirit comes,
he'll lead you into all truth.
But there was a third relationship that the Calvary Chapel circles point out.
And it is what we call the upon of the Holy Spirit.
Right?
And Jesus had these experiences with his disciples.
He breathed on them, right?
Before the Ascension, he breathed on them and says, receive the Holy Spirit.
Many believe that that's when they were actually converted.
They walked with them for three years, recognizing truth.
Right.
Thinking there's nobody like this.
He's our hero.
We're going to walk with him.
But when he breathed on them after the resurrection,
he says, receive ye the Holy Spirit.
Many believe that that's when the disciples, the apostles,
were actually converted.
Right?
And received the Holy Spirit.
But they were still scared cats.
Right?
And he told him, he says, you guys go.
And you will receive,
power from on high when the Holy Spirit comes not with you, not in you, but upon you.
The Holy Spirit comes upon you. And that's where we've seen Pentecost and people spoke with
tongues. We've seen the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And if you're going to go into a place of ministry,
if you're going to start ministering to people, you need the upon of the Holy Spirit.
Right? Because I'm sorry. You and I, we ain't got it. We ain't got what it takes.
to do what we, even our hearts, we might have a desire to do.
We don't got it.
We're not powerful enough.
But the Holy Spirit is in us.
And he comes upon us.
And what happened?
What happened to those people when the Holy Spirit came?
Yes, there were gifts, but the most powerful thing that Jesus said would happen to them,
you will receive power from on high to be what?
My witnesses.
That word is literally martyrs.
You are going to be, you will have.
have no fear of death. You're going to be as bold as a lion. You're going to share the Lord Jesus
Christ with the world you live in until the day you take your last breath. And for most of them,
that was coming pretty quick. Right? They all died a vicious death for their belief in this
God man that we've been reading about. You need the Holy Spirit. And Jesus, the man,
had this Holy Spirit upon him. How this all worked? I don't know.
But I know it's cool because he did some cool stuff.
This guy. Right?
He's worth, he's worth following.
So Jesus prayed and God answered.
It's interesting that when Luke in chapter 8, he'll talk about the Holy Spirit.
And what does he say about it?
He says, ask for it.
He says, which one of you, you, you apostles?
Right?
Being a father of your child, if he asks you for bread, will you give him a stone?
Right?
If he asks you for an egg, are you going to give him a snake?
He says, how much more will your father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?
Maybe that's how Jesus prayed there.
Oh, Spirit, fill me up.
Because what he did in three and a half years, nobody's ever done.
in the history of the world.
What Christ did.
Yes, he was humble.
But he was also God in human flesh.
So, and this God in human flesh,
he came for you and for me to know us.
Years ago, we were at a men's,
deal, you know, I wanted to be a man of God. How do I be a man of God? I still ain't got to
figure out, but I still want to be a man of God, right? And so I went to this Bible study
and it was, it was a book by Alan Redpath called The Making of a Man of God studies in the
life of David, right? And so we're all sitting there and the teacher. He says,
what's your greatest purpose in life?
Well, well, being a good husband, being a, you know, good dad, you know, reading the Bible,
praying.
What's your greatest purpose in life?
He asked us all.
We're all coming up.
He says, your greatest purpose in life is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's your greatest purpose in life, right?
And when we figure that out, and we stumble and we try hard to do that and we want to do that, right?
God, God has something.
something to work with. Because obviously, we're doing it in humility, knowing that, Lord, I
even got much to offer. Except for a willing heart. And God loves that. Like in that passage in
Isaiah, that smoking flax, that bent, read, he's not going to despise that. If you're willing,
he'll use you. God does not call the qualified, right? He qualifies the call. And so if God is
calling you, you need to ask for his Holy Spirit.
Revelation chapter 3 says this,
Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
And I don't know if any of this stuff is resonating with you today.
I might just be up here jabbering.
But I have a sense that maybe God is maybe knocking on the door of some hearts.
Maybe God wants you to go deeper with him.
You know him.
You walk with him for some time.
You just kind of been messing around.
Don't mess around.
right?
It's just, it's just, that's what it is.
It's just a mess.
But press in, draw near, ask, seek, and knock.
Revelation 3.20,
behold, I stand at the door and knock.
And maybe the Lord's kind of knocking on the door of your heart this morning.
Now it's afternoon.
And he says, if, if anyone hears my voice and open,
opens the door. I will come into him and dine with him and he with me. The knock, the knocking sometimes is a
crisis. Sometimes people won't come to Jesus until there's a crisis. Right? Somebody dies and you just,
you just don't have a handle on death yet. It just tips you over. I've seen so many people's lives
just take a 90-degree turn, man, they're gone when that happens. But when you get used to it and you know
one who's conquered it, it doesn't have quite the hold on you.
And so maybe he's knocking on that door.
God loves to get your attention.
Notice what he says here.
If you open it, I will come into you.
He comes in and he makes his abode right here.
In the holy of holies of our hearts.
and he
He sets up residence.
And all of a sudden, you start getting convicted for things
you've never been convicted of in your life or for.
I got my own buddy here.
He says, God won't even let me throw a candy wrapper out the window.
And if you want him in you,
Like he said about the Holy Spirit there in Luke 8.
Ask.
Maybe that's Luke 11.
I probably got that address wrong.
So anyway,
you are my beloved son and you, I am well-pleased.
God is well-pleased because it's only through Christ that God can be pleased with you and I.
Without faith, is that it is impossible to please.
God. And God has given us someone to put our faith in. The God man, Christ Jesus, who knows all of our
weaknesses, right? We read it in Hebrews. He's tempted in every way that you and I have been tempted,
and yet without sin. And so it goes on here. He goes into ministry at the age of 30. Being as supposed,
listen, being as opposed the son of Joseph. Okay. Okay, we're going to read through this. One
about teaching expositionally is you're stuck with the genealogy. Sorry.
And yet, though, I did hear a cool story about this particular genealogy,
a missionary was sharing it and actually read it to the natives.
And as he read through the genealogy, the natives go, wait a minute.
Are you talking about a real person?
They thought they were talking about Jesus, a fairy tale.
He says, no, you're talking about a real person.
You can chase his genie. You can trace his genealogy?
And many of them were converted because this is a real person.
Jesus is a real person.
So it says,
supposed to be the son of Joseph.
Now, we know that Joseph was not his father.
So most believe that this here is Mary's genealogy
because of what it says here in a second.
The son of Joseph, the son of Heli, the son of Mathath,
the son of Levi, the son of Melchie.
the son of Janah, the son of Joseph,
the son of Mattathiah,
the son of Amos, the son of Nahim,
the son of El-C,
the son of Nagayaayai,
the son of Moth,
the son of Marathaya,
the son of Semiai,
the son of Joseph, the son of Judah,
the son of Jonas, the son of Resha,
the son of Zirabal, the son of Shaltil,
the son of Neri, the son of Melchai,
the son of Adai,
the son of Kaasem, the son of Elm, Adam, and the son of Er, the son of Josis,
the son of Elizir, the son of Jorim, the son of Maudith, the son of Levi,
the son of S
Sorry, I had to break it up a little bit.
The son of Mathetha, the son of Nathan, the son of David.
Now, if you look at the genealogy in Matthew, this is where it changes, right?
Nathan, the son of David.
The other genealogy, which is Joseph's genealogy, which the kingly line came through, is Solomon.
So that's something very specific, right?
And so this is still the line of day.
but not the king line. The son of David, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salman,
the son of Naishan, the son of Bidodad, the son of Ram, the son of Hezran, the son of Petrae, the son
I probably remember some of these names.
The son of Jard and the son of Mahalel and the son of Canaan and the son of Inash and the son of
Adam. Listen, the son of God.
Well, wait a minute. Time out.
Son of God. What's this?
I thought there was only one begotten son of God.
There is only one begotten son of God.
His name is Jesus.
This dude was created.
Right? He wasn't begotten. He was created.
And he wasn't born.
And so there's a difference there.
And it's kind of like the, well, I'll just take you there.
It's kind of the difference where the son of God, Adam,
is called the first Adam in the book of Romans.
And Jesus is called the second Adam.
It's the son of the flesh, this first Adam.
And so remember when God told, take Isaac,
your only son. What? He had Ishmael. He fathered Ishmael. Ishmael was born. But Ishmael was the type of the flesh. You realize no flesh is going to inherit the kingdom of God. No flesh.
And so that's why we need a new one. And I don't know about you, but I'm kind of looking forward to it. Right?
I'll double amen that there.
So the Bible talks about it.
Says in 1 Corinthians 15,
the first man, Adam, became a living being.
Remember, God breathes into his nostrils, right?
The ruach, the breath of life, right?
And, but the last Adam, Jesus is called the second Adam, right?
Or actually, the word, Adam,
can literally mean man. The first man and the last man. The last Adam, listen,
this is why we love Jesus so much. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
He gives spirit. He gives life to you and me. Jesus has this ability. So powerful.
So I'm just quoting Warren Wearsby here. It says Luke interrupted his narrative at this point to give us a
genealogy of Jesus. Matthew's genealogy begins with.
Abraham and moves forward to Jesus while Luke's begin with Jesus and moves backward to Adam.
Matthew gives us the genealogy of Joseph, the legal foster father of Jesus, while Luke
gives us the genealogy of his mother, Mary. Luke 323 can be translated when he began his
ministry. Jesus was about 30 years old being supposedly the son of Joseph, the son of Heli,
an ancestor to Mary. And some of your Bibles have that in.
in quotes. Mary herself would not be mentioned because it was unusual for a woman to be named
in the official genealogy, though Matthew names for women, right? And so, um, it's important to look
genealogies, especially when it comes to our Lord and Savior. Luke reminds his readers here
that the son of God was also the son of man, born into the son of man, born into the
this world, identify with the needs and problems of mankind. And since Joseph and Mary were both in
David's line, these genealogies prove that Jesus of Nazareth has the legal right to David's
throne. And that's what the Devatic covenant is all about, is that there was a promise that a
descendant of David would sit upon the throne of David. Listen, forever. That's why Israel is so
important. Because that's where the throne of David is. Right? That's their
symbol, right? And it's not that they're a righteous holy people because some of them are really bad.
But that's just proof and affirmation that Jesus is that humble king.
And he came the first time in humility, right?
Coming to that wild man there in the Jordan and front of people watching it, the common people.
Right? It wasn't in some palace with some. With some.
some glorious, you know, royal pomp? No, he came and he was like us. And he went into the water
and he was humble, he was a humble king. But listen, the second part of my title was he's a glorious
king. And that's how he's coming back this second time. And that's why you and I need to be ready.
Because he's coming and he's coming soon and very soon. And I pray that you're ready for that.
And if you're not, right?
I want you to have an opportunity right now, right?
This is what an invitation is all of us.
It's an invitation.
You don't have to, you know, you don't have to RSVP.
Right?
You can just say, I don't think.
But it's an invitation.
If you want it, you can accept it.
And you can accept Jesus.
That's simply just by saying a simple sinner's prayer
with a sincere heart, like that broken reed or that smoldering flax,
the Lord will come along and he'll fan that flame and he'll make that which is broken
upright, he'll fix it, he'll heal it. And maybe you need that today. And so would you pray with me?
Father, we thank you. Thank you for your word. Lord Jesus, thank you for being who you are.
Lord, you're so approachable. You're so much like us and yet you're so much bigger than us.
and we need you. I need you every day. I need you more today than I did 30 years ago.
Lord, and for direction and for Lord, forgiveness and for just the newness that you bring to our lives,
Lord, the fruit that you can cause to come out of a life that is broken and doesn't have much to offer.
And so, Lord, I know there's some here right now that might be in a place where they just think maybe there's no hope or they're just,
They've blown it too much, Lord, or they're just, they're tired.
Lord, I just pray that you would come to them right now and,
and Lord that you would gently knock on the door of their heart.
And if that's you and the Lord is knocking on the door of your heart,
I just want to invite you to invite him in.
And you can do that with just saying a simple prayer like this.
You can repeat it after me.
You can say it out loud.
You can say it in the quietness of your own heart.
However, if you do say it, I would encourage you to come up and pray afterwards.
But just say a prayer like this.
Lord Jesus, I've sinned.
I've sin against you.
I've sin against others.
Please forgive me.
I believe that your blood washes me clean.
And I accept that.
And I believe that you went into the grave
and that you rose again and that you're alive today and you're ready
to be my Lord.
So would you please be my Lord?
And I ask you to come in now.
Lord, I turn from my sin and I turn to you with all that I am.
Lord, I'm weak.
I need your strength. So fill me with your Holy Spirit. And I pray it in the mighty and powerful name in Jesus.
Amen. And already. Well, if you prayed that prayer, welcome, welcome to God's family.
And like I said, the prayer team's going to be up here. Let's all stand, shall we?
The prayer team's going to be up here. And if you, if you prayed that prayer, just come up and let somebody know.
They'd love to pray with you and encourage you. Maybe get you a Bible if you don't have one.
that's what they're here for. So please take advantage of that. And we'll just, we'll kind of end with the, it's an old Keith
Green song called I Love You Lord. And we'll just sing the chorus.
I love you, Lord. I love you, Lord. And I lift my voice to worship.
you, oh my soul, rejoice. Take joy, my joy, my king, in what you hear, may it, may it be a sweet, sweet sound in your ear. May it be a sweet, sweet sound in your ear.
We do love you. Pray that you go before us. Lord, direct our steps this week.
And may the name of Jesus be on our lips.
And it's in your name we pray. Amen.
God bless you guys. Have a great week in the Lord.