[0:00] Good morning. Take out your Bibles with me, please, and turn to Luke chapter 1. This morning we're stepping back a little bit as we do every six weeks or so as we dive into passage after passage and walk through the gospel of Luke.
[0:24] Luke, we've come through three chapters so far, so we want to step back and kind of look big view of those chapters.
[0:37] We did do a review when we met over at the park and we dealt with the elements and the trains and all of that, so we did a little bit of a review there.
[0:48] But we're going to pick it up at the birth of John in chapter 1. In chapter 1 you have two announcements. You have the announcement of the birth of John to this very, very old couple who are so old they're called advanced in age, right?
[1:08] And they are way beyond childbearing years and yet God chooses this couple, this very godly couple to bear John that way.
[1:21] So you have one announcement about John's birth and then following that you have an announcement to Mary. Gabriel, the angel, comes to Mary and tells her, big surprise, she's going to conceive and have a child even though she's a virgin.
[1:34] And so we have an impossible, well we have a miraculous birth with John the Baptist, we have an impossible birth with Jesus Christ.
[1:47] So we have two announcements and so we're going to pick it up with the births. So the end of chapter 1 has the birth of John, chapter 2 is the birth of Jesus and we have Jesus in the temple for a couple of different events.
[2:01] Then in chapter 3 we have two baptisms. We have John the Baptist and his baptism of repentance. And then John tells us about Jesus as one who's coming after him who will baptize in a totally different way.
[2:17] Not with water but with the Holy Spirit and fire. So Luke is giving us a comparison. So I'm not going to read all of these two and a half chapters.
[2:28] What I would like to do is just read what is said about Jesus. Okay? So I'm going to start in chapter 1 verse 67 where Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, instead of talking about John, talks about Jesus.
[2:49] Talks about, doesn't call him Jesus, calls him the Christ. Talks about him. And then as an afterward talks about his son who will be the prophet. So I'm going to pick it up there and then in chapter 2 I'll pick up what the angel says to the shepherds.
[3:03] Later in chapter 2 what Simeon says when they come to the temple. And then chapter 3 what John says in his preaching. So I just want to mark the sayings. What is said?
[3:14] I think Luke is emphasizing those things. So if you're able to endure all that, if you're able to stand, if you'd like to stand, if you don't, if you're able.
[3:27] I'm going to start reading in Luke chapter 1 verse 67 to 79 and then I'll tell you where we go after that. Luke 1 67.
[3:37] His father, John's father, Zechariah, was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all who hate us, to show mercy, to show the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
[4:38] And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
[5:14] So prophesied Zechariah. Chapter 2, verse 10, the angel saying to the shepherds, the angel said to them, fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
[5:33] For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you.
[5:45] You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest.
[5:58] And on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased. Chapter 2, verse 25. Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.
[6:10] And this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel. And the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.
[6:29] And he came in the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought the child Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law, Simeon took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word.
[6:50] For my eyes have seen your salvation, that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.
[7:06] And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother, Lord, behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel and for a sign that is opposed.
[7:25] And a sword will pierce through your own soul also, so that the thoughts from many hearts may be revealed. And toward the end of chapter 2, Jesus at age 12 says to his parents who were searching for him, verse 49, he said to them, Why were you looking for me?
[7:51] Did you not know that I must be in my father's house? Finally, chapter 3, verse 7, what John's preaching says.
[8:03] He said, Every tree, therefore, that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
[8:40] And the crowds asked him, What then shall we do? He answered them, Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none. And whoever has food is to do likewise.
[8:51] Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, Teacher, what can we do? He said to them, Collect no more than you are authorized to do. The soldiers also asked him, And we, what can we do?
[9:06] He said to them, Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation. And be content with your wages.
[9:16] As the people were in expectation, And all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, Whether he might be the Christ, John answered them all saying, I baptize you with water.
[9:32] But he who is mightier than me is coming. The strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
[9:46] His winnowing fork is in his hand. To clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn. But the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.
[10:01] So reads what is said about Jesus. Let us pray. Father, grant us in these moments as we talk together, Insight, guidance, direction, clarity.
[10:16] Help us to see what Luke wants us to see. And more importantly, Help us to take to heart What your Holy Spirit desires for us to take.
[10:27] We pray in Christ's name. Amen. Please be seated. Well, we're reviewing today. So, you're not going to hear a one-way thing.
[10:40] We're going to talk. I do want you to notice, In your outline, I've got more than enough information in your outline. More than you can deal with. I got, you know, I had time.
[10:52] So, oh, I think this is interesting. I think this is interesting. I'll put that in there. So, in the, in, You have, um, Two births in chapter, The end of chapter one and chapter two.
[11:07] The birth of John, The birth of Jesus. You have, in chapter two, Two temple scenes, Where Jesus is presented as an infant in the temple. And then at age twelve, He comes to the temple, And is learning from the teachers.
[11:22] And then in chapter three, You have two wilderness scenes, Out in the wilderness, Where John is preaching and baptizing. You also have two baptisms. Okay?
[11:32] So, John has these pairings. Okay? Chapter one, He had two announcements about the birth. Chapter one and two, He has two births. Chapter three, He has two baptisms.
[11:44] So, he's comparing, He's paralleling John and Jesus. They work together. They are together, And yet, Their roles are completely different.
[11:54] And so, He's laid it out in parallel form, For us to see. Remember, Back in chapter one, Verse four, He told us that He's writing these things, In an orderly way.
[12:06] He is really organizing it, So that we might have certainty, About the things we've been taught, About the gospel. So, That's His overall goal.
[12:17] So, okay. So, Let's hear from you. There's a lot here. We can go anywhere you want. We're not going to review everything. This is six weeks of stuff.
[12:31] So, Where do you want to go? What do you see? What stands out to you? What has God, What has God been teaching you? Have you found any surprises, Through this?
[12:46] What's challenged you? How's it impacted you? What do you think? What do you want to go? What do you think of John? What do you think of Jesus?
[12:56] What do you think? Yeah, Daniel. Just the work of the Holy Spirit brought this. Yes. Yeah, I've got it listed over there. The Holy Spirit is mentioned seven times. Just in these three chapters.
[13:09] Well, he's mentioned more than that, But he's working in these, He's working in, Through, Where am I? John the Baptist is born, Right? He's conceived with the Holy Spirit.
[13:20] Right? Mary has the Holy Spirit. Elizabeth has the Holy Spirit. Zechariah has the Holy Spirit. Simeon has the Holy Spirit. Jesus, of course, Baptizes with the Holy Spirit. Major emphasis on the Holy Spirit.
[13:33] What else do you see? What does that really mean? What does it mean? Baptizing with the Holy Spirit. To baptize with the Holy Spirit? Fire. And fire.
[13:43] What does that really mean? We didn't explain that a couple weeks ago. Did we avoid that? Try to, A little bit mysterious. Baptizing with the Holy Spirit, What does that mean?
[13:56] I'll be, I'll be Jesus. You ask me a question, I'll ask you a question back. That's what Jesus did. A smart teacher. What is, What is baptizing with the Holy Spirit? Internal baptism. Okay, You think that's, Spiritual birth.
[14:10] Conversion. Yes. Well, when Jesus was with his disciples before he ascended to heaven, he said, Don't go out and minister in Acts, chapter 1, 5.
[14:22] Don't go out and minister in my name without my power. Yes. We can only do so much as good people, but when the Holy Spirit falls on you, Yes. you have his power.
[14:33] And then when you pray in Jesus' name, it all happens. There you go. Because it says, When we gather in Jesus' name, two and more gather in his name, it's not a name. It shall be done.
[14:46] Yes. And, but the power that goes with that only comes from the Holy Spirit. Yes. Most of my life, I never heard of the Holy, I mean, I hear it in the name.
[14:56] Sure. Right. The word Holy Spirit, but you did, I never realized it was a person. It was the third part of the Trinity. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.
[15:07] And how much you would really talk about the Holy Spirit. But when, when you really need, when you're fighting Satan, one on one, and the Holy Spirit falls on you, you never forget it.
[15:19] You never forget it. How could the power came and chase the darkness away? And, and it's been with me ever since. And, so I just, I come to know the Holy Spirit is a person, just like Jesus, just like God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.
[15:37] And, it's his power that I think we need today. Yes. Amen. He's given us the Holy Spirit forever, but for such a time as this. That we, there's so, Satan is fighting for his last breath.
[15:51] And he's attacking every single person as much as he possibly can before he's thrown into a lake of fire. And so, why so many burdens? Why, why, why do you feel like you're being hit hard on every side?
[16:04] Because Satan knows his time is short. And, it takes the power of the Holy Spirit in you now. We need the Holy Spirit to fall on us now to empower us, to just help us release there isn't anything that we pray for Jesus that isn't going to happen if it's God's will.
[16:22] That's right. It will happen. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, we believe, well, and I believe that when John is saying Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire, it's a fulfillment of Ezekiel 36 where God said, I will come in a new way.
[16:40] I will cleanse your hearts. I'll take out your heart of stone and put it in a heart of flesh. I'll give you my Holy Spirit and cause you, right, cause you to walk in my ways. So that, we call that the new birth when we are literally changed, right?
[16:55] So there's a difference between the baptism of the Holy Spirit where he comes into our lives and changes and then being filled with the Holy Spirit is our ongoing process in life where we learn to yield to him and be filled with his power.
[17:10] Yeah, what else? What else? The fire part, that sounds like judgment, I believe. He talks about a winnowing fork.
[17:21] He's going to separate the wheat from the chad. Right? He will do that. Jesus talked about it himself, right? When he returns, he'll separate the sheep and the goats.
[17:34] There is a day where he says it is done. Yeah? Ian may be thinking though too because it can be a little confusing.
[17:45] John baptized. John the Baptist. Right. Right? So you have that baptism and then people were asked later in the epistles, whose baptism have you received?
[17:59] Right. Have you received John's? Right. And Paul said, I will lay my hands on you as you receive. And I believe that with John the Baptist, it was not yet the Holy Spirit.
[18:16] Right. It was prior to the Holy Spirit before he baptized Jesus. And so what we have is you are, this is a pre-sign, a pre-signal that you're marking yourself off, but you don't have as soon.
[18:38] Thank you, Sue. Has said, you have not yet been indwelled. Right. And so we see that in the book of Acts, right? So Luke has two volumes. First volume, he's talking about Jesus Christ.
[18:50] Second volume is he starts Acts 1, saying, you know, same guy. Remember what I wrote? Now I'm writing the second part. So that's where the Holy Spirit comes. Right.
[19:01] Right? And then you see a number of encounters throughout Acts where you have people coming, hey, we've been baptized with John, what are you doing? He says, well, you need to be baptized in the name of Jesus and receive the Holy Spirit.
[19:18] And that goes to belief and faith as well. Right. And I think it's a different walk as well. So we have two baptisms in the chapter.
[19:31] Three. Remember, John's distinguished in chapter 3, verse 3. John went into all the region around the Jordan proclaiming a baptism of repentance unto the forgiveness of sin.
[19:44] Remember, his baptism is about preparing the way. His baptism is not the way. His baptism is preparing the way for forgiveness.
[19:56] Repenting, a baptism of repentance does not bring forgiveness. forgiveness. A baptism of repentance is on the right path to forgive.
[20:07] In other words, that's where you go. That's get in God's path. That's where you'll find forgiveness because it'll lead you to Jesus. And that's why there's a different baptism.
[20:18] That's the baptism that has power. Okay? So one is preparation, the other one is power. Does that make sense? Yeah. Okay. What else do you got?
[20:30] What else do you see? Lots of stuff here. Lots of that. It's kind of like, where do you land? Maybe you just kind of didn't get a question answered earlier. Maybe you're stirred in thoughts about, I don't know.
[20:43] What else? What do you see? Mark? Yes.
[20:54] Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Who did he give to Jesus to support him?
[21:08] Who's the bride of Christ? The church. The church. I hadn't thought of it that way. Now, Adam started different.
[21:19] They started together right from the beginning, right? They started, well, here's the other thing for against those who have liberal thoughts or think that the Bible is fairytale or think that Adam and Eve were just a myth.
[21:35] Luke does not treat it that way. Jesus does not treat it that way. Paul definitely does not treat it that way. In other words, the Bible takes them as genuine, true people.
[21:46] God truly created a man and wife from dust. Right? And so they were the first perfect beings. They had no sin, no sin baggage, right?
[21:59] There was nothing to get in their way, right? What happened? What happened to the first Adam? How'd he do?
[22:13] What did he do? Anything? Anything? Yeah. So anyway, so, and that's the comparison.
[22:24] That's what Paul brings out in Romans 5, that our first Adam, we're all connected to the first Adam. What did he do for us? He disobeyed, we get sin nature, right?
[22:35] We're all made sinners because we're all connected to him. We inherit that sin nature. Therefore, because of our sin nature, under the law, we're condemned, and we die. I'd like to remind what we read earlier this morning, Hebrews, and to the sprinkle, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
[23:09] So, that's what we got from Adam. We did get Seth, we did, you know, we did get Cain, too.
[23:21] What's the result of Adam's sin, Adam and Eve's sin? Cain, murder, right? Hatred, what do we have today? Hatred, murder, where did it all start?
[23:32] Right there. So, that's like a microcosm of what we're landed with. Genesis explains everything that's going on today. The source of everything that's going on there.
[23:46] The hatred in the Mideast, tribes of Abraham and his sons. But we take the greatest hope, too, because when Abel died, God provided another one.
[24:03] Yes. For that comparison of the first Adam and Jesus and second Adam, right? First Adam, perfect, right?
[24:14] Chose to sin. Second Adam, born fully human and without sin, just like Adam, and yet did not disobey.
[24:27] And because he obeyed, everyone who trusts in him, instead of being made sinner, are made what? Righteous. Righteous.
[24:37] Clean. And as a result, instead of condemnation, they are justified, not guilty, and receive life.
[24:48] See, it's fascinating what Paul does in Romans 5. He just does that parallel. It's like, I want to be on this side with Jesus, right? Not this side with Adam.
[24:58] I'm already with Adam. Everybody's connected to Adam. Not everyone's connected to Christ. That's where I want to be. What else you got?
[25:12] Sherry? So when you talked about, I'm going to go back to the baptism thing. That's fine. You talked about the baptism, and it says that John's baptism was the baptism of repentance and forgiveness of sins.
[25:26] why does Jesus take that baptism over the end? Great question. For us. Great question. Yeah, John's baptizing who?
[25:38] Sinners. Sinners. Everyone. Sinners, right? You brood vipers, right? Who are under the threat of God's wrath, and yet Jesus, who had not sinned, comes to that baptism.
[25:53] Why? That's a wonderful question. Why would he, he doesn't need to be forgiven. The other gospels tell us that when they were baptized with John, they were confessing their sins, they were repenting, they were being honored, they were saying, I need to be cleansed, I need forgiveness.
[26:16] Why would Jesus do that? You know what? as a sign.
[26:28] As a sign? He's also 100% human. Yes. So he has to walk. Yes. He has to go through that process to show others.
[26:43] He does so much of that in his ministry is to show others. And of course, then God takes the opportunity of revealing a couple of things.
[26:54] So in the other gospel, in Matthew's gospel, there's a dialogue Matthew records between Jesus and John before he baptized. Remember? Yes. Jesus comes and John says, you should be baptized in me, not that way.
[27:08] Right? I, you know, and Jesus said what? Let it be for what? For the sake of righteousness.
[27:21] To fulfill righteousness. To fulfill righteousness. And what happens, as Luke describes, what happens when Jesus has been baptized?
[27:35] Heaven's open, right? A dove descends in bodily, no, not that, excuse me, the Holy Spirit descends in bodily form as a dove.
[27:48] We had a discussion this morning at science school where that meant. Maybe. Like a dove. Does he mean, is the spirit like a dove or is he descending like a dove would descend? Either way, it's bodily form.
[28:00] And why dove? Sacrifice. Humble sacrifice. Sacrifice. That's, so forget what everybody else tells you the dove means in scripture. What scripture says is sacrifice.
[28:14] Predominantly. We saw it in the chapter 2 when Mary comes to purification, what did she bring? Doves because she can't afford a lamb. Right?
[28:24] He didn't descend as a lamb. He descended as a dove for everybody. He's a sacrifice. So why does he go through the baptism?
[28:38] Because he's taking our place. He has to do everything that we need to do. He's doing in our place. Yet without sin. So he's counted.
[28:50] So Isaiah 53 says he's numbered with the transgressors. Even though he's not a sinner, he's numbered with the transgressors. He is taking our place.
[29:02] We deserve the wrath. He takes the wrath. But to get to that place he has to walk the law. He has to fulfill the law. He has to do everything the law says.
[29:15] Yet without sin. So next time, not next week, next week Rick's going to answer all your Trinity questions for you. Because somebody was bringing that up so he'll answer that.
[29:27] just kind of promo you. Helping you out there a little bit. Yeah, no, he's got a great, he's got a great, he's going into the Holy Spirit next week, so you want to be here for that.
[29:42] Where did it say Jesus was counted with the transgressors? Isaiah 53. I believe verse 12. He also came numbered with the transgressors.
[29:53] He also came to fulfill the prophecies. Right. That's what was prophesied. Yeah. He would die with sinners, right? He would be buried in a rich man's tomb.
[30:03] He would, how many, I lost count how many prophecies he's fulfilled. Right? I mean, it's incredible. But yeah, he would be counted among, numbered with the transgressors, even though he's not.
[30:20] So that he can take our place. But he has to fulfill the law. He has to do all of the law. We're going to have some fascinating discussions when we get to what he does with the Sabbath, by the way.
[30:33] Because all the rulers then thought he was breaking the Sabbath. And yet he's holy, so. Okay, right? He's messing with the Sabbath.
[30:44] We'll get to that later. That'll be interesting. What else you got? What else? What other questions? Did that help? Did that help?
[30:57] What else? What other questions? Thoughts? So the church is the bride of Christ. Yes. Are we falling into the same crap that you did?
[31:11] You're catching that analogy, are you? Are we listening to another voice? Can we? Well, are we? That's what you have to analyze yourself, but can we?
[31:24] Revelation says we can. Yes. So if you have the Holy Spirit, if you have the Holy Spirit, what is the only thing that the enemy Satan can do to a Christian?
[31:40] Yeah, he can kill you. Oh yeah, he can take you out. If God so says. But can he possess you?
[31:53] Absolutely not. Greater is he who is in you. Absolutely not. But can he affect you? He can tempt you. He can tempt you. We're going to look at that next chapter. You know, chapter 4.
[32:05] Chapter 4, Jesus deals with temptation. Yes. And he models for us how to deal with it. So yeah, he can deceive. He can lead us astray. Right?
[32:16] He cannot change us. He can only lure us. He can discourage us. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, so I thought that was I appreciate some of you talking about the hard stuff going on.
[32:31] I feel that myself as well. There's just a season of hardship. And God has us. God puts us in those. You know that. Right? So that we might learn and do or so that we might be more conformed to Jesus.
[32:45] Okay? Not everything's happy-go-lucky. You know, it's, he's chipping away at our stuff so that we might really trust that he is good even when I don't see the good.
[33:00] It also gives us an opportunity to practice putting on our armor. Yes. Whereas sometimes we don't go to that automatically.
[33:10] Yeah. More often we're in it. So if I'm discouraged, if I'm struggling with discouragement, what piece of the armor would help me with that? Yeah, I mean, probably many pieces, but you know, I mean, I mean, the breastplate of righteousness.
[33:26] If I'm discouraged because the enemy's saying, you're not a good Christian, look at you, blah, blah, blah. Where's my righteousness? It's Christ, not me. Like Luther would say, no, get away, I'm covered.
[33:41] He's put his robe on me, I'm covered. Or the shield of faith, if it's dark, fiery darts, my shield of faith. Just faith, right? I'm trusting what God has said, right?
[33:54] Or I take that like Jesus was going to do, I'm going to bring a sword. Can't wait to show you my my Kyra. He takes the sword out every time Satan comes, right?
[34:07] It is written, it is written. And do we do that? Do we speak to the temptation or the discouragement?
[34:18] Do we say, no, it is written. I will never leave you or forsake you. it is written. What?
[34:30] What do you say? What kind of things do you say? It is written. What? Satisfy me with your unfailing love. He satisfies me.
[34:42] He satisfies with his unfailing love. It is written, flee immorality. If you're tempted with lust, it is written, flee immorality. Speak it out loud. Speak it out loud.
[34:54] It is written, do not be anxious. There's power in the spoken word of God.
[35:05] What he has said, say out loud, and Satan is defenseless. What else?
[35:20] Just speak the name of Jesus. Amen. If you're pushed for scripture. According to Luther, right?
[35:33] Luther's great song, a mighty fortress. Right? What does he say? One little word shall fell them. One little word shall fell them. We fear him not.
[35:46] I love mighty fortress. It's his walk. That's his spiritual walk. Like Wesley's hand can it be?
[35:58] That's a spiritual walk. That's wonderful. Discursion. Sing. That's what David did.
[36:10] Sing some psalms. Sing psalm 42. It's not a cherry song. Yeah, but it's written for people that are discouraged. Why is my soul cast down?
[36:26] Huh? What else? Pat? Since Jesus is not of the bloodline of Joseph, why is it necessary to give Joseph's heritage?
[36:46] Yeah, so in Matthew we have a genealogy of Jesus through Joseph. It goes through Solomon, David, right? In Luke we have a different genealogy.
[37:02] Some of the same names that goes from Abraham, but then when it gets to David, it splits. Instead of Solomon, it's Nathan, his other son, who is not the royal line.
[37:18] Solomon is the royal line. So Matthew gives us the royal line through Joseph, who is connected to Solomon and David. Okay?
[37:30] Luke gives us, I believe, Mary's genealogy. In other words, his physical lineage, which still goes to David, because God promised David from your very body will come the one who sits on the throne.
[37:48] That couldn't happen through Solomon, through Joseph. It couldn't happen through Joseph. Joseph was not his physical father, right? The only physical connection Jesus has is through Mary.
[38:01] So Luke gives us both the distinction that he's connected to David physically but not in the royal line, and he's also connected to somebody else really, really important way back in Genesis 3.
[38:18] He would be the physical seed of who? Adam and Eve, the seed of the woman. Remember?
[38:29] Eve was deceived, right? She bore a curse for that, but so did the dragon, right? Not a snake, he was a dragon, right? He lost his legs.
[38:43] And the dragon was told, yeah, the seed of the woman will crush the head of the offspring of the dragon.
[38:57] Right? So if Jesus had to have a physical connection because the word of God said, so it's through Mary, has to be through Mary. So I think there's two lines.
[39:09] One is physical, that's what Luke gives us, and then Matthew gives us the royal line. How can he be king? How can he be Messiah if he's coming through Nathan? Because Nathan's not the Messiah line. But through his legal father, Joseph, who took all responsibility for him, right?
[39:27] He obeyed what Gabriel said. You shall take him, and you shall call him Jesus, and he will be your son, right? So he's, and what did they say later in the gospel? Who is this Jesus?
[39:38] Isn't he Joseph's son? Son of Joseph. Son of Joseph. So he was known that way, and he's legally that way. He was fully adopted, has all the lineage to the throne.
[39:50] Right. scripture does establish, it goes through that whole thing, the epistles do too, from beginning to end, Old Testament, New Testament, the whole concept of adoption, we're adopted, it's it, that's it.
[40:08] It's like Yeah, the law covered that, when you took in, you are legally responsible. Yeah. You are like flesh and blood. Yeah. And that's why Joseph is very important too.
[40:22] Yeah. So fascinating, fascinating what Luke is doing. Luke is writing very intentionally. Yeah. And on that note, Ephesians 1, right after the introduction, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.
[40:51] In love, he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has blessed us in the beloved.
[41:04] Good, good. Yeah, keep going. What else? Oh, no, I mean, what else were you going to say? Oh, just the, we now, I don't know what starts the symbol, what is the symbol all the time, but it seems like this works as an example of adoption, and therefore Paul can talk about us being adopted in Christ.
[41:28] Exactly. Even though we're not physically connected to Jesus, we inherit his blessing because we've been grafted adopted.
[41:40] God can do that. He can take stones and make them children of Abraham. Right? We become children of Abraham because we have the faith like Abraham had, not because we have the blood like.
[41:58] What else? Anything else? Got it all? Got it all figured out? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
[42:11] What? I'm sorry, Debbie, go ahead. Just going back to what do we do when we discourage, one thing you said often that I love is like when the enemy comes at you with, well, you did this and you did that, you say, yep, you're right, I did and I'm forgiven and I love that.
[42:32] So I think when it comes to discouragement, truth, the belt of truth because all he has is lies and if we can go back and ask God for the truth and the truth about us and that's when I love those, I shared them with Diana, these, all these scriptures about who we are in Christ, you know, and dwell on those because it helps, it's like the, you know, the word, which is the sword, builds me up inside to say wait a minute, then that's not true, what I'm hearing and it can be like, you know, in counseling they say what's that committee that meets in your head?
[43:15] Bad things have been said to you or whatever, hurtful things or even things you've done yourself, so that's crucial to me. But the other part I think of discouragement is what Heidi's doing, just tell people and ask people to think because it's like depression, it wants to isolate you, so you can pull back, I'm the only one going through this, I'm the only one worried about what's going on in the world.
[43:38] And then I hide and withdraw, right? Remember John 1 taught us that, remember we walk in the light, remember and he talks about not just I individually walk in the light therefore I confess my sins, but I walk in the light with the body, remember?
[43:55] John 1. And there's a different kind of cleansing that comes when I confess among other believers. That's the strength of when we talk together, we share together, we share our struggles together.
[44:10] There's power, there's a release of some of that burden by the very nature of doing that. John 1 talks about that, we have a cleansing. Right? So, anyway, so good.
[44:22] Good. Good. Okay. I'm getting excited about Luke 4 because we get to talk about the armor of God.
[44:34] Yeah. It's really, really practical stuff. Okay. All right. Let me pray and then we'll...
[44:47] Father, we thank you for Luke. Thank you that you raised him up. Thank you that you brought him to yourself. Thank you, Lord, that you brought him out of the world where he was already a knowledgeable, curious man who wanted to figure out things and who was a healer.
[45:06] And you brought him to yourself and now he became curious about the whole story of the gospel. And thank you, Lord, God, I'm going to talk to you about things that nobody else shows us.
[45:16] He shows us something he has thought deeply about and investigated very carefully and interviewed and talked to witnesses of these events so that we might be certain that these are not made up.
[45:31] Father, we pray that we take away from our time not only the truth here but its application. That Jesus is the horn of salvation who saves us from our enemies so that we might serve you without fear.
[45:54] And he gives us the knowledge of salvation that saves us, Lord, from darkness.
[46:07] He saves those of us when we sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. He brings us out. His light brings us out.
[46:19] And so remind us today when we have this spirit of heaviness, this spirit of discouragement, this, which we all naturally can go to, Lord, when things are hard.
[46:33] Shine your light. Help us to look, as Debbie reminded, help us to look at the light of who you are and what you've done in our lives. Instead of looking at the rubble, as Nehemiah reminded us, instead of looking at the rubble, everything that's not done, help us to turn our focus back on you as the one who moves us, as the one who is with us, as the one who is always good, no matter what we go through.
[47:02] The one who never leaves us or forsakes us. So remind us, Father, these truths.
[47:15] In this time, Lord, help us to have our breastplate on, our belt of truth on, hold up our shield of faith and have firmly on our helmet of salvation, our gospel shoes, and take out our sword and speak what is true.
[47:35] We pray in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you.