Son of Adam, Son of God

and then read the passage for today.

Dear God, thank you for today.

Thank you for bringing us all here.

We pray, God, that as we read, as your word is read and preached, oh God,

that you would just speak to us individually, God.

Lord, we know that your word is alive and active, God.

We pray that, yeah, we would really see you and know you

and that your truth, oh God, would be made alive in our lives today.

In Jesus' name.

Okay, so I'm going to read from Luke 3, starting from verse, let's say, 21 to 413.

Now, when all the people were baptized and when Jesus also had been baptized

and was praying, the heavens were opened,

and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dog.

And a voice came from heaven,

You are my beloved son.

With you I am well pleased.

Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about 30 years of age,

being the son of, as was supposed, of Joseph,

the son of Heli, the son of Metathat,

the son of Levi,

the son of Melchi,

the son of Janiah,

the son of Joseph,

the son of Metathias,

the son of Amos,

the son of Nahum,

the son of Esli,

the son of Nagaiah,

the son of Math,

the son of Metathias,

the son of Simeon,

the son of Josek,

the son of Judah,

the son of Joannan,

the son of Reza,

the son of Zerubbabel,

the Rons of Sons,

the son of Sheltiel,

the son of Mirai,

the son of Melchi,

the son of Adai,

the son of Kosam,

the son of El-Madan,

the son of Er,

the son of Joshua,

the son of Eliezer,

the son of Jorim,

the son of Mat Corinthians,

the son of Levi,

the son of Simeon,

the son of Judah,

the son of Joseph,

the son of JahХ notice,

the son of Eliakim,

the son of Meliah,

the son of Mena,

the son of Matatha,

the son of Nathan,

the son ofman,

the son of David,

the son of Jesse,

the son of bat,

the son of Boaz the son of Salah the son of Nashih the son of Aminadab the son of Ajme the son of Arnie

the son of Hezron the son of Perez the son of Judah the son of Jacob the son of Isaac

the son of Abraham the son of Terah the son of Nahor the son of Saruk the son of Rheul the son

of Pellick the son of Eber the son of Shela the son of Canaan the son of Arfaxad the son of Shem

the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared,

the son of Mahalel, the son of Canaan, the son of Anos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

And Jesus, full of the Spirit, returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for 40 days,

being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days, and when they were ended, he was hungry.

The devil said to him, If you are the son of God, command these stones to become bread.

And Jesus answered him, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone.

And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in the moment of time,

and said to him, To you I will give all these authority and their glory, for it hath been delivered to me,

and I give it to whom I will. If you then will worship me, it will all be yours.

And Jesus answered him, It is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.

And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him,

If you are the son of God, throw yourself down from there, for it is written,

He will command his angels concerning you to guard you.

And on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against the stone.

And Jesus answered, It is said, You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.

And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.

This is the word of God.

Thanks.

Imagine meeting someone that's just gleaming with glory and charisma.

And surely you think to yourself, This is a VIP.

This is an important person.

And that person walks right up to you with such gravitas that you feel tempted to bow down in his presence,

almost to worship him.

And that's what we see in Revelation chapter 22, verses 8 to 9.

Revelation 22:8–9

And after encountering an angel of God and hearing his words and seeing his visions,

Apostle John says,

When I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me.

But he said to me, You must not do that.

I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers, the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book.

Worship God.

This great personage is merely a servant.

Who then is the king that this servant ministers to?

If this is the manner of the servant, what kind of a person could this king be?

If this is the butler, what kind of a person is the master of the house?

That's kind of where we find ourselves here in Luke chapter 3, 21.

Luke 3 · chapter mention

Because in chapter 3, earlier in chapter 3, we met John the Baptist.

And we were told about his birth, that he will be great before the Lord.

And his birth was attended with such remarkable circumstances that murmurings and rumors about him spread all over the town and the entire region.

And people were openly wondering to themselves,

What then will this child be?

The people were in expectation and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John whether he might be the Christ.

Luke chapter 3, verses 15 to 16.

Luke 3:15–16

But John answered them all, saying,

I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming,

the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

So in the ancient Near East, right, the desert climate,

people's feet were clad with open-toed sandals,

and so it would always become caked with dirt.

And so washing the feet, therefore, was a daily necessity,

but this was considered such a demeaning task

that Jews insisted that even slaves were not,

Jewish slaves were not worthy of this task.

That you should only have Gentile slaves do this,

and Jewish slaves were not allowed to wash people's feet.

And yet this great personage, this seeming VIP, the John the Baptist,

says, I am not worthy to untie the sandals of this one who is to come.

And so that's whom we are about to encounter.

This great Jewish prophet, the powerful man of God,

whom openly many wondered whether or not it was the Christ,

says, no, this master is coming.

It is not I.

And that's whom we meet in Luke chapter 3, 21 to chapter 4, verse 13.

Luke 3 · chapter mention

And in this passage, we learn that Jesus is the Son of God

who represents and restores humanity to their rightful relationship with God.

That's the main point of this passage.

And we'll see that in three parts.

First, we see the announcement of the Son of God.

Second, we see the ancestry of the Son of God.

And third, we see the allegiance of the Son of God.

In verses 21 to 22, we say that,

Now when all the people were baptized,

and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying,

the heavens were opened,

and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove.

And a voice came from heaven,

You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased.

In the parallel passage in Matthew chapter 3 and Mark chapter 1,

Matthew 3 · chapter mention Mark 1 · chapter mention

We also learn that the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus after he was baptized.

So that's the same.

But Luke gives us the additional detail that it was, in fact,

after Jesus was baptized,

and while he was in the act of praying to God,

that the heavens were opened,

and the Holy Spirit descended on him.

And a voice came from heaven.

So God saw it fit to include four gospel accounts in Scripture,

because each has its particular emphasis.

And this emphasis on prayer is Luke's particular contribution.

So in the pivotal moments of Jesus' life and ministry in the Gospel of Luke

are all preceded by prayer.

So before choosing his 12 disciples,

who will go on to become the apostles and the foundation of the church,

it says in Luke chapter 6, 12,

Luke 6 · chapter mention

that all night Jesus continued in prayer to God.

Immediately before Peter makes the breakthrough confession

that Jesus is the Christ of God,

Jesus was praying alone.

And just before Jesus is transfigured with dazzling glory of God

and joined by Moses and Elijah on the mountain,

it says in Luke 9, 29,

Jesus was praying.

It was after Jesus finished praying in Luke chapter 11, verse 1,

Luke 11:1

that he teaches his disciples how to pray

with the motto of the Lord's Prayer.

And finally, before his impending arrest, trial, death, and resurrection,

it says in Luke chapter 22, 41,

Luke 22 · chapter mention

that Jesus knelt down and prayed.

Why does this happen?

Luke is intentionally driving home a point with this,

because like the petals that the flower girl drops

in preparation for the entrance of the bride,

like the light that breaks on the horizon at dawn

before the rising of the sun,

God has appointed that prayer in the life of the spiritual person

to be the forerunner to all of his blessings.

We take for granted what was given to us

if we receive it without asking,

but we cherish it

if it's given to us after much seeking.

Like parents who are ready to give what is good to their children,

but only ways that they would ask,

because in the act of asking and giving,

there's a deepening of love and trust.

Our Heavenly Father stands ready to bestow what we would ask,

ready to bestow on us every spiritual blessing

in the heavenly places,

awaiting that we would pray.

And so this is really a side point here,

but we are creatures of time,

and so we like to mark days and weeks and years,

and often we make resolutions for the new year,

when January 1st comes.

And so let me remind you that we're also creatures of habit,

and so I want to ask you a question.

Do you have a habit of daily prayer?

Have you set aside regular time and place to pray?

Because you have not set a deliberate course to pray,

then you have planned not to pray.

Not to guilt trip you,

but this is,

I sincerely wish that we would all take advantage

of the privilege that prayer is,

seeing this pattern of blessing that follows it

in the Gospel of Luke.

And in verse 22,

it tells us that while Jesus was praying,

the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form,

like a dove,

and a voice came from heaven.

You are my beloved son,

with you I am well pleased.

The word bodily describes the form

in which the Spirit descended.

It had substance,

so it was visible to everybody.

And then the phrase,

like a dove,

describes the manner in which the Spirit descended.

So he did not descend as a dove.

It says that he descended like a dove.

It's describing the manner in which he came down.

And there are significant parallels

between this account

and the account of creation in Genesis 1.

First, in Genesis 1, verse 2,

Genesis 1:2

it uses bird language like here.

It says that the Spirit of God

was hovering over the face of the waters.

And in that moment,

as the Spirit is hovering like a bird,

God speaks creation into this existence.

And so something that's similarity,

that parallel is suggesting

that something of cosmic significance

is brewing right now

in Jesus' baptism

and while he's praying

that the Spirit of God is hovering

and God the Father speaks.

This is a turning point, really,

in human history.

Because the Jews had reckoned,

starting around 435 B.C.,

after the death of Malachi,

Israel's last prophet,

that God had ceased speaking.

The Jews during this time of Jesus

believed that since that time,

God had only spoken to them

through faint whispers,

these echoes.

God never spoke to them directly.

Because of that,

even the so-called prophets

or the people who spoke,

those words were not considered

divinely authoritative

like the previous sayings

of the prophets.

But here, once again,

the voice of God

is heard directly.

Heaven at long last

breaks those hundreds of years

of silence.

And God the Father's announcement,

this dramatic speech,

concerns Jesus' sonship.

He says,

You are my beloved son.

With you, I am well pleased.

So here we see a glimpse,

an early glimpse,

of the triune God,

the Trinity.

The loving Father,

the beloved Son,

and then the Holy Spirit

who bestows and betokens God's love,

who's a token of God's love.

So this is an announcement

of Jesus' divinity.

He's the divine Son.

He is the Son of Man,

as we saw,

but He's also the Son of God.

And as such,

He stands here

as the Son of Man

and Son of God

who bridges heaven and earth

and connects God to man.

Where He stands,

where Jesus stands,

the heavens open.

Where He stands,

the Father speaks.

And where He stands,

the Spirit descends.

He is the one mediator

between God and men.

And He's the one

that establishes

that broken communication line

between God and men.

He's the one

who stands in the gap.

He's the Son of God

who represents

and restores humanity

to their rightful relationship

with God.

And this language of sonship

not only communicates

His divinity,

His divine sonship,

but also communicates

the fact that Jesus

is the Messianic King.

It communicates His role.

Because in the prophecy

of Psalm chapter 2

Psalms 2:7–8

verses 7 to 8,

it said,

God said concerning

the Messianic King,

You are my Son.

Today I have begotten you.

Ask of me

and I will make

the nations your heritage

and the ends of the earth

your possession.

And also in the Messianic prophecy

of Isaiah 42.1,

God said,

Behold my servant

whom I uphold,

my chosen,

in whom my soul delights,

I put my spirit upon him.

He will bring forth justice

to the nations.

You can think about

what's happening here

this way.

So when you're applying

for a job somewhere,

it's kind of helpful

to have an endorsement

from the CEO

of the company.

And when you're,

so this is God's endorsement

of Jesus' ministry

as the Messianic King

who begins his ministry

here after this.

And because Luke writes

in his sequel,

the Acts of the Apostles

in chapter 10,

verse 37 to 38,

that the early Christians

saw this instance,

the Jesus' baptism

and the God the Father

speaking from heaven

to affirm his sonship,

that this was a significant event

that proved the identity

of Jesus to the watching eyes.

And they describe this event

as the time

when God anointed

Jesus of Nazareth

with the Holy Spirit

and with power.

Now, the language

of anointing

conveys the kingship

because in the old days,

kings were anointed

at their inauguration.

So this, in effect,

is Jesus' royal inauguration.

The king is coming

into his kingdom.

He's being anointed

by the Holy Spirit.

And this is not,

by that I don't mean

that Jesus is becoming

the Son of God here.

He is the eternal Son of God.

He was born the Messianic King

as Luke chapter 1 and 2

Luke 1 · chapter mention

made clear.

But this is when

he is formally recognized,

legitimized,

and announced to the world

and presented to the world

as the Son of God on earth.

That's the announcement

of the Son of God.

And after the announcement

of the Son of God,

we see the ancestry

of the Son of God

in verses 23 to 38.

Nowadays,

genetic testing websites

like 23andMe

are getting very popular,

right?

With many family tree records

having been lost.

People are curious

to find out

where they come from

because our ancestry

reveals something

about ourselves,

right?

DNA tests.

Nowadays,

are fairly comprehensive.

They reveal

our congenital health risks,

carrier status for genes

that we could pass on

to our children,

as well as,

of course,

reveals our ethnicity

and who our relatives are.

And likewise,

Luke here,

for a similar purpose,

includes the ancestry

of Jesus.

He has to reveal

something about him,

to tell us

who he really is.

And verse 23 says

that Jesus,

when he began his ministry,

was about 30 years of age.

This is not a throwaway statement.

Luke doesn't provide

an exact age

at which Jesus began

his ministry,

but instead provides

an approximate number

and he rounds it to 30.

And this is intentional

because according to

Numbers chapter 4,

Numbers 4:3

verse 3,

30 was the age

at which priests

were allowed

to enter into the priesthood.

According to Ezekiel

Ezekiel 1:1

chapter 1,

verse 1,

30 was the age

when Ezekiel,

the prophet,

was called into

his prophetic ministry.

And according to

Genesis 41, 26,

and 2 Samuel chapter 5,

2 Samuel 5:4

verse 4,

30 was also the age

at which Joseph

and David,

respectively,

began their reign

as rulers,

as kings.

So Luke is telling us

by this,

that Jesus began

his ministry

at about 30 years of age

to connect

Jesus' inauguration

with the three major offices

of the Old Testament era,

priest,

prophet,

and king.

Jesus is the one

who comprehensively

encompasses

and ultimately fulfills

all the priestly,

prophetic,

and kingly offices

among God's people.

He's the one

who fulfills it all.

He's the one

whom we have been

waiting for.

And at 30 years of age,

he enters his service.

And Jesus was,

according to

the rest of verse 23,

the son,

as was supposed,

of Joseph.

The parenthetical remark,

as was supposed,

is an acknowledgement

of the virgin birth

of Jesus.

Jesus was legally

reckoned the son

of Joseph,

but he was not actually

the biological child

of Joseph

because he was born

of the virgin Mary.

And the point

was made

very sharply

earlier in chapter 2,

verse 48, 49,

when Mary asked

Jesus,

Son,

why have you

treated us so?

Behold,

your father and I

have been searching

for you

in great distress.

But then Jesus

responded

by saying

to them,

Why were you

looking for me?

Did you not know

that I must be

in my father's house?

Jesus explicitly

claimed

his divine

sonship

over and above

his sonship

to Joseph

and Mary?

And then

from here

through verse 38,

we see this,

he's trying

to ask

his ancestry

as the son

of God.

Now,

it's,

at this point,

I should address this

because you might

be aware of it already

or it will come up

as you're reading

the scriptures

because the gospel

of Matthew

also provides

a genealogy

of Jesus,

but the two lists

are actually

quite different.

For example,

Matthew lists

41 male heads

of families

while Luke

lists 57.

From David

to Jesus,

there are,

in fact,

only two

overlapping names.

And the discrepancy

begins immediately

with Joseph's father

because Luke

Luke 23:23

chapter 23,

verse 23

says that

Joseph

is the son

of Heli,

but Matthew

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1,

16

says that

Joseph's father

was,

in fact,

a man named

Jacob.

This sets off

two kind of

deviations

that don't converge

again until

King David.

And in order to

understand this

discrepancy,

we need to address

a few things

about ancient

Jewish genealogies

in general.

First,

the word father

can be used

narrowly to refer

to one's immediate

biological father,

or it could refer

more broadly,

as we do in English,

to one's ancestor.

And likewise,

the word son

can narrowly refer

to one's immediate

biological child,

but it can also

refer more broadly

to one's descendant.

It's the same

in English

as in Hebrew

and Greek,

which is why

Matthew can say

in chapter 1

that Jesus

is the son of David.

David is not

his immediate father.

David is his ancestor.

So that's the first point.

Second is that

genealogies

are not always exhaustive.

In fact,

they are often selective.

For example,

Matthew explicitly says

in Matthew chapter 1,

Matthew 1:17

verse 17,

so all the generations

from Abraham to David

were 14 generations,

and from David

to the deportation

to Babylon,

14 generations,

and from the deportation

to Babylon

to the Christ,

14 generations.

I don't know

if you're following

the pattern,

but there's obviously

an organizational scheme there.

He's not just listing

all the names.

He's intentionally

giving 14 names

from each major eras

of Jewish history,

of Israel's history.

And I think

the organizational scheme

comes from Gematria.

Gematria is a method

by which Jews

assigned a numerical value

to each Hebrew letter

so that someone's name

can be added up

and given a number value.

So according to this method,

the name David

has the numerical value

of 14.

Which is likely

why Matthew lists

three sets of 14s

to prove that Jesus

is indeed

the son of David

as Matthew begins

his book with

in chapter 1,

verse 1.

The book of the genealogy

of Jesus Christ,

the son of David.

So in other words,

there's a scheme.

These genealogies

don't list all the names.

They leave some names out.

They're selected.

That's the second point.

The third point,

which is crucial

for understanding this,

is that Jews

practice

levirate marriage

as stipulated

in Deuteronomy 25.

This meant that

when a man

who is married,

if he dies

without a son

to carry on his name,

it was his brother's

duty to produce

a son for him

by taking his brother's

surviving wife,

the widow,

as his own wife.

Now this was,

this seems strange

and foreign to us,

but this was

an important custom

in Israel

because the Jews'

inheritance

in God's promised land

was directly tied

to their ancestry,

the tribe that they

belonged to,

the family that they

belonged to.

So if they had no son,

if the man had no son

to his name,

it would mean that

his family

and all of his

progeny

would be permanently

blotted out

from the record

of the nation of Israel

and God's

intended promises.

So this,

so this is why

the Levirate marriage

was important,

but this can obviously,

you can figure out,

complicate some genealogies

because if,

if a son of a Levirate marriage

would,

because son of a Levirate marriage

would be considered

legally the son

of the deceased man,

the dead man,

but physically

he would be

the son of his brother.

You guys see that?

Now why,

why are,

why is this important?

So all these,

with all these factors in mind,

we can make sense

of the discrepancy

between Matthew and Luke.

Uh,

several plausible explanations

have been proposed

throughout church history.

I,

the one that I like best

that I think is the best

explanation for it

is that Matthew

is providing

the royal genealogy.

So the line of people

who would have been

the legal heirs

to the Davidic throne.

And while Luke

is providing

the physical genealogy,

the line of people

from whom Joseph

was physically descended.

So then even though

Jacob was the legal

heir of David,

uh,

because he died

without a son,

his relative,

perhaps a brother

or a half-brother,

Heli,

had a son

in his name

through Levit marriage

to Jacob's widow.

That was Joseph.

Which is why

Matthew and Luke

would be both correct

in saying that

either Jacob

was the father of Joseph

or Heli

was the father of Joseph.

Um,

this would explain

why Matthew's

and Luke's genealogies,

uh,

uh,

are identical.

They converge

and are identical

starting David and up.

I think it's because

Matthew is concerned

with preserving

the royal genealogy,

so after David

it becomes all messed up.

It would be different

from Luke and Luke and Mark,

but it's exactly the same

from David and onward.

Uh,

and this would also explain

why,

if you look at Matthew's

genealogy,

he includes all the kings

from Judah,

from David to Jequaniah,

but Luke's genealogy

contains no king of Judah

except King David,

right?

So I think this is

a good explanation

of the,

the deviation.

So,

notwithstanding

this discrepancy,

the point that they're

making is the same

and it's consistent

in Matthew and Luke

that regardless

of which method

you use to trace

their line,

Jesus' line goes

back to King David.

The point is that

Jesus is the rightful

heir to David's throne.

And not only to David,

from David to Abraham

there's perfect agreement

as well.

So Jesus is not only

the son of David,

he's also of the

seed of Abraham,

he's the fulfillment

of the promise

that God had given

to Abraham

to the nation

of Israel.

And Abraham is,

so Abraham is as far

back as Matthew goes

in his genealogy,

but from verses 34

to 38,

Luke goes back

even further.

So look at

verses 34 to 38

with me.

So he,

going back to

the genealogy

provided in Genesis

Genesis 11 · chapter mention

chapter 11

and 5,

Luke goes all

the way back,

it says in verse 38,

the son of Seth,

the son of Adam,

the son of God.

By going all the way

back to Adam,

who was created

directly by God

and therefore called

the son of God,

Luke is showing

that Jesus,

the true son of God,

identified with

all of humanity.

He,

like us,

is of the seed

of Adam.

The son of God

took on human flesh

and became

one of us.

He is in fact

the new

and better

Adam.

God created

Adam in his image

to rule

over the earth

as his representative,

God's representative.

But instead,

Adam rebelled

against God

and sought to

rule for himself,

sought to do

his own will.

And because Adam

was the fountainhead

of humanity,

the first human,

he represented

all of us

in God's creative design.

So when he said

he failed

every single

one of us

so that everyone

after him,

that's all of us,

is born into sin.

But Jesus comes

as the new

and better Adam,

the son of God,

who represents

and restores humanity

to their rightful

relationship with God.

Look at Romans 5,

12 to 29.

He puts it this way.

Therefore,

just as sin

came into the world

through one man,

Adam,

and death

through sin,

much more

will those

who receive

the abundance

of grace

and the free gift

of righteousness

reign in life

through the one man,

Jesus Christ.

Therefore,

as one trespass

led to condemnation

for all men,

so one act

of righteousness

leads to justification

and life

for all men.

For as by the one man's

disobedience

the many were made

sinners,

so by the one man's

obedience

the many will be

made righteous.

if you are

a human being,

which all of you are,

right,

then you are born

identifying

with Adam.

You were born

identifying

with his fall.

And as sinners,

we all deserve

God's judgment.

But God sent Jesus

as the new Adam.

See,

imagine failing

over and over again

for generation

after generation

after generation.

Every man

and every woman

had failed.

Here is God's plan

laid up for them

and every single one

of them had failed

and we were without

hope and lost.

No way of being

reconciled

and gotten restored

to right in relationship

with him.

But finally comes

that one man

who can restore us,

who can represent us,

who can fulfill

God's desire

and that's Jesus

the new Adam

and he succeeds

where Adam

had failed

by obeying

God the Father

perfectly

and dying

on the cross

for sinners.

So that all those

who renounce

themselves,

renounce their sins

and entrust themselves

to Jesus

may be forgiven

of their sins.

If you're here

this morning

and you have not

yet aligned yourself

with Jesus,

then Adam

is still your head

and your representative

and you will perish

as the object

of God's

righteous wrath.

but you can

align yourself

with Jesus

instead today

so that he

can be your head

and representative.

Then the penalty

of our sins

is laid on Jesus

which he paid

for on the cross

and his righteousness

and the rewards

that follow

are laid up

to us,

counted as ours.

That's why

1 Corinthians 15

22 says,

For in Adam

all die,

so also in Christ

all will be made

alive.

Are you in Adam

today

or are you

in Christ

today?

In Adam

is death

but in Christ

is life

everlasting.

So if you are

not a Christian

yet,

then this ancestry

of the Son

of God

is inviting you

to choose

Christ

and be restored

to a proper

relationship

with God.

So after telling

us about Jesus'

ancestry

in chapter 4

verses 1 to 13

Luke tells us

about the allegiance

of the Son

of God.

As the Son

of God,

Jesus displays

unyielding allegiance

to God the Father.

He says in

verses 1 to 2

of chapter 4,

read with me,

Jesus,

full of the Holy

Spirit,

returned from the

Jordan and was

led by the Spirit

in the wilderness

for 40 days,

being tempted

by the devil.

The devil

is a Greek

equivalent of

the Hebrew

word Satan

and it means

accuser

or slanderer.

It doesn't

merely refer to

demons

or evil

spirits

but to

Satan,

the head

honcho

of them

all.

But notice

the way

the sentence

is structured.

The devil

is not

the protagonist

of this

story.

Jesus is

and the Holy

Spirit is.

We're told

twice that

Jesus was

full of the

Holy Spirit

and he was

led by the

Holy Spirit

into being

tempted by the

devil.

It's the

Spirit's

fullness

and leading

that brings

Jesus to

40 days

to be tempted

by the

devil.

The devil

is simply

playing foil

to Jesus

in order to

highlight Jesus'

faithful allegiance

to the Father

as the Son of God.

This is insightful

for us

and we can apply

this to our lives

because being

tempted to sin

is not the same

thing as sinning.

If Jesus can be

tempted,

so can all of us

and we will face

many temptations

in our lives.

But in the midst

of all of that,

this is also comforting

because we see

that even in

our temptations

and trials,

even in the

toughest moments,

even when it

seems like the

devil is calling

all the shots

in our lives,

in fact,

the Lord God

is in charge.

The Spirit of God

is leading

sovereignly.

And so,

if you feel

discouraged by the

trials and temptations

that you are facing

today in your life

and your situation

now,

you can know

from this

in Jesus'

example that

God is

in control,

that God

is the one

that's in charge.

He is at work

in and through

all of that.

As Charles Spurgeon

once said,

the refiner

is never very far

from the mouth

of the furnace

when his gold

is in the fire.

The word

to tempt

can also be

translated as

to test.

And depending

on the context,

it can mean

to tempt someone

in order to

make them fail

and discredit them.

Or it can mean

to test someone

to show

their true worth

and approve

them and

accredit them.

So,

it has both

nuances here

because while

it's the devil

that tempts

Jesus in order

to discredit him,

the Spirit of God

leads him into this

to test him

so that he can

accredit him,

approve him

in preparation

for the ministry

that he's about

to begin.

And this period

of testing

lasted 40 days

which,

like all the other

numbers that we've

seen so far,

is not a

throwaway number.

It has symbolic

significance

and is used

frequently throughout

the Old Testament.

But the most

important connection

to the Old Testament

is that Moses

fasted for 40 days

before receiving

the covenant

law from God

on behalf

of God's people.

And also,

Israel,

God's people,

wandered in the

wilderness

for 40 years.

So here,

Jesus' 40-day

journey into

the wilderness

parallels the

journey of Israel

for 40 years

in the wilderness.

And since

Jesus

uses

scripture,

citations

from Deuteronomy,

which tells

about Moses'

40 days of

fast as well

as Israel's

journey in

the wilderness,

Jesus is here

being portrayed

as the

representative,

as a new

Israel,

the people,

the God,

the Son of God

who represents,

because Israel

is described

in Exodus

as God's

firstborn son.

And so here,

Jesus is the

new firstborn,

the new son

who represents

God's people

and succeeds

where Israel

had failed.

Now let's look

at the specific

aspects of the

three temptations.

It says at

the end of

verse 2 that

Jesus ate

nothing during

those days,

and when they

were ended,

he was hungry.

This is an

extended fast,

and remember

that while

Jesus is fully

God,

he's also

fully man,

and naturally

he was hungry.

And it is

at this

vulnerable moment

that the devil

palaces on him,

and he speaks

for the first

time in verse 3.

If you are

the Son of God,

command this

stone to

become bread.

We saw

earlier at

Jesus' baptism

that God the

Father said

that Jesus

is his

beloved Son,

and then in

the genealogy,

we saw that

Jesus is the

Son of Adam,

the Son of God.

So once the

main theme

of this entire

section is that

Jesus is the

Son of God,

and that theme

is running

through these

temptation accounts

as well,

because the

devil's temptations

hinge upon that

truth,

because it begins,

if you are

the Son of God,

and he repeats

that again in

verse 9,

if you are

the Son of God,

throw yourself

down from here.

Now, by asking

if you are

the Son of God,

the devil is not

questioning Jesus'

identity as the

Son of God,

because the

grammatical

construction,

this is what

Greek grammarians

call the first

class condition,

which means it

assumes that the

condition is true,

if you are

the Son of God.

It's assumed

that that is

true.

He is the

Son of God.

So it could

really better be

translated as,

since you are

the Son of God,

since you are

the Son of God,

do this and

this.

So the devil is

certain that

Jesus is the

Son of God,

and the devil

knows that

Jesus knows

that he is

the Son of God.

He's not

playing, you

know, dare

game or using

reverse psychology

to make Jesus

sin.

He's saying

that he's

rather trying

to get Jesus

to misuse

his prerogative

as the Son of

God and

act independently

of his

Father's will.

The first

temptation is

a temptation

of appetite.

Right?

There's nothing

wrong with

the appetite

for bread

in and of

itself.

God designed

us to be

hungry for

food,

but Jesus

is here

tempted to

doubt God's

provision for

him and to

provide for

himself.

It brings

into question

the way God

is leading

Jesus into

the wilderness

for testing.

Right?

We can see

this in the

way Jesus

answers the

devil in

verse 4.

It is written,

man shall not

live by bread

alone.

Right?

Jesus is here

quoting from

Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 8:3

chapter 8

verse 3

where Moses

tells the

Israelites,

he humbled

you and

let you

hunger and

fed you

with manna

which you

did not

know nor

did your

fathers know

that he

might make

you know

that the

man does

not live

by bread

alone.

But man

lives by

every word

that comes

from the

mouth of

the Lord.

God humbled

the Israelites

by letting

them experience

hunger and

then instead

of giving

them all the

food that

they will

need for

their entire

journey of

wilderness,

God gave

them just

enough manna

to last

them one

day so

that every

single day

they would

be forced

to depend

on God

for his

daily

provision.

This was

intended to

make Israel

depend on

God and

look to

him.

they were

to learn

humility and

submission but

instead of

learning to

depend on

God they

learned to

rebel against

God, to

grumble,

complain,

to unbelief.

Jesus is

facing the

same temptation

here.

The devil is

asking him

aren't you

the son of

God?

Aren't you

starving?

Where is

your father?

Doesn't he

care?

Doesn't he

provide for

you?

Take things

into your

own hands.

Here you

can provide

for yourself

better than

he can.

Turn this

stone into

bread.

This is

representative

really of

all the

temptations

of any

kinds of

temptation

that we

face as

well.

Temptations

of appetite.

What are

your appetites

that have

grown in

ordinate in

your life?

That's

become unruly.

The devil

tempts us

in similar

ways.

Aren't you

a child

of God?

Where is

your father?

Aren't you

lonely?

lonely?

Date that

non-Christian

girlfriend.

Marry that

man that's

no good

for you.

Take things

into your

own hands.

Don't wait

on God

and trust

in his

provision.

Aren't you

in need?

Don't you

want to

eat at

those nice

restaurants?

Don't you

want to

buy those

clothes?

Don't you

want to

feel more

attractive?

Don't you

want to be

perceived as

more successful?

Don't you

want to

lust after

that woman

and fantasize

about her?

Don't you

want to

drink that

extra pint

of beer

that will

tip you

over the

edge?

Why are

you

depriving

yourself

of all

these

things?

Where is

your father?

Aren't you

a child

of God?

Why isn't

he caring

for you?

even if

you're

trying to

meet a

genuine

legitimate

need that

you really

have?

Is your

posture

toward God

of humble

dependence

clinging to

him for

his provision

looking to

him as

your Lord

and as

your God

and as

your King

or are

you taking

things into

your own

hands?

In

Matthew 6

25 to

34

Jesus says

therefore I

tell you

do not be

anxious about

your life

what you

will eat

or what

you will

drink

nor about

your body

what you

will put

on

is not

life more

than food

and the

body more

than clothing

but seek

first the

kingdom of

God and

his righteousness

and all

these things

will be added

to you.

You seek to

satisfy your

appetites more

than humbly

obeying God.

Are you

seeking and

advancing the

kingdom of

God in your

life or are

you merely

in a

serial pursuit

of satisfying

your appetites?

That's the

first temptation

the temptation

of appetite.

Yes we

need bread

for life

but life

is not

for bread.

The point

the purpose

of our life

is to do

the will

of God

which is why

Jesus says

in John 4

34

my food

is to do

the will

of him

who sent

me

and to

finish

his work.

that's

my food.

That's

what's

prior.

That's

what's

most

important.

The second

temptation

is a

temptation

to

ambition.

It says

in verses

5 to 7

and the

devil took

him up

and showed

him all

the kingdoms

of the

world

in a

moment

of

time

and

said

to

him

to

you

I

will

give

all the

authority

and their

glory

for it

has been

delivered

to me

and I

give it

to whom

I

will.