The Son of Man // The Promised Son: Anointed and Affirmed [Luke 3:21-38] (Andrew Sun)

Father, as we come before you this morning, we like to raise

up our voice, Lord, in gratitude, in thanks and in

praise for who you are. As angels in heaven always

proclaims, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.

So Father God, we thank you for who you are, the Almighty God,

the majestic and the glorious God.

And this morning, Father, we thank you for the opportunity

that we have to remember your Son our Lord and our Saviour

this morning. Who are Lord God, did not

consider equality with God with something to be grasped.

But as the Scripture says that he came down and took upon

himself man, and there on the cross of Calvary He shared his

precious blood for each and everyone.

So we thank you, Lord, the that we had the remembrance this

morning of your Son, our Lord and our Saviour.

And so far we thank you that we can gather together as one, as

brothers and sisters in Christ. And for the opportunity or law

that we have this morning, we give you our thanks.

We also like to pray for our Sunday School children as they

go to their classes. Father, we thank you for each

and every little child. We know a lot that they are they

are all gift from God and our prayer and our desire is to see

each and everyone of them not only grow to come to know you

personally, but grow to be tremendous, tremendous men and

women for the Lord. And so we pray and commit each

and one of them into your into your hands and also the for the

Sunday School teachers. We thank you for their

commitment, thank you a lot for their ministry, and we pray for

our enabling Lord this morning as a share word with these

little children. We pray for Andy too a lot as he

comes and opens to us God's Word and continues the series in

look. You pray for prepared lips a lot

as He shares Your Word. That Father, the words that are

proclaimed, we pray would fall on prepared hearts.

That You prepare the hearts of each and everyone of us a lot to

receive Your word. That Your word would bear fruit

in our lives. And Father God, we once again

thank you. We come at this time into your

hands and save your precious, and in His worthy name, Amen.

Good morning, Church. The kids are lucky they don't

have to listen to the genealogy today.

A couple of weeks ago there was a robbery in France at the

famous Louvre Museum, the most visited Art Museum in the world.

The thieves disguised themselves as construction workers, they

wore hivers and they got this big furniture elevator.

As you can see, they broke into the museum on the 2nd floor with

an angle grinder and they stole priceless jewellery worth over

$100 million and left without being caught.

They weren't subtle at all. They were quite obvious and

obnoxious. You would expect thieves to be

thieving sneakily and and quietly and suddenly, yeah.

But these these thieves were loud and obnoxious, and they got

away with it. Those who saw them probably

assumed that they were indeed construction workers.

There's a video on YouTube of these two Aussie guys who who

experiment to see the amount of places they could get in if they

just carry around a ladder and it's surprising.

I don't wanna attempt you, but they got into he's the places

like this cinema 5 star hotel. It's crazy and I'm an Asian and

unfortunately, as Asians look quite similar, I'm mistaken for

a Filipino and Indonesian Nepalese quite a lot.

I remember Claire and I were in Bali and an Indonesian came up

to me and said, ohh, snorkelling guide said are you local?

Are you local? I said no, no I'm not Julie.

I was like, that's a good accent.

So identification is important. We need to know who people are,

who they truly are. We need to trust people with

credibility. So for someone like the Messiah

or the Christ, the promised Son, how can we have assurance who

this person is? And we will see in today's

passage. So if you please turn with me to

Luke chapter 3, we'll be reading from verse 21.

Luke 3 · chapter mention

Before we read, I'll just give a bit of context.

Up until today's passage, we have seen a contrast between

John the Baptist and Jesus. We saw the foretelling of John

when the Angel Gabriel approaches Zachariah to reveal

that his wife Elizabeth will be a a son who's called John and

that he would turn many hearts of Israel to God.

He would go before the Lord God. He would run ahead of the Lord

to prepare the hearts of Israel to receive him.

And then we saw the foretelling of Jesus when Gabriel approached

Mary to reveal that she will bear a son.

Jesus will be called Son of the Most High, Son of God, and he

would be given the throne of David and will rule over Israel

forever. So John's role was to prepare

the hearts of Israel to receive the Christ who was far, far

greater. And right before today's

passage, we see the culmination of John the Baptist and his

ministry. He is completing his ministry,

bringing the people of Israel to God, bringing them to repent

before God, and preparing their hearts to accept Christ.

And people then wonder whether John is the Christ.

And John clarifies, No, he is not.

I'm not the Christ. The Christ is far, far greater,

and he says that he baptises with water, but the Christ

baptises with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

And we saw in Billy's message, John's Baptist baptism was

merely symbolic and physical, but Christ baptism is spiritual.

John merely heralded repentance. But Christ has the power over

souls. He is the power to save souls.

He is the power to judge them. So John is saying, no, it's not

me, it's the Christ. And the Christ is far, far

greater. And now we'll see how God

beautifully clarifies and confirms to the people of Israel

that Jesus is the Christ and that He is far, far greater.

So verse 21 Now when all the people were baptised, and when

Jesus also had been baptised and was praying, the heavens were

opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form

like a dove, and the voice came from heaven.

You are my beloved Son. With you I am well pleased.

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

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

Heli, the son of Method, the son of Levi, the son of Melki, the

son of Janai, the son of Joseph, the son of Matthias, the son of

Amos. The son of Nahum.

The son of Esley, the son of Nagai, the son of Math, The son

of Mattathias, the son of Simin, the son of Joseph, the son of

Joda, the son of Joe, and then the son of Risa.

The son of Zerubbabel. The son of Shealtiel.

The son of Netty. The son of Milky.

The son of Edi. The son of Kosam, The son of El

Madam. The son of Err.

The son of Joshua, The son of Eliza, The son of Joram, The son

of Methylate, The son of Levi, The son of Simeon, The son of

Judah. The son of Joseph.

The son of Jonam, The son of Eliaquim, The son of Malia, The

son of Minna, The son of Metaphor, The son of Nathan, The

son of David, The son of Jesse, The son of Obed, The son of

Boaz, The son of Salah, The son of Nahshon.

The son of Aminadab, The son of Edmund.

The son of Annie, The son of Hezron, The son of Perez, The

son of Judah. The son of Jacob, The son of

Isaac, The son of Abraham, The son of Tedder, The son of Nahor.

The son of Surug, The son of Rough, The son of Peleg, The son

of IBA. The son of Sheila, The son of

Canaan, the son of OFAC, said. The son of Chem, The son of

Noah, The son of Lemec, The son of Methuselah.

The son of Enoch, The son of Dared, The son of Mahalia, IL.

The son of Canaan. The son of Enos, The son of

Seth, The son of Adam, the son of God.

Thank you. Alright, the worship team will

come up now and I So in verse 2122, we see that when Jesus was

baptised, the heavens were open, the Holy Spirit descended on him

and the Father spoke saying, you are my beloved son with whom I'm

well pleased. And the way was prepared by John

and the people were in expectation of the Christ.

And we see here a scene, a beautiful scene, with all three

persons of the Trinity, the other two persons, the Holy

Spirit and the Father. And the Father powerfully

clarify and confirm and identify that Jesus is the Christ, God's

beloved Son. The Holy Spirit descending upon

Jesus marks his anointing for his mission, and it descends

like a dove, which signifies peace and gentleness.

Right before the passage, John says to the people of Israel

that the Christ was mightier than.

I will baptise you with this Holy Spirit and with fire.

And the fire signifies OHH connotates judgement.

But here the Holy Spirit is in peace and harmony with Jesus.

This then reinforces what the Father says.

You are my beloved Son, with whom I'm well pleased.

Jesus is in perfect peace and harmony with both the Holy

Spirit and the Father. So this clearly identifies him

as like them, as divine as the sun, the sun of God.

This whole scene echoes the prophecy in the Isaiah 42.

So if you can, please turn to Isaiah chapter 42.

Isaiah 42 · chapter mention

This prophecy speaks of the Messiah or the Christ.

It says, Behold my servant, whom I uphold, very similar to to

today's passage, my chosen, in whom my soul delights.

I have put my spirit upon Him. He will bring forth justice to

the nations. He will not cry aloud, or lift

up his voice, or make it heard in the street.

A bruised Reed he will not break, and a faintly burning

Wick he will not quench. He will faithfully bring forth

justice. He will grow.

He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has

established justice in the earth and the coast lands wait for his

law. And so in the scene and Luke,

God is identifying Jesus as the servant, the one who will come

and deliver justice to all the nations.

And God is clarifying and introducing the role and mission

of the Christ. The Christ would come as a

gentle, lowly servant, but He would also come to deliver

justice to the nations. So God and versus 21 to 22 is is

clearly confirming to the Israelites who were an eager

expectation of the Christ, that Jesus is the Christ.

Jesus is him, the perfect Son of God.

And I've just recently finished my degree and soon I will attend

a graduation ceremony and at the graduation I'll receive a a

certificate of my degree and it will be signed by the chancellor

who was who has the highest authority in the university.

And this is to confirm the degree certificates legitimacy

and to assure the one who looks at it that it is valid and that

it is real. And if you can trust in my

degree being legitimate, how much more can we be confident

that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, confirmed by the

Father who has the highest authority?

He is confirmed by the Holy Spirit as well, who anoints him.

This heavenly event at Jesus baptism was seen by those who

were an eager expectation for the Christ.

They were wondering if John was the Christ, but it was Jesus and

God confirms that with this the scene to give them hope and

confidence that Jesus is Him and he is far far greater.

He is the Christ who proclaims the Kingdom of heaven, who

proclaims good news to the poor and freedom to the oppress.

And Luke recalls this for us who lived 2000 years later, so that

we can also have hope and confidence that Jesus is the

Christ, the perfect Son of God. Although he was, he was human

like us, He he was baptised like a human.

God makes it abundantly clear that He is divine.

He is like the Holy Spirit and like the Father.

So God powerfully confirms that Jesus is the Christ, the perfect

Son of God. And this is much like the

Transfiguration when Jesus is seen in his glory and the Father

speaks from heaven to the disciples, saying, this is my

Son in whom I'm well pleased, Listen to him.

God is saying to us. He's pointing us to his Son and

he's saying, turn to Jesus. This is the one you should

follow. This is the one you should trust

in. There is no one else like my

son. There's no greater hope than the

hope found in Jesus. Jesus is your King, your

Saviour, your God. So whatever your situation,

whether you are in uncertain times or facing hardship, you

can have assurance of the hope you have in Jesus, God's perfect

Son. You can trust in Christ who in

the end He will complete His mission and bring you out of

your hardships and bring you in to His presence.

You may be stuck in some committing the same sin over and

over again, and I know what this is like.

And when this happens, I doubt Christ's perfect sacrifice for

me. I doubt whether God will accept

me, and this is the doubt. Christ who live perfectly for

us. Remember, Remember, God didn't

accept us. We are sinful and broken

creatures. God is not pleased with sinners

who constantly fall short of God's glory.

Gordon, accept us. He accepted Jesus.

God is not pleased with sinners. He's not pleased with us.

He is well pleased with Jesus, so we who have put our faith in

them are found in Him. We are chosen in Christ.

He is pleased with us not because of anything we have

done. He's pleased with us because he

is pleased with Jesus, the perfect Son of God.

So God is pleased with the Jesus, so be found in him.

Put your faith and trust in Jesus.

He is credible. He is trustworthy.

Now from verse 23, Luke gives us the genealogy of Jesus.

And I remember when I was little, my mom told me to read

the Bible and reluctantly I opened up my Bible.

OK, I'll read and opened it to Assam.

It was simple and easy to read. It's about light and darkness,

something like that. Very simple.

I could with my very limited brain power.

I could understand. I could get the general meaning

application from it, but then my daring mum, I don't know what

she was thinking, told me to read Matthew.

So I opened it up to Matthew chapter 1.

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

Who's Jehoshaphat? See a fat person?

I don't think I got through half of the names in their genealogy.

I was thinking, what's the point of this?

Why does this matter to us? Why should I care?

I thought it was stupid, honestly.

And now, ironically, I'm here giving a sermon on a genealogy.

But this is something that I've learned quite recently.

The Bible isn't something you just read, it's something you

study. The more you study, the deeper

you know God. And the deeper you know God, the

more you praise him and worship Him for who He is.

And when you study passage like Luke's genealogy, you you begin

to appreciate it more when you understand its significance.

And I love being given passages I wouldn't normally care about

because it forces me to study it.

And when I study it, I begin to love it.

So the genealogy is very important and it it's still

Scripture, it's God breathed profitable for, for teaching,

for correction, for reproof, so that the man of God may be

equipped. It's still scripture, so the

genealogy was very important to the Jews.

It was. It was used to prove their

tribal identity. For example, for land

inheritance, priests had to be under Aaron's line, so they

would use a genealogy to prove whether they are descendants of

Aaron. But also for those claiming to

be the Christ, a genealogy would prove whether they are indeed

the Christ. Why?

Because there are Old Testament prophecies.

Throughout the Old Testament, God has foretold the coming of

the Christ. God promised that the Messiah

would come through a specific line.

And as we read through the genealogy, we we see how God is

faithful and He keeps his promises and we see that God's

promise is truly fulfilled in Jesus.

Now there are some people who think this genealogy contradicts

the genealogy and Matthew. Both genealogists record Joseph,

the father of Jesus, but they are different all the way up to

David. Matthews genealogy goes to the

line of of Solomon. Luke's genealogy goes to the

line of Nathan, and Christians have offered many ways of

harmonising the supposed contradiction.

For example something Joseph had had two fathers, so Jacob the

father of of Joseph recorded in Matthew would be for example

Joseph's biological father but Helly and recorded and Luke's

gospel would be for example Joseph's legal father through

maybe adoption or something called levirate marriage.

But I think what makes the most sense and the easiest solution

is that Matthews genealogy traces Jesus line through

Joseph, but Luke is tracing it through Mary's line.

And this makes more sense because in Matthew the focus is

more on Joseph at the start of Matthew and not Mary, and it's

genealogy traces to Joseph. So it seems more natural that

Luke, who focuses more on Mary and not on Joseph, would trace

the line through Mary. Now at first glance this seems

problematic since Luke says son of Joseph.

But the usage of son of here is not necessarily biological.

It can mean illegal, illegal father.

It can indicate a legal relationship and look even adds

as was supposed if you can, if you can see in in in that verse

which hints at the legal relationship between Joseph and

Jesus. Either way you take it, Jesus is

the fulfilment. He's the fulfilment of God's

promised Christ. Either way you take it,

throughout the genealogy we can see God's sovereignty in

fulfilling the promise. Earlier we saw how the Angel

approached Mary and foretold Jesus birth and he he says the

Lord God will give him the throne of his Father David.

Jesus is the fulfilment of God's covenant with David and this can

be found in First Chronicles 17, verse 11 to 14 and says when

1 Chronicles 17:11–14

your days are fulfilled to walk with your fathers, I'll raise up

your offspring after you, one of your own sons, and I'll

establish his Kingdom. He shall build a house for me,

and I'll establish his throne forever.

I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.

I'll not take my steadfast love from him as I took it from him

who was before you, but I'll confirm him in my house and in

my Kingdom forever. And it's thrown shall be

established forever. And Jesus fulfils us through

David, through the line of Nathan.

Secondly, Jesus fulfils the prophecy that the the King will

come from the tribe of Judah. This is found in Genesis 49

Genesis 49:10

verse 10 where Jacob was prophesying over all his sons,

and he prophesies over Judah, saying, the sceptre shall not

depart from Judah, nor the ruler staff from between his feet,

until tribute comes to him. And to him shall be the

obedience of the peoples. O Christ will rule as king of

Israel from the tribe of Judah descended from David.

According to God's promise, Jesus fulfils us.

Thirdly, Jesus is the fulfilment of God's covenant to Abraham.

This is found in Genesis 22. It says, surely I will bless

you. I will surely multiply your

offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the

seashore, and your offspring shall possess the gate of his

enemies, and in your offspring show all the nations of the

earth. Be blessed because you have

obeyed my voice and pull. And the New Testament confirms

that this is talking about the Christ in Galatians 316.

He says now the promises were made to Abraham and to his

offspring. It does not say enter offsprings

referring to many, but referring to 1 and to your offspring who

is Christ. And God reestablishes this

covenant with both Isaac and Jacob.

So Jesus is the son of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, who would die and

rise again for all nations and rule over all nations.

Jesus will be a blessing to the world, and so this is fulfilled

in Jesus. Fourthly, Jesus is the

fulfilment of the seed of the woman, and this is found in

Genesis 315 when God is cursing the serpent who deceived Eve and

says, I will put my hostility between you and the woman and

between your offspring and her offspring.

He will strike your head and you will strike his heel.

Right from the fall of humanity. God promised that an offspring

of Eve would defeat the serpent and Jesus is the fulfilment.

Being the son of Adam who would die and rise again to defeat sin

and death and ultimately defeat Satan.

Jesus is the fulfilment. He is the second Adam.

Through the 1st atom came sin and death, but through the 2nd

atom came eternal life through Jesus.

So God is sovereign. He's in control, has plan and

has decrees will come to pass. And in Ephesians chapter one, we

read that God works all things according to the counsel of as

well. And we see that in this

genealogy time and time again God has kept his promises.

He is faithful God and His sovereignty has made it

abundantly clear who the Christ is.

God promised Christ would come through a specific line from

Adam to Abraham to Isaac to Jacob to Judah to David.

So the genealogy further verifies and confirms Jesus

identity. It confirms his role and

ministry. It clearly proves that Jesus is

indeed the fulfilment of God's promised Son.

So we can be clear on who Jesus is and what he came to do, and

so we can have confidence in him.

But I think the most intentional part of this genealogy is that

Luke traces Jesus, traces Jesus line all the way back to Adam

and to God. Matthew's genealogy stops at

Abraham. Why?

Because he's writing to the Jews and he wants to show the Jews

that Jesus is Jewish and and is in the royal kingly line.

That's why he traces the line through David's son Solomon, not

Nathan. He wants to show the Jews that

he is the fulfilment of the promised king of Israel.

He even skips generations to have three sets of 14

generations and the Hebrew name for David adds up to 14 when

it's letters are given its numerical value.

So Matthew was stressing Jesus is Jewish and he is the promised

king of Israel, son of David. But Luke's genealogy doesn't

stop at Abraham. It goes all the way back to Adam

and ultimately to God. And I think he does this

intentionally to show that Jesus is the King and Messiah for both

the Jews and the Gentiles. And it makes sense why Luke

would do this, since he's writing to Theophilus.

He wanted the officers to have who is a Gentile.

He wanted him to have confidence in the faith.

Luke is emphasising that Jesus is a son of Adam, like all of

us, and so on the cross he represents not just Israelites

but Gentiles also. But it also wonderfully displays

the scope of God's salvation. Jesus came to represent

humanity. He came to represent humanity.

He died and rose again, not just for the sins of Israel, but the

sins of the whole world, so that anyone who places their faith in

Christ is justified. And this is the greatest news.

Earlier in Luke at the temple we saw Simeon take up Jesus in his

arms, praising God, saying Lord, now you are letting your servant

depart in peace according to your word.

For my eyes have seen your salvation, that you have

prepared in the presence of all peoples a light for revelation

for the Gentiles, and for glory to your people.

Israel. Paul and Romans 327 to 30 says,

is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles?

Also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God

is one who will justifies The Who will justify the circumcised

by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.

And Ephesians 213 to 16 Paul writing to Gentile, says, But

now in Christ Jesus you who were once far off have been brought

near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who

has made us both one, and has broken down in His flesh the

dividing wall of hostility, that He might create an in Himself

one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might

reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross.

There was a time when God was mediated only in Israel and the

temple. God administered himself through

Israel. Us Gentiles were far off.

Jesus took away that great chasm through the cross.

Through his work on the cross, He broke down the barriers so

that both Jews and Gentiles can come to God and faith.

This is the greatest news ever told.

Jesus is the promised Son of God, the Christ, the Lamb of

God, who takes away the sin of the world.

Praise God that He has provided us Jesus, the fulfilment, the

promised Son, and praise God that He has brought us Gentiles

near to God by the blood of Christ.

Remember these truths, always remember them, and let it change

the way you live. So in this passage, after the

focus of John the Baptist goes away, God powerfully points us

to Jesus and proclaims that he is the Christ.

He is the perfect Son of God. You know one thing I hate is

Google's 2 factor authentication.

Like it's so admin. I just want to sign in.

I don't wanna have to tell you who I am.

But in this passage, I love it. And this passage God uses

Google's 2 factor authentication.

One, the heavenly of affirmation through through the scene with

the Father and the Holy Spirit, the anointing of the Holy Spirit

and the Father declaring that Jesus is God's beloved Son.

And two, through the genealogy of Jesus, where we have seen God

time and time again prove His faithfulness and prove that He

keeps his promises, God is proclaiming Jesus credibility

and is urging us to hope in Him, to rely on Him, to follow Him.

John the Baptist is gone. The prophecies are fulfilled.

So now turn your eyes to Jesus, hope and him.

Rely on Him and follow him. Let's pray.

Our God and Father, we are so in awe of of who you are of of your

faithfulness, of your sovereignty and keeping your

promises. We thank you for for providing

your Son. Thank you for making it so

abundantly clear and confirming to us that Jesus is the Christ,

your beloved Son. We thank you for him.

Thank you for what this means for us, that we we have a

saviour. We have the one who live

perfectly, who live the life we couldn't, and who died and rose

again, who has brought us Gentiles near to you, and who

has been alight to both Jews and Gentiles.

We thank you for him, and we thank you that he is the

fulfilment, that he is the promised King, that he will one

day rule over the earth, and we thank you that he is King.

Lord God, we pray that these truths will change us, will give

us hope and confidence and assurance in whatever situation

we are going through. Lord God, we thank you for your

provision for your salvation. Jesus Christ, in whose name we

pray, Amen.