Next Sunday we will have a vote of confidence on both Jim and Dan Wehrbein as elders for our church family. If you have
questions or concerns and you would like to talk to Greg or Randy or me – or even Jim or Dan – please do that before
next Sunday. There will be space to list concerns on the voting sheet and anyone who votes “no” needs to include his/her
name so we can talk to you about your concerns. But it would be best to deal with those before Sunday. Pray for both
Jim and Dan and also Greg, Randy and me as we shepherd the church under the leading of the Good Shepherd, the Lord
Jesus. We want to be His sheep and go and do what He wants us to do – produce what He wants us to produce for the
Kingdom of God.
And speaking of the Lord Jesus, the Good Shepherd, we will focus on Him this morning as we continue in our series “A
REAL Human Life” in the Gospel of Luke. As we first hear of Jesus as an adult in Luke, we see some extraordinary
things. Let’s get started and ask for the Spirit of God to teach us. PRAY
Last Sunday we just barely saw Jesus as He came to be baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. Remember that
John’s baptism was related to repentance for the remission of sins. Jesus did not need to repent of anything nor have His
sins remitted – He had no sins. But, as a picture for us of the superiority of His life, death and resurrection, He WAS
baptized by John. As Matthew tells the story, John kind of tries to talk Jesus out of being baptized by him, but Jesus says,
Matthew 3:15, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” It is fitting for the sinless Savior
to be baptized in repentance for the remission of sins, because that is precisely what Jesus came to accomplish – Jesus is
the One who would allow TRUE repentance to happen by the remission of sins through His blood.
After Jesus was baptized, look what happened. Luke 3:21,22. READ. As Jesus sets out to accomplish the eternal plan
of God’s salvation, He is there – the Son of God. The Spirit is there in the form of a dove. And the Father is there. This
was God’s work. God in all His Persons is there to initiate His plan. And the words of the Father are amazing. “You are
My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.” God the Father speaks to the human being Jesus – who, according to
Philippians 2, had laid aside His rights as God and had become a real human being, just like you and me. God the Spirit
takes the form of a dove – gentle, peaceful, beautiful – and lights on the Lord Jesus. God pronounces this blessing on Jesus
the human being – His approval and love and confidence.
But Adam – who was a lot like the Lord Jesus (no earthly father, no sin nature) – made a terrible choice. God offered life
and fullness and perfection, but Adam chose death, which is separation from God, emptiness and imperfection. Adam was
supposed to live the kind of life Jesus lived, but he ruined it by not believing God. Jesus came to restore mankind to the
place God originally wanted.
As Jesus starts His ministry and publicly identifies Himself with the ways of God through the baptism of John, the Father
speaks this blessing on Him. You are My beloved Son – You are the kind of human being I have always desired. In You I
am well pleased. You are living the life I always desired for humans to live. This was not, by the way, a self-esteem
moment for Jesus. When people know who they are and what their purpose is, “self-esteem” as we think of it is
unnecessary. This is GOD-esteem. You are exactly who You are supposed to be and You are doing exactly what You
are supposed to do.
The next EVENT that takes place starts in chapter 4:1, and we will get to that later, but before Luke continues the story, he
throws in the family tree of Jesus. Why? Remember that Luke is a doctor. God the Father had just pronounced that Jesus
was His beloved SON. Luke chooses this point to prove the sonship of Jesus. Look at Luke 3:23. READ. Now I want
us to flip over to Matthew 1:16. READ. Do you see a discrepancy there? In Luke it says that Jesus was the son
(supposed by people to be the son) of Joseph, the son of Heli. In Matthew it says that it was Jacob who begot Joseph
who was the husband of Mary of whom was born Jesus. So is Joseph’s father’s name Heli or Jacob? Could those
possibly be the same person? A lot of the other names in both lists are different, too. Is this one of those famous Bible
mistakes we hear so much about?
No – the Bible is without error and completely trustworthy. Jesus had two parents on earth. He was not actually related to
Joseph physically, but Joseph was the man chosen by God to raise the Savior. In Matthew the list goes from Abraham
forward – Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob. Look at Matthew 1:16 again. Jacob begot Joseph the husband of
Mary of whom was born Jesus. Matthew’s list is the family line of Joseph to show us that on Joseph’s side of the family,
Jesus was a descendant of David. In Luke 3, there is no mention of who begot whom. In fact – although many translations
don’t indicate this – the words “the son of” appear only in verse 23 – Jesus, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph. In
all the verses that follow, the words “the son” are not in the Greek. It only says “OF” this person or that person in Greek.
Listen carefully – I am not trying to get you to doubt your Bible, but God is very clear in what and how He communicates.
In Luke 3:22 God proclaims to Jesus, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.” Then, the whole list of
descendants describes who JESUS was the son of. He was presumed to be the son of Joseph. But He certainly was OF
Heli, He was OF Matthat and on down to OF Adam and then OF God. Then why are the names different? Joseph was
not the son of Heli – MARY was the daughter of Heli. Heli was Jesus’ maternal grandfather. Luke’s list is to prove the
relationship between Jesus and God through the family line of Mary.
I can tell right now we aren’t going to make it chapter 4 today. There is so much neat stuff to consider in these verses. I
don’t know if you have ever been excited about lists of Bible names – there’s probably a reason we don’t all flip our Bibles
open madly to the book of Numbers for a devotional thought. But God’s Word is valuable to us – every word, as we will
see next week when Jesus responds to Satan. What could possibly be life changing about a list of names?
One thing I remind myself often is that these people listed here were REAL people. They were people who had joys and
failures, ups and downs. All of them were sinners like me. And God used them in their world and even as part of the
family of the Lord Jesus. God can and will use ANYONE who is open to Him to accomplish His purposes.
David is listed here. It is very significant that David is listed in both Matthew and Luke. God made a promise to David that
God would establish David’s throne forever (2 Samuel 7:16). But then, within a few hundred years, Israel was hauled off
captive to Babylon and the reign of David’s family appeared to be over. But God keeps His promises. We will see that as
we continue in Luke. Jesus is the fulfillment of that promise to David. But think about David. Yes, he is known as a “man
after God’s own heart.” But did you know that David is also an adulterer and a murderer? He slept with Uriah’s wife
while Uriah was out fighting as a soldier for David’s kingdom. And then, when she turned up pregnant, David had Uriah
killed. Sounds like a perfect fit for a man after God’s own heart, doesn’t he.
David was confronted with his sin by the prophet Nathan and David confessed – he agreed with God that it was wrong and
disgusting. And David repented. God’s forgiveness is an amazing thing. When God refers to David NOW, he is “a man
after God’s own heart.” You are My beloved son, David, in you I am well pleased.” It is by faith that things like that
happen.
There is a man named Obed in the list. Anyone ever heard of Obed? Probably not that you remember. It says that Obed
was the son of Boaz. In the book of Ruth, we see a Gentile woman Ruth who is widowed after marrying a Jewish man and
becomes poor and destitute. But a believing man named Boaz finds her – she is literally out in the corn field looking for
ears of corn that are left after the harvest. Boaz eventually marries Ruth and they have a child named Obed who is an
ancestor of Jesus. A Gentile in the family line of Jesus. God’s desire is to save the whole world and He has brought the
whole world into His plans – even allowing Gentile blood to be in the line of Jesus the Messiah.
Back a little farther is a man named Perez. Perhaps the first Hispanic in the group – just kidding. But Perez adds another
feature of interest to the family line of Jesus and gives US hope as people who deal with sin. Perez’s father is Judah – one
of the 12 sons of Jacob. But in Genesis 38 we see a major failure of Judah. Genesis 38:1-30. READ. These people are
in the family tree of Jesus the Savior. Perez is at the same time Judah’s son and grandson.
If God worked with them and involved them in His eternal plans, could God not use YOU? In heaven, before the throne of
God, there will be 24 thrones where, it says in Revelation 4, the 24 elders sit. Twelve of those elders are the 12 sons of
Jacob – the heads of the 12 tribes of Israel, according to Revelation 21. One them, and he is even mentioned by name
because of his descendant, the Lord Jesus, is Judah. The other 12 thrones belong to the 12 apostles of Jesus. I’m not sure
who exactly will sit in those thrones, but if Paul is one of them – he was a murderer and persecutor of the early believers.
So as we look at this list of people in Luke 3, we see people just like us – and we see the powerful, forgiving work of God
in them. We see with some of them that, even though they failed, God counts them as beloved and is well pleased with
them. This is one thing we can relate to. Jesus, the firstborn among many brethren, paved the way for US who believe to
experience the same kind of “God-esteem.” God loves His children, God is proud of His children, God is well pleased
with His children. There is nothing you can do to make God love you any more and there is nothing you can do to make
God love you any less. Because you are His CHILD – if you believe. He has adopted us who believe – Romans 8:15.
He Himself calls us His children. He WANTS us. He LOVES us.
Every Sunday as we close our service, I encourage you with the same exhortation – “Go out and live lives worthy of your
calling, worthy of the Gospel of Christ.” THIS is why – if you have put your trust in Jesus for salvation, you are God’s
child and knowing how He feels about us is great motivation to live worthy of that calling. YOU are My beloved child,
says the Lord God; in you I am well pleased. Live worthy of that. Show the people around you who you are and who
your Father is. Let His character be your character. Jesus rose from the dead to make this possible. When the Living
Jesus lives in you, He shows His life – and Jesus ALWAYS lives worthy of HIS calling. Allow Him to live His life in you.
Give up your small ambitions. Turn away from your self-made understanding of God. Give yourself to the true God and
see the kind of life He blesses you with. You will never regret being His child and living for His things.
There was only one other person who had the same kind of character as Jesus. Adam was created by God without a sin
nature and without an earthly father. Adam, too, was God’s beloved son. But we don’t have any record that God made
this kind of statement to Adam – although God demonstrated this same pleasure in Adam. He did not speak Adam into
existence like the rest of creation, He built Him. God did not speak Eve into existence, either, but He took part of Adam
and made her. God breathed into Adam the breath of life. God pronounced that Adam and Eve and everything He made
on the sixth day was “indeed very good.” God put Adam in the perfect Garden of Eden to care for it – that’s how much
confidence God had in Adam. God saw that Adam needed someone like him to help him be the kind of man God desired,
so God made Eve for Adam. God demonstrated that He was well pleased with Adam.
So Matthew gives us Joseph’s family tree and Luke gives us Mary’s family tree. They both relate to David and Luke takes
it all the way back to God. Turn to Romans 8:29. READ. Whom God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to
the image of His Son (Jesus), so that JESUS might be the firstborn among many brethren. Who are the brethren of Jesus
God is talking about here? If we believe in Jesus, God is talking about US. Jesus is our oldest truly human Brother – a
human being who lived the human life the way God wanted it lived. If God said to Jesus, our Brother in the faith, “You are
My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased” what may God say to us? If we have faith, if we trust God and do what He
says, we are children of God. John 1:12 says that as many as received Jesus, to them God gave the right to become
children of God – to those who believe in His name. God says to you, if you have trusted Him, YOU are beloved child; in
YOU I am well pleased. What does that do for you? Does that brighten your day a little bit? THAT is how God thinks of
those who trust Jesus.