“The Testimony is True!”
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Good morning, turn with me to Luke Chapter 3. Today the message is titled, “The Testimony is True.” The testimony of Christ is true church. As you are making your way to Luke chapter 3 we see the Lord’s baptism mentioned in of the Gospel’s.
-Matthew 3:13-17.
-Mark 1:9-11.
-John 1:29-34.
21 Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, 22 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.”
There used to be a time in our country when a witness would take the stand before they would give their testimony. A question would be asked to each perspective witness before they would begin.
The question went like this, “Do you swear that the evidence you shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?” This is the oath most often asked and taken by the witnesses. The witness would then be asked to place their hand on the Bible, the book that binds their conscience, and they would repeat, “I swear to give the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God.”
There is something especially important behind being a witness and giving a credible and truthful testimony. Let me ask you a question. If you were on trial today for being a Christian would there be enough evidence or credible testimony to prove that you were a Christian???
When it comes to our Lord and Savior Jesus as we look down through history there have been many that say Jesus was a good person, or a great prophet, or a great teacher, but there are many who have denied that Jesus was the Son of God. I am here today to tell you that the Testimony of all of Scripture leads us to stand and say I believe that Jesus is the Son of God. He gave His life to prove this to us. And once again this Lord’s Day we can proclaim the powerful testimony and good news of Jesus. This Testimony is True!
Not only did the Lord’s life and miracles give testimony to the fact that He was truly the Son of God, but there were many times through others testimony to the reality that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God.
*The Samaritan Woman who Jesus met at the well was a credible witness. The woman spoke to Jesus and said I know that the Messiah is coming and when he comes he will tell us all things.
26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”
29 “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?”
*The disciples also spoke that the testimony about Jesus was real. Jesus asked them who do people say that I am?
13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
*Even John the Baptist was a credible witness.
7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
When John finally came face to face with Jesus he exclaimed in John 1 verse 29 these words about Jesus.
29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
How do we know the Testimony is True? There were credible witnesses, but there were also markers to lead us to see that Jesus was and is the Son of God.
1. The Lord’s Ministry was marked by righteousness.
1. The Lord’s Ministry was marked by righteousness.
Luke 3:21 a (ESV)
21 Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened,
John has laid the groundwork for Christ to come. In fact, John’s testimony was that there was someone coming who was greater than John and that is because Jesus brings both salvation and just judgement as we looked at last week. We now come to the Lord’s baptism and see how Jesus fully submits to being baptized. Before we look at this I think it is important to note that Luke mentions here that ALL the people were baptized. Does the word ALL always mean all or everyone? It cannot. All here does not mean that the entire nation of Israel or for that fact all the people living at the time were baptized. In fact, not everyone who heard John’s message repented. The religious leaders during this time rejected God’s purpose for themselves and were not baptized by John. However, all those who responded to John’s message were baptized. That is what this means.
As Christ submits himself to baptism the question that many have is that if Jesus did not sin and had no reason to repent, why was he baptized? What was the point? In Matthew chapter 3 Jesus makes sense of this for us. Turn with me to the Gospel of Matthew and let us look at this.
15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented.
Jesus came into this world to fulfill all the righteous requirements of the law. We as humans have broken all of those righteous requirements. As we see from John chapter 1 and verse 33, God commanded John the Baptist to baptize. Therefore, God wanted people to be baptized, and it was necessary on the righteous to do this. We know that whatever God required of righteous people to do, even though Christ was perfectly righteous he still did these things even though he did not have too.
-Jesus faithfully participated in the Passover. The passover was a celebration of God’s deliverance of His people from their sin. Jesus came to be the deliverer (the passover lamb), and had no sin and yet he was still baptized.
-Jesus also paid taxes even though the Son of God would have been exempt from paying the temple tax. He still paid it, to show that this is what righteous people do.
Jesus lived a perfectly righteous life and this was demonstrated in His deity, but it was also essential to our salvation.
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Pastor and author John MacArthur says, “In other words, God treated Jesus as if He had lived believers’ sinful lives and treated them (sinners) as if they had lived His sinlessly perfect life. Today as we think about our Lord and His righteousness, may we be drawn to think about our own lives. Is your life marked by righteousness? Do you have a desire to turn from your sin and live for Christ? Call out to Christ today and follow Him.
2. The Lord’s Ministry was marked by prayer.
2. The Lord’s Ministry was marked by prayer.
Luke 3:21 b (ESV)
21 and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened,
All of the Gospels make mention of the Lord’s baptism, but only the Gospel of Luke includes the fact that Jesus was praying when he was baptized. We of course know that this was not the only time that Jesus met with His Father as He sought to do His Fathers will.
-Before choosing His disciples He prayed.
12 In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. 13 And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles:
-Before feeding the 5,000 Jesus prayed.
19 Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.
-Before raising Lazarus from the dead Jesus prayed.
41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.”
-At the Last Supper Jesus prayed, in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus prayed, from the cross Jesus prayed, and at His ascension Jesus prayed.
My point here is that Jesus’s baptism is marked by prayer and that should stand out to us. If Jesus can pray to the Father, how much more should we? Church, please hear me today. Our lives as believers should be marked by regular times of prayer throughout our day in our relationship to God. When we fail to pray, we fail to meet with the maker of this universe, the creator of all things. When we fail to meet with God, it is like not talking to a spouse. Before long things will not be good and it will become almost impossible to be on the same page as we deal with difficult things throughout this life. God’s Word shows us the importance of praying and urges us to meet with God.
1 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.
17 pray without ceasing,
Augustine said, “He that loveth little prayeth little. He that loveth much prayeth much.”
Dwight Moody said, “Those who have left the deepest impression on this sin-cursed earth have been men and women of prayer.”
May our lives be marked by prayer! (Mention 2 books)
3. The Lord’s Ministry was marked by the Spirit’s anointing.
3. The Lord’s Ministry was marked by the Spirit’s anointing.
Luke 3:22 a (ESV)
22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove;
As we come to verse 22, the heavens are opened and we see this symbolism of a dove in that of the Third person of the Holy Trinity. (The Holy Spirit) as he descends on Jesus. What was witnessed that day was a bodily form resembling a dove. It is not clear on exactly why God choose this dove to resemble the Holy Spirit. Some commentators believe it is because of the gentleness or graciousness and even purity of a dove that characterize the Holy Spirit.
More importantly here we see the anointing that takes place. As Christ began his public ministry we know that the Holy Spirit was on him or he was filled with the Holy Spirit. We see this over in chapter 4.
16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. 17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
It is important that we understand that beginning with the Lord’s miraculous birth the Spirit was involved with every part of His life.
35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.
Even throughout the Old Testament we see that the Holy Spirit came upon individuals anointing them for special service. Men like Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Sampson, David, Elijah and many others. However, all of these men were very limited in their ability because they were fallen sinners. But Jesus was God and God gave Him the Spirit without measure.
34 For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure.
It is important for us to understand here that the Spirit’s power was of upmost importance to Christ since in His deity Christ would not have done the miracles he did or said the things he said. Why is that? Look at Philippians chapter 2 with me.
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
Jesus took on the form of a servant being born as a man and because of this Christ did the miracles through the anointing and power of the Holy Spirit. So, the Lord’s ministry was marked by the Holy Spirit and this shows us His approval and involvement of the Lord’s ministry.
4. The Lord’s Ministry was marked by the Father’s approval.
4. The Lord’s Ministry was marked by the Father’s approval.
Luke 3:22 b (ESV)
22 and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
A voice from heaven now declares to us who Jesus is. Whose voice was this? Notice that the Speaker is not named. But this does not matter because we understand here who is speaking. For He declares that Jesus is His beloved Son. This identifies to us the speaker is God the Father. Who is it that delights God? It is Jesus with whom the Father is pleased. There is no greater love, no higher love than the love that the Father has for His Son. Here we clearly see the Father’s approval of Jesus and why he was baptized. If Jesus was not perfectly righteous and without sin, He would not have God’s approval. Because of the Lord’s righteousness God is pleased with His Son. We know that eventually Christ will go to the cross and rise again so that we may be free from sin and ultimately we know this too is why the Father is pleased with His Son.
Now clearly, this is a trinitarian text because we see all three person’s of the Godhead present. God the Son is baptized, God the Holy Spirit descends on the Son in the form of a dove, and God the Father speaks from heaven. This one texts as well as others speaks out against errors in understanding the nature of God. Some groups have taught that there is one God who takes different forms at different times. These groups teach that God is the Father in the Old Testament, and then in the New Testament he takes the form of the Son, and at other times he takes the form of the Holy Spirit. This type of teaching exists or puts God in a form of modes which is heretical. This is actually called Modalism. We also know that people at times have a difficult time with the mystery of the Trinity and have tried to explain this in other ways in order to make sense. They would often argue that Jesus is less than God but more than man. Or they would say that the Spirit acts as some sort of force or ghost rather than a person. But, these views are false as well because as we see here in our text there are three persons and yet there remains only one God. Each person is fully and eternally God.
Belief in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit which makes up the Holy Trinity is essential to the Christian faith. The Historical Christian Church has always understood this doctrine to be foundational to our faith. Those groups or people who deny the Trinity actually deny the Christian faith. They deny who God really is and show that they don’t know God. The Trinity is not meant to be confusing to us, but the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have been given to us for our delight and joy. The one true God exists in three persons, all who love us and are a part of our salvation. In Ephesians chapter 1 we see this wonderfully play out in front of us in the work of God’s redemption. The Father appoints our salvation, the Son accomplishes our salvation, and the Holy Spirit opens our hearts and minds (regeneration) to salvation. If we deny any part of the Godhead, the entire foundation of the gospel falls down.
As we come to know and understand the work, ministry, life, and death of Jesus we come to know God. And as we have seen today, this wonderful God tells us that Jesus is His Son(The Testimony is True) with whom He is pleased.
Church Family as we have learned about this true testimony of Christ what will we do about it? The churches mission is to tell lost people about the gospel. We are to be the light of the world. We are not to light a lamp and then put it under a basket. In January of 2022 the Canadian government made it a crime by up to 5 years in prison to attempt to convert a transgender person or a homosexual. Let me just say that no matter what sin it is the business of the church once again is to tell lost sinners the true testimony of Jesus. The church is much more than a comedy club, or a charitable organization. We exist in the world to preach the gospel and share the gospel so that sinners can go from death to life. When John the Baptist appeared on the scene he was the forerunner of our Lord. When the angel came to announce that John would be born the message about John was this.
16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God,
This is the true message our world needs to hear today. Will we be the ones to deliver the true life changing testimony to our lost friends, neighbors and relatives?
(Pray)
(Lead into Communion)