Luke 3 1 :22
Notes
Transcript
Recap
Recap
Common Themes of Chapter 1 and 2
Miracles - The Miraculous conception of Mary and Elizabeth
Obedience - We saw devotion to God through beleiveing when they had no reason to believe. We saw they were faithful to folling the commandments set aside by God (Bringing the sons to the temple on the 8th day for circumcision and the 40th day to be dedicated to the lord, faithful to obey the words that were given by the angel, Gabriel)
Gods faithfulness - God’s promises don’t return void. If he has promised it then it will come to be, maybe not in the timeframe that we would expect but in his perfect timing.
Continuance of God’s plan - God made sure that we understood that the promises he made in the old testament like the davidic covenant and the abrahamic covenant were not over but God was still going forward with his rescue plan! The Messiah is born in Bethlehem and we see God gave Mary a prophetic message from Simeon praising the works that he would do for the jewish people but also a warning that there was going to be heartbreak along this journey!
John was made the first prophet in 400 years that was given the task of calling the nation of Israel back to repentance! He was to go before Jesus and make known that the messiah was coming and that they need to repent and to be baptized!
We read in Luke 1:80
And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.
Luke 3
Luke 3
Luke 3:1–2 “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.”
Luke is giving us a geographial understanding of the political hierarchy around the nation. Using the information given to us here we can determine that between 28-29 ad when John would have started his mission.
Something that is unique and i want to make note of is the face that we have two high priest mentioned in the text, annas and Caiaphas. there could only be one high priest at a time so it was probably similar to how we treat presidents or a governor allowing them to keep their title even when they had moved on from the position.
Luke 3:3–6 “And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ””
As mentioned by Luke this is from Isaiah 40:3-5.
Isaiah 40:3-5 was a promise from God to deliver the people of Israel out of exile after freeing them from the hands of the babylonians. They were in a new exodus, awaiting the lord to pave the way for them and show his glory!
Isaiah 40 uses the example of a herald who would go before a king and clear the path, fix roads, and no matter what terrain was being thrown at him he was making a way! He was making sure that the Triumphant king, in this case it was God, would be free to go where needed.
One of the beautiful things that old testament Prophecy did at times is that it would point to two things simultaneously! We call this a dual fulfillment of prophecy.
This is what you see here. God fulfilled this prophecy in Isaiah by delivering the people from the babylonians and bringing them out of exile but we also see that there is a future Messianic prophecy that comes from this!
We see that John is the figure that is making a way in the wilderness, he is clearing the land and making all paths straight for the lord!
John called the Jewish religious elite, gentiles and every one in between to repent of their sins and to be baptized.
Repentance wasn’t a new concept to the jewish people, all throughout the old testament God is calling his people to turn way from their wickedness and sins and follow him! We see throughout 1st and 2nd Kings that when a king would surrender and the country would follow Yahweh that they would flourish! But within a generation or two they always turned back to their old ways and they would be punished so they would have to have full reliance on God to save them!
or in The Minor and Major Prophets they are all calling the nations to repentance, to return back to the way of the lord and to turn from their vile ways!
This would have been a known theme among the Jewish believers.
In luke 3, John sets a new standard for baptisms. in his time only gentiles that wanted to convert to Judaism would be submerged into the water! Symbolizing that they had been washed of their sins.
John is trying to open the eyes of the Jews to the idea that they are no better than the gentiles. he makes them get baptized to symbolize that Just because they have the law it isn’t enough, they’re still full of sin! The law was a mirror that refelcts how short you fall from God’s standard. It was to remind you that you needed a savior, it was not meant to be a checklist of rights and wrong that earn you salvation in heaven!
A few months ago, i reached out to a couple pastor friends of mine and I had a question for them. What was the point of John’s baptism?
Was it salvific, just symbolic, what was the purpose of it?
In baptism today, we are looking back, back to the things that the Lord has done, to the arrival of the Holy spirit and its indwelling in our lives. It’s a way to leave the old you behind and show the world that you are a new creation in Christ!
This started a fun study into John’s baptisms and how we should view baptism before the crucifixion and the indwelling of the Holy spirit in believers.
And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John’s baptism.” And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. There were about twelve men in all.
We see that John’s baptism differs from the baptism that we observe today.
John’s baptism set the eyes of the people and their hearts to the future. John’s baptism was a symbol of the hope and anticipation for what was to come. He was pointing them to the Messiah, his job was to be a herald who opened the eyes and hearts of those who didn’t think they needed saving. When a person would be baptized by John they were stating that they were open and expectant to what the Lord was going to do through the Messiah! But John did not have the authority to forgive sins, that alone belonged to God!
He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
John wasn’t playing, he was going to call you out!
He starts by calling them vipers and asks them why they are going out of their way to be there, its not your typical start to a sermon but heres the thing John wasn’t your typical man.
John would wear the most uncomfortable clothing made out of camels hair, he lived on grasshoppers and wild honey and willingly lived in the desert.
This guy made bear Grylls adventures look like a trip to the four seasons!
God didn’t need a clean cut, Timothy chalomet looking guy to spread his gospel, no he used the one we would least expect. If we saw John running up to your car today and he looked Robin William’s character from Jumanji, we would all lock the doors and say something like, man i sure hope they get that guy help! He’s got something broken upstairs! He keeps screaming at everyone calling them snakes and talking about a God that is coming soon. CRAZY!!!!
John didn’t care though he had one mission! Call the people to repentance and set their eyes on christ!
I love how he goes right after the jewish people who would use Abraham as an excuse for not having to repent.
It was widely taught that Abraham’s merits were plenty for any Jew’s salvation, and that it was impossible for any descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to go to hell.
John is letting them know that the lord can use a rock and create a new lineage of Abraham if he wanted to, that just because they were born into this doesn’t mean they are free to live as they please, they don’t hold God ransom!
The lord’s judgement is coming and if there is no good fruit then you will be removed from Israels family tree.
The Lord does not reward the faith of your ancestors or friends and give you a pass since they believed.
This is a common issue that today we have, at Fca I love to ask students, how long have you been a christian?
Some give me a date or how many years since they had the saving encounter with the lord.
Other’s answer something like this… Wellll i’ve been a christian since i was born, i’ve been going to church since i was in my mom’s stomach, I’ve always been a christian.
Heres the truth, you are not saved by the faith of your mom, dad, auntie, cousin, best friend, your dog, because you went to church your whole life or because you are of a specific nationality.
Let me ask you a question, feel free to comment in the chat!
What is the standard to get into heaven?
Perfection! No matter how big or small a sin may seem, Lying, stealing a lollipop from a baby, saw a girl at the beach and your imagination went a little to far, or maybe you stubbed your toe and said a bad word. all it takes is one sin to disqualify yourself from heaven!
God wasn't’ trying to hide salvation from the people instead he made it readily available to those who would listen and repent! It was in the wilderness on the banks of the Jordan River, John was pointing them directly to the Messiah and his mission to rescue ALL who would believe that Jesus was the perfect sacrifice and his blood covers all of our wretched sins! All it takes is to repent and turn back to the Lord!
The God of the Universe has extended his hand down from the heavens and given you an opportunity to accept a free gift that he is willingly giving to ANYONE that will believe! BUT YOU HAVE TO ACCEPT IT! No one else can accept it for you!
The jewish elite, roman soldeirs and the common folk like us all needed a savior just like we do today!
And the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do?” And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Collect no more than you are authorized to do.” Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.”
As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, 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. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
So with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people. But Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his brother’s wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done, added this to them all, that he locked up John in prison.
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.”
John is making it clear that we are to care for those who have less than us! The money, clothes, vehicles, extra rooms in the house or dare i say it MONEY. It’s all Gods.
How are we stewarding what he has blessed us with?
We pray that here at Known church it will become a guiding principle that if there is someone within our congregation that has a need and someone has extra then we will bless them with that. For example, if someone lost their home and we have a spare room, we need to open the doors to those in need.
If we have extra food that is going to go to waste, we need to give it to those who maybe are struggling that week for whatever reason.
As we align our heart with what the Lord has naturally programmed us to do, we begin to receive a sense of fullness!
Who here has been on a mission trip? That mission trip high is real! It’s because we are operating within the confines of what we were designed to do!
John is also teaching for the idea of integrity. Tax collectors and soldiers were some of the most hated and untrustworthy people of the time.
The tax collector made money by giving Rome what was owed in taxes and then they would over charge and pocket the rest for themselves! they would essentially be stealing from their brothers and sisters all for selfish greed!
Soldiers were no better, they would take bribes and make false accusations and try to get you to pay your way out of it!
John is calling even the most hated and controversial to fall back to God’s way! To have human decency and respect for those around us!
This kind of teaching was polarizing and we see the people begin to clamor and ask if John is possibly the Messiah that is to come!
he quickly shut them down and pointed them back to Jesus!
John could have easily been prideful and boasted himself up!
He had a miraculous birth, a prophesied destiny, a man called to personally fulfill great prophetic promises, a powerful preacher, and a man with a great following.
Yet time and time again he deflects the praise and gives it all to God!
He reminds them that he is not even worthy to untie Jesus sandal. In this time the belief is that a rabbit could ask their disciples to do just about anything besides untie their sandal. this was considered to be to humiliating to demand! Yet John says that Jesus is so Great that he is not even worthy enough to do the most humiliating thing for him!
He tells the people that he only baptizes with water but Jesus is coming and he is going to baptize with the holy spirit!
He uses the imagery of the harvest and That Jesus is going to be be the one to judge what is worthy for harvest and what should be cast into the air and consumed by fire! Sound familar to any of you?
Luke doesnt’ always write in order as we see here! Very often he was writing to the theme of the section. We have to remember that this is a letter to Theophilous and not a chronological account for historical reference!
We see that king Herod, who wasn’t a king like we would think of them today but a tetrarch who would control a specific region or landj threw john in prison for calling him to repent for marrying Herrodias, his living brothers wife, but the next line shows that Jesus was baptized by John!
Jesus would come to see John as he was baptizing people and he himself would get baptized!
Jesus does not get baptized to cleanse himself of sins, but to align himself with the identity of a sinful man. Symbolic of the same heart Jesus goes to the cross with and takes the place of the sinful man (barabbas and us).
Jesus ministry begins but that doesn't’ take away from the mission that John was destined to do!
John’s mission shouldn’t sound very foreign to us if we are believers in Christ! We are commanded by Jesus to do exactly what John did, It’s called the great commission.
Matthew 28:19–20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””
We are failing if we have come to know the goodness of God and we are too scared to share the gospel with others!
We have to be bold and courageous and share the word with Zeal just like John did!! Maybe don’t start with calling people vipers but you get what i’m trying to say!
It should be such an honor that the same mission God gave to John, has been given to us! prepare the way and make known all that God has done! Heres the thing, Jesus is coming back, and no one knows the time or hour except God! I pray that you will go back and read Luke 3 with new eyes and a refreshed heart! God doesn’t want us to come to have saving faith in Jesus and then hide it from the world!
Sometimes we treat Christianity like your favorite hole in the wall restaurant that never has a line, we know that if this gets out then its going to be packed and you won’t get to enjoy it anymore!
The good news is that Christianity more aligns with a cure to a deadly disease named sin!
Like 2021 when we were all masking up and rushing to find a cure for Covid, we should have an urgency to share this cure with the world!
I want to challenge you to take a bold stance this week and share the gospel with someone!
