Jesus' Early Ministry
Notes
Transcript
Jesus came, just as prophesied.
God is faithful
God desires for people to be saved.
God promised to send one born of a woman to Adam and Eve.
God promised Abraham through him, and his descendant all nations of the earth would be blessed.
God foretold that a descendant of the tribe of Judah would be the righteous ruler to come.
God promised David it would be one of his descendants.
Now, Jesus has come, born of a woman, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Judah, a descendant of David.
We saw over the past couple of weeks with Easter that Jesus was the fulfilment of prophesy concerning the savior who would bear our sins. We also saw how he was truly the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Today, we are going to step back into the chronology of our study through scripture, and look at the beginning of the ministry of Jesus.
We are going to focus primarily on Matthew 3 and 4.
In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea
and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’ ”
John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.
People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan.
Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
Baptism of Repentance
Baptism of Repentance
Repentance - change of mind, 180
Repentance is a response to hearing the message of God, and turning to him in faith; believing the message.
We are saved by faith - believing God
Repentance is us coming to faith. We were not trusting God, but rather ourselves.
Repentance is turning from trusting self, my way of thinking, to trusty God, which is faith.
The people were hearing the message, and believing that they were sinful, and needed God to save them.
They would confess their sins, and then be baptized.
Baptizing was an identification.
Man
Prideful
Sinful - disobedient to God
Deserving Wrath
Needs to Repent
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.
And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.
The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
“I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.
But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.
As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.
And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
Jesus Identified with Us
Jesus Identified with Us
Those being baptized were repenting, agreeing with God that they were sinners who needed the coming Messiah.
Jesus, as the Messiah, would be identifying with the sinners, taking their sins upon himself.
Jesus is beginning his ministry of salvation, by identifying with the sinners he has come to save.
Jesus Identified with John’s message: Repent
Jesus Identified with John’s message: Repent
Jesus Identified by God
Jesus Identified by God
Jesus The Son of God
Jesus The Son of God
Does this mean that he is a created being, or that he is less than being fully God?
How did the people of that day and culture understand the term?
So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him.
In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.”
For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
I and the Father are one.”
Again his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him,
but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?”
“We are not stoning you for any good work,” they replied, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”
God is a Trinity
The Sign Given to John
The Sign Given to John
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’
I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”
Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him.
And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’
I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.”
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.
The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple.
“If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.
“All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”
Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
Jesus’ Temptation
Jesus’ Temptation
This was on purpose - Holy Spirit led him into the wilderness to be tempted
This was real - he was tempted.
When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;
Jesus is fully God.
Jesus came in the flesh and was fully man, though without sin.
As a man, he was temptable. He had human appetites. He had a human nature, though he did not have a sin nature.
Jesus was one person, but as fully God, he had the qualities of being God… omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence.
As fully man, he had the qualities of weakness, limited knowledge, existing at one place at one time.
So as God, he is not tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone… James 1:13 “When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;”
As a man, he did experience hunger. He would be tempted to sin, as was Adam when he was created in perfection. Temptable because as humans we have appetites, we have desires.
So, Jesus being fully human with the qualities of a human being was tempted.
Being God, his temptations were suited to him. Turning bread to stones. Jumping down from an extreme height. Ruling the world.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.
But how was his temptation like the temptations you or I face?
The exact temptations were not the same, but the root of the temptations, the nature of the temptations were the same.
For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.
Lust of the flesh
Lust of the flesh
fleshly appetite
Genesis 3:1–3 “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ””
Matthew 4:3 “The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.””
Lust of the Eyes
Lust of the Eyes
personal gain
Genesis 3:4–5 ““You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.””
Matthew 4:8–9 “Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.””
Pride of Life
Pride of Life
Genesis 3:5–6 ““For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.”
Matthew 4:6 ““If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’””
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.
Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Jesus our Sympathetic High Priest
Jesus our Sympathetic High Priest
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
Jesus Begins His Ministry
Jesus Begins His Ministry
When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he withdrew to Galilee.
Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali—
to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah:
“Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—
the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”
From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God.
“The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.
News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them.
Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.
Man
Prideful
Sinful - disobedient to God
Deserving Wrath
Needs to Repent
God
Holy
Righteous
Just
Provides a Savior
Hope
Repentance
Confession
Faith
