From the Water to the Wilderness
The Son • Sermon • Submitted
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· 2 viewsThe Sonship of Christ provides the basis for our identity as sons and daughters of God.
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Last week we started our Christmas series that we have entitled “The Son.” Our Christmas celebration involves a lot of things that we enjoy, but the one things that we enjoy. Family time. Many of you here, no doubt, are family from out of town. Or, you have family time set aside during the holidays. We decorate with lights on our houses and trees in our living room; gifts under the tree and Santa down the chimney.
But, all that is just cultural. It’s part of society celebrating a Christmas spirit that they see on the Hallmark channel. Christians understand that the real reason for celebrating is the son in manager. The reason we celebrate that son is that Jesus is the, the son of God, the promised Messiah, who has come to save his people from their sins.
It is important to think that the child is wrapped in swaddling clothes. But, that is not really the main point of this text. The main point is that God has come wrapped in humanity to be our savior.
So what we discovered last week is that our identity as Christians is that we are sons and daughters of God is anchored in Christ’s identity as son of God. We are children of God because Christ is the son of God who fulfilled all the requirements of sonships. Now by faith we are in Christ and therefore, sons and daughters of God, adopted into the family of God.
Just as a quick review. We saw last week that there were some failed sons of God in the OT. Adam, Israel, and David are all called sons of God. But they were all failed as sons. Jesus fulfilled sonship so that we can be sons and daughters of God.
Last week, we looked at Christ’s sonship and its implications from the infancy narratives. Today, I want us to think about his sonship and its implication for us from his baptism and wilderness experience in ;)
When we look at the baptism of Jesus, we typically get caught up in the question, “Why did Jesus have to be baptized?” After all, he never sinned. Of course, Jesus answered that question to John in v.15, “it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”
John’s baptism was one of repentance, so he modeled for us that a life of a believer following Christ would be one of repentance. We understand that. But that is not the major focus of this text.
The major focus of this text is that the Holy Spirit descends on him as a dove and the Father speaks a declaration over Christ:
16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him;
17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
I want you to notice what happened to Jesus immediately after his baptism.
1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
Matt. 4:
Two out of three these tests that he was subject to were tests and challenges to his sonship. One scholar said, Jesus was first attested by God as son before he was tested by Satan as Son.
First Test:
2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.
3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”
Matt. 4:
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple
6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “ ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ”
Matt. 4:5-
Second Test:
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple
6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “ ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ”
Of course, Jesus passed these tests. We will look at those temptations more in just a little while. Butt for now, I want to note that this is not the first time that we have seen this water to wilderness scenario by on called a “son of God.”
Remember from last week that Israel is called a firstborn son.
22 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn son,
23 and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.” If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son.’ ”
We see the water to wilderness experience with Israel. God delivers his firstborn son by delivering them through the waters of the Red Sea and then taking them through 40 years of testing of which they rebelled and complained constantly. They failed as sons.
So what Jesus is doing is fulfilling sonship in a way that Israel failed. So, let’s take a look at these texts. And what implications does Christ’s successful sonship have for our relationship with God.
I. God’s love for believers is based in his unique love for his son. ()
I. God’s love for believers is based in his unique love for his son. ()
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Notice what the Father declares when Jesus comes up out of the water after his baptism.
Matt. 3:
17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
He doesn’t just say, “This is my son.” But, he uses an adjective to describe his son. “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.” Of the eight occasions where the adjective ‘beloved’ is used in the Matthew, Mark, and Luke, all of them apply exclusively to Jesus as the Son of God.
So the Father loved the son with a unique love and the Father is completely pleased with the Son.
Because the Father loves the son uniquely, he loves us believers in Christ, those who find our identity in Christ uniquely.
+Do you mean to tell me that God loves the believers differently than he loves the lost? Well, God certainly loves all the world, teaches us that. But there is no doubt that God loves his children uniquely, because he loves us with a love that he has for his son. In Christ, we are his children.
*Those of that have children have a unique perspective to be able to understand this. If you are a parent, I know you love kids, but you don’t love any kids like you love your own. I love your kids, but I’m not going to save up for college for them. I’m not going to buy them their first car. You’ll do that for your own kids, and I’ll do that for mine. There is just something unique about the love you have for your children.
God has unique and focused love for his children.
English Standard Version Chapter 10
29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.
Matt
29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.
30 But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.
31 Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.
Sparrows are worth almost nothing, yet he pays close attention to them.
It’s easy to make a joke about it to being very hard for God to count the hairs on some of us. But that’s not what this is about. It’s about being so close to us that he can actually count the hairs.
*From time to time, Misty braids AvaGrace’s hair. It takes a while and a good bit of work. Misty has to be very close to AvaGrace and extremely focused for her hair to turn out well. Now think about this, how close do you have to be to count the hairs on someone’s head. That’s how close God is to you. He takes special focus and special care of his children.
You are beloved because you are in Christ.
II. God’s acceptance of us is based in the obedience of his son. ()
II. God’s acceptance of us is based in the obedience of his son. ()
The temptation of Jesus was a challenge of who he was. They were challenges to Jesus’ identity. Would he be a son of God that would succeed in being perfectly obedient to the Father. Would he achieve all righteousness, like he said at his baptism, so that those of us with faith in him could be counted righteous.
Or would he fail in his sonship like Israel did as a son.
His first temptation was after 40 days of fasting. He was hungry. And the tempter came and tempted him.
3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”
4 But he answered, “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”
Matt. 4:
This is not the first time that Satan has offered food to someone to get them to deny the Father’s will. Remember Adam in the garden? Adam and Eve were living in perfect relationship with the Father. Satan comes along and says, “God doesn’t want you to eat of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil because it will make you like him.”
Adam failed. He believed Satan and not the Father. He rejected the will of God. Jesus is the second Adam. He is the son that succeeded where both Adam and Israel failed.
Jesus didn’t fall into the trap of yielding to his immediate needs. Instead, he was thinking about our needs. We need righteousness and the only for us to have it is in him. So, he chose to obey the Father’s will as a perfect son.
So, as a model for what any child of God should do in the face of temptation, he quoted Scripture to Satan in the midst of temptation. (). We need God more than we need food.
Second,
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple
6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “ ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ”
7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”
Matt. 4:5
What Satan is doing is twisting Scripture to manipulate Christ to ignore the Father’s will. Satan is now quoting Scripture. These Scriptures show that God protected Israel, his son. Certainly he would protect Jesus. And that would cause bring such a spectical that certainly people would see it and believe.
But Jesus would not fall in this trap. He would above all else, obey his Father. Again, Jesus quoted Scripture back to Satan.
There are two application points I want to make here:
A. In the wilderness, you are not alone.
A. In the wilderness, you are not alone.
As believers, we will go from the water to the wilderness. Faith will move us to times of trial and temptation. When we do, we can rest in the fact that we are not alone there. Our savior has already gone there for us. He can identify with all of our weakness. He has already walked where we are walking and he has succeeded.
* This does not make Christ less tender, but more so. Anything that is sinful hardens, and inasmuch as he was without sin, he was without the hardening influence that sin would bring to bear on a man.—38.178
2204This does not make Christ less tender, but more so. Anything that is sinful hardens, and inasmuch as he was without sin, he was without the hardening influence that sin would bring to bear on a man.—38.178
Spurgeon, C. H., & Carter, T. (1995). 2,200 quotations : from the writings of Charles H. Spurgeon : arranged topically or textually and indexed by subject, Scripture, and people (Trade pbk. ed., p. 351). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
And in the process, he has become especially tender to our trials. No one is more tender toward your pain that Christ. Here’s Spurgeon’s insight:
* This does not make Christ less tender, but more so. Anything that is sinful hardens, and inasmuch as he was without sin, he was without the hardening influence that sin would bring to bear on a man.
We have fallen into sin. That sin hardens us. Bu, Jesus never fell. His heart is tender toward your difficulty and your pain. He understands and walks with you.
Spurgeon, C. H., & Carter, T. (1995). 2,200 quotations : from the writings of Charles H. Spurgeon : arranged topically or textually and indexed by subject, Scripture, and people (Trade pbk. ed., p. 351). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.
B. In the wilderness, failure is not final.
B. In the wilderness, failure is not final.
It’s here that you need to understand the concept of imputed righteousness. Jesus went to the wilderness to succeed for us. Because Israel didn’t succeed in the wilderness as a son. Adam failed as a son. We would never succeed in fulfilling the requirements and children of God. So Jesus fulfilled all righteousness for us.
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.
+You may be thinking, I have failed so badly. I’ve messed up relationships. I’ve lived a selfish life. No way I could ever be acceptable to God. You are not acceptable to God based on your life. You are accepted based on Jesus’ life. He has fulfilled sonship for you. In the wilderness, failure is never final for the believer.
John tells us,
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John
Tozer Topical Reader in Two Volumes 1076. Righteousness
I claim nothing and my testimony is the same as Martin Luther’s prayer: “Oh, Lord Jesus, Thou art my righteousness—I am Thy sin!”
The only sin Jesus had was mine, Luther’s and yours—and the only righteousness we can ever have is His.
Tozer Topical Reader in Two Volumes 1076. Righteousness
I claim nothing and my testimony is the same as Martin Luther’s prayer: “Oh, Lord Jesus, Thou art my righteousness—I am Thy sin!”
The only sin Jesus had was mine, Luther’s and yours—and the only righteousness we can ever have is His.
In Christ, we are forgiven.
Tozer Topical Reader in Two Volumes 1076. Righteousness
“Oh, Lord Jesus, Thou art my righteousness—I am Thy sin!”
Our testimony is the same as Martin Luther’s prayer.
Tozer Topical Reader in Two Volumes 1076. Righteousness
“Oh, Lord Jesus, Thou art my righteousness—I am Thy sin!”
The only sin that Jesus had was mine, Luther, and yours—and the only righteousness we have is his.
He has gone from the water to the wilderness for us. So when we go from the water to the wilderness we are secure in him. We are children of God because Christ has completely succeeded as his son.
The child in the manger didn’t stay in the manger, but he fulfilled all that was needed to bring us back to God. That is something to celebrate this Christmas.