Please take your copy of the Word of God and join with me in turning to the third chapter of the Gospel of Luke. Luke 3. Once again, this morning, we come to that portion of Scripture where Luke gives us a genealogy of Jesus. Genealogies were very important aspects of biblical culture. They were especially valuable in validating the significance of God's great men, those men whom God has used to advance His kingdom promises, advancing His covenant dealings with His people through the ages. And Luke's genealogy at the end of chapter 3, accomplishes several purposes as we've seen in recent studies. This is a genealogy, obviously, of Jesus Christ. It's not a genealogy of John the Baptist, once again underscoring Luke's emphasis upon Jesus over John. The genealogy, interestingly, moves backward through history, moving through the Maccabean period. through the time of the regathering of Israel under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah, back through the time of the exile, back through the time of the kings, specifically citing but not elaborating upon that most important king in verse 31, David. Moving back from there through the time of the judges, Back again into the formation of the tribal nation of Israel, identifying Jesus with the tribe of Judah in verse 33. Moving back to the patriarch Abraham in verse 34. And then, turning us to the pages of Genesis. through the time of the flood with Noah in verse 36. On down through the line of Seth, ending with Adam, the Son of God in verse 38. Indeed, Jesus identified as the Son of God is a very significant thing that Luke accomplishes in this genealogy. In verse 22, we have already learned once again of the Sonship of Jesus. where the voice comes from heaven, Thou art my beloved Son, in Thee I am well pleased. And that, of course, is strategically situated to parallel with the statement in verse 38, the Son of Adam, the Son of God. What does it mean, Luke wants us to ask, to be the Son of God? Is there a particular role involved in having that title? A particular responsibility? The genealogy also emphasizes Jesus' solidarity with mankind. In verse 21, we learn about all the people who were baptized, to whom Jesus identifies, and then in verse 38 again, we find Jesus identified with the very taproot of humanity as Son of Adam. Jesus' solidarity with humanity is something commentators recognize as the purpose of Luke's genealogy. Daryl Bach writes, the major theme of the genealogy is that Jesus possesses the proper roots to be the promised agent of God. He is in David's line pointing to a regal figure. He is Abraham's seed pointing to the Abrahamic promises. He is Adam's seed relating him to all humanity and he is son of God. God has created this line to culminate in Jesus. Salvation is the product of God's design and the object of his careful planning. In Jesus, there are no historical surprises, he says. In other words, you can see the hand of divine providence down through the ages, ensuring that the promises given in the garden and repeated to the patriarchs and to David indeed come to pass as God brings this line to culminate in Jesus, son of Adam, son of God. Joel Green comments, the genealogy provides for a kind of crescendo, culminating in the acknowledgement of God as the originator of Jesus' ancestral line. Jesus is thus rooted securely in the past of God's covenantal interaction with God's people, and his ancestral credentials as God's redemptive agent are asserted. The reference to Adam as son of God presents the divine origin of the human race and indicates Jesus' solidarity with all humanity. Hendrickson comments, rightly considered, this genealogy not only teaches how very close Jesus is to mankind, but also how close, in a certain sense, mankind is to God. Now we compared in our last study Luke's genealogy with Matthew's genealogy. We saw that both genealogies underscore Jesus to be the rightful heir of David's throne. He is indeed the legitimate Messiah. We also saw that both genealogies underscore Jesus as the son of Abraham. He is the Abrahamic promised seed. Jesus' relationship to David and Jesus' relationship to Abraham is the focal point and the thrust of Matthew's genealogy. But Luke, while making that same point, adds yet another dimension to the identity of Jesus that he wants us to understand in this genealogy. And that is that Jesus is the last Adam. Luke wants us to understand Jesus and his mission as that which is paralleled with the experience of Adam. He does this in a very peculiar way. We learned last week, last time, that he inverts the normal arrangement of a genealogy. Generally, the genealogy starts in the past and works to the present, emphasizing the fathers. Luke inverts that. and starts in the present and works backward and emphasizes the sons. So as to purposely, intentionally emphasize Jesus' sonship to Adam and Adam as son of God. Very quickly, as it were, without comment, without commentary, Matthew in his genealogy will stop and make a comment about someone or a further description of them, placing them in redemptive history. Luke, like falling dominoes, moves back through the men in the genealogy and ending with Adam the son of God. He ends the genealogy right at the very point where in chapter 4 we see Jesus confronted by the devil in the time of temptation. Ending the genealogy with Adam, Luke wants us to see how, like Adam, Jesus also underwent temptations by Satan. And what he is doing here is extremely profound in his theology, in his Christology, his doctrine of Christ. What he is doing is he is pointing the reader to that teaching that is found in the Apostle Paul, the teaching of Jesus Christ as the last Adam. Now you know that Luke was Paul's companion. And Luke would have been familiar with the teachings of Paul found in 1 Corinthians 15 and the teachings of Paul found in Romans chapter 5. We believe that Luke was written somewhere in the mid 60's. Likely written when Luke accompanied the Apostle Paul, not only on his journey to Jerusalem, when the Apostle Paul was then imprisoned and then sent to prison in Caesarea for two years. It's very likely Luke being with him during that time used that time to interview the inhabitants of Jerusalem who were eyewitnesses, one of those probably being Mary, Jesus' mother, and gathered the information that is uniquely found in the Gospel of Luke in the birth narrative that we've studied already. Luke also accompanied Paul when he was then transferred from Caesarea to Rome. And it's very likely that there, while Paul was in his first in Rome imprisonment, awaiting trial, Luke there with him took that time to write both the Book of Acts and the Gospel. And you know the Book of Acts ends with Paul there under house arrest in the city of Rome. All of that transpired after the apostles' missionary journeys, after the writings to the church in Corinth, after the writings to the church in Rome, so that Luke had every reason, we believe, to know the apostolic teaching that presents Jesus as the last Adam. And in order to understand the significance of this genealogy and why it is that Luke adds this added dimension Beyond Matthew, son of David and son of Abraham, Luke adds the profile of the son of Adam. He is doing that so that we might better understand Jesus as He now steps onto the theatre of His messianic mission. In order for us to understand Jesus and the connection that Luke makes with Adam, we must go back to Genesis, and see Adam as Paul describes him in Romans 5, verse 14, as the type of him who was to come. That Adam is a prefigurement of Christ. And we're also going to look and rely a bit upon Paul's own teachings to inform us as to what Luke is up to here. As he writes this portion of Scripture that serves as the segue, as the introductory bridge that moves The Son of God, under the Father's approval in His baptism, into the time of temptation in chapter 4. He wants us to understand that by the time Jesus comes to that time of temptation, we're to understand Him as an endemic man. That there's parallels being drawn with the experience of Adam here. First of all this morning we consider then that Adam and Jesus are presented as son of God. Now eventually in our studies we're going to tie some connections with Adam and Christ and see more fully the analogy that Luke is making here. But I want simply to start at this point to ensure us of our understanding of Adam's identity and his situation so that we can then draw some implications as to how to understand Jesus as Son of Adam, Son of God. Now, we have already learned in our study of the Gospel of Luke that this title, Son of God, has thus far been significant of Jesus' deity. It is a title that has been used thus far in order to identify the second person of the triune Godhead and to place Jesus within the Godhead and to underscore His divine identity. In chapter 1 of Luke and verse 32, Gabriel speaks to Mary and says, He will be great. and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give Him the throne of His Father David. He is Son of the Most High. In verse 35, you remember this is a very, very difficult text to exegete and to translate from the original. The more literal translation would be describing Jesus as the offspring shall be called holy since He is Son of God. An identity that is divine. Jesus is aware of this at His 12th year when He visits the temple in Jerusalem at the Passover in chapter 2 and verse 49. Did you not know that I had to be in my Father's house? Revealing that Jesus knew Himself as Son of God. And in chapter 3, verse 22, the voice of the Father, Thou art my beloved Son. So repeatedly, thus far in the Gospel of Luke, Son of God has been a phrase to identify deity. It is a phrase identifying the second person of the Godhead. But when we find this phrase at the end of the genealogy in verse 38 of chapter 3, Adam, the Son of God, We must understand that now the phrase is being used in a different way. Now this is not a phrase describing the relationship of the second person of the triune Godhead in relation to the first person of the triune Godhead, but that rather this is a phrase, Son of God, which is describing the relationship of the first man, Adam, to his creator. So that the Son of God phrase here in verse 38 of Luke 3 is a phrase identifying Adam's relationship to God, and also it is a phrase in the genealogy identifying Jesus, the incarnate man, the incarnate deity, in His relationship with God. So the phrase now fans out in its purpose and in its significance. It has thus far meant deity, but now in the genealogy it means humanity. It means humanness. It's speaking about Adam's relationship to God. Now that Adam is son of God is not explicitly stated by Moses in the Old Testament. We don't find Moses saying, Adam, quote, the son of God, unquote. But rather we understand Adam to be the son of God because of other language that Moses uses to describe his relationship with God. And we see the language of bearing image is the language that describes his relationship of sonship. Turn back to Genesis chapter 5. where we enter into a genealogy. The genealogy of Adam traced from Adam to Noah. In chapter 5 of Genesis verses 1 to 3 we read, this is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. and he created them male and female, and he blessed them and named them man in the day when they were created. When Adam had lived 130 years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth. Now notice that in verse 1, by virtue of being created, Adam is said to be made in the likeness of God. In verse 2, this identity of likeness of God, this creaturely identity, is given to both male and female, who together constitute Adam. The NAS reads, In the text, the footnote tells you the word in the Hebrew is literally Adam. Male and female, man. And their essential identity, given to them by virtue of their creatureliness, by being made creatures, is described with this language, likeness of God, in verse 1. In verse 3, we then learn about Adam's fathered relationship to his son Seth. And that relationship is said to be in likeness. That he became the father of a son in his own likeness. And that is a phrase made synonymous with the phrase, according to his image. So, we have two descriptions of this relationship of sonship. If you are made in the likeness and according to the image of, then you are the son of the one whose likeness and image you have been made in. So, to be made in the image and the likeness of another is language describing this relationship of sonship. Now, when we read that understanding of this phrase, In the words of Genesis 1.27, we understand that what Moses is telling us is exactly what the children learn in their children's catechism. That God created Adam to enjoy a relationship of sonship. Genesis 1.27, and God created man in his own image. In the image of God, He created him, male and female, He created them. Now, Moses, to underscore the importance and the significance of this verse and its crucial meaning, uses parallelism, repeating the words created, repeating the whole matter of his own image, in the image of God. He uses this technique that would alert the ear of the listener that what's being said is very, very important. And what he's underscoring is this relationship of bearing the image of God, is the relationship of Adam who is, in the words of Luke, son of God. Luke is right and he is biblically correct therefore to describe Adam as son of God in Luke chapter 3 verse 38. Adam in a created sense is truly image of God and that means the humanity of Christ also rightly is seen to be Son of God in His essential humanity. Adam, as image of God, is related to God as Son of God. So, when Luke introduces us to Jesus through this genealogy as Son of Adam and Son of God, he is telling us that Jesus not only is Son of God in His nature as deity within the Godhead, but now he is telling us that Jesus this man from Nazareth, this truly human being. He is incarnate God, we've learned that. He is son of God as divine being, we know that. But Luke now is saying he's man, he's fully man, he's radically man. And He is Son of God in the same essential humanity as that which Adam himself knew in his position as first man. But this, Luke wants us to see, is not just generic humanity. It is humanity like that unto Adam's humanity. That Jesus is Son of God in an Adamic sense of the term. He is Adamic man. One who relates to God in his humanity in the same way that Adam related to God. Not in the same way that you and I do in our humanity. But Jesus' humanity is so pure and pristine, if you will, that it is rightly the only one who can be compared to the humanity of Adam. And that's what Luke is underscoring here. Luke therefore wants us, at the end of the genealogy, to reflect upon Adam's relationship to God, and from that reflection upon Adam's relationship to God, to derive certain implications whereby to understand Jesus' identity and to understand the nature of His mission as the Son of God in the Adamic sense of the term, in the last Adam sense of the term. This puts Jesus upon a very large stage. Paul stands behind some of this, because Paul is the one by whose words we learn that Jesus is the image of God. That's the language that Moses uses to describe Adam, the image of God. Paul uses that. And when he does that and uses this phrase, image of God, you ought to be alerted to the fact you're traveling in this relationship of sonship and you're dealing with this large theme of Jesus as the last Adam, this Adamic man. Look for example, Colossians 1 and verse 15. Here, describing Jesus, we read, He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. In verses 15 to 20, you have one of the most exalted paragraphs describing Christ in the entirety of your New Testament. Many of the writers call this the profile of the cosmic Christ. Because Jesus here is seen in the most exalted universal terms. Setting Christ as head over all of the universe. And He is given this position. He is given this position in keeping with who He is as image of the invisible God, first born of all creation. Jehovah's Witnesses wrongly interpret this passage. and would understand firstborn of all creation to mean that He is a created being. Firstborn is a position that the Son has in a family. The firstborn Son. And as the firstborn Son, the firstborn Son is the rightful heir of all the Father's possessions. And Jesus is the firstborn. And He is the rightful heir of all creation. Why is that? Because He is Son of God. And why does He have this inheritance of all creation? Because He is image of God. He is Adamic man. He has the position over the entire universe in a way that is analogous to the position that Adam had over the entire world. In 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 4, If our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, verse 3, in whose case the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God. Who is the image of God. Now that does not describe Jesus as an idol. That does not describe Jesus as an idol. A false image, if you will. But it is the language that is embedded, as you see in the context, in Paul's thinking about creation and its relationship to redemption. And in this relationship of creation to redemption, there's an Adamic man. There's a last Adam man. There's an image of God. And who is that? It's Jesus Christ. He is the glory of God. He is the revelation of the glory of God because He is the image of God. that Paul is thinking in terms of creation can be seen in verse 6. For God who said, light shall shine out of darkness, referring to God's act of creation in Genesis 1, is the one who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. God as Creator, calling light out of darkness in Genesis 1.3, That act in creation, Paul says, parallels the act that God does in every one of His people's hearts. When through the power of the regenerating work of the Spirit, He enlightens us, He opens our eyes that we may see what? When a child is born again, what does he see? He sees the glory of God refilled in the face of Christ. He looks upon the image of God. And he sees in Christ Jesus the glory of deity. Because Jesus is the display of divine glory. Because He is the Son of God. He is the revelation of God to man. And by faith, He looks at the face of Christ and recognizes what the writer of Hebrews says in chapter 1, verse 3, He is the radiance of His glory, the exact representation of His nature. He's the image of God. He's the image of God. And if we were able to go back all the way to the beginning and set our eyes upon the face of Adam prior to the fall in the garden, we would see in his face the glory of God. We would see the reflection of the worth and dignity and grandeur of God reflected in the glory of His image-bearer, Adam. The Son images the Father. The Son looks like the Father and demonstrates the Father's status. And the honor of the Father is made evident through the Son. Jesus is image of God. That language embedded in Paul's thinking as he describes salvation in terms of the work of creation, a new creation work. And where there is this work of creation, there's an Adamic man. If there is a new creation, there's a new Adam, a last Adam. And it's none other than Jesus Christ. So what we've established is this. When Luke calls Jesus the Son of Adam, the Son of God, he's saying that Jesus in His humanity is God's Son in the same way that Adam was. And He invites us to take what we know of Adam as God's created Son and apply that to Jesus so that we now begin to interpret Jesus in light of Adam's relationship to God. Are you surprised that the devil has been, for the past two or three generations in our country, adamantly determined to write Genesis 1 through 11 out of your Bibles? Do you think his big problem is because he wants you to think that you're descended from monkeys? No, that's not it. He wants to obscure the glory of God revealed in the face of his image. He wants to obscure the glory of God, revealed in the face of His image. What God is doing in creation is a type and figure of what God is doing in salvation. And the two of them are joined intimately and connected together. For it is this entire cosmos that God saves through the work of the last Adam. Adam and Jesus are presented as we've seen then, first of all, as Son of God. Secondly, Adam and Jesus are presented as approved by God. Now here I begin to start narrowing in on some of the parallels to set up what I hope to be yet a more detailed study in the next two Lord's Days together. In Luke chapter 3, verse 22, the latter part of that verse, Thou art my beloved Son. In thee I am well pleased. We've learned that thou art my beloved son is an announcement that comes from the first person of the Godhead to the second person of the Godhead, underscoring his identity as divine Son of God. We've learned that that phrase, Son of God, now serves, in the pen of Luke, a dual purpose. Not only identifying Jesus as the divine Son of God, but also as the Adamic, human Son of God. But look at the words in the, I am well pleased. Thinking in terms of the parallel between Adam and Christ. Here are words of approbation, words of approval that God gives to his son. Now, we learned in our study of this passage that these words are taken from Isaiah 42 and verse 1. And that stands at the beginning of the suffering servant songs of Isaiah that opens up the significance of Jesus' messianic mission. He is to be a Messiah, the Son of God. Thou art my beloved Son, from Psalm 27, who is the Messiah. In thee I am well pleased. This is what I want you to do according to Isaiah's suffering servant psalms. You are to be the suffering one. You are to accomplish the salvation of your people through your own guilt offering where those songs end in Isaiah 53 describing the atoning death and resurrection of the Messiah. And we followed that out and it's a deep strand to bring to our understanding. But what is God doing on the face of the passage here when He's saying, in thee I am well pleased? What He's doing is He's giving a statement of approval. He's making a judgment. upon His Son. And He is saying, I approve of you. I judge you to be, in the language of Genesis, what? I judge you to be very good. I judge you to be good. You see, so when you come back to Genesis 1, and you see the end of God's creation work, the work culminating, ending in the making of His image, and setting His image on the earth with a stewardship, with a mission, with a task, with a responsibility. And what does He say when He sees all of that in place, and His image in place, and His stewardship in place? He says in Genesis 1.31, And God saw all that He had made, and, behold, it was very good. He gives a statement of approbation. He is approved as the Son of God. So God approving Adam as very good in Genesis 1.31 parallels God approving the second or last Adam in Luke chapter 3 and verse 23. So by making this connection with Adam, we see that Jesus, now this is where you need to see the parallel here because Luke is setting up a structure for us in the way in which he's written his Gospel. By making this connection with Adam, we see Jesus at the end of Luke 3 positioned in the same position that Adam was at the end of Genesis chapter 1. Luke 3 positions Jesus, last Adam, in the same way approved and accepted by God, in the same way that the first Adam was positioned at the end of Genesis chapter 1, approved and accepted by God. So there's the parallel right there. In other words, Adam in his pre-fallen state is to be seen parallel to Jesus at the point of the beginning of his messianic mission. This is a pre-fallen Adamic figure that Luke presents to us at the end of Genesis 3. That brings us to see then this morning that Adam and Jesus are subjected to a test. Now we're going to visit this matter further in the next couple of weeks. Time prevents me from going into any detail, but I want simply to complete something of the idea of the parallelism here And I hope that so doing, it will stimulate your own thinking to the place where you'll start to get excited about seeing the connections and you'll start to marvel at the wonderful, glorious grandeur of who Jesus is. After establishing the very good state of creation and its epitome, Adam, the image of God, God's creature son, Moses then shifts. Go back to Genesis. Moses shifts. You were just in Genesis 1.31. After establishing this very good image-bearing Son of God, Moses then shifts from one form of writing to another form of writing. The kind of writing that Moses does in Genesis chapter 1 verse 1 to Genesis chapter 2 verse 4 is a different kind of writing, a different genre of literature than what you find in chapter 2 verse 4 all the way to the end of chapter 4 beginning of verse 5. And that's a section, a literary unit. in the book of Genesis. It's one of ten such literary units. And these literary units in Genesis are marked off by what is called a toledoth, which is the Hebrew word translated, the history of the generations. In the NAS it's called, this is the account of, or this is the generations of, or here is the history of the generations of. And that phrase is found at the beginning and the end of these literary units all throughout the book of Genesis so that these units are patched together and stitched together by this Hebrew phrase, this is the generations of, this is the history of the generations of. That's a literary marker connecting all the literary units of Genesis. And this is significant for us because this tells us that Genesis 2-4 all the way to the end of chapter 4, is one literary unit. And as a literary unit, it has its own concerns. You see, in chapter 5, verse 1, this is the book of the generations of. There's the told-off. There's that stitching marker. So, Genesis 2-4 to Genesis 5-1 is a unit that has its own particular concerns. And it's a different kind of literature than the prologue of Genesis chapter 1. When we see, therefore, that this is a literary unit with its own concerns, we ask, well, what are the concerns of Genesis 2 to Genesis 4? And the concerns have to do with the testing of Adam, have to do with the proving of Adam, his subsequent failure of the test as the original head of the human race, that issues into a division of mankind spawning two lines, two spiritual seeds. What is described in Genesis 3.15 as the seed of the woman or the seed of the serpent. Now next week, I'll begin to get into more detail with you concerning the nature of Adam's test. But we know that Adam was given a command concerning the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in Genesis chapter 2. And then out of nowhere, it appears to us in chapter 3, all of a sudden, there's a serpent talking that appears on stage. And the serpent brings the couple into temptation. And the testing of Adam is seen to be a temptation by the devil. A temptation in which Adam is proven in regard to his identity as image of God, in regard to his son-to-father relationship with God. That's the thing that's tested. Your father has told you not to eat of that. You've got to be kidding. Why not? What's he up to? And the whole thing is, are you going to be an obedient son or not? Whose words are you going to listen to? See, because spiritually, whose words you listen to identifies your spiritual father. That's why Jesus told the Pharisees, you are of your father, the devil, because you hear his voice. You're doing his words. You're acting like him. You're bearing his image. Well, we know that Adam failed the test. And we know that he did so. with the entire created order at stake as to whether or not He would be obedient. He failed and plunged all men and creation into death. Well, you can already see, I hope, can you not, that Luke is doing the exact same thing here at this point of his Gospel. He's setting up the same scenario. He's making the same parallel. In chapter 3 of Luke, what do we see? Well, we see him connecting Jesus with the first Adam. And then, like Moses, he makes a literary shift. He changes from one literary form, the genealogy, in chapter 3, to another literary form, a narrative, in chapter 4. And he signals us by the way in which he writes that Jesus, in Luke chapter 4, is entering into a situation that is parallel to that that Adam entered into in Genesis chapter 2, 3 and 4. And this is also seen in the fact that suddenly, in Luke chapter 4, the devil appears. Just the way in Genesis 3. Suddenly, the devil appears. There's no explanation, there's no introduction, he's just there. And we find that all of this This is indeed orchestrated of the Spirit. Chapter 4, Luke verse 1, And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from Jordan and was led about by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. He was sent into the wilderness by the Spirit in order to confront the devil. This was part of the purpose of God. Why? Because the last Adam has to come under a test. He has to be tempted in the same way that Adam did. And we have to see this parallel. As in Genesis 2 where Adam was entrusted with stewardship of creation that included the specific command to obey concerning the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, so too in Luke, Jesus in verse 21 and 22 assumes particular stewardship that we've already studied. The stewardship of fulfilling all the messianic prophecies interpreting those in the light of the suffering servant of Isaiah. He's got a responsibility for that stewardship, to obey those biblical commands. As the devil suddenly appears to test the man's sonship and his exercise of stewardship, so too, in chapter 4 of Luke, the devil suddenly appears to tempt the Son of God in his messianic stewardship. And the parallel, I hope, is obvious. As original creation depended upon the last Adam and was treated in accordance with Adam's performance in this test, so too creation depends upon the last Adam. As it was the first, so too the last. And the entire created order hangs in the balance as we move from Luke 3 to Luke 4. And that's where Luke wants us That's where He wants us to be at the end of the genealogy as we move into chapter 4. He wants us to be sitting on the edge of our seats. He wants us to be white-knuckled grasping the handles of our chair as we watch the last Adam encounter the devil's temptations. And He wants us to understand that every single one of our destinies hangs in the balance. as this messianic son of God, this Adamic man whose humanity is like none others except the original Adam. And it all, everything, the cosmos hangs in the balance as our Messiah encounters the devil in chapter 4. Now, in order to get more whiteness in our knuckles, we're going to study a little bit further the issues of Adam's testing to draw out the implications as we see Jesus. enter into the time of his temptations. But this morning I hope we've seen something of an overview of this parallelism. In order for me to be able to make this first application and then a second. And the first is this. Appreciate the universal significance of Jesus. The universal significance of Jesus. Luke presents Jesus as no mere localized Jewish tribal hero. He presents Him as the Man. The Man in whom all men have a share. All men ever since Adam. All men living today. All men who will ever live. All men have an interest in Jesus Christ. At the last Adam, Jesus Christ lives with immediate relevance to every single human. The issues so popular among us today of diversity and multiculturalism all evaporate. in view of the Adamic man who was related to all men in their essential humanity. There is no one anywhere at any time for whom Christ is not significant. Jesus Christ is as relevant to humans as the atmosphere we breathe, as the food we eat, as our essential sexuality, as all of those things that are us by our creatureliness. What we are in our essential creatureliness is what Jesus is as Son of Adam in the perfect sense of the term. Who He is and what He has accomplished is immediately relevant to everyone and especially to you who are here today under the sound of these words. For I preach Jesus who is the Christ. I preach Jesus who is the Son of Adam, the Son of God. And He is presented before you through the vehicle of words. Words empowered by the Holy Spirit. Words derived from the infallible Scriptures. And I say to you through the foolishness of preaching that Jesus is universal man. He is Messiah. He is King. And His reign spans the globe. and embraces the farthest reaches of the universe. And you must have dealings with Him. You cannot escape having dealings with Him. He has universal, extensive, all-inclusive significance to what you are as a human being. What it means to be human is now and forever defined in terms of Jesus. For He is the last Adam. And humanity now is defined with Him as its defining point of reference. You are and will forever be defined in relation to Jesus. Understand the universal significance of Jesus. And secondly, understand the exclusive salvation of Jesus. If you turn to Isaiah 45, we see a prophetic description of the exclusivity of this salvation that comes through Jesus. In Isaiah 45, reading at the end of verse 21, there is no other God besides Me. A righteous God and a Savior. There is none except Me. Turn to Me and be saved. All the ends of the earth For I am God and there is no other. The true God, you see, is universally significant. He speaks to all the ends of the earth. He doesn't just speak to one ethnic sector of mankind. He talks to the entirety of the globe. He is universally significant. But, because He is the only true and living God, He is the exclusive Savior of men. All other false gods are thereby excluded as real saviors. For I am God, He says, and there is no other. That's exclusive language. That's exclusive language. What we're learning about Jesus, the divine Son of God, who is also the last Adam, the Adamic Son of God, is that He is positioned and functions in a way most foundational to the substrata of what it means to be human. And as such, He is given to all men. He has universal significance. He is related to humanity, solidarity with all men. All men, whether they know it or not, whether they like it or not. are now and forever affected by the incarnate Son of God, just as they are, whether they like it or not, now and forever affected by Adam, the first Son of God. Liberal theologians like to assert that we're all sons of God. We're all children of God. And in a sense, the created sense, that's true. But the question is, in which Adam does our sonship adhere? in Adam or in Jesus? Are we merely only the created sons of God and yet now in Adam living under the wrath of God? Or are we recreated sons of God in Christ living under His grace? And the challenge for us will be to determine which Adamic son of God are we joined to? Either the first Adam or the last Adam. To join with the last Adam means you are to exclude all other gods. You are to exclude all other salvations. All other saviors. There is not many ways to the same God. There is only the one way that the one God has made for those who truly come to Him. There is only one God, there is only one way, and there is no other. This is exclusive language. To come to Christ is to exclude all rival saviors. All men, you here today, stand before God joined to one of two atoms, either the last atom or the first atom. Jesus is universally significant to all men and therefore He is immediately relevant to you. But unless you renounce all other saviors, unless you cling to Him exclusively, to Him alone, then you are yet joined to old Adam and are yet liable to his guilt, condemnation and punishment. But if through true repentance, by faith in Christ, You turn to the true and the living God. Then you obtain the blessings and the rights that have been accomplished and achieved by the last Adam, Jesus Christ. And I'll tell you in advance, Jesus wins this test. Where the first Adam failed, Jesus succeeds. And what Adam lost, Jesus won. No other man. No other man. has ever been made Adamic man. Only Adam and Jesus are Adamic men. They alone are the heads of human race. All other so-called saviors, all the Buddhas, all the Gurus, all the enlightened ones, all the Mullahs, Who else's multicultural tolls can I step on? Name them. They're all in the first Adam. And they can't save themselves and they can't save anybody else. There's only one. There's no other Savior. There's no other God. He is exclusive in His deity, in His unique Adamic humanity. He is the only Saviour for mankind. May the Holy Spirit illuminate this glorious Lord, this King, this Adamic man before our eyes in the light of this Word that we might see the glory of God revealed in the face of Jesus Christ. Amen.