If you turn again in your Bibles to Luke chapter three, Luke's gospel chapter three, I want for us to consider the second part of the chapter from verse 21. We read the whole chapter to give us the context for this. As we were reading, The largest part of the section was taken up with the genealogy, with this long list of names. And some of these names were very strange. They're hard to pronounce. They're unfamiliar. There are others that are familiar. And there are some which are familiar, but a little different, a little different from the Old Testament rendering. We saw that at the beginning of the chapter, where it speaks of Esaias, which of course is Isaiah. You think maybe of Bouz, instead of Boaz, or Noah, instead of Noah. And you might wonder why that is. Well, you have to remember, these are Hebrew names, Hebrew names which have been recorded here in Greek. And then the Greek has been brought into English. And it's not a translation so much as a transliteration. Translation is when you give the meaning. Transliteration is when you repeat the same name. But of course, Hebrew and Greek and English, they're different alphabets, different letters, different sounds. And so sometimes when it's brought from one to another, It's maybe not always replicated exactly the same. And that's why, in the Old Testament, from Hebrew into English, it comes across in one way. And in the New Testament, from Hebrew to Greek to English, it comes across in a slightly different way. I think that creates little difficulty, really, in following the genealogy. But what is it? that we learn. What is it that we have in this section? The first major point is surely to do with our Lord's baptism. The whole chapter, or the first part of the chapter, takes up with John, who comes preaching and baptizing. calling the people to repentance for the remission of sin. And here is Jesus Christ. And you have to understand that baptism is synonymous with confessing one's need for gospel grace. John stands before the people and he declares the fact that they are sinners, sinners who must repent, sinners who must be cleansed. And so the people, in response to that, come to be baptized. Not because the washing of water will cleanse them of their sin, but the washing of water is symbolic of the spiritual reality that is required. And it's illustrative of the experience of the person who comes in true repentance before God and finds that their sins are washed away. So those who came to John to be baptized were, as we considered last Lord's Day, seeking the application of the gospel promise as it's expressed in Ezekiel. For the Lord says to the prophet, I sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you. And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And we consider last time the excitement that there was. The whole society was stirred as John proclaimed his message, and as the people came to be baptized. And here is the Savior. Here is the Lord Jesus. And John tells the people, no, I am not the promised one. But the promised one is coming, and here comes the Savior. And you would anticipate that the Savior would stand at the front and say, here I am, come to me. Indeed, I will do it. I will do the very thing that John has been speaking about. And John himself says, here he is, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. And you expect the echo from our Lord to say, indeed I am, come to me. But rather, the Savior comes to John and is baptized of him. He comes not before the people, but to the people. He's amongst the people. He comes as one of the people. What stands out here is Jesus' association. His association with those who are called to repentance because of their sin. His association with those who need to be cleansed because of their filthy sin. Jesus identifies with, He associates with the sinners. He's unique amongst all the candidates for baptism. He who is righteous, John says, I'm not worthy to loosen his shoe. All the focus of the narrative is now upon him. The way the narrative has been composed, John is out of the picture. And yet, although the focus is upon him, there he is standing, not apart, but in the midst of the people. And for Jesus to be baptized, it's not only unnecessary in that there is no sin, there is no need for repentance, but also it's open to misunderstanding. It's open to misunderstanding because it suggests that He needs cleansing. That misunderstanding. sometimes maybe a deliberate misunderstanding. We find throughout the whole of his ministry that guilt by association, you might say. Remember how the scribes and the Pharisees were told in Luke, that when the publicans and the sinners, Luke chapter 15, the beginning of the chapter, the publicans and the sinners drew near to hear him. The Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, this man receiveth sinners and eateth with them. And the unspoken, but the heavily implied, therefore, was because he's one of them. John is removed from the narrative. The focus of the narrative is upon the Lord Jesus. And yet we don't find him coming up into the pulpit now that John has been removed from it. We don't find him standing with John, but rather we find him sitting in a pew. We find him amongst the people. He who will baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire. Matthew records John's reaction when our Lord seeks baptism It's outrageous. It's not allowable, says John. But Jesus' deliberate determination. Why? Because of Jesus' association with sinners. We've already considered this in terms of His birth. His circumcision. his presentation at the temple. But then, at his birth, at his circumcision, his presentation at the temple, he is the infant. But we find him now as the man. And yet, it is the same thing. He identifies with, he associates with sinners. the poor, the despised, the outcasts, with those who are positively guilty before God. Not only is He counted with the sinners, but ultimately, friends, He is counted as the sinner. You know, when your sin makes approaching God impossible, and I think maybe you know something off that, when the reality of your sin makes approaching God impossible. Notice this, by His grace, He draws near to you. He is not unfamiliar with sinners, friends. He's not afraid of sinners. He's not threatened by people like you and me. You may feel ashamed and there are many reasons why you should feel ashamed. And yet he is not ashamed to stand in our midst and to open his arms and to call you to come to him and to embrace you and to receive you. When he stands near, don't stand afar off. It's not mad, but sometimes that is what happens, that Jesus Christ associates with sinners, and yet sinners stand back. as though they were not sinners, and cover up, and excuse, and pretend, and play a part which is false because they don't want to be seen as guilty. And yet here is the guiltless one coming, calling to the guilty. His presence. His presence gives permission for your approach. It invites your approach. And His Word, His Word explicitly instructs. He commands your approach to come to Him. But we see, first of all, in verse 21, Jesus' association. Jesus also being baptized. But secondly, still in verse 21, but going into verse 22, we see Jesus anointing. There's this association with sinners, but there's this anointing. Jesus also being baptized and praying, the heaven was opened and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him. You know, his baptism has a dual purpose. This is the commencement of his public ministry. When he associates with those who he's come to save, but it is also his consecration for public ministry. Now, the baptism is far from irrelevant, but yet it wasn't the major focus. It's not the outward washing, but as he comes and as he is baptized, we're told he prays. This prayer, this communion with God, it demonstrates the spiritual reality. And so on the public stage of John's ministry, the whole country has come because of the excitement that's been stirred following John's preaching. And that public stage, Jesus is anointed. But you have to remember that apart from the testimony of John concerning him, there is nothing that sets him apart. He does not stand out. He's not distinguished, apart from John saying, this is the one. Until, he's not set apart, he's not distinguished until the heaven opens. and the Holy Spirit in the bodily form of a dove comes down and rests upon him. This isn't a vision. And what's happening? Well, what's happening, it relates to what was foretold in the prophets. Luke's already helped us at the beginning of the chapter by saying that John's preaching was fulfillment of Isaiah 40. But in Isaiah 42, the beginning of the chapter, the Lord says, behold, my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect, and whom my soul delighteth, I have put my spirit upon him, and he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentile. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flat shall he not quench, and he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He will not cry, nor lift up his voice in the street. He's not standing apart. He's not clamoring for attention. There is a quietness, there's a gentleness, there's a humility here as he waits upon God, as he commits himself, as he consecrates himself, as he is consecrated by. You know, we're told in Hebrews chapter five, that the high priest was never self-appointed, but always was taken from among men. here is Jesus Christ. He associates with sinners, but here is Jesus Christ and he's anointed, taken from amongst them as the Holy Spirit descends upon him. Consecration is not only his being set apart for the public ministry, but it is also his being equipped for his public ministry. Now, you must understand this. In His divine nature, He is incapable of being strengthened. But in His human nature, He is incapable for this ministry without being strengthened. I hope you understand, and I hope you listen carefully to that. In His divine nature, He is incapable of being strengthened because Because He is God. But His human nature is incapable without being strengthened. For He is to be the Christ, the Anointed One, and the Anointed One must be anointed. And that's what happens here. He is anointed publicly, formally. He is anointed. You think of the profundity of his condescension. We were thinking at the prayer meeting about the humiliation of the Savior. And we sang at the prayer meeting last week, part of Psalm 22, In verse nine, in verse 10, it says, thou art he that took me out of the womb. Thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts. I was cast upon thee from the womb. Thou art my God from my mother's belly. And it goes on in verse 19 to say, be not thou far from me, O Lord, O my strength. Hasten thee to help me. And these words belong to the Lord Jesus. He's confessing his utter dependence as he casts himself upon his father's care. Our representative, the second or the last Adam as he's called in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Here is our covenant head, true man in communion with God, dependent upon God, the one who will serve according to faith. In the Old Testament, in the narrative passages, we come across the anointing of the prophets, but more explicitly, the priests, but perhaps most explicitly, the kings. When you think of the anointing of David, it says in 1 Samuel 16 in verse 13, that Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brethren. And the spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. And the next verse says, but the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul. Now that's not the spirit of regeneration, of conversion. What it is, is an equipping. After that Saul could no longer cope as king. He didn't have the capacity or the facility because David was to be king and he was anointed, he was consecrated. And what we see foreshadowed there in David, we see worked out in its fullest upon the Savior, as the Spirit comes upon him and rests upon him. That's why in chapter four, Luke will tell us about him coming to the synagogue in Nazareth. And do you remember what it is that he says? He gets the scroll, he finds the place, and he reads again in Isaiah, this time in chapter 61, and he says, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. And he could do that then, and he did not do that before in his youth as he grew up in Nazareth, because it is now there at the Jordan that he is anointed. It's in public because it's a public office. Because He is the Christ, the One who has come to save the people. You know, sin may cause blindness. Sin may cause a belligerence which refuses to see. But this was not done in a corner. This was done before all the people. Here is your Christ. Why did the Spirit come as a dove? At Pentecost, upon the apostles, the Spirit was seen as a flame of fire upon their heads. Well, it's emblematic. He comes as a dove because of the ministry of our Lord. The dove speaks of purity. The dove speaks of gentleness. Here is the one who is altogether holy and righteous. Here is the one who is compassionate and meek and lowly of heart. Remember what we've read from Isaiah, not breaking the bruised reed, not quenching the smoking flax. We have Jesus' association with sinners. We have Jesus anointing to be the savior of sinners. But we also have in these verses Jesus approved. And that's from the second part of verse 22 and for the rest of the chapter. We're told, Jesus also being baptized and praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him. And a voice came from heaven, which said, thou art my beloved son, in thee am I well pleased. And so on, and Jesus himself began to be about 30 years of age. And we'll come to that. Jesus approved. With John's baptism, a changed life was required to prove the reality of what was symbolized in the baptism. And we're given examples, practical examples, of what a changed life would look like for different people in different vocations. There was a need to prove But with Jesus Christ, there's not a demand to prove, but rather He is approved, as the voice of the Father is heard from heaven. He's standing as a sinner, and yet He is not a sinner. And yes, the baptism John feared was open to misunderstanding, but no misunderstanding will be permitted for the father declares from heaven concerning this one who stands amongst the sinners, who stands with the sinners, who stands as a sinner, but he is not a sinner. He is approved before the holy sight of God. It shows us, doesn't it, how redemption is a Trinitarian work. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The uncompromised, unified purpose of God. There's no propitiating a reluctant Father. It's not the Son who works alone. The Father and the Son and the Spirit. And this approval of his son, not only here at the beginning of his public ministry, but we find it again toward the end of his public ministry on the Mount of Transfiguration, that he who has been set aside to say, and despite all that will be said to condemn and to accuse him, to malign him, to misrepresent him, the Father is clear. He is loved, He is beloved, because He is holy and righteous. Jesus has approved the Son of God. This, thou art my beloved Son. This is my Son, says the Father. But yet, also, Simultaneously. Luke has already told us, but here he's telling us again, this son of God is also the son of man. Jesus himself began to be about 30 years of age, being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli and so on. Here is the promised seed, the son of David, the son of Abraham, the son of Adam, the son of promise, the one in whom all the promises of God coincide. He's authentic, he's true man. We have a kinship with him. through Adam. The fact he was 30 years of age is not simply a time marker. But there's significance in that. You see, the Levites, their service started at the age of 30. because then they were counted mature and ready. Not simply that you see that with the Levites, but you remember, we were working through Genesis. Remember Joseph? Joseph came to office. Joseph came to that great position that God had prepared him for, to rule in Egypt at the age of 30. Do you remember with David? When David came to the throne after all these years of trial and preparation, he was 30. Joseph, you remember, foreshadows the Savior. David foreshadows the Savior. The work, the priesthood, it all foreshadows the Savior. His maturity, his suitability. Jesus is approved. I don't want to spend too long looking at the detail of the genealogy, but it may be that in reading this, you might notice, if you remember the genealogy in Matthew, that there are differences. And I'm not speaking specifically about the difference in the order and that Matthew starts in the past and comes forward to the Savior, whereas Luke begins with the Savior and he goes back. I'm not talking so much about that difference, but rather the difference that is as you go from David down to Joseph. Why is that? There are only in that list a couple of names. It only connects in a couple of individuals. How can you have two quite different genealogical lists? And it would seem that the answer is this, that Matthew gives not the line of genealogical descent, but rather the legal title to the throne of David. And the line of the throne does not always follow a strict genealogical descent. You don't have to be an expert in history to know that. You think of the the ruler in our own nation. Maybe even more clear if you think about the ruler in England, in the House of Tudor. But following the House of Tudor, when Queen Elizabeth first died, the throne is taken by James VI, who's a steward. Now there was a biological connection, but it's not a straight line of descent. And in James 6, you have the son Charles I and Charles II. But Charles II, he doesn't have a son, so it's his brother. And in his brother James VII, well, he's a terrible king. And he loses the throne, and he abandons the kingdom. And so his daughter, who's married to his nephew, has William and Mary take the throne. But they die without heir, and so it's her sister who takes the throne. But her son predeceases her, so it's her second cousin, George of Hanover, who takes the throne. Now, if you were to list these names in a row, it would look like father, daughter, son, but it's not. It's a whole mess of a family tree. And so Matthew gives you that line of legitimacy for the throne. But Luke, Luke takes you up the genealogical line. And Luke begins very specifically. He says, Jesus himself began to be about 30 years of age, being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph. But he's not the son of Joseph. He's the adopted son of Joseph. He's not the son of Joseph. Rather, he's off Heli. If you look in your Bible, you'll see the son of is written in italics. It doesn't actually say the son of, it implies. But what it means is Jesus was off Heli, who is off Mata, who is off Levi, and so on and so on. Probably Heli is the father of Mary. The point is that he is legitimate in every way. Biologically, he goes back through David. His right to the throne goes back through David. He who is the son of God is the promised son of David, the promised son of Abraham, the promised son of Adam. the seed of the woman who will crush the head of the serpent. And Luke goes back beyond Adam, because in verse 38, he says, which was a son of Enos, which was a son of Seth, which was a son of Adam, which was a son of God. What he's saying is God is there. God is in it from beginning to end. It's all of God. Jesus' association. Jesus' anointing. And Jesus' approved. The one sent by the Father. This long genealogy, it reveals the patience of God. It reveals the purpose of God. He is given. He approves. And let me conclude simply with this. Do you also approve of him? Do you also approve of him? You know, there are some people who would take the difficulty of the genealogies and build an excuse upon that. It's a pretty poor excuse. But there's some people who look for excuses. There's some people who look for reasons to justify their refusal to have Him who the Father approves, the One who is anointed, and the One who comes to associate with sinners and calls you to Himself. If you're looking for excuses, there are excuses that can be found. But if you're looking for truth, if you're looking for life, if you're looking for salvation, if you're looking for grace, if you're looking for mercy, then that is all to be found in Him who stands and calls the likes of you and the likes of me to trust in Him, to walk with Him, to live for Him. There may be genuine questions, but don't allow these questions to become excuses. If you have questions, ask your questions. But don't use them to build a wall to hide behind. But while you're asking your questions, remember what we're told in God's Word. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. These things will be worked out. These things will be made plain. But don't hold back from trusting in him. Amen. Let's pray together.