[0:00] So we're going to turn to our Bible reading. Last week, we began a series in Luke's Gospel, looking at the beginning of Jesus' public ministry.
[0:15] We began with John the Baptist, and we pick up this week where we left off. So we're going to read from Luke chapter 3, verse 21, through to chapter 4, verse 13.
[0:31] So do grab a Bible, open it, and follow along. If you don't have one with you, there are red visitor's Bibles spread around the auditorium. Do grab one and follow along with us.
[0:43] Luke 3, beginning at verse 21. 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.
[1:05] And a voice came from heaven, you are my beloved son, with you I am well pleased. Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about 30 years of age, being the son, as was supposed to be said.
[1:24] The son of St. Matthew, the son of the church, the son of Joseph, the son of Jesus, the son of Nahum, the son of Ezli, the son of Nagai, the son of Marth, the son of Mathathias, the son of Simeon, the son of Josek, the son of Jodah, the son of Junan, the son of Reza, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri, the son of Melki, the son of Adai, the son of Cusam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Air, the son of Joshua, the son of Eliezer, the son of Joram, the son of Mathat, the son of Levi, the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Junam, the son of Eliakim, the son of Malia, the son of Mena, the son of Mathepha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, the son of Jesse, the son of Ubed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salah, the son of Nashom, the son of Amenadab, the son of Admin,
[2:34] John, the son of Arni, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, the son of Serug, the son of Ruh, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shalah, the son of Canaan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalil, the son of Canaan, the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.
[3:22] And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness for 40 days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days, and when they were ended, he was hungry. The devil said to him, if you're the son of God, command this stone to become bread. And Jesus answered him, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone. And the devil took him up and shewed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time and said to him, to you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you then will worship me, it will all be yours.
[4:14] And Jesus answered him, it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, if you're the son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, he will command his angels concerning you to guard you, and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. And Jesus answered him, it is said, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test.
[4:54] And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time. Amen. This is God's word, and we'll return to it shortly.
[5:12] We'll do open once again Luke's gospel to chapter 3 and follow along. In his account of the baptism, genealogy, and temptations of Jesus, Luke shows us Christ serving notice that Satan's rule is coming to an end.
[5:38] Let's remember that Luke is crafting an orderly account. His is a gospel that's put together ever so carefully, and he has a very clear message to preach, and he lays it out as clearly as he possibly can.
[5:54] This whole episode is an early assault in Christ's conquest against Satan, sin, and the powers of darkness. But remember too that Luke is interested in fulfillment.
[6:08] He wants to make clear what has rightly been taught concerning Jesus, and his interest is in what has been accomplished, what has been fulfilled. And so Luke has been following, has followed things for some time past, from the very beginning.
[6:25] And Luke's gospel preaching is smothered with Old Testament themes and messages. He wants to impress upon his readers the breadth of Jesus' purpose. He wants to impress upon his readers the layered manifold ways in which Jesus fulfills all prophetic expectation.
[6:46] And coming on the back of John the Baptist's arrival out of the wilderness, and on the back of John the Baptist's ministry, this passage is sweet relief to those who do bear fruit in keeping with repentance.
[7:02] Remember last week we were seeing that John's ministry was to prepare the way for the coming one, the one who would bring salvation. John was to make straight the path for Jesus.
[7:15] And we saw that the path is repentance. That was the only way. John's preaching was calling upon people to repent, to bear fruit in keeping with repentance, to bear the fruit of real faith.
[7:31] And John's preaching came with very stark and pointed warnings. He spoke about vipers, those wanting to escape the fire, but he didn't want to change.
[7:42] John spoke about fire. He spoke about Jesus' winnowing fork, about the axe that was laid at the root of the fruitless trees. John's message was that repentance was paramount, but it was possible.
[7:57] And so Luke's preaching now takes us from wrath to war, but it's glorious war. His message moves from repentance to redemption.
[8:11] John's appearance on the world stage brings before us the day of wrath, which requires genuine repentance. Jesus' appearance on the world stage brings before us the day of redemption, which pictures and promises real restoration.
[8:25] But Jesus' appearance makes it all the clearer the need to repent, to take hold of all that can be ours, to take hold of the one through whom we can be restored from fallen man to true humanity.
[8:45] And so the first thing we see in this passage, in verses 21 to 38 of chapter 3, is Jesus identifying and identifying. Jesus identified and identifying.
[9:00] Luke makes clear that Jesus is the God-man, the Savior-King, the true human and true divine Son come to rescue and restore His people. But Luke also makes clear that Jesus steps into the place of His people.
[9:17] That's how He achieves redemption. Jesus' baptism tells us that He is God's Son, but also that He identifies with humanity.
[9:29] The events of Jesus' baptism are stripped back to only the most salient details here in Luke's account. And it's striking. Luke portrays Jesus as just one among the people.
[9:42] Notice verse 21, all the people were being baptized and Jesus was too. In a simple way, Luke identifies Jesus subtly here with the people, not only by partaking in the baptism of repentance, but also by showing His humanity by praying in dependence to the Father.
[10:03] The very purpose of Jesus' baptism is for Him to take the place of His people. It was a baptism of repentance. Of course, Jesus had nothing of His own to repent of.
[10:16] And so upon His baptism, the one who was among the people is set apart. The heavens open, the Holy Spirit descends in the form of a dove.
[10:28] It's hard to be sure exactly of the significance of the dove. The main Bible picture about the dove is probably Noah's Ark where the doves return with a brunch and then the doves non-return is a picture of God's judgments subsiding.
[10:42] Maybe Luke's making reference to that in some way. That Jesus' experience of the waters of baptism mirrors the ark. Can't be sure, but what we can be sure of is that the dove-like creature marks the presence of the Holy Spirit.
[11:00] Notice it isn't just the words that identify Jesus here. The whole event reinforces and complements the words. Verse 22, you are my beloved son with you.
[11:13] I'm well pleased. It's declared audibly, but also the Godhead is present to declare visibly that Jesus is God's son.
[11:24] The father declares it and the spirit's presence confirms it. God is pleased. But we're not just told that Jesus is the divine son. Notice verse 22, God is pleased.
[11:39] Back in chapter 2, the angels sang to the shepherds, glory to God in the highest and under earth, peace among those with whom he is well pleased. Here is the one through whom peace would come because here was the one through whom reconciliation would come, has come.
[11:57] And this is emphasized all the more by the fact that the voice from heaven is referencing to Old Testament passages. The beloved son of Psalm 2, a psalm all about God's king, his son.
[12:11] But he also references the delight, the one whom God delights in, Isaiah 42, part of the section of Isaiah that John the Baptist was fulfilling with his arrival.
[12:25] Luke is showing us unmistakably that Jesus is the divine son, God's rightful king, and he is the suffering servant of Isaiah, the one who would bear the sins of God's people, the substitute.
[12:42] We must be careful with Jesus' baptism, remembering that John's baptism is not Christian baptism that we practice today. So the baptism that Jesus receives isn't the same baptism that we receive.
[12:56] Christian baptism is instituted in the Great Commission by the risen Christ. Our senior minister puts it well. He says, Jesus was baptized in the place of sinners, identifying with them in their sin.
[13:11] Jesus' baptism was him being baptized into us to take our place, taking all our sin upon him. Christian baptism is the opposite. We're baptized into him, receiving his righteousness for us.
[13:27] So in Jesus' baptism here, we see Jesus identifying with sinners, taking our place, becoming our substitute. and he could do that as the true man and the divine son.
[13:44] Jesus has identified the God-man and Jesus is identifying with his people, taking their place. And that's what we see in the genealogy too, very same message.
[13:55] It tells us both that Jesus is son of God and son of Adam, son of man. And both of these things are important to grasp for what Jesus is about to do in the wilderness and at the cross.
[14:10] Look briefly at the genealogy. We don't have time to go through it in detail this morning, but here are some of the distinctive and deliberate things about it. Notice first that Luke's genealogy is inverted compared to Matthew's.
[14:27] You see verse 23, Luke's is in reverse. He starts with Jesus and works backward. He doesn't start at the top of the family tree and work down.
[14:39] He starts with Jesus and works back. Like Matthew, Luke traces Jesus all the way back through King David to Abraham.
[14:50] But Luke goes even further. You see verse 31, son of David. Verse 34, son of Abraham. But Luke keeps going.
[15:03] And the headline of Luke's genealogy is the last two fathers. The inverted nature of Luke's genealogy gives the sense that he is indeed going back to the beginning, but it also means his genealogy finishes with the bombshell.
[15:20] Yes, we've seen that Jesus is in the line of David. He's great David's greater son. We've seen that he is a true son of Abraham, the true son of Abraham. But he is also, verse 38, the son of Adam, the son of God.
[15:41] Jesus' line begins both with God and with the first man. Luke is being very deliberate here, pulling together some incredibly significant theology.
[15:53] Jesus is the realization of all prophetic expectation. He's the forever king in the line of David, the true firstborn of God, true Israel, a true son of Abraham.
[16:06] And in Jesus, we have the second Adam, the last Adam. we have a new representative, a new federal head through whom God's everlasting blessing could be and would be poured out upon his people.
[16:24] For in Jesus, we have the one who is truly man and truly and fully God, an appropriate sacrifice on our behalf as man and a sacrifice able to bear the weight of our sin as God.
[16:38] Luke very deliberately places his genealogy here. He doesn't begin his gospel with it like Matthew. Instead, he places it between Jesus' baptism and temptations.
[16:52] The genealogy making the same point as the baptism. Here is the divine son who has come to take the place of man. Now, Luke isn't simply building an elaborate theology that he wants to drum into people for the sake of it.
[17:09] Knowing these things isn't merely an intellectual exercise. It isn't stuff to know to show off to our growth group or to have as a badge of orthodoxy. Now, Luke isn't bland historian and he isn't tedious doctrine lecturer.
[17:23] Luke is interested in fulfillment. He's interested in declaring the world changing good news about Jesus. And so here is not theology for theology's sake. We all know how fruitless that can be, whether it's pointless theological arguments on Facebook or gatherings to pass judgment on those who fall short of our orthodoxy.
[17:44] But that's not why this is here. Luke is a preacher and an evangelist. And so having all these things in mind, having a clear picture of Jesus, is crucial for us to get Luke's message about the wilderness temptations.
[17:58] for Jesus' identity and his identifying with his people is everything in his battle with sin and Satan. And so as we come to the temptations, we might be able to draw some minor implications and applications as to how we can fight temptation.
[18:19] But Luke's purpose here is much, much more significant than that. Luke makes clear through the wilderness temptations, that Jesus recaps and redeems.
[18:33] That's our second point. Chapter 4, verses 1 to 13, Jesus recaps and redeems. Jesus' ministry is bookended by defeating Satan.
[18:45] Jesus begins in the wilderness by dislodging Satan from his throne, by beginning to dismantle Satan's power, and then later, through his death and resurrection, Christ deepens Satan's descent from his throne, his throne over this earth, as Jesus himself ascends to the throne that rules the cosmos.
[19:07] Jesus defeats Satan first in the temptations as a demonstration of all that he will do. He bloodies his news as such. And then he defeats Satan decisively and definitively at the cross, delivering the blue that will end the battle, proving that as Satan departed in verse 13 until an opportune time, proving that there was no opportune time.
[19:36] Luke here wants us to see a rehearsal of Jesus' glorious substitutionary work for us. He wants us to see in Jesus our representative who deals with our persistent and painful unfaithfulness.
[19:50] the one who deals with the sin of the truly repentant by doing all that we couldn't and all that we didn't. Well, let's look at the detail of how Luke shows us this.
[20:05] But before we look at each temptation in turn, notice three details. First, who is on the attack? Jesus isn't caught unawares.
[20:17] The devil doesn't manipulate things so that he can get Jesus on his own to pray on him. This isn't a surprise attack on Jesus. No, look at 4.1. Jesus, after being baptized into the place of his people, begins his public ministry.
[20:33] Verse 1, Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. This isn't a surprise attack by Satan.
[20:46] This is the beachhead of Jesus' war on Satan. This is Jesus entering enemy occupied territory to conquer. Jesus' ministry begins by signaling his intent.
[21:00] He is here unmistakably to not just fight, but to defeat the devil. Who is on the attack? It's the Lord Jesus. Second detail, Luke pictures all this as a kind of anti-garden.
[21:18] Throughout Jesus' temptations, there's a distinct echo of Adam and Eve and the serpent in the garden, and we'll see that a little later. But first, notice the difference. Adam was in the lush garden paradise and was tempted and succumbed in the midst of plenty.
[21:36] But Jesus, for one, is in the wilderness, the desert, tempted in the midst of hunger, and yet was faithful. the first Adam was the means of mankind's fall, and he enjoyed but surrendered close fellowship with God in the midst of paradise.
[21:57] Jesus is the means of mankind being lifted out of bleak wilderness and from estrangement to God. The two Adams move in opposite directions, and they start in opposite places.
[22:11] One from paradise to wilderness, because of unfaithfulness, and one from wilderness to paradise because of faithfulness. Third detail to note, the number 40.
[22:24] The number 40. Notice verse 2, Jesus was in the desert 40 days. The number 40 is pregnant with meaning. It pictures God's judgment. In the time of Noah, there was a judgment on the entire earth of 40 days of rain and flooding.
[22:39] In Numbers, the 12 spies went into enemy-occupied Canaan for 40 days to spy out the land. And Caleb aside, they returned with reports of dread about the prospect of taking hold of what God had promised.
[22:56] They could see that it was a land flowing with milk and honey, but rather than taking hold of God's promises, encouraged that he was leading them to where he said he would, instead they looked with the eyes of unbelief, on the strong men of the land.
[23:12] And so Israel spent 40 years where? In the wilderness. A year for every day the spies were in the land. Remember Luke's purpose?
[23:22] He's interested in fulfillment. He's interested in what has been accomplished. And his scoop goes right back to the beginning. All of the Bible's themes find their fulfillment in Jesus.
[23:33] 40 days in the wilderness, it pictures Jesus taking upon himself the judgment of God. It pictures Jesus preparing the promised land for his people, spying it out, scouting it out.
[23:44] It pictures Jesus treading the same path as his people. 40 years of the Lord testing his people in the wilderness. It's worth us noting that the word in our Bibles that reads tempted also means tested.
[23:59] 40 days testing Jesus as Israel was tested. well with those details in mind let's look at each temptation in turn. Firstly in verse three, if you're the son of God, command this stone to become bread.
[24:19] Just like the serpent in the garden, go on eat, have a bite, so within your grasp reach out, take it, enjoy it. But more than just echoing the garden, the temptation to food doesn't just echo the fall, it also echoes God's provision of manna in the wilderness.
[24:39] Would the people of God trust him for their daily provision? It's an episode we can read about in Exodus 16 and 17. Having been rescued from slavery, Israel complain about not having water and food.
[24:52] We'd be better off back in slavery, back in Egypt. But God graciously provides manna and quail for them to eat, in Exodus 16. Each morning they were to gather enough for the day and no more.
[25:07] And then the next morning, God's provision prevailed once more. And on and on and on. Israel had a daily reminder that God provided for them.
[25:18] Look to him, trust him, even when what you can see is unsettling. Every day, more manna. But the next chapter, Exodus 17, they're back complaining about water.
[25:32] We'd be better off back in Egypt. Well, look at Jesus' answer, verse 4. Man shall not live by bread alone. He's quoting from the law, quoting from Deuteronomy 8.
[25:47] It's worth us turning over to that. Deuteronomy 8, verses 2 and 3. Deuteronomy 8, verse 2.
[26:05] And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these 40 years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.
[26:21] And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you new that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
[26:40] You see, behind the fruit in the garden and behind the manna in the wilderness was the question of whether God's people would take him at his word. Do you believe God to be God and do you believe that God's word is true and powerful, that it will not fall to the ground?
[26:59] Adam didn't, Israel didn't, but Jesus does. Second temptation, on looking at the kingdoms of this world, verse 6, to you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me and I give it to him I will.
[27:20] Bow you down and it's yours. Or just as a serpent said in the garden, I can tell you how to be like God. I can give you all that God is keeping from you.
[27:34] You can be like him, just listen to me instead. Verse 7, all you have to do is worship me and it will all be yours. Here was the appearance of an offer of the world's kingdoms without the agony of the cross.
[27:49] But of course, it would entail being subservient to Satan, who would be the real king then. Now, Satan is described throughout the Bible as the ruler of this world.
[28:00] He's the prince of the power of the air, according to Paul. John tells us that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. But Satan doesn't actually have authority to hand this over to someone else.
[28:12] His is a delegated authority. Jub makes that much clearer. He rules for a time because God permits it. And so behind this temptation is a false promise to be raised up to a godlike position.
[28:28] behind this promise is trust and worship misplaced. Behind this promise is idolatry.
[28:40] To Jesus, worship me, the devil. To Adam and Eve, you can become like God. The idolatry of self. A very prevalent and repugnant worship today.
[28:52] But also isn't idolatry the characteristic sin that undermined Israel? From the golden calf all the way through to the terrible kings of the divided kingdom.
[29:04] We've seen that so vividly in Phil's preaching in One Kings, haven't we? The odious pollution of Israel's corporate life because of misplaced worship. Adam was to fill the earth and subdue it.
[29:17] the fall wasn't just a failure by eating the fruit, it was a failure to subdue the serpent, allowing the prospect of bad worship to have a foothold.
[29:27] And Israel, when they entered the land, when there was opportunity to reset God's plan to fill the world with His glory and presence, to spread the garden paradise to the whole world, when they were entering the land, they were instructed to clear it out fully, lest they be drawn into unhelpful relations with the Canaanites and their gods.
[29:49] But they didn't. They didn't subdue it. And God's people have been living with the consequences of that right. Up until the point that Luke is recording for us.
[30:01] Well, what does Jesus do? Once again from the law, verse he hits, you shall worship the Lord your God, him only shall you serve. Quoting once again from Deuteronomy, it's time from chapter six, where the Lord makes clear to his people that in receiving abundance from him, in receiving the fruit of all kinds of vineyards and things that they didn't plant, in the midst of such blessing as they take the land, they were to take care to maintain total allegiance to God who provided it all, who rescued them so graciously.
[30:36] Indeed, at the giving of the law in Exodus, God has just rescued his people. He makes clear that they are his treasured possession among all the peoples. They're a kingdom of priests, the holy nation set apart for him.
[30:47] And then the first commandment. Exclusive worship of Yahweh. Adam sought to ascend to God's place and failed in the task he was given.
[31:00] Israel failed to rid the land of idolatry and turn their devotion to the odious gods of the land, breaking the first commandment. But Jesus was utterly faithful to the Lord God, displaying with vivid simplicity that true worship of God is of superior value than possessing the whole world.
[31:24] That's true. Third temptation, verse 9. If you're the son of God, throw yourself down and the angels will guard you.
[31:36] Your foot won't strike a stone. Or as the serpent said, manipulating God's words, you will not surely die. Did God really say?
[31:49] Notice here that Satan copies Jesus by quoting scripture. He references Psalm 91. And there's a warning for us in that, isn't there? Because not everyone who claims to speak the scriptures actually speaks the scriptures truthfully.
[32:05] Satan was not a faithful expositor. He was not a recognized preacher in the Lord's church. For a start, Psalm 91 doesn't guarantee physical protection. It guarantees God's preservation of the Lord's people eternally.
[32:20] And Satan ironically misses a key line in the psalm. He stops one verse short of a line about the serpent being trumpled under foot. He leaves that bit out.
[32:33] Great care is required when the scriptures are wielded. Satan attempted to preach to the Lord Jesus and he's been climbing the steps of many a pulpit ever since. And Satan's message is, well, as you're the son of God, put your money where your mouth is.
[32:52] Don't just say it, show it. If you really trust God's word, evidence such trust. John the Baptist was impressing upon the people the need to evidence their faith. Jesus, evidence yours.
[33:03] Ralph Davis says, genuine faith doesn't need sensational proof of God's attention. To press for that is testing God, not believing him.
[33:17] And so Jesus says, verse 12, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test. Once again, quoting from Deuteronomy 6 and recalling the grumbling about the water in Exodus 17, where Moses rebukes the people not to test God.
[33:32] But they didn't listen. They grumbled on for water. Friends, faith doesn't test God. It trusts him.
[33:45] Do you see what Luke is showing us in these three temptations? Jesus recaps and retraces Adam, but faithful in every way that our first father wasn't.
[34:00] And Jesus also recaps and retraces Israel, where God's firstborn Israel was unfaithful. The divine son was faithful. And there are echoes in the three temptations of the three examples of repentance that John gave us last week.
[34:16] Example one and temptation one, both mentioned food. Example two and temptation two, grasping for inappropriate gain. Example three and temptation three, false accusations.
[34:30] Jesus is the perfectly obedient one, the one who can stand in our place, the one who can undo the effects of the fall.
[34:41] The temptations are Jesus entering enemy occupied territory to take it from Satan, to disarm him by Christ's act of obedience. obedience. And Jesus continues to subdue Satan's hold of the land by healing and casting out demons in the chapters to come before finally landing the blue that crushes the head.
[35:03] This is a glorious victory for Jesus and for us as we trust him, as we repent in faith. And it's a victory that can't be separated from the cross.
[35:15] They're bound up. this victory of Christ's perfect obedience anticipates and sets up the ultimate victory. It puts in place our substitution.
[35:29] And Christ's victory is steeped in significance. It's a victory that makes sense of the whole Old Testament, a victory that proves Jesus does bring restoration to those who truly repent by taking their place.
[35:42] Here are some final implications that draw out the nature of Jesus' victory. First, Jesus' victory means that heaven is opened. Back in 321, we read that the heavens opened when Jesus was baptized.
[35:58] When Jesus stepped into the place of sinners, the heavens opened. And now, bearing in mind the significant echoes of Eden that we've seen, James Philip draws a link between the gates of the garden being shut, guarded by the cherubim, and the heavens opened.
[36:14] He says, the gates of Eden were closed by sin, but here we're told that the gates of heaven are opened by Christ. Jesus opens up the way to heaven for those who heed John's preaching and repent.
[36:28] Not just forgiveness, but perfect restoration with God. Second, Jesus is to be worshipped.
[36:39] That's what we see. In the second temptation, Satan wants to be worshipped. And the word that Luke uses there for worship is worship by buying down. He uses that word only three times in his gospel.
[36:53] In verse seven and verse eight, Satan wants Jesus to buy down to him. But the third time Luke talks about buying down to worship is at the very end of his gospel.
[37:07] Luke chapter 24, the second last verse of the book. As Jesus ascends to his rightful throne, as he assumes his reign over the kingdoms of this earth in the right way, not in Satan's way, as he ascends as the real king, Luke tells us the disciples bow down in worship of him, the true God, the true king.
[37:33] And that can happen because thirdly, a throne changes hands. That's what Jesus' victory means. We noted last time that Mary sang of Jesus and what he would do.
[37:46] He sang that he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate. We noticed that last time that Luke throughout his gospel uses the direction language of up and down to highlight Jesus doing that.
[38:02] And look again at the third temptation, verses 9 to 11. Satan encourages Jesus to throw himself down and then angels will lift him up.
[38:18] Well, Jesus' refusal to bow to Satan, Jesus' victory, his perfect obedience in the wilderness brings Satan down from his throne, the mighty from his throne conquered.
[38:32] And exalts Jesus to the rightful place. And thus, it is Jesus who is the one to be worshipped. Not the dark and snaring worship of Satan and self, but the life-giving worship, joyful worship of King Jesus.
[38:48] And that's how Luke's gospel ends, the ultimate vindication of the Savior King, the God-man, worshipped rightfully as he ascends to the throne. Friends, this is a densely packed passage.
[39:02] It's teeming over with theological significance. So this week, don't beat yourself up if you've forgotten it all by Tuesday, if you can't remember all the details. But the most significant thing about it and what to remember is that this passage assures us beyond any doubt that Jesus is able to enact the rescue that we so badly need.
[39:23] He has. When He identifies with His people, when He was baptized into us, He was up to the task of rescuing and redeeming us. Luke declares to us in vivid technicolor that no stone is left unturned in Jesus' mission to vindicate God's name and His people.
[39:46] Luke assures us that every last sin, every last remnant of unfaithfulness, every last sin that burdens us and weighs on our conscience, every last sin that hangs heavy on our souls, is dealt with by Jesus' decisive victory over Satan.
[40:10] We don't have to wonder if at the last day we'll be okay. Not one promise of God falls to the ground unanswered, unfulfilled. All of God's promises are yes in Jesus.
[40:22] few passages make that case more than this one. And so that means that all who respond to gospel preaching of the kind of John the Baptist, all who respond in faith and repentance are given assurance after assurance after assurance that Jesus was able to be the Savior we need.
[40:43] He is able to save. The Bible has enough assurances for us that Jesus is what we need in every way.
[40:55] The Bible has enough assurances to carry us through to the last day when faith becomes sight. And so Luke's message is bear fruit in keeping with repentance.
[41:09] For the voice from heaven declared, this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. Christ, let's pray.
[41:27] Almighty God, we marvel at the measure of Christ's work for us. Help us, we pray, to rest our trust wholly in him, seeing in him the answer for all of our aching longings and for all that we lack.
[41:45] help us, we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.