In this sermon, the speaker focuses on the corrupt state of both the political society and religious leadership during the time of John the Baptist. The multitudes, tax gatherers, and soldiers all approached John with the same question: "What shall we do?" John preached the law and condemned their actions, warning them of impending judgment. He emphasized the need for repentance and urged them to stop their selfishness, extortion, and oppression. However, John acknowledged that he had no power to change their hearts. The sermon also briefly mentions the baptism of Jesus and concludes with a genealogy tracing the lineage of Jesus back to Adam.

Okay, I'll ask you to open, please, in your Bibles to Luke chapter 3, if you would. We're looking, as you know, at this wonderful gospel of Luke, and Luke presents our Lord Jesus in this unique way as the Son of all mankind. Now, once again, we've come a little far for a profitable review, so if you have missed any of the studies and would like them, just see Lillian, and she'll make sure you get the cassette tapes. In our discussion, we've come to the third chapter of the book, and the first four chapters actually tell us about the preparation of our Lord Jesus for His wonderful ministry as the Son of all mankind. Last time, we did a little bit more than introduce the first part of chapter 3. We've divided chapter 3 into three parts. Let me get that before you again. In other words, there's three stories in chapter 3. Number one goes from chapter 3, verse 1 to 20, and it's the forerunner and his preparation for the Son of all mankind. In other words, John the baptizer. That's the first 20 verses talk about him and his ministry. And then verses 21 and 22 talk about the baptism of our Lord Jesus when He Himself was baptized. And then the chapter ends in verse 23 to 38 with that wonderful genealogy, the genealogy of the Son of all mankind traced all the way back to Adam, in fact, past Adam to God Himself. And so we'll look at that a little bit. The last time, we were introducing the first 20 verses, the ministry of the forerunner of the Son of all mankind. Now, although the full record of John the baptizer is recorded in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, that's where you get the full record, Luke doesn't tell us everything. Luke sticks to his subject probably more than any gospel writer. In other words, his theme is Jesus, Son of all mankind. And when he brings in any ancillary thing, he ties it into his message. I hope you'll see that in our study today. In other words, if you want to study John the baptizer, you wouldn't go to Luke. Everything Luke tells us about John is designed to turn our eyes to Jesus. And so the only thing he tells us focuses us on the ministry of Christ. For example, look at verse 18 to 20. It says, So with many other exhortations he preached the gospel to the people. But when Herod the tetrarch was reproved by him on account of Herodias his brother's wife, and on account of all the wicked things which Herod had done, he added this also, that he locked John up in prison. And then Luke drops the record right there. He tells us that John took a rugged stand against Herod and that he was thrown into prison. But he doesn't tell us what Matthew tells us, for example, in chapter 11. That when John was in prison, he became a little bit discouraged. In fact, his heart was filled with doubt. And he wondered, in Matthew 11, verse 3 says, Are you the expected one, or should we look for somebody else? In other words, he had doubts whether Jesus was really the Messiah. Luke doesn't tell us about that. By the way, John did what you ought to do if you have doubts. He sent them to Jesus. So if you ever have doubts, do that. Just send them to Jesus. That's what John did. Even though John leaped left in Elizabeth's womb, remember when he was a baby, when Jesus came, I was going to say face to face, but it would be belly to belly, I guess. When John and, when Elizabeth and Mary came together, they were both pregnant, John leaped in the womb. You'd say, well, John must have recognized who Jesus was. Well, maybe so, but the Bible record says as they grew up, John didn't know. John did not know that his cousin was the Messiah, even though they grew up together. Now he greatly respected him. We'll get to see that a little bit. And even when John began his ministry, he's already preaching the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, and people are repenting. He still does not know that Messiah is the Christ. Here's how he would know. Listen as I quote John chapter 1 and verse 33. John says, I did not recognize him, but he who sent me to baptize in water said to me, he upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon him, this is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. In other words, that was the sign for John. When he saw the Holy Spirit come down in the form of a dove, then he'd know who Messiah was. Until then, he would not know. Now I can't say that John didn't suspect because before the dove came down and Jesus came into the water and wanted to be baptized, John said, no, why should I baptize you? You should baptize me. So he had some suspicion at least of the moral character of his cousin that he didn't need to be baptized. So Luke doesn't tell us a lot. He only tells us what will show us Christ. Later you know John was executed, was decapitated. You won't find that in Luke because that doesn't present Christ as the son of all mankind. Our Lord Jesus gave a wonderful eulogy of John the baptizer, of all the people ever born among women, Jesus said, this is the greatest that's ever been born. A wonderful thing Jesus said about John, but they're not in Luke, see. Matthew tells us that or John tells us that or Mark tells us that because Luke is focused on his message. As we stressed last time, Luke underscores the idea that John is a forerunner because that ties into his message. He prepares the way for Jesus. Glance if you would please at Luke chapter 3 beginning at verse 2b, second part of verse 2 and we'll read to see it. And the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias in the wilderness, and he came unto all the district around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make ready the way of the Lord, make his path straight. Every ravine shall be filled up. Every mountain and hill shall be brought low. Crooked shall become straight and the rough roads smooth and all flesh shall see the salvation of God. John was a forerunner and John as a forerunner becomes the model for all forerunning ministry of Christ. We've discussed that in the past. What is a forerunner? And the answer is very simple, it's one who runs before. One who goes first and guarantees that somebody's going to follow after. Someone who goes and makes the path plain and smooth so the one coming after can do his thing. In order to know what a forerunner is, let me illustrate it by the second forerunner mentioned in the New Testament. You know who that is? There's two forerunners. One is John the baptizer, he runs before Jesus. Who's the other forerunner? Think of it. It's in Hebrews chapter 6 verse 19 and 20, listen as I quote it, it says this hope we have as an anchor of the soul sure and steadfast where Jesus has entered beyond the veil as a forerunner for us. Isn't that a wonderful thing? The second forerunner is Jesus and where did he forerun? He went into heaven. He went behind the veil and you know what that means? It says forerunner for us. Forerunner is one who goes first guaranteeing that someone's going to follow after. Jesus is your forerunner. You know what that means? It means you're going to follow after. That's the idea. He went first as a forerunner and as every bit as really as John was his forerunner, the Lord Jesus is our forerunner and that's the anchor of our soul the Bible says and sure and steadfast. Luke calls attention to how bad things were when he began his ministry. He had to prepare the way. Things were terrible. Last time we looked at the first three verses, look how terrible things were. Tiberius Caesar, he was the emperor and Pontius Pilate was the governor. You know about him and Herod was the tetrarch of Galilee and you know about Herod and there were two high priests and they were chosen by the political power, Aenus and Caiaphas, wicked men. They're the ones that had Jesus crucified. Luke in addition to that terrible beginning, the political darkness, mentions four groups of people that came to John as he was baptizing. Glance at these verses. I won't read the verses but if you glance at them you'll see that this is so. In verses seven to nine, the religious leaders came, those who had great stock in the fact that they were descended from Abraham. They said, well we're doing okay, Abraham's our father. Religious leaders came. And then verses 10 and 11, the common people came from all walks of life. Verse 12 and 13, tax gatherers came. Verse 14, a bunch of soldiers, Roman soldiers came to John the baptizer. This is a very low down wicked group of people that are coming because it's the baptism of repentance and they're all confessing their sins. The political society was all corrupt, religious leadership was corrupt and they kept asking John the same question. Verse 10, the multitude said, what shall we do? And in verse 12, the tax gatherers said, teachers, what shall we do? And the soldiers came in 14 and said, what shall we do? And they kept coming to John because John was a preacher of the law. He was condemning them. He had strong, fiery words against them and he got them scared. He got them frightened. He said, judgment is coming, it's impending, it's coming soon. The multitude, according to verse 11, were very selfish. According to verse 13, the tax gatherers were extortioners. According to verse 14, the soldiers were oppressive and very discontent. And so as all of these groups of people came in flood to John the baptizer, he sort of summarized them all in verse 7. He therefore began saying to the multitude who was going out to be baptized by him, you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come. That's not a kind word. Our Lord Jesus had to use that and another case. You brood of vipers. Now don't just read that la la la. When John said that and when Jesus said that, he was making reference to the Garden of Eden. Remember when Satan first appeared on the earth, he came in what form? In the form of a viper, in the form of a snake. And what John was saying is this, all of you are descended from the snake. You're just a brood of vipers. You just belong to the devil. You're related to Satan. That's what he was saying. And so his message was very strong. And as a forerunner, John had no power to change the people. He could tell them as he did in verse 11, stop being selfish. He could tell them as he did in verse 13, stop extorting, stop robbing one another. He could tell them as he did in verse 14, stop oppressing one another. But he had no power to change their hearts. He told them to repent, they've been doing all these things, but he had no power. His message was hot. Turn or burn. I mean, that's basically what he was saying. And his figures of speech were strong. The axe, the fan, and the fire. And he went out preaching that, he was a hellfire and brimstone preacher. And he was condemning everybody. Verse 9, he said, the axe is already laid at the root of the tree. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. He said, God's about to chop you down. Not at the root, I mean, not at the stump, so it'll grow back again. But at the root, it's going to cut you right down and annihilate you. And he was just very, very strong. So that was John and his preparation. These sinners need to get ready. Jesus is coming. They need to turn from their sin, repent of their sin. Now, this strong message, according to the first part of chapter 3, was to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah. That the mountains were to be made low. And the valleys were to be made high. And the crooked places were to be made straight. And the rough places were to be made smooth. Quite apart from the details of that, the principle is this. John was getting everyone on level ground to get ready for Messiah. That's the idea of the mountains coming down, the valleys coming up. He's making a level plain so that everybody stands before Christ the same way. As guilty sinners. As a brood of vipers. And so that was John's great message. Notice in verse 16, please. John said, I baptize with water. One's coming after who's mightier than I. I'm not fit to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to thoroughly clear his threshing floor. To gather the wheat into his barn. He'll burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. The one good news that John had, it was all negative. That you're sinners, you're guilty, you're condemned. The axe is at the root, you're coming down, judgment's coming. The one good news is this. There's somebody coming after me. And he can help you. I can't help you. I could tell you you're sinners. I could tell you you're condemned. I could tell you you need to change. I can baptize with water. All that is, is body. When you're baptized with water, your body gets wet. He said, there's somebody coming after me. He'll do the real work. He'll baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Not just externally, but internally. Some people think the idea of baptism with Holy Spirit and fire, that John might have saw, without an interlude, the two advents of Christ. First coming, he baptizes with the Holy Spirit. His second coming, in judgment, with fire. Some think the word fire just has to do with a purifier. In other words, water cleanses the outside. Fire goes right down into the depth. And so he does it at the same time. Even so, picture John standing there, and all humanity streaming down to get baptized. His illustration with the winnowing fork. What a powerful word picture that is. The winnowing fork was a fork with wooden prongs, three or four wooden prongs, with a handle about three or four feet long. And they would throw up the mingled wheat and chaff together, and then the wind would come and waft the chaff away, and so on. It's a very, very graphic picture. For John, there are only two groups of people in the world. The righteous and the unrighteous. The wheat and the chaff. The sinner and the believer, that's it. Those who are going to be in the barn, and those who are going to be in the fire. And he was just that strong. I want you to picture that. John is standing in the water, and all of these sinners, soldiers are coming, tax collectors, Pharisees, Sadducees, common people, they're streaming down. Religious hypocrites, thieves, extortioners, rough, rough people. Sinners of every kind. Drunkards and harlots and perverts and adulterers and swearers and covenant breakers. Brood of vipers. Now picture this, because again, we sort of read it la, la, la. Verse 21, It came about when the people were baptized, Jesus was also baptized. See, we read that in such a cursory way. We say, now we're going to study the baptism of our Lord Jesus. Try to enter into this, and into the message that Luke is underscoring. The water is filled with wicked sinners. And they're all confessing their sins. They're lined up, waiting to confess their sins. And then coming down the hill is the Lord Jesus. Not to watch. Not to sit on the bank as a spectator. He steps into the water. Now Luke doesn't record John's initial reaction. Matthew does, in chapter 3. In Matthew chapter 3, verse 14, John tried to prevent him. And in the Greek, it actually is a stronger word. He took both hands, and he tried to push him out of the water. John not only resisted, but he tried to push the Lord Jesus. He said, I have need to be baptized by you. Do you come to me? And Jesus said, allow it, suffer it to be so, in order to fulfill all righteousness. Try to picture that. All of these sinners in the water confessing their sins. And here comes the Lord Jesus. And he stands right in there with all of the sinners. John says, it can't be. I can't baptize you. Don't forget, John still doesn't know that this is Messiah. He only knows he's a righteous man. He doesn't need to be here. Cousin, go home. You don't need to be in the water with these wicked, wicked people. Luke is setting us up as he did in the circumcision. He's doing it again now. Jesus is numbered with the transgressors. It's his identification with sinners. He's the son of all mankind. And the purpose of his baptism was to stand there in the water. He doesn't deserve to stand in that water with those kind of people, with those brood of vipers. I don't know anything that touches me as much in this early ministry of Christ as seeing the Lord Jesus standing in Jordan River, shoulder to shoulder, with all of those tough people who have come to confess their sins. He's identifying with the sinful race. Now, to drive this home to our hearts, let me say a few things about this wonderful baptism of the Lord Jesus. John's baptism is called the baptism of repentance. Jesus had nothing to repent of. He was perfect. He never sinned. And so for him to be in these waters is an amazing thing because you have the sinless Son of God standing with the sinful sons of men. And the Lord Jesus is perfect, so there was no moral need for him to be baptized. There's no place in John's baptism for our Lord Jesus except that he wanted to identify with us. Luke tells us something that no other gospel writer tells us. In chapter 3, verse 21, it says Jesus was praying. He was praying while he was being baptized. What a word that is. Now, why was Jesus standing there in the water with sinners, with his head bowed, praying? What was he praying? You see, he was not repenting. He had nothing to repent of. That's not what he was praying about. First of all, he was praying because he was a true man. And true men pray. They trust. They depend on God. And he's just illustrating his dependence on God. He needed to pray, and we need to pray as well. Luke's going to lay great stress on the humanity of Christ. And that's why in the gospel of Luke, more than any other gospel, you see Jesus praying. The study of the prayer life of Christ, you've got to study Luke. Praying at his baptism. Praying in the wilderness. Praying when he chooses disciples. Praying at Caesarea. Praying at the Transfiguration. Praying in Gethsemane. Praying on the cross. Praying at a mass. Jesus praying. That's the gospel of Luke. Because he's showing the humanity of Christ. Remember now, this is the beginning of the ministry of Christ. For 30 years, we've heard nothing of Jesus except that little incident when he was 12 years old. And he's about now to be inaugurated into his ministry. This is the beginning of the ministry of Christ. I don't mean by ministry, the inauguration into his teaching. Or preaching. Or healing. That's part of it, but that's not the point. He is now being inaugurated into his ministry of dying. Everything about the baptism of Jesus says death. If you miss this, you're going to miss the point of the baptism of the Lord Jesus. When Jesus stood in the water of the Jordan with the sinners, he bowed his head the same way he did in Gethsemane. And said, not my will, but thine be done. That's what this baptism was all about. Let me make several points to drive that home. First of all, it's not an accident that John baptized in the Jordan River. You know what Jordan symbolizes all through the Bible. Even when they crossed Jordan to get into Canaan. The word Jordan just means a descent. It means to come down. And it was used as it sort of symbolizes the river of death. Some of our hymn writers laid hold of that. And they pictured when you die, you cross Jordan and enter the promised land. Are you familiar with that song? On Jordan's stormy banks I stand and cast a wistful eye to Canaan's fair and happy land where my possessions lie. Or even that little chorus, Michael rode the boat. Are you familiar with that? Michael rode. He's rowing the boat. Michael is the angel of death and he's rowing the boat. And he's going over Jordan. The river of Jordan is chilly and cold. Hallelujah, chills the body but not the soul. You're going over Jordan. See, it's the river of death. And some think because the Jordan flowed down to the Dead Sea that this is just sort of a type of all humanity. And here come all these sinners to stand in this river of death and it's all going down to the Dead Sea. It just shows the condition of mankind. And our Lord Jesus stood there in that river of death and bowed his head and submitted, identifying with sinners that this is where he belonged. In verse 22, it said the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. Now, we're so familiar with the picture of the dove as the Holy Spirit, but are you aware of this? Only here in the Bible is the Holy Spirit compared to a dove. Only at the baptism of Jesus. And we have that such a familiar picture. We all know the Holy Spirit is a dove. And this is the only place that we learn that, that he comes down in the form of a dove. Why a dove? Well, some would try to go back to the flood, you know, when the dove went out and rested. And certainly that's a picture. Christ is the ark and the dove can rest upon him. Some say what the lamb is to the animal kingdom, the dove is to the bird. And that is harmless and gentle. And that's the illustration, weakness, gentleness. It's more than that. It's that, but it's more than that. This is not the first time we've met with the dove in the Gospel of Luke. You remember earlier than chapter 3? You remember when we talked about the dove? It's in chapter 2, verse 22 and 24. And when the days for their purification, according to the law of Moses, were completed, they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. As it is written in the law of the Lord, every firstborn male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord. And to offer a sacrifice, according to what was said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtle doves or two pigeons. What is the dove? According to the Bible, it's the sacrifice of the... could bring a dove. And when Jesus stood in the waters, identifying himself with sinners in the water of death, the symbol of the sacrifice for the poorest of the poor came on his head and anointed him. It's a picture of death. It's a picture of him accepting his ministry. He's now being inaugurated into his ministry. And his ministry, of course, is to go to the cross. It's his identification with death. You have such a mighty contrast here. The Holy Spirit and the dove. God and weakness. And what you see here is deity is submitting to sacrifice. And so Jesus was anointed with the symbol of death. Not any symbol, but the symbol that would include the most people, the poor. And so, once again, Luke's message, that Jesus is the son of all mankind. He identifies with all of us. He stands in the water with sinners. And he allows to come upon him that symbol, which would be the sacrifice for the most people. Probably only John and Jesus saw the heavens open and the dove descend and the voice come out of heaven. We have no record that the multitude responded to that. But from this point on, John knows. He saw the dove come down. And then the next day, he said, when Jesus passed by, behold, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Then he knew from that point on who it was. Now, as you know, the word baptism, even the way we use it today, the word actually means to dip. And it has to do with identification. And so when we get baptized, we look back to the finished work of Jesus. And we identify with all he's done. That's the idea of going down in the water. He died, and supposedly in our baptism, we die. He was buried, and so the water covers us. We're buried. He rose again, we rise again. Just as our baptism looks back at the finished work of Christ, his baptism looked forward. It was the same baptism. And he was identifying with what he was going to do. And he was willing to be numbered with the transgressors. He was willing to die and to rise again. So Luke is so consistent. Just as in his circumcision, he was cut off from the flesh, and 40 days later, presented to God. That was a picture, that he would die on the cross. And 40 days later, he would ascend and be presented to God. So now in his baptism, Luke doesn't change his message. He's identified with sinners. He bows his head. He says, Thy will be done. The Spirit comes down in the form of the sacrifice for the poor, lands upon his head, anoints him for death. He's in the river of death. He accepts and his baptism looks forward to the whole ministry. He's going to die for sinners. And so it's a wonderful, wonderful picture. In verse 21 to 22, we see the heavens open, and the Holy Spirit descending like a dog, and then the voice comes out of heaven. This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. After he bowed his head and accepted his mission and his destiny, God spoke from heaven, broke the silence, and said, This is my Son. Now three times God did that. You remember when they were? First time was here at his baptism. And then the second time, he was discussing with Moses and Elijah, the death he would accomplish. Remember what story that was? The Transfiguration. And then God spoke again at the Transfiguration. And then one third time, God spoke. You remember when that was? It's just before the crucifixion. It was Passion Week, probably the first day of Passion Week. It's recorded in John 12. He said, I'm the grain of wheat. Except the grain of wheat die, it abides by itself alone. But if it die, it brings forth much fruit. And he prayed, glorify me on the earth. And God broke the heaven and said, I've glorified thee already, and I'll glorify thee again. So three times God spoke. Once at his baptism, where he accepted his ministry of death. Once at the Transfiguration, where he discussed death. And then once in Passion Week, at the shadow of the cross. And God spoke again. So everything about his baptism talks about death. And if you miss that, you miss his baptism. That's what it's all about. Jesus begins his ministry, and he begins it by saying, I'm going to do this for sinners. I'll stand with sinners. In fact, from this time on, Jesus began to refer to the cross as his baptism. Did you notice in Luke 12, verse 50, later on, he said, I have a baptism to undergo. How distressed I am till that's accomplished. And then later his disciples came and they were all proud. Can we sit at the right hand and the left hand and all this kind of thing? And he said, I've got a baptism to be baptized with. Are you able to be baptized with the baptism that I'm going to be baptized with? He talked about the cross. And that was his baptism. And so all through the record, we see that the baptism has to do with death. Everyone who studies the baptism of the Lord Jesus has recognized the beautiful Trinity. You see the three persons of the Godhead all brought together here. God is in the center as the Son of Man, standing in the water with sinners, identifying with the human race. And then God the Father is above, attesting the perfections of his Son and the ministry. This is my Son. And then the Holy Spirit's coming in the form of a dove. And we need to ask this, if the Lord Jesus could not begin his ministry without the baptism of the Holy Spirit, can we ever think that we can ever do anything or have a ministry without the same Holy Spirit empowering us? It's just not possible. And so Christ, our Lord Jesus, bowed his head in dependence upon God. It was his first Gethsemane. He said, not my will, thine be done. And he stood there in those waters with sinners. And he just acknowledged and accepted the great mission. Now before we close, I want you to glance, please, at verse 23 to 38. And right away you see it's a genealogy. And say, oh, there's beatitudes and begatitudes. In this connection, I love 1 Timothy 1.4. It says, do not pay attention to endless genealogies which give rise to speculation. And so that helps me to just jump over these sections. But there are a couple of things I want to point out before we leave chapter 3. As you know, there are two genealogies of our Lord Jesus. One is in Matthew chapter 1, and the other one here is in Luke chapter 3. There's a couple of differences. Let me mention that. First of all, Matthew starts with Abraham and then works down through David toward our Lord Jesus. Whereas Luke starts with Jesus and goes backward and upward. And he goes back through David and then all the way past Abraham and all the way to Adam and then up to God himself. You see, the reason that Luke goes all the way to Adam, he's not trying to show that Jesus is the son of the Jews. He's trying to show that Jesus is the son of all mankind. So Luke takes it all the way back to the beginning so that it would embrace the Jews surely, but transcend them as well. Now if you look at verse 23, here's another difference between Matthew and Luke. Matthew gives the genealogy of Joseph. It looks like Luke is giving the genealogy of Joseph too, but he's not. Luke is tracing it through Mary. In verse 23, it says Joseph, the son of Eli or Heli. Now if you know Matthew 1.16, it says Jacob is Joseph's father. Well, who's Joseph's father? Is it Heli or is it Jacob? Well, the answer is it's Jacob. Matthew is right. Matthew's tracing it through Joseph. The way it's worded here, Joseph, the supposed father, and then he says the son of Eli, but he's not saying Joseph the son of Eli. He's saying Jesus the son of Eli. Jesus, in other words, you put Jesus in all of these. Jesus is the son of, son of, son of, son of David, son of Abraham, and finally son of Adam and the son of God. We know from secular history, from the Talmud especially, that Heli was the father of Mary. In other words, Luke is giving us Mary's genealogy. Now I'm going to ask you to take that little chart for a moment, please. I hope this is not confusing, but this is the reason, the main reason we have two genealogies. Starting at Solomon, Luke and Matthew make a difference here. Matthew goes up there through the royal line, Joseph's line, through Rehoboam, through Jehoiachin. I call special attention to him, and I'll tell you why in a moment. Matthew traces the royal line. In order to be king on David's throne, you had to go through that line, the one that's on the top there, through Rehoboam. If you didn't go through that line, you could not qualify to be king of David. You had to be, to take David's throne, you had to go through that line. Now there's a problem. Satan thought he had a victory there. In Jeremiah 22, it's recorded, listen as I quote, Jeremiah 22, 30. Thus says the Lord, write this man childless, a man who will not prosper. No man of his descendants shall ever prosper sitting on the throne of David. God got so mad at Jehoiachin, who was also called Jeconiah, who's also called Corniah. He's in the royal line. And God got so mad at him, he cursed the line. And he said, never will anybody that comes through you reign on the throne. Well, Satan thought he'd cut off the whole line. Because if there could be nobody from that line to ever reign on David's throne, Satan could relax. And that's exactly what he did. He did relax, which is why the whole birth of Christ took him by surprise. Watch what Jesus did, I mean, what God has done. He had to be the son of David. So Luke says, watch, and he goes through Mary's line. Is he son of David? Yes. He had to have the legal right to the throne. Well, through Joseph's line, he has the legal right, even though he's disqualified because of the curse on Corniah. God virgin birthed the devil. You know what I mean by that? He made an end run. There was no other possibility under heaven except the virgin birth that would qualify Christ. Because he had to come through Joseph's line, but God had cut off that line with a curse. Through Joseph, he has the legal right. Through Mary, he has the natural right. Any other combination would not qualify Christ. And so by this miracle of the virgin birth, that's why you have two genealogies. One to show us Joseph's line, which was cut off with a curse. One to show us Mary's line. And now, because of this miracle of the virgin birth, he can be son of God, son of Adam, son of Abraham, son of David, son of all mankind. One final thing. Let me tie it in again to chapter 3. If I were standing there in the water, and all of a sudden I saw Jesus come down and stand next to me, shoulder to shoulder, I would sigh with relief and say, He's one of us. Praise God. He's for me. He's on my side. If I saw the heavens open and a dove descend from heaven and a voice come out of heaven, I'd back off and say, Whoops, he's not one of us. He's different. That's why Luke, at this point... See, you'd expect a genealogy to come when he's a baby. That's what Matthew does when he's a baby. Here's the genealogy. Here's where he comes from. Luke waits until he's 30 years old. Until after the baptism. Then Luke says, Now, let's give his genealogy. You know why? Because when he stands with me, I say, He's one of us. When the heavens open and the bird comes down and a voice... I say, He's not one of us. And then Luke comes right back and gives the genealogy. And he says, Yes, he is one of us. And that's why Luke puts it here. In order that we might know that God can be traced in the family tree. All the way back to Adam. He's one of us. He's the son of all mankind. Jesus is not quite prepared for his ministry. He needs to be tested. We'll begin that next time. He needs to go out into the wilderness to be tested. And then he'll start his ministry. Comments or questions? I hope that didn't confuse you about Cornelius. But it's such a marvelous way. It's the whole purpose of the birds and birds. Well, it's actually an exception. And that's why she's not mentioned directly. Because they didn't do that. If you read Matthew's genealogy, We are blessed because there are four women mentioned. And in each case, disqualified. Four fallen women. Bathsheba and Rahab and so on. And Ruth the Ammonite. And so we're blessed that God has come to us. But the reason Mary's not mentioned is because they went through the men. But it is Mary's life. There's no question about that. Other comments or questions? The lamb is God's picture of the pure sacrifice. The dove was the sacrifice of the poor. They couldn't afford a lamb. And so it's more all-inclusive. It's more all-inclusive. Because if you just had the lamb, you'd say, Well, yeah, he died for those who could afford it. The middle class, right. But the dove, he just died for everybody. And so God in a marvelous way anointed him with the dove. It'd be hard to see a lamb come flying out of heaven. All right, let's bow, please, before the Lord. Our Father, we thank you for your precious word. Thank you for standing in the water Oh, Lord, we thank you for identifying with us, for praying, for accepting the dove and the ministry, for going to the cross for us and rising again. Lord, we see all this so wonderful. Thank you for your provision. Thank you for the virgin birth and how you qualified our Lord Jesus to do the work. All these things we praise you for. Lord, thank you for being our forerunner, for taking us after. Prepare our hearts, we pray, for our continued look in this marvelous gospel we ask in Jesus' name.