This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Welcome to chapter 3 of the book of Luke as we walk through this book quickly
together, but also I hope comprehensively together. I hope you're seeing the
life of Jesus, maybe as you've never seen it before. We started out by seeing,
as most of us are familiar with, the life of Jesus in His birth, His beginnings,
and then at age 12.

Now in chapter 3, we begin to turn to the ministry of Jesus. But before His
ministry opens, we see how God prepares Him for this ministry. There are all
lessons for you and I in how God prepared Jesus for ministry.

Luke chapter 3 verse 1 begins by saying, "In the fifteenth year of the reign of
Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod, tetrarch of
Galilee, his brother Philip, tetrarch of Ethrea and Troconus, and Licinius,
tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas. " Wow,
that's a lot of names, that's a lot of places. Those are those verses, verses 1
and 2 that you're terrified of reading when somebody's reading the scripture
together.

What's going on here? Notice that Luke writes as an historian. All that Jesus
did, all who Jesus is, is firmly rooted in history, and we get to hear that
history here.

In that history, now Jesus is going to begin His ministry. Now before getting
into specifics, I want you to just note that preparation is vital. If God's
going to use you in ministry, preparation for ministry is vital.

If Jesus had to prepare for ministry, obviously I'm going to have to prepare for
ministry. The idea that now I'm a believer and the Holy Spirit's in my life, I
can just go and begin, does not fit with the pattern, with the model of Jesus.
God works His preparation for the life of Jesus' ministry, for the life of
Christ and His ministry in four specific ways.

First, John the Baptist prepares the way, second, Jesus is baptized, third, you
see preparation in the genealogy of Jesus, and fourth, the preparation in the
temptation of Jesus. First John the Baptist prepares the way. First chapter two,
the last half, the word of God came to John, son of Zechariah, in the desert.

We hear the story of John the Baptist, and he really has a three-fold ministry
in preparing the way for Jesus. He is ministering in past and present and in
future. In the past, we see the fulfillment of prophecy in the life of John the
Baptist.

In the present, we're going to see the call to repentance, and the future we see
him pointing the way to Jesus. In the past, his ministry is the fulfillment of
prophecy from hundreds, from thousands of years before. In verses three and
four, he went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of
repentance with the forgiveness of sins.

As it is written in the words of Isaiah the prophet, "A voice of one calling in
the desert, prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. " John's
ministry had been prophesied from hundreds of years before the prophet Isaiah.
Not only is the life of Jesus firmly rooted in present-day history, as chapter
three starts out, it's also firmly rooted in prophetic history.

John is coming to prepare the way for the Messiah, for who Jesus is. And Luke is
writing it out for us, he's laying it out for us so that everyone who reads
this, who had been looking forward to the promised one of God, the Messiah of
God, understands that prophecy is being fulfilled in the life of John the
Baptist. John the Baptist was a spiritual hero in all of Israel.

We're going to see as we read through Luke that he gets in some political
difficulty with Herod, some great difficulty by which he even loses his life.
He's a spiritual hero. But Luke wants us to understand that he is the forerunner
of the Messiah.

He is looking forward to the life of Christ. His ministry is a fulfillment of
prophecy. There's also a call to repentance.

Now John's call to repentance may be different than any call of repentance that
you've ever heard. In verse seven, here's what he says to the crowds, "John said
to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him. " So these are the people who
are following him.

These are the people who are coming all the way out into the desert to be
baptized by him. These are the true believers, supposedly. And here's what John
says, "You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

Use fruit in keeping with repentance. " John's ministry is certainly a different
ministry. He's calling a people to repentance who are very self-satisfied in
their religion.

And they're coming out to be baptized in the desert, but John sees their hearts.
He understands it's just one more spiritual thing to add to their lives. Just
one more good thing to do.

They're not truly repentant, many of them. They're just adding something else.
Well, let's cover that base too spiritually.

Let's do that. Let's not experience too spiritually. Let's go to that retreat.

Let's read that book. Let's do that study. Now, retreats can be wonderful.

Books can be awesome. Studies can be life-changing. But the question is, is it
all about repentance or just adding one more thing to the list?

Now, the word "repentance" is a beautiful word. It means turning around. It
means living a new life.

It means a changed life. And John is calling people to this changed life, but he
realizes it's not in him. So the third, the most significant part of John's
ministry is he points the way to Jesus.

Listen to what happens in verse 15. "The people were waiting expectantly, and
were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ. John
answered them all, 'I baptize you with water, but one more powerful than I will
come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. '" Here's what I love
about John. He knew who he was, and he knew who he was not.

He knew what God had sent him to do, and he knew what God had not sent him to
do. And because of that, he has a clarity of personality and purpose that caused
Jesus to call him one of the greatest men who ever lived. I want to live that
kind of life.

I want to know what God wants me to do, but I also want to know what he doesn't
want me to do. John didn't get caught up in the comparisons that so many of us
get caught up in, so that we're trying to do what God has called us to do, but
also what God called him to do. And her to do also, because they're getting a
lot of notice for what they're doing.

No, he just did what God had called him to do. That's what gives you clarity of
personality. That's what gives you clarity of purpose.

The ministry of John the Baptist is the first part of the preparation for the
ministry of Jesus Christ. And it may often be true in your life, it may be true
in your life also, that God uses someone else's life to prepare you for
ministry. Their model, their encouragement, their work even, will prepare you
for the ministry that God has for you.

That's what he did in Jesus' life. The second part of the preparation for the
ministry of Jesus is in the baptism of Jesus, verses 21 and 22. When all the
people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too.

And as he was praying, heaven was opened. And the Holy Spirit descended on him
in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my son whom I
love.

With you I am well pleased. " This is an amazing moment in history. This is an
amazing moment in history.

Verses 21 and 22, you have the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all seen in one
place at one time. The Son is being baptized. The Spirit is coming down like a
dove.

The Father is saying, "This is my Son. I am pleased with him. " Jesus is
baptized.

Now the question is, why was Jesus baptized? He wasn't baptized for salvation.
He's perfect.

He's God. He didn't need to be baptized for salvation or to express a salvation
that had happened. Why was Jesus baptized?

He was baptized as a humble example for us, to give us an example, and he was
baptized also as a powerful picture of the deity, of the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. Jesus was baptized as a humble example for you. Being baptized like
Jesus was, as an adult, not as a child before I could understand it, but as an
adult after I made my faith decision, is following Jesus Christ.

Being baptized like Jesus was, being immersed in the water as a picture of the
death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, is just following Jesus as a
model. Jesus knew that some of us would struggle with that, either because we
didn't like to be noticed or because we had traditions that we struggle with.
There's all kinds of reasons why people struggle with baptism.

Jesus knew we would, and so he was baptized as an example for you, as an example
for us, because he wants us to follow him in baptism. I love the idea that when
I'm baptized, I'm following Jesus in baptism. This preparation for the ministry
of Jesus, you have the ministry of John, you have the baptism of Jesus, but then
you also have the genealogies.

Chapter 3 ends with a long reading of the genealogy of Jesus. I'm not going to
read the whole thing. I know you were waiting for this.

I know it was going to be your favorite part of the entire book of Luke, but I
am going to read some parts of it. I want you to hear the names. I want you to
hear the genealogy.

Now Jesus himself, in verse 23, was about 30 years old when he began his
ministry. He was a son, so it was thought, of Joseph, the son of Halai. Now I'm
going to skip on, the son of David, verse 32, the son of Jesse, verse 34, the
son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, skipping on, the son of
Shem, the son of Noah, skipping on, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of
God.

All those names, many of which I skipped, from Joseph all the way back through
David, all the way back through Jacob, Isaac, Abraham, all the way back through
Noah, all the way back through Adam, all the way back to God. The genealogies
are put in the scripture for us to recognize that Jesus came from the line of
David, and he's a fulfillment of prophecy. But in these genealogies, there are
three messages that you and I need to hold on today.

One, all of history has been leading to something. All of history was leading to
this point. The idea that history just happens randomly is nowhere to be seen in
the Bible.

It may seem that way to us, it certainly seems that way to us at times, it is
not. All of history has been leading to something, and all of history still is
leading to something, to Jesus coming again, to us being with God for all of
eternity. Number two, second message, God has always had a plan.

Even through the struggles and the troubles of those that we read about in these
genealogies, God had a plan and was working his plan out in human history. And
even through the struggles and problems and difficulties in your life, God has a
plan. And message number three is people are a part of God's plan.

Why doesn't God just do it without us? He's chosen not to. He's chosen to do it
with us, through us.

So he worked through people, through the line of people, from the names of Adam
to David to Abraham to Jacob to Joseph. He worked through people for this line
that would be seen in the life of Jesus Christ. Now, I know some of you are
thinking, wait, wait, Joseph wasn't the real father of Jesus.

God was the real father. So why is this even in here? Because in that day, the
line was always traced back through the father.

Now in Matthew, we have the line traced back to the mother and they both traced
back through David. So prophecy is fulfilled either way. We're told both of that
in scripture.

But this genealogy to me is one of the greatest fulfillments, one of the
greatest assurances in all of scripture that God always has a plan and that you
are a part, even when you don't recognize it, you are a part of the ultimate and
awesome plan of God, not just for your life, but for all of human history. Think
of it. God is using you in ways that you cannot even imagine.

God is working in your life in ways that when you get to heaven, it's going to
take your breath away. Let's take a moment and thank him. Thank you, Lord.

Thank you for how you use us, how you work in our lives in ways that we don't
see. You're working not only in our history, but in human history. So Lord, as
you prepare us for ministry, even as you prepare Jesus, help us to realize that
even if the preparation seems long, that's only because the timing for ministry
is yours.

And maybe the ministry you have for us is greater than we even realize. So Lord,
help us to trust you with the preparation, even as we trust you with the
ministry. And we ask this in Jesus' name, Amen.

Tomorrow, chapter 4, we're going to look at the temptation of Jesus. We're going
to look at the first message, the first sermon of Jesus.