Christ Is Better

Luke 3:21-4:13 - Riley Boggs

If we were to evaluate the Bible on human terms alone, it is, without a doubt, the most amazing book ever written. It was written over the course of hundreds of years, by many different authors, and multiple languages, and yet it is perfectly cohesive in every way. So cohesive, in fact, that there are 63,779 cross references in the Bible. It is truly amazing and clearly points to a divine author. And, this fact, that the Bible has a divine author, is what makes the Bible great. Yes, on human terms alone, the Bible is absolutely incredible. But what makes it all that it is, is that it is the Word of the living God. God Himself is the author of this book; it is His Word. When we read what we call the book Luke, we aren’t just reading the Gospel according to a 1stcentury physician named Luke. Rather, we are reading the Word of the Almighty God, that Luke, under the divine inspiration of God, recorded. 

There are countless places in the Bible where these truths become glaringly obvious. In some places the cross-references aren’t as apparent, or the typology isn’t as clear. That isn’t to say that those places in the Bible are any less, but they do take more work to sort of see all of these things. However, in other places, you almost have to work to not see these things. I think our text this morning is one of those passages. In the passage we find ourselves in this morning, it’s hard to not see the beauty of God’s Word; this is a very rich text. And, I think, based on the way that Luke records this passage, that was his intention. 

Here’s what I mean. Last week we looked at John the Baptist preaching the Gospel, calling people to repentance, and showing them what that looked like. And we saw that someone people started to wonder if John was the Christ himself. In response to this, John makes it clear that he is not the Christ, but rather the one who is coming, Jesus Christ, is far greater than John. We stopped in verse 20, right before Jesus shows up on the scene. This week, we pick up in verse 21, and immediately see Jesus for the first time since he was 12 years old in the temple. And the way that Luke puts together the following events is no doubt intentional, he is trying to get us to make a connection here. The question is, what is the connection?

Well look at the passage with me and let’s see how he does this. He starts off by showing us the baptism of Jesus in verses 21-22, then gives us the genealogy of Jesus in verses 23-38, and wraps up with the temptation of Jesus in verses 1-13 of chapter 4. Now that might not seem significant, but I want you to consider why Luke sort of sandwiches Jesus genealogy in between these two stories. In the Gospel of Matthew, he begins the Gospel with the genealogy, and so these stories just sit back-to-back. In the Gospel of Mark, he doesn’t include the genealogy, and so these stories sit back-to-back. In the Gospel of John, not only does he not include the genealogy, but he doesn’t record the temptation of Jesus either. In short, only Luke does it this way, and I think it is very intentional.

See what Luke is trying to get us to see by putting this genealogy in the middle of these two stories, is that Jesus is the true and better Adam. In the Gospel of Matthew, he only takes the genealogy back to Abraham, but Luke takes the genealogy all the way back to the very first man, Adam.        And so what we have is really 2 things here in this passage. First, we learn of who Jesus is in His baptism, and second, we learn of who Jesus is in His temptation. And both of these, set on either side of the genealogy of Jesus that goes all the way to Adam, are supposed to put before us how Jesus Christ is the true and better Adam. That is, where Adam failed, Christ succeeded. In every way, Christ is better, and as we will see during our last point this morning, that means everything for us.  

So, this morning for the first 2 points I want to show you what it is Luke is trying to cause us to see, and then for the last point draw the application of it all for us. The first point is this.

1.) In His baptism, Jesus demonstrates that He is the beloved Son of God

Whenever you read that Jesus came to John and was baptized, your first thought might have been, “But why?” And the reason you might wonder that is because we see the reason that John is baptizing people and that reason doesn’t seem to be applicable for Jesus. What I mean is that we read, in verse 3 of chapter 3, that John went out proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And last week we talked about how that doesn’t mean that the baptism itself is what cleanses, but rather it is the outward profession of the inward Spirit baptism that only Christ can bring about within us. Knowing that, we are left wondering how this kind of baptism applies to Jesus, who is entirely sinless and has no need for repentance whatsoever.

If you are wondering that, you aren’t alone. In Matthew’s Gospel we read that John had this very same question when Jesus came to him to be baptized. Jesus comes to John to be baptized, and John tried to stop him and asks, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” And Jesus responds to him and says, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” John hears this, consents, and baptizes him. 

So, why was Jesus baptized? It seems that Jesus does this so that He might demonstrate, with everyone else, His obedience to the Father. See everyone else was coming, in an act of obedience, to be baptized for the forgiveness of their sins. They were coming so that their inward repentance, their obedience to the Father, might be seen by others. And so Jesus wants to show that He too is obedient to the Father. Except, Jesus’ obedience is not in the fact that His baptism shows His repentance, but rather that He is doing this, like He said, “to fulfill all righteousness.” In other words, Jesus must be baptized as an act of obedience to the Father. And so, as the faithful Son He is, He is baptized. 

But that’s not all, because after He does this, the Father Himself speaks. We read that when Jesus is baptized, the heavens open, the Spirit descends on Jesus in the form of a dove, and then the Father says these words. He says, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” This is the response of the Father towards His obedience Son. It is the way that the Father sees Him, the way that the Father knows Him. Jesus Christ is the beloved Son, whom the Father is entirely pleased with.

Actually, this is not the first time we see this phrase. In Isaiah 42 verse 1 we the Lord, through the prophet Isaiah says, “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.” So we hear that, and we ought to immediately make the connection. God said that there is someone, chosen by Him, who He delights in, who will bring about justice. And now, when Jesus is baptized and the Father says this very thing of Jesus, we are to think, “This is Him! This is the appointed one who Has come to bring about justice.” And it is. Jesus Christ is the beloved Son of God who Has come to bring about justice. 

Now, we are going to return to this, and I’ll show you why it is so significant, but we need to keep going in the text to get a clear understanding of everything going on here. After recounting the baptism of Jesus, Luke,  as I already mentioned, intentionally places the genealogy of Jesus next. Think about how this reads with me. We read that the Father says to Jesus, “You are my beloved Son”, and then one verse later starts the repeated phrase, “the son of”. Over and over again we read this. The son of Joseph, the son of Heli, and so on and so forth. Until finally, he gets to Adam, verse 38, and we read, “the son of Adam, the son of God.”

You can imagine Luke reading this to someone and they hear him say immediately ask. “Wait, what? Adam, the son of God? Luke, I thought you just said that the Father spoke and said that Jesus was the beloved Son of God? Didn’t you just say that?” And Luke responds, “Yes, and that is exactly what I wanted you to see.” This is why Luke placed this here. He wants us to make that connection between Adam and Christ. That is where I want to go for our next point.

2.) In resisting temptation, Jesus demonstrates His unwavering obedience to the Father 

When you think of Adam, what do you think of? Your mind likely goes to Genesis where we read that God created Adam, the first man, in the image of God Himself. That is, Adam had no earthly father and was created in the image of God. And in that sense, Adam is the son of God, which is what Luke means he says that in verse 38.

But what happened with Adam? Was Adam obedient in everything to his Father? He wasn’t. You all know the story. God told Adam that he could eat of every tree of the garden, but not of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And God said that if he does, in that day, he would die. And then, the serpent, comes to Eve, distorts the word of God concerning His commandment to not eat the tree, and Eve gives in. She eats of the tree and Adam eats of the tree as well. And immediately, they were filled with shame, for they had died. They had not died physically, but they had died spiritually. They hid from God, no longer confident to stand in His presence because of their sin. And in all of this, they plunged humanity into this same spiritual death. This is what comes to mind when we think of Adam. And as this is on your mind, just as Luke intended, he tells us the story of when Jesus was tempted in the same way, but resisted all sin. 

Starting in verse 1 we read that the Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness for 40 days, so that He might be tempted by the devil. In that time, he ate nothing, and so as the true man He was, He was hungry. And we read, in starting in verse 3, that the devil comes to Jesus to tempt him in this exact way. The devil says, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” And Jesus responds by quoting Deuteronomy 8:3 and says, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’”

And then the devil takes him up and shows him the kingdoms of the world and says, “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.” Jesus responds by quoting Deuteronomy 6:13 and says, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’”

Lastly, the devil takes Jesus to Jerusalem and sets him on the pinnacle of the temple and says to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here…” And then, the devil uses God’s own words try and deceive Jesus. He says, “’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.’” Jesus responds by quoting Deuteronomy 6:16 and says, “It is said, ‘You Shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” And then we read that the devil leaves and awaits another time to tempt Jesus.

In each of these, the devil is tempting Jesus in a different way. In the first temptation concerning turning the stone into bread, the devil is appealing to Jesus’ fleshly desire for food. In the second temptation, the devil is tempting Jesus by offering Him a shortcut for what God had already promised Jesus, but without the cross. Jesus will have all authority on heaven and Earth, but He will acquire through his death, burial, and resurrection. The devil tempts him by saying, “Why not have it right now?” And then in the last temptation, the devil is tempting Jesus by telling him to put God to the test. The devil quotes promises of God and says, “You believe this? Prove it. Make the Father show you that these are true.” And, in all of these temptations, Christ did not falter. 

So, what is it that we are supposed to see here? We are supposed to see that Christ is the true and better Adam! When the devil came to Adam and tempted him, he gave in, he faltered. But now, when the devil comes to Jesus and tempts him, Jesus resists entirely. He is better, far better. That is what Luke is trying to get us to see in this. He is putting before us the fact that all of Scripture has been leading to this very moment, where the beloved Son of God does what the first son of God did not. 

Did you know, there is another son of God mentioned in the Bible as well. A few times in the Old Testament God refers to His people, Israel, as His son. In Hosea 11:1 God says, “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. 2 The more they were called, the more they went away…” See, Israel had a pattern of disobedience. Among that pattern of disobedience was a time where God told Israel to enter into the land, He had promised them, but out of fear and a lack of trust in God, Israel refused. And as result of this God punished them by causing them to wander in the wilderness for 40 years until the entire disobedient generation had passed way, so that they could not ever enter the land themselves. 

Now, consider what we have in our passage today. Now, Jesus enters the wilderness for not 40 years, but 40 days. And not because of disobedience, but to put on display His complete obedience to the Father. And in all of this, showing that Jesus is not only the true and better Adam, but He is the true and better Israel. Christ is better, in every way. That is what this passage is declaring to us.

Okay, but what does this mean for us? That is the question I want to answer for our final point this morning.

3.) As the beloved children of God, we must walk in obedience

The way that I have worded this point is intentional and important. And I worded it like this because I think this passage is leading us to see that the reality of who we are in Christ must be the grounds by which we pursue obedience. Let me explain what I mean. The Bible describes two different groups of people, those who are “in Adam” and those who are “in Christ”. All people are born “in Adam”, meaning that all people are born inherently sinful. They are born in the same corrupted state that Adam found himself in after he sinned. All people are spiritual dead. The other category, “in Christ”, are those who have been saved by the grace and mercy of God. It is those who God has regenerated, made alive, whereby they see their sin, turn from it, and place their faith in Jesus Christ. 

Now this matters because those who are “in Adam” are seen, by God, like God saw Adam in that sinful rebellious state. When God finds Adam hiding in the garden after his sin, what does He do? God drives them out of the garden, away from the presence of God. A gap between sinful man and a Holy God was created, and for those in Adam, this gap remains.

But, as we have seen this morning, there is a true and better Adam, Jesus Christ. And this Adam did not falter, did not fail, and was perfect in every way. He was, and is, entirely obedient and sinless, through and through. Not only that, but in the eyes of the Father, Jesus is the beloved Son of God. And here is the amazing part. For those who are “in Christ”, that is now how the Father sees them. He sees those who are “in Christ” not as those who stand on the other side of a sinful gap, but rather He sees them like He sees His Son. He sees them as sinless, as righteous, as His own beloved Son. And as the church, we are a people who are in Christ. We have turned from our sin and placed our faith in Christ. He is our representative who cleansed us from our sin and imputed us with His own righteousness. 

And here is why this matters. If we are seen like Christ, and we are, then that has to change how we approach our lives. It must change how we think about obedience. If we approach obedience in order to gain right standing before God, we have missed it. If we approach obedience in order to earn God’s love towards us, we have missed it. We approach obedience from our standing, not for our standing, because we know who we are in Christ. 

Think of how the devil tempts Jesus. Twice the devil says to Jesus, “If you are the Son of God, do this.” Do you see how deceptive that is? Do see the lies built into that question? Whether or not Jesus is the Son of God isn’t in question, He is. And we know that because the Father just said that Jesus is His beloved Son, with who He is well pleased. 

Brothers and sisters, the enemy will do the same thing to you. The accuser will cause you to question things that are not in question. He will tempt you and you will think in your mind, “If the Lord really loved me, He wouldn’t have let this happen”, or “If the Lord did love me, He no longer does after what I’ve done.” But do you see how those questions find their footing on lies? The question is not if the Lord loves you, He does. The question is not will the Lord forgive you, He will. Why? Because in Christ you are His beloved children, with whom He is well pleased. Not based on what you have done, not based on what you will do, but based on what Christ has done on your behalf. This is what it means to be in Christ!

And so, knowing this, standing on this truth, we press forward in obedience. Like Jesus in His baptism, we submit to the plans that God has for us. Like Jesus being led by the Spirit into the wilderness, we follow the Lord to where He would have us, even if it is difficult. Like Jesus refusing to turn rocks in to bread, we deny ourselves for the sake of obedience to God. We put to death the evil desires of our heart in mind, so that we may honor God in all things. Like Jesus resisting the temptation to immediately be giving authority and power, we trust in God’s timing rather than our own. We don’t try to run ahead of what God has for us, rather we stay ,content, in the place that God has us, and we do so with joy, knowing that God will, undoubtedly, do what is best for us. Like Jesus resisting to put God to the test, we also trust what God has said, simply because He has said it. We don’t need proof before we trust. And all of this, is driven by the fact that we know who we are in Christ, and we know that the Spirit will empower us along the way, and so we walk in obedience.

I used to have a very legalistic heart. When things were going well and obedience came easily, I felt like the Lord loved me. But, when things were going well and obedience didn’t come as easily, and I found myself failing time and time again, I did not feel like the Lord loved me. I’m not sure what caused this within me, but it was dangerous. It was dangerous because all it did was lead me into greater disobedience. When I failed, which I did often, I didn’t see the value in trying to right the ship. In my mind, the Lord was already disappointed in me, tired of seeing me mess up, and so I may as well enjoy the sin while I’m here. And I knew, at least intellectually, that I could go to the Lord and ask for forgiveness, but I was too ashamed to. I didn’t want to pray the things that I did or thought out loud to the Lord, I was embarrassed. 

And so when things were going well, they were going really well, but when things were going bad, they were going really bad. I often found myself in a downward spiral, waking up each morning regretting something from the day before, and struggling to find the desire to walk in obedience that day. It was miserable and sinful.

Do you know what helped me get out of that? Coming to a fuller understanding of what it means to be a beloved child of God. But it didn’t come in the form of, “poor pitiful Riley, who just needs to know he is loved.” No, that wasn’t it. What I needed was to get over myself. See, I was so focused on myself, that I had belittled all that Christ had done on my behalf. I claimed to be “in Christ”, but I didn’t act like it, I acted like I was “in Riley”. It was all about me and what I did or didn’t do, and I kept failing. I was obeying for the love of God, not from the love of God.

Don’t make that same mistake. It is miserable and it isn’t how the Lord wants you to approach obedience. God, from eternity past, chose to crush His own Son on your behalf not so you would wallow in self-pity and continue in your disobedience. No, He sent His Son to die for you, so that you might see and know how much He loves you, and then press on in obedience in light of that. We are the bride of Christ, the one whom God chose for Himself. We are a people who are loved by the Father. Let that beautiful reality push us to greater and greater obedience. Amen.

https://overviewbible.com/bible-facts/

https://markmeynell.wordpress.com/2010/01/08/a-stunning-visualization-of-the-bibles-63779-cross-references/