SERMON LEFTOVERS

There are three truths in yesterday’s sermon that I did not have the time to expand upon, each of which has to do with who Jesus Christ is. In this post I want to deal with these leftovers in more detail. 

 

1. OUR SAVIOR HAD TO BE GOD. 

In the genealogy of Luke 3 we see that Jesus is God. There are at least three reasons why the Savior had to be God. 

 

First, the Bible teaches us that salvation comes from God. Another way to put this is that the Savior must be God. Jonah 2:9 puts it this way: “Salvation belongs to the LORD!” (See also Ps. 68:19; 98:2-3; Is. 43:11; Hos. 13:4; Rev. 7:10)

 

Second, the Savior must be God to ensure that his obedience and suffering would be perfect and effective. 1 John 1:5 says of God: “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” The sacrifice must be sinless and perfect (Heb. 9:14; 10:1-18). 

 

Third, the Savior must be God so he could undergo God’s righteous wrath against sin and yet overcome death. Acts 2:24 captures this: “God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.”

 

2. OUR SAVIOR HAD TO BE HUMAN.

In the genealogy of Luke 3 and the subsequent temptations of Luke 4 we see that Jesus is fully human. There are at least three reasons he had to be human. 

 

First, the Bible teaches the Savior must be human so he could on the behalf of sinners perfectly obey the Law of God. God requires perfection (Mt. 5:48) which is why one seemingly insignificant sin, eating a forbidden piece of fruit (Gen. 2:16-17), plunged all mankind into sin and death. Jesus always did the will of God the Father (John 5:19, 30; Heb. 4:15; 7:26). 

 

Second, the Savior must be human since humans are the ones who sinned, who must be saved, and the Savior must do this by suffering the punishment for sin, which is death (Col. 1:21-22; Heb. 2:17). 

 

Third, the Savior must be human so he can sympathize with our weaknesses (Heb. 4:15). 

 

3. THE OLD TESTAMENT PROPHESIED THAT THE SAVIOR, THE CHRIST, MUST BE A DESCENDANT OF DAVID.

One of the key points made in the Luke 3 genealogy is that Jesus is a descendant of David as is necessary of the Christ, the Davidic King. Here are some examples of such prophecies. 

 

2 Samuel 7:12-13: “When your days are fulfilled [David] and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.”

 

Psalm 89:20-27: “I have found David, my servant; with my holy oil I have anointed him, 21 so that my hand shall be established with him; my arm also shall strengthen him. 22 The enemy shall not outwit him; the wicked shall not humble him. 23 I will crush his foes before him and strike down those who hate him. 24 My faithfulness and my steadfast love shall be with him, and in my name shall his horn be exalted. 25 I will set his hand on the sea and his right hand on the rivers. 26 He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’ 27 And I will make him the firstborn….”

 

Jeremiah 33:17-21: “For thus says the Lord: David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, 18 and the Levitical priests shall never lack a man in my presence to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to make sacrifices forever…. Thus says the Lord: If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night will not come at their appointed time, then also my covenant with David my servant may be broken, so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and my covenant with the Levitical priests my ministers.”

 

Ezekiel 34:15, 23-24: “I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God…. And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. 24 And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the Lord; I have spoken.”

 

Ezekiel 37:24: “My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes.”

 

Joyfully Delighting In The God-Man And King With You!

 

Tom