Transcription downloaded from https://yetanothersermon.host/_/squamishbaptist/sermons/65554/jesus-life-before-ministry/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] Good morning, everyone. Please take your Bibles out and turn to Luke chapter 2. Luke chapter 2. If you are new or just returning, we are kind of in the opening phases of a sermon series on the life of Christ.

[0:19] The whole goal is to kind of put together the life that Jesus lived here on earth in human flesh as he walked among us.

[0:30] And we do this by harmonizing the gospel stories, kind of taking the different parts of the gospels, because as they tell a story, in case you did not know within each separate gospel, they're not chronological.

[0:45] Every writer had a specific purpose for bringing out the certain points that he did. But what we are going to do in this time is we're going to take a look at the different gospels and kind of fit them together.

[0:59] And there's a couple of reasons that we're doing this. One, and this is my primary motive, is that you would come to trust the gospels as the greatest source of information for the life of Christ.

[1:09] Amen? Now, that might sound a little bit silly. We have the Bible. This is what we believe. We believe it is the infallible, inerrant word of God, and it's true, which is indeed truth.

[1:19] But we have a world that wars against God's truth. And historians, scholars, and many people, and for some of you who have the high school kids who are ready to send them out in university, they are going to be under a barrage of attacks against God's word.

[1:38] So what I want you to see is, and I want you to have confidence, that these are real events lived out by real people in a real time. And we're going to see that Jesus Christ is both 100% God and 100% man.

[1:53] The second motivation, as we look into the humanity of Jesus and how he lived his life, is that you would come to know more of Jesus. You would come to understand the motivation for what he did.

[2:08] And I pray that ultimately this will lead to a greater adoration of Jesus Christ. That through this, we are going to see more of who he is understanding.

[2:21] I've only been preaching for about 13 to 15 years, I think. And the greatest study that I've ever had, the greatest sermon series, in my opinion, was the Gospel of Mark that I got to teach.

[2:34] This is kind of running number two in the level of excitement that I have in preparing this as I study and understand the history and culture, that there's some points that I actually have to redo in some of my old sermons because there was some just cultural and historical nuances that I missed out, that bring out so much more of who he is and what really was going on behind the scenes.

[3:00] Before I go any further and we get into this, I want to give you guys a warning. The warning is, I'd like to believe that these sermons, and I'm working hard, are going to be the most perfectly crafted and structured sermons that you're ever going to hear.

[3:16] That you're going to hear, well, there's one point, two points, three points. But as we deal with the narrative, it's not that simple. But what my goal is to shine the light of truth on different aspects.

[3:30] And I pray that as we do that, your affections for him will increase, regardless if there's three, five, or two points. Some sermons might just have one point.

[3:41] So if you leave here and someone says, man, the biggest complaint that I have about BK's sermon is the structure. It was really bad. And you who hear that can say, hey, he told you.

[3:52] All right? So don't expect 10 out of 10 on this structure. But I'm hoping that I'm going to be able to weave this story as we go through history, and it's going to become more real to you.

[4:06] So last week's sermons are going to give you a quick recap. And you can do so by turning to Luke chapter 2 with me. Luke chapter 2. If you remember, we looked a little bit at the birth of Jesus Christ.

[4:20] More importantly, we looked at the impact that the obedience of both Mary and Joseph received, that God gave them a command.

[4:31] Mary really didn't have much to say. Right? You're going to, the Spirit's going to come upon you. You're going to bear a son. And then Joseph needed God to intervene because he wanted to divorce her.

[4:43] He didn't want anything to do with a woman who's getting pregnant by someone else. And now she's telling him it's an angel. That's a tough pill to swallow. That God needed to intervene by an angel and saying, Hey, Joseph, this is how it happened.

[4:58] And I want you because out of the son is going to become the Savior of the world. But we see through that, that Joseph, desiring to protect his wife, perhaps we speculate those rejection by his family, that it was a better decision to move to Bethlehem, to be on our own between him and Mary.

[5:23] And then later we saw that they needed to escape to Egypt because of the wrath of Herod. And upon their return, their intent was to return to Bethlehem.

[5:33] But ultimately, because of more craziness in the Herod family, they went back home to Nazareth. So I wanted us to see what it would be like just in God calling them to obey.

[5:52] So this morning, before I get into the passage that Dave read, I want to call your attention to what I call three tender mercies of God or three sweet graces that God brings to Joseph and Mary all because they choose to obey Jesus Christ.

[6:16] You with me on that? Three graces that God, in his wonderful love and mercy, brings into their life to display this love as this young teenage couple makes this decision to bear this child.

[6:31] They're going to experience the rejection of the world, rejection of their friends, rejection of their family. But God doesn't leave them hanging. So let's take a look at Luke 2. And the first grace we're going to see is verse 8 to 20.

[6:45] Now you guys know this narrative as part of the Christmas story, but I believe there's so much more to this event and sometimes we miss the real beauty of this event.

[6:59] So remember, you have two teens. They're alone in Bethlehem. They have no family structure supporting them. They have no friends cheering them on.

[7:11] If you remember a couple of weeks ago, John the Baptist, the forerunner to Jesus Christ, when he arrived in this world, he arrived to great fanfare, celebration, family rejoiced.

[7:28] Elizabeth, who was barren, now can bear a son. There was much love poured out on this family. And now you have these two teens alone in a major about to give birth.

[7:40] And they're there because they chose to obey God. And I'm sure in that process, Joseph would have asked himself, did I really hear an angel speak to me?

[7:57] Was it true that they would have thought about these things? Is this what really happened? That he would have thought back on the words of the angel who told him that this little baby Jesus will save the people from their sins?

[8:18] But what God does to them is in this wonderful passage is a beautiful favor of grace. Let's take a look at verse 8. And in the same region, there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock by night.

[8:33] And if you're not familiar, Jerusalem is surrounded by hills and many flocks of sheep. And these sheep, primary purpose, are used for sacrifices in the temple. So ultimately, we have Jesus Christ, the ultimate Lamb of God, who's going to come, who's going to do away with the entire sacrificial system.

[8:52] But he's coming, and then there's these shepherds. And the shepherds were kind of the low end of society, the kind of guys that couldn't get work anywhere else or did not have any other skills, or they would have been young, kind of the runt of the family.

[9:07] Remember David? He's kind of the baby of the long family. His job to be out with the sheep. And it says, And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them.

[9:21] And they were filled with great fear. Remember, that's the theme we see in the presence of God. We see this theme of fear throughout the Gospels. When someone is in the presence of God, there is this sense of fear.

[9:35] And we all know what the Bible talks about is that the beginning of wisdom, right? Fear is the beginning of wisdom. And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

[9:52] For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.

[10:08] And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace among those with whom he is pleased.

[10:23] When the angels went away from them into the heavens, the shepherds said to one another, Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.

[10:36] And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.

[10:49] Just think about this. You're given birth. You're in there. You're in there. You've just gone through this arduous experience that, praise God, only women experience. And there's no one else that's there with them.

[11:03] But God, in his great glory and grace, brings this group. All of a sudden, it's like all these kids show up. These kind of pre-teen teens kind of come around.

[11:16] You know, what is this, a gang coming around, steal our only donkey? What's going on? But yet they come in and they share the wonderful story. And just think of how affirming that would have been to Joseph, who would have experienced the dream Mary nine months ago would have experienced that angel.

[11:34] And these people that they do not know just come and share this great glory of what they had seen. They would have been a part of that experience with them. And notice verse 18.

[11:46] And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. And it's not they're wondering what in the world are they talking about.

[11:56] They were filled with awe and astonishment at hearing the story that they experienced as well. So it's almost God does this to get rid of their doubts or their fears that they would have had on this day.

[12:09] And it says, But Mary, and this is we see this many times over in Luke. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.

[12:23] And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen as it had been told to them. My friends, there is joy in following after the Lord, is it not?

[12:38] Even in the midst when God calls us to do tough things, God is calling for willing obedience. But he doesn't leave us hanging with the cost of that obedience.

[12:51] And sometimes there is cost. But there's blessings that we see that God dispenses on his children. And I'm amazed that how many times Christmas morning was no easy morning for them.

[13:07] And God in his wonderful care for the servants provides this wonderful gift. To remind them that God is with them.

[13:21] How many of us, when we go through trials, that we know are hard, that God somehow brings these blessings.

[13:32] Whether it's a meal, a card, or encouragement. I believe one of the commands that we need to follow is like what Mary does.

[13:43] She ponders upon these things. Too often when we fixate on our own hardship and our own life that at that time seems miserable to us.

[13:57] We're missing the other blessings that God is bringing in. And I believe we need to follow this example of Mary to treasure up even these sweet blessings.

[14:08] It may not save us from that trial. And it might not be more than a soothing balm. But there's some power of God in that. That we have to remind ourselves to ponder upon that God isn't leaving us alone in this trial.

[14:25] Amen? He's always reaching in. He's always there for us. And that takes us to the second grace that I want you to see.

[14:37] So take a look later on verse 22, just a little bit down. So what's gone on now is Mary and Joseph, Jesus has been born. Mary would have been deemed unclean because of the birth of the child.

[14:50] So that means that she would have been unable to go into a temple or anything holy at that time. So that is why on the eighth day, the child, a baby born, gets circumcised.

[15:03] So they'll go down to the local rabbi who will circumcise. And that's where they will give him his name, Jesus. So that happens on the eighth day. Thirty-three days later, every Jewish family who's living in Israel, when they have a son, a firstborn son, they need to return to the temple in Jerusalem.

[15:27] No matter where they are in Israel, they are to go to Jerusalem. And what they're doing is they're presenting the son to the temple. And this tradition goes all the way back to the time of Moses.

[15:41] So we're going to read what happens here, and I'm going to explain to you the ins and outs. But there's a powerful message that is being sent here. So look at verse 22. And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses.

[15:58] Now it says their purification. It's also talking about Mary and Joseph, okay? According to the law of Moses, they brought him, that's Jesus, up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.

[16:12] As it is written in the law of the Lord, every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord. And remember, that echoes back to Moses being before Pharaoh.

[16:27] Remember the firstborns. The final judgment was going to come on Egypt. And if you would put the blood of a lamb over your home, the angel of death, when he passed over, would survive.

[16:41] And after that, God said to his people, Your firstborn sons belong to me now. Because of me and the blessings that I have given you, they belong to me.

[16:54] And we see this in the Levitical priesthood. If you were part of Aaron's line or a Levitical priest, your firstborn son's duty for the rest of his life was to serve in the temple.

[17:07] So that firstborn is consecrated to God. So here's Jesus Christ, born to Joseph Mary, first son. They're going up into the temple, and they're offering this to God.

[17:21] So notice what it says. And to offer a sacrifice, and this is the purification part, according to what is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons.

[17:36] So what I'm saying is, so there's coming, they're offering this child. Now what we're not seeing here, but that's explained later on in Numbers 18, is when they're presenting Jesus, they're also supposed to give a sacrifice when they're presenting him to the Lord.

[17:56] The command is to give a lamb, which is worth about five shekels. And when they do that, they're actually buying back the baby for the lamb.

[18:09] You with me on this? So the process of your firstborn son is always to be given to God. But because you're not of the Levitical priesthood, you can buy back your child for a lamb.

[18:23] Now for you guys who know the story of Jesus Christ, the foreshadowing is amazing on this, right? Because that is what God is going to be doing for us. He's going to be buying us back from the wrath of God with his life.

[18:37] So at the beginning we see this life of Jesus being given over to God, and then Joseph and Mary buy him back, according to tradition, for this lamb. Now what's interesting is it says there's these pigeons and turtle doves.

[18:53] What it indicates to us is that Joseph and Mary did not even have enough money to pay for a lamb. So the smallest gift that you were able to give was a turtle dove or pigeon.

[19:09] You give two of them. The first was the offering to God to buy back your child. The second was the sin offering. That's the purification.

[19:20] So Jesus, who will be the ultimate lamb of God, will be this foreshadowing of redeeming his people from God's wrath. And this is what happens here in the temple.

[19:33] And here we experience this wonderful grace of God. Take a look at verse 25. So that's what's going on. That's the machination. Giving Jesus, giving for the burnt offering, giving for the purification of their sins.

[19:47] And then there's this story of this man and this woman who come into play here. Verse 25. Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.

[20:02] And this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel. And the Holy Spirit was upon him. This is a very important, it gives us a picture into the messianic expectations.

[20:20] That people were actually waiting in the temple for the Messiah to eventually come. And in this passage we meet Simeon and we meet Anna.

[20:30] Verse 26. And in that end, it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

[20:43] And he came in the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law, he took him up in the arms and blessed God and said, Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word.

[21:03] For my eyes have seen your salvation, that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.

[21:15] And his father, that is Joseph and his mother Mary, marveled at what was said about Jesus. Notice once again the word marveled.

[21:30] The world needs to be astonished. What we're seeing here, it's two people wondering in wonder or marvel at the incredible work and the encouragement that God is bringing his servant children to encourage them in their role.

[21:52] Now what's incredible about this passage, and as I've said earlier, is it pictures what Jesus Christ will eventually accomplish on the cross for us.

[22:05] The price for us is our lives. Why? Because we know since the time of Adam, you and I, young and old, everyone here is marred by sin.

[22:20] And each and everyone deserves the rightful wrath that our sin has caused. In case you wonder, we look today at this world, what plagues the world.

[22:31] We read the social unrest. We see the destruction of this planet. We see the disease. These are all born out of sin.

[22:43] These are all born out of man's rebellion against God. God had instructed us how to live. As creator, he had every right to do so.

[22:55] But we said, hey, God, I think I can do this better. I think if I do things my way, things will work better for this guy.

[23:06] And we did. We went on our own. And destruction soon followed. The question I have for you, what destruction from your life has been born in this world?

[23:25] Perhaps it's broken relationships. Perhaps it's overabundance of greed for money. Maybe you're someone here who's trapped in a slave to lust.

[23:40] If God could lay your life bare before us, would you allow him to? Or would you be too shameful to allow that to happen?

[23:55] That is the brokenness that we offer God. That's the best sacrifice we can give. Broken, ruined lives.

[24:07] Jesus Christ in Mark 8.34 says, Jesus said that if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

[24:19] For whoever would save his life would lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospels will save it.

[24:31] That is what God asked of Joseph and Mary 2,000 years ago. Would you give up your life for me? For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?

[24:55] What about you? Are you willing to lose your life for Jesus Christ? Are you willing to bear the cross for Jesus Christ?

[25:11] Are you willing to deny yourself as Mary and Joseph did 2,000 years ago? Are you feeling tired?

[25:26] Because you've been working so hard to earn your life back, but cannot? You see, the promise that God gives us is the consequences for going our own way, is the wrath of God.

[25:47] It is eternal torment. It is destruction. Simply put, it is called hell. The Bible clearly teaches that we all have sinned and have gone astray and deserve the right and just punishment that God gives us.

[26:08] And the truth of the matter is, no matter how hard this world tries to deny this truth, they know it. deep down in every fiber of their being, they know that they are in rebellion to the Creator.

[26:26] But there's good news. The good news is that your eternal destiny can change right here, right now. It begins with simply accepting the truth that you are lost, and the only hope that you have is found in Jesus Christ.

[26:46] The only hope you have to make your life right again is through the power of Jesus Christ. The debt that you owe God is something you can never repay.

[26:58] But God, Jesus Christ, offers to pay that debt for you with the free gift of salvation that only begins with simply the faith to believe in Jesus Christ, that He is indeed willing and capable to save you from your sin and the punishment of hell.

[27:22] If this is something that interests you, it's very simple to do. It begins with, Lord, I confess to you my sins.

[27:35] It's, Lord, I ask for forgiveness for the rebellion I have wrought and the destruction I have brought on my life for living the way I choose.

[27:45] It is admitting to God that there is no salvation outside of Jesus Christ. And today, on this day, I choose Jesus.

[28:01] There's nothing more to do. That is the road to salvation. That is through the narrow gate. It's to choose Jesus and deny yourself.

[28:13] That is what occurred on that day in the temple 2,000 years ago.

[28:24] Jesus went in on that cross saying, I am willing to pay that price for you. So we see the first grace seeing in these shepherds appearing to Joseph and Mary on that Christmas day, telling them about the works of God.

[28:42] You have the second grace of Joseph and Mary being obedient, going to the temple and God. And we see this wonderful picture and this godly man and woman coming to them and telling them about what will happen in the encouragement.

[28:56] And the third grace that I want us to focus at is found in Matthew. Matthew 2, 9. It's another story you're all familiar with. It's the appearance of the three wise men.

[29:07] It's the appearance of the three wise men. Verse 9 of Matthew 2 simply says, after listening to the king, so the wise men get this sign.

[29:20] They're looking for the Messiah. There's a star in the sky. They march off. They come to Jerusalem, which is the capital of Israel. And what do they do? They go to the throne room, which is Herod's.

[29:31] And they say, hey listen, we're here to meet the king of the Jews. And imagine what Herod's response would it be. Hey, what am I, chopped liver? I'm the king of the Jews, right?

[29:43] But he keeps it quiet and he says, after they listen to the king, he gives them their pitch. Hey, come and tell me about him so I can go worship him. It says, they went on their way and behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was.

[30:00] When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. Going into the house, they saw the child with Mary, his mother. They fell down and worshipped him.

[30:13] Then opening their treasure, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. There is much speculation as to who these men were and how many were with him.

[30:26] One of the best arguments that I've ever seen is that these men were indeed Babylonians. That they were spiritual ancestors of Daniel. If you remember in Daniel chapter 2, the king Nebuchadnezzar had this dream and he called his magi, the wise men, please interpret this dream.

[30:46] If you don't do it, I'm going to kill you all. The wise men said, hey, why don't you tell me the dream and we'll tell you what it is. And he said, no, no, no. The king said, you tell me what my dream was if you're really a magi or really wise person and tell me what it means.

[31:00] It turned out there was only one person in the kingdom that could do that and that was Daniel and he saved all their lives. Do you not think that Daniel earned a little bit of favor in the kingdom that day?

[31:15] Right? The wise people, and they would have seen Daniel over and over as prophecies come in true. And the most prophecies that we have about the birth of Jesus Christ are found, guess where?

[31:27] By Daniel. So I think it's pretty reasonable to believe that these men would have been scholars of the text of Daniel waiting for the time when the Messiah would come. So on this day, they would have showed up with an entourage because they would have traveled many miles, they would have had guards with them to protect them, and they would have knocked at the door.

[31:51] Joseph and Mary once again encouraged in their act of obedience that these men actually represent those outside the covenant promises of Abraham who will be redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.

[32:06] We do not know when these wise men showed up. We know it would have been at least 41 days to two years after the time of birth. And remember the grace that God gives them.

[32:19] Last week we read that Joseph needed to escape to Egypt to save his child's life. A few minutes ago I read to you in the temple to offer sacrifice, one of the most important sacrifices that you would ever give.

[32:37] They only had the means of giving a pigeon. If Joseph, God, asked Joseph, all right, you need to go to Egypt now, how?

[32:49] I don't have the means. In fact, when I went to the temple, God, you know, the only offering I could give you was a pigeon and turtle dove. That's all we got.

[33:00] We've got nothing. There's no family. There's no support system. There's no welfare down at the local social community center. But where God guides, God provides.

[33:14] Amen? And he shows up and now guess who's got some traveling money? And that's a sweet mercy. And we might not think that that's a big deal. That's actually an incredibly big deal to those who are being obedient in God.

[33:28] They have a need and they meet it. I really believe that there are a lot of difficult things we will be called to in as believers in Jesus Christ.

[33:40] Last week, I mentioned in the sermon that much counseling happens when we try to marry Christ with the world. We know that God has given us a calling and we know in our disbelief we can't really do it.

[33:56] So we ask or we do certain things to make it happen. And we see it throughout the pages of scripture. Abraham, right? God tells him, I'm going to give you a child that will become the father of many nations through your wife Sarah.

[34:14] Years waiting, waiting, waiting. Oh, Sarah's got a great idea. How about I take her handmaiden into my bed and have a child?

[34:25] That'll work out great. What has it been? 4,000, 5,000 years we still have a battle in Israel over that one decision? It happens time and again over and over, over.

[34:40] It's a wonderful reminder in Hebrews 12, 1, which tells us that there's not just sin that trips us up, but there's life that trips us up.

[34:51] Decisions which we may see as good and godly only distract us from what God has called us. Too often, I've seen even good things like family, career, financial decisions cloud the lives of believers because they chose to go it their way rather than trusting on God.

[35:13] my friends, if there's anything that I want you to understand from these three blessings, obedience is costly, but God is there to pay the way.

[35:28] He will encourage you. He will strengthen you. And if you're a child of the king, you can know without a doubt that God will be there in that obedience.

[35:38] obedience. All right, so now I want to transition. Those are the three graces and those really spoke to me this week that I didn't want to rob you of in those observations.

[35:50] But I want to get to the text that Dave wrote, read to you. And we're going to look at very briefly the life of ministry that Jesus Christ had or the life that he lived before his time of ministry.

[36:02] As you all know, Jesus Christ returns, he's born, he's raised in Nazareth and this story that Dave read is actually the only story we have about Jesus Christ before he got baptized by John the Baptist.

[36:19] There's no other story. So today, I just want to give to you a few thoughts, understandings that we're able to take out at different parts of the scripture which kind of give us a picture of who Jesus Christ was before he embarked on his ministry.

[36:34] Now notice Luke 2, verse 51. Dave had read the original passage but in verse 51 it says, he went down, that's Jesus went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them.

[36:48] So Jesus Christ, son of God, as a child growing up, showing wisdom, discernment, Luke goes to tell us that he was submissive to him.

[36:59] And his mother again treasured up all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in statue and favor with God and man.

[37:11] So what do we know about the youth of Jesus Christ? There's one passage that I want to read to you which I think tells us something. But I'm going to tell you some things that we can deduce from scripture.

[37:23] One, we know that Jesus Christ was raised by a mother and father who were very pious, law-abiding Jews who did what was required.

[37:34] Amen? He was born into a godly family. We get that without a doubt. Even when we take Mary's Magnificat which she had her prayer before God when it was announced to her that she would be the mother of the Savior of the world.

[37:50] There is deep theology in that. That tells us Mary was a student of God's word. Amen? Moms, you want to be fruitful? Be a student of God's word.

[38:02] Bring God's word to bear on your children's life. Two, they virtually lived their entire life in Nazareth. Although Joseph wanted to go to Bethlehem, God shifted his decision in Nazareth and that's where Jesus lived.

[38:18] Three, we know that Jesus had at least six siblings. Four brothers named Simon, Judas, James, and Jude and two sisters. This is what Matthew 13 tells us.

[38:31] We also know that they did not become believers of Jesus Christ until after he died. Fourth thing we know, and some of you parents might not be excited to hear this, but Jesus lived at home until he was about 30 years of age.

[38:45] All right? That he stayed submissive to his parents. We do know that Joseph died somewhere between 12 years and 30 years of age and we know and understand and we're going to look at that in John where Jesus becomes the head of the household where he's starting to make decisions and taking that responsibility in the home protecting his wife, his mother, and his siblings.

[39:12] What do we know about the land? The land which Jesus will begin to minister to and believe it or not, Galilee had over 3 million people. This wasn't some small country bumpkin town where you had to drive miles and miles just to meet 10 million, 10 people.

[39:29] There was over 3 million residents. We had two major highways going through. Trade was a big industry, especially in the Sea of Galilee. Fish would have been a primary mover at the time in farming and the language that Jesus Christ would have spoke with one, Hebrew, that is the language of the synagogue.

[39:49] That is the language that he used when they read the texts of the scrolls of the prophets. Two, he would have known Aramaic. That was the spoken language and that language came when they came back from Babylon.

[40:01] And three, the business language of the day was Greek. So we believe that Jesus Christ was a more than, he wasn't a poor businessman.

[40:12] We believe that he worked as the Bible says the word carpenter, Greeks actually tradesmen. Some people believe he could have actually been a stone cutter. Doesn't really matter. We know that he worked with his hands, took after his father's profession.

[40:25] So he would have spoken Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic. But there's this interesting text that tells us a little bit more insight into the youth of Jesus. So take a look at Luke 4.

[40:36] Luke 4. Now the passage that I'm about to read to you, it happens after Jesus was baptized. Jesus was in the wilderness where he was tempted.

[40:50] We're going to go back and cover that. And we also know that Jesus had already begun his ministry and he's calling people to him. But we also realize that he had moved from Nazareth to Capernaum just before he begins his public ministry.

[41:04] But he returns back to Nazareth, his former hometown. And take a look at verse 4, chapter 4, verse 16.

[41:16] And it reads, And he, Jesus, came to Nazareth where he had been brought up. So the setting is Nazareth where he had spent virtually all his life.

[41:28] So here he is visiting. He goes back to the temple and he is invited to speak. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day.

[41:40] And he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He enrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written. And Jesus is going to read to them a passage out of Isaiah which is probably the most clearest messianic passage in all of the Old Testament.

[42:00] The spirit of the Lord is upon me. Because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and the recovering of sight to the blind and to set at liberty those who are oppressed to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

[42:23] Verse 20. He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. Now it says, And all the eyes of all the synagogue were fixed on him because it would have been the time for him to preach a sermon at that point.

[42:38] So they're waiting with anticipation. What is Jesus going to say? And he begun to say to them, Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.

[42:52] Now notice verse 22. And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth.

[43:04] And they said, Is not this Joseph's son? So what is the point that I want to make here?

[43:17] What do we know about Jesus as a boy as a teenager? This is a town where he lived for virtually 30 years of his life.

[43:28] These were the people who knew his parents. They knew the ins and outs. He's at synagogue weekly. And their response when they simply said, Is not this Joseph's son?

[43:42] Is a simple statement of he was just a regular boy. Do you get what I'm saying here? Jesus lived his whole life until his ministry as a regular boy.

[43:57] A regular Jewish boy who grew up with other Who? Oh. Oh. Ah.

[44:28] so Jesus would have grown up as a regular boy, done little boy stuff. It's interesting that there's the false narrative of these gospels, and just in case you did not know, there's other books that have been written that said that Jesus Christ actually did all sorts of miracles. He turned clay, he'd make clay birds out of clay and clap his hands and turn him into real birds. There's stories that a child once bumped into Jesus and Jesus killed him.

[45:03] There's another story that one child is bothering Jesus and playing with Jesus' toys, so Jesus says don't do that again, and the guy, the little boy, withers away. In this story it says the neighbors are actually horrified at this point of this little boy Jesus, who's five-year-old, who's causing such mayhem in the world, that they insist that Joseph teach Jesus to bless people rather than curse them.

[45:30] And guess what? Those people who told Joseph to do that, Jesus blinded them, right? They create like it's some kind of crazy horse or, those are heretic stories, right? They're just so wrong and at the, they're evil. They're nonsense. The fact of the matter is the biblical testimony is that Jesus didn't stand out as anything but human. Human that was indeed unfallen. That he was not corrupted or crippled by a sin nature. In fact, one writer makes this comment that I thought was very profound, is he would have been like Adam. And that Adam had no sin when he was created. It would have been outside of sin. There would have been no sin inside. But as we knew, Adam fell into disobedience.

[46:31] This tells us the purpose of why Jesus has to live the entire life that he did as a human being. So he is known as the last Adam. The fact of the matter is that no sin would he commit.

[46:47] And the point that I'm trying to make here is Jesus Christ is not God pretending to be man. You know what I mean by that? Remember the Clark Kent allusion I used to Superman? Clark Kent used to dress up as Clark, Superman used to dress up as Clark Kent, put on the glasses, and apparently no one would know he was Superman. That's not Jesus. He's not acting in a certain way. He's not creating an illusion that nobody will see that I am God. Jesus Christ is living as a human being.

[47:19] But he's given himself these limitations. But what is the one thing that all humans do? Verse 52 of what Dave read, and Jesus increased in wisdom and in statue. We learn, amen, that God, Jesus, would have been born and he would have learned as he went. He would have been trained by his mother in the home.

[47:43] At 12 years of age, he would have gone to school in the synagogues. He would have learned there again. He would have learned through his mom. Like I said, she was thoughtful, sober-minded, and she was just knowledgeable of God's word. And he would have understood those things and taken them.

[48:03] So go back to the passage. He's in the temple. For the first time, he gets to go to Jerusalem with his parents. And he sees a lamb being sacrificed in the temple.

[48:20] The question to ask is, did Jesus Christ understand at that age, at 12, that he would have been the ultimate sacrifice for all of mankind?

[48:42] Did Jesus Christ have understanding that he was going to be the end of that system? In Jesus' response to his parents, what we see in Jesus Christ at the age of 12 is a young boy gripped by a desire for the word of his heavenly father.

[49:02] We see a young boy gripped by the dedication to the word of the heavenly father. And three, we see a young boy gripped by a devotion to the will of his heavenly father. And before he's called into ministry, he humbly submits to his mother and father for the next 18 years of his life.

[49:22] And what's interesting is that Jesus will wait patiently until he decides to get baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan. And that will begin his public ministry, which we will cover next week.

[49:35] Let's pray. Dear holy heavenly father, I know I'm dumping on a lot of information on us here this morning, oh God, but I pray that you would use it to bring clarity, to answer questions that we may have.

[49:49] That we may take joy in understanding what you did for us. May we take understanding of how important it was for you to live as a human being, not hiding your Godhead, but demonstrating your humanity to us.

[50:11] That in that humanity, you had to live that life for us to be saved. There would have been no salvation to us had you not done so.

[50:25] For you to be the perfect mediator, you had to be perfectly God and perfectly man. And as we read these small hints into the life before your ministry, we read that you were submissive, obedient.

[50:43] You were curious after the things of the Lord and you wanted to know them. You showed an ability to learn, to grow. All the things that we can do.

[50:58] Father, we thank you for humbling yourself, not just to die on the cross for our sins, but to live your life as a boy in a town 2,000 years ago and go through all the situations of losing a parent.

[51:22] Having your brothers and sisters not completely trust you or believe you. To experience the loneliness. Experiencing a church type of gathering for 30 years where you're ministered to and as soon as you announce the truth, they try to kill you.

[51:48] Oh, how great are you, Lord. Father, may we give thanks. May we prepare our hearts for this time of communion as we just come to this worship song. May we think of these words and think of what it means to be following you in this way of being obedient to you and turning her back and denying self.

[52:08]  We ask these things in your name. Amen.