Series: Luke: Following the World Changer (Week 1 of 3)
Dr. Woodrow Kroll
November 5, 2009

Woodrow Kroll: No doubts. No question about it: Jesus is the Savior. Still want some proof? We've got plenty of it here today on Back to the Bible. Hi, I'm Woodrow Kroll.

Tami Weissert: And I'm Tami Weissert. Thanks for joining us. You know, Dr. Kroll, you just mentioned proof for Jesus as Savior, and I was thinking, if people are wondering who Jesus is, then they have tuned in at the right time because we're here in Luke, and that book really lays that out, who Jesus is.

Woodrow Kroll: Yeah, Luke is very, very precise; he is a scientist, he is a physician. But today he's going to lay out the genealogy of Jesus. And that even in itself will be a proof of who Jesus is.

Tami Weissert: Right, you're talking about all those names and lists of people that we kind of shy over or skip away from when we're reading (laughing)?

Woodrow Kroll: Yep, that's the ones, but there's a purpose for all of this.

Tami Weissert: OK, then, let's hear it.

Woodrow Kroll: (Laughing) Well, the purpose is to show that Jesus is actually in the line of David, and therefore, actually can sit upon the throne of David.

Not only is the genealogy important, though, but in this passage we're going to look at today, God actually claims who Jesus is. So you've got the list of all those names, the genealogy, and you've got God speaking out of heaven. You want proof? You're going to get it today here on Back to the Bible.

Woodrow Kroll: Well in our study of Luke, we continue to see that Luke has a penchant for details. This is a man that wants us to know the truth, and he wants to show us we can actually believe the truth.

So as we get to chapter 3 today, Luke 3:1-2, again, we are seeing the kinds of details you expect a scientist to present to us like we did the other day.

There's a cast of characters here; let me just kind of buzz through them. They are important although your life may not turn on a dime on these people. But look at Luke 3:1.

"Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, Annas and Caiaphas were high priests . . . " My word!

I would have believed him if he had just said, "fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar." But he has this incredible need to say, "Look, if you want to believe the Bible is inaccurate, historically, you have to do it at your own ignorance. Because I am going to present to you way more detail than you ever needed to know."

Let's look at some of these people. Again, Tiberius Caesar is the Emperor of Rome. He rules from A.D. 14 to A.D. 37, so he is during the lifetime of the Lord Jesus.

Pontius Pilate here is a Roman governor, a prefect. His province is Judea. That's the lower part of the country where Jerusalem is. He is the governor from A.D. 26 to A.D. 36.

Then he mentions Herod the tetrarch of Galilee. This is Herod Antipas. He's the ruler of Galilee. He is the half brother of Philip. They were both sons of Herod the Great. Herod the Great died 4 B.C. Now these sons have taken over.

Herod the tetrarch is the tetrarch of Galilee. So here we have Pontius Pilate in Judea, the south; Herod the tetrarch in Galilee, the north. And then notice also Philip the tetrarch of Iturea and Trachonitis; two places we don't hear very much from. They are north of Galilee. He was the tetrarch during the time of Jesus' birth essentially and all the way to A.D. 33 or A.D. 34.

And then, finally, Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene. That's a region that is north of everything we've said so far. It's way, way up there. So it's kind of on the fringe; that makes him less important person than you might understand.

So we have Philip, we have Pilate, we have Lysanias, apparently all sharing equal power in governing for the Roman empire. But then we have, verse 2, Annas and Caiaphas.

Annas was the high priest. Caiaphas was his son-in-law. Now under Jewish law, the high priest, you could only have one high priest at a time. So there weren't co-high priests.

Apparently this man, Annas, who was from Aaron's line was appointed as high priest, and did something that upset the Roman empire. So the Romans, the authorities, deposed him as high priest.

But because he's in the line of Aaron, his sons took over. And he passes through five sons who become high priests after him, runs out of sons, and so Caiaphas, his son-in-law now becomes the high priest.

So Caiaphas is the high priest when Jesus is crucified. Annas really still has a lot of power, though. Enter at this point another person. Let me continue to read, verse 2, "Annas and Caiaphas being high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness" (Luke 3:2, NKJV).

Now at this point, John the Baptist is introduced to us. We've heard of Zacharias before, his father, back in chapter 1. We know something about Elizabeth, his mother, back in chapter 1. We've encountered this cast of characters here in the Roman empire before several times.

Now Luke is going to zero in on the life and the ministry of this preacher of repentance. There had never been a prophet like this man before. In fact, remember it has been 400 years since Israel has had any prophet at all.

The last prophet of the Old Testament, 400 years before this, so this is new stuff for them. And they're very happy to hear a prophet just saying the Word of the Lord. That's something these people had never heard in their life times because it's been 400 years.

So they all rush out to hear John the Baptist. They go out; he's in the wilderness and that's a little kooky in itself. He's kind of a funny dresser, that's got its own thing.

But he preaches a message of repentance to them. He's a little tough here in his message, so let's see what the message is, verse 4.

"As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying: 'The voice of one crying in the wilderness: "Prepare the way of the LORD, make His paths straight. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill brought low; and the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God"'" (Luke 3:4-6, NKJV).

That's a description of John the Baptist.

Now when you look at this man, his arrival is right on the heels of the 80th verse of chapter 1. Put your hand there and go back with me. Go back to chapter 1, the very last verse, "So the child grew and became strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his manifestation to Israel."

Chapter 3, verse 1: "Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius," it just picks up the story. Luke 2, the story of the birth of the Lord Jesus to set up how Jesus gets into chapter 3 with John.

So he's got a message here, and the message is pretty tough, verse 7 of chapter 3. This is John the Baptist's message to the religious leaders who have come out in curiosity to see him. "Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, 'Brood of vipers!'" (Luke 3:7, NKJV).

Well, there's how to win friends and influence people (laughter). You lousy bunch of snakes!

"'Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, "We have Abraham as our father." For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones'" (Luke 3:7-8, NKJV).

"You think you're pretty important? If God wanted to, He'd take some of these rocks and make the children of Abraham. You are nothing with regard to Abraham" (paraphrase).

And then verse 9, "'And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire'" (Luke 3:9, NKJV).

If you were a religious leader, and you had gone out and heard John the Baptist deliver this message, I think you'd probably get the point, he's talking about you.

You've been carrying on this religious thing in Jerusalem all these years. It's been 400 years since a prophet arises. A prophet then speaks up and says, "You guys are dead wood. God doesn't need you. He could raise up children of the stones to Abraham. You're ready to be thrown into the fire."

That's a pretty tough message. But skip down a few verses. John clearly has a problem here because people don't know who he is. Verse 15, "Now as the people were in expectation, and all reasoned in their hearts about John, whether he was the Christ or not, John answered, saying to them all, 'I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge [clean out] His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire'" (Luke 3:15-17, NKJV).

And with many other exhortations he preached to the people."

I really admire John the Baptist. Not that he's Baptist; there were no denominations in those days. I admire John the Baptist because he was not afraid to say to the religious establishment, "Look, there's bad news, and I'm not it. There's bad news, but there's Someone coming who's going to lay more bad news on you than I could ever lay on you."

But he also says, "There's Someone coming who will provide for you what I can never provide. He'll provide salvation. I'm just telling you look, because He's on His way."

And with that and with other things, John unfortunately has a run-in with the law here. Look at this, verse 19: "But Herod the tetrarch, being rebuked by him [by John the Baptist] concerning Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, also added this, above all, that he shut John up in prison" (Luke 3:19-20, NKJV).

Well here's poor John. He's the first prophet in 400 years. He's not even in Jerusalem causing trouble; he's out at the River Jordan. People have to go to him to find trouble.

And he finds it. And because he points out the incest in the Herodian family, Herod puts him in jail and finally has him killed.

Well, John here is talking about Jesus. But he really hasn't said a great deal yet of Jesus. So when I come back, I want to focus on the message, how do we know that Jesus is the Savior?

Without question, how do we know from Luke 3, how can we prove that Jesus is the world-changer He claims to be? I'll be right back to do that.

Tami Weissert: You're listening to Bible teacher, Woodrow Kroll, here on Back to the Bible.

Hey, Tami Weissert here. You know, Dr. Kroll's brand new printed study guide on Luke is available to order today. It's called Luke: Glory to God in the Highest and it will really help you soak in all there is to learn from Luke's account of Jesus' life. That's just the beginning, because once you take it in, the Holy Spirit will help you live it out.

So make today the day you order Luke: Glory to God in the Highest. Just give us a call at 1-800-759-2425. And before I forget, you may have already received your free 2010 Scripture calendar. But if not, be sure to ask for one. And if you'd like additional copies, they're also available for purchase. We have a limited quantity so don't delay.

Woodrow Kroll: First of all, we see it in the message of John the Baptist. Look back just a few verses. People gather around him, verse 16. John answers them and says, "I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire."

Now listen, baptizing someone in water in the Jordan River is pretty easy compared to baptizing someone with the Holy Spirit and fire. And what John wants them to see here is this: that John's message is not about himself. John's message is about the Lord Jesus Who is coming. And in just a day or two, he's going to introduce the Lord Jesus.

So Jesus comes and He presents Himself to John for baptism. And John doesn't want to baptize Jesus. He feels a little strange baptizing the One he knows to be the Son of God. But Jesus nonetheless insists that He be baptized. So look at verse 21.

"When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, 'You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased'" (Luke 21-22, NKJV).

Now, it doesn't actually here in Luke 3 record John baptizing Jesus. If you read Matthew 3:13-17, you would see the actual story. It just references it here.

Jesus submits Himself to baptism even though baptism for John meant you repent of your sins and you make a clean break with your past. Jesus doesn't have any sin to repent for. So why does He submit Himself to baptism?

Well let me just say right at the outset, I don't know. If you were asking me to speculate, I would speculate that He did this because this is the perfect inauguration of His public ministry; this is it right here. "Behold, the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world."

So Jesus submits Himself to baptism. I think it showed support for John the Baptist and what he was doing. Notice Jesus doesn't actually admit sin here because He has no sin to admit to.

But He also gives us an example to follow. You know, if Jesus submitted to baptism and He was sinless, there's no reason for me to think I should not submit to this same rite of the Church.

So, number one, the very fact that Jesus is mightier than John, and John has the Holy Spirit of God and there's never been anyone like John born of a woman--the very fact that Jesus is better than that, higher than that, more than that, shows me that He's the world-changer. Not John; but Jesus.

And then if you noticed here, while Jesus was being baptized, the Holy Spirit comes out of heaven in the form of a dove and lands on His shoulder and Jesus comes up out of the water and the heavens are opened, the Spirit of God speaks here; there's a voice that comes out of heaven.

And that voice coming out of heaven is an affirmation of who Jesus is. It says, "You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased."

Now did you ever hear a voice you didn't know the origin of that voice, and it was loud and it was booming and it was personal? I'm not talking about hearing voices now, I'm talking about when you were college in the dorm, someone was really wanting to scare you, and they hid under your bed, and just about the time you were to fall asleep, they called your name.

That's the kind of occasion I'm talking about here. Jesus comes out of the water. Everyone has seen Him submit to John the Baptist, and John the Baptist has admitted that He's greater than John. Now, they hear a voice from heaven; they see a dove come out of heaven.

They hear a voice from heaven and the voice actually says, "You are My beloved Son." That's a perfect ID for Jesus. He says, "I'm very happy with what You're doing."

I think this is why Jesus begins His ministry right here. It's the perfect place to do it. It begins with John the Baptist message and He carries that message on further. It begins with the Holy Spirit of God and the voice of God saying, this is Jesus.

This is really Jesus' royal anointing before the world. It doesn't make Him God; He always was God. It doesn't make Him man; it doesn't make Him the Savior. He is all those things. It simply announces to the watching world "This is the world-changer. This is a very special Person."

By the way, when God speaks here, He's actually quoting from two passages in the Old Testament: from Psalm 2:7 and again from Isaiah 42:1.

Psalm 2:7 (NKJV) says, "The Lord has said to Me, 'You are My Son; today I have begotten You.'"

And Isaiah 42:1 (NKJV), "Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him . . . " Old Testament prophecy being fulfilled on Jesus.

So how do I know this is the world-changer? Number one, John the Baptist says, "This One is mightier than I." Number two, God says from heaven, "This One is My Son, and I am well-pleased."

And then I get to the third thing that I see here in Luke 3, and granted it's not quite as interesting as some of the other things. Let me just read to you a portion of Luke 3:23; follow along in your Bible.

"Now Jesus Himself began His ministry at about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, the son of Heli, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi . . . " (Luke 3:23-24, NKJV).

Let me just kind of hang on here. If you notice what follows is the genealogy of Jesus in the Book of Luke. And if you look at the last verse of Luke 3, "The son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God" (Luke 3:38, NKJV).

This genealogy is traced all the back to Adam. The genealogy we find in Matthew 1 traced only back to Abraham, for good reason. Matthew is writing to Jewish people. It only matters that Jesus' genealogy go back to Abraham because Father Abraham is the head of [their] nation.

Luke is writing to Gentile people. It matters to them that Jesus can trace His genealogy all the way back to Adam. And here's what's important about this: In the genealogy of the Lord Jesus, you have connect-the-dots physically all the way back to God.

In the baptism of the Lord Jesus, you have connect-the-dots with regard to deity all the way back to God. And in the announcement that Jesus is coming and He's better, more qualified than John the Baptist, you have the connect-the-dots horizontally to all the people of the world.

So what do we have here? Well, whether you read Matthew or Luke, whether you read the genealogies of Jesus or read what John has to say to Him or listen to the voice of God out of heaven, you have to come to the same conclusion by the time you finish chapter 3 of Luke, and that is: Jesus is who He claims to be.

He is the Savior of the world. He is the world-changer. Not even John the Baptist is like Jesus. Well, we'll think more about this very unique Person in just a minute as we continue our broad cast today.

Tami Weissert: You're listening to Back to the Bible with Bible teacher, Woodrow Kroll.

Hi, Tami Weissert here. Now isn't Luke's orderly account amazing? His detailed writings tell us so much about Christ. So keep listening. And to help you soak in this study even more, why not order Dr. Kroll's new study guide. It's called Luke: Glory to God in the Highest.

Now it's just a great addition to all we are learning in this series. Let me tell you a little more about it. First of all, Dr. Kroll wanted this study guide to be convenient. That's why we've included the scripture passages in the lessons. That way you can just grab it and go.

Now each lesson starts with a Bible passage followed by background details and biblical insight, then questions, important questions--the type that help you consider and then apply God's Word to your life. So remember, Luke: Glory to God in the Highest, Dr. Kroll's latest study guide. To order it right now, you can go to backtothebible.org. Or we'd love it if you'd call us. The number is 1-800-759-2425. Now, let's get back to our study.

Well, Dr. Kroll, I'm going to recap a little bit what you just said, because I really like the three things that you pointed out that show us that Jesus is who He claims to be.

We talked about John the Baptist's message. He's saying, "This is the Lamb of God"; God saying, "This is My Son"; and then we see the genealogy. Now for somebody that's maybe watching or listening today, and maybe this is the first time that it's clicked for them that this really truly is, Jesus is the Son of God, the Savior of the world. What do you say to them?

Woodrow Kroll: The real question is not, Can I prove that Jesus is the Son of God. The real question is, Since I believe Jesus is the Son of God, what does that mean for me? And that's the question you need to ask.

OK, Jesus is God; He is everything He claims to be. Luke goes out of his way to present enough detail for you to believe that Jesus died for your sins to pay the penalty for your sins.

The question is What do you do about that? The answer is well, to pay for your sins, there's nothing you can do. But that's the bad news part of the good news/bad news.

The good news is Jesus did for you everything that needs to be done. See when He died on the cross as a perfect sacrifice, the Son of God Himself, He paid the penalty for your sin.

Now it's not what God asks you to do, it's what God asks you to believe what Jesus did. If you believe that what Jesus did when He paid the penalty for you at the cross of Calvary is all that God required for your salvation. If you believe Jesus did it for you, and you ask Him to save you, He'll do it.

Now we'd be delighted to help you through this process. You can call us; you can email us; you can come to our Web site: backtothebible.org. However you contact, we have a chaplain here be delighted to talk with you. However you wanted to contact us, if you're working through that process in your life right now, take note of the address; take note of the email account.

Take note of where we are on the Web, and get in touch with us because for you to believe personally that Jesus died for you and paid the penalty for your sin means that Jesus isn't just the world-changer, He's your world-changer.

Tami Weissert: Thank you for that. Tomorrow we're pushing on into Luke; we're into chapter 4, I believe. And we're looking at the temptation of Christ which is a really, really good passage.

Woodrow Kroll: Yeah, Luke 4, everybody knows are the three temptations of Christ that Satan puts on Him. It's kind of like the old watch commercial, takes a licking and keeps on ticking. Well, Jesus three times slapped around by Satan himself; three times stood up to him, and finally Satan said, "I give up."

Now there are good lessons for you and me to learn about how to deal with temptation. We'll learn those lessons right here in our study tomorrow.

Thanks to all of you for being here today; and for you at home for joining us, as well. God bless you. I’m Woodrow Kroll. Have a good and godly day. For of what lasting value is a good day, if it's not also a godly day?