Unshaken: Chapter a Day

Luke 3 Discussion

• Pastor Plek

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Desert dust, royal promise, and a voice from heaven—Luke 3 brings them all together, and we dive straight into the moment where repentance clears a road for the King. We walk through John the Baptist’s blunt, practical guidance for real change, then wade into the Jordan to hear the Father’s words over Jesus: You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased. From there, we trace the surprising genealogy that reaches past Abraham to Adam, making the bold claim that Jesus steps into the story of every human, not just a chosen few.

We unpack what fruit in keeping with repentance actually looks like in daily life—generosity over hoarding, integrity over exploitation, service over force—and why actions, not labels, reveal the heart. Isaiah’s vision of leveling mountains and filling valleys becomes more than poetry; it turns into a heart-level renovation that removes pride, heals shame, and makes straight access for Christ. Along the way, we address the apparent tension between Matthew and Luke’s genealogies and explain how royal line and bloodline complement rather than contradict, anchoring Jesus as both Son of David and Son of Adam.

At the river, the Trinity stands in clear view: the Son in the water, the Spirit descending, the Father speaking delight. We explore the meaning of Spirit baptism, the witness of water, and the refining fire of trials that mature faith. Above all, we rest in a gospel that declares a great exchange—our sin placed on Christ, His righteousness placed on us—and a love that names us beloved. If you’re ready to move from intention to transformation, this conversation will help you identify one concrete step to bear good fruit today.

If this resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who’s exploring Luke, and leave a review to help others find these insights. What one change will you make this week to clear a straight path for the King?

Text us at 737-231-0605 with any questions.

Pastor Plek:

And welcome back to a chapter a day. It keeps the devil away. I'm Pastor Pleck along with Jacob Lawland, one of our fearless seminary students at Dallas Theological Seminary, and we are going to outline Luke chapter 3. We're going to find some observations, give us some interpretations about the nature of man, the character of God, and finally give us some application using the cool spec technique. So, first off, we have uh in Luke 3, verses 1 through 6, we have the historical setting and John's call to ministry. Then in verses 7 through 9, you've got John's fierce warning to the crowds. Uh verses 10 through 18, uh, he gives some practical advice and then Messiah prophecy, essentially answering the questions of what should we do to all the different people that he encounters. And then verses 19 through 20, we have John's bold confrontation and imprisonment. He confronts Herod and Herod puts him in jail. And then finally, we've got Jesus' baptism and then his finally, finally, his family line. Now, uh, Jacob, looking at this, uh I I see a couple things here, observation-wise. One is what in the world's going on here with a an entire genealogy, all the way from Mary's father, who you know everyone assumes is it just goes to Joseph, right? Um H E L I Heli, all the way up to Adam, and we see the break at David. So David uh to Adam is is the same as Matthew's genealogy. But up until then, you really see a difference between the son of David in Matthew is Solomon, and the son of David in Luke is Nathan. Is there a discrepancy there?

Jacob Laldin:

Yeah. One, I just think it's cool to actually see the genealogy go all the way back to Adam, whereas in Matthew, it just goes to Abraham. Right. Um, and yeah, it seems like there's something different going on in this genealogy, given that in Matthew, the 14, 14, 14, there's actually more than 14 there. And so they're just pointing to how Jesus fulfills the patriarchal period and the he's a better king, a better uh a better Abraham, and a uh a better Israel, as they were like after their their exile. Uh here we see the genealogy, it's coming in right after the author here, Luke, he talks about uh how people need to repent all the way from the crowds to the kings. Um, and so he covers like all different roles in society and different levels of power, and then he talks about uh all different types of people here. I think it's interesting to see that, yeah, a Joseph, even though he's not his biological uh father, like that's still a fulfilled here.

Pastor Plek:

Right. And there's no discrepancy. That was the one question I asked. There's no discrepancy, right, between Matthew and Luke. Matthew is just uh Joseph's lineage, and Luke is Mary's. And so you're seeing that Matthew has the lineage that points to him as a king, Mary's lineage points to him as he is related fully to uh David and ultimately Abraham and ultimately uh Seth and Adam. Okay, what about uh the thing I also loved was the the words that God the Father speaks to Jesus the Son of this is my son, the one I love, with him I'm well pleased. That those words are so powerful, and I think I've mentioned this before in Matthew 3, but this is this just blows my mind. From John 17, 23, I pray, this Jesus praying, I pray that you would love them, and he means us. You could put your name in there, uh, even as you love me. So Jesus prays that God the Father would love us the same way he loves Jesus, which is I love you, I'm proud of you, and you're mine. And I really that speaks to me at such a depth of level, and I just really appreciate that that great love that the Father has for us.

Jacob Laldin:

Yeah, what else do you see here? I just want to take a second and just a piggyback on that. Every time I read, You are my beloved son, with you, I am well pleased. I think about John 17, and I begin to like ask myself, like, man, like how how can that be? And it and and it forces me to think about the power of the gospel and just like how it has no depth, and it makes me so uh grateful. And I have to remember, like, man, God's righteousness was imputed onto me, and my sin was imputed onto Jesus Christ, and like that great exchange there is everything. And so every time I see her, it just forces me to think about my salvation and like how loved I am.

Pastor Plek:

Right. One of the things I also love about this is in John's ministry, he's preaching a baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins, and that is how he's fulfilling Isaiah 40, verses 3 through 5 of like, make straight paths for the Lord. Every mountain be made low, every valley uh be filled. In other words, there was in an Isaiah, there is a physical demonstration of what should happen for the king to arrive. Mountains leveled, valleys filled. But that reality is of the mountains leveled, valleys filled is in the heart, crooked ways made straight, so that Jesus has straight access to your heart as the King of Kings. I really appreciated that sort of aspect as I looked at uh as I looked at that. Now, let's talk real quick about some of the things of nature of man that we pull from here.

Jacob Laldin:

Yeah, I think we see like in the nature of man, like as as Luke, he he does address all like all or like a John the Baptist, he's talking to uh the kings all the way down to the uh the a common person, like each other.

Pastor Plek:

That was a great way to put that.

Jacob Laldin:

Yeah, yeah, it's it's it's it's great. And like all of us have something to repent from. Like, yes, obviously, he's calling us to repent of our unbelief and of and and then believe that Jesus is Lord, but like there's all these different like occupations and uh people groups who have like something specific to repent of in the same way that you and I both have our own things that we have to repent of as well.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, I love uh that people bear fruit that reveals the heart. So John's call for fruit in keep of repentance shows that actions expose inner reality in inner reality. So if you've truly trusted in the Messiah that's come to save you, have your life reflect that. And uh and everyone, and he's calling Pharisees who are supposedly righteous on the outside, a brood of vipers. They're like, what do you want us to do different? And he's like, change your heart in keeping with repentance. Okay, what else you got?

Jacob Laldin:

Yeah, I thought that that was huge. I think, like, as I just read through, like my big point of application is it was reading this every tree, therefore, that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. And like it really just I wanted to take time to like reflect on like just self, like take a time of self-examination to ask myself, man, where do I need to repent?

Pastor Plek:

Okay, good. So that would be like everybody has a place to repent as a nature of man that we all need to address.

Jacob Laldin:

Yeah.

Pastor Plek:

Now let's go on to the character of God. Let's get some observations there. I feel like um the one of the things I brought up, God delights and affirms his beloved son, which we talked about was really powerful in the way it expresses itself to us. Um, what else? What else did you see? There is something about the character of God overflowing here.

Jacob Laldin:

Yeah, one thing I I always see is that his word will uh come to pass, kind of how you were talking about how there's no uh discrepancies in the and the genealogy. We see a prophecy is being uh fulfilled here. Um yeah, I mean uh John the Baptist coming in the first place is is such a a big deal. Yeah. Um, like this this was God's plan that he uh that he prophesied that someone would come to uh prepare the a people's hearts. Like God really cares uh that we like are paying attention. He he wants things appointing to him, a creation, a John the Baptist, and so much that we wouldn't miss uh we wouldn't miss a Jesus.

Pastor Plek:

And even even the language there is reminiscent of the Old Testament, and the word of the Lord came to John. I love that. All right, let's look at uh spec, which is our application. It's a sin to confess, a promise to claim, an example to follow, command to obey, or a knowledge to believe. And so let's see how we can uh apply this. Um how about God's salvation is extended to all through repentance and the Spirit's baptism. And um, if you are listening, you can claim uh, no matter what your background is, no matter what your genealogy is, it doesn't matter, uh, that there's forgiveness, even if you are you've been so sinful, you can trust in Jesus and his love for you will be that the same as that of Jesus.

Jacob Laldin:

I love that. Something else that comes to mind is uh as I'm hearing about uh like a Jesus He's gonna baptize with the Holy Spirit. That is our baptism. It's not like there are two baptisms. Like I know some people believe like there's your first baptism and that's of water, and then if you're your second baptism that gives you some like special powers and stuff, like then you can do great things like speaking in tongues.

Pastor Plek:

Sure. There are three different baptisms, right? There's the baptism where the spirit changes your heart. Yeah, there's the that's the baptism of the Holy Spirit, then the baptism by water, where you go under the water and you come out. That's a symbol, an ordinance of the church, and then there's baptism by fire, which is which is judgment or trials, right? So like so trials that reveal the heart. Uh you remember how when Jesus goes to um John and James and he's like, they're like, hey, can we be you know number one and number two in your kingdom? He's like, Will you be baptized with a baptism I'm baptized with? And like, we will. He's like, You will indeed be baptized with the baptism with which I've been baptized. What does he mean? Wow, he means that they're gonna go undergo some serious trial by fire. That's where that term comes, baptism by fire, comes from. You're gonna be thrown into the in there, and it's gonna be really hard for you. And through that, you're gonna be refined. So kind of cool, huh?

Jacob Laldin:

Yeah, that is cool. So, first we see everyone upon being saved, sealed, baptized by the Holy Spirit. Um I think it's cool to see the a Trinity here, just like I just talked about earlier. That's so important. I think you know, there's a lot of different cults and and and sects that just they get that wrong, right? And they think uh that, you know, and we you know, and you can talk about modalism and all these different types of misconceptions of the Trinity. And so just seeing here God, three distinct persons, one Godhead. I love that.

Pastor Plek:

How about last one, then we'll get out. Commando obey, produce fruit in keeping with repentance. There is an ethical action that probably you need to take in changing your life. So, what can you do today, today, to change your life to align with the will of God for you? Hey, thanks so much for watching. We'll see you next time on a chapter a day.

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