Hi and welcome to this special series on the glorious person and work of Jesus Christ. In these messages, we journey through the scriptures from the astonishment of the temple to the road to Emmaus, from the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to the assurance of the Good Shepherd. Each sermon reveals how Christ meets us, renews us, and transforms us by His Word, by His Spirit, and by His finished work on the cross. Whether you're exploring Christ's comfort and obedience, the triumph of His cross, or the reckless love revealed in His resurrection, this series invites you to see Jesus more clearly and respond in faith. Because the Scripture reminds us faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ.
We pray these messages strengthen your faith and deepen your confidence in the gospel of grace. Here's John Fonville with a message called Astonishment in the Temple. The boy Jesus reveals His Divine Mission. If you have your Bibles, turn to Luke chapter 2. We're going to take a look at this great chapter, verses 41 to 52.
Luke's Gospel indicates to us that there is something very different about the birth of Jesus.
Something very different. He gets this from the prophet Isaiah, that prophet Isaiah says that he says, Unto us a son is more, and unto us a son is Gibbon. Luke tells us in his gospel that Jesus wasn't just born. But but he he was sent. You see?
All of us were born. But not all of us were sent. This is what Jesus says. For example, Luke 19, 10, he says to Zacchaeus, he says, for the Son of Man has come to seek and save that which was lost. He was sent by his father with this mission to accomplish.
And so we have this theme for Luke's Gospel. Which is this. Actually all the Gospels, John 17 verse 4, Jesus says, I glorified you. On the earth, having accomplished the. Work.
which you have given me Yeah. Do you hear that? I have accomplished the work that you have given me. To do. This theme.
Of accomplishing this mission, this work that the Father had given to the Son. is shown to us powerfully. Luke chapter 2 verses 41 through 52. We we see here in this passage Jesus Isn't boy. He's twelve.
He's almost Stewart's age. Actually, Stewart's almost his age. Stewart's 11. I forgot. Stewart's not 12.
They grow up too quick. But Jesus, he's twelve. And he comes to the temple with his parents. And he demonstrates this awareness of his divine mission as a 12-year-old boy. Wouldn't you like to teach him in Sunday school catechism class?
Yeah. He recognizes that he has been sent by his father to accomplish the work that has been assigned to him. And so we have this pivotum this this this pivotum Moment. In his life as a boy. Where his identity as the Son of God.
Where his mission begins to shine through the veil of his young. Moihood. He's just a boy. But We'll see that he's not just a boy. But he's the Christ.
Messiah. And he is fulfilling his father's Work. He's pointing to this redemptive purpose of his entire life and ministry. At the age of twelve.
Now that is quite remarkable. He s this passage that that that is before us from verses 41 to 52. It shows us three actions of Jesus, this boy. He's in the temple, which is quite significant. These actions reveal to us his identity.
His understanding. Of his mission. He has this divine necessity. He says, I must be. in my father's house.
I had to be in my father's house. He had this sense of divine mission sent by his father that he has to accomplish at the age of 12. And what you see here is that he is preparing and setting the stage for his life's work to seek and save the lost. Look at verses 41 to 47. Here's the first key action that we see.
This boy Jesus astonishes everybody in the temple. He leaves everybody spellbound. Speechless. In awe, amazed. Who is this boy?
What this passage shows us is this: that he's not a child prodigy. Right. He's not this brunt. Einstein, who is just wowing people with intelligence. It's something far greater that takes place here.
The first key thing that he does is he astonishes everybody who's in the temple. Look at verse 41. It says, His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover. And when he became twelve, they went up from there according to the custom of the feast.
Now two things you have to see about this. First, the setting. Where does it take place? The temple. This is the second temple.
Second, the occasion. What's the occasion? It's Passover. What is Passover? The exodus event.
The greatest Act of God's salvation for God's people, where God's people are set free from slavery in Egypt. And Joseph, Mary, deeply faithful to the Mosaic covenant here. Mary, especially because women didn't have to go. They're not required to go, but she goes. Showing her deep, committed godliness of this woman who carried God in her womb.
She goes up. It's as they did it every single year. This one is in the twelfth year. Jesus turned 12 and said they brought him to prepare him for his role in the faith community. He's approaching adulthood in Jewish culture.
And so they brought him to present him to the temple as required. Look at verse 43, but something happens in the story. And the parents have to take, I think, what is it, Xanax to make anxiety go down, is that correct? They have, seriously, if you look at the Greek word here, it's seriously what it is. They had a serious panic attack.
They were filled with anxiety, and if they had Xanax back then, maybe Mary would have taken one. Verse 43, as they were returning after spending the full number of days, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. But his parents were unaware of it.
Now, if you've ever been a parent and forgot your child, which I have. All right. I went to this place to work out one time. And I did my workout and I took David with me. By the way, he hit his first college three last night on television.
It was great. I've watched the video at least 50 times since last night at 9 o'clock. And Kathy was looking at me in the kitchen this morning and just laughing at me. I said, what are you laughing at? I'm proud of my son.
I'm going to watch it again. But but so I took David to go. With me into this place that worked out. And I got done working out, you know, I got in the car and drove home. And I left David in the child care.
And I walked into the house. I'll never forget it. I walked into the kitchen, and Catherine looked at me and she goes, Uh where is David? And I still had not realized what I had done. And I went.
Oh no. Yeah. I left him in childcare. Get in that car and go get David right now.
So I went, I drove back. I didn't get a speeding ticket, thank goodness. But I walked up to the people and I was like, nothing ever happened. Did you have a good workout? Yes, I did.
I just need to check out David now. Thank you very much. I'm just 35 minutes late. But this happened to Jesus' parents. And I remember what I felt like.
My face was hot. My armpits were sweating. My heart rate was high. I've lost my son. This is exactly what happened to Jesus' parents.
But supposed him to be in the caravan because caravans back then were huge. Went a day's journey, and they began looking for him among their relatives and acquaintances.
So David was 35 minutes. This was 24 hours. All right. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem looking for him. Then, after three days, 72 hours.
Yeah. They found him. Listen. Where? In the temple.
Both listen. Listening to them and asking them questions. He's listening and he's asking questions. He's not teaching. But his listening and his questions.
are teaching everybody. Verse forty-seven, and all who heard him listen. Asking questions, we were amazed at his understanding and his answers.
So after the Passover, Jesus' parents headed home. Jesus in Jerusalem, they didn't know about it, they lost him, they searched for three days, they found him, and when they found him, their anxiety was matched with amazement. Because his insights were so profound, he captured everybody's attention, and he became the focal point in the temple. Do you understand? Do you hear that?
He became the focal point in the temple. Why is that significant in the history of redemption? Because what had happened with Solomon's temple? The glory of God had departed the temple. God was not the focal point in the temple.
And the second temple that he came to here that was built had lost its glory. And the people, instead of rejoicing over it, wept over it because they knew the glory was gone. But all of a sudden, here is the focal point coming back into the temple. We'll come back to that.
So, this story is not just about parents' anxiety, losing kids, and kids being a smart brat. confounding people, asking questions, you know, smart elected teachers. has nothing to do with that. This story is about a child who's revealing himself to be the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, who has come on a saving mission. His interaction wasn't to showcase his intelligence.
It was to demonstrate his unique connection, relationship to God the Father, setting the stage for his future accomplishment of his saving work to come. Jesus was both pupil and teacher, revealing divine understanding in such a powerful way. That all the teachers and everybody present in the temple sat there, dumbfounded in amazement. That's the first thing. Here's the second.
Verses 48 and 49. The boy Jesus declared his mission. He stated to his parents, I had to be in my father's house. Look at verses 48 and 49. When they saw him, they were astonished.
And his mother said to him, you can imagine astonished but anxious and probably a little bit agitated at this point. Why have you, listen to this, treated us this way? Wow. You parents know what that question feels like.
Okay. Behold, your father and I have been, and here's the Greek word: we have been anxiously looking for you. We've been having a panic attack. Jesus, why have you done this to us? Why have you put us in a panic attack?
That's what she's asking him. And he said to them, again, this is twelve years old. Why is it that you're looking for me?
Now, you put yourself in Mary's shoes. You are filled with anxiety. You're having a panic attack, and you're very agitated. You've been searching for your son for three days. And to your question, he goes, Why are you looking for me?
Ah! Yeah. But here is the amazing second follow-up. Did you not know? that I had to be My father's house.
That's like Paul's question to the Corinthians. The whole book was about: do you not know? Do you not know you don't know the gospel Mary? None of us do. When Mary and Joseph found Jesus, they were astonished and anxious.
But Mary's question suggests a momentary forgetfulness because the angel Gabriel in chapter 1 verses 30 to 35 had already announced to her who he is and what he would do. And she said to that announcement, be to me according to your word. And then she had the Magnificat and rehearsed the whole history of God's redemption up to this point fulfilled in her womb. Yet. As much gospel as Mary understood, she didn't understand it.
Do you get it? Do you see why we have to have the gospel preached to us week after week, year after year, over a lifetime, because we do not get it? We don't. Jesus's answer is not about his location. It's about his declaration of his divine identity and his saving mission sent by the Father to accomplish.
He says to her, I had to be, I must be in my father's house. This divine necessity, his life was guided by it. His whole sense of perception about who he was and what he had been sent to do was driven by this divine necessity. Listen, I had to be, I must be in my father's house. Do you see that?
Even this boy at twelve years of age, he understood. Listen throughout Luke's Gospel as I summarize it for you about this divine necessity that occupied Jesus' entire sense of identity and purpose. Luke chapter 4 verse 33. I must preach the gospel of the kingdom of God to other towns as well, for I was sent for this purpose. Jesus must preach the good news of the kingdom of God.
He must do it. Luke chapter 9, verse 22, Jesus must suffer and die. The Son of Man of Daniel 7, who is coming on the clouds of heaven to conquer the kingdoms of this earth, must first suffer and die. How does that work out for the Christ to die, Messiah to die? The Son of Man doesn't do those things.
No, he must. It was necessary for the Father-saving mission for us. Listen to Jesus, the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised. These must occur. Luke chapter 24, verse 44.
Jesus must fulfill the Old Testament. He must complete it. His life and mission was to fulfill this Old Testament story. Showing that his actions and that his identity was not just his idea, but part of the Father's saving plan for which he was sent. These are my words, which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about me in the law of Moses, in the prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled.
Must be. Jesus must journey to the cross. He had this divine necessity to go fulfill his mission. Luke 13, verse 33. He says, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following.
For it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem. I must go to Jerusalem. and die. Jesus must obey his father's will, Luke 22, 42, as he prays in the Garden of Gethsemane. My Father, if it is possible that this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.
This is why he says in the Gospel of John chapter 4, verse 34, my food. It's to do the will of him who sent me. and to accomplish his work. His whole life was consumed with this divine necessity. Jesus must be raised.
He must be glorified from being raised. Luke 24, verse 26, after his resurrection. Jesus explains to his disciples that his sufferings and glory were necessary according to the scriptures. Was it not necessary? Was it not must?
Was it not had to be? Necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and then enter into his glory, be glorified. You see, Jesus is beginning this divine necessity as a 12-year-old boy in the temple now. And his whole life was consumed in this awareness of his identity as the Son of God sent by his Father to seek and save the lost. This moment in the temple highlights his mission, but also his unique relationship with his heavenly father, which he knew at.
Age 12. He speaks of this special bond time and time again, understanding that he alone knows the Father and that the Father knows him. Luke chapter 10, verse 22. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal him. At this young age, Jesus was aware of his identity.
and his saving mission. as directed by his father who sent him to accomplish this saving work. And ultimately, Luke twenty-three, verse forty-six. He commits his spirit to the Father in this unique relationship that only he has with the Father. Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.
This contrast between Jesus and her. earthly family. Jesus, do you not know what you've done to your mother and father? And he responds to Mary, emphasizing his unique identity. As the Son of God committed to his father's work from childhood, right from the very beginning, what a response to his mother's question.
Here's the third key act. The boy demonstrates obedience and returns to Nazareth with his parents. Look at verses 50 to 52. But they Joseph and Mary did not understand the statement which he made to them. That's part of his suffering.
Perhaps you have awakened to the gospel and you've had family and friends who, like this, they did not understand the statement which you have made to them. That's part of his suffering. If you've ever experienced that, and I have. And I still do. This is comfort here.
Because Jesus' own parents did not understand him. He's strange. This is not a typical 12-year-old boy.
Something is very different about him, and we don't get it. And that's part of his suffering. His brothers and sisters, the gospels say, thought he was nuts. The Pharisees and the people said that he's filled with demons. And Jesus says.
I'll be obedient to parents who don't get it. And so verse 51, he went down with them and came to Nazareth and continued in subjection to them. And his mother treasured all these things in their heart, in her heart. Verse 52, and Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and men. Joseph and Mary didn't understand Jesus' statement about being in his father's house.
They had no idea what he's talking about. Which mirrors this broader human struggle, as I've already said today, about how to comprehend Jesus' identity and his mission. Who is this man? What is this gospel? Yet, what we see here is Jesus showed his obedience by returning to Nazareth with his parents, submitting to his father's plan of redemption.
Mary, surprised, treasures these events in her heart for preserving this revelation for future generations because she is a godly woman. But the point of the story here is not Mary, it's Jesus. Jesus' obedience is a key part of his journey toward the cross, toward redemption. Embodying the humility that would mark his entire life, he went back from his father's house where he should stay with his parents to Nazareth, and he continued, it says, in subjection to them. He obeyed them.
When we combine Jesus' awareness of his divine sonship. and his submission to his earthly parents, lack of comprehension. His immediate obedience and return home with his parents is even more profound, isn't it? He didn't say to Mary and Joseph, can I just stay a little bit longer here in my father's house? Yeah.
No, Jesus, you're cut meet with your father Joseph. He went back without any questions. Unquestioningly went back to Nazareth, yielding obedience to Joseph and Mary in their human limitations. That's the fifth commandment. Where it says that we are to obey those in authority over us, recognizing that they have great flaws.
And that's so hard to do, isn't it? It's exactly what Jesus did. He submits to his parents and he gives perfect obedience in the face of complete lack of comprehension. That makes no sense, does it? Perfect obedience.
Now I want us to reflect upon the significance of his obedience here. How do we move past performance-based relationships with God? Which leads to either self-righteousness or guilt. The answer is this: it lies living in this daily reality of the great exchange that Jesus has done for us. It's about believing that no matter how sinful I have been in seeing myself.
God promises Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow. That's his promise. It's trusting that where we have failed to obey, Jesus has already obeyed perfectly on our behalf. It's where, if I'm a young child in my family's home and I'm disobedient, Jesus has covered that. It's where I'm a parent and I have blown it with my kids.
Jesus has covered that. In essence, how do I get away from this performance-based relationship with God? It's the daily acceptance of the gospel. Focusing not upon myself, not upon my performance, but on Jesus' perfect obedience, his sacrifice, and his righteousness. This is how Abraham Goldsworthy puts it.
He says only the message. That another true and obedient human being has come on our behalf, that He has lived for us the kind of life we should live but can't. That he has paid fully the penalty we deserve for the life we do live but shouldn't. Only this message can give assurance that we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ.
This narrative concludes, and look at verse 52, says Jesus growing in wisdom, stature, and favor with both God and man. This growth is not just physical growth. It's not just intellectual growth.
Okay. But it's charged with this divine purpose that is preparing Jesus to accomplish the saving work for which the Father had sent him. Chapter 2 verse 40. It's as the child continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom. And the grace of God was upon him.
And now this continuation of his growth continues. He is growing into what? The Saviour. To accomplish our salvation as a perfect human. And so as we witness Jesus at 12 in the temple, not just a boy, but as the Christ, he unveils his divine identity and his mission.
This narrative is far more than a charming story. It's the revelation of Jesus' purpose and identity, of the Father's plan for our salvation. That's what it is. His presence in the temple, engaging in religious discussions, shows his life was always directed towards the cross. It's from the temple to the cross.
That's what it shows us, where he would glorify the Father and secure our salvation. Luke What doesn't Luke show us here? Two things as we finish. He foreshadows Jesus both as the true temple and as the Passover Lamb who becomes our true Exodus, the final Exodus, the great act of redemption. Jesus, who is in the temple, later says in John chapter 2, verses 19 through 22, that after his resurrection, he'll be revealed as the temple.
Listen, Jesus answered them: Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. The Jews then said, it has taken 46 years to build this temple, the second temple, and you'll raise it up in three days. But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this. And they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
He is the temple. The temple in Jerusalem is just the precursor of the true and everlasting temple, which is Christ's resurrected body. Who has ascended to the right hand of the Father, the Father's house? The most enduring place of God's most intense presence is found in Jesus. The resurrected Jesus, in whom dwells the name of him who is king of kings and lord of lords, who is everlasting throne is above all things, and he ever lives now, author of Hebrews says, to make intercession for us from the Father's right hand.
That's the true temple. This passage also points to us to Jesus as our Passover Lamb. You know, Josephus knows this immense scale of Passover sacrifices in the temple. With over 256,000 lambs once offered, highlighting the magnitude of this feast that they came to. But what 256,000 Mosaic covenant Passover sacrifice lambs could not do.
The author of Hebrews says in chapter 10, verses 1 through 10, Jesus did by his single offering of himself once offered. The author of Hebrews says in chapter 10 that the Mosaic covenant, that God's law, with its repetitive sacrifices, 256,000 of them, was just a shadow of things to come, not the reality. And he says that these Passover sacrifices could not make worshipers perfect because the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sin. Those 256,000 Passover sacrifices were just telling those people 256,000 times you have blown it and you are condemned by God. You are a sinner.
That's all it did. But in verses five through seven. The author quotes Psalm 40. Showing that Christ's coming was to fulfill God the Father's will, his plan of salvation, which Luke's gospel shows us. That through the offering of his body, not through animal sacrifices, Jesus' obedience says this.
He speaks this to his father. Here I am. I have come to do your will. Color right. And that act of obedience was more pleasing than 256,000 Passover lambs.
Through the sacrifice of Jesus' body once for all, Hebrews 10:10, we are forever made holy. Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, the ultimate Passover Lamb, is the definitive act for the forgiveness of sins, transitioning from a system of many sacrifices to this one sufficient sacrifice, fulfilling the old covenant, replacing the old covenant forever, never to come back to give us and establish the new covenant for the forgiveness of our sins. Jesus' time in the temple during the Passover feast points forward to this ultimate sacrifice as our Passover Lamb. Dying on the cross for the salvation. of his people.
As we reflect upon this passage, I think I've gone a little bit too far, but I apologize.
Sometimes you just kind of get excited about the gospel, right? I'd like for us to close. I picked out a song that I'd like for us to close with today.
Now, this song is from one of my favorite artists of all time. His name is Larnell Harris. I think he's about 75 now, so this goes quite a ways back, so just bear with me. But He has this song that I've been singing for over two and a half decades. called Didn't You Know?
And it is inspired by Luke 2, 41 through 52. The lyrics deeply echo Jesus' sense of his identity and his divine mission. And it correctly directs the listener from the temple to the cross, just like Luke's gospel. And here's what it does. It offers hope for those of us who, like sheep, have gone astray, wandered off the path, reminding us that despite our wanderings, Jesus remains in the Father's presence, at the right hand of the Father, in the Father's house, at the right hand of the Father.
serving as our mediator and advocate at the Father's right hand. Telling us that Jesus is the true temple. He is the most intense place, the presence of God for us in grace. That he is our Passover Lamb, sacrifice once and for all, to make us holy before God. That he is our ultimate exodus who has delivered us from our slavery to our sin and set us free to be sons of God in the Father's estate.
That Jesus lives forever to intercede on our behalf, ready to embrace, ready to forgive, ready to liberate us from our bondage to sin. And this song encapsulates this timeless redemptive love of Christ that this passage in Luke conveys to us. And it affirms this as we close. I got the words up on the screen for you too, in case you can't quite get the words. But this passage and this song taken in this passage affirms to us that nobody is ever beyond the reach of the saving grace of Jesus, our Passover Lamb, our true temple, and our great Exodus.
Isn't that good news today? Um John Fawnville sends his thanks for listening today. And before we wrap up, can I tell you about an encouraging book you might want to get soon? It's called Hope and Holiness: How the Gospel Enables and Empowers Sexual Purity. You're not alone if you've tried to conquer sexual temptations and tried all the methods available, only to find yourself feeling defeated again.
This book may be just what you're looking for. With his shepherding heart, John shows that the gospel, not practical steps or more self-discipline, is God's provision for the power to live a life of sexual purity. and it's available to every Christian. What I like is the book is available in three convenient ways, paperback, audiobook, or Kindle. The links are in our podcast descriptions or just search for Hope and Holiness by John Fawnville on Amazon to get a copy for you.
And it's a wonderful book to go through with a small group. Him we proclaim is a ministry of Paramount Church in Jacksonville, Florida. You can find us at paramountchurch.com. We'll talk again soon.
