Called to Obedience

Footsteps of Jesus  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  34:32
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Last week we talked about John the Baptist, the man who lived in the wilderness preaching a message of repentance because the kingdom of heaven was at hand. His whole purpose was to prepare the people for the coming of the Messiah, who was coming after him. His arrival was imminent. John’s goal was to point others to Jesus. Then the day comes when Jesus arrives to be baptized by John. This story is present in all the gospels except John, but John does record a reference to the event in John 1:32.
John 1:32 CSB
And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and he rested on him.
The other three gospels record the event of Jesus’ baptism. Mark and Luke are very brief. They record the basic facts. Jesus came to be baptized, he was, the Spirit of God descended on him like a dove, and God the Father is recorded as saying, “You are my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
The scriptures testify John was baptizing as a sign of repentance of the believer. He preached, people fell under conviction of their sins, repented (that is to turn away), and then were baptized as a sign of their repentance. Then comes Jesus seeking baptism. Only Matthew records the reason for this baptism, so it is to Matthew we will turn.
If John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance, why did Jesus seek baptism? If Jesus is the spotless lamb of God, free of all sin, what would he be repenting from? These are common questions asked of the baptism of Jesus. These are also very important questions to ask. If Jesus needed to repent, he is not our Savior. Did he need to be baptized? If so, for what reason? What does this have to teach us today?
Let’s dive into the text:
Matthew 3:13–17 CSB
Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. But John tried to stop him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you come to me?” Jesus answered him, “Allow it for now, because this is the way for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John allowed him to be baptized. When Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water. The heavens suddenly opened for him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased.”
Previously, John the Baptist had been preaching to the crowds about their need for repentance and began administering baptism. Then, to John’s surprise, Jesus shows up requesting to be baptized by John. We see in Matthew that John objects to this at first. John seems to know something others don’t. Remember John and Jesus are probably cousins. They were born six months apart. Mary knew who Jesus was. Elizabeth, John’s mother, knew who Jesus was. It would follow that John would know who Jesus really was. They probably grew up together to some degree in spite of living on opposite ends of the country. So I expect John heard that Jesus was the Savior. There were probably clues. Jesus never got grounded. He never had to be put in time out or ever received a spanking. The terrible twos were the terrific twos for Mary and Joseph’s first born. So at the very least, Jesus was the most righteous person John had ever met. So John says, “No. It is me that needs to be baptized by you.” Jesus says, “Allow it for now, because this is the way for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Why did Jesus have to be baptized? To fulfill all righteousness.
So let’s break this down and try to understand what it means to fulfill all righteousness. We can do this by asking the question,

What did the baptism of Jesus accomplish?

What did the baptism of Jesus accomplish?
It confirmed John’s preaching as true.
John’s entire ministry was about pointing others to Jesus as the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. John pointed to Jesus and said he was it. Biblical prophecy hinges on John the Baptist being right about Jesus. It was prophesied in Isaiah and in Malachi that there would be one who comes to point Israel to their Savior. The Bible is filled with prophecies concerning Jesus and one of them is that there would be one who would come forth and pave the way for the Lord’s arrival. If Jesus is not God, John the Baptist was wrong. If he was wrong, biblical prophecy is unfulfilled and the Messiah has not come.
But the baptism of Jesus is not about repentance as Jesus had nothing to repent from. Scripture testifies to his sinlessness, one of the reasons he was qualified to take our place at all. Jesus allowing himself to be baptized by John is an expression of agreement with John’s message. If Jesus did not agree with John’s message, he would not allow himself to be baptized by a man he did not agree with. So the fact that he was baptized is a testimony to his agreement with the message being preached as truth. Jesus is publicly acknowledging John’s message is true.
2. It confirmed Jesus as the Messiah.
Remember that part of John’s message was there was a man coming after him who was of greater rank than him because he existed before him. John knew the man to come after him would be the Messiah because that is what was revealed to him. The gospels report to us that Jesus was baptized and as he was coming up from the water, the heavens opened up and the Spirit of God descended on him like a dove. Luke notes that the Spirit’s descent was in bodily form. This seems to imply that this moment was visible. There was something for people to see. If you read each of the gospels and compare them, we could read this in such a way where it appears that only Jesus might have seen the Spirit’s descent and heard the voice of God confirm Jesus as His Son. The words of God here are confirmation of Jesus’ identity. God himself is testifying to the reality that Jesus is His Son. But this is not the whole picture.
Turn to John 1:29-34
John 1:29–34 CSB
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I told you about: ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me, because he existed before me.’ I didn’t know him, but I came baptizing with water so that he might be revealed to Israel.” And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and he rested on him. I didn’t know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The one you see the Spirit descending and resting on—he is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”
It would seem John was unclear on who Jesus is even as they grew up together. God told John the Baptist that the one on whom the Spirit descends is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. The one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit is the Savior. So it would seem that John did not fully see Jesus for who he really is even though he probably knew what his own mother and Mary told him growing up.
You see, we can know all sorts of things about Jesus but we can still fail to see who he truly is. One can spend his whole life hearing things about Jesus and believing things about Jesus, yet not fully grasp the identity of Jesus and all that it implies. John needed to be shown who the Messiah was. So do we. Two thousand years later we have the testimony of God’s written word to tell us who Jesus is. We are studying the gospels so we can have a greater understanding of who Jesus is, to give him the proper place in our lives, and submit ourselves to his Lordship by following in obedience. There is a difference in knowing about Jesus and knowing Jesus. Don’t settle for knowing about him. God the Father used the baptism of Jesus to confirm his identity to John the Baptists, any onlookers present, and to us today.
3. It confirmed Jesus’ obedience to the Father.
For Jesus to be the Savior of the world, he had to be sinless. He had to do everything in perfect alignment with the will of God. It was God’s intention from before the dawn of time to have Jesus come in the first century, during the time of the Romans, and at a time of Messianic expectancy.
Galatians 4:4–5 CSB
When the time came to completion, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
Jesus came at the perfect time according to the will of the Father. He executed his plan for redemption according to the will of the Father. He did not act on his own authority, but in the authority of the Father. It was the Father’s will for Jesus to be baptized. It was going to serve as a confirmation of the truth of John’s preaching. It was going to confirm Jesus as the Messiah, and it was going to confirm Jesus’ submissiveness to the Father’s will. It is in this that we see a lesson we can learn for ourselves.

The baptism of Jesus modeled obedience to the will of God.

Jesus was baptized and then he commanded his followers to baptize. It is the will of God for his children to be baptized. If you are here today, and are a believer in Christ, and have not been baptized, what is stopping you? Baptism is not necessary for salvation, but it is necessary for obedience. I don’t know how far the Lord will let you go in your relationship with him without following in baptism, but I do know it is something he expects. If you have questions about baptism, I would love to talk with you about that.
Baptism is but a picture of obedience here. Many of us have already been baptized. So what is the application for us today? Obedience to Christ does not end with baptism. That’s where it begins. Christ is to have Lordship over all of our life, not part of it. What area of your life does Jesus not have control over? Does he not control your finances? Is he in charge of your house? Is he the authority in your marriage? Does he get a say in what you watch on TV, or how much? What about the music you listen to? Or the way you engage in political debates? What situation do you need to hand over to the Lord today? Maybe you have been trying to muster the strength to take care of something that is beyond your control. Give it up. Let the Lord have it and let him keep it.
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