Jesus Takes the Stage (Matthew 3:13-17)

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Ben Moore

Ira Baptist Church

Matthew: The Gospel and the Kingdom of Heaven • Sermon • Submitted 4 days ago • Presented 3 days ago • 41:31

Matthew 3:13–17

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Why does Jesus take Center stage?

Introduction

Turn in your Bibles to Matthew 3:13.

While you are turning their I want you to think about a simple question.

Since Jesus is sinless, He always has been always will be sinless. Then why does Jesus need to be baptized by John who is baptizing people who need to repent of sin by confessing it?

What does the sinless Jesus need to repent of?

Baptism is given to us by the Lord.

John’s baptism is different than the baptism Jesus offers.

And the Christian baptism talk about the New Testament, is different than both John and Jesus’.

John baptized with anticipation of the one who will come.

Jesus’ baptism is about salvation (John is symbolic, Jesus’ is real. Baptized with the Holy Spirit and Fire, I will cover those details in a bit.)

Christian baptism is symbolic looking back on the cross, back on OUR salvation, and then entering us into a covenant community that exists forever into the future. (Local church is part of the universal church which is every believer ever)

This passage teaches us that When Jesus takes center stage He identifies with us, and he pleases God for us.

Read

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.”

Pray

Identify with us

When Jesus takes center stage, he identifies with us.

Matthew 3:13–15 CSB

Jesus goes to John

We saw in the previous text, that John is the one coming in the way of Elijah to prepare the way of the Lord.

So when the Pharisees (these extreme legalistic Jews) and Sadducees (extreme doctrinally denying Jews) show up to be baptized, John refuses. He calls them snakes, and says you need to live a life that bears the fruit of what you claim to believe. You’re saying with your mouth, you’re confessing sins, but if your life not matching that confession it is a telling sign that you do not really believe what you are confessing.

John preaches a hard truth, and will not baptize the Pharisees and Sadducees because they are not worthy.

But now Jesus seeks John out.

John recognizes Jesus is superior.

He said in 3:11.

Matthew 3:11 CSB

“I baptize you with water for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is more powerful than I. I am not worthy to remove his sandals. He himself will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

John sees that his ministry is different than Jesus’ ministry.

John is baptizing people who confess their sin and repent.

Jesus, John tells us, is going to baptize with the Holy Spirit and Fire.

John’s baptism is symbolic. He is calling people to repent because of the coming King.

John uses water.

Jesus’ baptism, John says is not with water, but with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Jesus baptism is not symbolic like John’s. Jesus is doing something different.

Just step back and think about the differences being talked about here…

John is baptizing lots of people, they are coming to him and he is immersing them in a river.

Who does Jesus immerse in a body of water? No one.

He does not baptize the same way John does, or the same what that we do. Jesus is doing something different!

By saying Jesus baptized with the Holy Spirit, John is telling us Jesus is changing out hearts from the inside out at salvation, when we are saved we are immersed in the Holy Spirit, that He (not it) dwells inside of us.

By saying Jesus baptizes with fire, John is telling us Jesus is purifying our lives.

Fire destroys or purifies.

It is another reference to salvation.

So at salvation Jesus immerses us in the Holy Spirit and in fire, we are changed from the inside out, with God the Spirit dwelling in us. We are purified, cleaned at salvation.

There are some groups who teach that this baptism is not salvation, but something that happens to certain believers later in life, and makes them more spiritual. You are lost, you are saved, and then later maybe you have this moment this growth that seems to press you deeper spiritually. There are some texts in Acts that describe something kind of like this taking place in the early church, however the Book of Acts is talking about the early church in way of establishing it. Jesus ascends and then slowly over the course of the Capital A apostles lives the bible is written and church structure is formed and Christian lives are shaped on how we live. Acts is the story of of Acts 1:8

Acts 1:8 CSB

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

There are parts of the church in Acts that prescribe how all Christians should live, and there are parts in Acts that describe how the Lord shaped His church early on with miraculous sign and wonders, than now that we have the written word of God, the capital A apostles have died, that our apostolic authority is the bible. This Baptism by the Holy Spirit and Fire is not about a second moment of Christian growth. There are not two different tiers of Christians.

Certainly many people have stories of not being that serious about their faith, and then one day something clicked and they were. There are other reasons to attest to that kind of growth, but this text is not referring to that. Some groups will say that you must be baptized in the Spirit to speak in tongues… that simply not what this passage is saying. It is not talking about an additional righteousness that you get. It’s salvation.

John is not saying a literal fire will come over, and there does not seem to be a connection of fire and Baptism in the way that we think of baptism.

Fire here, is not a reference to baptism, but to salvation. When you are saved you are purified by God. And your life is spent with God purifying and cleaning you and me from all unrighteousness.

Jesus’ baptism that John is talking about is salvation… John is talking about being prepared for the one who comes offering salvation.

They are two different types of baptisms.

And Jesus’ is far great than John… in fact John’s is point to Jesus!!!

John says I am not even worthy, to take his sandal off of his foot let alone wash his foot. The lowest of the lowly servants would wash their masters feet, and John recognizes how much great Jesus is than him, and this John does not want to baptize Jesus.

John tried to Stop Him… the way that is written means John was continuously trying to stop Jesus, he did not want to baptize Jesus.

John the Baptist did not want to baptize the Pharisees and Sadducees because they were not worthy.

John the Baptist did not want to baptize Jesus because he was to worthy.

John knows about Jesus

John 1:29 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!

See John recognizes what you and I often miss in this text.

John is baptizing people who confess and repent of sin.

What sin does Jesus need to confess and repent of?

He is sinless… why does He need to be baptized?

For the first time in the book of Matthew, Jesus speaks.

Up to this point, everything has been about Jesus, but now we see the scene shift.

No longer is everyone talking about this one to come, HE IS HERE.

He talks.

He comforts John, he sought John out remember.

Allow it for now.

He does not say I am a sinner and need to repent.

He does not rebuke John and say you do not know what you are talking about.

He says… allow it for now.

Recognizing the tension that this creates for John and us.

Then he says, this is the way for us to fulfill all righteousness.

This is the key to understanding the baptism of Jesus.

Because after this John baptized Jesus.

What does this mean?

Fulfill is used in the Book of Matthew in reference to the prophecies, we have seen this several times already (3:3 for example) and we will continue to see as we progress onward!

But it’s worth us looking at Matthew 5:17 briefly

Matthew 5:17 CSB

“Don’t think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.

Jesus says this in the middle of the sermon on the mount.

The goal of Jesus is not to cast aside the Old Testament, but to Fulfill. Fulfill and abolish are opposing terms used, giving us a clue as to what Jesus meant. So then from our perspective when we read the Old Testament, we read it as people who know that Jesus fulfilled it. He carried it out.

In Luke’s gospel account, after the death and ressurection of Jesus, there are two disicples leaving Jerusalem and they are talking about everything that happened. When suddenly Jesus shows up and walks on the road to Emmaus with them, but Jesus hides his identity from them. They fill him in on all that has happened, talking about the death of Jesus and then the rumors of ressurection that started circulating.

Jesus says this to them Luke 24:25-27

Luke 24:25–27 CSB

He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Wasn’t it necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and enter into his glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted for them the things concerning himself in all the Scriptures.

Jesus interprets the Old Testament in light of Himself, this is how we read the Old Testament too.

He did the work that was required for God’s people to be brought back with God.

In the baptism Jesus doesn’t say I am fulfilling all the old Testament, he says it’s to fulfill righteousness.

Justice… fairness… uprightness… to be put right with… right standing…

That is what righteousness means, and it is not something that you and I can work our way to be.

The only way of us to truly be righteous, is to truly trust Christ.

That Jesus imputes to us His righteousness, and bears the wrath of God for our sin.

The great exchange.

In this moment at His baptism, when Jesus steps into center stage, and the light come on, and everyone else begins to fade into the background, Jesus speaks for the first time and he tell us… I have come to do the work that you cannot do. I am not abolishing the law, I am not changing the rule, I wrote the rules they are good and right and true! Instead, I am fulfilling them. So that you can be counted as righteous.

How does this baptism fulfill righteousness?

Theologians have argued about this for a long time.

Heresies have been developed around this point.

The best option has several components to it.

Jesus by being baptized the way that he is, is aligning himself with a community of faith with Christians.

He sets an example for us of obedience.

Jesus fulfills all righteousness by being an example for us AND by identifying with us in baptism, symbolically.

Jesus does not tell John his standard for who should be baptized in wrong, but helps John to see that Jesus came to identify with men, and to identify with men means to identify symbolically with sin.

The first act of Jesus ministry is the one with out sin, to take his place among those with no out righteousness.

It’s a picture of salvation… it’s a picture of the the Gospel.

Jesus fulfills all righteousness by opening the door to become covenant members, being an example, and identifying with those He came to save.

That is why Jesus is baptized, not because he was sinful but because he is God with us, the king who has come to save His people.

And John responds with… ok I will baptize you.

Jesus takes Center stage to identify with His people and to Please God.

To Please God

Matthew 3:16–17 CSB

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.”

Immersion

He went up… He was immersed. He goes to a river, to be baptized (word means immersed and referred sometime to sinking ships).

The picture of salvation is so important in baptism.

They represent their spiritual death by being buried with Christ (lowered below the water)

And their spiritual resurrection of new life coming as they are raised to walk in the newness of life.

For us at baptism this is something that has already spiritually happened to our souls.

For Jesus, it’s hard to think that he did not have his physical death in mind… he was not spiritually dead because of sin like you and I.

but he would be physically in 3 short years.

He would not stay dead, he would be raised in the resurrection.

It’s a gospel reminder that Jesus lived the life we should have lived and died the death that we deserve.

Think about the public nature of this baptism.

It was not private.

Others were around, they saw this happen.

They saw John say no multiple times.

When Jesus is finally baptized as he rises out of the water…

Heavens were opened…

Holy Spirit

Descending like a Dove on Jesus

This is not to say this is when the Holy Spirit begins to assist and help Christ. He has always been full of the Spirit.

There are false religions that say this is when God made Jesus more than man. They misunderstand what is happening here.

The Spirit descends on Christ like a dove… a dove use in the bible several different ways.

In Noah’s ark is was the sign that the destruction was over and that new life could begin.

In the sacrificial system is was an animal approved for sacrifice.

It represented peace and innocence.

Father

God the Father could have said anything He wanted to at this time.

He says something that mixture of Psalm 2:7 and Isaiah 42:1!

Psalm 2 is about God establishing HIs rule and reign. Those who fight him… lose. Messiah is a King and a warrior.

Isaiah 42 is about Who God puts His Spirit on, and who established justice upon the earth, calls His people for a righteous purpose, who watches over them, and covenants with them, and is a light to the nations, above all other and does as He pleases.

This is God speaking and sayings

This is MY Son, King Jesus the one who will make all the wrong things right brings righteousness and justice and mercy and grace. I am well please with Him.

No Old Testament sacrifice was every truly pleasing to God.

There was never one who was completely and fully spotless and pure, with out blemish.

Not so with Jesus.

1 Peter 1:19 CSB

but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb.

The only pleasing sacrifice is God in the flesh.

This is the begining of Jesus’ ministry, and it ties to His death.

But there is one more thing going on that we need to see.

This is not the first time that we have seen the Spirit hovering over water, the Father speaking, and the Son intimately involved. In Genesis 1, this is the image of creation we are given. And now what we see take place is a new creation, something is different here. After creation in Genesis 1, Adam sinned in the temptation. After Jesus’ baptism is Matthew 3, Satan tempts Jesus, Adam failed Jesus does not (spoiler for next week).

This is when Jesus steps into the center of the stage, the lights cut out, and a lone spotlight shines on Jesus.

We see, he was baptized for us. That in His baptism he is speaking of fulfilling righteousness that we cannot do, but he can. He does by a new creation. When when we are saved the Holy Spirit dwells within us, shaping us from the inside out, that we are purified as if we have gone through a holy fire that burn off all the impurities.

Conclusion

This passage teaches us that When Jesus takes center stage He identifies with us, and he pleases God for us.

He fulfills the righteous standard and He offers salvation. A way out of the darkness of sin and shame into the light of Christ.

He offers a fire that cleanses and cleans and burns away all the dirt, and stain, and spider webs, and shame, and sin.

He offers us God Himself, The Father planed, The Son accomplished, and the Spirit applies salvation to us. He moves in, and begins reorganizing and changing us so that we do not simply living in the slums of our heart, but it is cleansed and honestly is hurts. Because it means we recognize that we cannot cleanse it ourselves and it gets exposed. It’s embarrassing. But God who cleanses us is the the God who already sees your heart and knows the truth. You can hide it from me, from friends, from family, from yourself. You can take it and shove it in a closest in a effort to appear cleansed, to others, But when Jesus dies upon the cross He drinks the cup of wrath from God for our sin and God, Jesus is omniscient He is not surprised by your heart, He already knows it.

In fact Matthew tells us this much.

Great Commission is the next time the Trinity AND Baptism is mentioned like this.

Matthew 28:19–20 CSB

Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Just as Christ associates with His people, you and I when we are baptized join a people a Local Church.

Where we are disicpled and we disciple.

That we are committed to, for the Glory of the Lord.

We fulfill Righteousness when we join with Christ.

Gospel is news not steps to do.

It’s a declaration of what has been done.

Unbelievers: Repent and have in Jesus and He will save you. You know your heart, you know the sin. Know that Jesus knows too, and is willing and able to cleanse you and dwell within you, Repent and Believe for the Kingdom of Heaven is here.

Believers: I want to apply this for you by reading a poem I have read before, but one that deeply love.

Only One Life

By C.T. Studd

Two little lines I heard one day,

Traveling along life’s busy way;

Bringing conviction to my heart,

And from my mind would not depart;

Only one life, ’twill soon be past,