Baptism Waters

Prayer

Good morning; if you have your Bibles, I’d like us to turn to the Book of Matthew; we will be in Matthew 3 this morning. Last week, I mentioned you can follow along in the YouVision Bible app. You can do that again this morning. You can go to the Bible app. When you are in the App, tap the more icon, then look for events, tap it, and Tap on our church name.

This morning, we are beginning a series titled “Walking with Jesus.” We will spend the next few months walking through the life of Jesus and see different aspects of Jesus’ life on this earth. We just finished up the Christmas season, and we saw his birth. The only other story we have of Jesus’ Childhood is from when he stayed in His Father’s house teaching the religious leaders, and they were in awe of him. The next time we are introduced to the life of Jesus is at his Baptism. That is where we will pick up the life of Jesus this morning.

If you have found your place in Matthew 3:13-17, say a word.

(READ MATTHEW 3:13-17)

Matthew 3:13–17 ESV

13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

In order to properly understand the significance of this morning’s passage, we need to go back and understand the message of John the Baptist.

Introduction to the scene:

John the Baptist helps set the stage for Jesus’ baptism at the Jordan River. John the Baptist’s message is simple: “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2). His message and purpose was foretold back in Isaiah 40:3,

Isaiah 40:3 ESV

3 A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

John’s purpose is to be a forerunner to Jesus to set the stage for Jesus’ arrival. I love the description of John the Baptizer and what was going on in verses 4-6,

Matthew 3:4–6 ESV

4 Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, 6 and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

John was nothing to look at, other than maybe for the spectacle of seeing a man who looked more beast than human. I can picture a man with hair unkept and matted, with a straggly, greasy, long beard, and a voice that was deep and loud but oddly pleasant to hear. His message is simple enough for a child to understand, but profound enough that it requires the mind to wrestle with repentance and fleeing tradition.

The text tells us that the region’s community was gathering to listen to him and respond to his message. Look at verse 6:

Matthew 3:6 ESV

6 and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

These Jews were responding to the message of repentance that John preached. Now, I need to spend just a moment talking about Jewish culture. They believed that they were right with God because of their birth heritage. This is significant because most were “children of God” ethnically, only they had no relationship with God and were not truly right with God. The fact that they were going to listen to John was not a big deal; their confession of sins and subsequent baptism is what would have been absolutely shocking!

Through their confession and baptism, they were rejecting their standing within the community as right with God because of their ethnicity and religious affiliation. They were rejecting their religious leaders, the Pharisees and Sadducees. The people who responded positively to John’s message declared they were sinners and needed a messiah to come and save them. John’s message was starkly different from those they had heard for years. Yet, crowds of people were responding and repenting of their sins.

John goes as far as to call out the religious leaders of the people as a “brood of vipers” in John 3:7. The message is fitting since their teachings were leading the people of Israel away from God and not towards him. The issue that John raises is that they found their eternal security in being the offspring of Abraham and not bearing “fruit in keeping with repentance.” (Verse 8) This means that these so-called religious leaders had missed the message of the Old Testament and were blind to the truth of the Scriptures. As a result, many had been deceived and left in the dark from a lack of truth. John’s message is new to the people and it is a message filled with hope.

John also says God has brought an axe to chop down and destroy all trees that do not bear good fruit, which is also targeted at the way things have been. Yet, John the Baptist realizes his baptism is nothing more than repentance and water, he is merely the forerunner. There is another that is coming who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire.

What does all this have to do with our text this morning? It sets us up to see the significance of the Baptism of Jesus. What we will see this morning is that **“we can follow Jesus because he is the God who relates to us.”**

What do we learn from Jesus’ baptism? First, we learn that:

1. The Son obeys.

Jesus’ baptism demonstrates that he identifies with us.

We might wonder: why would Jesus, who was without sin, need to be baptized? Let alone have that need to obey through baptism? It was not for forgiveness of sins since he was sinless.

Yet Jesus’ baptism allows him to identify with sinners. In fact, Isaiah speaks to this matter in Isaiah 53:12

Isaiah 53:12 ESV

12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

Even though Jesus was sinless, he came and identified with us. Although he was fully God, He also was fully man and came to the baptism waters to testify that he was one of us. He identified with with us.

b. Jesus’ baptism provides an example for us.

Jesus, as the one who we can identify with and he identified with us, sets the example for us. In fact, we see later in Jesus’ ministry specifically in his Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20 that Jesus commands that disciples be baptized as He was baptized.

He says,

Matthew 28:19–20 ESV

19 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, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Baptism is not simply something man has designed for the purpose of the church, it is something that God has commanded, something He has called every follower of Christ to do, and something He has told us to do in all nations. Baptism is not really optional for the believer who wants to be faithful to what God has commanded us to do.

Furthermore,

c. Jesus’ baptism shows the significance of baptism.

The word Baptism is the word baptizo, which comes from the root word Baptō, which means dip, which means that biblical ordained baptism was through being dipped under water. In other words, a person would have to go completely under the water and then come back up in order for the word to be used appropriately. Not only that, John the Baptist, better understood as John the Dipper, was at the Jordan River so that he could submerge people under the water with baptism. I say this with love for my brothers and sisters from other denominational backgrounds, being sprinkled is not the Biblical model for baptism. The only baptism that is ordered from Scripture is to be submerged in water.

Furthermore, the significance of the imagery of baptism is lost apart from submersion. Jesus’ baptism points us to his completed work on the cross for our sins. When he is submerged in the water, it signifies his future death on the cross and burial. He will go to the grave, yet, when he is raised from the water, it signifies the grave cannot hold him, and we will have victory through his victory!

Don’t miss this, baptism for us the believers now identifies us with Jesus! When we are submerged in the water, we are telling the world, our sin, history, heritage, our entire previous life is dead and we are buried with Christ, and then when we are raised up out of the water, we are proclaiming that we have trusted in Jesus and he has saved us giving us victory over our old self. It is the most beautiful picture.

These baptisms today tell the greatest story of all time! These individuals just told all of us that their old selves have been erased because of the work of Christ! They have been saved! And sin has no more power over them, no more power over their lives, because they have experienced his saving work!

Baptism is the most powerful message we proclaim when we are saved and it is the first act of obedience we are to take once we confess Jesus as Lord. He set the example and demonstrated that he was here to obey the Father’s wish to be the sacrificial lamb for the world he loves.

Transition: Not only does the Son obey,

2. The Holy Spirit anoints.

Matthew 3:16 ESV

16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him;

Now keep in mind, that this is not the first time Jesus is experiencing the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Jesus has been filled with the Holy Spirit from conception. We know this because Jesus is conceived through the work of the Holy Spirit, we witness this in Matthew 1:18, and 20.

Matthew 1:18 ESV

18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 1:20 ESV

20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

Furthermore, the witnesses seeing the Holy Spirit deciding onto Jesus serves as a way to confirm that Jesus is the promised Messiah. In fact, it fulfills prophecy.

a. The Spirit fulfills prophecy (Isaiah 61:1).

Isaiah 61:1 tells us,

Isaiah 61:1 ESV

1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

So what does this mean? It means that the Spirit’s anointing serves as a form of confirmation of Jesus and his coming ministry. Note that,

b. The Spirit uniquely anoints Jesus’ ministry. (Isaiah 61:1)

Jesus’ ministry is to bring the good news to those in need. The Holy Spirit declares that Jesus is on the scene and ready for action. He has come to fix the broken world and heal wounds that have no healing ointment apart from him.

Not only does the Son obey and the Spirit anoint, Also,

The Father speaks.

Matthew 3:17 ESV

17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Talk about a powerful image, just for a moment imagine being on that rocky side of the hill looking down into the Jordan as you see the man of the wilderness baptizing another man whom he had just conversed with showing his displeasure at the thought of baptizing him. With a bit of coaching you can tell that John the Dipper has agreed. The man goes under the water, but when he comes out, it is different from the other people. Sure, other baptisms have been joyous with great celebrations and shouts. But as he rises out of the water, the sky changes, a light unlike the sun descends on the stranger. With that light, something begins descending onto him. It is graceful, it produces warmth, hope; yet, also there is a sense of awe, even a sense of trembling at the sight. It rests on the man, then with a loud rumble a voice from the sky proclaims, this man, is His beloved Son, with whom He is well pleased.

Do you see it? Do you feel the sense of awe and even shock these people would have experienced while witnessing these events unfold? Yet, we cannot miss the message the Father shares as he speaks. The first thing is that

a. The Father declares Jesus as His Son.

Jesus was not just some normal person or a simple sinner repenting. He was the perfect Son of the living God. Not only that, with the Father’s declaration, we see God alluding to His words from the Old Testament, specifically Psalm 2.

Psalm 2:7–9 ESV

7 I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. 8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. 9 You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”

Yet, not only does the Father declare that Jesus is His Son.

b. The Father declares His pleasure in His Son.

God further confirms the identity of Jesus as he points the people to the words of Isaiah from 42:1, listen to them:

Isaiah 42:1 ESV

1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.

God uses his words to be a source of encouragement to His Son and to testify to everyone present that this is truly the Son of God and He is the Messiah that God had promised to send to save the world. Yet, it was not to come into without suffering. In fact, Isaiah would later testify in Isaiah 53:5 that,

Isaiah 53:5 ESV

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

Jesus was sent and anointed to be crushed as the Suffering Servant who would bring life.

Conclusion

What do we learn from Jesus’ baptism? We learn we are to, like Jesus be obedient to the commands of God. We are called and commanded to be baptized like Jesus. How many of you need to go through a biblical baptism? Let me be clear, Jesus’ example of baptism shows us that we are to be submerged and that it is exclusively for those who have made professions of faith. Have you followed Jesus’ example of baptism after receiving Jesus as Lord and savior in your life? Do you need to get baptism on the right side of your salvation? What I mean is that, maybe you were baptized as a child, but you have not been baptized since you were saved. If you need to set up a time to follow in obedience to be baptized we will have pastors ready to help set that time up for you.

Yet, for others in this room, you know that you need to give your life to Jesus. Commit your life to him. That your sinful self needs to be buried in Christ’s blood so that you might be made new in Jesus! Will you surrender all today? Will you give your life to Jesus? (Lead them in the prayer).

Yet, for most of us in the room, you might be wondering what this message means to me. This message is a testimony to the call we have been given to go and make disciples and help lead them to faithfulness and obedience. We have been called to testify of the goodness of God and the good news of salvation in Jesus.

Are you committed to having the resolve to share the gospel with every person you meet? Do you have the resolve to invite, no matter who they are, what they look like, or how they act, to follow Jesus and come and worship with you in church next Sunday? Look around you, we have a room full of empty seats, space that should be full. Do you dare to pray and ask God who would it be that could sit beside me next week? Who might I invite to follow Jesus?

Jesus’ baptism is a reminder for our need to be baptized, our need to be saved, and our need to live on mission?

This alter is open, who are you broken over who do you need to pray for their salvation this morning? Lay them at the feet of Jesus and ask God for boldness to proclaim Him to them.

Respond as the Lord leads.

Pray