The Baptism of Jesus
Notes
Transcript
The Baptism of Jesus
The Baptism of Jesus
Intro- Read passage and prayer
Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him.
But John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?”
But Jesus answering said to him, “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he permitted Him.
After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him,
and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”
The question of “who we are”- Society pushes an open honesty of self- and a pursuit of “being your true self”
We live in the most narcissistic time in human history- We are so self-centered- and only concerned with self fulfillment
My parents told me my whole childhood- “You can be anything you want to be”
You can be an astronaut or a music star- Whatever you like!
Was that true?
Astronaut- One thing you have to be OK with is heights- I have ALWAYS struggled with a childhood fear of heights-
Students I will say it is important to understand who you are-
You know who we are?- Sinful- Broken- Dead in our sin
The Bible has forever been honest about our own human condition-
IT does not paint a pretty picture of humanity- Gen-
Created as God’s chief creation- squandered our blessing and fell deeper and deeper into darkness- Growing in corruption and depravity-
When we are honest- To focus on us = hopelessness- despair
But that’s not what we want to do tonight-
We want to focus on hope- We want to focus on Christ
You guys have started a series called- “Who is Jesus?”
Last week, you focused on Jesus being “God with us”- Immanuel- A foretelling of Jesus coming to this earth in human flesh- Dwelling among us (John 1)
This week to answer the question “Who is Jesus?”, we want to look at a passage in Matthew 3
Context-
The book of Matthew was written by Matthew the tax collector turned disciple and apostle
His Gospel account compared to the other Gospel is by far the most Jewish in its nature
It was written to a predominantly Jewish audience who would have understood cultural context, tradition and prophecy as it pointed to the Messiah- The hope for humanity
Matthew 3:13-17 - The baptism of Jesus-
Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him.
But John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?”
But Jesus answering said to him, “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he permitted Him.
After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him,
and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”
Jesus travels from Galilee to the Jordan-
Jesus at the age of or around 30 years old goes to see his cousin at the Jordan river
Up to this point- we do not have much about the life of Jesus for the last 30 years- basically, Jesus had remained secluded for the majority of His life
John the Baptist had been baptizing people in the Jordan river to prepare them for the coming Messiah
The purpose of Baptism in Jewish belief was to initiate those who were converting to Judaism (Gentile pagan converted to a believer in the One true God)
John the Baptist- was baptizing for the purpose of repentance and preparation- As John the Baptist called the Jews to repent from their sins, those who responded were baptized by John as a sign of their change of heart
Repentance- is the turning of the heart and mind from sin
John the Baptist was the one who was preparing a way for the Messiah- announcing His coming- A herald of the new King
Jesus seeks out John to baptize him-
Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him.
But John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?”
But Jesus answering said to him, “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he permitted Him.
Jesus came to the Jordan seeking out baptism from John
Why? Did Jesus need to repent from sin?
No! Jesus was sinless.
We would look at John’s response and say, “that makes sense”- John said, “I don’t need to baptize you! You need to baptize me!”
“Permit it”- Just let this happen- don’f fight it-
So why did Jesus command John to baptize him?
To identify with the approaching of the Kingdom of God- The baptism of John was not only one of repentance, but also one of preparation- The Messiah was coming and those prepared for the Kingdom of God identified by baptism-
So, we see Jesus doing- not as one getting ready for the kingdom- but as the King Himself
To fulfill ALL manner of righteousness- To display to us the perfectly obedient life-
Jesus also paid his taxes- Was it because Jesus HAD to pay his taxes, or actually owed Caesar money? Of course not! Jesus owns everything as Immanuel
In the same way- Jesus did these things to display to us an obedient and humble Christian life.
He did not do these things to BE perfect, but because He WAS perfect
To show us that He is the Son of God
After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him,
and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”
After being baptized- “Immediately”- Meaning as soon as Jesus came out of the water- We see three things taking place-
The heavens were opened- This is a common phrase from Old Testament happenings- This would point to a movement of God among the people
The Holy Spirit of God descended as a dove
God the Father speaks to and about Jesus- Calling Jesus His beloved Son
This passage is so significant because it effectively marks the start of Jesus’ earthly ministry
It is one of the few passages where see the presence of the trinity all together- God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit
Our focus from this, is on Jesus as the Son of God
This passage does two different things that teach us that Jesus is the Son of God
It fulfill Old Testament prophecy-
Isaiah 42:1 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.
I will tell of the decree:
The Lord said to me, “You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
The Spirit of God descends on Jesus fulfilling Isaiah 42:1
And God the Father calls Jesus His beloved- begotten Son- nearly quoting Psalm 2:7- Speaking of Jesus as the Son of God
Secondly- It is God the Father audibly telling us who Jesus is
V. 17- “This is my beloved Son”- beloved speaks as a title to the Messiah- the coming Christ-
God the Father uses this to describe Jesus, His beloved- Only, loved beyond all, Son
John 3:16-
The confirming voice of God points to Jesus and says, “That’s Him! That’s my Son who has come into the world!”
We mentioned roles earlier- roles of the God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit
Why is Jesus being the Son of God SO significant?
Because it is only by the coming of the Son of God- His perfect life, and sacrificial death- that we have hope
No one else can bring the hope that we need- If I died for you does that save you from your sins?
NO! Because the punishment I would receive was a punishment I deserved!
No other human can take my sin because they are also sinful!
It is only by one who has NOT sinned- One who is perfect- sinless- spotless- that my sin might be atoned for
God the Father poured out His wrath on God the Son-
God the Father crushed His Son- to pay for the sins of humanity
When God the Father gave His Son- And His Son WILLINGLY gave His life to pay for our sin- something incredible took place for humanity- at least for those who have trusted in the Son of God for salvation
You see, we call the death of Jesus a substitutionary death- Jesus substituted Himself for me on that cross-
Jesus took to full brunt of the wrath of God for me- the sinner- the wretch
- 1 John 3:1 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!
Because of Jesus- we are no longer hopeless- children of wrath like Ephesians 2 calls us
We are His children
How? Because of what Jesus did for us
God treated Jesus like you deserved to be treated- So that He could treat you like Jesus deserved to be treated
God crushed His Son- So that He wouldn't have to crush you
Jesus took our sin, so that we might have His Sonship
It is not just that Jesus was God with us- But Jesus was the Son of God on our behalf- a man of sorrows taking the sin of the world- taking my place and taking yours-
Romans 5:7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
