Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Are You Part of God's People? | New Testament | Matthew 3

Episode Date: January 4, 2023

Join the TMBT community in reading the entire New Testament in 2023. Get your FREE reading plan here. Does God only want a certain type of person? How can you be sure you're part of God's kingdom? How can you be righteous before God? In today's episode, Jensen reads Matthew 3 and discusses the significance of Jesus's baptism. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here.

Welcome to 10-minute Bible talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jensen Holt McNair. Chapter 2 of the book of Matthew ends with Jesus' family returning to the city of Nazareth while Jesus was still a child. And now, as we enter into chapter 3, we've catapulted forward about 25 years into the future. Jesus is now a man, but Matthew starts this chapter focusing on a different man, a man named John. John. Verse one. In those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea. Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, the voice of the one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord,

make his path straight. Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. You've probably heard of John the Baptist before. But here, as Matthew introduces us to him, he focuses on letting us know that John is the fulfillment of an Old Testament prophecy. Isaiah foretold that someone from the wilderness would come before the long promised Messiah, and this person's job would be to prepare a way for the Messiah. You'll notice as we go through the entire book of Matthew that he has a main focus of showing his Jewish audience just how Jesus is the fulfillment of all they have waited for in the Old Testament. And because of this, he includes a description of John that can make John seem

kind of crazy to our modern day standards. John the Baptist seems like a crazy guy living in a desert eating gross food and dressing weird. But Matthew isn't trying to paint John as a crazy guy. The clothes and food he eats was actually typical of the people who dwelt in the desert at that time and were poorer than most. He is telling us important details about where John lives so that he can help his audience understand that this is in fact the voice of the one crying in the wilderness that Isaiah had talked about so long ago. So now we know who John the Baptist is, but in the next few verses, Matthew gives us a picture of how he is preparing the way of the Lord. Verse five, then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him,

and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance, and do not presume to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father. For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree, therefore, that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the

holy spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is at hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn. But the chaff, he will burn with unquenchable fire. Okay, stick with me. I know that was a But in these seven verses, Matthew shows us John's role in making a straight path for Jesus. John is preaching a message of repentance and belief to God's people. He is calling God's people to be faithful and to confess the ways that they have failed to do so. The baptism of the water was a symbol of being cleansed of sins and passing through the waters of judgment and death. Because of this, in these first verses, we see the beginning of a new dissoning. distinct people group being prepared for the Messiah by their repentance and baptism.

And these people are defined not by their ethnicity, but by their repentance and faith in God. In verse 9, Matthew made this clear when John calls out the Pharisees who presume that they are safe from the wrath of God because they are merely descendants of Abraham. John responds to this presumption by letting the people know that God is able to take stones and make them into children of Abraham if he wanted. He is clearly showing these Israelites that with the coming Messiah, what makes them a part of God's people is not their Jewish ethnicity, but their repentance and faith. John Piper puts it this way. So the new people of God that are being gathered by this baptism, being prepared for the coming Messiah, Jesus, are marked by repentance

and by the fruit that comes from repentance. They are not like the Pharisees depending on their ethnicity or the religious pedigree by saying, we have Abraham as our father. John the Baptist goes on to explain how the coming Messiah will baptize his people with the Holy Spirit, that this new people he will gather to himself. But those who are not a part of his people, well, they'll face the judgment of God. No longer would being ethnically Jewish make you a part of God's people.

but repentance and faith in the Messiah. And this idea would have been shocking to the original Jewish audience, something totally new, and yet we see it resonating with many as they come forward to be baptized. The greatest thing about this is that it means that you and I, everyone, no matter their ethnicity or race, can be a part of God's people. The way to the Messiah is wide open for the nations, and John the Baptist is crying out in the wilderness to let us know. Just as scripture foretold, John the Baptist is beginning to make clear the ways of the kingdom of heaven. He is clearing a way for Jesus to come and preach his message.

And then in verse 13 of chapter 3, Jesus enters the scene. Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him saying, I need to be baptized. by you, and do you come to me? But Jesus answered him, let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he consented. Jesus comes to John, not to take over, not to announce himself as the Messiah, but to be baptized. And maybe you're like John and wondering why in the world would Jesus need to be baptized? Didn't we just talk about how baptism was about repentance of sin? Jesus was perfect. He lived a sinless life. So why would he need to be baptized? John himself recognized this by saying Jesus should be the one baptizing him, not the other way around.

But Jesus responds by saying, let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. Clears things right up, doesn't it? Maybe it does for you, but I had to do a little digging to understand exactly what Jesus meant when he said this. In order to understand why Jesus was baptized, we have to understand one of the central parts of the gospel, the fact that Jesus lived a substitutionary life in our place, so that through his death, he could atone for our sins, and through justification, present sinful humans as righteous before the judgment of a just God. Now, that's a lot of theological terms, but 2 Corinthians 521 puts it clearly for me. God made Him, Jesus, who had no sin to be sin for us,

so that in Him he might become the righteousness of God. Yahweh, the Creator and God of the universe, became a human in the person of Jesus, so that he could live a perfectly sinless life that no human could hope to live. And in doing so, he was able to take on a person. our sin and pay the just penalty that we deserved through his death. But in his resurrection, he conquered death for all who put their faith in him. So now we can stand before God, and he sees Christ's righteousness, not our sinfulness. Jesus is the Messiah who saved his people through his substitutionary life and death. And so his baptism is not for himself. He is not for himself.

but for us. He is fulfilling the righteousness for a broken humanity, not for himself. In his baptism, he joined with his people taking on the burden of their need for righteousness, even when he had no such burden. In his baptism, Jesus identifies with us, his people, and begins his work of justification so that we too can be righteousness before God. Matthew ends this third chapter reminding us yet again of Jesus's mission. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were open to him, and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him. And behold, a voice from heaven said, this is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased.

The words of God coming from heaven point us back to another Old Testament prophecy of Isaiah. In chapter 42 of Isaiah, we learn of the chosen servant in whom God's soul delights, who will bring forth justice to the entire earth and to be a light for all the nations. Jesus is the fulfillment of this prophecy. And so in this third chapter, Matthew makes it clear to his audience who Jesus is and what he has come to do. For the original audience, this chapter is just the tip of the full picture of all that Jesus is and does for his people. But it sets the stage for a Messiah who has come to humble himself and take the place of his people. And luckily for us, with the full picture in view, this chapter points us forward to incredible truths about the gospel of Jesus and his kingdom.

I know that it can be easy to get caught up in busy schedules and stressful days. maybe you're facing a hard season. Maybe you're putting your hope in New Year's resolutions to turn your life around. Wherever you are today, I just want to challenge you to let Matthew 3 remind you of the reality that you live in if you are a member of the people of God that Jesus calls to repentance and faith. Let the truth of the gospel shape your perspective as you walk through life's difficulties and joys today. So today, Matthew 3 pointed us forward to remember that you, your life is part of a bigger story where these things are true. Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah. He is king. Out from all the nations, he is calling a new

people to repentance and faith in his kingship as the creator of the universe. He secured our righteousness before a just and holy God through his substitutionary sinless life and death. and in his bodily resurrection, he conquered death so that you and I can have hope of a bodily resurrection in the days to come. No matter what our lives look like today, we can be absolutely sure that one day we will rise alongside him and live on this redeemed and restored earth with Jesus as our king. That is the reality that we live in. May we let it change everything? Thanks for listening.

If you haven't heard already, we've created a plan to help you read through the New Testament this year. This New Testament reading plan is the same one that we're going to be using on 10-minute Bible talks, so you can read a chapter at home and then listen to an episode on the chapter that you just read. The link to the PDF is in the show notes.