The Church of Eleven22 - S01 E94 - Jesus’s Baptism

Episode Date: October 6, 2020

Hey, 1122. My name is Adam Flint. I'm one of the pastors here. I'm so glad to get to spend this time with you. And we are going to be looking at Jesus's baptism. And two weeks ago, two Sundays ago, was Beach Baptism. We celebrated 227 baptisms. 227 people went public, declared, demonstrated their faith in Jesus. And so I want to jump into the passage that talks about Jesus's baptism. And I want to jump into the passage that talks about Jesus's baptism. And I'm I want to ask the question, why did Jesus get baptized? So if you got a Bible, grab your Bible, head to Matthew Chapter 3. If you don't, I'm going to read it for you. And here we go. Matthew, chapter 3, verse 1.

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 one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. Now, John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist,

and his food was locust and wild honey. And then Jerusalem and all of Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. Now skip down to verse 11,

and it says, I baptize you, this is John speaking, 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 in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his weed into his barn to the chaff you will burn with unquenchable fire. And then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John to be baptized by him. And John would have prevented him saying, I need to be baptized by you. And do you come to me?

But Jesus answered him, so let it be so now. For thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water and behold, the heavens were open to him. And he saw that the spirit of God descended like a dove, coming to rest on him. And behold, a voice from heaven said, this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.

So here's the question I've got. Why was Jesus baptized? Because John says that he was baptizing in the Jordan and people were confessing their sins. And Jesus didn't have any sins to confess. And John says in verse 11, I baptize you with water for repentance. It was a baptism of repentance.

And Jesus didn't have anything to repent of. that Jesus was God in the flesh lived a perfect, sinless life. And so if John is baptizing and people are confessing their sins and it's a baptism of repentance, then why was Jesus baptized? And in this passage, I think we see four reasons why Jesus is baptized. And they matter. They matter for why Jesus was baptized. They matter for why you should be baptized.

and when you are baptized, what's actually happening or what you're declaring and demonstrating in your baptism. And so the first thing is this, that Jesus's baptism identified him with sinners. It didn't identify him as a sinner. It just identified, he was identifying with sinners. In verse 11, in Matthew 311, it says, 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. Meaning Jesus came into the world to be with sinners. I mean, one of the things that Jesus got accused of all the time is that he hung out with the wrong crowd. He would go to the

wrong people's house. He made friends with tax collectors and sinners and prostitutes. And so he, in his baptism, even though he wasn't a sinner, he was making a statement that he wanted to be identified with sinners, that he was going to be a friend of sinners, that he was coming into the world to save sinners. 2 Corinthians 521 says that for our sake, He, God made Him Jesus to be sin, who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God. That Jesus was, Jesus came into the world and was identified with us, took on our sin, that we might become the righteousness. righteousness of God. It was the great exchange that happened in that. And all baptism declares that we need Jesus. We need Jesus to come to us and we need Jesus to come our way because we can't ever

earn or get up to God. And so Jesus's baptism was a declaration that Jesus was coming to be with us. A second thing that Jesus' baptism declared and demonstrated was that Jesus' baptism publicly demonstrates that Jesus lived in perfect obedience to the Father on our behalf. In Matthew 314, it says John would have prevented him Jesus, 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's fitting for us to fulfill. all righteousness, and then John consented. That when Jesus was baptized, what he was doing was he was submitting to the will of the Father, that Jesus was being perfectly obedient to what God had said he should do.

And when God called him to be baptized, when God called all believers to be baptized, Jesus was fulfilling all the righteousness on our behalf. And baptism, our baptism, just like Jesus is baptism, our baptism points to the fact that Jesus fulfills all the righteous requirements of the law on our behalf. That when we're baptized, what we're saying is we couldn't fulfill all the law. We couldn't do everything that God required, but Jesus did everything that God required on our behalf.

and when Jesus was baptized, he was fulfilling all the righteous requirements of God. Number three, Jesus' baptism publicly declares that Jesus was the son of God. And Matthew 317 says, and behold, a voice from heaven said, so as Jesus is baptized, a voice from heaven says, this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. that at the time Jesus was baptized, the Spirit has said, descended like a dove, and then the voice from heaven, the voice of God the Father, says, Jesus is my son, and I am so pleased with him. And that that's what Jesus' baptism was declaring to the world.

And every baptism, all baptism, is a public declaration that Jesus is the son of God. That when you are baptized, you are declaring to the world. the world that you believe that Jesus is the Son of God. And then forth, Jesus's baptism points to his death and to his resurrection. Verse 16 says, and when Jesus was baptized, meaning he was dip, dunk, submerged, like went under. Immediately he went up from the water. And behold, the heavens were opened up and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove and resting on him. That that baptism are going under the water. Jesus is going under the water. It was a sign. It was a symbol of what was to come, namely his death, that he would die on the cross and that he would be put into a tomb.

And so when he is baptized and he goes under, it symbolizes his death. And then when he comes up, when he went up, it was symbolizing or pointing forward to the day that Jesus would be resurrected from the dead. Now Paul picks this up in Romans, and in Romans chapter 6, verse 3, it says, Paul writes this, do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. for if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

The going under the water signified death, coming up out of the water signifies new life, resurrected life. And when you are baptized, it is a sign, it is a symbol, it is a public declaration that you have died, your old self has died.

You have been buried with Christ. and then you have been raised to new and everlasting life. And so Jesus' baptism identified him with sinners. And thank God that he did. Thank God that he came to us when we couldn't go to God. And Jesus' baptism publicly declared and demonstrated that he lived the perfect life, fulfilled all righteousness on our behalf, that he was actively obedient and fulfilled the law for us.

And that Jesus' baptism publicly declared, that Jesus was the Son of God. And finally, it points to his death and his resurrection. And so I want to encourage you in two things. One, if you've been baptized before, I want you to spend some time remembering your baptism. Remember that thing. Remember the event, but remember more what it signified and what it sealed in your life. What was it that God did that brought you to that point where you would declare that Jesus is your Lord and Savior and that you are baptized. And if you haven't been baptized and you are a follower of Jesus, I would encourage you to take the next step of faith, to be baptized, to be dip, dunk, submerged, and to be raised as a sign

of what Jesus has already done in your life. So let me pray for you. Heavenly Father, I thank you for this time. I thank you for Jesus. I thank you that he was baptized. And Lord, may we be a people that celebrate baptism, that we would celebrate old life dying and new life being raised, that we would celebrate that Jesus is the son of God and that he came to us and he fulfilled all the law on our behalf. Thank you for doing that, Jesus. We pray it in your name.