 Let's get into the word. Matthew chapter 3. We're going to be looking this morning at the baptism of Jesus. What I'll do is I'm going to introduce our study by by reminding you of a couple of things that we saw in the verses prior to this, verses 7 through 12. I'll especially speak a little bit on verses 11 and 12 and then move in to the context of the baptism of Jesus found in verses 13 through 17. So I'll read verses 13 through 17 and then get into our study. Matthew writes, then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him and John tried to prevent him, saying, I have need to be baptized by you and are you coming to me? Jesus answered and said to him, permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness, then he allowed him. Then Jesus, when he had been baptized, came up immediately from the water and behold, the heavens were open to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon him and suddenly a voice came from heaven saying, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. The last time we were together, we looked at verses 7 through 12 and in verses 7 through 12 John had been sharing certain things and in verse 11, we'll use verse 11 as an introduction because he had said, I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. So John's baptism was intended to prepare people for the coming Messiah. John had what is called the baptism of repentance, but the Messiah also had a baptism that he would perform. The Messiah would administer what is called the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire. I want to develop that with you for just a moment because human nature without God is hopelessly trapped in sinful desires and sinful practices. Paul wrote concerning that when he was writing to the Romans and he had said in Romans 3, 10 through 12 as the scriptures say no one is good, not even one. No one has real understanding. No one is seeking God. All have turned away from God. All have gone wrong. No one does good, not even one. So Paul was saying that man does not in the deepest sense seek God, nor does he truly try to please God. So to produce a life that truly seeks God requires the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Now when you look into the Old Testament, there's the book of Ezekiel and God made a promise in the book of Ezekiel. It's found in Ezekiel 36 25 through 26. He said, then I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. That promise was fulfilled in the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus cleanses us, Jesus gives us a new heart and Jesus gives us a new spirit. And that's what every person truly needs, a brand new life. But the question is, how does that happen? Well, when you study your Bible and you read John chapter four, John records an interesting occurrence. He records a conversation that the Lord Jesus Christ had with a very thirsty woman at a well in a place called Samaria. John tells us it was noon. His disciples had left him by the well as they went into the city to buy food. And as he rested by the well, a woman came and she drew near. In order that she might draw some water from the well. And as she approached the well to draw water, Jesus spoke to her and he said to her woman, give me something to drink. And John records how the woman looked at Jesus and said to him, how is it that you, being a Jew, ask water from me, a woman of Samaria? And then John records how that the Jews had no dealings with Samaritans. And so as Jesus begins this conversation with this woman, he told her that if she knew who he was, she would have asked him for living water. And when he said that to her, he said something that was truly amazing. It's found in John four, 13 and 14. And Jesus answered, said to her, whoever drinks of this water will thirst again. But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. You're thirsty right now for water that doesn't satisfy. You have to come over and over again every day to get up this water. And then you have to replenish your supply. You have to come, you have to draw, you have to drink and you do you do that all the time. But if you knew who it was who was speaking to you and the gift of God, you would have said to him, I want living water. That living water is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, the work of the Holy Spirit within the life of a believer. It's a gift. It's a promise that God has given to us if we trust him, if we give our lives to Christ. The Holy Spirit was promised by Jesus to his disciples. In John four, 14, 16 and 17, he said, I will pray the Father and he will give you another helper that he may abide with you forever. The spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him for he dwells with you and he will be in you. The Holy Spirit in many ways people try and draw a relationship with God in natural ways. They become disciplined, they become moral, they become ethical, they become religious. They pursue what they think that God would have of them, require of them through their own efforts. But the fact of the matter is is we cannot in any way, shape or form ever do that which is good. And in reality, none of us is truly even seeking after him. It's God who has to come and reach down to us. And God is able to give to us a power that we don't have. He gives to us the power of the Holy Spirit. There are a lot of people who are good people in terms of at least when you begin to look at their lives in comparison to others. You most certainly wouldn't say that they're the most evil that they could possibly be. They may be very good people in comparison to somebody else. But the fact is is that the Lord wants to do something within us. That isn't an external thing, but it's actually something that's internal that has worked out externally. He wants to pour within us his Holy Spirit. He wants us to have this baptism that John was speaking about when he said he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Now after his resurrection, Jesus spoke to his disciples. He gave them a promise as well as an order in Luke 24.49. He said, behold, I send the promise of my father upon you, but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high promise. I will give you power. The command, wait. This this promise of power takes place on the day of Pentecost. One hundred and twenty are waiting in an upper room there in the city of Jerusalem. And as they're there united in one accord in prayer, tongues of fire began to land on each one of them. And they begin to be filled with the spirit. They actually go out of that room. And they begin to speak of the wonderful works of God and the church was birthed. And what we have then is what we need now. The Holy Spirit who works within our lives, the power of God who works within our lives, the power of God who is resident within us. You know, when you look in church history, even recent history, and you see the Jesus movement, there are those who think, well, the Jesus movement was was a movement because well, they started using colloquial methodologies in terms of we didn't have a formalization in terms of our preaching. We spoke as just ordinary folk to ordinary folk or we had music that at that time was connecting with with the youth. And and it was just one of those those seasons and all that that occurred because of some very basic sociological things. And that's not true at all. The Jesus movement did have music and still does the Jesus movement did have conversational communication from pulpits. It still does. But what made the Jesus movement, the Jesus movement and what has always made the Jesus movement, the Jesus movement is the is the Holy Spirit working within us. We were taught you need to seek and after the Lord you need to pursue him as if you were dying of thirst and only he could only he could satisfy. And that's we were taught seek the power of the Holy Spirit, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, the Holy Spirit who will gift you, the Holy Spirit who will fill you, the Holy Spirit who will lead you, the Holy Spirit who will seal you, the Holy Spirit who will work within you because he's a person, the second person of the Holy Trinity. Seek him and we did and we do. I would encourage you even as I was sharing just this last Wednesday night, I would encourage you seek the power of the Holy Spirit in your life, wake up in the morning and say, God, in Jesus' name, fill me with your spirit. Listen, when you wake up in the morning, the Lord is there waiting for you, but the enemy is too. And he wants to destroy you. He wants to steal. He wants to kill. He wants to destroy you and any person who's being used by the Lord is going to be attacked by the enemy and he need the power of the Holy Spirit in your life and I would encourage you as a church. I would encourage all of us seek the Lord while he may be found. Ask God to work within our lives. And John was saying, he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit in fire. Now the baptism of fire, one of the things that happens when you get saved and you get filled with the Spirit and you begin to be used by the Lord is you become a weapon in the hand of the Lord and the enemy doesn't like it. You see, he likes the fact that people very often who profess to be Christians actually are doing his work by living lives that don't reflect Christ at all. There's no hunger for fellowship. There's no purity. There's no holiness. There's there's nothing there. They're just in Christian in name only. And he actually, I believe benefits from that. But what happens when you get on fire for the Lord? What happens when you actually begin to speak out and you begin to share with friends and family? What happens when you begin to speak with coworkers or neighbors or whatever, and you begin to actually be transformed? Well, the enemy has a way of coming against you. So as you wake up in the morning and you say, God, fill me with the Spirit, the enemy is also wanting to destroy the work that God is doing in you. But what the Lord does is the Lord begins to work within you, refining you and God begins to purify you. And so this fire has at least one aspect of it. And that could be the purification that takes place when you come to faith in Christ and God through trials begins to, to remove the things that really do not have a place in your life. And, uh, and that does allows the Holy Spirit to produce fruit in you. That brings honor to him. You see the purifying work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer very often comes through trials. That's why the psalmist in Psalm 66 10 says, for you, oh God, have tested us, you have refined us as silver is refined or Proverbs 17 three, the refining pot is for silver, the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests the hearts or first Peter chapter one, verse seven, that the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it'd be tried with fire, might be found into praise and honor and glory at the period of Jesus Christ. So listen, listen, when you, when you say to the Lord, I want to be used by you, the Lord is going to refine you. So don't, uh, don't get all, um, discouraged by the fiery trials that try you because it's God simply refining you. It's God purifying you. He's making you a vessel worthy of honor. And so the Holy Spirit, when you're baptized in the power of the Holy Spirit, there's also a purification, but this also may be an illusion to verse 12, an illusion to the judgment that ultimately comes on those who reject Christ. Because in verse 12, it says, his winnowing fan is in his hand. He will thoroughly purge his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. So it may have an application for the judgment that comes upon those who reject Jesus. In Matthew 13, versus 41 and 42, we read, the Son of man will send out his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom, all things that offend and those who practice lawlessness and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. And so as we've been looking at this, we now move into verse 13, where it says, then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. John tried to prevent him, saying, I have need to be baptized by you. And are you coming to me? But Jesus answered and said to him, permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he allowed him. This baptism of Jesus is anointing for service. I'm going to give you some things that maybe, maybe will help you in the future to have answers for some questions that you might have asked of you. We'll begin by saying that at this time, Jesus is around 30 years of age. How do we know that? Well, the Gospel of Luke chapter three, verse 23 tells us that. Now over the years, there has been speculation that Jesus had performed ministry as a child. And there are books written that claim that Jesus spent 17 years in India. That's nonsense. Others claim that hidden Gospels have been found written by Philip or Thomas. That is what is called scholastic nonsense. But it is believed by those who desire such things. They call it the hidden years of Jesus. But the Bible teaches us that Jesus was around 30 years of age when he began his ministry and he was brown 30 when he got baptized. What we trust in is what the Bible says concerning him. We need to remember that the Gospel of Luke was written from a historical perspective with much research and interviews. Luke records that Jesus went to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover at the age of 12. But after doing so, Jesus went home to Nazareth and he remained there according to Luke two fifty one. After this, John was sent to prepare his way. And now it's time to make himself known. So Jesus is around 30 years old. At this point, John has been ministering a short time. He's been ministering for a few months, more than likely less than a year. Now, Jesus comes from Galilee specifically to John. Now, John was baptized in a region called Southern Judah about two miles north of the Dead Sea. And it says in verse 13 that Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. Now, that word came is a Greek word. It speaks of Jesus arriving in an official sense. Now, he didn't come with any disciples. He was alone and he came specifically to be baptized by John. Jesus did not have a private baptism. As some have thought in the past, his baptism was in front of many witnesses, according to Luke three twenty one, where it says one day when the crowds were baptized, Jesus himself was baptized. Now, as Jesus approaches, notice verse 14, John tried to prevent him, saying, I have need to be baptized by you. And are you coming to me? Let's look at that for a moment. John tried to prevent him because he recognized something about Jesus. He saw something about him. And I want you to see what he said. I have need to be baptized by you. And are you coming to me? If you want to be used by the Lord, there needs to be a quality in your life called humility. You need to know who you are in light of who Jesus Christ is. It's called humility. Sometimes we will encounter people that we know have a relationship with the Lord that is very powerful, very deep. And it can make us feel very uncomfortable to be around them. I remember when I was a young pastor and I was speaking Pastor Chuck, I always held him in great admiration and I was about thirty one at the time and I was speaking to him. And I remember as I was approaching him to talk to this man that I admired so much. I remember consciously saying, think good thoughts, think good thoughts, because it was kind of like I thought he was going to look right through me and read my heart and had these piercing eyes that would look right at you. And I said, oh, no, he's reading my mind. And that was just with Pastor Chuck, just a man. All of us in this room have had people in our lives that perhaps as believers we have admired. We have said, what a great woman, what a great man of God that is. And you might have even felt a bit of intimidation when you were with them. You may have even felt that, you know, I, you know, they're just they're so close to the Lord. And and I don't sense the kind of closest that they have. And you could even be intimidated by them to be with them because they're just they've got such a trust in the love for Christ. Well, imagine what it would be like to be John and to have Jesus Messiah standing right in front of you. Naturally, there's going to be a response within you. Naturally, there's going to be. I have a need to be baptized by you and you're coming to baptize me. That's humility. See, if you want to have humility, all you need to do is spend time with Christ. When you spend time with the Lord, you see yourself for who you are in light of who he is when you're in the Word of God and you're reading the Word of God and you're meditating and praying and saying, God, help me. And listen, that's not just for pastors. That that's not just for Super Saints. That's for all the body of Christ. Every believer, if you want to draw closer to the Lord, every believer should do the basic, simple things. Read the Word of God daily, pray daily, fellowship as often as possible, share your faith. You will grow. I guarantee it. Get into the Word of God in prayer. You will grow. I guarantee it. God will move in your life. You will be used by the Lord. Spend time with him. And when you wake up in the morning and you say, God, in Jesus' name, fill me with your spirit. God, I want to be used by you. I promise that you will be used by the Lord and you will be opposed by the enemy. I promise it. See, the enemy of your soul, Satan, he does not want you sold out for Christ. He hates you. He comes to steal, kill and to destroy. And he will come after you. See, he doesn't come after the lukewarm and the carnal because they're doing work for him. There's hardly anything that stinks more in the nostrils of people than hypocrites. And when Christians act the hypocrite, when they say, oh, you need Jesus Christ, but they don't live for Christ themselves, he's, we're actually doing service for Satan in that because it causes people to say, look at what you have. I don't need. Why would I want any of that? Why would I want to be as miserable as you? Why do I want to gossip like you? Why do I want to have habits like yours? See, and yet we're saying, oh, Jesus, this and Jesus, that Satan, Satan actually uses that, unfortunately, but it's true. But when you yield yourself to the Lord and you say, God, I'm going to serve you with all of my I'm going to do the best that I can in you by your power today and you humbly pursue him and you humbly seek him. I promise you the Lord will use you, but the enemy will oppose you. He will oppose you because he wants to discourage you and he wants to disarm you. He doesn't want you to be used by the Lord. So what you do is you humble yourself before the Lord and say, God, be merciful to me. I want to be used by you. You see, John tried to prevent him saying, I have need to be baptized by you and you're coming to me. I'm trying to prepare people for you and you should come and you come to be baptized. I'm trying to prepare people for you. You come to be baptized as any sinner is baptized. Jesus, I'm a sinful man, but you, you're sinless. You should be the one who baptizes me. You are sinless. Now, one thing the New Testament makes abundantly clear is that Jesus was without sin. A 2009 George Barnab poll gives us insight into what people think about Jesus. The poll revealed that fully one third of professing Christians are confident that Jesus sinned and estimated 75 million unchurched American adults believe that Jesus committed sins, but the groups most likely to believe that Jesus lived a sinless life are those who read their Bible, 67% and those who call themselves born again believers, 65%. The Bible teaches that Jesus did not have a sin nature and that Jesus never committed a single sin. In Hebrews 4 15, this high priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all the same temptations we do, yet he did not sin. First Peter 222, who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth. First John 3 5, you know that he was manifested to take away our sins and in him there is no sin. Second Corinthians 5 21, for he made him who knew no sin to be sinned for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Only Jesus could ever ask the question, which of you convicts me of sin? Jesus could say that to his mom. He could say it in front of his brothers and his sisters. He could say, Mama, can you give me one sin that I have committed? Try that with your own mom someday. Mom, your mom will say, how much time do you have? Where do you want to start? At one, two, three, four, five, anywhere. Because our moms know us and the things that they have discovered about us, they're able to very easily, important, say, of course you sinned when you did this, you disobeyed that, you came in late, you used bad language, I mean the whole nine yards. Our moms can say that, but Jesus could sit down with Mama Holder by the hand, look at her face and he can say, can you convict me of sin? And she would say, no, of course not, you never sinned. He could do that with his brothers and his sisters. Can any of you convict me of sin? You see, it's one thing for somebody like myself who's not personally well known by every person in the church to stand up and say, which of you could, I would never do that, of course, because you could, but which of you can convict me of sin? And it's one thing to be able to do that, but try to do that with your family. And Jesus could do that. Jesus is the only one in history who is able to ever say, which of you convicts me of sin and not a single person could. So John recognizes his own sinfulness as he stands before the one who is without sin. And though he was the greatest amongst other men, he was only a sinner before Jesus Christ. And if the greatest ever born amongst men needed Jesus, how much more do we? And so in verse 15, Jesus says, permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. In other words, though this may not seem to be appropriate, in fact, it truly is. This must take place at this time in order for God's plan to be fulfilled. John, it's important for both of our ministries, because it validates yours and it begins mine. And so he says, permit it to be so. Now, why would Jesus have been baptized? Well, one, by being baptized, the openly demonstrates that John's standard of righteousness is valid. Repentance is necessary to be prepared for the kingdom of God. Second, by being baptized, he identifies with sinful mankind. It's been said he who had no sin took his place amongst those who had no righteousness. When we get to Matthew chapter nine in about six years, in verses 11 and 12, it says, when the Pharisees sought, they said to his disciples, why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? When Jesus heard that, he said to them, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Jesus spent time with sinners because he's the great physician. And ultimately, when Jesus died on that cross, he fulfilled Isaiah 5312, which reads he was numbered with the transgressors. And so he's identified with sinful mankind. And third, in Jesus's baptism, there is a symbol of his own death as well as his resurrection. His own baptism is a picture of what later would be referred to as Christian baptism. In Romans chapter six verse four, Paul said, we were buried with him through baptism into death that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. It says in verse 16, when he had been baptized, that he came up immediately from the water. So both John's baptism and the baptism administered by the apostles represented cleansing of sin. There's was a baptism unto repentance, but Christian baptism is different in that it's a recognition of death and resurrection. The important symbol in baptism is that of immersion. It's not of a sprinkling or of a pouring. You see, the fact that Jesus came up immediately from the water reveals that he was immersed in it. The word baptized is the anglicized version of the Greek word, baptizo. Baptizo speaks of an object being dipped into water, not water being poured on or sprinkled on that object. Baptizo speaks of dying cloth, and so you have the dye in a bowl, and you have the cloth in your hand, and you dip the cloth into the bowl, and thus you are baptizing it. It's not you taking the bowl and pouring it on the cloth, it's you taking the cloth and putting it into the bowl. Jesus was in the water, and it says he came out because Jesus went under. When your water baptized as a Christian, and I share this, and those of you who have been baptized here, or you've been taught this already. I will say, remember, this is a living drama, you are standing in the water, you go down into it, that is death and burial. When you come out of that water, that is a symbol of your life being raised with Christ. Death, burial, resurrection. And so the Lord Jesus Christ was water baptized, identifying with man, validating the ministry of John, and also representing the future Christian baptism. Now, as this is taking place, a second event transpires. He's anointed by the spirit as he comes out of the water. The heavens are open, the spirit descends upon him. Why did the Holy Spirit descend from heaven upon Jesus? Well, as fully man, he's anointed for service. In his humanity, there's a requirement for strength that only the Holy Spirit can supply. In Luke 4, 18 and 19, Jesus said it like this, the spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. So in his humanity, there's a requirement for strength that only the spirit supplies. Two, it was a confirming sign for John, who was able to confirm this anointing, because he says in John 132 through 134, I saw the spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. I would not have known him except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, the man on whom you see the spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. I have seen and testify that this is the Son of God. So he's anointed and confirmed John's ministry. And then finally, verse 17, suddenly a voice came from heaven saying, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Notice with me that the Trinity participated in the baptism of Jesus. Jesus is baptized, the spirit descends and the Father commands. And he says, in whom I am well pleased. An offering to God that would be commended was a God, what was rather an offering, an offering that was without imperfection. In Leviticus 1, verses 2 and 3, God said, speak to the Israelites and say to them, many of you bring an offering to the Lord. Bring as your offering an animal from either the herd or the flock that the offering is a burnt offering from the herd used to offer a male without defect. He must present it at the entrance to the tent of meeting so that it will be acceptable to the Lord. So they would bring the best offering that they had. And with that, God was pleased. So only Jesus could be perfectly pleasing to the Father. All other sacrifices were imperfect. Jesus was the only perfect offering. 1 Peter 1 19 simply says that Jesus was a lamb unblemished and spotless. Only Jesus was well pleasing to God and only in Christ can we be also. He has made him who knew no sin to be sin so that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. No matter how I try to be acceptable, no matter what I do to become acceptable, the only way that I can be acceptable is through faith in Christ. The only way that I can be used by the Lord to do anything that is pleasing to him is to walk in his spirit. The only way that I can know things about God that are clear and true is through being in the Word of God. And so my encouragement to all of us today would be seek the Lord to fill you with his spirit. Don't be surprised when you enter into trials as he purifies you. Hunger for his word so that you might be carefully and thoroughly instructed. Learn to pray so that you might pray according to his will and put into practice the things that God gives to you so that you can grow in the experiential knowledge of the things and ways of God. Be used by the Lord. Listen, we're living in the last days. It's time for us, the church, to wake up. And the only way that we can wake up is by first realizing we've been asleep. And secondly, to say, God, forgive me a sinner. And thirdly, God, fill me with your Holy Spirit that I might be used by you. Fourth, to get into his word and then to give what God gives to you. May we not be lukewarm believers. May we be on fire for Jesus Christ, a fire of his spirit.