Let us open our Bibles today to Matthew chapter 3. Matthew chapter 3 and the last few verses in this chapter beginning with verse 13. Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. But John forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he suffered him. And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water. And, lo, the heavens were opened unto him. And he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him. And, lo, a voice from heaven saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

I want to speak to us this morning about three spiritual mysteries that are presented to us in this scene of the baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the title of the message, Three Spiritual Mysteries.

Before we look at these mysteries here, I want us to make sure that we all understand what the Bible means by mystery. We read of various mysteries. What does the Bible, we shouldn't think of a mystery, a biblical mystery like a mystery book that you might buy at Barnes and Noble and read a good mystery story. That's not what the word means according to the word of God.

And for us to do that, I want us to keep our places here, but I want you to turn with me, if you will, to the letter of Ephesians chapter 3. Ephesians chapter 3, and the Apostle Paul here gives us a very good definition of what the scriptures mean by way of mystery. Ephesians chapter 3, and I'll just begin reading in verse 3 through verse 6. How that by revelation, now that word's important. How that by revelation, He, that is God, made known unto me the mystery. And then we have this parenthesis. As I wrote before in a few words, and that's in chapter one, what he references there, he had mentioned this mystery in this letter in chapter one. But now we read on this mystery, whereby when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed, there we have the word again, revelation, revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers of the promise in Christ by the gospel.

Now you see, Paul declares here that God had revealed to the apostles, this mystery. And the mystery he's speaking of here in Ephesians is the mystery how that there would be one body, the body of Christ, the church. He's the head and the church is his body. And that includes every person who has ever been saved or who shall ever be saved. All the elect of God make up the body of Christ. But the mystery was how that the Gentiles and the Jews would be together in this one body. This was a mystery that had been hidden, but now was revealed unto the apostles, to the apostle Paul especially, deals with this matter.

So the word mystery, what does it mean in the scripture? Well, it is a revelation. It is a truth that is above man's comprehension by nature. It's above his comprehension, his sense, and his reason, and it must be revealed by God. If anyone is to know this mystery, It must be revealed to that person by God.

Everyone should have the same definition now. You know, in Matthew's gospel concerning the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, the disciples asked the Lord one day, why do you speak to these people in parables? You have Matthew chapter 13, parable after parable after parable. The Lord was speaking to the nation of Israel, to the religious leaders primarily. And his disciples said, why do you speak to them in parables? And our Lord said, because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom. It's not given unto them. And no one will know the mysteries that the scriptures speak of, spiritual mysteries, unless they are revealed unto that person by God the Holy Spirit.

Using the word, using the word, yes, I'll mention that in just a moment. But we should all understand that a mystery in the word of God is something that is beyond the natural man's Ability to comprehend it is something that must be revealed to that person.

Now my message this morning, I have two parts. First part, I want us just to look at the scene here. And then second part, we'll look at three spiritual mysteries that I see are presented to us here in this scene at the baptism of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Let me mention a few things here. The Lord was now about 30 years of age. You say, how do you know that? Because in Luke's gospel, the gospel according to Luke, he tells us that. The Lord Jesus was about 30 years of age. Now think of this. To this point, we read about the birth of Christ, we read about Him being presented in the temple in Jerusalem, we read about Him being taken as a baby, being taken into Egypt by Joseph and his mother Mary, after the visit of the wise men. And then we read about the Lord coming back out of Egypt, being brought back out of Egypt, and turning in to Nazareth.

And for that space of time, with one exception, we know nothing other than the fact at 12 years of age, he went up to Jerusalem with his parents to observe the Passover. And we find him there in the temple with the doctors, those who were studied in the word of God, the law of God, and he's asking them questions and they're asking him questions. Remember, his parents, they left, which was not unusual. They went in caravans usually. up to Jerusalem for these feasts. And so they got a couple of days out of town before they realized he wasn't with the kinfolks. And they go back. And we have the first recorded words in the scripture of the Lord Jesus Christ once he became a man. When his mother questioned him why he was there, Wish you not, here's his words, wish you not that I must be about my father's business. My father, we know his father is God Almighty. Wish you not that I must be about my father's business.

And then there's a verse in Mark that tells us he's referred to as a carpenter. And we know Joseph was a carpenter, so we assume, and I think rightly so, that during this space of time he worked there learning that trade as a carpenter. And now he's about 30 years of age, and he comes to John to be baptized.

The thing we see here is his humility. He didn't send for John. I mean, he, John confessed that he was not even worthy to unloose his shoestrings. But the Lord Jesus didn't send for John. Hey, John, you come. You come to where I am and baptize me. No, he walks to the place where John was baptizing in the river Jordan. And Luke tells us, if you read this account in the gospel according to Luke, You read that he waited. There were many people, evidently, that day who were being baptized at the preaching of John the Baptist, but the Lord Jesus Christ waited until, I assume, everyone there that day who was going to be baptized was baptized. He waited. Why? To show, first of all, that he wasn't one among those many who needed to be baptized. And we see his humility and waiting until everyone else was baptized that day and then he comes to John to be baptized. The humility, the humility of the Lord Jesus Christ.

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, and we can't even begin to Describe how rich he was, can we? The son of God, always having from eternity past the angels worshiping him. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, yet, for your sakes, for your sake, for my sake, if you're a child of God here today, think of that. that God the Son, for your sake, became poor, lived a life of deprivation as he was here in this world, being misunderstood by almost everyone he spoke to.

For your sakes, he became poor that you, through his poverty, might be made rich. We can't fully comprehend how rich he was, and we certainly cannot comprehend how rich he has made us if we're his children today. Yes, all things are yours. You're an heir, a joint heir with Christ.

At first, when our Lord came to John, we see here, John forbade him. And this must show that John already knew, although it seems from the gospel of John, not, you know, we have John the Baptist, that's who we're talking about here, but then the apostle John, he wrote the fourth gospel. And that gospel, it seems that John was saying that until he baptized the Lord Jesus, he didn't know for sure that he was the one. that he wouldn't know that until there was this sign given, and that is the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, descending upon him in the form of a dove.

But as we see here, John already recognized that he was not worthy to baptize him. That sign there must have been more of a confirmation than a signal. He said, I have need to be baptized of thee. And he didn't mean baptized in water. That's not what John meant when he said, I have need to be baptized of thee. The Lord Jesus, he never baptized anyone with water. His disciples baptized in his name, yes, but he didn't. The baptism John was talking about is a baptism that every child of God experiences, and that is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Baptized into the body of Christ. We're all made to drink of that same spirit. But that's another message.

Jesus, think about this. He had two baptisms. He was baptized here by John in water, but listen to his words later to two of his disciples. They came and they asked the Lord, when you come into your kingdom, can one sit on this side and one sit on this side? He was humble, right? His humility. We don't see it at first in his disciples, do we? No, they wanted that place of prestige, that place of superiority, one on one side and one on the other side.

I remember Someone told Pastor Scott Richardson one day, when God saves a person, he takes all the pride out. And Scott said, not all. Not all. Oh, that's a saying that we're all guilty of at times, aren't we? Pride. Pride of face, pride of race, And the worst pride of all, as Brother Mahan used to say, pride of grace. Oh, we have nothing to be proud of if we're his children today. I am what I am by the grace of God. Had God left us, had God left us alone as we came into this world, we would still today be on our road to eternal damnation. or by grace are you saved.

But anyway, these two disciples, they asked to sit on either side of the Lord, and he said, you know not what you ask. Are you able to drink of the cup that I drink of? Now listen, and to be baptized with the baptism that I'm baptized with? What baptism did he have reference to then? It was a baptism of suffering, of suffering. He was immersed in suffering and especially upon the cross, baptized.

That's one reason I would never agree that sprinkling a few drops of water on somebody's head is what the Bible means by baptism. Because the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ could not possibly be represented by a few drops of water. No. He was plunged, emerged, as the word properly means. You notice it's not translated, is it? The word itself is not translated. The translators of our Bibles, they didn't translate the Greek word. If they had, it would be plunged, immersed, because that's what it means. And our Lord was baptized, yes, with suffering, with sufferings.

We have Him in prophecy in one of the Psalms, Psalm 69, making a statement like this. Save me, O God, for the waters are come into my soul. I sink in deep mire where there is no standing. I am come into deep waters where the floods overflow me. The sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ represented by baptism. Well, that's just a few things I want to bring out about the scene. But now I want us to think about three spiritual mysteries that are presented to us from this scene. Each of these spiritual mysteries speak of union, of union.

The first mystery is the mystery of the union of three persons in the Godhead. Here we have, if you think about it that day, here we have the eternal son of God incarnate, made flesh, and he is the one who is to be plunged under the water. We have God the Holy Spirit represented here as he descends in the form of a dove upon the Lord Jesus. And we have God the Father speaking from heaven declaring, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And this is a mystery. It is a mystery. The mystery of the Trinity. Many people stumble. Many, I would say, many very educated people who would like to confess some belief in Christianity, but they cannot get over this because they can't understand it. And neither can you. Neither can me or any other person. It is a mystery. But it is a mystery that God reveals unto babes, unto his people.

And I would say this, apart from the ministry of the Holy Spirit who inspired this book, that's one of the office works of the Holy Spirit, is the inspiration of the scripture. All scripture is inspired of God, God the Holy Spirit. Yes, men wrote, but they wrote as God led them and inspired them to write the words.

And a man out in the middle of nowhere in a jungle, no education whatsoever, can know by the seasons and everything else he sees in nature, there's a God. There's a God. This didn't just happen. No. Yes, man by nature may know there is one God and there can only be one who is infinite. But by nature, man could never understand or believe that there are three beings in one. Or three in one being, I should say. Three persons. and the Godhead. You would never learn that from nature, could you? No.

We learn it from the Word of God. It's revealed to us, but God uses His Word, written, inspired rather by the Holy Spirit, to reveal this great mystery to us. The truth that there is and can only be one infinite being Everyone should recognize that, but that one is three persons is a mystery.

Do you know on the first page of the Bible, Genesis chapter one, we have the Trinity presented to us. You understand that, you've heard that, you know that. You say, how do we have that presented to us in the creation of man? This is what is recorded there. And God said, let us make man in our image after our likenesses. Three pronouns, plural pronouns there. And from what I understand, the verb is singular. Yes, three persons. Let us, that's more than one, us, right? Let us, who created man. God did. He made all things, created all things that are made. And yet he refers to himself as us. Let us make man. In our image, that's again, that's a plural, isn't it? Our, more than one, three, and after our image.

The use of these personal plural pronouns, or these pronouns, plural pronouns rather, shows us from the very beginning, and then we could go all through the scripture. We're not going to do that today, but we could go all through the scripture. and point out where God has spoken and God has revealed himself as three persons, and yet emphatically declaring there's only one God. There's only one God. There's only one who could be omnipotent, right? The characteristics of God being omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, immutable, these attributes of God could only be true of one being. You couldn't have two omnipotence.

Yes, all through the scriptures we see this recorded to us and we study the word of God. read the Word of God, we come to hear the Word of God preached and proclaimed, and this is how this mystery is revealed unto us. I believe I'm speaking to, I hope everyone here today, this morning, but I don't believe anyone could convince you that there's more than one God, and that each person in the Trinity is God. Why? Because we believe the Bible and because we believe the word of the Lord Jesus Christ. For instance, in John 14, he said, believe me that I am in the Father. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me. And then when Philip said, show us the Father and it sufficeth us, what did our Lord say? Philip, he that has seen me has seen the Father. Well, how do you see the Father in him? Because they are one. One. And yet each one is a person.

You know, the Holy Spirit, God the Holy Spirit, is of the three, the ones that men of the world, unbelievers, it seems like have denied His personality and His deity more than the Father and the Son. And many say, well, He's just a power. The Holy Spirit just speaks of the power of God. No. He's a person. He's a person. He's absolute God as much as The Father is absolute God, and the Son is absolute God.

Let me show you this in Acts chapter 5. You're familiar with this place, but I don't see how it could be understood in any other way. In Acts chapter 5, in verses 3 and 4, and the case is here that Ananias and Sapphira, members of this church, had sold a piece of property, and they told the apostles that all the money they received they had brought, which was a lie. And notice here in verse 3, Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost? Now, who did he lie to? Peter said, you've lied to the Holy Ghost. And to keep back part of the price of the land. Whilst it remained, was it not thine own? And after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.

But you just said, Peter, he lied to the Holy Spirit. Yes. And in lying to the Holy Spirit, he lied to God. Could that passage be understood in any other way? Not to me. Not for me, it can't. Our Lord's command to his disciples to go into all the world and make disciples. And this is so important. It's so simple. It's so simple. And yet we know men, they twist the word of God and they go forth and so-called baptize. They don't baptize, they sprinkle a few drops of water on a baby's head. But that's reversing the order.

Go ye therefore into all the world and what? Make disciples. Make disciples. First of all, a person has to hear the gospel, believe the gospel. Become a learner. That's what the word disciple means. Become a learner of the Lord Jesus Christ, a follower of his. What comes next? Baptizing them in the name, not the names, but the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. That certainly is a revelation. Mystery is revealed to us of the Trinity.

Now the second spiritual mystery Hope I haven't lost you on that one. You know, someone told me, you laugh too much when you're preaching. I'm trying not to do that. But I tell you, that's one way I show my excitement over this truth. And that's one way I try to show the ridiculousness of unbelief. But I rejoice, I know you do too. I rejoice in hearing the truth about my God, don't you?

Here's the second spiritual mystery, the mystery of the union of the two natures in Jesus. I said we see the eternal son incarnate being baptized. One person was baptized, but that one person has two natures. Paul said, great is the mystery of godliness. And what's the first thing he mentioned? God was manifest in the flesh. The mystery of the two natures in the person of Jesus Christ.

Turn to another verse, keep your place here for a minute, but look with me in Mark. In Mark chapter 16, almost the very end of this gospel that Mark wrote. Mark chapter 16 and verse 19. So then, So then, after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven and sat on the right hand of God. Now this is something I want to point out. The Lord Jesus ascended back, or ascended up, and sat down on the right hand of God. Before this, he had descended, right? But he didn't descend as he ascended. He descended when he came as the eternal Son of God, Spirit, and joined that body that was prepared him of the Holy Spirit from the Virgin Mary. He ascended in a different way than he had descended. He descended pure spirit. He ascended God-man. Is that clear? Does that make you rejoice?

And he sat down. And of course, the emphasis is in the Old Testament under the law and the tabernacle and all those priests, they never sat down. Why? Because their work was never finished. But no, he sat down as he had declared on the cross, it is finished. And everything God demanded, my friends, For your salvation, for my salvation, was finished. Perfected by that one offering. And now as he sat down there, he ascended as the God-man who is our mediator. Our mediator, both God and man. That's what Job cried. Oh, that there was a dageman between us, one who could lay his hand on God and lay his hand on me. Christ is that mediator.

But he's not only there as a mediator, he's there as an advocate. When we sin, and we do, we do, not on purpose, but we sin. We sin many times we don't even know we sin. Thank God in the law there were sacrifices for the sins of ignorance. sins for their holy things. But he's always there, and he's always pleading. You say, verbally? No, he doesn't have to verbally plead. His wounds, his wounds are always pleading for his people. Father, forgive them. Yes. But think about this. Not only is he there as a mediator, your mediator between you and God, if you're one of his, as your advocate, if you're one of his, always there advocating for you, but he's there today as your friend. Your friend. He's that friend that we read about that sticketh closer than a brother. He's that friend that you can unveil your heart no matter what it is. You can go to him no matter what your troubles, your anxieties, your sorrows, your difficulties, and you can unburden your soul to him. He's that friend born for adversity.

Well, here's the last spiritual mystery here, and it is the mystery of the union. Now listen, the mystery of the union between Jesus Christ and all of his people. Yes, now this union, it may, let me use that word may, it may be seen in what our Lord told John. when he said us in verse 15. Matthew 3 in verse 15. Jesus answering said unto him, suffer it to be so now for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Us, that's plural. Us? Oh, yes. But there was a union between Christ and His people.

And if it's not seen there, it is seen in the words of the Lord God when He said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Who was in Christ? Who was in Christ? Those that He chose. That's what the scripture says in Ephesians 1. You know the scripture. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him from before the foundation of the world. There is this eternal union that exists between the Lord Jesus Christ and everyone of God's elect. How else could it be true, I said eternal union, how else could it be true for him to say, yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. That's only true because He's loved us from eternity. He's loved His people from eternity. Those who the Father chose and gave unto Him in that covenant of grace.

Now this union, let me say this in closing. This union is called by various names. It's pictured by various things. Some refer to it as an election union. And that's a good term. We think of it as a representative union. He represented his people, just as Adam represented all men. For by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. So by the obedience of one shall many be made righteousness. I hope, God willing, to speak to us next Sunday morning on a union that is sometimes called a vital union or a love union. And this is a union that takes place in time. Yes, there's that eternal union. All of God's people were in union to Christ. That's the only way Paul could say, I am crucified with Christ. That's the only way that Paul could write and say that we were raised in Christ. There was a union between Christ and all of his people.

But in time, when we come into this world, we come to believe in him. And that's when this vital or this love union takes force or takes place. We are in Him by faith, and He's in us by His Spirit. I hope the Lord is willing to bring a message next week on that. Let me leave you with this one important thing. Remember this. The elect were already in union with Christ when he came into this world. If that's an eternal union, then we don't need to preach. We don't need to send missionaries. Why? They're already going to be saved. Keep this in mind. The same God, and there's only one, who has ordained the end has also ordained the means to the end. And the means in saving those who are in eternal union with the Son is through the preaching of the gospel. Amen? I believe. Amen. Well, I pray the Lord will bless this word to us here today.