Alright, brethren, let's turn
in our Bibles to Matthew chapter 3. Matthew chapter 3. We'll begin
in 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." We have a
brother and a sister who have expressed a desire to be baptized
and so Lord willing we'll baptize one next Sunday and then we'll
baptize the other at the Danville Conference. So this morning I
want to speak on the subject of Christ's water baptism. Christ's water baptism. By Christ's
water baptism, he sets before us an example of obedience to
God, which he commands every believer to obey. This is not
something that is just extra. This is a command from God that
we should obey as believers to be baptized, follow Christ in
baptism. First of all, we can learn some
things about baptism we can learn about some of the errors that
have come about concerning baptism and see that those errors are
wrong. When we look at this first word here, it says, Then cometh
Jesus. Then cometh Jesus. Consider who
this one is that was being baptized that day. This one who came to
be baptized is the holy, sinless God-man. Christ had no sins to
be forgiven. And therefore, this tells us
baptism is not for the remission of sins. That's not what baptism
is for. On the day of Pentecost when
Peter said, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name
of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, Peter was not saying
that by baptism God forgives our sins. The word for means
because of. because of the forgiveness of
sins. It's by Christ putting away the
sin of His people that God forgives our sins. It's by Christ putting
away the sins of His people. Christ said, this is my blood
of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission
of sins. After regeneration, when God
the Holy Spirit gives us faith, God the Holy Spirit bears witness
in our hearts And this is what He said, by one offering He has
perfected forever them that are sanctified, whereof the Holy
Ghost is a witness. He bears witness to us in our
hearts that we've been perfected forever by Christ by His one
offering. And then God makes His everlasting
covenant law in our hearts. And He says to us, their sins
and iniquities will I remember no more. And he says, now where
remission of these is, where forgiveness of these is, there's
no more offering for sin. And so it's through God's gift
of faith in Christ, through the blood of Christ, through the
work of the Holy Spirit, that God forgives our sin. To Him
give all the prophets witness that through His name whosoever
believeth in Him shall receive remission, forgiveness of sin. So Peter was saying if you believe
Christ, if you believe that He's put away your sins, if you believe
the witness of the Holy Spirit that your sins have been forgiven
through faith in Christ, then be baptized. That's what he was
saying. All right, now by our Savior
being baptized, we learn this as well. We learn that baptism
is not for the washing away of sin. Christ knew no sin. He had no sin to wash away. When
Ananias told Paul, he said, Be baptized and wash away thy sins. He was speaking of what baptism
pictures. That's what he was speaking about.
It's by Christ's blood. that our sins are washed away,
that our sins are purged. We're going to look at that a
little more later. That's what we picture in believer's baptism. And also, by Christ being baptized,
we see that water baptism is not for regeneration. This was
the God-man. This is one who has the holy
nature of God and the holy nature of man, and there was no death
in him. There was no need of regeneration
in him, yet he was baptized. Baptism is not for regeneration. Sinners are not regenerated by
water baptism, but by the Holy Spirit. We regenerate it through
the hearing of the faithfulness of Christ when Christ himself
speaks the word into our hearts. Listen to John 6, 63. Christ
said, it's the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profits nothing. The
words that I speak, they are spirit and they are life. It's
when the gospel's going forth and Christ speaks the word into
our hearts that that incorruptible seed enters in and a child of
God is conceived within. This is the work of God. You
hath He quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. Not water
baptism. That doesn't do it. And then
lastly, by Christ the faithful being baptized, we see here that
baptism is for believers. That's who baptism is for. It's
for believers. Water baptism is obedience to
God. Peter said baptism is not the
putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of
a good conscience toward God. When scripture speaks of a believer
being baptized and all his house, Folks read scriptures like that
and they think, well, if I'm baptized, that means I ought
to bring all my children and baptize them, even though they
don't believe the gospel. When scripture speaks of a believer
and all his house being baptized, it's because God, through the
gospel, gave faith to that believer and he gave faith to everybody
in that house. That's why they're being baptized.
Listen to this scripture in Acts 18, verse 8. It says, Crispus,
the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all
his house. And many of the Corinthians,
hearing, believed and were baptized. You see, that's why his house
was baptized. They believed. God gave them
faith. Alright, so those are some errors about baptism that
we see because of Christ Himself being baptized. We see those
errors are wrong. Now secondly, Christ does show
us how very important baptism is. Look at verse 13. It says,
Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan to be baptized of John. 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. And then he
suffered him. you realize it was a three-day
walk. Three days of solid walking from
Galilee to Jordan. Now, for Christ to walk that
far to be baptized, that in itself tells us baptism is important.
Now, first of all, we see that water baptism is important because
it shows that our hearts are humbled before God. It shows
our hearts are humbled before God. This is God the Son. This
is God. We're talking about inhuman flesh
right here. And He humbled Himself to be baptized of John. To be
baptized of John. God over all heaven. God over
all the earth. The Creator of all things. When
He came into this world, that in itself is a condescension.
He came to this cursed world. But when he came to this cursed
world, he didn't come in flash and pomp and making himself of
reputation. He came as an infant, born unto
poor parents in poor conditions. And all through his life, he
made himself of no reputation. If he would have done that, everybody
would have followed him. Everybody wants to follow the
rich and famous. but he didn't make himself of
reputation. Even when he went to the cross
and ended his earthly ministry, he ended it hanging stripped
naked, bloody, beaten, unrecognizable. And so it was at the beginning
of his earthly ministry, he began his earthly ministry by being
baptized by a sinner in a muddy river. Now, that's love. He came down. Listen to the Scripture.
You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He
was rich, rich God in glory, the owner of all things, yet
for your sakes, for the sake of those He loved from everlasting,
He became poor, that you through His poverty might be rich. You
know, the first thing God's going to require for a sinner is He's
going to require that sinner to come down. We're high, we're
mighty, we're proud, we think we're somebody. We've got to
be stripped of that. We've got to be stripped of this
haughtiness. We've got to be stripped of what
we think is righteousness and goodness. We've got to be brought
down to the dust to see that we're nothing but sinners worthy
of hell. Not only do we not deserve the
grace of God, we're ill-deserving of the grace of God. We've done
everything to prevent the grace of God. We deserve hell. We have
nothing to be proud of. Nothing. I wish we could understand
that. This is how it is from the moment
you wake up in the morning to the moment you lay your head
on the pillow at night, all through the night while you're sleeping.
You're sinning against God. That's what the natural heart
is. And if you meet God in this state,
you're going to hell for eternity. You must, because God is just.
So we have to be brought down. The true baptism is a confession
of a broken and contrite heart. A heart that's been broken by
God, made contrite by God. And the sacrifices of God are
a broken spirit. A broken and a contrite heart,
oh God, that will not despise. Christ said, come unto me and
learn of me. I'm meek and I'm lowly of heart
and you'll find rest unto your soul. Come down. Come down to
the meek one. Come down to the lowly one and
Christ will teach you and He'll give you rest in your heart.
And also water baptism is important because it's the will of God.
It's the will of God given to every child of God to obey. When
Christ says here in our text, He says, it becometh us to fulfill
all righteousness. When He says that, righteousness
means this is the will of God. This is what's right. This is
God's will. The preeminent Son of God submitted
as the servant of God, as the representative of His people.
He submitted to God and obeyed God's will in everything He did
while He walked this earth. And he shows us here in water
baptism. That's exactly what he was doing.
John, when he came to John, John protested about baptizing him
because John knew he was a sinner. John knew he needed God's grace.
John knew he needed Christ to do everything for him. But when
Christ explained to him that this is the will of God, he submitted
to God by submitting to Christ, who is God. And that's what a
new heart, a heart of faith will do. It's submitting to God, obeying
the will of God. Water baptism is important because
anything that God wills for His child is also the worship of
God. That's right, it's the worship
of God. Water baptism is worshiping God. Christ Jesus didn't let
alone walk. He didn't let humility. He didn't
let John's protest stop him from worshipping God. He came and
he worshipped God in water baptism. Now, a worldly man, you think
of this, a worldly man hardly let anything come between him
and his job. Nothing. He's going to be at
that job. Going to be at that job. If their
employment dries up, they'll move clear across the country.
and to another job. Not even think twice about it.
When they get there, they'll settle in with that new job and
then after a while they'll look for a church if they're religious.
But you know the believer won't let anything come between him
and the worship of God. The believer will, he'll move
clear across the country to worship God. and he'll drive long distances
if he has to during the week to worship God. If the believer's
employment dries up, what he'll do is he'll take out a directory
of where the churches are and he'll try to find where a faithful
church is, a city where there's a faithful church, and then see
if he can find a job in that city. That's what a believer
would do. This is the difference grace
makes. We didn't make this difference.
This is the difference grace makes. It's the difference between
having Christ as your life and this world as your life. And
Christ knew who life is. He knew God is life. He came
here to serve God for His people as the perfect man and He worshiped
God letting nothing come between Him and God. We ought to follow
Him in that. in all ways. And those who claim
they believe God and refuse water baptism, they claim they believe
God, they worship God, but they refuse to follow Christ and believe
His baptism. It's evident of a heart that
hasn't been broken. It's evident that they refuse
to obey God, they won't submit to the will of God, and it's
evident that they do not worship God. That's true. Now, here's
thirdly. Christ shows us what water baptism
pictures, and He shows us what we're confessing in water baptism. Look at verse 15. Jesus said,
Thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Now, John
did what was right on this occasion. That's what righteousness means,
that which is right. John did that which was right
on this occasion when he baptized the Lord. But John didn't fulfill
all righteousness. Only Christ fulfills all righteousness. So, why did the Lord include
John when He said, thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness? Why did He include John when
He said that? Christ declares here that John, just like all
God's elect, John and all God's elect are in Christ. when Christ served God in this
earth. When Christ fulfilled all righteousness,
all God's elect fulfilled all righteousness in Him. As the representative of His
people. Now think about this, even when
Christ went through water baptism, He did that in perfect righteousness
and every one of His people were baptized in water in perfect
righteousness in Christ when he was baptized in water. Next
week, Kevin and I will go down into that pool at their house
and we won't go through that ordinance in perfect righteousness.
I'm going to be sinning and Kevin will be sinning the whole time.
But in Christ, he and I both have gone through that ordinance
in perfect righteousness and fulfilled it in perfect righteousness
in Christ Jesus. The fact of the matter is, that's
true with every bit of our worship of God. It's true when we observe
the Lord's Supper. It's true when we're sitting
here and you're hearing the gospel and I'm preaching the gospel.
It's true when we pray. There's sin mixed with all of
that. But we do it perfectly because we did it perfectly in
Christ Jesus. He's our righteousness of it. Christ is our righteousness in
everything. Everything. In all things, when
Christ obeyed every precept of the law when He walked this earth,
His people observed every precept of the law in Him. That's why
the scriptures say Christ is the end of the law. for the believer,
because Christ is the righteousness of the law, the one we're believing
on. That's why we're believing on
Him, because we need a righteousness, and Christ is the righteousness
of the law. We believe on Him. This is one
of the things we believe concerning Him. He's all our righteousness. Now, a sinner, a believer, ought
never break the commandments of God, but we don't look to
the commandments of God for righteousness or for sanctification. We look
to Christ alone. He's our righteousness and our
sanctification. When Christ served God and His
brethren in perfect faith, His people served God and our brethren
in perfect faith in Him. You know, through faith we receive
the righteousness of Christ. But we not only receive the righteousness
of Christ through faith, Christ is the righteousness of our faith.
Because sin is mixed with our faith. If it was just our faith
standing on its own, it would be worthless because sin is mixed
with it. Christ is the righteousness of our faith. He makes our faith
acceptable to God. But what about our sins? There
are sins in all we do. What about our sins? Christ took
our sins too. Christ took all our sins before
we were converted. He took all of our sins that
we've committed since we've been converted. All of our sins we've
committed in baptism, in the worship of God, in observance
of the Lord's table, in praying. All our sins we've committed
at night when we're sleeping. He took all our sins from conception
until the end of our days. He took all our sins, known and
unknown. And here's the work of Christ
on the cross. This is what we see in His baptism,
what He was picturing by His water baptism. Look at verse
16. Jesus when He was baptized. There's
two parts to it. Here's the first part. Jesus
when He was baptized. This word baptized means immersed. It means immersion. It's not
a translation of the word. The word simply means baptizo.
It means immersion. The Greek word was used whenever
they would dye a piece of cloth. They would take a piece of cloth
and they would baptize that piece of cloth. And when it came up
out of the dye, it would be the color of the dye. Now you imagine
somebody, if they went to the launderer and they said, I want
this baptized cloth. I want this cloth baptized in
red dye, purple dye." And they get back and they get their piece
of cloth and it's got little sprinkled dots all over it. They
wouldn't be very happy. Why? It wasn't baptized. It was
sprinkled. There's a difference. But the
reason that we immerse is greater than just semantics. It's greater
than just meanings of words. It's because having been made
sin for us, God baptized, He immersed Christ in our death
when He was made sin for us. And then, having been made sin
for us, He immersed our Lord in the judgment and the wrath
of God. And then He immersed Christ in
those sufferings of that second death, that eternal death that
is the wages of sin as He hung there living on the cross. He
was immersed in that pain and suffering of that eternal death.
And then He was immersed in physical death. And then He was immersed
in the grave. Look at Romans chapter 6. Romans
chapter 6. Long after Christ was baptized
in water, Christ made this statement. He said, I have a baptism to
be baptized with and how am I straightened till it be accomplished? That's
this baptism. This is what He was talking about
right here. When we're immersed in water
baptism, we're confessing that when Christ was immersed into
that death, our old man of sin was baptized into that death
in Him. Look here in Romans 6 verse 3.
Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized, the word should
be unto Jesus Christ, were baptized unto His death. Therefore, the
picture we show is we're buried with Him by baptism into death. That's what we show by baptism,
that we're buried with Him into death. When we're immersed under
the water, we're picturing our death and our burial when Christ
was immersed in our death, in the judgment, the sin, the judgment,
the eternal death, the physical death, the grave, those deaths
that He bore. We're picturing we were buried. Look here, this is what we're
confessing. Romans 6, 6. Know this, that
our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might
be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin, for
he that's dead is freed from sin. That's the eternal death
that the law demands of the lawbreaker. That's what we would have borne
if Christ hadn't borne it for us. But by Christ being immersed
into that death for us, now brethren, our old man of sin has been crucified
with Christ, our old man of sin has been destroyed, and it's
been buried. It doesn't exist. It doesn't
exist. And that's why he says here that
we will not serve sin. It's not saying here we ought
not to serve sin. He's saying this is why you cannot. It's an impossibility for a believer
to serve sin. Now understand what I'm saying.
You see your sin and your sin makes you mourn and weep and
call yourself everything under the sun. But before God, before
the law of God, that man you're weeping over, get some joy from
this believer. That man you're weeping over
is gone. He's been crucified. He's been
destroyed. He's been buried. He don't exist
before God. So you can't serve sin before
God, before the law. It's impossible. He that's dead
is freed from sin. Now that's the truth, friend.
That's our joy. Otherwise, when we fall into
sin and we see the corruption that we are, We just perish. We just fall away in unbelief. But knowing this, read that bulletin,
that article in the bulletin of Brother Bruce Crabtree where,
yes, we see our sin, but we see grace abounding over our sin.
Grace abounding over our sin. Alright, now look here. Then
our text says, he went up straightway out of the water. He went up
straight way out of the water. This is the second part. Alright?
Stay there in Romans 6. When we come up out of the water,
this is what we're confessing. This is what we're picturing.
Verse 4. The second part there says that
like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of
the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. Again,
this is not a should, not a maybe, this is a certainty. We've been
raised, we're going to walk in newness of life. He says here,
verse 5, for if we've been planted together in the likeness of His
death, that's what we pictured going under the water, we shall
be also in the likeness of His resurrection. That's what we
pictured coming out of the water. But here's the reality, verse
9. knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no
more, death hath no more dominion over him, for in that he died,
he died unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto
God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed
unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
When we come up out of that water, we are confessing that when Christ
came out of that water, when He came out of that grave, Out
of those deaths, our new man came up out of that grave with
Him. When He came up a new man, we
came up a new man. He's raised us up together and
made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And we're
confessing that by the Holy Spirit, He's created a new man within
us and Christ now abides in us. In the life we live now, we live
by the faith of Christ Jesus the Lord who loved us and gave
Himself for us. We're new creatures. That's what
we're confessing. Peter compared baptism to the
waters of Noah. And when that ark came up out
of those waters, Noah came up out of those waters. That ark
wasn't floating up on the water like a big yacht like people
picture. That ark was like a submarine.
That ark was under the water, surrounded by the waters. And
when it came up out of that water, he came up out of that water.
And when He was delivered to the new world, it was a new life,
a new world. Everything was new. Old things
were passed away. All things became new. That's
what we're saying in Believer's Baptism because of what Christ
has accomplished. Old things are passed away. Everything's
become new. We're new creatures. We died
to sin. Now we live to God. We were the
servants of sin. Now we're the servants of righteousness.
And then here's another thing I want you to see. This is important
too. Back in our text. By water baptism,
we're confessing that our salvation... Now listen to this carefully.
By water baptism, we're confessing that our salvation is the work
of the triune God in Christ. We're confessing that we're saved
by the Lord alone. Now, do you remember at Christ's
ascension? I'm not talking about when He
came out of the grave. I'm talking about at His ascension. You remember
at His ascension, the heavens opened, and Christ the God-man
glorified in the Holy Spirit arose. The Holy Spirit upon Him,
Him a glorified man who is God, arose. And by that God testified,
God declared, this is my Son and I'm pleased in Him. He satisfied
the law. He's just and He's made me just
and the justifier. And I'm satisfied with my people
in Him. That's what was being declared
there. Well, when Christ was baptized in water, He pictured
His death, His burial and His resurrection. And likewise, God
gave a foreshadowing of that glorification of His ascension. And look here now. It's called
the faith of the operation of God who hath raised Him from
the dead. That's what it's called. It was
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit all involved
in that when He arose. It was the faith of the operation
of God. that raised Christ from the dead.
And that faithful operation of God was a meeting of all the
three persons of the Godhead. It was declaring salvation is
of the Lord, purposed by God the Father, purchased and performed
by God the Son, and administered by God the Holy Spirit. And so,
at water baptism, after Christ pictured the death, burial, and
resurrection, God gave this foreshadowing of that very thing, declaring
the same thing. Salvation is of the Lord, of
the triune God. Look at verse 16. Jesus, when
He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water. There's a picture
of His ascension. And, lo, the heavens were opened
unto Him. And He saw the Spirit of God
descending like a dove and lighting upon Him. There's the Holy Spirit
of God. He got God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. He was raised
a glorified God-man. And it says, And lo, a voice
from heaven saying, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well
pleased. That's what God declared when
He raised Christ into heaven. Now this is God the Father, God
the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And so when a believer comes
up out of the waters of baptism, we're confessing that we believe
that our salvation and our acceptance in heaven with God is in the
Beloved. in Christ by the faithful operation
of God. Of God the Father who elected
us, who ordained us before the foundation of the world, who
predestinated us into the adoption. of God the Son who redeemed us,
fulfilled all righteousness for us, of God the Holy Spirit who
quickened us and made us alive and gave us faith and keeps us
all our days as He one day raises us to glory with Him. We're confessing
that salvation is of the Lord. It's by the faithful operation
of the triune God in Christ Jesus. And that's what true water baptism
is. And it's showing that we don't
have a thing to do with it in any degree. Not in the least
degree. We don't have a thing in the
world to do with our salvation. All we did was sin. Now, let
me say three things to you in closing. If God's called you
so that you believe Christ, so that you believe salvation is
of the Lord, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy
Spirit, if you're a sinner that had nothing to do with it and
shall never have anything to do with your salvation, It's
all of God, by Christ Jesus. Then confess Him in believer's
baptism. It's not an option, it's a command of God. And if
you've been born of Him and you know Him in truth, you will want
to be baptized of Him. He makes you willing. He makes
you want to. You want to. I'm sure of that.
And then secondly, baptism is only done once. It's only done
one time. It can only be done once in truth. But, hear what I'm saying, if
you were baptized, but you didn't know Christ, you didn't believe
on Christ, you didn't believe salvation is of the triune God,
God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, you were
baptized thinking you were contributing to your salvation, that what
you're doing is going to help and give you a leg up with God,
you weren't baptized. You weren't baptized. You just
went through the motions. If you were sprinkled, you weren't
baptized. If you were dedicated when you
were a child, you weren't baptized. And since then, if God's given
you faith, and He's given you a heart, and you believe Christ,
follow Christ and believe His baptism. You should. You should. And again, you will. If He's
done that, you'll be willing to. And then thirdly, if you
don't believe on Christ, wait on the Lord. Don't make a profession
of faith that's false. Ever. Avoid that at all costs. So be careful. Be sure that God's
called you. And then confess Him. You'll
know when He's called you. You'll know. But don't make a
false profession. And when we baptize these brethren,
I hope that, Lord willing, I hope that gives you an understanding
of what they're confessing. Show you a little bit more about
what they're confessing. And this is a very serious, important
ordinance. Amen. Let's stand together, brethren. Father, thank You for Your Word.
Thank You for showing us that the things that You call on us
to do, You've already fulfilled them in righteousness, so that
we can trust that in spite of all our failures and our sin,
we have an everlasting, perfect righteousness established in
Christ. Thank You for that, Father. Thank
You for giving Your Son. Thank You for giving us an understanding,
for giving us a heart willing to submit to You, to obey You,
to believe God and to believe Christ and to be baptized and
confessing these things. Lord, help these that are going
to be baptized that You would keep them and grow them and as
they see their sins more and more and wonder if they ever
really knew You, wonder if they really believed You when they
were baptized, give them a heart to rest in Christ. And Lord,
these that were baptized in a manner where they did it without faith,
give them a heart to truly want to seek you. If they're yours,
call them by your grace. Make them willing by your grace.
We ask it for your glory and honor in Christ's name. Amen.