I please God to bless us together
this evening as we consider his holy word. Let's turn to the
Gospel of Matthew, chapter 3, and we'll read verse 15. The
Gospel of Matthew, chapter 3, and reading verse 15. And Jesus
answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now. for thus it
becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him." We have here in this account very wonderful and important
truths at the beginning of the revealed life of the Lord Jesus
Christ when he lived on this earth. And in some ways it's
similar to that which we were thinking on this morning with
regards to the Passover, because that occasion was an amazing
development which demonstrated and set forth the great and glorious
plan of salvation. And we know, of course, that
that Passover was continued right through until really the time
that the Lord Jesus Christ instituted the Lord's Supper in the Upper
Room in the 33rd year of His age. So for many, many years
that Passover was commemorated. the linking of these things together. And here in this account that
we read this evening, we have that picture of the Lord Jesus
Christ really being revealed as the Saviour, the Lord Jesus
Christ. It doesn't actually say so here,
but as we know in the first chapter of John, when John the Baptist
again speaks in the same way and he speaks in these terms
and says, Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin
of the world. So it was very clear that John
was blessed with this revelation as to who it was that had come
to him. And in this chapter we see that
John was baptising, we see that John was that one prophesied
in the Old Testament by Isaiah, who prophesied in this way, saying,
the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare you the way
of the Lord, make his path straight. And indeed, John the Baptist
was that one, that one who was revealed to do and to carry out
this great and important work. And of course, as we think back
a few years, 30 years to that time when Mary conceived the
Saviour and John the Baptist was in the womb of Elizabeth
and that salutation that Mary gave to Elizabeth and the result
was that John the Baptist in the womb of Elizabeth leapt at
the good news which he heard. And so we see the fulfilment
of the Word of God, the prophecy of God coming to pass. And, well, it was many, many
years this had been prophesied, and there had been a long time
of relative darkness, and now the light had shone. Remember
when the Saviour was born, that wonderful view the shepherds
had of the angels coming and declaring to them a Saviour is
born who is Christ the Lord. And now we move on 30 years,
and the Lord Jesus had been all those years in relative quietness
and no doubt working away in that carpenter's shop in Nazareth,
but now the time has come when the Lord Jesus was to be revealed. And we see here in this account
that which was to occur. John the Baptist had been baptising
and he had been baptising and calling those to repent, and
were baptised of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. And then
we come down and we see what he said. He said, I indeed baptise
you with water unto repentance, but he that cometh after me is
mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. He shall
baptise you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire, whose fan is in
his hand. And he will throughly purge his
floor, and gather his wheat into the garner, but he will burn
up the chaff with unquenchable fire." And that was a very clear
testimony of the Lord Jesus, which John the Baptist was able
to give in those prophetic words. And then we read, Then cometh
Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptised of
him. Quite clearly, the Lord Jesus
came to John the Baptist and requested that John the Baptist
would indeed baptise him. But John said, John forbade him,
saying, I have need to be baptised of thee, and comest thou to me. So we come down to this 15th
verse. and we see Jesus answer to him. The answer was this,
suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfil all
righteousness. Then he suffered him. Really
Jesus is speaking to John the Baptist and asking that he might
have his request granted. And as it was, in the Old Testament
with regard to the Passover, the wonderful picture that was
there displayed, so we have a picture displayed in the baptism of the
Lord Jesus. It wasn't just something which
was of no effect, unnecessary, it was that which was ordained
by God and it was to set forth the truth and the wonder, really,
of redemption. And we have a little view of
it, of the truth of it, when we turn to the Romans. And we
have that description that the Apostle Paul was able to set
before us. And he says, Know ye not that
so many of us, as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized
into His death? Therefore, we are buried with
him by baptism into death, 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. For if we have been planted together
in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness
of his resurrection. In those few verses we have just
a little view of the relevance that this situation brings to
us. This act of being baptised, going
down into the water and being buried with him and then rising
from the dead, a conqueror over sin, death, hell and the grave,
positioning and showing the wonder of the resurrection. And therefore,
this had to come to pass. This was a decree by Almighty
God, and this was the way that this was to be revealed. Now
the blessing is that Jesus, when he was baptised, went up straightway
out of the water, and though the heavens were opened unto
him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and
lighting upon him, a voice from heaven saying this is my beloved
son in whom I am well pleased. Now think of this wonderful statement
and John the Baptist was able to testify of what he'd seen
and the apostles were able to record what they had seen and
of course what they had seen here in this revelation was a
wonderful picture. The Lord Jesus had been baptised,
he'd come up out of the water and what was to be observed?
Three things really. Firstly, the Saviour himself,
the Son of God. Secondly, the Spirit of God,
the Holy Spirit descending upon him. And thirdly, God the Father,
speaking from heaven, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well
pleased." So we have here a very clear picture of the Trinity,
the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We see the importance
then and the relevance of this occasion when the Lord Jesus
Christ was baptised in Jordan by John the Baptist. Jesus answering
said unto him, Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh
us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him. Now this
of course was the beginning of his revealed life on the earth
and throughout those three years the Lord Jesus walked on this
earth and fulfilled really all righteousness. The righteousness
was really the keeping of the law, the good and the holy law
that God had ordained, which of course naturally we are not
able to keep because of our sinful nature. But notwithstanding that,
the Lord Jesus Christ did keep the law in all its avenues, in
every detail, and therefore he was that one who fulfilled all
righteousness. What a blessing it is to be able
to read that of the Lord Jesus Christ. His great purpose was
to fulfill that which his father had given him to do, to keep
the law, to keep the law for his people, as to die that all
their sins might be forever washed away. And it was therefore necessary
and it was ordained by God that the Saviour should willingly
walk this way. And so the Saviour said to John
the Baptist. To John the Baptist, he wasn't
really able to really understand what was happening. He knew that
he'd been sent. He knew that he was to baptise,
baptism unto repentance. But when Jesus came to him and
requested to be baptised of him, you see, he forbade him. He said,
I need to be baptised of thee and comest thou to me. The Lord
Jesus was to set that great and glorious example to the Church
of God. Let's go back again to what we
thought on this morning. ceremony of the Passover wasn't
to be forgotten. They were to remember it every
year, the great deliverance which had been given to them. And in
that deliverance, they were to have set before them none less
than that Lamb of God, that One who was roast in the fire, and
that One who was to have his blood shed, symbolised by the
death of the lamb and the blood taken and put upon the doorposts
and the lintels. That was a very important picture
and a very important ceremony which was to be carried out every
year to remind Israel of the cost of their coming out of Egypt
and to set before them the eternal cost of the blessing of their
souls through the death of the Saviour. And here we have now
in this New Testament scene given to us the picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ being baptised. This was ordained by God. It wasn't something just to ignore
and think well it's irrelevant, it's just something which can
be forgotten. The Lord Jesus Christ instituted. It was the first thing that was
done. He was baptised. It wasn't the
last thing that was done. It was the first thing that was
done when he was revealed to be that Lamb of God and he fulfilled
this very simple ordinance. It wasn't complicated. It was
very simple but it was very significant and it was greatly blessed by
God the Father. And we see the wonderful statement
we refer to, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And so we have this example. This example to us today. There
are many things that the Lord Jesus Christ did in his life.
Many miracles which were performed. Many things which we are pleased
to read about and to recognise how great and kind and good God
was. and to be encouraged today that we can come to that same
God who did great things and perform wonderful miracles and
we would not want to limit our God today because we believe
we come to that great God who still does wonderful things and
does heal and does bless. Sometimes we centre our views
on such things and forget the wonderful example the Saviour
began in his life, when he was revealed in this day, when he
suffered it to be so. He said to John the Baptist,
suffer it to be so, now. It wasn't anything which was
to be delayed. He wasn't going to say, well
perhaps I'll reconsider it, perhaps I'll think about it. He'd come
on this occasion, to this day. You might say this day in the
history of the world, this wonderful day when the Lord Jesus was to
be baptised. And so he came and he said, Suffer
it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. This was the beginning. He went
on, as we know then, to fulfil all righteousness and John the
Baptist then perform that which the Saviour desired him to do. Well, we have this before us. It is a simple ordinance and
it is an example for all true followers of the Lord Jesus Christ
to walk in this way. I often think that baptism wasn't
the last thing in a Christian's life. We read again and again
in the Acts of the Apostles how it was the first thing. How many people believed the
Gospel and were baptised? As we thought recently at our
prayer meeting addresses, what happened to the Apostle Paul?
What happened to him on that Damascus road? Were the Lord
appeared to him in that wonderful way and caused him to fall to
the ground? and spoke to him in that way
and then he was led into Damascus. And then as we know, Ananias
was sent to him and spoke to him and scales fell from his
eyes. And what happened? And he received
sight forthwith and arose and was baptized. We don't have any
record of a great long testimony, do we? We have a very simple
statement. When the scales fell from his
eyes, we might say when you receive that wonderful sight, he arose
and was baptized. And there are so many evidences,
aren't there? You know, Philip and the eunuch.
What happened on that occasion? Well, there was a eunuch. He
didn't understand what he was reading. He was reading the 53rd
of Isaiah. Philip had been ordained by God to go and to come into
this place of desert. Why should he go there? There
was a work for him to do. A single work. A blessed work. He went. He saw
this chariot. He ran. joined himself to the
chariot and he heard what was being read and this Ethiopian
didn't understand what he was reading. Well, my friends, often
we may not understand what we read in the Word of God. We should
not be discouraged. We find things which are hard.
We can't really understand. He didn't understand and he asked
that Philip would go and sit alongside him and explain to
him what he was reading. And Philip did. He'd ask the
question, Philip asked him, do you understand what you read?
And he said, how can I accept some man to guide me? And he
desired, Philip, that he would come up and sit with him. And
the place of the scriptures which he read was this. He was led
as a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb done before his
shearer, so he opened not his mouth, In his humiliation, his
judgment was taken away, and who shall declare his generation,
for his life is taken from the earth? And the eunuch answered
Philip and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet
this, of himself or of some other man? Then Philip opened his mouth
and began at the same scripture and preached unto him, Jesus. Now this was a wonderful sermon. that Philip was able to bring
to this eunuch. And as they went on their way,
they came to water and what did the eunuch say? See here is water
what offended me to be baptized. And Philip asked him an important
question. If thou believest with all thine
heart thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Well that's a great question
and a wonderful answer. You young people just might be
interested that the NIV doesn't contain that verse. One of those
verses which are missing and it's a very important verse for
Christian people and quite clearly Philip had preached to this eunuch
about being baptized and therefore the first thing that he wanted
to do was to be baptised. And so, the chariot was commanded
to stand still, and Philip and the eunuch went down into the
water and he baptised them. He baptised him. Yes, a wonderful
work of God, you see. Evidence in the eunuch's life,
the same as it was evidenced in the apostle Paul's life. And
indeed, as we go back and we think of that day at Pentecost,
all those 3,000 that believed on that occasion, They believed
and what happened? They were baptised. The scriptures really are very
clear in the order of these things. And now we live in a day and
age when such things seem to have gone out of order, have
taken on a different perspective. We have to ask ourselves, well,
Is it in accordance with the Word of God? What does the Word
of God teach us? The Word of God teaches us very
clearly two things. First of all, we are to be a
follower of the example of the Lord Jesus Christ. And secondly,
the qualification of being baptised is to do that and to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. You may say, well, is that all?
Well, it is all, but we need to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ only if we have that spiritual need. And that spiritual need
is this. When the Spirit of God reveals
to us that we do have a need, and that means that we are a
sinner before our Holy God, and that we feel guilty, and we feel
lost, and we need a Saviour. And how can we be delivered from
our condition? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. That's the great need. That's
the great blessing. That's the great favour. And
may we know what it is then to have that simple faith. Simple
faith. It's not complicated, is it?
The Word of God is not complicated. Man makes it complicated. man
puts conditions, God's way is very simple and it's very glorious
and it's very wonderful. And we don't read of any of those
people who were baptised regretting those things which they had done
if they came in that right and true way. I just make this point
of course, it was that they believed with their heart He didn't believe
just with their mind. I pointed out before that Simon
the Sorcerer, that person recorded of again in the Acts, he believed
with his mind. The eunuch believed in his heart. And that's the vital difference.
My friends, if you and I believe in our heart that the Lord Jesus
Christ is the Son of God, the Saviour of sinners, then you
see we have the good evidence of life within, and what a blessing
it is to have that evidence and then to desire to walk humbly
before our God. There was no great show, you
see, in this situation. There never has been. It's a
simple act of obedience, a simple act of following the example
of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, the Lord had come to
John the Baptist. And John had forbade him. And
Jesus said, Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us
to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him. Now the Lord Jesus Christ, in
his glorious life, he fulfilled all that was necessary in keeping
the law of God. And we read together in that
fourth chapter What happened to the Saviour? Immediately after
he was baptised, the devil came. The devil came. And what did
he try and do? He tried to dislodge the Saviour. He tried to make him deny the
truth of the Word of God. Where was Jesus? In the wilderness. He was led by the Spirit into
the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And he was 40 days
and 40 nights fasting, led by the Spirit. You might
say, well, why was that? Well, it's to give us again an
example. Because the religion of the Church
of God The religion of God's people is to be tested. And it might be that we might
think, well, if I'm baptised, everything will be plain-sailing. Everything will be gloriously
happy. There won't be any difficulties. There won't be any temptations,
because I've done that which is God-honouring and which is
right. Well, rest assured of this. You will have done that
which is God-honouring, and which is right. And I'll tell you this,
you will have the answer of a good conscience. And that's very valuable. But I'll also tell you this,
expect times of temptation. Expect great difficulties in
your life. Don't think then it'll be a plain
path. The devil will try all he can
do to trip you up. He'll do all he can do to turn
you back. He'll bring temptations before
your eyes. That's precisely what the Lord
faced with the old great enemy of our souls, the devil. My friends,
the devil doesn't change. What he tries to do with the
Lord Jesus He tries to do with his people today. Yes, and he
tempted him greatly. But you see, how did the Saviour
respond? And it's good for us to recognise
how the Saviour responded. He quoted to him the Word of
God. Quoted to him the Word of God.
You see, the devil usually quotes the Word of God wrongly. The
words may appear very similar. If you analyse him carefully,
he may have missed out a word in his quotations. But we need
to be able to answer the devil from the word of God. Because
that is truth. The devil is not truth. The devil
is untruth. The word of God is truth. The
Lord Jesus says in John 17 verse 17, Thy word is truth. And so
it is. And we can rely upon God's Word. And if the devil comes, as he
will, bear short of this, the devil will come and tempt us.
Because it's a life of temptation, it's a life of difficulty. Those
who follow the Lord Jesus Christ, we're going to have to follow,
don't we? His life, the Saviour's life, what hardship, what difficulties
He faced, what opposition it was. in his life. People rose up against him. People
spoke against him. People misquoted him. We should
expect the same kind of difficulties. But I believe the Lord Jesus
comes to us, as he will encompass us, to realise, well, we're actually,
we're not alone. We have a companion, and that
is the Lord Jesus Christ. And when the Saviour, as it were,
comes alongside us and encourages us, as we realise that the Saviour
was tempted in all points, and not without sin, we have someone
then who understands us. This great God, who has given
us this wonderful example, He knows the way we're walking. I believe these times of temptation are to reveal to us something
which is of the flesh and that which is of the spirit. There
are things of the flesh which we need to have burnt up. Zechariah tells us in that example
that two-thirds are lost in the fire but one-third comes through and
it may be so in our spiritual life we have to lose things that
we may have been relying upon we may have been trusting in
it may have been put it this way an arm of flesh It was not really the work of
the Spirit of God. It was the work which we had
thought of, which we had done, which we were relying upon. Well,
we can rely upon what the Saviour said. We can rely upon His word. We cannot rely upon our word.
Or we cannot rely upon those temptations that the Satan may
set before us. And so, we have this testimony,
and we have what followed. Then the devil leaveth him, and
behold, angels came and ministered unto him. What a wonderful change
there was. So, may we expect times of temptation,
times of trial. But as the Lord may give us grace
to resist the devil, which is what happened here, resist the
devil, then to know the Lord may come and send his angels
which may minister unto us, may encourage us, may direct us to
the blessings which are to be found in Christ. If we're found amongst those
who are following the Lord Jesus Christ, there are great blessings
in it. And the blessing is really centred
in this truth, that we have union with Christ. It is really obvious, isn't it,
that there is no real union if we are walking contrary to our
God. If we are not listening to the Word of God, if we are
not obeying the precepts, if we're not obeying his word, then
in truth there can't really be any real union, can there, with
the Lord Jesus Christ. Surely we must be deceiving ourselves,
because that union and that communion emanates from obeying the gracious
words and commands of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is then that
I believe we know what it is to walk with the Lord. Walk with the Lord. You see,
even in times of temptation and difficulty, to know that the
Lord, we're walking with the Lord. The Apostle Paul recognised
the importance of union with the Lord Jesus Christ and he
gives us the example and gives us the testimony when he wrote
that epistle to the Philippians and he spoke to his great desire
to be found united more and more to the Lord Jesus Christ. And
he commences the third chapter of Philippians with these words,
Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. Well, I'm sure that
is something that you and I desire to be found rejoicing in the
Lord. And if we are to be found rejoicing
in the Lord, the Apostle is able to tell us that all, he says,
but what things were gained to me, those I counted, lost for
Christ. His great desire was to know
Christ and know more of Him, and explains it in these words,
yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss, Let's remember what he says here.
All things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do
countenance but done that I may win Christ and be found in him
not having mine own righteousness which is of the law but that
which is through the faith of Christ the righteousness which
is of God by faith. Well, the Lord is speaking here
about the righteousness. He's saying, it becometh us to
fulfil all righteousness. And the Apostle here is viewing
that righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he's speaking
in these terms, be found in him, not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ. the righteousness which is of God by faith. And he goes
on in this very positive way and says, that I may know him
and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings
being made conformable unto his death. And in these times of
temptation, you know, there is fellowship with his sufferings. So, let us not be disappointed
if in our spiritual life we have been amongst those who have obeyed
the gracious commands of the Saviour. And now we're finding,
we're walking in a path of sufferings and difficulty. My friends, union
with Christ is to be found in such a path. Don't be surprised. The Apostle knew what it was.
The Apostle explains it to us. The Apostle speaks to us about
it. And he says therefore, and the fellowship of his sufferings
Oh, the Apostle viewed it as a blessing. He didn't view it
as a hardship. He didn't view it as something
which was to be spoken against. It was something that he prayed
for. Why? Union with Christ. Union with Christ. The Saviour
knew the way. tempted in all points, like as
we are yet without sin. So he says, if by any means I
might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Well, it's very
important, isn't it, that we do attain to that great and glorious
resurrection of those who are dead in Christ. We want to attain
to it, don't we? Whatever it might be, whatever
we might need, The Apostle says, if by any means I might attain
unto the resurrection of the dead. And then he goes on, brethren
I cannot myself to apprehend it. It means he didn't really
understand. Really Paul? Yes. But this one
thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind. Forgetting
those things which are behind. reaching forth unto those things
which are before, I press toward them up for the prize of the
high calling of God in Christ Jesus. The Apostle Paul was pressing
forward and so may you and I be found pressing forward in this
race, the race that is set before us, pressing forward running
the race, what are we found doing? Looking unto Jesus, the author
and the finisher of our faith, the one who has begun the work
in our hearts. Bless God, if there's been a
beginning. Yes, bless God, if there's been
a beginning, if there's been a beginning, there will be an
end. And that end will be in glory.
My friends, Christ doesn't begin a work and then leave it off. That work continues. It's the
work of God. It's the blessed work of God. And it's the work which finishes
in glory when we shall be indeed with Christ, which is far better
when all the trials and temptations of the way will be behind us. Suffer it to be so now. said
the Lord Jesus Christ. For thus it becometh us to fulfil
all righteousness. Then he suffered him. Won't it
be a good testimony, a good evidence for us tonight if we view the
life of the Lord Jesus Christ. And my friends, what a blessing
it is. We have such a full gospel which gives to us the life of
the Saviour, His birth and then those last three years of his
life showing to us what he did, what he endured, what he suffered
so that we might be joint heirs, fellow heirs with Christ and
therefore eternity with Christ. What a glorious prospect it is
for the Church of God. Eternal happiness in glory. No more trials, no more temptations,
no more opposition, no more fears, no more tears, no more sorrow,
but joy and peace eternally. That's the prospect for the Church
of God. Is it not attractive? Is it not
wonderful? Is it not amazing that the Lord
should call such unworthy sinners, those who disbelieve, those who
have backed away from the Lord, those who walk contrary to Him?
And yet, notwithstanding all these things, they come and say,
He is loving kindness. Oh, how great! And true it is,
His lovingkindness is so great. Yes, He saw us indeed, as Himmleiter
said, ruined in the fall, yet loved us, notwithstanding all. And so, as we may know something
of the amazing love of the Saviour, that such unworthy sinners, may
we be moved to be amongst those who truly desire union with Christ
and to be a true follower of a despised and crucified man
and be able to join in with the words of the Lord Jesus Christ
and say suffer it to be so now yes let my request be heard let
it be carried out for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness
then he suffered him amen