Luke 3, look with me at verse
21. Now when all the people were
baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also being baptized and
praying, the heaven was opened. And the Holy Ghost descended
in a bodily shape like a dove upon him. And a voice came from
heaven which said, Thou art my beloved son. In thee I am well pleased. Isn't that glorious? Isn't that
glorious? Our Lord was baptized. He was baptized. That's such
an amazing thought to me. That is such an amazing thought. The depth of the fact that the
Lord himself was baptized. The sinless, holy God. That ought to tell us that baptism
is not the washing away of sins. The sinless holy God was baptized. That's just amazing. Look with me at Matthew chapter
3. Matthew chapter 3. Verse 13 says, 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? Could you imagine John immersing
God? Can you imagine that? Can you
put yourself in John's shoes? He knew who God was. He knew
who that man was. He was sent to prepare his way.
Before he was ever born into the world, as soon as he entered
his room in the womb of another woman, he leaped and said, that's
my Lord and my God. That's God. And now God has come
to him and said, you're going to baptize me. And John said,
I need to be baptized of you. You've come to me. And John walks
down into the water with God. John and God. And he put his
hands on him. And he said, I baptize you in
the name of the Father. Have I been so long with you,
John? So long time with you? This is the Father. I baptize
you in the name of you. I baptize you in the name of
your own Holy Spirit. Can you imagine that? Verse 15 says, And Jesus answering
said unto him, Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh
us to fulfill all righteousness. Then John suffered him. The Lord
said, I must confess something. Suffer it to be so. I must confess
something. We have seen over and over again
through this scripture, and we said it this morning,
if two messages were ever, if one was ever a continuation of
the other one, this one is a continuation of this morning. And we said
it this morning. We've seen time and time again
through this word that baptism, water baptism is not salvation. It is not salvation. Peter said, water does not put
away the filth of the flesh. Isn't that what he said? Not
into putting away the filth of the flesh. Then why do we do it? Why do
we do it? Why does it convict us so deeply
and so long? Why does it consume us to the
point where we say, I can't go anymore. I must do this. And why did our Lord do this? What was he confessing? Turn
with me over to Luke chapter 12. Luke chapter 12, verse 49. Our Lord said, I am come to send fire on the earth. And what will I if it be already
kindled? He said, I'm come to send a fire.
I am come to send the wrath of the fire of heaven. Why would
he do that? Why would he do that? Why would
he come and bring with him the wrath of the fire of heaven? The answer is the sin of man.
Had man not sinned against him, there would be no need for wrath. There would be no need for wages
of sin, but man did. Man sinned against him. David
said, If thou shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall
stand? If you deal with us according
to our sin, who will be able to stand through it? Malachi said, Who may abide the
day of his coming? When he comes, we read it this
morning, didn't we? When he comes back. Who may abide
the day of His coming? And who shall stand when He appeareth? For He is like a refiner's fire. He's going to come burn it all
off. Every bit of it. Everything that is not acceptable
in God's eyes is going to be burned up. It's going to be burned
up. Verse 49 says, I am come to send
fire on the earth And what will I, if it be already kindled? Now here's the word of the gospel. Verse 50 says, but, but. He said, I have a baptism to
be baptized with. I have a baptism to be baptized
with. Is he talking about John's baptism?
No. We just read about John's baptism
in Luke 3. This is Luke 12. He's talking
about a baptism that has not come to him just yet. John's
baptism was a confession of something else. He was talking about something
else. Our Lord was going to be immersed,
totally immersed by God Almighty into something else. He said in verse 50, But I have
a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straightened till
it be accomplished? Straightened means pained. Pained. It means compressed by
it. It means arrested by it. It means afflicted by it. He said, I'm consumed with this. That's what it means, consumed.
I'm consumed by the thought of God's terrible wrath coming down
on me. I know what the wrath is. And
I'm straightened. I'll be straightened until it
happens. But he said, I have a baptism
to be baptized with. That's why he came. That's what he confessed in the
River Jordan. He said, I have a confession
to make. You suffer this to be so. We're going to fulfill all
righteousness. I've come to fulfill all of the
law, everything that the law requires. I have a baptism to
be baptized with. The wages of sin is death. And
he said, I have a baptism to be baptized with. And he told
John, we're going to fulfill all righteousness in this. All
righteousness. I'm going to satisfy all of God's
demands. Every single one of them. Isn't
that fantastic? I'm going to satisfy all of God's
demands. There's a song I love. It says,
judgment was met and the law satisfied. Judgment is going
to be met. The law is going to be satisfied.
God is going to put an end to sin by executing the punishment,
which is death. He's going to execute that punishment.
And the Lord said, I am going to immerse myself into that punishment. I'm going to dive headfirst straight
into that punishment. Verse 50, but I have a baptism
to be baptized with, and how am I straightened till it be
accomplished? Now, I think one of the greatest
questions on this earth is why would he do that? Why would he do that? Why would he suffer that? Why would he willingly endure
that? Turn with me, if you would, to
Matthew chapter 20. Matthew chapter 20, look with
me at verse 20. Then came to him the mother of
Zebedee's children with her sons, worshipping him and desiring
a certain thing of him. And he said unto her, What wilt
thou? She saith unto him, Grant that
these my two sons may sit the one on thy right hand and the
other on the left in thy kingdom. But Jesus answered and said,
You know not what you ask. Are you able to drink of the
cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism
that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able.
And he saith unto them, You shall drink indeed of my cup, and be
baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with. But to sit
on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give, but it shall
be given to them for whom it is prepared of my father." He
said, what I endure, you are going to endure. Everything I
drink, you're going to drink. He did it for his people. He
did it for his people. He said, I'm going to endure
this for you because it's the only hope you have. There was
one way man could be saved. Doesn't it just crawl you to
hear false prophets stand up and say there's more than one
way? More than one way. I heard a man say one time, I
believe there's one way to God and that's Jesus, but I also
believe there are many ways to Jesus. Well, then you've just
made everybody happy. One way. There was one way. There
was one salvation. According to God's holy law,
blood had to be shed. Sinless blood. Spotless. A spotless lamb. And so he came
and he said, I'm going to do this for you because it's the
only hope you've had. You have sinned against God. And God's wrath must come down
on you. It must come down on you. But
he said, I have a baptism. That's the gospel. I have a baptism. I have an immersion to make. And because of my immersion,
there is an immersion for you. There is a fount filled with
blood, drawn straight from God's own veins. Every sinner plunged
beneath that flood loses all his guilty stains. I have a baptism. It's bad news for you, but I
have a baptism. Verse 16 says, back in our text,
look with me at Luke 3 again. Luke 3, verse 16. It says, John answered, saying
unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water, but one mightier
than I cometh, the lachet of whose shoes I am not worthy to
unloose. He shall baptize you with the
Holy Ghost and with fire. He is going to immerse you first. by His Holy Ghost into Himself. That's the work of God's Holy
Ghost. God's Holy Ghost lays hold of a sinner and baptizes
that sinner into Jesus Christ, into the blood of Jesus Christ.
And He said, I'm going to send my Holy Ghost and I'm going to,
by my Holy Ghost, immerse you into Me. I'm going to put you
in Me. And then he said, I am going
to hide you safely inside me, and once you're sealed up inside
me, I'm going to immerse you into the terrible wrath of Almighty
God. You are going to endure His wrath, but you're going to endure it
in me. He's going to baptize you with the Holy Ghost. And
then He's going to baptize you with fire. You're going to endure the fire,
the wrath, the judgment, the punishment. You are going to
endure hell itself. You know that's what we all deserve,
isn't it? Hell itself. And He said you're
going to endure that safely tucked inside the protection of your
Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the baptism that He endured. That's the baptism we endured
in Him. You know there's a scripture
that says there's one baptism. Isn't that right? There's one
baptism. And it's whenever God's people
were baptized into Christ. This is confession of that. That's what this is. Isaiah 53 says, He was wounded
for our transgressions. God put us in Him and then God
wounded Him. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was on Him. It was all laid on Him. He laid
it all on Him. Every bit of it. And as a sheep
before her shearers is dumb, so opened he not his mouth."
It's amazing. That same chapter, Isaiah 53,
says, there was no deceit in his mouth. No deceit in his mouth. Yet, it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He said, my righteous servant
shall justify many. Not all. He didn't say my righteous
servant shall justify every soul on this earth. But thank God
he said many. I love that. Many. Christ's blood was not shed in
vain. Well, Christ died for everybody,
but if you don't make it effectual, you'll miss out and it'll be
wasted and you'll go to hell. That's not true. That's just
not true. Christ's blood was not shed in
vain. It was shed for every soul His
Father gave to Him. He lovingly, particularly shed
His blood for His own wife. That's who He did it for, His
own bride. And with His stripes, we are
healed. We're all healed. Now turn with
me, if you would, to Matthew 26. We're going to see His baptism. We're going to see what He willingly
was immersed into for us. Matthew 26, look with me at verse
36. Then cometh Jesus with them unto
a place called Gethsemane, And saith unto the disciples, Sit
ye here while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and
the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very
heavy. Can you imagine what it means
when God says He is sorrowful and very heavy? Then saith He
unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death."
The Gospel of Luke says, His sweat was as it were great drops
of blood falling down to the ground. Verse 38, Then saith he unto
them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. Tarry ye here,
and watch with me. And he went a little further,
and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my father, if it be
possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will,
but as thou wilt." Look with me now at chapter 27,
verse 27. Then the soldiers of the governor
took Jesus into the common hall and gathered unto him the whole
band of soldiers. And they stripped him and put
on him a scarlet robe. And when they had plaited a crown
of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right
hand And they bowed the knee before Him and mocked Him, saying,
Hail, King of the Jews! And they spit upon Him, and took
the reed, and smote Him on the head. And after that they had
mocked Him, they took the robe off from Him, and put His own
raiment on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him. Verse 46 says, And about the ninth hour, Jesus
cried with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani. That is to say, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? Some of them that stood there
when they heard that said, this man calleth for Elias. And straightway
one of them ran and took a sponge and filled it with vinegar and
put it on a reed and gave him to drink. The rest said, Let
be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him. Jesus,
when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the
ghost. And behold, the veil of the temple
was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. And the earth
did quake, and the rocks rent, And the graves were opened, and
many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of
the graves after His resurrection, and went into the holy city,
and appeared unto many. Now when the centurion and they
that were with him watching Jesus saw the earthquake and those
things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was
the Son of God. This was the Son of God. Chapter
28, verse 1 says, In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to
dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene
and the other Mary to see the sepulcher. And behold, there
was a great earthquake, for the angel of the Lord descended from
heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat
upon it. His countenance was like lightning,
and his raiment white as snow, and for fear of him the keepers
did shake and became as dead men. And the angel answered and
said unto the women, Fear not, ye, for I know that you seek
Jesus which was crucified. He is not here, for He is risen,
as He said, just like He said. Now go with me back to our text
in Luke chapter 3. Luke chapter 3 verse 21 says, Now when all the people were
baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also being baptized and
praying, the heaven was opened. The heaven was opened. When man
sinned against God, God drove man out of the garden and he
shut the gates of heaven, didn't he? But the Lord Jesus being baptized,
when He immersed Himself into the wrath of God for the sin
of His people, as soon as He made an atonement for their soul, He interceded to God on their
behalf. He took the blood straight back
up to the altar. Heaven was open. The veil was
rent. Verse 22 says, And the Holy Ghost
descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him. And a voice
came from heaven which said, Thou art my beloved Son. In thee I am well pleased. I put my children in you. and you died for them. You were buried with them. You arose with them, every single
one of them. Well done, thou good and faithful
servant. Well done. In our Lord's Ceremonial
baptism. He confessed his loving union
with us. He confessed the wrath that he
would suffer. He confessed the sin he would
pay for. And in our ceremonial baptism,
we confess our loving union with him. In him, this is what we're
saying, my wrath is over. I was punished. But I was punished
in Him. And it's over. My sin is paid. It's paid. Paid in full. I love how in the account of
Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch, you know, the Lord sent Philip
to that eunuch and Philip preached Isaiah 53 to him. And the eunuch
said, here is water, what does hinder me to be baptized? And
Philip said, if you believe with all your heart, you may. And
that eunuch did not say, he did not confess, I believe I'm saved. That's not what he said. He did not say, I believe God
chose me. He didn't say that. He said, I believe that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God. Whether He saves me or not. Whether
He chooses me or not. He's the Son of God. If I'm going
to be saved, He's the Savior. If I'm not going to be saved,
He's still the Savior. I believe he's the Son of God. He's the one God sent to redeem
souls. What he was saying is, I confess
Him. That's what he was saying. I
believe Him. I bow to Him. Philip said, if
you believe with all your heart, you may. And he said, I bow to
Him. I bow to Him. When Philip heard that, he said,
stop the chariot. Stop the chariot. You want to
confess him? You want to confess him for who
he is and for what he's done? Phillip said, Amen. Amen. We have a loving brother. To
some of us, he's a literal brother. To all of us, he's a spiritual
brother. We have a brother who wants to
confess the same thing. A precious union with His Redeemer. At first I wrote in my notes,
The Redeemer. Then I scratched it out and I
put His Redeemer. A loving union with His Redeemer.
And I had a talk with Brother Sam and he said the same thing
we all say. He wants to confess how great
things the Lord has done for him. When did he do it? I don't
know. Doesn't matter, does it? He did it. I believe he did it. So we all say amen to that, don't
we?