Turn back to Matthew chapter
3. Matthew chapter 3. Title of the message, Why was
Jesus Christ baptized? Why was Jesus Christ baptized? message was a baptism of repentance. So why would our Lord come to
him to be baptized? That's the subject of the message.
Now John the Baptist had been preaching in the wilderness for
six months before our Lord came to him to be baptized. John's
message, as I said, was repent, for the kingdom of heaven is
at hand. John kept his message simple. He kept it simple. He never changed
his message to suit the crowd. When the Pharisees showed up,
he didn't take the edge off from it. He did not tone it down. The message never changed. Sinners
are sinners wherever they come from. It doesn't matter where
they come from. Either they come out of the gutter
or the pew. Sinners are sinners. That's what they are. Our Lord
is about to appear upon His public ministry. All these years it's
been silent. But now He's going to appear
upon His public ministry. John was His harbinger. And now
the Lord comes to him. The first thing he does when
he enters upon his public ministry is he comes to John to be baptized. One of the things I want to note
here before I go on is the importance Jesus Christ put upon baptism. In verse 13 it says, Then cometh
Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized. That
is a three-day walk. Our Lord, for three days, walked
in order to be baptized of John. We never have a reason not to
follow our Lord in baptism. Everyone who believes on Him
follows Him, follows His command. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. Now, I understand if someone's
physically unable to do this. I understand that. That thief
on the cross couldn't do it. He was nailed to the cross. There
was nothing he could do. Someone may be bedfast. I understand
that. But a believer now, one who believes God, never has a
reason not to follow the Lord. Not to, listen, not to is rebellion. It's rebellion. Now let me give
you a few things concerning baptism. First of all, what it is not. Baptism is not salvation. It's not salvation. A few years
ago, at a family gathering, two men, I was listening to two men
talk. This one man claimed to be a preacher. And he had put
out on the radio, anybody that wants to be baptized, show up
at a certain time and I'll baptize you. No message, just show up
and I'll baptize you. And the gentleman he was talking
to, he said, you know, and this guy doesn't go anywhere. He doesn't
go anywhere as far as I know. He's religious. Of course, we're
all religious. He said, you know, I've been wanting to be baptized.
He said, I'd like to be baptized. And they were talking about baptism
and none of it, none of it was gospel. None of it was scriptural
in any way, shape or form. Why would you want to be baptized?
If it's not following the Lord's command, if it's not from believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ, don't do it. It's for believers. It's for those who believe God
concerning Christ. That's who it's for. There's
no salvation in baptism whatsoever. Baptism does not wash away my
sins. You could dunk me a thousand
times and I'd still be just as rotten on the last one. Just
as rotten. Only the blood of Jesus Christ
can wash away our sins. That's all. And then it does
not make me more saved. It doesn't make me more saved
at all. It does not, listen, it does
not add to my salvation in any way, shape, or form. And then
it's not regeneration. You don't believe in baptismal
regeneration. It's not regeneration. That's the work of the Holy Spirit
of God. A person is regenerated, then they are baptized. And that's
how they confess Christ. I'll get to that in a minute.
And it doesn't make me more righteous. I'm as righteous as I'll ever
be in Christ. In Jesus Christ, I'm as righteous,
I'm as holy as He is. And you can't be more than that.
Can't be more than that. Now let me give you a few things
of what it is. It is nothing more than identification with
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's identifying with Him. I
am His and He is mine. It is identification with His
death, burial, and resurrection. Salvation. Salvation is through
the death, the burial, the resurrection,
The ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's through Christ living,
dying in my place, rising for my justification and going back
to glory and making intercessions for me. It's identification with
him, with his death. And then it's to walk in newness
of life. When a person is baptized, it's like he's coming up out
of the grave and he's saying, that old life is past. The old things
that are passed away, they're gone. They're gone. I'm following the Lord. I have
a new life. I have a new life. The things
that I once loved, I now hate, and the things I once hated,
I now love. It's newness of life. Now, why did Christ come to John
to be baptized? In the Old Testament, you see,
this is a fulfilled scripture. In the Old Testament, the priest,
they would consecrate themselves to God by washing themselves. And that's what our Lord, our
Lord, even so, our great high priest, he began his work which
he came to do by consecrating himself by being baptized. Listen,
we'll turn over to Exodus 29. Exodus chapter 29. In Exodus
29, let me read the first four verses. And this is the thing that thou
shalt do unto them to hallow them, to minister unto me in
the priest's office. Take one young bullock and two
rams without blemish, and unleavened bread and cakes unleavened, tempered
with oil, and wafers unleavened, anointed with oil of wheat and
flour shalt thou make them. Thou shalt put them into one
basket, and bring them into the basket with the bullock and the
two rams. And Aaron, who is the priest,
and Aaron and his sons, thou shalt bring into the door of
the tabernacle of the congregation, and shalt wash them with water. That's what he's doing. He's
fulfilling this scripture right here. He's fulfilling this time. And then our Lord came out of
obedience. out of a beard. If His people, if His people
are to be baptized, so shall their representative. He'll be
baptized. Christ identified with His people
in every way. He's showing His identification
here with sinners. Sinners. He's identifying with
sinners. And then we are never called
upon to do something that He has not done. He doesn't tell
us to do something, command us to do something that our Lord
has not done Himself. He's the example, He's the head,
and we are to follow Him. He did it, and He commands His
people to do it. But in doing this, I want you
to notice His humility. He comes to John. He comes to
His lowly servant, John, to be baptized. I have no doubt. I have no doubt. The Pharisees thought it beneath
them. To be baptized, the baptism of
repentance, what do we have to repent of? That was their attitude. They said this to our Lord, we
be not sinners. That's what they said. Well,
I can tell you this, if you be not a sinner, Jesus Christ did
not die for you. Jesus Christ died for sinners. God, make me a sinner. Jesus
Christ died for sinners. Jesus Christ died for the ungodly. We never read where He died for
good people, because there's not any. There's not any. There's none good, no, not one.
But those Pharisees, there's no way they're going to submit
to this baptism. But our Lord, humbled himself
to come into this world, take upon him flesh, and identify
himself with sinners. The very sinners whom he came
to save, he identified himself with them in every way. Every
way. Those Pharisees, they knew, they
knew what they would have to admit if they were going to subject
themselves. to this baptism. They knew what
they'd have to admit. I believe if most people who
call themselves Christians, a big majority, if they really knew
what that meant, if they really knew what that meant, they would
say, no, that's not me. Oh, wretched man that I am. No,
that's not me. Oh, sinful, wretched man that
I am. That's not me. Well, that's what
a Christian is. He's a sinner saved by grace.
He or she's a sinner saved by the grace of God. That's what
they are. Our high priest never failed
to identify with us in all things. He was truly meek and lowly. He was never above his people. This is one king. This is one
priest. that was never above his people. Now, when it comes to John, John
objects at first because John knew. John knew he was not worthy
even to carry his shoes. He said that, I'm not worthy
to carry his shoes. You know, if we ever really get
to that place, maybe God's done something for us. And I'm not
worthy to pick up his shoes. That's true humility. That's
true humility. I pray God give us that kind
of humility and maintain it all the way to the end. John knew
he was a sinner. He knew he was a sinner. He knew
he needed to be baptized instead of Christ. He said, no, I need
to be baptized of you. He knew he needed his master's
grace. John knew his place. He knew he was just a voice.
He knew he was just a servant. He knew this was his Lord, his
God, his Savior. He knew that. John knew he stood in the presence
of Almighty God. This is the one. This is the
one. And he showed great reverence,
great respect for his Lord when he came. He said, I'm not worthy. You know, we're not worthy to
be here this morning. You know, Paul said this. Get
this. Paul said this. I thank God for
you, brethren, beloved of the Lord. He did not say, I thank
you, brethren, for coming. I thank you for being here today
to worship. No, you ought to be here. Paul said it right. I thank God for you. I thank
God for His grace that has been at work in you, that has saved
you and brought you here to worship. I thank God for every one of
you. But we never thank each other for coming to worship.
God is to be worshipped. He's to be worshipped. John said, oh, he said, I have
need to be baptized of thee, and you're coming to me." And
our Lord replied to John, suffer it to be so now, for thus it
becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. And then John suffered. Then
he submitted. John did what his Lord commanded him to do. But
the Lord says here in this verse, for thus it becometh us to fulfill
all righteousness. You know, the law said that every
male child that was born was to be circumcised on the eighth
day. And on the eighth day, Christ was taken to the temple and He
was circumcised. Our Lord obeyed every precept of the law. He
obeyed the law of the home. He obeyed the civil laws. He
obeyed every law of God. And He did it perfectly. He loved
His neighbor. Listen, He loved His neighbor as Himself, didn't
He? He loved his neighbor as himself.
He loved his enemy. He tells us in the Sermon on
the Mount, love your enemies. He wouldn't tell us to do something
he doesn't. But he obeyed every precept of
the law. And this tithe that was in Exodus
29, he came to fulfill it. It becomes us to fulfill. All
righteousness. He did not put anything aside
or say, that's not important. That's really not that important. You know, for him to fulfill
the least jot and tittle of the law was just as important for
him to fulfill the greatest command of the law. And the greatest
command of the law is what? To love God with all your heart,
your mind, your soul, and your neighbor as yourself. It was
just as important for Him to do the least as the greatest.
And He didn't miss a jot or tittle at all. Now by being baptized, our Lord
is telling us something here. He's showing us something here.
He's showing us how He's going to redeem sinners. He's showing
us that by His death, burial, and resurrection, which this
is a symbol of, You know that. You know this is a symbol of
the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. And He's showing it
to us. Right from the beginning of His
ministry. This is how sinners are going to be saved. Through
my death. He's going to be buried. He's
going to rise again. A dead Christ can't save anybody.
A dead Christ saves no one. But a risen Christ does. He does. It is written in Romans 4 and
425. Who, that is Christ, was delivered
for our offenses. Pilate took Him into the judgment
hall and they whipped Him until you couldn't recognize who He
was. They nailed Him to a cross. He was delivered for our offenses
and was raised again for our justification. He died to put
away my sins. And when he rose from the grave,
I've justified. You know what, when he rose from
the grave, you know what it says? God accepted him, his work, and everyone
he did it for. Everyone. Now we're given the
method. The method of baptism. It says
here in chapter 3 verse 16, And Jesus, when he was baptized,
went up straightway out of the water. John did not sprinkle
him. He did not sprinkle him. Sprinkling
does not represent death, does it? You don't sprinkle someone
when you're dead, you bury them. You bury them out of sight. Sprinkling
does not represent death. It does not represent resurrection. But immersion does. When you
put them under water, they're buried. They're buried. You can't see them. They're buried.
When someone dies, you don't sprinkle dirt on their face.
You bury them out of sight, don't you? And that's what he's saying
here. Turn over to Romans chapter 6.
Romans chapter 6. Look in verse 3. 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 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. That's what we're saying. We
are baptized. We request to be baptized. We're
following Christ. We are identifying with his death.
Burial under that water. Coming up out of that water.
Resurrection. It's the newness of life. Listen
to these scripts. I'll read these to you. In Colossians
chapter 2. And you are complete in Him. You lack nothing. You have everything
you need in Jesus Christ, which is the head of all principality
and power, in whom also you are circumcised with a circumcision
made without hands and putting off the body of the sins of the
flesh by the circumcision of Christ, buried with him in baptism,
wherein also you are risen with him through the faith of the
operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. You're buried
with Him. We identify with Him because
we are in union with Him. You know, the Lord only gave
two ordinances to the church to observe. That's His table,
bread and wine, not grape juice. It's bread and wine because that's
what represents His blood and baptism. That's the only two
we are to observe. And they are important. There's
no saving power in them, but they are important. Never take
these two ordinances that the Lord gave lightly. Never take
this lightly. Listen to this scripture. In
Mark 16, 16. He that believeth and is baptized. You know, baptism also shows
this. Obedience. It just shows obedience. That's
what it shows, obedience. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. Shall be damned. Now, to wind
this down, let's look at the Father's approval here. It says,
And lo, the heavens were opened unto Him. And he saw the Spirit
of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him. We have
here the Holy Spirit's approval that this is the Christ. This
is the Son of God. This is the Lamb of God. This
is the Savior. And the Holy Spirit sets his
approval upon him by descending in the form of a dove and sitting
on his shoulder. Sitting on his shoulder. By doing
this, he's saying, this is the one. This is the one. And then we have the Father speaking.
This, he says, God speaking from heaven. This is God the Father
speaking from heaven. This is my Son in whom I am well
pleased. This is the Son of God. God. Jesus Christ is God Almighty
incarnate. He's the Son of God. What better
witnesses can we have than those two witnesses? Now let me close. The Son of God has come. In the Old Testament, says someone's
coming all the way through. Someone's coming. Someone's coming.
There's pictures, there's types and shadows. We have prophecies
and says someone's coming. And now we say he's come. And
now we say he's coming again. He's not only come, he's coming
again. He's coming again to finally wind this thing up and take all
his people home. But the Son of God has come.
We're not looking for anybody else. We're not looking for another
Messiah. You know, they're still looking
for a Messiah to come over there in the Middle East. They're still
looking for a Messiah to come. He's already came. He's already finished His work and gone back
to glory. Gone back to glory. And He has
shown us how sinners are saved. How He saved every sinner whom
He saved by His death. Christ dying in my place. It's
hard to enter into that because I've never, first of all, I've
never experienced death. But I've never experienced anything
close to the horrible death that He died in my place. He took my hell. He took my He
took God's wrath in my place. Let's never take that lightly.
Because we can't understand, we cannot begin to understand
the wrath of God. I mean, our wrath is nothing compared
to the wrath of God. He has shown us how that sinners
are saved by His death, His substitution taking their place. And the burial shows this. You
know what a burial shows? He really died. You don't bury
someone alive. He really died. When He was on the cross and
He gave up His spirit, He died. He died. Our Lord identified with us in
absolutely every way. Every way. And the way we identify
with Him is by following Him, by following Him in baptism. And that's how we confess Christ.
We don't confess Christ by coming down here and weeping and carried
on We don't confess Christ. That's not the way He's truly
confessed. He's confessed in baptism. That's the way He's
confessed. And by doing this, we're saying
that Christ is our Redeemer. He's our Lord. He's our Master. He's our Master. I love my Master. We have a new life. We have a
new life. The old life is gone. Sin is
not my master. Satan is not my master. Their
power is broken. Christ is my master. I follow
Him. I follow Him. And we are saved
through Him. That's how I'm saved. That's
how you're saved. That's how anybody saved whom the Lord saved
is through that man, Jesus Christ. Old things are passed away, and
behold, all things Harva Kundu. Alright.