We almost sang 158, Come Holy
Spirit, Heavenly Dove. That's the subject this morning.
Look at Luke chapter 3 with me. Luke, Gospel of Luke chapter
3. Read a couple of verses with
me. Luke chapter 3. Look at verse 21 and 22. 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. Christ's baptism and the dove. Now, in verse 3, John, it says,
came preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission
of sin. His day was a corrupt day, like
ours. And he preached repentance to
everyone that came to hear him preach. That's what he preached.
Repentance means a heartfelt conviction and guilt and shame
and sorrow over sin against God. That's what it means. Our Lord
said in the Proverbs, he that confesseth his sin and forsaketh
them shall find mercy. We need mercy. Most people don't
know it. But we all need mercy, starting
with this preacher. Because all have sinned. All the prophets preached repentance.
John was the last Old Testament prophet. The Lord Jesus Christ
came preaching repentance. You say, Preacher, why are you
preaching this? You've already done that. I hope nobody says that. Repentance is not a one-time
thing. It's a lifetime thing. It's an ongoing thing. It's a
broken and a contrite heart is what it is. Thus sayeth, listen
to this, the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity, he
said, I dwell with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit,
to revive the spirit of the contrite by the gospel. The gospel is
only good news to guilty people. You know, the gospel is not good
news unless you first heard the bad news. Mercy doesn't mean
anything unless you're guilty. Pardon doesn't mean anything
unless you're waiting to be punished. When you go to see a pearl of
great price in a jewelry store, what does the proprietor do? He brings out a black velvet
or dark blue velvet a black velvet cloth, and puts that pearl of
great price upon that, because then it really shines. Then it
really sparkles. Then it really catches your eye,
and you see its beauty, its wonder. And that's Christ. He's that
pearl of great price. He's the Savior of sinners. I mean, sinners. This gospel is only
for sinners. You've heard me say so many times,
I'd love to put a sign on this church house. We're not looking
for good people. We're looking for sinners. Christ
came, not to save the righteous, call the righteous, but sinners
to repent. Our Lord turned to His disciples.
They were born again. They were converted men. And
He turned to them and said, except you repent, you'll likewise perish. Didn't He? Repentance is more relevant now
than ever on a day like today. Preacher, this is Easter. Make us happy. Stay tuned, okay? If you're a sinner, it's going
to make you real happy. And if not, it won't. Repentance is more relevant and
more needful now than ever. You rarely hear it, do you? Do
you hear it? Do you hear the word? This is the most corrupt, twisted,
sick, and perverted society in the history of the world. Maybe
not more so, but it's more widespread. It's like the days of Noah. Our
Lord said the whole earth had corrupted His way. And God said, I'm going to destroy
it. But God made an ark. and a man to gather them in the
ark. That man's name means rest. Noah. We'll get to that in a
moment. And he represents Christ. Repentance
is needed now more than ever. These are the last days. There's
some people in here who have not yet repented. Today is the day of salvation.
John preached repentance. Look at verse 16. He says, I baptized
with water, one mightier than I come at the latching of whose
shoes I am not worthy to unloose. He will baptize with the Holy
Ghost and with fire. We looked at that, didn't we?
Verse 17, his fan is in his hand. He will purge his floor. Repentance
is purging. And this is what the Lord does
through the preaching of His Word. Purges. Separates. Divides
the wheat from the chaff. Do you remember this? Christ
is the One who came to purge His church. A fire and a hammer, the Word.
A fan in His hand. separating the wheat from the
chaff. Did he not say that? The chaff, remember, the chaff
is empty. The chaff is refuge. The chaff
is lighter than air. Nothing to it. And any wind that
comes along, it's gone. It's gone. But the wheat, heavy
laden, burdened like a child of God with sin, no matter how
they're tossed, on the seas of life are like the fan of God's
Word. Rebuked, reproved, rebuked, corrected. No matter how they're
convicted, they fall at the feet of the winner. They fall at the
feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. Humble, broken, contrite. Will
you go away? No, I've got to stay right here.
I want in your garner. I want in your kingdom. I'm not
going anywhere by your grace. I'm no better than that chaff,
but I'm just going to fall at your feet. That's what the Tweet
does. This gospel separates the wheat
from the chaff. Sinners stay here. Pharisees don't. Verse 21. So all the people came,
they baptized. John preached repentance toward
God. And when the Lord Jesus Christ,
as John was preaching repentance toward God, you know what happened? The Lord Jesus Christ came walking
up. And you know what John said?
It's not right here. It is in the other three Gospels. You
know what John said? Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away
the sin of the world. Not just Jews, but Gentiles.
Every tribe, kindred, nation, people, tongue under heaven.
Right there He is. The Lamb of God. We're all a bunch of sinners.
God said there must be a Lamb. God is holy. God is righteous. God is just. God will by no means
clear the guilty. God said the soul that's in it
must surely die. God said when I see the blood,
I'll pass over you. Take some blood, the blood of
a lamb without spot, without blemish. The blood of a lamb
that you've observed to be without spot and blemish. That's Jesus
Christ. Take the blood of that lamb and
cover your dwellings. I'm holy. I'm coming through
Egypt. I'm going to destroy. I'm not happy with everybody.
I'm angry. Take the blood of a substitute,
of an innocent sacrifice, of one who did no wrong, and kill
it, slay it, take its blood, the life of the flesh is in its
blood, and cover your doorpost and your little. And when I see
the blood, not your faith, not your worth, not anything you
ever done, when I see the blood of that lamb, I will Passover
year. I will not smite you. I will
have mercy upon you. I will have grace upon you. I
will accept you. I'll lead you out of Egypt into
the promised land when I see the blood." John said, there
he is. This is preaching repentance
toward God and what? Faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is no preaching without this. No preaching without repentance. It's not smile, God loves you.
It's moan, groan, grieve, let your laughter be turned to mourning.
That's what the Scripture says. But look, wait, look. Look unto Him, the Lamb, and
be saved. This is all about being saved
from sin. You can't do it. You can't do
anything about your sin. You can't pardon yourself. You can't do anything. But He
can. He's the only one who can. Lots of people, back when George
Bush, the second Bush, was president, I remember some people did not
like that he got elected. And they would make placards
and they would hold up, not my president. Oh, yes, he was. But they said, he's not my president.
And I tell you what, if you were on death row, if you're waiting
to be executed, on one man that could pardon you unconditionally,
completely, without anybody saying anything. That's the President
of the United States. But if you're on death row, you
know what you'd be saying? He's my president. If you're on death
row, you know what you're going to say? I want him to be my Lord
and my Savior. I need one. Behold the Lamb. Alright, now
Christ came to be baptized. Why? It's a baptism of the remission
of sins. That's what John was doing. Jesus
Christ didn't have any sin. Why did He come to be baptized? You ever thought about that?
It's baptism for the remission of sin. And later, those who
were baptized, they were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.
But He hadn't died yet. He hadn't died yet. They didn't
know the full meaning of what baptism was all about. But when
Christ was crucified, very rosy, oh, now I know what baptism is. Now I want to confess Him. In
the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Yes, repentance,
but faith toward Christ. But Christ can't be baptized. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
3. Matthew chapter 3. Why did the
Lord Jesus Christ come to be baptized? Matthew chapter 3. All the people came. All the
people. Listen to me. All the people came. Did you
hear that? Every single repentant sinner
came to be baptized. In Acts chapter 2, after Simon
Peter preached his message, Christ crucified, reigning, ruling,
they all were pricked in their hearts and they said, men and
brethren, what shall we do? And Simon Peter said, repent
and be baptized, every one of you, for the remission of sin,
and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. But not until
then. And they that gladly received
the Word were baptized. Every one of them. All of them.
No exception. Not one person at Pentecost said,
well, the thief wasn't baptized. You hear that? Not one. They that gladly received the
Word. Those that were pet, yes. Bury
me. I want to be crucified with Christ. All the people can. Our Lord
came. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
be baptized. Now if He didn't, you know, we
use that term when we baptize people sometimes. We say in obedience
to the divine command of Christ Jesus my Lord. He said go into
all the world and preach the gospel and he that believeth
in it is baptized shall be saved. And he that believeth not shall
be damned. He said he is baptized in the
confession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, look at Matthew
3, verse 13. Then cometh Jesus from Galilee
to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. But John forbade him.
No, no, Lord, I'm not going to do this. Saying, I have to be
baptized. You baptize me. No, I'm not going
to baptize you. You come to me? No. You baptize
me. Look at verse 15. The Lord answered
and said unto him, Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh
us to fulfill all righteousness. Then John said, OK, what's this
talking about? Well, in Hebrew, turn over there. I'll just return and read it
for you, but you need to see this. Our Lord said, It becometh
us, children of God, people of God, God's children, it becometh
us to fulfill all righteousness. Well, I've come far short. And
you? Oh, in fact, Brother John, I
don't feel righteous at all. In my flesh dwelleth no good
thing. I have sinned and come far short of the glory of God,
the righteousness of God. So Christ came. He came. He's the Lord, our righteousness. Why did He come? Not merely to show us how to
live, but that we might have life. Eternal life. The give us life. Live with God
sometime. That we might be righteous. That we might be made righteous.
He's the Lord our Righteousness. Surely one will say that. Anybody? He came to justify. He came to
make righteous. He came to pardon. He came to
make innocent of all wrongdoing. How? 2 Corinthians 5. God hath made him to be sin for
us, his people, who do no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. All right? Are you with me? I
say this a lot, but this is the gospel. This is a good news. For unrighteous sinners, Christ
came and becomes us to fulfill our righteousness. I can't. He
did. He did it for me. All right. Look at this. Hebrews 2. Oh,
this is good. I love this. Never tired of it.
Brother Gene said, I just wear this out. You can't wear it out. God's people. Luke chapter 2,
verse 9. We see Jesus, the man made a
little lower than the angels. Why? To die. He came to die. He came to live and came to die
for the suffering of death. Now He's crowned with glory and
honor that by the grace of God He should touch death for every
man. That is, every man He came to
die for. Or, here it is, it became Him. He said, It becometh us. Well,
it became Him. for whom are all things, by whom
are all things, and bringing many sons unto glory, to make
the captor of their salvation perfect through sufferings. Both
he that sanctify, they are sanctified all at once. And so for this
cause, because he made them holy, made them righteous, sanctified,
he is not ashamed to call them brethren. He said, it becometh us to fulfill
all righteousness. John said, I can't do it. Christ
said, I can. And he did. He was made sin, alright? The
soul that sinneth must surely die. God made Jesus Christ to
be sin. His soul was made an offering
for sin, wasn't it? He died a guilty sinner. So He's coming. And in Hebrews,
look over at Hebrews chapter 5. Look quickly. Hebrews chapter
5. It says, verse 2, He could have
compassion on the ignorant, them that are out of the way, for
that He Himself is compassed with infirmity. He made the likeness
of sin for pleasure without sin. And by reason hereof, He asked
for the people also for Himself to offer for sins. Are you with me? Oh man, Christ
died, put away our sins, and somehow, someway, mysteriously,
God laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He bore the sins of
God's people in His body on the tree, and He was guilty as child. So He came to be baptized in
repentance for sin. Not His own. Babies haven't been baptized. Christ did. The thief wasn't
baptized. Christ was. You see that? Alright, look at
our text. Look at our text. Luke chapter
3. He came to be baptized. For all of us. He said in Luke
chapter 3, another gospel, he said, I have a baptism. to be
baptized with? He said, you suppose I've come
to bring peace on earth? He said, no, a sword. He said,
I have a baptism to be baptized with? And oh, he said, I'm straightened
until it happens. That God is going to lay on him
the iniquity of all these people, and God is going to baptize him
with fire, all right. On Calvary's tree, Jesus Christ
went through hell. All the wrath of God, like that
ark of Noah, all the wrath of God, the flood of God's wrath
fell on Jesus Christ. And He was baptized. He was immersed. But everybody in Him, safe. Alright, look at our text. Alright,
He came being baptized, praying. Verse 21, praying. And the heaven
was opened. Praying. And heaven opened. He was praying. What did he pray?
It doesn't say, does it? He himself said men ought always
to pray, didn't he? Why? Because everything we get comes
from God. If we're spared, God will spare
us. If we're kept from falling, God's
going to have to keep us. Without Him, we can do nothing.
Are we like sheep who go astray if He doesn't bring us? Pray. Thank for Him. Ask Him. Help us. He prayed. He prayed
to His Father. What was He praying? What did
He say? It's not recorded, but there are only four or five prayers
recorded by our Lord. And they all contain two things. The glory of God and the salvation
of His people. Always. He told us to pray. Thy kingdom come. Hallowed be
Thy Name. Forgive us our trespass. Give
us Lazarus' tomb. The Lord prayed, didn't He? He
said, I know you hear Me. I know that thou always hearest
Me. But for them, them around me, that they might hear that
You have sent Me. That's what He said. He prayed
out loud and we have it, that they might know You've sent Me.
And You always hear Me. The effectual, fervent prayer
of a righteous man availeth much. This righteous man, it availeth
everything. Are you with me? Another prayer
at the feast in Jerusalem. He was walking along and said,
Father, glorify thy name. And it thundered. Boom! God spoke
and said, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.
Isn't that what we pray for, Lord? Isn't that what we pray
for today? In the garden, He said, let this
cup pass from Me. Nevertheless, not My will, but
Thy will be done. And He said, Father, glorify
Thy Son that Thy Son might be glorified in Thee. Father, I
will that they that are with Me be with Me where I am, that
they might behold My glory. Sanctify them. Father, keep them. Father, they're not of this world.
I pray not that you should take them out of the world, but keep
them from me. Father, he prayed for his children. Heaven heard
them. Heaven was open. At Lazarus'
tomb, he said, I know you hear me. And the grave was open. And hanging on the cross, his
prayers were recorded. Father, forgive them. They know
not what they do. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? It is finished. Father, into
thy hands I commend my spirit. You know what? Heaven was opened. Heaven was opened for sinners. The veil in the temple rim, opened. The way into the Holy of Holies,
opened. He prayed and it opened. And God said, come on in. All
that come unto God by Christ, come on in. But what? But Christ
died. It's God that justifies it. It's
Christ that died. Yet he rather is risen again.
Who's even at the right hand of the majesty on high? Whoever
lives to make it, come on in! Who? The worst chief of sinners. The last work he did was a thief
on the cross. You're coming with me into my
kingdom. Back in 1970, my brother, Robbie, my oldest
brother, who was the apple of my parents' eyes, a model son,
a devoted son, and a believer. And God took him in Vietnam. The following year, I was still
living at home. I was about 15 years old. And
someone rang the doorbell, the front doorbell. And I answered
it. I went to the door, answered
it. And there was a beggar. This man was in rags. He looked
bad. Fairly young fella. He looked
really bad. And he said, is Reverend Mahan
home? Everybody had respect for preachers
back then. Reverend Mahan home, I said,
yeah, I'll come get him. So I went, I went, I go get him.
I went and got my dad and he was standing there. I was standing
behind him. And the fella said that, he said, I'm a Vietnam
vet. And he said, I've come home.
And you remember nobody wanted those fellas. Nobody wanted them. I would keep from getting angry
here. All right, but he said, I'm down and out and I just need
some food. I need some money or something
to help me out. He said, I knew your son, Robbie. And my dad said, come on in,
son. Come on in. And he came in and
I sat him down in my brother's chair. and fed him my brother's
food, and gave him some of my brother's clothing. And they
accepted him like my brother. That's what I plead. If you plead
the Father, anything else, go away. But if you plead the Son,
Lord God, I'm a beggar. I don't deserve anything. But
I plead your Son. I plead His righteousness. I plead His death. See, my brother
had died in defense of his country. My Lord died in defense of His
people. And you plead His name, God says,
come on in. Accepted in the blood. You get
His food. You get His clothing. You get
accepted. Heaven's open. He prayed in heaven. And then a dove landed on him.
What's this all about? Well, go back to Genesis 8, OK?
All right. And then God said a dove. The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit. Genesis 8 and I'll hurry. Been pretty good so far, eh? This is real good. Oh, it's not.
It's not any better. How could it get any better than
what we've said? Poor preacher, but sure is a
good subject, that. Wonderful, true. In Revelation, the Lord's eyes
are described as eyes as a flame of fire. See right through, destroy in
a minute, all self-righteousness, all false refuge, right now.
We need the Lord to look at us with those eyes and just destroy
us. And in the Song of Solomon, it
says, His eyes are like dove's eyes. Peaceable, gentle, easy
to be entreated, full of mercy and truth. Anybody read Between the Lines? Our Lord is both. Genesis 8,
verse 6, it says, Came to pass, the end of 40 days, Noah opened
the window of the ark which he had made. Jesus Christ is the
window. Jesus Christ is the lamp. There
was only one window in that ark to see light, to see the world
for what it was. What did you see when you looked
out that window of the ark? What did you see? A perishing
world. When you look at the world through
the truth, what do you see? A perishing world. In thy light
we see light. See things as they are. Alright? God made him to be the light. Let there be light. And then
he sent forth, verse 7, a raven which went forth to and fro till
the waters were dried up from off the earth. A raven, a black
bird, a ravenous, raven, ravenous bird that feeds on flesh, going
around picking, going to and fro, seeking whom it may devour. That's Anthony. Satan. And then, verse 8, he said, See, Christ is all in. Christ
is the ark. Christ is Noah. Christ is the
dove. You say the Spirit's the dove.
Yes, he is. Well, how can Christ be the Spirit?
Yes, he is. He's the Spirit of Christ. He
takes the things of Christ and shows them unto us. Like John.
John didn't know him until the dove landed on him. Yes, I can. He sent forth a dove from him
to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground.
Verse 9, But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot.
She returned unto him into the ark. The dove didn't stay out
there. The waters were on the face of the whole earth. And
Noah put forth his hand and took her and pulled her unto him in
the ark. Alright? The Lord Jesus Christ,
Proverbs 8 says, His delights were with the sons of men, rejoicing
in the habitable parts of the earth. The Lord God sent Christ
from the bosom of the Father many, many times in the beginning
to visit men. He came to Noah. He came to Adam
and Eve. He came to Abraham, didn't He?
He came to Gideon. He came to Moses. He came and
spoke to them, but He didn't stay. He went back to the bosom
of the Father, didn't He? But He's God's dove. He's got
peace. He's telling them. OK, all right,
look at this. He went back, but the waters
were covered. And finally, the waters were
covered over the face of the earth. Verse 10, He stayed yet
another seven days, and after the fullness of time, He sent that dove again. When
the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman,
made under the law, made sin to redeem them under the law,
because the waters were covering the earth. Sin, wrath, judgment,
anger of God covering, covering. We need peace with God. We need
reconciliation. We need propitiation. He sent
the dove. He sent Christ. Christ came.
So He came. And verse 11 says, The dove came
back to him in the evening, and low in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off. Now, since the beginning, the
olive branch has been a symbol of peace, hasn't it? Jesus Christ
came, sent by the Father again to this earth to make peace by
the blood of His cross. to be propitious to us. The world us covered with sin,
yet He Himself became covered with that sin, with His own precious
blood. And God saw that covering and
was propitiated, was satisfied, was pleased with it. And Christ
was crucified. Here's my Easter message. Christ
was crucified, was buried like that ark under the waters But
He rose again, like that ark rose above the water, and like
the dove came back to Noah. When Christ did that work of
redemption, completed it, obtained peace by the blood of His cross,
He took that olive branch, that peace that He made, all the way
back to the right hand of God, back to the bosom of the Father.
And now God's at peace and reconciled. And now He says, It's over. The waters are assuaged. Wrath has been appeased. No one knew. Verse 11, By His
knowledge am I a righteous servant justified in it. Do you know
that the only thing that stays the wrath of God from you is
the blood of Jesus Christ? Do you know that? And that dove
left. and went back to Noah, and our
Lord Jesus Christ, it says He returned not again unto Him anymore.
Our Lord Jesus Christ left this earth, and all the disciples
stood there and watched Him leave. And He went back to the Father,
and He's been there a long time now, 2,000 years. It says the
dove never came back. Now here's where the tide differs.
Jesus Christ is coming. And though the world says he
won't, he said, Lo, I come. I'm coming again. But he's not
going to set feet back on this earth again. He's already done
that. He's going to come in the air and we're going to see him,
like a dove, with an olive branch in his mouth, as it were, for
God's people. And we're going to rise to meet
him in the air. Guilty sinners, the waters assuaged, go back
to the bosom of the Father. I've spoken things too wonderful
for me. Okay, let's take a closer look. Verse 168.