The Baptism of Our Lord

Q: What does the Bible say about baptism?

The Bible teaches that baptism is an ordinance to be observed by believers as an act of obedience and a picture of redemption. The Bible clearly presents baptism as an essential ordinance for believers, rooted in the example set by our Lord Jesus Christ. When Jesus was baptized, He did so to fulfill all righteousness, as indicated in Matthew 3:15. This act not only marked the beginning of His public ministry but also served as an example of obedience that all followers of Christ are expected to emulate. Baptism symbolizes the believer's identification with Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, illustrating the transformative work of grace in a believer’s life. Therefore, it is paramount to understand that baptism is not merely a ritual but a significant and necessary act of obedience reflecting one's faith in Jesus.

Q: How do we know baptism is necessary for Christians?

Baptism is necessary for Christians as it is commanded by Christ and serves as an outward sign of inward faith. Baptism is integral to the Christian faith as it represents an act of obedience to the command of Christ. In Matthew 28:19, Jesus instructed His disciples to baptize believers, showing that it is central to the faith practice of Christians. Furthermore, baptism serves as a vital public declaration of one's faith in Jesus, signifying the believer's acceptance of His redemptive work. The act of baptism fulfills all righteousness, establishing a formal identification with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection, which is essential for the life of a believer who is to walk in newness of life.

Q: Why is Jesus' baptism important for Christians?

Jesus' baptism is important for Christians as it exemplifies obedience and signifies the initiation of His ministry. The importance of Jesus' baptism cannot be understated as it exemplifies perfect obedience to God’s will and marks the commencement of His public ministry. In Matthew 3:13-17, we see Jesus humbling Himself to be baptized by John, an act that highlights His willingness to identify with sinners despite His sinlessness. This rite establishes how baptism is a foundational aspect of Christian worship and an essential ordinance for all followers of Christ. Jesus' baptism serves as an example for believers, illustrating the humility, submission, and obedience that characterize a true disciple.

Q: What is the significance of baptism in the life of a believer?

Baptism signifies a believer's identification with Christ and acts as an outward expression of inward faith. Baptism holds profound significance in the life of a believer as it represents the act of publicly declaring one’s faith in Jesus Christ. According to Romans 6:4, baptism symbolizes the believer's participation in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, illustrating the transformative work of redemption. It serves as a visual picture of the believer being buried with Christ and then raised to walk in newness of life. This sacred ordinance not only reflects a believer's commitment to Christ but also signifies the initiation into the community of faith, where one is recognized as a child of God committed to living according to His commandments.

Q: What are the warnings regarding baptism as discussed in the Bible?

Warnings regarding baptism include not attaching superstitious importance to it and recognizing it as a true act of obedience. The scripture provides critical warnings regarding baptism, primarily cautioning against the attachment of superstitious or idolatrous importance to the ordinance. Baptism is not a means of salvation; rather, it is a picture of the redemption already accomplished through Christ's sacrifice. As stated, it symbolizes the remission of sin but is no more than a depiction of that reality (Acts 2:38). Additionally, any alteration in the mode of baptism from immersion, its original meaning, is a serious dishonor to the ordinance. Thus, believers are urged to observe baptism correctly, in adherence to the scriptural command, as a true act of obedience to God.

Our Lord Jesus spent the first 30 years of his life on this earth in obscurity in a little town called Nazareth, laboring in the shop of an unknown poor carpenter by the name of Joseph. But the time had come for him to embark upon his mediatorial work, upon his public ministry, upon his prophetic office in that mediatorial work. Now he did so by coming from Nazareth in Galilee down to the region of Judea to the River Jordan to be baptized by John the Baptist and thus he began his public ministry with this blessed event that's recorded in Matthew chapter 3 verses 13 through 17. As the priest in Israel began their ministry as priest by washing themselves and presenting themselves in consecration to God, our Lord Jesus, our great high priest, began his public ministry by consecrating himself to God in baptism. Let's read about it here, beginning at 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, you and me, 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.

Now being baptized by John the Baptist, our Lord Jesus here sets before us an example of obedience to God which he later commands that all who follow him must follow. Now I want you to hold your Bibles open to this passage here in Matthew chapter 3 and listen carefully. I want to show you five things from these five verses of inspiration that are given by God the Holy Spirit for our instruction and our ratification. First, I want us to notice the great honor, the very great honor, that the Lord Jesus Christ here placed upon this ordinance of divine worship.

In verse 13, we read, Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. I hear these days a good many men, men who profess to believe the scriptures and who in many ways honor the scriptures, talk about baptism as though it were somehow insignificant, unimportant, a non-essential thing. I wonder how any would ever do so in the face of the Son of God, considering the fact that He took a journey, an arduous journey, of at least two to three days walking from Nazareth in Galilee down into the area of Jerusalem in Judea and there at the River Jordan to be baptized. Our Lord didn't take it to be a light thing.

He did not take this ordinance or obedience to God or the worship of God to be something insignificant, something that could either be seized and taken advantage of or something that could be passed by with indifference. Our Lord Jesus highly honors this ordinance and all ordinances of divine worship. If he who is the head of the church gives such high honor to the ordinance of baptism and to the business of worshiping God in general, certainly we who are his members ought to do the same.

Now, two words need to be given, two words of warning and caution with regard to this matter of baptism. Whenever men begin to tamper with the word of God, souls are ruined. And men have greatly tampered with the word of God. in this area of baptism, particularly when we speak about believers baptism. It would be wise of us to throw away the creeds and confessions of men and simply obey what God says in his word. I wish I could get, I wish I could get everybody to just forget what men have said about this book and see what this book itself has to say, particularly with regard to the ordinance of baptism.

We must never attach any idolatrous, superstitious importance to the ordinance of baptism. That's the first word of warning. Never attach any idolatrous, superstitious importance to the ordinance of baptism. Baptism is a picture of redemption. It is that, but it's no more. It is not redemption. Baptism is a picture of the remission of sins. But it is no more than a picture. It is not the remission of sins.

Hold your hands here and turn to Acts 2.38. I think it'll be worthy of a little digression to look at this text.

We live right here in the heart of Campbellite doctrine, Campbellite theology, and Campbellites love Acts 2.38. Then Peter said unto them, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Now, that word for is an unfortunate translation. It's not really a bad translation. It's just the way folks take it to be. The word for here means because of. It does not mean in order to get, but because of. You go to work and you've worked 40 hours and you go to the office at the end of 40 hours work and you get paid for work. Not for work you're going to do, but for work that you've already done. You're getting paid because of what you have done. When a child is honored at school with academic honors or what have you, they are given those grades and those honors for or because of their performance in the previous nine weeks of the previous year, whatever it may have been.

And when Peter speaks of being baptized for the remission of sins, he is saying be baptized because of the remission of sins. Baptism pictures how that sins are remitted by the sacrifice of Christ, but baptism is not the remission of sins. Baptism is a picture of regeneration. How that we come up out of the watery grave, walking into newness of life. That's a picture of how that a man or woman is born of God, raised up with Christ, quickened by the Spirit. But baptism is not regeneration and has nothing to do with it. Baptism is a picture of salvation. Paul or Peter speaks of the figure, the like figure, where unto baptism doth even now save us. But it's just a figure. It's just a picture. It is not salvation and it has no part in the accomplishment of our salvation.

We are redeemed by the blood of Christ, born again by the Spirit of God, and saved by divine grace. Baptism pictures and confesses these blessings of grace, but baptism has absolutely nothing to do with redeeming, saving, merit, and efficacy before God. Now then, having said that, hear this second word of warning as well. We must never We must never, we must never dishonor the ordinance of baptism.

And the ordinance of baptism is dishonored. I mean it is held in contempt. I mean men despise God's ordinance whenever any man or any woman refuses to submit to it. Whenever anyone makes it to be a mere ritual without meaning, without life, without purpose. and whenever anyone alters the form of it.

Now, I'm going to say more about this in this message, and I've said more about it in the past, and I'll say more about it later. But baptism is not something that can be performed by various modes, by various methods. Baptism means to dip, to overwhelm, to plunge, to immerse. It never means to sprinkle or to pour. So baptism cannot be performed except by immersion. The very word baptism means to immerse.

And whenever anyone alters that work of God's Word, that work which God has given us in its mode and in its method, then they have perverted the ordinance and they have done great dishonor to the ordinance. And that's obvious when you understand the meaning of the ordinance. Having said that, let me broaden this thing a little bit with regard to the honor Christ placed upon this ordinance of worship.

You and I must never allow inconvenience or trouble to keep us from the worship of God. As a pastor, a gospel preacher, one of the most disconcerting things I know of is to see men and women who have a head full of knowledge and have a profession of faith and have a claim to Christianity willfully ignoring the worship of God. I can't imagine it and yet I see it all the time. The Lord Jesus went to considerable trouble and to considerable inconvenience to observe this ordinance of worship. But today, multitudes who call themselves believers, multitudes who really do think they are following Christ, quickly justify themselves in the neglect of worship. I look around this building here tonight, and with broken heart, I see so many empty places where there's no reason for an empty place to be. Just no reason.

I know there's always a need to speak with caution because I know there are times and circumstances and occasions that arise when men and women cannot avoid absenting themselves from the worship of God. I do understand that. But I cannot imagine any child of God, I cannot imagine any child of God willfully ignoring the worship of God. I just cannot imagine. You will find no justification for such in the Word of God, either by word or by example.

Let me give you some things I looked up today. In 2 Kings 4.23, there was a prophet of God over on Mount Carmel.

And there was a woman, a Shunammite woman, who every Sabbath day saddled up her horse, saddled up her ass, actually, it wasn't even a horse, it was just a donkey. She saddled up her donkey and rode a long ways every Sabbath day to hear the prophet of God speak, even though her husband hindered her and tried to persuade her not to go.

In David's time, the saints of God passed through the valley of Baca to worship God at Zion. Though they saw His face only in the dark shadows of the types and pictures and ceremonies of the law, they passed through the valley of Baca from strength to strength seeking to worship God.

In Daniel's days, believers ran to and fro to increase knowledge that they might know more of the Lord God. In Zechariah's days, the inhabitants of one city went to another city saying, let us go speedily to pray before the Lord and to seek the Lord of Hosts. There was an anxiety, a holy burning desire, an aspiration in the heart, a yearning, a pining of the soul to meet with God's saints and worship him. David said, I was glad when they said to me, let us go into the house of the Lord. In the book of Acts, we read of an Ethiopian, an Ethiopian eunuch who traveled all the way from Ethiopia up to Jerusalem, spend a little time worshiping God.

No convenience. They didn't fly up there. They didn't drive up there. They rode and walked, earnestly desiring to worship God. Out in Mexico, I've been down there, preached a number of times. Out at the ranch, we got there and meet, and I thought to myself, We were going to a lot of trouble to go out there because it took us several hours to drive out there. And then I got up there and Milton told me, pointed out some fellows who were riding up a little bit late, riding up on horseback, said they've been riding all day long to get here. All day long just to get here and now going to turn around and ride all the way back all night long, go back to work next morning. In the light of those things, I have to make this conclusion.

Any man or woman who talks about being a Christian, who talks about worshiping God, who talks about being a believer, and yet willfully neglects the worship of God ought to blush with shame to make such a profession. It ought never to be done. Next, I think we must not fail to observe the humility of our Lord and his servant.

In verse 14, when the Lord Jesus came to be baptized of John, we read, 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. In all things our Savior constantly hammers away and constantly strikes against human pride. He constantly shows us His utter contempt for human pride. His utter contempt for all those things that men consider to be great and grand. Our Lord Jesus, by His words and by His actions, constantly teaches all who follow Him to walk in humility.

Now you stop and think about it. Here comes the Son of God. walking for two or three days, the minimum of two, more likely three days walking from Nazareth down to Judea to be baptized by the hands of a sinful man. What condescension, what humility. John, when he saw it, stood in all concerning this thing. Our Savior was ever meek and lowly. He was born to lowly parents, laid in a manger and raised in obscurity.

When he rode into Jerusalem, he didn't ride into Jerusalem on a white stallion and he didn't ride into Jerusalem in a chariot. He rode into Jerusalem on the back of an ass in humility. so that men might know that he who comes in the name of the Lord comes with lowliness and humility in fulfilling the scriptures.

When our Lord Jesus began his public ministry, it was not like that doddering old fool in Rome with a parade and pomp and burning incense and silly costumes look like a bunch of Shriners walking around. Our Lord began his public ministry by submitting to an ordinance of baptism. And he did it in a muddy river. He didn't submit to the ordinance of baptism in a nice, comfortable, convenient place like this, but rather he went down to the river Jordan and was there baptized by a sinful man.

Our Lord Jesus demonstrated His humility in everything. Above all else, He demonstrated His humility in His sacrifice for us. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, how that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be made rich. He who is the rich God, possessor of everything. became the poor man, despised and rejected of men, the man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, made to be sin for us. And there he emptied himself altogether, even of life itself, that you through his poverty might be made to be the rich possessors of all that the Son of God possesses. Now then, when John saw the Lord Jesus coming to him to be baptized of him.

The scripture says he forbade him. Some of the other translations give a little clearer sense of what was happening here. It is as though John stepped out of the river Jordan when he saw the master coming and just stopped him. He said, no, not you. He with persistence forbade him. He said, no, I can't baptize you. Now, he did not do so in any sense of rebellion or disobedience, but rather out of a spirit of reverence and awe and humility.

You see, John knew who Jesus Christ is. He said, He is before me. He said, He is the infinite God, the incarnate God. This one standing before you, He is God Almighty! This one standing here in human flesh, He's the Lamb of God who by the sacrifice of Himself takes away the sin of the world. John understood who Jesus Christ is. And he knew Himself also.

Don and I were talking yesterday or the day before. I'm convinced nobody has experienced the grace of God. Nobody knows anything about saving grace. Nobody knows anything about faith in Christ until they're made to understand who Jesus Christ is and who you are. John knew who Christ is and he knew who he was. He knew himself to be a sinner in need of grace. A man in need of mercy. a felon in need of pardon, a son of Adam in need of a savior.

And so when the Lord came to him, John steps out of the water and strenuously forbade him and said, No, I have need to be baptized of you. I need your grace. I need your mercy. I need that which I've spoken of, that I should be put by you into the kingdom of your spirit and the realm of your spirit.

Now, though he was conscious of his personal sin, and conscious of his personal unworthiness, conscious of his personal insufficiency to do so. When the Lord commanded him to do it, John baptized him. And that, too, was a sign of humility. In verse 15, Jesus said, Now, John, suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he suffered him.

You see, no one, no man or woman is worthy to do anything in the worship and service of the holy Lord God. None of us. None of us. Not one of us is worthy in ourselves to offer a cup of cold water to a disciple in the name of the Lord. Not one of us. Not one of us is worthy to speak to God in prayer in ourselves. Not one of us.

Not one man in this world is worthy to partake of the blessed Lord's Supper that we receive in remembrance of our Savior. Not one man or woman is worthy in himself to confess Christ in believer's baptism, to dare a sinful man, dare identify himself with the Holy Lamb of God in baptism. None of us is worthy. Not one man is worthy to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Nobody. We have no right, however, in a pretense of humility to refuse any command or any duty clearly set before us by our God. No right.

When the Lord said, John, now, wait a minute. You suffer this thing to be so it's necessary to fulfill all righteousness. John said, all right. He's confessed himself to be unworthy of doing so, but he will not refuse to do so. He counts it rather a high honor and privilege. Now, this is what I'm saying. It is but a show of humility. It is but a pretense of humility for any saved sinner to refuse to obey the will of God in anything, saying, I'm not worthy. It's a pretense of humility. It is not genuine humility.

God has called me to preach the gospel. I have no question that's so. And I know I'm learning more all the time. Who is sufficient for these things? Who's sufficient? I am utterly unworthy to speak to men in God's name and utterly incapable of ministering to your hearts and souls by any power of my own. It cannot be done. It cannot be done.

We talk about preaching with some liberty and preaching with some power. And I'm going to tell you something. A fella can stand up here and fake it and convince himself that he's done something. And he can work folks up in a lather and get them to hoop and holler and carry on. But you can't fake it. And you can't work it up. God alone can speak to your heart through these lips. God alone can do so.

But I know God's called me to do it. So what am I going to do? I'm going to be here. And I'm going to preach to you. And I'm going to do so with some confidence. Because our sufficiencies of God. That's what Paul said. He said, who's sufficient for these things? And then turned right around and said, our sufficiencies of God. I can't minister to you, but God can. I can't edify you, but God can. I can't comfort you, but God can. I can't reprove and correct you, but God can. Maybe He'll let me be an instrument by which He does it. Bobby and I were talking outside the other day. We were working out here, and he made the statement. You don't mind me repeating this, do you? He made the statement.

He said, when I was in that other religion, Armenian free will mess, he said, I didn't mind praying. It was easy to pray. Now I understand what it is to lead folks in prayer. It's so frightening to pray. Frightening to stand up here and do what you just did, Merle. Stand up here and speak to God for this body of man. And I said to Bobby, The two most awesome, terrifying things to my soul that I have to deal with constantly is speaking to God for you, leading you in prayer, and speaking to you for God.

Who's worthy? None of us is worthy. But our worthiness is Jesus Christ the Lord. In Him. Will you get hold of this? In Christ, every believer is worthy of everything in the kingdom of God. We're perfectly righteous in Him. We're completely freed from sin in Him.

We are as He is in the sight of God, so that when God accepts us, He's accepting His Son. When God receives us, He's receiving His Son. When God honors us, He's honoring His Son. Thirdly, I want us to understand the necessity our Lord's baptism. In verse 15 the Lord Jesus says to John, suffer it to be so now for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. He's saying to John it's necessary for you to fulfill what is right on your part Because this is what God sent you to do. And it's necessary for me to fulfill what's right on my part, because this is what God sent me to do. And when he speaks of fulfilling all righteousness, he's simply saying this is necessary for us to do what's right.

Not only did our Lord Jesus fulfill all the righteous requirements of God's law, as our representative, freeing us from the curse, constraint, covenant, and condemnation of the law, so that the believer is totally, absolutely, forever free from the law in Jesus Christ. And there is absolutely no sense in the New Testament in which we are ever compelled to do anything by legal motives. Never. But more than that, our Savior also fulfilled all the will of God as a man on our behalf.

And part of that will of God, the fulfilling of righteousness, of doing what is right, was for him as a man to submit to this thing of baptism, which would later become an ordinance in his church and kingdom. More than that, by his baptism, our Lord Jesus symbolically pictured and demonstrated, he typified how that he would fulfill all righteousness as our sin atoning substitute. When the Son of God was made to be sin for us, he was overwhelmed with our sin. He was engulfed in sin. He was baptized in sin and sorrow. And then he was slain under the wrath of God because he deserved to be slain under the wrath of God when he was made to be sin.

Justice dealt with him in justice and he was slain. And when he was slain, God did with his son what all men do with their dead. He was buried, buried in a barracuda, buried in the earth. And there, for three days and three nights, the Son of Man slept in the earth. His dead body, buried out of sight, having been made to be sin as despised, corrupt thing, His body that became sin for us, was buried. But then three days later, He had put away our sins, and the Savior arose from the grave, freed from sin. And that's what He pictured in baptism.

He was saying to John, And to all the world who would watch and all who would have to look back on this and see what was done, he was saying to them, I'm going up to Mount Calvary and there I will suffer and die as a substitute for my people. I will bear their sins to the full satisfaction of divine justice and I will die in their room instead. But blessed be God, I will live again. And because I live, you shall live also.

And so he pictured the fulfillment of all righteousness. Fourthly, I would be remiss in my calling as the servant of God if I did not show you in this passage the method of baptism exemplified by our Savior. Look at verse 16. And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water.

Now just stop and think about that for just a second. Suppose, just suppose, as some men foolishly would try to convince us, the Lord Jesus just kindly walked out to the brink of the water, and maybe up ankle deep, and John got him a teacup or a thimble or something and sloshed a little water on his face or on his head. Why did Matthew say that?

Can anybody give me an answer? Anybody. I've been reading all day long and every commentary I read from Peter Badger's commentators gave me nothing but gobbledygook on that. Nothing else. Just meaningless words. These words are absolutely meaningless unless our Lord Jesus was buried in the water.

He could not have come up straight way out of the water. And that's exactly why John or Matthew was inspired of God to write what he did. Matthew is telling us that when the Lord Jesus was baptized, he was buried in a watery grave and came up straight way out of the water. He could not have come up straight way out of the water had he not gone down into the water first. Now, what I'm saying is this. Baptism is always represented in the scriptures as it is exemplified here by our Savior as a burial. always. Let's look at a few passages. Turn to Romans chapter 6. Romans chapter 6. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in saying that grace may abound?

God forbid, perish the thought. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? Know ye not, that is, don't you understand what your baptism was? Don't you understand the significance of this? Know you 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 the newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. We shouldn't serve sin because he that is dead is freed from sin, justified from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. 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, since God so reckons you. Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

That's what we said when we confessed him in baptism. Turn to Colossians chapter 2. Colossians chapter 2. The apostle Paul is writing to the church at Colossae. And he's talking about our being complete in Christ, verse 11, in whom we are circumcised with circumcision made without hands into putting off of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ.

He's talking about the new birth. buried with him in baptism wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God who hath raised him from the dead. Baptism then is always represented in the scriptures as a burial. The burial of one who is dead. And any alteration of the baptismal mode. Any alteration. of the baptismal mode is a perversion of the ordinance and a denial of what it represents, a denial of the necessity of redemption by Christ, a denial of the necessity of a man being born again, raised from the dead by the power of God, the Holy Spirit. Now, lastly, this passage of scripture shows us the interest of the triune God in the great work of redemption.

And when Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water, and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him. And he, John the Baptist, saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him the Son of God. And, lo, a voice from heaven saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Here is a display of the Divine Trinity. The Son of God in the waters coming up out of the waters. The Spirit of God descending from heaven and lighting upon him. And God the Father speaking with a voice from heaven.

This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. This is an identification of Christ as the Messiah. The Lord told him that that one is the Christ, the Messiah, upon whom he should see the Spirit of God descend and abide. And this is a declaration from heaven as well. This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Now you can take that and run with it, but just let your mind run just as far as you want to run with it.

God is well pleased with the person of His Son, the God-man in His perfect righteousness, in His infinite merit. God is well pleased with the obedience of His Son, with the righteousness that He established for us. God is well pleased with the sacrifice of his son, the death of his son that is pictured in this ordinance of baptism by which he satisfied divine justice. And God Almighty. Is well pleased with all the members of his son's body. He's well pleased forever. With you and I. Who were then and are now and shall forever be. represented by his son. God's well pleased with us. We are accepted in the beloved.

But pastor, what about our sin? God put it away. But what about our sins of today? God put them away at the same time. That's right. But won't God punish us for sin? Oh, never. He will not charge sin to His people. God is well pleased with us, not because of what we do, not because of what we feel, not because of what we experience. God is well pleased with us because we're one with His Son and God is well pleased with His Son.

Now here we have a most majestic meeting of the three persons of the Holy Trinity about the work of redemption. You remember back in the beginning of the creation, God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit got together in holy council and said, let us make man. Here in the dawn of redemption's accomplishment, God got together, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in holy but public counsel and says, let us redeem man. The father planned it from eternity. The son purchased it at Calvary and the spirit performs it and preserves it in each of the elect by the power of his grace.

Now, as our Lord's baptism, so our baptism is an act of identification. Here, the son of God identifies himself with his sinful people. And here, the sons of God, fully conscious of their sin, identify themselves with the Son of God in his perfect holiness and glorious redemption. In baptism, our Lord made a confession He confessed himself to be the Redeemer and Savior of his people and confessed how redemption would be accomplished by his personal death, burial, and resurrection as our substitute. And here, every believer confesses by picture how God saved us.

We were crucified with Christ. Buried with him. and raised with him. This act of baptism was with our Savior an act of consecration. Here he begins his public ministry and he sets his face to go up to Jerusalem, consecrated to fulfill all righteousness. And the believer in baptism performs an act of consecration. Like Jephthah, he lifts his hand to God. and said, I'll live with Him. I'm His forever. I can't go back. It is a declaration that we walk now in the newness of life henceforth and forever.

With our Lord and with us, baptism is an act of anticipation. Our Savior by His baptism anticipated all that He must suffer and all that He must experience. and all that he must do and all the glory that awaited him when he finished his work and sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. And the believer by baptism anticipates a glorious day when we shall be raised from the dead to live forever in the glory of God. That's what baptism is all about. And baptism with our Lord was an act of obedience. An act of obedience. And with the believer, it's an act of obedience.

I had someone speak to me a while back about baptism. I said, why do you want to be baptized? He said, because the Lord said do it. And I said, that's reason enough. That's reason enough. The Lord said, do it. Now, somebody said, well, you need to understand everything about baptism. Well, you do. You do. But that'll come with time.

When God commands something, the believer does it. The sons of God are obedient to him, conferring not with flesh and blood. Baptism is the answer of a good conscience toward God. Let us therefore observe this ordinance conscientiously before God. It is an ordinance for believers only. It is an ordinance for all believers. I don't know why we read things into the scriptures. Well, I got some suspicions as to why some things are read in, but preachers and Churches have over the years figured out a way to make the commandment of Christ fearful for the children of God, and it ought not be. It's never wrong to obey the Savior. Never is it wrong to obey the Savior.

If you believe him and you haven't confessed him in baptism, confess it. Say, well, I'm waiting for this or waiting for that, waiting until. Don't wait. Obey. Often. I find many women as I travel around the country who haven't observed the Lord's table in years. I'm talking about I find it often. Many women who believe God, but somehow they have been taught to fear eating the bread and drinking the wine of the Lord's table. Our Lord commands that we do this in remembrance of Him. Don't disobey the Savior. Obey Him. Eat the bread and drink the wine, if you're a believer, in remembrance of Him. These things are the children's things. They belong to all the children of God, you and me, because we're one with Him. who fulfill all righteousness for us.

The Baptism of Our Lord

What does the Bible say about baptism?

How do we know baptism is necessary for Christians?

Why is Jesus' baptism important for Christians?

What is the significance of baptism in the life of a believer?

What are the warnings regarding baptism as discussed in the Bible?

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The Baptism of Our Lord

What does the Bible say about baptism?

How do we know baptism is necessary for Christians?

Why is Jesus' baptism important for Christians?

What is the significance of baptism in the life of a believer?

What are the warnings regarding baptism as discussed in the Bible?

Sermon Transcript

About Don Fortner

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