Mark chapter 1. I'll read verse 9, 10, and 11. And it came to pass in those
days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized of
John in Jordan. The same river Naaman was baptized
in. or naming, he didn't want to,
pity. Our Lord humbled himself, came
into this world, became incarnate, and submitted himself to being
baptized. I'll deal with that in a minute.
And straightway, coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens
open and the Holy Spirit like a dove descending upon him. And
there came a voice from heaven saying, Thou art my beloved Son
in whom I am well pleased. you have to deal with someone,
it would be wise to find out that which pleases that person. It would be wise to get to know
that one who pleases that person. And it's evident from the Word
of God that only one man Only one. How many billions of
people have lived on this earth? Billions. Only one has ever pleased, I
mean, pleased God by His own works, by His own doing, by His
very person as pleased Almighty God, only one. And that one man, and
he is truly a man in every way, that one man is Jesus Christ
of Nazareth. He actually pleased God. He did it. He did it. The only aim he had when he walked on this earth
in the flesh, he had one aim. One aim. One goal. What was your goal this morning?
What was mine? Was the first thing on your mind this morning
the worship of God? Was the first thing on your mind
this morning to please your heavenly Father? That was not only the first thing,
that was the only thing. My meat is to do the will of
Him that sent me. The reason for my existence and
that which makes me happy is to do the will of Him that
sent me. One day, one day, it will be
our one aim to please God when we lose this flesh, when we lay
this old nature in the ground and we don't have to deal with
it anymore and we have the mind of Christ and we can say, Our meat is to
do the will of God, the will of our Father. But until then,
we've got this old flesh to contend with. And it's just a problem. It's
a problem. Now, let's look in verse 9. In
verse 9, we have his baptism. I dealt with this just a little
bit last week. It says in verse 9, And it came
to pass, and the reason it came to pass is because God purposed
it to come to pass. And that is the only reason anything
comes to pass, is because God Almighty purposed
it to come to pass. How many times do we read that
statement in the Gospels? And it came to pass. How many
times do we read it throughout the Word of God? And it came
to pass. If God purposed it, It will come to pass. If God
has not purposed it, it is not going to come to pass no matter
what you do. It doesn't matter. If it comes
to pass, it's because he purposed it. And it came to pass in those
days at the appointed time. Not before, not after. At the
appointed time it came to pass. that Jesus came from Nazareth
of Galilee and was baptized of John in Jordan. Now, first of all, this happened
that he might be made manifest to Israel. I showed you this
last week, but let's turn there again. I remember when I was in school
how many times we would review what we supposedly learned. Supposedly learned. But over
here in John chapter 1 verse 31, John says, I knew him not. In
other words, we didn't get together to make this up. This is not
like they got together out there in the wilderness and made this
up. I knew him not, but that he should be made manifest to
Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. And we have John's
record that this is the Messiah, and John's very record saying,
I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode
upon him, it stayed on him. And I knew him not, but he that
sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, upon whom
thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same
is He was baptized with the Holy Ghost, and I, John, bear record
that this is the Son of God. We have John's record that this
is the Son of God. I saw this happen. John's saying,
I saw this happen. And it was told to me, it was
told to me, it was revealed to me that this would happen, and
I witnessed it. It happened. And this man, this Jesus of Nazareth,
he is the Son of the living God. He's the son of the living God.
Now, secondly, our Lord was baptized. Why? He knew no sin. He knew no sin. Scripture says,
repent and be baptized. Here's why. His baptism was symbolic
of his death, burial, and resurrection. He was symbolizing, he was picturing
how he is going to save his people from their sins. Thou shalt call
his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.
And he is symbolizing, he is picturing how that's going to
be accomplished by his baptism here. Turn over to Matthew chapter
3. Over here in Matthew chapter 3. Then cometh Jesus from Galilee
to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. But John forbade him. You see, John recognized him.
When he came, he recognized him. And John's saying, You are coming
to me to be baptized? I need to be baptized of you.
I'm the sinner. You're the Savior, and John was
just so humbled by this that the Lord of glory would come
to him to be baptized. John forbade him. Didn't that
us? You know, Peter told him whenever
he spoke about his death, he said, no, no, not so, not so. I'm sure glad it's so. Aren't
you? I'm glad he did it. We'd all
be gone. But John forbade him, saying,
I need to be baptized of thee, and you come to me? Jesus answered and said unto
him, Suffer it to be so now. This is our Lord. You take out the words that are
in italics here. It reads like this. John is forbading. John said, I need to be baptized
in you. And our Lord looks at him and says, suffer it now.
Now, John, you do what you're supposed to do. You do what you're
called to do. Suffer it now. Baptize me now. Because what
I'm about to do here, this baptism is symbolic of how I'm going
to save you, John, and the rest of God's children. Suffer it
to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness."
And then John suffered him. John baptized him. His baptism,
now listen, in and of itself did not fulfill all righteousness. Now get this, it did not fulfill
all righteousness. It was a picture. It was a picture
of how he would fulfill all righteousness by his substitutionary work,
by his death, by his burial, and by his resurrection. He said,
John, suffer to be so now, because it becomes us to fulfill all
righteousness. And he's picturing how he's going
to fulfill all righteousness by his work, by his death, by
his rising from the dead. Now, what does this mean for
his people, what he is symbolizing here? His death, burial, and
resurrection. What does it mean for us? Here's
what it means. It means acceptance. The Father spoke from heaven.
We'll look at this in a minute. But the Father spoke from heaven
and said, this is my beloved son. in whom I'm well pleased." If he's well pleased with him,
he's well pleased with everyone in him, everyone. And he didn't say this until
after he was baptized, after he pictured, after he gave us
this picture of his death, burial, and resurrection. After that,
the Father spoke from heaven. He says, I'm pleased with him,
in him, not with him, but in him. pleased in him. It means our acceptance. That's why I said you might want
to get to know the one in whom the Father is pleased with. And it also means this. It means
an end of sin. Look over in Hebrews chapter
9. Hebrews chapter 9. When he came up out of that water,
Now the water itself didn't put away sin, but what it symbolized
put away sin is death, burial, and resurrection. In Hebrews
chapter 9, look in verse 26. For then must he often have suffered
since the foundation of the world. But now once, in the end of the
world, hath he appeared to put away sin, How? By the sacrifice
of himself. My sins, your sins, if we truly
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, are gone. They don't even exist
anymore. Oh, I know them. I remember them. God does not remember them, and
that's the one I don't want to remember them. I know what I am by nature. I
know what I do. I don't know nearly as much as
I think I know. I know none of us do. None of us are as sinful.
We're a lot more sinful than we think we are. However sinful,
bad you think you are, it's a lot worse. It's a lot worse. Because we just get a taste. God's just giving us a taste
of what we are by nature. He's letting us kind of like
see it through the lattice. We couldn't take the full-blown
picture of it. But it says here that he has put
away sin when he came up out of that watery grave, symbolizing
his death, burial, and resurrection. It says this, sin has been dealt
with and it's gone. It's gone. He, by himself, purged
us from our sins. by the sacrifice of himself,
he purges from our sins. And then it also means this,
that we're justified. Look over in Romans chapter four. Romans chapter four. In Romans four. Now look at verse 23, Now it
was not written for his sake alone, that is Abraham, that
it was imputed to him, that righteousness was imputed to him, but for us
also to whom it shall be imputed if we believe on him that raised
up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses,
our sins, our breaches of the law, and was raised again for
our justification. When our Lord came out of that
grave, everyone for whom he died were
justified. Justified. That's what it means. It means
acceptance, an end of sin. We are justified. And also this. and everlasting righteousness. Righteousness. I know the world
doesn't think much of that, but God does. God demands it. Without it, He said, except your
righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees,
you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven. You won't do it. There's one righteousness that
exceeds all others. There's really only one righteousness.
All others is not righteousness. It's just another form of sin.
But that one righteousness is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is.
Now let's turn back to Mark. And straightway, verse 10, and
straightway coming up out of the water, I want us to see here
the approval of the Holy Spirit and then that
of the Father. In a straight way, coming up
out of the water, John saw the heavens opened, they just opened
up, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him at his baptism. When he came up out of the water, the Father and the Holy Spirit
was there. to approve of him. This is the one. This is the
one, and this is how God is going to save sinners. This is how
God saves sinners. And he puts his stamp of approval
upon him. This shows that Christ was not
alone in our salvation. He says over in Luke chapter
4, look over in Luke chapter 4, show you the importance of the
Holy Spirit. In Luke chapter 4 verse 17, And there was delivered unto
him, unto Christ, the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when
he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, the Holy Spirit is upon me,
because he hath anointed me. Who anointed him? to preach the
gospel. Who anointed him to preach the
gospel to the poor? The Holy Spirit did. The Holy Spirit did. The success
of his preaching is due to the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Our Lord said this, He will take
the things of mine and show them unto you. Reveal them unto you. We cannot
be saved. We cannot know Christ without
the Holy Spirit. Can't do it. Can't do it. Regeneration, growing
in grace and in knowledge of Christ cannot be had without
His work. Can't be done. The power we need
in preaching, the power we need in preaching
is the same power that went with his preaching. The power of the
Holy Spirit of God. The Spirit, he said, the Spirit
of the Lord is upon me. He hath anointed me to preach
the gospel to the poor. The power we need in preaching,
in hearing, for you to hear this morning, for you to have an interest
in hearing. I know this, I know you have,
you who believe the gospel, you have come into a worship service,
you've sat down, the preacher started preaching, and it got
your attention. It got your attention. It got you hard. You found yourself
listening. Did you ever catch yourself listening? There have been times that I've
caught myself listening. And I thought, a 45-minute sermon
going by that quick? Have you ever been so listening
to a sermon, to a message? that it seemed like it wasn't
five minutes, and 45 minutes went by. It takes the power of the Holy
Spirit to arrest our attention, grab our hearts, and get us to
listen to the gospel, and have an interest, to find an interest
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Without Him, that's not going
to happen. I don't care how good the speaker is. That's not going
to happen. We need Him, His power in believing,
in repenting. It all comes from Him. Christ said He would take the
things of mine, and He would not do that if He
also were not pleased in Him. He would have never lied a lip
on his shoulder in the form of a dove and remained there if
he were not the Son of God, if he were not the one in whom God
is well pleased. And then we have the approval
of the Father. Look back here at verse 11. This is after he's come up out
of that watery grave. And there came a voice from heaven,
saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." This
man, this Jesus Christ of Nazareth, was not like the rest of that
crowd that's coming to John to be baptized. He's the spotless
Lamb of God. That's who He is. John said,
Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. How's he going to do that? By
his death, his burial, and his resurrection. That's how he's
going to do it. He is the spotless Lamb of God. We have the witness
of John, we have the witness of the Holy Spirit, and here
we have the witness of the Father saying, This is my beloved Son
in whom I am well pleased." How important is that? How important
is that statement? I tell you this, everything hangs
on it. Everything hangs on it. Our salvation absolutely hangs
on this. This is my beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. And if you'll notice, he said
this before he even started his public ministry. I thought about
this last night as I was going over this. For thirty years,
he's about thirty years of age when he enters upon his public
ministry, for thirty years he has been observed, scrutinized
by God. If he had had a thought of sin
for one split second, it would have been over. But for 30 years,
now think about this, for 30 years, from his birth, from his
childhood now, from his childhood, his teenage years, his age as
a young man, He never had a sinful thought
for a split second. If he had, it would have been
over. The Father would not have said, I'm well pleased. That's how absolutely perfect
the Son of God is, that man Jesus Christ. That's how perfect. Before he ever enters into public
ministry, we get a declaration from heaven, this is my beloved
Son in whom I am well pleased. That's from heaven itself. The
Father was well pleased with him before creation. You can
see that back over in Proverbs chapter eight. He's well pleased
with him after creation. He's well pleased with him now
and forevermore. Now, as I said earlier, it would
be wise to get to know the One in whom God is well pleased. That's why I read Psalm 2, Kiss
the Son. Don't ignore Him. Everyone will
have to deal with Him. There's not one soul that's ever
lived on this earth that will bypass Jesus Christ. Every fallen
angel, Satan, everything will have to stand before Jesus Christ. Let me show you that over in
John chapter 5. John chapter 5. Here's what the
Father thinks of the Son. Look in verse 20, "'For the Father
loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that himself doeth.
And he will show him greater works than these, that ye may
marvel. For as the Father raises up the dead, and quickeneth them,
even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.'" He saves whom He will. He gives
life to whom He will. This is a truth. This is a fact.
He's not offering life in to see who will. He gives life sovereignly to
whom He will. For the Father judges no man,
but He has committed all judgment unto the Son. All judgment has been turned
over to that man seated at God's right hand over all people, over
all of creation. It's all in His hands. It's turned
over to Him. He has committed all judgment
unto the Son, that all men, that all should honor the Son. You
know, that's what this is all about. This is what it's all
about. God the Father is going to honor
His Son. He's going to populate heaven
with a people just like His Son, in honor of His Son. That all should honor the Son
even as they honor the Father. He that honors not the Son honors
not the Father which hath sent him. You can't honor one and not honor
the other. You can't do it. Verily, verily, if you try to
do it, it shows you don't know what you're doing. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that heareth my word and believes on him that sent me hath everlasting
life. That's the reason he believes
on him that sent me. Believing doesn't give me life.
It's the evidence of life. Just like breathing. Breathing
is the evidence of life. And they shall not come unto
condemnation, but it is passed from death unto life. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the
dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God. This is my beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased. And the time is coming, the hour
is coming, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of
God, and they that hear shall live. For as the father hath life in
himself, so hath he given to the son to have life in himself,
and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because
he is the son of man. That's what the father thinks
of the son. The father loveth the son. Do I love him? Peter,
do you love me? The Father loves me. Do you love
me? What have we learned? What have
we learned? We ought to learn something every
time we come into this building and sit down and hear the gospel.
We ought to learn something. Lord, teach me. Teach me. The psalmist said, teach me thy
way. Teach me. Here's what we've learned. That Jesus Christ is the only
one capable of pleasing God. That Jesus Christ is the only
one that God ever said, this is my beloved Son in whom I'm
well pleased. And if we are in Him, then He's
well-pleased with us also. If He's well-pleased with the
vine, He's well-pleased with the branches. Adam missed it. And I missed it. And you missed
it. But our Lord didn't. By His own
obedience, by virtue of who He is, He pleased the Father. He pleased Him. Christ hath done
all things well. Let's look over in Mark chapter
7. Mark chapter 7 in verse 37. Yeah, let me find it here. Let's see if I wrote the right
one down. Yeah. Sometimes when you read, sometimes I read, it's the same
Bible, but it's on a different page. And then you mess up, you look
down and say, well, that's not where that was at. In verse 37, well, let me go
to verse 35. And straightway his ears were
opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake
plain. And he charged them that they should tell no man. But
the more he charged them so much, the more a great deal they published
it, and were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things
well. He maketh both the deaf to hear
and the dumb to speak. Our Lord hath done all things
well. He established an everlasting
righteousness. He satisfied God's strict justice. He magnified the law and he made
it honorable. He's the only one that God has ever said, this
is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. And I say this
to everyone here this morning, including myself, kiss the Son. Get to know Him. Take my yoke
upon you and learn theology. Doctrine? Me. Learn of me. Because if you
don't learn of me, your doctrine's going to be wrong. You're going
to be dead wrong. Because the only way we really
learn true doctrine is learning it through Christ. That's the
only way. Get to know Him.