I want you to turn back in your
Bibles to the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew chapter 3. We will be
working strictly through our outline for time's sake so that
we can get into the testimony and witness of those who are
ready to make a public profession of faith. It's good to be back
with you. I know you missed me, and I missed you too. I do want
to say as we get ready to actually deal with a marvelous doctrinal
truth that I trust God has prepared your heart to hear. And that's
on the subject of baptism. For some of you, you're going
to learn a lot about baptism today. Things about baptism you
never ever heard in your life. For others of you, this will
be a recapitulation of things you have been taught at grace
for years. But I'm trusting that God will show you something else
in this message on baptism. Baptism is the only way. Baptism is the only way. That's the title of our message
and I want to use that as a cudgel in your thoughts. Why do we baptize
people? Because baptism is the only way. It's the only way by which in
an illustration you see how God saves sinners. So what you'll
see today as we participate in the performance of baptism is
the illustration of how God has condescended to save us. I also
say that baptism is the only way because baptism is an illustration
of the gospel and the gospel of God is the only way by which
men and women can be saved. You and I are only saved by faith
in Christ through grace and that apart from works. We're only
saved by the grace of God. And baptism fully illustrates
that when we allow the implications of its analogy to be brought
out fully, or at least sufficiently. And I only want to call your
attention to seven points around that. And maybe we will get through
three or four today. And two weeks from now when we
are baptizing our second group of professing Christians, we
will deal with the latter. Part are the summation of our
message if we don't get through it today but the reason for which
our master gave the ordinance of baptism and Baptism was something
that was done in the first century It was done in the days of his
cousin John yay baptism was done even prior to the New Testament
era the proselyte Gentiles were baptized into the Jewish faith
and because of the significance and relevance and doctrinal teaching
of baptism. Baptism, when comprehended properly,
will give you a greater insight into who Jesus is and what he
did. When we are not understanding
baptism aright, it's nothing but an empty ritual that has
really very little meaning. And wherein it's merely a ritual
with very little meaning, it is not biblical baptism. So I've
often told people that if you were cudgeled or moved by circumstances
or events or people or persons to engage in baptism against
your will, you were not baptized. Because inherent in baptism is
a confession of faith that necessarily is personal. It's necessarily
personal. More than that, as we shall see,
it is a response on the part of the recipient of baptism,
having a comprehension of who Jesus is, what Jesus did, and
how he did that for them, for them. So there are seven things
I wanna call your attention to. Point number one in your outline,
baptism is an illustration of the righteousness God Baptism
is an illustration of the righteousness of God quickly go in your Bible
to Matthew chapter 3 where baptism by the author of Matthew becomes
the featured sort of opening prologue of his gospel to the
people of God as John the Baptist is ministering at the River Jordan
and I simply want you to see the These foundational texts
will extract a few points and we'll move on. I say that baptism
is an illustration because an illustration is a depiction.
It's sort of a resume or sort of a expose of ideas or concepts. by which a person is taught.
So baptism is an illustration of the righteousness of God under
two thoughts here. First and foremost, the fact
that in the righteousness of God, sin must necessarily be
punished. In the righteousness of God,
Sin must be punished see now I could park it right there and
we could be here for a long time given our present cultural mindset
and the false notion that man by nature is good and that therefore
the whole idea of sin is sort of a Pass I pass a issue that
does not have relevance today that if a man or a woman does
not really recognize Not only that they are sinners, but that
they are desperate sinners in a kind of condition Which the
only way you can extricate yourself from it is baptism if that proposition
is true baptism is the only way See you and our sinners by nature
and as sinners we are under the wrath of God. I And what baptism
does is it catechizes us in that truth. And so John the Baptist,
the cousin of our master, six months older than him, was called
to be the forerunner of Jesus Christ. Was he not? He was the
forerunner according to Isaiah chapter 40, Malachi chapter 3.
And he was the voice crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the
way of the Lord. And I would submit to you that
when a man or woman enters into the waters of baptism, that's
what they have done. They have prepared the way for
the Lord to take over their life Prepared the way which means
they heard the warning they heeded the warning to respond to the
judgment that hangs over their head as Sinners and so in Matthew's
gospel chapter 3 mark what? The author says that John says
to the rulers who were both jealous and envious of the ministry of
John, the Pharisees, listen to this. But when John, who was
baptizing in Jordan, when John saw how many of the Pharisees?
Many. And of the Sadducees do what? Come to his baptism. That's remarkable
because these are the antagonists. These are the ones who don't
like John. These are the ones who are saying
to the public, hey, this guy, John, he didn't go to our school. He didn't get our degrees. He
didn't obtain his commendation from us. He's not part of our
party. You guys shouldn't be following
him. But over the course of his three and a half year ministry,
guess what? The Pharisees and the Sadducees are now being compelled
to come. Why? Because God has so profusely
endowed John with his spirit and his ministry cannot be avoided. Now, John baptizing at the River
Jordan is a practice that's offensive to Jews because Jews are like
Christian folks in the church today. You know what that means?
That means everybody in the church thinks they're saved. And that
John would call the Jewish people to be baptized is not only saying
that they are in a sinful condition needing to be right with God,
but they are in the precise same sinful condition as the Gentiles. That even makes it worse because
the Jews thought they were better than Gentiles. May I assert this
quickly? You and I are no better than
any other sinner on planet Earth, apart from the grace of God.
You got that? Apart from the grace of God,
you and I fare no better than any other sinner on planet earth.
So our religiosity, our knowledge of doctrine, our going to church
weekly in and out is no guarantee that God looks upon us in favor. And so John is here establishing
that clarion signal to the whole of Israel And not only are the
masses of the Jewish people coming down because the Holy Ghost has
been working on them for the last 400 years, they are coming
because they're ready for the master. But here comes the Pharisees
and the Sadducees too. It must be humbling to have argued
against the brother and opposed him and called him a fool, an
idiot, called him crazy, called him 5150 like they did our master. Remember John, he didn't dance
to the normal beat. You know that, right? He was
kind of out of vogue. John was one of those kind of
out-of-step cats. His garments were quite different
than everybody else's. His dress code. And he was a
strict dietary brother. You know, that locust and wild
honey. I wouldn't have followed that part of his doctrine to
tell the truth. But that was John. And the whole of his persona
was designed to teach Israel that they were unclean. Because
the camel skin was an unclean garment. And the leather belt
bound around it was to say that they were in a bondage of uncleanness. And for him to eat locusts and
wild honey was to eat something that God had prohibited for him
to eat. But they loved their uncleanness,
Israel. And so John is a personification
of their unclean state before God. So as they are repelling
against John, guess what John is saying? God's repelling against
you. You see the picture. And yet sinners are coming to
John. Why? Because his message is compelling. And because the Spirit of God
is working in it. My first proposition under the illustration of God's
righteousness, baptism is an illustration of the righteousness
of God. The righteousness of God is that God's justice to
punish sin flows from God's righteous character. It is clearly expressed
in God's righteous will God would be less than righteous if he
did not punish sin Listen to what John says in verse 7, but
when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism
He said unto them now watch this. This is bold Saints. Oh generation
of vipers Like John Do you see how he addresses the
leadership can you see why he can't be part of their seminary
I Oh generation of vipers! Here is what I want you to capture.
Who has warned you to flee from the wrath of God? Do you see
when you come to the waters of baptism, you have been shut up
to a doctrinal truth that has taught you your condition, God's
holiness, and God's necessity of punishing your sin? And that
if you do not come to Christ, illustrated by the waters of
baptism, God's wrath will be poured out on you? See, only
sinners believe the gospel, and only sinners respond to it by
fleeing from the wrath to come. When you see our brothers and
sisters get in the water today, they know they are sinners. They
know that they are hell bound. They don't argue with the fact
that they were born and conceived in sin and that every day they
fall short of the glory of God. That's our present indicative
verb form, all the time falling short. I need somebody to help
me, don't you? And here's what he says, who
has warned you to flee from the wrath to come? And he told them,
if you're going to come to the waters of baptism, you better
bring forth therefore fruits meet for what? See what he's
saying? Not only must you come in the
physical act, but you must come with a heart that corresponds
to the truth claims of baptism. You must really be sincerely
repentant when you come to the water, or else you are not executing
baptism. One of your commentaries plainly
says that. If you think that water baptism washes away your
sins, you are wrong. It only illustrates an inward
work if in fact that work inwardly is taking place. Then the act
is affirmative both to us who are observing, the angels, and
your own conscience. Then it's valid. Otherwise, it
is not valid at all. Point number one, therefore then,
when we comprehend baptism, we are comprehending a truth that
God must punish sin. Remember when Noah was called
upon to build the ark, Hebrews chapter 11 verse 7. God had told
Noah that man's time on earth is up. I'm giving him now 120
years, and I'm going to destroy the earth with a what? With a
flood. Was that not an expression of
God's judgment on humanity? A major one of which the New
Testament speaks to several times. I ask you the question, is not
the building of the ark in the days of Noah a type of baptism? Is it not? It is a type of baptism,
and it says the same thing that the title of our message does.
You know what that is? Baptism is the only way. Meaning,
God is going to pour his wrath out, and if you're going to endure
it, you better get in the boat. You better get in the ark, because
outside of the ark, you will not endure the wrath of God. Now here's what the Hebrew writer
said in Hebrews 11 verse 7 concerning that obedient act on the part
of our brother Noah. Here's what the Hebrew writer
plainly said, that Noah was moved. He was moved by that command.
Verse 7, by faith Noah being warned of God of things not yet
seen. Let me help you. The world is
going to end one day. Christ is going to come back.
And he's gonna judge the ungodly who have stuck their fist in
God's face all their life, and he's gonna prove that he was
right. That's a day of judgment. It's coming. Now, I've just given
you the warning, haven't I? What are you gonna do with the
warning? Now, watch what the Hebrew writer says. So, he being
moved by those things that he had heard, moved with fear, what
did he do? He prepared an ark to the what? Saving of his house. By which
he what? Condemned the world. What do
you mean by that, pastor? Meaning that Noah was a preacher
of the gospel, just as your pastor, just as your teachers are, faithfully
proclaiming to the world you're under the wrath of God. That
Christ is coming again. That this world is going to end.
That men are going to face the judgment throne and they're going
to perish under the wrath of God. And that the only way you
can escape is to get into the ark. It's a warning. When people
are baptized, ladies and gentlemen, it's a warning to you who are
still without Christ that you have no reason to believe that
you're going to live tomorrow. It's a warning to you. Every
man or woman that comes to Jesus Christ publicly and people observe
it, it's a warning to you. Why do I think I have the right
to continue breathing God's air, eating God's food, wearing God's
clothes, living in God's world, watching another human being
who's no different than me come to God and I don't come to God?
Why do I think I get to live another day? Am I making some
sense? And so it's a warning. It's a
warning. And I must say this again, while
we delight in the aesthetic nature of preaching, and teaching as
it exhorts us and encourages us, I am really seeking to reach
your mind. Your mind, I want you to think
this through. I don't understand a man or a
woman who has assessed the gospel's claims and delays to come to
Christ. To me, that's insanity. It's insane. And so the first
proposition clearly then is that we believe that the righteousness
of God is revealed in the fact that baptism illustrates the
punishment of sin. Do you believe that? Didn't Jesus
say in Matthew 20 that I have a baptism to be baptized with?
That means he was going to die because he had already been baptized
in John's baptism. He wasn't talking about being
baptized a second time in water, was he? He was talking about
what? His cross. He was talking about dying on
Calvary. He called it a baptism. So when you actually see baptism
take place, there's a death that occurs. So there's a very clear
illustration of the righteousness of God inherent in baptism. That
is, God's justice to punish sin. We've just affirmed that. The
second thing I want you to see in it, in baptism, is His power
to raise from the dead. Go with me in your Bible now
to Ephesians chapter 1. The power to raise from the dead.
Those of you who will be observing our brothers and sisters getting
baptized today, when they go down into the water, It illustrates
God's righteous judgment to punish sin. When they come up out of
the water, it will have illustrated God's power to raise them from
the dead. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
Ephesians chapter 1 then, notice what it says starting at verse
18, going through verse 23. The apostle Paul, who was thoroughly
Christocentric in his preaching and teaching, Love to explain
the cause and grounds for which God saves sinners through his
grace and that cause and grounds is the power of God to have raised
Christ from the dead. Here's how he puts it in verse
18. Praying that the eyes of our
understanding would be enlightened. That you might know what is the
hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his
inheritance in the saints is. That you and I would get that
we would get the enormous benefit and treasures of this inheritance
that God has given to us in Christ. And watch this, not only the
treasure of the riches of Christ, watch what he says, and what
is the exceeding greatness of his power. Do you see that? Dunamis. To us, word, who what? Paul has
just asserted that when we believe the gospel, we have not only
received power, but we have a kind of power that causes us to look
to what God has done in the raising of Christ from the dead. Another
contemplation worthy of fully developing, we don't have time. Now notice what he says, there
is an exceeding great power that is toward those who believe according
to the working of his mighty power. Now he moves into the
active nature of God's power, and this is what he says, which
he wrought in Christ when he raised Jesus from the dead and
set him at his own right hand in the heavens. Ladies and gentlemen,
do you know that's power? For God to raise a man from the
dead, and not only raise him from the dead, set him at his
own right hand. For him to have raised his son
from the dead and then not only bring him back to physical life,
but to sit him at his own right hand is an illustration of omnipotent
power. Here's what he's saying. Here's
what he's saying. Every true believer is a participant in
that power. Every true believer is a participant
in that power. Do you visually comprehend right now the power
of the Holy Ghost sent by the Father to raise his son from
the dead? Do you get it? Do you see that power raising
him from the dead? Do you see it sitting him at his own right
hand? That same power is exerted every time a sinner is saved. And it's exerted every time a
sinner is saved because a sinner is only saved by virtue of Christ's
representation for them in his own death. I love to say it and
I'll give it to you just as a visual. When the Spirit of God reached
down into the depths of hell, and no one has gone as deep as
Christ into the depths of hell, and raised the Son of God from
the dead, and ushered Him into heaven, from the very moment
that that occurred, there was a draft, if you will, that sucked
up every one of God's elect out of the ground. Every time the
gospel is preached, they were sucked up with Christ sucked
up with Christ raised together with Christ so that Paul can
say in Ephesians chapter 2 we are already seated in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus because of the draft of the power of
the gospel to have already raised us from the dead pastor I wasn't
there 2,000 years ago but God was and that's all that matters
There's a real sense that even though I didn't have a being
in this world, I was already seated at the right hand of God.
This is the beautiful part about the gospel, because what Christ
did, he did not do for himself. The power of the gospel is demonstrated
in baptism. When that person comes up out
of the water, hell, which is a power itself, has to let them
go. It's not possible that the grave
should hold them since the grave couldn't hold Him. Am I making some sense? Point number
two. The sufferings of Christ then,
here in baptism, is illustrated as the sinner's what? Substitute. The sufferings of Christ, here
illustrated in baptism, is the sinner's substitute. Now we have
already accepted the fact that the water now serves as a model
of God's judgment to punish sin. Because what God is doing in
the gospel is demonstrating his remedy for sin. Sin is a problem
for God. It's not a problem for you. It's
not a problem for... We love sin. We drink it like iniquity. We eat it like cotton candy.
We dwell and wallow in it as if it's our best friend. And
sin is sending us to hell. But for God, one sin is enough
for Him to destroy the whole universe. That's how holy God
is. So this really is a problem for
God that He's solving, whether you like it or not. He's solving
His own problem. And those of us who are beneficiaries
of this remedy happen to simply be beneficiaries of it. Because
I didn't sit with God and agree with God that He needs to solve
the sin problem. If God would have left it to
me, the sin problem was fine, until it would have sent me to
hell. So you and I aren't in agreement
with God by nature. God's doing something in spite
of us, for us, when he resolves the matter of salvation, of redemption,
of sin, of righteousness. And so baptism now is an illustration
of Christ as the sinner's substitute. And why must we grapple with
that? Because you and I are frequently inundated with a man-centered
theology. a kind of man-centered theology
that also steals God's glory even at the most crucial points
of biblical doctrine. We have an innate ability to
make it all about us. A man or a woman or an individual
or a church could actually be teaching on baptism as I am.
But by the time they're done teaching baptism, guess what?
It's all about you. It's all about how God loves
you and how God's doing something for you. But really baptism is
not about you at all. It's about the father and the
son accomplishing a redemption of which others are simply the
beneficiaries. And therefore, if we are Christian
in our thinking, Christian in our theology, Christian in our
doctrine, what we should be looking for in baptism is Christ. It's Christ, are you hearing
me? Go with me then in your Bibles to the gospel of Luke chapter
12 and let's look at verse 50 and have that affirmed I just
want to drive this home and so I'll state it for the record
if you have been involved in a kind of baptism of which people
call it biblical baptism but it did not teach you the gospel
You were not focused on the person of Christ nor the work of Christ
as the primary object of the significance of the doctrine
of baptism. It wasn't Christian baptism.
Whatever ordinances God gives us, they are ordinances that
remind us of the person and work of Christ. The Lord's table. If we spend time teaching the
Lord's table from the vantage point of how it makes us feel
good psychologically and emotionally because we are partakers of the
Eucharist or of the wine or of the bread, we are not teaching
Christian doctrine. It's not Christian doctrine if
the subject of the message is you. It's not Christian doctrine
if the culminating objective of the message is how it makes
you feel. It's only Christian doctrine
when you and I are forced or compelled or made to see outside
of ourselves something of the love and sacrifice of Jesus Christ
on our behalf. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
And then what we do with the bread and what we do with the
cup is in response to the beauty and the sacrifice of Christ for
us. We respond to it if we're believers.
But we respond to what we see. Listen to what Luke says in Luke
chapter 12, verse 50. Are you there? Again, our Master
is correcting His disciples for things for which He has to correct
us all the time. You know what He's correcting
them on? Some want to be on His right hand, some want to be on
His left. You saw that in Matthew 20. Mama of John and James comes
to Jesus, Could you sit my sons on your right hand and on your
left when you come into your kingdom? He she she wants one of them
to be the secretary of state the other one be yes Vice president
and our lord plainly said in matthews 20. Did he not it's
not for me to give But my father who has already prepared these
things for those who will receive them You know what? Our master
was plainly saying he was plainly saying to them. This is not how
you get to a place of exaltation Because they were talking about
exaltation. The only way you get to a place of exaltation
is first humility. You got to go through baptism
before you're exalted. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
We all want to be exalted. No one wants to be humbled. We
all want to reign with Christ. No one wants to suffer with Christ.
May I say this? If baptism is properly comprehended,
you are saying to the world, I'm ready to suffer with Christ. And if you're not ready to suffer
with Christ, your baptism is a farce. It was nothing but the
perpetration of a fraud. Are you hearing me? Because our
brothers and sisters, as I told you before, in the Middle East,
who are so much more vulnerable and exposed to the enemy, once
they come up out of the water, they lose their connection to
family, friends, and everyone else. Ostracized, sent down the
road, if not killed. The moment they make a public
profession of faith. See, but we would throw people
in the water and there was nothing in it! There's nothing but a
scam when we don't understand the rich, deep implications of
baptism in relationship to your knowing the Savior. Here's what
our Master said in Luke chapter 12 verse 50. Watch this. I'm going to start back at verse
49. After already explaining to the disciples something that
I don't think that we fully grasp when it comes to the gospel,
and that is this, that the gospel divides. It does. I'm thinking about this recently
as I was reading an article on family worship. I talked about
this on our Thursday Lifeline program that there is a danger
on the part of Christian families to actually shift their faith
from Christ to the family. It's kind of what goes on in
our present generation where somehow our job is to make our
families whole and unified and worshipers of God and everybody
from the babies all the way up all worship God. We all worship
God and we kind of make ourselves the object of our efforts and
labors. Well, when you actually follow
the Bible through, here's what you learn. That there's probably
not one family in the scriptures where as a whole they were all
true believers. That also that when you preach
the gospel faithfully and you start in your own Jerusalem,
most of your own family members are going to reject you. So that
there will be a division in the family for Christ's sake. And
so the depiction of everybody, mama, children, brothers and
sisters, everybody all being this lovely, you know, house
on the prairie, white picket fence, all going to church, that's
a caricature of biblical truth that doesn't actually correspond
with what Jesus said would be the normative result of faithfulness
to Christ. Faithfulness to Christ normally
will result in brother being at odds with brother, mother
being at odds with son, father being at odds with daughter,
parents with children, because not everybody in the family is
going to believe the gospel to the saving of ourselves and therefore
be committed to biblical truth. Now, we can solve that problem
as long as we're just religious. Am I making some sense? We can
solve that problem. Let's just do church. Don't be
serious about the word now Hey, hey, hey, hey, we talked about
Jesus at church. We home now chill See what I'm
getting at Now watch what our master says He says I am come
verse 49 to send fire on the earth. And what will I if it
already be kindled? Don't need to explain that. All
you do is read your Bible. A fire was already kindled in
God's wrath against Israel way before Jesus came. All he did
was increase the flame. Read Jeremiah verse 50. But I
have a baptism to be baptized with. See it? I love this. He says, I personally have a
baptism to be baptized with. And how am I straight or constrained
till it be accomplished? And I want you to see two points
under that. The heading is the sufferings of Christ as the sinner's
what? The doctrine of substitution
is something that you and I must comprehend. Without the concept
of substitution, all that Jesus did means nothing. If he didn't
do it for you, it meant nothing. You can watch Jesus come into
the world, assume a human nature, live a perfect life, die a perfect
death, rise again, get seated at God's right hand. But if he
did it for no one, what purpose was it? Alright, am I making
some sense? So now when he says I have a
baptism to be baptized with and how am I constrained until it
be accomplished immediately my heart melts and here's why it
melts my master had the mental tenacity and the psychological
and emotional commitment to the salvation of my soul that he
would stay Fetched on his father's will until it would be accomplished
so that he might save me In other words, Christ was more serious
about my salvation than I was and than I am. Are you hearing
me? Under that rubric, notice the
two points I want to do it. Delighting to do God's will.
We say that the whole of the Bible is about whom? That's exactly
right. And that from Genesis to Revelation,
when rightly divided and rightly expounded, it is about the person
and work of Jesus Christ. Psalm 40 verse 7. Lo, I come,
and the volume of the book is not about you, it's about me.
And I come because I delight to do my Father's will. You guys
see that? Now, that's a prophecy a thousand years before Jesus,
and when he came, Did he do anything other than demonstrate that he
delighted to do his father's will? Can you find anything in
the record of Christ's life? I mean, from the time he was
conceived in the womb by the Holy Ghost, where Jesus didn't
want to do the father's will. Me and one of our brothers, I
think it was my deacon Angelo, saw a website of a church that
had depicted Jesus as a little baby. And Jesus was standing
over against Mary his mama and Mary was saying to Jesus get
over here now to take your bath You know how little kids don't
like to take baths and the picture had Jesus Standing back like
a little one-year-old baby said no. I don't want to take a bath
Nothing could be further from the truth But that was a church
that did that because of their ignorance of the depth of the
unity between the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and their oneness
of mind and purpose, and the uniqueness of the one man in
the world who truly did not only want to, but did his Father's
will. Now, ladies and gentlemen, I
don't want lightning to strike any one of you in this place
today. So don't you dare say, I delight to do my Father's will. when the evidence is contrary
to that. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
But don't fear. We had one who did. And he's
the sinner's substitute. He's the sinner's substitute.
He's the sinner substitute. So he delighted to do his father's
will. And ladies and gentlemen, he was fixed on his call to suffer. Here's what the text says. He
says, I have a baptism to be baptized with, and I am constrained,
compelled, hedged in until it be accomplished. See, only love
can do that. Only love can do that. Love for
his father. Commitment to his father. Love
for his people. Commitment to his people. After
all, is this not our husband? Is he not laying down his life
for his church? Is he not ready to pay the dowry to purchase
her? He who loved us and washed us from our sin in his own blood. I love him for it. I love him
for it. And gospel preaching is designed
for you to get to know him in such a way that you love him
for it too. Isaiah chapter 50 verses 4 through 7. We are now
contemplating the tenacity and commitment of Jesus Christ to
go through this particular baptism of his not for himself but for
us. Listen to what the author says
in Isaiah chapter 50 verses 4 through 7 along these lines. We're talking about commitment
to the task. I've had people who said they wanted to be baptized. And in the process of making
the intentionality to be baptized over the course of the weeks
prior to it, they sort of started vacillating. Well, no, I want
to put it off. I want to put it off. I want
to put it off for a week or a month. I want to put it off for two
weeks or three weeks. Why? Why? Are you hearing what I'm saying?
I'm getting ready to go to the text. But why would a man or
a woman hear the gospel? Understand the gospel and the
free grace of God inherent in the gospel and the call to enter
into that free grace Simply through the waters of baptism, you know,
our Lord could have did it another way. He could have baptized you
in sand Now he could have baptized you
in mud He could have found a thousand other illustrations that typify
suffering other than water But how gracious is our God? He uses
water. Because the analogy of water
not only depicts death in terms of the watery grave, but it depicts
cleansing. You and I need to be cleansed.
See, we're not only sinners. I know you don't believe this,
but you are a filthy sinner. That's right. Filthy. Isaiah
50 verse 4. This is the Lord, our Savior
speaking. The Lord God hath given me, this
is Christ, the tongue of the, what? that I should know how
to speak a word and season to him that's weary. Is Jesus able
to speak comfort to the soul? Only Jesus speaks comfort to
the soul. Now watch this. He says this. He wakeneth morning
by morning. He wakeneth my ear to hear as
to learn. Now it goes on. Keep going. Now
mark this now. The Lord had opened my ear and
I was not rebellious, neither turned away backwards. Verse
6. I gave my back to the smiters.
Do you see it? I gave my cheeks to them that
plucked off the hair. Hold it now. I might let you
hit me once. You plug my hair off, we fighting. See, I'm not as committed to
Christ as he is to me, but that's what the gospel is. The gospel
is not about my commitment to Christ, but his commitment to
me. Now this is a small emblem of what our master suffered,
but it does show determination. Did they rip him? Did they gnash
him? Did they beat him? Did they put
a crown of thorns on him? Did they whip him? Did they whip
him mercilessly? And look at what he says. This
is what is amazing to me about Christ. And I hid not my face
from shame and spitting. Do you see that? See, what I'm
trying to get you to understand is that this whole matter of
baptism is not simply some formal ritual we go through. It's an
affirmation of a deep, deep clarity in your own soul as to Christ's
commitment for you. He's going through something
you wouldn't go through for Him or anyone else. He hid not His
face from shame and spitting. Verse 7, here it is. Are you
ready? For the Lord God will help me.
Therefore, shall I not be confounded? Therefore, I have set my face
like a flint. Do you see that? Fixed. Look at what he says in verse
one, the first clause. For the Lord God will help me.
That's faith, isn't it? Therefore, shall I not be what?
Confounded. That's faith. See, because you
understand that when you go through trials, that if God leaves you
to yourself, you get confounded. You know what we mean by confounded?
We lose our bearing. We lose our focus. We lose our
confidence. We lose our zeal, our passion.
We lose our sense of clarity. We get lost. And we start to
become ambivalent. We start to wonder if God is
with me. He says, my God will help me. I will not be confounded. I have therefore set my face
like a flint. And I know that I shall not be
ashamed. That's what Christ said. You
know what he means? He means that my father will
not leave me alone. He will raise me from the dead
when it's all over with. See, the son of God had to trust
the father just like you and I do. I'm showing you that baptism
is the gospel of the grace of God in Christ. And you must never
let baptism be reduced to a mere ritual. We're talking about Christ's
baptism here. Powerful, isn't it? Point number
three. Not only is baptism an illustration
of the righteousness of God, not only is baptism an illustration
of the sufferings of Christ as a sinner's substitute, but baptism
is an illustration of the union of Jesus Christ with his people. This one is fascinating. Go with
me in your Bible to Matthew chapter three. Show you something. This
ought to humble you. Have you thinking Jesus every
day of your life? Makes me say thank you lord.
Jesus. I love you. I adore you I praise you for
your goodness in my life that if it had not been for the lord
who was on my side Where would I be? And on and on and on as the psalmist
david says it The lord is good unto all them that fear him Matthew
chapter 3 depicts something for us that I want to underscore
under the union of Christ with His people. Now Mark verse 15
of chapter 3. Are you there? Now verse 13 says,
Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be what? Sid. He's getting ready to do
what his father told him to do because he's getting ready to
affirm the ministry of John. Now his cousin has been dogged
by the leadership in Israel. ever since his ministry started.
And if Jesus had not gone to be baptized by John, John's enemies
would have had something to say about that. Oh, see your cousin
in ministry now, and he didn't come to your baptism. Why y'all
go to his baptism? But see, and this is an aside
note, but where there are two gospel preachers, they will always
affirm one another's work. They will not contend with each
other. They will not fight with each other. They won't be jealous
with each other They won't be petty with each other. They won't
be wondering who can have more members than the other All of
that stuff was going on with John and Jesus. Well, Jesus is
baptizing more disciples than John That's what John's disciples
are saying to Jesus. I mean to John Hey, Jesus disciples
and baptizing more disciples than we are. You know what John
says? Listen, he must increase I must decrease Let God have
his way. So the unity of the two brethren,
because they know they were serving the same God, fulfilling the
same will. Am I making some sense? So our
master was affirming John's word. Later on down the line, our master
would come to the leaders and say, let me ask you knuckleheads
a question. John's baptism of which you oppose, was it from
God or was it from man? Remember that? Very logical question
to set them up for a conundrum that they couldn't get out of.
They couldn't say yes, they couldn't say no, because either way they
affirmed it or denied it, it would condemn them. What Jesus
was affirming was that John's baptism was from God. And if
it was from God and these folks called themselves of God, why
didn't they go? Are you guys hearing me? See, cousin was defending
cousin because they both were serving the same God. And that's
what we do. Now watch this. He cometh to
Jesus, then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to
be baptized of him. Now watch this. But John forbade
him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee. Why are you
coming to me? And Jesus answered and said unto
him, Now I want you to mark what's about to be said. I want to just
extract a certain set of principles here. Suffer it to be so now. Allow this thing to happen. Because
it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness Do you see that?
What what cousin was saying little cousin our Savior was saying
the big cousin John was God's war word and God's will God's
Testimony must be fulfilled through and through completely you're
doing your part. I've got to do my part. I and
everything that God requires for perfect righteousness must
be fulfilled. Let all righteousness be fulfilled. But I want you to mark the construction. For thus it becomes what? Us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he suffered him and they
did it. And the heading on this point
goes back to the union of Christ with his people. Do you see that?
The union of Christ with his people. Now, when I made that
heading, here is what I was contemplating. And I want you to grasp this
under the doctrine of union. Union is when two entities are
brought together, right? Union. The union of Christ and
his people is an amazing concept. Once you grasp it, it will give
you a lot of peace. Because union with Christ and
his people is really about your new identity in him. Okay. So here is a practical piece
of information. When you separate yourself from
Christ in your own practical everyday life, then you have
nothing to look forward to but misery, sadness, disappointment. When you separate yourself from
Jesus and you look only to yourself, you have nothing to look forward
to but disappointment. Because you fall all the time.
You falter all the time. You come short all the time.
Now watch this. You and I don't ever do anything
right in ourselves. I'm just telling the truth. So
when you separate yourself from Jesus, if you have a happy date
with just you and you, you are deluded. I want you to get this now because
there are people who are like that. There are people in the world
just absolutely jazzed about themselves, have no reason to
be, haven't accomplished a thing, haven't put away one sin, but
they're happy with themselves. But illuminated sinners, and
that's what Christians are, illuminated sinners, we know that in us dwells
no good thing. For to will is present with me,
but how to perform that which is right, I haven't found yet. 37 years, I still haven't figured
out how to do this thing without Christ. And to the degree that
I imperceptibly fail to recognize that I have separated myself
from my power base, which is my identity in Christ, to that
degree that I fail, I'm having a horrible day. You know what
I was doing? I was focusing on me as me. Instead
of me in him as my strength is in Christ Am I making some sense? But now follow this now the proposition
the union of Christ with his people are the union of Christ
with the believer Actually is developing a a process by which
the believer is passive This is not you joining with Christ
This is Christ joining with you Hallelujah Hallelujah Are you
with me for a moment? So if you capture our heading,
this is about the active work of Christ in coming to you and
being part of your life while you're just standing there being
you. What am I, pastor? A sinner. That's what you are.
All by yourself. Well, I'm not doing anything.
You don't have to do anything. You're not what you do, it's what you
are. You are a sinner by nature. And Christ actively comes to
the passive sinner and brings himself into union with the passive
sinner. I love it. I love it. And that's
what's illustrated in baptism here. Why would our Master, who
was wholly harmless, separate from sinners, knew no sin, did
no sin, in Him was no sin at all, no one back then nor now
can convince Him of sin. He's the only one in the world
of which we can say He is the righteous one. Why would he be
baptized if it wasn't for the fact that he was voluntarily,
actively bringing himself into union with us? You weren't bringing
yourself into union with him. The action is on his part towards
us. He's saying to Cousin, we must
fulfill all righteousness. An aspect of that righteousness
that they're going to fulfill is God's will to have a people
for himself. If Christ didn't do it, I'd still
be in my sin. You too. Isn't this a glorious
contemplation? He's coming to the water for
us. He's coming to the waters of
baptism for us. In order to fulfill all righteousness
for us. In order to make us acceptable
before God for us. John, it suffices us to fulfill
all righteousness. Why? Because of his intentionality
to be brought into union with his people. Now, let me cover
two points under that while I have time. What kind of people do
Christ have? Point A. Weak and impotent sinners
were his companions. I know it's a few of you in the
house who don't like that statement. Get over it, it's true. You and I are weak by nature,
impotent. Go with me, you're by the gospels
of Luke chapter 22. I'm gonna show you amazing truth.
And I may stop here for time sake. Show you an amazing truth. I think I'll deal with one more
point after this. What is my proposition? That Christ brings
himself into union with his people who are by nature both weak and
impotent. the gospel of Luke chapter 22
which is the ushering into if you will of the passion of our
Savior he's headed to Golgotha he's headed to Gethsemane and
his disciples are with him and in Luke 22 he is He is keenly
feeling the weight of his own call to
now enter into the agony for which his father had called him.
And so in Luke's Gospel chapter 22, we are looking at verse 29
through 34 to affirm my first proposition that we are weak
and impotent sinners. That's all he has for his companions. Verse 29 through 34, are you
there? Listen to what he says in Luke's gospel chapter 22 verse
29. He says I appoint unto you a
kingdom As my father hath appointed unto me you see what he's doing
with the disciples He's telling them that you're gonna rule and
reign with me as I rule and reign with my father This is one of
the promises in the seven churches of Asia Minor, by the way We'll
deal with that verse 30 that you may eat and drink at my table
in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes Our
master has just told these brothers they are going to rule and reign
with him. You got that? Rule and reign with him. They
have just argued about who's going to be on the right hand
or on the left. And the master says it's not about that. But
watch this. Verse 31 says, And the Lord said,
Simon, Simon. Now when he says that twice to
you, you're already in trouble. Behold, Satan has desired to
have you. that he may shift you as we.
It's amazing. He's talking about their exaltation.
It's for sure. But now he's going to explain
to Peter, Peter, you're walking with me, but your head's all
jacked up. So you got some bad stuff going on in your head right
now. And in fact, you are in a position of vulnerability.
The devil's going to get you. You don't know what I know, that
the devil has already gone to the father and asked for access
to take you out. But I have prayed for you. Why
is the master praying for Peter? Because he's weak and impotent. Did you guys hear that? Weak
and impotent. Don't we need a mediator? We're
going to talk about that here in a moment. Our master is headed
to Calvary. He knows Peter, he's going to
be the first to leave. Remember what he said, Lord,
I'll never leave you. Now all these other cats, John, James,
all these other fellas, you can't trust them, but you can trust
me. You can trust me. The master
said, I can't trust you either. Do you know why? Because you
all are weak and impotent. None of us have the grace to
stand for Christ intrinsically or personally. And our master
stands in the gap to mediate. And notice what he says. Satan
desires to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you that
your faith fail not. Do you see that? He didn't pray
that Peter wouldn't fall. He prayed that when he failed,
that his faith wouldn't be destroyed. Did you get that? See, this is
the glory of the God-man for sinners like you and me. You
better pocket this one, because the next time you fall and get
up by faith, it's only because you had a high priest praying
for you. You better pocket this, because there are some folks
who will fall and they will not get back up. They will not get
back up. There are people who ultimately
depart from the kingdom never having had faith at all. Some
trials expose us for having never had faith. Are you guys following
me so far? This is critical for you to get
because he's getting ready now to say some things that I want
you to comprehend in this area of his union with us. Who are the us? Weak and impotent
sinners. Would you have done anything
different than what the disciples did? When the rulers came to
him, wanting to take him, wouldn't you have scattered too? Yes,
you would. All the labor of man is for his own belly. Smite the
shepherd and the sheep shall be what? And they were. And it
was only to indicate two things. One is that you and I don't have
the capacity. Secondly, it wasn't the will
of God that Christ suffered with other people. For had other people
suffered with Christ, they would have owned some of the glory.
And all the glory belongs to God. Are y'all hearing what I'm
saying? Now watch this then, watch this.
When you are converted, do what? Strengthen your brethren. That's
a whole nother message. It has to do with how we learn through
our falls to be humbly used by God to effectually bring men
and women to Christ. But he goes on to say something
else. I want you to get this. Watch this. I love this part. This one here is amazing. Don't
go to sleep on me. Here it is. I think I'm going
to stop here after this one. Our next point is glorious too,
but I want to baptize these 10 folks and get them out of here.
But watch this. This is amazing to me. And he said unto him,
Lord, I'm ready to go with you both into prison and to death.
And he said, listen, I tell you, Peter, the cock's going to crow.
And before that, you shall have denied me three times. to a little
girl. And then our master said unto
him, unto them, the whole group. Now watch this, now watch this.
When I sent you without purse and script and shoes, did you
lack anything? They said, no, Lord. That was
their first missionary excursion. Remember Luke chapter 10 and
11? He sent them out in the 70s. Remember, saints, this is our
job. God helped me to get this across to you. Listen, your job,
my brothers and sisters at Christ, is to tell people about Jesus.
Please do not miss our primary objective is to tell men and
women about Jesus He sent them out and he took care of him didn't
he now watch this. This is interesting. I've had
this question asked a thousand times I'm only gonna answer it
from one direction as we are dealing with the subject of baptism.
Did you like anything? They said no then said he unto
them, but now He that hath a purse Let him take it and likewise
him a script, now purse meaning bag, not purse like today, okay,
so let's get that straight. You know where we are today,
we need to straighten that out. He that hath a big carrying bag,
a business bag, okay, all right, we need to get that straight.
But now, he that hath the purse, let him take it, and likewise
his script, and he that hath no sore, let him sell his garment
and buy one. Ooh. My any thug brothers in the house
watch this now watch this now here to have no sword Let him
sell his garment and buy one Lord, what are you up to here?
Not only he didn't ask do you have a sword? Inadvertently laying
around the house if you don't have one sale something and go
get a sword We talked about this last night in our men's meet
a sword. Why would he do that? I Why would
he have the disciples to now take up arms? Listen to what
he says. Then said he unto them, verse
seven, for I say unto you, are you ready? Watch this. For I
say unto you that this that is written must be accomplished
in me. Don't follow the next line yet.
Do you see how Jesus understands that he is the center and fulfillment
of scripture? For I say unto you that that which is written
must be accomplished about me." Here's what he's doing. He's
entering his disciples into a fulfillment of biblical prophecy. A fulfillment
of biblical prophecy which underscores what I have just stated about
who the kinds of people are that Jesus has brought himself into
union with. It's amazing. He then told his boys to go buy
some swords. They're getting ready to get
down. Get the swords, man. We're going to war. And I mean
that. He was just doing this for show.
Now, I know some of you soft religious people, you think,
well, no, this had to be some other reason. No. Can I tell
you something? The sword is going to be used. Are you hearing me? The sword
is going to be used. Go purchase some swords. Go get
some swords. Go get some glocks. Go get some
pistols. Go get them. We're in the 21st
century. Now I've got to bring it on over.
So this is kind of wild. Here is the lamb of God telling
his boys, now we've got to pack, because this next step is getting
ready to go down. I'm just bringing it home. Don't
get in no trouble now. Stay with me. I'm getting ready
to show you something. Because the scriptures are not
written in vain. And they're not designed to paint
colorful pictures that don't have major intrinsic value concerning
the character of God, the character of the gospel, and the nature
of man. I'll show you all three here in a moment. I'll show you
all three. God Himself is affirming this practice to teach us of
the nature of the cosmic battle. There's a war going on. This
is a war. Do you hear me? This is a war
going on. It is not, you know, skipping
through a primrose garden to Calvary. There's a war going
on for the souls of men. And there's a battle that's being
waged against the Prince of Glory. And the Prince of Glory has with
him servants of which he's going to give them now a little insight
into the nature of the battle. See, we are soldiers. We do fight
a war. We do wage war, do we not? I
know some of y'all are uncomfortable with guns, get over it. And so
they were called to get their weapons of war. Get their weapons
of war. Here's what the text says. For
I say unto you that that which is written must be accomplished
in me. And this is Isaiah 53, is it not? And he was reckoned
among the what? Transgressors. for the things
concerning me have an end." You know what he was doing? He was
showing that his disciples, by nature, are not only weak and
impotent, but they're thugs and crooks and cons and thieves and
robbers and murderers and liars and dope fiends. and scandalous
by nature. We are wicked men. We are vile
men. We are sinful men. At the highest
of heights, we are criminal in nature. Are you hearing me? But here's the good news. He's
brought himself into union with thugs, with crooks, with wicked
men, with murderers, with blasphemers, with the vilest of the vile.
This is the glory of the gospel. This is the scandalous glory
of the gospel. Because you and I would have
a gospel that would only pick up nice people. You and I would
have a gospel that only hangs with nice, kind people. Christ
is saving thugs, crooks, wicked men, vile men, murderers. Are you hearing me? In fact,
I know some of you still struggling. You're twirling right now. You're
swirling. Is he getting the text right?
Well, let me help you right now. Do you see what's going on in
the Middle East? Are our brothers in the Middle
East thugs? Are they serious about war? Are they ready to
take up swords? That's the same atmosphere Jesus
was in 2,000 years ago. He wasn't some milquetoast manby-pamby
man. Hey, fellas, go get the sword.
Now watch this now. Was he God? Yes, he was. He bore the full nature of the
divine person. He is God himself. So can he
actually handle what he's about to do? Yes, indeed. Yes, indeed. And did they actually use their
swords? Yes, they did. Now watch this. This is what
the text says. It went on to say, he said over in verse 38.
Are you there? And they said, Lord, behold,
here are two swords. And he said to them, what? It's
enough. It's enough. And they went on
into the Garden of Gethsemane. And guess what? The soldiers
came, didn't they? Go with me in your Bible to John chapter
18. Done right here today. Go to John. Would these swords
be used? Yes, indeed, they would be used.
Why would they be used? Because Christ necessarily must
identify with all kinds of sinners. Not only the weak and the impotent,
not only sick folk, not only the mentally ill, Not only the
deranged and the demonic, but he must also deal with people
who are given over to violence. Some of us are violent people.
The violent take the kingdom by force. Some of us are very
aggressive by nature. Some of us are given to war by
nature. Can Christ handle that? Can he use a man that has the
capacity to look you in the face and says, down with him, kill
him? While the greatest servant of the New Testament was a murderer.
What's his name? Paul. That's right. I'm trying
to help you understand that the gospel is a sinner's gospel. It's for all kinds of sinners.
There is not a sinner in the world of which the gospel cannot
reach. He made his grave with the rich
and the wicked in his death, and he was numbered among the
transgressors. Thank you, God, for loving me
enough to identify with me. a murderer, a thief, a crook,
the vilest of the vile. He brought himself into union
with me before I brought myself into union. I was ashamed of
him when he was not ashamed of me. I was ashamed of the gospel when
he was not ashamed of me. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? This is the scandal of the gospel. And if this is causing
you to repel, that's the religion in you. That's the religion in
you got you repelling against a glorious God who knows how
to save all kinds of sinners All kinds all kinds of sinners
Did they use the sword? Yes, they did. They went to war
watch it. It was kind of funny, but watch it John chapter 18
verse 10 11. Our Lord goes to the Garden of
Gethsemane Judas Iscariot who's called a pointer You know the
dog the pointer dog You got retrieving dogs, and you got this kind of
dog, you got that kind of dog. Judas was called a pointer dog.
When he saw Jesus, he pointed. That's a pointer dog, right? And they went to apprehend our
master, and he spoke, I am he, and they fell down backwards.
And the second time, who do you want? He says, I am he. And he
says, if you want me, let these go. Remember that? That's the
doctrine of substitution. Christ has to die in order for
us to be liberated. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
But now watch this. I love it. Got a thug brother
in Peter. Bless his heart. Now see, don't
the master know the motive of your heart? Our master is teaching
sound gospel to these rulers who want to take him. Verse 8,
Jesus answered, have I told you that I am he? If therefore you
seek me, let these go their way. That the saying of the scriptures
might be fulfilled which he spake of them of which you gave me
I have lost none Christ is being theologically Rich in his conversation
with even those who are opposing him right now and while he is
teaching them doctrine What is brother peter doing? Pulling
the sword out going to work Lord. I told you I loved you. I told
you I loved you. He goes to hack it Cutting up
folks, stabbing folks. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Right? I love it. I love it. Bless you, Peter. See, because his master can fix
it. What we mess up, he can fix. You understand? Had Peter killed
all the soldiers, Christ could have solved that problem. But
he let Peter have a sword to teach us a truth. Here it is. So then Peter, Simon having a
sword, he drew it and he smote the high priest servant. Cut
his ear off. He tried to get the head. He
tried. Cut his ear off. That means Peter wasn't a soldier.
You know, he, he wasn't a gladiator. I love me some gladiator, but
Peter wasn't a gladiator. Yeah, he swung. His trajectory wasn't
quite right and the soldier dipped a little bit. Got his ear. He
got something. He got something. Peter meant
well. You're not going to take my master out without us giving
you a fight. That's what the sword is about.
Okay, so I've dragged you along in order to help us understand
that what Christ is saving is sinners. and that he has within
the orbit of his objective and purpose in saving us the capacity
to use us in our weaknesses and in our strengths and even in
our misperceptions. Certainly what Peter did was
wrong from all ethical standpoints. The servant of the high priest
didn't draw his sword. Peter, what you doing? But Peter
saw the whole advancement of the army against our master as
hostile. And he figured, hey, I'm going
first. Some of us are like that. We're swinging first, right? Fear got a hold of it. His motive
was to protect his master. But I'll show you a truth here
if you don't get it. It's very clear. Not only have I stated
that the union of Christ with his people demonstrate that we
are weak and impotent sinners, though we are his companions,
and that we are the violent transgressors that he saves and our only hope
is in Christ. You do believe that, right? But
there are here symbols of a spiritual battle to come. Yeah, I'll close here. Peter
cut this dude's ear off. And our master said, Peter, don't
do that. This is just not the way that is done. And so what
does he do? He heals the man, doesn't he?
Told you Christ can fix everything we mess up. You better stick
that in your pocket, too, because you're going to mess up something
next week. He can fix it. He can heal it. He can heal that
brother's ear, right? But in that the scriptures allowed
this to be depicted, might I say this is the battle between the
kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light? That the kingdom of
darkness with its false authority was coming against the kingdom
of light with its true authority? And that they were both fighting,
really, they were both fighting, and the false high priest had
a servant who was smitten by the true high priest's servant.
that servant was Peter. Peter used the sword to cut his
ear off. Now the ear is designed for hearing. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the Word of God. And what Peter was demonstrating
by his act was that this servant was under a false gospel. He
wasn't under the true high priest ministry of Jesus Christ. He
was under a false ministry and therefore he needs to be deaf. He needs to not be able to hear.
He's under the wrong high priest. And so, taking, waging war against
the gospel will kill your capacity to comprehend truth so long as
you are under a false high priest. So long as you are under a false
high priest, you can never hear the gospel. It will be the very
gospel itself that will cut your ear off. Unless you are under
the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the great high
priest of his church, you will never hear the truth of the gospel. Unless he heals you. And I submit
to you that that healing probably was a precursor to Malchus switching
sides. In any event, we're done because
I want to do the baptism. The Lord is good.