Have you ever wondered why the
Lord Jesus Christ was baptized? Now I can see why I would be
baptized and I can see why you would be baptized, but why would
he be baptized? He never sinned. He's the son of God. Why would
he subject himself to this thing of baptism? I hope we'll know
the answer to that by the end of this message. Now John the
Baptist knew who Christ was. He was the cousin of Christ and
he knew that he was the eternal son of God. He knew he was the
Lamb of God. What knowledge? I don't know
that many people knew what John the Baptist knew. So how did
he feel when the eternal Son of God came to him. And John
knew who he was. John knew that he was a man.
He knew that he was a sinful man. He knew that he needed the
Lamb of God to save him. So how did he feel when the Lord
Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, came to be baptized of
him? Verse 13, then cometh Jesus from
Galilee to Jordan and to John, to be baptized of him. Now, put
yourself in John's place. What if Jesus Christ came to
you and said, I want you to baptize me? How would you feel? I think that I would feel very
awkward. I think that I would feel very
unfit and I would have the same reaction John did. John said,
no, he forbade him. Something's wrong with this.
I have need to be baptized of thee. Comest thou to me? He didn't understand this, and
you and I can understand why he felt this awkwardness and
this hesitancy in this. Now, what is this thing of baptism? Going under the water and coming
back up. What is this thing of baptism? Well, by definition, it means
to dip, to immerse in, to submerge under, and to emerge from. That's what the word means by
definition. It was first used with reference
to dyeing garments. You would take a garment and
dip it all the way under the dye and bring it back up. You would completely submerge
it and emerge it from that dye. When John baptized, people were
immersed in the water. They were submerged under the
water. and they emerged out of the water. That and only that is baptism. This thing of sprinkling people,
or you get that in the Bible. It's not there. And when you,
baptism pictures burial, when you bury somebody, do you just
sprinkle dirt on them? No, you take them all the way
under, don't you? And you completely cover them. Now, why is this thing of baptism
an issue? Turn with me to Luke chapter
12. Now remember when the Lord says
this, he has already been baptized by water by John the Baptist.
He's already gone through this thing of baptism. Look here in
Luke chapter 12 in verse 49, he says, I am come to send fire
on the earth. And what will I, if it be already
kindled? Now the fire he's talking about
is not fire like you light a match and set something on fire. That's
not the fire he's talking about at all. He's not talking about
combustion the way we would understand fire. He's talking about fire
that came down from heaven. Now what the substance of this
is, I don't know, but it's fire that came down from heaven. And
look what he says in verse 50, but I have a baptism. to be baptized
with. Now he had not yet been baptized
with this baptism. He'd already gone through water
baptism. He'd already been submerged under water and emerged from
it. But he said, this baptism I have not yet experienced. And he says, how is my, how am
I straightened? How am I straightened as the
son of God speaking? And he's talking about the awful
thoughts of experiencing this baptism of fire. Now, what he's
talking about is the fire of God's wrath coming down from
heaven upon him and him being baptized, completely submerged
in the wrath of God. And he said, how is my soul straightened? until it be accomplished. The baptism of fire. Now, why is there such a thing
as the wrath of God? There is the wrath of God. Why
is there such a thing as the wrath of God? There's one reason
for the wrath of God. What is that reason? Sin. God's holy. God's holy. Now we have a tendency to think
he's too holy and he's too strict, but that just shows how sinful
we are in thinking something like that. God is holy. Sin must be punished or God would
cease to be God. God could not be God and let
sin go unpunished. The reason for the wrath of God
is sin. Now, The sins of God's people
were imputed to the Lord Jesus Christ so that they became his
sins. He became guilty of those sins. That's why God's wrath came down
upon him because he's guilty, guilty as charged. That's why he suffered on the
tree. When he said from the cross, my God, my God, why have you
forsaken me? He was not asking that question
because he didn't know the answer. He knew the answer, but thou
art holy. Thou art holy. He knew the reason his father
was forsaking him was because of sin. Sin must be punished. The guilty must be condemned. And he said, how is my soul straightened
until it be accomplished? We sing that song, Man of Sorrows. What a name. for the son of God
who came ruined sinners to reclaim. Hallelujah. What a savior. Every
day he lived on this earth. I can't even imagine that. Every
day he lived on this earth, he lived with the knowledge that
he was going to suffer the wrath of God, the full equivalent of
hell. Now, he said, how is my soul
straight until it be accomplished? I like that word. You see, his
baptism, and I'm not talking about water baptism, I'm talking
about this baptism of fire, it accomplished something. It accomplished
something. Remember when Moses and Elijah
spake with him of the decease which he should accomplish. His baptism accomplished something. His baptism accomplished the
complete salvation of everybody he died for. Now, when Christ
was immersed in the wrath of God, every believer was immersed
in the wrath of God. Let me show you this in Matthew
chapter 20. Matthew chapter 20. Verse 20. Then came to him the
mother of Zebedee's children with their sons worshiping him.
and desiring a certain thing of him. And this always tickles
me. This was James and John's mother,
and they were asking for something. She was asking for something
for sons. I have no doubt my mom would do the same thing.
She said, I just don't have any doubt about it. That's why this
has always tickled me. And he said unto her, what wilt
thou? She saith unto him, grant that these my two sons may sit
the one on thy right hand and the other on thy left in thy
kingdom. I want them to be the top dogs.
I want everybody to be underneath them. That's what she's asking. But Jesus answered and said,
you know not what you ask. And then he said to James and
John, are you able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of
and to be baptized with the baptism that I'm baptized with? Do you
think you're able to do something like that? And they said unto
me, we're able. That sounds almost arrogant,
doesn't it? We're able, we can do it. Where are they coming
up with that? And I would think the Lord would
have rebuked them sharply for saying that. We're able, we're
up to the task. But look what the Lord says,
verse 23. He saith unto them, you shall
drink indeed of my cup and be baptized with the baptism that
I'm baptized with. Now, how in the world is that?
Because when he was baptized, I was. When he was immersed under
the wrath of God, I was. So was James. So was John. You will indeed be baptized with
the baptism I'm baptized with. It's going to happen to you.
He was immersed under the wrath of God. Now, do you remember talking about fire
coming down from heaven? You remember the story of Elijah.
Elijah had challenged the prophets of Baal. I'm going to put a sacrifice
down. You put your sacrifice down.
The God who answers by fire, that's the fire he's talking
about, the fire that comes down from heaven. The God that answers
by fire, he's God. He's the one. And the people
said, well spoken, we'll do it that way. And you remember the
prophets of Baal, they cut up their sacrifice and they put
it down and they started dancing and doing all kinds of pagan
rituals saying, here is Baal, let the fire come down. Nothing
happened. Nothing happened. Elijah even
made fun of him at that time. Where is your God? What's wrong?
Is he on a journey? Is he asleep? Perhaps he's using
the bathroom. That's what it means when it
says he was pursuing. Perhaps he was using the bathroom. I
mean, he was using some scalding sarcasm toward them while they
were trying to get their God to answer. Nothing happened.
Then Elijah cut up the sacrifice and
he doused it with water three times to make sure be no trickery
going on. And he prayed for the fire to
come down from heaven. And the scripture says the fire
came down from heaven and it consumed the sacrifice. It licked
up the water. It consumed the stones. It consumed
the dust. Can you imagine? See that there
was nothing left. I mean, they were watching the fire comes
out from heaven on the sacrifice. Boom. There's nothing left. Not
even any dust. That signifies God's acceptance
of the sacrifice. When Jesus Christ. The son of
God. Was hanging on the cross. And
the fire from heaven came down. When he said it is finished.
This time. The sacrifice was not consumed
by the fire. The sacrifice consumed the fire
so that there was nothing left. Complete satisfaction was made. Baptism signifies union with
the Lord Jesus Christ. Back to John the Baptist in our
text in Matthew chapter three. Then cometh Jesus from Galilee,
verse 13, to Jordan and to 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. I love the way he says this,
in the time I, I mean, he's saying to John the Baptist, I realize
why this just doesn't seem right to you because of who I am, but
suffer it to be so now in the time of my humiliation, in the
time when I walk upon this earth, suffer it to be so now, but look
what he says next, for thus it becometh. What's the next word? Us. He didn't say thus it becometh
me. He said, thus it becometh us
to fulfill all righteousness. Everything Jesus Christ the Lord
did on this earth, he did as an us. Suffer to be so now, thus
it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Because of my
union with him, when he fulfilled all righteousness, I did Thus
it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. O believer, rejoice
in this. When he kept the law, you did
too. When he went to the tree, you
did too. When he went into that tomb,
you did too. And when he walked out, you did
too. I believe the scripture that
comes to my mind that most clearly illustrates union with the Lord
Jesus Christ, and it's found in Hebrews chapter seven, verse
nine, Hebrews chapter seven, verse nine. And as I may so say,
Levi also, who received tithes, he paid
tithes in Abraham. Now, Levi was not born. Abraham
was his grandfather. Or was he great grandfather,
great grand, maybe great grandfather. He had not been born, but yet
this passage of scripture says when Abraham paid tithes, Levi
paid tithes. What Abraham did, Levi did because
Levi was in the loins of his grandfather, Abraham. He was
united to him so that it doesn't say it's as if Levi paid tithes,
does it? It doesn't say it was canon to
him, it says he himself paid those tithes. And when the Lord
Jesus Christ obeyed God's law, I did too, because I was united
to him. Thus it becometh us to fulfill
all righteousness. And when he said that of us,
he wasn't just talking about him and John the Baptist. He
was talking about the whole company of God's elect. Thus it becometh
us to fulfill all righteousness. Now, this is how, and I love
thinking about this. I think about a lot. Until the New Testament came
along, most people just assumed Lot was not saved. I mean, if
you looked at his life, he didn't seem saved. I mean,
he made one wrong move after another. He did one bad thing
after another. It's almost shameful to talk
about the things that he did. Lot, And yet, when we open up
the pages of the New Testament, what does the New Testament say
about Lot? That righteous man. And it speaks of his righteous
soul. Just Lot. Vexed with the filthy
conversation of the wicked. The gospel tells us how somebody
like Lot, or me or you, can be righteous before God. Thus it
becometh us to fulfill, to complete all righteousness. Now, then he suffered him, look in
verse 16, and Jesus, when he was baptized, Jesus, when he was baptized, He went under the water and he
came up out of the water and lo, Matthew 3 verse 16, and lo,
the heavens were opened unto him. The heavens were opened
up when he was baptized. And he, John the Baptist saw
the spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon
him. Now heaven would be closed to
you and I. It would be closed if it were
not for the baptism. And I'm not talking about the
water baptism, although he had to be water baptized, but I'm
talking about the baptism under the wrath of God. Heaven would
be closed to you and I, if he were not baptized. Now in the garden of Gethsemane,
He was immersed under the wrath of God on the cross. He was completely submerged under
the wrath of God. And in the resurrection, he emerged
from the wrath of God. Now, let me tell you a story
within the story. When our Lord was hanging on
that cross on that very same day. Now, listen to this. This
is, this is just glorious. On the very same day that our
Lord was crucified on Calvary's tree, there was another man laying
in the prison, waiting his turn to be crucified. His name was
Barabbas. He was a wicked man. He was a
rebel. He was a murderer, and he was
an insurrectionist. And he deserved to be crucified
and put to death in every respect. And there he lays, the scripture
says, bowed. in the prison. And how do you
think you would feel if you knew that very day you were going
to be crucified? I think of the pain of crucifixion.
I mean, just the pain of that. And Barabbas knew, this is coming
to me today. He knew this was the day of his
crucifixion. And he hears the soldiers coming to the cell and
he doesn't know what's going to happen. He's scared to death.
Probably he feels just dread and nauseous and just, Oh, this
is good. They're here to take me and nail
me to a cross. And the soldiers open up the
door and they say, you've been set free. You've been set free. No crucifixion
for you because the innocent was condemned. The guilty was
set free. Now, hold on. How's that fair? You think of how many times I
thought, can you imagine what it would be like to be accused
of something that you didn't do, and there they put you in
an electric chair, and how you'd feel right before it happened.
You know you didn't do it, and yet you're accused of it, and
you're gonna die for it? That's happened many times, no
doubt. Or what about when someone is guilty of some horrible crime,
and you're never caught, and somebody else is accused of it,
and those people just go off scot-free. That doesn't seem
right. It's not right, is it? It's not right for the innocent
to be condemned, and it's not right for the guilty to go free.
But here's the glory of the gospel. That one who knew no sin, that
one who was sinless, that one who never sinned, became guilty
as charged. My sin became his sin so that
he was actually guilty of it. He was guilty. He never sinned,
but he was guilty of my sin. That's why God's wrath came upon
him. You know, Paul, you read that
scripture, Hebrews 4.16, where it says, He was tempted at all points
as we are yet without sin. I used to think about that and
I thought, well, it seems like it wouldn't be that big a deal
to be tempted if you overcame the temptation and didn't sin.
But you know what? The Lord, while he never sinned,
he felt the experience of giving in to the temptation. He felt
the experience of the guilt and the shame and the horror of sin.
He felt it much more acutely than you and I could ever feel
it. And so, yes, he was tempted in all points, like as we are
yet without sin. He never sinned in his person,
but he experienced everything about sin, but the commission
of it. He experienced all this, but just as truly as my sin became
his sin, so that he actually became guilty of it. When God
spoke with his wrath, it's because he deserved it. It's because
that's what he had coming as a sinner substitute. But just
as truly as my sin became his sin, his righteousness becomes
my personal righteousness before God. so that I am righteous,
righteous as God's own Son, having His very righteousness as my
own. Now, when our Lord was baptized,
the scripture says, heaven opened. Heaven opened. And heaven was
opened to me. And the Spirit of God descended
like a dove and rested upon Him, That's why John the Baptist said,
God giveth not the spirit by measuring him. Now you and I
have a measure of the spirit. He had the fullness of the spirit
as the God man. And he was enabled by the spirit
of God as a man to obey God perfectly. And his voice came from heaven. This is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased. Verse 17, a voice from heaven. This is my beloved son in whom
I'm well pleased. You know what that means? If
I'm in the Lord Jesus Christ, he is well pleased with me. Is that a place you want to be?
That's where I want to be. I want to be in the place where
he is well pleased with me. This is my beloved son in whom
I'm well pleased. Now, why was Christ baptized? That's the question I began with. I see why I'm baptized. When
I'm baptized, here's what I'm confessing. I'm confessing my
only hope and my complete hope, all my salvation is this. When
he lived, he lived for me. When he died, he died for me.
When He was raised, He was raised for me. I'm confessing that. That's my only hope. Why was
the Lord baptized? He was confessing His union with
me. He was confessing His union with
all of His people. That's why He was baptized. We
confess our union with Him, and He confesses His union with us. Behold, I and the children that
thou hast given me. Both he that sanctifyeth and
they who are sanctified are all of one." This is a great mystery,
isn't it? It's mysterious, it's glorious. Both he that sanctifyeth
and they who are sanctified are all of one. For the witch's cause,
he's not ashamed to call them brethren. He's not ashamed of
me. He says, that's my brother. He's
perfect. He's holy as I am. He's in me. Now that's what baptism
signifies and that's why he was baptized. Now the next The time
we read of baptism was in the day of Pentecost. After Peter
preached the gospel, God hath made this same Jesus whom you
crucified, both Lord and Christ. They were pricked in the hearts,
the scripture said. They said, men and brethren, what shall we do?
We're in trouble. What shall we do? Peter said, repent. Change your mind. Change your mind about God, about
yourself, about how God saves sinners. Change your mind and
be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for
the remission of sins. Now, a chapter later, 3,000 people
were baptized at that time, the very murderers of Jesus Christ.
And then a couple of days later, another 5,000 confessed Christ
in believers baptism. 8,000 people just in a few days.
And then the next time we read of a baptism is found in Acts
chapter eight. I'd like you to turn there. Acts chapter eight. Verse 35. Then Philip opened his mouth
and began at that same scripture, Isaiah 53, and preached unto
him, Jesus. I love that. He preached unto
him, Jesus. He's the one who was wounded
for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. And as they
went on their way, verse 36, they came unto a certain water. Now, no doubt Philip had told
him about water baptism. And as they went on their way,
they came into a certain water and the eunuch said, see, here's
water. Now, what does hinder me to be
baptized? If there's a reason for me to
not be baptized, I want to know it. I mean, maybe I don't know
enough. Maybe I haven't experienced enough.
Maybe I need to be examined longer. Maybe I need to get holy. I want
to know. If there's a reason for me to
not be baptized, give it to me, because I don't want to be baptized
if I shouldn't. Here's water. What hinders me? Now, look what
Philip said, and Philip said, If you believe with all your
heart, you may. And I love this next answer.
And he answered and said, I believe, I believe. Now notice he didn't
say, I believe that I'm saved. He didn't say, I believe I'm
one of God's elect. He didn't say, I believe that I've been
regenerated by God, the Holy spirit. He didn't say any of
those things. He said, I believe that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God. Do you believe that? Do you believe that? And Philip commanded the chariot
to stand still, and they went down both into the water, both
Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. Now the next baptism we read
of, and this is what I'm going to end with, is the apostle Paul
being baptized. Now I want to look in Acts chapter
22 at his telling of what took place
when he was baptized. Verse 11, and when I could not
see for the glory of that light being led by the hand of them
that were with me, I came into Damascus. And one Ananias, a
devout man, according to the law, having a good report of
all the Jews which dwelt there, came unto me and stood and said
unto me, brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same
hour I looked upon him and he said, The God of our fathers
hath chosen thee. Isn't that interesting? The first thing he heard about
was election. The God of our fathers hath chosen thee. Well, I hear people talk about
elections as if it's a secondary doctrine or not a part of preaching
the gospel. I guess Ananias didn't know that.
We should have informed him. Maybe he needs to go to seminary
to get things straightened up. The God of our fathers hath chosen
thee that thou should know his will. He's talking about his will in
salvation. He's not talking about, no, his
will, like 10 commandments, it's his will for you not steal and
all that kind of stuff. No, he's talking about, this
is the will of him that sent me that of all which he has given
me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last
day and see that just one. There's just one, just one. And
because of this just one, all of his people are justified. See that just one and should
hear the voice of his mouth for thou shalt be his witness unto
all men of what you've seen and what you've heard. And now why
tarryest thou? What are you waiting on? You
waiting to get better? It ain't going to happen. I can
tell you that right now. Your flesh is not going to get
better. Are you waiting until you know more? Well, salvation
is not how much you know, it's who you know. He believed he
was the son of God. He believed that he's God manifested
in the flesh. Are you waiting until you have
a deeper experience? Well, that's a waste of time. What are you
waiting on? Why are you tarrying? Arise and be baptized. Wash away thy sins, calling upon
the name of the Lord. Now, every believer is called
upon to confess Jesus Christ in believer's baptism. Now, this is a command. This
is the answer of a good conscience to God. Confess Christ in believer's
baptism. Don't wait. If you've heard the
gospel, if you believe he's the son of God, I've heard people
say, well, I need to feel led to do it. I, this is a, this
is, I would love to see how my dad would react if he told me
to do something. I said, well, I'm waiting till
I feel led to. Won't work. Won't work. What are you waiting
on? Arise and be baptized. And what a beautiful thing baptism
is. I confess in that act of water
baptism. Here's my hope that I'm gonna
be in glory. When Jesus Christ lived and kept
the law, I did too. When he died on Calvary's tree,
I was right there with him. He died for me. When he was raised
from the dead, I was too. And as he's seated right now
in heaven, I'm right there with him because I'm in him. That is the believer's hope. That's why Christ was baptized. He was showing us his union with
us. Let's pray.