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 unto 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
unbid. And I would have the same reaction
John did. John said, no. He's forbidding
me. 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? 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 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,
Where do 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. And what the substance
of this is, I don't know, but it's fire that came down from
heaven. 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 am I straightened?
How am I straightened? This is 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. And we have a tendency to think
He's too holy, 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. 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 an answer. for the Son of
God who came, who lives there to proclaim." 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 with 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, worshipping
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'd say, 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 said 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 him 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? Do 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. Satan, here is Baal, let the
fire come down. 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 there would
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 lifted
up the water, it consumed the stones, it consumed the dust.
Can you imagine seeing that? There was nothing left. I mean,
they were watching. The fire comes down 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 3. 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 cometh
thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto
him, Suffereth to be so now. I love the way he says this.
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. Suffer it
to be so now, in the time of my elimination. In the time when
I walk upon this earth. Suffer it to be so now, and look
what he says next. For thus it becometh. What's
the next word? 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 it 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. Oh, 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 is found in Hebrews chapter 7, verse 9. Hebrews chapter
7, verse 9. 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. Was he a great grandfather? Maybe
a 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? He doesn't say it was Canada, he says he himself paid
those costs. 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 law. Until the New Testament came
along, most people just assumed Lot was not safe. I mean, if
you looked at his life, he didn't seem safe. I mean, he made one wrong move
after another. He did one bad thing after another. I think 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. 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 just glorious. On the very same day that our
Lord was crucified on Calvary Street, 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, bow! 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. Guilty was set
free. Now hold on. How's that fair? You figure how many times, I
thought, can you imagine what it would be like to be accused
of something that you didn't do, and then they put you in
an electric chair, and you go, how do you feel right before
it happens, and you know you didn't do it, and yet you're
accused of it, and you're not? Well, that's happened many times
in my life. But what about when someone is guilty of some horrible
crime, and they're never caught, and somebody else is accused
of it, and those people just go off? Because that doesn't
seem right. That's what'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 being tempted. He felt the experience
of the guilt and the shame and the horror of sin. He felt it much more tempted
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 with the
commission. Now, 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 deserves it. It's because that's when he ain't
coming as a sinner's substitute. But just as truly as my sin became
his sin, that 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 measure unto 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 the 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 was 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 sanctifieth 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 sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all
of one. for the witch's cause, he's not
ashamed to call him brother. 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 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 of Scripture. They said, brethren, what shall
we do? We're in trouble. What shall we do? Peter said,
repeat. 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 in the name of Jesus Christ. And
then a couple of days later, another 5,000 confessed Christ
in Believer's Baptism. 8,000 people just in a few days.
And then the next time we read of a baptism is found in Acts
chapter 8. I'd like you to turn there. Acts chapter 8. Verse 35. Then Philip opened his mouth
and began at that same scripture, Isaiah 53, and preached unto
him, Jesus. I love that, 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 unto 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 what. What hinders me? Now look what Philip said. And
Philip said, if you believe, With all your heart, you know. 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. 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 son. 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. I hear people talk about elections
as if it's a secondary doctrine and not a part of preaching the
gospel. I guess Ananias didn't know that. We should have informed
him, maybe he may go to seminary and get things straightened up.
The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldst know
his will. He's talking about his will. in salvation. He's not talking
about, no, His will I can... King Commandments, His will be
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. The 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 for? 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 until you know. He believed He was the Son of
God. He believed that He's God manifested in the flesh. Are
you waiting? Do you have a deeper experience?
Well, that's a waste of time. What are you waiting on? Why
are you caring? 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 commandment. 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. 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 to go, I feel led to
do it. 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 going to 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.