I'm thankful that he holds us,
aren't you? Let us turn in our Bibles today
to Mark chapter 1. Mark chapter 1, we are going
to look at verses 9, 10, and 11 today. And it came to pass
in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and
was baptized of John in Jordan. And straightway coming up out
of the water, he saw the heavens opened and the spirit like a
dove descending upon him. And there came a voice from heaven
saying, thou art my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Our text begins with the words
in those days. John the Baptist was born, we
know, six months before the Lord Jesus Christ. And since he was
a Levite, his father, Zacchaeus, was a priest The priest entered
the ministry at the age of 30. We may assume that John the Baptist,
at about that age, about 30, that he began to preach and to
announce the coming of the Savior. Luke, in his gospel account,
tells us this about the Lord at his baptism. He began to be
about 30 years of age. That means that for about six
months now, when this took place that we've just read about here
in Mark chapter one, for about six months, John the Baptist,
who was the forerunner of Christ, he who had been prophesied of
old as God's messenger to come before the messenger of God,
he had been announcing, he had been preaching and baptizing
saying, repent. for the kingdom of heaven is
at hand. Now the three truths that I want
to bring to us today from these verses concern the Trinity. The Trinity, God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. First of all, the Son
of God humbling himself in verse nine. And I take occasion to
speak of him humbling himself from the words Jesus came from
Nazareth of Galilee. The Apostle Paul in Philippians
2 declares that he who was in the form of God, and if you look
back in verse 1 here in Mark, the Son of God, Paul tells us
in Philippians, he who was in the form of God, took upon him
the form of a servant. He was made in the likeness of
men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself. So I want to bring out several
things here that show us how the Lord Jesus Christ, to this
point at his baptism, how he had humbled himself. First, he
being made of a poor woman humbled himself. The body which God the
Holy Spirit prepared him in the womb of the virgin. And in the
book of Psalms, in Psalm 139, the psalmist tells us that the
womb is the lowest parts of the earth. considered by God the
lowest parts of the earth, the womb in which rather the body
of the Lord Jesus Christ was prepared. He who was in the form
of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made
himself of no reputation. And he took upon him the form
of a servant and made in the likeness of man, Being found
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself. He who was Mary's creator,
think about this, he who created Mary became Mary's son. He became Mary's son to be her
savior, to save her from her sins. You know, there's many
people who worship Mary, but I tell you, Mary worshiped the
Lord. Did Mary need a savior? Of course
she did. She's like you and she's like
me. She's like every child of Adam who comes into this world. We receive a sinful nature from
our father all the way back onto our father, Adam. Look, turn
over a few pages into Luke chapter one, just a minute. Did Mary,
the mother of the Lord Jesus Christ, did she need a savior?
Yes, she did. Luke chapter 1 and verses 46
and 47, we read, and Mary said, my soul, my soul, I cannot help but think
of the Psalm 103 when David said, to his soul. Bless the Lord,
O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Bless
the Lord, O my soul, who forgiveth all thine iniquities. That's
what Mary is doing here, isn't it? Bless the Lord, my soul. Magnify the Lord. And my spirit
hath rejoiced in God, my Savior. The Lord Jesus Christ humbled
himself in coming into this world through the birth of the Virgin
Mary, the lowest parts of the earth, the scripture says. And
we know she was a poor woman. Her husband, Joseph, also was
poor. And we know this because when
The Lord Jesus Christ was about six weeks of age. He was taken
to the temple and Mary went there for her purification. The Lord Jesus Christ, he was
pure, but the mother had to go to the temple and present a sacrifice
for her purification and You could bring a lamb, you could
bring larger animals, but for those who were extremely poor,
you could bring two turtle doves. And that's what Mary and Joseph
brought, as it's recorded in the Gospel of Luke. We cannot
help but think of that scripture in 2 Corinthians 8, where the
apostle Paul said, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that though he was rich, And as the eternal son of God, how
is it possible to compute his wealth when everything is his?
Everything is his by creation. Without him was not anything
made that was made. All things are his. He who was
rich yet for your sakes, for my sake, for your sake today,
if you are one of his. For your sake He became poor,
that you through His poverty might be made rich. And oh, how
rich we are to be made sons and daughters of God, to be heirs
and joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. He was made poor
that we might be made rich. We know that He was eternally
rich as the Son of God, but as man He became poor. Later in
his ministry, remember he says that the son of man hath not
where to lay his head. So the first way we see the Lord
Jesus Christ here, the eternal son of God, humbling himself
is being made of a poor woman. He humbled himself. And second,
he being soon taken into Egypt, humbled himself. Joseph, was
warned in a dream of what Herod would do. When the wise men came
and asked where he who is to be king would be born, he was
told in Bethlehem. Of course, he told those wise
men, when you find him, come back so I too can go and worship
him. We know he was lying and full
of deceit. It wasn't long before he gave
his orders that the soldiers were to go and to slay all the
infant boys around Bethlehem where he was told he would be
born. But before that, Joseph took Mary and the child Jesus
and hurried into Egypt. Now what's significant about
that? Remember this, Mary was of the house of David. Joseph
was the house of David. That's the tribe of Judah. They
came from the tribe of Judah. And just like the ancestors of
the Lord Jesus Christ, according to the flesh, Judah's sons were
taken into Egypt or went into Egypt. And what happened to them
there? They became servants, they became
slaves of the Egyptians. So the Lord Jesus Christ, who
in Isaiah chapter 42 is presented to us as God's servant. And just as his ancestors, according
to the flesh, had been servants in Egypt, so the Lord Jesus Christ
is taken into Egypt, and the prophecy is fulfilled. I have
called my son out of Egypt. He was brought out of Egypt. A third way that we see the Lord
humbling himself, he is brought to live in Nazareth. He was brought
to live in Nazareth. Now, we're not told why, but
we do know that the city of Nazareth was a despised place. Remember what Nathanael said
when Philip, his brother, told him, we have found him. of whom
Moses and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth. And Nathanael
said, can any good thing come out of Nazareth? In other words,
this city had had such a reputation, such a place of being a despised
place. This is where the Lord Jesus
Christ lived for 30, almost 30 years he was there. And this
fulfilled a prophecy as well, an Old Testament prophecy. He
shall be called a Nazarene. And we take the root of that
word Nazareth and we come up with that word Nazarene. He was called a Nazarene, Jesus
of Nazareth. A fourth way that we see him
humbling himself is he He earned his bread, earning his bread
by the sweat of his brow. And I say this because it was
later asked, and it was not denied, is not this the carpenter? Speaking
of the Lord Jesus Christ, is not this the carpenter? And no
doubt, as he worked in the carpenter shop of Joseph, he earned his
bread by the sweat of his brow. And this is important to us because
we know that was part of the curse that Adam brought upon
mankind. When Adam sinned and disobeyed
God, part of that curse was in the sweat of thy face shalt thou
eat bread. And that was the first Adam who
brought sin into this world. And now here's the second Adam.
The last Adam, the last man, the Lord Jesus Christ who has
come into this world to redeem his people from sin. To redeem
his people from sin being made a curse for us. You see, the
law of God, and I'm not talking about the law which was given
on Sinai. I'm talking about the moral law
of God under which all men are born. We're all born under that
law of God, whether a person was a Jew or a Gentile, it made
no difference. We all come into this world under
that law, the moral law of God. And the Lord Jesus Christ was
made a curse. Now, He Himself did not become
a curse. He was that Holy Son of God,
even when He was made a curse. And how was He made a curse for
us? that he might redeem us from
the curse of the law. He was made a curse for us when
he was nailed on that tree, when he was hanged upon that tree,
because the scripture said, cursed is everyone that is hanged upon
a tree. Here is the creator of the trees
and all of vegetation in the world, and yet he is nailed too. a tree that he had himself created,
the wood from the tree that he himself had created. And number five, he coming from
Nazareth to where John was baptizing in Judea, we see him humbling
himself. Wasn't John his forerunner? Absolutely. Wasn't John his servant? Yes. Didn't John himself confess that
he was so beneath the dignity of the Lord Jesus Christ, he
wasn't even worthy to unloose his sandal straps? Yes, he did. Well, why then did the Lord Jesus
Christ come to John? Why didn't he just send word,
John, come and baptize me here in Nazareth? Why did he go? This
is all part of the Lord Jesus Christ humbling himself. And
another reason, no doubt, that the Lord Jesus Christ humbled
himself here is to teach us the lesson of the importance of baptism. The writers say it probably took
a trip of two to three days. And remember the way he traveled,
he walked. He walked from Nazareth to where
John was baptizing near Jerusalem and Judea and the River Jordan. The importance of baptism. You see, it is in baptism that
believers confess their faith in Christ the Lord. I was reading
this past week again of Charles Spurgeon's testimony concerning
his baptism. You know, Charles Spurgeon His
father was a pastor. His grandfather was a pastor.
And when you read his life, his grandfather had an unusual influence
upon his grandson, Charles. In fact, Charles spent a lot
of time there in the manse, the parsonage of his grandfather,
James Spurgeon. But these two men, his father
and his grandfather, they were both ministers in the Church
of England. They both sprinkled babies. And
no doubt Charles Spurgeon himself was sprinkled as a baby. But
after the Lord saved him, when he was converted, when he realized
that from the scriptures, that first of all, sprinkling is not
baptism. Now you can call it baptism.
but it's not baptism according to the word of God. And he realized
that, and number two, he realized that baptism is not for infants,
that baptism is for believers. Remember the story about his
mother, when she found out he was going to be baptized, she
said, Charles, I never expected that of you. And he said, well,
mother, didn't you pray For my conversion, she said, I prayed
for your conversion since you were born, but I never prayed
for you to be a Baptist. But I read again when he walked
to the place where he too was baptized in a river. And this
is what he said later. He said, a thousand fears, a
thousand of my fears that I had were drowned that day in the
river with me. Baptism shows the gospel that
we profess to believe, the death, the burial, and the resurrection
of our Savior. And yes, baptism is important. Some people ask, well, is it
necessary? Does a person have to be baptized
to be saved? Of course not. We know from the
Word of God men who were saved who were not baptized, but does
any real believer want to ask, is it necessary? Is it absolutely
necessary? Doesn't a believer who loves
Christ, who wants to serve Christ, who wants to honor Christ say,
when? When may I be baptized? I trust it so. So first of all,
we see the eternal son of God here in this verse nine, as man,
the Lord Jesus Christ, as he was baptized. Now second, the
Holy Spirit's descent upon him in verse 10, and straightway
coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened and the
spirit like a dove descending upon him. Now when we compare
the gospels together, these gospel narratives rather, together,
it becomes apparent that both the Lord Jesus Christ and John,
they both saw the dove, the Holy Spirit, descending upon Christ
as a dove. In fact, in John's gospel, we
read, and John, that is John the Baptist, bear record saying,
I saw. I saw the Spirit descending from
heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him." Now that word which
is translated there, abode, it means, of course, to stay, to
dwell, to abide, to continue, to remain. The Spirit of God
came upon the Lord Jesus Christ in the form of a dove to abide,
to dwell upon him. And he also tells us there in
John chapter 1 that he was given the Spirit without measure. Every
child of God receives God the Holy Spirit, but in measure,
the Lord Jesus Christ without measure was he anointed of the
Holy Spirit. Consider these things about the
dove as typical of the Holy Spirit. First of all, remember in Genesis
chapter 1 and verse 2, we read, in the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth, and the earth was without form and
void, and the Spirit of the Lord huddled upon the waters. He stayed upon the waters, fluttered,
moved upon the face of the waters. That was the beginning of that
old dispensation, the Old Testament. But now here we have the new
dispensation. Behold, the kingdom of heaven
is at hand, this new dispensation. And so again, we see God, the
Holy Spirit coming upon the Lord Jesus Christ in the form of a
dove. here at the beginning of what
the Word of God calls these last days or this last dispensation. There's not going to be another
dispensation after this. When this dispensation is ended,
eternity has begun. There is no further dispensation. There's a legal dispensation,
an old dispensation, and we've had the same gospel, the same
covenant of grace all along. That's never changed. That's
the way God has saved sinners from the beginning. But it was
administered under a legal dispensation, the Old Testament, and now the
new dispensation, a gospel dispensation. And it is the gospel of the good
news of Christ. But I want us to think about
the dove, the dove as pictured, the Holy Spirit. First of all,
the dove is a clean animal. Remember in the law of Moses,
certain animals, certain fowls were clean and certain animals
were unclean. The dove was a clean animal.
And we know that because as I mentioned just a few minutes ago, God allowed,
God permitted that a dove could be offered as a sacrifice for
those who were poor. But we also remember in the days
of Noah when the flood was ended and he wanted to find out if
the waters had receded, remember he sent out a raven and he sent
out a dove. The raven didn't come back, did
he? A raven is an unclean animal.
A raven found a place to light its feet, maybe on a stinking
carcass or something floating in the water, but not the dove. The dove came back. The dove
is a clean animal. The Lord God, the Holy Spirit
comes down in the form of a dove showing us His holiness. He is
the Spirit of the Lord. We refer to Him as the Holy Spirit. And just like the Father is holy
and the Son is holy, so God the Spirit is holy, the Holy Spirit. The dove pictured this, the cleanness,
the holiness of God, the Holy Spirit. A second thing, a dove
is a gentle, a harmless creature. Just like the Lord Jesus Christ
is pictured by a lamb. No one is afraid of a lamb. A lamb is a harmless animal. And the same is true of a dove. In fact, the Lord Jesus Christ,
when he sent out his disciples, he said he sent them out as sheep
among wolves and commanded them to be harmless as doves. The Lord Jesus Christ is meek
and lowly in heart. And God the Holy Spirit also
is pictured here by a harmless, a gentle creature of God. The Holy Spirit comes upon his
people and breathes upon his people. And the Holy Spirit is
the one who convinces us of sin and of righteousness and of judgment
to come. And third, the dove is a creature
which was known for its speed, evidently. Now, we don't think
of doves as being a speedy fowl, but evidently they were
because David, when he prayed, he said, Oh, that I had wings
like a dove, for then would I fly away and be at rest. And I'm sure every one of us
here have thought the same thing at some time in our life, haven't
we? Oh, that I had wings of a dove, for then would I fly away and
I would be at rest. I would be out of this circumstance,
whatever it might be. I would be gone from here. They
were thought of as being creatures with speed, and the Holy Spirit
here comes down upon the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the head. Remember this, He is the head
of all believers, the mystical body, His mystical body. We are
members of His body, and just as He came upon Him, so with
speed, God the Holy Spirit many times comes to us. In a time
of need, he told his disciples, when you are brought before the
synagogue and they ask you this, that, and the other, give no
thought of what you're going to say, because the Holy Spirit,
he'll come quickly, he'll come swiftly, and he'll give you the
words to say. And haven't you experienced that?
I'm sure you have as a believer, as a child of God. when you were
in a conversation, maybe, and you didn't know what to say,
and yet, quickly, God gave you the word. God, the Holy Spirit,
gave you the right words to say. And fourthly, the dove is a creature
known for its mourning. Its mourning. We hear of the
dove's mourning. So the Holy Spirit makes intercession
for the saints. with what the Apostle Paul referred
to as groanings, which cannot be uttered. So here we have God
the Holy Spirit coming upon the Lord Jesus Christ as a dove. Now third, we see the Father. So we've seen God the Son, Him
humbling Himself. We've seen God the Holy Spirit
coming in the form of a dove. And lastly, the Father's declaration
of His love. to the Lord Jesus. And there
came a voice from heaven saying, thou art my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased. When we read these words here
in Mark, we see that the father spoke to the son. He spoke to the Lord Jesus Christ. But in Matthew's gospel, the
words seem to indicate that the father spoke to those who were
there. This is my beloved son. Here it is, thou art my beloved
son, in whom I am well pleased. But there, this is my beloved
son, in whom I am well pleased. And if no one else heard and
understood the voice, I'm sure John the Baptist did, as well
as the Lord Jesus Christ. Three times, three times during
our Lord's earthly ministry, the Father spoke to him from
heaven. Now he spoke many other times,
I understand that, because sometimes you will read, and Jesus answered,
but no one had spoken to him. But Jesus answered, I thank thee,
O father, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and
the prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. So I know the
father was continually speaking to his son when he was here in
the flesh, and the son was continually speaking to the father. But on
three occasions at least, the Father spoke from heaven with
a voice. This is the first time, and then
we know on the Mount of Transfiguration, when Peter, James, and John were
taken with him up on that mountain and the Lord was transfigured
before them. Remember Peter, he said he didn't
know what to say. He was so amazed and so overwhelmed
with seeing the Lord Jesus Christ, his deity, busting through, his
humanity, his face shining like the sun in its brightness. Peter said, I didn't know what
to say. You know, Peter was one of those
people who just had to say something. He just had to say something.
Sometimes we feel like we just must say something when in all
probability it would It'd be better if we just kept our mouth
closed. Peter said, let's make a temple
here. Let's make three temples here. One for you, Elijah. One for you, Moses. And one for
you, the Lord Jesus. What was he doing? He was putting
the Lord Jesus Christ on the same level, wasn't he? as Moses,
the giver of the law, Elijah, the representative of the prophets,
but here's one who is Moses' Lord, Elijah's Lord. Peter said, I didn't know what
I was saying, but the Lord said something, didn't he? God the
Father said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And then one other occasion,
I want you to turn to this one, John chapter 12. in John chapter 12, beginning with verse 20. And there were certain Greeks,
John chapter 12 and verse 20, there were certain Greeks among
them that came up to worship at the feast. These were Gentile
proselytes. The same came, therefore, to
Philip, which was of Bethesda of Galilee, and desired him,
saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. Philip cometh and telleth Andrew,
and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus, and Jesus answered them,
saying, The hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth
alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth
much fruit. He that loveth his life shall
lose it, and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep
it unto life eternal. If any man serve me, let him
follow me, and where I am, there shall also my servant be. If
any man serve me, him will my father honor. Now is my soul
troubled, what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour,
but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy
name. Then, here it is, then came there
a voice from heaven saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify
it again. The people therefore that stood
by and heard said that it thundered. Others said, an angel spake to
him. Jesus answered and said, this
voice came not because of me, but for your sakes. Now is the
judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of the world
be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from
the earth, will draw all unto me. This he said, signifying
what death he should die. So the Father's voice, our Lord
here tells those who were near him, the Father spoke for your
sakes. It wasn't for his sake. It's
for your sake that he spoke. The Father spoke for our sake,
that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
and that believing we might have life through his name. Wouldn't you like to hear the
Father speak to you? Wouldn't you like to hear the
Father speak to you? You know you can. You may. But it will be in the word of
God. It will not be an articulate voice. It will be from the word
of God. And the Father speaks and tells
us that All who are in His Son are accepted of Him. And just
as the Father loved the Son, so He loves each and every one
who is in His Son, who loves His Son, who trusts in His Son,
who confesses His Son. I ask the Lord's blessing upon
these words today. And I want us to sing a hymn,
number 287, Like a River Glorious. Like a River Glorious.