June 2nd, 1953, London, England, Westminster Abbey.
Queen Elizabeth II was crowned.
Crowned Queen of England.
She had already was the queen by birthright,
but on that day, she was inaugurated as Queen of England.
And it came to a climax when the Archbishop of Canterbury
brought the four-pound crown of St. Edwards
and placed that upon her brow.
And everybody in Westminster Abbey said,
God save the queen!
Matthew 3, 13-17, the baptism of Jesus
is the inauguration of His kingly reign on earth.
Let's read this together.
Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John.
John the Baptist.
To be baptized by Him.
John would have prevented Him saying,
I need to be baptized by you, and you come to Me?
But Jesus answered him,
Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us
to fulfill all righteousness.
Then John consented.
And when Jesus was baptized,
immediately He went up from the water,
and behold, the heavens were opened to Him.
And He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove
and coming to rest on Him.
And behold, a voice from heaven said,
This is My beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.
This baptism of Jesus is a big event.
And what we see in this little passage,
really the focus is on what happens
leading up to the baptism,
and then what happens immediately after the baptism.
There's really not much ink on the baptism itself.
And so this morning what we're going to do is
we're going to focus on what happens beforehand
and what immediately follows afterwards.
But in both, there's some identifying going on.
In the first, verses 3-15,
Jesus, the sinless one, identifies
with the sinners He came to save.
And then in the second section,
verses 16-17,
Jesus is revealed.
He's identified for who He is.
So let's walk through Matthew's account
of the baptism of Jesus.
Two major sections.
What happens before, 13-15.
What happens afterwards,
verses 16-17.
Let's take a look.
Verse 13.
The first thing we notice
is that Jesus came from Galilee
to be baptized by John in the Jordan.
Now all four Gospels record the baptism of Jesus.
And it's actually Mark's Gospel
that states specifically
that Jesus was coming from Nazareth in Galilee.
And we've looked at that a little bit before
a couple weeks ago.
Nazareth.
He will be called a Nazarene, 223.
It's a despised place.
A despicable place.
You don't want to be known
for being from Nazareth.
Remember Nathaniel?
John chapter 1.
Does anything good come out of Nazareth?
Jesus came out of Nazareth.
So Jesus comes from Galilee,
from Nazareth,
and He is on a mission
to see this John by the Jordan.
Now it was a 60-mile walk
as the crow flies.
And Jesus was purposed
to find John.
You see that little phrase
in verse 13,
then Jesus came from Galilee
to the Jordan,
to John,
to be baptized by Him.
And the original kind of language
of the New Testament,
it's full of purpose.
He is purposefully going
to the Jordan
to be baptized by John.
So it would be like this.
I mean, let's say that you're outside
splitting one in your house
and you see Jesus walking by
on His way down
to be baptized by John.
You're like,
hey Jesus,
you want to split some wood with me?
And Jesus would be like,
you know what?
I've got a place to be.
I'm sorry.
I'm on my way down
to the Jordan right now.
Maybe I'm on the flip trip.
I'll stop by.
But the point is,
Jesus is purposefully
heading to the Jordan
to be baptized by John.
It's very purposeful.
He is going to John
to be baptized by John
in order to fulfill
the will of His Father,
in order to fulfill
all righteousness.
Now, I just want to remind you
of something.
John the Baptist.
The whole point of John's ministry
is to prepare the way
of the Lord.
Look back at Matthew 3,
verse 3.
For this is He
who is spoken of by the prophet,
speaking of John the Baptist,
the voice of the one
crying in the wilderness,
prepare the way of the Lord.
And what Matthew is doing
for us there is saying,
hey, Isaiah 40, verse 3,
the voice crying out
in the wilderness,
that's John the Baptist.
And what he's also saying is,
John the Baptist
is preparing the way
for God, Yahweh.
That's Jesus.
Emmanuel.
God in the flesh.
And so,
what we see happening here,
even this baptism
is part of John's
preparing the way
for the Lord
in order to fulfill
all righteousness.
So,
Jesus arrives on the scene.
It's the first time
we see the grown Jesus
in the Gospel of Matthew.
I know I've been waiting
for this.
Jesus arrives.
And in verses 14 and 15,
we see a little bit
of a disagreement
between John the Baptist
and Jesus,
God in the flesh.
It's really interesting.
Guess who wins?
John objects to something,
but Jesus prevails.
Now,
just a little background.
There are four Gospels.
Another one of the Gospels
is written by John.
Not John the Baptist.
Another John.
And in the Gospel
according to John,
in John 1.29,
where the baptism of Jesus
is recorded,
Jesus shows up
and when John the Baptist
first sees Jesus
coming to Him,
John the Baptist says,
Behold,
the Lamb of God
who takes away
the sins of the world.
That's how He announced Him.
So,
according to John,
the Gospel writer,
even at this point,
John the Baptist
knew that the mission
of Jesus was to take away
the sins of the world.
And He was going to
take away the sins
of the world
by being a sacrificial Lamb.
Behold,
the Lamb of God.
That plays upon
a rich Old Testament
ritual tradition
of blemishless,
spotless lambs
being offered
for sinful people.
And so,
in John 1,
John the Baptist says,
Hey,
there's the one
who's going to be sacrificed
through the sins
of the world.
Well,
and back in
chapter 3 of Matthew,
verse 11,
remember what
John the Baptist
said of Jesus?
He said,
He who's coming after me
is mightier than I,
whose sandals
I'm not worthy to carry.
John knows
whose presence
he's in.
He might not know
it fully,
but he knows.
He knows
that the one
who's come to him,
the one who's just
arrived from Galilee,
is the one
mightier than he.
This is Emmanuel.
God with us.
This is the one,
the spotless Lamb of God
who will take away
the sins of the world.
Now,
why I tell you this
is to help you understand
why John the Baptist
has a little bit of issue
with baptizing Jesus.
Look at verse 14.
John would have
prevented him.
And the language there
is,
it wasn't just kind of
one like,
no,
I can't do this,
Jesus.
It was like multiple.
Like,
I don't think so.
No,
I don't think this is right.
No,
I don't think so,
Jesus.
And he says,
I need to be baptized.
I need to be baptized
by you,
and you come to me.
John is very aware
of his own sinfulness,
and he's also aware
that the one who
mightier than him
who just came to him
is the sinless one.
I need to be baptized
by you,
and you come to me.
In other words,
it's like John saying,
Jesus,
why are you coming
to be baptized
with my baptism?
John's baptism
was a baptism
of repentance
for sin.
People confessing
their sins
going down
in the water
saying,
no,
I'm not going
to do this.
It's like I'm dead
to this
and being brought up
out of the water
saying,
I'm living for God now.
It's like John
is saying,
Jesus,
you don't have any sin.
You don't need
to be baptized
with my baptism.
It's like John was,
did Jesus forget
that he was sinless?
Throughout the New Testament,
we learn that Jesus
lived a life
without ever sinning.
Not once.
Ever.
He's 30 years old
right here
at the Jordan.
30 years
never sinning.
Not once.
It's just not
not sinning.
It's always pleasing.
Everything he did,
he was pleasing
to God,
his Father.
He lived a perfect life.
A perfect life
of obedience
to God.
A life we could
never live ourselves.
It's like Jesus
is the gold standard.
I'm seriously,
think about it this way.
Could you imagine
being a brother,
half-brother,
or half-sister
of Jesus growing up?
Do you know
what you would hear
daily
from Mary and Joseph?
Mike,
why can't you
be more like Jesus?
Mike,
can you just pick up
your room like Jesus?
Mike,
we do the dishes
like Jesus does
the dishes.
Mike,
sinless.
Perfect sin.
Could you imagine
growing up with Jesus
as your brother?
Man.
Jesus is the gold standard.
He never sinned once.
Let me give you
a couple passages
that talk about
Jesus' sinlessness.
2 Corinthians 5.21,
it's one of my favorite.
The Apostle Paul says,
for our sake,
God made Jesus
to be sin
who knew no sin.
Who knew no sin.
Why?
So that in Him,
Jesus,
we might become
the righteousness of God.
You know what's amazing
about the Gospel
of Jesus Christ?
Let me tell you.
It's not just
you're forgiven
of your sin.
When a sinner realizes
what God has done
for them in Jesus
and that God offers
them salvation,
and that a sinner
comes to God by faith
repenting of their sin,
here's what happens.
God takes your sin
and puts it on Jesus.
He considers it on Christ.
His wrath poured out
on Jesus.
And your sin is forgiven.
All of it.
All of it in full.
It's amazing.
But that's not all of it.
In the same moment
that you believe,
not only is your sin
imputed on Jesus,
Christ's righteousness,
His gold standard of living,
is imputed to you.
You're made perfect
in God's eyes
with the righteousness
of Jesus.
That's stinking awesome.
And so not only am I
forgiven of all my sin,
I'm made pleasing
in God's sight
with a righteousness
not my own.
And I can't shake it.
God's declared me
righteous in His sight.
It's a work of God.
And it's because of Him
who knew no sin.
But there's another passage.
Hebrews 14, 15.
For we do not have
a high priest
who is unable
to sympathize
with our weaknesses.
Jesus knows
our weaknesses.
But one who
in every respect
has been tempted
as we are
yet without sin.
Not only does He
identify with our weaknesses,
He's been tempted
as we've been tempted.
He knows
what it's like
to be tempted.
Yet He's never sinned.
Who knew no sin
yet without sin.
Our Bibles are clear
that Jesus was
the sinless one.
And John knew
that this 30-year-old man,
his cousin,
was the sinless
Lamb of God.
And he didn't need
to be baptized.
He didn't need
to repent.
There was no sin
to confess.
He didn't need
to confess.
So you kind of
get the question.
You kind of get
the reason why
John the Baptist
is like,
I think we've got
the Rolls chair
turned around here.
You should be
baptizing me.
Why are you coming
for me to baptize you?
You get John's point?
So what is Jesus saying?
Look at verse 15.
Jesus answered him,
let it be so now
for thus it is fitting
for us to fulfill
all righteousness.
righteousness.
Then John the Baptist
consented.
Okay.
So John was right.
Jesus didn't need
to be baptized
because of his own
sinfulness.
That's not why
Jesus was being baptized.
Jesus was being baptized
in order to fulfill
all righteousness.
So what is that
all about?
Here's what Jesus
is doing in his baptism.
Remember,
he's the king.
Remember,
he came to represent
a people
whom he would save.
So here's what
he's doing at the baptism.
He is identifying
with the sinners
he came to save.
He's being numbered
with the transgressors.
Though he himself
never transgressed.
He's becoming
our representative.
He's becoming
our representative.
This is why
Jesus was baptized.
In order to fill
all righteousness,
Jesus had to
represent a people.
In order to represent
a sinful people,
he had to identify
with their sinfulness.
And so he's baptized
with the baptism of John.
This is all about
the messianic mission
to save a people
for himself.
To establish
his active reign
on earth
to save sinners.
sinners.
It's why he came.
If baptism
symbolized
dying to one's sin,
Jesus
being baptized
is him saying,
I'm going to die
for your sins.
This is about
his saving work
that he came to do.
I'm your representative
king.
The sinless one
and I'm identifying
you with you,
my sinners.
You know what's
really ironic
about all this?
That the supposed
leaders of
the Jews,
the Pharisees
and Sadducees
in verse 7,
they came to
the water too.
And they were
sinners.
Yet they were
unwilling to be
baptized.
And the irony is
Jesus,
the sinless one,
was more than
willing to be
baptized.
In fact,
he had to convince
the baptizer
to baptize him.
It points to
Jesus being the
rightful leader
of his people.
So as part of
John's role in
preparing the way
of the Lord,
he had to
baptize Jesus
so that the
sinless one
could publicly
identify with the
sinful people
he came to save
in order to
fulfill all
righteousness.
And he
consented.
He baptized
him.
You know,
there's a couple
things we can
walk away from
this section
realizing that
Jesus is the
sinless one.
And his
sinlessness did
not keep him
from identifying
with us sinners.
Isn't that good
news?
He's not surprised
by your sin.
And he's the
representative one.
In his
sinlessness,
he came to
identify with
us in order
to save us.
He would
eventually identify
with our sin
to the point of
taking our sin
onto himself.
So this first
section,
before the
baptism,
Jesus
identifies
himself
with
sinners.
sinners,
the baptism
points to
him saying,
I'm the
sinless one
who have
come to
identify with
you,
sinners.
So now we
move to
after his
baptism,
verses 16
and 17.
I mean,
I just want to
remind you,
we're told like
next to nothing
about the
baptism itself.
In verse 16,
we read this,
and when Jesus
was baptized,
immediately he
went up from
the water.
he was
immersed in
the water,
and he came
out of the
Jordan.
Just on a
side note,
we practice
baptism by
immersion here
at Christ
the King
Church.
And what it
points to is
being placed
into Jesus,
his death,
and being
raised with
Christ to
newness of
life.
What occupies
Matthew's
attention,
and therefore
ours though,
is what
immediately
follows Jesus
coming up
out of the
water.
And there's
some really
interesting
phrases.
So Jesus
comes up
out of the
water,
he's dripping
wet with
the water
of the
Jordan,
and then
there's some
really interesting
things happen.
The heavens
open up,
the Spirit
of God
descends and
rests upon
him,
and then
there's this
voice from
heaven that
says the
most interesting
things.
This is my
beloved son,
with whom
I'm well
pleased.
And so
immediately
following his
baptism,
Jesus is still
dripping wet,
and something
happens on
this kind
of God
scale.
We have a
triune event
going on.
We've got the
Son, the second
person of the
Trinity, we've
got the Spirit,
the third person
of the Trinity,
the Spirit
descending upon
him, and of
course we've
got the first
person of the
Trinity, the
Father.
It's him who's
speaking.
Jesus'
baptism in this
inauguration of
his kingship is
a triune event.
The heavens
open.
This phrase
shows up in
different spots
in your Bible.
Ezekiel 1.1,
Acts 7.56,
that's where
Stephen is being
stoned, and the
heavens open to
him, and he
sees Jesus at
the right hand
of God the
Father.
Revelation 4.1,
Revelation 19.11,
the heavens open.
There's a
revelation that
takes place.
A revealing that
happens, initiated
by God, revealing
something to
others.
What is he
revealing?
What is he
showing?
He's revealing who
this Jesus is.
He's going to
show us, the
triune God's
going to show
us who this
Jesus is.
This is his
inauguration day.
The day that he
publicly begins
his ministry, his
reign on earth.
This one, just
baptized, is the
messianic king.
And he's going to
take the throne of
his descendant
David.
So what we're
going to see
here is this
public announcement
that Jesus is
the king.
His baptism is the
inauguration of his
reign on earth.
It's the start of
his ministry.
So the heavens
open up,
and the Spirit of
God descends like a
dove and rests
upon him.
Like I said, the
Spirit is the second
person of the
Trinity.
He's described
throughout our Bibles,
not as an it, but
as a who.
The Spirit of God
is a he.
He's a person, and
he's fully God.
And he is here
shown as a dove
coming to rest upon
Jesus.
Jesus, it was just
spoken of him, John
the Baptist, as the
one who will baptize
with the Holy Spirit
and with fire.
Same spirit.
And so you read
this, and you see
that the Spirit
descends upon Jesus,
and you may be
thinking, well, this
is the empowering of
Jesus in his humanity
for the work of
ministries about to
undertake.
And you would be
right.
Look at 4.1.
The Spirit leads
him into the
wilderness to be
tempted by the
devil, to
strengthen him.
But that's not all
that's going on here.
Remember, this is
Inauguration Day.
Jesus is Emmanuel,
God with us.
Matthew has taken a
lot of pains to show
us up to this point
that he is
descendant from
David.
He's in the
Messianic line.
It's his right to be
king over the throne
of David.
And this is his
inauguration day.
Remember back in 1
Samuel 16, I
mentioned this a few
weeks ago.
Saul, King Saul, has
proven to be a
doofus.
And God has told him,
I'm taking this
kingdom away from you
and I'm going to give
it to another.
And so he sends
Samuel, the prophet,
to Bethlehem, to
Jesse's house.
It turns out that
Jesse has some stud
boys.
Samuel walks in.
He looks at this one
guy and says, surely
this is the king.
Look at him.
He's good looking.
Look at his veins
popping out of his
arms.
Surely that's the
king.
God says, no.
And so the other
brothers are rolled
by Samuel.
And God every time
is like, no, no,
not that one.
No, no, no.
Nope, not that one.
Nope, nope, nope,
nope, nope.
Eventually there's no
more brothers in the
house.
So Samuel says, are
there any other
brothers?
And Jesse responds
by saying, well,
there's this one
other one out
shepherding the sheep
right now.
Samuel says, go get
them.
David walks in.
God says to Samuel,
this is the one.
Anoint him.
And he anoints them
with oil.
And then in 1633,
we read this.
And the spirit of the
Lord rushed upon David
from that day forward.
The spirit of God
came upon David from
that day forward.
What we see happening
in Matthew chapter 3
is the spirit of God
coming upon the
newly inaugurated
king.
God setting apart
Jesus as the
messianic king.
The king who's got
rightful claim to the
throne of David.
Whose kingdom will
expand through the
nations.
So this spirit
descending is not
just an empowering.
It is a declaring.
It is a setting
apart.
This is the king.
He is the
messianic king.
The long awaited
one.
And his rule,
act of reign,
is starting
right now.
The heavens open.
The spirit of God
descends.
Jesus is anointed
as king.
And then there's a
voice from heaven.
In verse 17.
This is my beloved
son with whom I'm
well pleased.
Those are some
really interesting
words.
You might think
that God made
those words up
on the spot
when he spoke
those words.
But did you know
they're actually
alluding to two
passages in the
Old Testament?
That God the
Father chose those
words very
specifically to
speak over this
one on
inauguration day?
this is my
beloved son.
Would sound
familiar to a
Jewish mind
well acquainted
with Psalm 2.
Psalm 2
verse 7 says
you are my
son.
Ask of me
and I'll make
the nations
your heritage
and the ends
of the earth
your possession.
Psalm 2 is a
messianic psalm.
It's about the
coming Messiah
king.
And it's about
the one that
God will entrust
the nations to
for his
rule.
what's interesting
about this is
that God the
Father includes
the word beloved.
This is my
beloved son.
And that word
beloved is so
rich.
It has such
depth.
It's about
affection.
God the
Father is
loving of
his son.
Brother and
sister in
Christ,
because we're
in Christ,
do you know
that we're
beloved the
same way?
This is my
beloved son.
You can't
miss the fact
that the
explicit statement
being made
here.
This one
dripping wet
with the
waters of
the Jordan.
This is
my son.
He's fully
God.
He's my
son.
Colossians,
for in him
all the
fullness of
God was
pleased to
dwell.
Hebrews 1,
he is the
radiance of
the glory of
God, the
exact imprint
of his
nature.
This man
dripping wet
with the
waters of
the Jordan
just come up
from being
baptized,
is being
revealed as
the psalm to
Messiah,
God's
son.
Fully
God,
fully man.
He's
Emmanuel.
But the
voice continues,
this is my
beloved son
with whom
I am
well pleased.
It's an
allusion to
Isaiah 42,
1,
speaking of
the suffering
servant.
There are
passages in
Isaiah about
the suffering
servant,
about the
one who
would come
and suffer
for his
people to
liberate
them.
Behold,
my servant
whom I
uphold,
my chosen
one,
in whom my
soul delights.
That's Isaiah
42, 1.
In whom my
soul delights,
with whom I'm
well pleased.
See the
linkage?
God delights
in the
obedience of
his son.
God the
father delights
in this one
who's the
messianic king,
his son.
And he's
saying this is
not just my
son.
This is not
just the
king.
This is the
suffering servant
of Isaiah
who would come
for a
people and
shed his
blood for
them.
This is
inauguration
day.
This is
going public
with who
this man
is.
Anointed
by the
spirit of
God.
He's the
messianic
king.
He's the
beloved son.
He's the
suffering
servant
of Isaiah
53.
by his
stripes.
We are
healed.
He'll be
crushed for
our
iniquities.
So what we
see going on
in verses
16 and
17 is that
Jesus is
revealed for
who he is.
Not only is he
identified with
us through his
baptism, he's
been identified
through the
baptism of who
he is.
He's the
king, the
anointed one,
son of God,
fully God,
fully man,
the suffering
servant of
Isaiah.
And he
identifies with
us.
Let's try to
apply this.
All right.
Get it in
your mind.
This one who's
just come up from
the waters of
the Jordan,
who didn't need
to be baptized
for sin.
He's the
sinless one.
He's the
anointed king,
the son of
God, the
suffering servant.
He's the one
in whom God
the Father
delights.
This is like
no one else.
And he came
to identify
with us
sinners.
He's not
ashamed to
call you
his own.
His kingdom
is made up
of sinners
made righteous.
sinners.
We have an
amazing king.
We have a
king who
chose even
holy and
sinless to
identify with
us sinners.
He didn't
keep himself
separate from
us.
But he made
us righteous
so that we
can be
reconciled to
him.
You see,
this king
came to
deal with
our sin
so that we
can be
welcomed into
his kingdom.
He's the
suffering servant.
He welcomes
us in by
his blood.
Though sinless,
he is our
representative king
and it's all
by his grace.
We did
nothing to
earn this.
Nothing.
Would you
savor that
today?
this week?
Would you
savor the
fact that
your king,
your sinless
king came to
identify with
you?
He came for
you.
Could it be
that when Jesus
went down in the
waters,
he had you in
mind,
identifying with
you and your
sinfulness?
the second
point I want
to make this
morning is
this.
Back to
Queen Elizabeth,
1953.
Crown on
her head.
Westminster
Abbey's
packed and
in unison
you hear,
blah, blah,
blah,
blah, blah.
Blah, blah, blah,
blah.
You don't
quite know what
they're saying
until you kind
of dial in.
It finally
dials in.
God save
the queen.
Right when
the crown
hit her brow.
God save
the queen.
Everyone in
Westminster Abbey's
rejoicing.
God save
the queen.
God save
the queen.
They are
coming under
her reign.
Could you
imagine what
was happening
in heaven
the moment
God said,
this is my
beloved son
with whom I'm
well pleased.
Imagine.
Imagine with me.
Play with me.
Let's say
the angels
are in heaven
and they're
playing ping
ball in
heaven.
Bing,
bing,
bing.
And they
hear on
the speaker,
this is my
beloved son.
They're like,
oh yeah,
today's
inauguration day.
That's great.
Bing,
bing,
bing.
Or just
imagine,
you know,
angels in
heaven playing
cribbage.
While God
the Father
is saying,
with him
I'm well
pleased.
And they're
kind of like,
oh that's
great,
we'll play
cribbage.
Or they're
waiting in line
for the
heavenly
latte and
up on the
chalkboard is
it's
inauguration day
and they're
just getting
their lattes
and like,
oh yeah,
that's cool.
What was
going on
with the
myriad of
angels in
heaven on
inauguration day?
They were
rejoicing.
They were
on pins and
needles.
The King,
God's chosen
one,
has begun
His salvific
reign on
earth.
A light
has dawned
this day.
They have
been waiting
for this
day.
where King
Jesus takes
up His reign
publicly.
And do you
know what?
What started
nearly 2,000
years ago
is going
on today.
Jesus reigns
today.
He's the
King today.
And so the
way that we
respond is,
long live our
King.
We come under
His reign.
We gladly
submit to who
He is and
what He's
called us to.
We know
who He is
and we
know He
has identified
with us so
that we can
be saved.
And so this
morning,
can I just
ask you to
renew your
allegiance to
Him,
your King?
To freshly
come under
His reign?
To say
today,
oh Jesus,
yes,
You are my
King.
I will
obey You
in everything
because You
reign over
everything.
You have
claim over
everything.
And I
gladly submit
my everything
to You.
That's going
to mean
turning from
your own
rule,
and turning
to His.
Here's one
question you
can be asking
yourself.
When you're
faced with a
decision of
any sort,
what does
King Jesus
say about
this?
What does
He say I
should do?
Long live
the King.
This morning
we've looked
at the
baptism of
Jesus.
It's His
inauguration day.
He's identified
to us in
our sinfulness
and we
get to see
God identify
Him as
the King,
the beloved
Son,
the suffering
servant.
He is our
King.
And we
gladly submit
to His
reign.
Let's pray.
Jesus,
You are the
King.
We ask that
God,
if today's the
day where
You have
opened eyes
to people
in this
room,
maybe it's
just one
or two
or seven,
that You
are their
King,
God,
would You
move in
them to
bow their
knee and
give themselves
fully to
You.
You are
worthy
because of
who You
are.
You are
our King.
You are
Emmanuel.
You're the
anointed
one.
You're the
suffering
servant and
you reign
today.
In Jesus'
name,
Amen.