WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.800 All right, well, it's a great day today 00:00:02.800 --> 00:00:05.339 because we're gonna celebrate the sacrament of baptism 00:00:05.339 --> 00:00:06.940 in just a few minutes. 00:00:06.940 --> 00:00:10.179 And in God's providence, as we start a new series, 00:00:10.179 --> 00:00:12.980 the Gospel of Mark, the very first passage 00:00:12.980 --> 00:00:14.980 that Mark wants to tell us about the life of Jesus 00:00:14.980 --> 00:00:16.019 is about baptism. 00:00:17.280 --> 00:00:20.480 And Mark's Gospel is the shortest gospel. 00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:23.260 It's the earliest gospel that was written 00:00:23.260 --> 00:00:25.219 and it's action-packed. 00:00:25.219 --> 00:00:26.600 The stories are very quick. 00:00:26.600 --> 00:00:28.300 They're very short. 00:00:28.300 --> 00:00:30.060 If you look at the other Gospels, 00:00:30.060 --> 00:00:31.560 Matthew and Luke in particular, 00:00:31.560 --> 00:00:33.259 and then you come back to Mark, 00:00:33.259 --> 00:00:34.460 one of the things that you notice 00:00:34.460 --> 00:00:36.939 is that Mark has no birth narrative, 00:00:36.939 --> 00:00:39.679 so there's no story about Jesus' birth at all. 00:00:39.679 --> 00:00:42.579 Mark skips the first 30 years 00:00:42.579 --> 00:00:44.679 and he goes straight to year number 30 00:00:44.679 --> 00:00:47.179 and gives you the last three years of Jesus' life. 00:00:48.179 --> 00:00:50.120 And he tells us in the first verse, 00:00:50.120 --> 00:00:54.280 I'm giving you the beginning of the good news, the Gospel. 00:00:54.280 --> 00:00:56.320 And so Mark says, let's get right into it. 00:00:56.320 --> 00:00:58.359 Let's go straight to the good news. 00:00:58.359 --> 00:01:02.219 Straight to the big, the most important stories. 00:01:02.219 --> 00:01:04.659 And the very first story that he wants to tell us 00:01:04.659 --> 00:01:08.040 is about John the Baptist baptizing Jesus. 00:01:09.140 --> 00:01:09.980 Why? 00:01:11.239 --> 00:01:12.840 And so let's see three things this morning. 00:01:12.840 --> 00:01:15.280 First, the baptism of John. 00:01:15.280 --> 00:01:17.920 Secondly, the baptism of Jesus. 00:01:17.920 --> 00:01:20.620 And then finally, what that means for our baptism. 00:01:21.579 --> 00:01:24.280 All right, so first, the baptism of John. 00:01:24.280 --> 00:01:28.659 Whenever there's a baptism, questions always come up. 00:01:28.659 --> 00:01:31.019 There's a lot of talk in the church 00:01:31.019 --> 00:01:34.060 between different Christian traditions about baptism. 00:01:34.060 --> 00:01:37.260 And one of the questions that pops up regularly 00:01:37.260 --> 00:01:40.500 with baptism and comes straight out of our passage 00:01:40.500 --> 00:01:43.740 is what is the difference between the baptism 00:01:43.740 --> 00:01:46.700 that John the Baptist administers here 00:01:46.700 --> 00:01:48.439 and what we're gonna do today? 00:01:48.439 --> 00:01:50.680 What's the difference between the baptism of John 00:01:50.680 --> 00:01:53.219 and what we're gonna do today in the name of Jesus? 00:01:53.219 --> 00:01:56.579 Now, Mark gives us permission to ask that question 00:01:56.579 --> 00:01:59.980 because he says in this passage, there is a difference. 00:01:59.980 --> 00:02:01.700 So in verse eight, John says it. 00:02:01.700 --> 00:02:04.680 He says, I baptize you today with water, 00:02:04.680 --> 00:02:06.859 but there's one coming after me 00:02:06.859 --> 00:02:09.340 who's gonna baptize you with the Holy Spirit. 00:02:09.340 --> 00:02:11.020 And so there is a difference. 00:02:11.020 --> 00:02:13.979 And so the question here is very real. 00:02:13.979 --> 00:02:18.780 And the way to answer it is to notice the key really 00:02:18.780 --> 00:02:21.139 to these first 11 verses. 00:02:21.139 --> 00:02:24.899 And that's the striking feature 00:02:24.899 --> 00:02:28.219 that is verse one and verse nine. 00:02:29.099 --> 00:02:32.419 Verse one says that Jesus Christ came into the world, 00:02:32.419 --> 00:02:34.659 the Son of God as the Messiah. 00:02:35.819 --> 00:02:38.179 And then you get to verse nine and it says, 00:02:38.179 --> 00:02:40.479 and John the Baptist baptized him. 00:02:41.699 --> 00:02:43.579 And you're meant to say what? 00:02:44.659 --> 00:02:48.019 And the key to understanding verse one and verse nine 00:02:48.019 --> 00:02:50.859 and the relationship is verse four. 00:02:50.860 --> 00:02:53.660 When it says John the Baptist was baptizing 00:02:53.660 --> 00:02:56.140 according to a baptism of repentance 00:02:56.140 --> 00:02:58.100 and the forgiveness of sins. 00:02:58.100 --> 00:02:59.940 And you put all that together 00:02:59.940 --> 00:03:01.140 and you have to ask the question, 00:03:01.140 --> 00:03:03.460 why in the world was Jesus Christ baptized? 00:03:04.580 --> 00:03:05.740 Now, to think about that, 00:03:05.740 --> 00:03:09.380 we've gotta think about John and his baptism for a second. 00:03:09.380 --> 00:03:14.380 John is Jesus's cousin and he's in verse six. 00:03:14.580 --> 00:03:15.980 We find him here. 00:03:15.980 --> 00:03:18.700 All of a sudden he's in the wilderness 00:03:18.699 --> 00:03:21.379 and he's a bit of a wild man. 00:03:21.379 --> 00:03:24.019 So he eats locusts, he eats honey, 00:03:24.019 --> 00:03:26.619 he wears leather, presumably that's leather 00:03:26.619 --> 00:03:29.619 that he's tanned himself from animal skins. 00:03:30.619 --> 00:03:34.500 And he's out in the wild and people are coming to see him. 00:03:34.500 --> 00:03:37.019 Now, when I was a kid in Mississippi, 00:03:37.019 --> 00:03:39.859 I grew up in Mississippi in America, 00:03:39.859 --> 00:03:43.259 we used to take locust shells 00:03:43.259 --> 00:03:46.500 and stick them on our clothing all the time. 00:03:46.500 --> 00:03:48.299 And I know there aren't any locusts in Scotland, 00:03:48.300 --> 00:03:51.939 but locusts, technically what we had are called cicadas, 00:03:51.939 --> 00:03:53.340 but they're just like locusts. 00:03:53.340 --> 00:03:56.820 And when they grow their wings, 00:03:56.820 --> 00:04:00.100 they have an exoskeleton that they leave behind 00:04:00.100 --> 00:04:03.020 and they only stick the exoskeleton on trees. 00:04:03.020 --> 00:04:05.180 And it's incredibly sticky. 00:04:05.180 --> 00:04:09.020 And so you can gather all these locusts skeletons, 00:04:09.020 --> 00:04:12.020 skins, and the kids for whatever weird reason, 00:04:12.020 --> 00:04:13.340 we stick them on our shirts 00:04:13.340 --> 00:04:14.540 and wear them around all day. 00:04:14.540 --> 00:04:16.460 We were strange kids, I guess. 00:04:16.459 --> 00:04:19.139 Now, I never did eat a locust. 00:04:20.139 --> 00:04:21.459 John eats locusts. 00:04:22.899 --> 00:04:23.739 Why? 00:04:24.739 --> 00:04:26.739 You can't pass over the details. 00:04:26.739 --> 00:04:30.859 John eats locusts, he gathers wild honey from the bees, 00:04:30.859 --> 00:04:33.620 he wears leather that he's tanned himself. 00:04:33.620 --> 00:04:34.459 Why? 00:04:34.459 --> 00:04:35.299 What is happening? 00:04:35.299 --> 00:04:36.740 What is this? 00:04:36.740 --> 00:04:38.139 And here's what's happening. 00:04:38.139 --> 00:04:40.139 In the Old Testament, it's all about the Old Testament. 00:04:40.139 --> 00:04:43.659 In the Old Testament, God would raise up a prophet, 00:04:43.659 --> 00:04:45.899 Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, 00:04:45.899 --> 00:04:48.979 whoever it might be, and he would give them a message 00:04:48.979 --> 00:04:51.459 and he would say, go tell Egypt, go tell Israel, 00:04:51.459 --> 00:04:54.859 go tell Babylon, the message of judgment and mercy. 00:04:54.859 --> 00:04:57.419 But they didn't just speak the words. 00:04:58.379 --> 00:05:02.179 God often told the prophet to live the message, 00:05:02.179 --> 00:05:03.019 to embody it. 00:05:03.019 --> 00:05:04.939 And so in one instance, for example, 00:05:04.939 --> 00:05:09.939 Isaiah remains completely naked for three years 00:05:10.219 --> 00:05:12.859 in order to tell Egypt that they are naked 00:05:12.859 --> 00:05:14.539 before the Lord exposed. 00:05:14.539 --> 00:05:15.859 They're going to be judged. 00:05:15.860 --> 00:05:18.860 John is doing the exact same thing. 00:05:18.860 --> 00:05:22.100 He is the last Old Testament prophet. 00:05:22.100 --> 00:05:23.939 He's the last prophet of the Old Covenant 00:05:23.939 --> 00:05:26.860 and he's embodying the message that he's preaching. 00:05:27.780 --> 00:05:29.180 You see, he lives in the wilderness 00:05:29.180 --> 00:05:31.580 because in the Old Testament, everybody knew 00:05:31.580 --> 00:05:36.379 the wilderness is the place that's symbolic of sin. 00:05:36.379 --> 00:05:38.460 It's not the garden, it's not the cultivated land, 00:05:38.460 --> 00:05:40.740 it's not Eden where humanity was meant to live, 00:05:40.740 --> 00:05:42.300 it's the wilderness, it's the place 00:05:42.300 --> 00:05:44.939 where Adam and Eve are dismissed to. 00:05:44.939 --> 00:05:48.219 And in the camp of Israel, on the day of Atonement, 00:05:48.219 --> 00:05:50.779 they would put all their sins on that one lamb, 00:05:50.779 --> 00:05:53.300 that one goat, and send that lamb out into the wilderness 00:05:53.300 --> 00:05:55.620 and say, that's where sin belongs. 00:05:55.620 --> 00:05:58.100 And you see John, he's in the wilderness. 00:05:58.100 --> 00:05:59.220 And he's not there by himself, 00:05:59.220 --> 00:06:03.379 he's actually calling all of Jerusalem to come. 00:06:03.379 --> 00:06:04.220 And what is he saying? 00:06:04.220 --> 00:06:07.180 He's saying, this is where you belong. 00:06:07.180 --> 00:06:10.060 So whether you're a religious person in the middle 00:06:10.060 --> 00:06:12.100 of Jerusalem or you're the prodigal son, 00:06:12.100 --> 00:06:14.500 prodigal daughter, you belong in the wilderness. 00:06:14.500 --> 00:06:16.339 You're wild. 00:06:16.339 --> 00:06:18.660 You see, you belong out here where sin belongs. 00:06:18.660 --> 00:06:20.980 He's embodying his very message. 00:06:20.980 --> 00:06:25.339 And he's saying, he's saying that the condition 00:06:25.339 --> 00:06:29.259 for being prepared to see the Messiah 00:06:29.259 --> 00:06:32.259 is to first know that there's something wrong with my heart. 00:06:33.180 --> 00:06:35.339 And he's embodying that message. 00:06:35.339 --> 00:06:39.579 And that's why Mark here quotes from Isaiah and Malachi. 00:06:39.579 --> 00:06:41.939 And the Isaiah quote in verse two and three, 00:06:41.939 --> 00:06:45.019 verse three says, the voice of one crying out 00:06:45.019 --> 00:06:47.579 from the wilderness, the place of sin saying, 00:06:47.579 --> 00:06:48.620 prepare the way of the Lord. 00:06:48.620 --> 00:06:49.500 In other words, he's saying, 00:06:49.500 --> 00:06:52.339 if you wanna be prepared to see the Messiah 00:06:52.339 --> 00:06:55.139 that is about to come, you've gotta know your condition. 00:06:55.139 --> 00:06:57.779 And your condition is that you're not clean, 00:06:57.779 --> 00:06:59.620 that you're wild on the inside. 00:06:59.620 --> 00:07:01.519 And that's not a good thing. 00:07:01.519 --> 00:07:03.500 That this is the domain that you're meant for, 00:07:03.500 --> 00:07:05.420 the domain, this is the domain that you live in, 00:07:05.420 --> 00:07:08.339 the domain of sin itself, the wilderness. 00:07:08.339 --> 00:07:12.099 And so that's why when John baptizes people, 00:07:12.099 --> 00:07:14.779 it tells us in verse four exactly what it means. 00:07:14.779 --> 00:07:17.619 It says he baptizes with a baptism of repentance 00:07:17.619 --> 00:07:19.659 for unto the forgiveness of sins. 00:07:19.659 --> 00:07:21.259 Meaning he's saying to people, 00:07:21.259 --> 00:07:22.659 when you come out into the wilderness 00:07:22.659 --> 00:07:24.739 and you know who you really are 00:07:24.739 --> 00:07:27.739 and you're willing to be baptized under my baptism, 00:07:27.739 --> 00:07:30.579 it is you saying, I'm not clean. 00:07:30.579 --> 00:07:31.939 I deserve to be judged. 00:07:31.939 --> 00:07:33.979 This is the land that I deserve to live in, 00:07:33.979 --> 00:07:37.159 not the city, not the garden, but the wild. 00:07:37.160 --> 00:07:38.860 Because that's exactly who I am on the inside. 00:07:38.860 --> 00:07:43.260 Now, every Israelite, every Jewish person that came 00:07:43.260 --> 00:07:45.340 and saw this would have known what it meant 00:07:45.340 --> 00:07:49.100 because they knew that baptism was a message 00:07:49.100 --> 00:07:51.420 that was all about the Old Testament. 00:07:51.420 --> 00:07:52.900 Two images that they would have seen. 00:07:52.900 --> 00:07:54.940 One, whenever somebody went down 00:07:54.940 --> 00:07:56.300 under the waters of the Jordan, 00:07:56.300 --> 00:07:58.640 they would have known it's all about the flood. 00:07:59.820 --> 00:08:01.780 It's all about the fact that in the Old Testament, 00:08:01.780 --> 00:08:04.540 when the water comes down, you drown. 00:08:04.540 --> 00:08:07.860 You know, if it's the floodwater of Noah 00:08:07.860 --> 00:08:10.580 or the Egyptians crossing the Red Sea, 00:08:10.580 --> 00:08:13.020 Israelites were scared of the water 00:08:13.020 --> 00:08:15.460 and they were scared because it preached a message. 00:08:15.460 --> 00:08:16.900 I deserve to go under the waters. 00:08:16.900 --> 00:08:18.060 I deserve to be judged. 00:08:18.060 --> 00:08:20.780 The second image they also thought about 00:08:20.780 --> 00:08:22.700 was the fact that if you were to come to the temple, 00:08:22.700 --> 00:08:24.439 what did you have to do to come? 00:08:24.439 --> 00:08:26.340 You had to wash yourself. 00:08:26.340 --> 00:08:28.360 You had to go under ritual washing. 00:08:28.360 --> 00:08:29.379 The priests had to wash. 00:08:29.379 --> 00:08:30.420 The people had to wash. 00:08:30.420 --> 00:08:32.019 Everybody had to wash. 00:08:32.019 --> 00:08:35.299 And it was saying, if I'm gonna come near to the Lord, 00:08:35.299 --> 00:08:38.699 if I'm gonna prepare myself to see the true God, 00:08:38.699 --> 00:08:40.340 I need to be cleaned. 00:08:40.340 --> 00:08:41.740 I need to be washed. 00:08:41.740 --> 00:08:42.699 And so they all heard it. 00:08:42.699 --> 00:08:46.860 They all understood that this is a baptism of repentance. 00:08:46.860 --> 00:08:48.740 And that's the very first thing we learned here 00:08:48.740 --> 00:08:53.019 that baptism first says to us a message of repentance. 00:08:53.019 --> 00:08:55.659 It says, it says, it preaches. 00:08:55.659 --> 00:08:58.179 It says, you need to be cleaned. 00:08:58.179 --> 00:08:59.299 That there's something wrong with you, 00:08:59.299 --> 00:09:01.100 not just on the outside, but also on the inside. 00:09:01.100 --> 00:09:04.779 Now, before we move on, it's never been harder 00:09:04.779 --> 00:09:09.779 to hear that, I think, than 2023, than the 21st century. 00:09:09.899 --> 00:09:12.800 Because we live in the age of authenticity, 00:09:12.800 --> 00:09:15.139 in the age of expressive individualism, 00:09:15.139 --> 00:09:17.779 where the culture at large tells every single one of us 00:09:17.779 --> 00:09:21.820 from birth that who you really are is on the inside. 00:09:21.820 --> 00:09:23.500 It's how you feel. 00:09:23.500 --> 00:09:25.139 And if you're confident in yourself 00:09:25.139 --> 00:09:27.100 and you're confident in the way you feel, 00:09:27.100 --> 00:09:28.500 all you need is self-esteem. 00:09:28.500 --> 00:09:30.700 You don't need anything else. 00:09:30.700 --> 00:09:32.060 And so if you look to the inside, 00:09:32.060 --> 00:09:33.460 you'll find your true self, 00:09:33.460 --> 00:09:35.460 and you know that whoever it is on the inside 00:09:35.460 --> 00:09:38.180 is really you, and that's good. 00:09:38.180 --> 00:09:39.620 And John the Baptist comes and says, 00:09:39.620 --> 00:09:44.100 you need to know that on the inside, you're wild, 00:09:44.100 --> 00:09:45.340 you're dirty. 00:09:45.340 --> 00:09:46.780 Baptism's about coming and saying, 00:09:46.780 --> 00:09:48.340 I know I need to be cleaned. 00:09:48.340 --> 00:09:50.940 I know that's what on the inside is not right. 00:09:50.940 --> 00:09:51.780 It's not healthy. 00:09:51.780 --> 00:09:53.620 It's not good that I'm guilty, 00:09:53.620 --> 00:09:56.379 that I've done in heart things before the Lord 00:09:56.379 --> 00:09:59.780 and to other people that is not what God has called me to do. 00:09:59.779 --> 00:10:01.419 The other reason it's really hard 00:10:02.579 --> 00:10:05.339 to accept this message, the baptism of repentance, 00:10:05.339 --> 00:10:07.500 is because it then turns and says, 00:10:07.500 --> 00:10:09.819 look for one that is to come. 00:10:09.819 --> 00:10:13.220 Meaning every single person that got baptized was saying, 00:10:13.220 --> 00:10:15.819 I'm willing to look for the Messiah 00:10:15.819 --> 00:10:18.819 and know that my life is not gonna be my own anymore. 00:10:19.980 --> 00:10:21.779 I know that there's something wrong inside of me 00:10:21.779 --> 00:10:24.659 and that when the one who is coming comes, 00:10:24.659 --> 00:10:26.459 I'm gonna have to give my life away. 00:10:26.459 --> 00:10:28.899 It's not gonna be just for me anymore. 00:10:28.899 --> 00:10:32.340 We prayed together the Lord's prayer this morning 00:10:32.340 --> 00:10:33.860 from Matthew seven. 00:10:33.860 --> 00:10:34.980 It's a daily prayer. 00:10:34.980 --> 00:10:36.179 The Lord teaches us to pray. 00:10:36.179 --> 00:10:37.899 It's good when we all say it together. 00:10:37.899 --> 00:10:40.179 That's how he intended it. 00:10:40.179 --> 00:10:41.019 But you know what it says? 00:10:41.019 --> 00:10:46.019 It says, forgive me, forgive us our debts today. 00:10:46.459 --> 00:10:48.500 That every single day, if you're a Christian today 00:10:48.500 --> 00:10:50.019 or you're not a Christian, you're coming 00:10:50.019 --> 00:10:52.379 and you're exploring or you're a believer, 00:10:52.379 --> 00:10:56.460 today is the day to say, Lord, forgive me my debts. 00:10:56.460 --> 00:10:58.940 The baptism of repentance calls us every single day 00:10:58.940 --> 00:11:02.060 to remember our baptism and to repent and to say, 00:11:02.060 --> 00:11:04.460 Lord, I'm not clean, I need help. 00:11:04.460 --> 00:11:06.500 And that's the first message baptism preaches. 00:11:06.500 --> 00:11:10.540 Now the second thing is this, the baptism of Jesus. 00:11:12.019 --> 00:11:16.379 John's baptism says, I'm unclean, I deserve judgment, 00:11:16.379 --> 00:11:17.540 I'm wild at heart. 00:11:19.139 --> 00:11:23.820 And then Jesus in verse nine gets baptized by John. 00:11:23.820 --> 00:11:27.260 Whoa, it's meant to be read as a shock. 00:11:28.220 --> 00:11:30.260 You're meant to say, why in the world 00:11:30.260 --> 00:11:32.900 would Jesus Christ be baptized? 00:11:32.900 --> 00:11:34.379 And you're meant to say that because of verse one. 00:11:34.379 --> 00:11:37.020 Verse one says, the beginning of the gospel 00:11:37.020 --> 00:11:40.060 of Jesus Christ, the commentators, 00:11:40.060 --> 00:11:43.060 the Greek scholars will say that that is not really 00:11:43.060 --> 00:11:47.020 the first verse as much as it is the title. 00:11:47.020 --> 00:11:49.980 So Mark actually intended the beginning of the gospel 00:11:49.980 --> 00:11:53.460 of Jesus Christ to be the title of the book. 00:11:53.460 --> 00:11:55.700 And so you're to read everything in the light of that. 00:11:55.700 --> 00:11:57.740 And the very first thing, he says, let me tell you 00:11:57.740 --> 00:12:00.220 exactly what I want you to know about the good news. 00:12:00.220 --> 00:12:03.540 The word beginning in Greek is not a chronological word, 00:12:03.540 --> 00:12:05.820 it means the most important. 00:12:05.820 --> 00:12:07.620 So the very first principle, 00:12:07.620 --> 00:12:09.500 the most important thing I want you to know. 00:12:09.500 --> 00:12:11.340 And so he's saying the most important things I want you 00:12:11.340 --> 00:12:13.500 to know about the gospel, the good news. 00:12:13.500 --> 00:12:16.580 And it's this, he says, Jesus Christ is the Christ. 00:12:16.580 --> 00:12:21.379 He's Messiah and he's the Son of God, he's God. 00:12:21.379 --> 00:12:23.820 And he's saying that in this man, 00:12:23.820 --> 00:12:27.139 the absolute has converged into the creaturely, 00:12:28.019 --> 00:12:28.980 into the human. 00:12:30.179 --> 00:12:32.820 And then you come to verse nine and it says, 00:12:32.820 --> 00:12:37.580 and John baptized him with a baptism of repentance 00:12:37.580 --> 00:12:39.379 for the forgiveness of sins. 00:12:39.379 --> 00:12:41.139 And you see the problem, the problem is, 00:12:41.139 --> 00:12:45.820 is Jesus saying when he gets baptized, I'm unclean. 00:12:46.740 --> 00:12:48.460 You know, I need to be washed. 00:12:48.460 --> 00:12:52.019 I need help from the outside, because my inside is wrong. 00:12:52.019 --> 00:12:53.820 That was what John's baptism meant. 00:12:53.820 --> 00:12:56.379 And then Jesus gets it, he receives it. 00:12:56.379 --> 00:12:58.940 And John, it's even more confusing 00:12:58.940 --> 00:13:00.460 because John says it himself. 00:13:00.460 --> 00:13:03.860 He says, I'm not worthy, verse seven, 00:13:03.860 --> 00:13:06.300 to untie this guy's sandal straps. 00:13:07.540 --> 00:13:08.860 But then he baptizes him. 00:13:10.060 --> 00:13:13.019 And it's so nonchalant and Mark's text in verse nine, 00:13:13.019 --> 00:13:14.780 you get four or five words. 00:13:14.780 --> 00:13:18.180 In those days, Jesus was baptized by John. 00:13:18.179 --> 00:13:19.939 And he just passes by. 00:13:19.939 --> 00:13:22.059 Now, when you go to Matthew, you go to Luke, 00:13:22.059 --> 00:13:24.019 you go to the other gospels, you get more. 00:13:24.019 --> 00:13:27.579 And one of the things that you find in Matthew, 00:13:27.579 --> 00:13:30.139 and this is the key, the big idea, 00:13:30.139 --> 00:13:34.779 Matthew 314, John tried to stop this. 00:13:34.779 --> 00:13:39.779 John said to Jesus, no, no, no, I cannot baptize you. 00:13:40.139 --> 00:13:43.579 He said, you should be baptizing me, 00:13:43.579 --> 00:13:46.219 but you want me to baptize you? 00:13:46.219 --> 00:13:47.859 And there it is. 00:13:47.860 --> 00:13:49.460 That's the key. 00:13:49.460 --> 00:13:51.300 That's the message of Mark one. 00:13:53.379 --> 00:13:55.100 John said it, John the Baptist said it. 00:13:55.100 --> 00:13:57.379 He said, you're coming Jesus to me 00:13:57.379 --> 00:14:01.300 and saying, me for you and you for me. 00:14:01.300 --> 00:14:03.899 I should be getting the baptism of forgiveness 00:14:03.899 --> 00:14:05.860 and repentance at your hand, 00:14:05.860 --> 00:14:08.019 but yet you're gonna get it at my hand? 00:14:09.180 --> 00:14:10.419 And you see the message? 00:14:10.419 --> 00:14:13.980 He's saying, John didn't understand. 00:14:13.980 --> 00:14:15.779 He comes back later and he asks questions. 00:14:15.779 --> 00:14:19.139 He doesn't get it, but he should start to see something. 00:14:19.139 --> 00:14:23.419 And that's this, Jesus Christ came to be our substitute. 00:14:25.459 --> 00:14:28.220 And John said it, he said, you for me and me for you. 00:14:29.179 --> 00:14:32.179 When I should be baptized by you, you baptize me. 00:14:32.179 --> 00:14:33.019 And that was it. 00:14:33.019 --> 00:14:35.459 He's saying, I shouldn't be doing this, 00:14:35.459 --> 00:14:38.500 but you're taking my place. 00:14:38.500 --> 00:14:40.659 You're standing in for me. 00:14:40.659 --> 00:14:42.740 I'm the one who has to say, I'm not clean, 00:14:42.740 --> 00:14:44.220 yet you're saying it. 00:14:44.220 --> 00:14:45.220 You're doing it for me. 00:14:45.220 --> 00:14:47.899 Now look, this is the principle. 00:14:47.899 --> 00:14:50.180 It's all across the gospel of Mark. 00:14:50.180 --> 00:14:52.940 Let me flesh it out just in one or two minutes. 00:14:54.220 --> 00:14:57.180 Back at the very beginning of history, Adam. 00:14:57.180 --> 00:15:00.019 He's in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve. 00:15:00.019 --> 00:15:01.460 And it's a place of perfection. 00:15:01.460 --> 00:15:02.620 It's a place of righteousness. 00:15:02.620 --> 00:15:03.860 It's a place of goodness. 00:15:03.860 --> 00:15:06.220 It's paradise and God is near. 00:15:06.220 --> 00:15:08.540 He's there, he's with them. 00:15:08.540 --> 00:15:10.100 And then they get kicked out. 00:15:10.100 --> 00:15:11.700 They get kicked out for their rebellion 00:15:11.700 --> 00:15:12.980 and they go east of Eden. 00:15:12.980 --> 00:15:14.860 And for the rest of the Old Testament, 00:15:14.860 --> 00:15:17.820 one of the great themes, as we've already mentioned, 00:15:17.820 --> 00:15:21.700 is that humanity now belongs outside the Garden, 00:15:21.700 --> 00:15:23.659 east of Eden in the wilderness. 00:15:23.659 --> 00:15:25.899 The wilderness is the place of sin. 00:15:25.899 --> 00:15:27.779 It's paradise lost. 00:15:28.740 --> 00:15:31.940 And that's exactly where human beings belong. 00:15:31.940 --> 00:15:35.139 But Paul calls this man, Jesus, the second Adam. 00:15:36.259 --> 00:15:39.220 And when the second Adam comes into history, 00:15:39.220 --> 00:15:41.659 he doesn't go to the Garden. 00:15:41.659 --> 00:15:44.019 Where's the first place he shows up? 00:15:44.019 --> 00:15:46.220 The first place we see him in his ministry 00:15:46.220 --> 00:15:48.179 is in the wilderness. 00:15:48.179 --> 00:15:50.500 You see, because Adam got kicked out 00:15:50.500 --> 00:15:51.740 and we got kicked out with Adam, 00:15:51.740 --> 00:15:54.379 Jesus goes straight to where we are. 00:15:54.379 --> 00:15:56.419 He goes straight to the wilderness. 00:15:56.419 --> 00:15:58.980 And he's saying in that, I identify with you. 00:15:58.980 --> 00:16:01.100 I'm here, I'm for you. 00:16:01.100 --> 00:16:03.059 Me for you and you for me. 00:16:03.059 --> 00:16:05.980 I will go to where the sinners stand. 00:16:05.980 --> 00:16:08.139 I'll go deep into the wilderness. 00:16:08.139 --> 00:16:10.980 Now you read on, you read the rest of the gospel. 00:16:11.779 --> 00:16:13.340 And this theme starts to develop. 00:16:13.340 --> 00:16:14.700 He identifies with us. 00:16:14.700 --> 00:16:16.540 He identifies as us. 00:16:16.540 --> 00:16:19.500 So later on he's gonna sit down for dinner 00:16:19.500 --> 00:16:22.740 with tax collectors and with sinners. 00:16:22.740 --> 00:16:24.620 And everybody around him's gonna accuse him 00:16:24.620 --> 00:16:25.620 and say, how could you do that? 00:16:25.620 --> 00:16:26.980 Because in the first century, 00:16:26.980 --> 00:16:29.860 to sit down and eat a meal with somebody 00:16:29.860 --> 00:16:31.980 like a tax collector is to act like 00:16:31.980 --> 00:16:34.180 you're in a covenant relationship with them. 00:16:35.500 --> 00:16:38.580 And he's saying, I'm with them. 00:16:38.580 --> 00:16:40.139 I'm with the public center. 00:16:40.139 --> 00:16:41.540 I'm for them. 00:16:41.539 --> 00:16:45.419 I will take into myself everything that they are. 00:16:45.419 --> 00:16:46.899 But it gets, it's even more. 00:16:46.899 --> 00:16:49.579 He goes and meets with the woman at the well, 00:16:49.579 --> 00:16:50.980 the Samaritan woman. 00:16:50.980 --> 00:16:55.099 And he takes her cup, illegal in Jewish law, 00:16:55.099 --> 00:16:57.939 to drink from the cup of a Samaritan. 00:16:57.939 --> 00:17:00.699 And he's saying, I am with her and for her. 00:17:00.699 --> 00:17:03.740 I will identify with her all the way to the bottom. 00:17:03.740 --> 00:17:05.099 Everything she's ever done. 00:17:06.579 --> 00:17:09.700 And it's not just, look, the principle is not just 00:17:09.700 --> 00:17:11.580 that he comes and he identifies with us 00:17:11.580 --> 00:17:12.940 and stands in our place. 00:17:12.940 --> 00:17:15.539 It's not just that he takes in what's wrong with us, 00:17:15.539 --> 00:17:19.299 but it's also that he gives what is right to us. 00:17:20.259 --> 00:17:22.140 And so in Luke chapter five, 00:17:22.140 --> 00:17:25.819 the leper comes to him and says, Lord, if you will, 00:17:25.819 --> 00:17:29.860 if you will touch me, you can make me clean. 00:17:29.860 --> 00:17:33.580 And every single person there would have known, 00:17:33.580 --> 00:17:35.299 would have been thinking the same thing. 00:17:35.299 --> 00:17:38.500 Lord, do not touch that man. 00:17:38.500 --> 00:17:40.420 If you touch him, you'll be unclean. 00:17:40.420 --> 00:17:42.619 You won't be able to come near to God in the temple. 00:17:42.619 --> 00:17:46.380 And Jesus says, I will touch him, be clean. 00:17:46.380 --> 00:17:48.299 And the man became clean. 00:17:48.299 --> 00:17:50.619 You see, it's not just that Jesus takes what's wrong, 00:17:50.619 --> 00:17:52.019 but he gives what's right. 00:17:53.019 --> 00:17:55.019 And you see that principle all throughout the entirety 00:17:55.019 --> 00:17:56.980 of the gospels and it begins right here 00:17:56.980 --> 00:17:59.099 on the day that he was baptized. 00:17:59.099 --> 00:18:01.339 Now let me be more specific as we close this point 00:18:01.339 --> 00:18:03.880 and move to our final point. 00:18:03.880 --> 00:18:06.180 The passage gets more specific than that. 00:18:06.180 --> 00:18:08.539 And it's down in verse 10. 00:18:08.539 --> 00:18:10.500 Jesus is baptized. 00:18:10.500 --> 00:18:12.660 He goes down into the waters. 00:18:12.660 --> 00:18:14.680 He comes back up again. 00:18:14.680 --> 00:18:17.299 And it says that the heavens were torn open 00:18:18.180 --> 00:18:21.299 and the Holy Spirit descended like a dove. 00:18:22.580 --> 00:18:25.140 Now this passage is all about the Old Testament. 00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:29.140 And for you Old Testament readers, 00:18:29.140 --> 00:18:32.340 for the reader of the first century, they would have seen it. 00:18:32.339 --> 00:18:36.099 Jesus goes down into the waters and he drowns. 00:18:37.099 --> 00:18:38.619 And then when he comes up again, 00:18:38.619 --> 00:18:40.339 all of a sudden the heavens are ripped open. 00:18:40.339 --> 00:18:42.099 That's the verbiage. 00:18:42.099 --> 00:18:43.659 And there's one place in the Bible 00:18:43.659 --> 00:18:45.339 that the same language is used. 00:18:46.339 --> 00:18:48.339 And it's in the story of Noah's flood. 00:18:48.339 --> 00:18:49.339 In the story of Noah's flood, 00:18:49.339 --> 00:18:52.339 it says that the heavens were torn open 00:18:52.339 --> 00:18:54.339 and the waters came down upon the earth 00:18:54.339 --> 00:18:56.339 and drowned and judged everything. 00:18:57.339 --> 00:19:00.339 But then when the water subsided, what happened? 00:19:00.339 --> 00:19:02.339 A dove. 00:19:02.339 --> 00:19:04.339 A dove was the great sign of peace. 00:19:04.339 --> 00:19:07.339 It was a dove that said, there's life again. 00:19:07.339 --> 00:19:08.339 There's new life. There's hope. 00:19:08.339 --> 00:19:11.339 There's resurrection in the midst of judgment. 00:19:11.339 --> 00:19:15.339 And right here, Jesus goes down under the waters 00:19:15.339 --> 00:19:17.339 of Noah's flood. 00:19:17.339 --> 00:19:19.339 What human beings really deserve. 00:19:19.339 --> 00:19:22.339 And when he comes back up again, what descends? 00:19:22.339 --> 00:19:25.339 The dove, the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove saying, 00:19:25.339 --> 00:19:28.339 because this man has gone down and come up again, 00:19:28.339 --> 00:19:30.339 the world can have peace. 00:19:31.339 --> 00:19:34.339 And you see, that means that the beginning of the gospel, 00:19:34.339 --> 00:19:38.339 as Mark puts it, is the exact same as the end of the gospel. 00:19:40.339 --> 00:19:42.339 What Jesus is doing here is he's telling you 00:19:42.339 --> 00:19:43.339 exactly what he came for. 00:19:43.339 --> 00:19:46.339 He's telling you that he was always meant 00:19:46.339 --> 00:19:48.339 to go down into the waters. 00:19:48.339 --> 00:19:50.339 In other words, it's telling you 00:19:50.339 --> 00:19:52.339 at the very beginning of his ministry 00:19:52.339 --> 00:19:55.339 that he's come in order to go to the cross. 00:19:55.339 --> 00:19:58.339 He's come. He lives in order to die. 00:19:58.339 --> 00:20:02.339 He's come so that he could be drowned 00:20:02.339 --> 00:20:06.339 by the wrath of God at the cross for every single one of us. 00:20:07.339 --> 00:20:09.339 And that when he comes back up again, 00:20:09.339 --> 00:20:11.339 he would change baptism forever. 00:20:11.339 --> 00:20:13.339 Now what's the difference in John's baptism 00:20:13.339 --> 00:20:16.339 and the baptism of Jesus Christ that we received today? 00:20:16.339 --> 00:20:19.339 And the difference is that when Jesus came up out of the waters 00:20:19.339 --> 00:20:22.339 in resurrection life, God, the Holy Spirit, 00:20:22.339 --> 00:20:25.339 went out into the world and said, peace be with you. 00:20:25.339 --> 00:20:30.339 He changed Ambrose, an old pastor from Milan 00:20:30.339 --> 00:20:31.339 in the fifth century. 00:20:31.339 --> 00:20:34.339 We quoted him at the tip top of the bulletin, 00:20:34.339 --> 00:20:35.339 if you see it there. 00:20:35.339 --> 00:20:36.339 He said it like this. 00:20:36.339 --> 00:20:38.339 He said, our Lord was baptized, 00:20:38.339 --> 00:20:40.339 not because he needed cleansing, 00:20:40.339 --> 00:20:43.339 but to cleanse the waters for us. 00:20:43.339 --> 00:20:45.339 Jesus Christ went down into the waters 00:20:45.339 --> 00:20:48.339 taking everything we deserved, and he was drowned for it. 00:20:48.339 --> 00:20:51.339 But when he was there because he was perfect, 00:20:51.339 --> 00:20:54.339 he cleansed the baptismal waters. 00:20:54.339 --> 00:20:59.339 And he came back up again, and now he offers peace. 00:20:59.339 --> 00:21:03.339 And from start to finish, 00:21:03.339 --> 00:21:05.339 that means that Jesus Christ came into this world 00:21:05.339 --> 00:21:07.339 because he loves you. 00:21:07.339 --> 00:21:10.339 He came to die, and he knew it. 00:21:10.339 --> 00:21:14.339 And it's all because he loves you and he wants you. 00:21:14.339 --> 00:21:18.339 And Isaiah said in the Old Testament, 00:21:18.339 --> 00:21:21.339 prepare the way, there's a forerunner, John the Baptist, 00:21:21.339 --> 00:21:24.339 he's coming, and he's gonna prepare the way of the Lord. 00:21:24.339 --> 00:21:26.339 And when the Lord comes, there's gonna be a new road 00:21:26.339 --> 00:21:28.339 and a new path, and you see the path? 00:21:28.339 --> 00:21:31.339 The road that Jesus has created for us? 00:21:31.339 --> 00:21:34.339 It's the road that begins in the wilderness, 00:21:34.339 --> 00:21:40.339 exactly where you are, sinful, broken, cast away from Eden, 00:21:40.339 --> 00:21:42.339 far from the Lord, far from God. 00:21:42.339 --> 00:21:46.339 And Jesus Christ has paved the path to the garden. 00:21:46.339 --> 00:21:49.339 And that's what Isaiah meant. 00:21:49.339 --> 00:21:52.339 And it's all because he loves you. 00:21:52.339 --> 00:21:55.339 Now let's close our time together, lastly, 00:21:55.339 --> 00:21:58.339 with thinking for just a moment about our baptism 00:21:58.339 --> 00:22:00.339 in light of that. 00:22:00.339 --> 00:22:04.339 What we're about to do, what we're gonna do today 00:22:04.339 --> 00:22:07.339 is all because Jesus changed baptism here. 00:22:07.339 --> 00:22:09.339 And he changed it when he went down into the floodwaters 00:22:09.339 --> 00:22:13.339 of the cross and came back up again in the resurrection. 00:22:13.339 --> 00:22:18.339 And we just said that when that happens here 00:22:18.339 --> 00:22:20.339 at the beginning of his ministry, 00:22:20.339 --> 00:22:23.339 he knows what he's about to face. 00:22:23.339 --> 00:22:28.339 He knows that he is the boy, and now the man, come to die. 00:22:31.339 --> 00:22:33.339 How could he endure it? 00:22:33.339 --> 00:22:34.339 How could he endure it? 00:22:34.339 --> 00:22:36.339 He's three years away, 00:22:36.339 --> 00:22:38.339 and at the very beginning of this three-year ministry, 00:22:38.339 --> 00:22:42.339 he goes down into death symbolically for us. 00:22:42.339 --> 00:22:46.339 And he's saying, I know what I'm facing. 00:22:46.339 --> 00:22:49.339 I know what's coming for me. 00:22:49.339 --> 00:22:52.339 And the question I think we should leave ourselves with 00:22:52.339 --> 00:22:54.339 is how could he face this? 00:22:54.339 --> 00:22:56.339 And we get the answer. 00:22:56.339 --> 00:22:58.339 And it's in verse 11. 00:22:58.339 --> 00:23:02.339 When the heavens open, it's not just the dove, the spirit, 00:23:02.339 --> 00:23:04.339 but a voice comes from heaven and says, 00:23:04.339 --> 00:23:06.339 you are my beloved son. 00:23:06.339 --> 00:23:11.339 Very literally, you are my son, the beloved one. 00:23:11.339 --> 00:23:13.339 And with you I'm pleased. 00:23:13.339 --> 00:23:19.339 The Lord God our Father, he says to his son, 00:23:19.339 --> 00:23:22.339 you are my son, the beloved. 00:23:22.339 --> 00:23:24.339 And I delight in you. 00:23:24.339 --> 00:23:26.339 I take pleasure in you. 00:23:26.339 --> 00:23:28.339 And it's the voice of the Father 00:23:28.339 --> 00:23:32.339 by which Jesus Christ is able to endure 00:23:32.339 --> 00:23:35.339 and go all the way to the cross. 00:23:35.339 --> 00:23:37.339 By the way, this is the first moment in Scripture 00:23:37.339 --> 00:23:39.339 where all three persons of the Trinity, 00:23:39.339 --> 00:23:44.339 Father, Son, and Spirit appear together on earth. 00:23:44.339 --> 00:23:48.339 All of us today are looking for identity. 00:23:48.339 --> 00:23:50.339 We need an identity in life. 00:23:50.339 --> 00:23:53.339 And we need, as part of that identity, 00:23:53.339 --> 00:23:56.339 critical part of that identity, we need affirmation. 00:23:56.339 --> 00:24:00.339 We need to be told by somebody, I love you. 00:24:00.339 --> 00:24:02.339 And as I mentioned earlier, it's a grand lie 00:24:02.339 --> 00:24:05.339 of the culture that we live in and large measure 00:24:05.339 --> 00:24:09.339 to say that all you need is your own feelings. 00:24:09.339 --> 00:24:11.339 All you need is your self-esteem. 00:24:11.339 --> 00:24:14.339 That you can be who you are entirely from the inside out. 00:24:14.339 --> 00:24:16.339 And it's not true. 00:24:16.339 --> 00:24:19.339 And that's why we live in an age of such psychological disorder. 00:24:19.339 --> 00:24:21.339 We need external affirmation. 00:24:21.339 --> 00:24:24.339 We need to hear somebody in our lives say to us, 00:24:24.339 --> 00:24:25.339 I love you. 00:24:25.339 --> 00:24:26.339 We were made for that. 00:24:26.339 --> 00:24:27.339 I know you. 00:24:27.339 --> 00:24:28.339 I know who you really are. 00:24:28.339 --> 00:24:31.339 And I love you at the same time. 00:24:31.339 --> 00:24:36.339 And Jesus heard that here at the beginning of his ministry 00:24:36.339 --> 00:24:39.339 at his baptism, Tolkien said it really well 00:24:39.339 --> 00:24:41.339 and the Lord of the Rings, the two towers. 00:24:41.339 --> 00:24:46.339 He said, the praise of the praiseworthy is above all reward. 00:24:46.339 --> 00:24:49.339 When you hear the praise of someone who is praiseworthy, 00:24:49.339 --> 00:24:52.339 there's no reward like it. 00:24:52.339 --> 00:24:57.339 I was reminded this week of the meaning of baptism. 00:24:57.339 --> 00:25:02.339 That baptism is ultimately an identity marker. 00:25:02.339 --> 00:25:07.339 It is God the Father saying something to us. 00:25:07.339 --> 00:25:10.339 I was reminded this week, thinking about that, 00:25:10.339 --> 00:25:15.339 of a great film, a great film and a terrible film. 00:25:15.339 --> 00:25:18.339 And it's the movie The Elephant Man. 00:25:18.339 --> 00:25:20.339 It's about Joseph Merrick. 00:25:20.339 --> 00:25:25.339 He was born as a child radically disfigured. 00:25:25.339 --> 00:25:29.339 He's got tumors all over his body from birth. 00:25:29.339 --> 00:25:32.339 And he's born in the late 19th century, the 1870s, 80s, 90s, 00:25:32.339 --> 00:25:33.339 something like that. 00:25:33.339 --> 00:25:35.339 It's a true story. 00:25:35.339 --> 00:25:37.339 And he's rejected by his family. 00:25:37.339 --> 00:25:42.339 He gets pushed into a carnival, traveling carnival show. 00:25:42.339 --> 00:25:44.339 And he was put on display. 00:25:44.339 --> 00:25:49.339 People would pay, you know, ten cents and they would view him. 00:25:49.339 --> 00:25:50.339 And he was beaten. 00:25:50.339 --> 00:25:54.339 He was enslaved, left many times for dead. 00:25:54.339 --> 00:25:56.339 And he's in this carnival show. 00:25:56.339 --> 00:26:00.339 And the only reason he gets rescued is because he's beaten 00:26:00.339 --> 00:26:04.339 by his master once to the point of the end of his life. 00:26:04.339 --> 00:26:07.339 And his master realizes, if I don't take Joseph, the elephant man, 00:26:07.339 --> 00:26:11.339 to the hospital, he's going to die and I'm going to lose my financial, 00:26:11.339 --> 00:26:14.339 his marketability is gone. 00:26:14.339 --> 00:26:16.339 I can't make any money off of him anymore. 00:26:16.339 --> 00:26:19.339 So he takes him to this hospital in London. 00:26:19.339 --> 00:26:24.339 And you see even in the hospital that people don't know what to do with him. 00:26:24.339 --> 00:26:25.339 They're afraid of him. 00:26:25.339 --> 00:26:26.339 They don't want to look at him. 00:26:26.339 --> 00:26:31.339 And there's one enlightened Englishman, a doctor, there, a surgeon, 00:26:31.339 --> 00:26:35.339 who struggles with Joseph too, but then he overcomes it. 00:26:35.339 --> 00:26:36.339 And his name's Dr. Weber. 00:26:36.339 --> 00:26:39.339 He's played by Anthony Hopkins in the film. 00:26:39.339 --> 00:26:41.339 And they develop a friendship. 00:26:41.339 --> 00:26:44.339 And it's the first friendship Joseph's ever had in his life. 00:26:44.339 --> 00:26:46.339 And Joseph has never been in anybody's home. 00:26:46.339 --> 00:26:48.339 He never had a home. 00:26:48.339 --> 00:26:53.339 And at the end of the film, he gets invited by Dr. Weber to tea, to afternoon tea. 00:26:53.339 --> 00:26:57.339 And Dr. Weber and his wife are there and I always choke up. 00:26:57.339 --> 00:27:04.339 This is, I don't, I never cry in sermons, very rarely, but we'll do, I'll do my best here. 00:27:04.339 --> 00:27:07.339 They're there at afternoon tea. 00:27:07.339 --> 00:27:11.339 And Dr. Weber's wife says to Joseph, tell me about your mom. 00:27:11.339 --> 00:27:13.339 And Joseph says, I have a picture of her. 00:27:13.339 --> 00:27:16.339 So the one prize possession he has, a picture of his mother, he pulls it out, 00:27:16.339 --> 00:27:21.339 he shows it and they expected his mother to be in some way like him. 00:27:21.339 --> 00:27:24.339 But yet she's normal, she's beautiful. 00:27:24.339 --> 00:27:29.339 And he says this, and here's the hard part. 00:27:29.339 --> 00:27:34.339 He says, if only my mother could see me now, I was such a disappointment to her. 00:27:34.339 --> 00:27:37.339 If she could see me now with such lovely friends. 00:27:37.339 --> 00:27:42.339 And you know, he's saying, if she could see me now with somebody else loving me, 00:27:42.339 --> 00:27:45.339 maybe she would have loved me. 00:27:45.339 --> 00:27:51.339 And you know, every single one of us want to hear somebody in life say, I love you. 00:27:51.339 --> 00:27:54.339 And we're seeking a lasting identity. 00:27:54.339 --> 00:27:56.339 You know, you can do it in one of three ways. 00:27:56.339 --> 00:28:00.339 You can get it from the outside, where it's all about your accomplishments, 00:28:00.339 --> 00:28:04.339 you know, your family life, your role, who you are, your vocational life. 00:28:04.339 --> 00:28:05.339 That's your outside identity. 00:28:05.339 --> 00:28:07.339 Some of us go all the way into that. 00:28:07.339 --> 00:28:10.339 Some of us seek it from the inside. 00:28:10.339 --> 00:28:13.339 And we turn to our own feelings and self-esteem. 00:28:13.339 --> 00:28:19.339 Both those ways will end in disaster, because you can lose them. 00:28:19.339 --> 00:28:22.339 If it's outside and you fail, you've lost your identity. 00:28:22.339 --> 00:28:25.339 If it's inside and you feel guilt and shame, you've lost your identity. 00:28:25.339 --> 00:28:30.339 And it's all because we were made for divine identity and upward identity 00:28:30.339 --> 00:28:34.339 to be defined and named by the living God. 00:28:34.339 --> 00:28:38.339 And this day, this baptismal day, Jesus Christ heard from his father, 00:28:38.339 --> 00:28:44.339 you are my son, my beloved, and it means that at every single baptism, Christian friends, 00:28:44.339 --> 00:28:48.339 God says to you exactly what he said to Jesus. 00:28:48.339 --> 00:28:54.339 You are my son, my daughter, my beloved, I delight in you. 00:28:54.339 --> 00:28:58.339 And when Jesus goes down into the waters of death and comes back up again, 00:28:58.339 --> 00:29:01.339 yes, he rescues you from your legal guilt. 00:29:01.339 --> 00:29:06.339 And all you have to do today is say, I'm not clean, I hope in this Lord. 00:29:06.339 --> 00:29:08.339 But it's more than that. 00:29:08.339 --> 00:29:14.339 It's also that he turns to you, the father, and says, hear me say to you today, 00:29:14.339 --> 00:29:18.339 you are my beloved son and daughter, I delight in you, I want you. 00:29:18.339 --> 00:29:22.339 Joseph Merrick wanted to hear that from his mother. 00:29:22.339 --> 00:29:25.339 And I wish his mother would have loved him. 00:29:25.339 --> 00:29:29.339 But even she would not have been enough. 00:29:29.339 --> 00:29:31.339 He needed even more. 00:29:31.339 --> 00:29:35.339 He needed to hear God the Father say it, because only when the Lord says it to you, 00:29:35.339 --> 00:29:40.339 can you have a love that will never go away, eternal love. 00:29:40.339 --> 00:29:43.339 And that's exactly what you have in the Good News. 00:29:43.339 --> 00:29:46.339 And this is the beginning of the Good News. 00:29:46.339 --> 00:29:50.339 The last word, our confession, we subscribe here as elders and ministers 00:29:50.339 --> 00:29:52.339 to the Westminster Confession of Faith. 00:29:52.339 --> 00:29:56.339 And in it, when it talks about baptism, it says that at baptism, 00:29:56.339 --> 00:29:59.339 you give your name away to Christ. 00:29:59.339 --> 00:30:01.339 You give your name away to Christ. 00:30:01.339 --> 00:30:06.339 And then it says to Christians who are baptized, remember your baptism 00:30:06.339 --> 00:30:09.339 as you watch another person be baptized. 00:30:09.339 --> 00:30:10.339 And you know what that means? 00:30:10.339 --> 00:30:15.339 It means that sometimes in life when you're at the end of your rope 00:30:15.339 --> 00:30:20.339 and you're facing the worst circumstances or you're tempted beyond temptation, 00:30:20.339 --> 00:30:24.339 the only thing you have is to say, I don't know what to do right now, 00:30:24.339 --> 00:30:27.339 but I gave my name away to Jesus Christ. 00:30:27.339 --> 00:30:29.339 I have been baptized. 00:30:29.339 --> 00:30:36.339 God has said over me, I've heard him say, you are my beloved son and daughter. 00:30:36.339 --> 00:30:41.339 And today, if you've been baptized as you look on, remember your baptism, 00:30:41.339 --> 00:30:46.339 even if you were a baby, remember what God has said about you. 00:30:46.339 --> 00:30:51.339 Because in baptism, it is not first our profession before him, 00:30:51.339 --> 00:30:55.339 it is first God's pronouncement to us. 00:30:55.339 --> 00:30:59.339 I have come to you, I have put my son in the waters of death for you, 00:30:59.339 --> 00:31:07.339 and he rose again, and now you can be named my beloved, my son, my daughter. 00:31:07.339 --> 00:31:08.339 Let's pray. 00:31:08.339 --> 00:31:14.339 Father, we ask today that you would help us to remember the meaning of baptism 00:31:14.339 --> 00:31:20.339 and that today, Fay and Shwin and Dylan would hear you, oh God, 00:31:20.339 --> 00:31:25.339 open the heavens and say, you are my beloved sons and daughter. 00:31:25.339 --> 00:31:29.339 And it's all because of this Lord, Jesus Christ. 00:31:29.339 --> 00:31:34.339 So Lord, I ask now that you would give us faith, hearts of repentance, 00:31:34.339 --> 00:31:39.339 hope in the Lord that was drowned but did not stay dead, 00:31:39.339 --> 00:31:44.339 and that for those who are looking on and wondering about this, 00:31:44.339 --> 00:31:49.339 that they would find this message to be life-giving and exactly what they need. 00:31:49.339 --> 00:31:52.339 And I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.