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preparedness, preparing Israel to meet none other than the Lord, than God. Yahweh says

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verse 3. But church, what was astounding was where we left it last week. And that was with

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John proclaiming to the religious leaders of Israel that his ministry was only a foretaste

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of what was to come when the kingdom of heaven had broken in. He symbolically washed people's

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sin away with water, but as he said in verses 11 and 12, one would come after him who was

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more powerful and he would baptize people with the Holy Spirit and fire. So that's where

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we left it last week. We left it in the wilderness with a spiritual awakening and a rugged mountain

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man preaching to the masses that they needed to repent, that they needed to come to God

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himself, that they needed to put their trust in his mercy, that they needed to turn from

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their ways of doing things and that they needed to be washed clean in the rivers of the Jordan

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before they met their king who was bringing in his kingdom. So let's pick it up from these

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verses and figure out what's happening here and see just why Jesus is indeed not only

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the king of Israel, but the king of God's kingdom. Okay, so if you have your text in

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front of you, let's look at chapter 3 verse 11. So this is John, the lone prophet in the

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wilderness of Israel and he says, I baptize you with water for repentance, but after me

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comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I'm not worthy to carry. Now the first

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thing that needs to be said here is that all genuine prophets that have been sent of God

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never go out of their way to point to themselves or to their own ministry. But as we see all

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throughout scripture, they not only point away from themselves, but to the coming Messiah.

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For example, take Daniel's prophecy of the son of man in Daniel 7. Here you have a well

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educated and highly respected servant of the Babylonian royal house. And though he was

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gifted in visions and interpretation of dreams, he preached to the Jews that there was one

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who was coming in the clouds of heaven. Daniel then goes on to say of this son of man, as

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he called him, that he approached the ancient of days and was led into his presence. He

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was given authority, glory and sovereign power. All nations and peoples of every language

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worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away and his kingdom

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is one that will never be destroyed. Do you hear that? You have one of the most influential

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gifted prophets in the Old Testament age. Not just respected by the Jews, mind you,

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but even by Gentile tyrants who were looking to him for advice. And who does he point to?

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Well, he points away from himself and for all people to look for the coming messianic

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kingdom, whose king will bring in a kingdom that will last forever and never be destroyed.

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King David was the same. He was not only known as Israel's king, but called by the apostles

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a prophet whom the Holy Spirit spoke through to the Jewish people. In the Psalter that

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you have the king of Israel writing prolific poetry that the Israelites collected and they

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would sing either in the temple in Jerusalem or on the Sabbath at synagogue. But listen

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to these words of King David in Psalm 110. He writes, the Lord says to my Lord, sit at

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my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. The Lord will extend

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your mighty scepter from Zion saying, rule in the midst of your enemies. Again, you hear

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it here. You have one of the most influential men to ever live in the ancient world and

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one of the most influential prophets that Israel ever knew. Who does he point people

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to? Well, he's not talking about himself here. He's pointing the people of God to look out

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for the coming Messiah who David said was his Lord.

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Church, we get a bit of insight into this, why the prophets did this in Peter's first

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letter to the church. He explains in chapter one verses 10 through to 12, saying the prophets

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who spoke of the grace that was to come to you searched intently and with the greatest

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care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the spirit of Christ in them was

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pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow.

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It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you when they spoke

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of the things that have now been told to you by those who have preached the gospel to you

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by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Church, that's exactly what John was doing

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in his ministry. Though incredibly influential and though seen as many as a candidate for

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the Messiah, he spent his ministry out there in the wilderness, not pointing to himself

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but preparing Israel for the kingdom of heaven by getting them ready to meet Jesus, their

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long awaited Messiah, who John even confessed that he wasn't even good enough to be a slave

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for. Now, what did the spirit of Christ in him

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reveal? We see it in the rest of verses 11 and 12. He says that he, the Messiah, will

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baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire and that his winnowing fork is in his hand

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and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the

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chaff with unquenchable fire. There's a couple of things that we need to

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understand here to get what John is saying to the original people that he was preaching

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to. First, the Messiah is going to baptize people with the Holy Spirit. Now, we have

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to understand the gravity of just what John is saying here. He's saying that the Messiah

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is going to pour the very Spirit of God on people. Now, why might that be hugely, hugely

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significant? Because who on earth could ever imagine giving God's Spirit to people? Who

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in their right mind could fathom telling God where he was to be and who he was to purify?

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I mean, if that doesn't hit you right between the eyes, I don't know what will, but that's

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John's revelation here of the Messiah. That's what he is saying here with the very Spirit

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of Christ revealing this to him, mind you. He's saying that the Messiah would purify

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people. That's what baptism symbolized here. We saw that last week. Not with water, but

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with the very Spirit of God. That's the picture we're meant to see here.

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That's a picture that John is giving to Israel when he says that the Messiah will baptize

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people with the Spirit. He's saying that the Messiah will give the very Spirit of God to

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people and those people will be purified before the living God. Now, with that said, John

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isn't just pulling this from his own imagination, as we've seen, but he's heavily drawing on

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all these promises that were given throughout the Old Testament about the Spirit of God

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coming. For example, he would be poured on people. We see this in Joel 2 verses 28 to

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29. He would change people's hearts, Ezekiel 36 26. He would circumcise people's hearts,

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Deuteronomy 30 verse 6. He would give people a new heart that would love God's law, Jeremiah

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31 33. In other words, it's when the Spirit of God is given to people, to you and to I,

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that's when we were born again and made new creatures. That's what it is to be baptized

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with the Spirit. It's to have Jesus pour the Spirit on us and transform our hearts and

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purify us before the living God. And incredibly, that's what John is saying in our text here.

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He's saying that this Messiah, this one to come, he will baptize you with the very Spirit

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of God and fire. So second, this fire that's involved, this fire that we see here in verse

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11 is somehow connected with the Spirit of God and that purifying picture that we have

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in baptism. So that's a good thing, right? The Messiah is going to come and when he comes,

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he's going to purify people from their sin by baptizing them with the very Spirit of

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God and purify them with a spiritual fire that will make them clean because that's what

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fire does. It purifies. I think we get a glimpse of this in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost

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when the Spirit was poured out and tongues of fire seemed to appear over the faithful

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in that incredible prayer meeting in the upper room. But hang on church, we mustn't forget

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verse 12 because fire is talked about there as well but in very, very different terms.

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You see, John is drawing on a very familiar picture here, a picture of a sermon example,

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if you will, of a farming technique that was used in the ancient world. This picture would

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have terrified people because farming was an incredibly popular occupation in this context.

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They definitely would have got what he was saying here. You see, what would happen at

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harvest time is that the wheat from the fields would be bought in and go through a process

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called threshing. Now this happened by having oxen tread on the wheat which shook the wheat

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free from the chaff. But there was a problem. It left the wheat in the same heap with the

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chaff. So to separate it all, it had to be winnowed. And that was the process of getting

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the wheat separated from the chaff in that same pile. And they did that by getting a

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big fork and throwing it all in the air. The wheat which was heavier would fall straight

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to the ground, but the chaff which was lighter would be blown to the side. Then it was collected

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because it was good for nothing and thrown in the fire to be burnt.

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Brothers and sisters, the picture is terrifying. If the winnowing fork is ready in the hand

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of the Messiah as John said it was, then the process of separation was about to begin with

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the kingdom of heaven breaking in. Those who believed in John's preaching would be met

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with total and utter purification. But here's the terrifying thing. Those who rejected John's

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message would be met by the Messiah with a fire that could never be quenched. That's

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what's being said here. John is saying in no uncertain terms that the Messiah is coming

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to separate those who repent and turn and trust in God for salvation and those who do

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not. And he says those who do not repent will be met with a fire that will never go out.

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All this to say, what you have here is this prophet who was preaching and preparing people

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not only for the coming kingdom of heaven, but preparing people to meet the Messiah who

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is clearly more than just a man. Now this was Yahweh incarnate. That's who we're looking

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at here. The king of Israel, the one who was bringing in the kingdom of heaven is God himself.

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And he will give his spirit to all those who put their trust in him and purify them from

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their stain of sin. But all those who reject and don't turn to him will be met with unquenchable

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fire of eternal judgment. That is who John is preparing Israel to meet. Her Messiah,

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which was both glorious and terrifying simultaneously. So it's incredibly interesting what we read

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here next in verses 13 and 14. We read then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be

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baptized by John. But John tried to deter him saying, I need to be baptized by you and

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you come to me. Okay, so it seems to be an obvious problem here because everything that

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we've read and come to understand about baptism seems to be thrown on its head here, right?

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I mean, baptism was about not trusting in your own righteousness and participating in

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an outward sign of your trust in Yahweh and purification. But then Jesus comes on the

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scene to do what? Well, we see it in verse 13. It's to be baptized by John. It's no wonder

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that we see John react in the way he does in verse 14. You can imagine it. You have

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this rugged mountain man with locust legs in his beard, probably with the shocked expression

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on his face going, but I need to be baptized by you. Why are you coming to me? Well, admittedly,

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on first reading, this can seem a bit confusing. But if we understand everything going on here,

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it's actually incredible to see why Jesus came to be baptized by John. Now, we never

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want to read scripture out of context, nor do we ever want to read scripture in a vacuum.

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No, we have to remember where we have come from, where we've come from in this series

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so far and remember what Matthew has clearly told us. You see, Jesus was conceived by the

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Holy Spirit. And because he is, as Matthew affirmed, God with us, Emmanuel, there is

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no need for us to think that Jesus had come to repent of sin. That's clearly not what's

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happening here. John certainly got that as well. That's why he was trying to deter Jesus

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and said he needed to be baptized by him. No, the text doesn't even imply that repentance

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is on view here. But this still begs the question, why did Jesus come to be baptized? Well, we

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see it in verse 15. In fact, Jesus explains it to us himself. He says, let it be so now.

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It is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness. A couple of things to be

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said here. See, by Jesus saying, let it be so now, he was saying to John, the time is

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now. It's not later. And that God's will for the present time is for Jesus to begin his

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public messianic ministry with John's baptism. Why? Well, in one sense, it was to publicly

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endorse John's ministry and message and to approve what John had preached about the Messiah

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and his mission. But I want to go a little further here. You see, Jesus says he came

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to John to fulfill all righteousness. I have to confess, there is a lot of discussion over

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what Jesus meant by that phrase, to fulfill all righteousness. But I want to say, and

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I do want to say this, Jesus being baptized seems to be something that Jesus does so that

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he is somewhat linked to us, his people. And I say that because what seems to be happening

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here is what Isaiah said the Messiah would do in the 53rd chapter of his book, which

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was that there would come a day where a servant would come and he would be numbered with the

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transgressors, Isaiah 5312. That means in this baptism, Jesus wasn't coming to John

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to be purified, but had come to be identified with his people. That's right. Jesus was baptized

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because he was ultimately identifying with his people who are all transgressors. And

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that is happening here in the Jordan by having the very water that symbolically washed their

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sin away being symbolically poured onto him. Australian Bible scholar Leon Morris, he says

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it like this, Jesus might well have been up there standing with John and calling on sinners

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to repent, but instead he was down there with the sinners, the transgressors affirming his

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solidarity with them, making himself one with them in the process of the salvation that

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he would in due course accomplish. I know that's a lot, but with all of that said, Jesus

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not only endorsed John's message and ministry and linked it to what he was going to fulfill

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as the more powerful one, but he identifies with us sinners in our mess and with where

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we are at. He is a merciful high priest. He really is as Isaiah said all those years ago,

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well, he is God with us. John, he then consents and Jesus was baptized. We read on verses

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16 and 17. As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment,

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the door was opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and a lighting

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on him. A voice from heaven said, this is my son whom I love. With him I am well pleased.

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This is the picture that we have church. The son obeyed and the Spirit of God anointed

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him and the father announced his son to the world. It's here that we see a very public

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display of what Isaiah prophesied in the 61st chapter of his book where he said that the

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Spirit of the Lord would be on him, the Messiah, the servant of God and he being God will anoint

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him to preach the good news to the poor and bind the broken hearted and proclaim freedom

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to the captives to set free the oppressed. That's why the Spirit of God was given to

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Jesus by the father. It was for the messianic ministry that was about to take place on this

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earth given to Israel's true king of Psalm 2 whose kingdom will never be destroyed as

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Daniel said. Who will rule from the midst of his enemies as David prophesied. God's

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very son who in a very public coronation received the very Spirit of God and was announced by

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God the father as the one who was bringing in the very kingdom of heaven. So church what

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we have here in our passage before us this morning is an incredible picture of the triune

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God at work in human history. The father sent, the son obeyed and the Spirit anointed. Why?

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Well it's as we have seen all throughout the gospel according to Matthew. God with us has

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come to us to save us from our sins. And church Jesus came and obeyed in everything. He is

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indeed the saviour of the world absolutely. But we must be clear on this this morning.

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He is coming again. He is coming as the judge of the world and in his judgment there will

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be wrath against sin. That's a picture that we see in this text. His winnowing fork is

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in his hand the axe is laid at the roots of the tree and all those who don't repent who

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dismiss the call of the kingdom will be met with an unquenchable fire. And church this

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is the essence of the gospel and of the kingdom of heaven that we've seen this morning. Jesus

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isn't just some hippie where it's all well so don't worry about it. No he's a king. He

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is a righteous king who is wholly set against sin and we all, all of us in this room have

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sin in our lives and deserve wrath and judgment and death. This is why we call Jesus Satan.

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Why Matthew said of him that he is the one who will save people from their sin. Because

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Jesus came all those years ago to take our place, to take our punishment and to take

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the wrath that we all deserve on the cross. That's why Jesus came. Not to give good financial

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advice, not to set a great example of a spiritual guru but to be crucified for our wickedness

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for his people and to purify us with his spirit so that we might be saved from eternal punishment

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and an unquenchable fire that is coming. That is good news church. That is good news for

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all those who put their trust in Jesus. You have been purified before the living God and

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your death sentence has been paid in full. So I have to say this brothers and sisters.

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We must like John and the prophets before him have a similar witness in this world.

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Not of wearing interesting clothes or doing weird and wonderful miracles but to be a voice

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in our generation. To be a voice in the spiritual wilderness that is Australia. Not crying out

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about our rights or about our wants or personal preferences with the way we want things done.

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But to be a voice that proclaims Jesus is Lord. Jesus is saviour to the world. All the prophets

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of God, all the people in the body of Christ, we are all called to point to Jesus because

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he is what we are about. The world doesn't need to hear about a national leader, a specific

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denomination or a political movement. The world needs to hear about Jesus and that is

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because only Jesus, only Jesus saves people from their sin. The church has so many servants

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but only one hero and it is before him that every knee shall bow and every tongue will

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confess that he is Lord one day. As we saw in Psalm 2, some will do it to their joy but

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others to their eternal shame. Might it be our testimony at this church in Armidale that

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we are known to hold Christ high in our midst. Not with just what we say but with all that

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we do. Would you pray with me?

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My God we thank you so much for your word. We thank you that you have revealed to us

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through your prophets the spirit of Christ in them revealing to us Christ. And we thank

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you for the eternal gospel that has been preached to us. I thank you for your servants Father

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that have gone into this world that have taken the commission seriously. For those that have

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lost their lives, that have lost their property, have lost their people, sometimes their nation

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to hold this message that we hear this morning to the world. I thank you for all those that

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have faithfully proclaimed you to us here this morning. That you have worked through

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them to save us from an unquenchable fire. Father would you use this church? Would you

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use us in the way that you see fit to be a place that holds Christ high among us? Might

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we not just talk about it but do it? Might we be a people that love you? We ask that

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you would use us in Jesus name. Amen.