Let us now ask the Lord to bless the preaching
of his word. Oh Lord our God, we give thanks
unto you that by your sovereign grace you have
made us your people. You have surrounded us with
your mercies and your protecting care. Make us
grateful this morning and this evening, joyful
in your providential care and in your grace.
Take our eyes from our burdens and griefs and
grant that they may always be fixed on your goodness.
and Your grace. Teach us this day and always
the things we need to know so that we may serve
You with all our heart, mind, and being. And
so make the words of my mouth and the meditations
of all our hearts pleasing in Your sight for
the sake of Your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Amen. So as a reminder, We are studying the gospel
readings and we do that from Advent That's the
usually the first Sunday in December sometimes
occasionally the last Sunday of November all
the way to Pentecost So what we're doing is for
half the year We are focused completely on studying
Christ and having Christ revealed to us by looking
at his life Today we are starting again with
our gospel reading Matthew chapter 3 beginning
in verse 13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John
at the Jordan to be baptized by him and John
Tried to prevent him saying I need to be baptized
by you and you are coming to me But Jesus answered
and said Permit it to be so now for thus it is
fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness Then
he allowed him and when he had been baptized
Jesus came up immediately from the water and
behold the heavens were opened to him and he
saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove
and the lighting upon him and Suddenly a voice
came from heaven saying this is my beloved son
in whom I am well pleased These are the words
of Almighty God receive them in your hearts As
we look at this passage, there are three things
that I want you to see today And that is number
one God is revealed more clearly as the triune
God in Jesus baptism God is revealed more clearly
as the triune God Secondly Jesus baptism is his
anointing as the high priest for us. Jesus baptism
is his anointing as the high priest for us. And
finally, Jesus baptism makes him an instrument
of righteousness. Now here's the key though,
so does our baptism. Jesus baptism makes him
an instrument of righteousness and so does our
baptism as Christians particularly reformed Christians.
We are often not adequately surprised by God
We think that we have a lot of intellectual knowledge
about God in our heads They're just so full and
we think that we know God We think that we know
Jesus and the gospel And you see we live in a
world That is constantly striving for surprises
And I think in a way we try to not be surprised
by God by saying I already know that yep And
yes, it is true. It is good for us to be reminded
about the things of Jesus, the things of God.
But it is particularly important that we just
don't sit there and say, I'm settled. There's
nothing else for me to know. You know, we live
in a pop culture that is always looking for the
new and shiny. And so that's one of the reasons
that we step back. It's always talking about
discarding things. Right? Why? You need the new
fashion. Right? So what do you do? You got to
discard the old. There's this new music or entertainment.
I have to go pursue that. There's this new app.
Haven't you heard? And so what do we do? We discard
the old. We go running after the shiny and new.
You know what we see though? That in a pop Culture
full of searching always for the new That we
learn to dispose of our relationships That's
what the normal dating world is right you get
out there And you just got to test the field
test the field so no relationship You're not
thinking about the fact young people listen up
You're not thinking about the fact that that
young lady or that young man someone's future
husband or wife And so that I might get to know
them But I pursue them in such a manner that
I make them think that they're important. And
then I drop them to go pursue the next one. And
you know what we do? We seem to do that with
our theology. Now, in some ways, God does reveal
and make manifest to us these things that we
didn't understand before. And sometimes, it's
so startling that we even wonder if we were saved
before. That's a wonderful thing. That's a wonderful
grace. But we don't want to do that and walk
away from God's very deep and revealing truth
about Himself. But even in the practice of our
Christian life, we settle in and are not surprised
by God at all. We frequently do a mental check.
And we check all the boxes. We already know something
about that Bible story. How many guys have ever
learned about Jesus' baptism before? Raise your
hand. Children, you should put both hands up,
right? You've heard this before. And so what
do we do? We say, as I preach, or you're sitting
in a Sunday school lesson, we check out. I know
that. I know that. I know that. But do you understand
the beauty of God's love, the great way in which
He has revealed in these things? Dearly beloved
we need God to reveal who he is and what this
means for us Our God is so great. He's so mighty.
He's so deep. He is so faithful. He is so gracious
He is so loving and We will spend eternity learning
of his love and his person We need for God to
reveal himself to us So let us be surprised by
God You know Jesus baptism can easily fall into
the category of passing over the passage a lot
like a plate full of stale crackers moldy cheese
and a glass of oxidized wine You know what oxidized
wine is? Okay, that's wine that was left out
in the air too long, and it goes acidic it kind
of like vinegar right Who wants to sit down and
enjoy that? That is not what God's Word is. That's
not what we'll see today. We're gonna go and
we're gonna feast and be surprised that the great
things of God has revealed and made manifest
to us. Let us stay a while and enjoy the gifts
of understanding Jesus baptism. As you know,
we've talked about before, John the Baptizer
was preaching repentance and baptizing folks
who came out to the Jordan River. We're told
that people came from all over, all over the
area, all parts of Judea, right? Those people
that were interested in the things of God. There's
a prophet out there at the Jordan and he's preaching.
Man, I need to go see it. I mean, look, they
didn't have radio or apps or cell phones, TV.
They didn't have newspapers. Everything was word
of mouth. You guys realize it's been 400 years
since there's been a prophet 400 years awaiting
and there's this prophet and he's dressed like
Elijah and he's out at the Jordan River and he's
preaching And we're under oppression The Romans
are ruling over us We've got we've got religious
leaders that are laying heavy burdens on us and
we need God's deliverance Well, let's go out
there And so We see that John declares that there's
a baptism to be had, a baptism of repentance.
And it was all done for the preparation of the
coming of the Lord Jesus, the coming of the Messiah,
the coming day of the Lord. Now it's important
that we see that in the Old Testament is full
of ritual cleansing by the pouring or sprinkling
of water. It is all over the place. We find this
beginning in Leviticus where God instructs his
people and We see it all through the Old Testament
a pouring or sprinkling of water to be cleansed
John's baptism was not a foreign idea to God's
people and Jesus shows up to be baptized by John
And of course, we're told that John tried to
prevent him saying, I need to be baptized by
you. Can you imagine this? He knows who Jesus
is. You know Jesus is the Messiah. And he's even
said, hey, you know what? There's one coming
after me in whose sandals I am not able to carry
or touch who's going to baptize you and really
you being all of us with the spirit and fire.
That's who we need to look for and so Jesus shows
up and John says I I can't baptize you Do you
realize by the way why? John says He wasn't worthy
to carry his Lord's sandals Now I know some of
you out there have funky feet Right and so your
parents say don't take your shoes off in the
car Don't do that to everybody else. That's not
at all what we're talking about what what you
have to understand is is that feet and sandals
were considered very unclean because your feet
walked along the road your sandals walked along
the road and you were encountering all the dust
on the road and Symbolically in the scriptures
the dust of the earth is part of the curse of
sin And that's why the Jews had this obsession
about washing the feet. That's what was symbolically
happening when Jesus stooped down and washed
the feet of his disciples. He was saying, I'm
going to take away your sin. I'm going to cleanse
it. And the curse of sin will no longer stick
to your feet. And so here Jesus says, no. Permit
it to be so now for thus it is fitting to fulfill
all righteousness Now we've talked about this
before and we keep making all these contacts
back to the Old Testament and Sometimes it's
super clear right because it quotes the Old Testament
passage other times. We're not so certain But
here we see and understand what God is saying
if you listen to the readings. If you read the
readings ahead of time, perhaps you saw some
associations. All of the songs that we sang today
are all in reference to what's happening at Christ's
baptism and what is being revealed. And it says
that John allowed him. So what is Jesus talking
about? Fulfillment of what? Jesus certainly did
not need to be baptized for the repentance of
his sins. He was holy. He had never sinned. Jesus
is consciously and obediently conforming to the
will of the Father. Jesus comes to fulfill the
plans of the prophets. Consider Isaiah 11. The
Spirit of Yahweh shall rest upon Him, the Spirit
of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel
and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the
fear of Yahweh. What did the Spirit do? When
the heavens were ripped open and the Spirit descended,
it rested upon Jesus. The Spirit came and He
rested upon Jesus. And then it says, because
of these things, in Isaiah 11, his delight is
in the fear of Yahweh. And he shall not judge
by the sight of his eyes. In other words, he's
not going to look at people and say, oh, they're
dressed right. They have the important position.
No. What did you see Jesus do over and over again?
Says he knew their hearts. He didn't look at
the outside. He knew their thoughts. Jesus it
says in Isaiah 11 nor shall he decide by the
hearing of his ears But with righteousness he
shall judge the poor that is not just poor financially
but poor in heart the humble the contract those
who confess their sins and It goes on in Isaiah
11 and said and decide with equity the meek of
the earth those who have the power They have
some kind of power and they restrain their power.
That's what meekness is in the Bible It says
in Isaiah 11, he shall strike the earth with
the rod of his mouth. He's going to give them
truth, and it's either going to break you or
it's going to destroy you. It says, with the
breath of his lips, he shall slay the wicked.
The righteous shall be the belt of his loins
and the faithfulness the belt of his waist. And
so here, as one commentator puts it, in Jesus'
baptism, Jesus becomes The spirit -filled instrument
for the establishing of God's righteousness In
Jesus Baptism it makes him an instrument of righteousness
And of course we see here that there's this big
manifestation this big reveal First there's the
manifestation of the three persons of the Godhead
the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit In the
Gospel of Mark, in his account, we're told that
the heavens were torn open. What divided heaven
and earth? The firmament was torn asunder, it
says. And this big revelation came down. The
Spirit fell and came down, and God spoke the
Father. And what did the Father say? This is
my son in whom I am well pleased. And we see
throughout the gospels that God the Father declares
that Jesus is his son. Here the Father says that
he is well pleased with Jesus. And later on at
the Mount of Transfiguration, he will say, this
is my son. Listen to what he says. The spirit
descends in the form of the dove. Once again,
we see this creation imagery what the spirit
hovering over the waters? Jesus is going to bring
in the new heavens and earth through his words
and his actions and He will become the high priest
who will make a permanent atonement for our sins
in Jesus baptism the Trinity has made manifest
for us We receive an epiphany an illumination
a light an understanding of who the Trinity is
God illuminates to us the great trinitarian society
of love The father glorifying the son and the
spirit the son glorifying the father in the spirit
and the spirit glorifying the father and the
son So we see this We also see that in Jesus
baptism it is his ordination as the ancient and
rightful high priest as we've previously Previously
discussed Jesus is the son of David from the
tribe of Judah Jesus is the rightful king and
he is supplanting Herod the false king Remember
Herod is an Edomite He is descended from Esau
He's not from Judah He is the false brother and
false king. The high priests of Jesus' day are
not the sons of Zadok. You say, well, what does
that matter? In Ezekiel, God declares that following
the exile that the sons of Zadok would leave
priesthood. Since the second century BC, several
hundred years after the exile, we find That certain
Levites began to pay the ruling empires first
the Greeks and then the Romans So that they would
be able to be and have the right to be the high
priestly family Annas and Caiaphas those high
priests of Jesus day were false high priests
and We find that they don't as we look through
the Gospels They don't even believe in the Living
God and they don't even believe in the resurrection
All they're concerned about is they want to pay
off the Romans so they can stay in power and
influence. And so Jesus comes and in his baptism
he receives his priestly ordination. Now according
to the Old Testament there are three things that
are required to ordain a priest. Number one,
you have to have a call. We see in Exodus 28
that God calls Aaron. And you see, what does
Jesus do? I mean, what does God the Father do
at his baptism? He speaks. He makes the call.
He says, Jesus is the Son of God in whom he's
well pleased. And the Spirit descends, fulfilling
Isaiah 11. And we find out later in Hebrews chapter
5 it says this and no man takes this honor to
himself But he who was called by God just as
Aaron was so also Christ did not glorify himself
to become high priest But it was said He who
said to him you are my son and of course that
echoes Psalm 2 where it says you're my son today.
I've begotten you And so Hebrews confirms to
us what we were already seeing. If it was a little
fuzzy, Hebrews is clarifying it. God made the
call that he has set his son on the throne and
that he is the priest called like Aaron. But
he's not just like Aaron, no. Hebrews four goes
on or excuse me five goes on and says to us as
he also says in another place You are a priest
forever speaking of Jesus according to the order
of Micah's a deck Which is a quote of Psalm 110
which we sung today And why is that important
well Micah's a deck was a priest before Aaron
We also understand when you translate the Hebrew
for Micah's a deck it is king of righteousness.
He is a priest who is a king of righteousness.
The second thing that we need to understand is
you need to be 30 years old. In Luke's account
of Jesus' baptism, we learn that Jesus was 30
years old. In Numbers chapter 4 in two places,
it speaks to the fact that a priest must be 30
years old. Finally, The last thing that has to
happen for a priestly ordination is to be washed.
Numbers 8 tells us this, take the Levites from
among the children of Israel and cleanse them
ceremonially. Thus you shall do to them to cleanse
them. Sprinkle water of purification on them.
Now, you had to do this, that's part of it, but
you know who had to do it? A priest. A priest
had to perform that washing. Guess what? If you
didn't know this already, John the Baptizer is
a son of Zacharias, a Levite who served in the
temple in the division of Abijah. That is to
say, he wasn't a high priest, but there was a
division of priests that took rotation turns
and going into the temple and serving in the
temple. If John's father is a priest, what is
John? He's a priest. Hebrews 7 tells us this.
By so much more, Jesus has become a surety of
a better covenant. Also, there were many priests
because they were prevented by death from continuing.
But he because he continues forever. That's Jesus
has an unchangeable priesthood Therefore he is
also able to save to the uttermost Those who
come to God through him since he always lives
to make intercession for them Hebrews 7 goes
on and says for such a high priest was fitting
for us who was holy harmless undefiled separate
from sinners and has become higher than the heavens."
And he says this, who he does not need daily
as those high priests to offer up sacrifices
for his own sins and then for the people's. For
this he did once for all when he offered up himself.
For the law appoints his high priest men who
have weaknesses. But the word of the oath, which
came after the law, appoints the son who has
been perfected forever. Dearly beloved, this
is such great news. Jesus' baptism makes Him
an eternal high priest. And it makes Him an instrument
of righteousness. And so does our baptism in
Him. Remember Romans chapter 6 and about the
question, what shall we say then? Shall we continue
in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not.
How shall we who died to sin live any longer
in it? Here it is. Listen to this. Or do you
not know that as many of us were baptized into
Christ Jesus, were baptized unto his death, therefore
we were buried with him through baptism into
death, and that just as Christ was raised from
the dead by the glory of the Father, even so
also we should walk in the newness of life. For
if we have been united together in the likeness
of his death, certainly we also shall be in the
likeness of his resurrection, knowing this, that
our old man was crucified with him, that the
body of sin might be done away with, that we
should no longer be slaves to sin. For he who
has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died
with Christ, we believe that we shall also live
with him, knowing that Christ hath been raised
from the dead. Dies no more Death no longer has
dominion over him For the death he died he died
to sin once for all but the life that he lives
he lives to God Likewise you this is a plural
you this is all y 'all who are baptized and part
of the church Likewise, you all also reckon yourselves
to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in
Christ our Lord. Therefore, do not let sin reign
in your mortal body, that you should obey it
in its lusts. And do not present your members
as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but
present yourselves to God as being alive from
the dead. and your members, here it is, and your
members as instruments of righteousness to God.
Just as Jesus at his baptism is ordained as a
priest and he is ordained to be an instrument
of righteousness in the world, so too are you.
You can't simply say, I go to church, I'm baptized,
I can live any way I like, we live in grace.
I can sin any way that I want. No, you cannot.
Because in your baptism, you become an instrument
of righteousness, not just theoretically or inside
your head, but you become an instrument of righteousness
in this world. Husbands, if you love your wives,
if you say you love your wife, then you are to
be an instrument of righteousness in her life
and in your children's lives. So too, wives and
mothers, be an instrument of righteousness, building
them up. You're an instrument in your jobs to
righteousness. In your relationships, you're
an instrument of righteousness. Why? Because
you've been ordained. You've been called by God.
The work of the high priest is finished in Christ
Jesus. Dearly beloved you are no longer in bondage
to sin Reigning sin is canceled by Christ on
the cross You were united to Christ in your baptism
So be conformed to Christ and put off remaining
sin for you are an instrument of righteousness
in this world You know that part of the prayer
of our Lord that we sang today thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven That is your call.
It's a petition to God to be sure, but it is
also your call to take all that you've been given.
Kids, look up here. Children, look up here. Are
you looking? Are you listening? God has put you
in charge of certain things. It might be your
bedroom. It might be setting the table. It might
be picking up sticks in the yard, whatever it
is that God has placed you an authority over.
You are to do it in a way That pleases God in
a way that reflects the God of heaven So when
you clean your room you do it with a smile and
joy because you have a room Because you have
a mom and dad you have a shelter over you you
have Christ's great Forgiveness in your life
and you've been baptized and you belong to him
So to you adults everything God has put you in
charge of, no matter how small. Do it in a way
that God's will is done here on earth as it is
in heaven. Finally, Titus 3 tells us that we
are baptized to be ready for every good work.
We are saved to serve. Paul goes on to say that
we were once rebels, slaves to our appetites,
given to hatred. Now we are to speak evil of
no man, but be courteous, to be honest, to be
faithful workers, and careful to maintain every
good work. That is to say, in Christ Jesus, in
our baptisms, we are called to be instruments
of righteousness in the world. The triune God
revealed himself to us at Jesus baptism. Jesus
became a more perfect and eternal high priest
for us and so his baptism made him an instrument
of righteousness in this world and so too our
baptisms make us instruments of righteousness
in this world to the glory of God. Let us pray.
Lord we thank you for your word that your word
is truth. that your word is joy and peace to
our hearts. We thank you that your word promises
us victory in Jesus Christ. Help us as we pray
to remember our Lord's baptism and to live with
the surprise of your grace to us in our baptisms.
Make us ever mindful of how rich we are in Christ
our Lord. In his name we pray, amen.