Matthew 3, and then I'll read a section from Matthew 20. So our focus this morning will be on two particular passages. Beginning in Matthew chapter 3, I'll read beginning at 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 are you coming to me? But Jesus answered and said to him, Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he allowed him. 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 alighting upon him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Then over in Matthew chapter 20, verses 17 to 28. Matthew 20, beginning in verse 17, Now Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples aside on the road and said to them, Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes, and they will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again, Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from him.
And he said to her, what do you wish? She said to him, grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on your right hand and the other on the left, in your kingdom. But Jesus answered and said, You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?
They said to him, We are able. So he said to them, You will indeed drink my cup and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with. But to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by my Father. And when the ten heard it, they were greatly displeased with the two brothers.
But Jesus called them to himself and said, You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you. But whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave.
Ransom for Many
Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. Amen. Now I realize if you're using a Bible translation that is not the New King James or the King James, the references to baptism are absent in verses 22 and 23. They are in the parallel passage in Mark's Gospel in Mark chapter 10, verses 38 to 39.
Just to make that clarification, we are going to maintain our focus this morning on Matthew's Gospel, chapters 3 and 20. So let us pray and ask the Lord's guidance as we look to His Holy Word. Our Father in heaven, we gather together on this Sabbath day and we come to praise your great and awesome name. We know that you are the God who made this world and everything in it.
You're the God who sovereignly governs it. And you are the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has sent his Son into this world to save his people from their sins. We rejoice, Father, Son, and Spirit, for so great a salvation. We rejoice in your mercy and in your kindness and in your love.
And we pray that even now your Spirit would be at work in our hearts and in our minds, that you would edify and strengthen your people, and that you would save sinners, Lord God. We know that with men it is impossible to save. We know that it does not depend upon him who wills or upon him who runs. God, we take great comfort in what Paul says, that it is you who shows mercy.
We pray that even today, Father, by your spirit and word, you'd open eyes and open hearts to the truth that man stands before a holy God. that you would show them their sin and you would show them the glory of the Savior, the one who lived and died and rose again, that sinners might have everlasting life. We pray even now that you would wash us and purify us and cleanse us from all sin and illumine our minds and our hearts. And we pray this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Introduction: Why We Baptize
Well, perhaps this is the first time you've ever attended a church where there is a baptism. And basically what a baptism is, it is a Christian practice. And in Christianity, we also call it an ordinance, or we might call it a sacrament. And in that ordinance or sacrament of baptism, or in that practice, what happens is that we take a new believer, somebody who professes faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, someone who says that by the grace of God, they've come out of darkness into marvelous light, they get baptized, they publicly identify with the Lord God Most High.
We see this commanded in the Scripture. We see it as an act of obedience on the part of the new believer. We see that everywhere in the book of Acts this is precisely the practice in the early church. The apostles would go forth, they would preach the gospel, the good news concerning the life and the death and the resurrection of Jesus.
They would then call upon men, women, boys and girls to believe on Him, to repent from their sins. And when persons came forth and embraced Christ through faith, they would be baptized. And so, of course, we get baptized because God commands it. We get baptized because the early church practiced it.
But I want to address an even more foundational reason why we get baptized this morning. In Matthew 3 we see the water baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Matthew 20 we see his reference to another baptism. And so I will argue this morning that these two baptisms of our Lord Jesus Christ is the reason for His people to be baptized.
In other words, if Christ did not live, if Christ did not die, if Christ did not rise again, then no one would be saved. There would be no reason to follow Him in baptism. It's not because these people here this morning that are going to go into that tank have done a good thing. It's not that they're wiser than the rest of God's creation.
It's not that they've engaged in a successful course in what it means to be a believer. No, it's because Jesus lived and died and rose again and reached down in His mercy and grace and delivered them from their sins. That's why people get baptized. It's because God Most High is reconciling the world to Himself through the death and the resurrection of His only begotten Son.
So Matthew 3 establishes the water baptism. Matthew 20 refers to this other baptism which we will see in due course.
The First Baptism: Water
But let's look first of all at the first baptism of Christ in verses 13 to 17. We see that Jesus now embarks on his public ministry. Rather, he's about to embark on his public ministry. After this occasion, after this baptism under John the Baptist, he will then go into the wilderness to be tried and tested for 40 days and it's from that vantage point that he then begins officially his public ministry.
So this in a sense is preparation. We read in verse 13, then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. Now this John is not the Apostle John who wrote the Gospel of John, it is John the Baptist. This man who outside of Judea would baptize, would immerse, would bring people into the water, and he would call upon them to confess their sins.
And so here comes Jesus to the Baptist, and the Baptist understands the significance of this, and in verse 14, John tries to prevent him. John understood what baptism typified. He understood what it pictured. He understood what it demonstrated.
And it was closely associated with the remission of sins. This is why he upbraided the Pharisees, the brood of vipers. He told men to confess their sins when they came into the water of Jordan in order to be baptized. He sees Jesus and he tries to prevent him because he knew who Jesus was.
It is of Christ that John the Baptist says, he must increase, but I must decrease. It would be akin to C.H. Spurgeon falling out of heaven right now and saying to me, would you please baptize me? Say, no, I shouldn't baptize you, you should baptize me.
You're the patron saint of Reformed Baptists. John is surprised that Christ comes to him and he tries to prevent this transaction from occurring. John understands the reality and the priority. He says, I need to be baptized by you and are you coming to me?
John understood what he was dealing with in terms of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Christ Almighty comes to this particular man and seeks water baptism. And notice in verse 15 our Lord's answer to him. Jesus answered and said to him, permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.
Fulfilling All Righteousness
Now here's where I'm going quite simply with this message. Our confession, teaching the biblical doctrine of salvation and justification, connects our justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. It's not by our works, it's not by our addition, it's not by our supplementation, it's not by our contribution, but it's grace alone through faith alone in Christ Jesus alone. the London Baptist Confession of Faith, stronger, I might add, than the Westminster Confession in this whole idea of justification by the active obedience of Christ and by his passive obedience. Basically what Christ's active obedience is, is that he always obeyed the law perfectly.
Isn't that amazing? When Mary told Jesus to pick up his socks and to put them in the dirty clothes basket, he did it. And he didn't do it grumbling. He didn't do it with a hesitancy.
He didn't do it with resistance in his heart, but he always did what his Father in Heaven had commanded. He had commanded obedience, filial obedience to the fifth commandment. Christ executed that as a lamb. Christ always did what the Father commanded Him.
This is what theologians refer to as the active obedience of Christ. You see, we need that. God is righteous, God is just, God is holy, God is pure, God is perfect, God has spoken ten words at Sinai, He's reconfirmed them in the plains of Moab, He's upheld them throughout Scripture, and He has called His creatures to obey these things. But if you just give it any, any concentration whatsoever, ever, you'll realize that you've not obeyed those things, have you?
Can you honestly say in your heart of hearts, I never have other gods before God? I have never made an idol. I have never taken the name of the Lord God in vain. I've never broken the Sabbath day.
I've never dishonored my parents. I've never committed murder. I've never committed adultery. I've never stolen.
I've never lied and I've never coveted it. You can't say that. But someone can. Christ always delighted to do the will of His Father.
You see, Christ came into this world to fulfill it for sinners. This is the beauty of it. He didn't come to get rid of it, to demolish it, to abrogate it or to cast it away, but rather He came to esteem it by obeying it. That's the act of obedience and that's what's going on here in Matthew chapter 3.
Theologians refer to the death of Christ as his passive obedience. Now, passive there doesn't mean that he was unwilling participant. Passive is probably related to the word passion that has to do with the sufferings of our Lord. It's because he lived in obedience to the law of God, because he died as a sacrifice and a substitute at Calvary, and because he rose again.
This is the reason why any sinner will ever be accepted in the sight of God. It is not by your works, it is not by your efforts, it is not by your wisdom, it is not by your ability, because you are dead in trespasses and sins. You need grace from on high. You need the Spirit of God to apply the Gospel of God.
You need Jesus Christ as your champion, as your deliverer, as your Savior. And in Matthew 3, Jesus tells John, permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. On the very entrance to His public ministry, Christ affirms and confirms this reality, that He's going to obey the Father. He is going to execute obedience to the divine commands.
He is going to fulfill all righteousness, because someone must! And apart from Christ, there is no righteousness to be had. And this key statement is absolutely crucial for our understanding as to how anyone will ever go to heaven or why anyone should ever be baptized. The background for this statement is Isaiah the prophet.
By his knowledge, my righteous servant shall justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. Jesus identifies with those who need repentance and remission of sins. Jesus identifies with all those whom the Father had given Him. See, Christ didn't have sin, Christ didn't need to repent, Christ didn't need to go into that water in the way that we go into that water, but Christ is the representative man.
He is the perfect man. He is the righteous man. He is the fulfilling of the righteousness of God man. He is the man of whom the Apostle Paul will later write in Romans 5.19.
He says, so also by one man's obedience, this is the Lord Christ, many will be made or will be constituted as righteous. You see, if you're not a Christian here this morning, you've got two problems. One is sin. That's huge, isn't it?
Whenever you read the papers, or you look at the Internet, or you see the news, and you look around what's going on, what is the underlying bottom line to everything? It's sin. It's man in rebellion against God. Why do people abort babies?
Because they're in rebellion against God. Why do men lay with men? Because they're in rebellion against God. Why do white-collar criminals rip off Revenue Canada?
Because they're in rebellion against the living and true God. You see, we are sinners against a holy God, and we need to be forgiven of that sin. We also need a righteousness that avails with God, and Christ answers to both. In the language of a great catechism, a teaching tool for kids, it says, what is justification?
It says, justification is an act of God's free grace. Isn't that beautiful? No one's here this morning because of their achievements. It's because of God's free grace. wherein He pardons all of our sins.
For those of you who are in Christ, wouldn't you express this as one of the chief bones of your religion? Having your sins blotted out, having your sins washed away, having your sins put upon the Son of God, and Him taking the punishment for them in our stead. wherein He pardons all of our sins and, the catechism goes on to say, and accepts us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone. beauty of the Christian message. It comes to man in sin. It comes to man worshiping his idols.
It comes to man degraded by his idols. And it says, believe on Christ, and through the power of God's Spirit, through the efficacy of His Word, He cleanses men from their sins. He washes them. He purifies them.
He forgives them. And He gives them this righteousness that avails with God, such that when we stand before Him on that day, we'll be clothed in a righteousness not our own. This is cause for celebration. When somebody goes into that baptistry and we see somebody identifying publicly with God, we don't praise the somebody, we praise the God of free and sovereign grace.
Jesus says, permitted to be so now for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. This act was the first public demonstration of the obedience that would characterize Christ's life and provide his people with the righteousness that we desperately need. Paul hits this in 2 Corinthians 5.21. He says that God the Father made Christ, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
God takes the sin of His people, He puts it upon His Son, He punishes His Son in our stead and in our place, and then He takes the righteousness of His Son and imputes it. He gives it to His people. And the great transaction is conducted and enacted by the sovereignty of God through faith. That's why the Reformers emphasize, this is what the battle cry was, sola fide, it's by faith alone.
It's not by faith plus, a la Roman Catholicism. It's not by faith plus your good appearance or faith plus what you do for God. It's faith alone, in Christ alone, by the gracious work of God alone. It's a beautiful thing.
Jesus fulfills in our place the righteousness of God. When we read the Gospel accounts, do we not see this emphasis upon obedience? What does He say when His disciples come to Him and they're hungry? He says, my meat is to do the will of Him who sent me.
Can you identify with that? Can you say that the thing that characterizes my life is to do what the Father says? You might get about 30 seconds in and start to congratulate yourself, and then you've undone the whole thing. I had a really obedient day last Wednesday.
I was really doing well, and then I got out of bed. That's the lot in life of man in sin and rebellion against God Most High. We need righteousness that avails with God, and it is afforded in the Christian gospel by our Lord Jesus Christ. We do not only need the forgiveness of sins, which is secured by Christ's death, but we also need the righteousness of Christ, which is secured by His life.
It's not just the dying of the Redeemer that we desperately need. It's the doing. It's the resurrection. It's the whole Christ.
It is everything from first to last. Jesus paid it all. Jesus answers it all. Jesus provides what man in sin most desperately needs.
And then continue in the passage with me. When he had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water. And behold, the water opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
The Trinity at the Jordan
You see, the triune God is here, isn't He? In Genesis chapter 1, in the beginning, we read that God, the triune, is there to make man. Here at the River Jordan, Matthew chapter 3, we hear of God, the triune, to redeem man. The older brothers said to Arius, if you want to learn of the Trinity, go down to the River Jordan.
We have the Son of God going into the water. We have the Son of God coming up out of the water. We have the Spirit of God alighting upon Him in the form of a dove. And we have this voice of the Father saying, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.
See, the Father can only say that about Christ. The Father only says that because of the righteousness of His Son. The obedience of the Son. The covenanted execution of that righteousness of the Son.
Back behind this is the passage that Pastor Cam read at the outset of worship. Isaiah 42, Behold, my servant, whom I uphold, my elect one, in whom my soul delights. Isn't that beautiful? The Father delights in the Son.
And as a result of that, the Father delights in the Son's people. The Father is delighting in you today, it's because He first delighted in the Son of His love. The prophet goes on to say, I have put my spirit upon him. He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.
We are to come to this particular passage. We are to understand it in redemptive history. We are to see that Jesus is the true Israel. What Israel in the old covenant failed to carry out, Israel, Christ in the new covenant executes absolutely successfully and he does it.
Thoroughly for the glory of his father and for the good of his people.
Active Obedience Established
There is a lot going on here The main point I want us to appreciate is that Jesus Christ acknowledges it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness We learn this active obedience at the first baptism of our Lord
The Second Baptism: The Cross
now turn with me to Matthew 20 and Matthew chapter 20.
The Cup and the Baptism of Wrath
The reason I mention verses 22 and 23 is because they're key in our understanding of what's going on here. As I said, the word baptism isn't present in your NIV or your ESV or your NASB. It might be in the margin. New King James and the King James has it right in the text.
There's a variant reading. As I said, the passage is present in the parallel in Mark chapter 10 verses 38 and 39. But note the situation going on in this instance. We need to appreciate what Christ does in Matthew 20.
Verse 17, now Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples aside on the road and said to them, Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes, and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again." It's a pretty surprising statement for the readers of Matthew's Gospel. For those of you who have been with us for any time, we've been spending some time in Matthew's Gospel. This occupies our morning study.
And in this particular instance, Jesus affirms or confirms what His primary mission and goal is. Yes, He fulfills the righteousness of God. He does that perfectly throughout His life. But here He underscores what is in His future.
And if you've read Matthew's Gospel, if you've ever heard of Matthew's Gospel, if you have any understanding of Matthew's Gospel, what Jesus says here in verse 18 really ought to take you by surprise. Because what has Jesus been doing in Matthew's gospel? Jesus has been healing the sick. Jesus has been feeding the poor.
Jesus, on occasion, has raised the dead. Jesus is a man, whom Peter describes, who went about doing good. Jesus taught wonderful doctrine. Jesus upheld his father's law.
Jesus says, do not even begin to think that I've come to abolish, but I have come to affirm, confirm, and to fulfill it. Jesus has done everything on the up-and-up, righteously, in a holy manner, most effectively, most always. And so when we read this statement, it underscores the divine plan, because the Father sent the Son for this very hour, and it underscores the wickedness, and the depravity, and the evil that is in man. Have you ever caught yourself saying, when you've seen a particularly atrocious thing in the news, I just saw something recently, a man walks into a service station, one of these minimarts, and he's milling about for just a moment, and then there's a girl standing behind the counter, the employee, trying to make some small talk with this particular fellow, She's pregnant.
She's not big with child, but she is pregnant. You don't know that unless they tell you that. But the man just reaches across and punches her right in the nose. Just drops her.
She falls right on her back. He walks around. And this genius, of course, is on a camera. Thankfully, they're not the most sharpest tools in the shed.
And they were able to pick this guy up right away. This poor girl is knocked down, bleeding, broken nose. And he goes and he helps himself to the cash register. If you're like me, you say, how can anyone ever do such a thing?
How is it that we could live in a world where people would reach across and punch a pregnant woman in their nose? Or how could we live in a world where they'd actually subsidize abortion? Or how could we live in a world where they would actually engage in the sorts of things that go on regularly? Have you ever wondered how in the world could men take the Lord of Glory, the Perfect, the Upright, the Holy, the Pure, the One who fed, the One who healed, the One who raised, the One who taught, and deliver Him up on a cross, and instead of saying, we want to worship Him, we want to bow to Him, we want to delight in Him, they say, away with Him, away with Him, give us Barabbas!
It's because of sin. All is not well in this world. All is not well in your soul. Your fundamental issue today is that you are in rebellion against the living and true God.
Now, you may not punch ladies over a gas station counter. You may not abort babies. You may not lay with men. You may not march against your enemies with all sorts of armament.
But whatever it is, you've got sin and rebellion against God. And this is a perfect illustration. Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes, and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and discourage and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again.
Now, it's as if the disciples didn't even listen. They didn't even hear Him. Well, this would have been a moment to pause. This would have been a moment to say, but Lord, please educate us a little bit more.
We're a little bit dense with those Old Testament scriptures. We need you to bring them to bear on this particular issue. No, that's not what happens. Jesus announces his impending death, his betrayal, his scourging, his crucifixion.
Verse 20, then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from him. And he said to her, what do you wish? She said to him, grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on your right hand and the other on the left, in your kingdom. Isn't that us?
Somebody tells us horrific news about their impending death. We say, boy, I sure hope things go well for me. I sure hope I benefit from this transaction. I sure hope that when everything's successfully carried out, you'll remember me and I can sit on your right hand and on your left.
Now notice what Jesus says in verse 22, Jesus answered and said, you do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They said to Him, We are able. So He said to them, You will indeed drink My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with.
But to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by My Father." Jesus reminds them of what He just said. He uses different language. He uses biblical image. He uses theological convention to communicate just what it is that stands in his future.
They're jockeying for position. Make no mistake about it. He says to them, you don't know what you're talking about. You don't get it yet.
You haven't internalized the reality of my delivering up, of my being scourged, of my being crucified. And as I said, he pulls back into Old Testament Scripture and he brings forth this idea of a cup. Notice. He says, are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?
Now many of us miss that reference perhaps because we don't know the Old Testament the way that we should. But his audience wouldn't have missed it. The cup in the Old Testament is God's wrath. God's fury, God's anger.
God says that he would give this cup of wrath to Babylon. God says that he would give this cup of wrath to the wicked. God says that when men die and enter into judgment, there is fury, there is hell, there is suffering, for them having disobeyed the God of holiness and righteousness and truth. Several instances in the scriptures we see this reference to the cup.
You see what Jesus says? These men come to Him, or the mom comes to Him and says, can my boys sit on your right and sit on your left? He says, you don't understand what I'm about to go through. Again, just imagine for a moment the idea of a cup of God's wrath.
Jump ahead in Matthew's Gospel, and you'll see Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane refer to this cup again. What does He pray there? He says, Father, if it's possible, If it is possible, let this cup pass. Christ understands what the cup is.
It is the wrath and fury of His Father. He knows what lay in wait for Him outside of Gethsemane. He sweats drops of blood. He understands all too well the reality of hell.
He understands all too well the wrath and fury of God. You think lightly of sin? You think it's some small thing? You think it's just a little demerit that you can deal with on your own?
This costs the Son of God this sort of agony. He says to his disciples, my soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death. That's what the cup is. You don't know anything about what I'm going through.
He doesn't say it like I am. I'm saying it kind of like a vindictive jerk. Jesus was never a vindictive jerk.
Overwhelmed: The Baptism of Suffering
Then note this next reference. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? This is a reference to his death. This is a reference to the overwhelming awful power and fury and judgment and wrath of God.
He describes it as a baptism. Our dear brother Matthew Henry says that Jesus would be sprinkled. That's not the word that is employed. Jesus would be overwhelmed.
Jesus would be immersed. Jesus would be plunged. Jesus would be dipped. Jesus would undergo four sinners.
He uses the language in Luke chapter 12, verse 49. I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled. I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished." You see, he's not talking about the water baptism of Matthew 3. He's not talking about the Holy Spirit baptism that came upon him at that occasion.
He is talking about something in his future. He is talking about something on the equivalency of this cup of God's wrath. He is talking about him being overwhelmed under the fury and the judgment of God Most High in order to save his people from their sins. You don't go into that tank because you behaved well.
You don't go into that tank because you successfully completed an online course. You go through that or into that tank because of what Christ went through on our behalf. It's baptism. Go back to Matthew 20, just so we can see how it plays out.
Matthew 20, verse 23. So he said to them, you will indeed drink my cup and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with. Who's he talking to? He's talking to James and John.
What happens in Acts chapter 12, when Herod, in his rage, executes his wrath on the church? It's James who is the target. Herod beheads James for the cause of Christ and truth. What happens to this John?
He's exiled on the island of Patmos. I should clarify something that I've said before. Tradition tells us, or history tells us, that he was boiled in a vat of hot oil. He didn't die.
He emerged from that. Apparently, history tells us he did eventually die of old age. But I think exile on the island of Patmos and a vat of hot oil does indicate something to what Jesus is talking about here.
Discipleship and Suffering
He says to these men, because of your identification with me, you will understand something of the cup and something of the baptism. Now may I make just a small observation at this particular point? Who do we think we are, brethren, when trials come, when difficulties plague us, or when persecutions actually become our lot to cry, snivel, complain, and whine in the manner of, how can these sorts of things happen to a good person like me? If the Son of God was made perfect through suffering, and if the sons of God subsequent to Him were made perfect ultimately through suffering and death and entering into the eternal state, what's our portion?
And what's our lot? Do you think our calling, as Christians, is to zip along this world, just singing, dancing, and reveling? Do you think you're never going to have issues? You're never going to have trials?
There's never going to be hardships? There's never going to be persecutions? I mean, that's pretty early on in the history of Christianity, Acts 12, and James is losing his head for his master. I mean, these were the best people on the face of the earth.
These were chief servants of Christ Most High. These were the men whom God had ordained to propagate the glorious gospel of free and sovereign grace, to make disciples and to plant churches. Surely and certainly you would think they'd be met with nothing but approval. They'd be welcomed into any city that they went into.
What happens to Paul when he's in one particular city? He has to escape. They put him in a basket and lower him down the wall. Here's the holy apostle Paul, the theologically inclined Paul, the man of God that this world has not seen since, shimmying down a wall in order to preserve his life.
If you signed up this morning and you're going to enter into that tank and you think that means rose petals and bluebirds from here on out, may I suggest you need to get your nose in this book. You need to listen to the Apostle in 2 Timothy 3. All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. That's the reality.
What happens, according to Jesus, in John 3? When Christians live the way they're supposed to, they uphold the truth, they maintain fidelity, they serve their Lord faithfully, they emphasize His truth. When they're standing at the water cooler at work on a Tuesday morning and somebody says, what do you think about same-sex marriage? And you say, I oppose it, because God the Lord opposes it.
And He has said in His Word that man should not lay with man the way that he does with a woman. And women shouldn't do that either. Do you think they just say, well, that's so good to have your opinion. We just love you and we want to encourage you and we want to hopefully help you along your way to heaven.
That's not what happens, is it? You're tarred and feathered. They look at you like you're a bug. Like you're odious.
You're offensive, you're prejudiced, you're bigoted, you're bad. To side with the living God and His moral law today identifies us as bad, as unfair, as mean, as unkind. The faithful Christian says, so be it. They say with Luther, in a completely different context, but one that certainly ought to bear upon us, here I stand.
I can do no other. That itself assaults me. I'm not going to forsake the word of the living God. For the baptizees, if that's the word, those going into the tank this morning, embrace the reality of discipleship.
We live in a day and age where Christian discipleship doesn't look much more than being able to say church. We are saved by grace through faith in Christ and that alone. That is underscored a thousand times. Once we are saved by grace through faith in Christ alone, what does Christ call us to do?
He calls us to follow Him. He calls us to take up our crosses daily. He calls us to love His Word. He prays to His Father, sanctify them by Thy truth.
Thy word is truth. We ought to be men and women of the book. We ought to be men and women of the law. We ought to be men and women who say with the psalmist, open my eyes that I might see wondrous things from Your law.
We ought to be like that Psalm 1 man. It is really only a description of Jesus. But being in Jesus and having vital union and connection with Him, that Psalm 1 man does what? He meditates on the law of his Lord, day and night.
You're not going into that baptistry and the three brethren that are coming up that we're going to extend the right hand of fellowship to. You're not joining this church the way that men would join a social gathering or a social club. We are bound together in this place by something much greater and much deeper and much more solid than just some verbal agreement that we'll try to look after each other. We are bound here by the blood of the Lamb and we need to follow Him.
We need to pursue Him. I love that description in Revelation 14. How are the godly described there? They follow the Lamb wherever He goes.
That's the disposition for those entering the waters of baptism. And may this be a reminder of our own baptism and rehearse to us the importance of having identified publicly with the living God. Some of you have been baptized. Some of you are not living in a manner that is consistent with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Some of you struggle. There's always going to be struggles. There's always going to be inconsistencies. Throw yourself afresh on the mercy of God Most High.
Confess your sins. Renew your repentance. Start again. Press onward.
Press forward. I know that whenever I would be in the church, not actually conducting the baptisms, I'd always want to get baptized again. There's something about it, right? Isn't there something special?
You remember the day of your baptism? I can. I remember publicly identifying with my Lord. Not having all the theology down, not knowing all the jots and tittles, but having that confession.
He saved me. Isn't that a great thing? You don't have to go into the water again this morning. You say, Lord God Most High, forgive me. then my conduct has not been worthy of the gospel.
Then my conduct has fallen astray. Renew my heart. Give me the zeal. Give me the fervency.
Let me leave this place more resolved than ever to serve my Lord. because he lived for me and because he died for me. He drank this cup of wrath and he went through this baptism, which was his death. He was overwhelmed by it. It engulfed him.
It overtook him. And this is seen in the remainder of this chapter and in this book. John Gill says, but the baptism of his sufferings is meant which are compared to a baptism because of the largeness and abundance of them. He was, as it were, immersed or plunged into them.
Greatness Through Service
Go back to the text now, chapter 20, verse 24. And when the ten heard it, they were greatly displeased with the two brothers. Why do you think they were greatly displeased with the two brothers? Were they thinking this way?
Oh, James and John! Such carnal aims! Such desires in the wake of announcement by our Lord that He's going to die. I suspect that they were greatly displeased because if James got the right and John got the left, that means they wouldn't.
They were greatly displeased because they wanted that position. Jesus uses the opportunity to call attention to this. Verse 25, He called them to Himself and said, You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you, but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.
You see, this is what they were jockeying for, position in the kingdom. Jesus says, here's how you achieve position in the kingdom. It's not by being the greatest, it's by being the least. It's not by being the first, it's by being the last.
It's not by getting people underneath you, it's by you serving others. It's a lesson on discipleship for these men who are jockeying for position. It's a lesson on discipleship for us who at times jockey for position. You want to be great in the kingdom of heaven?
Be least of all. You want to be first in the kingdom of heaven? Serve others. Just do that.
There's times in the life of every Christian, they want to do something for God, they want to serve the Lord, and that's great! And we encourage that, please! But we've associated service with the Lord as buying a plane ticket, moving our families, and taking up shop among some tribe that we never heard of or seen. It never dawns on us that we can serve our wives.
It never dawns on us that we can serve our children. It never dawns on us that we can serve our husband, because after all, he's our husband. It never dawns on us that we can serve in ways that call no attention to us whatsoever. It never dawns on us that we can actually just serve without tweeting about it or putting our status on Facebook.
I've thought that if you want to start lifting weights and get big at the gym, not only do you need to be taught on how to pick heavy things up and push them out, but you need to be taught on how to Facebook it. Because everybody who works out has to tell everybody on Facebook what they did at the gym. Who cares? Is your day greatly amplified because you know that somebody in Maine did legs?
Christians, unfortunately, follow that tact as well. Before there was a Facebook, before there was a Twitter, before there was the missional movement in evangelicalism, there were faithful men and women seeking to glorify God each and every day by telling people about Jesus, by doing nice things for people in Jesus' name, and by doing what they can where they're at. before they could tell the world about it. Do you know what Christ says? Whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave.
How does he underscore the lesson? This is the point. Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, and who had a prerogative and a right to do this? When you read the prophet Isaiah, chapter 6, and he rehearses his call to the prophetic ministry, he says, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord.
I saw him high. I saw him lofty. I saw the train of his robe fill the entirety of the temple. I heard the angels crying out to him, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.
The whole earth is full of his glory. John tells us in his gospel that Isaiah saw Jesus' glory. So that Jesus of Isaiah 6 comes into this world, and instead of being praised by angels, he's scoffed at by men. Instead of being worshipped by men, he's scoffed, he's scourged, he's crucified, he's delivered up.
And note what he says. This is according to the plan of God. This is how it's supposed to be. This is the execution of the covenant.
This is how Jesus saves His people. Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life, I love the language here, a ransom for many. He didn't make men ransomable. He ransomed many.
He didn't make men savable. He saved many. He didn't help. He didn't assist.
He delivers. He's the champion. He's the one who breaks the oppressor's back. He is the one who crushes Satan under his foot.
He is the one that forgives sin. He is the one that frees men from the condemnation and wrath and fury of God Most High for having violated His holy law. Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many. As I said, the rest of the Gospel narrative fleshes this out.
Chapter 26, the Garden of Gethsemane. Chapter 26, the betrayal by Judas, the trial before the Sanhedrin, the denial by Peter, the trial before Pilate, the mocking of the soldiers, the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus, the burial of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is the exposition or the explanation of what Christ says here in 2028. He didn't come to be served.
He didn't come to be praised. He didn't come to be worshipped. but rather He came to serve us, His elect, His people, the ones the Father chose. He came to serve them by laying down His life on their behalf and providing a ransom. It's beautiful.
Application: Why We Baptize
So to get back to our initial question, why do we baptize? Because these four people have shown themselves exemplary in their understanding of the Bible and of theology and the confession of faith. because we had a hidden camera on them over the last several weeks and they always did the right thing? No. It's because Jesus fulfilled all righteousness.
It's because Jesus went to the cross in our behalf. It's because Jesus rose again. And the scripture says that everyone who looks to him in faith, everyone who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, will be saved." Isn't that beautiful? It was the answer that Paul and Barnabas gave in the Philippian jailers' place.
So what must I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. So what Peter says, there is no other name given under heaven among which men must be saved. So what Christ himself, or John the Baptist says in John 3, It says, he that believes the Son has everlasting life.
He that does not believe the Son shall not see life. But the wrath of God abides on him. So the reason why anybody comes to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, why anybody will sit with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in that great wedding feast, why anybody will be accepted in the presence of God Almighty, it is not because of their doing, it is not because of their righteousness, it is because of the doing and the dying and the rising of our Lord Jesus Christ. His two baptisms answer the question. active, passive obedience.
That is the ground upon which sinners are accepted by our God through His Son.
Exhortation to the Congregation
Well, I want to exhort the brethren in our church to pray for these brethren. We are receiving new members. That means we ought to pray for them. It's a good time to encourage, a good time to plug the whole doctrine of intercessory prayer.
Certainly, one of the benefits of being a part of Christ's Church is the prayers of Christ's people. When we're able to express to somebody, I'm going through this, or I'm suffering with this, or I'm having this issue, or this trial, and we know that brethren pray. I mean, it's the most wonderful thing in the world to know that Jesus always prays for us, isn't it? Because you may tell your wife, please pray for me, and she might forget.
You may tell your husband, please pray for me, and we'll forget. Jesus doesn't forget. The scripture says He always lives to make intercession for us. We can bank on that.
I might forget. I know. You might forget. But let's make a conscious effort not to forget.
Let's intercede for brethren at the throne of grace. Let's pray. Let's encourage. Let's love.
Let's exhibit kindness. Let's do what Christ tells us he did. He didn't come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. Far too often we treat the church as a commodity.
We treat the church as a place that is for my benefit. We look for churches based on what services it offers, based on what needs that it meets. Rather than looking at the church as the house of the living God, wherein we go to glorify, honor, praise, and worship Him, and along the way we ought to encourage brethren as well. The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob.
So ought His people. We ought to pray for these brethren, love these brethren, encourage these brethren, in their Christian walk. And to the brethren, to those being baptized, our confession says it this way. One of the identifiers or one of the things that we express in this ordinance or sacrament of baptism is of His, the person being baptized, giving up unto God through Jesus Christ to live and walk in newness of life.
I love that language. It acknowledges something. Things have changed. You're not your own anymore.
You've been bought with a price. Jesus paid it all. You are His possession. You are His livelihood.
You are His choice jewel. Live like it. Function that way. Glorify Him and serve Him.
And then to those outside of Christ. I suspect that when you come to a Christian church and you hear a minister say something like that, it could sound offensive. What do you mean outside of Christ? Or they use the language unbeliever.
They say lost, or they say under the wrath of God. This is what the Bible says. There is nobody in this place right now, rightly connected to God through Jesus Christ, that deserved it. There is not a one of us who achieved it.
There is not a one of us who merited it. There is not a one of us who deserves it. God in Christ reached down and pulled our miserable souls out of the dunghill of sin and gave us life. And He is able, and He is powerful, and He is the God of Holy Scripture who can affect this today. and live.
There's a hymn that I was reminded of when I considered 2028, because what's taught in 2028 is the doctrine of substitutionary atonement. You all know what substitution is. If I would have been hit by a car on the way to the church this morning, I know my illustrations typically have me dying, that doesn't indicate a death wish, but if that was the case then Pastor Kim would have been preaching in my stead. It's the glory of the gospel, isn't it?
Christ on that cross in our stead. Who deserved the wrath and fury of God? Who deserved the curse and judgment of a broken law? Who deserved the wrath or the hell that Jesus Christ endured?
It's us! But He stood in our place. And our hymn book contains a hymn that says this, Ye who think of sin, but lightly, nor suppose the evil great, here may view its nature rightly, here its guilt may estimate. Mark the sacrifice appointed, see who bears the awful load, tis the word, the Lord's anointed, son of man and son of God." He then says this, Here we have a firm foundation, here the refuge of the lost.
Christ's the rock of our salvation, his the name of which we boast. Lamb of God for sinners wounded, sacrifice to cancel guilt. None shall ever be confounded who on him their hope have built. Believe, look to him.
Take what is said in scripture and believe it by God's grace and you will enter into eternal life.
Closing Prayer
Well, let us pray and ask the Lord to be glorified in our time together. Father, we thank you for the word. We thank you for Jesus. We thank you for his ministry.
We thank you for the active and the passive obedience that he fulfilled all righteousness and that he died in the stead of all those whom the father gave him. Thank you again, Lord, that he rose on the third day. that He ascended on high, that He led captivity captive and He gives gifts to men. We know that there is a day coming when He will return in the glory of His Father with all of His holy angels, taking vengeance on those who know not God and on those who do not obey the Gospel. We pray that You'd open hearts.
We pray that You'd give the graces of faith and repentance. We pray that today would be the day of salvation and that You would be glorified in this. And we ask these things through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.