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Matthew chapter 3, specifically 
at verse 13. Matthew 3.13 to the end of the 
chapter, then we'll turn over to chapter 20 in Matthew's gospel. So Matthew 3.13, 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. So turn over to Matthew chapter 
20, Matthew chapter 20, specifically at verse 17. Matthew 20, beginning in verse 
17. Now Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the 12 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 discourage and to crucify. And the third 
day he will rise again. And 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. 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. Well, let us pray. Our Father 
in heaven, we thank you for the written word of the living and 
true God. We know all scripture is given by inspiration of God, 
and it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, 
and for instruction in righteousness. And we pray that the Holy Spirit 
who gave us the word would guide us now as we study, as we consider, 
as we ponder, and may it find its mark in our hearts. And may 
we as believers rejoice in the gracious work of our Savior on 
behalf of his people. And for unbelievers, we pray 
they would see clearly what it means to be saved, what it means 
to be justified freely, by grace alone, through faith alone, in 
Christ Jesus alone. Again, forgive us for all sin 
and unrighteousness and everything that darkens our mind, and we 
pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. As I said, this is 
a happy occasion wherein we have baptisms, three of them, and 
I think it does provoke the question, as a Baptist church, why do we 
baptize? And there are several answers 
to that particular question that we can give. We could argue from 
covenant theology. We could argue from the clear 
command of our Lord Jesus Christ, and then the pattern of the apostolic 
church. But this morning, we're not going 
to argue from that vantage point. We're going to argue from the 
doctrine of justification by faith alone. Justification is 
an act of God's free grace, wherein He pardons all our sins and accepts 
us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of 
Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone. It is that article 
upon which the Church stands or false. It is that article 
that distinguishes us from the Roman Catholic communion. They 
teach that a justification has a sanctification in such a way 
that it's faith plus faithfulness in order to be saved. But the 
great clarion call of the Protestant Reformation was justification 
by faith alone. And then when we ask the question, 
what is justification by faith alone founded upon, it's founded 
upon the life and the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. Theology calls this his active 
obedience and his passive obedience. And in Matthew's gospel, we see 
a reference to two baptisms concerning our Lord Jesus. The first is 
literal. It's water baptism, wherein he 
comes to John the Baptist in Matthew chapter 3. The second 
is metaphorical. Jesus uses the language of baptism, 
and when we compare that with Luke's gospel, we understand 
that he's speaking about his death. He's speaking about his 
passion. So in other words, Matthew 3 
underscores the active obedience of Christ, that it was necessary, 
that it was requisite that He fulfill all righteousness, and 
then Matthew 20, 28 specifically, shows us that His work on the 
cross was for a ransom, for redemption, in order to secure the salvation 
of His people. So in sum, we need His death, 
we need His blood to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 
but we also need a positive righteousness by which we can be accepted with 
God. To put it in common parlance, 
we not only need cleansing through His blood, but we need to be 
clothed in His righteousness so that we are fit and able to 
go to heaven. So this morning we celebrate 
God's conquest, we celebrate Jesus' victory, we celebrate 
what the Most High has done in saving these three people from 
their sins. The water is an emblem, the water 
is a symbol, the water is a public declaration of what God Most 
High has done with them inwardly. So let's look at Matthew chapter 
3. First, the baptism of Jesus by John, which underscores the 
active obedience of Christ. And there's three things to appreciate 
here. First, the request for baptism, 
verses 13 to 15. Secondly, the act of baptism 
itself in verse 16. And then the significance of 
this baptism in verse 17. But notice the Lord's initiative 
there in chapter 3 at verse 13. So we see that favorable implication 
concerning baptism. There are some churches that 
don't practice it. There are some churches that 
practice it falsely. The Lord God calls us to not 
only engage in it, but to engage in it in a way that is biblical 
and scriptural. So Jesus dignifies the act by 
coming to the Baptist in order to be baptized. And notice John's 
attempt to prevent him. He was persistent, but he was 
unsuccessful. Notice what John says in verse 
14. John tried to prevent him saying, 
I need to be baptized by you, and are you coming to me? John 
the Baptist understood that the one who was coming after him 
was to be preferred beforehand. John the Baptist was the friend 
of the bridegroom. John the Baptist says in John's 
gospel, according to chapter 3, that he, Christ, must increase, 
but I must decrease. So on this occasion, when Jesus 
comes to be baptized by John, you kind of get the reason why 
John says, I'm not going to baptize you. I should be baptized by 
you. There's a reluctance on his part. 
a hesitancy on his part because of his understanding that Christ 
was, in fact, to be preferred over him. And then notice the 
Lord's explanation, specifically in verse 15. But Jesus answered 
and said to him, permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting 
for us to fulfill all righteousness. Jesus is functioning as a mediator. Therefore, he is a public person. He is a public representative 
at this particular juncture. We know that John preached a 
baptism of forgiveness, or remission, for sins committed. That's not 
why Jesus is coming to be baptized. He is not a sinner. He has no 
guilt. There is nothing impure in him 
such that he needs to be baptized. But this marks the public ministry 
of our Lord Jesus Christ. We'll see some significance as 
we move through the passage. But here he specifies the nature 
of his ministry. He must fulfill all righteousness. He must do everything that is 
pleasing to the Father. He must obey. Again, we need 
a righteousness. We're not going to produce that 
righteousness because we're sinners. All have sinned and fall short 
of the glory of God. All we, like sheep, have gone 
astray. Scripture is not silent here. 
The Scripture tells us we're totally depraved. That doesn't 
mean we're as bad as we could possibly be. that all of us are 
Stalin or Pol Pot or the like. But it means that every part 
of us is affected by sin. Our heart, our mind, our soul, 
our strength, everything about us is depraved. But we're also 
unable to fix the problem with God. There's a total depravity 
and a total inability. So it's not that we just hear 
law, go out and perform it, and then we win our acceptance from 
God. It's never going to happen. We need this representative. 
We need this high priest. We need this prophet. We need 
this king. We need this mediator. In the 
beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, and the 
Word was God. And the Word became flesh and 
dwelt among us. Why did He become flesh? So He 
could live in obedience to the Father's law. So He could do 
everything that was specified in terms of our commitment, in 
terms of obligations placed upon us. And so Christ announces at 
the outset of His public ministry here that it's necessary, it's 
requisite, it is absolutely essential for Him to fulfill all righteousness. In the Old Testament, you have 
that statement, the prophet Isaiah, chapter 53, 11. By his knowledge, 
my righteous servant shall justify many, for he shall bear their 
iniquities. And then the New Testament is 
not silent at the point where we need the righteousness of 
Christ. Again, we need his death. We need His blood. We'll see 
that when we turn to Matthew chapter 20. We need the Lamb 
of God who takes away the sin of the world. But if we don't 
have that positive righteousness, then we're back at the tree of 
the knowledge of good and evil. And we have to fulfill, and we 
have to perform, and we have to do so in a way that is perfect. 
Brethren, that's a mingling of law and gospel. The gospel really 
is good news. Justification is by faith alone, 
and that entails both forgiveness and the imputed righteousness 
of Jesus Christ received by faith alone. So Paul speaks of this 
in Romans 5, 12-19. He summarizes God's dealings 
with man in two men. He says, so also by one man's 
obedience, many will be made righteous. So through Adam came 
curse, through Adam came sin, through Adam came sort of estrangement 
with God, but it's through the righteousness of Jesus Christ 
that there is this righteousness that we receive by faith alone. 1 Corinthians 1, the apostle 
tells us that Christ has been made unto us as righteousness. 2 Corinthians 5.21, God the Father 
made Him, God the Son, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that 
we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Galatians 2.21, 
the apostle says, I do not set apart the grace of God, for if 
righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain. 
What's Paul's point? We need a righteousness. We need 
forgiveness and a righteousness, and Christ brings that. Philippians 
3, the apostle rejoices that he's found in Christ, not having 
my own righteousness, which is from the law, he says, but having 
that righteousness, which is from God through faith in our 
Lord Jesus Christ. See, we celebrate the death of 
Christ, and well, we should, but we need to celebrate the 
life of Christ. And again, not just as an example, 
not just as an ethical precept, but as the means by which God 
accepts us in the Beloved. wherein we are counted righteous 
for his sake alone. So that's what Christ means when 
he says, it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. And on the heels of this explanation, 
we see that this was appropriate for John the Baptist, because 
at the end of verse 15 it says, Then he allowed him. What's he 
going to do? No, Lord, I'm not going to baptize 
you. No, Lord, I'm not going to follow through. No, Lord, 
I'm not. Of course he allowed him. So the Lord Jesus identifies 
with those of us who need repentance and remission of sins. He identifies 
with all those whom the Father had given him. Jesus not only 
identifies with, but represents us. So this marks his life of 
obedience to the Father with constant, constant attention. Now note the act of baptism, 
verse 16, when he had been baptized. That word has a meaning. We're 
not free as the church to redefine the meaning. We're not free as 
the church to change the meaning. We as the church, I know this 
is going to be shocking, but we need to obey God with reference 
to the meaning. In our Wednesday night studies, 
we've been going through the book of Leviticus, and there 
were two fellows by the name of Nadab and Abihu. who after 
receiving detailed legislation on how to sacrifice before God, 
and then witnessing the approval of God on an authorized sacrifice, 
then presented strange fire to the Lord, profane fire, that 
which God had not commanded. How do you think that went for 
Nadab and Abihu? Do you think Yahweh said, well, 
that was the best you could do, that was innovative, that was 
creative, that was good? No, God killed those men. And 
then God ordered the brothers of those men to pull them away 
from the sanctuary so that the sanctuary would not be defiled. 
The word baptism has a particular meaning, and according to one 
lexicon or dictionary, it is very simple. It says to use water 
in a rite for purpose of renewing or establishing a relationship 
with God. Plunge, dip, wash, baptize. plunge, dip, wash, baptize. Those are great sort of explanations. Calvin and his institutes, if 
you have the two volumes set, translated by Battles on page 
1320, Calvin admits that the word means to immerse. And that's 
what the text suggests. Notice what happens according 
to verse 16. When he had been baptized, Jesus 
came up immediately from the water. He came up from it, underscoring 
immersion as the proper manner involved relative to Christian 
baptism. And then notice the opening of 
the heavens at this particular juncture. And behold, the heavens 
were opened to him. It's a glorious scene. It's not 
alone in Scripture. You've got that scene at the 
end of Acts chapter 7, when Stephen is under examination by the Sanhedrin. And they're going to stone Stephen 
to death. It tells us that he was filled with the Holy Spirit. 
He saw heaven open. He saw the glory of God. And 
he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God. You see it 
in the Old Testament prophets. The prophet Isaiah says, rend 
the heavens and come down. There are these instances, these 
scenes, the prophet Ezekiel saw this where the heavens open and 
it shows God's approbation, God's approval, God's confirmation 
of that particular event. And I think that's what the text 
is underscoring. And behold, the heavens were 
open to him. And then it says, he saw the 
spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon him. Now the Holy Spirit is not properly 
a dove. This is what's called a theophany, 
a manifestation of God in some particular manner. It's like 
God's not a bush. He appears to Moses in Exodus 
chapter 3, but we're not authorized to say God's a bush. We say that 
God demonstrated his majesty and his presence and his power 
and his glory through the bush. Just like we don't say that the 
Holy Spirit is a bird, he's not a dove, but he manifests, he 
shows, he reveals, he demonstrates through this particular medium. 
So the Spirit of God comes upon Jesus in this instance. He comes 
upon Jesus not as God the Son, he comes upon Jesus according 
to his humanity. as God the Son who is the mediator, 
the prophet, priest, and king, being equipped for that work 
of redemption that He's undertaking. We see the background to this 
in the Old Testament, Isaiah 11, verse 2. The Spirit of the 
Lord 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 the Lord. Those are sort of prophecies 
concerning the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and what will 
be true of Him. Isaiah 42.1, Behold my servant 
whom I uphold, my elect one in whom my soul delights. I have 
put my spirit upon him. He will bring forth justice to 
the Gentiles, which incidentally is quoted in Matthew chapter 
12 and applied to Jesus. Isaiah 61. The text is not underscoring 
that the Spirit is a dove. The text is underscoring that 
just like the Spirit brooded over creation in Genesis 1, verse 
2, the Spirit broods now over the new creation. The fact that 
there is a new era launched in the coming of the Son of God 
to save His people from their sins. We would expect the triune 
God to be present. We would expect the Father, the 
Son, and the Holy Spirit to be present. We would expect all 
three persons demonstrating the glory and the majesty of God 
Most High. And as we move through the text, 
notice what we see there in verse 17. It says, And suddenly a voice 
came from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I 
am well pleased. The significance of this particular 
event It underscores the fact that Christ, as our Savior, is 
going to fulfill all righteousness. Christ, as our Savior, has the 
approval of God the Father. Our Confession speaks about this. 
It says, The Lord Jesus, in His human nature, thus united to 
the Divine in the person of the Son, was sanctified and anointed 
with the Holy Spirit above measure. having in him all the treasures 
of wisdom and knowledge, in whom it pleased the Father that all 
fullness should dwell, to the end that being holy, harmless, 
undefiled, full of grace and truth, he might be thoroughly 
furnished to execute the office of a mediator and surety." So 
for our benefit, we learn that his mission is gonna be one of 
obedience. He's gonna fulfill all righteousness. And again, as a sinner, may I 
encourage you to consider this. You need a righteousness. You're 
not going to go to heaven without it. And I'm going to tell you 
right now, spoiler alert, you cannot fulfill all that God has 
commanded. You're in Adam. You're dead in 
your trespasses and sins. You must be born again. You must, 
by the grace of God, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and 
repent from your sin. Belief in the Lord Jesus Christ 
accesses those twin benefits of justification, forgiveness 
of sins and the imputation of Christ's righteousness. It is 
received by faith alone. There is no better news. There 
is no more glorious truth. There is nothing more excellent 
than the reality that God Most High is in Christ Jesus, reconciling 
the world to Himself. There is an abundance of grace. 
There is an abundance of mercy. There is an abundance of acceptance 
with our God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember that scene 
in Luke chapter 15, all the sinners and tax collectors draw near 
to Jesus to hear Him. What do the Pharisees do? What 
do the scribes do? They look down their noses on 
him. They look down their noses on 
them. They say, this man receives sinners and eats with them. This 
was a derogatory statement on their part. This man receives 
sinners and eats with them. You can sense their distaste. You can see their menacing faces. You can see their disgust at 
the thought that this man would receive sinners and eats with 
them. So what does this man say? This man says, I absolutely positively 
do receive sinners, and I absolutely positively do eat with them. And then he tells three stories. 
He tells a story about a man who had sheep, and he lost one 
of them, and then he leaves the 99 to go find the one. What happens 
when he comes back with that one sheep? Heaven rejoices. There's a woman who loses a coin 
and doesn't say, well, I'm just going to write it off at the 
end of the year. She busily searches for that coin. When she finds 
that coin, what happens? There's great rejoicing. What 
does Jesus say? There's rejoicing in heaven over 
one sinner who repents. And then the father of the prodigal. 
Remember the prodigal son? He comes to the father and says, 
you're better off to me dead than alive. Give me my share 
of the inheritance. He takes the share of the inheritance. 
He goes off and he squanders it. And then he comes to himself. 
And a lot of people think that he was converted there. I don't 
think he was. He came to himself in the sense 
that if I go back and cast myself upon my father's mercy, I may 
at least get three hots and a cot. I may get three hot meals and 
a cot to sleep in. I'll be treated like one of the 
hired laborers, and I'll get at least something rather than 
this pig food. So when this young man returns, 
what happens? The father sees him from a long 
way off. The father runs to him. The father falls on him. The 
father puts a ring on his finger. The father puts a rope on his 
back. And the father orders that there be feasting. Kill that 
best animal. My son who was dead is now alive. 
My son who was lost is now found. Do you think that passage in 
Luke 15 is given to discourage sinners from coming to Jesus? 
Do you think that these calls of our blessed Savior, the last 
great day of the feast, John 7, 37, if anyone thirsts, let 
him come to me and drink? Do you think these are calculated 
to tell you, never come near? Or are they calculated to tell 
you, come near, look unto him, and be ye saved, all the ends 
of the earth, for he is God, and there is no other? Consider 
our Lord's teaching in John chapter 3. Just as Moses lifted up the 
serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man also be lifted 
up. What happened in the wilderness? 
God sent fiery serpents to bite the whiners, to bite the complainers, 
to bite the grumblers. And then Moses was instructed 
to build this brazen snake and set it up. And then what was 
the requisite? drag yourself over there and 
feel the healing potion come out from it? No, it was look 
and live. It wasn't suck the venom out 
of your bite and then look and live. It was look and live. Why 
do you think these are told you in scripture? To keep you away 
from God? To keep you at arm's length? 
To discourage your approach to the high and holy one? He's about 
that. That's why Jesus came into the 
world. Sinners to save. God so loved 
the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever 
believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. See, 
these things, again, are not given in the Bible to keep you 
away. They're given in the Bible so 
that you'll flee to Him in faith. And that's precisely the emphasis 
throughout the gospel narratives. You need a righteousness. It 
is to be found in Christ. So verse 17, suddenly a voice 
came from heaven, the voice of the father saying, this is my 
beloved son in whom I am well pleased. This reflects Isaiah 
42.1 that I read earlier. Behold my servant whom I uphold, 
my elect one in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit 
upon him. He will bring forth justice to 
the Gentiles. This statement from the Father 
refers or rather shows divine affirmation, it shows divine 
approbation, and it is revelation for us so that we can see that 
the one who has come has been set apart and approved by God 
to do what he's been sent to do. And before we move to Matthew 
chapter 20, you have to appreciate the Christian doctrine of the 
Trinity. We've got the Father, the Son, and the Spirit present 
at this scene. I'll just read our Baptist forefather, 
John Gill. He said, it would be almost unpardonable 
almost unpardonable not to take notice of the testimony here 
given to the doctrine of the Trinity. Since a voice was heard 
from the Father in heaven, bearing witness to the Son and human 
nature on earth, on whom the Spirit had descended and now 
abode. The ancients looked upon this 
as so clear and full a proof of this truth that they were 
want to say, go to Jordan and there learn the doctrine of the 
Trinity. Amen. That is absolutely, positively 
true. Well, let's turn now to the passive 
obedience of our Lord Jesus. I realize that word suggests 
sort of an inactivity on the part of the Savior, but the passive 
probably is connected to our word passion, and it refers to 
the death of our Lord. So the act of obedience is His 
positively obeying all the precepts of the law. He never sinned. 
He never had a lustful look. He never had a lustful thought. 
He never stole. He never lied. He never cheated. 
He never coveted. He never did anything forbidden 
in the law of God by God. Passive obedience refers to his 
death on the cross. It refers to what he underwent 
on our behalf, for us men and for our salvation. So if you 
look at, we look secondly at the baptism of Jesus on the cross. 
Notice Matthew 20, 17 to 28. We're not going to be able to 
deal with every jot and tittle of this, but I just want to point 
out a few things. First, note the context. Note 
the context, verses 17 to 20. Now, Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, 
took the 12 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 discourage 
and to rise again. And the third day he will rise 
again. It's a pretty sober statement, isn't it? You're with your friend. 
You're with your rabbi. You're with your master. You're 
with one that you've grown to love. The disciples loved him. They had affection for him. They 
spent time with him. He was in their midst. How would 
they not love him? He's altogether lovely. He's chief among 10,000. 
There's everything in Jesus wherein sinners should love him. I know 
we reflect upon the fact that they don't, but that's because 
of sin and depravity and those things I mentioned earlier. There's 
nothing owing to Jesus that would cause us to not love Him. He 
is life itself. He is love itself. He is the 
blessed one. Now on the heels of this statement 
that he's going to go die, look at what happens in terms of the 
disciples. 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. Seems 
a bit insensitive, doesn't it? He's just said he's gonna go 
be brutalized in Jerusalem. He's gonna be mocked. He's gonna 
be scourged. He's gonna be crucified. And 
what do they want? They're jockeying for position. 
We wanna be on your right hand and we wanna be on your left 
hand. We want prestige. Well, part of the emphasis of 
this passage, at least by way of an application, is to demonstrate 
that the cross always precedes the crown. See, they're getting 
a little bit ahead of themselves. They want crown, but they don't 
want cross. I think we get ahead of ourselves 
sometimes too, don't we? We want crown, but we're not 
into this whole cross thing. We want all the benefits and 
the blessings and the privileges and the protection, but these 
afflictions don't really work for us. We can be like these 
disciples from time to time. I just want to be ushered into 
your presence. I want to take my seat either 
on the right or on the left in your kingdom. There is probably 
that in all of our hearts to one degree or other. It's kind 
of the escape hatch. You look around at the world 
today. Boy, Lord, take me now. I don't want to have to sort 
of stick around and see what further menacing they have planned 
for us in the future. I mean, we're looking at some 
horrific things already. If the last three years were 
any indicator, they might have horrors to which we can only 
imagine. So we might just say, take me, 
Lord. Well, brethren, it might be the case that there's a lot 
more horrors that you and I have to go through. You look at the 
history of the church, there were a lot of horrors that the 
people of God had to encounter before they received that crown. 
So the problem of the sons of Zebedee, and their mother is 
inkling here, is that she wants position for her babies. She 
wants position for her boys. She wants them to sit at a place 
of prestige when it comes to the kingdom of Jesus. They want 
the crown before the cross. Notice how Jesus discourages 
this thought. Notice what he 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? So he 
tells them, they don't know what they're talking about. They don't 
know what they're asking. They don't know the nature of 
the question. And so he's going to set them straight. And later 
on in the passage, he's going to point to Gentiles and he's 
going to say, don't rule like them. The kingdom of God is not, 
you know, everybody on the bottom serving the guy on the top. Rather, 
the kingdom of God is to flip that and invert it. If you want 
to be first in the kingdom, you'll be last. If you want to be great 
in the kingdom, you'll be least. So certainly he points to Gentiles 
as a bad example on how to seek prestige in the kingdom of God. 
But before that, he deals with this cup and this baptism. What does this mean? Well, the 
cup is metaphorical. The cup refers to God's wrath. So look at what he says in response. You do not know what you ask. 
Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink? You'll 
meet with that cup again in Gethsemane. Remember when Jesus says, Father, 
if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. He's not talking 
about a physical cup. He's talking metaphorically. 
And the cup is the cup of God's wrath. You see this in the Psalms, 
Psalm 11, five and six. You see it in the prophets. God 
is going to give the cup of his wrath to the nation of Babylon. This cup signifies the wrath 
and fury and judgment of God. So when Christ goes to the cross, 
it's not just as an example. He's not just going there to 
teach us what it looks like to love one another. He is going 
there to satisfy divine justice. He is going there to exhaust 
the wrath and fury and judgment of God. So he says to the disciples, 
you don't know anything about this cup. and you haven't even 
got the ability to drink from this cup. And then he uses another 
metaphor, and this time baptism. Look at what it says, and be 
baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with. Now this 
is not his first or water baptism that we just saw in Matthew 3, 
13 to 17. This is a metaphorical use of 
the word baptism. Remember the English sort of 
rendering of baptism? What does it mean? It means to 
plunge. It means to dip. It means to 
immerse. The word was used outside of 
the Bible to speak to battle, sea battles. And when a ship 
was struck by a projectile, it was baptized. That doesn't mean 
it just sustained a little surface damage. That means that it sunk. That means that it was overwhelmed 
by the enemy. And that's the manner in which 
Jesus is using the language. I mentioned Luke's gospel. Luke 
12 50. Jesus says to the disciples, 
but I have a baptism to be baptized with and how distressed I am 
till it is accomplished. So you've got that first baptism 
of our Lord Jesus Christ wherein we see His act of obedience. 
He must fulfill all righteousness. But we have this second baptism, 
a metaphorical use of the word, to underscore His death on the 
cross. He must drink the cup of God's 
wrath and He must be baptized. He must be overwhelmed by divine 
judgment on behalf of His people. He not only needs to positively 
work out a righteousness that can be imputed to us, but he 
also needs to deal with the sin problem. How does he deal with 
the sin problem? He deals with it by going in 
or going to that cross in our stead. He takes our punishment. He takes our penalty. He takes 
the judgment and wrath of God that you and I deserve. Matthew 
Poole makes the observation here. He says, this baptism spoken 
of here by our Savior. This is a comment on Luke 12. 
He says, is the same mentioned in Matthew 20, 22 and Matthew 
20, 23, and can be understood of nothing but his passion. See, we need both these baptisms. We need the fulfillment of all 
righteousness, but we need this overwhelming death on our behalf 
to cleanse us from our sin and filth. 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. So that's how he seeks 
to extinguish this jockeying for position on behalf of the 
sons of Zebedee. But notice what he goes on to 
say with reference to these two men in particular. At verse 23, 
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. He's not saying that their death 
is going to be substitutionary in nature. He's not saying that 
they have a lot of people that they will die for. He's simply 
referring that they're going to meet their end in very unsavory 
ways. James, the son of Zebedee, gets 
his head cut off according to Acts chapter 12. John, the son 
of Zebedee, ends up on the island of Patmos for the Word of God 
and the testimony of our Lord. Now before you get it in your 
head, well, what could be wrong with an island out in the Aegean? 
It was a rock. It was a prisoner colony. It 
was exile. It was a bad place to be. So Jesus underscores that they 
themselves would know something of suffering for the cause of 
Jesus Christ our Lord. And then notice, with reference 
to our last observation here, he not only gives the revelation 
of his death in terms of going to Jerusalem, that it will be 
a metaphorical baptism where he'll be overwhelmed with death, 
but then he gives the reason, the rationale, the explanation 
in verse 28. It says, "...just as the Son 
of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His 
life a ransom for many." This functions in two ways in the 
narrative. It explains why He's going to Jerusalem. Go back to 
verse 17. Now Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, 
took the 12 disciples aside on the road and said to them. And 
then look at chapter 21, verse 1. Now when they drew near Jerusalem, 
If you've read the story up to this part, you might wonder, 
why is he going back to Jerusalem? They hate him there. They despise 
him there. They loathe him there. They want 
to kill him there. Well, obviously he knows that, 
and obviously that's the purpose for which he comes. So the rationale 
of verse 28 is not only why he's going to Jerusalem, but the rationale 
of verse 28 is why he came in the first place. Why the Word 
became flesh and dwelt among us? Why He assumed our humanity 
with all the essential properties and the common infirmities thereof 
and yet without sin? Why does Jesus do what He does? 
He came not to be served, but to serve and to give His life 
a ransom for many. This word ransom is closely connected 
to redemption. It's through the blood of Jesus 
Christ, we have a ransom. We see that in 1 Timothy 2, verse 
6. We have redemption through his 
blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his 
grace, Ephesians 1, 7. You've got that redemption background 
in the book of Exodus. It's God's redemption of the 
people of Israel out of the land of bondage, out of Egypt. That 
is the purpose for which the Savior came. This idea that he's 
just an ethical teacher, that he's just the starter of a new 
religion, that he's just a model for our behavior. All of that 
is true to one degree or other, but the Apostle Paul condemns 
that mindset when he says the Jews, or the Greeks, seek after 
signs, and the Jews, for the Jews, the cross is a stumbling 
block, but for us, those who are saved, Christ is both the 
wisdom and the power of God. It is redemption that we stand 
in need of. It is cleansing through His blood. 
Our sins need to be forgiven. If you're not a believer here 
this morning, this is your problem. You may have a lot of problems, 
economic, family, society, civil government. I'm not going to 
say you don't. But your big issue, the big problem that you have 
today is that God is angry with the wicked every day. I'm not 
trying to pick on you. I'm not suggesting that I'm somehow 
better. All of us in this room were conquered 
by that grace. We know of which we speak. We 
know that if God is able to save wretches like us, He's able to 
save wretches like you as well. We need that ransom. We need 
that redemption. We need that righteousness. We 
need, in summary, to be cleansed in His precious blood and clothed 
in His absolutely perfect righteousness. Well, in conclusion, we have 
the obedience of Jesus Christ as the very linchpin for our 
salvation. He took on our humanity so He 
could obey the Father's law in our stead. He took on our humanity 
so He could suffer the Father's wrath in our stead. He was delivered 
up for or because of our transgressions, and He was raised for our justification. That first baptism underscores 
His active obedience. This second metaphorical one 
underscores His passive obedience to the law. In fact, our confession 
says, but by imputing Christ's active obedience unto the whole 
law and passive obedience in his death for their whole and 
soul righteousness. If you've missed, you know, the 
previous however many minutes, let me just tell you, you need 
righteousness, you need forgiveness, and the only place to get that 
is in the person and in the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. When 
this brother and these sisters go into the water today, we don't 
congratulate them on good decisions or on their better free will 
than the rest of ours. We praise God. We express gratitude. We welcome them to the family 
of faith to be sure. But the reason for the baptistry, 
the reason for the sinner going into that water and coming up 
again, is because of the finished work of the Savior. It's because 
of Christ and Him crucified and resurrected. It's because of 
what Christ accomplishes in the gospel. And this is why we see 
the necessity for gospel preaching as crucial. What does man in 
sin need, wherever he may be? He needs the gospel of our Lord 
Jesus Christ. He needs to hear of this one 
in whom there is salvation. And by way of encouragement to 
the three that are being baptized, I always like to read this bit 
out of Spurgeon's autobiography. For those of us in our church 
who've heard this many times, you're gonna hear it one more 
time, at least, maybe another if we have another baptism in 
the not too distant future. Spurgeon speaks, and I just say 
this to encourage the brethren that are going into the water 
today. May 3rd, in the afternoon, I was privileged to follow my 
Lord and to be buried with Him in baptism, blessed pool, sweet 
emblem of my death to all the world. May I henceforward live 
alone for Jesus, accept my body and soul as a poor sacrifice, 
tie me unto Thee. In Thy strength I now devote 
myself to Thy service forever. Never may I shrink from owning 
thy name. Witness ye men and angels now 
if I forsake the Lord. I vow to give glory alone in 
Jesus and his cross and to spend my life in the extension of his 
cause in whatsoever way he pleases. I desire to be sincere in this 
solemn profession, having but one object in view, and that 
to glorify God. blessing upon Thy name, that 
Thou hast supported me through the day. It is Thy strength alone 
that could do this. Thou hast, Thou wilt. Thou hast 
enabled me to profess Thee. Help me now to honor Thee, and 
carry out my profession, and live the life of Christ on earth. Amen. It's a good reminder, and 
I want to encourage the newly-to-be-baptized. I don't know how to refer to 
them. Baptizees? Bapties? I don't know. But the 
ones being baptized, I want to encourage you. See, at our church, 
when they get baptized, they're also joining our membership. 
So our church gets a bit stronger today. Not stronger for more 
numbers, but stronger for more faith. More people conquered 
by our Savior, and we reflect on that promise that He'll build 
His church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against 
it. So you enter into our church, we want to receive you with open 
arms and with joyfulness and thankfulness and pray for you, 
pray for us, and as we go forward in the fear of the Lord and in 
the comfort of the Spirit, may God indeed bless, and may God 
indeed help, and may God indeed use His Word for drawing more 
sinners unto Himself through that blessed Savior, the Lord 
Jesus Christ. Well, let us pray. Our Father 
in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the Lord 
Jesus. We thank you for his life and 
death and resurrection, for that mission wherein he saves us from 
our sins. We pray today for Adrian, for 
Rihanna, and for Corey. We just commend them to you and 
to the word of your grace and pray that this would be a most 
blessed day, that they would echo the sentiments of our brother 
Spurgeon, that they would resign, resolve to serve you each and 
every day, to bring glory and honor and praise to you. And 
may we all be reminded in this local body to go forward in the 
fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit. Bless the 
preaching of the gospel throughout the earth and add to your church 
such as should be saved. And we pray through Christ our 
Lord. Amen.