Christ's Baptism (Part 1)

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. Turn, if you would, to the gospel according to Matthew chapter 3. Matthew chapter 3 and the title of this morning's message is Following Christ, the Baptism of Jesus.

Why Christians Are Baptized by Christ's Example

So the reason why Christians are baptized is not only because Christ tells us to be baptized, but also he led by example. Christ himself was baptized. Now you might think that Jesus wouldn't need to be baptized, and that's exactly what John the Baptist thought.

When Jesus comes to John and asks to be baptized, John's response is, why? You should be baptizing me, if anything. But Jesus responded and told him, basically, this needs to be done in order to carry out all that God requires.

So let's begin reading Matthew 3, 1 through 6, and then we'll skip down to verses 13 through 17. This is the word of God. In those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

For this is he who is spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. And now John himself was clothed in camel's hair, and a leather belt was around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.

Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins. Now skip to verse 13. Then Jesus came from Galilee to John out 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 to him, permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.

Then he allowed him. And when he, that is Jesus, had been baptized, he came up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were open to him. And he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove in the lighting upon him.

And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. So let's get some of the basic information out up front. Here in Matthew chapter 3, the baptism of Jesus marks the beginning of his public ministry.

The Great Commission and the Church's Mission

At the end of the Gospel of John, chapter 28, before Jesus ascends to heaven, he gives what is known as the Great Commission. And that Great Commission, the purpose and mission of the church is threefold.

Number one, to make converts, to make disciples. Number two, to baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And then number three, to teach them all that Christ commanded. So if you want to think about it this way, this is sort of like the ABCs of the Christian life.

This is what it's all about. This is what it means to be part of the church. And this is what we want to do and see for other people, indeed the whole world. Believe, be baptized, and then the person from that time forward is to spend the rest of their life learning and growing.

Growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, as the scripture says. So assembling with the church, investing in other people, and serving the Lord in whatever way he has gifted you. That's what it's all about.

We want to make disciples of all the nations. Do you want to see your friends, family members, coworkers, neighbors, do you want to see them converted to Christ? That's why the church exists. So this is the Christian experience in a nutshell.

Who Is to Be Baptized and What Baptism Means

So who then is to be baptized? Who is to be baptized? Well, ideally, everybody. Everybody. Acts chapter 17 says that God is calling all men everywhere to repent, because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world.

So once someone comes to that place in their life where they believe upon the Lord, they are to be immersed. And now the word baptized, if you read it in your English Bible, you know that the New Testament was written in Koine Greek.

So the Greek word that's translated into English as baptized, the Greek word is baptizo, and it means to dip or basically to submerge. So even the word baptism means immersion. Every time in the Bible where a baptism is recorded with any detail, it is always a believer who makes that choice of their own free will, and then they go down into the water, they're submerged, and they come up out of the water.

In Romans chapter 6, the Apostle Paul tells of how this is symbolic of the gospel. The gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's exactly what baptism is supposed to symbolize.

The death going down, the burial being under the water, and then being raised, that's symbolic of the resurrection where the Christian is raised to newness of life. So that's why we believe in immersion.

And again, the word baptized literally means immersion. So that is sort of the basic information, but biblically, where did all of this begin? You know, the first time you read the word baptized in the Bible, it's right here in Matthew chapter 3.

There were washings and cleansings, things that were done in the Old Testament. They think baptism might have been loosely based on some of those things, but the word baptized or that concept is not really found in the Old Testament.

This is more of a New Covenant thing. So the first time you read the word baptized is right here in Matthew chapter 3 where Jesus is baptized. And who baptizes Him? John, right. And this is not the Apostle John.

When I was a little kid I thought the Apostle John and John the Baptist were the same person. That's not what I was taught, but that's what I had in my mind. Of course that's not the case. This is the Prophet John, known as John the Baptizer, or as we read, John the Baptist.

So as a prophet, John speaks for God. That's how the office of prophet worked. God spoke to men through the prophet who stood in between. So God speaks to the prophet, the prophet speaks to men. So John was basically delivering the Lord's message to the Jewish people initially that everybody needed to be baptized.

What was God saying? How would they have understood that? You can look at it this way. The Lord was telling the Jewish people, He was saying, you all need a bath. You all need to be cleansed. The kingdom of God was at hand.

Why?

Because the king was at hand. Jesus was about to reveal himself to the nation. And the people were simply not ready.

Why?

Because they were filthy. They were filthy. In God's sight, the way they talked was filthy. The way they behaved was filthy. They were not fit for the kingdom. Now, some people took offense to this message as you might imagine.

Who are those who took offense? Well, it was the religious people. It was the scribes. It was the Pharisees, those who were in religious authority. The idea that we are not ready, that we are unclean, this was offensive to them.

Why?

Because the Pharisees, if we know anything about the Pharisees and the scribes, we know, according to Jesus, they were self-righteous. They wouldn't recognize their faults. They didn't even think they needed to be saved.

We're Jewish. We're okay just because of our lineage. But that wasn't true. God was speaking through John the Baptist, no, you're unclean. You're not ready. You need to repent. You need to be cleansed.

So those who were self-righteous got angry. But those who were meek, those who were lowly, you see, they knew that this was true. And they listened to John's preaching. So the people, to prepare themselves for Christ's coming, they needed to repent.

They needed to be cleansed. And that's what John's baptism represented. So the people were not prepared for the coming of Jesus. Do you think most people today are prepared for the coming of Jesus? Because you know Jesus promised to come again.

Do you think most people are ready? I was driving through town the other day. And I had stopped at the stop sign. And there was a man on the corner holding a sign that said, Jesus, who's seen this guy around town?

I have to stop and talk to him one of these days. But I was just driving through. And, you know, as you're driving, you don't really have the ability to have a conversation. So I'm driving by. And I noticed he was sort of motioning to me.

And I rolled down my window. And he yelled out. He said, Jesus is coming. And his next question, or his first question was, are you ready? Are you ready? The fact is, most people are not ready for the second coming of Jesus.

Just like here, the Jews were not ready for the first coming of Jesus. And another question he asked, are you ready? And he said, how do you know?

How do you know?

That's something to think about. All right, let's go through these verses. Matthew chapter 3, verses 1 and 2. In those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea in saying, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Now the Greek word translated repent is metanoia. And as most of you know, it means to change your mind. Have a change of mind. So before you can change your behavior, you must first change your mind.

More specifically, metanoia, translated repent, means to change one's mind for the better. Or heartily to amend with abhorrence one's past sins. That's sort of the textbook definition. In other words, you're sorry for what you have done.

Before God, you are sorry and you have a change of mind. And then that leads to the change of behavior. So the Jews in Matthew chapter 3 are being called upon to turn from sin. And this is supposed to be repentance, is supposed to be one continuous action.

So you turn from sin to Christ. So it's a turning from one to the other. We understand, okay, repent, why? For the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Why is the kingdom at hand? Because the king was at hand.

We understand, I think, when a king or these days when a president travels, they send someone on ahead to go before them, right? A king or a president just doesn't show up somewhere. That would be beneath him to just show up someplace.

So that's not the case. A king will send a team ahead to sort of lay the groundwork. And that's what John the Baptist did for Jesus. John was the forerunner of the king of kings. Not only was Jesus prophesied about, the people were waiting for him and looking for the Messiah.

John was also prophesied about. Verse 3 says, This is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying the voice of one crying out in the wilderness. And the word cry or crying doesn't mean like we think of as shedding tears.

It's shouting. So John is out in the wilderness with a raised voice shouting and proclaiming, make the paths of the Lord straight. Or that's at least what he's doing. And he's preaching about the kingdom of God.

So he's laying the groundwork. But he's performing an important mission. Because the people, like people today, they're praying for national revival. Aren't people doing that today? They're praying for national revival.

People were then and are now, they're looking for a savior. Now, we would understand in our view of the end times, that the world looking for a savior, the one they're going to accept is not Christ. The majority are going to accept the anti Christ.

But even back then, just like today, there is prayer and a desire for national revival. They were looking for a Messiah. Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Corner Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message, or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, MorrisCornerChurch .com.

And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett. Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.