The Renewal of Baptism
Jeffery Anselmi / General
The Power of the Gospel / Baptism / Matthew 3:13–17
The baptism of Jesus declares that Jesus’s full authority to save is rooted in his full union with humanity.
INTRODUCTION
• Do you remember the sense of excitement and awe you felt when you first gave your life to Jesus?
• I remember the feelings I had when I came up out of baptistry after confessing the desire to make Jesus the Lord of my life.
• What tends to happen to us over time? We lose the joy and excitement for Jesus.
• Our Faith, and things like gathering together with other disciples of Jesus no longer excites us or moves us to action.
• Sometimes we tend to forget how great our God is, and we tend to forget how wonderful Jesus is.
• It is easy over time to lose our sense of awe when we think about Jesus. We forget about the great things He did for us as well as how wonderful the blessings we enjoy to the day because of what Jesus did for us!
• We are missing out when we lose our enthusiasm for Jesus and the Gospel.
• Today we are beginning a new series entitled, The Power of the Gospel!
• By healing, forgiving, raising a child from the dead, walking on water, and exorcising a demon, Jesus declares himself the Son of God.
• He prepares us to witness with fresh eyes His greatest power on Easter morning: His power over life and death for all time and all people.
• Our own power to believe and thrive in faith grows as we tap into the power he repeatedly demonstrates.
• Today we will begin this series by looking at an event that was confusing, and almost a contradiction to those who followed Jesus.
• Even the early church had some issues explaining this event later in the early history of the church.
• If you simply take a surface glance at the event we will cover today, you will miss why this event was somewhat confusing, even to one of the participants of the event.
• Examining the event we will examine today, will answer some theological questions some struggle with yet today.
• This event takes place sometime in 26 AD, Jesus will travel 60-70 miles on foot to do what is going to happen.
• John the Baptist, or John the Baptizer was in the middle of his ministry offering a baptism of repentance as part of his preaching.
• God revealed to John that he was paving the way for the coming Messiah.
• John drew large crowds, much to the chagrin of the Jewish religious leaders.
• John was passionate and unrelenting as he preached in the wilderness to all who would come.
• Let’s turn to Matthew 3:13-17, we will begin in verse 13.
Matthew 3:13 CSB
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him.
SERMON
I. The living example of why we need to be baptized.
• Matthew 3:1 begins by telling us about the ministry of John the Baptist and the first few verses of the chapter gives us some insights concerning John.
• He wore clothing made of camel’s hair, held together with a leather belt. John had a scrumptious diet of locusts and wild honey (I guess if you pour enough honey on something it makes most anything edible).
• People went out from Jerusalem and all of Judaea confessing their sins and were being baptized in the Jordan River by John.
• John, while attacking the Pharisees and Sadducees who were on hand to watch what was happening told them that he was there to baptized with water for repentance.
• At this point, baptism as part of the salvation process that would be commanded by Jesus in the Great Commission, and preached and practiced by the early church was not yet enacted.
• It was a typical day for John, preaching, baptizing, and dealing with the jealous religious leaders.
• John was doing what God called him to do.
• Look at verses 3-4
Matthew 3:3–4 CSB
3 For he is the one spoken of through the prophet Isaiah, who said: A voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Prepare the way for the Lord; make his paths straight!
4 Now John had a camel-hair garment with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.
• Part of John’s preaching was to get people to understand their need for God and their need for repentance.
• The word REPENT basically means TO TURN AWAY from something and to turn to something else or to return.
• John was using this thought of repentance to encourage people to turn away from sin and to return to God.
• Now, I want you to think for a moment, think of someone who was your hero.
• You are going about your business, and now, right before your eyes, your hero is standing before you.
• John had spent his ministry preaching and teaching to prepare the hearts of people to be ready to return to or turn to the Lord.
• According to Luke 3:21, it was probably close to the end of the day, when all of the people who were there were baptized, something happened.
• John had to be tired, but something happened to lift his spirits.
• Now, before his very eyes, is the one.
• Can you imagine how John is feeling and what he is thinking?
• It is Jesus HIMSELF!
• In Jesus, we see the living example as to why we need to repent and be baptized, now, not into a baptism of repentance, but a baptism into Christ! Acts 2:38, Romans 6, Galatians 3:27, etc...
• Standing before John, was the sinless Jesus, the living example of what it meant to be fully focused and fully devoted to living for God.
• THIS IS JESUS! Jesus is approaching John! Why?
• A little later in the Gospel of John, in John 1:29, and 35. John calls Jesus, the lamb of God who takes our sins away!
• When you are in the presence of greatness, or holiness, it inspires you to want to change.
• One of the things we tend to do is to compare ourselves to others, and we tend to try to find folks whom we feel morally superior to so that we can feel better about ourselves.
• If I am better than you, then I do not need to change or repent, I can stay the same.
• I can keep doing, thinking, staying, living, action, and being the same way.
• However, when you place your eyes on Jesus, you cannot help but be moved.
• His sinless perfection tells me that I am NOT better than Him, that HE is the standard; however, I become painfully aware that alone, I cannot reach that standard.
• I need something to help me, I need Jesus!
• Let’s see how John responds!
Matthew 3:14 CSB
14 But John tried to stop him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you come to me?”
II. Standing before Jesus makes us aware of our need for renewal.
• By all accounts, John is a good, morally upstanding person, whom God Himself chose to pave the way for His Son Jesus.
• The first thing John does when Jesus speaks to him is, I need you to baptize me!
• John knows who Jesus is. In John 1:31-34, we find that John knew Jesus (of course they were cousins) by revelation from God!
• John feels a sense of unworthiness that comes when you are in the presence of God.
• As “GOOD” a person that John was, he knew what the Holy Spirit would inspire the Apostle Paul to write in Romans, ALL OF SINNED AND FALLEN SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD! Romans 3:23!
• John was doing all he could to not baptize Jesus because of his own sense of unworthiness.
• The phrase TRYING TO STOP HIM denotes that John was trying to hinder Jesus because he felt so strongly that Jesus should baptize him instead of John baptizing Jesus.
• John is really somewhat confused because he was calling people to repentance, and here standing before him is the one who needs no repentance.
• While standing in the presence of Jesus, something similar to the calling of Isaiah by God in Isaiah 6, John was confronted by his own sinfulness.
• Even the humble servant John knew he needed to renewal that baptism would afford him.
• I know we will have much better success if while sharing the gospel, we can get the people we are trying to reach to look toward Jesus rather than all the other places people look.
• Let’s turn to verses 15-17
Matthew 3:15–17 CSB
15 Jesus answered him, “Allow it for now, because this is the way for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John allowed him to be baptized.
16 When Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water. The heavens suddenly opened for him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on him.
17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased.”
III. Being baptized is pleasing to God.
• John feels he should not be the one to baptize Jesus.
• Why is Jesus there to be baptized?
• Look at verse 15. NO SLIDE
Matthew 3:15 CSB
15 Jesus answered him, “Allow it for now, because this is the way for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John allowed him to be baptized.
• The early church had a hard time answering why Jesus was baptized because the church taught what the Bible teaches concerning the sinless nature of Jesus.
• Jesus answers the question.
• Now, in the church today there is a number of people who will want to argue that one does not need to be baptized as part of the salvation process.
• Some teach faith alone. However, Jesus traveled 60-70n miles to be baptized by John, and here is the response of Jesus.
• Jesus affirms that John was correct in surmising that Jesus was indeed sinless
• He wanted John to baptize Him, “because this is the way for us to fulfill all righteousness.”
• The word RIGHTEOUS usually is used in reference to salvation.
• Righteousness refers to doing God’s will.
› The basic notion of righteousness is that of doing the will of God.
› It is in no way a legalistic term but describes the natural and inevitable response to God by his people.
› In the present context, Jesus interprets baptism at the hands of John the Baptist as a means by which both he and John must react to God’s will and grace.
• For me, I do not need to argue if I need to be baptized to be saved because Jesus tells us that baptism part of the righteousness of God.
• If Jesus needed to be baptized for such a reason, then so do I.
• Once John hears the explanation, the resistance stopped.
• Sometimes we will fight on doctrinal issues out of pride instead of being willing to submit ourselves to what God is asking us to do.
• The baptism thing has always intrigued me because before I became a Christian, I read the New Testament and saw that Jesus was baptized, and as one who wanted to follow Jesus I needed to do it.
• Jesus commanded it, so to be obedient to Him, I need to do it.
• And EVERY conversion in the book of Acts INCLUDED baptism for those who wanted to be saved.
• That is all I needed. There are a ton of other passages on the subject.
• When Jesus was baptized, as He was coming out of the water both He and John saw the Holy Spirit descend on Jesus as a dove and the voice from heaven proclaimed that Jesus was the Son of God, and God was well pleased!
• When you are baptized into Christ, you also received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:28), and we cloth ourselves with Christ (Galatians 3:27), and we are buried with Christ in baptism and will also rise and walk in newness of life (Romans 6).
CONCLUSION
• By our own baptisms and the remembrances of those baptisms, we are united with Jesus and grow in the confidence that comes from placing our trust in Him.
• Jesus set the example for us, we have to decide if we are going to follow Him or man.
• By the way. Do you know what comes right after the baptism?
• The temptation of Jesus!
• Do you know what Jesus needed to fight of the temptation?
Luke 4:1 CSB
1 Then Jesus left the Jordan, full of the Holy Spirit, and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness
• Once that ordeal was over, look at what else was said bout Jesus.
Luke 4:14 CSB
14 Then Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread throughout the entire vicinity.
