So we are picking up again in Luke chapter 3. But before we go there, let's turn to the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew chapter 3. We will read a few verses here on John's baptism. Matthew chapter 3, beginning in verse 13. Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent him, saying, I need to be baptized by you. And are you coming to me? But Jesus answered and said to him, permit it to be so for now. For thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he allowed him. And when he had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water. And behold, the heavens were opened to him. And he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Let us turn now to the Gospel of Luke. and what will be our sermon text, Luke chapter 3. We will be honing in on verses 21 and 22. When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized. And while he prayed, the heaven was open. And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon him. And a voice came from heaven, which said, you are my beloved son. In you, I am well pleased. Children, as we go to take up this portion and we're thinking about John the Baptist, I would like you again to draw a little picture for us. Now, before I tell you what to draw, let me ask you a couple questions. What does a preacher do? A preacher preaches, right? That's why we call him a preacher. And so why do you think John the Baptist is called the Baptist? because he baptized people and lots of people and so what i want you to do is i want you to draw a picture of john the baptist at a river and you can make it where the river is really deep or really shallow he was at the jordan river and there are parts that were really deep and some parts were really shallow and i want you to draw a picture of john baptizing a lot of people. So not one or two or three or four, a lot. And if you think that's too many, you can probably add more people. Okay? Draw a picture of John baptizing lots of people at a river. Now, as we come to our text today, this is the shortest well no i take that back it is one of the shortest accounts of jesus being baptized now if we go to the gospel of john and we don't count the gospel of john where he gives no record of jesus being baptized then this would be the shortest account matthew mark and luke all record jesus baptism but Well, as we go to take this up, we will do so under three main headings. We will look first at the placement of Jesus' baptism, and we're thinking the placement of his baptism in the text. Why does it fall here in Luke's gospel? And then we will consider the reason for Jesus' baptism. And then finally, we will consider the significance of the father and the spirit being present so Luke's Luke's account of the baptism of Jesus is interesting because on the one hand if we look at the verse prior Luke has summarized all of John's ministry He summarized it using essentially one sermon and then he concludes that portion saying that John was thrown in prison. In every other account John's imprisonment comes much later and it comes after Jesus is baptized. But in this account he starts with just this overview of John's ministry Ending in him being imprisoned and then he records the baptism of Jesus So, why is it? Why is it that in writing this gospel account? Luke chooses to place the baptism of Jesus after his summary of John's ministry Well, I think we can we can draw a couple things out couple points from the placement first that this is in Luke's mind a transition point where he's going from focusing both on the forerunner and the coming Messiah and now he's he's creating a shift in the narrative where from this point on he will no longer focus on John the Baptist John will have minor appearances here and there, but the primary focus will be on Jesus and His ministry. So it's a transition point from John particularly to Jesus. But it's also a matter that it seems in Luke's eyes this is the culmination of John's ministry. That John's ministry was not fulfilled merely by his preaching repentance by his preaching prepare the way of the Lord but his ministry is fulfilled and completed when he baptizes the Lord that he was prophesying was here now also if you notice from our reading in Matthew we're told that Jesus went from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized and it gives this picture that Jesus goes as as the rest of the region is also going. But in our text notice what it says in verse 21 when all the people were baptized. It came to pass that Jesus was also baptized. what he is doing is he's pointing out and he's essentially saying that Jesus is the last one baptized by John now again remember in ancient biography they can go and arrange things either chronologically or topically and it's not considered to be inaccurate but it's part of the freedom that existed in the day, in the literature of the day, to arrange things as they saw fit. And so then, when Luke goes and portrays this as Jesus being baptized after all of the people, he's also highlighting that Jesus, that Jesus, His cleansing, is, in a certain sense, the final cleansing. that He will be ushering in the washing away of sins, the making pure of the people of God, and it will be, in a certain sense, a definitive final act. It is really, in a lot of ways, foreshadowing what will be His death on the cross. Water is used in the Old Testament not only for cleansing rituals, but if you remember the account of the flood, we also have the great destructive force and we are reminded in um paul's epistles that the waters of the flood were a type of baptism for noah and his family and so the placement of john's uh the placement of john baptizing jesus in this account really hones in on these three things that it's the culmination of his ministry it is symbolizing Jesus as the final cleansing of the people and then that it's a transition point so let's move to our second point what is the reason for Jesus being baptized and there's a certain amount of tension here and we we feel it a little bit in Matthew's account when Jesus comes to him And John knows who he is. He knows that he is the sinless, spotless, perfect Lamb of God. He knows that his baptism is a baptism of repentance, one of cleansing. And yet Jesus comes to him. Jesus has nothing to repent of. So why is it that Jesus goes to be baptized? Can you feel this tension? Because to be baptized would imply that there's some sort of uncleanness. It would imply that there's sin that needs to be washed away. But if we maintain our understanding of Jesus as God, He can't sin. So why does He need to be baptized? and not only that so there's this tension but Jesus goes so far again as we look back to the Gospel of Matthew he tells John that it's necessary he doesn't say oh well it's a good idea I don't want to stand out from all in Jerusalem and Judea who are gathering to be baptized I don't want to be looked as an outcast therefore let's just get this over with he tells John it is necessary And it's not just necessary culturally, it's necessary in order to fulfill all righteousness. So how can that be? How can it be necessary that the sinless, spotless, blameless Lamb of God, the very one whose name tells what He will do. He is called Jesus for He will save His people from their sins. Why does Jesus need to be baptized? Why is it necessary? Well, I'm not gonna leave you to just think about it and figure it out on your own. It's necessary because of who Jesus is. which almost sounds contradictory it's it seems to be unnecessary because of who he is and at the same time it is necessary because of who he is you see we have to remember we have to remember that Jesus not only is Jesus God who took on human flesh but Jesus is the Savior Jesus is the promised Messiah, the suffering servant from Isaiah. Jesus is that beloved son, that faithful servant. He is, as Paul would later call him, the second Adam, which is a way of saying he is the federal head or the representative individual for all of God's people. And so Jesus going to John to be baptized has nothing to do with his own personal state of righteousness. Because he doesn't need baptism for his own repentance. But it has everything to do with the fact that Jesus, the Son of God, took on human flesh and came to earth in order to save us. And one of the things that we learn from Adam is that our spiritual condition is passed down from our federal head, right? And so as in Adam, all sinned and thus all die because death comes into the world through sin. So also in Christ, in Jesus, as our federal head, as the second Adam, Jesus must be baptized as the federal representative of his people. And it's for this reason that we tend to hold to a two-fold significance of Jesus' baptism. On the one hand, we acknowledge that it is because he holds that federal headship position, that he is the one who will be representing his people in all things, But it's also here that we find the beginning of his earthly ministry. It is here that Jesus from this point on that he begins preaching and teaching and calling the world to himself. And so we have often referred to this as an ordination, as it were. Jesus being 30 years old and that being the same time in which priests and prophets normally entered into their service. So Jesus also, at this baptism, takes on this federal representative responsibility. Now we say that he takes it on we know that he was going to so it's not like it was this surprise for him but In the lord's perfect timing. This was when he would receive that official setting apart And this is good This is good for us because if you remember how we understand our salvation is that what we contribute to our salvation is our need for salvation we contribute the sin that needs to be removed but it's jesus theologians like to call it his passive and active obedience, his active obedience generally being thought of as his living a life of perfect obedience to God the Father, and his passive obedience being his willing receiving of the punishment that we deserve for our sins. So Jesus then, starting here, begins what we would call his active obedience in an official capacity. he was still being actively obedient even before this and so this really if there's one part in all of scripture that we would identify as the most beautiful it should be this and here's why because everything else from the beginning of Genesis up to this point every message has been the Messiah will come. The Lord Himself will, in the future, at some undetermined or undefined time, undetermined from our human standpoint, that the Messiah, the Lord Himself, will come and will rescue His people from their sins. But it's at this moment, it's at this moment where the message changes. And the message is no longer that the Messiah will come, but the message is and will forever be the Messiah has come and it's at this point where we most clearly see this transition take place at the baptism of Jesus where while he has no need of personal repentance of personal cleansing from sin he takes on the responsibility as the federal representative of his people He becomes here actively the true son from our human standpoint. And so what do we take from this? Well, it's a good reminder for us just of how we are saved. Because you see the temptation, the temptation that we're always drawn to and then back to. And we have to constantly be fighting it. The temptation is to say, well, you know, if I am a good enough person, then I'll make it to heaven. If I do the right things, then Jesus will accept me and I will get into heaven. And indeed, sadly, if you ask any number of American evangelicals today, if they are a Christian and if they believe they will go to heaven, the primary response that is given is, yeah, I'm a good person. But that misses the entire point. We're not good people. We need a savior and we can't save ourselves. And this is what the baptism of our Lord so loudly declares. Not only that we aren't good and that we can't save ourselves, but that God doesn't leave us to save ourselves. That He sends the Messiah, He sends the Son of God in order to be our righteousness, to be our Savior, to draw us out of darkness and bring us into His marvelous light. And it's when we forget this, it's when we forget that our salvation does not depend upon us. that then we become legalistic, and we're like, oh, well, if only we did the right things, or if only the world would adopt the right philosophy of life, or if only the world would adopt the proper morals, then this would be a much better place. And to a certain degree, I mean, that would be true. There would be less conflict over some things. But it doesn't provide Peace. Legalism can't provide peace. And it doesn't provide salvation. It doesn't deal with our sin. If anything, it only makes it worse. Because not only then are we not going to Jesus for forgiveness of our sin and for the removal of the guilt of sin, but then we are thinking, oh, well, I can do enough. And then we learn day after day after day that we can't We can't do enough We can't obey enough We can't be generous enough. We can't be kind enough We cannot be good enough To earn our way into a right standing with god And so jesus comes jesus is sent and jesus takes on this role as our mediator, as our king, as the spotless Lamb of God, to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. The other problem, theologians often speak of this as like the ditch on either side of the road. You have legalism on the one hand, which will just beat a person down and grind them to powder with this weight of burdens that they can't carry. And then you have antinomianism, on the other hand, which is really just a Latin word meaning no law, which declares that, well, after you receive Christ, then you are free to live however you want. And this has, in more recent times, resulted in what some have called the carnal Christian. The idea that so long as you have Jesus, that you can live whatever way you want, even in walking in ways that are clearly condemned as sin in scripture. And the problem with that is that in Jesus taking on that role and responsibility as Savior, he then calls his people, he echoes the call of the triune God in the Old Testament, be holy as I am holy, forgive as you have been forgiven, be merciful as you have received mercy. And so what it does on the one hand, Legalism will go and prop up the law to a degree that ultimately results in condemnation because we can't live up to it. That was the point of the ceremonial law in the Old Testament. To prove again and again and again to Israel, you can't do it. And antinomianism, on the other hand, says that you can go and you can live a life in complete rebellion to your savior or to the one that you claim is your savior and that he will find that acceptable whereas he calls us on the one hand not to elevate the law beyond its due and not to go and live however we want but the two come together so that we're not saved by our works but we are as paul will say we are saved to do good works Remember Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. It is by grace that we are saved through faith. And that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. So it's highlighting the fact that our salvation doesn't come through works. And we tend to stop at verse 9. But verse 10 goes on and says, For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works. And those good works are defined for us in God's word. Those good works are then the fruit of salvation. They aren't, as some might say, the root. They aren't the cause of salvation, but they're the byproduct of it. It's the fruit that results from the saving of our souls. So Jesus had to be baptized. because that is how he identifies himself with his sinful people. So that as federal head, he would bring about their salvation. And then this almost seems like a minor point, but what is the significance? And I didn't want to say the significance of his baptism, because I think we already covered that. What is the significance of the father and the spirit being present. I mean notice what verse 22 says, the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form upon him, that is Jesus, and a voice came from heaven which said, you are my beloved son, in you I am well pleased. So if you want to mark something in your Bible, You could find some little symbol for Trinity. One pastor that I know uses an upside down triangle with a T in the middle, simply because it's easy to write in the margin. But then you could go and circle where it says Jesus. And you could circle where it says the Holy Spirit. And in this case, you'd have to circle the voice. But notice what the voice says, you are my beloved son. And so that has to be the father. So what we see here and why this is important, because if we get our doctrine of God wrong, everything else is going to fall apart. It may not fall apart right away, but it will eventually fall apart. Ethan is actually today, right? this afternoon doing a little study after lunch where he's going to dive in a little more deeply on the Trinity and how we understand the Trinity from a theological standpoint. So I'll try not to steal all of his thunder. But what this is pointing out for us is that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are distinct persons within the one Godhead. They are distinct and separate persons. Don't dwell too much on separate. View them as distinct persons. So it's not a matter of the sun appears, or that God appears in the form of the Son, or that He appears in the form of the Spirit, and then in the form of the Father. It's not that He takes on different modes of existence, but it's all one person, ultimately, and one God. No, we're saying it is three persons and one God, and the church battled this out for something like 400 years the church did a lot of work on this in those early days and this is perhaps the clearest point in our bibles where we see all three persons present in distinct ways so in ways where we see that they're all distinct persons while also the same God. There are some who will go and completely misunderstand what we mean by the Trinity. Or some want to throw the objection out that, well, the word Trinity doesn't exist in Scripture, and therefore, therefore, you can't use it to describe theologically who God is. The problem with that is there are lots of words in our modern day that don't appear in scripture. That doesn't mean that the term is altogether unhelpful. And also, Trinity is describing this idea, and it's really doing nothing more than just describing for us that our God is one. As the Shema would say, hero Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. and also it's bringing together these portions of scriptures such as verse 22, 21 and 22 where we see the Son, the Spirit and the Father all being the same God but existing as it were at the same time. If we get this wrong then it destroys Christianity. If we get it wrong, I guess I really should say it destroys our view of Christianity. Because God himself is the one who upholds and sustains his people. But he would have us to know that the Holy Spirit is a distinct person. And that in this case, he visibly descended in the form of a dove. and that the father is a distinct person and the son is a distinct person and so part of loving God means that we are to take him at his word we are to understand not only what he commands but how he describes himself even when it goes beyond our own comprehension part of loving God means that we take him at his word. For one little example of how we already do this in our individual relationships. There are times when people do things and in their minds they have a perfectly good reason for why they're doing it, how they're doing it. And then we're like, I have no idea why you would ever think that that's a good idea. That doesn't mean necessarily that it's not a good idea or that it's not a good way of doing something. It simply means that we don't understand why they think it's a good idea. And to, in a much greater degree, in a much more significant degree, that's That's how you could say it is when it comes to our comprehending God as Trinity. It's not to say that we shouldn't strive to understand it, but we also shouldn't go, as some theologians, and say that, well, if you can't have complete knowledge, then you just have no knowledge at all. We must remember, we are finite. God is infinite. We are limited in our knowledge. And our knowledge is oftentimes limited particularly to our own experiences. We have no way of ever experiencing God as Trinity in the sense of we have no way of experiencing for ourselves what it means to be one being, one essence, and three in person. And any examples any illustrations that theologians or pastors have thought up all result in heresy. Every one of them. And at that point, we'll let Ethan describe and define them. So, the baptism of Jesus. The chief takeaway here, and what we're going to go back to, is that it is at this moment not only in the text, but in history, that Jesus takes on that distinct role of mediator, where he actively walks in obedience to God, not for his sake, not because he needed it, but for us, for you and for me. And so let us pray, give glory to God, for providing us, perhaps not the Savior we wanted, but most definitely the Savior that we need. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for this reminder. This reminder that in sending your son, you did not send him according to what Israel wanted. even what the Gentiles wanted, but you sent him according to our need, and fundamentally that need being salvation from our sins, freedom from our bondage to sin and death, bringing us out of darkness and into light, Reconciling us to you, our maker. And all because we can't bring about our salvation. We can't bring about reconciliation with you. This is something that only you can do. So Father, we thank you. We praise you that in the right time, in the fullness of time, you sent forth your son, born of a virgin, born under the law to redeem us who are also under the law. We thank you that you placed upon Christ the responsibility to be our federal head. We thank you for Christ's willingness to take up this work. And we thank you that through the Holy Spirit, we experience this saving work in our hearts and lives. And oh God, we ask that you would make us to love Christ with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. Make us faithful followers. And Father, cause us to cling to your word, that we would seek to understand what is good and right and holy according to what you in your word have declared to be good and right and holy. And we ask also that you would help us to be discerning, that we would not seek to go beyond what you have revealed in your word. As you said, through your servant Moses, that the secret things belong to the Lord. The things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever and ever, but the secret things belong to the Lord. And so, oh God, make us content to master what you have revealed. And we ask that you would do this because we desire to see Christ exalted. We desire to see Christ worshiped. And we desire to see our children come to the Savior, that they might also taste of the salvation which he brings. And so if you would do this, we would be indeed very, very blessed. And we ask all of this, that Christ our Lord, Savior, and King would be glorified among us and also in our communities. For it's in his name that we pray. Amen.