The Life of Jesus The..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. This evening, by God's grace, we'll continue our series in Jesus in the incarnation. Now, we had a series beforehand where it was Jesus in the Old Testament.

Now we're looking at Jesus in the incarnation. So Jesus in his earthly ministry. And by God's grace, we will in about six or seven weeks time we'll commence another series called Jesus in the Church. So our objective is basically to show that the sum and the substance and the total of scripture is pointing to Christ. It's pointing to our Savior, Jesus Christ.

And we really want to be able to show what Christ showed the two disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24, that the prophets and the Psalms and everything that is in God's Word in the Scripture is pointing to Christ. He is the center and he is the goal of all the Scripture. So this week we're looking at the second week in that series, Jesus in the incarnation. So Jesus in his earthly ministry, we've already, as I said earlier, looked at the Old Testament. And we had a chance to go back into the Old Testament and look specifically at a series of events and people or institutions and show how in those things and in Scripture, how they were pointing to Christ.

how they were prefiguring or they were like a type, a typology of Jesus Christ. And it shows how the Messiah was even the center of the Old Testament through those prophecies, through the prefiguring of Christ and demonstrating In the Old, not only is Jesus the center of the Old Testament, but also as we see the Old Testament unfolding, we were able to see how many almost disasters came up. How much evil was involved in the Old Testament history that we have in Scripture through the people of Israel. We can just imagine how much evil there's been in history outside the people of Israel. But even just in the collection of what we have in the 39 books of the Old Testament, we're able to see that even though there were so many things that went wrong, that none of that was outside the sovereign decretive will of God.

It was all under the sovereign, decretive will of God. He's not a reactionary God, and he doesn't do things haphazard. His ultimate plan, his plan of redemption, goes forth, and it is always pointing to Jesus Christ. And we see that in the Incarnation, and by God's grace we'll continue to see that as the series goes on, as we see that Jesus in the Church. Now last week, our brother helped us understand in the first series how through Matthew 1 and 2, we looked at Jesus as the King.

So we looked at Jesus as the promised King, and he helped us understand that as Gentiles, we may look at Christ as our Lord and our Savior, the one who died on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. All these things are true and blessed, but from the point of view of the Jews, they were looking for a messianic King. They had prophecies in the Old Testament that they wanted to see fulfilled. And as far as they're concerned, they wanted to see those prophecies fulfilled physically in the place called Jerusalem, where this Messiah comes and rules and reigns in righteousness and overtakes any enemies that they have. In that day, it was the Romans.

Now we know that it wasn't because God had changed His plan in any way, but because of their lack of understanding of Scripture. That's why they couldn't see Jesus as the King that He ought to be, that He actually is. So we looked at that and our brother helped us. He helped us see that in fact, in Matthew chapter one, there was a series of different ways that we can see that Matthew is laboring to show by inspiration of the Holy Spirit that this Jesus is indeed the Messianic King that's been prophesied throughout the Old Testament. And now He's born in this world.

God became flesh. This is the Messiah. This is the King. And if we have the eyes enlightened by the Spirit of God, even as New Testament Christians, who read through even the text of the New Testament, and then going back with the lens of the New Testament that we have now, and look at the prophecies in the old, there's beyond a shadow of a doubt, we know that this Jesus is indeed the Messianic King that has been promised. The Davidic King with the everlasting throne that was promised in the Old Testament, who rules and reigns in righteousness.

And he has indeed inaugurated his kingdom, but his kingdom is not of this world. His kingdom is a spiritual kingdom. One day he will come and physically take us, and we will be part of his spiritual and physical kingdom. However, this evening what we're looking at is we're going to concentrate our efforts in Matthew chapter 3, or the third chapter of Matthew. So mostly our Our series in Jesus in the Incarnation, mostly we are going to be hovering around Matthew.

Of course, we'll be looking at other New Testament passages, but Matthew is going to be primarily the document or the gospel that we'll be using moving forward. And by God's grace, the topic of our discussion or our consideration or our meditation this evening will be, in fact, the baptism of Jesus Christ. The baptism of Christ. Now there's no doubt in my mind that most of us here are fully aware of the baptism of Christ. We've probably read the account several times on our own.

We've probably heard the stories told many times, even to a point where it's become popular to draw pictures or the art of Christ. And you probably remember a picture, maybe many of us have seen, where you see a picture of Jesus standing in the Jordan Waste High, and it's a beautiful day, and you see this dove coming from the background about to rest on our Lord. So we know the story, and we've probably seen the art. We're familiar with the baptism of Christ. But the question I want to ask this evening is this.

Have we actually slowed down, slowed down and seriously considered the baptism of our Lord? Have we considered why it is actually in the record of Scripture, why it is actually mentioned in every one of the four Gospels that we have? All the four accounts of the earthly ministry of Christ mention the baptism of Christ, and in fact, beloved, It is the first act of our Lord in His earthly ministry. It's the first act. Of course, that's not including when Jesus was 12 years of age, a boy in the temple in Luke chapter 2.

But it is the first act of the adult Christ in His earthly ministry. And in fact, if we go beyond that, the first words out of the mouth of our Lord after He begins His ministry is, in fact, in the passage of the baptism of Jesus Christ. So we need to sit back and we need to think about this and understand why it is in our text description, understand fully, what does this baptism, what does it actually mean? So our study this evening by God's grace, we'll be asking those questions. What is the baptism of Christ?

Why is it there? Why did Jesus need to be baptized? And also the words of our Christ on that day, the first words out of his mouth as an adult in his ministry, we want to explore those words and see that in fact they are foundational to understanding his ministry. Those words are key for us to understand the whole incarnation of Jesus Christ and the very purpose that He, God the Son, the eternal Son of God, became man and dwelt among us. And I think and I believe that we will understand far better if we understand what it is that the baptism stands for and why Christ said what He said.

You can almost to a point, you could say this is His thesis statement. I believe in those words that he mentions in Matthew chapter 3. So it's important that we see these things and my hope and my prayer is that by the end of this evening we will hopefully either reaffirm what we already know or by God's grace we'll be illuminated to something so glorious that we won't see that scene again the same. Now, it's at this point I'll ask us to open up our Bibles, but I'm not going to ask you to open your Bibles to Matthew, not yet. I'm going to ask you to open your Bibles to the book of Genesis.

because for us to understand, I believe, this passage that is before us, we need to lay down some foundations, many of which we already know, many of which you are already familiar with, so I want you to bear with me. However, it would be good for us to recap what we already know, because these foundations are very necessary in order for us to understand the text that will be before us in Matthew chapter 3, because I believe In order to understand the event that takes place at the very beginning of the ministry of our Lord on this earth, we need to go back to the very beginning of creation. So let's open our Bibles to Genesis chapter 1. Genesis chapter 1, we'll be starting from verse 1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light. And there was light. And God saw that the light was good.

Now the first thing I want to see here, we'll pause that here, is that what we see already is we see a Trinitarian work in creation, that there's God, and then you have the Word of God, He spoke His Word, and then we have the Spirit of God hovering over the waters, we're told. Then, in the following verses, we see in the following verses, the six literal days of creation, we see on the second day, God creates the expanse from the sky and the sea. He makes that expanse, that divide between the atmosphere and the sea. And then on the third day, He creates the vegetation, the plant life, the fruit-bearing trees. And then on the fourth day, the Lord puts the sun and the moon and the stars and scatters them into the sky.

The fifth day, we see Him create the birds of the air, and we see Him create also the creatures of the sea and the oceans, the fish and the dolphins and the sharks. And then on the sixth day, God creates the beasts of the field. And then on the sixth day, he creates the crowning glory of his creation. He creates mankind. So let's take up our text in verse 26 and continue.

Still in chapter 1. Verse 26, Then God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them.

And God blessed them and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. And God said, behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of the earth, that every tree with seed in it, it's fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and every bird of the heaven and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has breath of life, I have given every green plant for food. And it was so.

And God saw, verse 31, everything that he had made. And behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning the sixth day. Now, if we had read the text, in full. We would have noticed that no less than six occasions we read the words, and God saw that it was good.

God looked at his creation in stages and he said, it is good. It is good. It is good. It was absolutely perfect. including His crowning glory, which is the crowning glory of His creation, which is man, both female, male, and female, who are made in His own likeness, in His own image, verse 26.

And upon looking back at His creation once it was all done, once He had finished creating on the sixth day, in verse 31, which what we just read, He says, and God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good. Beloved, he was faultless. In every sense of the word, this creation of God was actually fitting for his immediate presence. You need to remember that. God was walking in the garden amongst man.

He was walking in the cool of the day among Adam and Eve. and then was pure, holy and undefiled by sin, fitting to have direct fellowship with the Holy God. This, this is bliss, absolute bliss. Now run your eyes over to the next chapter. Chapter 2, and we'll start reading on verse 15.

Genesis chapter 2, and let's start reading from verse 15. The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat. For in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. Now I want us to realize something.

When God looked upon the creation on the sixth day, he said everything was very good. Man was created without sin, perfect and holy. He's in a state of perfection, 100% sinless before the Lord. But he was also required of man to have a position of positive and active righteousness. you shall not eat of that tree or you shall die.

The Creator God demands perfect obedience to His commands. He will not tolerate disobedience. That's rebellion. Adam and Eve were made perfect, sinless, and holy, yet God still required of them perfect obedience to His words, perfect obedience to the law. But we know what happens.

Adam breaks obedience with God. He eats of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the tree that God forbade him to eat. And we see sin and we see death enter into the world. And man becomes defiled. Man now becomes unrighteous, no longer perfect, no longer sinless.

He's cursed by God and he's kicked out of the garden. and out from the immediate presence of God, the immediate presence that he once enjoyed. How can unrighteousness dwell amongst a holy God? It can't. It can't.

Only holy and righteousness can exist or stand before the triune God of the universe. As Habakkuk 1.13 tells us, God's eyes are purer than all. He cannot look upon evil and sin and wrong. He cannot look upon these things.

Hebrews 12 tells us, without holiness, no one will see the Lord. Now the question we need to be asking ourselves, and I know we know the answer, but building this foundation so that we can get to understand the baptism event or record of Christ, is how does Adam sin? How does it affect us? The sin that he did 6,000 years ago, how does it affect us today? Well, in Romans 5, it's crystal clear.

Adam was the federal head of humanity. His fall did not only bring sin and death upon himself. The consequences of his sin weren't consequences only on Adam. As the federal head, as the head of humanity, his sin brought consequences on all his offspring. Listen, it says, therefore just as sin came into the world through one man, this is Romans 5, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all Adam passed the sinful nature to all his posterity, to all his descendants, to all humanity that is in his loins.

That's all of us without exception. Therefore, the reality is that we will all experience death. Because of Adam's sin, we will all experience physical death. But beyond this, beloved, we were all born spiritually dead. That means all sinners are devoid of the presence and the favor of God.

All are born, the natural man is defiled, he's unrighteous, he's unable and incapable of achieving the standards that God demands. We are lawbreakers. and man continues to violate God's law and heaping upon him or herself greater and greater and greater judgment as the days goes on without the mercy and grace of a divine intervention, we would be doomed under the weight of the fury of God. However, Despite Adam's rebellion, despite Adam's sin and what that sin should have warranted or could have warranted, God's mercy and his grace is so evident. Firstly, because he doesn't completely annihilate or destroy the human race.

Because he said, surely on that day that you eat, die ye shall die. No, Adam continues to exist spiritually, physically. Spiritually, yes, he died. He was put out of the presence of God, but the humanity continues to exist under the curse. But it continues to exist.

But the other dose of grace, which is a phenomenal dose, is found in Genesis 3, verse 15. And that passage we're probably all well aware of. It reads, I will put enmity between you and the woman. God is issuing a curse to the serpent here. And between your offspring and her offspring, he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel.

Beloved, there's hope for humanity because of this offspring. There's hope for humanity because of this man, this one who was born the offspring of a woman who will come one day in human history. and he will destroy the enemy, he will destroy Satan, but he'll do that through suffering, because his heel will be bruised. Satan's head will be crushed. He will receive the fatal blow, but it will come through suffering of this offspring of a woman.

So by grace and by mercy God allows humanity to continue. However we know the story. We've done a short survey of the Old Testament and we've been through different epochs of the Old Testament and we've seen that man is desperately wicked Every intention of the thought of his heart is only evil continuously. That was written about the pre-fall people, but beloved we all know that after, my apologies, pre-flood people, but we know that after the flood mankind has not changed. The condition of his heart has not changed.

Jeremiah tells us that the heart of man is desperately wicked and deceitful above all things. And as I said earlier, it doesn't matter what epoch we look into, what period of history we look into, we will find perfect examples of the rebellion and the evil and the wickedness of man throughout human history. We see that all the way through because man left to himself is evil. That's what it comes down to. It's clear that the offspring of the woman promised here in Genesis 3 is humanity's only hope, because man is corrupt to the bone.

this understanding for God's people, it became clearer and clearer through the revelation of the law of God and its requirements, that indeed we are sinners, that indeed we are rebels against God, indeed the inclination of our hearts is not towards God. He is to be our Saviour. We cannot do this in and of ourselves. We can't save ourselves. We must look towards this Saviour that God will provide for us, to atone for our sins.

So from that point, the people of God could only really do one thing, and that is to fix their eyes upon Yahweh, upon God, and trust Him actively, by faith, to provide the atonement of their sins. to provide the one who will once and for all take care of the sin problem, because they know that they are incapable of taking care of their own sins. They cannot please God. They cannot in and of themselves desire righteousness or obey His high and holy commands. So now, how does the baptism of Christ fit into that picture?

Let's open our Bibles to Matthew. Matthew chapter 3 and I hope by God's grace it'll all come together for us. Matthew chapter 3 we'll be reading the whole chapter from verses 1 through 17 for context, but we'll be concentrating our efforts this evening just upon verses 13 through 17. Brother Gist, would you be happy to read that for us, please? So Matthew 3, 1 through 17.

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the warden of Judea. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight. Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the regions about the Jordan were going out to him.

And they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Sorry brother, just one moment. Just realizing how it is all the region of the Jordan going out to him, Jerusalem, Judea. His influence, his ministry, his baptism was attracting pretty much the whole country. Thank you brother, go ahead.

Seven. when he saw many of the Pharisees and the Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, you brutal vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with the people. And do not presume to say to yourself, we have Abraham as our father. For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.

Even now, the acts is laid to the root of the tree. Every tree, therefore, that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. I baptize you with water for repentance. But he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the holy spirit of fire."

His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the shaft he will burn with unquenchable fire. Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan, to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me? But Jesus answered him, let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he consented, and when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, And he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him.

And behold, a voice from heaven said, This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Thank you, brother. Amen. So what do we have in this chapter? We have our Lord Jesus Christ departing from Galilee and making the journey to the Jordan River, most likely the place where John was baptizing at this point in time.

It is not an exact location that we know. But we know it's most likely to the southern part, so in the region of Judea, so the southern part, just along the Jordan River. It's quite a desolate place there, a place where it's quite remote. It's most likely there that John was baptising. However, it's about a hundred kilometer journey for Christ.

And this is what Jesus does. He goes out there specifically to be baptized by John. Now Luke, in Luke chapter 3, tells us that our Lord was 30 years old, 30 years of age, when he makes the journey. And the very first thing he decides to do when he makes himself known to in his public ministry, is to go to John and to be baptized with the baptism of John the Baptist. And who was this John?

We read the passage, he was the the forerunner of Christ. He was the prophet that was raised up by God and prophesied in Isaiah chapter 40, the voice crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight Make his path straight. Now John the Baptist was out there, and he was proclaiming the kingdom of God is at hand. The Messiah, the King, will come. Get ready.

Be prepared. Make yourself right with the Lord. We, Jerusalem, sorry, the Jews, he's speaking to the Jews, and he's saying to them, you need to repent of your sins. You need to recognize that you are lawbreakers. You need to recognize that you're filthy, wicked rebels against God, and you need to come and repent of your sins.

Come and be made right with God through true repentance, and then be baptized. The baptism of John was a baptism of repentance. It was a baptism of sinners who need repentance from God. It was a symbol of being cleansed from filth and unrighteousness, to enter into the waters of baptism, to be washed of the filth. And that is a symbol to be, or your need, and you recognize your need to be washed of impurity, and of your sin, and your rebellion, and knowing that you are indeed a lawbreaker before God.

See, John's baptism wasn't the baptism that we know of as Christians. It's not the New Testament baptism. The New Testament baptism is a baptism that identifies in our Lord Jesus Christ. The baptism that we know is a baptism that we die with Him as we enter into the water. We die with our Lord Jesus Christ in His death.

And as we come out of the water, we rise and we're resurrected with Christ into newness of life. We die to self and we rise into His life, union with Christ in His life. The baptism of a New Testament believer is a baptism whereby it's a symbol of what's already occurred in us. It's a spiritual reality. We have already died through the born-again experience.

He's made us alive, and by faith we've been justified. We've died to self. And we've been risen in Christ by faith and faith alone in His finished work. And therefore, because of the reality that has taken place in our souls, in our lives, we now go and partake in the ordinance in obedience to God, in obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ, and we're baptized. So the baptism of John wasn't that.

It was a baptism of repentance for sinners. Can you imagine? the shock and the horror on John the Baptist's face when Jesus turns up and says, John, baptize me. John, baptize me. Now it's true that John the Baptist had not as of yet received the confirmation that God said he would receive in order to be able to identify the Messiah to come.

Now John was the forerunner. John was the one saying the Messiah is coming. God raised up this prophet for that task. and to baptize people a baptism of repentance. But then when the Messiah had come, John the Baptist was the one who would be able to identify the Messiah.

And from that point, when he identifies the Messiah, he was from that point, he won't say, hey, repent, because the Messiah, the King is coming. But rather, he'll say the King has come. He'll point his finger to Jesus Christ. And he'll say, behold, Israel, your Savior. Behold, this is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

This is the Son of God. And that sign that God said he would see is that one would come and the Spirit of God will descend from heaven and remain upon him. This is found in John chapter 1. John hadn't received that sign yet. Yet, he was still able to look at Christ and say, Wait a minute.

Wait a minute. Now we must see this as him knowing to some degree who this Jesus is. Now John's mother was a godly mother, Elizabeth. His father was a godly father, the Levi priest, Zechariah. And no doubt Elizabeth would have told her son when she was heavily pregnant with him.

We know the story in Luke that when Elizabeth was heavily pregnant with John the Baptist in her womb, and Mary was pregnant with Jesus in their car, and she comes into the same room. You remember what happened? John leaped for joy. because of the presence of the Savior. Surely Elizabeth has told the story to John.

Surely he knew that there was something special about this Jesus. And his response in verse 14 is very telling. Let's read it. He says, John would have prevented him, that's Christ, saying, I need to be baptized by you. And do you come to me?

Jesus has come and said, John, you need to baptize me. And John says, wait a minute, I need to be baptized by you, Jesus. Yet you come and be baptized and ask to be baptized by me? Now the word here, where it says, John would have prevented, that word prevented in our Bibles, in the original, is only used once. In the whole New Testament it's only used once, and in the original it connotes an obstinate preventing, almost a forbidding.

So you can imagine John saying, I know what I've been called to do. I know my ministry. I know my baptism. I know who it's for. It's for sinful rebels to repent and come to God.

Jesus says it's not for you. You're not a sinner. You are perfect. You are holy. He must have had at least the inclination at this point, if not previously, by the Holy Spirit at this point, he must have had in that moment an understanding that the one who stands before him is indeed the Son of God and in need of no repentance.

Otherwise, why would he say, I should be baptized by you? I should be baptized by you. And why would he try to forbid Jesus being baptized? It's like he's saying, Jesus, this is not a baptism for sinners. You are perfect.

You are holy. You are in no need of repentance. Jesus, you are without any sin. This baptism is not for you. Now imagine how he felt.

Like, look at the previous paragraph. Now that's from 13 to 17 that concentrates on the baptism of Christ. But I got us to read the previous paragraph that speaks elaborately to the ministry of John the Baptist in the wilderness. And he's part of his declaration, part of his proclamation to the Jews that came from all over the country was, I will baptize with water a baptism of repentance, but the one who comes after me will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. with Jesus in front of him and Jesus saying, John, baptize me.

And John knows that Jesus, I need to be baptized by you. You're the one who needs to baptize me. I am the sinner. I am the one who needs to be baptized by the spirit. Your baptism ought to be given to me, not my baptism back to you.

See these glorious words that come next. The glorious words that come out of the mouth of our Saviour are incredible. And they're telling. And that's why we went back and we read the Genesis account and we understood or revisited the fall of man in Adam so that we can understand these next words that come out of the mouth of our Saviour. And as I said before, they're like a summary statement of his earthly ministry.

a summary statement of what the incarnation is actually about. As I said earlier, it's like a thesis statement to the incarnation of Jesus Christ, because then he says, let it be so. He knows that John doesn't want to do this, but he says, John, let it be so, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. John, I know, I know from what you can see, from your point of view, that you baptizing me in this baptism is inappropriate. I see that, John.

But what you need to know and what you need to do is trust me, John. Look beyond the limits of your own understanding, John. You need to trust me because you must baptize me in order to fulfill all righteousness, in order to do what God requires. Now from the strong reluctance on John's behalf to almost forbid the baptism request of Jesus Christ, to now we see he relents. In obedience to his Savior, He now, and I don't believe John understands the magnitude of the words of our Saviour at this point, but nevertheless, he's obedient and he's willing now to baptise Christ.

So what does it mean? What does it mean when Jesus says he needs to fulfil all righteousness? Now we need to understand and be aware that there is an us in that sentence. It's us, so John has a part And so does Christ. You see, John's part is to obey the Lord who stands before him.

John's part is to obey Christ who says, John, you must baptize me. You are now given a command. And to do what is right before the Lord is you need to obey that command, John. Your part, John, to fulfill righteousness is to obey Christ and baptize him. But the righteousness that Christ is to fulfill with that, that's a vital righteousness that is critically important.

for us believers, because if Christ doesn't fulfill that righteousness, then not a single man, woman, or child is saved from being under the wrath of God. There cannot be salvation apart from Christ's righteousness that he needs to fulfill. And so throughout scripture, our Lord repeats what that righteousness is. And a classic example of that, I find, is in the book of John, where he is perfectly in obedience to the Father's will. That which is righteous is to perfectly obey the law of God, the command of God.

The will of God. And Jesus is in perfect obedience to the Father's will. That is the righteousness that he needs to fulfill. You remember in John chapter 6 verse 38, he says, For I have come down, Jesus speaking, I have come down to do, I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but to do the will of Him who sent me. He's to achieve what the first Adam failed to achieve.

Faultless righteousness. Faultless obedience. And this righteousness is not for himself. He is the son of God. He is God himself.

By definition, he is eternally righteous. That's who he is. He's holy. He's thrice holy. There's never a time in the eons, in eternity past, where he never was in a state of perfect righteousness.

So it's not for him. But in the incarnation, when God became flesh, He took on flesh and shared our human experience in order to be our human representative. In order to be the better new Adam. And his perfect obedience to the Father in the incarnation is not for himself or for his own sake. His work is vicarious.

It's on behalf of another. His work is for the sake of his people. Now listen to Galatians chapter 4 verse 4. It reads, and this is the Apostle Paul speaking, But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law. The Apostle in Romans chapter 8 reads, writes, For God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do, by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh.

Now I want you to realize, in the likeness of sinful flesh, not that he was sinful, but in the likeness, in our humanity for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, verse 4, in order that the righteous requirements of the law may be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. You see, that's why Jesus tells John, it's fitting to fulfill all righteousness. You see, a quick survey of the Old Testament, not the Old Testament, even just the creation account, we saw the fall of Adam And it was because of his disobedience he plunged all of humanity into sin. Every human being would be born in sin with the sinful nature and therefore under the wrath of God. Under the wrath of God.

So what will it take to undo that curse? What will it take to undo that curse? What does it take for someone to stand accepted before a thrice a holy, holy God? What does it take to be in good standing before Him? Well, beloved, it takes sinless perfection wrought with perfect obedience, and we've already established that none of us can do that.

We've already established no mankind can achieve that sort of obedience. In fact, none of us can actually desire to be righteous. Paul tells us clearly in Romans chapter 3, no one is righteous, not even one. That's what Jesus came to accomplish in the behalf of his people. He came to fill righteousness, all the requirements of the law of God that was given to his people.

Every command, every precept, every demand, every requirement of God, Jesus fulfills in perfect obedience. And beyond that, beloved, and we have to hear this, beyond that, Jesus fulfills faultlessly perfect obedience to the unique work given to him by the Father. So over and beyond everything that people were commanded to do, in which we failed dismally to obey the law of God, to be obedient to his precepts, we disobeyed all those things. Christ fulfills that in his righteousness. but also up and above that.

He fulfills a righteousness that you and I were commanded to fulfill. Only he was commanded to fulfill. It's a unique work that the Father had given him. Namely, let's open Philippians chapter 2 to see what this is. Philippians chapter 2 verse 5 through 8.

I want you to see this. Philippians chapter 2, verse 5. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form It is, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. Obedient to whom? to the Father.

Because that, when he speaks, I have come not to do my will, but the Father's will, this was the Father's will for Christ. To fulfill all righteousness on behalf of his people, to fulfill and to be perfectly obedient to the law of God, the requirements, the precepts, the commands that God's people ought to have fulfilled, ought to have obeyed, but dismally broken on every point. But above that, he was also to fulfill the unique work that God has given him and that is to be a sin-bearing substitutionary sacrifice on behalf of his people. To go to the cross willingly and to be obedient to God and to be that curse upon that cross for the sake of his people. The sinless Lamb of God would go to the cross and bear the wrath of God upon unrighteousness because this was the Father's will for him.

And Jesus did it willingly, and Jesus did it faultlessly, and Jesus did it lovingly. Every moment he was looking to the Father and he was saying, your will be done. in the incarnation Christ was perfect in his obedience. He bore the sins that his people deserve and the wrath that his people, my apology, bore the wrath that his people deserve from a good and holy God and beloved. We need to see this The only way that you and I, for those of us who are trusting in Christ and have been united in Him, the only way we could stand before a good and holy God and not to be crushed under His righteous fury is for this Jesus to fulfill all righteousness.

Go to that cross and die and shed his blood as the righteous lamb of God. Nothing short of that could earn our salvation. Nothing. So why was it necessary for Christ to be baptized? Let's say it another way.

How is the baptism of repentance, this baptism of John, how is that obedience to the Father? One such reason, and I find some merit in this one, is that some would say Jesus is being commissioned in his priestly duties. Now I said earlier that in Luke chapter 3, we're told that Jesus was 30 years of age, Now going back to Numbers chapter 8, we're told that the priestly duties for the priests, the Levites, coming up to be priests, at the age of 30, they are to take up, they are to be ordained as priests. And as you remember, probably from a couple of months ago, in Exodus 29, where Aaron and his sons were ordained and commissioned to be priests, do you remember what Moses did? He washed them from head to toe.

And I see this position does indeed have some merit, especially in light of Matthew 21, which we're not going to address this evening. However, a few words from the Lord to John, would have resolved everything, would have resolved John's tension about not wanting to baptize Christ. Because John, in fact, is a Levite. He's from the Levite clan. His father, Zechariah, was a priest.

So he's a Levite himself. He understands the rights of a Levite and what is necessary for them to become ordained into the priestly ministry. But he doesn't. Instead, Jesus says, rather, it's to fulfill all righteousness. That's the explanation he gives him.

So, I believe that Jesus is giving him a broader category of righteousness. One that identifies with humanity as one under the law of God. So Jesus shares in our humanity as our human representative. And as we said, as we saw in Galatians chapter four, he was born of a woman under the law, under the law. So he was perfectly obedient to the law of God.

So I believe what Jesus is saying here is he's sharing in our humanity. So it was necessary for him to observe every law of God, every command of God, every requirement, every stipulation of God. And John's baptism was one for the Jews. You see, in John chapter 1 verse 33, we're told that it is God who sent John into the wilderness to baptize the Jews with water in preparation for the Messiah who comes. The baptism has now become, so John is a prophet of God.

And God has spoken to John and said, you're going to go out and you're going to baptize and then baptism of repentance And so that has become a requirement for the Jews. So Jesus is partaking in obedience of that which is required by his people. Now, the repentance is not required, of course, it's part of his people, but that's not necessary for Christ. But submitting to the baptism of John, John who is the prophet of God, John who is the one who is a mouthpiece of God, submitting to that requirement, is fitting and righteous because it's necessary for the Jews. So Jesus is doing all that is fitting, all that is required, everything that is required for the righteousness of his people.

He's come to fulfill all righteousness. Brothers and sisters, that means every dot and every tittle will be fulfilled and has been fulfilled by our Lord Jesus Christ. Because if he hasn't, like you've got to think of it this way, every man, woman, and child who is going to be found in Jesus, who has been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ, forgiven of their sin, those that Jesus died on the cross on their behalf as a substitute sacrifice, they are going to stand before God and God's going to look upon them and every single one of his righteous commands will be completely fulfilled in Christ. Every one of them. It's not going to be a case where there's going to be one and he says, well, you know, Christ paid for all these, but he hasn't paid for this one.

Everyone. Christ will fulfill all, there's the word there, all righteousness. And nothing short, nothing short of perfect righteousness can be acceptable in the eyes of God for the substitute to die on the cross on behalf of sinners like us. And beloved, it is that righteousness of God who became flesh, the Son of God who became flesh. It is that perfect righteousness, the faultless obedience that hung on the cross and shed his blood that enables us by faith to receive forgiveness of our sins and praise God for that.

But, but, that's not enough. That's not enough. Because God not only demands us to be holy and undefiled by sin, but he also demands an active, perfect obedience to his law. You remember back in Adam? You remember how we said Adam was in the garden created perfect and holy and he had no sin?

Yet he was still required to be perfectly obedient to God. And this is why, this is why, this is the incredible thing, this is why our Lord's work is just mind-blowing. we can never fathom the amazing profundity of what He has done for us. Because fulfilling all righteousness, not only so that He can be the sin-bearing sacrifice, the sacrifice and the substitute without spot or wrinkle, the one that typifies the Old Testament sacrifice, the lamb that is to be without blemish, spot or wrinkle, but not only that, but He also, as we're told in 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21, For our sake He made Him, that's Christ, to be sin, who knew no sin, that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. That perfect righteousness, His faultless obedience to the Father, is now accounted to those who trust in Him.

So not only is His sacrifice a sin-bearing sacrifice that has forgiven us by faith of all our sins, but He's also imputed His righteousness upon His people. In other words, we are able to stand before the Father on that day, forgiven completely of every iniquity, of every sin, and wrapped in his perfect obedience, in his perfect righteousness. Beloved, how glorious is that? How glorious is what Christ has done on behalf of his people? It's mind-blowing.

That is what he means to fulfill all righteousness. The Baptist, he is those words, and I don't I don't think he fully understood the magnitude of those words, but he knew who it was that stood before him. And knowing who it was who stood before him, he obeyed his will. He obeyed, he fulfilled what would be righteousness in God's eyes, because God is speaking to him. God in flesh is saying, you must baptize me.

And so he does. He baptizes him. And he does. He baptizes him by full immersion in the Jordan River. And in the space of a few verses that we had before us, from verses 13 through to 17, we see that indeed this whole event has every single member of the Trinity involved.

Every single member. Remember how I took you back to the Old Testament, how I said in creation, how every member of Trinity was there when God created heavens and the earth and populated the heavens and the earth. Now here, the very first thing, the beginning of the ministry of Jesus Christ, we see the involvement of our triune God, every single member. Jesus, the Son of God, is the one being baptized. And then we're told heaven opens.

Brothers and sisters, this would be an incredible sight. This is not just the clouds rolling away. This is something that's probably most likely alluding to Ezekiel chapter one. If you remember when the prophet Ezekiel said that the heavens opened and he looked and he saw a vision of God himself. And if you try to follow that vision, you will get lost.

It's a difficult vision to follow, but the glory of it is incredible. the heavens opened. And when the heavens opened, we're told here at the baptism of Christ that the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit of God, descended like a dove, hovering over the waters of the Jordan and resting upon Christ. Beloved, He rested upon Christ to equip our Savior for His earthly ministry. But then I ask you, Then I ask you, do you remember the last time that the Spirit of God hovered over the waters?

It was back, back in Genesis chapter 1, in creation. This Jesus is inaugurating a brand new creation. This Jesus is inaugurating, and in his finished work, he will bring about a new heavens and a new earth and a new people who will be cleansed by his blood. to be citizens of the kingdom he establishes, a kingdom whereby he rules in righteousness. And then what we see is a voice from heaven.

In this passage we hear now God the Father speaking from heaven in an audible voice, this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. What an incredible, incredible moment. You know, the Jews up until this point, because of the 400 odd years of silence, they believed that from Malachi, that because from Malachi God had not spoken, they believed that God had not spoken, they would say that the heavens are now brass and the Spirit of God is nowhere to be found. God breaks the silence, and He breaks it with His own voice when He says, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. He's vindicating the work of His Son.

He's actually vindicating His Son. Now, I don't want us to think that God is waiting until His Son, and I want you to realize He doesn't wait until His Son fulfills all righteousness in the Incarnation. That's not necessary, because from all eternity past, God the Father was always delighted in the Son. There was never a moment, never a moment, where the Father wasn't completely delighted in the Son and the object of His love. It never happened.

He doesn't need to wait until Jesus goes through His three and a bit years of ministry to see that He will indeed be perfectly obedient to his will he will be obedient to his will because he always is the object of his delight when the father sees the son he sees that he's one in essence with him one in being with him and therefore he is perfect and impeccable as the father the son is guaranteed to succeed. He's guaranteed to perfectly obey the will of the Father, because he is the same in essence as the Father. So when the Father looks at the Son, he sees his own righteousness. When the Father looks at the Son, he sees his own goodness. When the Father looks at his Son, he sees his own holiness.

Beloved, He is forever pleased with the Son. He's forever pleased with the Son. And this is what I want to end with. The glory of the Christian, the glory of the Christian who has placed his trust or her trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who is believing upon Him and Him alone for the salvation their soul for the forgiveness of their sin for the righteous requirements that he has been perfectly obedient in to be covering us to be imputed to our account so that we can stand before the father without being crushed under the weight of his wrath the one who is trusting in Jesus Christ when the father looks upon you beloved brothers and sisters when the father looks upon you he sees his son And he delights and he has a big smile on his face because what he sees in those who have been united in his son is the perfect righteousness of his own son in whom he has always been delighted in. I pray that that would be a reality to the hearts of all of us and that we would never cease to be amazed of His grace and His goodness towards us.

Amen. Let's pray.