Please turn in your Bibles to Mark's Gospel and chapter one, and we're gonna read from verses nine to 11. Mark's Gospel, chapter one, beginning at verse nine. We continue with our series, Severing the Savior in Mark's Gospel. And as we come to God's word, the reading and the preaching of it, let me pray for us. Father, in your light, we see light. And so we pray that you would come now and by your Holy Spirit, illuminate the reading and the preaching of your word so that we would see Jesus more clearly, love him more dearly, and follow him more nearly. And we ask this in his name, the one who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God forever praised. Amen. Mark chapter 1, verses 9 through to 11. In those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven You are my beloved son. With you, I am well pleased. The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God endures forever. Well, after reading those verses, there is the million dollar question. Was Jesus a Baptist? Was Jesus a Baptist? If you saw the notice board this morning, you may think I've already given you the answer. Jesus the Baptist. Some of you may be thinking, what is going on at 10th Presbyterian Church? Just after Christmas, we had Son of Circumcision on the notice board, which made our church look like a Jewish synagogue for a week. And now we have Jesus the Baptist on the notice board, which makes it look like a Baptist church for a week. I mean, what next? A baptismal pool up here? Who invited the part-time Irish guy? Well, fear not, all shall be revealed in this sermon, but I'm glad I've at least got your attention, or at least the Baptist's attention. Now some of you may be sitting there thinking, who cares? whether Jesus was a Baptist or not. I mean, does it really matter? It's not like baptism is a gospel issue. It's not like it pertains to eternal salvation. If the thief on the cross got to heaven without being baptized, let's move on. and speak about more important matters. Baptism is a secondary issue, not a salvation issue. So why even spend time talking about it? Well, believe it or not, but Jesus' baptism is not a secondary issue. It's a salvation issue. It's a gospel issue. Mark says as much at the beginning of his gospel. Chapter 1, verse 1. The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And then Mark begins with Jesus' baptism by John in the Jordan. In verses 2 to 8, he sets the context for John's ministry as a baptism of repentance. And then in verses 9 to 11, he tells us that Jesus receives John's baptism of repentance. In other words, for Mark, the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begins with the baptism of Jesus. Jesus the Baptist is a fundamental part of the gospel. But Jesus the Baptist was not the kind of Baptist Baptists think he was. Which brings us to Jesus' baptism here in Mark 1, 9 to 11. Mark presents us with four things about Jesus' baptism that help us see that it is a first order issue, that it's a salvation issue, a gospel issue. Number one, the moment of his baptism. The moment of his baptism, verse nine. In those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. In those days. What days? The days of John the Baptist's revival. Jesus came to John the Baptist at the Jordan when all of Judea and all of Jerusalem were going out to be baptized by John, confessing their sins. You may recall that scholars estimated that it was in the hundreds of thousands, somewhere between half a million and a million people in just a six-month period. Jesus came to John at the height of his revival. When people were getting ready for the coming of God, when they were getting their hearts in the right place to meet God, when they were repenting of their sins, that's when Jesus came. When there was a people prepared for the Lord, as the angel had predicted to Zechariah about the ministry of his son, John. After all Judea and all Jerusalem had repented, Jesus came. When people repented of their sins, Jesus came. He didn't delay, he didn't hesitate. No sooner did John say in verse eight that he was coming, Verse seven, after me comes he who is mightier than I. No sooner did John say that than Jesus came. Notice where Jesus came from in this moment of national repentance. He came from Nazareth of Galilee. Nazareth was a tiny town, so obscure and so insignificant that it wasn't even on the map Jewish writings at the time spoke of Bethlehem, they spoke of Jericho. There is no Jewish writing at the time that ever speaks of Nazareth. It was a completely unknown town. Jesus came from a nothing place. The town of obscurity, which reflected his life of obscurity. After his birth, apart from one time when we hear about him coming to the temple at 12 years old, we hear nothing about Jesus for 30 years until he appeared at the Jordan to be baptized. The hidden place of Nazareth reflected the hidden life of Jesus. But the area that Nazareth was located in, Galilee, was known. It was known as the land of Gentiles. Isaiah describes it as Galilee of the Gentiles. It wasn't the case that there were no Jews in Galilee. Rather, it was that it was a mixed region of Jew and Gentile. It was originally the area that the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali had settled in. But by the time of Jesus, it had become a predominantly Gentile region. Most significantly, Galilee was outside the region of Judea and Jerusalem, the region in the city that was connected with the chosen tribe of Judah. Jesus was from the chosen tribe of Judah, but he comes down to John from outside the region of the chosen tribe of Israel. We might say that Jesus comes as a representative of Jew and Gentile. He comes as a king for all the people. You know like when a politician gets elected, what's one of the first things they say? I will be the president for all the people. Well that's what Jesus was saying. He would be a king for all the people. He was born in Bethlehem in Judea. He was from the tribe of Judah. So he will represent the Jewish people. But he was raised in Nazareth of Galilee. the region of the Gentiles, and so he will represent the Gentile people. He comes as Judean king and Galilean king, as a king for Jew and Gentile in a time of repentance. This is the moment of his baptism. In the days of people repenting, Jesus came as a representative of Jew and Gentile and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Which brings us next to the mode of his baptism. The mode of his baptism. We've seen the moment of his baptism and now verse 9, the mode of his baptism. Now by mode, I mean the way in which he was baptized. Was it by immersion? or by sprinkling, pouring of water upon him. Those are the two modes of baptism. Immersion, dipping in the water, or sprinkling, pouring where the water is poured upon the person. So which did Jesus receive when he was baptized by John? Well, given how much we have been influenced by picture story Bibles and movies like the Jesus film or The Chosen, we tend to think that the Baptists win this one hands down. If all the people in Judea and Jerusalem went out to be baptized by John in the River Jordan, how else did they get baptized except by being dunked? It's like the cartoon I once saw of a man in a suit talking to a man with a big beard and camel hair, John the Baptist. And the man in the suit says, and what church do you go to? And the man in the camel hair replies, the First Baptist Church. I mean, if John was a Baptist, then isn't the mode of baptism immersion? Verse 10 sounds very much like Jesus goes down under the water and then when he comes up out of the water, he sees the heavens open to him. Sounds like immersion, doesn't it? One, zero to the Baptists. To which all Baptists brothers and sisters here this morning say, amen. But to which us Presbyterians say, ahem, not so fast. Because it's not that simple. For instance, the language of going down into the water and coming up out of the water is used in Acts chapter 8 of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch when the eunuch is baptized. Acts 8, verse 38 and 39. And the eunuch commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they both came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more and went on his way rejoicing. Notice the language. Both Philip and the eunuch go down into the water and both come up out of the water, but only one of them is baptized. Which means that the language of going down into water and coming up out of the water is not of the essence of baptism. It's not a part of the mode of baptism. Philip went down into the water and came out of the water and he was not baptized. In Acts chapter 9, Paul, then Saul, stands up in a room in a house and is baptized. The very opposite of going down into water and coming up out of water. Also, when you look at the usage of the words baptize and baptism in the Old and New Testaments, you see that to baptize does not necessarily mean to dip or to immerse. It can mean that, but it doesn't always have to mean that. There are places where the language clearly means to wash, to sprinkle, to have water put upon you, like when the writer to the Hebrews speaks of various baptisms, He's speaking of the Old Testament rituals of washing, which did not always entail immersion. Some of them referred to washing of hands, where water would be poured upon your hands as you washed them. So context determines the meaning of the word baptize or baptism. Well, so too here in Mark chapter one, verse nine. The context points in the direction of the mode of sprinkling or pouring of water in Jesus' baptism. Let me show you what I mean from verse eight. John the Baptist says, I have baptized you with water, but he, Jesus, will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. The question is, what was the mode of Jesus' baptism with the Spirit? Well, we see it in the book of Acts. In Acts 1, verse 8, Jesus promises that the disciples will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon them. Acts 2, verse 3, the tongues of fire, which were a symbol of the Holy Spirit, came to rest on the disciples in the house. Acts chapter 2, 17, Peter recalls the words of the prophet Joel in which God said he would pour out his spirit on all flesh. Acts chapter 2, 33, Peter speaks of Jesus pouring out the spirit. Acts chapter 11, Peter explains to the Jerusalem church how the spirit fell on the Gentiles in Caesarea. So in the case of Jesus' baptism with the Spirit, there is one clear mode. The Spirit comes upon them. The Spirit is poured out upon them. The Spirit falls upon them from above. Now, if water baptism is supposed to reflect the Spirit baptism, then what kind of mode would we expect for water baptism? the mode of the Spirit, which is a pouring out. So when John says in verse eight, I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit, how should we think of John's mode of baptism? Just as we should think of Jesus' mode of baptism, a pouring out, a sprinkling, Well, so too with John's mode. Jesus went down into the water and had water poured upon his head in his baptism. Now, boys and girls, I'm gonna walk over here to this baptismal font. Some of you and some of the young people here were baptized at this font. You had water sprinkled on your head, or maybe at a font like this in another church. If you haven't, then please tell your parents to speak to the man with a funny accent after church. Because you should be brought to this font. Because it's a beautiful picture of what God promises us in the gospel to us and to our children. Boys and girls, this is what it meant when you had your head sprinkled with water at this font. It was like having a shower or shower. You get it now. What happens when you have a shower? The water falls upon you from above and cleanses you, it washes you. And that's what baptism is. It's many things, but that's one of the symbols. It is a symbol of you being cleansed. What is put on the outside of you should become a reality on the inside of you as you grow up to repent and believe the gospel. And that's what John's baptism symbolized. It symbolized a cleansing for sin. Now some of you may be wondering, why are we even talking about this? I mean, this is supposed to be a Sunday sermon, not a seminary lecture. Well, the reason I've spent time on the mode is because the mode points to the meaning of baptism, which brings us to the third point, the meaning of baptism, verses 10 to 11. We've seen the moment of Jesus' baptism. at a time of repentance, the mode of his baptism, sprinkling or pouring. And now from that mode, we see the meaning. And the meaning is this, mediation. Jesus' baptism means two things. It means mediation with respect to his ordination. His ordination as mediator. What do I mean by his ordination? Well, in the Old Testament, the ordination of a priest involved the following steps. The priest would come at the age of 30 years old. He would come to another priest, and that priest would ordain him by sprinkling water on him, by washing him. Now think about what we have going on here between Jesus and John. Jesus comes to John, we know in Luke chapter 3, at the age of 30 years old. And what does John do? He sprinkles water upon him. And who is John? John is a priest, the son of Zechariah, the priest at the temple in Jerusalem. So what we have here is Jesus' ordination service into the priestly office. Of course, Jesus wasn't from the priestly tribe of Levi. He was from the tribe of Judah, but he was of the priestly order of Melchizedek. and the principles of ordination still apply to him. 30 years old, sprinkled with water by a priest. So Jesus' baptism is his ordination as mediator. Other phenomena attend the baptism to confirm this. The heavens are torn open, the Spirit of God descends like a dove, and the Father gives a speech. It is a Trinitarian event with visual and verbal confirmation, as one commentator puts it. Visually, Jesus' ordination is confirmed by the heavens being torn open and the spirit descending like a dove. This was the anointing part of the ordination. Jesus is anointed by the Spirit to serve as mediator between God and sinners. It's only after he receives the Spirit at his baptism that Jesus goes out and begins his ministry as mediator. Isaiah the prophet had prophesied this very moment. Isaiah chapter 61, one to two. The spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the year of the Lord's fever and the day of vengeance of our God." When did Jesus start to do those things? After He was anointed by the Spirit at His baptism. The ordination was also verbally confirmed, visually confirmed by the Spirit, verbally confirmed by the Father, verse 11. and a voice came from heaven, you are my beloved son. With you, I am well pleased. These words from God the Father allude to three Old Testament texts. You are my son alludes to Psalm chapter two verse seven. You are my son, today I have begotten you. The words are spoken in the context of God installing his king in Mount Zion. So Jesus is God's anointed king. You are my beloved son. That phrase, beloved son, alludes back to the way God spoke to Abraham about his son Isaac in Genesis 22. Do you remember it? Take your son, your only son, whom you love. Isaac and sacrifice him on a mountain to me." The son whom Abraham loved was his beloved son, who was supposed to be sacrificed on a mountain called Moriah, a mountain where the temple was later built. But as we know, Isaac was spared on that mountain. But now here is God speaking of Jesus as his beloved son, pointing to the fact that Jesus would be offered as a sacrifice on that same mountain as Isaac, only this time he would not be spared. And then there is the last line, with you I am well pleased. It alludes back to Isaiah chapter 42 verse one, and the words about the suffering servant. Behold my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him, he will bring justice to the nations. By alluding to these words in Isaiah, God the Father was showing his pleasure with his Son being willing to take up this mediatorial role. In other words, at Jesus' baptism, it was like the Father was singing the song we've sung this morning. My Jesus, I love thee. If ever I loved thee, my Jesus, tis now. "'Tis now, as you begin your ministry as mediator, "'I love you. "'I am well pleased with you.'" Putting the three allusions together from these Old Testament passages, we see who Jesus is presented as. He is the suffering servant, priest, king. In fact, in his baptism, he is ordained into his mediatorial role in three offices, prophet, priest, and king. After his baptism, Jesus comes into Galilee, preaching the good news like a prophet. After his baptism, Jesus comes into Galilee, announcing to a leper that he is clean. That was the role of the priest. After his baptism, Jesus comes into Galilee casting out demons, healing the sick, forgiving sin like a king. Jesus' prophet, priest, and king, three offices that really function as one office, the office of mediator. And Jesus' ordination and installation into that mediatorial role began at 30 years old when he was sprinkled by water in the Jordan River by a priest called John. This is the first thing his baptism means. It points to his ordination as mediator. There's a second thing that it means. It points to his substitution as mediator. His substitution as mediator. This is seen in him having the waters of baptism poured on his head. Because remember what John's baptism was. Just glance back at verse four. John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Now, if Jesus is God's beloved son with whom he is well pleased in eternity past and in history present, if Jesus is the perfect, sinless son of God, then why does he receive John's baptism when John's baptism is a baptism of repentance? Do you see the problem? John saw the problem. In the other gospels, we read that he responded to Jesus, I need to be baptized by you, Jesus, not the other way around. John got the right perspective. He was the sinful one. Jesus was the sinless one. It's clear who needs to baptize who with a baptism of repentance. And yet Jesus responds, let it be so now for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. What is this all righteousness? Well, Deuteronomy chapter 6, 25 says it is doing God's commandments. And one of God's commandments is that an offering for sin must be made by a priest. for forgiveness. An offering for sin must be made by a priest for forgiveness. That is one of God's commandments. Another commandment was that for a man to be a priest, he had to be ordained at 30 years old, sprinkled with water by a priest. So when Jesus says, it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness, he's referring to all the laws that pertain to his role as mediator, as the one who would take upon himself the sins of his people. And that is exactly what occurs in his baptism. He takes upon himself the sins of his people, even though he himself is sinless. Just picture it, the people go down into the river to wash off the dirt of their sins, leaving their sins in the river, so to speak. And after the people have been washed in the river, Jesus comes, who has no sin, and he goes down into the river and puts upon himself with John's baptism the water that had been dirtied by their sins. He has that dirty water poured upon himself. In Luke chapter three, we read that Jesus was baptized after most of the people had been baptized. So just imagine how dirty that river water was after hundreds of thousands of people were going into it day after day after day. Think about how dirty it was. And then that dirty water is poured upon the head of the sinless one. It's a beautiful picture of Jesus substituting for his people, the sinless one taking the sins of the sinful ones. In this respect, his baptism foreshadows his cross. Later in Mark's gospel, chapter eight, sorry, chapter 10, verse 38, Jesus speaks of his death on the cross as another baptism. with which he must be baptized. In Luke chapter 12, 49 to 50, he explains it as a baptism of fire. I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled. I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished. In other words, Jesus views his death on the cross as a baptism by fire. When he would take upon himself the sins of his people and have the wrath of God poured out upon his head for those sins. God's wrath, God's judgment in the Bible is symbolized as fire. Jesus' baptism by water in the Jordan foreshadowed his baptism by fire in Jerusalem. At the Jordan, he stands in a river and has the dirty water of his people's sins poured upon his head. And in Jerusalem, he will hang upon a cross on a mountain and have the fire of God's judgment poured upon his head. That is what the mode of his baptism points to, his substitution for sinners. This is what Jesus' baptism means. His ordination as mediator. His substitution as mediator. You may say, well, Johnny, all very interesting, but what's it got to do with us? What's the relevance for me or for even this world? Well, that brings me to the fourth and final aspect of Jesus' baptism. The magnitude of his baptism, verse 10. The magnitude of his baptism. And when he came out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. What does that verse remind you of? Water, heavens, Spirit of God hovering over the waters. recalls the beginning of creation, doesn't it? When God made the heavens and the earth, and when the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the deep waters. It also recalls the new creation after Noah's flood, when there was the heavens and the earth was covered in water, and Noah sent a dove over the waters. Well, so too here. Jesus' water baptism at the Jordan points to the beginning of a new creation. He comes out of the waters, the heavens are open, and the Spirit descends on Him like a dove. We see the same signs of a new creation at His baptism by fire on the cross. Boys and girls, do you remember what happened to the Son when Jesus died? Do you remember it was blanked out at noontime? And then do you remember what happened to the earth? It started to quake. When Jesus died, when he received that baptism by fire, the old creation was being dismantled. And then in his resurrection, there was another earthquake. A new creation was being born. In Jesus's baptism by water and his baptism by fire, he was remaking the whole wide world. That was the magnitude of his baptism, which means that his baptism is not a secondary issue. It's a salvation issue. It's not of cursory significance. It's of cosmic significance. Because if Jesus wasn't baptized, he wasn't ordained to be our mediator. And if he wasn't ordained to be our mediator, when he lived and died and rose again, then he did so without any formal relation to anyone or anything. And if Jesus lived and died and rose again without any formal relation to anyone or anything, then his redeeming work affects no one. and no thing, it literally does nothing if he is not baptized. In order for Jesus' life, death, and resurrection to be effective for us, to be effective for the world, he had to be officially ordained as a mediator. appointed and confirmed by God. And in order for him to be officially ordained as a mediator, he had to have an official ordination service in which he was installed as a mediator. And in order for him to be installed as a mediator, he had to be sprinkled with water at 30 years of old by a priest. Do you see it? Jesus' baptism is a fundamental part of the gospel. Was Jesus a Baptist? You're dead right he was. Just not the kind of Baptist that Baptists think he was. But yes, he was a Baptist because had he not been baptized, We could not have been saved, and this world could not have been remade one day. The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begins with Jesus' baptism. About 18 months ago, our son Benjamin asked me if he could come to the Lord's table. We had just had the Lord's Supper that morning and he said, Dad, can I begin taking the Lord's Supper? I would like to and I said, well, if you want to do that, you need to come before the elders and confess your faith and you're gonna have to answer a number of questions. And he said, no, I'd still like to do it. So I wrote out a bunch of questions for him. And I said, you write down the answers and we'll go through it together. And where there's gaps, I'll help you fill them in. And so I gave him questions. What is God? What is the Trinity? Who is Jesus? What is a Christian? What is justification? What is faith? What is the church? What is baptism? What is the Lord's supper? About 300 questions. I'm joking, it was about 280. Now, I gave him a bunch of questions. Here was one of them. What is the gospel? What is the gospel? And he wrote down an answer. It was decent. There were some gaps, and so we worked on it together. And here's what we came up with together. What is the gospel? The gospel is the good news that Jesus was born with a holy nature for me. that He lived a perfect life under the law for me, that He died on the cross for my sins, rose again to give me new life, ascended into heaven so I can go there one day, is interceding for me now, and will return to take me home to be with Him forever. That is the gospel. But do you see, since I've been preaching here at 10th, a sermon on circumcision, and now a sermon on baptism, if we did it again, I would add in two more parts. Boys and girls, you might want to listen to this so that one day you can come to the Lord's table and confess your faith in the gospel. What is the gospel? The gospel is the good news that Jesus was born with a holy nature for me. Was circumcised on the eighth day so that he could live a perfect life under the law for me. Was baptized at 30 years old so that he could be a mediator dying for my sins on the cross. rose again to give me new life, ascended into heaven so I could go there one day, is interceding for me now, will come again so that I can be with Him forever. Pray for Zach and Hannah because it's just getting longer and longer if they want to come to the Lord's table. The fence is going to be so high. But you get the point. Circumcision of Christ and the baptism of Christ are fundamental parts of the gospel. And with respect to baptism, here's the beauty of it, brothers and sisters. 2,000 years ago, your Savior stood in the Jordan River and had that dirty water poured upon his head as a symbol that he was willing to bear your sins. And then three and a half years later, he hung on a cross with a crown of thorns on his head, and he had God's judgment for your sins poured upon his head. The next time you thank Jesus, for living for you, dying for you, rising for you, ascending for you, interceding for you, returning for you. Thank Him for being baptized for you. Was Jesus a Baptist? You're dead right He was. Because had He not been baptized, Brothers and sisters, we could not be saved. But I want to close this morning with a word for those who have not yet repented of their sins. Whether you were baptized as a baby or not, I want to speak to you if you have not repented of your sin or if you are living in sin. Verse nine, in those days, Jesus came. What days? The days of people repenting. When people repented, Jesus came. Arnold Prater, the United Methodist preacher of the last century, tells the story of the time he would go into his local barber. And there was a barber in the shop who knew that he was the preacher, and this barber hated God. And when Prater would come in to get his hair cut, this barber would turn up his anti-God rhetoric. He would take the Lord's name in vain. He would curse more than he normally did. He hated God. And every time Prater went in, he had to endure this man's foul speech about God. And then one day he went in and he was not there. And he said to the other barbers, where's the barber? They said, oh, he's had a brush with death. He's in hospital. Some months later, Prater was there at the barber's again. The barber wasn't there. But as he was driving off from the barber's, he saw a man in the street waving at him. And it was the barber. And he pulled over to the side of the road and he wound down his window and the barber came over to him and lent in the window and with a raspy voice said, preacher, I kicked him in the face for 60 years. And the first time I called his name, he came. Friends, you can have kicked God in the face for six years as a little boy or a little girl. You can have kicked him in the face for 16 years as a rebellious teenager or for 60 years. But if you call on his name, he will come to you and forgive you of your sins. Why? Because he came the first time. and stood in the river Jordan and was baptized for you." Let us pray. Father, we thank you for our beautiful Savior, who from His conception to His exaltation has worked to save us. And this morning, we want to thank you for his baptism, that beautiful symbol of his substitution for us as our mediator. So would you draw out our hearts in praise to our great Savior? We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.