This morning, we land ourselves on something that we touched on earlier when we were talking about John's baptism. And we're going to do a deeper dive on it this morning. And it's the baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ. So if you would, open your Bibles to Matthew 3. Matthew 3. Matthew 3 is where we will be. get our spot, and we will pray. Lord, I do ask that You be with us as we look at your water baptism that you received from John, and we ask you to help us understand this passage of Scripture and these verses so we can just have a better understanding of how all of these baptisms fit within your holy Scripture. We ask for your help. We ask for your edification of your saints. In Jesus' name, Amen. Matthew 3, let's see, let's look at verse number 13. And let's read that. Well, let me read it, because I like to read verses wrong. Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be saved by him. Is that what it says? No. Let me try it again. To Jordan unto John to join John's church. It doesn't say that either, does it? Alright, so why don't you read it correctly and help me get it right. Ready? Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. You see, Jesus didn't need salvation. And Jesus wasn't there to join John's church. It was quite the opposite. John was joining himself to Jesus like all of us need to do. It's very simple. And by the way, also, you hear somebody say, well, baptism is what washes your sins away. Well, Jesus had no sins that needed to be washed away. What can wash away our sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Well, you come in contact with the blood and the water. No, you don't. you don't come in contact with the blood and the water. You need to trust what Christ did, and He'll apply the blood. I mean, that's it. You have an eternal God. We have a self-sustaining God. He's not joining Himself to anything John has. He's simply being baptized. When He is baptized, He is fully immersed in the water and He comes out of the water. And that's a picture of water baptism. The first reason Jesus gets baptized is He is publicly putting His stamp of approval on John's ministry. Jesus is saying, hey, what John's doing is a good thing. So keep that in mind. Now if Jesus puts His stamp of approval on something, all of the people from Israel that are around there, guess what they now feel obligated to do? Right, to do the same thing, to be baptized, right? Jesus says it's good. He's putting His stamp of approval on what John's doing. So yeah, number two, it's going to obligate the people to now do what John is preaching. So the first reason is Jesus puts a stamp of approval on John's ministry. The second reason is that it now obligates the people to listen to John. Jesus is also Watch what it says in v. 14. Let's read that together. But John forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? Now why do you think John said that? Yeah, John knows Jesus is the Messiah. And if he's the Messiah, that means he isn't what? That means he isn't a sinner. And John knows he's the sinner. You get this thing flipped around, John's like, well, wait a minute, wait a minute, I'm the sinner here. What's going on? So the other reason why Jesus is being baptized by John is because this is Jesus identifying with sinners. He's not a sinner. But you know what He's doing? He's getting in line with sinners. Hey, how you doing, pal? You see Him? He's just identifying with them. Hey, Jesus here. Have no sin. But you all are filthy. How you doing? Good to see you. Now, I'm sure that's not the way it went. I'm using it as a way to draw out a point, but Jesus is getting into the same water that the sinners are getting into. He's identifying with the sinners. He's going where the sinners are. I love church. I love the church house. You love the church. And we get to gather together, by and large, doctrinally as saints. We've been redeemed by the blood. And look, anybody is welcome. Any sinner is welcome. But by and large, the church meets as a body of Christ to learn from the Word. How do we identify with sinners if we just stay in the four walls? We can't. So we've got to go out into the public and we have to identify with sinners. And so Jesus sets that example. And, well, I'm not going to get water baptized and have some sinful man put me in water. Well, Jesus had some sinful man put Him in water. It's a humbling lesson. It's a humbling lesson. We're all sinners. We're all sinners. Okay, verse number 15. Some trivia here. And Jesus answering said unto him, and now these next, anybody here have a red letter Bible? Okay, this is the first time, you have to be careful how you say it, because it's all, I mean, Jesus is God, and all the words are His, but these red letters here, this is the first time in the New Testament that we hear Jesus speak in the red letters, okay? These are the first words in the New Testament of Jesus, and watch what He says, let's read it together. Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness, than he suffered him." Jesus was baptized simply to fulfill all righteousness. Why was Jesus baptized? He's showing us that it is the right thing to do. It doesn't say to fulfill your salvation. It doesn't say to fulfill your power of the Holy Spirit. It doesn't say to fulfill your membership into the church. It says Jesus is doing it to fulfill all righteousness. What He's saying is, it's right. Well, what other cross-references do we have? Acts? The whole book? All believers knew that it was right to do that as a believer. And Jesus set that example. Well, why do I have to be baptized? Because Jesus said it's right. Well, it's some sinful man putting me in water. Yeah, Jesus said it's right. And that's the way that it goes. And verse 16, we'll read the last two verses of the chapter. Let's read it aloud together. Ready? And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water. And, lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon Him. And, lo, a voice from heaven sang, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. The next reason, I lost count of the reasons, but the next reason why Jesus got baptized, who wants to guess? Anybody got it? The Lord baptized to pay for our sins. Look at the text. Look at the Bible. Look at v. 17. This is My beloved Son, whom I will please. pleased. Who's He pleasing? The Father. He's pleasing God the Father. Why was Jesus baptized? Because He did all things in obedience to the Father. He wanted always, His desire was to please the Father. Please the Father, please the Father, please the Father. And so that's our next reason. And He's being set apart The next reason it's about consecration. Jesus is being set apart. He comes on the scene. What is about to start for Jesus? His public ministry. So He's being set apart. And not only did Jesus fulfill all righteousness, and He's always fulfilling the desires of the Father, but He also fulfilled all the law in the Old Testament. And this is a key doctrinal point here. Go to Hebrews 4 and get Exodus 29. Hebrews 4 and Exodus 29. This is a setting apart. Jesus Christ is being set apart. And young people, besides Josiah, because you're too old for this, Hebrews 4.14. Whatever young person has it first, stand up. Hebrews 4.14. Alright, Hannah, I think you've got that one. Hebrews 4.14. Let's hear it. Seeing then that we have a great High Priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession... Alright, what is Jesus called in that verse? Young people, let's hear it. What is Jesus? Better thing is to say, who is Jesus? Our great what? He is our great High Priest. Ok, next one. Exodus 29, verse 4. Whatever young person has it first, stand up. Besides Hannah or Josiah. Exodus 29, verse 4. Just, you can, yeah, go ahead. And Aaron and his sons thou shalt bring into the door of the tabernacle and congregation and shalt wash them with water. Very good. So Aaron and his sons are being washed with what? Water. It's the start. Aaron's going to be the high priest. It's the start of his ministry as the high priest. You know who he's being washed with? Go ahead, read seven, Lily. Then shalt thou take the most anointing oil. The what, Lily? The anointing oil. One more time. The what? The anointing oil. That's great. Alright, finish out the verse. That's a key phrase. and pour it upon his head and anoint him. Very good. So, Jesus as our Great High Priest, He is being consecrated, He is being set apart for the ministry. But the picture, He fulfilled all of the law. So as our Great High Priest now, He is being He's being immersed in water. And He is being anointed by the Holy Spirit. And He starts His public ministry in the fulfillment of the law that we just read. That's what the high priests did in the Old Testament. They had to be washed and they had to be anointed. Aren't you glad that we have the perfect Lamb of God? Amen on that. Amen and double amen. Alright, go to John chapter 1. John chapter 1. John chapter 1. The next reason that Jesus was baptized was to introduce It was an introduction to the Jewish nation that the Messiah has just showed up. John 1. Why don't we start reading verse 29-31. Ready? The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. This is He of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me. For he was before me, and I knew him not, but that he should be made manifest to Israel. Therefore I am come baptizing with water. This explains, verse 31, the purpose of Jesus' baptism. He is being manifest to Israel. Ok. So, Jesus has arrived. But the people, publicly, they don't know that Jesus has arrived. but he has. And so now John has Jesus here and he's going to baptize Jesus and now everybody that didn't know that Jesus has arrived now is getting a public profession that Jesus has arrived. So how many of you here are saved this morning? Did Jesus arrive? Did the people around you know that Jesus arrived? No. They had no idea that Jesus arrived. So what do we do? We now have a public baptism to show all the people that don't see that Jesus has arrived and we now proclaim that He has arrived because you can't see that He has arrived. And now we do a public profession and we let everybody know, yeah, the person who you thought never would come into my life just did. And that's the death, burial, and resurrection that we picture publicly in our water baptism. And Jesus, that is a picture of that as well. Here's a very interesting verse, 32. And let's read it together. And John bear a record saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon Him. From what we read here, who saw that? It looks like it was just John was the only one that saw that. We're reading about it, and sometimes when we read it we think, man, everybody must have seen it. It seems to me that John was the guy that saw that. And there's some debate about that, but that's my opinion on the verse. You may have a different one and that is okay. But just like a dove, well, okay, verse 32, it says, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove. Was it a real dove? No, it was like a dove. So it's the motion here is being mentioned. So you picture that motion of a dove coming down from heaven to land. That gives us the motion. The cross-reference in Luke 3, it says, in a bodily shape like a dove. That gives the manner. So it seems to be a picture of the motion and the manner. And it seems to be that John was the one that saw that. That'd be a good study, personally, for you to get into. And we never see that manner or that motion again. It looks like that's the first and only time that that manner and motion is happening. Okay, how many of you have heard of modalism? Modalism. Okay, brother, you heard of it? It's basically the idea that people think that the Trinity is like three separate gods. Am I correct? Yes, pretty much. So, they would say modalism is a heresy. And it's infiltrating churches. And by the way, Stephen Furtick and J.D. or T.J. Jakes, whatever that guy's name is, T.D. Jakes, those two are the biggest promoters of modalism. They're the biggest heretics of this. Those guys are full of the devil. So modalism says that, well, In the Old Testament, it was God, the Father. And in the New Testament, now we have God the Son, Jesus. And now what we have is the Spirit. It was a mode one way in the Old Testament, and then now there's a new mode in the New Testament, and now there's this mode now for us. So, when we see this picture in John baptizing Jesus, it squashes that whole false doctrine. It's a false doctrine. And we've got to talk about it because it may try to sneak its way into the true church. Which, by the way, that's how all false doctrine gets into the church. Okay? Because preachers don't talk about this stuff because they're afraid to lose people. But we're not afraid to lose people. We want to preach the Bible rightly divided. So, okay, is Jesus God? Yes. Is the Father God? Yes. Is the Holy Spirit God? Yes. Now, is Jesus the Holy Spirit? No. Is the Holy Spirit Jesus? No. Is the Holy Spirit the Father? No. It's three distinct persons or personalities And we've seen this picture, you've seen this picture, there's a circle in the middle, and it says God, and then you see it comes out like a, have you seen that? Where it comes out and you've got the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and then in the center it says God, and it all leads back, and then around that it says, is not the Spirit, is not the Father. Well, I don't think we can ever try to explain the Trinity like that, although that does give us a good visual. They say, well, OK, so does that mean God is broken down in thirds? No. But someone can come away with that when they look at it. Think about this. Draw in the air, kids, take your finger, draw in the air a circle with a black marker. And draw this circle and say, God the Father. Alright, now put that marker away and now grab a red marker and right over the same line that you drew with that red marker, draw over the black marker and now write and say, God the Son. Now put that one down and grab a blue marker and take that marker and draw right over the black marker and the red marker and draw and now say, God the Holy Spirit. It's one God, three distinct personalities. Now, I don't know if that's a better analogy or not. I don't think any of the analogies can exhaust, great is the mystery of godliness, God was manifest in the flesh. I don't think you can do it. But I do know this. How are we made? In the image of who? God. How many parts are there to us? Three. What are those three parts? Right. And we put body first because we like to please our body. I do it too. We all do that. But it's really, really the most important part of us is our soul, and then our spirit goes back to our creator God, and then our body goes in the ground, and so we are a triunity. We are not the Trinity. Depending on what Baptist preacher you ask, some of them got a God complex. They're not the man of God, they just got a God complex. Amen, and amen. Had enough of that to last me a lifetime, and I'm sure some of you have too. We are not part of the Trinity. That's called pride. People think that higher than themselves that they are. But we are made in the image of God. There is a triunity to our makeup. Is there only one Chris? Yes. Just say yes. Yes, there's only one Chris. Is there only one brother Jimmy? There is, there is. My wife's laughing, because sometimes I'm not. You act different and all that, but. Right? Is there one Hannah? There's one Hannah. How many parts do we all have? How many personalities? Husbands don't answer to your wives and wives. We're getting off on some marriage counseling, amen. Man, all this doctrine gets thrown out the window when you get married. All right, we'll move onward and upward. We're on modialism. God doesn't change forms. He's the same yesterday, today, forever. Okay? And so we have the Spirit, the Son, and the Father all pictured there communicating. One God, for there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. And these three are one. Yeah, but one plus one plus one equals? Yeah, but one times one times one times one equals? Okay? Well, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. People try to explain away the Trinity because their mind can't comprehend something that's really incomprehensible. And we just, I don't want a God I can figure out. You've heard that before, right? This is one of those doctrines. And we don't see the word Trinity in the Bible, but Jesus' baptism gives us a picture of the triunity of God. Lastly, how many of you are saved? Are there any more sacrifices that need to be made? Are there any more Sabbaths that have to be kept? Are there any more new moons that have to be kept? Are there any more laws that have to be kept? Did Jesus pay it all? It's clear, we see all that. Bible 101, right? Can anybody show me one verse in the Bible where Jesus said, that believers do not need to be baptized. Because there isn't one verse. And there are some fringe group Christians that will argue, well, water baptism isn't for the New Testament church. It was just for Jews for a time. And when you point out to them that, can you show me a verse on that? You know what they show you? No verse on that. You know how they argue? With no verses. How many of you heard the argument from silence? Well, God didn't say, so I'm not buying it. God gave the New Testament church the ordinance of water baptism. At that point, they're just going by their own made-up beliefs. That's right. They've got to continue to push the church out of the book of Acts. They just make their way. And every time you press them, you just get deeper and deeper into the book of Acts. And then by the time you're done, you're out of the book of Acts. Every single person that believed in the Lord Jesus Christ in the book of Acts was water baptized. So God gave the New Testament church the ordinance to be water baptized and also the Lord's suppers. But we're not going to get into that. But Jesus never said no baptism. Wilder, did you get all that? We talked about the baptism of who? Lily? The baptism of Jesus. Milani, what did we sing as the hymn this morning? You remember the hymn? The light of the world is Jesus. All right, come on up here, Melanie. Have you ever started a fire before? Good answer. OK. You're going to go ahead and pull that button. Yeah, you got to really pull it. Is it that? Let me see. Let me see it. There you go. Pull it with both fingers. Light that up. Pull it again. There you go. Hold it right there. You don't play with fire, by the way. You have an adult and everybody's watching. Right. You nearly burned off my finger. I'm kidding. I'm kidding, Melanie. Okay. So who's the light of the world? The light of the world is Jesus. Very good. Very good. Let me see here. Now, Melanie, if you could be, if you could be a coin, which one would you be? Pick one. Really? All right, very good. Now you stay there. Wilder, Lily, and Hannah, come on up. Now, and Josiah, come on up. Lily, if you could be a coin, what one would you pick? You would pick the dime? Okay, which one would you pick, Wilder? You'd pick the nickel? How about you, Hannah Grace? The quarter, amen. Josiah? You would pick the dime, okay. I was doing this as a test because I wanted to see, I thought everybody would pick the quarter because we all think so highly of ourselves. We're just so valuable. But you picked the penny. You picked the penny. Okay, so Milani grabbed the penny. Go ahead and put the light of the world, okay, put yourself in the world. Alright, what did you pick, Lily? Alright, put yourself in the world, the light of the world. And Wilder, you grabbed the nickel, right? And Hannah grabbed the quarter. And for lack of coins, We'll have Josiah. You won't grab a coin, but what you're going to do, Josiah. Okay, so here we have you sinners in the world, and Jesus is the light of the world. Now, what did we learn last week about, was it last week or two weeks ago, about the cup? Was the cup filthy? Yes. And Jesus had to drink that cup, which was your sin, right? So go ahead and dump some sin into there. Not on the water, or not on the light. Just go ahead and dump it in there. Dump some sin in there. Yeah, get everybody covered. I mean, these kids are just covered in sin. Absolutely. Okay, that's fine. Very good. Alright. Look at you. Look at you. Covered in sin in the world. And the light of the world is Jesus. Remember what we sang? Come to the light. All that. Praise the Lord. Now, Jesus. In John 1, I think it's verse 31. Who's got that verse? John 1, verse 31. It says, go ahead and read it. Behold, and I knew Him not, but that He should be made manifest to Israel. So here he comes, baptizing with water. Now verse 29 says what? Read that, whoever gets it first. John 1, 29. Alright, now what are you kids covered with? Sin. Behold, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. Let me hear you say that verse. Well, say it like you're going to preach it, amen. Say it like the world needs to hear it. Like John the Baptist would say, Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. Go ahead, try it. Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. Man, I don't know. There'd be some lady preachers here. I mean, they're lifting their voice higher than the men. The young men. I've got to hear Walder and Josiah a little bit louder than the girls. Ready? Go. All right, that's better. Now watch. I'm not a scientist, so I hope that I don't kill the object lesson with this. But here's what I want you to do. Here's what I want you to do. Watch the Lamb of God. which taketh away." Watch all the sin get taken away. See it? Where's all that water going? Look at it. See that? Look at it. Jesus is taking away the sin. See it coming up? Look at it. Look at it. Look at it. See how it's coming up? Amen! Jesus, behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Yeah, it went out, no more oxygen. Amen and amen. Say that, amen and amen. Amen and amen. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. You can't clean yourself up. You can't make yourself right. You can't take away your sins by your good works. But behold, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. I'm telling you, I don't preach all day. That's some camp meeting preaching right there. Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. Only Jesus can take away your sin.