THE BAPTISM OF OUR BELOVED LORD.       Matthew 3:

 V7 They were baptized of Him in Jordan,  confessing their sins.

V8 Pharisees and Sadducees coming to His baptism.    Sin was exposed with colorful language,   ‘Brood of vipers.   Who warned you to flee from      the wrath to come.   Bear fruits worthy of repentance.’    Straightness of speech necessary today.
   
V9 God is able to raise up children from these stones.    Calcium invades reproductive organs of the elderly as with Abraham and Sarah, 100 and 90 years respectively, over which the Lord ruled in the conception of and birth of Isaac.
  
V10   The axe is laid at the root of the trees.    Every tree which does not bear fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.    God’s righteous judgment is linked with baptism of our beloved Lord.     

V11   ”I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance”.    Our Lord needed no repentance from sin for He was sinless.    He identified with our fallen nature.    We need repentance.     Must be fearlessly taught.       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 and fire.   

At Pentecost, Peter powerfully preached for them to turn from their sins.     You crucified the Lord of glory.    The Holy Spirit had come.     They cried, ‘What must I do to be saved.’

His winnowing fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into the barn; but he will gather up the chaff with unquenchable fire.   

In Java they tossed grain and chaff into the steel net,  catching the grain and allowing the chaff to be blown away.     The seed of the eternal One is in you, being golden grain.
   V
13 ‘Jesus came from Galilee to John to the Jordan to be baptized of him.’ True humility of John shamed him at the possibility of   baptizing the Holy One of God.     

“John tried to prevent HIM , saying, ‘I have need to be baptized by you, and are you coming to me?’ ”  

V15   Jesus answered , and said to Him, permit it to be so now,  for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’   Then he allowed HIM.     Righteousness could only be imparted when the righteous Son of God bore our sin with its judgment and curse and shame and imparted His righteousness to us.      What a great salvation we have.
    

V16 ‘Then Jesus, when he had been   baptized , came up immediately from the water; and behold the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on Him.’ Immediate rising again from the dead followed His death on Calvary.
    

V17   Suddenly, a voice came from heaven saying, ’THIS IS MY BELOVED SON, IN WHOM I AM   WELL PLEASED.’  The Aramaic language was commonly used.      Has God spoken to you in the reading of God’s Word.     God speaks to us through the reading of His holy Word in our mother tongue.
   What language?   There are 6000 languages.     Wycliffe by year 2025 expects that every known language will be translated into God’s Word.     Prepared of the Lord,  Joan Rule, PNG, broke into and mastered 19 diverse languages in 19 years.     Within 12 months, Joan had the phonetics (sounds ) and grammar ( structure ) , which she would hand over to another linguist, saving them many years of research.    Retired among one such tribe, where all received the Word of God.         110 million US dollars was recently devoted to this move- evidence of the Lord’s return for his blood-bought church.
   Mark 1 records the baptism of our dear Lord.     Each of the four   gospel writers have recorded this message.     

v7 John preached, ‘There comes one after me, who is mightier than I,  whose sandal-strap I am not worthy to step down and loose.
  8 I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.   

  9 It came to pass in those days,  that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan.
  
10 And immediately, coming up from the water, he saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove.     

11 Then a voice   from heaven, ‘You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
‘You are’ was intimate- direct- pin-pointing the Son of God in the closest oneness with the Father.      The Father treasured His dear Son, finding great delight in Him- and His obedience to the Father’s wi

18  With many other exhortations, he preached to the peoples.  Preaching was associated with the immersing of believers.

19 Enter the villain.    Herod the Tetrarch, being rebuked by him concerning Herodias,  his brother Philip’s wife, and for all the evils Herod had done, he added this,  above all,  that he shut up John in prison.      Later Herod beheaded this greatest of all men.

21 ‘Now when all the people were baptized,  (standing by in thousands, expecting) it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized, and while HE prayed the heaven was opened to Him.      Prayer opens heaven to the divine flow of blessing.    Our Lord’s prayer was not recorded.     How memorable if we had heard.    Did you pray before your baptism?   How did you pray?

22 The Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, ‘You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.’   A Dove expresses our Lord’s inner purity, and has no other partner in its life-time, while a dove has no spleen.     Such a beautiful illustration of the wholesome love of a man for his wife.
    
John in his gospel testifies concerning the Lord Jesus, John 1:19,   ‘This is the testimony of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who are you?

V3 ‘He confessed and did not deny, but confessed, ‘I am not the Christ.’
21 ‘What then? Are you Elijah?   He said, I am not.  Are you the prophet? And he answered, No!
22 What do you say of yourself?'
23 ‘I am the voice of One crying in the wilderness.     Make straight the way of the Lord,’  as the prophet Isaiah said.    A voice results from wind passing through our vocal cords-which do not have   individual blood or nerve supply, being dependent on wind ( Holy Spirit ) and supply from surrounding tissues   for activity, so that they would sound out truth.
24 ‘Now those who were sent, were from the Pharisees,’ displaying intense opposition from even religious bodies: right from the commencement of ministry.     If they continued throughout John’s ministry, dead religion will also resist us.        Only Christ gives freedom.

25 ‘And they asked Him saying,  Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ,  nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?’ they challenged John that Christ was not  the Messiah,  and great prophet to come.    Such  confrontation   does not detract from, nor minimize the integrity of the Savior.
26 John answered them saying, ‘I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know‘.    It  is greatest loss not to know the Son of God.     Do you know Him- in daily walk- and is he central in your plans for future?
27 ‘It is HE , who coming after me is preferred before me, whose sandal-strap I am not worthy to loose‘.      Sandal strap is from leather, where the animal has been slain, the hide removed and the flesh offered as sacrifice or as food.    The leather is cured; then it is ready for use.    It speaks of the life of the Lord Jesus, stripped of His flesh, given for us, on Calvary,  essential in our walk to protect us from perils on the way.    John said, ‘I am not worthy to undo the sandal strap of the Lord.

It also speaks of the humility of  John the Baptist.    How well does it speak of you?

28’ These things were done in Bethabara,  beyond the Jordan,  where John was baptizing.
 In this unimportant location John the Baptist revealed one of the most famous verses in all God’s Word, ‘Behold the LAMB OF GOD  who takes away the sin of the world.’ v29    Like a flash their thoughts turned to the Lamb slain on the Passover night in Egypt, when God miraculously released them from tyranny and propelled them to freedom from their national slave attachment.   

When you received the cleansing from sin of our Lord Jesus,  did you find release from the tyranny of the old flesh life- and its disastrous connection?   Praise be to the Lord.

30 ‘After me comes a MAN who is preferred before me‘.    This heavenly Person must always receive preference in every life.     Give HIM priority in your life.
 31 ‘He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I come baptizing with water.’  John was endowed with the weighty responsibility to baptize.     It made known the Lord of glory.    That’s why this baptismal hour is so important.     ‘In all things He must have the pre-eminence.'
32 John’s personal word is undeniable   ‘I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and HE remained upon HIM.     It was the dual fact that the third person of the Trinity descended from heaven and continued to exist on the Son of God.    When the Lord does a work it is final.    That’s why our conversion to Christ is eternal- not for brief time only.     

33 John owned up, ‘I did not know Him,’ that is as the Son of the living God, the eternal One.
He said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining on Him' ( notice the combination of descent and abiding- this was no flash in the pan)   'This is HE that baptizes with the Holy Spirit.'

34 Unchallengeable!   Firm Unquestionable.    ’I   have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.’

 Do you present a clear word of the Lord Jesus in your school, TAFE, University, home?   

When a water pipe near our home ruptured, water gushed down our footpath and side of our home.    The television crew came for the story.    I told how I had prayed for rain after drought for months to revive our roses.      God sent 70 mm ( 3 inches ) of rain.     Now the flood has sent giga liters ( millions )   into my thirsty garden.    We should seize each opportunity of living for and speaking of our beloved Savior.      The outcome is in the Lord‘s hands.
  
36 Jesus stood with two of his disciples, ‘ And looking at Jesus as he walked, he said, BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD.’  Whereas the lamb was our Substitute in redemption,  now He is our life, our holy Example as he walked.     Christ is enmeshed in every detail of our character and   behavior.     Scripture shows we need the cleansing of the precious blood of the Lamb in every occasion:   ( bringing every thought into captivity unto the obedience of Christ.) especially where a godless community dishonors His holy Name.