Tuesday, February 17, 2009

 

Matthew 3 The Perfect Candidate For Baptism

 

A young pastor combined a baptism with a communion service for dramatic effect but kept tripping over himself. He forgot to recite the church covenant. He prayed for the bread, then passed out the cup by mistake. Finally communion was over and the first baptism candidate entered the water. As he stood neck deep in the baptistry the inexperienced pastor intoned, "Drink ye all of it."

There was this sinner who would get religion every time they had a revival meeting, and then he would backslide until the next revival. After about six times at the baptizing hole, the preacher put him under, raised him up, and said, "You've been baptized so much that the fish know you by your first name."

John, aware that he was baptizing for the remission of sins (Mark 1:4), was faced with a problem when Jesus came to him seeking baptism. John knew that Jesus had no sin. So, John said, "I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me?" Jesus answered, "Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness" (Matthew 3:14-15).

1. The Perfect Candidate For Baptism

In Baptism Jesus Was Identified.

John’s purpose in baptising: John 1:24 Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. 25 So they asked him, “Why then do you baptize if you aren’t the Messiah, or Elijah, or the Prophet?”26 “I baptize with water,” John answered them. “Someone stands among you, but you don’t know [Him]. 27 He is the One coming after me, whose sandal strap I’m not worthy to untie.” 28 All this happened in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing. 29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Here is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is the One I told you about: ‘After me comes a man who has surpassed me, because He existed before me.’ 31  I didn’t know Him, but I came baptizing with water so He might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John testified, “I watched the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He rested on Him. 33 I didn’t know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The One you see the Spirit descending and resting on—He is the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I have seen and testified that He is the Son of God!”

Matthew 3: 16 After Jesus was baptized, He went up immediately from the water. The heavens suddenly opened for Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on Him. 17 And there came a voice from heaven: This is My beloved Son. I take delight in Him!

By baptism we are identified.

By Baptism Jesus identified Himself

Matthew 3: 11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but the One who is coming after me is more powerful than I. I am not worthy to take off His sandals. He Himself will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
12 His winnowing shovel is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor and gather His wheat into the barn. But the chaff He will burn up with fire that never goes out.”

13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him.
14 But John tried to stop Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and yet You come to me?”
15 Jesus answered him, “Allow it for now, because this is the way for us to fulfill all righteousness.”

Isaiah 53:12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

1 Peter 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

By baptism we identify ourselves with Jesus.

Finally, when we identify with Jesus, we identify with a sick and dying world. Jesus' baptism in the Jordan River marked the beginning of his earthly ministry. Our baptism is our starting point as well.

The Presence of His Character

13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him.
14 But John tried to stop Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and yet You come to me?”
15 Jesus answered him, “Allow it for now, because this is the way for us to fulfill all righteousness.”

The Power of His Commission Matt 3:16 After Jesus was baptized, He went up immediately from the water. The heavens suddenly opened for Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on Him.

A newly published fragment from the Dead Sea Scrolls casts light on the meaning of the dove at Jesus' baptism. Author says most see the dove as symbolic and not a real dove. Some compare 1 Peter 3:20-21 and suggest the dove sent out by Noah is in view. Others see it as a motif from folklore. A third view sees the dove as a symbol of Israel due to comments in rabbinical literature. Most modern commentators (including Allison) see Genesis 1:2 as the source of meaning. Just as the Spirit "hovered" over the waters, so the dove "hovered" over Jesus. Early Christians viewed the end of history as a time of new beginning. Revelation especially ties up the unravelled ends of Genesis. The hovering of the dove links Jesus to the renewed creation.

The Messianic Vision fragment among the DDS speaks of one Messiah and says, "And over the Poor will His Spirit hover and the Faithful will He support with His strength." This seems to be the first pre-Christian application of Genesis 1:2 to the eschatological future.

The Proof Of His Call 17 And there came a voice from heaven: This is My beloved Son.

Psalm 2: 1 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, 3 Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.
4 He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.
5 Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.
6 Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.

7 I will declare the Lord’s decree: He said to Me, “You are My Son; today I have become Your Father.

The Purpose Of His Cross And there came a voice from heaven: This is My beloved Son. I take delight in Him!

Isa 42:1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.

2. The Perfect Candidate For Baptism

Your Character

We all come as sinners to the Lord Jesus Christ. You don’t have to get yourself good enough to be baptised.

John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. It said, there’s something wrong in me. Iw ant to turn from my sin and turn to the Lord.

Believer’s baptism says I have turned from my sin and have turned to the Lord. I have found Him to be a mighty Saviour who can save major sinners. And He has come into my life and saved me.

We come just as we are to the Saviour.

The Emperor Franz Josef, who died in 1916, was the last of the great Hapsburg rulers. He lay in state in his magnificent palace in Vienna, surrounded by exquisite floral arrangements, sumptuous fabrics, jewels and gold. On the day of the funeral, his body was taken to the church in an exquisite hearse drawn by magnificent matched horses. The pallbearers removed the casket from the hearse, and brought it to the locked doors of the church. One of the emperor’s attendants knocked loudly on the door, and a voice came from within: “Who goes there?” “His Majesty Franz Josef Emmanuel Hans, Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, Head of the Hapsburgs.” Came the reply from within: “We do not know him.” A second time the emperor’s attendant knocked loudly on the door, and a voice came from within: “Who goes there?” “His Majesty Franz Josef Emmanuel Hans, Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, Head of the Hapsburgs.” Came the reply from within: “We do not know him.” A third time the emperor’s attendant knocked loudly on the door, and a voice came from within: “Who goes there?” The answer this time was much softer and simpler: “It is Franz, a child of God.” Soon, there was a loud noise as the massive bolts were drawn back, the doors were opened wide, and the interior of the magnificent church was made visible. The doorkeeper then said, “The Lord welcomes Franz, a child of God. Him we know.”

But when we come to the Saviour, He changes us within.

On a cold winter day down in Tennessee they were having a baptism in the river. The Preacher said to one man, "Is the water cold?" "Naw!" he replied.

Shouted one of the deacons - "Dip him agin' Preacher, he's still lyin'."

Its not the water that changes our character, it’s the Spirit of God. And when we have been changed, we come to testify to this change by being baptised.

Your Call

A minister was seeking to explain the significance of Baptism to a new convert. He was gesturing as he talked and noticed that as he was using his hand its shadow fell on the ground. So he said to the convert, "Do you see the shadow of my hand on the sand? Now this is just a shadow. the hand is the real thing. And when you came to Jesus, when you believed in Jesus, that was the real baptism. You were joined to him, and what happened to him also happened to you. Jesus was alive, then he died and was buried, and then he rose from the dead. That is what happened to you when you believed in him." He pointed to the shadow on the sand and said, "When you go down on the water and are raised up again, that is a picture of what has already happened." Water baptism is a picture, a symbol to teach us what happened to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus.

One of the earliest patients at the dispensary in Toro (Uganda) was an old man who came to receive medicine for an ulcer. He became possessed with a desire to know the truth, and was put into the old men's Bible class for instruction. One day he came to the missionary with streaming eyes and said, "I want to be baptized." The missionary asked him, "Mpisi, will baptism save us?" And he answered, "Oh, no, only Jesus who died on the cross." "Then what is the use of baptism?" "Well," said he, "Christ told us to believe and be baptized, and it shows we want to leave our bad habits and follow the habits of Christ." That simple-minded, untutored old man had caught the true meaning and purpose of baptism - salvation from sin through the Savior's atonement; an act of obedience to Christ's command; and a sign and seal of the covenant of grace, followed by a life of true devotion.

Your Commission

Baptism is like a wedding ring; they both symbolize transactions. A wedding ring symbolizes marriage, just as baptism symbolizes salvation. Wearing a wedding righ does not make you married any more than being baptized makes you saved. To extend the parallel, if a person, especially a woman, does not wear a wedding ring you can almost always assume that the person is not married.

So it was in New Testament times. If a person was not baptized, you could probably assume that he or she was not a believer. On this we must be clear: baptism is a symbol of salvation and only a symbol that to should never be taken for granted.

Your Cross

Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, was a very devout Roman Catholic evangelist. One of the stories that grew out of his ministry concerns a time when he was baptizing new converts in a river. He would wade out waist-deep into the water and call out for new Christians to come to him, one by one, to receive the sacrament. Once he baptized a mountain chieftain. Saint Patrick was holding a staff in his hands as the new converts made their way into the water. Unfortunately, as he was lowering the chief down under the water three times, he also pressed his staff down into the river bottom. Afterwards the people on the riverbank noticed their chief limp back to shore. Someone explained to Patrick that, as he pressed the wooden staff into the riverbed, he must have also bruised the foot of the chief. Patrick went to the chief at once and asked, “Why did you not cry out when I stuck you in the foot?” Surprised, the chief answered, “I remembered you telling us about the nails in the cross, and I thought my pain was part of my baptism.”

When I read that I could not but think how many of us would have been baptized if we knew pain was a part of the process.

Ralph Hudson wrote

1. My life, my love I give to Thee, Thou Lamb of God who died for me;

O may I ever faithful be, My Saviour and my God!

Chorus I’ll live for Him who died for me, How happy then my life shall be!

I’ll live for Him who died for me, My Saviour and my God!

2. I now believe Thou dost receive, For Thou hast died that I might live;

And now henceforth I trust in Thee, My Saviour and my God!

3. O Thou who died on Calvary To save my soul and make me free,

I’ll consecrate my life to Thee, My Saviour and my God!






<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?


Free Hit Counter