Monday, January 14, 2013

"Three Baptisms" Sermon: Luke 3:15-22


“Three Baptisms”

[Luke 3:15-22]

January 13, 2013 Second Reformed Church

            Today is the Baptism of our Lord Sunday and we have just read what is probably a familiar passage to most of us. In this familiar text, we see three baptisms occur: the baptism of John, the baptism of Jesus, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It is about thirty years after the birth of Jesus.

            “As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ,”

            As a youth, John the Baptist went into the wilderness to study and to prepare for his work as the voice to announce the coming of the Savior – his cousin Jesus. After probably decades of being in the wilderness – and about 400 years of Israel not hearing the word of a true prophet of God – John came out of the wilderness, and Matthew tells us, “In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ For this 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 paths 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 region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins” (Matthew 3:1-6, ESV).

            John came out of the wilderness dressed as a prophet, speaking as a prophet, and calling the people to repentance. He told them that he was preparing the way for the Savior to come. And the people were excited! They were oppressed by the Romans and they rejoiced to hear the Word of God spoken again.

            But they confuse the messenger with the Messiah – they questioned if John himself might be the Savior – why else would John be coming and calling them to repentance if he was not the Messiah? Why would John be baptizing people – Jews – if he was not the Messiah?

            We asked this question before – during Advent – but let us remind ourselves of what was going on. What was John doing? Why was John baptizing Jews? Baptism had been used as a symbolic cleansing to bring Gentiles into the Jewish faith, but why would the children of Abraham need to be baptized?

            “And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Luke 3:3, ESV).  John's baptism was not merely a baptism for the reception of Gentiles who believed in the Savior, John's baptism was a baptism of recognition – as Paul explains, “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,” (Romans 3:21-24, ESV).

            John was calling both Jews and Gentiles to repentance – to make sure that they understood that they could not be saved by the Law – by the keeping of the Law – or by being descendants of Abraham. No, in fact, all people have sinned, and all people fall short of the Glory of God – so no one can be saved by their works and no one can be saved by their biology – by their heritage. There is only salvation through the Savior that God sent. It is only through faith in Jesus Alone that a person can be saved from the Wrath of God. John's baptism was a baptism that called people to repent of their sins, to ask God for forgiveness of their sins, and to seek their hope only in the Savior that God would send.

            “John answered them all, saying, ‘I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’”

            John explained of the people that his baptism was merely a baptism of water – it was symbolic – it was a sign – it did not achieve anything without faith alone in the Savior, Who was to come. John explained that he was nothing before the Savior – he was unworthy to untie His filthy sandals – John was the forerunner to announce to the people that the Savior was coming and to get them ready by making sure that they understood that salvation is by faith alone:  it is not by anything that a person does or does not do and it does not have anything to do with a person’s genealogy or heritage.

            John explained that when Jesus came, He would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. In the first place, Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit – that is, He would send the Second Person of God, the Holy Spirit, to indwell everyone who believed in Jesus by faith alone. We see this come to pass on the day of Pentecost, where we read, “And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them” (Acts 2:3, ESV). Prior to the coming of Jesus, God the Holy Spirit came upon people, but He did not indwell them permanently – now, with the coming of Jesus, the Savior, God the Holy Spirit would indwell each person who believed in Jesus Alone for salvation.

            The use of the imagery of fire is twofold: fire illuminates and it cleanses. The Holy Spirit would come upon people and open their eyes and cause them to believe, and He would also – looking forward – cleanse the world of sin – and those who do not believe. As Peter writes, “But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly” (2 Peter 3:7, ESV).

            John gives the example of the winnowing shovel or the winnowing fork – and so we remember, let me explain this again – when the grain was brought into the barn after the harvest, it contained both the seed which could be ground and made into bread and the chaff – that papery covering over the seed which was useless for food. The farmers would take the winnowing fork and throw the seed up into the air, and as it went up into the air, the chaff would come loose and blow away, and the seed would fall to the ground.  They would do this over and over again until they had separated the chaff from the wheat – the useless part from the seed, which was useful for food. Then the seed would be put into the granary. It would be put into the barn – into the place where it could be stored to be used for the good. It was created for. But the chaff would be gathered up and burned, because it was useless. Likewise, on the last day ,Jesus will separate the people into wheat and chaff:  Those who believed in Him Alone for salvation – those who are the result of His Work on earth – and those who refuse to believe in Him – those who are worthy of nothing but unquenchable fire.

            The fire that the farmers had burning eventually burned out, but the fire the John talks about here – for those who do not believe in Jesus Alone for salvation –  never ends. Jesus said that this place for the unbelievers is “where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched”

(Mark 9:48, ESV).  Daniel, in the Old Testament, confirms this distinction:And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2, ESV).  And Jude explains the separation this way:   “And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day—just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire”          

(Jude 1:6-7, ESV).

            The preaching of John's baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins was one of serious consequence – eternal consequence: those who had faith in Jesus Alone for salvation would be saved forever in God's eternal kingdom, but those who did not have faith in Jesus Alone for salvation would undergo everlasting torment.

            Luke then gives us a thematic interlude in changing from the baptism of John to the baptism of Jesus where he explains what becomes of John – and then never mentions him again:

            “So with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people. But Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his brother's wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done, added this to them all, that he locked up John in prison.”

            John preached faith alone in the Savior, prior to the arrival of Jesus on the scene and after the arrival of Jesus on the scene. In that preaching, he condemned sin in all its forms, and he condemned King Herod, for having an adulterous and incestuous affair with his brother’s wife, who was Herod’s half-sister. It was the condemnation of this sin – and all of Herod's evil deeds – that caused Herod to lock John up in prison and – as we may remember – had him beheaded after making a foolish promise at a party.

            We return to the ministry of John – to the day when Jesus Himself was baptized. And I hope the first thing we think is, "Why in the world did Jesus need to be baptized?" The baptism of John was a baptism for of repentance for the forgiveness of sins in preparation of the coming of the Savior – Jesus had no sins to be forgiven – why did Jesus go to be baptized?

            Jesus Himself said that He was not a sinner: “Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?” (John 8:46, ESV).  The author of Hebrews states without reservation that Jesus never sinned:   “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15, ESV). Why did Jesus go to be baptized?

            Even John the Baptist argued against it:  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” (Matthew 3:13-15, ESV).

            What did Jesus mean? John Calvin explains, “The general reason why Christ received baptism was, that he might render full obedience to the Father; and the special reason was, that he might consecrate baptism in his own body, that we might have it in common with him” (Calvin’s Commentaries).

            There are two reasons why Jesus was baptized: first, to show His submission to the Father – that He was willing to take on His sinless person this sin of everyone who would ever believe in Him. Second, that Jesus would be in every way like us – in order for Jesus to be our Perfect Substitute, He had to experience everything that we experience – excepting sin.

            And quickly notice, that Luke tells us that Jesus was baptized and praying. Jesus submitted Himself to the Will of the Father, and He identified in every way with every person who would ever believe in Him, and He showed us that He needed to be in fellowship with the Father to be able to complete this work. It should be no surprise then, that in order for us to be healthy and grow as Christians and the Church, we must be in prayer – in fellowship with God our Father – that we would be made able to complete the work that God has given us to do.

            “Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.’”

            And so, John, understanding what Jesus was doing, baptized Him. And while John was baptizing Him and Jesus was praying the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit descended on Him – Jesus was baptized in the Holy Spirit – Jesus received the baptism of the Holy Spirit – Jesus was indwelled by God the Holy Spirit. And again we ask ourselves, “If Jesus is God, why did He need to be indwelled by God the Holy Spirit?”

            The answer is similar to the answer we have already given for why Jesus was baptized with water – Jesus had to be equipped for His work. Although Jesus is God, He is also a real human being – and just as we need the Holy Spirit within us to grow us and keep us and lead us and equip us to do what God has set before each of us to do, so Jesus in His humanity received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit as a foreshadowing of what would happen to all of His people – to all those who believed in Him – and to make Him able to do the work in His flesh that He needed to do.

            Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you” (John 14:15-17, ESV).

            “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (John 14:26, ESV).

            We see in this whole tableau of the heavens opening, Jesus submitting to His Father, the Father speaking, and sending the Holy Spirit to indwelling Jesus as the Father expresses His delight in the Son.  As Solomon wrote about the Savior, and God, His Father,then I was beside him, like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always,” (Proverbs 8:30, ESV).

            We also see in this moment the revelation of the Three Persons of God, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God the Father sent the Son to redeem all those who would believe in Him. God the Son submitted to the Father that He might redeem all those who the Father would give Him. God the Holy Spirit indwelled the Son that He – both in His Deity and His humanity would be able to carry out the work that was set before Him. And God confessed before all those who could hear that Jesus is His Son – that Jesus is the Beloved of God – that God was well-pleased with the work that Jesus was doing – that God was delighted in sending His Son for the salvation of all those who would believe in Him.

            As Peter preached, “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it” (Acts 2:22-24, ESV).

            And Isaiah prophesied,   Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand” (Isaiah 53:10, ESV).

            And as the author of Hebrews explains, “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2, ESV).

            These three baptisms occurred as part of God's Plan – His Promise – to send the Savior Who would save all those people Who believe in Him Alone. John was sent to baptize with the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins that all people would know that salvation is not by our works or by our heritage, but by faith alone in the Savior that God sends – Jesus Christ. Jesus was baptized, both to show His submission to His Father and that He might be like us in all ways – so He could be our Perfect Substitute – that He would be washed with the waters of baptism prior to taking on all of the sin of all of those who would ever believe – that we might be forgiven and made righteous through Him. And Jesus was baptized with the baptism of the Holy Spirit, both as a foreshadowing of the Gift that all those who would believe in Him would receive, and that He, in His humanity, would be equipped for the work that God set before Him.

            As we prepare to receive the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, let us ask ourselves if we have truly repented of our sins and trusted in Jesus Christ Alone for our salvation. Let us ask ourselves if we have received forgiveness for all of our sins through Jesus Christ and now seek to submit to Him – and the Holy Trinity – in all our life. Let us ask ourselves if we have received the Gift of the baptism of the Holy Spirit – that we are now gifted and able to do those works that God has given to all those who believe in Jesus Christ Alone for salvation to do – and if so, if we are willing to do what God has told us to do.

            If God has made you His own to indwelling you with the Holy Spirit and changing your heart that you confess your sins and sought forgiveness and salvation only through Jesus Alone and you now submit yourself to the Will of God, you will be gathered as precious grain into the granary – you are not mere meal for food, but you are sons and daughters of God, and brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ. If you have not believed in Jesus Alone for salvation, if the Holy Spirit does not indwell you and remind you and lead you in all the ways of God, and if you unrepentantly turn your back on God and refuse to obey – God will take you as chaff and throw you into the unquenchable fire.

            Let us pray:

            Almighty God, as we look at the mystery of the baptisms of John and Jesus and the Holy Spirit – as we stretch our minds to understand how One Person is Holy God and a real human being – we look to Your Words, that this Jesus, the Savior, is Your Beloved Son – the Son in which You take delight and are well-pleased, and we ask that You would make us like Him, for through Him Alone do we have eternal life. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

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