Fulfilling All Righteousness | Matthew 3:13-17

Scripture

• Matthew 3:13–17

About this sermon

Introduction: The Son of God made His entrance into the world, and God made it known that He was here. Prepared for by angelic announcement, conceived in the virgin’s womb, qualified by His genealogy, born in the city of Bethlehem, witnessed to by prophets at his dedication, witnessed to by angels through multiple communications, worshipped by wisemen and shepherds, opposed by a rival king, emerging out of Egypt, marking the end of the mourning of exile, settling in Nazareth so that He would be called a Nazarene, and then prepared for by a forerunner. ALL OF THIS PREDICTED BY AND AFFIRMED BY THE VOICE OF SCRIPTURE. This is multiplied testimony to Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah. And all this testimony comes before He has done a single thing in public ministry. Before He preaches a sermon, before He performs a miracle, before His adult life is on display, God is witnessing to His Son. When we come to the 13th verse of chapter 3, Jesus steps out of the shadows. He steps on to the stage. He makes His appearance for public ministry. It is God’s will that Jesus’ public ministry will emerge out of John’s ministry. John’s ministry, and the ministry of the Messiah, sound forth the same message. But John and Jesus do not have the same role to play regarding that message. The baptism of repentance makes plain that the problem that must be solved as the King arrives is the problem of man’s sin. The kingdom that has drawn near is the kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of God, the kingdom of righteousness, which means a kingdom that can only be entered by salvation. Men are not fit, in their own merits, for that kingdom. The barrier, the problem, is sin, and the one who came to deal with that problem, though He is without sin, is the King who must identify Himself with those sinners if they are to be rescued. He has come to represent them. He has come to live for them, and then die for them, and be raised for them, in order to save them. If man’s unrighteousness is to be answered for, then the Son of God must fulfill all righteousness. That is what we see in our verses tonight. We see that the Baptism of Jesus is another step in the fulfillment (in multiple ways) of all that God would require for sinners to be saved. Tonight, we will organize our study around an observational outline. (1) Jesus comes for baptism (vs.13) (2) Jesus insists on baptism (vs.14-15) (3) Jesus is identified through baptism (vs.16-17). • JESUS COMES FOR BAPTISM (vs.13) As I said, Jesus now steps out from the shadows. Matthew has walked us through the years of His childhood, and now the Messiah comes from Galilee. We left Him in Nazareth in chapter 2 verse 23. John has been talking about this one whose sandals he is not worthy to carry (3:11). And now, that one has come from Nazareth. THE ONE WHO BAPTIZES WITH THE SPIRIT. THE ONE WHO WILL SEPARATE THE WHEAT FROM THE CHAFF. THE ONE WHO IS SAVIOR AND JUDGE. THE ONE WHO IS KING — TO WHOM THE MESSENGER WILL POINT Has come to the Jordan river, to John the Baptist, to be baptized by John. • JESUS INSISTS ON BAPTISM (vs.14-15) Why would the one greater than John — greater in majesty and greater in authority — be baptized by John? • JOHN’S RESPONSE TO THE COMING OF JESUS John is asking the same question. Now, here is something interesting. We are told in the gospel of John that though John the Baptist and Jesus were cousins, though Elizabeth knew that Mary was to be the mother of the Messiah, somehow, John did not know, with certainty, that Jesus was the Messiah at the time that he showed up for baptism. ESV John 1:29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, 'After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.' 31 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel." 32 And John bore witness: "I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God." WHY IS IT IMPORTANT? It is profoundly important because, though John had not yet seen the sign that would identify Jesus as the Messiah, he knew that Jesus was superior to himself. In other words, this is not an intellectual pre-commitment attempting to be sold to others. The timeline that we are given about John’s knowledge of Jesus as Messiah says that John knows about the greatness of Jesus before he fully understands the identity of Jesus. The baptism was for sins. The baptism was to demonstrate repentance. John was the baptizer.