The sermon by Jason Dohm, titled 'This Is My Beloved Son, in Whom I Am Well Pleased,' explores the baptism of Jesus as described in Matthew 3:12-17. Dohm highlights the significance of Jesus' baptism in fulfilling all righteousness and how it serves as a pivotal moment in the redemption narrative. He delves into the role of John the Baptist as a forerunner who prepares the way for Jesus, using Isaiah's prophecies to illuminate the Jews' understanding that Jesus is not just a messiah but God Himself. The sermon explains how Jesus' baptism, though unnecessary for Him personally, symbolizes His identification with sinners and His role as a substitute for humanity's sins. The event is also a profound demonstration of the Trinity, with God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit present. Dohm emphasizes that Jesus' act of humility and obedience serves as a model for believers, calling them to embrace their identity in Christ and rejoice in being accepted in the Beloved Son.

Please join me in reading Matthew chapter 3 verses 12 through 17. His winnowing fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly clean out his threshing floor, and gather his wheat into the barn. But he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent him saying, I need to be baptized by you.

And are you coming to me? But 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. When he had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were open to him. And he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon him.

And suddenly a voice came from heaven saying, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Dear Lord, thank You for Your Word and thank You for this day. We pray that our minds and hearts are open and receptive to Your message today through Jason. We thank You and love You in Christ's name, Amen. He is risen.

So I just cannot believe we are in this text for Easter. That the providence of God would have us here at the end of Matthew 3. Really, having studied it this week, I just had an increasing sense of what a perfect text it is for Easter morning. So hopefully I'll be able to impart that. Last week, we took a whole week to go back into a prophecy that had been quoted by Matthew in the early part of the chapter.

And the reason we did that was to see exactly how the author of the Gospel is using it. What we discovered was that Matthew is using Isaiah to turn on the light bulb for the Jews. The Jews are his audience and they know Isaiah 40 really, really well. And His connection to Isaiah 40 will take the missing puzzle piece and put it in place for those of his audience who have been given eyes to see. That the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord.

If that is speaking about John the Baptist, then the incontrovertible conclusion is that Jesus is God. Not just a Messiah, not just a king in a line of kings, but God Himself. So if we got nothing else out of last week, that was the punch line. If John the Baptist is the forerunner, then Jesus Christ whom he's heralding is not just another king but he's God. And this has been the missing puzzle piece for the Jews.

They knew that a Messiah would be coming. They knew that a deliverer, a redeemer, a king was coming. And they had all these prophecies that had this mingling of talk of a king with also the attributes of God. And honestly they didn't really know what to make of it. But then the Gospel writer comes along and he fits in the missing puzzle piece.

And now all these prophecies that were really hard to wrestle with and really hard to make sense of make sense that the Messiah is not just a man, but He is a man and God at the same time. And this is what Matthew is doing by using Isaiah 40. We also learned that the light bulb really needs to come on for us as well. We have the missing puzzle piece. We know that Jesus Christ is God.

We've been taught that most of us since the time when we could hear teaching. And so we have the missing puzzle piece that the Jews didn't have, but what we don't have is an intimate knowledge of the Old Testament. And so, not only is there an aha moment to be had by the Jews when we go back to Isaiah 4 and then the light is turned on and they know that Jesus Christ is God, but there's also an aha moment for us when we go back, having the missing puzzle piece but not really knowing very much at all about the rest of the puzzle that has been unfolded in the Old Testament. So what a blessing it was to go back and look at how Isaiah was used by Matthew. What a blessing for the Jews and what a blessing for us.

Two weeks ago, we were in the first part of this chapter, so our text today is really just a return to that flow, to Matthew 3. And two weeks ago we were in verses 1-12 which talked about the public ministry of this man who had been sent by God to be a forerunner to the Messiah. And now we pick it up where we're beyond John's general ministry and we're coming to the specific event of Jesus' baptism. So two weeks ago we saw John the Baptist and he is this camel hair wearing, bug eating man who has been set apart for the purposes of God. And so he is completely unconcerned with cuisine.

And he's completely unconcerned with apparel. And He's set aside for the purposes of God. He is about doing the mission that God has given him. He's a man with two tools in his bag. One of the tools is preaching.

He has a specific message, repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. And the other tool in his bag is baptism. That he would actually call for a response. He commands people to repent, but He also is desiring a response from them. And that is that they would come down into the waters of baptism and say, yes, I am repenting.

Yes, I will turn from my own thoughts and my own words and my own ways and I will turn towards God. And he's actually pointing them very specifically to the Messiah because he said, the one who comes after me, I'm not even worthy to carry his sandals. Now tying two weeks ago back into Isaiah 40, We learn that John's message, which was repent, is a message of comfort. And how different that is than what we would think. In Isaiah 40, the herald that would go before the Messiah is commanded by God, comfort, comfort my people.

And it's repeated and so God is piling up what the message of this forerunner would be. It is a message of comfort. And yet, We might be surprised to see that in Matthew, that this message of comfort comes in the form of, Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. But when we look a little deeper, we find that this is actually completely consistent with New Testament teaching.

And last week we saw Peter in Acts 3 verse 19 say, Repent therefore that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. So there is no distinction between a message of comfort and a message of repentance. Repentance is actually where we get our comfort from. So when God commands the forerunner to comfort my people, He actually sends him with a message of repentance so that people would repent, so that times of refreshing would come from the presence of the Lord. Now this week, we come on the heels of a description of John the Baptist's public ministry, and we see Jesus being baptized.

And we just have five verses. It's verses 13 through 17. But wow, what a five verses they are. And over the course of the week, there's kind of been a progressive revelation that's happened with me as I began to kind of understand the next layer of the text, and the next layer of the text, and the next layer of the text. It's just my socks have been knocked off.

And so I'm standing here hoping that the beauty and the glory of this text that is so obvious when you look really closely at it for a lot of hours that I can somehow impart that to you so you can see the glories that I have seen this week. I've really been praying. God, help me to connect the dots like I've seen the dots connected this week So that the glory of the Gospel that is in this text would fall upon the people who are hearing the sermon. So as a refresher, as a lead into today's text, I just want to go back to the last two verses of the previous text. So we're in Matthew 3 and we're in verses 11 and 12.

I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, 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. His winnowing fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly clean out his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." So in these verses, we see that John understands with great clarity what his position is relative to the one who will come after Him. He understands that He is nothing and that the Messiah that He's the herald of is everything. And that as a servant of His, He's not even worthy to carry his sandals.

And that his mission is completely wrapped up in this relationship with Jesus Christ. And actually, these are men who don't know each other. Their parents know each other. And they know that their ministries are related, but they don't have a friendship. They're not well acquainted.

We learn that in John 1. But John does know that his ministry is all wrapped up in the relationship to the one who will come after Him whose sandal he is not worthy to carry. And that is going to manifest itself. John's understanding of his relationship to the Messiah, to Jesus Christ, is going to manifest itself in our text for today. So it's really easy to figure out how we're going to structure this text.

Sometimes we have a long text and you try to figure out, is it three sections or four or two or how do I divide this up? When you've got five verses, it's pretty safe. You just go verse by verse. You read a verse and then you give the sense of that. That's what we'll be doing today.

I will have to say, I love this text. Since the starting of this church, this is my favorite text. So what is it, four weeks now or something like that? But of the four, this is my favorite one. And what I love about this text is that it is a crescendo.

Crescendo is just a musical term. Where the music starts soft, quiet, and It builds and it swells through a period of time. And this is what these five verses do. It starts at pianissimo, which is just the musical term for the very softest quietest, where facts that we'll need are being whispered. And yet, the Gospel begins to be unfolded and unfolded and unfolded, and by the time we get to 17, we're at fortissimo, which is the loudest, the loudest denotation for music.

And by verse 17, we're just shouting the Gospel. And so that's what I like about this text. So verse 13. Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. In Mark's account, he actually gives, in Mark 1-9, he gives a little more granularity, or a little more detail.

It says Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee. So Galilee is the district it would be like Franklin County and so Nazareth is the specific place it would be like the thriving metropolis of Youngsville. So Matthew says that he came from Galilee but Mark's more specific and says he came from Nazareth. And this just takes us back to where Mary and Joseph started from in Matthew 1. And of course, they made this big loop that included Bethlehem, that included Egypt where he fled for his life, and then at the end of, probably in chapter 2, they ended up back in Nazareth.

So there's been this 30 years where the life of Jesus started with A lot of action and a lot of fanfare. And there were angels declaring the birth of the Messiah. And there were wise men coming. And there are stars in the heavens to show where He's going to be born. And there's a declaration and a question, Where is He who has been born the King of the Jews?

And this puts Herod in a tizzy and he tries to stamp out the life of the Messiah. But of course, God can thwart all those plans and He does. And they end up back in Nazareth. And then with the exception of the one account of Jesus at 12 years old being at the temple, kind of stumping the best minds in the temple at 12 years old, and then it's said that He grew in wisdom and stature and favor with God and man. Other than that very brief account, we've had 30 years of silence.

We don't know what happened in those 30 years. And everybody in the room has wondered what was it like to be in that house with little Jesus? And in fact, there was a comment made, there was a debate about whether Jesus had lost His two front teeth in my house this morning. So we don't know, we don't have an account, but I want to affirm that Jesus did lose His two front teeth. As truly man, as very man, He lost His front teeth.

But we don't know because the account isn't given to us. So we've had, Jesus has been alive 30 years, and we might have visibility to two of those years, and probably not that much. So for 28 years we've got almost nothing to go by. But now Jesus is coming onto the scene again, and from now on there really aren't going to be gaps. We're going to have large deposits of what happens from here on out.

Luke 3 is the parallel passage to our text today. And in Luke 3.21, The first part of that verse says, when all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized. It's very consistent with the passage that we're in. It says that everybody was coming from Judea and the surrounding areas to be baptized by Him. And then Luke says, when all the people were baptized, Jesus also came and was baptized.

And so repenting Israel is having a mini revival. And I say repenting Israel because when it says all the people were being baptized, I'm confident that not all the people are being baptized, but a multitude is coming out to be baptized. And God is moving on hearts and there's a mini revival happening. And when a revival happens, People turn from their own ways to the living God. And so this is what's happening in Israel.

And when repenting Israel is having a mini revival, Jesus comes to participate in it and he comes to be baptized. So at this point, we've got a very ground level account. In other words, we know what people are doing. They're coming out and we know what the scribes and Pharisees are doing and saying. We know what John's doing and saying, and we see movements of people, but really, for the last little while in the text, we haven't seen a lot of God and what God is doing.

And so I just want to bring to our attention in Matthew 21, verse 25, Jesus says to the chief priests and elders, actually He asks this question, the baptism of John, who was it from? From heaven or from men? And this is just a counter trick. They were trying to trick him, and this is the counter to that. And they cannot bring themselves to say it was from heaven.

But It's a rhetorical question. And the answer is the baptism of John was from heaven. And so while we've got a ground level account, what's really happening off the ground, if we stop looking through the microscope and we go up in the tower and look down and see what's really happening is that the baptism of John is from heaven. It's been given to John by God and it's part of the flow of redemption. And it's part of the Trinity's plan from before the foundations of the world.

And this event that is recorded is actually the tipping point. John has been growing and growing and increasing and increasing and now he's famous far and wide. And here comes the baptism of Jesus. And this will be the tipping point. After this, John actually will be decreasing and Jesus will be increasing.

And so in a sense, there is a passing of the baton that is happening in this text. So we read in now moving to verse 14. So Jesus came from Nazareth, probably Mary and Joseph's hometown, and He's been there for 28 years, maybe 29 years, maybe 29 and a half years. He's been there essentially all His life. He's from Nazareth.

And Jesus comes onto the scene. And in verse 14, and John tried to prevent Him, saying, I need to be baptized by you. And are you coming to me? And it was interesting this week to look at the different translations. The King James instead of trying to prevent him, the King James has forbade him.

And the Geneva renders it earnestly put him back. So John isn't dispassionate. John is trying to keep this from happening because he sees it as so inappropriate that he would baptize Jesus. So he's forbidding him. He's trying to prevent him.

He's earnestly putting him back depending on which translation you're looking at. And the Expositors Bible commentary had this quote, and I think it hits the nail on the head. Earlier, John had difficulty baptizing the Pharisees and Sadducees because they were not worthy of his baptism. Now he has trouble baptizing Jesus because his baptism is not worthy of Jesus. So John's been having this problem that false professors are coming out and they want to be baptized.

They want to receive the sign. They want to receive the symbol without the substance. And He's trying to hold them at bay. He's calling them a brood of vipers and telling them that they must bear fruit worthy of repentance. And this has been His big problem is to keep the false professors from coming and comforting themselves with an outward symbol when they don't have the substance.

And now, here comes Jesus. And he knows that his baptism is not worthy of Jesus. And he recognizes that the need here is that he would receive the spirit and fire baptism of Jesus. Not that Jesus would receive the water baptism that He was offering. And so He says, I need to be baptized by you.

Not please take me down to the water and do what I've been doing to all these other people. I need the baptism that we were speaking of in verses 10, 11, and 12. I need the Spirit and Fire baptism that You offered. You don't need the water baptism that I offer. That's what's being said here.

So in view of this, what Jesus is asking for makes no sense. His logic is overthrown. And he can't get his mind around why Jesus would want to do this. Here's what Matthew Henry says. Does the Holy Jesus that is separated from sinners come to be baptized by a sinner as a sinner and among sinners?

How can this be? And this is exactly what John is experiencing. How can this Jesus separated from sinners come to be baptized by me a sinner as a sinner himself which he is not among sinners which he is separate from. We'll see in the ministry of Jesus that this isn't the last time something like this is going to happen. Something very parallel happens like this in John 13.

John 13, starting in 5. After that, Jesus poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded. Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to him, Lord, are you washing my feet? Jesus answered and said to him, what I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.

Exactly the same with John the Baptist. Jesus could say Exactly the same here. What I am doing you do not understand now, but you'll understand after. That's exactly like our text today. And Peter said to him, you shall never wash my feet.

Just like John the Baptist forbidding him earnestly trying to put him back, Jesus answered him, if I do not wash you, you have no part in Me. Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head." So this is classic Peter overshooting with zeal. And if the parallel played out, then John the Baptist would be wanting to baptize Jesus twice or hold Him under for a long time or something if he had the zeal of Peter. But at this point, I just want us to just stop and marvel at Jesus Christ, the agent of creation, Jesus Christ, the agent of creation, coming and identifying himself with sinners at the waters of baptism. Imagine the condescension it would be for Jesus Christ to leave heaven to be the king of the whole world.

What rationale could there be for Jesus Christ to leave heaven to be king of the whole world? It would be like President Obama instead of running for a second term deciding instead of a second term, I'm going to run for dog catcher of Youngsville. Obama for dog catcher. Change is coming to dog catching. It's just an absurd thought.

But this isn't the condescension of Jesus Christ. He didn't leave heaven to become the king of the whole world. He left heaven to become sin for a people to redeem them. And we should see what's happening here in this passage to just marvel at God, marvel at Jesus Christ, that He would come and identify with us. Who are we that Jesus Christ would come and identify with us?

In Acts 9, Saul is persecuting any Christian He can get his hands on. And he's already looked on the death of Stephen and approved. And he's headed to Damascus to persecute more of God's people. And What does Jesus say? He says, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?

Why are you persecuting Me? So when Saul is persecuting his people, Jesus says, why are you persecuting Me? And this identification with His people did not start in the book of Acts. At least it has started here in Matthew 3 when he goes down into the water of baptism. One who did not need to repent.

One who had no need to turn from sin. So why would he go down into the waters? It's because he's identifying with a sinful people because He's taking their place. That's why. I want you to turn to Philippians 2.

Philippians 2 just turns the spotlight on this. Philippians 2 starting in verse 5, verse 5-8. Very familiar passage. Philippians 2, 5. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God.

But made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond-servant and coming in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross." So here we have two things of the utmost importance. The first is the nature of our prophet, priest, and king. Jesus Christ is our mediator. He's our prophet. He's our priest.

He's our king. But He's not a prophet like the prophets we think about. And He's not the priest like the priests that we think about. And He's not the kings like the kings that we think about. He's one that would come even though it's not robbery for him to consider himself equal with God.

That He would Lay all that aside and come and serve us. He would come and wash our feet. He would take on the form of a bond servant and humble Himself and become obedient even to death on a cross. Friends, will you not love this Jesus? Will you not love Him who left heaven to come and be made sin, to identify with us and go down into the waters of baptism as a sinner, Him who knew no sin.

So the first thing we learn in Philippians 2 is the nature of our prophet, priest, and king. It's a very surprising nature. It's not what we expected. The second thing is, an exhortation to be like Him. Philippians 2 throws down the gauntlet.

Let this mind be in you, which also was in Christ Jesus. How will we refuse Him? On what basis can we refuse to be like Him in this if our Lord and Master will condescend and come down and identify with us? Will we walk in pride then? Will we refuse to be humble when Jesus Christ has left the glories of heaven to come and be sin on our behalf?

How will we refuse Him when He exhorts us to let this mind be in us, which was also in Christ Jesus. The gauntlet has been thrown down. He's shown us what He's like. And He's called us to be like himself. Verse 15.

Back to Matthew. But 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. Jesus says It is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. This was kind of a revelation to me honestly. I had always assumed from a surface reading of the passage that this was about Jesus fulfilling righteousness.

And it certainly is that. But He says it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. So John the Baptist actually comes into view here as well. It's not just Jesus. It's us.

It's John the Baptist and Jesus have a part to play in the fulfilling of righteousness. And I think there's two things that are happening here in verse 15. Two things. And the first is perfectly illustrated in Hebrews 2. So I'm going to ask you to go to Hebrews 2.

We'll stop jumping here in a minute. But Hebrews 2 is so perfect in illustrating what is happening here in verse 15 that we should look at it with our own eyes. So Hebrews 2 verses 10 and 11. Now remember the language of verse 15. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

For both he who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one. For which reason he is not ashamed to call them brethren." Did you get that? This is the sense in which it is fitting for John to baptize Jesus because God is making the captain of our salvation perfect through sufferings. Through coming and being humiliated. And being counted as a sinner.

God is perfecting the captain of our salvation. For the purpose, now look, keep me honest here, we're in Hebrews 2, 10 and 11, keep me honest. For the purpose that we would be joined to Him, we would actually be one. For both he who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified, for Jesus Christ, He's the one who sanctifies, and those who are being sanctified, that's us, are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren." Does this not encourage your heart to know that Jesus Christ is not ashamed to call us brethren? I think from time to time we're probably ashamed to call one another brethren.

And yet Jesus Christ is made the captain of our salvation through His sufferings, through being made sin. This is exactly what we are talking about in Matthew here. And this joins us to Him. It makes us one. And He is not ashamed to call us His brethren.

This takes us right back to Acts. Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? He's not ashamed that we would be called His brethren. In Luke 12.50, Jesus says this, but I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished. I'll read that again.

But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished." Wait a minute, he's already been baptized. No. No. He's done the picture. He's done the picture.

But the baptism that Jesus will be baptized with that He finds so distressing is the real, is the substance, which is Him laying down His life for sinners, buried with Him in baptism, and then raised in new life. So there's this tight connection between what John the baptism is doing, which was also a shadow, as John was the forerunner to Jesus Christ. So John's baptism is the forerunner to Christian baptism. Surely, many many areas of overlap between those two baptisms, although they are not the same. As we work through Matthew, we'll talk about what the distinctions are.

But the baptism with which Jesus was going to be baptized was not going down into the water with John the Baptist. It was going to the cross for sinners. And So here, when John the Baptist baptizes Jesus, the sense in which it's fitting for them is that they're acting in the areas of their calling. John's a baptizer. He's John the Baptist.

That's what John does. His calling is to baptize. Jesus is a substitute. He's the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. And so it's His calling to lay down His life, to be buried as sin, and to bear the wrath of God for His people.

This is the sense in which it is fitting that all righteousness would be fulfilled, that John would act according to his calling, that Jesus Christ would act according to his calling. It is fitting. So the first thing that's happening in this text, and The overwhelming weight ought to be on this is that Jesus and John are acting according to their callings. But the second thing which isn't as important, but it's not insignificant either, it was for us. Jesus is laying a pattern for us that we follow Him in baptism.

And I want to call a couple of witnesses to that. And there are other ways in which Jesus or God the Father does the same thing. Jesus does this in Passover. Jesus didn't need Passover. He doesn't need a Passover lamb.

He is the Passover lamb. He doesn't need blood on the doorposts, and yet we see Him participating in Passover. And this is a pattern. He's endorsing the ordinances of God, the means of grace that God is giving to His people. The Lord's Supper.

Jesus doesn't need the Lord's Supper. He is the Lord's Supper. And yet, He inaugurates it. He initiates it as a pattern for His people. The Sabbath.

Now we're going all the way back to Genesis 2. Day 7 comes. God rests. God obviously exhausted from all the creative work. No, not exhausted.

Refreshed. All that He's made is good. And trust me when I tell you that God is ready to go on day seven. And yet, He establishes a pattern for His people by resting. And He makes it a creation, order, thing that we are to follow.

And so an element of what is happening, an element of it being fitting that Jesus would be baptized, is that He's setting a standard for His people to follow, that we would follow Him in baptism. I love the simplicity of the last phrase of this verse. Then he allowed him. You betcha. You betcha.

Did John's understanding reach maturity on this issue? There's not a lot of explanation here. So is John convinced? John's convinced to obey. John's convinced that he ought to obey even without a full understanding.

Isn't this text amazing? We look back with all this full understanding and there's poor John who's a mighty prophet, but really He's quite in the dark to much of the meaning of what is actually happening before His eyes. We have so much better insight into what's actually happening in this text than John did. But when Jesus says it's fitting, John says, okay, Let's do it. Matthew Henry says this, it is fit that Christ should take His own method though we do not understand it nor can give a reason for it.

And We should take our cue from John the Baptist here, even without a full understanding or full explanation. Remember, just the verse prior, he was trying to earnestly put Jesus back. But now Jesus says it's fitting. And without a full understanding, John the Baptist obeys. And we should take our cue that there will be many times where we don't fully understand, God has not offered an explanation, but we've been called to obey and we ought to obey.

Without question, without hesitation, we ought to obey our God. We ought to trust that His methods are the best methods. And that our ideas of how things ought to go should be subservient, should be put under the authority of Jesus Christ, the head of the church. If the modern evangelical church was John the Baptist, I think there would have been a protracted debate. The modern evangelical church has exalted its thoughts on how things ought to happen.

Verse 16. When he had been baptized, Jesus 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 upon him." Instead of immediately from the water, the King James and the Geneva say, out of the water. And this is important to mode of baptism and how we think about this. The Greek word for baptize actually means to dip repeatedly, to immerse, to submerge. All the way under.

And so when we look at the mode of baptism in the New Testament, this is the pattern that we see. A dipping, an immersing, a submerging. This is what the Greek word means. And Jesus here is coming from the water, or two translations say, He's coming out of the water. And if there's any question about this, in my mind it ought to be solved by John 3.23, where it says this, Now John also was baptizing in Anon near Salim because there was much water there.

John was going to do his baptism in places that had much water, and it's for this reason. The creek is not enough. We have to have more than six inches deep. We've got to have somewhere where we can actually baptizo people, dip, submerge, and immerse. So Jesus comes out of the water and the heavens were opened to Him.

And in our parallel passage in Luke 21 it says, and while He prayed, the heaven was open. So here again in Luke we learn more than Matthew gives us, that he comes up out of the water and Jesus is praying. And in response to the prayer of Jesus, which we don't see in Matthew, but we do in Luke, the heavens were opened to him. So the heavens are opened and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove. The translators are 50-50 on who the pronouns relate to, whether it's John or Jesus.

Who saw the dove coming down? Half the translators peg it to John. The other half peg it to Jesus. But in the book of John, in John 1, John the Baptist actually says, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and remaining on Him." So, it's kind of a moot point actually. John makes it clear that he saw the Spirit descending like a dove.

So John the Baptist absolutely saw it. Whether Jesus saw it or not is completely irrelevant because he's God and he understood exactly what was going on here and didn't need a vision of anything. For sure, John the Baptist saw it and maybe the multitude that was there saw it too. We don't know. But in John's account it says, John the Baptist says, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and remaining on Him.

What is happening before us in verse 16 is the fulfillment of repeated prophecy. I'm going to take you to at least the three places that I know of. If there are more, I didn't stumble on them this week. The three places that I know of take us back to Isaiah. So open your Bibles to Isaiah 11.

And there are three prophecies actually in Isaiah that talk about the Spirit of God coming upon the Messiah. And it starts in Isaiah 11, verses 1 and 2. Isaiah 11. There shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him.

The Spirit of wisdom and understanding. The Spirit of counsel and might. The Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And we have this language that's almost in Luke's account, excuse me, in John 1 is pulled almost directly out of Isaiah 11 too. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him.

And in John 1 it is the Spirit descended like a dove and remained upon Him. Isaiah 42. Flip a couple of pages to Isaiah 42. Just an editorial comment. Always bring your Bibles.

Please always bring your Bibles on Sunday mornings. I love it that we're working without a projector. I love it that we're flipping pages again. And we're going to be doing this every week. And it's important to go and not just hear me say it, but especially for those of you who learn really well this way, to actually look at the text and see what the text is saying.

Isaiah 42 verses 1-4. Behold My servant whom I uphold, My elect one in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon him. He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. He will not cry out, nor raise his voice, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.

A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoking flax he will not quench. He will bring forth justice for truth. He will not fail nor be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth." So again, here in Isaiah 42, we actually have more words that fold right into our text. "'Behold My servant whom I uphold, My elect one in whom My soul delights.'" We're going to be coming to that in verse 17, but it's right here in our text in Matthew. "'I have put My Spirit upon him.'" Now flip to Isaiah 61.

Isaiah 61. My favorite of the three. For what it's worth, which is nothing. Isaiah 61, 1, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me. Write to our text, the Spirit descending like a dove.

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me. Write to our text, the Spirit descending like a dove. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound." And so on and so forth. Actually, we could read further and be benefited by it.

So the Spirit descending like a dove on Jesus is the fulfillment of prophecy. And it's tied in these prophecies to the ministry of Jesus. He's come to proclaim liberty to the captive, to preach good tidings to the poor. And this is what we're going to see from this point forward from Jesus. This is the Spirit of God coming upon Him.

Not that the Spirit of God wasn't on Jesus before this time. But He is being launched into His public ministry. The things that are described in the prophecies in Isaiah are the things that we'll see from Him from here on out in the book of Matthew. So the Spirit of God coming upon Him is the empowering for the ministry. And the forerunner and the herald of Jesus Christ is there to see it come down upon him.

And actually, in John 1, this has been given as a sign by God that the one on whom The Spirit descends is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. So John has had his suspicions and they're well-educated guesses based on what was told to his parents. What the angel Gabriel said to Zacharias, and what Mary said to Elizabeth during 30 years ago. John the Baptist has very good reason to believe that he's the forerunner of Jesus Christ. And yet, a sign has been given to John by God that hasn't happened yet, which said, the one on whom the Holy Spirit comes to rest is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit with fire.

So John's been saying, The one who comes after Me, he'll baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. And he thinks it's Jesus, but he's been given a sign. And this is the confirmation of God that Jesus is really the one. John hasn't been saying Jesus is coming after Me. He's been saying the one who comes after me will baptize with the Holy Spirit in fire.

And now it is confirmed for the herald that Jesus is indeed the one. And that his educated guesses are proven to be true. John obviously thought that Jesus was the one. Otherwise, this passage makes no sense. Otherwise, he wouldn't have tried to forbid Jesus to be baptized by Him.

We've already seen the Holy Spirit in chapter 1. The Holy Spirit conceived Jesus and Mary in 1-18 and in 1-20. And then in the next chapter, we're going to see the Holy Spirit again leading Jesus out into the wilderness to be tempted. And so The ministry of the Holy Spirit is all on these texts. Back to Matthew, the last verse, v.

17. "...And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." And this is the verse that shouts the Gospel. God Himself comes and affirms that Jesus is His Son. That Jesus is the Son of God. In chapter 4, the devil is going to say on two different occasions in verse 3 and in verse 6 of chapter 4, if you are the Son of God, to which we say, Devil, A voice has come from heaven to say that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

Stop saying, if you are the Son of God. This has been established by the voice of God. And in this text, this is such an important verse and text, 16 and 17 together, because it might be the clearest demonstration of the Trinity anywhere in the Bible. Here we see the Holy Spirit, the Son of God, and the Father, all together at the same place, at the same time, and yet distinct." John the Baptist, excuse me, John the Baptist, John the MacArthur. John the MacArthur on this verse actually says that this verse is a strong proof against the heresy of modalism, which suggests that God is one person who manifests Himself in three distinct modes, one at a time.

So there's a heresy that started very early on in the history of the church, and it is alive and well today, believe me. I've already run into it a couple of times. But it says this. That it is not really a trinity. It's just different expressions of God.

And sometimes it's God the Father, and sometimes it's the expression of the Son, and sometimes it's the expression of the Holy Spirit. But God is one and He just expresses Himself as the need arises, but always once at a time. This is completely overthrown by this verse. God the Father is here. He's talking about another distinct person, God the Son.

And the Holy Spirit is here as a distinct entity as well. So the next time you bump into a modalist, Now you'll know that there's actually a name for this person. He's a modalist. And you can bring him right to this text and say, these are three distinct persons all here at the same time. And they'll be very unsatisfied.

And they'll probably rail against you, but you'll have the right answer. The same words, this is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, will be said again in Matthew 17. And there are parallel passages in each of the Gospels. And it's on the Mount of Transfiguration where Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up on a high mountain and Jesus is transfigured before them, His face shines like the sun. And Moses and Elijah appear and Jesus is talking to Moses and Elijah.

And while Peter is offering to make them each a tent for some unknown reason through the ages, a bright cloud envelops them and a voice from heaven says, This is my son, my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear him." So that's the only addition on the Mount of Transfiguration. Exact same words and then added on the end, hear Him. This is important. If you haven't noticed, when heaven opens and a voice comes from heaven, and then it happens again later in time with the exact same words, this should put our radar on.

This is important. And this has been important for a long time. It's been important since at least Genesis 22. It's actually probably been important since Genesis 3. But in Genesis 22, God says to Abraham, take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and Go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you." What is happening in Matthew 3 is actually given in such a beautiful picture in Genesis 22.

When God says to Abraham, take this son that you love, your only son that you love, and go make him a burnt offering. And then Isaac says, where's the offering? And in verse 8 of Genesis 22 Abraham says, God will provide a lamb. God will provide a lamb. And here in Matthew 3, God is providing the lamb.

The ram in the thicket was not the lamb being spoken of in Genesis 22. It's just a picture, a beautiful picture, an instructive picture, but just a picture of what God had planned from the beginning, from Genesis 22. That there would be a well-loved only Son that would become a burnt offering. The last scripture that I'm going to take you to is in Ephesians. Turn to Ephesians.

And this is the punch line, friends. This is it. This is what this passage is about, is in Ephesians 1. Ephesians 1 is a chapter about the riches that we have in Jesus Christ. And we'll be reading Ephesians 1 v.

3-6. So when you say, hey, what's this all about? This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. What is this about? Paul tells us what it's about in Ephesians 1 v.

3-6. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us is by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. And now because we are joined with Christ, He is pleased with us.

We who have a nature that God can only hate, a nature that rails in its rebellion to Him. And yet by being joined to His beloved Son, the Son of His love, we can be accepted. We could never be accepted, and yet joined with Christ, the Son who He has proclaimed that He loved, We are now accepted in the Beloved. Matthew Henry says this, out of Christ, God is a consuming fire. But in Christ, a reconciled Father.

Outside of Christ, you bear the wrath for your own sins. Inside of Christ, you are inside My Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And instead of seeing the sinful rebel railing, raging against His Maker, He sees the Son that He loves. Union with Jesus Christ. Being made one with Him like Hebrews 2 said.

He's made the captain of our salvation through sufferings for the purpose that we would be one. And those who were His enemies, now He's pleased with Because they're wrapped up in his Son. Galatians 3.27 says this, For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Do you understand why baptism needs to be in this passage? Because baptism represents something.

And it's all wrapped up in Jesus being the beloved of the Father. Galatians 3.27, For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Put them on like a robe. Put them on like a wedding garment. So we follow our Lord and King in baptism.

We do what He did. And we are joined to Him. We put Him on and we are accepted in the Beloved. As Ephesians 1 says. So I have a very short conclusion.

Normally I have all these applications. Really, My conclusion is just that we ought to rejoice. Jesus' baptism has been set before us. The baptism of John was a baptism of repentance, completely unneeded, unnecessary for Jesus Christ, who knew no sin, and yet He's come to identify with sinners, to take the place of sinners. And so then, because His purpose, His office is as a substitute for you, He must be baptized.

He must repent, not for his own sins, but because He's becoming sin for you. Jesus says it's fitting for Him to be baptized because He's taking your place in the waters of baptism having been made sin. And baptism is just pointing to His real baptism that He found so distressing, which was that He would be made sin and the wrath of God would be poured out upon Him. So friends, happy Easter. I charge you to be happier in your union with Jesus Christ than you ever have been.

I charge you to happiness based on the fact that Jesus Christ is loved by His Father. And in Him, being joined to Him, you are accepted in the Beloved. Wow. Oh God, Oh God, we thank You for Christ. We thank You that we might be accepted in the Son that You love.

We thank You for the picture of Abraham and Isaac and that You promised to send a lamb. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. How beautiful this all weaves together. God, I'm just startled by my ignorance of the whole thing until this week. Having an opportunity to look at all the other places that touch on it and see how they're related.

I give You thanks for that. But God, I pray now that we've seen it, God, that we would rejoice in it. That we would rejoice in You. That our happiness would be found in the love for Your Son that allows us to put on Christ and join the wedding feast with our garment on. God, I thank You that we are accepted in the Beloved.

In Jesus' name, Amen.