In Peter Allison's sermon titled 'Jesus Begins His Earthly Ministry,' the speaker discusses the significance of Jesus' baptism as he starts his ministry. Although Jesus was sinless, he underwent baptism to fulfill all righteousness and to meet the requirements of the law as our High Priest. Jesus' baptism was public, occurring during John's ministry, signifying his acceptance of the role as the Messiah and taking upon himself the legal responsibility for humanity's sins. This act was also a declaration of his obedience to God's law, a theme central to the understanding of salvation. The descent of the Holy Spirit upon Jesus, likened to an anointing, further established his divine authority and mission. The sermon emphasizes Jesus' prayerful life, highlighting the importance of prayer as a means of divine communication and empowerment. Through prayer and the Holy Spirit, Jesus was enabled to overcome human limitations and fulfill his divine mission. The sermon concludes with a call for believers to recognize the importance of prayer in their spiritual journey and to acknowledge their reliance on Christ’s intercession and God’s grace.

I'd like to begin reading verse 18. Hear God's word. And with many other exhortations he preached to the people, but Herod the Tetrarch being rebuked by him concerning Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, also added this, Above all that he shut up John in prison. And when all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized. And while he prayed, the heaven was opened, and 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. Now Jesus himself began his ministry at about thirty years of age, being as was supposed the son of Joseph, the son of Heli, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchai, the son of Canaan, the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God. Thus far the reading of God's Word. Almighty Heavenly Father, you are the God who has come in the flesh, and we have beheld Your glory. And we ask now That we may once again behold You as You are revealed in the Scriptures.

I pray that You would sanctify this vessel of clay, and that You would keep me from error, that You would preserve the truth of Your Word, and that you would teach us by your Spirit, that we might learn this morning in the school of Christ, that we might know you, and that we might love you more dearly. In Jesus' name, Amen. Dearly in Jesus name, amen. Jesus begins here in this passage, His earthly ministry. It begins with his baptism.

We want to look this morning at why he was baptized and what this teaches us and how this better equips us to praise and to worship the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. Luke has very little to say about the actual baptism. It's really an introduction. Baptism itself is just an introduction to what happens immediately after in Luke. But we have some other passages in the gospels that do give a little more detail about the baptism.

One of them in Matthew, Matthew tells us a little bit more. He says that Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. Gives us some biographical information. And John, Matthew says, tried to prevent, this is Matthew 3, verse 13. John tried to prevent him, to stop it, saying, I need to be baptized by you, and you are coming to me?

And Jesus' answer to this is, permit it to be so now. John's baptism was his baptism of repentance. And Jesus, as the Son of God, as God Himself, without sin, has no need to repent, No need then to be baptized. But Jesus says to John, permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting to fulfill all righteousness. And so then John allows him.

And when he had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water, and behold the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, alighting upon him, and suddenly a voice from heaven speaking." And so John baptizes Jesus. It says when all the people were baptized, they came to pass Jesus was also baptized. That does not mean that Jesus was the last person to be baptized. Or that Jesus was waiting around while John baptized other people. The Greek is very clear here.

What this is saying is that Jesus was baptized as, or while, or when John was baptizing all the other people. In other words, it wasn't a private baptism off in a corner, but it was in the normal course of John's ministry, of baptizing those who came for repentance, Jesus also came and was baptized. We know that This was not the last baptism that John performed. This was not the complete end of his ministry. We know from John that John and Jesus' disciples were both baptizing at the same time.

There was a bit of a question raised about that. So John continued after this to minister. This wasn't the complete end of it. But very soon after, he was arrested as Luke says here in the text and put in prison. So all Luke is saying is that while the people were being baptized, Jesus came and was also baptized.

Now why? Why was Jesus baptized? Why did Jesus need to be baptized if he had no sin, if he didn't need to repent? There are a number of reasons it turns out that Jesus needs to be baptized. And Jesus said, permit it to fulfill all righteousness.

Permit it to fulfill all righteousness. The law. There is the law that needs to be obeyed. Jesus came as the God man. He came as our representative.

He came and took to himself a human nature as our high priest. And there were laws that needed to be met for him to be qualified as our High Priest. As respects this office, Hebrews teaches us that nobody takes the office of high priest upon themselves. They don't just decide, well, I want to go into the priest business, and so I will become a priest. It's not the way it works.

Every priest taken among men is appointed for men in things pertaining to God. And no man, because of this, No man takes this honor to himself, but he who is called by God just as Aaron was. Aaron was appointed by God to be the high priest. He didn't take that honor upon himself. He didn't just decide that's the occupation that he wanted to go into.

And so Hebrews says, even as Aaron was called by God, so also Christ did not glorify himself to become high priest, but it was He who said to him, You are my son, today I have begotten you. Christ was appointed by God to be a high priest. And to be a high priest, there were certain requirements that had to be met. In Numbers chapter 3, We're told that the high priest had to be 30 years of age. That was when they began their ministry.

They had to be called of God. And we'll see that that happens in this passage specifically. They had to be sprinkled with water and anointed with oil. Remember Jesus is called just like Aaron was. He had to be anointed just like Aaron was.

He had to be consecrated just like Aaron did. But there's another reason as well and that is Jesus, as we read, is descended from what tribe? Well, we read that he was descended from the tribe of Judah. He is of the line of David through the tribe of Judah. What tribe is Aaron from?

It's a different line. And so Hebrews says that, therefore, if in Hebrews 7 and 11, Therefore, if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood, for under it the people received the law, what further need was there that another priest should arise according to the order of Melchizedek and not be called according to the order of Aaron." So if the Levitical priesthood was perfect, if it satisfied everything, if it was complete, then there would be no need for another priesthood. For the priesthood being changed of necessity, there is also a change of the law. For he of whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe from which no man has officiated at the altar." Jesus, this priest after the order of Melchizedek, is from the tribe of Judah as Luke tells us. Not of Aaron, not of Levi.

And it is far more evident if in the likeness of Melchizedek there arises another priest who has come not according to the law of fleshly commandment, but according to the power of an endless life. For he testifies, you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek." So Jesus needs to be set apart as a high priest who's not after the order of Levi but another line. He's from the line of Judah. He's a priest after the order of Melchizedek. So Jesus, in order to meet the requirements of the law, remember Jesus came in order to obey the law.

Our salvation flows out of Christ's obedience to the law. It's his obedience to the law that is our righteousness. And it's his obedience even to the death on the cross that is the forgiveness of our sins. And so Christ is our High Priest, needed in his human nature to fulfill the requirements of the law in order that he might be our High Priest, in order that He might meet the requirements of the law for being a high priest. So there are here this Jesus then is baptized in order to fulfill the requirements of the law.

So let's look at those requirements pertaining to the anointing and the sprinkling with water. In Leviticus chapter 8 is where we read about the consecration, the anointing, the setting apart of Aaron and his sons to be the high priest. And the Lord said to Moses, Take Aaron and his sons with them in the garments, the anointing oil, a bowl as a sin offering two rams, a basket of unleavened bread, and gather all the congregation at the door of the tabernacle of meeting." This is, Aaron is to be anointed here. He's to be set apart and he's to be anointed. That was a special oil that Aaron was anointed with.

Nobody else was to make anything like it. And if they did they were to be cut off. It was an oil that was compounded according to the art of the perfumer. And this is the oil that is poured upon Aaron, an anointing pointing forward to the Holy Spirit and to the gifts of the Holy Spirit that were poured out. But Aaron, remember, is a type of Christ.

Aaron is this priesthood, this earthly priesthood who is fallible, who has his own sins, and he can never take away our sins, but he is pointing to the one who can, it is Christ. And so he is anointed as a type of Christ, Aaron was, pointing forward to Christ. So Christ is then anointed. But also there is a sprinkling involved in Numbers, chapter 8 as well. Well, I should also mention before we leave the vidicus that not only is Aaron anointed with this oil, but this oil, all of the temple itself is anointed.

He sprinkled, Moses took the anointing oil in verse 10 and he anointed the tabernacle and all that was in it. He sprinkled some on the altar seven times, anointed the altar and all its utensils and the laver, its base to consecrate them. And he poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron's head and anointed him to consecrate him." This anointing oil then is a picture for us of the Holy Spirit. Oil is often used in the scriptures to speak of the Holy Spirit. You remember the lamp stand was filled with oil and in Zechariah they see this image of these bowls of oil that are continually filling this lamp stand.

That's speaking of the continual filling of the Holy Spirit. So then in Numbers, Chapter 8, there is the dedication, the sprinkling of the Levites, where they were cleansed and where they were baptized and set apart they were baptized by sprinkling because that's the only mode of baptism that is ever taught or commanded or given in Scripture And so they are they are baptized they are set apart for this work. And so Jesus as our High Priest, is baptized. He's baptized to set him apart as a high priest. This is his inauguration, his consecration as our high priest.

Now why? What else is signified in his baptism? He doesn't need to be forgiven of his sins, but Christ as our High Priest Has taken the guilt of our sins upon him He who knew no sin became sin For us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. He who knew no sin became sin for us. It doesn't mean that Jesus became a sinner.

It means that He took upon Himself the legal liability of our sin. He paid the debt of our sin. And so, in his baptism, he is saying, and allowing himself to be baptized, he is publicly declaring, because remember this is in front of all the people, as John is baptizing them, He is declaring that he has become sin. He who knew no sin became sin for us. He is taking upon himself the guilt of our sin.

And if Christ did not take it upon Him, then we would still be in our sins. But because Christ has taken the guilt of our sins and has paid the debt of our sins as our High Priest, by offering up of Himself, we can be forgiven. And we can be saved and delivered from the wrath of God. And so this baptism is Jesus publicly assuming or declaring that He will assume the guilt of our sin. That's what John came preaching, a baptism of repentance, a baptism of a need for our sins to be forgiven.

And this is what Jesus does. Jesus is anointed. Then with the Holy Spirit. Jesus is baptized and after he is baptized the Holy Spirit descends, it says, in bodily form, like a dove. Doesn't, we don't know much more about that, so we won't pry into that, other than to say that there was a bodily form like a dove, and that in some way was or represented the Holy Spirit.

It says the Holy Spirit descended like a dove. This you see is the fulfillment of what Aaron's anointing pointed forward to. He was anointed with this oil and pointing forward to or signifying the Holy Spirit being poured out upon him, the gifts of the Holy Spirit being poured out upon him. But he was pointing forward to Christ. This is what the Psalms speak of, the Messianic Psalms.

In Psalm 45, We read, Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. You love righteousness and hate-wickedness, therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions. All of your garments are scented with myrrh and aloes and kaisha out of the ivory palaces by which they have made you glad." Myrrh and Caesia were two of the spices that went into this holy anointing oil. So Christ's garments are scented with myrrh and aloes and cashew.

Out of the ivory palaces by which they have made you glad, King's daughters are among your honorable women. At your right hand stands the queen in gold from Ophir." And this very passage about Christ being anointed with the oil of gladness is quoted in Hebrews of Jesus Christ. In the first chapter, The writer is comparing the angels to Christ. He says to the angels, he makes his angels spirits of fire and his ministers the son of flame, but to his son, he said, your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions. The Holy Spirit was given to Jesus.

He was anointed with the Holy Spirit. Jesus was what all of that Old Testament temple pointed forward to. Peter in his sermon in Acts 10 speaks of the same thing, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power and who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil for God was in him. Now we might say, well why would Jesus need the Holy Spirit? He's God.

He's God. Why does he need to be anointed with the Holy Spirit to be enabled to do anything. We know that we can do nothing apart from God. Without the power of the Holy Spirit, we can do nothing. We cannot do anything that God calls us to do.

We need the Holy Spirit to enable us to love our enemies, to enable us to delight in the Lord, to enable us to call upon the Lord in prayer, to enable us to do any of the works that we are called to as saints. But why does Jesus need the Holy Spirit? Well, Jesus takes is taken to himself a human body He's taken flesh and blood just like we have he is tempted in all points Just like we have and part of that is the limitations of the human nature. He got hungry, he got tired. He faced those temptations of what it's like when you're very hungry and easily irritable.

When you're very tired and lacking sleep, Jesus knew what that meant. But he also knew what it meant to have the limits of a human nature. And so Jesus, in his human nature, and this is a big theological debate that we won't get into this morning, but as God, as respects his divine nature, he could not sin. It's impossible for God to sin. He cannot.

But as respects his human nature, he was impeccable. He was able to be tempted. Now he didn't sin, praise the Lord. But as respects his human nature he was impeccable. We use the word impeccable when we want to talk about something that's not assailable, that's not attackable.

There's no weakness in it, impeccable. And so as respects his divine nature Christ could not sin, it was impossible for him. But as respects his human nature which he bore, he took upon himself that he might be our high priest. He was impeccable and there was then this need for the Holy Spirit with respect to his human nature. Satan tempted him.

We read in the next section that Jesus being filled with the Holy Spirit after this, he returns into the wilderness and he is tempted because he was peckable as a man, but without sin. So the Holy Spirit then comes upon Jesus to show us as well, that if Jesus needs the Holy Spirit, how much more do we need the power of the Holy Spirit. Do we need the Holy Spirit upon our lives? Now this is, it's not insignificant at all that this all follows Jesus praying. It says, while he prayed, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove.

While he prayed, this happened. Jesus is praying here at this baptism. Does that strike you? Would you have thought about that, that Jesus would be praying in his baptism? This is something that Luke emphasizes throughout his gospel more than the others, this prayer life of Jesus.

Jesus prayed without ceasing. Jesus prayed sometimes all night. He prayed when the crowds gathered. Luke tells us he prayed in choosing the disciples. He prayed during and after the miracles of feeding the 5, 000.

He was praying when the transfiguration occurred. The occasion of the disciples asking him to teach them to pray was that Jesus was praying. They said, Lord teach us how to pray. He prayed at Lazarus' tomb. He prayed, giving the invitation to come to him.

Jesus prayed continually. He was in continual, this continual ongoing fellowship and communion with God the Father. Pray to His Father. This ought to be an example for us. This ought to be an encouragement, a stimulation to us.

Just how much Jesus prayed, how often He prayed, how continually He prayed, that even at His baptism He was praying And God worked mighty, mighty things through him as Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit. As he is praying, the heavens open. Heavens open. That doesn't happen very often, but there are a few other places in the scriptures where the heavens are opened. And they are generally times of great privilege, times of blessing.

When Stephen is about to depart this life, He is the very first martyr after Christ to die for Christ's sake, to die for his witness for the Gospel. As he is being stoned, as the Pharisees are raging at him, foaming at the mouth literally, he sees the heavens opened. And he gazed into heaven and he saw the glory of God and he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God. He said, look I see the heavens opened. He was given a special vision.

John in the book of Revelation, as he is given, about to be given this vision, this insight into what is about to happen, this momentous judgment that God was about to pour out on Jerusalem, as he is about to terminate and end all of the old covenant aspects of worship, the temple, about to pour out his judgment on apostate Israel. This is all going to be, is being revealed to John and in that he saw, He's about to see what's about to happen. The door is opened in heaven. And he looks and he sees into heaven. And he's invited, in that case, to come up into heaven and to see firsthand what God is going to do, the things that must take place shortly after this.

And so here the heavens are opened. As Jesus prayed, the Holy Spirit descends upon him, Anointing him with the oil of gladness empowering him and There is also His voice, the voice from heaven. Luke doesn't identify it, but Matthew did. It says, you are my beloved son, and in you I am well pleased. This is obviously the Father telling for all those around who are being baptized by John, that this is his son in whom he was well pleased.

I think what is in view here is not only God's blessing and confirmation and affirmation and approbation being placed upon Jesus Christ for everyone else's sake, so that all who were around could know that this indeed was God's son. But it's also, I think, pointing to, although less directly than his priestly office, pointing to his inauguration as a prophet and a king. Because Jesus is our Messiah, is our prophet, priest, and king. And so these words are the same as what is said in Psalm 2 of Jesus. I will declare the decree, the Lord has said to me, you are my son, today I have begotten you.

Ask of me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance. The ends of the earth for your possession, you shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel." This is speaking of Christ's kingly rule. And in Acts 13, this is quoted of Christ's resurrection, that in raising him up, God has declared him to be his son, and today he has begotten him. But there's the same language here, you are my son.

This is my son, the Father says. You are my beloved son. So there is here a pointing forward to Christ the King. He is being identified as the Messiah, the King, who is the King in his kingly office. But also it's his prophetic office as well that is being addressed.

In Isaiah 42, It says, Behold my servant whom I uphold, my elect one in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him, and he will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. He will not cry out or 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 crunch. He will bring forth justice for truth.

He will not fail or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth and the coastlands shall wait for his law. Thus says the Lord God who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it. I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness, and I will hold your hand. I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people as a light to the Gentiles to open blind eyes to bring prisoners out of the prison to those who sit in darkness from the prison house I am Jehovah that is my name and my glory I will not give to another." This is Christ's prophetic office in revealing to us in His Word the plan of salvation and calling us to the light in Christ. So in the Father's words I think we see then also this inauguration of Christ in his prophetic and his kingly office.

Jesus Christ here is confirmed as the Son of God, our great high priest, our prophet, and our king. Christ preserves us, He conquers us and preserves us with His kingly rule. We are forgiven by His priestly sacrifice and we are made righteous by His obedience. We are taught by Christ as our prophet. What do we learn from this?

How does this help us to better worship and to praise our Savior Jesus Christ? We have a great high priest who has been tempted in every way like as we are. He has done everything, he has experienced all those things that we need to experience, or that we do experience. And because of that he is then uniquely qualified to be able to sympathize with us, to be able to understand what we are going through. We can never say, no one understands me.

No one knows what I'm going through, because God does. Jesus Christ does. He is, as our great high priest, He intercedes for us. So we have this assurance That what we ask of the Father in His name, He gives to us. That even as He prays to the Father and we see these mighty works, we can be assured too that as we pray to the Father in His name, that we are also being able to do the works that he did.

In fact, Jesus even talked about doing greater works. Because through the power of the Holy Spirit, as we pray, as Jesus prayed, it is through the prayers of God's people that God does ordain the things that come to pass, does ordain His works, His deliverances, His victory. It's through the prayers of His people that these things are accomplished. Why? Because that's what it has pleased God to do.

And prayers do make a difference. Prayers do change things. They don't change what God has decreed to do from before the foundation of the world, but they change what happens. Because God from before the foundation of the world has not only ordained what happens, he's ordained the means through which those things happen. And those means are often the prayers of his saints.

And so prayer, prayer is very important. It's very important. It's very important in Christ's life, and it ought to be central in our life as well. Bible talks about praying without ceasing. We have this little picture here of Jesus praying during his baptism.

Do we pray that way? Do we go through our day, day by day, hour by hour? Does our heart, do we lift up our heart to the Lord in prayer? Do we call upon Him, recognizing that we are helpless without Him. Recognizing that we need His strength, His grace, His armor.

That if we are cut off, we die, we wither and die. Christ bears our prayers as our High Priest before the Father. Christ is the beloved Son of God and in Him he is well pleased. To the extent that we are in Christ, we are adopted children of the Heavenly Father. And we are accepted in Christ, that we are also beloved of the Father.

So no one can say, no one loves me, no one cares about me. God spoke from heaven of Christ, you are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And those who are in Christ are also likewise beloved children of the Heavenly Father with whom He is pleased and by whom we are acceptable. Almighty Heavenly Father, we thank you for this wonderful witness to Christ our High Priest. He was set apart, He was anointed with the oil of gladness to be our priest, to carry our petitions to you, to bear our sin, to take away your wrath, to turn it away from us to Himself and to absorb it all, to pay it.

Father, thank You for so great a salvation. May we not neglect our vows to you, out of gratitude, out of love, for so great a deliverance through Jesus Christ. Amen. Thanks for watching!