Sanctified Waters

God does not save us from a distance — He comes all the way down to meet us. Listen to this week’s sermon from Matthew 3 as we explore Jesus’ baptism, repentance, and the transforming gift of the Holy Spirit.

Transcript

Turn with me to the Gospel According to Matthew, chapter three. The gospel according to Matthew, chapter three and verse 13. And when you found Matthew 3:13, go ahead and stand with me for the reading of God's word this morning.

Notice these words. This is the word of God. Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. Now 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 it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.

Then he consented. And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, this is my son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.

Let us pray. Speak, Lord, for your servant hears. And then once we've heard, help us to obey by walking in your ways. We pray in your name. Amen.

You can be seated.

Have you noticed yet? Are you tired yet of John the Baptist? Because, man, he's been dominating this liturgical year, right? Our. Our lectionary readings, remember, began the first Sunday of Advent.

That's when we turned to Year A. We started a new year. You remember that? It was. What was it?

The first Sunday in December, I think, or maybe the last Sunday in November. And we've met John along the way multiple times. What's the point? What's the point? Well, the point is this.

According to the Gospel itself, you can't get to Jesus without going through John. That's the big point. It's fascinating that all four gospels are going to mention John's ministry, that it precedes Jesus ministry. And what was John doing out there? Well, remember, he's out in the wilderness and he's preaching a message of repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.

And his baptism, he tells us, is not like the baptism of Jesus, or might we say Christian baptism. There's a distinction in the way that Jesus is going to baptize and the way that John is baptizing. John is baptizing for the forgiveness of sins. You confess your sins, you're forgiven of your sins, you know, because here's the thing. Everybody in the Old Testament isn't waiting around for God to forgive them of their sins.

They're not waiting for Jesus for that to happen. God makes a way in the Old Testament for their sins to be forgiven through animal sacrifice. Now, of course, that's pointing the Whole thrust of it is pointing toward not just an animal sacrifice, but the Lamb of God, who is the Son of God, fully God and fully man. But the forgiveness of sins is able to be had in the Old Testament, which means that Jesus ministry is more than just the forgiveness of sins. So that if you think Christianity is just about getting your sins forgiven, going back out into the world, sinning more and more and more, and just coming every single week to have your sins forgiven, you're still in the Old Testament, you're still under the law.

No? But Christ, how does he come? What does John say about the Lord? One is coming. Who will baptize how?

In the Holy Spirit and with fire. Fire from above. Fire that cleanses, Water cleanses, yes. And fire cleanses, purifying us. So that the Gospel message clearly is that, yes, we can be forgiven of our sins, thanks be to God, we can be justified.

We can have an imputed righteousness spoken over us. You're exonerated, you're free to go. And the rest of the Gospel is the best of the gospel. And that is, he can also not only forgive us, but change our heart, renew our mind. He can transform us to love the things he loves and hate the things he hates.

That's not something we can do. That's something he must do. When we're baptized, not just with water, but with the Holy Spirit of God. And who is the disseminator or the disposal dispenser of the Holy Spirit? It's Christ.

He says, I must go so that another will come. Who is the paraclete, the comforter, the Holy Spirit of God.

He also says this John does, I must decrease so that he can increase. And John subsequently goes to prison, remember? And then is beheaded. He decreased, and he knew that was his ministry. You know, I think that's all of our ministry, isn't it?

We all, in order to get to Jesus, put this way in the Gospels. Again, I'm just reading the Gospel text here. To get to Jesus, you got to go out in the wilderness, the wilderness of life, where there's not much, where things are scarce, where it's dangerous. And in those moments, confess your sin to God, plead for his mercy, and you will receive it. You will receive it.

And then when we pass through waters of baptism, as the Scriptures teach us, then we are united to Christ in his death as in his resurrection. And so we too must decrease so that he increases. And here's what's crazy about that. It doesn't mean some Hinduistic or pantheistic idea or even panentheistic idea of us merging into God and being swallowed by divinity. It's not the case.

In fact, we get to keep our personhood. We are united, not subsumed, which means life becomes better because another is involved. Have you ever experienced something great just by yourself? I mean, it's a good time, but with others it's even a greater time. Especially somebody that loves the things you love, right?

Like a sunset. You know, sometimes I'm like, guys, look at that sunset. Oh, yeah, cool. That's not somebody that loves. I want you to look at the thing for five minutes with me.

Like, let's stop the car and take a picture, you know, smell the roses kind of thing. I don't have many people like that in my family, but I've been around people where I've been able to experience with them the joy of that moment.

Here's the thing. When we're with God and He is with us, when he is in us, we carry him everywhere. He carries us everywhere. It is a mutuality where we're never alone. Never alone.

It's a lie to think that you're all alone. You are not. Dear brother or sister, cross. Christ is with us, Emmanuel. And then you remember, lastly, John.

John would say, he says, oh, there is the Lamb of God who takes away the world. Not just covering it with a sheet, but removing it from our lives. You remember, there were two primary sacrifices. I'm in Leviticus and I just literally read this yesterday, the Day of Atonement had two types of sacrifice. One was to the Lord.

The. The bull went to the Lord, okay, And it was sacrificed, totally right, blood, and did the whole thing, you know. And the other was called Azazel or the Scapegoat. And this one, you laid your hand. The priest would lay his hands on that goat.

And it was representative of laying the seat sins of all the people, including the priest, on that animal. And then they would send it out into the wilderness, never to be seen again. Yes, he's the one who dies sacrificially. And yes, he is the one who is the scapegoat for us. He takes away the sin of the world.

What a thought. What a fulfillment. So going through John means repentance of our sins. And then we get to Jesus and he gives us his Holy Spirit. That's not John's job.

And John knows that he has an important job, but it's not as important as Christ's job. But this is why Jesus says of born of women, John, he's the greatest and yet least in the kingdom of God. Why? Because we have access to the Holy Spirit. Full access.

Just think about that. You know, it's hard to convince someone of something that you can't see or understand. I get it. Totally. But we can call on God's spirit and we ought to.

We ought to pray to the Holy Spirit. He is fully God. So we are perhaps quite surprised to know that we've got to go through wilderness times, got to repent in order to find Jesus, because that's where he is. And in this text, isn't it? We all of a sudden see John here baptizing people in the Jordan Valley.

And here shows up Jesus. And, you know, if you really are reading this correctly, I think we ought to be embarrassed, shocked that Jesus comes to be baptized of John. Isn't this John the Baptist response? Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I think you got this wrong, Lord.

You know, he's kind of almost pulling a Peter right here, right? Lord, I think you've got this backwards. You need to be baptizing me, not me baptizing you. He says, okay, John. It's okay, John, I'm going to identify sinners.

I mean, John, baptism again is for sinners. The one condition to be baptized is to say, I am a sinner in need of God's grace. And here's Jesus. What's going on here? Well, we know that Jesus has not sinned.

And John knows this. This is why he's trying to subtly, I'm sure, respectfully say, lord, I think you got this backwards. But what does Jesus say? He says, no, no, no, John, listen, in order to fulfill all righteousness, this is proper. This is the right way.

I want. Think about it. God wants to identify with us sinners not as a sinner, but as the healer, as the one who sanctifies, as the one who forgives. He's not identifying with sin. No, but he is going into the dungeon to retrieve us, to rescue us.

He's going into the darkness to shed his marvelous light in the coldness of our caves, to bring warmth and healing to our bodies. He doesn't leave us on our own. You know, I think it's Psalm 139. You know, he's like, even if I go down to the depths, there you are. I go up to the heavens, there you are.

If I took a spaceship, this is my interpretation, to the farthest place in the world. And I get out and I say, okay, I think I finally escaped. God, you are. There's no escaping God, night as day to him.

No, Christ doesn't need the forgiveness of sins. He does this to sanctify the water. The water is not cleansing for him. You remember in the Old Testament, there's lots of cleansings by water. The laver, in fact, was a critical part of the tabernacle and then subsequently the temple and in Ezekiel.

It's fascinating that we get a picture that from the threshold of the temple, you remember this. There's going to be a little trickle of water. Why? Because somehow in there, just imagine turning that tub over right there, it's going to gush out. And you know where water goes when it flows?

It goes down, all the way down. You might not have thought that was the lowest point on your floor or in your yard until it rains. And then you can find the lowest point because that's where water will be. Why does God use water to cleanse us? Because we're down low.

And he comes low to get us, bending his knee, washing his disciples feet, feet condescending to our sinful condition. What a God. What other God would do? The other God remain pristine in their glory, telling us to come up to them. I am.

You are beneath me, not our God. He bends his knee before his disciples. That's embarrassing. And yet it's merciful and it's gracious and it's good news for all of us.

He comes low. In fact. In fact, did you know that the Jordan Valley is the lowest place on the face of the earth where you can stand without going underwater? You know, being able to stand somewhere. The Jordan Valley river is 1400ft under sea level.

Do you think it's an accident that Jesus chooses the Jordan to be baptized in? No, it's a sign. It's a sign for all of us that you can't go down low enough that he can't rescue you.

He comes all the way down for us, all the way down. And, you know, I find that to be a little intimidating because we hide some things, don't we? Down low. We push some things down low. Down in the depths, down, down where nobody else can see them but God.

And when we let him in, he's coming after them. At some point, I don't know the day or hour, but at some point he's going to say, marshall, let's pull that up. Let's get rid of that. Like A, you know, Dr. Oswald used to use, like pulling up a dead cat from a cesspool.

You think that was down there? That was in there.

Can I tell you a Little gross story. I mean, kind of gross. Gross to me at least. I went to the doctor one time. Have you noticed that as I've gotten older, more of my illustrations are doctor related?

It's just part of getting old, right? Went to the doctor and I was like, hey, I can't hear very well out of my right, like my right ear. I don't know what's going on, you know. And so he's like, oh, I'll just take a look, you know. He pulls out something of my ear I have never seen in my life.

I was like, that was actually in there. He said, oh yeah, can you hear better? I was like, yeah, but I don't want to look at that. I don't want to think I can produce something like that.

And you know, there's a spiritual lesson there for us, isn't it? We sometimes surprise ourselves with our nastiness, with our evil attitudes, with our thoughts to one another, dismissing people, people created in the image of God.

And we said that, surely that's not me. I don't think of myself like that. You may not think of yourself like that. I think of myself as pretty clean guy. But that came out of me.

And that was bad, man. I didn't woo. I asked, how can I never let that happen again?

And actually, you know what his answer was? It wasn't Q tips. By the way, water. Turn your ear. Let the water flow in your ear and out in the shower.

You should be good to go. So far so good. By the way, water for cleansing. We know it's for cleansing. And our baptism is for our cleansing.

Now Christ's baptism is not for his cleansing. It is to sanctify the waters for us. And we don't have to travel and migrate to the Jordan river to be baptized. This water's fine because he's the sanctifier of water.

Yes. Grace, we learn, is not so polite, it's intrusive. Because when Christ comes into the room, everything changes, doesn't it? You know, it's kind of like when the boss comes around, you kind of sit up a little straighter. Oh yeah, I'm getting a lot done.

You know, when dad comes around, you remember you all of a sudden folding clothes. You've been folding clothes for two hours. Well, I was really playing video games, but now I'm folding clothes because you're around. Yes. When Christ comes around, it disrupts our personal space, doesn't it?

And that's why it's good news. Yes, that he comes close, but it's Also simultaneous bad news, because we got to confess. Now. As soon as you get a proper vision of God, if you're not confessing, something is wrong. You're not seeing right, you're not hearing right.

We need to go to the Great Physician, because trust me, dear brothers and sinners, there's stuff that he wants to heal in our life and that he alone can heal.

And so we have here that the cleansing water restores us to a proper image, not absorbing us into divinity, but rather making us truly human. What does it mean to be truly human? To be filled with God's life, to be filled with God's spirit. And so when Jesus baptized, all of a sudden the heavens open up. What does that sign?

It means that now we have a proper mediator who is standing in his physical body, in a physical place, the lowest place on the face of the earth, in the breach in the middle between us and God, God and us, because he is in himself, both God and man.

And then what happens? The Spirit descends. The heavens rend and break open. The Spirit descends upon him and lands on him. Rest on him, if you will.

And then he's going to send the spirit out. The dove, if you will. The holy dove, the dove of fire. The dove, just like Noah sends out. For what?

Peace. Peace. You remember when the. When he. When that dove brings back the branch, what does that represent?

That God has not destroyed the earth. They had been on there for over a year, and all of a sudden we don't know if there's land or if still just water. And this is the last of humanity. But then he brings back that little dove, brings back an olive branch, meaning peace. There's peace between God and man now because of the holy dove.

And he descends upon Jesus. And Jesus is the one who then gives the Holy Spirit to us for peace. Peace between God and man. And then finally the Father speaks, doesn't he? He speaks from heaven.

And notice his words. This is my son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased. What had Jesus done up to this point? Ministry wise? Nothing.

His baptism begins his ministry. Nothing. Not a thing. And the Father, before he ever begins his performance of ministry, says, I'm well pleased. Why?

Because you're my son. Sometimes I'll stop with my sons. I say, I love you, buddy. And they'll say, love you too, you know, Monotonous. And I'll say, but do you know why I love you?

And I say, because I'm your son. Annoyed now, you know. But you know what that actually means? Something doesn't it like to call them my son is a legal category that changes things. It actually means you have access to what I have and own.

You get the point. You take the name, you get the access.

You know, I've been to some places where I wanted to get more access. You know, museum. I'm like, you know, when we were at the. What was it called? Vanderbilt Mansion or whatever they call that thing.

Biltmore. Thank you. Yeah, is Mr. Vanderbilt, but Biltmore. Yes, called Biltmore Mansion. Thank you, love.

I was like, you know, they had these little, little red ring. What do you call them? A little whatever rope thing where you can't go past it. I'm like, oh, man. I mean, the library, I don't know if you said I could live there.

You know, I literally live in room. And I was like, man, I want to get back. I didn't have access. Somebody else walked back there and they had a little name tag, had access just like that. They just got back.

I'm like, man, and I know that, you know, President Obama, he actually has access to certain things in that place as well. I was like, man, I wish I had a name that could give me access. Guess what? As Christians, we have a name. We have a name that is said over us in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

You are his Ryan. You are mine. God says, you are my son. You are my daughter. And that gives us access not just to a library in a house, but to the heavens, to a family.

Think about it. To an entire family, an invisible family that has already lived and moved through their journey and is now heavenly cloud of witnesses. We have access to God not through me or through a priest, but through the high priest himself, Jesus Christ. Direct access. I'm talking about, like, no holds bar, no little rope, you know, say, oh, man, we can't get there.

No. You remember what happens to the. To the thing you couldn't see. Remember the veil. Thank you.

Love you guys. You know. You know how the veil tears, by the way? It doesn't tear from the human side up. You couldn't reach up to the top, by the way, but rather it tore from the top to the bottom.

Symbolic, isn't it? He rends the heavens, opens up a way for us. Man, what a God. What a God. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, Paul will say, and that's why baptism should unite us.

Now, I know, I know all the discussions. I think I have not met one that I haven't heard already, you know, and I've looked Them up online, even, you know, talk to all kinds of people. And everybody's got different ideas about baptism. I get it. But it should unite us, not divide us.

And what's uniting about it is when you boil baptism down, Christian baptism, it's with water, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

You say, why, Pastor? Because the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are pressing at Jesus baptism. That's why. And he's doing it in water. That's what's necessary, is for us to repent.

Our job is to repent of our sins and confess him as Lord. His work is to sanctify the water, bless it by his holy name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is why Jesus again, at the end of Matthew, is going to say, you now are to go make disciples baptizing them. How? In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

So I'm going to ask you, like some disciples of John were asked in the Book of Acts, do you have the Holy Spirit? You say, I've already been baptized. Do you have the Holy Spirit? Because if you don't, then you haven't been baptized into Christ baptism, which is the Holy Spirit. And fire.

Baptism is a bath for the journey. And communion is a meal that sustains us along the road. It's just a little meal, you know, like limbus bread in Lord of the Rings. Remember, they don't get a whole feast, but they get that little bit of bread and that sustains them along the way. So, too, we.

We pause every single week, the first day of the week, and we say, hey, let's make sure we got first things first. Hey, remember, we're in this together. I know. Sometimes when we're journeying, we can be apart and we can't see one another, but we all gather together on Sunday to say, hey, I see you. I see you.

I see. Keep going, Keep going. Listen, we're moving somewhere, to someone with the help of someone in us who is the Holy Spirit, Christ walking with us along the way. So, dear brothers and sisters, God does not save us from a distance. He comes close.

And I know that gets scary sometimes. I get it. I know. But you've got to show the great physician where you need healing. Show him, and he will bring healing to your life by his Holy Spirit.

May it be so. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.