The Baptism of Jesus, Part 2

Driving home: that during all those 30 years the ineffable brightness of his divine nature should have tabernacled amongst us in a tent like ours and of the same material unnoticed and unknown that during those long years there should…

Compares the silence of the canonical Gospels on Jesus's youth to the elaborate, fabricated stories in pseudo-gospels, arguing that the former's reticence confirms their integrity against 'cunningly devised fables'.

And this should constitute to us not an infallible proof that the Bible is the Word of God, for that ultimate conviction, as our Confession states, comes directly from God. It comes by the Holy Spirit. But surely it ought to be a convincing confirmation to us that when we pick up these gospel records we are not following cunningly devised fables. For all you need to do is read some of these pseudo-gospels that write page after page about the youth and the infancy of Jesus, and there you sense you are in the climate of cunningly devised fables.

14:18 - 14:59 Read in full sermon

Driving home: that during all those 30 years the ineffable brightness of his divine nature should have tabernacled amongst us in a tent like ours and of the same material unnoticed and unknown that during those long years there should…

Quotes Canon for Our (likely a mishearing of Canon F.W. Farrar or similar) on the eloquence and wisdom in the Gospel writers' silence regarding Jesus's 30 years of obscurity, reinforcing their faithfulness.

the evangelist respecting this period but what eloquence is in their silence may we not find in their very reticence a wisdom and an instruction more profound than if they filled many volumes with minor details in the first place we may see in this their silence a signal and striking confirmation of their faithfulness we may learn from it that they desired to tell the simple truth and not to construct an astonishing or plausible narrative that Christ should have passed 30 years of his brief life in the deep obscurity of a provincial village that he should have been brought up not only in a con...

15:29 - 16:44 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The baptism of Jesus provides a clear and powerful revelation of the Trinity, with the Father speaking from heaven, the Son incarnate in the Jordan, and the Holy Spirit descending…

Describes how Jesus would have appeared as an ordinary man to someone passing him on the way to Jordan, without a halo or cherubs, to emphasize his true humanity.

Look at the data. There in Jordan's water, or on the edge of it, or standing on the bank dripping wet, is a man who came out of Nazareth in Galilee, who had all the appearances of a true man and nothing but a man. There's nothing. There's nothing to indicate that as he made his way out of Nazareth to Jordan, there was a halo above his head.

24:55 - 25:20 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The baptism of Jesus provides a clear and powerful revelation of the Trinity, with the Father speaking from heaven, the Son incarnate in the Jordan, and the Holy Spirit descending…

Recounts a favorite saying of the Orthodox during early Trinitarian controversies, 'Go to Jordan and learn the doctrine of the Trinity,' to highlight the passage's clear Trinitarian revelation.

It is very interesting that in some of the early controversies about the Trinity, one of the favorite sayings of the Orthodox to those rationalists who said, like the modern Jehovah's Witness says, How can you make sense out of this? Three in one, one in three. They said to the rationalists of their day, Go to Jordan and learn the doctrine of the Trinity. That was one of their catch words.

30:45 - 31:14 Read in full sermon

Driving home: God is, as it were, compelled to reveal this much in order that we may know how our salvation is wrought. Even this much. Even this much of the Trinity is beyond mortal comprehension. Its revelation has only one purpose …

Quotes Lutheran commentator Lenski on how the revelation of the Trinity at Jordan is specifically for understanding salvation, not for satisfying rationalistic curiosity.

Go to Jordan, and learn the doctrine of the Trinity. And so I say one of the major secondary lessons of this passage is that it constitutes a powerful proclamation of the doctrine of the Trinity. But now by application, I want to underscore something that's very vital. And perhaps I can do it no better, at least begin to do it, than by quoting from Lenski, the Lutheran commentator, who on this passage comments as follows, The Eternal Son is the Father's elect for the great task.

31:14 - 31:52 Read in full sermon

The point: Refuse to debate the doctrine of the Trinity with those who approach it with arrogance and no felt need of salvation, instead challenging them on their sinfulness.

Quotes Pastor Blaze saying, 'it takes the whole Trinity to save one sinner,' to underscore the necessity of the Triune Godhead's activity in redemption.

It was in this context that the doctrine of the Trinity took a quantum leap. What is God saying? He's saying the redemption of sinners can only be detected by the contrary activity of the Triune Godhead. As dear Pastor Blaze used to say, it takes the whole Trinity to save one sinner.

34:38 - 35:07 Read in full sermon

The point: Refuse to debate the doctrine of the Trinity with those who approach it with arrogance and no felt need of salvation, instead challenging them on their sinfulness.

Recounts his last discussion with a Jehovah's Witness, where he refused to debate the Trinity but asked if she had ever felt her need as a vile sinner, leading her to leave, illustrating the connection between felt need and understanding the Trinity.

And that's why we must never allow this precious doctrine to come into the arena of philosophical speculation or argumentation with people who in their arrogance and no sense of need dare trifle with such sacred mysteries. The last discussion I ever had with a Jehovah's Witness occurred when I saw this principle and was determined to put it into practice. And when the woman in her arrogance who came to my door wanted to debate the doctrine of the Trinity with me, I refused to debate and I said, Ma'am, I want to ask you one question.

35:11 - 35:53 Read in full sermon

Driving home: We have the visible word and the spoken word. And here by the banks of the Jordan God is very powerfully proclaiming to us by means of visual illustration why Jesus Christ has come.

Mentions seeing Mr. Clark's beard at a conference and imagining Jesus's wet beard after baptism, encouraging listeners to use their imagination when reading Scripture.

After Jesus is plunged into the river, and as he's coming up out of the river, either in its shallows or upon its banks, what do we see? We see an ordinary man, dripping wet with water, hair plastered to his head. If he had a beard, plastered to his face. I saw Mr. Clark's beard, down for the first time at the conference a couple of weeks ago. And it came to my mind, as I was speaking now, and trying to imagine. Use your imagination when you read the scriptures. Coming up out of the water.

41:31 - 42:07 Read in full sermon

Driving home: We have the visible word and the spoken word. And here by the banks of the Jordan God is very powerfully proclaiming to us by means of visual illustration why Jesus Christ has come.

Compares the visual illustration of Christ's purpose at Jordan to the Lord's Supper, where bread and wine serve as a 'visible word' proclaiming the gospel.

You know what God is doing? He's doing precisely in this collation of physical circumstances what he's doing. He's doing precisely in this what he's done in giving us the Lord's Supper. By bread and the fruit of the vine God is saying to us precisely what he declares in the word of the gospel.

43:17 - 43:36 Read in full sermon

Driving home: If his primary purpose was to be a teacher he would have appeared in a library. He would have appeared amidst the doctors of the law. If his primary purpose was to be an example he would have appeared on a pedestal. But …

Explains that the dove with an olive branch as a symbol of peace has its roots in Genesis 8 (Noah's ark), connecting biblical imagery to common cultural symbolism.

And the only real certain thing we can say about the symbolism of the dove from Scripture is that with that ancient reference in Genesis 8 it was the dove that came back you remember when let loose from the ark came back with the piece of the olive branch in its mouth. And it was the dove that came back in that way Noah knew that the waters of the flood the judgment of God had been abated so forever from that moment on in almost every nation the dove is the symbol of what? The symbol of peace. Particularly the dove with the olive branch.

47:12 - 47:46 Read in full sermon