Mark 1:9-11
The Baptism of Jesus, Part 1
In "The Baptism of Jesus, Part 1," Pastor Albert N. Martin expounds Mark 1:9-11, with supporting texts from Matthew 3 and John 1, to reveal the profound significance of Jesus' baptism, anointing with the Spirit, and the Father's voice. Martin argues that Jesus' baptism formally and publicly proclaims His identification with His people, His anointing graciously equips Him for redemptive work, and the Father's approbation encourages Him for His task. The sermon concludes by urging unbelievers to flee to this Savior and believers to find their only hope and satisfaction in Him, emphasizing the principle of Christ's representative headship.
Primary Texts
Topics
Outline 12 sections · 62 min
- Introduction and Scripture Reading 0:02
- Prayer for Illumination 2:56
- The Epical Significance of Jesus' Baptism 4:39
- Sermon Structure: Facts and Significance 7:34
- Basic Facts: Jesus' Baptism by John 8:45
- Basic Facts: Jesus' Anointing with the Holy Spirit 14:59
- Basic Facts: The Father's Voice from Heaven 20:47
- Primary Significance: Identification with His People 22:57
- Primary Significance: Equipping for Redemptive Work 40:15
- Primary Significance: Encouragement and Assurance of Success 46:08
- Conclusion: The Gospel's Good News and Personal Application 52:01
- Closing Prayer 59:14
Key Quotes
“In fact, I am prepared to state that in a very real sense, they constitute at the beginning of our Lord's ministry a significance as profound and far-reaching as do the resurrection, and the ascension on the other end of our Lord's earthly ministry.”
“And I'm asserting that His baptism in Jordan formally and publicly proclaims His identification with His people.”
“It is the announcement that the peculiar nature of the thing God has done is that he has worked in the doing and the dying of another, that our acceptance with God, our restoration to the favor of God does not rest upon that which we do, not even our faith, but it rests upon the work of another, that which Jesus Christ has done.”
“but Jesus answering said unto him permit it now for thus it becomes us not me thus it becomes us to fulfill all righteousness then he permitted him.”
“I am manifested to be the savior of sinners and I can only save them by identifying myself with them by becoming one with them in covenant oneness evident and manifest to all that I take upon myself their liabilities their obligations to the divine law that I take the place the room the stead of sinners that sinners might find access and acceptance on the basis of what I do as I stand in their room and in their stead John permit it it becomes us it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness”
“His anointing with the Spirit graciously and powerfully equips him for the work he is to perform on behalf of his people”
“His identification and approbation from God in heaven encourage him to go forth to his task assured of success on behalf of his people”
“a Christian is one who has identified himself with Christ who says in myself I see nothing but sin and culpability and just exposure to the wrath of God but I see in Jesus the well beloved of the father the holy harmless sinless son of God I see the one who willingly joyfully took the place of sinners I gladly run into him as he identified himself with sinners here in the river Jordan I now identify myself with him by telling him divorcing myself from Adam by repentance by incorporation into him by faith and then the public declaration of it in the waters of baptism”
Applications
All listeners
- See in such a savior as this your only hope for life and salvation.
- Identify yourself with Christ by divorcing yourself from Adam by repentance and incorporating into Him by faith.
- Publicly declare your incorporation into Christ by being baptized.
- Be well pleased with such a savior, amazed at His willingness to save by the divine method.
- Flee to Jesus, the one identified with His people, mighty to save, and strengthened in His mission.
- Love, serve, and don't be ashamed of so mighty and glorious and successful a savior.
- Have mercy upon those who see no beauty in your son, open their blinded eyes, subdue their rebel wills, and bring them broken and believing to the feet of Christ.
A full transcript is available on the tab. 66 paragraphs, roughly 62 minutes.
Introduction and Scripture Reading
This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, August 28, 1983, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now let me urge you to follow in your own Bibles as I read two portions of the Word of God in preparation for the exposition this morning. Mark's Gospel, Chapter 1, verses 9 through 11. Mark 1, 9 through 11.
And then the second passage will be found in the first chapter of John's Gospel. Mark 1, verse 9.
John chapter 1, verses 29 to 34. John 1, 29. This incident is after the baptism, after the temptation of our Lord. And we now read, On the morrow, He, that is John the Baptist, seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.
This is He of whom I said, After me comes a man who is become before me, for he was before me. And I knew him not, but that he should be made manifest to Israel. For this cause came I baptizing in water. And John bore witness, saying, I have beheld the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and it abode upon him.
And I knew him not, but he that sent me to baptize in water, he said unto me, Upon whomsoever you shall see the Spirit descending and abiding upon him, the same is he that baptizes in the Holy Spirit. And I have seen and have borne, And I have borne witness that this is the Son of God. Let us seek the face of God in prayer that God the Holy Spirit will enable us to penetrate some of the profound and glorious mysteries of this portion of the word of God. Let us all pray.
Prayer for Illumination
Our Father, we understand from the teaching of your word that whenever we open the scriptures, we stand in need of presence. and powerful measures of the Spirit's gracious work as the spirit of wisdom and revelation. And yet we confess that there are times when we feel more keenly our need of his ministry. And surely, O Lord, as we stand before these awesome, these glorious, and yet deep with mystery events, we pray that the Spirit of God, that the Spirit may be given to us in copious measures this morning, that the work that he has been sent to do, even the work of taking the things of Christ and revealing them to the hearts of men, that that work will be done with great clarity and with power, even in this place, during this hour. Lord, we come as preacher and listener, conscious of our lives, conscious of our need, crying to you out of that felt awareness of need, and pleading your promise that if we ask, we shall receive.
Answer then our cry, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Epical Significance of Jesus' Baptism
Mark chapter 1 and verses 9 through 11 will constitute the focal point of our study in the word of God this morning. Now our reading of this passage, I trust, has made it evident that Mark gives us a very brief record of these three amazing and significant events in the experience of our Lord Jesus Christ. He records the event of his baptism, his endowment with the Holy Spirit, and his approbation and identification by the voice from the heavens. Now these, these three closely related incidents are nothing short of epical events in the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus. In fact, I am prepared to state that in a very real sense, they constitute at the beginning of our Lord's ministry a significance as profound and far-reaching as do the resurrection, and the ascension on the other end of our Lord's earthly ministry. If for Mark, according to verse 1, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
is to be identified with the ministry of John the Baptist, then the ministry of John the Baptist comes to both its culmination, and in a sense, its cessation, with this trilogy of events recorded in Mark 1, verses 9 through 11. From this point onward, the ministry of John the Baptist fades very quickly. As one of my fellow elders suggested as we were discussing this prior to the service, it's as though this meteor-like man, John the Baptist, who comes onto the scene in a blaze of glory at this point, is almost struck from the heavens and falls out of sight. And so this is an epical event, both in the ministry of John and in the ministry of the Lord Jesus. And therefore we dare not approach it lightly or carelessly, but with hearts and minds profoundly dependent upon the Holy Spirit, and I trust, full of expectation, that God will give us light from His Holy Word. Now, as we attempt in conscious dependence on the Spirit to grasp some of this profound significance of the baptism, the endowment, and the voice from heaven,
Sermon Structure: Facts and Significance
I have a two-fold approach to the passage. First of all, we will seek to grasp the basic facts pertaining to these incidents. And this will be pure exposition and explanation without a word of application. And as we go through these three, three verses, seeking to grasp intelligently and clearly the basic facts pertaining to these incidents, if you are following it all, one question after another will begin to arise in your mind.
Please don't allow your preoccupation with those questions which will very naturally arise so to cloud your mind that you won't grasp the facts. We must start with seeking to lay hold of the basic facts pertaining to these incidents. And then this morning, time permitting, I will attempt to expound the basic significance of these facts, and then, God willing, next Lord's Day, the secondary significance of these facts. So much, then, for how I will attempt to aid you in understanding the passage.
Basic Facts: Jesus' Baptism by John
The basic facts, then, pertaining to these incidents, even a hasty, a hasty reading of the passage indicates that we have these three distinct, but intimately and inseparably related events. Verse 9, the baptism. Verse 10, the endowment with the spirit. And verse 11, the voice from heaven.
So even you children should be able to go home this morning, and if someone should ask you, what did you learn in the Sunday morning preaching, we studied together, what Mark tells us about the baptism of Jesus, his anointing with the spirit, and the Father's voice out of heaven. Now let's look at the facts as they are given to us in the text. First of all, we are informed in verse 9 that Jesus was baptized by John in the River Jordan. It came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in, or into, the Jordan. The text says, in those days. That is, the days just previously described in verses 4 through 8. The days in which all of the country of Judea and many of the Jerusalemites are going out to the place where John is baptizing in the River Jordan.
In those days when John is at the zenith of his popularity and his usefulness, in those days when John is continually engaging in baptizing and in preaching, preaching and in baptizing, on one such day, a man of about thirty years of age made his way from his hometown in Nazareth to the place where John is preaching and baptizing. The journey took him anywhere from one to three days, and we cannot ascertain with precision, because we are not certain of the precise place where John was baptizing. We know where Nazareth was. But it was a journey of at least one day, and possibly three days. And this man, thirty years of age, with no advanced notice, with no chorus of trumpeters to announce, was baptized. And to the place where he announces coming, with no distinctive garb to mark him out from among his fellow men, with no earthly entourage, and no heavenly retinue, he leaves the place of his childhood, the place of his adolescence, the place of his now fully matured manhood, and finds the precise place where John is baptizing multitudes.
with others to present himself to John, according to Matthew 3, verses 14 and 15, a brief discussion ensues. John is at first unwilling to baptize him, but then after our Lord speaks to him, we read in the scripture that he permitted it, he allowed him to be baptized. And then like all the others there at that point in Jordan, our Lord is placed beneath the waters of Jordan, is brought up out of the waters, and everything appears to our eyes as an ordinary baptism of an ordinary dweller of that part of Palestine. However, if we were standing there on that day, it would be evident to us that there were two notable differences. Subsequent to his being plunged into the waters of Jordan. It is said of all those who were baptized of John, in verse 5 of Mark 1, that they were baptized of him in the river Jordan, confessing
their sins. And verse 7, he preached, saying, there is one coming who will baptize in the Spirit. But on the occasion, of baptizing this 30-year-old man, when he comes up out of the water and stands upon the banks of Jordan, there is no word of personal confession of sin that proceeds from his lips. Unlike the others who are bemoaning their sinfulness, who perhaps public in life are even beating upon their breasts, crying, God, be merciful to me, the sinner.
This one is the one who is baptizing. This one is the one who is baptizing. This one is the one who is baptizing. This one is the one who is baptizing.
This one is the one who has undergone the sinner's ordinance from all appearances as a sinner, by a sinner, in the presence of sinners. There is no confession of sin that comes from his lips. And yet, even though there is no confession of sin, there is no indictment by John that he's a self-righteous hypocrite. There is no word from John to prod him to this confession that marked all of the others who were baptized of him. And yet, even though there is no confession of sin, there is no being baptized by John in the Jordan River. And then, unlike the others, John does not, subsequent to his baptism of this one, remind him that another one is coming who will be able to do inwardly what John is able only to do outwardly in symbolic ritual. He gives no promise to this one that another one is coming who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. Now, apart from the fact that these noteworthy omissions, he appears as any other person there at the Jordan to be baptized.
Basic Facts: Jesus' Anointing with the Holy Spirit
Now, I'm sure already certain questions have begun to arise in your minds. Put the questions to one side as we now seek to grasp in the second place this second event in this complex of three events he is anointed with. With the Holy Spirit, verse 10, and straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens rent asunder, and the Spirit as a dove descending upon him. No sooner does he begin to emerge from the waters, perhaps with his feet still in the shallow part of the waters or just upon the bank, Luke adds this other dimension, his heart at least, if not his voice, was engaged in prayer, and suddenly the strangest thing occurs there on the banks or in the shallow part of the waters of the river of Jordan. There is this unusual manifestation of the power and presence of God. Notice the language of Mark. Mark says that he, probably referring to the Lord Jesus himself,
though grammatically it may possibly refer to John, he saw the heavens rent asunder. Now, Matthew and Luke use the standard word for open. It's a more gentle word. It's the word used when it speaks of Jesus opening the eyes of a blind, a blind man. It's the standard word for opening, but Mark, with his more graphic, descriptive touch, uses the very word found in Matthew, verse 10, and straightway coming up out of the waters of the waters of the earth, there is the thin, the hard, and the deep, the relative. The verse 17 says, It's a wonderful experience. from nazareth but now suddenly as he emerges from the water the heavens are split in a manner that
is probably akin to what the scripture says will happen at the return of the lord jesus when the heavens will be rolled back as a scroll now what this means precisely we have no basis to assert or to affirm from scripture but we are told that the heavens were rent and at least the lord jesus and probably john and whether or not any others we cannot say for scripture is silent but the text says that he saw the heavens rent asunder in other words with the bible imagery of this heaven and this earth constituting man's dwelling place and environment the bible also speaks of the heaven and the earth as the dwelling place of man and the earth as the dwelling place of man los who have been saved by grace and to the need of heaven blow this mylichkeit in this land and to the of the third heavens, the peculiar seat and dwelling place of God. And it's as though God pierced the heavens that are connected with this earth and opened up the third heavens. The third heaven where God Himself dwells in a peculiar seat of His majesty and His power. And from those rent heavens, according to the text, we read these words, And the Spirit as a dove descending upon Him.
Now, some have suggested that all Mark is saying is that the Spirit, the invisible, personal Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead, came gently upon the Lord Jesus. But according to Luke's Gospel, the parallel passage, Luke 3.22, it says the Spirit came, somatico, in a bodily form. It's talk of a psychosomatic disease, the Greek word soma, body.
And so there actually was a visible form of a dove that came fluttering out of the rent heavens and gently made its way down to the place where Jesus was standing. And according to John chapter 1, it alighted upon Him, and stayed upon Him for a time. And this was none other than the Holy Spirit taking to Himself this visible form of a dove. God is able to take any visible form He chooses.
He can manifest Himself in a burning bush. He can manifest Himself as the angel of Jehovah. He can manifest Himself in the pillar of fire and the cloud in the wilderness. And here God the Spirit chooses to manifest Himself in the form of a gentle dove that comes and rests upon the Lord Jesus.
That's the fact as given to us in the text of Scripture. Now again, all kinds of questions begin to arise in our minds. Submerge them for a moment as we very quickly then notice the third element in this passage. It is complex of events, verse 11.
Basic Facts: The Father's Voice from Heaven
And a voice came out of the heavens, You are my beloved Son. More literally translated, You are my Son, the beloved One. In You I am well pleased. No sooner had there been this impingement upon the eye of Jesus and probably upon the eye of God, and probably upon the eye of God, and probably upon the eye of God, and probably upon the eye of God, and probably upon the eye of God, with this dove, the Holy Spirit coming in the form of the dove, then there is a powerful impingement again, at least upon the ear of Jesus, for the passage says that the voice was addressed to the Lord Jesus. And a voice came out of the heavens, You are my beloved Son. The voice spoke primarily and essentially to Jesus, the One, upon whom the Spirit had come. Now there is some indication that perhaps John also heard the voice, but concerning that, the scriptures are silent.
And you will notice that this voice was, first of all, a voice of identification. You are my beloved Son. And then a voice of approbation. In You I am well pleased, or in You, I was.
Now those are the facts. His baptism by John in the river Jordan, His anointing with the Spirit in the form of a dove, His identification and approbation by the voice of the Father from heaven. Now then, let us begin to seek to grasp the primary significance of these facts. What is God saying in giving us, the record of this three-fold chord of the unusual events surrounding the beginning of the public ministry of our Lord Jesus?
Primary Significance: Identification with His People
Well, I want to emphasize that in speaking to that question, I'm underscoring this morning what I believe after many, many hours of careful and, I trust, responsible study and prayerful consideration of the Word of God, and of the commentators, that there is indeed one primary significance to each strand in this three-fold epical event that has been read and briefly expounded in your hearing. And we start with the baptism. And I'm asserting that His baptism in Jordan formally and publicly proclaims His identification with His people. His baptism. baptism in Jordan formally and publicly proclaims his identification with his people. Mark has already indicated that what he is writing is good news concerning Jesus Christ, God's Son. Now, what is it that makes the gospel good news? Well, is it not the fact that in
the gospel, God announces to needy sinners what he has done to make possible their restoration to his favor? Isn't that what makes the gospel the gospel? It is the announcement of that which God has done to make possible the restoration of guilty sinners to the favor, to the goodwill, to the fellowship of the living God. Furthermore, at the heart of that gospel is the glorious announcement that the way in which guilty sinners are restored to the divine favor is on the basis of the work of another. The gospel is good news. God has done something to restore us to his favor. And at the heart of that good news is the announcement of the gospel.
It is the announcement that the peculiar nature of the thing God has done is that he has worked in the doing and the dying of another, that our acceptance with God, our restoration to the favor of God does not rest upon that which we do, not even our faith, but it rests upon the work of another, that which Jesus Christ has done. Now, how is this done? Within what divine administration, by what process does God make the doing of one to be the basis of the salvation of the many? Well, the answer is given to us eloquently in the baptism in the River Jordan. Think of it. The last record of our Lord in his earthly existence.
Think of it. The last record of our Lord in his earthly existence. Before the thing we've read this morning is Luke chapter 2, verses 51 and 52.
Where do we find him after the incident in the temple at age 12? We find in verse 51 of Luke 2, he went down with them and came to Nazareth. And he was subject unto them. And his mother Mary kept all these sayings in her heart.
And Jesus advanced. in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men now in the fifteenth year. Eighteen years are passed over in total silence. The last thing the scripture tells us about our Lord is this.
He was at Nazareth in loving subjection to his earthly parents and that he grew and increased in wisdom and stature in favor with God and men. And the Bible throws a blanket of post-silence over the eighteen years. Now from other portions we learn a few incidental things. We know that his father was a carpenter for when he came to mature years they said, is not this the carpenter's son?
He had other brothers and sisters in the meantime. Are not his brothers and sisters with us? But apart from those few incidents we know nothing. God, as it were, one commentator has graphically said buried his own son alive in Nazareth.
Buried him alive.
And the place of his resurrection was the Jordan River. It is here at the River Jordan that he is first seen in his fully matured manhood. He had been growing in wisdom and stature in favor with God and man. And now after all of these years are passed the Lord has come to him.
He has come to him. He has come to him. He has come to him. He has come to him.
He has come to him. The first time he appears in any recorded public situation how does he appear? He appears in the company of sinners in the watery ritual of sinners at the hand of a sinner. That's his first recorded public appearance.
For remember John was preaching a baptism of repentance unto remission of sins. And all of Judea and many of the Jerusalemites were baptized of him in the River Jordan confessing their sins. So from the obscurity of Nazareth for all of those years when he comes formally and publicly to be presented to men in the identification of his mission where is he found? Not in the temple teaching and asking questions as we last found him at age 12.
But we find him in the wilderness of Judea plunged beneath the waters of Jordan in this sinner's right at the hands of a sinner in the company of other sinners. Now what does this tell us? John did not fully know his identity according to John 1 but he sensed and knew enough to feel reluctant to baptize him. Turn to Matthew's Gospel chapter 3.
Turn to Matthew's Gospel chapter 3. Turn to Matthew's Gospel chapter 3. When Jesus comes to present himself for baptism verse 14 of Matthew 3 but John would have hindered him saying I have need to be baptized of you and do you come to me? You see John did not fully know in the sense of final attestation that this was the Son of God and the Messiah but he knew enough when Jesus came how he knew the Bible doesn't tell us.
But he knew enough to know this was no ordinary human being who came. This was no fellow sinner in the sense of others who came. He rejected Pharisees and scribes because he questioned whether or not they were penitent. But he's about to reject Jesus from baptism not because he thinks him impenitent but because he says you have no need of baptism.
This is a sinner's ordinance for me to receive it at your hands. That would be proper but for you to receive it at my hands totally improper. But notice our Lord's response but Jesus answering said unto him permit it now for thus it becomes us not me thus it becomes us to fulfill all righteousness then he permitted him.
John I understand your objection in the consciousness of who you are and at least in the dawning recognition of who I am this seems utterly incongruous that I the sinless one I the Messiah should receive baptism at your hands but John it is necessary for us for you and for me to fulfill all the righteous requirements of God. Well what were the righteous requirements of God for John and for Jesus? Well for John it was that his ministry should find its climactic expression in the identification of the Messiah. John 1 in verse 31 clearly indicates that the fundamental rationale for John's baptism is precisely this I knew him not but that he should be made manifest to Israel for this cause came my baptizing in water in other words all of my baptisms by which I was marking out the new community the new Israel that God is forming as one has said John as it were excommunicated the entire nation and said only those who are willing to come in penitence and brokenness for sin looking to the coming one for their hope
can now be part of the new Israel and he preaches his baptism of repentance but all of this was leading to the point that Jesus might be manifested unto Israel he said for this cause I came baptizing that he might be manifested so you see what the Lord is saying John would you fulfill the righteous purpose of my father in the totality of your mission then you must baptize me for I have now come to be manifested but I've come to be manifested in my proper capacity and I would have no misunderstanding about it I am manifested to be the savior of sinners and I can only save them by identifying myself with them by becoming one with them in covenant oneness evident and manifest to all that I take upon myself their liabilities their obligations to the divine law that I take the place the room the stead of sinners that sinners might find access and acceptance on the basis of what I do as I stand in their room and in their stead John permit it it becomes us it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness for you John this is the very purpose and rationale of your ministry for me John this is the thing
for which I have come forth from the father that I might be the savior of my people and if I am to save as their substitute and surety it must be evident in my first public manifestation that this is the divine method of salvation John plunge me beneath the waters for when I am laden with the sins of my people I shall be baptized with that awful baptism of Golgotha and the awful baptism of the father of the son of God and the son of God and the son of God and the son of God and the son of God and it's interesting isn't it that Jesus looked forward to his cross with that very language he said I have a baptism to be baptized with and how am I pressed until it be accomplished this is no fanciful reading in of something that is not there it should not therefore surprise us that his first public appearance is in the context of a sinner an apparent sinner submitting to a sinner's ordinance at the hands of a sinner and in the company of sinners Lenski the Lutheran commentator has caught the heart of this when he wrote the point that made it so proper is stated by Matthew it is proper for us to fulfill all righteousness
that is for us John and Jesus the matter pertains to them alone this then is neither the moral nor the ceremonial law by associating himself with John in this matter of baptism Jesus is thinking of their respective offices it was proper that they should carry out what their respective positions required it was thus that Jesus views his baptism Jesus is choosing baptism by John as the right way by which to enter upon his great office and his doing this with a clear sense of the propriety including John as well as himself he the sinless one the very son of God chooses to put himself alongside of all the sinful ones for whom John's sacrament was ordained he thus connects himself with all instances of John's baptism by thus joining himself to all these instances of John's baptism he signifies that he is now ready to take upon himself the load of all these sinners that is to assume his redemptive office and it was proper and right that Jesus should come as it were and offer himself voluntarily for this great office
and not wait until he be called to it or it be laid upon him for this office especially in so far as it involved the sacrifice upon the cross had to be assumed voluntarily and isn't it interesting that shortly thereafter when Jesus appears again at the place where John is baptizing he exclaims behold and then he says the Lamb of God and he uses a present tense verb who is already bearing away the sins of the world where did John get the notion that Jesus was Lamb of God bearing away the sin of the world it broke in upon him when he said suffer it now to fulfill all righteousness I have come to be identified with my people oh yes I've been identified with them in the counsels of eternity when in eternity in the mystery of triune mind and will a people were chosen and I was set apart to be their mediator they were chosen in connection with me yes they were in me and I committed to them in eternity but now in time as I have come and have partaken of flesh and blood in Mary's womb
so now I make it manifest in this visible demonstrable material way as it were in the waters of Jordan that I have come to take the place of sinners the good news of the gospel is this Christ died for our sins how can he die for our sins unless he is due and properly appointed of God to be our substitute he can't bear our sins away unless he justly bears them and he justly bears them because he is assigned to this position in the will and purpose of the Father and he voluntarily takes it upon himself John do not hinder me from being baptized it is necessary to fulfill all righteousness John your message and your ministry is to prepare the way for me and John the great climax of your ministry is that I might be presented to Israel in the capacity in which I have come not to set up an earthly throne in Jerusalem but for an earthly kingdom to pay the price of the Lord I have come to save my people and I can only save them in solidarity with them I can only come and save them
Primary Significance: Equipping for Redemptive Work
as I represent them before the bar of eternal justice and here in the waters of Jordan John it is essential to fulfill all righteousness the righteous demands of my Father towards me suffer it now John now at this point in time I must not be presented in any other light to Israel but the Savior of sinners who has come to take the place of sinners and I do it by submitting to a sinner's ordinance I submit to you that that's the primary significance of the event of Jesus' baptism it is formal and public identification of the with his people but then very quickly his anointing with the Spirit graciously and powerfully equips him for the work he is to perform on behalf of his people you see the connection no sooner does he formally and publicly identify himself with his people than that the heavens are rent and the Spirit comes down upon him in the bodily form of a dove and he is and he is and he is anointed with the Spirit for what purpose that he might be upheld and strengthened
and empowered to perform everything he must do on behalf of his people and that's not just a logical extension of the preceding facts it is the clear teaching of the word of God for the Messiah who is promised the very word Messiah means the anointed one and the one who is promised and listen to the rich language particularly of the Isianic prophecies in the book of Isaiah chapter 42 the book of Isaiah chapter 42 behold my servant whom I uphold hear the Father speaks of upholding his servant my chosen notice the language in whom my soul delights sound familiar my chosen I have put my spirit upon him he will bring forth justice to the Gentile my servant whom I uphold my servant upon whom I've placed my spirit that he might bring justice to the Gentiles to this we could add Isaiah 61 one in following and then you remember in Luke chapter 4 when he went back to his hometown and he read the Isaiah passage Isaiah 61
he said this day has this scripture been fulfilled in your ears and then when the apostles preach they make much of this event Acts 4 26 and 27 and Acts 10 38 they describe Jesus as the one whom God anointed with the Holy Spirit you see the connection no sooner does our Lord formally and publicly declare that we are the one I am entering in before the eyes of all men into solidarity into covenant oneness with my people I can only save them by becoming one with them not one in the defilement or guilt of their sin but one with them in representing them before the bar of eternal justice to live the life they have not lived to die the death that they should die when the Father from heaven says in essence I am entering I will fulfill all of my covenant engagements I will uphold you and I will do so by placing my spirit upon you in copious measures I will endow you with the spirit that you might be strengthened for every task that will be yours in the accomplishment of the redemption of the people of now this does not mean that the Lord Jesus is devoid of the spirit until this hour he is the one he was conceived
in Mary's womb by the spirit and all the graces that developed in the human soul of Jesus pure and spotless all that it was were graces cultivated and developed by the power of the spirit but it is here that the spirit comes upon him for his official functions as Messiah here the spirit comes upon him in order to equip him for the task that up till now he has not officially and formally taken upon himself there is no record of any miracles no record of any public preaching prior to this incident in Mark 1 and verse 10 and it is here that he is anointed with the Holy Spirit that he might be wonderfully upheld and strengthened for the tasks which he has now taken upon himself this then is the primary significance of the descent of the spirit in visible form upon the Lord Jesus his commitment to the work of redemption will be a commitment in which he is upheld and then it anticipates something glorious for you and me as he receives the spirit without measure it is that he the head accomplishing all that he must do
Primary Significance: Encouragement and Assurance of Success
may from the right hand of the Father send the spirit down upon all the members of his mystic body as they are incorporated into him by his grace this I say is the primary significance then of the anointing with the spirit and then finally what's the primary significance of the voice out of the heavens I suggest it is this his identification and approbation from God in heaven encourage him to go forth to his task assured of success on behalf of his people notice the voice came primarily to him the voice spoke to him saying you are my son the beloved one in you I am well pleased now why did he need this word of identification you are my son the beloved one did not the Lord Jesus know in the consciousness of his divine nature that he was the eternal son yes he knew that he often claimed it in the days of his flesh I and my father are one John tells us that he was face to face with God from eternity and yet now having just assumed all the liabilities of his people who can imagine
what thoughts may have run through the human mind through the human mind and soul of our Lord he stands in the midst of sinners who are all about him confessing their sins and in his burning zeal for the honor of God he knows that every one of those sins which are now being confessed by the sinners around him deserve the wrath and fury of his father and yet he has now just identified himself not with a few hundred or a few thousand Jerusalemites and Judeans he's identified himself with the sin of the world he's identified himself with the sins of all of his people from all ages every tribe and kindred tongue and nation and he knew that that temporary baptism that immersion into the waters of Jordan that being swallowed up as it were in that symbolic death was but a pointer to that hour when he would be anundated swallowed up in the waters of the father's wrath against the sins of all of his elect of all ages if ever the human soul of Jesus would tremble at the thought surely it was here standing dripping wet on the banks of Jordan how appropriate for the father to say you have been you are
you ever shall be my son my beloved one in all all the identity you now have as the anointed prophet priest and king in all of the liabilities you've assumed you are still my son my beloved one and you will never be more loved than when you appear to be most rejected he said therefore doth my father love me because I lay down my life and yet it was in the laying down of his life that there was wrung from his holy soul the cry my God my God why hast thou forsaken me the father forsook him because of what he identified himself with in the waters of Jordan and who can tell how many times in the midst of accomplishing our salvation the Lord Jesus looked back to this hour when the heavens were rent and he saw if John did not and others did not the scripture grammatically does lead us to believe Jesus saw the heavens rent Jesus heard the voice you are my son the beloved one you have always been this from eternity resting upon my bosom you are now
dripping wet with the watery reminders of this public identification and when you undergo the greater spiritual baptism of which this is but a preview you will still be my well beloved you are my beloved son and then the word of approbation in you I am well pleased and there's a problem in the grammar it is not a present tense it's what's called an heiress and some say it should be rendered I was pleased pointing back to the good pleasure of God in the eternal counsels you have not come here by your own appointment you come here because it was my good pleasure to appoint you to this place others say no it's the nomic heiress it's the timeless heiress well I don't want to involve you in grammatical distinctions this much is plain the father gave approbation to the son that he was the delight of his heart in you I am well pleased well pleased identified with sinners well pleased in this state of humiliation in this preview of the humiliation that will lead to the depths of the shame of the cross yes in you I am well pleased
Conclusion: The Gospel's Good News and Personal Application
I say then that the primary significance in this incident of identification and approbation is to strengthen the Lord Jesus to go forth in the task which he now formally assumes well I come around full circle now it should not surprise us that Mark introduces his record the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the son of God then he immediately takes us to the ministry of John but in a straight line he brings us from John to Jesus the Jesus who is God's appointed Messiah had to have a forerunner so the gospel begins with the record of the forerunner but the forerunner is just that only the forerunner and now the one who is the focal point of the gospel comes to us in verses 9 through 11 and in what capacity does he come to us he comes to us in the only capacity that makes the gospel good news Jesus Christ God's son saves us not by his sterling example not by his sterling example by his sheer incarnate omnipotence he saves us by becoming one with us
as in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive as through the one man Adam sin entered and death came upon all so through the one man Jesus the gift of life and of righteousness come to all who are in him my friend don't regard this as dry as dust theology my friend don't regard this you and I are saved on this principle of the representative headship of the Lord Jesus if he had not become one with us we could not be justly saved but it's because he became one with us that the father's dealings with him are by imputation the father's dealings with us oh to see him this morning with the eye of faith coming out of the obscurity of Nazareth again I remind you with no trumpeters before him with no heavenly retinue as there was at his birth the multitude of the heavenly host just a lonely figure making his way from Nazareth down to the wastelands by the Jordan just an ordinary man with no halo about his head no angels fluttering about him and he comes and stands amid sinners confessing their sins
plunged beneath the waters of Jordan and he comes forth and says suffer it now John it becomes us to fulfill all righteousness I must make it known that I am willingly I am with joy taking upon myself the responsibilities of my people I must be identified with them and then when he makes that public identification the father as it were answers by saying I must make it evident now at least to John and to my son that as he has undertaken that which he committed himself to do in the councils of eternity I will now perform what I committed myself to do I said I would uphold my servant I would put my spirit upon him that he might be a mighty savior that he might be a successful redeemer and so the heavens are rent and the spirit comes in the form of a dove and the spirit comes and rests upon him and then as the consciousness of all that this will mean to him begins to break upon his pure and holy soul the father would encourage and strengthen him to go forth to the task and so he speaks out of heaven you are my son the beloved one in you I am well pleased and then there follows
the demonic like event of the wilderness oh my friend do you see something of the glory of God glory in it you say what's all of this to me well my friend let me ask you a very simple question do you see in such a savior as this your only hope for life and salvation you see a Christian is someone who just as surely as Jesus identified himself with sinners in this formal public identification in the waters of Jordan a Christian is one who has identified himself with Christ who says in myself I see nothing but sin and culpability and just exposure to the wrath of God but I see in Jesus the well beloved of the father the holy harmless sinless son of God I see the one who willingly joyfully took the place of sinners I gladly run into him as he identified himself with sinners here in the river Jordan I now identify myself with him by telling him divorcing myself from Adam by repentance by incorporation into him by faith and then the public declaration of it in the waters of baptism was he baptized into solidarity
with his people then you see we must declare our incorporation into him by being baptized into solidarity with him and it's a beautiful beautiful symmetrical setting forth of the truth significance of baptism but that awaits next week that's one of the secondary lessons but oh to close on this note this morning can you say of Jesus as the father did you're well pleased with such a savior that's the heart of a Christian he's amazed at such a savior he's well pleased to be saved by the divine method of salvation all the objections and all of the questions have been buried and in the consciousness of sin and undone we say Lord Jesus well beloved of the father willing to identify yourself with the likes of me I do take you to be mine my only hope for life and salvation oh may the spirit shine upon the face of Christ Christ standing by the river Jordan Christ plunged beneath its turbid waters Christ standing dripping wet upon the banks the open heavens the descending dove the voice of identification the voice of approbation my friends that's the only savior God has ever sent
Closing Prayer
to this poor sin sick world you better be joined to him or one day you'll cry for rocks and mountains to fall upon you and curse the day you were born oh flee to him flee to him he calls to you from the banks of Jordan as the one identified with his people with the spirit mighty to save strengthened in his mission by the consciousness he is God's well beloved son flee to him Christian love him Christian serve him Christian don't be ashamed of so mighty and glorious and successful a savior let us pray our father what thanks can we render to you you have been pleased to reveal your beloved son to us we have this morning stood as it were upon the banks of ancient Jordan beholding our savior identifying himself with us what can we say oh lord we feel like Peter that we must cry depart from me lord I'm an unclean man yet we thank you
we thank you lord Jesus for your willingness to be identified with us to be identified with us to take upon yourself all of our liabilities we thank you holy father for granting the spirit in copious measure without measure to your son that he might be successful in his work and that our sitting here today is indeed the very living proof of his success as he has brought justice to us who were Gentiles of Pharaoh oh how we thank you lord seal your word to our hearts and for those who see no beauty in your son who can sit through an hour such as this and not wait until it's over have mercy upon them oh god open their blinded eyes subdue their rebel wills bring them broken and believing to the feet of Christ hear our prayer and answer us with a prayer and answer us with a prayer and answer us with a prayer and answer us for his dear name's sake amen
This transcript was generated by automated speech recognition and may contain errors. It is provided for study and reference only; the audio recording is the authoritative source.
Passages Expounded
This passage is the primary text for the sermon, detailing the three epic events of Jesus' baptism, anointing, and the Father's voice, which mark the beginning of His public ministry.
Texts Expounded
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