Mark 1:9-11

Alright, and as you're being seated, please take out your copy of God's Word and turn with me to the gospel according to Mark.

Last week, some correspondence from the Christian Video Licensing International, which is a good organization, a good thing to do if you're going to use multimedia video clips.

There's copyright issues there, and you have to be legal and appropriate in dealing with those things.

But the front of it, the advertisement here on the front of it to entice you to open it, says,

Plan your upcoming events and sermon illustrations with these new releases in mind.

And then it lists off the clips that are coming out.

Star Trek Into Darkness, Iron Man 3, World War Z, etc.

The Croods, I don't even know what that's all about.

Munster University.

So, I just really brought to mind not any kind of indignation or frustration with churches that tend to do that type of thing.

There's value in good illustration, and I have nothing against people using media to make that point.

But what it did do for me is it brought to my mind how really thankful I am that I don't feel a pressure to do things like this.

That you people just want the Word of God preached to you, and that's a blessing to me.

Certainly, I try to come up with illustrations and to better explain things and do so,

but I'm so glad that I don't have to plan my sermon illustrations around the releases of what's coming out soon.

Movies I haven't even seen.

I'm going to hand that to you, so I don't have to deal with it up here.

So, that being said, I appreciate you.

And let's pray together, and let's thank God for His Word to us.

Father, we thank you so very much for your inspired words that you gave to Mark to pin down.

For the Roman believers that were his intended audience,

and yet, because it is your Word, it has meaning for us this day.

This book, penned so many years ago, has real-life implication for today, for us,

for those who have called on your name.

And I just pray, Father, that it will be instructive in that way,

that you will work by your Spirit to help us understand its meaning,

to give us wisdom as to how we should apply it to our lives.

We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.

So, our text for today, as Mark has been quickly pushing us into this Gospel account,

he says in verse 1, the beginning of the Gospel, the good news,

the proclamation of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

He's pressing us now to verse 9, to behold the baptism of Jesus.

And this is a major event, a huge event in the life of Christ.

Very, very important to the historical narrative here.

And Mark gives it all of three verses.

And I told you in our very first sermon that he moves and he scoots along through things,

ultimately pressing the readers here to a devotion to being disciples of Christ.

So, he's moving through things quickly to get us to that point, to get us to understand and to realize that.

So, he does it for a very specific reason.

I kind of feel like as we're pausing and preparing, as I'm looking at just three verses this morning,

I kind of feel like Mark sometimes is sitting in the office with me going,

get to it, keep moving, keep moving, hurry up, go, go, go.

And I'm saying, yeah, but we've got to stop.

We have to stop.

These words that you penned are far too precious for us to not reflect on them at some length.

So, remember, last week we talked about John the Baptist, as I called him, John the Baptizer.

This was his significance.

One that was sent as a prophet of God.

God had been silent for 400 years and now was speaking through John the Baptist in the wilderness

as he fulfilled this prophecy about who he would be.

He was in the line of the prophets dressed in camel hair and he was preaching baptism and repentance

in order to prepare the way for the one who would come after him.

And that is Jesus Christ.

The one that he says, I'm not even unworthy to unstrap his sandals.

And it's in these days, these days that John the Baptist is about his ministry in the wilderness

where we see verse 9.

So let's read together verses 9 through 11.

In those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open

and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.

And a voice came from heaven,

You are my beloved Son.

With you I am well pleased.

So we see here in these days that John the Baptist is active.

It is proposed, he's been active doing this ministry in the wilderness for about six months at this point.

Traveling up and down the Jordan Valley.

Heralding the coming of Jesus Christ.

We see that all Jerusalem and all Judea, meaning a great multitude of people,

are coming out of the city, coming out to receive this baptism that John was performing.

We saw last week that this was a baptism called proselytite baptism.

For those who were not of Jewish descent, but desired to worship the God of Israel.

They were permitted to come into that family in this way that they would be baptized.

And so it was significant for the Jews to be traveling out to be baptized with a proselytite baptism

because they were saying in doing that, that we are no better than the Gentiles.

We recognize our sinfulness.

Our blood relation is not enough to have us stand rightly before God.

We must repent.

We must believe in the Messiah who is to come.

So it was a radical form of repentance, but it was simply preparatory for the Jesus that would come onto the scene

as we see him here happening.

This is the only record, this account of this baptism that we see of John and Jesus interacting,

in person interacting.

And as I kind of just mused about this this week, just thought about this connection,

it caused me to think about the fact that they were related.

Mary and Elizabeth, Mary's Jesus' mother, Elizabeth, John's mother, were cousins.

So more than likely, depending on the paternal, maternal nature of their relationship,

I don't know if you even understand how the second cousin that wants to remove and all of that works,

but more than likely, more than likely, John and Jesus were second cousins.

It's likely in that way.

And so certainly John knew of Jesus.

He was sent to be the herald before him and knew that this distant relative of his,

this potentially second cousin, Jesus, was that person.

So more than likely, they knew each other as they came together to encounter one another in this way.

I just like to think sometimes outside of the text and just kind of imagine the conversations that are taking place

between Elizabeth and Mary, cousins, as they get together and talk about how their boys are doing,

both of them, and about their 30th year of life.

And Elizabeth says, oh yeah, John, he's out there full of the Spirit,

traveling around, wearing camel hair, doing this baptism.

He's eating locusts and honey.

And how's Jesus doing?

And Mary probably couldn't resist to go, oh, he's perfect.

He's perfect in every way.

I just wonder in my mind, particularly this week with our two, what a perfect baby would be like.

Would be nice.

But certainly though, even if they had not met each other up to this point in this first 30 years,

which I probably would think that the cousins got together and played and did some things together in their early years,

but certainly John knew of Jesus, right?

Don't know if he recognized him or not, but he certainly knew that he was the Messiah.

And we see that Jesus comes, the record here is, from Nazareth of Galilee.

And this Galilee was commonly called the Galilee of the Gentiles.

This was part of the land that was originally conquered by Joshua,

but also part of the land that was conquered by the Assyrians.

And during one of the captivities of Israel, they were carried away.

And guess who came in and replaced them in the land?

Gentiles, right?

The people of the nations, peoples who were not of Israel, came in and occupied this place.

And this is where Jesus comes from.

He comes from Nazareth of Galilee, which was the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.

The second half of Isaiah 9.1 says,

In the latter time, he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan,

Galilee of the nations, or Galilee of the Gentiles.

And people miss that at every point, all of the prophecies,

all the things that were foretold about who Jesus was, that he fulfilled them perfectly.

People miss this.

An example, John 7, verses 40-42 says,

John 7:40–42

When they heard these words, Jesus just said some shocking things.

He says,

Some of the people said,

This really is the prophet.

Others said,

This is the Christ.

But some said,

Is the Christ to come from Galilee?

Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David,

and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?

And here we see Christ perfectly fulfilling all these prophecies

as he was born in the town of Bethlehem.

I hope you're all familiar with that story.

So here we see him perfectly accomplishing this.

Now, this place that he came from,

has some interesting significance,

because it was rather far away from Jerusalem.

And it was understood in these days that the further you got away from Jerusalem,

the less the Israeli population existed.

It was more and more Gentile,

and therefore in their minds, more and more pagan.

So for him to come from Galilee of the Gentiles,

in their minds, in the Jewish mind,

was not a holy place for him to be from.

They would have much preferred their Savior,

their King,

to come from Jerusalem.

Born in the center of town.

That's where they would have liked to have seen him come.

Isn't it amazing that the most significant man

to have ever lived

came from a place that was little

and insignificant?

In fact,

the fact that it records here

that he was from Nazareth of Galilee,

because Nazareth is a totally insignificant town.

Completely insignificant.

It doesn't exist in any historic record outside of the Bible.

Small, dinky town.

Not worth talking about in any other literature at all.

Dahlonega at least has some history

being the side of the first American gold rush, right?

But some of you experienced,

somebody asked,

where are you going to school?

All of you who were in college?

I go to school in North Georgia.

It's in Dahlonega,

in Lumpkin County,

about an hour north of Atlanta, right?

You always feel like you have to add some qualifiers, right?

To help people understand

where it is that you live, right?

This would have been the case,

and that's what Mark is doing here for us.

He's from Nazareth of Galilee,

a very insignificant place,

and out of that comes much significance.

I hope that's a little bit of encouragement to you,

those of us who live in small towns like Dahlonega.

And as he came,

he was baptized by John in the Jordan.

See this record of that.

Let's look at it also in Matthew 3,

Matthew 3:13–15

verse 13-15.

Please turn there with me.

Matthew 3, beginning in verse 13.

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John

to be baptized by him.

Here's some of the interaction between the two of them in this.

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 thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.

Then he, being John, consented.

So here we see a little bit of the interaction that takes place.

And the thing I want to get into your mind

is the significance of what Jesus came to do.

Isn't it very interesting

that this day,

as we do baptisms together

in our stock tank on our stage,

that what we're saying

is that there's been a change in our hearts

that we once were sinners.

This was our nature.

Enemies of God.

But because of what Christ has done for us

and our faith in Him,

we are now believers.

We've been buried with Him in baptism.

Raised to walk in newness of life.

It's a symbol of that death

that has come spiritually

and the newness we now have in Christ.

That's the symbol of what this is.

It's what it was designed to do for us.

So how is it that Jesus was baptized?

Was Jesus made new at this point?

Certainly not.

Jesus was without sin.

Did He need to experience radical repentance?

No.

He had nothing to repent for.

So why?

Why?

Did Jesus Christ,

the Son of God,

come to John

to be baptized.

John didn't understand it

until he explained it to him.

And that's where we're going to get to

here in just a moment.

But I want to show you three

significant things

that we can notice,

that we can observe here.

So what is the significance of Jesus' baptism?

Three matters.

And they're all incredibly important,

but they move in level of importance,

the way I'm going to present them to you.

So let me say that to you.

Number one, important.

Number two, a little more important.

Number three, of utmost importance.

So number one,

Jesus set for us an example in baptism.

He didn't need it.

He didn't need to experience this proselyte baptism.

He didn't need to have an outward showing

of repentance as a man set apart.

Right?

The God-man who had lived in perfection

up until this day.

But He did it for us

as an example.

Mark 16.

This is the great commission charge

recorded in Mark.

Jesus says,

whoever believes and is baptized

will be saved,

but whoever does not believe

will be condemned.

So notice,

it's not that baptism saves us,

but whoever believes and is baptized

as evidence of that belief

will be saved.

Because notice,

He doesn't say next,

but whoever does not believe

and is not baptized

will be condemned.

Right?

It's not an equation.

Believing plus baptism equals salvation.

But simply,

believing.

And the obedient outflow

of that being baptism

is the evidence of this belief.

And you will be saved.

So here's the command,

the turning out of that.

For those of us

who now have faith in Christ,

we are to be baptized

as believers.

Right?

We believe in that.

Believer's baptism.

The fancier term for it is

credo baptism.

Right?

We're credo Baptists here

at Christ's Family Church.

Matthew 28.

18-20.

Probably a more familiar

account of the great commission.

And Jesus came and said to them,

All authority in heaven

and on earth

has been given to me.

Go therefore and make disciples

of all nations,

baptizing them in the name

of the Father and the Son

and the Holy Spirit,

teaching them to observe

all that I have commanded you.

And behold,

I am with you always

to the end of the age.

So again, we see here

this process of going

and making disciples

begins faith, repentance, baptism.

Right?

It's the obedient thing

that should be happening

as an outflow

of what God has done for us,

displaying to a community

of believers

what He has done.

It's a beautiful,

beautiful picture.

Symbolic in every way.

What a beautiful picture.

We do baptism

the way we do baptism.

We find it all together

to be biblical

because we see here

that Jesus was baptized.

The Greek is baptizo.

It's where we get this word from.

Which means literally

to immerse or submerge.

It in no way

in any stretch

of the imagination

could possibly ever mean

to sprinkle.

It's impossible.

Right?

Not a,

let's do some work

with the Greek,

let's really wrestle with this.

No, there's no way

this word can be made

to mean that.

An absolute impossibility.

It means to immerse

or to submerge.

Notice that Jesus

was baptized by John

in the Jordan.

Not next to it.

It wasn't an ample source

of water for John

to go around and dip from.

They got in the water together.

Verse 10 says,

and when he came up

out of the water.

Right?

Not referring to him

walking out of the Jordan,

but that he actually

was underwater

and he came up

out of the water.

So here's the example

that he's given to us

for how this should be done.

And just think,

if this is meant

to be something

that's symbolic

of our death

and resurrection,

we ought to be immersed

in that case.

I think many of you

have heard me say,

if we change our traditions,

the way we deal

with dead bodies,

right,

where we just simply

lay them on the ground

and throw dirt

on their face

and we walk away,

I might consider,

maybe,

I wouldn't actually

because of the example

given to us in scripture,

but then maybe

we could make some

justification for sprinkling

being the case for baptism.

That's not how people

are taken care of

when they die,

is it?

Right?

They are entombed,

put in the earth

and if they raise again,

they come up out

of the same

and that is what

we're showing forth.

It's a better picture.

To the degree

that it's worth

all the work it takes

to get this thing

in here

and get it filled.

On Friday,

some great guys

stick around

and help me

get it all set up

and then we worked

on filling it

and I said,

you guys take off,

I'll take care of it,

no big deal.

And I went downstairs

and I forgot

that it was filling

again.

This is the second time

this has happened.

This was worse

than the last time.

Those of you

who experienced,

the last one happened

at a college Bible study.

This one,

fortunately,

the homeschool co-op

that meets here,

a couple of the kids

were here a little bit early

and came frantically

running downstairs.

There's water everywhere.

And there was.

I mean,

it was water everywhere

all over the stage.

I had to get a shot

back out

and vacuum it up

and I think I dumped

about 15 gallons

of water out the door

from the shop vac.

If you could just imagine,

hey,

but look,

everything is okay.

Now everything's dry

and managing quite well.

It all got taken care of.

Kim Luttrell rightly

said that we probably

in the budget next year

need to put in

a stage repair line item.

And I said,

why don't we call it

pastor's mistakes?

Let's just go ahead

and designate some dollars

for that kind of thing.

I'd like to say

that I'm a smart man

so I learned from my mistakes

and hopefully it took two

in this case

and it will never happen again.

It was a lot of trouble though.

Let me say to you,

it was a lot of trouble.

Even if we had done it right,

it was a lot of trouble.

But certainly,

having done it wrong

and never once

in all of that time

that I think,

I wish we just did this

a different way.

Man,

wouldn't it be easier

if we just did this

a different way?

It would be wrong,

I believe,

to do it a different way.

This is the way

it should be done

by immersion

to show

what is happening

in the heart.

I hope that as you guys

experience this today

that it's beautiful to you,

that the imagery

means something

to you.

That it's not just like,

oh yeah,

baptism's great,

fine, right?

But that you see

that it actually

is a picture,

something we can kind of

sort of see

and wrap our minds around

what actually happens

in the heart of men

when they believe

in Jesus Christ.

So,

that's the first one.

Jesus set for us

an example

of baptism.

He didn't need to.

We do.

He didn't need to,

but He did it anyway.

Secondly,

Jesus affirmed

His deity

in being baptized.

He affirmed

His deity

in being baptized.

As Wes mentioned earlier,

in verse 10 and 11

we observe

a rare moment

that we can observe

in the Scriptures

when the Father,

the Son,

and the Holy Spirit

are all recorded

as being present,

seen,

heard,

interacting

together.

We see this happening

right here.

There's some debate

about who

experienced it.

You'll notice that

in verse 10

it says,

when He came up

out of the water

immediately He saw

the heavens

being torn open.

This would have been

Jesus that they're

referring to

in this case.

One of the commentators,

a book that I've picked up,

to help me with my study

of Mark,

said that Jesus

was the only one

that experienced this.

He saw the heavens

torn open,

saw the Spirit

descending like a dove.

Jesus was the one

that experienced this.

I disagree.

I disagree entirely

with Him,

in fact.

Because what's happening here

is this fulfillment

of Old Testament prophecy.

It's the confirmation

of who Jesus is.

It's a coronation ceremony,

so to speak,

of Him becoming

the King.

He already was,

but this is like

the crown is being placed

upon His head now

to confirm

who He is.

Why would God deny that

for the people observing?

Why would they not

experience this

to be true?

Isaiah 64.1

Isaiah has been

prophesying

of the coming

of the Messiah

all along,

and then in 64.1

he prays,

Oh,

that you would

rend the heavens

and come down.

After this 400 years

of prophetic silence,

God finally did

just that.

Pour the heavens

open.

The Greek here,

schismo,

our word schism

comes from that.

The heavens were

ripped open

as Isaiah

had prayed for,

and the Spirit

descended

like a dove.

Right?

So we see this picture

of this rather

graphic thing happening.

I have no idea

how to even describe

what that might have

looked like to you.

The heavens being

torn open,

and the Spirit

descending.

So this

almost violent thing,

and then this

very gentle thing.

Right?

The text does not read

that the Spirit

descended as a dove.

Most of us have

probably seen

some photo,

or painting,

I shouldn't say photo,

painting somewhere

of Jesus coming

out of the water,

and a dove.

Right?

It's usually got

some light lines

around it

coming down.

It does not say

that the Spirit

descended as a dove,

but rather like a dove.

And I think that the

picture we're meant

to see here is that

it came down gently,

and rested on Christ.

Again,

some commentators

have tried to do

some interesting things

with this.

They've tried to relate

this to the dove

with Noah,

and the ark

that Noah sent out.

Nope.

Right?

That was just a dove

that brought back

an olive branch.

That's the significance

there.

It was an animal

that he sent away.

Certainly,

we know that doves

are very gentle.

Right?

This is the description

that's happening here.

Right?

We know that John

saw it.

In the Gospel of John,

chapter 132,

it says,

and John bore witness.

I saw the Spirit

descend from heaven

like a dove,

and it remained

on him.

Right?

There's a record.

John the Baptist

saw this

as well.

This is so key

and so important

that the Spirit

came down

and descended

and rested

and remained

upon him

because,

remember the point,

Jesus affirmed

his deity

in being baptized.

Again,

the book of Isaiah,

Isaiah 11:1

chapter 11,

verses 1 and 2.

There shall come forth

a shoot from the stump

of Jesse,

and a branch from his root

shall bear fruit.

This is his Davidic line.

And the Spirit

of the Lord

shall rest upon him,

the Spirit of wisdom

and understanding,

the Spirit of counsel

and might,

the Spirit of knowledge

and the fear

of the Lord.

Right?

This fulfillment here

of this prophecy,

the Spirit of the Lord

shall rest upon him.

Who is he talking about?

They're talking about

the Messiah,

the Christ,

Jesus,

the Son of God.

Again,

Isaiah 42,

1.

Behold my servant

whom I uphold,

my chosen,

in whom my soul

delights.

I have put my Spirit

upon him.

He will bring forth

justice to the nations.

So here we see

this fulfillment,

this confirmation

of Jesus' deity.

It's said to the observers,

this is the Christ.

A coronation ceremony,

so to speak.

And the people there,

if they knew their Bibles,

knew this was

the Son of God.

So,

firstly,

Jesus was baptized.

Significant.

Sets for us an example.

Secondly,

he affirmed his deity

in being baptized.

And remember,

moving in levels

of importance.

I would say to you,

number three,

is the most

important thing

for you to hear

and to grasp

and to wrap your mind

around this morning.

The third one,

Jesus maintained

a perfect obedience

in being baptized.

Jesus maintained

a perfect obedience

in being baptized.

Do you remember

what he said to John?

His response to John?

The thing that we see

recorded for us

in Matthew

that causes John,

the simple record

of Matthew,

is that then he consented.

Then John consented.

Jesus answered him,

said,

Let it be so now,

for thus it is fitting

for us to fulfill

all righteousness.

So here is Jesus,

the man,

the only man

who ever didn't need

to repent,

who was perfect

to this time,

had no need of it

whatsoever,

but because God

had commanded

the baptism of repentance.

Isn't that what

John was preaching?

Mark records for us,

that was John

was traveling around

and preaching

that very thing.

As a prophet

sent by God,

he was teaching people

that they ought

to be baptized

to show repentance.

So Jesus

was baptized

to be fully obedient

to the commands

of the Father.

He didn't need to be.

A unique person

in this case.

The only person

that stood

on those grounds,

but

he was baptized

anyway

to show forth

a perfect

obedience.

And here we see

the heavens have been

ripped open,

and the Spirit of God

has descended

like a dove

and rested upon him.

And then we hear

the voice of the Father

from heaven say,

You are my beloved Son.

With you

I am well pleased.

Which is a composite

Scripture citation

of Psalm 2-7

and Isaiah 42-1.

It's God's Word.

He can do with it

what He pleases.

Right?

You are my beloved Son.

With you

I am well pleased.

Because

Jesus

was bringing Himself

into conformity.

Lived in that state

of perfect obedience

to the Father.

And we get the blessing

of God then

on Christ

for the ministry

He was about to start.

Right?

Jesus Christ

was perfect

in every sense

of the word.

Right?

Mary was proper

to boast

in her Son.

He was perfect.

The only way,

this is the only way,

God could have made

a way for us

back to Him

as we are completely

imperfect

in our sin.

In every way,

without faith,

everything we do,

even the good things

by the world's terms

that we do

are still

filthy.

All of our own effort,

all of our righteousness,

all of it

is utterly

filthy

before God.

He can have nothing

to do with it.

But because God

is just,

He must

punish sin.

Hear me carefully.

It's not that when

you believe in Christ,

God just forgives

your sin

the way we would

think of forgiveness.

It's not that God goes,

yeah,

I was offended by that,

but it's okay.

God can't do that.

God is

all the things

He is

all the time.

He's in no way

split personality.

And so if God

is wrath

and justice

pours that out

on sin,

He must

punish our sin.

And so who did

He punish it in?

Christ.

The perfect,

the spotless

Lamb.

The only

one

that was

without

flaw.

He poured out

His wrath

on Christ

for you.

And in a sense,

our sins are forgiven,

just not the way

we typically think of it.

We are now

justified

before God

because of that.

You often get a picture

of justification

of standing in a courtroom

before a judge

of a crime

you are absolutely

guilty of.

And the judge

knows it full well.

The evidence is there.

They've played the video.

They've seen you do it.

You paused

and stared at the camera.

They know

it's you.

You held up your license.

You said,

hey,

my name is Nathan.

Without a doubt,

you committed the crime.

And the judge says,

you know what?

I'm going to pardon you

for this crime.

We get an idea of that.

That is a sense

of what justification

looks like.

But more than that,

more than that,

there was a man

sitting in the courtroom

that's innocent

and the judge says,

I'm going to pardon you

for the crime

and I'm going to punish

him instead.

He's going to take

your punishment.

And this is the way

God must act.

And so,

Christ being completely

obedient

in every way

is good for us.

Because God

is pleased

with Jesus Christ.

With His

perfect obedience.

For those of us

who have placed

our faith in Christ,

He is also

pleased

with us.

For those of us

who have believed

in Christ,

Christ's perfection

has been given

to us.

Imputed is the

big fancy term

for that.

Martin Luther

called it

the great exchange.

Jesus Christ

gave us

His righteousness

and He took

our sin.

He swapped it

with us.

So when God

sees us now

in Christ,

in the Beloved,

He sees

Christ.

Ah!

If you

don't know

this Christ,

God sees you

and He sees

your sin

and because

He's perfect

and holy

and just,

He must

punish that

sin.

You deserve it

to be clear.

Don't place

that blame

on God.

You've rejected

His ways.

He gave you

a conscience.

He gave you

evidence of

Himself

and the nature.

You're fully

guilty of the

things that

you've done

against Him.

Don't blame it

on Him

and His character.

His character

is perfect

and holy.

You are utterly

sinful.

For those of us

who do know

Christ,

we get to

stand before

Him justified.

He sees

us as He

sees Jesus.

This is a

massive blessing

because we

are not

perfect.

The faith

we have

wasn't even

ours to

begin with.

Don't think

you're better

than anybody

else.

God gave

it to you

as a

gift.

So as we

struggle in

this life,

as we've

experienced

these great

gospel truths

and yet we

live in

contradiction

to them

all the

time,

we can

go back

to God.

We can

continue to

return to

Him because

we've been

given

Christ's

righteousness.

Charles Spurgeon

once said

in similar

words,

God is so

boundlessly

pleased with

Jesus that

in Him

He is

altogether

pleased with

us.

Let me

read that to

you again.

God is so

boundlessly

pleased with

Jesus that

in Him

He is

altogether

pleased

with us.

Ephesians 1

6 in the

ESV translation,

which is what

I'm using and

I know many of

you use.

It says that

He, being

God, has

blessed us in

the Beloved,

Jesus Christ.

King James, I

really like the

way it renders

that.

He hath made

us accepted

in the Beloved.

We are

accepted in

the Beloved

for all the

reasons that I

just said to

you.

If you've

placed your

faith in

Christ,

God sees

Jesus when

He sees

you.

1 John 3,

1-3,

John writes

this letter.

It says,

See what kind

of love the

Father has

given to

us, that

we should

be called

children of

God, and

so we

are.

The reason

why the

world does

not know

us is

that it

did not

know Him.

Now here,

listen carefully

to this.

Verse 2,

Beloved,

we are

God's

children now,

and what

we will be

has not yet

appeared, but

we know

that when

He appears,

we shall

be like

Him, because

we shall

see Him

as He

is.

And

everyone

who thus

hopes in

Him purifies

himself as

He is

pure.

Notice what

John does.

The language

that he uses

here.

Verse 2.

I think this

is so good.

I have heard

people preach

from the book

of 1 John

and talk about

how John

was very

old at this

point that he's

writing, and

so he had

the right to

call everybody

children.

That was the

explanation that

was given for

that.

Oh no.

What he's doing

is he's helping

believers understand

their identity.

He's calling us

children because

we are children

of the Most

High God.

That's why he's

using this

language, and I

think we see

this best at the

beginning of verse

2 of 1 John

1 John 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3.

Beloved, there's

that word,

beloved.

Like, in your

mind when you

read that, I

hope that you're

hearing God

from heaven saying

to Jesus Christ,

you are my

beloved son.

With you I am

well pleased.

This is a title

that God gives

to Jesus, and

here John on the

inspiration of the

Spirit gives it to

us.

Have you ever

wondered in my

preaching why

sometimes I refer

to you all as

beloved?

I'm not talking

about my love for

you, although I do

love you very much.

I'm giving you the

title that God has

given you in

Christ.

Beloved, we are

God's children

now.

And the rest of

that verse, verse

2, just talks

about how we've

yet to come into

perfection.

We're not quite

there yet, this is

what I was just

saying, but we're

on our way in that

direction.

We're moving that

way to be like

Christ.

I'll read to you

another quote from

Charles Spurgeon.

I should try not to

quote the same guy

twice in a sermon,

but this was way

too good.

I believe that

when we have been

in heaven 10,000

years, this will

still be a subject

of rapture and

surprise, that he

should ever have

found anything in

us which he could

take delight.

That he should

ever have found

anything in us

which he could

take delight.

To pity us, to

show mercy to us,

that I can

understand, but to

love us?

The big heart

of God to love

a creeping thing

like man.

The infinite soul

of the Most High

to pour itself out

on such a mean,

worthless creature

as man.

The everlasting

God who fills all

in all to

concentrate as it

were the powers

of a spirit and

set the whole

upon a creature

that his own

hands have made.

A creature that

had revolted and

rebelled and at

the best is still

worthless.

At the best is

still worthless.

Oh, sing of this,

you spirits before

the throne.

We cannot speak of

it today as we

should.

Hear what he's

saying.

There's no way we

can even comprehend

now.

There's no way we

could possibly sing

the praises of God

for what he's done

for us in Christ

now.

And he's saying

that even when

we've been in

heaven for 10,000

years, he thinks

that this will

still be a subject

of rapture and

surprise.

To think that God,

a merciful, holy

God, perfect in

every way, would

condescend to

show love to

man.

Charles Spurgeon

says that he

could get maybe

mercy, but to

love us the way

he loves the

Son.

As he said to

the Son, you

are my beloved.

With you I am

well pleased.

Someday he will

say to us, because

if we have placed

our faith in

him, he sees

us as he sees

Jesus.

I hope that

you are with me

in wanting that

to be true.

In recognizing

that if that's

not true,

eternal damnation

is your place.

Destruction

forever.

I can't even

comprehend how

very horrible

that will be.

Separated

eternally from

God.

Thrown into a

place of fire

and weeping

and gnashing of

teeth.

Right?

And again,

don't blame that

on God.

That is not

his fault.

You bought it.

You were told

the way you

ought to live,

which we fail

at every point.

You were told

to believe in

Christ.

You're accountable

for that.

And yet you

rejected him.

You deserve

eternal punishment.

I hope that you

don't want to

experience that.

I hope this

morning that

there's a

pricking in

your heart

if you've

never placed

faith in

Christ to

respond in

faith today.

The simple

call of the

gospel is to

repent and

believe.

Turn from

your sin and

turn towards

God.

Recognize that

your sufficiency

comes from

him.

And so I

just have

three questions

for you just

to kind of

filter some

of that.

Are you

found in

Christ?

When God

looks upon you

this morning,

can he say

of you that

you're his

beloved?

Does he see

Christ when he

sees you?

And so just

three questions

for you to

ponder.

Firstly,

do you depend

on the

beloved?

Do you depend

on Christ

for your

salvation?

Is he

your salvation?

Or is it

some manner

of works?

Being a

member of a

particular church

or denomination?

Or is it

Christ that

is your

salvation?

Do you

bear fruit

as one who

is dependent

on the

beloved?

Do you

live as you

should live?

We saw in

1 John 3

there that

this is

something that

we do

because of

what God

has done

for us?

Not that

our works

earn us

our salvation

but our

works are

evidence

of what

we've done.

That's what

baptism is.

It's an

obedient act

of response

to what

God has

done for

us in

Christ.

Do you

do bear

fruit in

that way?

And thirdly,

do you

love the

beloved?

Do you

love

Christ?

Christ

should be

the most

attractive

thing to

a regenerate

heart?

His

person

and his

work.

Knowing,

reflecting

upon,

understanding

what he

has done

for us,

he ought

to be

the most

valuable

thing

to us.

Do you

love

the beloved

or do you

love the

things of

the world?

These things

are said

in contradiction

to one

another.

We should

be ever

increasing

as we're

growing in

grace,

our love

for Christ

and our

disdain

for the

world.

I'm not

saying that

you don't

enjoy your

family,

that you

don't enjoy

having a

home,

I'm not

saying any

of that.

What I'm

saying to

you is

in comparison

to Christ,

all things

in the words

of Paul

are rubbish,

trash,

vile,

in comparison

to knowing

Jesus Christ

as Lord.

So do

you

love him?

I'm going

to close

today as

we come

to the end

of that point,

which I hope

you understand

why I believe

that's so

drastically

important as

we look at

this short

record,

these three

verses of

Jesus being

baptized.

baptized.

I came

across a

hymn that

was new

to me,

written in

1930,

called In

the Beloved

by a woman

named

Sevilla

Martin.

I just

want you

to listen

to these

words.

Wes is

going to

try to

put these

to music

for us

soon.

In the

beloved,

accepted I

am,

risen,

ascended,

and seated

on high,

saved from

all sin

through his

infinite grace,

with the

redeemed

ones,

accorded a

place.

In the

beloved,

God's

marvelous

grace

calls me

to dwell

in this

wonderful

place.

God sees

my Savior

and then

he sees

me.

In the

beloved,

accepted

and free.

In the

beloved,

how safe

my retreat.

In the

beloved,

accounted

complete.

Who can

condemn me?

In him

I am

free.

Savior

and keeper

forever

is he.

In the

beloved,

God's

marvelous

grace

calls me

to dwell

in this

wonderful

place.

God

sees my

Savior

and then

he sees

me.

In the

beloved,

accepted

and free.

In the

beloved,

I went

to the

tree.

There

in his

person

by faith

I may

see.

Infinite

wrath

rolling

over

his

head,

infinite

grace,

for he

died

in my

stead.

In the

beloved,

God's

marvelous

grace

calls me

to dwell

in this

wonderful

place.

God

sees

my

Savior

and then

he

sees

me.

In

the

beloved,

accepted

and

free.

Let's

pray

together.