Matthew | The King's Annointing

If you have your Bible with you, you can open the Matthew chapter

Matthew 3 · chapter mention

3, continuing our sermon series in the Gospel of Matthew titled

The King and this Kingdom. We had started last week, a

little subsection of this we're calling the King's preparation.

So we're going to see a little bit more this morning about the

King's preparation. All right, we came to Matthew

Matthew 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3 last week. But as we mentioned some last

week, when you come to Matthew 3, the spotlight widens just a

little bit. The years of silence give way to

public revelation, and we begin to see some things about Christ

here publicly. And so John the Baptist, as we

saw last week, appears in the wilderness.

He's preparing the way of the Lord.

He's calling Israel to repentance.

He's pointing forward to one who is greater than himself.

And so the king is no longer hidden, but he has not yet begun

to preach. He's not yet healed anyone.

He's not confronted the powers of darkness in any way that

we've seen before. The king acts publicly.

Matthew shows us something far more foundational, and he's he's

revealing something for us. And that is that the king is

being prepared. He's being commissioned, he's

being confirmed for his ministry.

And so in this passage, Jesus steps forward, but he steps

forward not in a way that he's going to claim a throne

immediately. He's stepping forward to submit

to baptism. He's he's not stepping forward

to display power immediately. He's stepping forward to fulfill

righteousness as he will explain.

And so as he does, heaven itself responds to this moment.

The Spirit descends, the Father speaks, the identity and mission

of Jesus are publicly declared before his ministry ever gets

underway. And so this moment at the Jordan

is, it's not incidental, all right?

It's, it's not happening by accidents or anything like that.

This, this moment at the Jordan is essential.

It's, it's very important. It tells us who Jesus is, it

tells us how he will carry out his mission, and it tells us

from where His authority is coming from.

So it prepares us for what immediately follows in chapter

4, which will be a time of testing and temptation and

opposition in the wilderness. And so with that in mind, if

you're able, would you please stand as we read and hear the

word of the Lord from Matthew 3 verses 13 through 17, Matthew

Matthew 3:13–17

313 through 17. Then Jesus came from Galilee to

the Jordan to John to be baptized by him.

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 consented, and when

Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and

behold, the heavens were open to him, and he saw the Spirit of

God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him.

And behold, a voice from heaven said, This is my beloved son,

with whom I am well pleased. This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you

for the for this day that you grant us each week, the Lord's

Day, a time to come and together with the Saints for worship.

Lord, as we sing and as we pray and as we hear your word

preached, as we fellowship before and after God, we know

that you are working in US. You're working through US, and

the the most powerful moments of the whole thing is when we open

up your word to read it and to hear you speak to us directly

from it. And so, Father, we thank you for

the gift of the Word of God and that you have spoken and

revealed yourself to us. We find all that is necessary

for salvation and a life of godliness written here.

And so, Lord, as we read these words today, would you conform

us more and more into the image of Christ your Son?

Would you convict us of sin? Would you help us to see where

we lack dependence? Would you open our eyes and help

us to understand your Word? Father, we're asking that you be

with us in power by your Spirit today as we proclaim your word.

And Lord, we are dependent upon that.

So in the name of Christ, we ask, Amen.

Amen may be seated. So if if you're honest, all

right, look at you're Christian, so hopefully you are all right.

But if you're honest, many of us would confess to being wired to

look for approval after something has been accomplished.

All right, you, you help around the house, men, you do some

dishes, you sweep some floors, something to that effect.

And you immediately want it to be known to your wife that you

helped, right? We look for approval after

something has been accomplished. Often times we expect some sort

of an affirmation once the work is done, once the results are

visible and it can clearly be seen that success can be

measured, right? We, we look for approval in

those settings. Well, that's often how the world

works, all right. That's, that's often how we

think about things in the world. And if we're not careful, we'll

take that lens of the world and apply it to our relationship

with the Lord, and we'll begin to think that God works this way

as well. All right.

But here at the Jordan, what happens is, is that thinking is

turned completely on its head. All right.

Jesus has not yet preached a sermon, He's not yet performed a

miracle, He's not yet confronted Satan, healed the sick, or gone

to the cross. So we'll see all those things

throughout this gospel, but he hasn't done those things yet.

And yet before any of that happens, heaven opens to the

Lord, the Spirit descends, the Father speaks words of approval

and delights. And what Matthew wants us to see

is that the public ministry of Jesus is grounded not in self

assertion, right? And it's it's not that Christ

shows up on the same and begins to assert himself.

It's, it's not even granted through some sort of public

achievements, but it's granted in obedience, divine

empowerments and divine approval.

And so the moment that we see here in the text is not about

Jesus becoming something he was not.

It's about the Father publicly declaring to the world who he is

and commissioning him for the work that he sent him to do.

It's the commissioning of Christ.

And that brings us to the heart of the passage and to what I

think might be the main point of the sermon today, which is this.

The the Father affirms and the Spirit anoints the Son as the

King who fulfills all righteousness.

The Father affirms and the Spirit anoints the Son as the

king who fulfills all righteousness.

Now, Matthew's going to show us this truth in three clear

movements. First, we're going to see the

king submitting willingly, obediently, to fulfill all

righteousness. Second, we'll see the King

anointed as the Spirit descends upon him for ministry.

And 3rd, we will hear the King affirmed as the Father declares

his pleasure in his beloved Son. Now this is not only a

revelation of who Jesus is, but it's a reminder of how God

works. That's where it's going to be

important for us. That's where the text presses

home. Kind of an implication or

application for us today. God works through humble

obedience. He works through spirit given

power. He works through integrity or

sorry, an identity grounded in divine approval, right?

So let's walk through the scene carefully.

Let's learn what God is showing us about his King and about life

lived under his king #1 the King submits to fulfill all

righteousness. Look again at verses 13 and 15.

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John to be

baptized by him. Then John, sorry, 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 John consented, All right,

so Matthew tells us right out of the gate, Jesus came from

Galilee to the Jordan to John to be baptized by him.

Now that simple sentence is loaded with a lot of meaning.

Jesus doesn't stumble into the moment.

It's not accidental. As I said earlier, it's not even

impulsive. He, he comes intentionally.

He, he comes traveling a considerable distance to present

himself for baptism, right? And immediately we get the

tension of the scene. John sees him and John objects.

He knows enough to know that something is off, right?

John has been calling centers, centers to repentance.

He has been warning Pharisees and Sadducees.

He has spoken of one who's coming after him who is mightier

than he, one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire.

And now that one that he's been the forerunner for, that one is

now standing in front of him asking to be baptized.

So you can feel the tension, right?

John's protest is theologically sound.

I need to be baptized by you. And do you come to me for

baptism? Right.

In other words, this is backwards.

I need you to baptize me in the Spirit.

You're the one that I've been pointing forward to.

Why are you coming to me now? If baptism is a sign of

repentance, then John should be the one in the water, not Jesus.

And, and John is right as far as it goes.

Jesus has no sin to confess. He, he has no repentance to

perform. He has he, He does not come to

John because he lacks righteousness.

He's the Son of God. He's fully God, fully man,

right? He comes precisely because he is

committed to fulfilling righteousness.

And so Jesus responds, Let it be so now.

For thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.

Now that word fitting matters. This is not optional.

This is not symbolic theater, right?

This is what obedience requires. Here.

Righteousness does not mean moral improvement as we might

think. Righteousness here means perfect

conformity to the will of the Lord, right?

He's conforming himself to the Father's will.

Don't miss this, right? Jesus submits the baptism, not

because he needs cleansing, but because the Father has ordained

his path. The Father is directing him.

He identifies publicly with sinners in the water in order to

stand in their place, right? This is the first clear act of

what theologians often call Christ active obedience, right?

Jesus is not only righteous by nature, he is righteous by

actions. And he does that which is right.

And think about it. He's obeying where Adam has

failed, right? He, he's listening to the

Father. He's obeying the Father.

He submits where Israel rebelled in the Old Testament.

He he steps into the waters where sinners stand because he

has come to bear their burden. Remember Matthew chapter 1,

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

Jesus. He shall call his name Jesus,

for he will save his people from their sins, right?

John Calvin explains it this way, said Christ had not come to

baptism because he needed cleansing, but because he

willingly numbered himself among sinners in order to bear their

sins. This is why Jesus comes.

That's exactly what's happening here.

The King begins his public ministry by standing shoulder to

shoulder with those he has come to redeem, right?

Jesus does not bear sin judicially at this baptism,

right? He he does so substitutionally

and finally at the cross. But his baptism is the beginning

of that sin bearing mission. It's not the completion of it,

and we should not miss how countercultural this is in this

time, even for our time, right? Kings do not normally begin

their reign this way. They ascend Thrones, there's a

lot of pageantry. They assert authority, they

demand loyalty from the people. This King, our King, our Lord,

he bows first, right? He submits himself to the

Father, He obeys the Father. He fulfills righteousness

quietly, humbly, deliberately, right?

There's no voice from heaven yet.

There's no spirit descending like a dove yet.

There's no public affirmation yet.

At this moment, all Jesus has is the Father's will and his own

obedience. And that's enough, right?

That alone should speak powerfully to you and I today.

All right, the Lord commands obedience.

John 15. If you love me, you will obey my

commandments. But how often do we want clarity

before obedience? What's obedience going to cost

me? What's obedience going to do to

my reputation? What benefit is there in

obedience? Because the desires of my own

heart seem pretty pleasant at the moment.

All right. We often want clarity before

obedience. We want affirmation before we

will submit. We want to know how things are

going to turn out before we step forward in faith.

But Jesus shows us another way. He shows us the gospel way.

He shows us the righteous way. He obeys, first trusting the

Father completely. Now for believers in here, this

challenges us to ask a question. Are we willing to obey God

simply because it is fitting to do so?

So if you head nods, Amen. Are we willing to obey God

because it is fitting to do so? What about when obedience is

misunderstood? What about when obedience

humbles you, crushes you? What about when obedience costs

you a reputation or comforts? And for those who are tempted to

see obedience as burdensome or unnecessary, this passage

reminds us that our salvation rests on the perfect obedience

of our Savior. Christ did not merely die for

you, brothers and sisters. He lived for you.

He fulfilled all righteousness on your behalf.

But the story doesn't stop at submission.

Because as soon as Jesus comes up from the water, heaven

responds. Obedience gives way to

empowerments. Submission is followed by

anointing, and that brings us to the next movement in the text,

where we see not only a submissive king, but an anointed

king. Point #2 The king is anointed by

the Spirit for ministry. Verse 16, Right?

So Matthew now moves us from the waters of submission to the

scene of divine action, and he writes this.

And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the

water, and behold, the heavens were open to him, and he saw the

Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him.

Again, this timing matters. When Jesus comes up from the

water after obedience, then heaven opens to him.

Now this is not accidental sequencing.

Matthew wants us to see that the path of submission is followed

by divine commissioning, right? That the opening of the heavens

is biblical shorthand for revelation and divine

initiative. This is not Jesus grasping at

authority. This is heaven acting

decisively. God is making clear what is

happening here is his work done his way according to his plan.

Amen. And then the Spirit descends.

The Spirit comes like a dove. What that means is it doesn't

come violently, it doesn't come chaotically.

It doesn't come in any other way like that.

It comes gently and visibly. The language is careful.

Matthew doesn't say that the Spirit was a dove, as we might

often misunderstand, but that it descended on Christ like a dove.

The image here communicates peace.

It communicates purity. It communicates divine presence.

If you're familiar with the Old Testament, it also calls to mind

earlier moments in redemptive history.

If you think back to creation, Genesis chapter 1, we see there

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

that the Spirit hovered over the waters before creation.

If you think about the flood, and after the flood waters begin

to subside, the dove comes to Noah and signals a new

beginning. Now here again, a new chapter is

beginning. It's God's saving work through

Christ the King. But we must be clear about what

this annoying anointing is and what it is not.

This is not the moment when Jesus becomes divine, all right.

He's always been the eternal Son of God.

He's always shared divinity with the Father and the Spirit.

This also is not the first time the Spirit has been active in

his life. All right from conception, where

he was conceived by the Spirit, Jesus has lived in perfect

fellowship with the Spirit. So what is happening here?

Well, this is a public anointing for public ministry, right?

In the Old Testament, kings and prophets and priests were

anointed with oil to signify define us appointments.

I hear the true and final anointed. 1 The Messiah receives

not oil, but the Spirit himself. This is the fulfillment of

promises that we find in Isaiah chapter 42.

Isaiah 42 · chapter mention

Behold my servants, whom I behold my chosen, and whom my

soul delights. I have put my Spirit upon him.

So Jesus is being commissioned as the Spirit anointed King, and

we shouldn't miss the the, the, the profound humility of this

moment. Jesus is fully divine.

And though he's fully divine, Jesus chooses to carry out his

ministry in dependence upon the Spirit of God.

He does not bypass human weakness by divine prerogative.

He does not minister independently of the Spirit.

He submits himself to the Father's will and relies upon

the Spirit's power. Again, Calvin is helpful.

He explains this. He says Christ did not lack

power in himself, but willingly carried out his ministry.

Independence upon the Spirit, teaching us that God's work is

accomplished by God's power. So everything that flows well

before we get there, we want to understand that this insight is

deeply pastoral. Jesus models us for us what

faithful obedience looks like. It's not self-reliance, it's God

dependence. All right.

He's dependent upon the Father. And so everything that follows

in Jesus's ministry from this point, his teaching, his

miracles, his compassion, his endurance and suffering, and so

many other things, those things are carried out in the power of

the Spirit of God, all right, Even his temptation in the

wilderness, which we'll look at next week, all right, He will be

faced as one who is full of the Holy Spirit.

Again, the application is encouraging and humbling for us.

Maybe you find yourself engaged in ministry.

Maybe you find yourself in leadership.

Maybe you're married, Maybe you're parents, you're a church

member. All right, some other form of

faithful living going on in your life, right?

This passage reminds us that God's work must be done in God's

strength, that it must be spirit empowered work that we engage

in. It must be dependent upon the

Spirit of God in every way, in everything that he calls us to.

Why? Why is that important?

You say, Well, I'm I'm zealous. A zeal without dependence leads

to burnout, right? You will flame out if your zeal

is not tethered to dependence upon Christ and the Spirit of

God. Maybe you have a lot of skills.

The Lord has gifted you in many ways.

Well, skill without dependence on the Spirit leads to pride.

We become like King Uzziah, gifted in many, many ways, yet

we begin to convince ourselves that this work belongs to us,

but become prideful, and so we crash.

Any sort of spiritual activity, any good works without prayer

will lead to emptiness. It must be dependent upon the

Spirit of God through prayer, that we don't find ourselves

empty as we labor and toil and keep our hand to the plow,

right? And maybe you're a weary

believer, You're tired. If you're a weary believer, this

is really good news for you, right?

The same Spirit who anointed Christ, we're told Ephesians,

one now indwells his people. We're not called to obedience in

our own strength. No, we're called the faithful

dependence upon the Spirit of God who freely gives, right.

As we work faithfully, as we commit ourselves to be faithful

men and women and boys and girls of the Lord, we can trust that

the Spirit helps us freely. He's a comforter.

He's a helper. But Matthew isn't finished yet,

right? There's an as extraordinary as

the Spirit's descension is, it's not the climax of the scene by

any means. Heaven has opened, but now

heaven will speak, right? And that, that brings us to this

final, most probably the most intimate moment of this passage,

where the king is not only anointed, but he's affirmed.

The king is affirmed by the Father as his beloved Son.

Point #3 So Matthew now brings us to the climax of the scene.

After the King submits in the spirit the sins, we hear the

Father speak. And what does he say?

He says and behold, Or Matthew writes and behold, a voice from

heaven said, This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.

I want you to understand Jesus didn't get some private

impression. There wasn't some inward feeling

here. This is an audible public

decoration from heaven itself. God the Father speaks, and when

God speaks here, he tells us exactly how we are to understand

everything that has just taken place.

So we must notice, what does the Father say?

Well, first he begins with the declaration.

This is my Son. He's not merely A servant.

He's not merely a prophet, a priest, or a king.

He doesn't come as those who have come before him.

This is the Son, the unique, eternal Son of God.

And the language here, this is my son.

It echoes Psalm 2, which is a great royal Psalm, but it's

Messianic in its purpose. We read, there you are my son.

Today I have begotten you. So Matthew wants us to see that

Jesus is not assuming kingship. He's being declared as the

rightful king. Then the Father adds, he says,

this is my son, my beloved son. This is the language of deep

affection and delight. The word beloved does not merely

describe relationship, it it expresses pleasure and love.

I I can't love my sons with a perfect love, but I, I do see

them as my beloved sons. I'm pleased by them and I love

them ferociously. This is not reluctant approval.

This is joyful affirmation from the father to his son for the

public to hear. And then the father goes

further, with whom I am well pleased.

Just a side note, Dad's in the room today.

How often do you tell your kids I love you and I'm pleased with

you or I'm proud of you? However often it is, it isn't

often enough. Say it often.

Our children need to hear this from their Father often.

But the phrase with whom I'm well pleased is doing enormous

theological work. Again, it draws us to Isaiah 42,

which I read earlier. Behold my Servant, whom I uphold

my chosen, and whom my soul delights.

In one sentence the Father unites sonship and servanthood.

He brings them together in one sentence.

In one sentence He's showing us kingship and suffering,

authority and obedience, and he's bringing them together and

he's saying, this is my son, my beloved son, with whom I'm well

pleased. But again, don't miss the timing

of the statement. Jesus has not yet preached He.

He's not yet healed. He's not yet confronted Satan or

endured the cross. Yet the Father is already well

pleased with his Son. This tells us something

essential about Jesus, and it's really again, it's deeply

pastoral for you and me. The Father's approval rests upon

the Son before public success, visible fruit, or costly

suffering. The Father's approval rests upon

the Son before those things. The pleasure of God is grounded

in who Jesus is and in His perfect obedience, not in

measurable outcomes. John Calvin again commenting on

this passage. He notes this.

Don't miss it. The Father's declaration was

given not because Christ needed assurance, but so that we might

know with certainty who Christ is and how firmly God delights

in His Son. You understand this voice from

heaven is not for Jesus insecurity.

He's sure of who he is. He's sure of what the Father has

called him to do. He's walking obediently.

It's not for his insecurity, it's for our confidence that

Christ is the Messiah and he's the Savior.

He's the Lord, He's God's anointed king.

This is where the gospel begins. The Gospel of Mark Matthew

begins to press in on us. So many people live under this

quiet burden of needing approval, needing to prove

themselves to others, to God, to people around them, even to

themselves. And it's a burden that cannot be

cast off. But approval is chased through

performance. It's chased through

productivity. How productive can I be?

How many things can I get my hands?

And how many people can I make sure see my work right?

It's it's tied to visible success.

But here at the Jordan with Christ, we are shown a different

order. Identity precedes activity.

Approval precedes suffering. Sonship precedes service.

And for believers, this is profoundly comforting because if

we are united to Christ by faith, then the Father's

pleasure in the Son becomes the ground for your acceptance.

As Romans 8 says, we no longer cry out in fear.

We don't have to cower in fear of God.

We cry ABBA Father. He's our Father because of the

work of Christ, because of the work of the Spirit in us to

regenerate us and give us new life and a right spirit with

God, a desire for righteousness. Still at war with the flesh,

absolutely. But walking set free in our

minds to walk in the Spirit of God freely.

And we can think because we're at war with the flesh, that

anytime our flesh wins and we commit sins, that the Father

disapproves of us, that he's casting us out, that we are now

condemned. You have to understand, it's the

most freeing thing you can understand that the approval we

receive, the reconciliation we have with God is not tethered to

our obedience, but to Christ. He obeyed perfectly.

And so if you're united to Christ by faith, then the

pleasure that the Father shows and the Son becomes your ground

for acceptance. You're not accepted because your

obedience is perfect, Brothers and sisters, you're accepted

because Christ obedience is perfect.

And again, for those Christians among us, myself, at times you

feel like you're in the wilderness.

You're thirsty and hungry. You you're weary, you're

discouraged. You're tempted to believe that

God is only pleased with you when you are doing well.

This passage presses gently but firmly to correct that lie.

The Christian life has lived from God's approval in Christ,

not for God's approval. And so Matthew is preparing us

for what comes next, because the very next scene will take this

affirmed Son into the wilderness to be tempted and tried.

The voice of the Father will be followed by the voice of the

tempter. And when Satan questions Jesus's

identity, if you are the Son of God, Jesus will stand firm,

anchored, and what He is what has already been declared about

him. And this is where the scene

leaves us. The King has submitted in

obedience. The King has been anointed by

the Spirit. The King has been affirmed by

the Father. He's ready to face the

wilderness. He's ready to begin his public

ministry. He's ready to go to the cross

and endure the suffering and shame of it.

He's ready to suffer death for us and to be raised to life.

He's ready not because he lacks weakness.

We're going to see Christ suffer.

He's ready because he rests securely in the Father's will

and in the Father's pleasure. And it's from that place of

divine approval that he will now go forward into the wilderness.

And so as we step back from the waters of the Jordan, we step

away from the scene just a little bit, we can see the

picture that Matthew has been carefully painting for us.

We we've seen the king. Well, first we saw his

miraculous birthright. We've seen the ways in which God

worked to bring him into the world, but also to protect him

from those who would seek to harm him.

And now we have seen the King submits, not because he lacked

righteousness, but because he came to fulfill it.

We've seen the King anointed not because he lacked power, but

because he would carry out his mission, independence upon the

spirits. And we have heard the King

affirmed by the Father, not after success or sacrifice,

those things are coming, but before them as the beloved Son

in whom the Father is well pleased.

And all of this presses home this great truth of the passage.

The Father affirms and the Spirit anoints the Son as the

King who fulfills all righteousness.

Now this moment is not merely a beautiful Trinitarian scene when

we see all the members of the Godhead at work.

It is a public confirmation of Jesus identity and mission.

The King is ready, the path is set.

The work of redemption is about to unfold in the rest of the

gospel. And now the question is

unavoidable for you and I. What will you do with this king?

What will you do with this king? For believers, this passage

calls us back to the pattern of the Christian life.

We're tempted again to reverse the order, to seek affirmation

before obedience, to seek power before submission, and to seek

clarity before faithfulness. But Christ shows us the better

way. He shows us that the life, that

the life that honors God, is marked by humble obedience,

dependent trust, and a rest in God's approval through Christ.

So believing brother or sister, let me ask you plainly, are you

obeying God where he has already clearly spoken?

Not, not where it's easy, not where it's celebrated the most

and the platform builds. Are you serving God where it is

costly? Where it's quiet and often

unseen. I I don't want you to wait for a

sign from heaven before you obey.

God has spoken. There's your sign.

Christ obeyed first, and heaven responded.

And for those of you who are not in Christ, you're unbelievers,

whether young or old, this passage presses a more urgent

call on you. The same Jesus who stands in the

waters today will one day stand as judge.

The King who is submitting himself now to the Father's will

will one day return in glory. And the righteousness that he

fulfilled is the righteousness that you do not have, but you

desperately need it. And the good news is this.

The King who fulfilled all righteousness did so for

sinners. He did so for those who were

once far off. He lived the life you could not

live. He went to the cross that you

deserved. And He now calls you not to fix

yourself. He calls you to repent of your

sins, to believe that Christ is Lord, to confess it with your

mouth, and to bow to him as King.

And so I urge you, do not delay, Do not harden your heart.

God has spoken clearly about His Son, and so to reject Him is not

neutrality any longer. For you it's rebellion.

You understand that today all of us, believers, unbelievers, we

must hear the voice of the Father.

We must look to the obedience of His Son.

We must trust in the work that He has done, and we must respond

with repentance and faith and joyful obedience.

The King has been revealed to us.

Now the question is no longer who he is, but whether we will

obey him. Would you bow with me in prayer?

Heavenly Father, we thank you greatly, deeply for your word.

We thank you for what we see of Christ here, His obedience, His

submission, His anointing, His affirm, His affirmation.

God, you are clearly revealing in this passage who your Son is.

We see that He's the Savior of all who will call upon His name,

of all who will submit themselves to His rule.

And so, Father, I ask 1st for my fellow believers, the church

here, would you help us to obey Christ?

Would you help us to joyfully submit our lives to him?

Would you help us to look into every area of our life, whether

it's again as a churchman, a father, a husband, a wife, a

mother, whether it's as an employee, whether it's as a a

citizen? What if it says a friend,

whatever it may be? Would you help us to look into

every area of our lives and to be honest in our evaluation of

those areas as we ask the question, Am I submitting myself

fully to the Lord? Is he Lord of my thoughts?

Is he Lord of my words? Is he Lord of my actions?

Is he Lord of my heart and my mind and my soul and all my

strength? And Lord, where we find fault,

will we find that we have come up short of righteousness?

Would you help us to be quick to repent and depend upon the Lord

and the Father? Would you fill each of us with

your Spirit that we might walk by faith, that we might walk in

the Spirit each day, that we might put to death the deeds of

the flesh, that we might glorify Your great name and to do and do

good to those around us? Father, I pray for any

unbelievers in here again, whether they're young or old.

I ask the Father that you would open their eyes, open their

heart to see Christ, to see their need for a Saviour, to see

that they're guilty of sin, they're guilty of rebellion to a

holy, just, perfect, loving, gracious, merciful God.

And would you help them repent and to have faith?

Would you grant them faith in Christ?

Would you call them to yourself and let nothing hinder them from

coming to you? Would you reconcile them, Father

by Christ, by his work, by his life and death and resurrection?

Would you reconcile them by washing them with the Spirit,

granting them new life so that they might walk with Christ?

I'm going to give you a moment now there in your seat to spend

a moment in prayer, reflect on the message, the sermon, the

text, and to respond in faith and repentance and obedience

this morning. Heavenly Father, we thank you

for the fullness of your mercy and your grace and your truth

and your glory that we have received in Christ Jesus.

And though the text today was short, it declares so much about

who Christ is and what he has come to do.

And it's an example to us for our own obedience.

And so would you kill any pride in US?

Would you? Would you kill any desire to be

seen by others that we might have?

Would you kill this idea that we have to work for your approval?

God help us to see that we work from your approval, that you

have approved your Son. This work is good, it's

complete, it's finished, and on the cross he took our

unrighteousness upon himself so that he might give to us his own

righteousness to make us coheirs with Himself, to reconcile us to

the Father, to God. We stand in that redemption.

God help us to realize that as we live for you.

It's in the name of Christ I pray.

Amen. Amen.