Luke 3: 21.22. My Beloved

Kids are great - and they are always full of surprises - but I have found that Pastors kids are very intriguing - source of many good illustrations

1. One thing I find very interesting about my 2 older kids at this age in their lives is the way that they view what I do.

2. In their minds their daddy is extra special - because I " work for God"

1. Market w/ Amy - in the check out line - My Dad is the Pastor

3. What is also interesting about - Pastors kids is the way they like to imitate what their dads do.

Charles Foster is a minister in Elwood, IN, - When He baptizes someone always says In name of Father Son & HS

One Sunday, He & his family went to a friend's home in the country.

His four children went outside to play with the other kids . Now The kids were being awfully quiet / so the adults went to investigate what the children were up to. They found them behind a barn quietly playing "church."

Fosters 4-year-old daughter Susan was conducting the baptismal service. She held a cat over a barrel of water. Trying to be serious like her father, she repeated the phrase she had heard many times: "I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and in the hole you go!"

2. He was calling people to repent of their sins/ to turn from their sins & to turn to God.

1. Yet Jesus didn’t have any sin to repent of - He had no reason to come & to be baptized - as the other people did.

3. John recognizes this fact as it’s recorded in Matt. Gospel - says inv.14 And John tried to prevent Him, saying, "I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?"

1. And there was a intensity in his voice.

1. Forget that John was Jesus’ cousin - mother had revelation that Mary was carrying the Messiah - Mother of my Lord …..me

4. Sure she shared these things w/ John - as well as what his own mission was to be as the forerunner of the Messiah.

1. it seems evident that John knew who Jesus was by his statements here as well as those recorded in the gospel of John Behold the ….world

1. This is what Jesus was most interested in - the Fathers will - plan - way - Heart -& Fathers time.

3. Jesus modeled for us - submission to the Father - He modeled a life of obedience to the will of God. Fulfill Plan Fulfill prophecy

1) But why did God want Jesus to do this? Consider 4 reasons

1^st His Baptism was a perfect Presentation of the Trinity! Triune Godhead

1. Son praying in the water - / you have the father speaking from Heaven & the H.S. descending in the form of a dove upon Jesus.

1. Each member of the Godhead clearly yet separately represented here

3. A Perfect presentation of a fact that is given to us clearly in the scriptures that the Godhead consist of 3 persons - God Father / Son / Spirit

1. yet all one

4. Yet this can be very perplexing to us - but what makes it preplexing is & the reason we struggle w/ the trinity so often is we look at it & say

1. It is humanly impossible - And guess what it is - but it is not Heavenly impossible .

5. I believe one of the greatest leaps of faith that all of us have to take as believers that shows God we really do believe is embracing the doc. Trinity

1. It takes faith

Now one of the problems philosophically that many wrestle w/ in looking at the trinity is that we make the mistake of placing creation w/ conception

1. and we do that w/ Christ Jesus ( Conception = Beginning )

2. Now I can do that w/ myself I was created at the point of conception. But we can’t do that w/ Jesus

1)Because He pre-existed before He came./ Which is a great

thing to remember in studying or read thru the gospels -

3. Jesus comes to us from the perspective of someone who has already been in the glory of Heaven / as one who was w/ the Father .

1. Sees man - sees situations - sees temptation from that vantage pt.

Cc) So conception wasn’t His beginning because He has always been

4. And The doctrine of the trinity is one that is seen throughout scripture - beginning in the very 1^st book of the bible.

1. We are told in the Beg. God created the heavens & the earth -

5. The Heb. Word translated God is the word Elohim

1. El is the singular form of the Word / Ella = Dual form or 2 / Elohim is used in ref. To 3 or more.

6. So in Gen. 1:1 read In Beg. God - Elohim - referring to 3 created the ..

1. Gen 1:26 Let Us make man in Our image according to Our likeness

7. Obvious speaking of more than one -

1. So we get the idea of the trinity - in the very beg. Of the bible in the OT - writings of Moses /

1. Knowing that this man that the Godhead would create in His own image would fall - & need to be redeemed

2. It was decided amongst that godhead that Jesus would leave the throne / leave glory and become Deity cloaked in humanity

1. And concerning His Incarnation the Psalmist wrote in Psa. 2:7 'You

4. What that means in relationship to the trinity is on that day that Jesus came into the world as a Baby

1. It was by the agreement of the Godhead that this would be the beginning of a different type of relationship

5. Prior to that each one equally co-existing /co-working / co-laboring - all 3 diff. Yet all 3 one!

1. And here co- existing / co- laboring - co working yet manifesting themselves in 3 distinct persons !

1. And we see it here also at the Baptism of Jesus - So first of all the baptism of Jesus gives us a clear portrayal of the trinity at work.

1. I approve of john’s ministry - even though John knows he is a sinner - he is aware of his short comings - I approve of his service for me

2. His message of repentance is a valid one - In fact when Jesus first began His public ministry he preached the same message.

1) So first illustration of the trinity - 2^nd affirmation of John’s ministry /

1. He who had no sin took His place among those who had no righteousness.

3. He who was without sin submitted to a baptism for sinners. In this act the Savior of the world took His place among the sinners of the world.

1)The sinless Friend of sinners was sent by the Father we are told in

(Rom. 8:3);He came "in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering

for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh"

4. and in 2 Cor. 5:21 He "made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our

behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him"

B) You recall what He said to James and John in Matt. 20:22 when they wanted to be seated on His right hand & on His left hand in the Kingdom,

1) 3 days later He arose from the dead. Symbolized by coming up

4. Now in Rom. 6 Paul links this symbolism w/ our lives in the Lord-

1. And He rose - and now lives to empower us to walk in a newness of Life.

5. So baptism represents; the death of the flesh life; the old man; the old

nature; the old ambitions; and the old desires.

1. Going down into the water symbolizes "your old man is dead and buried: coming up out of the water, the new life, the life of the Spirit.

Another thing to note is that Baptism declares the superiority of the spiritual over the material.

1. In 1Pet 3:21 Peter wrote that Noah & the flood was a picture of Baptism.

2. What happened at the flood ? The material was drowned out.

1. So In Baptism we are saying that the worlds system around me has been left behind

3. Stating that I see the world around me for what it is empty & corrupt / that Man is living after the desires of the flesh.

1. But I am one who wants to live not after my flesh - but after my spirit

4. So Baptism is the outward expression of that inward work - that is why it is always linked w/ Believing -

1. Believe & be baptized - always in that order

5. Reason why we don’t do infant Baptisms - not scriptural

1. Dedications are .

2. Thru it Jesus gave affirmation to the ministry of John

1. It was a identification w/ sinful humanity / a symbolic illustration of His death & Rez.

3. And for us it is an identification of what He did for us & our desire to walk after Him in that newness of life.

1. And it is also a Proclamation that we are leaving the world behind us

1. Father says "You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased."
2. God the Father looks at God the Son & says you are my much loved Son & I am so pleased w/ you !

1. That was the Fathers heart toward Jesus- / Now perhaps you are thinking why wouldn’t it be Jesus was perfect.

3. Of Course the Father would love Him in that way .

1. Guys listen because that is His heart for you here today - who know Him! Those of you are in Christ

4. You are His beloved Sons & daughters & it has nothing to do w/ what you have done this past week - yesterday - this morning

1. See it has everything to do w/ what Jesus did.

5. And as we identify w/ what he did on Calvary for us in paying the price for our sins - and we ask Him into our hearts - he comes in

1. But He not only takes up residence in our hearts by the H.S. - but we are placed in Him as well - ( Father sees us in His Son) Beloved

1. For instance - In Song of Sol. In a passage - which speaks symbolically of the Lord’s relationship w/ the Church - we read I am my beloved’s & He is mine His banner over me is love

4. JN writing under the inspiration of the H.S. says we are God’s beloved Kids

1. Divisions - immorality - abuse of gifts - Lord’s supper & more

4. Yet when the Lord instructed Paul what to put in this letter as far as how to address them - He says refer to them as My Beloved.

1. Incredible - Beloved flee Idolatry / Beloved cleanse yourself from all filthiness of the flesh

5. Notice the Lord doesn’t say if you do those things you will be my Beloved - No opposite -

1. because you are already my beloved I want you to stay away from that stuff

6. Because you are already my beloved I warn you - to avoid those things that are going to hurt you .

1. Amanda - Hot stove - Amanda - out of the street - she gives me that look but dad it looks like so much fun.

3. Guys when a believer gets a hold of this truth - it revolutionizes their whole walk w/ the Lord - their service to Him/ Worship of Him.

1. When they realize that because I am in Christ I am beloved of God

4. Suddenly their life is no longer a serious of events where by they are trying to get God to Love them. & be proud of them.

1. Nor are they trying to prove their love for God by doing certain things and following certain task. Not at all

5. - Listen Jesus was totally & completely secure in His Fathers love

1. His life was a living example of living in response to His fathers love

6. He lived His life the way that He did not because He was seeking for the Father to be well pleased but because He knew the Father was well pleased.

1. Guys that is how He wants us to Live - Resting in our Fathers Love - knowing we are His beloved - and responding to it. ( MOTIVATION)

1. They don’t feel like they have been to church unless the preacher makes them feel horrible . - term Beloved isn’t in Vocab.

2. Ever watch TV preachers - turn off volume ( never get the feeling that they are saying You are God’s beloved & He has a wonderful plan for your life)

3. Guys Why is this so hard to grasp - 3 reasons

1. We like a Challenge - our flesh like that message that says we need to do something .

4. We like to say this is what I am going to do for God. - Problem is so often the motivation isn’t in what God has already done for us.

1. result Christianity often in the energy & efforts of the flesh

1. We think I have got to change the way I feel .

Because we are His Beloved

(revised 19971209)