Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 3298
“And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up immediately out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit God descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him: and lo, a Voice from Heaven, saying, This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” Matthew 3:16,17.
[Another Sermon by Mr. Spurgeon upon verse 17 is #2409, Volume 41—A GREAT SERMON BY THE GREATEST PREACHER.]
I WANT to teach two lessons tonight. The first will be a most necessary one for the unconverted. The second will be more suitable to believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.
I. Without any preface, let us at once try to learn the first lesson from the text which relates to THE CO-WORKING OF THE TRINITY IN THE MATTER OF OUR SALVATION.
There are some who seem to suppose that Jesus Christ is our Savior to the exclusion of God the Father and of God the Holy Spirit, but this is a most erroneous idea. It is true that we are saved by the precious blood of Christ, but it is equally true that God the Father and God the Holy Spirit have had their share in the great work of our salvation. In order that we might not fall into the error in which some have been entangled, it pleased God to give us, at the very beginning of Christ’s public ministry, a very distinct intimation that He did not come alone and that He did not undertake the work of our redemption apart from the other adorable Persons of the ever-blessed Trinity.
Try to picture to yourselves the scene that our text describes. There is Jesus Christ who has just been baptized in Jordan by John. And John bears witness that He is the Son of God because the sign from Heaven for which he had been told to look for had been given. As Jesus comes up out of the water, the Spirit of God descends upon Him in a visible shape— in appearance like a dove—and rests upon Him. John says that “it abode upon Him,” as though the Spirit was thenceforth to be His continual Companion and, truly, it was so. At the same time that the dove descended and lighted upon Christ, there was heard a Voice from Heaven, saying, “This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” This was the voice of God the Father—He did not reveal Himself in a bodily shape, but uttered wondrous words such as mortal ears had never before heard! The Father revealed Himself not to the eyes as the Spirit did, but to the ears—and the words He spoke clearly indicated that it was God the Father bearing witness to His beloved Son. So that the entrance of Christ upon His public ministry on earth was the chosen opportunity for the public manifestation of the intimate union between God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit!
Now, Sinner, from this day forward, if you have never done so before, think humbly, reverently and lovingly of all the three Persons of the most blessed Trinity in Unity! Bless the Son of God for becoming Man in order that He might redeem us from destruction. He left His Glory in Heaven and was made in the likeness of men that He might suffer in our place as the Lamb of God’s Passover and that we might shelter beneath His sprinkled blood—and so escape the sword of vengeance. Do you know that when Christ was baptized, He gave, as it were, a picture of His great work of Redemption? He said to John, “Thus it becomes us to fulfill all righteousness,” by which I understand not that He fulfilled all righteousness by being baptized, but that His Baptism was a picture or emblem of the fulfillment of all righteousness. What was done with Christ when He was baptized? Why, first, He was regarded as one who was dead and, therefore, He was buried beneath the waters of Jordan. He thus set forth, by a most significant symbol, the fact that He had come to earth
to be obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross—and that in due time He would actually die and be really bu-ried—as now He was submerged beneath the yielding wave in a metaphorical burial. But baptism does not consist of merely plunging the person into the water—he must be lifted out again—otherwise he would be drowned, not baptized. So the Savior, when He rose up out of the water, set forth His own Resurrection. By His Baptism, He figuratively said, “I shall die for sinners, I shall rise again for sinners and I shall go back to Heaven to plead for sinners. My death will put away their offenses and my Resurrection will complete their justification.” Go, you who long for salvation, and by faith look to the Savior dying on the Cross at Calvary! See Him buried in Joseph’s tomb. See Him rise the third day and after forty days, see Him ascend to Heaven leading captivity captive! His dying, His burial, His rising, His ascension—these are the fulfillment of all righteousness—and it is by these that you must be saved—it is not your being baptized that can save you! It is Christ’s being baptized for you with that Baptism of blood when He poured out His soul unto death that you might live forever! It is not your suffering, but His suffering that avails for your salvation! It is not your being or your doing that is the secret of blessing, but it is His being and His doing on which you must depend for everything! Trust in Jesus Christ and you shall find salvation in Him!