Baptism: All Righteousness Fulfilled.

Reading of Matthew 3:5-17

A theologian named Augustine of Hippo, born in the mid 4^th century, identified a fascinating reality respecting the Bible as a whole, and he summarised it in a saying that is still applied to this very day.

“The New Testament is in the Old Testament Concealed; The Old Testament is in the New Testament Revealed”

That is that much that we find in the Old Testament is either revealed or fulfilled perfectly in the New Testament.

This is precisely what we find respecting our understanding of Baptism.

Turn in your Bibles to Acts 8:37

Vs 36, “What doth hinder me to be baptised?” was the question of the high official of Ethiopia, under Candace, Queen of the Ethiopians.  

Immediately we are struck by the answer, for the only portion of the scriptures that we understand him having may be limited to “Esaias the prophet” (v28). It was from here that we also read Phillip, beginning “at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus” (v35).

If this were all he had we might ask where did he come to the conclusion of Baptism? Allow me to provide a few indicators;

Isaiah 1:16

¹6 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;

Isaiah 4:4

4 When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.

Isaiah 12:3

3 Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.

See also Isa 44:3, 52:15, 55:1, 35:6-7, 41:17-18, 43:2, 44:4, 58:11, 32:15, 45:8.

While these do not all present a clear picture of Baptism as we know it, they all have a link to water and redemption. 

Isaiah 44:3

3 For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring:

Isaiah 45:8

8 Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the LORD have created it.

“If thou beleivest with all thine heart” came the the answer of Phillip the evangelist verse 37.

Thus we are given the conditional answer to one of the most pertinent questions respecting Baptism. 

The first is the recognition of the “hinderance” or a condition for Baptism, (“What doth hinder me…?” being the question that reveals it.) 

The second being the answer acknowledging both the truth of the hinderance together with the condition that would remove it, “if thou believest with all thine heart thou mayest”.

And hereby we begin to understand that Baptism is NOT for everyone. 

The answer by Phillip excludes clearly all people who do not believe in their hearts that Jesus Christ is Lord. The location for the belief is in the heart, not in the head. 

This testifies also that Baptism is NOT A RITUAL. 

It is done with the full knowledge and awareness of the individual confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord and that “I have believed the gospel to the saving of my soul”. “I have been purified by my sin forever through the blood of Jesus Christ.”

But WHY is Baptism?

Why was Jesus Baptised?

Matthew 3:13–17

13 Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. 14 But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? 15 And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.

When I set myself to write this sermon respecting Baptism I found that the passage seen in Matthew 3 where Baptism is introduced to us in the New Testament, lays out an almost perfect representation of what Baptism is and why it is.

The Old Testament sets the precedent while the New Testament shows its fulfilment.

Baptism: All Righteousness Fulfilled.

Purpose.

The waters were to purify the wash away sin.

Preparation.

A heart of repentance, a turning away in the heart, is the fruit of preparation to receive Christ.

Permutation.

A transfer is has taken place when Christ was baptised, water to the holy spirit.

Perfection.

All righteousness is fulfilled, perfected in the work of Christ and the Baptism of the Spirit of God which has purified the believer for ever and seals him to the day of his glory.

Purpose

Purifying Baptism

Matthew 3:5–7

5 Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, 6 And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. 

7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

The people came out to John for all over the region to be Baptised of him. There was a purpose to this, a reason Baptism was instituted from the first and the Pharisees and Sadducees knew it when they appeared.

And so John answered when he saw them;7 …. O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

The wrath of God was set to come. 

The severe anger of the Lord God, the creator of heaven and earth, would be poured out upon a godless and vile world, and John highlighted that even the Pharisees and the Sadducees understood that Baptism was a way to “flee from the wrath to come”.

Something about Baptism clearly presents an opportunity to escape that which was coming to the world, and the people, including the leaders of the people, KNEW IT.

Turn to;

John 3:23–25

23 And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized. 24 For John was not yet cast into prison. 25 Then there arose a question between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purifying.

What we can see here in these verses, at the very least, is knowledge that in the Jewish mind Baptism and Purifying were equated. There is a direct link between being Baptised and being purified, “washed” in the Old Testament sense.

King David cried as much to the Lord in Psalm 51

1  Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.  Psalm 51:1–3

When paul was giving his account of his conversion, he told of how Ananias said to him;

Acts 22:16

16 And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.

Baptism, and the washing away of sin was linked in the Jewish mindset. It was the manner by which men could be ceremonially cleaned, purified, before God.

Numbers 19:6–9

6 And the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer. 7 Then the priest shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp, and the priest shall be unclean until the even. 8 And he that burneth her shall wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in water, and shall be unclean until the even. 9 And a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up without the camp in a clean place, and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water of separation: it is a purification for sin.

But this cleansing and this washing was a picture of the Old to be fulfilled in the New.

Turn to Hebrews 9 as I close this point.

Hebrews 9:13–15

13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: 14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 

15 And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, …..

Revelation clarifies the washing that purifies us from sin;

Revelation 1:5

5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

Thereby we see that Baptism from the Old Testament to the New Testament was for the purpose of making man clean, purifying from sin.

The Old was the practise to prepare for that which would come in the NEW. It became a religious observance.

Yet here we now have John the Baptist bringing back the original intent of Baptism, demanding the preparation of the heart that needs to occur in order to “flee from the wrath to come”.

Preparation

Hearts Prepared Through Repentance

Matthew 3:7-10

7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: 9 And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. 10 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

John the Baptist himself was spoken of to come and to prepare the way for the Lord.

The very beginning of this passage in Matthew 3 speaks to it;

Matthew 3:3

3 For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

There it is in Isaiah 40, the beginning of the “New Testament” portion of the book of Isaiah;

Isaiah 40:1–5

1 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. 2 Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD’S hand double for all her sins. 

3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

He answered them in John 1 when they asked the question of who he is;

John 1:19–23

19 And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? 20 And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. 21 And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No. 22 Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? 23 He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.

Preparation, preparation, preparation; this was Johns ministry to attend to, this was the work he was to build for there to be a straight way in the desert, a highway for our God.

So vital was johns ministry in preparing the hearts of men that Jesus spoke of him as the greatest of all that came before him;

Luke 7:28

“28 For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist:…”

John would prepare the way for the coming of Christ, he would prepare the way for the Gospel of God, and the ONLY preparation for the Gospel is the preparation of the heart to receive the gospel.

O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: 

There MUST be a heart of repentance, a heart ready to believe the gospel of Christ, a heart that is ready to receive that which God desires to give.

For far too long people were attending to this as a ritual, as a religious observance, even claiming that the faith of Abraham was enough to claim for their own purification, their own righteousness through him, and John puts that idea quickly to bed;

9 And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.

No, It is time to believe the Gospel with a sincere heart for God is ready to pour out his wrath; “flee from the wrath to come” cried John, and Jesus himself backed up the message of John after John was cast into prison;

Mark 1:15

15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

Repent, repent, repent, this is the preparation of the heart. 

The Baptism of John was known as the Baptism of repentance;

24 When John had first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. Acts 13:24

It is the humbling of the heart to match that of a child, to simply believe the gospel, to reach for it with both hands, with all your being, and to cry that God might save you.

Repentance here beloved is NOT your own separation from sin, for no man who is a servant to sin can every separate himself from sin.

Repentance is that complete change of heart that now yearns and desires that God would separate sin from him, purify him, cleanse and make him clean. It is a complete change of HEART, a humbling change that now trusts in God and not self.

Preparation of the heart to receive Christ is the first work that must come. This was John’s ministry, a Baptism of REPENTANCE, and he made it plain that it must be EVIDENT to God;

10 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

If there is no recognition in the heart of the need for a saviour, there can never be repentance. 

The preparation of the heart is the knowledge that WITHOUT CHRIST, the axe is laid, sharpened and bare, ready to be wielded against the root of the tree to be cast into the fire.

John was plain in his speech, and so the Gospel itself needs to be plain.

If there is no fruit, no preparation of the heart to be washed by the blood of Christ, there can be no salvation.

Permutation / Translation

Obedience To Affirmation.

Personal Act to Acted upon.

Water to Spirit

Matthew 3:11-12

 11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: 12 Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. 

Now we see the shift, now we see the translation, the permutation from the ceremony to the certainty. From the symbol of the water washing to the reality of the Spirit purifying.

5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. Acts 1:5 Said Jesus to his disciples. The “Holy Ghost” is “the promise of the father” that our Saviour spoke of in Acts 1:4-5. 

Johns work was PREPATORY both of the heart but also for the Spirit. 

Both John and Jesus were the marking points for the translation from one to the other. A Permutation of purifying from Water to the Spirit.

The baptism of WATER was preparation and a symbol of that which was to come through the Holy Ghost, also known as “the promise of the father”.

Turn to Acts 18 to see how this played out.

Acts 18:24–26

24 And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus. 25 This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John.

26 And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.

Apollos ONLY knew the Baptism of John, and we shall shortly see what that was but notice that there was a more perfect way that he needed to learn of;

they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.

Now see the next chapter;

Acts 19:1–7

1 And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, 2 He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. 3 And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John’s baptism. 

4 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. 5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied. 7 And all the men were about twelve.

The Baptism of John was a Baptism OF repentance of the heart and a preparation that would be translated to the TRUE Baptism that would come by the Holy Spirit the moment  they were saved.

Though the preparation was required, it’s comparison to the work of Christ is measured by John’s own response when he said, … he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear.

Acts 13:24

 24 When John had first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. 25 And as John fulfilled his course, he said, Whom think ye that I am? I am not he. But, behold, there cometh one after me, whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to loose.

Beloved please also note, if the Baptism of repentance toward God, that is, the change of the heart toward a Holy God is preparation for the the salvation of the soul, sealed by the Holy Ghost, THERE IS NO SUBSEQUENT WORK TO BE DONE.

Everything that we see in preparation in the Old Testament was for this work of the Spirit of God through the Blood of Christ in the New Testament, it was the PERMUTATION, the TRANSLATION from the Old into the New, there is NO SECOND WORK BEYOND THIS.

The Charismatic idea that speaks of a “Second Blessing” is an error. The Bible plainly presents it saying in Ephesians 4:4–6

4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

Much more to say on that but suffice to know one Water Baptism was preparation for Spirit Baptism, the moment we are saved we are washed. 

That which was Old Testament (John, the last of the Old Testament Prophets), was to be translated into the New Covenant prophesied in Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. 

Ezekiel 36:26–27

26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. (See also Jer 31:31-34, Isa 44:1-3)

Perfection / Fulfilment

Jesus Mediates The Translation

Matthew 3:13–17

13 Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. 14 But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? 15 And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him. 

16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: 17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Jesus mediates the translation.

It could ONLY have been Jesus Christ to bring about the final and perfect fulfilment of this ancient ordinance.

Baptism, whether it be represented as a TYPE through the flood of Noah (1 Pet 3:18-22), the crossing of the Red Sea by the people of Israel as the final separation from Egypt, (which is a picture of the world), through to the crossing of the Jordan after the wilderness wonderings of the nation.

All of these historical types, together with the ritual and ceremonial cleansing seen in both Numbers and Leviticus, all are representative of that which Jesus Christ, the Son of God, would perfectly fulfil.

Turn to Romans 6

What we shall see here is both the perfect fulfilment of Christ for this work, but also that which WE OURSELVES accomplished when we were saved. 

What actually happened?

Romans 6:1–14

1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? 3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 

5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: 6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 

7 For he that is dead is freed from sin. 8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: 9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. 10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. 11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

Colossians 2:12

12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

When John protested that Jesus should not be baptised of John, but rather that John should be baptised by Jesus, he was laying the claim that Jesus never requires a Baptism of Repentance.

But the answer Jesus gave him is infinitely more profound than is let on.

15 And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him. 

“For thus is becometh us to fulfill all righteousness”

As the final representative of the Old Testament in John, and the primary representative of the New Testament in Jesus Christ, what we see here is the handing over of the guard, the transfer, the translation, the permutation from the Old to the New, from John to Jesus, who is the fulfilment of all that was before.

When Jesus said to the leaders of Israel,

39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. John 5:39

He meant it perfectly.

Have you repented? Has your heart changed concerning Christ? Are you prepared and ready to believe the Gospel or do you remain stubborn and ready to be “hewn down and cast into the fire”?

Preparation has been presented, are you ready to receive?

Now, when you are Baptised AFTER you are born again, you are RE-PRESENTING to the world that which has happened to you already, perfectly and in reality.

Died in the likeness of his death, risen again in the likeness of his resurrection.

Died, Buried, and risen to newness of life.

You ONLY get baptised ONCE, because you are ONLY SAVED ONCE and for ALL.

The Spirit of God, is the PROMISE OF GOD, that you are PURIFIED AND presented PERFECT in his sight.

Purpose = Purification.

Preparation = Repentance

Permutation = Water to the Spirit.

Perfection = Fulfilment of ALL righteousness.