The Healing Word

Pastor Jack Morris: We don't have to fear that which can do us no harm, and death can't do you any harm now. It will come, you will die, but your spirit, that eternal part of you, that Christ-like part of you, will go into the presence of God and will live and abide forever.

Guest (Male): After years of quiet preparation, Jesus steps into public ministry. Today on The Healing Word, Pastor Jack Morris is here, and he brings us to the Jordan River, where Jesus is baptized. Not because he needed cleansing, but to fulfill all righteousness and identify with us.

Pastor Jack Morris: It says in verse 13, "Then Jesus came from Galilee to Jordan to be baptized of John." That's the first time we've heard from him for 18 years. That's a long time. The last time we heard from him, he was only 12 years old in the temple. And he was asking questions of the doctors of the law, of the theologians. He was answering their questions. Remember, he came up missing, and his parents traveled a day's journey, and they couldn't find him in the caravan among the family. They turned and went back to Jerusalem, and there he was in the temple talking to the doctors of the law.

That's the last time we heard him. He went home, was obedient to his parents, and he lived in Nazareth. We didn't hear from him again. Everything went closed, every door closed. There was no information from the time he was 12 years old until the time he was 30. What happened to him? Well, he was a carpenter in Nazareth, pleasing God. It is amazing. If we ever wonder what God thinks of family life, we have but to look at Jesus Christ and how he took care of his family.

It's believed that Joseph died and Jesus took over the ministry of caring for the family, took over the carpenter shop, and raised his four brothers and his two sisters. We know he had at least two sisters. We do know the names of his four brothers. And in that respect, he became the head of the house and supported his widowed mother. There was nothing more important to him than caring for his family's needs. The whole world would have to wait for his crucifixion. He would take care of his family. God loves the family and he's put such high value on the family. And here we see Jesus back home all of those many, many years.

In Luke chapter three, we read the story of him coming out of the town of Nazareth into public to be baptized. He was approximately 30 years old when he became public again. From the time he was 12 now until the time he was 30, there is the passing of about 18 years. And Jesus put away his tools. All of those years, he raised his brothers and his sisters and took care of his widowed mother, and then the day came. Somehow intuitively in his own heart, he knew it was time to enter into public ministry.

But not until the family was taken care of. And when the family was taken care of, somehow he knew when he took that carpenter's apron off that evening that he wasn't going to put it back on again. He left the carpenter shop and made his way to the Jordan River to be identified with the people of God and to bring to them the beginning of this great, wonderful salvation that God has ordained through Jesus Christ.

But verse 14 says, "But John tried to deter him, saying, 'I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?'" Verse 15, "Jesus replied, 'Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.' Then John consented." So number one, fulfilling all righteousness. This is why he was baptized: fulfilling all righteousness. John the Baptist was Jesus' cousin. Elizabeth was his mother. Zachariah was his father. Zachariah was a priest, and John was born into this world to be a forerunner to prepare the way for Jesus.

Elizabeth became pregnant six months before the angel Gabriel came to the Virgin Mary and told her that she was going to be the mother of Jesus. God visited Zachariah, who was the priest, and said that his wife was going to have a son, they were to name him John, and he was to be the one to be the forerunner of Jesus. This was Jesus' first cousin. Those two boys no doubt grew up together and played together, but the day John saw Jesus coming to be baptized, somehow by divine revelation of the Holy Spirit, he knew that you are more than my first cousin.

You are none other than the Son of God who is to be the redeemer of my soul. You are my Christ, you are my God. You come to me to be baptized? I need you to baptize me. That's why John backed away. He saw Jesus differently that day than he had ever seen him before. And he tried to deter Jesus from being baptized by him because he felt so unworthy to be baptized by Jesus. Jesus answers John in verse 15. Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness."

This was Jesus' answer to John. Jesus was coming now to identify with sinful people like you and myself, for we have all sinned. We have all sinned. And listen, the only way for you to do away with your sin is to confess it, to turn away from it, to ask Jesus to forgive you. That is the only way. If you do that, your sin will be taken away from you and you'll not be held accountable for it. But if you excuse yourself and say, "Well, I'm a good husband, I'm a good wife," you can excuse yourself, but nevertheless, the Bible says we have all sinned.

There's only one person who didn't sin, and that was Jesus Christ himself. Only one. And the only way to rid ourselves of sin is to acknowledge it and confess it. But to hold on to it, it will strangle you and send you to hell forever. Jesus wants us to be rid of our sin, and he has come to deliver us and to free us from our sin. Listen to the story today and know how much you are loved, how much God cares for your soul, and how he wants to forgive that that only he can forgive and take away.

So John tried to deter Jesus. He didn't want to baptize him. But Jesus said, "I have to identify with sinners; I have to become one with sinners." Because it will fulfill all righteousness. It's the right thing to do. It's the only thing to do. Every man and woman will be lost unless I do this right thing before God. Righteousness means doing right. And God wants to do right by you today, but you have to consent. Listen, you have to consent. He so respects you. He has so given you self-autonomy.

He wants you to give your heart. That means give it. He will never come and take it. He so respects your rights today. But if you'll give your heart to him, he will take you into his heart and love you, forgive you, and help you. But he'll only do it if you consent to it and he wants to do it. It's the right thing to do. Sin has stained us and put a stain on all of us. Only Jesus can take care of that. And John knew that. He said, "I can go through the outward motions and I can baptize, which is a form or a way of cleansing from sin, a ceremonial cleansing."

But John looked at Jesus and he knew that only Jesus could actually get to the heart. The water can cleanse the outside, which is symbolic, but only Jesus can get to the heart and actually cleanse the heart, cleanse the life and give you new life and start your life over again. That's what John was meaning. He said, "I can take care of the outside, only you can take care of the inside, Jesus." He said, "I need you to take care of the inside of me." But Jesus wanted to be baptized because he wanted to identify with us and with all who broke the law of God.

For the scripture clearly states in Romans 3:23, we have all sinned, every one of us, and broken the law of God. So under point A, the baptism of Jesus fulfilling all righteousness. Number two, Jesus came to identify with the people, with the very people he came to save. He came to identify. And he goes down into our sin, into our watery grave, even into our hell, to touch us down at the very lowest depths and to somehow link with us and to bring us back up, spiritually speaking.

That's what Jesus wants to do today. That's what he was demonstrating. He said, "Listen to me, friends. Listen to me." Jesus said, "I love you so much, I love you so much I will go to hell for you." Now, can you understand such love as that? If you can, you're more intelligent than I am, but I can't understand. When he died, his soul literally went down into Hades and to release those who were in the prisons of the darkness. So listen, sir, you're not going to live forever. Ma'am, you're not going to live forever.

Only one life will soon be passed; only what's done for Christ will actually last. Give your heart to Jesus if you haven't. That's the whole purpose in Christ coming. He knew that life was short, and he knew that you were going to live in a world and experience a lot of problems and misery. He knew that he was the one and the only one that will actually get you through this world, and he knew that he was the key to get you into the world to come. There's something in you and in me that's going to live forever.

It's called our eternal spirit. And somehow in our honest moments, deny as we will, we cannot deny that there is something that is there in that honest moment that is going to abide. There's some part of me that will not taste death and go into the ground. That's the part in me and in you that he wants to save and heal and forgive and take to heaven when that time comes. He came to identify with us, to be numbered with the transgressors. He became a sinner for us to deliver us from our sins. This wonderful savior, this Jesus.

You see, sin has stained our inner lives, our inner soul. It's left its mark. It's inside. And only Jesus can get in there and cure that ailment, that sickness. We're all going to die. Jesus knew that, but he prepared for it. He died for us. We're going to die a physical death, but we don't have to die a spiritual death and be eternally separated from God. That's what spiritual death is. And so Jesus says to John the Baptist, "I want to go down into that grave with the people. I want to symbolize it by my baptism, because I'll go down, and when they go down, I'll touch them at the lowest point of their lives down under that water."

Symbolically, I'll touch every life, and when I come up, they'll come up with me in me. Jesus said to John the Baptist, "Put me under, because I'm going to touch the people who are at their lowest, and I'm going to resurrect everybody who believes in me." And that's what happened at Jordan. It was prophetic of his death and his resurrection, Jesus' baptism in the Jordan River. Verse 16 says, "As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water." That means he went down into the water, symbolizing death, and then he came up out of the water.

It was a resurrection. It was a new life. It was something that he was symbolizing, but he was experiencing it for everyone of us who will believe in him. He went up out of the water, and at that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him. Friends, heaven will open to you today by identifying with Jesus and turning to Jesus and receiving Jesus. He, so to speak, in every form and truth of the word, he took our death, he took our hell, that you and I might live forevermore.

We're going to die physically, but we don't have to die spiritually and be eternally separated from God. The scripture says in Revelation chapter four, verse one—this is John the Apostle speaking now—he said, "I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven." This door Jesus opens to us, all who come to him, all who die to their sin, all who rise in him. It's an experience that takes place in the heart, and then we give testimony to it by going into the baptistry.

Actually, the form of baptism isn't what is important; it's the testimony that we give to an experience that was actually received in our hearts. And we do it when we believe on the Lord and confess our sins to him. And the scripture says in number two under point B in your outline, the Holy Spirit descended like a dove. Look at verse 16. "As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him."

The Holy Spirit now comes. The very presence of God now comes into your heart when you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. He has taken our hell and our punishment for us. And today through him, we can go free and live. There is no way that we can experience life apart from him. He is the way, he's the truth, he's the life, and all who believe upon him—friend, we all have to die. It's appointed unto men once to die. Every person has an appointment. It's on God's calendar.

And there is absolutely nothing that can be done. We'll live 60 years, 70 years, 80, 90. But that time comes. There's a divine appointment with death. But Jesus Christ will take our death, meaning that when this body dies, we don't have to experience the dreadfulness of it, the hell of it. He will take us into the very presence of God. We don't have to fear that which can do us no harm, and death can't do you any harm now. It will come, you will die, but your spirit, that eternal part of you, that Christ-like part of you, will go into the presence of God and will live and abide forever.

This is what Jesus has done for all who know him, for all who will believe upon him and receive him. What a wonderful savior he is. Even before we asked, he provided for us and made this great salvation possible for us. And number three under point B, the voice of God spoke and said, "This is my son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." God so wants to help us that he sacrificed his own son. And now he expresses great love and admiration for his son and what his son did for us because he knew that only Jesus could do that for us.

We couldn't do it for ourselves. We couldn't save ourselves. And so he appreciates what Jesus did. Do you appreciate it? Have you accepted Jesus and his gift of eternal life? Do you understand to some little tiny degree—that's the only way I can understand it—the great mercy that has come? I remember the Lord's Supper that I shall never forget. Never as long as I live. I don't think there's any way that this man or this son could ever forget when I served the Lord's Supper to my dad in Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

He was dying. This young 49-year-old man looked so healthy up until that day that he went in that hospital. But inside him was a cancer and it was taking his physical life away. But also inside him was a spirit, and there's a spirit inside you. And you can determine, just like my dad did, where that spirit's going to go, what's going to happen to that. You are the captain of your own spiritual life. And I remember serving my dad the Lord's Supper, giving him holy communion, and my dad praying and asking Jesus to come into his life.

You see, my dad cheated death that day. Death thought it had him. Oh, it took his body down, but that eternal part of him, death couldn't manage that at all. Death couldn't handle that. That part is in the presence of God and that's the real part, and I'll meet him again and I'll see him again in that day. It's appointed unto men once to die, and regardless of who you are, you are going to die and face God. But the good news is you can decide on what terms you're going to face God.

Jesus is the one who forgives our sins and makes the record clean and erases it forever. And today you can come to this table and say, "Why should I die and be lost eternally? You died for my sins that I might be saved eternally." You can come to this altar today and receive the savior and know eternal life because of Jesus. And the Holy Spirit is calling out in love and in mercy to all of us to receive him, to come to him, to know him. The question is: do you know him?

Either you do or you don't. And if there is a question mark in your mind, then put it down, you don't know him. But you can know him; just ask him to come into your heart and forgive you. That's all you need to do. Acknowledge the truth: I'm a sinner; we have all sinned. I remember when I acknowledged it. I'm going to acknowledge it again today at this altar. I'm going to say, "Lord, from the last time I took communion, I know I've done some things wrong, I've thought some wrong thoughts, and I've behaved in a wrong way."

Not that I have gone back into sin again, no. But I'm part of this world, I'm a child of the world, and things work on me. Thoughts will go through my mind. I'm going to come and I'm going to confess. It's going to be a wonderful cleansing. Let it be to you also, and come into the presence of the Lord being renewed and restored and refreshed and regenerated spiritually. God has called us to this altar this morning. He's calling each of us because he loves us and he wants us to be with him forever. It was never his intention that sin would rule over us.

Guest (Male): Jesus' baptism reminds us that he came to stand in our place, to identify with us so we could be made right with God. To learn more about how Christ transforms lives, visit thehealingword.com for messages, devotionals, and spiritual resources. If this ministry is helping you grow, we invite you to support The Healing Word with a gift so others can hear this message. Next time, we'll see how Jesus faced and overcame temptation, and what that means for us today.