The Healing Word

Guest (Male): The Healing Word program is a ministry of the Largo Community Church, where Christ is honored and people are loved. We invite you to join us in worship this Sunday at either the 9:00 or 11:00 service. For more information, visit our website at largocc.org.

Pastor Jack Morris: You see, you and I are not properly related to God. We have sinned. We have missed the mark. We have fallen short. We just don't measure up in ourselves. Only one can do that for us. Only one! No other name under heaven given among men but Jesus Christ.

Guest (Male): Welcome to The Healing Word, a radio ministry of the Largo Community Church. Here’s Pastor Jack Morris with today’s message that will grow your faith in God and lead you to a closer walk with Jesus.

Pastor Jack Morris: Power to become. Now, God is making us. He’s doing it, fashioning us into the people, the person that He wants us to be, that we want us to be, that we can be. Things can be different with Jesus. Things are different with Jesus.

We’re going to talk about the baptism of the Lord Jesus and what He did and how it relates to us today. It is absolutely phenomenal. I have gone over and over and over it. I most certainly don't feel worthy to speak about this. I just wonder today if I’m going to be able to speak it clearly and make it understandable. It is so absolutely marvelous. I’m praying that the Holy Spirit will help me, and the Holy Spirit will help you to hear and receive what happened when Jesus was baptized.

At His baptism, He reappeared after 18 years of silence. We hadn't heard anything from Jesus since He was 12 years old. Now He is 30 years old, and He reappeared at Jordan to be baptized. It's estimated by some that He walked 60 miles from Nazareth to Jordan to be baptized. If He walked and He could have traveled 20 miles a day, it took Him three days to get there.

He went there for us, and this is reminiscent. This is the walk at the beginning of His ministry. We also think of the walk on the Via Dolorosa as He carried His cross at the end of His ministry. But He walked those walks for us. He didn't just talk the talk and do a lot of teaching. He did that, and that is marvelous and wonderful, but He went with His body, with His life, and He gave His all for us.

Now, this baptism was the official beginning of His ministry. This was a transition from working with woodwork that He did for 18 years, a transition from working with wood tools to a transition of refashioning human hearts. I am asking myself the question as you listen, you ask yourself the question: Has my heart, your heart, been refashioned by this divine carpenter who made not only furniture but now makes lives?

18 years of building woodwork. Now He goes for three years to refashion people's hearts. But notice this also: For 18 years, He was a young man, a young carpenter that everybody loved in Nazareth. He was a fine, upstanding young man. The scripture says from age 12 to age 30, He grew in stature, He grew in wisdom, He grew in favor with God and with men. People, the citizens, favored Him. Everybody liked Jesus. He was a nice young man. He worked in the carpenter shop.

But now, notice the transition from being favored, liked, popular to being one who is despised. Numerous times during those last three years, His life was sought after and men wanted to kill Him. But God protected Him because it wasn't time. He hadn't fulfilled His ministry. But in the end, they cried out, "Crucify Him!" This fine young man of Nazareth, now crucify Him. And they did. They crucified Him.

But Jesus said to Pilate, "For this purpose I was born and for this purpose, this purpose alone, I came into the world. I didn't come to be a carpenter working with wood. I came to redeem souls, to take sins, the people's sins, in my own body. For this purpose, I was born."

Now, here is where we get Jesus' second recorded words. His first recorded words were given when He was 12 years old. His parents missed Him. They go back to the temple and they find Him there talking with the doctors, speaking, listening, sharing, asking questions. His mother asks Him, "Didn't you know that your father and I were concerned? We were anxious. You were missing." And He answered, first recorded words, "Didn't you know that I must be in my Father's house, that I must be about my Father's business?"

That's the end. We don't hear anything for 18 years. And now, here is His second recorded words. John the Baptist was Jesus' first cousin. They were related. He sees Jesus coming to the Jordan. There are a lot of people there at Jordan to be baptized. Scribes and Pharisees were there to do their ridiculing, but there were a lot of people there. When John looks up and he sees Jesus coming to him, there came to John a divine revelation as he looked into His pure eyes. He said, "Oh my God! My first cousin is none other, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"

And the revelation was there. Look at Him, all you people! He’s not a first cousin. He’s the Son of God. He’s the redeemer of mankind. Will you look? Will you observe? Do you know? Well, come to know now. He is here, Jesus. Jesus said, here's the second recorded words, Jesus replied to John, "Let it be so now. It is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness."

Now, here's where I get hung up: "To fulfill all righteousness." You know, those words come like a flash that is unveiled and so quick. One statement. And we’re tempted, and I am too, just to hurry past those words. He came to fulfill all righteousness. We’ve read that many times. But oh, what He was saying to John and what the Holy Spirit is saying to us! May my eyes be open, and my ears be unstopped, and my heart be cleared that these words might sink deep into my consciousness, into my deep unconsciousness.

May I be baptized into those words. May those words be baptized into me. To fulfill all righteousness. To fulfill all righteousness. Say those words: "To fulfill all righteousness." Meaning to do everything, I’ve come to do everything necessary to bring man into a right relationship with God. I’ve come. That's my only purpose in coming. Righteousness meaning a proper relationship with God.

You see, you and I are not properly related to God. We have sinned. We have missed the mark. We have fallen short. We just don't measure up in ourselves. Only one can do that for us. Only one! No other name under heaven given among men but Jesus Christ. To fulfill all righteousness.

Jesus was baptized. He was sinless. He was baptized not for His sin, but for my sin and your sin. We are the ones that sinned. He did nothing to confess. He did nothing to repent of. That's why John said, "Why am I baptizing you? This doesn't compute. This doesn't make sense. You're the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Why am I baptizing you? This is a baptism unto repentance and confession."

And Jesus said, "Let it be so now. It is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." What happened? Listen. What happened when Jesus was baptized? He went down into that water confessing your sins. Jesus went down into that water repenting for you and me. He had no sins. It was our sins. He had nothing to repent of. It was our repentance.

Think about it. Jesus confessing our sins, repenting of our sins in baptism as He was plunged beneath the waters. The scripture says, "God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become," there it is, "power to become the righteousness of God." You see, God at that moment charged Jesus with our sins. Jesus treated Himself as a sinner, as if our sin belonged to Him.

He says, "Jack Morris's sin is my sin. Now I’m Jack Morris, the sinner." And He called your name, and He confessed your sin, and He went down into the water as though my sin belonged to Him, belonged to Jesus. Now notice, God made Him who knew no sin to be sin. Why? For us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. God credited our sin to Jesus. Just so, God took the purity of Jesus, His righteousness, and credited it to us.

Now, here is the great switch, the great exchange. God took what was mine and put it on Him, and then God took what was His and put it on me. I couldn't do that for myself. You couldn't do it. We’re lost without Him, without recognizing Him. And when I recognize Jesus as the Son of God, and I look to Him as John the Baptist said, that's when the confession that He made of my sins and the repentance that He made of my sins, that's when it's activated and let it come to me and enter into my heart.

Guest (Female): Every day, The Healing Word reaches people with the life-changing truth of God's Word, bringing hope to the hurting, peace to the anxious, and salvation to the lost. But we can't do it alone. If this ministry has blessed you, would you consider standing with us in prayer and financial support? Your faithful partnership helps us stay on the air, expand our outreach, and continue proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ to a world in need. Please take a moment today to pray for The Healing Word, for Pastor Jack Morris, and for all those listening, many of whom are facing incredible challenges. And if you're able, make a financial gift of any size. Every donation makes a difference. Visit thehealingword.com to give today. Together, let's share the healing hope of Christ with more people than ever before.

Pastor Jack Morris: Years ago, there was a man named Bob in the church. We had a lot of Bobs around here, don't we? That's a nice name, Bob. I like that name, Bob. Bob. They came to the church when we were at the school. I don't know whether they ever came up here to the little chapel or not. But at any rate, when Bob and his wife were dating, I remember his wife telling the story too.

She didn't have enough money in her bank account to pay a particular bill that was coming due. She apparently told her boyfriend, who has now become her husband, she told her boyfriend Bob that this bill's coming due and I don't have enough money. I don't know what to do. So Bob was pretty well off. He had a good job. He was making a lot of money.

So Bob, unbeknownst to her, takes his money, goes over to her bank, and deposits money in her account. Now, when she got her statement, she knew that she came up short. She just didn't have the means to pay that bill, and she didn't know where she was going to get it from. But then she said, "I got another statement and there was all this money in there."

She said, "What happened?" And she was telling Bob, they were out on a date, they were laughing about it now that they're married and had a couple of kids. She said, "I had no idea where that money came from. It wasn't my money. Where did it come from? But there it was in my account and I couldn't figure it out. I just couldn't figure it out."

You see, that's what Jesus did. He looked into your account and my account. We came up short. We could not pay the bill, the price for our sin. We just didn't have it. We just came up short. We were lost. We were going to be lost forever and forever because we never could come up with what God demanded. We sinned and we fell short. We came short. We didn't have the wherewithal.

And Jesus takes His own precious blood and puts it over into our account and says, "I paid his bill. I paid her bill. She is free. She is free. He is free. He is free." This is what the Lord did for us. There was a man, and I don't think this happened very long ago, he was caught stealing milk at a store. The cameras caught him. He was caught in the very act, and when he got to the door, the security guards grabbed him.

He only had a gallon of milk or half a gallon. I guess it was a gallon of milk. And they had him in court. And the judge asked him, "How do you plead?" Well, the man, the only way he could plead was guilty. He was caught in the act. They had it on video. And so the man just hung his head and he said, "Guilty."

The judge was silent for a moment and he said, "Well, since you pleaded guilty, I have no recourse or alternative but to fine you. I’ve got to level a fine. The fine is $10." Well, the man was crushed. If the man had $10, he would have bought the milk. He didn't have any money. And he told the judge, he said, "Your honor," he said, "I have two babies at home and they're starving." He said, "That's why I stole that milk. My babies need milk. If I had the money, I would have bought the milk. But it was for my babies. Would you have mercy upon me?"

The judge was quiet a moment. The judge put his gavel down. The judge got up, walked off the bench, walked over to the clerk, reached in his own wallet, pulled out $10, and said, "Sir, you're free." He paid his bill. And then the judge walked back over to him, the judge took out his checkbook, and wrote him a check for $100.

I’ll tell you, when Jesus gives, He gives in abundance. He gives adequately. Whatever our need is, Jesus gives what we can't give, what we don't have to give. We can't even pay our own fine. There is nothing we can do. This is exactly what Jesus said when He said, "Let it be so now. It is proper for us to fulfill all righteousness. I’ve got to do this for Jack Morris or he’s damned forever. He doesn't have it in his account. He’ll never get it. There's no way for him to get it in his account. But I’m going to put it in his account. I’m going to pay his fine. And I’m going to not only pay his fine to redeem his life, I’m going to bless him beyond all measure. I’m going to write him a $100 check, a million dollars, a billion, whatever it is. He’s going to do this."

Our sins were charged to Jesus, and the scripture says the heavens open when Jesus came out of that water. You talk about God being pleased in what Jesus did for you. How pleased are you and I for what He did for us? Heaven opened, and it has ever been open to you and me ever since then.

Today you and I can interact with God. We can go boldly to the throne of grace. We can walk in our prayers right into the very throne room of God. Heaven is open to us. Heaven is smiling upon us, not because of anything we have done, but because of what Jesus has done, what Jesus has done, what Jesus has done.

Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to the cross I cling. All because of Jesus. We are sinners, and all of our righteousness and everything we have done right are as filthy rags before God. We just cannot redeem ourselves. But Jesus has done it. He’s already confessed my sins, your sins. He’s already repented of it. Now all you have to do is believe on Him, and as you begin to confess, as you begin to turn away from it, what He did in that watery grave is activated within you.

Heaven is open to you now. Heaven is open. A dear friend of mine, he was like the Bishop that ordained me so many years ago when I was just a young minister, age 24. After I think I was the last one he put his hands on, he went off to preach at a church. His last sermon was, "If heaven opens to me tonight, I’m ready to go through." That night he died, 46 years old.

Friend, listen: If heaven is open to you, and it is, are you ready to go through? Are you ready to step through? Are you ready to live for God now? Are you ready to pray your prayers through to heaven now? Are you ready to pass through the firmament into His presence now if He should call you? Jesus did it all! You have nothing to do but to believe on Him now. Nothing to do!

It's the easiest thing in the world for you to be saved. That's why God is having mercy now, but He won't have mercy in that day because God has made it so easy. It's a work that is done, and Jesus did it all. Heaven opened, the Spirit of God came down upon Jesus in the form of a dove to empower Him to go out and to tell you of His relationship to God and now His relationship to you. Heaven opened. The Holy Spirit came down. And God looked at what Jesus did for you and me and said, "I love you, Son. This is my beloved Son in whom I’m well pleased." He’s well pleased for what He did for us. God is pleased for what Jesus did for us. Aren't you thankful? This is what God has done.

Now, this is what the scripture says, and I’m going to close now. Romans 14:17: "For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." Righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

Guest (Male): You've been listening to Pastor Jack Morris and The Healing Word. This program was recorded at the Largo Community Church. We invite you to join us this Sunday for worship. We're located at 1701 Enterprise Road in Mitchellville, Maryland. For service times and directions, call the church office at 301-249-2211 or visit our website at largocc.org. Join us next time for another inspiring message from The Healing Word. Until then, may the peace of God be with you.