I invite you to turn with me tonight to Matthew chapter 3, as we consider verses 13 through 17 in connection with Lord's Day 8 of the Heidelberg Catechism, Matthew chapter 3, and if before we look there, if you would turn to page 15 in the back of the Psalter hymnal to Lord's Day 8, the bottom of page 15. Questions and answers 24 and 25 following up on the previous question and answer which lists, of course, the Apostles' Creed. And Lord's Day 8, question 24 asks, How are these articles divided? Into three parts. God the Father and our creation. God the Son, and our deliverance. God the Holy Spirit, and our sanctification. Since there is but one God, why do you speak of three? Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Because that is how God has revealed Himself in His Word. These three distinct persons are one true, eternal God. Matthew chapter 3, we'll read the chapter beginning at verse 1. Hear now the Word of God. In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the desert of Judea and saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near. This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah, a voice of one calling in the desert, Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him. John's clothes were made of camel's hair and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them, You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father. I tell you that out of these stones, God can raise up children for Abraham. The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me? Jesus replied, Let it be so now. It is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness. Then John consented. 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 on Him. And a voice from heaven said, This is My Son, whom I love. With Him, I am well pleased. May God add His blessing to the reading and consideration of His Word tonight. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, as Christians, as Christ followers, we confess the doctrine of the Trinity. Even as we just sang, God in three persons, blessed Trinity. The doctrine of the Trinity, of course, is expressed in and is the focus of all three of our Christian creeds. The Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed. And as answer 24, the Catechism says, the Apostles' Creed is formatted as such God the Father and our creation God the Son and our deliverance God the Holy Spirit and our sanctification and we are so confident of the doctrine of the Trinity that we even confess as we did in the Athanasian Creed He therefore that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity and also this is the Catholic faith which except a man believe faithfully he cannot be saved Now, of course, there are many religions out there that we are aware of that do not believe in the triune God, that believe in a God. But many people do not believe that Jesus was God. Many do not believe that the Holy Spirit is anything more than just a spirit, that the Spirit is not God. But we boldly state that there is no salvation without the triune God. And believing this truth and embracing it by faith. Yet, we must also confess that we believe this truth not because we find the word Trinity in the Bible. We don't. Not because it's easy to understand or because we do understand how it's possible how there can be one divine essence or being that we call God and yet three distinct persons who are all fully God. We explain what we believe the best we can, I believe, in the Athanasian Creed. And of course, many have tried to explain the Trinity with certain analogies. For example, rain, sleet, and snow, they're all water, but in different forms. Recently, in our family devotions, one that I'd never heard of, three in one oil, all oil with three different purposes. However, the truth is any and every earthly analogy is weak, it is incomplete, it is insufficient to explain the truth of the Trinity. The truth is our finite minds cannot understand how this can be, but we believe this truth because God Himself in His Word reveals Himself to be one. As Deuteronomy 6, verse 4 says, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. He has revealed Himself to be one in three. In Matthew 28, verse 19, Jesus says, Go and make disciples, baptizing them in the name, singular, the name, one God, in the name of the Father, the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, Scripture speaks of and describes the personhood of each of the three distinct persons. And the Catechism will consider each individually as we continue to make our way through the Catechism. Yet, the Catechism introduces the Trinity in the second section called Man's Deliverance and presents the Trinity not in such a way as if to explain how it can be possible. But it presents the Trinity as the foundation of man's redemption. The triune God is the foundation of man's redemption. that redemption of which the Father, the Creator, is the fountain, of which the Son, the Deliverer, is the Accomplisher or the Effector, and of which the Holy Spirit, the Sanctifier, is the Applier. And the Trinity as the foundation of man's redemption is pictured, it is seen in this episode of Scripture, with the Son's baptism, first of all. Secondly, with the Holy Spirit's anointing. And third, with the Father's announcement. First of all, it is seen with the Son's baptism. Notice in verses 13 and 14, John's hesitation. Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John, but John tried to deter Him, saying, I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to Me? Now remember John's purpose, as we read in the first part of the chapter. And as he himself says in verse 11, I baptize you with water for repentance. John was called to prepare the way for the Lord by calling sinners to repent of their sins and his water baptism pointed to cleansing, appointed to washing away of sins by the one who was to come, by the one whose way he was called to prepare, by that one who was to be believed. And then here comes Jesus before John to be baptized, which presents John's problem. John recognized that he himself was the needy one, that he himself was the sinful one, that not Jesus, it was not Jesus. Jesus needed no cleansing. Jesus needed no forgiveness. Therefore, Jesus needed no baptism. But what's interesting is how did he know this? How did he recognize this? Listen to what the Apostle John says in chapter 1 of his Gospel. The next day, and we are to understand this was the day after Jesus' baptism, the day after the events of our text. The next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And of course, he knew that by what had taken place the day before. He goes on, This is the one I meant when I said, A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me. I myself did not know him. But the reason I came baptizing with water was that He might be revealed to Israel. Then John gave this testimony, I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on Him. I would not have known Him except that the One who sent me to baptize with water told me, The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is He who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God. All of this, the heavens opening, the Holy Spirit coming down in the form of a dove, all of this was after the baptism of Jesus. And therefore, before John even baptized Jesus by his own testimony, he didn't know for certain that this one was the Messiah. Now, of course, we don't know his relationship with his second cousin, Jesus. Their mothers were cousins, the Bible says. We don't even know if they actually ever saw each other when they were growing up, boys and girls. It wasn't like you and I hanging around with our cousins like we do in our lifetime. We don't know if the two of them ever saw each other. The Bible doesn't tell us. We do suspect that John's mother Elizabeth had told John all that had taken place when Mary came to her and told Elizabeth when they were both pregnant of Gabriel's visit and what he had said and of John leaping in Elizabeth's womb. Yet though Jesus' identity had not yet been divinely made known to John, in God's providence, He suspected who Jesus was and He resisted. However, His resistance meets with Jesus' insistence. Verse 15, Jesus replied, Let it be so now. It is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness. Then John consented. It's as if Jesus says, you're correct. You need to be baptized by Me. But this is what needs to be done now. Not because of His own need. Indeed, Jesus had nothing to repent of. But He was, as John would say the next day, He was the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And therefore, He must be baptized because of the need of others. Because of those He came to save. This event marked the beginning of Jesus' official public ministry. And by presenting Himself to John in this way, He was presenting Himself for the task that was planned for Him before the foundation of the world. He was the One chosen to provide the righteous requirement. He was the One who would provide the salvation needed. And through this water baptism, just as Scripture says and as the form says that in our baptisms, we are identified with Christ, buried with Christ, and raised with Christ. Through this water baptism, Jesus identified Himself with those for whom He came. Those who needed cleansing from sin. Those who needed forgiveness for sin. This baptism indeed points to His suffering on our account. His suffering which Jesus refers to as a baptism in Luke 12, verse 50. Through His coming and through His baptism, Jesus in His humanity identified Himself with His people. He identified Himself with His redemptive office as the sin-bearer by which, as the catechism says, He would accomplish our deliverance. And this identification of Him is confirmed by heaven in two ways. First of all, our second point, through the Holy Spirit's anointing. 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 on Him. Notice its picture, the picture of the Holy Spirit's anointing. Heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended like a dove. With the opening of heaven, we are to understand that John could see beyond what we are limited to. That John could see beyond the planets and the stars but he could see into heaven itself, into the throne room, the glory of heaven itself, just as Ezekiel and Stephen were allowed to do. But we are not told as with Ezekiel and Stephen. We are not told what John saw, but it is clear that he understood it was a symbol of the divine presence that descended upon Jesus. Descended upon Him like a dove. Now, we're really not told why the form of a dove. there are many suggestions. It is suggested, for example, that the dove was an ancient symbol of purity and innocence and gentleness. Jesus Himself says in Matthew 10, 16, be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. And indeed, all of these qualities are true of Jesus. It might refer back to Genesis 1, verse 2, the Spirit of God hovering, where we read that there. But we do know that in this way, the invisible Spirit of God was made visible to Jesus in His humanity and to John, pointing to its purpose, the purpose of the Holy Spirit, of anointing Jesus in His human nature as the Messiah, as the Redeemer, revealing that this One was indeed the One. Indeed, revealing to John himself the One who was prophesied. In Isaiah 11, verse 1, we read, The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him. The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. In Isaiah 42, verse 1, Here is My servant whom I uphold, My chosen one in whom I delight. I will put My Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations. And one more, Isaiah 61, Jesus applies this to Himself. during his ministry, and it talks not only about his anointing, but also about what he was anointed to do. The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of a vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn and provide for those who grieve in Zion, to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning. The purpose of the Holy Spirit was to anoint Jesus in His human nature as the Messiah, as the one who was prophesied. This was a visible sign. The Holy Spirit lighting, abiding on Jesus, as it were, clearly setting Him apart. No one else there, just Jesus. Abiding on Jesus, that this very one, this man in the crowd that day, the one who was foretold, was qualified for His public office. Under the cover of the weakness of the flesh, Jesus was empowered by the Holy Spirit to do all the work that He came to do. And beloved, that very same Holy Spirit of God who descended upon the Son of God, He is our sanctifier. He is the one who applies the redeeming work of Jesus Christ to our hearts and lives. It is He by whom we believe. It is He who gives a new birth, who gives the gift of faith. It is He who is busy making us and preparing us for heaven. Our redemption could not and would not be completed without this same Holy Spirit. His work includes burning away the deeds of the old man and the remnants of the flesh in each one of us and in its place building in us the graces of the new man. and indeed we don't always like his work do we we don't always like it or enjoy it as he molds us and shapes us after god's will as he convicts us of sin sometimes it hurts yet as we sense that warfare inside beloved we can be assured that this very same holy spirit is at work in your life and in mine by his baptism jesus accepted the task of redemption that was before him and by the anointing of the holy spirit he was qualified equipped as the redeemer and this was also confirmed thirdly by the father's announcement verse 17 and a voice from heaven said this is my son whom i love with him i am well pleased this episode is indeed a clear testimony to the truth and the reality of the Trinity of the Triune God. And this announcement from the Father was an announcement of Jesus' identity. My Son, whom I love. An announcement that this One is more than just man, but this One is God. And these words from the Father would bring to mind the words of Psalm 2, especially verses 7 and 12, I will proclaim the decree of the Lord. He said to me, You are my son. Today I have become your father. And then verse 12, Kiss the son lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. An announcement of the identity that this one is God. This one who, as Paul says in Philippians 2, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, and being found in appearance as a man. The Holy Spirit coming upon him as a sign from heaven that he is the one. Confirmed by the voice of the Father from heaven. God the Father laid claim to Jesus as his Son, the one loved by the Father and through whom God would demonstrate His love for us love expressed through the announcement of the Father's praise with Him I am well pleased as if to say He is the only one sufficient to the task of redemption He is the one we needed He is true and perfect man and He is true God with Him I am well pleased because of what the Father planned and because of what the Son promised from eternity. From eternity as the one chosen to accomplish God's plan of redemption. In Matthew 12, 18 again quotes Isaiah saying, Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love in whom I delight. God's delight upon him. God was pleased with his Son not just at this moment, but his pleasure with his Son goes all the way back to before the foundation of the world as His chosen one to accomplish this redemption. Paul teaches us that in Ephesians 1, beginning at verse 3. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. Now listen, for He that is God the Father chose us in Him, in Christ, before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. Not only were we chosen to be redeemed, but our Redeemer was chosen from before the foundation of the world. In love, He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with His pleasure and will to the praise of His glorious grace which He has freely given us in the one He loves. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ, a mystery from before the foundation of the world. The announcement of the Father's praise, beloved, was an announcement of proving of Jesus, who through His baptism demonstrates His willingness to take upon Himself and take away the sin of the world. This was the Father's plan from eternity. Accomplished through Jesus Christ His Son, applied by His Holy Spirit to those He chose in Christ before the creation of the world. Our redemption planned by the Triune God in eternity without fail and performed by the triune God in history without fail. Our salvation depends from first to last on the triune God. Indeed, this is the Catholic faith which except a man believed faithfully, he cannot be saved. Our salvation depends on the very existence of this triune God. If He is not triune, how could God have a Son and send Him into the world to die and rise again for you and me as the Bible says He did? Or if God would be only Father, then there would be no Jesus. There would be no salvation. Yet the Father and the Son are intimately connected and redemption and salvation are only possible where there was a Father who so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life and he did just that and together the Father and the Son delight to live in you and me by the Holy Spirit God's plan of redemption was perfectly fitted and united to his triune nature without it it can only be up to us to satisfy God somehow some way which some teach we can do but the truth is that's impossible But, beloved, our sure hope, our undoubted confidence is in the only wise God who has revealed Himself in His Word as triune, the Father who planned redemption and chose us for it. The Son who came and gave Himself for us in our place. And the Holy Spirit given to us to bring us by faith to Jesus Christ and to live with and lead and guide us in directing our lives of obedience to Him. Of only this God can we sing, All I have needed, Thy hand has provided. At Jesus' baptism, we see the triune God working in unity on our behalf. The Son willing to suffer the depth of hell for His people. The Holy Spirit anointing and strengthening Him for that very task. The Father, far from being displeased by His Son, opens heaven and blesses earth with His voice of approval and confidence in His eternal Son. This triune God, beloved, is the one and only God of salvation and the God who claims His people for Himself. And He is pleased to have His very name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, symbolically, through the water, placed on the foreheads of believers and their children. Boys and girls, your baptism, and every time we witness a baptism, it is indeed nourishment. Not necessarily for the little one who is baptized tonight. She doesn't really know any better right now. But this sacrament is about God's promise. What God says to you and me. And it's nourishment for those of us who observe as well. And boys and girls, your baptism, every time you see it as tonight, your baptism means that God knows you. Your baptism means that God has set you apart. He has set you apart from children of parents who don't believe in Him. He has set you apart to be taught about Him. And even though the water that was sprinkled on you is long gone, even though it's long been dried off of Elena already, God's promise is still seen by Him. That promise that was symbolically placed on your forehead, God still sees that promise on your head. And you are to remember that promise upon your head. As parents, we are given a joyful duty to teach our children of the riches of this God in whom alone they too might be saved. With the assurance of that salvation, if they look to the Lord Jesus Christ in faith, and boys and girls and young people, that's the promise of God that He gave you. He gave you that promise as your very own possession. A promise that you and I are called to claim. And for those who claim that promise by faith, we have the assurance that all of our sins are washed away. Many reject the truth of the Trinity. And therefore, they reject the truth of God. And they forfeit any and all hope of salvation. And that is why this God alone, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, must be preached urgently and faithfully. Beloved, may we be humbled before our God because of the great things that He has done. And rejoice in God who saved us, the Father who made us, the Son who died for us, and the Holy Spirit who preserves us, both now and forever. Amen. Let's pray together. Our great God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we bow before You with joy in our hearts knowing that You, O Lord, have done all that we have needed. That our salvation, O Lord, was not an afterthought in Your plan, but something that You determined long before the creation of the world. We stand amazed to think about the truth, O Lord, that You knew us long before we ever existed, long before You made us, and that You had set Your sight, Your mercy, Your grace, and Your love upon us in Christ Jesus to bring us into this world, to reveal Yourself to us, to save us from our sins, to give us eternal life in the glory of heaven. Father, we are humbled and we are amazed, yet oh so grateful. Even though we may not be able to fully understand the truth of the triune God, help us to truly believe it more and more. And may you be praised. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you.