BAPTISM IS HOW JESUS SAVES
Prayer: Heavenly Father, we pray You to keep us in the true faith; and as we have been baptized in accordance with Your command and the example of Your dear Son, we pray You to strengthen our faith by Your Holy Spirit, and lead us to everlasting life and salvation; through Your beloved Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who with You and the Holy Spirit is the only true God. Amen.
Sermon Text, St. Matthew 3:13-17. Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he [John] allowed Him. When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a Voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Lord this is Your Word and these are Your words. Sanctify us by the truth. Your Word – including Your Word spoken to us in Baptism – is truth. Amen.
Dear fellow redeemed, children of God by faith in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Jesus’ Baptism was the first event of His public ministry. When He was baptized, it was the sign that everything was beginning. It was Game On. This is when He began to be “the Christ,” which means Anointed One. He was anointed by the Holy Spirit in His Baptism. From there He’s led into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan, as we’ll hear next Sunday. Game On.
His own Baptism is the beginning. But His institution of Baptism is the last act of His ministry. He said, “Go and make disciples of all the nations, bap-tizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things, whatever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end.” After this He ascended to heaven.
So we have Jesus’ own baptism as the first event in His ministry, and His instituting of baptism as the last one. You get the feeling this is important. And necessary. Jesus told John He needed to be baptized. And He didn’t let His Church be without Baptism: “Go, baptize,” He said. But why? Why was Jesus baptized? Why are we?
There are differences in Jesus’ baptism and ours, because we have sins; He didn’t. But the two are united in this way:
Baptism Is How Jesus Saves
This is the most important thing to know about baptism. This comes from the simplest, clearest Bible verse about baptism, which we heard in the epistle today: “Baptism now saves you.” It’s the answer to all the vital questions:
Why did Jesus institute Baptism? In order to save people.
What does Baptism do? It saves you.
Why should babies be baptized? They need to be saved.
Many Christians think of His Baptism only as an example to follow. But Jesus wasn’t coming to be baptized to be an example, or to be obedient to God’s command. Jesus’ reason wasn’t about obeying but saving.
Jesus was not doing this to be obedient to God’s commands or to be a good example for us. Those would be Law reasons for His being baptized. Jesus’ reason to be baptized was only Gospel.He came to be baptized not for sins that He had done Himself, but because of our sins. even Baptism itself, in every passage that’s actually about baptism, teaches and shows that first it’s about sin.Jesus’ Baptism shows this; it’s why John was confused.
“Jesus came to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him.” Sounds easy. But John was baptizing sinners. His baptism was “for the remission of sins.” But Jesus didn’t come to John to be baptized for sins that He had done. He didn’t have any of those. That’s why John “tried to prevent Him” saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?!” Jesus came to baptized for all the sin that’s laid on Him – all our sins! This is what Jesus had in mind when He responded to John: “Permit it to be so” – or, “let Me be baptized by you” – “for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”
This part about righteousness is about how sinners can be righteous before God. The issue is: how can God declare us guilty ones innocent? There’s only one way: our sins had to be laid on Jesus. As John said, He’s “the Lamb of God who bears away the sin of the world.”
Your sins were laid on Jesus. He was carrying everyone’s burden of sin. All this sin should pollute the water. But Jesus is the true Passover Lamb. He comes to die, to make full payment for all sin. From here Jesus will go forward eventually to shed His holy, precious blood. In His baptism, you see how He has taken on Himself all the sin – all the sins you commit, as well as all the sins committed against you; it even includes all the sins committed against Jesus Himself that He endured. He carries all the load of sin into the water, consecrates the water of baptism so it will cleanse you of all your sin.
All your sins in life connect up with your Baptism. Remember the answer to “What does Baptism give?” It begins with these words: “Baptism works forgiveness of sins.” This comes from Acts 2, where Peter says: “Be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins.”
So the baptism Jesus instituted obviously isn’t a work that we do. Baptism is only something God does for you. It’s how God saves you, the little ones too. It isn’t you coming to God on your own but being brought to where He is, and there God comes to you. Jesus instituted this baptism later, but even at this early date in His career Jesus is making necessary preparations.
Over and over, the Bible says Baptism is about sins: “Be baptized … for the remission of sins … Be baptized, and wash away your sins.” (Acts 2:38, 22:16) So when “John allowed Him,” baptized Jesus, it’s so great! All the sins get carried into the water of baptism. Baptism is first about sin.
But second, it’s Jesus saving from sin.
We have to keep in front of us the promises that Baptism saves. “Baptism now saves you” (1Pet 3:21). “He who believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mk 16:16). Not only is it true as our catechism says, that Baptism “works forgiveness of sins,” but it also “delivers from death and the devil” – it gives life – and “gives eternal salvation to all who believe this,” it saves through the gift of faith.
Someone may ask: “But I thought that Jesus saves. If Jesus saves, why do you say Baptism saves? Which is it?” The answer is that Baptism is how He saves. He saves everyone from sins by what He did: He died for sins and rose again. But you need faith. So God saves people, second, by what He gives. What Jesus did is brought to us in baptism so it can become our own. It’s by faith. Jesus won salvation for all on the cross; but this salvation is distributed, given by Him in Baptism. He wants everyone – even infants – to have access to this.
So, let’s be sure of this: in Baptism the Holy Spirit gives faith. Where the Bible says, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus,” it follows that with a verse that connects Baptism with having faith: “whoever is baptized into Christ has been clothed with Christ” (Gal 3:26-27).
This is how a person is saved through faith. In Baptism you are actually being saved, and it isn’t someone or something else doing the saving. It’s Jesus saving. It’s the Holy Spirit giving you the gift of saving faith. In fact, it’s the entire Trinity, as Jesus’ Baptism shows. In His Baptism all three Persons were there. So also the entire Triune God is present at every baptism:
First, God the Father is there: in Baptism He adopts you and declares you to be His child. Jesus is there too, since His blood, that “cleanses from all sin,” is in the water to wash away sin; each person is “baptized for the remission of sins” (Ac 2:38). And the Holy Spirit is there, giving new life, giving the gift of saving faith, through the Word, as Peter said: “be baptized … and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Ac 2:38), and it says in Titus 3 that Baptism is a “renewing of the Holy Spirit.” Also, faith “comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom 10:17), and the first word of God the child hears, by which he/she comes to believe, are the words spoken to him/her in baptism.
But we also have to know this about Baptism, that it isn’t only about what happened to you once upon a time. It’s a daily reality, ongoing. It’s not: “I was baptized” but: “I am baptized!” It’s why we sing: “I am baptized into Christ.”
So Baptism has a daily significance, which is repentance: that when you fall into sin you don’t have to be re-baptized, you simply repent. Repentance is using your baptism: just as you were brought to baptism, and nothing bad happened, only good – your sin was washed away and you received forgiveness – so when you repent, nothing bad happens, only good – God gives you the same forgiveness you first received in Baptism. In repentance you come as God’s own child, knowing He’ll forgive you.
Baptism isn’t only about receiving salvation initially, it’s also being kept in this faith and salvation all the way into eternity! Martin Luther spoke in the Large Catechism of how Baptism brings you into the ship of the Church; he said: “It does happen that we slip and fall out of the ship. Yet if anyone falls out,” Luther says, he can get back into the ship by repenting and take his place again, “as he had done before. Thus we see what an excellent thing Baptism is. It rescues us from the very jaws of the devil and makes us God’s own children. It overcomes and takes away sin and daily strengthens the new man in us.” (LC IV:82-83)
Our baptism is so comforting! Especially when your sin hurts you, or your conscience can’t find peace, if you doubt God can forgive you, or need reassurance that you are God’s child. Boy, we need reassurance in spades!
Well, look here! If you are baptized, with the same water of baptism with which Jesus was baptized – who shares your humanity – what’s true for you? God the Father says: “You’re My son, I love you, I’m well pleased with you. You’re My daughter, I love you, I’m well pleased with you.”And the Holy Spirit, He came to you, He gave you faith. Why do you still have this faith? Because the Spirit hasn’t left you and remains with you as He did with Jesus. He comforts you. You might have stubborn ways but He’s still leading and guiding you.
So listen. Baptism is how Jesus saves. Baptism is how He saved you, and your Baptism is strong to save you still. Arm yourself against fear and doubt. Live inside the promises of your Baptism, confident, full of hope. Amen!