GOD GIVES BAPTISM SO WE KNOW HIM BY GRACE ALONE
Prayer: Dear Lord, we poor sinners confess that in our flesh dwells no good thing, since that which is born of flesh is flesh and cannot see the kingdom of God. But we pray that You would grant us Your grace and mercy, and for the sake of Your Son, Jesus Christ, send Your Holy Spirit into our hearts, that being born again we may firmly believe the forgiveness of sins according to Your promise in baptism, and daily increase in Christian love and other good works, until we at last obtain eternal salvation; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. (Collect on the Trinity Sunday Gospel, ELH p. 157-158).
Sermon Text: St. John 3:1-15 (v. 5-6). Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
Lord, this is Your Word and these are Your words. Sanctify us by the truth; Your Word is truth. Amen.
In the name of Jesus, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit is one God, one Lord, and has redeemed you: Grace and peace be multiplied to you.
It’s important to know who the true God is. But if we think of this as having the correct answers about God, that’s not enough. More important than to know all about Him is to know Him. That’s faith, in Biblical terms: knowing God. Jesus said: “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.” (Jn 17:3)
Like all the Pharisees, Nicodemus thought he knew God already. He appears to compliment Jesus when he says, “We know that You are a teacher sent from God.” It sounds like faith. But it isn’t. In verse 12 Jesus says, “You (all) do not believe.” He says they don’t know God. They can only know the Father and come to Him through Jesus. Nicodemus did not come to Jesus to be saved. Nicodemus already thought he was something. Jesus tells this man how he can come into the kingdom, which means that at that time he wasn’t in God’s kingdom, he was on the outside of it.
Jesus’ answer was to tell Nicodemus about the need to be “born again,” to be “born of water and the Spirit.” This is baptism language. So baptism is about the way to actually know God: the only true God, the Triune God.
On what basis did Nicodemus think he was already in the kingdom of God? On what basis did he think he knew God? The answer is: not by grace. Apart from Jesus, that’s how.
This is why Jesus speaks of baptism. This is why Jesus mentions the Holy Spirit. To think of baptism or the Holy Spirit without Jesus is wrong. Baptism is how a little one is brought to Jesus. Baptism is how Jesus comes. It’s: “I am baptized into Christ!” The Holy Spirit is all about Jesus. The Holy Spirit’s purpose is to bring you Jesus. The faith He gives is faith in Jesus.
This is why Trinity “Sunday” focuses on the Holy Spirit: because He completes the saving work of the Triune God. God the Father planned our salvation and sent His only-begotten Son. Christ, the Son of God, came down from heaven and carried out our salvation, He did the saving work to redeem us from all sin, from death, and from the power of the devil. But none of it does you any good unless, until, the Holy Spirit brings this salvation that Jesus won to you. He brings Jesus and His gifts to you. He brings you to believe in Jesus. He gives you faith in Jesus.
The way we want to think of it tonight is that the Holy Spirit gives you the true knowledge of God. He brings you to know God. Like Nicodemus, you can’t truly know God by your own doing. It can only be by grace.
Baptism is actually a great test case for whether you believe you are saved by grace. The helpless baby can’t do anything. But the baby isn’t innocent. The reason we want to baptize babies right away is – and this is offensive to the natural mind – that they are under God’s wrath because they are, we all are, born sinful. This question of knowing God – who He is, what His nature is – begins with knowing yourself: who you are, what your nature is. This is how Jesus begins with Nicodemus. The reason He speaks about a new birth is that there’s a problem with the first birth. This is the first thing to know about yourself: that you have a sinful nature.
Jesus tells Nicodemus that he’s still “flesh,” that is, sinful flesh in need of salvation. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh [and] cannot enter the kingdom of God,” Jesus says. This is a hard thing, to hear “cannot.” We don’t like to hear “cannot.” We like to think we can do anything, be anything. But in this area, the gate is closed and the way is barred. You cannot enter the kingdom of God by your own doing.
The baptism liturgy begins with these words of Jesus in John 3: “In the Word of God we learn that from the Fall of Adam we are all conceived and born in sin.” Because of this, the Bible teaches, everyone is by nature spiritually blind, spiritually dead, unable by your own strength to believe in Jesus or come to Him. This includes being under God’s wrath and condemnation, or as I said of Nicodemus: outside the kingdom, outside of heaven, forever apart from God, the angels and the saints, unless something changes.
But thank God! – the Triune God – for He does change it. He says that you cannot enter the kingdom of God, except, or unless you’re born “of water and the Spirit.” He said that to Nicodemus. He says it to you. After the part about being “conceived and born in sin,” the baptism liturgy brings in these words of Jesus too: “In order that all men, women, and children might come to the knowledge of the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, He has entrusted Baptism to His Church as a means of grace for our salvation. Our Lord has said, ‘Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.’ ”
“Water and the Spirit” just refers to Baptism. True, Jesus didn’t institute Baptism until just before He ascended to heaven, when He said: “Go and make disciples of all nations, [by] baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Mt 28:19) – where He clearly names the Triune God. Jesus instituting Baptism is still 3 years away at this point. But John wrote his gospel 60-plus years after Jesus ascended, so he is highlighting Jesus’ words, “born of water and the Spirit,” to let everyone know this is what Baptism is about: it’s how you enter God’s kingdom!
Baptism is God’s way to let people – especially little children – come into His kingdom. Nothing bars the door! The gate is open! Being baptized, water being connected to the Word, through which the Holy Spirit works, is the way! All three Persons of the Trinity are present in Baptism and come to the person being baptized, as the Holy Spirit gives faith and salvation!
Again, a baby being baptized is the clearest picture that God saves by grace alone. The baby can’t do anything, can only be held and brought to the font, and – hearing the Word as water is applied – receives faith in the true God and is now inside the kingdom, no longer on the outside or far apart from God, the angels and the saints, but is an equal citizen of heaven.
But the point is: this could only be by grace, God’s undeserved love. It can only be by God’s doing, by His gift, what Baptism does isn’t earned.
We need to hear this, because we do forget it. A bunch of Nicodemuses we are, thinking we are what we are because we know things. But Satan uses our learning and turns it against us. If your faith rests on how you have all the Bible knowledge and facts of Jesus, the devil will present you with other facts. Just when you’re thinking you’re a pretty knowledgeable Christian, the devil will catch you in a sin and then start accusing you. What did your knowledge gain you? He attacks you in your conscience, replaying your sin, so for all the Jesus facts you know, you’re tempted to doubt that your faith is real or that you are God’s child. You struggle to believe – not just that God is real, but that He isn’t angry with you.
The true knowledge of God, the only way to know Him, the only way to know how He feels about you, and that He is not angry with you, is by His grace. That’s how God wants it. He only wants you to know Him by grace.
Jesus shows this with Nicodemus when He speaks of Himself as the One “who came down from heaven,” but for what purpose? To be “lifted up” on the cross, just like Moses “lifted up the serpent in the wilderness.” By pointing ahead of time to His cross, Jesus is pointing to salvation by grace: that He did all the doing for your salvation, He took the punishment that your sins deserve, and when He was done He said, “It is finished.”
There is nothing for you to do for your salvation, or for God to be OK with you. He forgives you all your sins for Jesus’ sake – for the sake of what Jesus did. This is grace, His undeserved love. In baptism He brings this forgiveness to you. This is grace, His love that you don’t earn. You can’t come to Him by your own reason and strength. So He comes to you. This is grace. That’s how you know Him and He knows you. Amen!