Chase: Hello and welcome to the Point Church Podcast. We're really glad you're here. Before we jump in, if you'd like to stay connected, you can download the Point Church app. It's a simple way to find messages, resource, and what's happening. And if this podcast is helpful, take a moment to like, subscribe, and share. You can find us on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music. Let's get into today's episode. Hello everyone and welcome back ⁓ to our series of forty days, f ⁓ 40 podcasts through Lent. Again, we're here with Pastor Sam working through the book of Matthew. ⁓ as you read along, we're here to give you insights and kind of talk through what this means, whether this is your first time reading the Bible, you've read it for years upon years, whatever it is, we hope that you can get something ⁓ from this. So ⁓ we're gonna be picking up back where we left off and ⁓ And Matthew three or chapter three, verse thirteen. And this is the big one. Yeah. Right. ⁓ so let's jump right into it. In verse thirteen, it says, Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And Galilee is just like where Jesus has been living these last like twenty-two years, from like eight years old to about thirty. Remember, it's just like a fishing community, but it's backwater town. So backwater, yeah. Yeah. fourteen it reads, But John tried to stop him, saying, I need to be baptized by you, and yet you come to me. Jesus answered him, Allow it for now, because this is the way for us to fulfill all righteousness. Then John allowed him to be baptized. So I want to stop there 'cause that's the first time that we see Jesus talking. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. And this I mean, this is to me like the God himself, right? Is Getting baptized by a wild man. Yes. Yep. So let's break the let I'll have you break the Yeah, it's ⁓ and then we'll we'll pick it up probably in the next verse as well. But there's a lot of symbolism happening here. But I think the most form what's on display in fullness is Jesus' character. Yeah. His humility. He's like, I'm not here to upstage you. I'm here to almost identify with the crowd. Yeah. In a way. Not that he's sinned. Not that you know what I mean? Like 'cause there can be some confusion. Some there's ⁓ let me just say this here. I've never said it yet on the podcast, but bad theology hurts people. And there's some bad theology around this scene. Really? Yeah, ⁓ yeah. Like there's some people that think that Jesus was an ordinary man until this moment. And then because the dove comes, which is about to in a second, that that's when he became God. That's when he became and you're like, no no no no no no no. Like no no no no. Like so fully God, fully divine, bad theology hurts people. So and we'll talk about even more of that as we go on. But again, I think what's on full display is Jesus' humility and saying like I'm here to fulfill all righteousness, saying like, hey, ⁓ I'm here to submit to the same process of just at least if anything demonstrating I'm ready to go. ⁓ it's also an introduction to new creation is here. Because you again think about the water of the Red Sea parting. You think about again Joshua leading in the Jordan. You think about ⁓ Noah, the Ark of the Covenant, or the Ark of the Covenant, that's geez. No, the Noah's Ark is going through the waters and in many ways it's like God's deliverance, God's faithfulness, God's goodness. So yeah. And we'll talk more about Noah in just a sec. Yeah. Because then it continues in verse sixteen when Jesus was baptized. So crazy, right? Jesus getting baptized. He went up immediately from the water. The heavens suddenly opened up, opened for him, and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on him. Yep. ⁓ keep reading and then we'll talk about the whole portion. And a voice from heaven said, This is my beloved son. With whom I am well pleased. Yes. So you have the first point on this is something for us to understand in our minds. This is ⁓ something that's good for our heads to get around. And the next one is good for our hearts to get around. So the first thing is for our minds is what we have here in this scene is the Trinity. Yeah Father, Son, Holy Spirit. You have God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. You have God the Father who's speaking, God the Son who's being baptized, and God the Spirit who comes down like a dove. Why does that matter so much? Well, this is like the one most obvious, most clear scene in all of Scripture where all three are present, and there again is bad theology that comes out when you're like, ⁓ God was the Father, and then He comes down as Jesus, and now He's the Spirit over here, or you know, did it like it it it just like you get really bad theology around the Trinity. And if you can deny parts of the Trinity, and I know this sounds very like hoity toity academic, but it it has very real implications on the ground, that if you can get rid of the Trinity, you can do some very dangerous things with the Bible. ⁓ You can do very dangerous things with the Bible. Because you can strip out parts of the Bible. Yeah. You can insert yourself into part of the Bible, into other people's lives, being like, well, I'm God the Father. How many cults have said I'm Jesus, the cult leader? Because I had some amazing sign that, you know, I could recreate. And therefore, it's showing that, like, ⁓ I was just an ordinary person in the crowd. Then God came and found me. There's so much dangerous theology that we see, especially on like, YouTube videos with like people being like, Well, I had this experience with God and therefore I'm God. And you're like, wait, hold on. Yeah, hold on. You gotta get a clear understanding of the Trinity. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, co eternal, co equal in power, in grace, and ⁓ different in personhood. Like Jesus is not the Holy Spirit. Yeah. ⁓ Jesus is not the Father. But they are all God. They are all part of the Godhead. They all were creators from the beginning, sustainers of the world, but they have these different roles. As you can see, the father is speaking to the son, and the spirit is present resting on him like a dove. So again, it sounds like, ⁓ who cares? If you can get around the truth, you can be very dangerous. Like your theology can be very dangerous. So that's the thing with the head. For the heart, what we see is All Jesus did, this is like the first thing we really have from him as an adult, is walk from Galilee to get baptized by John and just saying, like, yeah, we should do this. Like we should get baptized. Like he didn't do anything. He didn't like do any miracles or teach anything. ⁓ and it was like a one-on-one conversation. He didn't speak to the crowd, it seems like. So Well, that's a context I think we miss is this wasn't just him and John. Yeah, there's just the crowd. There's a crowd that is around seeing Yes. This man from Galilee, Nazareth, right? A nobody. A nobody coming in and being like and then they're seeing what the what is happening here. Like we've got a They're like, ⁓ this is this is going. But the voice they could hear. Like they could hear the voice. And so, ⁓ again, that's God the Father announcing God the Son in this scene. But what we can get our hearts around in this is this is how God the Father speaks about his son. I I love you. I in you I am well pleased. He didn't do anything. Therefore, God's love for his son was almost like it sounds weird to say, but like unearned. He didn't do anything. He was faithful. He says he loves him because he's his son. That's why God the Father loves because he's his son. And God is love. And I mean, Jesus goes on to do amazing, incredible things, of course, but like at the end of his story, when we get to the letters of Paul, he says, You take on Christ, like when you put your faith in Christ, and that makes you like a son of God, like a daughter of God, which means this is how God looks at you. He can look at you as his son, as his daughter, no matter what you've done. All of us have done things that we need to, you know. Repent of, be baptized, be made spiritually clean, but he looks at us and says, I love you, in you I'm well pleased because he sees Christ in us. Yeah. Not how good we are, not how holy we are, not how robust our ⁓ prayer time is or how much scripture we've memorized. It's because we're his children, because we've allowed him to become our father. That's where God's love comes from. So Yeah. It shatters that narrative of you have to earn God's love. Yes. Kind of shatters like what the Pharisees were doing, right? Yes. They were doing stuff thinking that it would earn God's love for them. And then, you know, nowadays there's still places that still teach that that you have to do this, you have to do that, you have to do this. And I don't think that we're saying here that, you know, y God just loves you, you can do whatever you want. Correct. No, Paul says very clearly, like, should we go on sinning so grace can Grow all the more. He's like, no, like, no, no, no. Because again, what what did John just say? Your heart should reflect that you're truly repentant. Like if you're truly repentant, fruit will come. Yes. But it's not fruit that earns more of God's love. You already have it. It's now you can operate a certain way and not need validation because a project went well or a prayer was answered. It's like He gave me everything. Yeah. So now I have nothing I can do but let it overflow in my life. And then going back on that word from from yesterday of the when, right? When we mess up, I think people get that you know, there's also that bad teaching of when you mess up, well, you're done. God hates you. Yep. Exactly. But this is showing like God loves you. You don't have to earn it. Yes. You're going to mess up. There are times that you will sin and it will mess things up. But through what John was talking about, and then we'll get later to all the repentance side and all this stuff, but through that repentance. Yes. And again, this is where bad theology hurts people. Exactly. Yep. Yeah. Because yeah, those that bad theology of well, you better earn his love back. God doesn't operate like that. Like he now he will say repent because repent means turn back. Yeah. Change your thinking on this, come back to me. You've got this wrong. But it's the story of the prodigal son. Like this son goes and does all this crazy foolishness, and the father, as soon as he sees him coming back, runs to him. But it's amazing that the father doesn't pursue him in his decadence. He's like, I you have to choose. Yeah. But as soon as you choose, I'm right there. I'm right there. And so like it's not an earning, it's a decision. That's the difference. It's a decision. Yes. But like because if you think you can earn it, then you're gonna do all the religious things to keep it or to elevate yourself above others. Well, I I haven't missed church in five years, blah blah blah. Or like I how much are you tithing at ten percent? I'm tithing at eleven percent. Like you can pray every morning and night. Yeah, like you can make up spiritual criteria all you want if it is up to you. Yeah. To earn God's love. Whereas if you take this church attendance Bible reading, ⁓ tithing, serving poor should not come out of earning. It should come out of, God, are you serious? Like you saved me, you called me your son, you call me your daughter. How could I do anything other? Out of love. Out of love to then tell people about you. How you serve me, I'll serve them. How you gave to me, I'll give to them. I want to spend time with you. Not so I can brag about it, but because it's the best part of my day. That's the difference. It's a completely different mindset. It's the same actions, but a completely different mindset and heartset and leads to a completely different person. So again, get those two things right: who God is, the Trinity, who God is, who you are, and then get straight the love of God as much as is possible for a broken human being to understand that the love of God is a free gift given to us, and we get. To live it out. Not we have to. We get to. Amen. Well, that will close it out for today. We'll pick up tomorrow and starting in chapter four of Matthew, which is The Devil. The devil. The devil. That'll be a good one. we'll start into that one tomorrow. So thanks for tuning in and ⁓ we'll see you tomorrow.