Sermon Pastor Ray Lorthioir Trinity Lutheran Church W. Hempstead, NY Based on Matthew 3:11-4:4. The Suffering Messiah

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1 Sermon Pastor Ray Lorthioir Trinity Lutheran Church W. Hempstead, NY Based on Matthew 3:11-4:4 The Suffering Messiah Last week was the Sunday to celebrate the Baptism of Jesus. But because we re doing a study of Matthew we ve come to the end of chapter 3 today. We pick up with John the Baptist s final words to the Pharisees and Sadducees who had come to examine his ministry. Matthew 3:11-12, 11 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. 12 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. Last week we saw that although repentance is something commanded of us by God, it s something that we cannot do because our sinful nature is too powerful. All the will power in the world cannot bring forth repentance. Instead, we discovered that repentance is a gift of God. As a gift, repentance has two elements. The first is contrition. The second is faith. Both work together to produce real repentance and both are the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Law of God produces contrition in us, for the Law terrifies the conscience with the wrath Yahweh has threatened against us for our disobedience. The Law brings the terror of hell to our hearts. If you shudder at the thought of being condemned to an existence of evil apart from God for all eternity, then Lord Holy Spirit is bringing contrition to your heart. This is the gracious gift of God because the sinful nature scoffs at God s Law and entirely resists it. But believers can run into an interesting problem with contrition. How do I know that I m contrite enough? In His great Psalm of contrition David prayed to Yahweh in Psalm 51:4, Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. David called Yahweh justified. In other words, Yahweh is always one hundred percent correct. His Law is always one hundred percent correct. Therefore, I can know I m contrite when I entirely agree with God s Law and its ramifications. Of course, that s easy to do when it applies to other people. It s much harder to entirely agree with God s Law and its ramifications when it applies to me. The sinful nature just wants to do too much self-justification. You know I was young then, so that doesn t really count. I didn t mean for that to happen. They deserved being talked about because of what they did, and on and on. But here s an important principle to remember. 1 Corinthians 11:31, But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. This means that if I drop all self-justification and recognize that the Law judges me because of what I have 1

2 thought, said and done, then I won t have judgment coming down on me from God. When we have reached the end of self-justification, when we have no excuses left in the face of God s Law, then we know that Lord Holy Spirit has brought us to contrition. Now the second part of repentance is faith faith that Jesus Christ has atoned for our sins in such a way as to bring us total forgiveness of sin, peace with Yahweh, and a righteous status with Yahweh. In many ways this step of repentance is more difficult that contrition. For faith requires that we accept the very strange condition that Martin Luther labeled simultaneously a saint and a sinner. Years ago someone gave me a drink coaster from some bar. I don t know what happened to it. But one side of the coaster was black with the word sinner in white letters. The other side was white with the word saint in black letters. Obviously it was good for a conversation starter in a bar. You could turn up whichever one you felt like at the moment. But it also illustrates in a way what Martin Luther was talking about. The Christian is simultaneously a saint and sinner. Now this doesn t mean that Christians are two-faced or have a split personality. What Luther really meant is that by faith we have an atonement covering over us. Atonement is like clothing. It covers sin and the sinner. Thus, this white robe I wear on Sundays is symbolic of atonement. Underneath I m a sinner. But by the amazing favor of God through Jesus Christ I am covered with Christ s righteousness. So when Yahweh looks at me looks at you what does He see? The righteousness of Christ covering a bunch of sinners. But He sees the righteousness of Christ. Being simultaneously a saint and a sinner is the spiritual situation that drives our sinful natures crazy. How can this be? How can there be any saint in a sinner? How can God be so gracious. But God s Word unequivocally declares that God is most gracious. Again, 2 Corinthians 5:21, God made him [Jesus] who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him [Jesus] we might become the righteousness of God. The sinful nature doubts this. Therefore, the blazing truth of it must be brought to our spirits by a power greater than our sinful nature Lord Holy Spirit poured out on us because Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father. So repentance contrition and faith is not something we do, but God does in us. Now the repentance John preached was twofold. It was contrition for sin. But it was not faith in Jesus, for Jesus had not yet come. Rather John was preaching faith to believe that the as yet unknown Messiah was at hand and would make Himself known. When John preached that Messiah would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire, he was preaching that the Messiah would bring forgiveness of sins to the sinner through His Spirit, and God s righteousness to the sinner through His Spirit. He was preaching that God s powerful righteousness in Messiah would change everything. The result of John s preaching was most notable. As we ll see Jesus say later in Matthew 21:31-32, 31 I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you [Pharisees, Sadducees and other leaders]. 32 For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him. 2

3 The tax collectors and prostitutes were receiving repentance. They not only had contrition over their sin, they were given faith that the one who would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire for forgiveness of sins and righteousness was immediately at hand. On the other hand, the people who should have recognized Messiah and had faith in Him did not, would not even could not. By their unbelief they became chaff to be burned in the fire. Matthew 3:13-15, 13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me? 15 Jesus replied, Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness. Then John consented. Indeed, John was startled when Jesus wanted to be baptized by him. For John knew that Jesus baptism is greater. It s clear John was hoping to receive it. But John would die without knowing it on this earth. Understand that Old Testament saints were saved by their hope in the Messiah predicted in Genesis 3:15. They died not knowing who He was, only that He would stand upon the earth. Indeed consider Job s immortal words penned thousands of years before Jesus: Job 19:25, I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. On the other hand, New Testament saints are saved by faith in Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah who has appeared not some other as yet expected Messiah. And how do we know that Jesus is the Messiah? As He said to John, He came to fulfill all righteousness. Therefore, we can examine the Old Testament to see whether Jesus fulfilled righteousness or not. For example, we turn to the incredible words of Isaiah 53:4-6, 4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. These words spoken 600 years before Jesus outline the work of the suffering Messiah. Thus, in order to believe that Jesus is the Messiah you have to accept that the Messiah revealed in Isaiah is a suffering Messiah, not just a victorious Messiah. Indeed, there are additional verses in chapter 53 that speak of Messiah s death and resurrection. But verses 4-6 speak of the most critical aspect of the suffering Messiah s work. He must completely identify Himself with those smitten with infirmities and sorrows; those destined for judgment at the hands of Yahweh because of wicked rebellious iniquities and transgressions. The Messiah must be willing to be stricken, smitten, afflicted, pierced, crushed and punished for all of Adam s descendants namely us. When Jesus came to John and asked to be baptized He took the first step of identifying Himself with Adam s descendants, even though He Himself had done no wrong and would do no wrong. For, the only way He could become the baptizer with the Holy Spirit and with fire was by enduring the suffering and shame of the cross. And the cross is the only way for God s righteousness to be fulfilled. Yahweh doesn t wink His eye at sin. No. All sin must be accounted for and punished. 3

4 Otherwise, Yahweh is not the God of all justice and righteousness. It was Yahweh s plan for Messiah to bear the punishment that brings the human race peace with God. We don t know if John understood all this, but he consented to baptize Jesus. So we read in Matthew 3:16-17, 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. 17 And a voice from heaven said, This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Why did Yahweh speak this? How was He pleased with Jesus? By receiving John s baptism Jesus had just taken the first step to identify Himself with sinful humanity and accomplish the work of the suffering Messiah. Therefore, in these verses the Father strongly declared His entire approval of a human being something that had not really happened before. But there s something else going on here. It sounds here like the Father was announcing the Son to the bystanders. And that s true. But more importantly the Father declared His Word to Jesus. You are my beloved Son. With You I am well pleased. Yahweh has called Jesus Son. Yahweh has declared Himself pleased with Jesus. Both these statements will play an important role as we go forward to chapter 4. Matthew 4:1-3, 1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread. Now, we humans consider the kind of prayer and fasting that Jesus did to be very spiritual and commendable. Right? So, tell me, if you had prayed and fasted for forty days seeking Yahweh what would you expect in return? If it were me, I would want a blessed spiritual experience with Yahweh. I would want answers and knowledge and favor and so much more. Wouldn t you? Indeed, if the Bible were merely a human story that would have been the most likely outcome of Jesus fasting. But notice that it s not. For all His spiritual effort Jesus gets rewarded not with a wonderful spiritual experience of Yahweh, but unexpectedly the master tempter, Satan, shows up instead. To me, this surprising event is a clear indication that the gospel message is not made up, but real. It s not what we would expect to happen. Now we need to answer why Satan was allowed to approach Jesus as a reward for Jesus devout fasting and prayer? If Jesus is the Messiah, then His chief task on earth is to undo what Adam did. If we ask what Adam did, then we re most likely to answer that he sinned by eating the forbidden fruit. But something happened before that. In order to understand why Satan was Jesus reward for fasting, we ve got to see what it was. And so we turn to Genesis 3:17, To Adam he [Yahweh] said, Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, You must not eat of it, Cursed is the ground because of you. Before Adam ate of the forbidden fruit Adam listened to someone about it. Who was it? Eve. Interestingly enough we re never told in Genesis what Eve said to Adam to get him to eat. The only thing we know is what Yahweh tells us in verse 17 namely that Eve had a very fruitful conversation with Adam (pun intended). With words and this is the important part with words she persuaded Adam to eat 4

5 contrary to another word he had heard. And in verse 17 Yahweh lays it out. Adam I told you not to eat from that tree. But you didn t follow my word. Instead, you followed another word, the word your wife spoke to you. And when we ask where Eve got the word she spoke to Adam, of course we arrive at Satan. So do you see the issue? It was Word versus word Yahweh s Word versus Satan s word. Before he ate of the fruit Adam had to consider two opposing words, and it s been that way ever since for humanity. Certainly it is for us and it was for Jesus. There s two other things about the word Satan spoke to Eve. First, it was full of doubt about God. Satan made it sound like Yahweh was holding a critical piece of information back from Adam and Eve, namely that the fruit of the tree would make them more like God, knowing good and evil. Second, Satan put forth the perfect temptation for a righteous being become more like God knowing good and evil. For, Eve was not a sinner nor did she have a sinful nature when she first listened to the tempter. Satan had to tempt her toward the good or what seemed to be good. We ll consider this second point next week. But we end today with the first point. Notice what Satan said to Jesus IF you are the Son of God. Do you hear the oozing doubt in those words? The doubt Satan hoped to sow in Jesus heart cuts in two directions. First, did God really say You are His Son? Are you sure? Look. You fasted forty days and He didn t come. You got me instead. Are you really sure You re God s Son? Second, if there s any doubt in your mind why not prove to Yourself that You re God s Son? In fact, don t rely on the voice You heard from heaven at all. Prove it to Yourself now. The Son of God ought to be able to turn a stone into a loaf of bread quite easily. Right? So do it. Prove to yourself that you really are God s Son. Blessed are we because Jesus chose to believe the Word of His Father in heaven. Because of that Word Jesus did not doubt His identity. Because of that Word He had no need to prove things to Himself by turning stones into bread. And so He successfully beat back the word of the tempter. In the process Jesus further established Himself as the genuine Messiah of God. Thus, we read in Matthew 4:3-4, 3 The tempter came to him and said, If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread. 4 Jesus answered, It is written: Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. Amen. All Bible quotes are from the NIV. 5