Shalom, my dear friends. We thank the Lord for the opportunity that He gives us to continue to study together from the Word of God. And we are going to continue with the study of the Gospel of Matthew. We have arrived to chapter 3. And we are going to continue from chapter 3 and verse 7 to the end of the chapter. And so, if you have your Bible available, please turn in your Bible to Matthew chapter 3, verse 7 to 17. And I am reading. And I am reading. But when He, this is John the Baptizer. But when He saw many of the Pharisees and the Sadducees come to His baptism, He said unto them, O generations of vipers, who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

Bring forth therefore fruits, meat for repentance. And think not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham to our father. For I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. But he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire, whose fan is in his hand.

And he will thoroughly purge his floor and gather his wheat into the garner, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Then cometh Yeshua, Jesus, from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and cometh thou to me. And Jesus answering said unto him, suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he suffered him. And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water, and lo, the heavens were opened unto him. And he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him.

And lo, a voice from heaven saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Well, my dear friends, we concluded with the reading of Matthew chapter 3, verse 7 to 17. And we are in the middle of the third chapter in the Gospel of Matthew, that presents before us the messenger, the announcer, the one that came to present the Messiah, Yeshua, Jesus, the King of the Jews, to the nation of Israel. In the first six verses of Matthew chapter 3, we have learned, first of all, that John is the one, his name was Yohanan, John the baptizer. And he is the one that appears on the scene.

And we have learned that between Matthew chapter 2 and Matthew chapter 3, some thirty years have passed by. The Messiah, the Messiah, the Messiah, Yeshua, Jesus, he was living in Nazareth, as the end of chapter 2 said that he, this is Yosef, his stepfather, came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet, he shall be called a Nazarene. And so the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, in his humanity, but also in his humility, he went to live in a city of Nazareth. Nazareth, of course, was a city in the north of Israel. Nazareth, of course, Israel, come from the Hebrew word, a shoot that come out of the lowest part of the tree.

And he, the Lord Jesus, that is the Messiah, came in his humility, in his first coming, for thirty years, he was living with his stepfather, Yosef, working as the carpenter, the carpenter's son, with his mother, Miriam. And also with his brothers and sisters, which were born later on, after his birth, he had four other brothers, and at least two sisters or more, who lived with him in the city of Nazareth. According to Matthew 13, verse 55, we do read, is not this, the carpenter's son, is not his mother, called Miriam, and his brethren, Yaakov, Yosef, Shimon, and Yehudah? And his sisters, are they not all with us?

And so, beloved brothers and sisters, the Lord, Yeshua, Jesus, the Messiah, the King of the Jews, that was born the King of the Jews, he was in this long period of time in the city of Nazareth, living with his family as a, as the Jewish community, there in this city called Nazareth, that was a place that was not much recognized as a prominent town in the history of our people of Israel. Well, 30 years have passed by, as we have learned from the Gospel of Luke, that after, in Luke chapter 3, that after about 30 years, the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, began his public ministry. And here, in chapter 3 of the Gospel of Matthew, we see him now appearing in order to be baptized by John the Baptizer.

He is the one that is called the messenger, according to Malachi, Malachi chapter 3 and verse 1. And he is the one that, according to Isaiah chapter 40, he is the voice that God raised crying in the wilderness, crying to the people of Israel in the wilderness of Judea. And what does he cry to his nation Israel, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his path straight. According to our chapter, Matthew 3 and verse 2, quoting what the prophet Isaiah wrote in chapter 40, verses 1 to 5. So, in the first 6 verses that we have already covered in Matthew chapter 3, first of all, John's message, Yohanan, remember, his name is Yohanan, Yohanan means Yehovah, Hanan means had grace, Jehovah gave or provided grace, Yohanan, he had given grace, and his message was a message of repentance.

He appeared in the wilderness, he appeared in the wilderness, preaching and saying in the wilderness of Judea, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And we also mentioned that the kingdom of heaven, in Hebrew, Malchut Hashamayim, is the promised kingdom that God had promised to the people of Israel, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to Yisrael, to the 12 tribes of Israel, and to the whole nation. He had promised a kingdom in which the Messiah will come and will rule and reign over the nation of Israel and over the whole nations of the world. No wonder when the wise men who came from the east, according to chapter 2 and verse 2, they said, where is he that was born, the king of the Jews?

He is the king of the Jewish people, the king of Israel, the king of kings, and the Lord of lords, and they were searching for him, they found him, they gave him gifts, and they have now returned back to the east. And here now, 30 years later, Yohanan Hamadbil, John the baptizer, appeared, and he began with a message. And the message was given in the wilderness of Judea, not in the city of Yerushalayim, where the temple was, wise, because the spiritual state of the spiritual leaders of Israel was not where God wanted it to be. There was a departure from the will of the Lord, an introduction of that which is more pharisaic rather than biblical, more rabbinical rather than biblical.

And so Yohanan came, and he went all the way to the wilderness in Judea, and there he cried, and he presented his message. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Again, I want to mention that he used the word, the kingdom of heaven, in Hebrew, Malchut HaShamaim. And because the gospel of Matthew is geared directly to the Jewish people, to those who knew the word of God, to show Israel, to show the Jewish community, to show the Jewish people that the one that is going to come, the Messiah, the king of the Jews, is indeed the one that is the one that was promised.

And Jewish people do not name the name of the Lord because it is sacred to our people. So whenever you read the name God or the name Yehovah, in general, the Jewish community will replace the word with saying the name, in Hebrew, Hashem. Or instead of Yehovah, they use the name Adonai. We have learned that from youth as we grew up in the land of Israel, among our Jewish people. So the kingdom of heaven is used in Matthew most of the time, while in Mark and in Luke and John, the word, the kingdom of God is used. The same kingdom is only one kingdom, and that kingdom is the promised kingdom to the people of Israel.

And the length of this kingdom, according to Revelation chapter 20, will be 1,000 years long, according to the word of the Lord in Revelation chapter 20. Well, John came with a message, repent, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Then in verses 3 and 4, we have covered, John had an authority from God. He is the one that on the basis of the promise of Isaiah, Psalm 700, 750, prior to the coming of the Messiah, Isaiah, the prophet of Israel, prophesied that one day God will send the one that will be the voice. And that voice is the voice of Yohanan Hamadbil, John the baptizer, the son of Zechariah, the son of Elizabeth.

He is the one that will be the voice. What this voice will say, prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight. And this John, according to verses 5 and 6 of this third chapter, he, John, John came in order to prepare our people Israel for the coming of the Messiah. And so, he prepared Israel by calling them to repent. And the external sign of the repentance that happened in the heart was baptism, water immersion. And so, we read, according to verse 5 and 6, Then went out to him Jerusalem, people from Jerusalem, and all Judea, people, Jewish people from all surrounding Jerusalem, Judea. And then, more than that, then all the regions round about, the Jordan, all came down to him to the Jordan.

And the Jordan River, there in the area in the desert, there they came down to Yohanan to be baptized of him. And we read in verse 6, where we stop in our previous message, They went there, and they were baptized of him in the Jordan, notice, confessing their sins. So, it is not only an external water immersion, but the water immersion was an expression of repentance before God, and the washing was an external form of cleansing. It's not for washing the body, but no, but it was a spiritual, symbolic, a cleansing. When one repented of his or her sin, in their hearts, internally, God was satisfied with that.

But the outward expression of this confession was washing with water. Very similar to what is called today, Christian baptism, or baptism of the believers in the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, today. Baptism, water baptism, do not save anyone. But the water baptism is the external expression of that which happened internally in the heart. When a person becomes a believer in the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, he or she goes through water baptism, identifying with his death, burial, and resurrection. And confessing that they identify with him. The water baptism do not save the one who does so, but it is an outward expression of an inward reality. And so if one just goes through the water baptism without a change of heart and true repentance and faith, the water baptism would never help.

One might go into the water dry and come out of the water wet, but he or she remain in their sad condition of unbelief, an unrepented condition. That's why it is so important, was for John to come and present the need to repent. Notice verse 2, saying repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Verse 6, they were baptized of him in the Jordan, confessing their sins. And now, beloved friend, in the next verses, from verse 7 to verse 17, we have additional three major points that we learn concerning John, concerning Yohanan. In verses 7, 8, 9, and 10, John is charging the spiritual leaders of Israel, the religious people of that day.

He is charging them. You know, dear friend, it is not enough to be religious without to have reality in one's heart. Here, we learn that there are some who were religious, Pharisees, Sadducees. They did come to John, to Yohanan, but John knew they were the reality in their life. He knew, and he's challenging them to turn back to the Lord in repentance. And so, in verse 7, John warns the spiritual leaders. And he's saying to them, But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he, this is Yohanan, John, said unto them, All generations of vipers, Who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

Now, notice this expression, The wrath to come. You see, there is a wrath that is going to come upon the face of this world that God, who is holy and righteous, will have to judge this world in righteousness. The word for wrath comes from the Hebrew word for ketsif. And it is a wrath that, notice? The wrath that is going to come, according to verse 7. So, he's warning those who were religious, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and he's saying to them, he's saying to them, All generations of vipers, or snakes, you know, snakes, we often learn from the word of God that when Satan appeared here on earth, when he came to the garden of Eden to beguile Adam and Eve, he appeared, and he entered into the serpent, the snake.

And we often call someone who is not truthful or dealing wrongfully being a snake. Someone who has an outward appearance, but in reality, he or she are not really what they claim and they give an impression that they are. And sadly, because of our own sin nature, all of us, at times, are able to be like so, unless the Lord help us to act in a way that is pleasing to Him. So, He's warning them. You might be religious, Pharisee, a religious Sadducee. You came to my baptism. But it's an old generation of vipers who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come.

There is a day of God's judgment that will come upon the face of this world. And God is going to judge this world in righteousness. And who is able to flee from that wrath that is going to come upon this world, beloved friend? It was the Apostle Paul. It was the Apostle Paul who was on Mars Hill. He said to the many that were there, and they had all sort of altars to all sort of gods. To them he said, And at the time of this ignorant God winked it. But now commandeth all men everywhere to repent. Why? Because He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He has ordained.

So there is a judgment day that is coming and everyone that will have to stand before God one day. And no one will escape that wrath that is going to come, beloved friends. And that's why Paul said this challenge to the many pagan individuals on that or in Athens on Mars Hill and here John the baptizer is saying this beloved friend to the Pharisees and the Sadducees He said to them who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come. There is a day of wrath that is yet to come my dear friend.

The apostle Paul also in the book of Romans in chapter 1 was speaking talking about the wrath that is going to come in future day and there in Romans chapter 1 the apostle wrote to the Roman believers and he says concerning the judgment of God for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness because that which may be known of God is manifest in them for God has showed it unto them for the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things which are made even his eternal power and God so that they

are without excuse Romans chapter 1 verses 18 to 20 there is a wrath to come and he was warning them who is going to warn you to flee from the wrath to come and that's why he's challenging them John the baptizer and he's saying to them in verse 8 he poured them to the need to produce true fruits for God bring forth therefore fruits meat for repentance in other words if you coming to my baptism you Pharisees you Sadducees what did you come to hear did you come to hear in order to repent did you come to hear in order to recognize that the kingdom of heaven is at hand and to turn to God

to confess your sins is that why you are here and he's giving them a warning he said you need to bring forth therefore fruit in other words live your life in such a way that there will be a change in your life the fruits come out of the root a tree that is good will bring good fruit a tree that is not good will bring bad fruit sour fruit and therefore something had to happen inside the heart that say I repent I'm a sinner God be merciful to me a sinner and then God works in the hearts and help the change to take place in our lives and so in verses 7 and 8 John

charging the spiritual leaders of the day as all need to be charged today in a religious world in which we live in even in Christendom to have a change in our lives and to bring forth fruit that is meat for repentance repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Yeshua Jesus the Messiah then he continued and he said in verses 9 and 10 he said in verse 9 and think not to say within yourself we have Abraham to our fathers and John continued to tell them John the baptizer is saying for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham you see my dear friend the nation

of Israel is a privileged nation the Hebrews are descendants of the first Hebrew Abraham that was chosen by God through whom God promised that he will make a great nation through Abraham he said to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12 and verses 1 2 and 3 that he will use him and his descendants to be a blessing to the world I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curse thee in thee shall all the family of the earth be blessed later on he said in thee and in thine sea shall all the nations of the earth be blessed Genesis chapter 22 and so Abraham was the friend of God and every time you

read in the word of God you read the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob have spoken to the nation of Israel and yet there is a responsibility to those who were and are part of the nation of Israel they have the responsibility not only to say well I am the child or descendants of Abraham and Abraham is my father therefore if Abraham is my father I can do as I please no because Abraham the father of the nation of Israel sought to please God and he did live for God he did honor God that's why later on in the life of our Lord Yeshua Jesus the Messiah he had to charge the same Pharisees with

the very same challenge that he had to charge them as we read in John chapter 8 and verse 33 he said they answer him we be Abraham seed and we were never in bondage to any man how sayest thou ye shall be made free and you remember what the Lord said to them in verse 39 is the second half of this verse if ye were Abraham children ye would do the works of Abraham in other words Abraham's children will do Abraham's works in other words there will be obedience to God following God and not saying that because I'm a physical descendant of Abraham I can do as I please again to remind you beloved brothers

and sisters and dear friends in the present day in which we live today in the church age some might say well my father is a believer in Jesus my father and my mother are good Christian or good followers of God therefore I'm okay no every individual have to come to God God do not have grandchildren as many as received the Lord Jesus the Messiah to them he gave the right to be called the children of God as we read in John chapter 1 and verse 12 but as many as received him to them he gave the power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name which were born not

of blood nor of the will of the flesh not of the will of man but of God every individual have to come to God before the Lord accepting what the Lord says for them they cannot lean and depend upon their forefathers or upon their heritage upon their culture upon their families everyone has to come to repent before God recognizing that they need forgiveness of sins and so John the baptizer is saying to the Pharisees and Sadducees who came to him to the Jordan and observing what he was doing there and he said to them all generations of vipers who has warned you to flee from the rest to come bring forth therefore fruits meet for

repentance and think not to say within yourself we have Abraham to our father for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham God is able out of the stones in the wilderness to create children for himself let me just remind you my dear friend when creation took place and God have created Adam Adam we read in Genesis chapter 2 and the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and he breathes into his nostril the breath of life and man became a living soul imagine from the dust of the ground to become a man and to become a living soul and then we read

in the word of God that God caused Adam who was created out of the dust of the ground to be put to sleep and out of his rib he created Chava Eve and he brought Chava brought Eve to him to become his wife Adam and Eve became husband and wife and they bore children out of the dust of the ground God made man and so here in Matthew chapter 3 God is saying through John to the Pharisees is saying you better repent bring forth fruit meat for repentance don't think within yourself we have Abraham to our fathers for I say unto you John the baptizer is saying to the Pharisees and the Sadducees that God

is able of the stones to raise up children unto Abraham how amazing was the charge that John charged the Pharisees the religious leaders of the day and my dear friend this is an important principle to learn in order to become a child of God today in our days now that the church is formed and we are living in the last days of the church age the principle remains the same repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Yeshua the Messiah repentance is essential confession of sin is essential trusting in the work of the Messiah Jesus is essential not trusting in our background not trusting in our efforts not trusting in our birth position not trusting

in anything in our heritage not trusting in anything but trust in the Lord with all your heart turn to the Lord Yeshua Jesus the Messiah believe on the Lord Jesus Christ on the Lord Yeshua the Messiah and you shall be same the principle remain the same all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God no one can redeem another because all of us but once we have trusted God in God's word repented of our sins and confessed our sins before him we can trust in the Lord Jesus the Messiah today who died who paid for our sins there on the shameful cross who bore our sins in his body on the

tree and he was then buried and he rose again on the third day for our justification that's the lesson that we learn here in this third chapter so verses 7 8 9 and 10 of Matthew chapter 3 John the baptizer is charging the spiritual leaders of Israel as we will charge all of us today we all need to repent to confess our sins and to believe in the person of our Lord Jesus the Messiah who bore our sins in his body on the tree and that's the way to receive salvation and to be recognized I am a child of God I want to reread John 1 and verse 11 12 and 13 he came unto

his own and his own received him not earlier in verse 10 we read he was in the world and the world was made by him and the world knew him not here in verse 11 his own receive him not but verse 12 and 13 as many as receive him to them he gave the authority the power to become the children of God even to them that believe on his name which were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of men but of God so John challenged the spiritual leaders of Israel and he continued in verse 10 to tell them of Matthew chapter 3 and now also the

axe is laid unto the root of the tree therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewed down and is cast into the fire John is giving this warning he says judgment will come the axe will ultimately cut the tree at the bottom at the roots and every tree that do not bring fruit good fruit is going to be hewn down judged and cast into the fire the lesson is tremendous my dear friend God is going to judge this world in righteousness and those that rejected his word and rejected the Messiah rejected the Messiah the Lord Jesus as their Lord and Savior they will ultimately suffer the eternal loss in Isaiah 66 and

verse 15 and 16 we read for behold the Lord will come with fire and with his chariot like a whirlwind to render his anger with fury and his rebuke with flames of fire for by fire and by his sword will the Lord plead with all flesh and the slain of the Lord shall be many sad to say that many who have and will refuse and still refusing to accept the Messiah Jesus Yeshua and refusing to accept God's word and God himself they will find the judgment of God will come upon them and the word for fire that is mentioned here it's another expression of the fire of God's righteous indignation against sin so in verses

7 8 9 and 10 we have learned of the charge that John the baptizer charges the Pharisees and the Sadducees who came down to the Jordan to the desert to the wilderness to observe the others who from Jerusalem and Judea and the region around came down to be immersed by John the immerser and to repent and to prepare for the kingdom of heaven that is at hand confessing their sins because the king is coming the king is coming the king of the Jews is coming and his name is Yeshua the name that was given to him by his parents and by the Lord himself and so now in verses 11 and 12 dear brothers and

sisters we continue and we read of John a baptism versus the baptism of the Lord Jesus the Messiah that he will do and so we read in verse 11 John is saying I he's saying to all those who were there on the one hand the ordinary Israelis Judea Jerusalem the region beyond all the Jewish people who came down to confess to repent and to turn back to God in preparation for the coming kingdom of heaven for the Messiah to appear on the other hand you have the Pharisees the Sadducees the religious leaders who did not really turn to God although they were very religious and so in verses 11 and verse 12 we do read

that John spoke to all these who could hear him and he says I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance but he that cometh after me is mightier than I see John is speaking about the Mashiach Yeshua who is just about ready to appear there and then he continues and he says whose shoes I am not worthy to bear he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire so notice that we have the baptism of John which is water baptism and then you have the he this is the Lord the Messiah who would come Yeshua Jesus he that comes after me he is mightier than I John is saying he is greater than

me whose shoes I am not even worthy to bear I should not even carry his shoes because I am not even worthy he is greater than me and and then he said but he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire now it is interesting beloved brothers and sisters and dear friend the distinction between John's baptism of water and Yeshua's baptism of the Holy Spirit and of fire now sometime mistakenly that those that said you see he is baptizing those who believe in him with the Holy Spirit and with fire and they use this expression of fire to explain as if they will have some fire in their life and there will be

so much living for him and the fire of God will be moving them to live for God but the fact is here that he speaks about two different groups group one are all those that came from Jerusalem Laim and Judea and the region around the Jordan these are the people who came repenting and confessing their sins on the other hand you have another group which are the Pharisees the Sadducees the religious leaders who came down only to observe but not with a desire to repent and to confess their sins and and to prepare themselves for the kingdom of heaven he he did not baptize those who came to observe those who are merely religious and

they did not repent so John baptized believers and only believers with the baptism of repentance the Jewish people who came from Jerusalem from Judea and the region about the Jordan on the other hand we have the other person the he the Messiah Jesus who would come and that he will baptize you and the you here does not speak about the Pharisees alone or the believers alone but the you is all of you the believers he will baptize with the Holy Spirit and the unbelievers he will baptize with fire of judgment you see my dear friend the Lord Jesus will give the Holy Spirit to those who turn to him who will receive the Holy Spirit

to indwell in them but on the other hand as the judge he will judge in righteousness those that refuse to turn to him them he will baptize immerse with fire God God's righteous indignation against sin we just read beloved brothers and sisters in Isaiah chapter 66 where the Lord will come with fire with all his chariots like a whirlwind to render his anger with fury and rebuke with flame the fire that speaks of judgment and so what John is saying here in Matthew chapter 3 and verse 11 concerning the person of the Lord Jesus the Messiah that the Messiah will baptize the believers with the Holy Spirit of God in blessing and the Messiah Yeshua

he will baptize the unbelievers with fire in cursing and judgment two different groups with two different baptisms and so it is incredibly interesting in the word of God we learn of these four baptisms we have the water baptism we have the spirit baptism we have the fire baptism that come upon unbelievers and we have the baptism of the cross in which the Lord Jesus himself says that I have a baptism to be baptized with and all how I am straightened forward that is the baptism that only he had to experience and this is the baptism of the judgment of God against sin that fell upon him who bore our sins on the shameful cross you

see my dear friend these four baptisms are taught in the word of God and every one of them is another aspect a believer will be baptized by the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit baptized all the believers into one body by one spirit we are all baptized into one body 1 Corinthians chapter 12 then the believers who are truly belong to the Lord and have been baptized by the Holy Spirit that means the Holy Spirit of God indwell the believer then as a testimony they are being baptized by water to identify with the Lord Jesus the Messiah in his death burial and resurrection but then there is a baptize of fire you know and that's

the baptism that will come upon the unbelievers who will be judged the unbelievers will be judged because of their rejection of God's offer of salvation but then there is the baptism of the cross in which the Messiah himself was immersed by the judgment of God for the sin of this world so here in these verses 7 8 9 and 10 we learn of John charge to the Pharisees and the Sadducees how amazing it is we have to realize how important it is for us to turn to the Lord to come to accept him as our Messiah Lord and Savior and to recognize that he is the one that provides salvation for us to trust in

him and receive forgiveness of sin to repent to confess our sins to trust in him and receive forgiveness of sins and now in the next verses in verse 11 and 12 we can see what John is mentioning concerning the two baptisms baptism of water unto repentance and the Lord baptism by the Holy Spirit and by fire then he says in verse 12 whose fan is in his hand and he will thoroughly purge his floor in other words the floor area and he will gather his wheat into the garden or to the barn but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire you notice that verse 11 is interpreted for us by verse 12 in

verse 11 we have the fact that the Lord Jesus the Messiah will baptize the believers with the Holy Spirit and the unbelievers with the fire of judgment and in verse 12 the explanation is that those that will be belong to him are the wheat that will be brought into the garner into the barn and those who are the one that will be chaff will be burnt with unquenchable fire so my dear friend as the chapter is concluded with the final verses verses 13 to verse 17 we learn of John's obedience to God and the fact that he is now going to baptize Yeshua the Messiah who appear now right there in the wilderness by the

Jordan River he is appearing now to identify with the Jewish people who repented and sought the kingdom of heaven to come so these verses these five verses 13 14 15 and 16 and 17 we see how the Lord Jesus the Messiah coming to John so we read then comes Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him now notice that now here the first time that the Lord Jesus the Messiah is appearing now publicly in a sense of preparation to have his public ministry and here he is coming he is about 30 years of age and he come from Galilee why because at the end of verse 23 of chapter 2 he

lived in Galilee Natseret we might say behind the scene quietly for these 30 years living among the people of the city of Natseret now he appears he is coming from Galilee coming to Jordan going all the way down from the north to the south coming to John the baptizer and coming to be among the Jewish people who are ready to receive him ready to for the kingdom of heaven to appear and to begin and he come to identify with them and so come from Galilee to Jordan to come to John to Yohanan to be baptized of him and now notice that John initially he sought to prevent Yeshua from being baptized by him because John

forbade him he says in verse 14 he said I have a need to be baptized of thee and cometh thou to me you see the Lord revealed to him that Yeshua Jesus was that promised Messiah of Israel and that he is the one that will be the promised redeemer of Israel and John said no no no you don't come to me to be baptized I should be baptized by you and notice the response of Yeshua in verse 15 Yeshua answering and said unto him suffer it to be so now for thus it becomes us to fulfill all righteousness then he suffered him you see Yeshua identified with the people of Israel who repented who confessed

their sins in his days and sought for the kingdom of heaven to be established they were ready to accept the Messiah the king and because of that he came and he identified with them he says suffer allow it to be so now for thus it is it becomes us to fulfill all righteousness it is the right thing to do to identify with such a godly individuals who seek to have the kingdom of god establish and truly repent truly confess their sins thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness you see Yeshua did not need to be baptized with water because he never had any sins he never needed to repent because he was the sinless

one he never needed to confess any sin because there was no sin in him in fact the word of God says in him there is no sin he knew no sin he did no sin he was the sinless one the harmless the undefiled the separate from sinners but yet in identification with the godly remnant of Israel of those days he said to John who initially did not want to do so he said to him John Yohanan suffer it to be so now allow it to happen to take place he knew John's heart he said it is the right thing to do is to fulfill all righteousness allow it to happen baptize me because by doing

so I'm identifying with those godly individuals who repented before God who confessed their sins and wanted to have the nation of Israel restored to God and so now in the last verses verses 16 and 17 of chapter 3 Jesus the Messiah is being baptized by John and here we learn beloved friends how the whole triune Godhead was involved in the baptism of the Messiah so we read and Yeshua when he was baptized went up straight way out of the water and Lord the heavens were open unto him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lightening upon him verse 17 and a voice from heaven saying this is my beloved son

in whom I am well pleased you notice the Lord Yeshua the Messiah was immersed by Yohanan Hamadbir by John the baptizer and when he was baptized he went up straight way out of the water and all of a sudden notice the heavens were opened why because this one was the eternal son as a man who came to this world and he began here his public ministry that will last for about three years before he will go to the shameful cross and pay for the sin of this world and so the heaven opened to him and the Holy Spirit of God descended in a form of a dove enlightening upon him and then there is a

voice that came from the very open heaven that says this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased all beloved brothers and sisters this is so beautiful because what we learn from this passage we learn of the triunity of the Godhead the father the son the spirit one God shema yisrael adonai eloheinu adonai echad here o israel the lord our god the lord is one this one god of israel the word echad means compound unity he is existing and consisting in the three persons of the Godhead God the father God the son God the holy spirit that's how the word of God reveal the one God of israel in the three persons of

the Godhead and we see it very clearly here in this passage dear friends and dear brothers and sisters Yeshua God the son who became a man coming out of the water after he was baptized by John the baptizer and when and when he come out of the water heaven is open and out from heaven the holy spirit of God descended and the appearance that the person of the holy spirit of God took for that moment is in the form of a dove speaking of shalom and peace enlightening upon him the holy spirit of God so the public will see that he came in the form of a dove enlightening upon the Messiah and then the

third person within the Godhead this is God the father his speaking and his voice came from heaven so all will heal and what does he say this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased how wonderful to know that beloved brothers and sisters and dear friends the gospel of John we can see that the Lord Jesus the Messiah in John 10 says I and my father are one there is that union within the Godhead distinct personalities the father is not the son the son is not the spirit the spirit is not the father the spirit is not the son although there are distinct personality within the Godhead yet there is only one God

in John chapter 1 we read in the beginning was the word and the word was with God notice that and the word was God a distinct personality within the Godhead and the word became flesh and dwelt among us that he became a man through the virgin birth and that is what we read here when Jesus God the son as a man went out from the water the heavens opened unto him and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove and lightning upon him and low a voice from heaven saying this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased in Matthew chapter 17 when the Lord Yeshua the Messiah was on a

mountain of transfiguration with Peter James and John and he transfigured before them and then a voice came from heaven while yet they speck behold a bright cloud overshadow them verse 5 of Matthew 17 and behold a voice came out of the cloud which said this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased hear ye him and so throughout the scripture we learn of the triunity of the Godhead yet one God of Israel Adonai Echad one Lord one God and so in these verses of the third chapter of the gospel of Matthew we learn of the ministry of John the baptizer Yohanan Hamadbil who appears when Yeshua was about 30 years of age and

he is the messenger who came to introduce the Messiah at his first coming and so there are six things that we learn about John the baptizer in Matthew chapter three first of all verses one and two John's message was a message of repentance secondly verses three and four John had authority from God because he was the one that was sent by God as the voice that cries in the wilderness prepare ye the way of the Lord thirdly verses five and six John's baptism was a baptism unto repentance was not a Christian baptism or messianic baptism because the Messiah hasn't yet died and buried and rose again and the church was not formed as yet that

was a baptism unto repentance fourthly in verses seven to ten John was the one who charged the religious leaders of the day as all need to be charged today to bring fruit of repentance and not to assume that our background and heritage and position and relationship will help us for salvation but one must come to the Lord on the basis of the Lord's provision and confess his or her sin fifthly John's baptism was in contrast to the Messiah Jesus baptism John baptized with water but Yeshua Jesus the Messiah baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire the believers with the Holy Spirit the unbelievers with the fire of God's righteous indignation against sin and finally

Yohanan John's obedience to God and he baptized Yeshua the Messiah in obedience to God although he said I need to be baptized of you and you come to me to be baptized of me and Yeshua said suffer it to be now for thus it becomes us to fulfill all righteousness and John in obedience baptized Yeshua the Messiah and when Yeshua Jesus the Messiah came out of the water God the Son is man then God the Holy Spirit came in the form of a dove and rested upon him and then God the Father declared out of heaven this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased how much pleasure the Son of God Yeshua

the Messiah gave to God the Father when he came into this world when all have gone astray there was one man that pleased God all the way throughout his life and his name is Yeshua Jesus our Messiah praise God for sending his Son well my dear friend God bless you with this we concluded Matthew chapter 3 until the next time we say to you all Shalom Shalom