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Gripped By The Gospel-Matthew 3

For those of you following along in the Bible reading plan this summer through the four Gospels, here are my thoughts on Matthew Chapter 3:

John the Baptist come preaching in the wilderness of Judea and his message was essentially "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (verse 3). His preaching fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah 40:3.

People seemed to be drawn to John the baptist and those who heard his message and repented of their sins were baptized by him.

The main confrontation, however, was with the Pharisees and Sadducees, who were religious people and religious leaders. You would think that a man like John the Baptist with all of his zeal would find allies in the zeal of the religious leaders. Not so.

The standoff between the two was based on the presumption that the religious leaders were children of the living God because they were descended from Abraham, their father (see Matthew 3:9). John's teaching makes it clear that entry into God's kingdom, and becoming a child of God, happened when people recognized their sin and repented from their sin. In so doing, people were getting prepared for the ministry of Jesus Christ, who would call people to accept the forgiveness that only he can offer.

Imagine having the task of baptizing Jesus. At this point, most people did not see the glory of Jesus or think much of him. Most people were impressed with Jesus on the basis of his miracles, at this point, John consents to baptizing Jesus because it serves the mission of fulfilling all righteousness (Matthew 3:15). Is the righteousness of Jesus impressive to you? Or is it his miracles? Earlier John commands people to bear fruit in keeping with repentance, an otherwise impossible task if not for the righteousness that Jesus accomplishes on behalf of all who would believe in him.

There are essentially two reasons why someone would put their faith in Jesus Christ, and true faith must have both equally. First, the forgiveness of sins. Second, the fulfillment of all righteousness. Only Jesus forgives sins and only Jesus lives a perfectly righteous life that pleases God the father: "This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17). The forgiveness of sins and the fulfillment of God's standard of living (righteousness) is the basis of us becoming good people, and only Jesus does both.


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