012322- “The Baptism Of Jesus Christ” John 1:19-34. In our lifetime, evangelist Billy Graham has been an influence of powerful revival around the world leading 1000's of people to examine their hearts and seek the Lord, repent, and be baptized. While he and John "the Baptizer" couldn't be any different as humans, their message was the same:

Prepare The Way Of The Lord In Your Lives By:
-Repenting of your sin
-Seeking the Kingdom of Heaven
-Being baptized to testify that you follow Jesus

John 1:19-28 - “This is John’s testimony when the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ He did not refuse to answer, but he declared: ‘I am not the Messiah.’ ‘What then?’ they asked him. ‘Are you Elijah?’ ‘I am not,’ he said. ‘Are you the Prophet?’ ‘No,’ he answered. ‘Who are you, then?’ they asked. ‘We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What can you tell us about yourself?’ He said, ‘I am a voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord— just as Isaiah the prophet said.’ Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. So they asked him, ‘Why then do you baptize if you aren’t the Messiah, or Elijah, or the Prophet?’ ‘I baptize with water,’ John answered them. ‘Someone stands among you, but you don’t know Him. He is the One coming after me, whose sandal strap I’m not worthy to untie.’ All this happened in Bethany across the Jordan, where John
was baptizing.”

John 1:
-v.19 “…the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ And, he did not refuse to answer, but he declared: ‘I am not the Messiah.”
-v.22 “Who are you, then?” they asked. “We need to give an answer to those who sent us.”
-v.24 “Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.”

Sermon In A Sentence: In His desire to be baptized, Jesus publicly embraced the mission the Father had given Him to save the lost.

Jesus Christ Was Baptized:
-To fulfill all righteousness....Righteousness: “Conforming perfectly to an absolute standard”
-To identify Himself with John the Baptizer’s message.....Matthew 4:17 “Jesus began to preach, ‘Repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near’”
-To publicly authenticate that He was the Messiah
-To identify Himself with the sinners He would save.....2 Corinthians 5:21 “He (God) made the One who did not know sin (Jesus) to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him”
-To picture His death, burial; and, resurrection.....Romans 6:3-4 “Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in a new way of life”
-To be affirmed by God the Father & God the Holy Spirit.....Matthew 3:16-17 “After Jesus was baptized, He went up immediately from the water. The heavens suddenly opened for Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on Him. And there came a voice from heaven: ‘This is My beloved Son. I take delight in Him!’”