Now Jesus had to be baptised, not because He'd sinned but because He wanted to identify with what God was saying in that day. God was saying in that day repent, change your lifestyle, change your heart towards God, and begin to live a lifestyle of relationship in pleasing God. And to indicate that change get water baptised, so Jesus said - came down to John. John said You don't need to be water baptised, You should be doing that to me. He said no, to fulfil what's right before God I will be water baptised and notice now associated with His old life - what was His old life? His old life was His natural life as a carpenter in Nazareth, so when people looked at Him that's the carpenter of Nazareth, and He was saying My life as carpenter of Nazareth is over. I'm beginning who I really am which is the Son of God, Jesus, the Saviour of the world. Therefore I need to be baptised as a public demonstration of who I now am.
And associated with that there are two witnesses; one in the earth, one in heaven. John stood up and said behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! Who is this man in your midst? He's the Lamb of God. This is the Saviour. This is who He is. How did John know it? Revelation. How did he know who Jesus really - oh, that's my cuzzie bro. [Laughter] See, naturally that was true. John was His cousin; oh it's just my cousin. Who does He think He is? But he had revelation and the revelation was this is the Lamb of God. Now Jesus gets baptised. Do you know what immediately happens after He gets baptised? The heavens open and Father from heaven says this is My beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased - so He has a voice on earth, speaking God's heart, God's revelation; a voice in heaven, this is who this person is.
He's not the carpenter you once knew. He's not the boy that grew up in that community. He's not that little child that was part of a big family that their dad died and He took over the business. This is the Saviour of the world, the promise of God, the gift of God. So how did he know who He was? It was revealed. He had there was a word from God through a prophet and a word from Father in heaven directly to him, so if he didn't know it before he knew it then! How did Jesus know who He was? God told Him, this is who You are, it's where You come from. This is who You are, this is where You're going, this is what You've got to do. So His identity was totally secure. Now I want you to have a look with me in Luke 3 - or look in Matthew 3. It's all the same sort of thing, Matthew 3. We'll just read in Matthew 3 - here it is there, verse 17. Suddenly a voice came from heaven saying this is My beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased, so God's just burst out and said ah ha ha ha! Hey, I know who You are! You're My Son and I love You. Well I can't help shouting out from heaven! You understand?
So who is He? Well God - the prophet said who He is and the Father said who He is. There's no doubt who He is - and notice what the devil says, [Matthew 4:3. 00.12.47] When the tempter came and said to Him if You are - if You are. That's an identity question: who are You? If You are prove it, do something. Now you notice what he is, he's trying to move Jesus' identity from what God says He is, to proving it by what He does. And this was consistently a pattern in Jesus' life, is a tempter would come and say if You are this You ought to do that. If You're the Son of God - Luke 4 - he said if You're the Son of God prove it, do something. See? If You're the Son of God prove it, do something, see? Now there's a couple of other places too. I'll give you them but we won't look them up.
In Luke 23:8-9 Pilate hoped to see a miracle. If You are the Son of God do a miracle. Pilate asked Him a question; are You the king? Jesus said nothing. Now you'll notice when Jesus was challenged who He is - who are You? - He either quoted the word of God or He said nothing. He quoted the word of God or said nothing, but He never felt the need to prove who He was. You either received it and recognised it, or He didn't worry about it. If you didn't recognise who He was that's okay, it's your problem. When He came to His own town they said this is the carpenter. We grew up with this boy here. We know Him, we know His mother and brothers and sisters and the business they ran. They were offended and wouldn't believe and no miracles, so you understand they saw Him in natural terms. They did not realise who He really was, so because they didn't recognise His true identity they couldn't receive.