I. We see from the text how faithfully Jesus observed the forms and duties of religion. Nothing invests the ordinary means of grace with such importance as to see our Lord, like one of ourselves, observing them. He was independent of all means, and stood in no need of such aids. Yet, able to walk without these crutches, He stoops to our condition, that He may teach us, by His own example, the devout, diligent use of all the means of grace. (1) He prayed. (2) He punctually attended worship in the house of God.
II. Let me exhort you to the diligent use of these means of grace. Can anything be plainer than this, that if our blessed Lord did not neglect the means of grace, much less should we, can we, afford to do so?
III. Let me exhort you to a devout use of these means of grace. For true religion does not lie in them. If religion be not in the heart it is nowhere. Trust not in mere outward duties, the most scrupulous and punctual attention to them. We are to use the means of grace diligently, yet devoutly, in dependence on the grace of God, that, bringing us into His presence and under His sanctifying power, we may be saved, not only from the punishment, but from the thraldom and love, of sin.
IV. In setting Christ before you as your pattern as well as propitiation, I am not calling you to a hopeless task. It is not by fits and starts that men become holy. It is not occasional, but prolonged, continuous, and lifelong efforts that are required; to be daily at it, always at it; resting but to renew the work; falling but to rise again. It is not with a rush and a spring that we are to reach Christ's character, attain to perfect saint-ship; but step by step, foot by foot, hand over hand, we are slowly, and often painfully, to mount the ladder, that rests on earth and rises to heaven.
T. Guthrie, The Way to Life,p. 175.
References: Matthew 3:15. J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes,3rd series, p. 74.Matthew 3:16. Spurgeon, Evening by Evening,p. 63.Matthew 3:16; Matthew 3:17. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xvi., No. 909; A. Barry, Cheltenham College Sermons,p. 243.Matthew 3:17. Clergyman's Magazine,vol. iii., p. 289. Matthew 3 Homiletic Quarterly,vol. ii., p. 79.