Sunday School - Teaching On Baptism - Part1

It's discernible, and so we're going to

examine the basic truth, because we're going to take another couple

weeks to go deeper into it.

But today is just to set a solid, strong, simple foundation of what is

baptism, and why it's important.

And so let's turn in our Bibles to Acts chapter 2.

Acts

chapter 2 is unique, because this is essentially the inauguration of the

New Testament church.

And we have the resurrection, ascension of Christ, and we begin to loose golfing

at the resurrection.

The Acts begins with the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And when the Lord was on earth, what did He promise to His disciples?

He says, I must leave, but I will not leave as an orphan, but I will not leave in grief.

What was He going to send?

Who was He going to send?

The Holy Spirit.

Jesus says to His disciples, I'm going to send you a helper.

I'm going to send you an advocate, a counselor, who will be with you and who will lead you into all truth.

That counselor was the Holy Spirit of God.

And God's promised Holy Spirit came right on time, when the Lord

had chosen in anointed time to be the day of Pentecost.

And anyone know what the word Pentecost means?

The idea is that

God has given us His promised helper,

His promised counselor in the Holy Spirit.

And that was marked by a powerful gospel proclamation

by the Apostle Peter.

The Apostle Peter begins to preach the gospel.

And there's a response to this message at the very end.

So we're going to examine that.

What does that look like?

I want to start with

Acts 1 -3.

He says in Acts 1 -3.

Being, therefore, a prophet in the way that God has sworn to those who do them that He would set one

of His descendants on His throne.

He foresaw a solemn resurrection of the Christ in society.

And He was not bent in His days, nor did His flesh see corruption.

This Jesus God raised up.

And of that we are all witnesses.

Being, therefore, exalted at the right hand of God, having received from the Father the promise of the Holy

Spirit.

He has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.

So what was unique about this gospel proclamation?

It's that He said to the people there, listen.

You are witnesses of this.

I'm not just telling you this.

Many of you have seen with your own eyes this to be true.

Many of you saw the Lord in His resurrection glory.

Now you are seeing the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Because what accompanied the outpouring of the Holy Ghost?

What accompanied that event?

What signs and miracles?

Speaking languages.

I like that you said languages, not tongues.

Because the word tongue, coming

from the Greek, it just simply means languages.

And they were speaking in languages.

The languages that they were speaking, was it in Babel or was it actual languages?

How do we know that from the text?

Look at verse 8 for a moment.

How is it that we hear each of us His own native language?

Tongue.

And the disciples were speaking in tongues.

They were speaking in certain languages that could be understood by those who had been gathered before this festival

gathering in Jerusalem.

So God's Holy Spirit was poured out.

These individuals were witnesses of this event.

And notice the response in verse 37.

Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart.

And it says to Peter and the rest of the Apostle brothers, what shall we do?

Now the fact that they were cut to the heart, what does that mean?

They were

convicted of sin.

They were convicted of sin.

Okay.

As a preacher, you can ask for more.

When you preach to the Apostles, what you want is to cut to the heart so that there is conviction.

Because conviction is necessary for what will come next.

Notice what Peter responds in verse 38.

He says, repent and be baptized, every

one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins.

And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are called.

Everyone who the Lord our God calls to Himself.

So the response necessary to the cutting of the heart to conviction is

what?

Repentance.

Repentance.

Obviously coupled with belief.

Regeneration.

They were cut to the heart like a sign that the Lord had already given that initial

purpose of salvation.

Now they are to be sawn with that same faith.

With baptism.

So repentance precedes baptism.

Now that raises some important questions in relation to baptism.

What is a necessary prerequisite according to the New Testament for baptism?

It's repentance.

They need repentance.

It's turning from sin.

Is that something that an infant can do?

No.

Infants cannot repent.

They cannot turn from sin.

They have not even the knowledge of sin.

Because the knowledge of sin is brought through an understanding of the law.

And so when a person understands the law, they have an understanding of sin.

And even the internal law that God has given us in Romans 2 and 3.

So it needs to be a conviction of sin in order for there to be an opportunity

for repentance.

Belief.

Turning to Jesus.

And in baptism.

Are we tracking this so far?

Everything making sense?

Go to my office and get a couple more answers.

And you can bring some to me.

So if you're following along, then notice.

Baptism is for a believer who has received Christ.

You've got to receive Christ before baptism.

How do we know this?

Notice again what verse 38 says.

Repent and be baptized.

Remember the view.

In whose name?

In the name of Jesus Christ.

Okay?

Now, this means.

So when the New Testament writers.

Especially the apostles and the apostolic age here.

We see that they do something that's.

They do something of interest in that.

The formula we receive in Matthew chapter 28.

If you remember the great commission.

We are to baptize with my name.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

That is the baptismal formula that we use.

It's the baptismal formula that most Protestants use.

When you look at the New Testament book of Acts.

And how they began to administer baptism.

It often says they baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

Meaning they did so in the authority of Christ.

Okay?

So in the name of simply means in the authority of.

Okay?

And it's not that the apostles changed the formula.

It's not that the apostles changed.

You know, the verbiage.

That when you be accompanied with.

Baptism.

But rather the statement that the apostles are making in Acts.

Is that they are doing this in the authority of Christ.

This is Christ's ordinance.

This is Christ's sacraments.

This is his work.

And it's being administered under his authority.

Does that make sense?

Yes.

I was wondering.

Let's say out in the mission field.

A believer only has the book of Acts to go on.

And they were doing it in Jesus' name.

Is their baptism still valid?

If you're only going by the book of Acts. You shouldn't be in the mission field.

No, no, no.

No, like.

Bibles get teared up and that's all they have.

Yeah, that's such a.

We can make a mini scenario if we want.

The reality is that.

The Bible gives us.

All that we need faith in Christ.

And in order for us to be in the government.

We look at what God says.

The whole council.

It's been easy.

And people do this all the time, right?

Lots of foundation church churches.

Do this.

You know, they always say.

We are a book of Acts church.

We are an apostolic church.

We are.

You know.

We follow just the book of Acts.

And they do this.

And they're wrong for doing so.

It's not correct.

So it is incomplete.

And so.

It is not wrong.

To do.

Recognize.

The authority of Christ.

When a police officer.

Stops you and says.

Stop the legal law.

He's appealing to the law.

As the standards.

Of that authority.

Similarly.

The New Testament.

Of Acts.

Is appealing to Christ's authority.

In the right of baptism.

Demonstrates.

His.

Lordship.

In the rearrangement.

And so.

It's not changing.

The formula.

That we received.

From the great magician.

In Matthew 28.

But rather.

It's a recognition.

Of Christ's authority.

In.

The administration.

Of baptism.

But.

Jesus Christ.

Is central.

To.

The act of baptism.

Jesus.

Is the one.

Who.

Offers.

Forgiveness.

To us.

Yet.

And so.

All these.

Are.

We need.

A.

Because.

You can't get.

Something you don't know.

Recognize.

Understand.

Receive.

And so you receive.

What you.

Receive.

Right.

In.

A little bit.

Deeper.

Later.

On.

Is also being sung.

But particularly, there's something special happening in the rite.

So the Baptist can often, quite rightly so, be called the rite, because they don't know what a rite means.

So there's a rite.

Like an initiation?

Yeah, sort of.

Dale?

It's a ceremony that imparts something.

Yes, it's a ceremony.

There's a ritual power to it.

It is rightly understood to be a rite in that sense.

It's not just going to the motion.

It's not just a play.

There's something that is happening in that act that has not just

emotional significance, but has spiritual significance and power in

partition.

And so Baptism is unique in that it is resembling a rite.

Now, what partition are you referring to?

Romans chapter 6, where it will end.

I'd like for us to read Romans chapter 6, verses 1 through 4.

Where are we?

Let's give it one more quick second.

From Romans 6, starting in verse 1, 1 through 4.

Go for it.

What shall we say to him?

Are we to continue in sin, that grace may have died?

By no means.

How can we who died to sin still live in it?

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

We were buried, therefore, with him, by baptism, into death, in order that just as Christ was

raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in the midst of life.

Notice the word for Jews.

You were baptized into, into Christ.

Why do you think that's an interesting way of looking at Baptism?

You were baptized into something.

I believe it's very interesting because you're baptized into something that represents your union with

something you're baptized into.

So this is really giving a very intimate picture of believing with Jesus, or really becoming one with Christ.

That's right.

Yeah.

So in the Greek text, it often talks about

how we are in Christ.

The Greek word, the Greek transliteration is just two letters, E, E, E, N, N, N.

Very simple Greek word, but it's a very deep Greek word, as well.

In that communication, that's going to be like dipping your

finger in water, but rather being into water.

It's an immersed experience.

And in the same way, there's a deep union that the believer shares in Christ.

We were baptized into Christ.

It's not just an idea of dipping a little bit of water.

This is a fully immersed Christ.

You are fully immersed in Christ.

And I think that is significant when it's used in relation to Baptism, as well.

You're not simply a little bit in Jesus.

You're not simply kind of sort of in Jesus.

You are fully in Jesus.

You are baptized into Christ.

You are fully immersed into the life of Christ.

Not only life of Christ, but you also share through Baptism in his life, death, burial,

resurrection.

You are sharing in the gospel life of Jesus in Baptism.

That is how powerful that can be.

That can be understated.

And in some ways, you can't really fathom what that union truly means and

looks like.

It's really significant.

So if you're following, again, Baptism as a believer versus Christ, it's fully immersed in God.

And then we move on to death and resurrection.

Now, I have to mention this one.

I have Wisconsin, where I lived, and finished ministry for four years.

The two biggest churches in rural Wisconsin

is the Catholic Church and the Lutheran Church.

Lutheran is really big because there's a huge German population in Wisconsin, especially

in rural Wisconsin.

A lot of Germans stepped up to the game.

And Germans typically are either Catholic or Lutheran.

And so Lutheranism is huge in Wisconsin.

So that was our main competition.

If you were to put it that way or not, you really shouldn't put it that way.

But in terms of the marketplace for church Christianity, Lutheranism was

massive.

And people were more often culturally Lutheran, not even religiously.

You have cultural Catholics, cultural Muslims.

You have a lot of cultural Lutherans.

And one of the things that when I went to talk to Lutheran pastors and people who went to the Lutheran church,.

And I went to a couple of services myself,.

Those churches were what's called high liturgy, which is that the order of service

is very well organized and traditional and there's historic lineage

to that order of service.

They'll often say, our liturgy is designed to

emulate the gospel.

So from the reading of the scripture to the preaching to the ritualistic aspects,

sometimes including things like what the pastor's wearing, the garb's he's wearing.

They'll often have a shepherd's staff.

They'll sometimes be accompanied with a similar to the Catholic church.

Sometimes rites with incense and things of that nature.

Candles being lit and particularly for Lutheran times of the year.

These are all meant to be pictures to kind of emulate the gospel.

And I said to one of the pastors, I said, don't you think it's kind of ironic when you go to such great lengths

to emulate the gospel in your liturgy and yet you fail to emulate the most

important aspect of the gospel in the rite of passage which our Lord gave us because you practice sprinkling

and we practice conversion.

And it's often that you'll find that kind of contradiction in denominations or churches where

they'll have a regular view of worship.

So they'll tweak things in worship to say, oh, we're making the gospel bigger and better

and we're incorporating it in all these ways.

But then they don't stick to the word and the things that actually matter.

So they go beyond what's written.

And that's what the whole ordinance is about in 1 Corinthians chapter 4.

It's not going to be written.

And so in baptism you have really an image of the gospel.

It is the gospel.

You're taking the gospel.

You are into the gospel.

And it is a sign of our union with Christ.

So baptism is a sign of our union with Christ.

Sharing in the power of the gospel is written in the notes as well.

If you shut up Romans 6, notice what verse 5 says as well.

It says, for if we have been united with him in a death like this, how are we united with him in his death?

With baptism.

We are united with him in a death like this we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection

like this.

Now notice the power of the imagery of baptism.

In the biblical rite of ministration of baptism you have audio water

which represents, in scripture often water or audio water represents what?

Purification.

Yes, but in another connotation it's more of a negative connotation.

Think of the negative connotation of large, large water.

Sometimes they're called the abyss.

The abyss.

It's the image of death.

It's the image of death.

That's why Joe and Isaiah and Psalms talk about the Leviathan being the depths.

And it's a place that you don't want to be.

It's dangerous.

Psalm 103 says that only Yahweh can tame the depths, the abyss.

Only Yahweh can tame the Leviathan.

So the large, large water it's interesting enough in the revelation of the beast

rises from the abyss, rises from the water.

So the large bodies of water typically represent the abyss or death.

And so when we come to the laws of baptism we come to it understanding that this is

this is a burial site.

This is an abyss.

Christ descended as you look at in Acts chapter 2 where did he descend to when he died?

Hades.

Hades, the abyss.

He descended into the abyss.

And he got not only to see the cave but how grace is in the dead.

And so he went to Hades and again the large represent our association with

Christ's death in Hades in the abyss.

Okay?

But.

When we're dumped in the water we don't stay in the water unless the preacher is trying to kill you.

Okay?

You don't stay underneath that water.

Just as Christ rose again out of the abyss.

So we too in the rite of baptism go under the water signifying our death, our association

with Christ's death.

And then we come back out of the water signifying our joining with Christ

in unison life.

Right?

And that's the beauty of baptism is that it is an association

with Christ's burial, his death and his resurrection.

And that's why it's so awful and that's why I believe and I have a great conviction about this that

the proper administration of baptism has to be administered by following that model because

if not you lose the entire richness of

the intended imagery associated with baptism.

And also you're just not doing it according to what God's standard has given us.

It's not our ordinance.

It's not our right.

It's the Lord's.

And we don't have the right to change the administration of anything the Lord has given us.

We are to administer it how he has commanded it.

And so with baptism, again, it's a sign of our death, burial, and resurrection with Christ.

That's what Paul can say in verse 4 and 5 again.

We were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death.

And in order that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead by the Lord our Father, we too might walk in

his life.

We are reenacting the gospel when we are baptized.

When we see others baptized and give their testimony, that is the gospel at work.

That is the gospel at work.

So that's why it's so important.

There's nothing more foundational for the Christian than the gospel.

The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is good news.

Therefore, we should not alter that which God has commanded.

Am I crazy for saying that?

I don't think so, right?

Now again, that kind of gets into territory of what do we do with sprinkling, what do we do with

baptism, what do we do with all these other forms of rites and rituals.

There is only one right way to do this, and it's the biblical way.

It's the biblical way.

Question?

Yes.

So it has been prior discussed that the prerequisites of baptism are penances?

Yes.

So then what the Romans apply here in Romans 6, perhaps we understand the reason that if you do not have a

prerequisite of baptism, say for example in the case of Abraham, or I'm a believer that this would be if they take

part in baptism, it's just going to be an empty baptism.

You're just getting wet.

You're not united with Christ.

You're not going to be resurrected.

Matter of fact, I think

there's a wrong administration of baptism that I think is very dangerous.

It's very dangerous.

For the same reason, I think, a wrong administration of the Lord's table is dangerous.

I'll give you an example.

The Mormon church administers weekly communion.

And the way they do it, is they administer it.

The bishop will be in the back preparing the sacraments.

And he literally prepares you with water bread and water.

The breads aren't leavened.

And they're not even using, they're not even trying to use the fruit of the vine or the grape juice or

wine.

They're just using literally water.

So every single time you go to the Mormon church, that's how they administer the Lord's table.

Now, just by virtue of doctrine, it's not the Lord's table.

It's not actually the Lord's table because doctrine matters.

But just by doing that, it shows the disregard

for the Lord's commandment.

Does it not?

That the Lord says do this, and by your own authority, by the authority of the church, by the authority of

the prophet, they're going to alter it, they're going to change it.

Who has the greater authority in the church than Christ?

Christ is the authority.

That's why, again, when it came to baptism, the apostle baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, showing that

His authority was supreme in the right baptism.

And so we don't have any right to alter the Lord's ordinances or what the Lord has

commanded us to do.

And I would say that that extends in our form of how we baptize.

So we'll get more into that in a bit.

But again, baptism is a sign of our union with Christ, sharing the power of the gospel,

and walking in the newness of life.

Again, that's what Paul says at the end of verse 4 of Romans 6.

He says that Christ was raised from the dead by the Lord the Father, so that He can lead me in my walking in the newness of life.

Now, sometimes Christians think, and this is wrong when a Christian thinks this way.

I had a guy in my previous.

Church who had been a Christian for 20.

Years.

And guess what?

He had never been baptized.

He was a member of the church.

He hadn't been baptized.

He had been a member of several churches.

He wasn't even a youth pastor.

That's so common in evangelicalism.

And I don't know how they get by with that, but

it's taking you so long to be obedient.

It's taking you so long to do what's required of you.

And he said, well, no, it's never really made it a big deal.

And it drives me bonkers because not a big

deal.

We're talking about the gospel here.

Right?

And so, that was a fun experience because the guy was

literally like 6 '5", 3, 400 pound dude.

And so, when we baptized him in the river or the lake, we actually had him get on his knees

because if not, there's no way I was going to be able to make that happen.

And so we got on his knees and we did it all completely.

It was a beautiful occasion.

And he thanked me greatly for that because I was the first pastor he's had that

emphasized baptism as much as I did.

And it changed his walk.

It really changed his walk.

It really changed his relationship with the Lord.

I still keep in touch with this guy.

I text him every couple of weeks.

And it's important because baptism is not the end of the Christian

walk.

And sometimes in Evangelicalism, that's the perception that well, I'm not ready for baptism.

I've got to X, Y, and Z and then I'll be ready.

You know, we think of baptism as the end.

But it's not.

Actually, it's the beginning.

You don't put it at the end.

It's at the beginning.

It's like, you know, if, you know,

you can try to give a good picture of this.

And I know there's children here so I don't want to get too crude, but it's like getting married and waiting

constantly for the marriage.

Oh, I'm married.

I'm just not ready.

And it's like, well, that's just silly.

What are you doing?

So that's the reality is that we can't put baptism all the way at the end

of the Evangelical Christian life.

It's really the beginning of a Christian walk.

Because it's in that that we receive and we'll go into this more next week.

But it's in baptism that we really receive entrance into membership in God's covenant

community of faith.

Right?

And so how a person enters into that community of faith is through baptism.

So we don't want to fall prey to that false mentality of saying, well,

I've got to be ready because the prerequisites for baptism are what?

Repentance and faith on the Lord Jesus Christ.

If you've got that, you ought and need to be baptized.

You're commanded to.

And it's for your good.

It's for your good.

So that you can now walk in Jesus' life.

You're only disempowering yourself.

You're only, you know, you're disobeying the Lord.

What church?

Oh, my Christian church.

Yeah, they didn't want to be a community.

Yeah, they didn't want to guard the community table as well.

There you go.

That's a good way to think about it.

Thank you.

I appreciate it.

I was at a Southern Baptist church and it was an interesting way

the pastor handled a situation where we had somebody who wanted to become a member

but he had this fear of water.

And so, no, no, really, this is not a hypo, and so the way they just handled it, they just did word of mouth

membership.

How do you think about that?

I've got a lot of thoughts about it.

It's not the topic of today, but obviously most churches don't take membership very seriously.

This is what it comes down to.

And we often, you know, churches will make the

barrier of entry very low so that more and more people can funnel into the

system, funnel into membership.

And if they can catch into membership, then they can present that as success in saying, look at all the members we've

added, look at all the baptisms we've got, but the barrier's very low.

Right?

And so it's a recipe for a lot of false followers.

And an unhealthy church dynamic, to be honest.

According to the importance of the link between baptism and church membership,.

But today we're just going to focus on a fair basis here.

Now, the point I want you to understand here.

Is that with our reformed distinctions of what the Bible teaches, we understand that salvation cannot be earned.

Okay?

Write that in the notes.

Salvation cannot be earned.

And so what we do not attribute to baptism is a solid formula

wherein by baptism, by doing this work, you are now saved.

We don't believe that.

There are groups that teach that.

There are groups that believe that.

We are not saying that.

We do not believe that.

We do not affirm that.

We believe that salvation cannot be earned, but is indeed a free gift by

what?

Grace.

By grace through what?

Faith.

Through faith.

Or by grace you can say through faith, this is not yourself, it is the

gift of God said in many books.

It is God's work.

You are not saved by what you can do.

There is no baptism, no work or act of baptism, getting wet, that will save you.

Now, it's interesting that baptism in itself is not necessarily a new concept to the Jewish

person who is living in the first century.

The book of Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Numbers, is

filled with ritual washing of various times.

In the Old Testament, if you were to become unclean, you could not come to the Temple meeting, you could not come to the

city even, which is why in ancient times, even now, it's fascinating to look at archaeology

in Jerusalem.

They're.

Covering more and more ritual pool.

Washing stations outside the city, because should you, for instance, touch a dead carcass on the

way to Jerusalem, you are now unclean, and you have to go through washing.

Sometimes, depending on the level of uncleanness, and that varied by,

you know, by many things, you would have to either, you'd have to

wash and then wait until evening.

Sometimes you'd be unclean for several days, which requires you to do continual washing,

depending on what it is that you have come to talk about.

And so, ritual washing wasn't just often a mere ditty.

In fact, it included washing your clothes in that pool, too.

So you'd wash yourself and you'd have to wash your clothes as well.

So, this idea of ritual washing is not new to the first century Jews

who had encountered people like John the Baptist, like Jesus, like the Apostles who are now

baptizing folks.

What was unique about New Testament baptism, whether administered by John or by the Apostles, was

the association with baptism and repentance.

So when John the Baptist comes on the scene and he's baptizing, he's baptizing them in a baptism of

repentance.

He's saying, repent for the kingdom of God is on the earth.

So he's baptizing them with an association with repentance, an expectation

that the kingdom of God is coming.

When Christ is baptized, he sets the model for us and we're going to look at that

verse in a little bit.

And when the New Testament church starts baptizing, they're baptizing also with a message of

repentance, but also faith in Jesus.

It's very important.

So again, ritual washing is nothing new and baptism is kind of a I don't like to use this word, it's kind

of an evolution of that ritual washing we see in the Old Testament, but really it's more of a

it's a fulfillment of those ritual washings that was laid out in the Old Testament.

Now we've come to its eschatological fulfillment in the Christian

rite of baptism.

And so we have to however understand that we're not saved by the rite

of baptism.

There's no amount of ritual washing that you can do to make yourself clean before God.

What is unique about Christian baptism is its association with Jesus Christ.

I want you to turn to Titus chapter 3 for a moment.

Look at Titus 3 verse 4 through 7.

It says, But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not

because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy,

by the washing of regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Spirit.

So it's not the washing of water, literal water, for baptism that saves you, but it's the washing of

regeneration and the renewal that comes through the Holy Spirit.

That's the inbuilding of the Spirit.

That's being born again.

When you're born again, that's when you are saved.

God saved you prior to any work done in righteousness.

And there's no works that can be done in righteousness that can do that favor.

So you are saved by grace through faith.

You're saved according to God's own mercy by the washing of regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out

on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his

grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Crystal clear, we're not saved by baptism.

You are saved not by baptism, but for baptism.

You are saved onto baptism.

So baptism as a rite, as a ritual, as a practice, does not save you no

more than the Lord's table doesn't save you.

But that is not to strip the Lord's table or baptism from the power

that it has.

Because it has the real power.

And it has the real purpose.

It is not an aimless thing.

No less than their you know, what's more important

the when you get married is when you write your name on a piece of paper and now it says

you're married or is there not power in meaning and significance when the rings are exchanged?

You don't not exchange rings just because you signed a piece of paper that says you're married.

You exchange it because you understand there's a value, there's a power, there's a connection there in that

rite, in that passage there.

So we're not saved by works, we're not saved by baptism, we are saved onto baptism if that makes sense.

Any thoughts or questions.

So far?

Pastor Collin all this, is there anything you want to add?

Yeah?

From my understanding of Scripture so far to this point, I understand

that when a believer is indwelled by the Holy Spirit they have now been

adopted into the spiritual church.

But to exactly, as a person 20 years into faith has no one to baptize yet, he

hasn't still taken part in being united with Christ, even though presumably he's been adopted into the spiritual church.

So what happens is that when a Christian.

Is born again, that moment you're a child of God.

You are heaven -bound.

You're truly born again, you're truly saved, truly in the Lord, you're heaven -bound.

And so you will die and you will go to the Lord.

But that's there's a flaw almost in that mentality as well which is

exaggerated in the evangelical community.

Which is that the end goal is just to make it happen.

You know, and really that should be our end goal.

Our end goal as Christians should be to be pleasing to God.

And in doing so, in living that pleasing life to our God, the Savior, when we get to heaven because we're heaven -bound anyway, when

we get to heaven your degree of glory will be determined by the works and the

life that you'll have.

So what you do with your life as a Christian truly has significance.

It truly matters.

You're going to be great, wonderful.

Praise God.

But what kind of glory will you receive?

And that glory is not important because you want more glory.

But it's because of the glory that you received.

It's really going back to the Lord.

It's the glory that you give back to Him.

You know, the throne, the throne we're going to see in the New Testament.

Casting their crowns on the feet of Jesus.

The crown of glory relates to the works of the saints.

Okay?

And they're casting their crowns to the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ.

That's why it's significant.

That's why it's important.

So, yeah, a Christian can be a Christian and not be baptized, but they're

disobedient.

They're disobedient.

So that's not good.

You don't want to be there.

Does that make sense?

Yes, James?

I think the perfect example is when Philip

was invited by the eunuch inside and him preaching the gospel.

It did not come short for the eunuch to ask him to be baptized because it was clear

for him to follow them.

So let's look at the proper administration of baptism.

What does that look like in the scriptures?

And let's turn to the example of our Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew chapter 3.

So far we've learned what baptism signifies.

The significance behind baptism is the association with Christ's death, birth, and resurrection.

And we're walking in the midst of life.

We also know that we cannot burn our salvation.

Baptism itself does not save anyone.

It's the washing of a regeneration of the Holy Spirit that's, again, being born again in regeneration.

That is what saves a person by God's mercy.

But let's look now at the proper administration of baptism as it's laid out in the Holy Scripture.

We see in Matthew chapter 3, verse 16, Jesus is baptized.

It says when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water,

and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descend like a dove and come to rest on him.

What is of importance here is that Jesus was baptized where?

In the Jordan River.

And what was the manner by which he was baptized?

Immersion.

Immersion.

He was fully immersed in the water.

How do we know this from the text?

He went up from the water.

He went up from the water.

Okay?

Which means he wasn't sprinkled.

He wasn't down with a little bit of water.

He was fully immersed in the word, baptized in the Greek.

Baptizo literally means to be immersed in what the word means.

It doesn't necessarily, you know, there's not always a correlation between the etymology of the word and its application.

But in this one, I think it obviously diverges because we see not only what the word means, but we see how it's used in

practice in the New Testament.

Right?

So we see how the word is, what the meaning is, and then how it's administered in

the Bible.

So obviously, those Jesus, when he was baptized, he went fully immersed

into the water, and he went up out from the water, signifying again that he had.

Been fully immersed.

And so proper baptism is administered by the full immersion, would you write that in there, full

immersion of the believer in water.

Notice Christ, also of an adult age, not a baby,

not someone who does not have incredible life.

Jesus sets the model for us.

It's not different to be 30 years old.

You don't have eyes.

But yet, it shows a model and manner by which it's perfect to be baptized.

It's someone who has incredible life and testimony, and it's someone who

obviously is old enough to be dunked in water, so not an infant.

Let's look at Acts.

8.

So

we see how.

Jesus is baptized.

He's baptized by full immersion.

How can the New Testament church baptize.

Individuals?

Well, let's look at Acts 8, and

let's start with verse 34.

Acts 8, verse 34 says, The eunuch said to Philip, About whom I ask you, does the prophet say this?

About himself or about someone else?

Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this scripture, he told him the good news about Jesus.

And as they were going along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, See, here is

water.

What prevents me from being baptized?

He demanded the chariot to stop, and when they both went down into the water, Philip

and the eunuch, and he baptized him.

And when they came up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and

went on his way rejoicing.

He didn't stop because he saw a little canister of water, and said, Hey,

why can't you sprinkle me?

He saw a body of water, and he said, What prevents me from being baptized?

Love that heart, love that spirit.

He had heard the good news, received the good news, and was baptized

accordingly.

Now, again, the apostolic church, every instance that we see in the New Testament, individuals are

baptized by full immersion.

There is not one instance in the Bible where someone is baptized by sprinkling.

We don't see one instance where an infant is baptized either.

We see only a believer's baptism in the New Testament.

So what then would be the rightful way for us to baptize?

The proper administration for baptism, to quote Paul when he's not necessarily talking about

baptism in.

1 Corinthians 4 -6, but I.

Think he lays an important principle that has connotation not just for regular principle, but also for things

relating to baptism and the Lord's Supper, where he says, do not go beyond the things that are written.

Do not go beyond the things that are written.

Because at that point, what happens is that tradition, church tradition, often becomes the rule of faith

for the believer, and not the scriptures alone.

And so we want to go to a strong view of scripture, soul scriptura, and we do not want to go beyond the

things that are written in regard to faith and practice.

And so, adding to the Lord's ordinance for the Lord's Word of Baptism

would be a dishonor to His Word.

Would it not be?

If we were to say, well, we know what the Bible says in regard to the administration of this, but we're going to

change it how it convenes.

That was originally one of the things that the early church dealt with.

The reason why things like sprinkling was initiated was because

they were so eager to baptize and they said, well, if we don't have a body of water, then we need

to figure out this problem.

So we'll allow for there to be sprinkling.

So what happens is that slowly the church became the rule of faith and became the ones who were

supposed to be the keepers of it.

Now they were the changers of it.

They were giving themselves free range to be able to change how to administer the things and

ordinances of God.

And I don't think that is the right thing to do.

Obviously, we've still got a strong view of regular principal here.

We believe that they sent Him to baptism.

So, proper baptism, again, is administered by fully immersion of the

feet of the water, following Christ's example, that of the Apostolic Church.

The Apostolic Church baptized by fully immersion.

Jesus was baptized by fully immersion.

There is no other baptism except for the spiritual baptism of fire.

That is recognized in the New Testament.

Any thoughts or questions?

Great question.

We're going to answer that in the weeks to come.

The short answer to that is

ordinances are His ordinances.

They're not ours to change nor to deviate from.

And so, there is a proper baptism.

And what do we mean when we say proper?

Does that mean that there is a license for improper administration and then

but still valid?

And those are the questions we're going to answer in the coming weeks.

So, I want you to stay tuned for that.

I don't want to steal from Pastor Connolly's great teaching.

He's going to give us on that as well.

So, you got a question?

Real quick.

So, yesterday we were discussing this issue briefly.

And the idea came up that there was a

rodent's sleep away.

But, agreed to baptism thinking that...

Again,

the

prerequisites

for baptism is

repentance and belief on Jesus.

Should those be there?

And it's administered properly by New Testament Church New Testament believers.

I would say that it is a valid baptism.

Often time, it's interesting because there's not a lot of good teaching on baptism.

Sometimes believers, especially new believers, have wrongful expectations or connotations associated with baptism.

That through teaching will be corrected.

But, I don't...

As long as that person was believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, truly repentant of sin, and was baptized by the New

Testament Church, I think that would be a valid baptism.

Regardless of what they understood to be the reason for it.

Yeah, we don't need to.

Have a comprehensive understanding of everything that we see in the

Bible in order to be baptized or partake of communion.

How many folks socially understand the power of communion and partake of communion weekly?

And so, a full comprehensive understanding of these things is not necessarily a

prerequisite for still partaking of this baptism.

Any other thoughts.

Or questions?

Pastor Cullen, do you have a closing song for us?

94.

A song? 94.

Uncertain.

I wasn't the tune.

Let me do something easier.

Take it shorter.

Holy, holy, holy.

Let's course correct this shift.

87.

Holy, holy, holy.