What is Baptism? | Theocast Clips

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We are encouraging you to remember your union with Christ as signified to you through that thing that happened to you.

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So this is the part where we get to then come in and use scripture where at times it can be confusing, but this is where I would say, like Justin in my membership class,

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I had someone this last week ask me, well, what's your view on baptism? And the way in which

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I describe baptism is this way. If God has instituted by means of Christ, that it is part of the two ordinances that are given to the church, both of them are designed to do the same.

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So when we think about communion, unfortunately, and then we just need to, we should probably do a podcast on the

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Lord's Supper. Probably we'll do a, we'll do a little tip of the hat to it here, but maybe we can do it next week.

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Yeah. Communion has also been lost. It's been, it's turned into a detriment. It's been turned into a examination.

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Oh brother, it's one of the most anxiety producing moments of anybody's Christian life. Which I understand why churches have pushed it to once a month, once a quarter, once a year, if at all,

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I understand. But for those of us who understand that it is the means by which God has said, I'm going to strengthen your faith.

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I'm going to encourage the weak hearted. I'm going to be reminding you of who I am. Literally what's going to give you all that your faith and love might lack.

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Right. Jesus says, when you do this, remember me. Well, remember what part of Jesus, right? Jesus as judge,

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Jesus as condemned. No, Jesus as our savior, right? As our replacement.

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The body of Christ and the blood of Christ for you. That's right. For you. So both of these are pictures.

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So I love this idea. They are visual representations of the gospel, right? They are visual representations of the gospel.

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So we, we hold as sign Jesus's body and blood. And then in baptism, we experience the washing away and covering of Christ.

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So Christ cleanses us and then he covers us. Right. And we come out fully clothed in the representation of Jesus Christ.

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So it's going back to Galatians, what I had quoted earlier. What does he say in Galatians 327, right?

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For as many as you were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. So our baptism is the representation of who our new identity.

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This is why he says walk in newness of life, because the way in which we now approach

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God as a baptized believer is one who says, I, by means of Christ's work on my behalf,

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I now receive all of the inheritance of Jesus because of my baptism, because of my baptism.

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Well, and it's like, yeah, so you're baptized. So that means that you have put on Christ. You've been clothed in his garments and everything that's his is yours.

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Here's some, here's some more scripture, Romans six. I'm going to read this and comment. So Paul says, beginning in Romans six, three, do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

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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 newness of life.

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For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

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We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

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For one who has died has been set free from sin. And he goes on. I mean, why do I read all of those verses? Because what's happening in the waters of baptism?

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I mean, you were talking about this earlier. As surely as I go under the water, I have been united to Christ in his death and his burial.

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His death is my death. In Christ, I've died to the law and I'm now free from it. And as surely as I come out of the water,

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I've been united to Christ in his resurrection. So I've been raised to walk in newness of life now, but ultimately this is pointing to the resurrection that God will cause to happen to me one day when my body is ripped from the grave.

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And so in being grafted into the Lord Jesus, all of the things that he's accomplished is now counted to me and everything that's his is mine.

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And so we talk in these terms about baptism. I'm just so heartbroken,

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John, that I know I grew up never hearing any of this, and I know that many, many other people grew up the same way or have spent their life in the church the same way.

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There are other texts that we could perhaps look at, but I'm happy. I'm happy to know. Yeah. And I have another one, Colossians 2, just going to that same idea of our past and many people's understandings.

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And some have been raised in, you know, titled or performed churches that still don't emphasize these things that get caught off on other areas of the culture.

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But what I love about this is that when Paul says in Colossians 2, in him also, you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcisions of Christ.

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So this again, this is not what this this was not a decision you made. You didn't make this decision.

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It's regeneration, man. Christ did this to you. So this is why even when we like to receive baptism is also something we receive.

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We don't baptize ourselves, right? Amen. Receive baptism. So then he says is having being buried with him in baptism in which you also were raised with him through faith in the power of working of God and just going down later in this whole idea.

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He then says in verse 16, therefore, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food or drink or whether regards festivals or Sabbath.

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He said, listen, you have been set free from all of it because God has circumcised your heart.

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He's cleansed you. He's washed you again. This is the language of baptism. So again, when

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I say it's a visible sign of the gospel, this is why we celebrate. We erupt in roar.

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Why? Because we're watching the gospel before our very eyes. So I'm going to read, it's brief,

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I'm going to read the liturgy that we use that our elders have written for our congregation, largely based on our confession and then based on other things in the

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Scriptures. Obviously, you would fill in the blank of the person's name and depending on whether it's male or female,

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I'm just going to use he for the simplicity of reading it. John comes today to be baptized as a sign of his union with the

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Lord Jesus Christ, as a sign of his union with him in his life, death, and resurrection, as a sign of the remission of his sins, as a sign of his being raised to walk in newness of life in Christ, as a sign of his being sealed with the promised

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Holy Spirit, as a sign of God's pledge to keep him unto salvation. So that's how we start and that's what's emphasized.

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It's about God's action. It's about what Christ has accomplished. It's about union with Christ and the remission of sins and the fact that God will keep us kept.

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This is what baptism is about and this is why it's celebratory. This is why, John, I'm maybe slight pivot here to talk about pastoral applications and how baptism is used, should be used in the life of the church even as we talk with people and even as we ourselves are wrestling with sin and doubt and all these things and fear.

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The phrase, remember your baptism, is a phrase that we use a lot in our congregation.

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People might, if you're not, if you're new, especially to like confessional streams of thinking, you might be thinking like, what are you talking about, brother?

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Here's what we're talking about. Remember your baptism. We're telling you, remember that there was a point in time in your life, here you are today, you're struggling, that's acknowledged.

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There was a point in time in your life where you were baptized. You received baptism. It was given to you as a sign of the fact that you've been united to the

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Lord Jesus Christ and that he has you, that your sins are forgiven and there's been the remission of those in Christ Jesus and God is going to keep you as a result of your union with Christ.

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You will be finally saved. There was a time in your life where that occurred and here you sit today in the midst of struggles and wrestlings and fears and doubts and all that, still meaning to trust the

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Lord Jesus Christ and how in the world do you think that happened? It's because God has done that for you. Remember your baptism and when we say remember your baptism, we are encouraging you to remember your union with Christ as signified to you through that thing that happened to you.

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This is a means of God's grace to you and it's his testimony and his pledge to you that you've been united to his son and therefore will never be lost.

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It's just another way for us to talk and to preach the gospel to people that they might look away from themselves unto the

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Lord Jesus Christ and look upon the grace of God that they received in the sacrament of baptism.