Adult Sunday School - Going Public Part 3 (Chapter 3)

Baptism as the Public Beginning of Christian Faith

For your mercy. We thank you, Lord, that during this past week we get to enjoy fellowship with brothers and sisters, family members around the table, and remember what it is that we're thankful for. Father, we pray that even now we would be thankful for the Word which is able to make us strong in the salvation.

We pray, God, for the Word to infiltrate our hearts, for it to penetrate even between the dividing of joint and marrow, soul, and spirit. And Lord, we thank you for the subject in which we are about to partake in.

Lord, help us to set our minds on that which is good, on that which is beneficial, edifying for the saints. And Father, we pray for today's service, that it would be done decently and in order, unto the glory of your name.

In Jesus' name we do pray, amen. All right, so Pastor Josh, I think, did last week, and he did the second chapter of this book. Now we're gonna be in the third chapter of the book. This sounds kind of very echoey.

And the third chapter, I think, is probably the most important chapter of this book because it really, from a very fundamental basic level, sets out the case for the entirety of this book, which is why baptism is required for church membership.

And it really lives up to the title of the book, which is Going Public. It really does a great job at a very basic level explaining the connection between, you know, really the purpose of baptism. That's essentially what this book is trying to get at.

What is the purpose of baptism? How does it relate to church membership? How does it relate to our Christian life and walk? And again, one of the challenges I think we have as Christians, of all stripes, is the implication of baptism because it is a thing that is done in a moment in time.

So I was baptized at the age of 16. Well, I was baptized twice. I was baptized as a Jehovah's Witness. Sometimes, most people are baptized twice because they're baptized as infants. But I was baptized as a Jehovah's Witness at the age of 12, I want to say.

I think I was 12. And I was baptized again as a Christian around the age of 16 or 17. And because it's something that happens in a moment in time, it's kind of hard for you to be like, well, what does it mean for me today?

What's the implications of that act that happened for me now 15 years ago? What does that have to do with me today? And how does that interact with my church life, with my Christian walk? Because it was something that was a long time ago.

How does it relate to my walk of Jesus today? And I'd say that it still has great implications for us today. I want to pose a question that's not necessarily binding to this topic, but if someone is baptized as a Jehovah's Witness, Mormon, or Catholic, should they be rebaptized later on?

Or, I've spoken to ex-Jehovah's Witnesses who are Christians today who believe that that baptism was sufficient and that they don't need to be baptized again within the Christian.

Church. What are your thoughts on that? That's right. Yes. Well, that brings up an.

Interesting question that's related. And actually, I think our confession has a great deal to say about it, in our 1689 confession. And so our confession teaches that we are to be baptized by whom? Who are we to be baptized by?

Anyone know what.

Our confession teaches on this? So, our 1689 chapter 29 says, let's see,.

Baptism is an ordinance of the New Testament ordained by Jesus Christ to be unto the party baptized, a sign of his fellowship with him in his death and resurrection, of his being engrafted into him for the remission of sins, and of giving up unto God through Jesus Christ to live and walk in units of life.

And it talks about...so, I remember I went to a conference that talked quite a bit about this, and even though the confession itself doesn't go into great detail, it does kind of hint to what the...or whom are to be administered.

And so, for instance, in chapter 28, in paragraph 2, it says, these holy appointments, referring to baptism and Lord's Supper, are to be administered by those only who are qualified and thereunto called according to the commission of Christ.

And so, the question is, okay, who can administer these ordinances? Who can administer the Lord's table? Who can administer baptism? And it is holy appointments to be administered by those who are qualified and, therefore, called by the commission of Christ.

So, it cannot be just, you know, any, you know, non-believer, right? So, if we had a Jehovah Witness baptize you who doesn't believe in Jesus, is that a valid baptism? No. It's also not a valid baptism.

Why? Because of the nature of it, which is unto a false God. You're being baptized not into the Trinitarian Godhead, being baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You're being baptized into a false gospel, false Christ, false God.

And I would say the same is true even within Roman Catholicism, even though they would use a Trinitarian formula. You know, the Roman Catholics are very interesting because they have a...there was a case, I forget where, it may have been in the United States, probably in Texas, I think, or maybe in South America, where there was a priest who had been performing baptisms for 30 years.

And it came out that all of them were invalid. Do you know why? Because he messed up one word every single time. Instead of being baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I think he said, by the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

So, it was very trivial. It was literally one word. And so, now all of those baptisms over 30 years became immediately invalid because of that very simple misuse of a word. But our faith and confession teaches that these are holy ordinances to be committed and to be done by qualified people called on to this task by the Lord Jesus Christ.

And that baptism is an ordinance that is to be observed by those who profess repentance towards God. This is what Chapter 29, Paragraph 2 says, those who actually profess repentance towards God, faith in, and obedience to our Lord Jesus are the only proper subjects or recipients of this ordinance.

And so, let's go into Chapter 3 of this book, where faith goes public, most of the theology of baptism. Again, I think this is probably the most important chapter in the book. And I think it does a wonderful job of laying out a simple case for, one, what is baptism and how does it relate to church membership?

So, I have to ask a question. Is baptism a private or is the Christian life more so a private or a public affair?

Why? Did Jesus ever say, if you just pray in your hearts to make me Lord,.

You'll be saved? How does modern evangelicalism kind of phrase or frame.

Modern-day salvation? You ever been to a church where they've done that?

I got to admit, I've done that before. I got to admit. I was one of the guys who said, all right, everybody knows, just close your eyes, just make pretenses, you and Jesus, there's no one else in the room, you know, and, you know, nice soft music is playing in the background.

And it's a very...it's meant to kind of make it very individualistic. And it's meant to kind of inspire some type of, well, it's just you and Jesus now, you know. And I think, you know, it shouldn't be lost on us that, of course, we want a personal relationship with Jesus, amen?

There's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with that terminology. But the problem is, I think the way that evangelicalism has phrased it today is that not only is it personal, but now it's so personal, it's private.

It's just you and Jesus. And, you know, I had a friend on Facebook write recently, you know, essentially saying, well, I don't go to church because I just believe in Jesus. I don't need the church. I don't need...it's just me and Jesus type of deal.

And I haven't found a good church and all pastors are in it just for the money and all this type of deal. And it's like, all right. I mean, it's not what the Bible says, right? And again, we've built such an individualistic private affair when it comes to our worship that I think we've done a lot of damage.

So is the Christian life private or public? I think it's public, right? So Jesus puts it this way, whoever confesses me before men, I will confess him before my Father who's in heaven, right? So ours is an outward faith.

The world wants you to make it private, right? I've spoken to a lot of Christians who say, well, that's private. That's just between me and Jesus, between me and God. I know I'm right with God, but it's just between me and God.

I don't proselytize. I live out my Christian life and I preach through my actions, right? Is that authentic Christianity? Is that the Christianity that changed the world in the first century that turned the Roman world upside down?

Imagine if the first century Christians took that mindset. Like, think about it. Christianity would not exist as it does today. It probably would be in the garbage bin of history if early Christians took that approach.

Oh, it's just me and Jesus. Oh, it's just a private thing. They'd be just another first century cult. But they changed the world because they knew that theirs was a public faith. Christ died publicly.

The New Testament uses this phrase often, actually, several times. Colossians 2 is one of the places where it says that he was put up to public display. The Gospel accounts, Matthew 27, clearly use the language that Jesus was publicly displayed upon Mount Golgotha or Calvary's cross.

You know, the Bible says that in Hebrews chapter 12, that he scorned the public display of the cross, right? It was a public thing. Jesus died for you publicly, not so that you could just live for him privately.

Like, what an insult that is to the cross, to just live for Jesus privately and not publicly. Jesus calls us to live for him publicly, which is why he says he will be objects of hatred by the nations.

If you're quiet about your faith, have you realized, like, do you notice the world doesn't hate you if you're quiet about it? Go to any YouTube comment section, you're always going to find this one little Christian who's trying to be appeasing and who'll write more or less, well I believe that, but I don't go out there, especially when it comes to the topic of abortion.

I'm pro-life, but I don't think this is the right way of doing it. I don't think Christians should be out there trying to save babies that are being murdered, and they'll get the most likes. People will applaud and say, well, that's the way it should be, right?

The world doesn't hate those type of Christians. It hates Christians who are vocal about their faith in Jesus. Have you noticed that? Isn't it true? And so, again, what does our Lord call us to do? If you confess me before men, I shall confess you before my Father's heaven.

But should you deny him, what does the scripture say? He would deny us. If you deny him, you will be denied as well. And what a scary prospect that is, indeed. Again, that text is from Matthew chapter 10, verse 32 and 33.

I'll read it for us. It's in the first, in page 35 of our chapter, chapter 3. It's for everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I will also deny before my Father who is in heaven.

Again, that doesn't sound very private, does it? It's a very public thing. And so Jesus is saying there is no secret Christians. And then from 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 12, if we endure, we will also reign with him.

If we deny him, he will also deny us. That makes it pretty clear, then, that what's at stake here is a very public thing. So where does faith go public? What's the beginning of a faith that goes public?

Okay.

What would you say, Manuel? Yeah, so clearly the New Testament teaching is that baptism is where faith goes public. It's where it begins to go public. This is, again, one of the problems of, even though this book on the first chapter establishes, this is not an argument so much against patal baptism.

It presupposes a believer's baptism. But this is where one of the weaknesses of patal baptism emerges again, is that it denies the very public act of baptism that is by means of confession of faith. So this is why we are credobaptists.

What does credobaptist mean? What does that word invoke? It means I believe, it's a statement of faith. Credo means statements of faith. I believe, therefore I'm baptized. And so we're credobaptists. We're not patobaptists, pato being infant babies.

And the reason why that's an important distinction is because only one truly allows for a public confession of faith. And that is a believer's baptism, credobaptism.

Yeah.

I was baptized as a teenager, as a Jehovah's Witness.

Oh, okay. That's right. I was referred to it as Christine, but I was baptized as a baby. But when I became a believer, I wanted to be baptized. I'm surprised that, I wonder about people that are patobaptists, like, you know, I mean, R .C. Sproul and other people that, why would, did they become saved at one point in time and just said, oh, well, I've already been baptized?

Or do they consider themselves a Christian believer?

That's a good question.

I'm curious why they didn't after, or if they had always considered themselves a believer.

Yeah, so obviously you've got brothers and sisters within the Presbyterian faith who hold to a covenantal view of salvation, which essentially means this. You know, so we'll look at the text that says, you know, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you and your household will be saved.

And so they believe that the mark of baptism is akin, and they're not wrong in this, that it is the new covenant, the New Testament circumcision, right? So in the Old Testament, babies were circumcised, okay?

And whether they wanted to or not, they were circumcised. They had no choice in the matter. They were grafted into the community of faith, right? And so, see, the New Testament equivalent is baptism. So, and it's true because Colossians chapter 2 clearly makes that connection.

Galatians 3, there's plenty of places in the Bible that equates circumcision, Old Testament circumcision, New Testament baptism as the sign of, you know, one is the sign of the Old Covenant, one is the sign of the New Covenant.

And there is that correlation. And so they say, okay, well, then for the New Testament believer, everyone, as infants, should be baptized. And then this is where the idea of confirmation comes, whether it be from the Protestant side who are paedobaptists or the Catholic or the Orthodox side who are paedobaptists.

They believe in some, you know, ritual of confirmation so that there's a point in time where someone believes, so they confess that they're believers, which now validates the baptism. Okay? So the baptism that was performed upon them at birth or as an infant is now validated by their confession of faith, and it's now confirmed later on through this essentially ritual of confirmation.

Okay?

So that's typically how Presbyterians in particular will view that. So not necessarily that there are 100 saved, but that we assume they're part of the covenant community unless we see otherwise.

All right?

Versus a Baptist would say, no, I love my child, but he is a little brood and viper, and he needs to get saved. I don't assume he's saved. I want him to get saved. I want him to have a salvation experience through Jesus Christ, be regenerated, be born again, because I understand that there are two covenants.

There are two heads. One is Adam, one is Christ. And apart from saving faith, one is an Adam. One is under Adam's federal headship, not Christ. And the only entrance into that federal headship of Christ is through believing.

And the confirmation of that isn't confirmation itself or some ritual of confirmation, but rather it's baptism. Baptism is the confirmation of saving faith, not the other way around.

See?

So does that help? Any other thoughts or questions? So let's continue on. So again, baptism. So we're establishing in this chapter that baptism is where faith goes public. So we're going to dig a little deeper into the theology of baptism in the New Testament.

And we have to truly start in the book of Acts. The book of Acts is the story of the infant church. It's the story of the early Christian movement. And it's where we begin to see, again, the formulation, not just of our theology, but our faith and practice.

So what was the faith and practice of the early Christians? You have the scene of Pentecost, where the Holy Spirit descends upon God's people. So God's people are regenerated. They are born again in a unique way, because now this is the inauguration of the New Testament church, of the New Testament community, that was purchased through the suffering and obedience of Christ through his earthly ministry, through his death on the cross, his death and resurrection, his ascension to the right hand of the Father.

So now the inauguration of the New Testament community is begun on the day of Pentecost, the outpouring of the Holy Ghost upon God's people. So God's people are anointed, regenerated on that day. And what is the next thing that happens?

Peter begins to preach a gospel message. The first gospel message of the infant church. And I mean gospel in its completeness. Jesus preached the gospel, but we're talking about the complete gospel of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.

This is the centerpiece of Peter's preaching in Acts 2. He's saying, what you're seeing today is evidence that this Jesus, whom you crucified, is now both Lord and Messiah, and the evidence of this is that he's been raised from the dead.

So this is a New Testament gospel proclamation. He preaches it, and how do the people respond? They are what? So they believe. So Peter says, repent, and what? And be baptized. What do they do? They repent, and they're baptized.

Easy New Testament formula. Preaching of the gospel, call to repentance, believing on Christ, regeneration, baptism.

Okay?

That's the formula of the early church. So it is established, obviously here, in the second chapter of Acts. And that's what, you know, page 36, 37 is going through. It's going through this sequence of events that leads to the baptism of 3 ,000 individuals.

And I want to highlight to this, so if you go to Acts chapter 2 for a moment, and I want you to examine with me verse 38. And Peter said to them, 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, all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.

And it says in verse 41, so those who received his word, so it was a receiving, a receptiveness to this word, were baptized. And there were added that day about 3 ,000 souls. So when were they considered members of the church?

When they were baptized.

Okay?

So, if they were believers, and they heard this, and they received it, they were baptized, at that point they were added. Okay, so the Bible doesn't use the term members. It doesn't use the terminology of church membership.

But it is implicit in the phraseology that is used in the scripture. And so when it says were added, added to what? Added to the church.

Okay?

It's implicit.

Okay?

Again, we don't have the verbiage of member, memberships, things like that. But it's so clear that's what it's talking about.

Right?

So there's no doubt that this is what's being referenced here. So it was 3 ,000 souls that were added. Added to what? To the church. And it was only after baptism.

Why?

Because baptism is where faith goes public. Baptism is church membership. Does that make sense?

Right?

So even from the very onset, from the very first instance of Christian baptism, you see that this is the case and that this is what is happening in the early church. Any thoughts or questions on that so far?

Pretty clear. Now what is assumed in Christian baptism in the New Testament is that baptism in page 38, implicitly throughout Paul's epistles, he assumes that all the Christians he writes to have been baptized, we know this because he says in Romans 6, verse 3, for instance, Paul says, he says, Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

So Paul just assumes, again, all Christians have been baptized. It's a very strange thing in evangelicalism today that there are a lot of Christians who have been Christians for a while, but they've never been baptized.

Very strange, isn't it? So for instance, I think I've told you this before, we had a guy at our church in Surgeon Bay who had been a Christian for many years, 20 years. Had even been like a youth minister.

He'd never been baptized. And he was a member of the church, actually. And I said, like, how did we miss this? Like, how did you fall through the cracks? And he's like, well, no one ever made a big deal about it.

And I knew I was saved, and so I said, well, what's the big deal? And he's like, well, yeah, it's kind of a big deal because you're missing something really important. What are you missing out on if you're a Christian, but you haven't been baptized?

So we're assuming you're born again, you're regenerated. What are you missing?

What?

After you became a real believer, after leaving the Jehovah's Witnesses, you wanted to do that. I mean, I can't understand why somebody wouldn't want to do that immediately.

Yeah.

Maybe you know, maybe you've lived this, maybe you know someone who has, who was in a long-term relationship, maybe even living together for a substantial amount of time, but never married. Those, particularly the women, always feel like, well, something's missing.

Like, we're not married. Why don't you marry me? Why don't we do this? And there's this feeling of something's missing, right? And the same is true in the Christian context. What are you missing? You're missing obedience.

You're missing true fellowship with the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. It's like living with someone, but not being married with them. It's wrong, okay? It's wrong. So you should fix that and be baptized and believe on the Lord Jesus and upon his saving message and his message, obviously, of obedience.

So we can affirm two things. We can affirm, first and foremost, every Christian should be baptized.

Amen?

Should, as in it's not a suggestion. It's a commandment, right? Repent, be baptized. Not repent, and when you feel it, be baptized. Or when it's convenient, be baptized. Or, you know, when everything and the stars align, be baptized.

Right?

It's believe, be baptized. It's the command. So we affirm everyone who is a believer in Christ should, not just it's in their best interest, but they should be baptized in the most commanding way. But we can also affirm that if you are truly regenerated and you're not baptized, you are still heaven bound.

You're still truly saved.

Right?

And we know this because there are instances in scripture obviously we think of the thief on the cross who died and had no opportunity for baptism and Jesus says, you will be with me in paradise. We know that there are people who are saved, regenerated, born again and don't get to the point of.

Baptism.

But one thing that's kind of cool and I encourage you to maybe go on YouTube and see things like this where you'll see people who are literally in their deathbeds and they believe in Christ and the hospitals will sometimes make arrangements for them to get in water to be baptized because they're so convicted that okay, I need to be baptized.

And it's always a really beautiful thing when you see someone who's maybe 80 years old, 90 years old, 100 years old, believing on Jesus.

And then they want to.

Be obedient, they're baptized and it's one of the last things they do before they go and be with the Lord. I think that's the right thing to do. It's what I would want to do if I was in that position.

But Christians should be baptized. But we also know that it's not baptism which saves us. Now we're going to examine a verse that actually says that baptism does save us and we're going to see how we can harmonize.

That.

And we should be baptized. Why? Because again, if we understand this very simple concept, you're a believer, you're baptized and that baptism grants you membership into the church. Okay? It's like again,.

If you're.

Living with a partner but you're not married to him, you're doing two things. One, you're being disobedient. Right? Because the word doesn't allow for that. So you're being disobedient. But then second of all, you're also missing out on something wonderful.

Just like someone who's living with a partner and not married, they're missing out on something wonderful. Right? On the covenant arrangement, on fruitfulness, on blessing, God's blessing over that arrangement.

Right? And so, you know, we want to think of it in those terms that may help us understand it a little bit better. Any thoughts or questions? So I want to read this in page 39. It says in the first paragraph there, therefore according to the New Testament, baptism is part of how someone becomes a Christian.

We Baptists, on the other hand, are used to talking about baptism as something you do after you become a Christian. And so we don't baptize babies and say we only baptize people who profess to believe.

There's a sense in which this is right. This is interesting. Only those who profess faith in Jesus Christ should be baptized. And at a more precise theological level, it is surely correct to view regeneration, the act of God, the Holy Spirit, whereby a sinner is given a new nature and comes to believe in Christ as taking place at a specific moment in time.

Regeneration remains puncticular however long it took for someone to come to faith and however uncertain they may be about when exactly they first believe. So here's a common conundrum. Not everyone can pinpoint the exact moment of regeneration.

Right?

Not everyone has a very dramatic experience of regeneration. Some do. Myself am one of those who I think is fortunate enough to have had an experience like that where I knew okay, yeah, I'm a Christian now.

Because I knew I wasn't. Because I was a Jehovah's Witness. And now I'm definitely not a Jehovah's Witness. Now I'm a Christian. And it was stark. Right? But when you grow up in a Christian context, for instance, those lines are a little bit more blurred because well, I grew up around this.

This language is not new to me.

These experiences.

Are not necessarily new to me. I've been around them my whole life. Therefore sometimes it can be difficult to pinpoint that exact moment of regeneration. Right? But that is not to negate the fact that it has happened genuinely.

Right? Which is why again it is important for young people who are in the church to make that confession and to be baptized. Because it is in a sense our confirmation that we affirm what we have heard and seen from infancy.

Right? So we not only think this to be intellectually true, but we know this to be spiritually true. Therefore we're going to allow this to transform us. And our evidence of that is baptism.

And so.

He goes on further, as we just affirmed as well, it is crucial to affirm that in exceptional circumstances a person can come to faith in Christ, not be baptized, and be eternally saved. Okay?

He.

Goes on to say, baptism itself doesn't save anybody since the thief on the cross went to heaven without it and Simon the magician went to hell with it. That's interesting. So we have an instance when someone is baptized and they still are condemned.

Right? And so we know that the act of baptism in itself doesn't save anyone. However, there is a text here that we might have to wrestle with. 1 Peter 3 .21 which says baptism, which corresponds to this, this being what Peter had just referenced before, which is the story of Noah's Ark.

This baptism which corresponds to this now saves you not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That can be kind of a tough verse for us to wrestle with because we do not believe in baptismal regeneration.

Anyone know what baptismal regeneration means? Correct. Yeah, so there are many who believe in what's called baptismal regeneration, which is that baptism, that act of baptism is what regenerates you.

It's what makes you born again. So they'll take, for instance, Jesus in John 3 where he says truly I say to you you must be born again, whoever is born of water and spirit. And so they say the water is baptism, spirit is regeneration.

So the water comes first and then the regeneration. This is what's often called as baptismal regeneration. We don't believe that. We don't confess that. This is one of the texts that they also use to point that well no, it says there baptism now saves you.

But notice where he says not by the removal of dirt from the flesh. Which is another word to say it's not the act itself. It's not the act. Because what does the act itself do? We understand, again, baptism is a word which has a particular meaning meaning the word baptizo means to be dunked in water.

It literally means to be immersed and to be pulled.

Back out.

So what happens in that particular act is that your body goes into water so presumably just like when you shower, any filth that you have on the flesh comes off after you shower. That's why when we shower don't we feel better?

A long day at work or stressful day, we shower. Okay, feel better. There's a cleansing ritualness to daily showering that's important and it makes us feel good. In the same way, we understand that baptism serves in a similar function because what's happening is you're being immersed in water and any filth on the flesh is presumably now taken off, cleaned.

So there is something that is tangible that's happening in baptism. But Peter is saying that's not what saves you. It's not the act of getting into water and having filth removed from your flesh. But what in this way baptism now saves you because it corresponds to something that's happening inwardly.

And what does it correspond to? He says in the text, it says this,.

Not.

As a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

So Paul.

Teaches this in 1 Corinthians 15 This is the gospel by which you are saved. Christ died according to the scriptures, was buried, and was raised on the third day. That's the gospel that saves. And so Peter is affirming that to be true.

Baptism saves you, not by the removal of the flesh, not the physical act, but because of what is corresponded to, which is the resurrection of Christ from the dead, which is able to make you have a clear and clean conscience with God.

Does that make sense? I think that is the proper hermeneutic to this text of 1 Peter 3. I think that's the most basic way we can understand it and harmonize it with the rest of the scriptures. That the baptism itself is not the act which saves us but of course it's a symbol of our salvation.

It's a demonstration that this is actually happened inwardly. You have a good conscience with God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The gospel is at the center of salvation. This is why I say this in baptismal services, that really baptism is almost like a play.

It is an outward display of the gospel. Because think about what the implications are of the act. That water, when we fill up this tub, ironically, what does this tub kind of look.

And remind you of? A coffin.

Think about it for a second. Think of the imagery here. It literally looks like a coffin. I think we were playing hide and seek here with the kids one day and I tried hiding in there and it gave me the claustrophobia because I was like, oh no, this is not cool.