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

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 stronger 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 going to be in the third chapter of the book. This sounds kind of, whew, 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, because 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 with 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?

Let me pull it up. So our 1689 chapter 29 says,

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 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 any nonbeliever, 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'd say by the name of the

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So it was really 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've got to admit, I've done that before. I've got to admit. I was one of the guys who said, all right, everybody, just close your eyes.

Just pretend it's just you and Jesus. There's no one else in the room, and nice soft music is playing in the background.

And 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.

And I think it shouldn't be lost. And I said, 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 I had a friend on Facebook write recently essentially saying, well,

I don't go to church because I just believe in Jesus. I don't need the church. 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. It'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.

The Bible says in Hebrews 12 that he scorned the public display of the cross.

It was a public thing. Jesus died for you publicly, not so that you could just live for him privately.

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? 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 fathers.

But should you deny him? What does the Scripture say? He will 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 10, verse 32 and 33. I'll read it for us. It's in page 35 of our chapter, chapter 3.

So 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 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?

Confession and baptism. Okay. What would you say, Emmanuel? 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 paedobaptism.

It presupposes a believer's baptism. But this is where one of the weaknesses of paedobaptism 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? Yeah. 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 paedobaptists. Paedo means 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, paedobaptism or credobaptism. Yeah. I was baptized as an infant, so was

I. Well, I was baptized as a teenager, as a Jehovah's Witness. Oh, okay, that's right. I was like this

Christian, 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 paedobaptists like, you know,

I mean R .C. Sproul and other people that – why would you – did they become saved at one point in time and just said, oh, well,

I've already been baptized? Or did 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.

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 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 a sign of, you know, one is a sign of the old covenant, one is a 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 they are 100 % saved, but that we assume they're part of the covenant community unless we see otherwise, 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? Okay. 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. Okay? Easy New Testament formula.

Okay? For 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 or 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 2 for a moment. And I want you to examine with me verse 38.

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. Okay? 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. 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 a youth minister. He'd never been baptized.

And he was a member of the church, actually. And I said, how did we miss this?

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? 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? You know, why don't you, why doesn't, you know, 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.

So you're still truly saved. 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.

Right? We know that there are people who are saved, regenerated, born again, and don't get to the point of baptism.

Right? 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 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 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, that's a weird word, 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. I 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. 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 a 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. 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. And 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? Like, okay, 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 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 has actually happened inwardly. You have a good conscience with God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The gospel is at the center of salvation. And 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.

I need to get out of here, because I feel like I'm in a coffin here. It is like a coffin.

It's a grave. And the water represents a watery grave.

It's interesting that in the Bible, water has two connotations, one positive, one negative.

Both connotations, a positive and a negative, are used in connection to baptism. The negative aspect of water in the

Bible is that water always represents, not always, but typically will represent chaos, death, uncertainty.

So, for instance, in the Bible, in the book of Revelation, you have the beast rising out of the sea.

The Bible says, in the new heavens you are of the sea will be no more, referring to the chaos of untamed humanity, of sinful humanity.

Leviathan comes from the sea, from the water. It is a place of death and uncertainty, but it's also a place of rebirth.

And so God destroys the world with water, but what comes after that flood? New life, a new humanity.

Same thing with baptism. What does the water represent? It represents death, but also new life.

Literally, a new humanity through regeneration. And so the water represents, again, a watery grave.

You go under, the preacher, against any power of your own, pulls you under.

So you're not doing it yourself, right? There's a video of a kid who gets baptized, and he gets tired of the preacher, he's tired of the preacher talking, so he just does it,

I'll do it myself, and he just jumps in the water and comes out, unless you've ever seen that video. But that's not a valid baptism, because you can't baptize yourself, right?

And so the preacher holds you, brings you down. It's a picture of Christ.

Literally, the preacher's representing Christ in that moment. The preacher's bringing you down. You are dying to your old self, just as Christ literally puts you to death, just because, as it says in Scripture, do not realize that all those who were baptized were baptized into Christ's what?

Death. Baptized into Christ's death, so that you may now walk in the newness of what?

Life. And so you're brought into your grave, and you're pulled out, raised, symbolizing the resurrection of Christ from the dead.

What a beautiful imagery is that. What a beautiful connection that is to our precious heritage of faith in baptism.

And what a robbery it is when we don't do a proper baptism, and we hold to a paedo -baptist view of sprinkling, for instance.

It's being robbed of the imagery and the richness of that ordinance.

Where I previously was pastoring in Wisconsin, we had a lot of Lutherans. Probably almost as much

Lutherans as Catholics, and Lutherans are paedo -baptists. And one of the things I admire about Lutheranism, they don't hold to a regular worship, but their services are very ritualistic.

And they have what we'll refer to as a high liturgy. Liturgy meaning kind of an order of service, but there are more high churches, meaning that the services are organized more ritualistically.

So if you ever go to Mass, you go to a Catholic service, it's very ritualistic. It is very ornate.

They'll have candles. They'll have incense. They'll have a wardrobe, so you have the preacher or the deacons or the altar boys wearing robes and carrying objects of worship.

There's this procession. So this is what we call high church, high liturgy. And the

Lutherans in particular try to organize their liturgy very intentionally to echo things of Scripture.

So they'll prioritize so that the Gospel is in every aspect of their liturgy.

And so even from the verses they read, from how the preacher dresses, to the order of service, everything is to echo the

Gospel in some degree. And if you've ever been to a Lutheran service, you may see how they do that.

But I was talking to a Lutheran pastor friend of mine, and I said, that's awesome,

I love that. But why don't you put that same care and attention towards the ordinance that actually matters in baptism, where you're being robbed of the imagery of the

Gospel in the ordinance of baptism. And so you're focusing so much on the liturgy, making sure the

Gospel and the imagery of the Gospel, death, burial, resurrection is all throughout the liturgy, and yet you fail in the most important aspect, which is the baptism.

And you hold on to a view that's not biblical. And so that's one of the inconsistencies, again, of a paedobaptist, and those who don't believe in believer's baptism and baptism by full immersion.

So in this way we understand that salvation is through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, it's not through the physical act of baptism, but baptism crucially is an outward display of that Gospel which saves.

Does that make sense? We all affirm that? Any questions? Or any thoughts?

Some good verses that help us here in Preach 40. We've already referenced Romans 6,

I want to read Colossians 2. It says, in him you were circumcised. So again, that connection between circumcision and baptism is pretty clear in the

New Testament. In him also you were circumcised. It was circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ.

What's the circumcision of Christ? It's baptism.

It's faith, repentance, baptism. This is the circumcision of Christ. Having him buried with him in baptism.

Again, that connection, that Gospel connection. Baptism is a picture of Christ's death and burial and resurrection.

You die to self, you come out in like fashion, mimicking his resurrection.

And this has eschatological significance too because it says in Scripture that we will be raised like unto him.

Which is to say that in the same manner Christ was raised from the dead, in the same nature of his resurrection we will share that same nature also.

And baptism is an outward display of what has happened and what is yet to come.

So we usually think of baptism in the past tense. And this is why I opened up this morning with saying how does baptism, maybe if you were baptized several years ago, how does that still play into your life today?

Like what implications does it still have? I would say that baptism not only has past implications, like I made a decision to follow

Jesus, I was baptized, I did the right thing, good. But it has future implications because there's an eschatological anticipation that comes with baptism that's still not yet complete.

Because baptism isn't just pointing to a past event, to the cross or the resurrection or when you first believed, but it's also pointing towards your future.

Because what's our future? It's what? It's a resurrection from the dead.

That's our future. Isn't that exciting? Like isn't it awesome to know that our faith guarantees that we will be raised from the dead, we will have victory over the final enemy being death, and that in baptism we have this expectation that just as he's raised me spiritually, so he shall raise this lowly body to be transformed like onto his glorious body.

And that's the beauty of baptism. It's not something that I just look back to, but I look forward to.

Isn't that great? And so we have to look forward to the future resurrection of the dead, and our baptism is a reminder of that, just as the other ordinance that the

Lord gave the church is something that does likewise, looks back to the death of Christ in the elements of the communion table.

So we look back to the death of Christ, but we also look forward because it says we do this until what?

Until the Lord returns. Right? So there's a both looking back, there's a looking presently because we're to examine ourselves, and there is to look forward to the future.

And both ordinances of the Lord Jesus Christ, baptism and communion, achieves and does the same thing.

It helps us to look back, helps us to examine ourselves today, test ourselves to see whether you're in a faith, and it helps us look to the future.

Okay? And that's the beauty of the ordinances of the Lord Jesus Christ in baptism and in communion.

So again, we believe again, that baptism and church membership are uniquely linked together.

Why? Because baptism is entrance into this community of faith.

Notice again the text, Ecclesiastes 2, in him you were circumcised. What gave you entrance into the

Jewish community of faith? Circumcision. What then is the corresponding event in the

Christian new covenant? Baptism. Okay? So we are by no means out of hand when we say baptism equals church membership.

Because look at the connection the scripture itself is making. Right? Old Testament, entrance into the community of faith, circumcisions.

New Testament, entrance into the community of faith, baptism. Okay? I think it's super clear.

Any thoughts or questions on that? Any pushback? Any thoughts? Pastor?

That's right. Any thoughts or questions?

Circumcised as a baby. And so there wasn't any, I mean there weren't any believers to Judaism like there were to Christianity.

I mean there weren't, although there were converts which were then circumcised. Right. So they didn't have like, there wasn't a, it was started from infancy.

I think that's what the Hato Baptists are kind of doing, like you said, the covenant. But I still think they would want to because they would still come to faith sometime, at some point.

And they would, wouldn't they want to? You would think. Yeah. You would think.

And this is why I think again, you know, maybe we take a harsher, what seems to be a harsher stance, and maybe some would consider it legalistic.

I would not, obviously. But part of it is simply because it's out of conviction of the things that we're examining today.

We believe that the Bible is crystal clear on this subject. So, who are the divisive ones?

Are the divisive ones that say, well no, this is what the Bible clearly teaches. I think it's what we should do.

Or the ones that say, well, that's up for, you know, it's always interesting. I was talking to someone recently and they said, we're talking about actually baptism.

Well, everyone has their own way of thinking. And that's a quick way, and it's a really cheap way of undermining an argument.

Yeah, well, obviously everyone has their own way of thinking, but not every way of thinking is equally as valid. And people will say that in a way to defend an unvalid argument.

Right? And so, yeah, that's not, and it sounds like the high road. Right? It says, well, everyone has their own way of thinking.

Like, why are you being so judgmental? Well, no, I'm not trying to be judgmental. I'm not trying to be a jerk, but it's kind of clear, isn't it?

And if you think contrary, maybe you're wrong. And wouldn't it be right then for you to reexamine your position?

It's not wrong. You know, we live in a world, and Christians, unfortunately, fall into this trap too, where ignorance is treated as a virtue.

Ignorance is treated as a virtue, and it's not. Ignorance is not a virtue. Okay? You had your hand up,

Emmanuel? I'm guilty.

What's wrong with that? I'm not opposed to that.

I still have some in my office. I've never given them out here, but I don't think there's anything wrong in having a, it's just like, in your

Bible sometimes, if you gift the Bible to someone, you'll write the name, you'll write the date, there's a

Bible that's given to you on this date, and by this person, and there's nothing wrong with that. But, you know, especially if it's a valid baptism,

I'd want you to remember the occasion. And so I don't think there's anything wrong in handing out a certificate or a reminder of the event.

I think it's not a bad thing. I think it's a good thing. The definition of baptism, as in the

Bible, so that's where we get in trouble, because, I mean, you know, fast, believe, you're immersed in water, you're raised, doesn't fit the sprinkling of infants.

It doesn't even, it's not the same thing, but it, the definition is, it could be.

Yeah, we made the argument several months ago when we went through a Sunday school teaching that calmly,

Pastor Conley did, and if you want that teaching again, he can print it out to you, for you.

But essentially is, words have meanings, therefore anything outside of that meaning is something else entirely, right?

So, you know, just like in this world, we've redefined things, simple things, men, women, marriage, simple terminology, have been redefined by the world, or have been tried to be redefined by the world.

And now it's something entirely different, right? So once you go outside of God's norm, of what

God has called good, of what God has said, you're now into something totally different, and something that's other than what

God has said. And so I think words have meanings, therefore anything outside of that particular meaning is something entirely else, different.

So we're going to close with the two takeaways. The first takeaway, page 49, is that, the first is this, that all who profess faith in Christ are under obligation to be baptized.

Okay? As we've discussed earlier, that's pretty clear. Repent, be baptized.

There's an obligation, right? So we're called to do that.

The second, the theology of baptism, the sketch in this chapter, determines how we think about infant baptism.

So that's why I've been drawing that contrast today, throughout this teaching, that this is something other than what scripture teaches and says.

And so we are under a obligation to be baptized, and anything other than what

God has said baptism is, is something else entirely. Right? And this is building the framework of, okay, here's what baptism is.

Now next chapter, we're going to go a little bit deeper into, how does this actually correlate to church membership?

We've touched a lot on it today, but next week, a little more deeper dive into that subject matter.

Any thoughts or questions before we close? Yes. Right here.

Yes. Define apostatize.

So apostasy has, you can understand it in two ways. The word apostasy means turning away, and it has two theological connotations.

One is the, just the colloquial, turning away as in, maybe like the prodigal son.

Turned away from his father. He was still the father's son. Right? And so he, so he returns to the father, and the father receives him as a son.

So that person, I guess theological we want to get at then, there are Christians who are truly regenerated, truly born again, were baptized, or under the ministry of the

Holy Spirit, who because of sin or life circumstances, turn away from the

Christian faith for a season. And those individuals are still Christians. Those individuals are still heaven bound.

And he who began a good work in them will bring it to completion. Right? So that person is genuinely a

Christian, but he's genuinely deceived or lost for a season. And God calls them back to repentance and grants them repentance.

Versus another type of apostasy, which are those who not only turn from the faith, but repudiate it.

And for such individuals, the Bible says there is no sacrifice left for them,

Hebrews chapter six. And that these are similar to the first Christian apostate, who is

Judas Iscariot, who betrayed the Lord Jesus, and his end was eternal damnation.

And so there is an apostasy from which I believe is the blasphemy of the Holy Ghost. It is a repudiation of the

Christian faith. And that is a serious apostasy for which we don't even pray for such individuals.

So there is a difference. There is a lower case apostasy and an upper case apostasy.

And lower case apostasy are those who deviate from the faith for a season. They don't repudiate their Christian faith.

They don't repudiate the Holy Ghost. But they are in need of genuine repentance.

Does that help? So I would say to those who are in the first category, they don't need to be baptized again.

Those who are in the second category, of course they can't be baptized again because they are genuinely not of us.

1 John 2. There are those who come out of us who were never of us to begin with.

So obviously there is no baptism for them. Does that help answer your question? Okay. So I guess the third aspect here is maybe that person was just never saved.

So to say apostatized would be incorrect because they were never Christians to begin with.

So maybe they had what, you know, they listened to a preacher, a preacher said raise your hands, and now they think they're a

Christian. But they're not truly Christians. They're not truly regenerated. So they're not truly apostatizing in that sense versus we're actually just coming to genuine repentance and genuine faith to begin with.

So that would be a different category. So, yes. All right, so next week we'll go into chapter 4, page 55, and initiating oath sign of the new covenant.

So let's pray. Father, thank you for today's lesson and teaching. Thank you, Lord, for the wisdom that your word imparts which is able to bring us clarity on these issues.

Father, we thank you, Lord, for the gift of baptism, the ordinance of baptism by which the gospel is portrayed and magnified in the

Christian life. We thank you, Lord, and we thank you that we even have something to look forward to in baptism, which is the future and eventual raising of the dead where our corrupted natures will become incorruptible and join to you forever.

we look forward to that day, and we say and we pray, come, Lord Jesus, in your name we pray. Amen.