Washing of Water with the Word

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Almighty and Everlasting God, we come before You in humble awe.

You are the one true God. There is none other like You. Come, we pray. Bless our hearts and our minds as we study

Your Word. Send Your Holy Spirit into our lives so that we may grow in love and grace, and we may go forth into all the world proclaiming

Your Gospel so that others may learn of Your saving grace. Through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our

Lord, who lives and reigns with You in the Holy Spirit, one God. Now and forever. Amen.

Alright, we are slowly, and I mean slowly, working our way through Leviticus 14.

Do I need to turn this so that people can see? Is that better? There we go. Leviticus 14.

Again, this is one of those bio passages dealing with how does one become clean again after being declared unclean because of skin diseases and leprosy and things of that nature.

Which is kind of fun when you think about it. So, Yahweh spoke to Moses saying, we'll start at the beginning of the chapter, this is the law of the leprous person for the day of his cleansing.

He shall be brought to the priest, shall go out of the camp, the priest shall look.

Then if the case of the leprous disease is healed in the leprous person, the priest shall command them to take for him who is to be cleansed two live clean birds, cedarwood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop.

And that's as far as we've got. We've talked about the wood at prefiguring the cross. We've talked about the scarlet thread, the scarlet yarn in scripture and its significance.

And then last week we studied everything that you needed to know that you didn't need to know about hyssop in the

Bible and considered those implications and we went on a few fascinating bunny trails. But we continue now.

So the priest shall command them to kill one of the birds in an earthenware vessel over fresh water.

Now you're gonna note here that the cleansing of the leprous person is going to include ingredients that are put into water, which prefigures then baptism and what

God does for us in baptism. He shall take the live bird with the cedarwood, the scarlet yarn and the hyssop, dip them and the live bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water and he shall sprinkle it seven times on him who is to be cleansed of the leprous disease.

Then he shall pronounce him clean and shall let the living bird go into the open field.

Now that's kind of fascinating. One bird gets killed, the other bird gets set free. What also does that sound like?

Thiefs on the cross. Not the thief on the cross, but you're in the right neighborhood. There's two places that we can kind of talk about this.

Huh? Barabbas. Barabbas, right. So you remember on the day of atonement in scripture.

Let me do a quick search real quick. Day of atonement.

Let's see here. Azazel, here we go.

That's the word I want. And it's in Leviticus 16. We're gonna get to this proper. So we're gonna be working ahead just a little bit.

Leviticus 16. Leviticus 16. Yahweh spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron.

They drew near before the Lord and they died. Lord said to Moses, tell Aaron your brother not to come at any time into the holy place.

Yeah, you'll note that two of Aaron's sons died.

And here's then that on the day of atonement, then these are the statues for the day of atonement starting in verse eight.

Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering for himself and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. Then he shall take two goats, set them before the

Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting. Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one for Yahweh and the other lot for Azazel.

Now this is kind of a mysterious thing here. Azazel, it's uncertain as to what this means.

May actually be a demon. It's kind of a weird thing. And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for Yahweh and use it as a sin offering.

But the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before Yahweh to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel.

So kind of fascinating. So day of atonement now, you got coming back to Leviticus 14, you have two of these birds.

One gets killed, the other is let go. And that sounds a lot like what happens to Christ on the day of his crucifixion.

Remember, Pilate wanted to let him go. And as was the custom, he gave the crowd the right to choose who they wanted to let go.

And so he brought out Barabbas and there was Jesus. The two of them facing the crowd, who would you like for me to release for you?

And they called out Barabbas. Barabbas, which means by the way, son of the father.

The name Barabbas means son of the father. And so you can see then in the types and shadows when it comes to cleansing, when it comes to atoning, that here you have this kind of theme where one is released, the other dies.

Barabbas is released, Jesus dies. It's fascinating how that works in the types and shadows and then is prefigured there and then is fulfilled then in Christ.

Coming back then, so he should pronounce him clean, the living bird he will let go into the open field.

And he who is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, bummer, and bathe himself in water and he shall be clean.

And he shall be clean. So note, his diagnosis was unclean.

Now he's healed. And now he goes through this ceremony and the ingredients include blood and water, wood, hyssop and a scarlet yarn.

And when sprinkled with these things and then bathing himself, he then is declared to be clean.

Huh, sounds like a prefiguring of baptism. And it really is. So with that, we're gonna spend just a smidge of time taking a look in the types and shadows as well as other passages in relation to baptism.

And Naaman is the fellow we're looking for. And he is in 2

Kings chapter five, if you want to turn over to there, 2 Kings five. And by way of preparation for this next part, we're going to take a look at Ephesians.

Oops, hang on a second here, typo on my part. Listen to these words,

Ephesians 5 .25. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.

Notice, we husbands are instructed not only to love our wives, but that love is defined for us.

We don't get to make up our own version of love. Love is to be sacrificial. And so Christ gave himself up for his church so that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the what?

Word, by the washing of water with the word. So baptism at its core, and this is a fundamental understanding then about what a sacrament is.

A sacrament is where God takes something in the creation, some kind of earthly matter, some type of earthly thing, and he attaches his word to it.

And by attaching his word to it, that thing does something. For instance, when the children of Israel grumbled against God and Moses in the wilderness and God sent fiery serpents into the camp and the fiery serpents were biting the people of Israel and they were dying from being envenomated by these snakes, they confessed their sins, asked

Moses to pray to God to take the snakes away. God chose not to take the snakes away and instead gave them a sacrament to make it so that they wouldn't die.

And the sacrament was the formation of the casting of a bronze serpent, which was put up on a pole.

And God promised that anybody who looked at that thing, if they were bit and they were envenomated, all they had to do is look at it and they would not die.

Bronze serpents don't have this medicinal quality in and of themselves, we'll note that. And so what made it so that they didn't die?

The promise of God, the word of God attached then to this earthly matter.

So baptism here at Kongsvinger, we use plain old

Minnesota tap water. I don't know if you know this, I'll just kind of let you in on the behind the scenes secret here is that when we have baptisms here,

I don't go to the grocery store and buy Avion, we're not using stuff imported from France.

I go and I grab a pitcher and I fill it up with tap water and then

I go put it over there. Now, that's not even enough water, by the way, for a good hand washing.

It's not even enough water for a good bathing, it's not gonna get rid of body odor or anything like that.

And so you'll note that baptism, the active ingredient is not the

Minnesota tap water. The active ingredient is the word of God.

And that's what makes it a sacrament. Sacrament, by the way, means mystery. So here's a fellow and over and again,

I always find it fascinating. In fact, I love it when this happens. I get people who reach out to me for the purpose of letting me know that you

Lutherans, you are teaching false doctrine regarding baptism, you're teaching false doctrine.

And I always say, really, please explain. Well, you believe that baptism saves. Well, that's what

Peter says, 1 Peter 3, baptism saves you. And you believe in baptismal regeneration.

Well, yeah, that's what Titus 3 says. We'll take a look at some of these passages, right? And so you point them out to that, you point these texts out to them, and they'll say, well, there's no example in all of the

Bible of baptismal regeneration. And I always kind of get a little snarky and I basically say, challenge accepted.

And it's not in the place where you would normally think to look. It's in the Old Testament. So baptism is water in the word, right?

So here we've got a fellow who's leprous. His name is Naaman, he's Assyrian. And it says this in our text,

Naaman, the commander of the army of the king of Syria was a great man with his master and in high favor because by him,

Yahweh had given victory to Syria. He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper.

And everyone said, bummer, okay? Now, remember, in order for an

Israelite to be cleansed of leprosy, it involved water, it involved blood, it involved wood, it involved a scarlet yarn, it involved hyssop.

We noted all of this already. So this is not too much different than that. Now, the

Syrians of one of their raids that they had carried off a little girl from the land of Israel, she worked in the service of Naaman's wife.

She said to her mistress, oh, would that my Lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria, he would cure him of his leprosy.

Now, we don't know who the name of this little girl is, but wow, what amazing faith this girl has.

And notice here, she's doing her good works as a slave, as a captive slave in Syria.

All right, so her great faith, she looks at Naaman, her master, and says, oh, just go see the prophet.

So Naaman went and he told his Lord. Thus and so spoke the girl from the land of Israel.

So these words apparently sunk in. He's thinking, you know, there's hope here. So the king of Syria said, go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.

Israel, by the way, the kingdom has been divided up between the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. Israel is the 10 tribes of the northern kingdom.

And then, you know, then you have Benjamin and Judah and Levi down below. So he went taking with him 10 talents of silver, 6 ,000 shekels of gold.

That's a lot of gold. 10 changes of clothing. That's a lot of changes of clothing. And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, when this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you

Naaman, my servant, that you may cure him of his leprosy. Okay, this is not good.

So when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and he said, am I God to kill and to make alive that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy?

Only consider and see how he's seeking a quarrel with me. So the king of Israel thinks that this is a pretense.

I'm sending this guy, you heal him of his leprosy. If you don't heal him of his leprosy, well, we're gonna go to war, right?

He thinks that's what's going on here. But Elisha, the prophet and the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes.

So he sent to the king saying, I love this. Why have you torn your clothes? It's like, why'd you tear your clothes, all right?

Let him come now to me, and the king should have known that, so that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel.

So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stood at the door of Elisha's house.

Now, a little bit of a note here. If Elisha goes outside and talks with him, what happens to Elisha? He becomes unclean.

Now, he's gotta go through the whole cleanse yourself ritual and stuff like that. So he's not coming out.

He's not gonna do this. Because if he does that, he's gonna become unclean. So Elisha sent a messenger saying to him, you go wash in the

Jordan seven times and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.

Love those words, and you shall be clean. It kind of hearkens to Leviticus, right? Do these things, be sprinkled with this water that has the blood, the wood, the hyssop, the scarlet yarn in it, and you shall be clean.

Notice, similar ceremony. God's word is attached now to where?

Which body of water is the promise of God attached to? The Jordan.

It's attached to the Jordan. It's not attached to anywhere else in this circumstance. So Naaman was angry.

And he went away saying, behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of Yahweh, his

God, wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.

Maybe he thought that Elisha was David Copperfield, right?

He's gonna come out and go, and blammo, he's healed, right?

It's like a magic trick. But that's not what he did, Elisha sends word. And here's the thing,

Elisha is a prophet. He had a word from God. So the prophet's word is true.

He's a true prophet. Does God ever lie? Nope, never lies.

So his promise is good. Now it's a question of will Naaman believe the word of God despite the fact it came to him in a way that was not what he expected, didn't have the flash, the bang, the shock and awe that he had expected.

In fact, this was quite mean and ordinary in his view. And then he asked this question, are not

Abana and the Farpar rivers of Damascus better than the waters of Israel?

I would argue, yes, probably they are. The Abana and the Farpar are gonna be better.

They're better rivers. The Jordan is pretty much a mud stream. It's not the most impressive of rivers.

With all of that being said, which river is the promise and the word of God attached to?

Baptism is a washing of water and the word. Is God's word attached to the Abana?

Nope. Is it attached to the Farpar? No. So now we got a problem. So he's struggling here.

He asked the question then, could I not wash in them and be clean? What's the answer? No, you can't.

God's word is attached to the Jordan. So he turned and he went away in a rage.

This guy, volcano is going off. The pyroclastic flow is coming down the mountain and the lava is spewing forth and he's just fit to be tied.

So his servants, these are brave servants, courageous servants, they came near and they said to him, my father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you.

Will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, wash and be clean?

The answer is yes, he has. So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the

Jordan. And I always liked to picture it. It's not in the text, but this is the Roseboro way of picturing it.

Because he was in a towering rage, these servants of him have prevailed upon him with wise words to trust the word of God.

And if it were me and I were in a towering rage and I'm giving in at this point,

I would go down and just be ornery. Seven times you said, right?

Dip myself once, one, right? Dip myself a second time, two.

This is the dumbest thing ever. Three, right? Now, pause there for a second.

Is this man a believer in the one true God at this point? No, his status is dead in trespasses and sins.

Straight up. How does one go from being an unbeliever, dead in trespasses and sins to being a believer in the one true

God? How does that happen? You have to be given it, you have to be given faith.

Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of Christ. The word of God is what creates faith in us.

Where's the word of God attached to again? The Jordan. So keep that in mind. At this point, he's now dipped himself five times.

He's still an unbeliever. Yeah. So therefore you don't have to be chosen to be baptized.

No, yeah. You know, you do not have to decide for yourself to be baptized. In fact,

God is the one doing baptism, not you. And not me.

I mean, I get to be the guy that pours the water, but believe me when I tell you, I'm not doing the heavy lifting.

And you'll see that in a minute. So he went down and dipped himself seven times.

So on the seventh time, he goes into the water, a leper. And when he comes out, now the seventh time, according to the word of man of God, his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child.

And I love these words. And he was clean. He was clean.

This is amazing. Now remember, leprosy is a picture then of our sin. And here's a good way to kind of think about it.

We confess before each service. I confess that I am by nature sinful and unclean.

Now, when we say that, we're not saying that when God originally created humanity, that when

God originally created humanity, that God created us as sinners. What we are saying is that since Adam and Eve have rebelled against God and ate of the fruit they were commanded not to eat of it, everyone now who has descended from them naturally is infected with sin.

And it's a total corruption. Think of it this way. Has everybody here had the chicken pox?

Or are there some people who've never had it? Because we kind of live in those days where there are people who are vaccinated now as kids against chicken pox.

But I remember having the chicken pox and it was awful. It was terrible. And the weird part about it was that feeling that my body had been taken over and invaded by something that made me terribly uncomfortable and horribly contagious.

And I felt like a leper. But was the chicken pox a natural part of my body?

No, the chicken pox had spread into my body in such a way that it corrupted the whole thing.

So think of it this way then, is that when God originally created us, we were good, very good, tov me 'od in the

Hebrew. And now that sin has come into the world, each and every one of us are infected in such a way that we are totally corrupted through and through.

Body, mind, soul, it's total. So much so that scripture describes us as being born dead in trespasses and sins.

So there isn't a part of us that is sound. And so God himself has to be the one to cleanse us.

And so leprosy here, the healing of the lepers, the cleansing of the lepers and them being declared clean, now is a type and shadow of what

God does for us in the waters of baptism. So let's take a look at Naaman's status now.

So he comes out, he's clean. His flesh is totally restored. And leprosy is a serious disease.

I always think about that song though, that's not very serious about it. Leprosy, all my skin is falling off of me.

Kiss me quick before I lose my upper lip. I don't even have a nose to pick.

Oh, leprosy came suddenly, right? But he comes out and he's totally restored, totally restored.

And then Naaman returned to the man of God, he and his company, and he came and he stood before him.

So note now, Elisha comes out of his house and he's able to be in the presence of Naaman without becoming unclean.

And so listen to this, Naaman says, behold, I know there is no

God in all the earth, but in Israel. So accept now a present from your servant.

That's what we call a confession of faith. He goes in an unbeliever, he comes out a believer.

How is that possible? God regenerated him. Not only did

God cleanse his skin, God regenerated him and gave him saving faith.

And already his saving faith is active in desiring to do good works.

Very fascinating. I mean, he goes in dead to the

Jordan, comes out alive. But he said, as Yahweh lives before whom

I stand, I will receive nothing from you. So he urged him to take it, but he refused. Then Naaman said, if not, please let there be given to your servant two mule loads of earth.

For from now on, your servant will not offer burnt offering or sacrifice to any

God except for Yahweh. That's amazing. And he wants some of the earth of Israel to take home with him.

And then he recognizes, oh boy, now I've got a problem. Because part of his official duties as the chief, the guy in charge of the army, is he has to engage in rituals pertaining to his office that will take him into the house, into the temple of a false

God. And so watch what he does. He says, now in this matter, may Yahweh please pardon your servant.

When my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, leaning on my arm,

I've got to go in there, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon. When I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, Yahweh, pardon your servant in this matter.

I have to do this as part of my official duties, but in no way do I believe this.

So here's what Elisha says. Go in peace. Go in peace.

Wow. That's an amazing story. Acts 22.

In Acts 22, the apostle Paul is on trial. He's been arrested in the temple.

He's on trial for disturbing the peace, maybe doing something wrong or nefarious.

The Jews have leveled all kinds of false charges against him. And he, in Acts 22, is gonna make his defense.

And in this regard then, he's going to go back and talk about his life before he was a

Christian and after. The apostle Paul was

Saul of Tarsus, and he persecuted Christians to the point of rounding them up, putting them to death.

He was there when the first Christian was martyred. Who was the first Christian martyred? Stephen, Stephen, right?

And we celebrate his martyrdom during the season of Christmas. So Paul makes his defense.

I am a Jew born in Tarsus in Cilicia, brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel, according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God as all of you are this day.

I persecuted this way. And note, Christianity in its early days, one of its first names was the way.

That's what it was called, the way. So I persecuted this way to death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women, as the high priest and the whole council of elders can bear me witness.

From them, I received letters to the brothers and I journeyed toward Damascus to take those also who were there and bring them in bonds to Jerusalem to be punished.

As I was on my way and drew near to Damascus, about noon, a great light from heaven suddenly shone around me.

And I fell to the ground and I heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

A little theological note here. Remember when

Jesus in Matthew 25 gives the parable of the sheep and the goats judgment.

All right, the day of judgment, the throne, there's the son of man in all of his splendor. And before him, the nations come.

And he divides them as a sheep separates the sheep from the goats. Sheep on his right, goats on his left.

And Jesus says to the sheep, come you who are blessed. I was hungry and you gave me food.

I was naked and you clothed me. I was in prison and you visited me. And the sheep are scratching their head going,

Lord, when did we see you naked and clothed you hungry and feed you in prison and go and visit you?

And what does Jesus say? As you did it to the least of these, my brothers, you have done it to me, right?

So to persecute true Christians is to persecute Christ. And you see that here now consistent with what

Jesus is saying to Saul of Tarsus. Why are you persecuting me? Jesus says from heaven, that's a big deal.

Why are you persecuting me? So I answered, who are you

Lord? And he said to me, I am Jesus of Nazareth whom you are persecuting.

And then Paul said, Uphda. No, it's not in the text, but you know, that's the idea.

Now, those who were with me, they saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of the one who was speaking to me.

So I said to him, what shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said to me, rise, go into Damascus and there you'll be told all that is appointed for you to do.

And since I could not see because of the brightness of that light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me and I came to Damascus.

And one Ananias, a devout man, according to the law well spoken of by all the

Jews who lived there came to me and standing by me said to me.

Now, a little bit of a note here. Paul's in Damascus. Is Paul a believer in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of his sins at this point?

Nope, not at all. Not at all.

Seeing Jesus doesn't make you a believer in Jesus. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of Christ.

So now Ananias comes to him. So he came to me standing by me and said,

Brother Saul, receive your sight. At that very hour, I received my sight and I saw him. And then he said to me, the

God of our fathers appointed you to know his will and to see the righteous one and then to hear a voice from his mouth.

For you will be a witness for him to everyone of what you have seen and heard.

And now, why do you wait? Rise and be baptized, passive voice.

That means it's being done to you. And wash away your sins calling on his name.

And now he's baptized. Is Paul now a believer in Jesus Christ? Yes. Is he cleansed?

His sins are washed away. He is now declared clean. And you're gonna note, if there was ever a person who exemplifies not making a decision for Jesus, but Jesus making a decision for them, it's the apostle

Paul. Putting it in other terms, this is such a, the magnitude of this conversion is so huge that if the only thing other that would be like it would be if Adolf Hitler converted to Judaism.

That's what we're talking about here. Because that same murderous rampage impulse that was in Hitler was in Paul, was in Saul of Tarsus.

And so he's not going to Damascus to be baptized according to his will, but Christ himself has called him to go to Damascus in order to be baptized.

And you're gonna note, all the things that are appointed for you to do. Jesus didn't say this mission, should you choose to accept it, right?

Will be dangerous. And this message will self -destruct in five seconds. Now I'm really damning myself.

And smoke came out of the Bible and boom, it was gone, right? Does anyone know what I'm talking about?

Does anyone remember these songs like a mission impossible? Yes, there you go, there you go. Thank you,

I don't feel so stupid. Okay. Huh? The Avengers. Right. So no, he was appointed to this.

So now he is a believer. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of Christ. He hears the gospel preached by Ananias.

He goes to the waters of baptism and now his sins are washed away. And it is the same apostle

Paul who gives us Titus chapter 3. He wrote the book of Titus and in Titus chapter 3.

Now over and again, it is said of us Lutherans that somehow if you believe in baptismal regeneration, then baptism is a work that somebody has to do in order to be saved.

And when somebody thinks this way, they're not letting scripture correct their thinking.

So Titus chapter 3 written by this same apostle Paul, that same fellow who was dead in trespasses and sins until he was baptized by Ananias.

He says this starting at verse 3. We ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.

You can see that in that sentence there that Paul is including himself.

He's can even think back to that day where he spent his days in malice, hating other people, wanting them dead.

And he's talking about the foolishness and the disobedience and the deceitfulness of sin itself.

He was that guy. But when the goodness and the loving kindness of God, our savior appeared, he saved us.

Not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy.

So Paul's making it very clear. Jesus does the saving.

He saves us. We don't save ourselves by our own works and our own righteousness.

He does this in his great mercy. And then we get the actual causal clause in the

Greek. The word here, and let me make this a little bit bigger. This word right here in the

Greek, dia, dia. The means by which, by or through.

He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the

Holy Spirit. That's referring to baptism. He saved us by the washing of what?

Regeneration. That which was dead is now made alive.

It is regenerated. The washing of regeneration and renewal of the

Holy Spirit by whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ, our savior. So that being justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

I'm telling you, Lutherans should be called Baptists. Baptists don't believe that God does nothing and anything in baptism.

Baptism according to the Baptist is something you do in obedience, it's an ordinance. But the apostle

Paul, that same fellow who hated and acted in malice and was a murderer, and persecuted

Jesus himself, rather than getting what he deserves, he gets from Christ mercy and is appointed to an apostleship and is one of the, like the major author of like the

New Testament. And this fellow says that we are saved not by works done by us, but through the washing of regeneration.

That's a big deal. So why is it our nature to think that it's something that we do and not just say thank you for what you have done?

Such is the deceitfulness of sin. You know, sin gets us totally discombobulated, turned around and so all the promises associated with baptism are not physically visible to us.

In fact, none of these promises are physically visible to us. So Paul tells us we're regenerated in the waters of baptism.

Paul also says in Romans six that in our baptisms we are united with Christ in his death and his resurrection and that our old sinful nature is crucified with Christ in baptism, which is a big deal.

The apostle Peter says baptism now saves you and on the great day of Pentecost, Peter says when the people have heard his sermon and they said, brothers, what shall we do?

And he says, repent, be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the promise of the

Holy Spirit and the promise is for you and for your children.

And so here's the thing. All of these promises are sure and true because baptism is a washing of water and the word.

But what baptism does and what God does in baptism for us and what he promises for us is found only in the word of God.

It's found nowhere else. And so we watch a baptism and we sit there and go, that middle -aged pastor with a bad breath just baptized a kid and all

I saw was water being poured on that kid's head. Come on, really?

It's like Naaman. Are not the Abana and the Farpar more better than the

Jordan, right? Do you really think this? See, our reason wants to get in the way.

Put your reason aside. God does what he says he's going to do when he says he's gonna do it, how he says he's gonna do it, regardless of whether or not your brain can wrap itself around it at all.

I'll be blunt. I've done enough baptisms to basically know I just take some water and say,

I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit, the end. Christ has done all the rest.

The stuff that really matters. Does the Bible explain why

Jesus spent three years with his disciples? Jesus is crucified.

Was it like, well, the disciples aren't really getting it done. I need to get Paul in on the thing here.

I mean, why wasn't Paul one of the, what's this thing about, you bring in a,

I mean, Paul is author of a lot of the New Testament, so what's going on here?

Don't quite understand why Paul is brought in. Yeah, I'm gonna have to basically remind you

I'm in sales and marketing. You're gonna have to talk to the Trinity on that because they don't give me the criteria as to why they make certain decisions that they make.

I'll be blunt, I don't know why. I don't know why. I do know this, that Paul was chosen and appointed by Christ.

And what's fascinating is that this fellow who did not spend a single moment with Christ being discipled by him during his ministry, not one moment, this same fellow, he is the one who stands his ground against Peter when

Peter is opposing the gospel by his actions. It's fascinating.

I'd say Christ knew what he was doing when he chose this fellow. And so I don't know why.

But the best, most unsatisfying answer I can give you is that when we talk about the 12 tribes of Israel, there's 13 names given.

Because you remember the half tribe of Ephraim and Manasseh. Jacob's tribe splits in two. When it comes to the 12 apostles, there's 13 names.

Just seems about right to get a baker's dozen on each side. And that's the only thing.

Maybe God likes symmetry, I don't know. I don't know. I can't give you a satisfying answer as to why.

But I do know that God knew exactly what he was doing. And Paul, as somebody who was steeped in self -righteousness, can sniff it out of people so quick.

And he becomes the great, bold defender of salvation by grace through faith alone because of what

Christ has done and he refuses to give even an inch of ground to the

Pharisees who are self -righteous and yet putting on a guise of Christianity.

And let me give you a preview of next week. Well, if he gave anything at all, you would have to then assume that what he believed in his own righteousness was false.

Exactly, exactly. This is next week's epistle text, at least part of it.

In Philippians chapter three, here's the apostle Paul writing against the Judaizers, warning the church at Philippi about these people who are mixing salvation with grace and works.

And they're saying, you Gentiles who have not experienced the snip -snip procedure, that you're not saved, you're not really a

Christian until you get snip, snip, snip, all right? And he stands opposed to these people and he does so in the strongest terms.

Listen to these words. Look out for the dogs. That's a strong word.

Look out for the evildoers. Look out for those who mutilate the flesh.

There's no compromising with this group because they are teaching a different gospel and mixing salvation with works and grace that he doesn't even consider them brothers in Christ.

He likens them to dogs and evildoers and talks about their circumcision as the mutilation of the flesh.

And he says this, we are the circumcision, we who worship by the spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh, none.

And this next portion, I mean, flies in the face of so many different theological systems within the visible church.

It's not even funny. And most notably Rome. Paul then can go back to his, goes back to his own experience.

He says, though I myself, I have reason for confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks that he has reasons for confidence in the flesh,

I have more. I was circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a

Hebrew of the Hebrews, as to the Torah, a Pharisee, as to zeal,

I was a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under the

Torah, blameless. But whatever gain

I had, I counted as a loss for the sake of Christ.

Indeed, I count everything as a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my

Lord. For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things.

And I count them, count what? All of his works done as a Pharisee.

I count them as rubbish. That's a polite term. The Greek is skubalon.

Think of it this way. When your neighbor's dog gets into your yard and leaves you a present and you have to pick it up.

You said, if Fido comes into my yard one more time, I'm gonna put this in a bag and put it on my neighbor's doorstep, right?

But that's the import. That's the strength of skubalon. I count all of my good works under Torah as that, as a dog turd.

In order that I might gain Christ, and listen to these words, and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness that is from God and depends on faith.

So that I might know him and the power of his resurrection may share in his sufferings, become like him in his death, that by any means possible,

I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Wow, that's sharp.

Not having a righteousness of my own. And that's what we're given also in the waters of baptism.

We are clothed then with the righteousness of Christ. We heard it today in the parable that Jesus spoke when the prodigal son comes home and he's impoverished, hungry, and his clothes are clearly gonna be in tatters.

He says, put a ring on his fingers, get a robe for him and clothe him, right?

This is what Christ does for us in the waters of baptism. We come dead, stinking, filthy, awful.

And now the leprosy gives way. Right? The leprosy is washed away.

The sin and the filth is washed away. And our lives, behold, the old has passed and new has come.

We're made new like babies. And then he clothes us in his righteousness, this fine, glorious robe.

That's the picture of it. And so the apostle Paul, he was the guy who stood his ground and wouldn't budge an inch, wouldn't budge an inch or compromise even one iota to those who were mixing works and grace.

And this was the man God chose for this assignment. He was appointed to it.

And he's the one now still to this day who stands in the gap for us because Paul's teaching us all right now.

His words are still speaking because God's word's living and active. This same apostle Paul who wrote these things is instructing us.

That same apostle Paul is the one whom Luther was reading in Romans chapter three when he had the great aha moment where he realized that the righteous shall live by faith.

And he rediscovered the gospel. This is why we're Lutherans rather than Roman Catholics.

Because that same Paul spoke to Luther across the ages and God, the

Holy Spirit, in the words of the apostle Paul, gave Luther that insight that we are saved by grace through faith alone, not by works.

So I don't know why, but I can tell you his choice was great. Would it be a stretch to say that was not present?

It might be because I'll tell you this, over and again, the apostle

Paul's credentials were constantly questioned by the heretics. When Paul left

Galatia, the Judaizers come in and they said, listen, that apostle

Paul, he didn't hang out with Jesus at all. He's, and Paul has to say,

I'm an apostle abnormally born. I grant that. But over and again, he has to keep putting forth his credentials and say, but nevertheless,

I am an apostle of Jesus Christ sent by Christ. And even Peter acknowledged that.

And even Peter in second Peter, acknowledges that what Paul writes is scripture. In second

Peter chapter three, the apostle Peter says of Paul's writings, that it's difficult to understand and some people twist and manipulate it like they do the other scriptures to their own destruction.

Even Peter recognizes that what Paul writes is scripture. So, all right.

Little baptismal work there. We're gonna take a long time to get to Leviticus 14. And that's okay.