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My next few statements may be the most stunning, shocking, revolutionary sentences I've ever uttered from this pulpit. I intend them to be earth-shaking, mesmerizing, and thought-provoking. Did you know that God loves Himself with all His heart?
Did you know that God loves Himself with all His soul? Do you believe that God loves Himself with all His mind? And do you believe that God loves Himself with all His strength? C 'est la. Stop and let that sink in.
God is God-centered. The center of God's universe is Himself. The universe is God-o-centric, if you will. At the center of His universe is Himself. And you say, how can that be? Being self-centered is not a good thing, allegedly.
That God is self-centered? Well, you see, God is zealous for His glory, isn't He? I will not give my glory to another. He will never, ever, ever stoop to give His glory to any created being, any non-created being.
Whatever God does, He does for His name and for His glory. He will even lead us in paths of righteousness for His namesake. Someone might say, well, 1 Corinthians chapter 13, the great love chapter, love doesn't parade itself, does it?
1 Corinthians 13 also says love does not seek its own. So how can God really love when, in fact, He parades His greatness and His glory throughout all the universe? The world is, in fact, His stage. And when He does seek His own glory, well, if you think about love a little bit, it will help you.
When you think about love and how love seeks the best of the object that it's giving its affection to or love to, it's helpful. And when God loves, He gives His best, doesn't He? What is the best thing God could ever give to someone?
It's Himself. Real love gives the best that it has to give. So therefore, God gives Himself. And therefore, God loves His neighbor as Himself. More specifically, God loves the church as much as He loves Himself.
Can you believe that God loves the church? That's an astounding thing to me. Because I'm part of the church. I minister with the church. I know the church, and yet God not only loves Himself with all His heart, soul, mind, and strength, He loves His neighbor as Himself, specifically the church.
And if God loves Himself and the church so much, what should your response be? I'm committed for the next who knows how many weeks. I thought it was going to be a two-week series. The elders predict three.
We might as well predict four. That I want our church to respond to God and His person and His work for us with the same commitment that He has. Of course, it will be an imperfect commitment, but it will be like kind of commitment.
If God is committed to the church, then what should we do? How should we respond? As Francis Schaeffer said, how then should we live? How should we live now? Our only response should be we are committed to the church.
The elders met yesterday for four-and-a-half hours, and our main goal was this. We are committed to the church, and we want the church committed to Christ's church. So last week, today, and next week, and maybe a little longer.
After the Baptist Day, I don't get up here until late. We might as well just preach into the evening service tonight. Paul used to preach for so long that people fell asleep during the sermon. And now we have a ledge up there for people to fall off of, die, and then become resuscitated.
Except maybe they'll fall in the pool instead. The staggering truth is that God loves His church, and our response should be that we love the church. And if it's just kind of a para-church organization for God, and it's just kind of like a sideline deal, and it's a weekend endeavor, then that's how we should respond too.
Come see, come saw, and when I get around to it, that'll do mentality. But if the center of the universe, the way God manifests His glory throughout all the ages is through the church, then that should be our special focus too.
I personally am committed to the church. I'm committed to this church. I love the church. I was just talking to Justin in the baptismal area, and he said, Oh, how's your Christmas? I said, I love Christmas and everything, but it's not really the same without all my family there.
I want grandpa sitting there eating raw oysters, and dad sitting over there, and I have no family but my wife and kids, but my new family is the church. I love the church. I love you. And I believe if we see Christ's commitment to the church, it will help us become more committed.
I think it will help in every area of our lives because sanctification is not compartmentalized. You say, well, I need to have a better attitude about my work. I need to have a better perception of my role in the family.
I need to have a better marriage. I need to have better relationship skills. I need to be a better witness, a better testimony. Friends, I think those are all important, but I believe this. I believe if you see Jesus' commitment to the church and ask God to help you be committed to respond to that, all those areas of your lives will be improved because this is the top priority.
This is the top priority. I want to love the people that Jesus loves, don't you? So we're going to look again today at Christ's commitment to the church. Last week we saw the first way Jesus was committed, and that was he was committed enough to build the church.
Jesus was committed enough to build the church. Now, basically, here's what's happened to me in my sermon preparation. Last week I thought, commitment to the church, let's see how Jesus is committed. Then we'll respond with commitment, and we responded with, well, step one, I should be a believer.
Step two, I should be baptized. Today was going to be step three, member of the church, serving and giving and all that. But as I began to study the text, I can't get there. I can't even get to my sermon today because I'm too impressed with Christ's commitment to the church.
It's too astounding to me to think he is so committed to this church. So we're going to review a little bit, but I'm going to add extra things to show you Jesus was committed to the church. And the whole time I show this commitment to you in Scripture, the response should be, God, increase my commitment to the church.
I think we have many committed people here, but we certainly can grow in our commitment as we seek Christ. Why don't we turn to Titus 1, please, as we look at Christ's commitment to the church. Jesus was not just committed enough to build the church, Matthew 16, in spite of hell, in spite of specifically Matthew 16, death.
Jesus did not say, till death do us part, because it was till death he would be raised again for the church, for God's glory, for the church's sake. But Jesus is also committed enough to keep his promises regarding the church.
Titus 1, 2, and 3, this is an amazing truth. It's a little abstract, but it will blow your mind. I think all good worship should begin with blowing people's minds, don't you? Isn't that what it is? Can you imagine the day you get to heaven?
From the moment you die in an old, frail, weak body to the next moment is heaven? I just want to be in awe. It will be a mind-blowing experience. And I can get a little hint of what it would be like with Titus 1, 2, and 3.
Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. Paul's in ministry. Why is Paul in ministry? Number one, he's in ministry for the faith of those chosen of God. Paul says, I'm in ministry because I will have the opportunity to preach the gospel to the lost who are elect, and they will come to faith.
So he said, I'm in ministry because I know God has chosen ones out there, and I will keep preaching. And eventually, those who are called and chosen before time, they will come to faith through preaching.
Paul says, I'm in ministry for three things. And the first one is for the faith of those chosen of God. Secondly, Paul says, I'm in ministry not just for the elect to come to faith, but so they might grow, so they might be sanctified, so they might be less like themselves and more like Christ.
And that's what he says in verse 1. And the knowledge of the truth, which is according to godliness. Paul is not just after those elect people to come to faith, to have eternal life, but also that they might grow and be sanctified in grace and knowledge of the truth.
He says, I'm in ministry because I'm looking for the justification of the elect and the holiness factor of the elect, sanctification. But that's not all. There's one other thing Paul's in ministry for, in the hope of eternal life.
Paul says, I preach the gospel so the elect can hear and come to faith, so those same elect can come to be more sanctified, and that they ultimately are what? Cast aside by God? No, glorified. Paul's in ministry for justification, sanctification, and for glorification.
When did all this happen? When did it take place? When did God devise such a plan? On day one? In the gap, alleged gap theory of Genesis chapter 1? When did he do all this? The text tells us, and this is so great.
Verse 2. In hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago. The unlying God had a promise that he was going to keep. The only real promise keeper is God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
And this God that we serve, the triune God, three persons, one being. I mean, three persons, one God, promised. Who did God promise that he would have people like Paul come and preach to the elect, get them sanctified and glorified?
He made the promise to Lucifer. He made the promise maybe to Moses. How about Hezekiah? God promised Hezekiah. Here's the plan. Who was there long ages ago? Who was there before Genesis 1 -1 was even written?
Who was there before the stars existed? There's only one person who was there, actually three persons. One God, God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit. And the Father, Son, and the Spirit, before time began, had a promise.
They promised within their triune nature to go love sinners. And God the Father said, I'll choose these sinners. Jesus, you go rescue them. And Jesus said what we learned two weeks ago and even last week.
What did Jesus do? I'll go rescue them, and it will be at the cost of my very own blood, and it will take death, even death on a cross. Now my question for you is this. If you were sent on such a mission, and you've got half-hearted commitment, will you go through with it?
Remember, friends, the cross is not about spitting primarily, about piercing the sides primarily, about those who are going through the shame of being naked primarily, for those who are put outside the wall of Jerusalem primarily.
Why was the cross the cross? After all, 30 ,000 other Jews were crucified during that time period, and not one of them saved us from our sins. What makes Jesus' death meritorious for us? It's not because he was punched and bruised and had his beard plucked out, although I hate to see my Savior have that happen to him.
I'll never forget, we were watching the Jesus video one time, and I think Haley was about four years old, and they are beating Jesus. Remember, Isaiah prophesied they beat him so badly, you didn't recognize he was a man.
And they're beating Jesus, and it's pretty dramatic, even though it's a TV show, and I didn't know Jesus was white and had blue eyes, but still, it's a very, very dramatic thing. You're thinking about Jesus did that, and I remember Haley walked over, and she went right up to the TV as Jesus is getting beat up, and she just kissed Jesus' image on the video screen.
I was glad for that, but what the TV can't show was the eternal, righteous anger of a holy God pouring his wrath out invisibly on Christ for those three hours. And if Jesus was not committed to that promise beforehand, he's never going to do that because it cost him everything.
But thankfully, even Revelation 19 calls Jesus by two names, faithful and true. How'd you like that for a name? How'd you like that for a nickname even? What's another name for Jesus? We say Alpha and Omega.
How about faithful? Jesus is so committed not just to build a church, but also faithful to keep the promises to the Father to rescue her. And the text in Revelation 19 says that he is always faithful.
That's always his name. Reminds me of Psalm 89, thy faithfulness surrounds thee. Psalm 36, thy faithfulness reaches to the skies. Isaiah 11, faithfulness is the belt around his waist. Lamentations 3, great is his faithfulness.
God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit say we are committed to the church. Our response is, I'm committed to the church. If that's God's commitment level, I want to put my priorities, my ambitions, my heart, my soul, my mind in that very realm.
I don't want to be off in some parachurch deal. I want to be in the middle of God's program, and that is the church. Let's turn to Ephesians chapter 1 for a moment. God is committed to the church so much so that Jesus said he'll build it.
Jesus said that he will keep his promises in eternity past. Number three, Jesus is so committed because he's the head of the church. There is a figurative language in the New Testament, in all language, in the newspaper, even today.
The metaphor here is Jesus is the head, and we are the body. How committed is the head to the body? How committed is your head to your body? Sometimes when there are things that are going wrong in people's bodies, the head tells them to do something, and the body doesn't respond.
But I wonder how this organic unit, Jesus the head, the church the body, should respond. This passage here in Ephesians 1 is really one of those mind-numbing passages as well. This is one of those passages like Titus chapter 1 you have to go home and study because I can't do it justice enough here even in these short moments.
I believe good preaching should spur you on to go study at home. Pastor, you didn't answer all my questions. I need to study on my own. Great. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 22 talks about Jesus is the head of this body, the church, and how God the Father gave the Son to be this very leader.
He put all things in subjection under His feet, Ephesians 1 .22, and gave Him as head over all things to the Roman government, to the strongest people in the New Testament era, to the Jews only, to the church which is full of Jews and Gentiles, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
What would that mean? Here God the Father gives the Son for the sake of the church, for her advantage, for her good. One man said the church is Christ's body with which He is organically united. He loves it so much that He is interested in it, and He exercises power in causing the entire universe, with all that is in it, to cooperate with His love for the church, whether willingly or unwillingly.
Can you imagine the Father gives the Son for the church's benefit, and Jesus is so powerful there will be no opposition. It's one thing to be committed to something and then have no power to follow through with your commitment.
It's another thing to be powerful but have no commitment, and the text here is talking about God has the power and God has the commitment for the church. Power for the people, which is, look at verse 23, His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
True or false? The groom is incomplete without the bride. You're getting pretty good at the church saying amen after special music, but you're pretty bad at this. You don't think of a vine without a branch.
And in one sense, Jesus is incomplete without His church. The church completes Christ. How about that for a mind blower? William Hendrickson, the commentator, said, As to His divine essence, Christ is in no sense whatever dependent on or capable of being completed by the church.
But His bridegroom is incomplete without the bride. So also as head, He finds His full expression in His body, the church. John Calvin said, This is the highest honor of the church, that until He is united to us, the Son of God reckons Himself in some measure incomplete.
That's committed. That's Ephesians 5 committed that He might present the church to God the Father in all her glory. So how do we respond? Well, the first response is, well, we should be committed to the church and how does it flesh itself out?
Number one, it fleshes itself out by being born again. You can't be committed to Jesus if you're not a Christian. Number two, the second step in the ladder of commitment we looked at last week was, am I baptized?
Jesus says, I do, and we say, I do in baptism. I'd like you to turn to Acts chapter 2 with me, and I want to take a little survey of some passages on baptism to show you how baptism reflects commitment to Christ's church.
As Jesus is committed to the church, so too we show our commitment in a smaller, imperfect degree, yes, but we show our commitment by what? By baptism. And baptism shows you're committed enough to obey.
It's not an option. It's not a maybe. Committed enough to obey. We looked last week in Matthew chapter 28, go make disciples by baptizing and teaching, and certainly children can be baptized, but they can't be taught.
You can't teach an infant two days old what a color is or a shape, let alone an abstract idea about a god man dying on a cross. And I want you to see the pattern of baptism in the Bible by looking at these verses in Acts.
Acts chapter 2, verse 41, and you see if you get the pattern. Here's the pattern of commitment, and it is always this pattern and never any other pattern, and that pattern is believe and then be baptized.
It's never the other way around. And I know you know this, but I'm just reminding you all. Acts chapter 2, verse 41, so then those who had received his word were baptized. Peter preaches the truth. They received the word and they're baptized, and that day there were added about 3 ,000 souls.
Illustration number 2, Acts 8, verse 12. We'll just look at these passages just quickly, but I want to just take you through the book of Acts and show you it's always believe and be baptized, believe and be baptized.
Believe and show your commitment to God who's committed to the church through Christ by being baptized. Not God being baptized, but we are baptized. Acts 8, 12, and when they believe, we see Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ.
There's believing, there's preaching, they were being what? Baptized. It's after belief. This is just the normal, natural pattern. Verse 13, even Simon himself believed and after being what? Baptized.
You continue on with Philip. Let's go to Acts chapter 8, and you'll see the same thing there. I mean, it is just kind of a neat, quick overview of the book of Acts. Find all the words about baptism and see if it's believe first or be baptized first, and you'll see without a doubt it is believe first.
Acts 8, verse 35, then Philip opened his mouth, beginning from this scripture, Isaiah 53, preached Jesus to him. They went along the road. They came to some water, and the eunuch said, Look, water, what prevents me from being baptized?
Verse 38, and he ordered the chariot to stop. They both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized them. When they came up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away, and the eunuch no longer saw him, but he went on his way rejoicing.
I mean, I could preach on that passage all day, but that is an interesting one. He hears the word of God. He reads about Isaiah chapter 53. He realizes eunuchs have no place in the temple, yet they have a place in the kingdom of God through faith in Christ Jesus as a royal son.
He says, That's the God I want to serve. He believes in him. He sees the water because he understands water baptism. He says, I want to be baptized. He goes down and gets baptized, and then what happens to Philip?
Philip has instructed him. He's taught him, You believe and you're baptized. Philip's no longer needed, and he's beamed up in the air, moved over 10 miles away, and sat down. I have friends who say they're charismatic.
The spirit of God always acts the same way as he did in the New Testament. He acts today. Really, I guess there's the new beaming, snatching ministry, and why do you need a car with $3 gallon gas? I don't know.
God puts him there. For what reason? To teach him, then instruct him in baptism, and then he just zaps him up and puts him down over here at Azotos. That's amazing. The point still is, believe and be baptized.
Acts chapter 9. You're saying, I get the point. Well, I'm going to just hammer the point home because it is believe and be baptized. If you have been sprinkled as an infant and have never been dunked as a believer, you have not been baptized biblically.
Acts chapter 9, verse 17. So Ananias departed and entered, Acts 9 .17, the house, and after laying his hands on him, isn't that interesting? Paul used to lay hands on people to kill them. Now Ananias lays hands on Paul to baptize him.
My brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight and he got up and was baptized.
Acts chapter 10. The pattern is there. Believe and be baptized. Baptism doesn't save, but it shows us that we have been saved. It is a step of commitment. If you have not been baptized, you have no commitment to the church.
You might say you have commitment, but the Bible says the first step of commitment is baptism. That's why I was so happy this week when people said they wanted to be baptized. You know how thrilling that is for a pastor?
You preach on baptism and then what happens? Oh, you know, no big deal. But they say, I want to obey. And then I throw in the whole caveat, by the way, you have to give a little personal testimony too.
What? I have to give a testimony? I'm not good up in public. Well, I don't try to be mean and make them give the testimony, but it does give the baptismal candidate a sense of what it was like to be baptized back in those days because it cost everything for these people to be baptized.
And early on in the New Testament church, outside of the Bible days, people were baptized naked and then given a white robe to show the righteousness of Christ, and I figured three-by-five testimony cards, way better, way easier.
And many times at this church we're preaching these high, lofty things, and I believe those are good and right for us to teach. But I believe in 2008, if basically the working theme of the elder board is we want to be committed to Christ Jesus as leaders and followers at Bethlehem Bible Church, then we should start at ground zero.
And I believe that infant baptism has done a lot of harm to people because, A, they think, I've already been baptized so there's no need. I've obeyed God. But worse than that, it grants false assurance.
You lay in your deathbed and think, you know, I'm going to heaven because I've been baptized, when there's no belief at all. It's just this kind of caveat, this king's X at the end. I've been baptized so that I'm in.
As a matter of fact, I tragically attend funerals and they'll say, we know so-and-so is in heaven based on their baptism as an infant because we have it in the church records. There should be no such assurance for people, especially when they haven't even believed first.
In Acts chapter 10, we see the pattern again. Believe and be baptized, Acts 10 .44. While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message. All the circumcised believers who came with Peter were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also.
For they were hearing them, speaking with tongues and exalting God. Then Peter answered, Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?
And look at this for force. And he, as an apostle, ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus. Then they asked him to stay on for a few days. Acts chapter 16, here's another one. We're almost done with the book of Acts overview, but it is very, very important.
Children can't obey. They can't believe. They can't think of anything abstract. They know one thing. Well, they know a couple of things. I'm hungry and I'm wet. That's basically what they know. Acts 16, 14, a woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God.
She was not a pagan, was listening, and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. And what'd she do? When God opens your heart, what's the response? When a baby's born, I've seen several babies born, some of my wives and some when I was working in the hospital in labor and delivery, and the first thing the baby does when they're born is what?
If the baby's healthy. And if that baby doesn't cry, then what is going on? There's a problem. The response to I'm born is, this is cold, brutal world out here, and it's a breath and it's a cry. And the breath and the cry of any Christian's heart is I want to obey.
Thank you, God, and be baptized. And when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, if you have judged me to be faithful in the Lord, come into my house and stay. And she prevailed upon us.
Just a few more Acts chapter 16 with the Philippian jailer. Verse 30. After he brought them out, he says, sirs, what must I do to be saved? Verse 31. Believe and be baptized. Nine. No, he did not say that.
Believe in the Lord Jesus and you shall be saved. You and your household. And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house. You don't baptize infants because it's part of the household.
You baptize believers who are part of the household because they have just been taught the word of the Lord. All were in the house. All were taught. All were saved by God. Now look what happens. Verse 33.
He took them that very hour of the night, wash their wounds, and immediately he was baptized. He and all his household who were in verse 32 heard the word. And he brought them into his house and set food before them and rejoiced greatly, having believed in God with his whole household.
Whole household believes. Whole household is baptized. Chapter 18. We'll just use this one as the last one. Chapter 18, the house of Crispus. Chapter 18, verse 8, Acts. We're trying to show that commitment to the local church is seen by the first step of obedience, baptism.
After salvation, first step. Crispus, Acts 18 .8, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his household. Many of the Corinthians, when they heard, were believing and being baptized.
You cannot find one case that's the other way around. Obey first through baptism. Did you know that the earliest church document we have, or one of the earliest ones, in 150 A .D., 60 years removed from Revelation, said this.
For baptism, quote, instruction precedes baptism. Did you know the secular Jew historian, Jewish historian, Josephus, said about Christianity, quote, that the washing was not in order to put sins away, supposedly, because he didn't believe that that's how you do it.
But the washing wasn't to put sins away, that the soul was thoroughly purified beforehand by righteousness. That is to say, we get the righteousness of Christ by belief, not in ourselves, but upon the work of another, Christ Jesus, the risen Savior.
Androlinger, a famous Roman Catholic scholar, professor of church history in the University of Munich, said, quote, there is no proof or hint in the New Testament that the apostles baptized infants or ordered them to be baptized.
Friends, if you've been baptized as an infant, you have not been baptized. Commitment level number two. Baptism shows commitment enough to follow Christ. Number two, baptism shows that you're committed enough to identify with Christ.
What does the word baptism mean? Well, it's interesting. Let's work through this a little bit. I found some interesting background material this week. Fourth century B .C., Aristophanes used the term baptism for plunging a cup into a bowl of wine to pull it out.
Polybius, in the second century B .C., used the word baptizo to describe a sunken ship. The Septuagint, our Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, talked about the Syrian general Naaman, who plunged himself seven times in the Jordan River.
And what word do you think was used there for the plunging under? Baptism. Did you know, this is a fascinating one I've never read in my life, the Egyptians had a custom that if a crocodile went up to an Egyptian and grabbed them while they were cleaning or some kind of river god worship or washing or bathing, and a crocodile came up and pulled them into the water and ate them, drowned them in the water.
Not related to baptism, but interestingly, they tried to get the body and embalm the remains and put beautiful robes on the remains and put them in a sacred sarcophagus and talked about how they were like specially blessed.
That sounds weird, you're specially blessed because you've just been eaten by a crocodile. But they said, you know, that man receives a special blessing because he has been drowned in the water by baptism.
The word baptism means to dunk. There's a different word for sprinkle, there's a different word for pour. This word is to dunk. Before going to war, Spartan soldiers took their spears and swords to give them extra strength and they plunged them into blood, baptized them into blood.
John the Baptist, although it was a different baptism, he baptized in the Jordan River because there was much water there, John 3. You need water to dunk. Jesus was baptized, different baptism from us, but he went into the water and came out of the water, Matthew 3 .16.
If you'll turn your Bibles to Romans 6, I want to show you that, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that the symbolism of baptism is lost if we use an infant. The Romans 6 burial and resurrection that has happened inside the heart of a Christian is lost if we use infant baptism.
You say, what's your goal here? A, to teach you the truth, and B, I know there are people here who are relying on their infant baptism. And at worst, I want you to look at it and see if I'm correct. Don't take my word for it, study these things.
So Romans 6 is a symbolic passage. You won't find any water baptism mentioned here, but you will see lots of symbolism. And look at this symbolism here in Romans 6 that talks about what has happened to Christians.
And it uses baptismal language because baptism means to be immersed. You won't find any water in this passage, but you will find references to spiritual baptism. Verse 1, Romans 6. What should we say then?
Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? What's the answer? Never. May it never be. How could we? How should we who died to sin still live in it? And now you can hear the instructor, Paul.
How would you like to sit under his feet? You are sitting under his feet. Verse 3. Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death? Do you know that at salvation God said this in his mind?
This is what's happened to Mike Abendroth, to use me as an example. I have taken Mike Abendroth, and even though he wasn't there at Calvary, I've made him there at Calvary. I've deemed him there. It's right for him to be there because of my choice.
And I have baptized him in the death of Christ. And as Jesus died, so too did the old Mike. Jesus is raised in newness of life. So too has Mike been raised. Then Paul says in verse 4, Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
If we've been united with him in the likeness of his death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection. Verse 6, Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with him. When? At Calvary.
When we weren't there because God reckoned us to be there in order that our body of sin might be done away with so that we would no longer be slaves to sin. God said, here's what baptism shows. Water baptism.
You're dead to newness of life. You're dead to your old life. And you're risen in newness of life. You believed. God has given you a new nature. That's what this is talking about here in Romans chapter 6.
What's happened already in our hearts. Now I have a question for you. Since we're publicly identifying in front of other people what God has done in our hearts, if you baptize an infant, what's wrong with that?
First of all, you're not dunking the infant. If the language is death, burial, and resurrection, how does water on top of a forehead signify death, burial, and resurrection? Does it? Death, burial, and resurrection is underwater.
Why do we dunk them underwater? Because I don't, well, A, because the Bible says use the water, but it's too hard to go dig a grave in the back. It would be a fair illustration of Romans 6 to say, all right, we're having a special baptism today and we're going to go back and we're going to dig a six-foot hole in the back of the church by the cemetery, where cemeteries should be next to the church so when you walk into church you go, I'm going to die one day.
That's another sermon. Dig the hole. We take Barbara, Rachel, and Justin, and I say, get down into that grave. They jump down in there. Your old life is dead. You're as good as dead to yourself. You no longer can live for yourself and you're no longer going to be self-centered.
You won't be perfect, but you are a new person. And to show that you're a new person and you're not just dead, I'm going to pull you up out of the grave. And as Jesus came out of the grave and conquered sin and death and hell, so too Christ has conquered that for us.
And here's the symbolism. We buried you, and now we're going to pull you out. But we use water instead because of many reasons, mainly because it's biblical. So we take them out of the water. Now, how does an infant show what's happened in their heart?
A, it can't happen in their heart because they can't believe. You can't get a color, orange and red, for an eight-day-old or an 80-day-year-old. I'm not an 80-day-year-old. It doesn't matter. Just a young kid.
You pick the age. They don't know colors, let alone abstract thoughts like, I'm a sinner. And then you say, well, I want to symbolize death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, like Romans 6. So I think I know what we'll do.
We'll sprinkle water on their head. I have a question for you. Do you bury people before they're dead? Then why would you sprinkle an infant before they have died spiritually? Died to themselves, that is, spiritually.
You don't bury one symbolically in baptism before you're identified with Christ's death. We've got these erroneous views of sacramentalism and what the sacrament somehow does, and combine that with medieval death rates of children, and you want to make sure your children are in heaven, so you have to figure it out halfway.
You say, you don't understand. That sprinkling on the forehead of the baby, we're looking forward to what God might do. Well, that's fine and dandy, and you can do it if you like. But know this, it doesn't come from any Bible verse, that we should walk, what does Romans 6 say, in newness of life.
The baby's still dead in their trespasses and sins. How do I know that? Well, because the Bible says we're slaves to sin, and we were born in Adam sinful. Baptism is a sign of association and identification with believing in Christ.
But that's not all. I believe that baptism shows commitment, because it says, I want to obey. It says, I want to identify. And lastly for today, baptism says that you're committed enough to suffer. Committed enough to suffer.
When you were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament era, New Testament era, couldn't really in the old, but just the time frame there, it was going to cost you a lot. The opposite of commitment to the gospel in baptism is being ashamed of the gospel.
It is being ashamed of Jesus. Let me just really push you if you haven't been baptized. If commitment to Jesus is shown in belief and then baptism, if you have not been baptized and you understand the issues of baptism, then you are not committed, and it is not showing standing up for the name.
It is saying, I am ashamed of the name, and I will not get baptized. I'm too prideful. I don't want to speak in people. I don't want to get wet. Excuse after excuse, and it says, I am ashamed of Jesus.
And I read this week the persecution for those who believed in water baptism. Forget New Testament time. How about later? Menno Simons on people who were baptized after they believed. Quote, some they have executed by hanging.
Some they have tortured with inhuman tyranny and afterwards choked with cords at the stake. Some they roasted and burned alive. Some they have killed with the sword and given them to the fowls of the air to devour.
Some they have cast to the fishes. Others wander about here and there in want, homeless, and in affliction, in mountains and deserts, in caves and in holes of the earth. They must flee with their wives and little children from one country to another.
They are hated, abused, slandered, and lied about by all men. Now let's bring it a little closer. We live in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 1644, are you ready for this one? 350 years ago, quote, it was ordered and agreed that if any person or persons within this jurisdiction who either openly condemn or oppose the baptism of infants or seduce others to do so or leave the congregation during the administration of the rite, because people that didn't believe in infant baptism, when they had one up front in the church, all the people who believed the biblical position of believe and be baptized, they all turned their back or they left the church during that little section.
Now if you don't like scripture reading or special music, we don't want you to leave. This is just the illustration here. Matter of fact, when I first got here, some people didn't like the newer songs, and so they stayed in the car waiting outside until the newer songs were sung and then they came in.
Very godly of them. Because for them, the church was what they wanted. It was me church like everything else. I don't like that. I didn't like that. Well, I never thought they would like it, because I thought they'd like maybe mature songs that were God-centered.
Okay, sorry. If God is self-centered, seeking only His glory, then why do we come to church thinking, that didn't meet my needs today? Because your need is, your needs are secondary and God's greatness is your goal.
And if you say to yourself, I built my marriage on my marriage and everything's falling apart, well, earth to you, earth to me, your marriage isn't big enough to support itself, so build your marriage on serving Christ Jesus with your entire life.
Then the bumps and the bruises as you go along in life are more minimal because you think, well, my marriage, I want it to be better, but we are going to serve together, and God will use that serving together to sanctify us.
Back to Massachusetts, 1644. July 20th, 1651, Obadiah Holmes, John Clark, and John Crandall, Baptist ministers, were arrested near Lynn, Massachusetts. Trot, trot to Boston, trot, trot to Lynn. While preaching on the Lord's Day, taken to the parish church in the afternoon, sent to Boston jail and subsequently fined.
They kept Mr. Holmes in a Boston jail till September when he was tied to the whipping post and publicly whipped. His clothes were stripped off, 30, lashes sunk into his naked flesh, which was so torn and cut, for weeks afterwards, he couldn't only rest his hands and knees, even in bed, according to John Q. Adams.
In Virginia, a fine of 2 ,000 pounds of tobacco was imposed on those who neglected to have their infants baptized. Dr. Hawks of the Episcopalian Church, who was a historian, said no dissenters in Virginia experienced harsher treatment than did the Baptist.
They were beaten and imprisoned and cruelly taxed its ingenuity to devise new modes of punishment and annoyance. And then in Virginia, four years after the Declaration of Independence, marriages performed by Baptists were unlawful and their children were declared illegitimate and all their inheritances lost.
Until Thomas Jefferson put a bill together in 1800 and he only did so because his father was a Baptist. If you're convinced enough that the Bible teaches believe first and then be baptized, I give you these examples today because whatever your excuses after that, if you really are convinced of the truth of Scripture, you have no excuse.
Compared to the weight of what they went through, you have no tobacco to lose. No one's going to take your children. When Jesus, as I said last week, the bridegroom says, I do, and looks to you for your response, if you don't say, I do, in the waters of baptism, you are saying the opposite and you are saying, I don't.
You might say to yourself, in my heart I'm still saying I'm a Christian and I want to serve and I want to give and I want to do all those things, but the answer is very clear. If you don't say, I do, in response to the groom's, I do, then we would say that's shameful.
Now the great news is this. Every one of us, including myself, has found something in Scripture and we've realized we don't measure up. How does a good father take care of someone who realizes that they've sinned against the Father but they want to do the right thing?
How does God respond? With the back of the hand. A day late and a dollar short, doesn't he? That's not how God responds. The good news is I want to preach so you're convicted, but I want to preach that the conviction comes from a God who loves you enough to say, first things first, you need to get baptized.
I'll be with you all the way. You're going to have trials in your week before you're baptized. You're going to have issues come up. Your family's going to get mad. All those kind of things may happen, but I'll be with you all the way and I'm faithful and I'm good and I'm generous and I'll lead you all the way.
And if I've called you to be baptized, I surely, as God speaks, He will give you the ability to be baptized to obey. And I think, sadly, too many churches have said, you know, we have dear Reformed Presbyterian friends and they can come join the church and they can be leaders in the church when the Bible is so clear that it's believe and be baptized.
How can you be a member of a local church if you haven't said, I do? Well, there's much more to say. But I won't say anything more about baptism next week. Do you believe Jesus Christ is Lord? Do you believe that He has the ability to tell you what to do in His kingdom?
And do you believe if He said as the King, I've given you so much. I've given you eternal life. I've given you a hope. I've given you a name, a son or daughter and you get to live in My kingdom and everything is free and of grace.
And by the way, I have some rules and I have some laws and they're good laws and you might not understand them all but they're for My glory and to magnify My glory because I love Myself with all My heart, soul, mind and strength and you will show that love to Me in response.
The first thing I want you to do to be in My kingdom as an obedient servant, you're already in My kingdom but you want to obey and glorify My name through obedience, be baptized. And you would say, of course.
I'm going to keep those waters ready for next week because some of you need to be baptized. You say, that's pressure. Well, at least I'm not like one of these old Massachusetts pastors or the apostle who ordered the people.
But see, the thing is I can order you because I have the apostolic authority. The apostolic authority to say, if you say you're committed, you want to have a good service life this year and you want to excel for the Lord and the local church and serve others and love them, don't do any of that.
Get baptized first and then we'll talk about service. Well, let's pray. Lord, it's been a good day in Your house today. Time just flies by when we think of You. And Lord, I would ask that the teaching today on the baptism, this ordinance of the New Testament, instituted by Christ Jesus, employed by Paul and Peter, witnessed today by this dear church and the lives of Justin and Rachel and Barbara, would manifest itself in obedience today.
Lord, I pray that You would not let anyone have a good week in You until they've dealt with this issue. And Lord, we have all kinds of questions that need to be answered about, what about my children, how old should they be?
All these things. And I pray, Lord, that there'd be good conversations this week with parents and children, leadership of the church. Lord, we want to do the right thing and we want to take the first priority to say, Your glory must be manifest at Bethlehem Bible Church.
And Lord, we want to serve You because of Your love for us. For Christ's sake, Amen.