Baptism-Loving Obedience to the Savior (Romans 6:1-5)

Kootenai Church

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Good morning. So David used coffee for Sunday school this morning.

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I didn't know you could do that. I thought that was illegal. I thought you could only use water, but maybe that's

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Sunday school. Would you open your Bibles with me to Matthew chapter 28, and let's read

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God's Word together. Matthew chapter 28, verses 16 through 20. I will be working this morning in a different method than I normally do.

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I normally exegete a book or a section. This morning, the vicissitudes of teaching the concept or the sacrament of baptism necessitate that I move around through God's Word, and so I will do it a little bit slower for those of you who take notes.

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This is a well -taught group, so there will probably be nothing new here. I'll address that in a minute after we pray, after we read

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God's Word and after we pray. Anyway, so Matthew chapter 28, verses 16 through 20, but the 11 disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which

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Jesus had designated. When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some were doubtful, and Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

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Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the

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Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you, and lo,

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I am with you always, even to the end of the age. He has given us so much, and he has required so little.

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I'm not really an expert at simile or metaphor or comparison, and so you ask yourself, then why is he about to try that?

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He's given us the continent and asked for an acre. Now it's a lush acre, and it's productive because he has made it such.

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He's given us the globe and asked for a county. How many of you have seen that representation online where it starts with, you are here, and then it backs out to your county or your state or your continent or your globe or your place in the solar system or the galaxy, and then in the quadrant of the universe, and pretty soon you're so small, well actually long before this, but pretty soon you're so small you cannot even pick out the billion parsec area where you reside.

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If that's a comparison, that's probably the best I can do, you'll have to forgive me, of what

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God has given us, immeasurable, immeasurable, and he asks of us few things, and he even provides the grace and the strength to do those things.

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One of them is baptism, and so with that as a basic introduction,

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I'd like to work through this section of scripture and a couple of others, and like I said,

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I will go slower than I normally do. I normally speak at 40 miles an hour. I'm trying to learn how to speak as fast as Jim someday.

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Some of you may not know Jim, if you haven't been here very much, Jim's our regular teaching elder.

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The other three elders speak as needed. So again, with that introduction, earlier

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I mentioned that this is a well -taught group, and there's no way that I can go over baptism and present anything new.

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As a matter of fact, that tendency is what generally leads to cults, to try to come up with something new.

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I'm going to go over the time -tested beauty of God's word, continuing as we have at Kootenai, and continually, that has already been preached to you, once delivered.

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But in 1 Peter, excuse me, 2 Peter, the apostle Peter said that he didn't mind doing that kind of thing.

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He did not mind going over the basics that you already knew. 2 Peter 1, verses 12 through 15, he says this,

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Therefore, I shall always be ready to remind you of these things, what he had spoken of before, add to your faith, etc.

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Those kinds of wonderful scriptures, 1 Peter, 2 Peter. I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you, and I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder, knowing that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent, boy,

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I'm not going to be with Peter there, but as also our

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Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me, and I will also be diligent that at any time after my departure, you may be able to call these things to mind.

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That's one of the purposes of Sunday morning, of preaching the word, is making sure you have at your mind's fingertips the scripture so that you can call it to mind.

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So today we're going to look at baptism. What does it mean, why are we baptized, and what are the scriptures that undergird this wondrous sacrament that Jesus has required obedience to after giving us everything?

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This is not going to be primarily a refutation of infant baptism, or baptism according to the

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Roman Catholic Church, although I confess I will touch on those issues throughout this message at times.

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Protestant theology holds that there are but two sacraments, and they are considered as ordinances, that is the commands of God, the commands of the

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Lord Jesus Christ, that are to be carried out by believers. These two sacraments are baptism and the

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Lord's Supper. And they are a blessing to obey, especially when one is put in the mind just before observing the sacrament of what has caused us to be able to partake of these things, the

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Lord's Supper and baptism, the sacrifice of the Son. What He has given us is immeasurable, and He's asked obedience in this.

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So baptism is both the result of grace and a means of grace, in that it symbolizes the washing away of sin.

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We look at the thing we are immersed in, water, and recognize that this symbolizes the Holy Spirit who by and through the blood of the

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Lord Jesus Christ comes and washes us clean of our sin upon repentance and salvation.

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And all of that is done by the Father. All of that is done by the

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Father, because if it were left up to us, we wouldn't do any of it. And He has done it for us. I will elaborate on the

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Scriptures and read through eight points. My normal method again, as I mentioned, of exegesis is verse by verse.

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For the purposes of this morning, we will depart from that. Again, I will go slow enough that if those of you want to write down Scripture references, you can do that.

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So the eight points are going to be this. Number one, and I haven't got an alliteration for you. They don't all start with the same letter, and I'm not going to do a mime.

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Thomas wanted it so badly, but I'm not going to do a mime in support of these points. Number one, it is commanded.

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Number two, it is based on a decision. Number three, it unites.

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Number four, it is immersion. Number five, it marks a new life.

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It marks a new life. Number six, it is non -regenerative. Number seven, it is done by trusting believers.

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And last, it is a public confession of faith. And all of those things will be true because the

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Scripture says they are so. So we read through Matthew chapter 16 just a moment ago, and that is one of the sections

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I will be using, as well as Romans chapter 6, for the main bulk of what

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I'm about to say to you this morning. But remarkably, the Scripture speaks of it in a number of places.

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Oh, I shouldn't say remarkably. Anything that is important, God makes certain we know about it. So the first is baptism is a command.

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Matthew chapter 28, 19. Jesus himself said this, go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the

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Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. These were some of Jesus' last words.

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Some of his, all of his words are important, so I won't say these were his most important. Every word, every jot, every tittle of what

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Jesus said that was recorded for us is important. But these are very, they're very important words.

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Acts chapter 2 verse 38 says this. Acts chapter 2 verse 38, Peter said to them, repent and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the

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Holy Spirit. This is a simple command and one that cannot be ignored. The command in Matthew 28 is to both make disciples and to go baptize them.

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Now the discipling part is a lifelong sanctification journey for each of us.

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The baptizing part is a point in time that occurs and it's a result of this command.

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So Jesus commanded the disciples to go and make baptizers, excuse me, to make disciples and to baptize them.

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Peter strengthens that in his great sermon on Pentecost where 3 ,000 were saved and baptized on the same day.

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And by the way, that is the original, the early church's form of membership.

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You got saved, you were baptized, boom, those were your papers. That was your constitution, if you will.

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That was your papers as a new believer. It is important to note that there is no command in Scripture to baptize infants, but there is a command to baptize believers.

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One would think that for one of the two ordinance that the Lord left with us, there would be clear instruction and indeed there is.

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Even those who practice the ordinance of infant baptism acknowledge that there is no distinct command in the

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Bible to baptize them. A well -known infant baptizer theologian has conceded, this is what he said, he said, quote, parents are not disobeying any clear cut command if they withhold baptism from their children.

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End quote. It is also noteworthy that coinciding with the fact that there are no commands to baptize infances, infants, infances, that's plural infances, that's more than three in case anyone is writing a dictionary.

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There are no instances, there are no commands to baptize infants, there are no instances in the

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Bible where infant baptism is modeled. After a profession of faith in Scripture, we see that the 3 ,000 of Pentecost, this is

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Acts chapter 2 verse 41, were baptized. The men and women of Samaria, after a profession of faith,

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Acts chapter 8 verse 12. Simon the sorcerer, Acts chapter 8 verse 13.

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The Ethiopian eunuch, remember he went down to the water, he said, there be water, what prevents me from being baptized?

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Acts chapter 8 verses 36 through 38. The many Corinthians in Acts chapter 18 verse 8.

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The disciples of John, Acts chapter 19 verse 5. The apostle

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Paul, Acts chapter 22 verse 16. And Gaius, 1

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Corinthians 1 verse 16. There's never a similar depiction of infant baptism.

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Everyone that was baptized in the New Testament was baptized based on their profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

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And our love and devotion to Him as the Savior makes this a delight, makes this something when one comes to regeneration, faith, salvation, you want to do what

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He says. Do you remember what it was like when you first got saved? I still remember some of it.

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I'm really old and I got saved a long time ago. But I still remember some of it.

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Man, everybody was going to know about this. And I used my outdoor voice everywhere.

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It was not a pretty thing, Peter. Yeah, it was not a pretty thing. But the zeal that comes with first knowing, oh, would that stay with us and be tempered by wisdom.

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Back to the Scripture here. Baptism is a command and the Lord Jesus Christ made that command.

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It is fully and further informed and strengthened by the apostles in their words.

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Number two, baptism is a decision that requires reason and belief.

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Acts chapter 16 verses 31 through 33. They said, I believe it was

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Paul and Silas, believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.

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And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house. And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household.

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By the way, note there, he spoke to all who were in the house. Now, when

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I speak to an adult, I use one form, believe and be baptized. When I speak to an infant, I use a different form.

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How are you, little one? I know that sounds silly, but it's important to read that.

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And I believe the correct biblical assumption here is that just as the jailer believed, so the rest of the household did as well.

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Frankly, the remarkable miracle here is that an entire household would believe and be baptized.

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That's the remarkable thing. I've never seen that happen. I'm sure there are missionaries that can tell us stories about that.

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Here's one missionary tell us a story about it, but I've never seen it. What a wonder that would be to see an entire household come to Christ at one time.

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It's no more important than one person coming to Christ, but it would be for us, at least for me, incredible to witness.

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We are taught by the Scripture to believe and be baptized. It would be spurious to assume that Paul, the careful stenographer of the

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Holy Spirit, would arbitrarily violate the truth that he declares elsewhere and here, or well,

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I guess elsewhere. The decision to be baptized is an important one that should be taken with great care.

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It is a demonstration that one has come into the kingdom of God. You are already in the kingdom of God at salvation.

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Baptizing, baptism does not confer that upon you. You are already in. It is a decision that it should be taken care thoughtfully.

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It is a demonstration that as one has come into the kingdom of God and become a child of God, it's a demonstration of that.

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It's an explanation to those who are looking on of that and as such should not be taken lightly.

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Believing in the truth of Christ's work prompts devotion and love for Him and obedience.

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It's a loving thing back to the Lord Jesus Christ to obey that command to be baptized and to disciple others.

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And we should be grateful for it every day. In the great epistle to the

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Corinthians, we'll see something speaking about the third principle, which is that baptism unites.

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It unites believers. It unites us to God. 1

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Corinthians 12, 13, for by one spirit, we are all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free and have been all made to drink of one spirit.

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In this great epistle, Paul had his work cut out for him, reminding the Corinthians again and again of the need for them to come together in unity.

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These were baptized. These were believers and they were suing one another over stupid things.

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I don't think we should sue. Well, the scripture teaches us not to sue each other over anything, but they were suing each other over stupid things.

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You took my pencil. I'm going to sue you. It's almost that silly.

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They were debasing the Lord's supper when the rich would come in early and consume the food that was brought, leaving the slaves and the less affluent believers hungry, poor and hungry.

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He reminds the Corinthians again and again that the Holy Spirit gives the gifts which are to unite and bless the church.

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In chapter 12, verse 11, 1 Corinthians 12, 11, he says, but one in the same spirit works, one of the same spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually, just as he will.

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And then in verse 13, he reminds them that the baptism by the spirit is to unify them into one body that Christ has redeemed with one purpose, and that is to glorify

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God, to preach the gospel, to disciple others, and to see them baptized.

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Remember also Romans 6, 5, it unites us with Christ. Number four, baptism is immersion.

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That's a big word, but I'll bet most of you in here know what it means because Jim preached on this not too long ago, or you probably knew it before that.

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Matthew 3, verse 6, they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins.

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Now, why would you take someone down into a river and then just kick the water out? They were immersed.

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Matthew 3, 16 and 17, and when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the

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Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him. And behold, a voice from heaven said, this is my beloved

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Son with whom I am well pleased. The rest of that verse didn't have anything to do with baptism, but I just like it.

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John 3, verse 23, John was also baptizing in Anon near Solom, because there was much water there, and people were coming and were being baptized.

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John the baptizer. There is also no scriptural precedent for this in the ordinances, excuse me, there is non -scriptural precedence.

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That is other than scripture precedence. Now, our considerations are most certainly to be firstly concerned with what scripture says, but there are outside the scripture references to the same thing.

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So, this would have been nothing new to the Jews. If a Gentile came into a community of Jews and became a proselyte, that is someone who had heard the

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Old Testament scriptures, understood them, and believed them, and wanted to become a child of God by submitting himself to the

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God of the Hebrews, he would have to perform three acts. The first one, and I don't know what order these were in, but this is how

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I've listed them. The first one would be the rite of milah, which is to be circumcised. The second would be the rite of tabula, which is to be immersed in water.

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And they had even figured out just how much water it took to immerse someone in, and I don't remember what the

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Hebrew name for it was, but it was an X number of gallons in a human -sized tub, and you could shove that guy or that gal right down inside and pull them up out, and they would be completely immersed.

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It was important to follow that particular rite. Third, they would offer korban, or a blood sacrifice of an animal.

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So, those three things had to be done by anyone, had to be performed on someone who wanted to become a

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Hebrew, a follower of the Hebrew God. They were repenting and confessing and coming into the community of God's true people, and these were the rites that they were to follow in the

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Old Testament. This is as a preface to our look at the ordinance of baptism. So, when John the

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Baptist came preaching repentance and baptism, this would not have been something new to the Jews, since they would be familiar both with the repentance and baptism.

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They even had a system for it. What would have been startling to the Jews of the time was the simple fact that John was calling them to Jesus to be baptized, not to Jehovah, to Jesus to be baptized.

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Why would I put Jehovah in quotes? Never do that. To the true God whom

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Jesus is, I guess I should have worded it that way. That was a Gentile act of conversion, and they would not have liked that, calling them to a person to be baptized rather than to Jehovah.

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Well, we can see that the reason for doing that is because Jesus is God, and He is calling us, we are calling people to be baptized in Jesus' name because He is

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Lord of all. The word for baptized is actually a Greek word, which means to immerse.

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That is, the Holy Spirit wanted to communicate. If the Holy Spirit wanted to communicate the idea of sprinkling,

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He had, the Holy Spirit that is, He had at His disposal a perfectly good Greek word, rantidzo, which means to sprinkle.

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In every case in which the Scripture communicates to us that someone was to be baptized or communicates the idea of baptism, it is with the word bapto or baptizo, the strengthened version of bapto, every time, no exceptions.

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Further, when speaking of baptism, the New Testament never uses the words in a passive sense, that is to be someone never had the water baptized onto them.

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Rather, the clear implication is that of emergence, submersion under the water. Even John Calvin, who was a baby baptizer, who advocated sprinkling babies, said this, he said, quote, the word baptized means to immerse, and it is certain that immersion was the practice of the early church, unquote.

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And I remember thinking when I first read that, John, what gives? He's never answered.

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I don't have his email address. Devoting ourselves to Christ demands it, demands our obedience to this.

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It is a command of Christ. It is a loving command of Christ, and it is a loving response that he is looking for.

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Number five, baptizing, baptism marks a new way of life and a genuine commitment to the

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Lord Jesus Christ. Not that your commitment before that wasn't genuine, but that this is a demonstration that you have committed your life to the service of the

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Lord Jesus Christ. Romans chapter six, verses three and four, do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

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We were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the

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Father, we too might walk in newness of life, walking in newness of life.

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Spoken of this morning in Sunday school about walking in Ephesians, especially starting with chapter four. Our method of living changes at salvation.

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We declare it to the world at baptism. I no longer am walking in that old life.

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I am now walking in this new life by the power of the spirit that lives in me. And here in Romans chapter six is that wondrous symbolism that occurs when one is baptized.

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A person is immersed into the water, symbolizing the death of the Lord Jesus Christ who died for us.

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Then that person is raised from the water, symbolizing the resurrection from the dead of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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And as he walked, that is the Lord, walked newly risen, so now we walk in a new life given to us wholly by the hand of the

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God, the sovereign God who saved us in the first place. And our baptism is a beautiful picture of that.

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And it tells the world that we truly believe that there is no king but King Jesus in our lives.

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It is love for him that undergirds the obedience we have for that command. I've been at baptisms and I've watched relatives or even non -relatives and the emotion that comes to them when they see a young person, an adult, old folks like me baptized.

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It's just, I got to be really careful because something happened to me at about 35. I got really weird.

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I start, I can't sing through Amazing Grace without tears. I was so tough when

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I was young, I could sing all the way through it twice. Not anymore. So that's number five.

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It marks a newer way of life and shows a genuine commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ, to the world, to the world.

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Baptism, number six, does not regenerate. It doesn't make us something.

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Rome teaches that baptism, open quote, is the sacrament of regeneration through water in the word, close quote.

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In the catechism, section 1213, it says, holy baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the spirit and the door which gives access to the other sacraments.

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Through baptism, we are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God. We become members of Christ, are incorporated into the church and made sharers in her mission.

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Baptism is the sacrament of regeneration through water in the word, open quote, close quote.

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False. It is a wonderful thing, but it is none of those.

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This comes from the Council of Florence in the Roman Catechism, number two. If a

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Catholic dies before being baptized, the combination of desire, repentance and works will assure their salvation.

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Section 1259, for catechumens, that is a convert who is under instruction before baptism, for catechumens who die before their baptism, their explicit desire to receive it together with repentance for their sins and charity assures them the salvation that they were not able to receive through the sacrament.

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I have four words, thief on the cross, or five words, the thief on the cross.

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What about him? We'll get back to him. What a great, a life of sin punished by a

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Roman government that maybe or maybe not was punishing him rightly, but he was being punished and we are all sinners. A life of sin, hanging on a cross, dying, and he was saved by Christ in an instant and stepped into glory.

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He was given the universe and all he was required was belief.

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He believed, he believed. Okay, that's another sermon for another time. Baptismal regenerationists point to a four -part formula for salvation, believe, repent, confess and be baptized.

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For the purposes of this message, it would be impossible for me to go into all the points that are raised by baptismal regenerationists, people who believe that you are saved by baptism.

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You are not saved by baptism. You are saved by the death, burial, and resurrection of the

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Lord Jesus Christ and your belief in it, and that is it. Baptism is a command for obedience, and we do that out of love for Christ.

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When interpreting the scripture, one must also always filter one's interpretation through the lens of other scripture.

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There are multiple verses in the Bible that speak of faith being all that is necessary for salvation.

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So what do you think the word all means here? Most, some, important?

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No, it's one of those times when the word all means all. All that is necessary is for belief, faith, and belief.

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Repentance is a result of the regeneration of the Holy Spirit, and by the giving of Him to us, faith, in order to believe.

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Ephesians 2 says that even the faith we have to believe was given to us by Him. We wouldn't do it on our own.

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This well -taught group knows that, but it's good stuff to go over. Who among us would have done it first, would have sought

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God? None among us. He sought us. What a blessing. Because salvation is all a work of God, and the pride of man must be suppressed in every respect in recognizing this, it is clear that the scripture teaches that only faith is necessary.

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Baptism is important. It is a following in obedience to a command of Christ, but it is not what saves us.

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It is not necessary for salvation. Believing we are saved, as a result of that, salvation confers responsibilities, and one of those responsibilities is, in fact, baptism, and so baptism is closely linked with salvation, but it is not a requirement for salvation.

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Scripture carefully teaches that belief is necessary for salvation, and that unbelief, indeed, proves lack of salvation.

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There is no verse in the Bible that postulates that belief, that no baptism equals no salvation.

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Let me say that again. There is no scripture in the Bible that postulates that no baptism equals no salvation.

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There are many that teach that no belief equals no salvation. No belief equals no salvation.

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We believe in the one who gave us this life freely. Number five, baptism is for those who can trust

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Christ and not for infants. I did say I would touch on this. Rome teaches that baptism regenerates, saying that, open quote, baptism is no mere symbol, acknowledging one's awareness of being saved, but a sacrament that shatters the bonds of original sin and confers real grace, closed quote.

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They further teach that at approximately the age of 12 or 13, a child is then confirmed. I went through confirmation when

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I was 13. I wasn't saved. I didn't trust Christ till a few years later, four, at least four or five years later.

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I'm trying to remember. Again, I'm old. It was a long time ago. I have a hard time remembering 10 minutes ago sometimes.

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But this is approximately at the age of 12 or 13, the child is then confirmed, which finishes the work that baptism started.

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That is their belief. The early reformers taught infant baptism and sadly, in some cases, even required the life of those who taught otherwise.

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The anabaptists or the rebaptizers were targeted and in many cases killed just for believing and acting upon the belief that baptism required understanding.

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Unfortunately, both the Roman Catholic Church and those early reformers, some of them participated in this.

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The merging of the church with the state facilitated this. Unfortunately, we do not have that today. One of the early ideas was that baptism was a replacement for circumcision.

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There is nothing in the scripture that indicates this. There is never an infant baptism spoken of in the

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New Testament. Circumcision was a sign that one belonged to the Jewish nation. It was not a sign of salvation.

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Then, as now, faith is the doorway to salvation. Paul's epistle to the

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Galatians shreds this idea because were baptism to be associated with circumcision,

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Paul could simply have told the Judaizers that baptism had replaced circumcision, most likely because they were a legalist group.

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That form of legalism would have been just as acceptable to them as the other forms they were propitiating or proposing,

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I should say. Scripture is clear. Salvation is by grace through faith alone, and even that faith is a gift from the

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Father. Infants are unable to exercise faith. Children before the age of reason, for those of us who are concerned about that, will automatically go to the

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Father should they experience an untimely death. We must not let external concerns override the need for proper hermeneutical exposition of the

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Scriptures. This is not a full treatment of the question of the age of accountability, but suffice it to say for this morning's purposes, and there are books available on this.

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I believe John MacArthur has written one. I don't remember the title, and I should have had that for this morning. Touch bases with me later if you need to, and I'll get it to you.

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But sufficient for this morning's purposes that every salvation is a work of God by the grace of God to those who believe, and to those who are unable to believe by reason of age.

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When David lost his son, conceived in adultery with Bathsheba, he made the statement to his servants who were wondering why he was no longer mourning.

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And he said this in 2 Samuel 12, 22, and 23. He said, while the child was still alive,

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I fasted and wept. For I said, who knows the Lord may be gracious to me that the child may live.

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Verse 23, but now he has died. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again?

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I will go to him, but he will not return to me. David's baby was in the arms of Christ, and David knew that.

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Last point, baptism is a public confession of faith.

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Now, there were times in history, and most certainly will be times again, where baptism was a little bit or a whole lot dangerous.

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Because by baptism, the local journalists knew that, oh, he's one of those, one of those extremists.

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He's one of those Christians. We need to report this to the authorities. And when they did that, many were killed.

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They lost their goods. They were exiled. They were imprisoned for baptism, because baptism made everybody know this was a follower of Christ.

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Romans 10, 9 and 10, that if you confess with your mouth, Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

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By the way, baptism is not mentioned there. For with the heart, a person believes, resulting in righteousness.

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And with the mouth, he confesses, resulting in salvation. Believe and confess, you will be saved.

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This is the love of God, salvation, holy of him, for him. And do we not get some benefit out of that salvation, some benefit?

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We get the universe. The last thing that needs to be said about baptism is that it is a genuine public affirmation of a believer's desire to follow the

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Lord Jesus Christ, to follow the living God, to follow and be controlled by the Holy Spirit.

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Today, it is much different than it was in first century Israel. Then when I get, as I said, could lose their life by making such a public confession, this did not deter those believers who recognized the unbelievable gift of salvation.

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And they were willing to make that public confession because of their love for Christ. It's loving obedience that a believer gives back to Christ as, if you will, a sweet,

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I don't want to get too symbolic here, but a sweet aroma to him that they love him and they have obeyed him.

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This is what baptism, it is a demonstration of our love and devotion to the God of the universe and a declaration that we have believed and trusted in him and him alone for salvation.

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If you have been baptized, rejoice. If you have not, and you have come to faith in Christ, you need to talk with myself,

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Dave Rich, Jess, Jess has already left, or Jim Osman about the class on baptism and possibly even soon enough, the actual baptism, which is in the bulletin.

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So you can consult your bulletin for those things. Christ gives everything and asks some things, and then he gives us the grace and the power to do those things.

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Why would we not? Let's pray. Father, we are so grateful for your love, your love through your son, the

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Lord Jesus Christ, who came and gave us everything. He has blessed us with salvation and with sanctification and with all the blessings of heaven.

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Truly, Lord, we go through things here on earth that seem difficult at times, but even those you have made to work into your plan to make us more like your son.

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You have made those things to be a blessing eventually and something for us to give more glory and obedience and exaltation to you.

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Thank you for the gift of salvation. Thank you for requiring the obedience of a baptism of love and obedience to the

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Lord Jesus Christ. Might we truly remember this morning through your word, through this reading and listening to your word, just what you have given us.