Christ's Baptism (Part 2)

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website, morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. To stand in front of a crowd of people and get dunked underwater, that takes a level of humility, doesn't it?

Not everybody is willing to do it. I've told this story before. There was a woman several years ago. She said, well, I know I need to be baptized and, you know, I want to be baptized, but I just don't want to get my hair wet, she said.

I said, it's hard to believe that's the real reason, but people come up with reasons why. It is a humbling thing, though, because everybody's watching. Here's why we do it publicly. Our profession, that we are a Christian, that you're a Christian, our faith is supposed to be public.

People are supposed to know. And I pray that later on, someone's going to see that. They're going to go home, lay their head on the pillow tonight, and they're going to think on these things. So I think public baptism does have a powerful effect on people.

Jesus' Baptism as Humble Obedience and Public Identification

Now skip down to verse 13. It says, Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent him, saying, I need to be baptized by you. And you are coming to me.

So why is Jesus being baptized? Well, I already said he's leading by example. You know, Jesus doesn't ask of you. He doesn't ask anything of you that he wouldn't do or that he didn't do first. But God was also speaking to his people through the prophet John, that God was commanding all Israel to repent and be baptized.

In Jesus, we think a lot about Jesus and his divinity, but Jesus was also a man. Jesus was an Israelite. And as a man born under the law, Jesus had to obey. Of course, it was his desire to obey, but he had to obey just like everybody else.

Jesus kept the Passover. Jesus did all of those things that good Jewish men were supposed to do. So when the command comes down from on high to be baptized, Jesus submitted to that baptism because he was a man born under the law.

Jesus always obeyed the father. The one difference between Jesus and everybody else is what? Right. He was without sin. He really had nothing to repent of, but he submitted and he does it by example. Verse 15, when John says, why should I do?

You should be baptizing me. Jesus says, permit it to be. So now for thus, it is fitting to for us to fulfill all righteousness. In Matthew 5, 17, Jesus said, I did not come to destroy the law. I came to what?

Fulfill it. So if God says to be baptized, all men are to be baptized. Jesus, he did it. He fulfilled it. Verse 16 says when he had been baptized. As I said, every time detail is given in scripture, they are immersed.

When Jesus had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water. And behold, the heavens were open to him. And he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven saying, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.

And I don't think this needs to be said, but this only happened for Jesus. Okay, when we were baptized or when those are baptized today, when I was baptized, I know the heavens didn't part or anything like that.

Nor would they. Why did these supernatural things happen? Because Jesus is a supernatural figure. Sometimes people ask you, why are you going to be baptized? I mean, what do you think is going to happen?

I mean, what's the point? Because some people say, well, it's just symbolic. And what's the, well, yeah, it symbolizes something, but it's a command. And as followers of Jesus, we follow him. I mean, it's really that simple.

If you're a follower of Jesus, you follow him. Jesus was baptized. You follow him by being baptized too. So it's not a matter of expecting something cataclysmic to happen. That's not the point. This only happened to Jesus.

And it says that the Holy Spirit came down in bodily. I think it's Luke that records the Holy Spirit came down in bodily form. He said, what does that mean? I have no idea, but I kind of wish I was there.

This is a unique event in the history of the world. Maybe the only time where all three members of the Godhead make an appearance. Jesus is there. The Father's voice is heard from heaven. And then the Holy Spirit descends upon him.

What does this do to anyone who's there? This is authenticating who Jesus is. He is the son of the living God. They had visual and audible proof that Jesus was indeed the Christ. So are you a follower of Christ this morning?

Have you been baptized in his name? One well-known pastor once said, baptism is what separates the tire kickers from the car buyers. I don't know if people still do this, but you know, I mean, you know how it is.

They go to the car a lot. Does this actually tell you anything about the car? I don't think so. But there are those people, they're checking it out. They're considering it. They're kicking the tires. But baptism kind of sets you apart as one who's serious, committed.

I want to follow Jesus in my life. I think that's true enough. What's the title of the message? Following Christ, the baptism of Jesus. So Christians are baptized simply because Jesus was baptized. We follow his example, and then Christ commissions the church.

We're part of the church. We are a church, and we baptize in his name. So this is all part of following the Lord. So who is eligible for baptism? What are the requirements? Remember the symbolism. Baptism is a picture of the gospel, the death, burial, and resurrection.

So if you believe the gospel, you should be baptized. So the requirement is you believe. You don't need to take a six-week course. You don't need to ace a theology exam. You don't even need to get your life in order, because there's some people, they won't get baptized.

I need to fix this first. I need to get this straightened out. I need to do that. That's a noble thing. But the Christian life is a life of sanctification. Baptism is the first step of obedience. You have the rest of your life, and you should, clean up those things afterwards.

That's what the Holy Spirit does, but baptism is the first act. So what's the requirement? Do you believe? Okay, then you can be baptized. Let's turn to Acts chapter 8. We're almost done. I just want to address two things just to reinforce this idea that there's really only one requirement for baptism.

And then I'll address this whole issue of re-baptism, or people being baptized again. All right, so Acts chapter 8. We're going to start in verse 35. This is the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch.

It says, Then Philip opened his mouth and began at this scripture. He preached Jesus to him. And as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?

What's stopping us? And notice what Philip said. If you believe with all your heart, you may. And he answered and he said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. So he commanded the chariot to stand still.

And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and he baptized him. So according to scripture, people have described my philosophy of baptism as being sort of loose or lenient. And I don't take offense to that because I believe what the Bible says that the only requirement is, Do you believe Jesus is the son of God?

Okay, let's go into the water. So according to scripture, faith is the only requirement for baptism. And that leads into the next question. What about this whole idea of being baptized again? Well, Ephesians chapter four, verse five says, There is one Lord, one faith, and one baptism.

So you say, well, there's only one baptism. Nobody should be re-baptized. And I generally would agree with that. But here, one baptism, it's really questionable whether or not this even refers to water baptism.

It's more likely a reference to spirit baptism. So there is water baptism, which we're doing today. And then there is spirit baptism. What is spirit baptism? Well, when a person believes on the name of the Lord and they are born again, in that instant, when a person is born again, the Holy Spirit of God regenerates their dead spirit.

When people are born into this world, they are born spiritually dead. Ephesians two, verse one, dead in trespasses and sin. So when a person is born again, they are baptized by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes to indwell the person.

They are immersed. We can say they are baptized or immersed by the Spirit because the Spirit indwells them. They are surrounded. They are immersed by the Spirit within them. And they are then placed, at that moment, they are placed spiritually into the body of Christ.

See, a person can have their name on a church membership list and they might, hopefully they're saved, but you could technically be on a list and not be a believer. Spirit baptism is when you are truly placed into the church of Jesus Christ.

So in other words, spirit baptism happens at the moment of salvation. And that only happens once, doesn't it? No one can be saved and then get re-saved or get saved again. That's not the way it works.

There's only one spiritual baptism. Therefore, the church, historically, has taken the stance that there should only be one baptism by water. And again, I agree. But the question is, what makes a baptism valid?

What makes a baptism valid? During the time of the Protestant Reformation, this is the 1500s, you had a group that was known as the Anabaptists. Who's heard of the Anabaptists? I know a few of you have.

The Anabaptists. They were given that name by their critics. Ana means again. So their critics said about them, these are those who are baptizing people again. And their critics were saying, this is wrong.

They shouldn't be doing that. But remember, the Roman Catholic Church and even some of the Protestants were baptizing infants. And these babies are too young, they're too small to express saving faith.

So what you had in Europe, you had literally millions of people who were sprinkled as babies. They didn't know the Lord. They wouldn't even know they were baptized, quote unquote, unless someone told them.

So what happened, they grew up and at some point in their adult life or maybe as a young person, they made a decision to believe on the Lord. And at that moment where they truly expressed saving faith, after that, they were, again, the critics said they were baptized again.

Were they really baptized again? No. That baptism they had as an older person, that was their legitimate baptism. So that's sort of the history over it. And your typical Baptist or non-denominational evangelical, we believe that baptism is a willful decision.

You need to express saving faith and it's by immersion. So this argument that they were rebaptizing, I mean, it just doesn't hold water, okay? Sorry for the pun. I couldn't help myself. I know that's bad.

But baptism is supposed to be your choice. Just like your faith must be your faith. It can't be your parents' faith. It has to be your faith. When these babies are sprinkled, who's making that decision?

It's the parents. You can't be saved by your parents' faith. You have to be saved by your faith. It has to be your baptism that you chose to follow Christ. Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornet Church.

If you'd like to listen to the complete message or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, morriscornetchurch .com. We'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett.

Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.