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

Kootenai Church

2 views

September 18, 2023

8 Reasons to obey the Savior and be baptized. This stream is created with #PRISMLiveStudio

12:48: Good morning, and welcome to Kootenai Church. We're glad you're here today. Would you please stand? As we begin our call to worship this morning with a reading out of Psalm 9,
12:59: I will give thanks to Yahweh with all my heart. I will recount all your wondrous deeds.
13:06: I will be glad and exult in you. I will sing praise to your name, O Most High. When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish before you.
13:16: For you have maintained my justice and my cause. You have sat on the throne, judging righteously.
13:23: You have rebuked the nations. You have made the wicked perish. You have blotted out their name forever and ever.
13:31: The enemy has come to an end in perpetual ruins, and you have uprooted the cities.
13:37: The very memory of them has perished. But Yahweh abides forever. He has established his throne for judgment, and he will judge the world in righteousness.
13:48: He will render justice for the peoples with equity. We're going to sing this morning wholehearted thanksgiving out of Psalm 9.
13:56: And if you were here this morning for Sunday school, you heard David encourage us all to not have weak sauce singing.
14:05: So lift up your voices, and let's sing together. Wholehearted thanksgiving to thee will
14:19: I bring. In praise of thy marvelous deeds
14:24: I will sing. In thee I will join and exultingly cry.
14:32: Thy name I will praise, O Jehovah Most High.
14:38: Praise the Lord, praise the Lord. Let the earth hear his voice.
14:44: Praise the Lord, praise the Lord. Let the people rejoice.
14:50: O come to Jehovah, declare ye his name.
14:56: And give him all honor, for just is his name.
15:07: Thou, Lord, art a refuge for all the oppressed.
15:14: All trust thee, who know thee, and trust thee are blessed.
15:20: Forever, O Lord, did thy mercy forsake
15:25: The soul that has sought of thy grace to partake.
15:31: Praise the Lord, praise the Lord. Let the earth hear his voice.
15:37: Praise the Lord, praise the Lord. Let the people rejoice.
15:43: O come to Jehovah, declare ye his name.
15:49: And give him all honor, for just is his name.
16:01: Give praise to Jehovah, the mighty, deep, stell.
16:07: Of him who has chosen in Zion to dwell.
16:13: To him to justice and vengeance belong.
16:19: Who visits the lonely and overthrows wrong.
16:25: Praise the Lord, praise the Lord. Let the earth hear his voice.
16:31: Praise the Lord, praise the Lord. Let the people rejoice.
16:37: O come to Jehovah, declare ye his name.
16:43: And give him all honor, for just is his name.
16:55: Behold my affliction, thy mercy abhorred.
17:00: And back from death's portals we stormy, O Lord.
17:06: That I in the gates of thy Zion may raise
17:12: My song of salvation and show forth thy praise.
17:18: Praise the Lord, praise the Lord. Let the earth hear his voice.
17:24: Praise the Lord, praise the Lord. Let the people rejoice.
17:30: O come to Jehovah, declare ye his name.
17:36: And give him all honor, for just is his name.
17:42: Praise the Lord, praise the Lord. Let the earth hear his voice.
17:48: Praise the Lord, praise the Lord. Let the people rejoice.
17:53: O come to Jehovah, declare ye his name.
18:00: And give him all honor, for just is his name.
18:20: I sought the Lord, and answered he. And delivered me from every fear.
18:32: Those who look on him are radiant. They'll never be ashamed.
18:41: They'll never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the
18:48: Lord heard me. And he saved me from my enemies.
18:56: The Son of God surrounds his saints.
19:02: He will deliver them. He will deliver them.
19:08: Magnify the Lord with me.
19:14: Come, exalt his name together.
19:20: Glorify the Lord with me.
19:26: Come, exalt his name forever.
19:32: Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, blessed is he who hides in bread.
19:43: Oh, fear the Lord. Oh, all you saints.
19:49: He'll give you everything. He'll give you everything. Magnify the
19:57: Lord with me. Come, exalt his name together.
20:06: Glorify the Lord with me. Come, exalt his name forever.
20:24: Let us bless the Lord every day and night.
20:30: Never -ending grace may our incense rise.
20:35: Let us bless the Lord every day and night.
20:41: Never -ending grace may our incense rise.
20:47: Magnify the Lord with me. Come, exalt his name together.
20:58: Glorify the Lord with me. Come, exalt his name forever.
21:10: Magnify the Lord. Come, exalt his name together.
21:21: Glorify the Lord with me.
21:27: Come, exalt his name forever.
22:07: Once was lost in darkest night. Yet thought I knew the way.
22:16: The sin that promised joy and life had led me to the grave.
22:25: I had no hope that you would hold to your will.
22:34: And if you had not loved me first, I would refuse you still.
22:45: But as I ran my hell -bound race, indifferent to the cost, you looked upon my helpless state and led me to the cross.
23:02: And I beheld God's love displayed. You suffered in my place.
23:11: You bore the wrath reserved for me. Now all
23:16: I know is grace. Hallelujah is
23:29: Christ. Hallelujah. Jesus is my life.
23:41: Hallelujah is Christ.
23:47: Hallelujah. Jesus is my life.
24:14: And live so almighty. The strength to follow your commands could never come from me.
24:27: Oh, Father, use my ransomed life in any way you choose.
24:36: And let my song forever be my only boast.
24:42: It's true. Hallelujah. I have is
24:53: Christ. Hallelujah. Jesus is my life.
25:03: Hallelujah. I have is
25:09: Christ. Hallelujah. Jesus is my life.
25:19: Hallelujah. You may be seated.
25:55: Well, good morning. Welcome to Kootenai Church. Jim's not here today. That's the first announcement.
26:02: He's traveling. I'm not preaching, so don't worry about that. A few announcements.
26:08: And these are in your bulletin, but I wanted to repeat some of these in case you missed them. There's a memorial service on the 23rd at the camp.
26:20: That's for Dale Schultz. And I know many of you don't know Dale because he has been away from us for, had been away from us for a number of years.
26:28: But he was a longtime member of Kootenai Church. He's, frankly, part of the reason why
26:33: I stayed at Kootenai Community Church. He greeted me on the first day on my way out. I had known him before that.
26:40: So a lot of us have a long and deep history with Dale. So if you do, his memorial service will be on Saturday.
26:49: Today is a message on baptism. I'm not stealing Cornell's thunder. But just to let you know, we have a process here at Kootenai Church regarding baptism.
26:59: And we have a message about baptism where today Cornell will share the biblical foundations of baptism.
27:06: And then we have a class, and we'll have that on the first, where you can ask your questions and get more clarity that you need for baptism if you're considering baptism.
27:17: And then Sunday, October 22nd, will be our actual baptism service. So if you haven't been baptized as a believer, today is a great day to especially apply this message to yourself and examine whether you need to follow the
27:33: Lord in that step of obedience. The last thing I want to make sure to announce is a membership class on Saturday, October 21st.
27:41: So if you are here and have been with us and would like to join in membership, that day is for you.
27:47: I turn in your Bibles to Romans chapter 6. I have a short scripture reading today. Romans chapter 6, verses 1 through 5.
28:05: What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?
28:10: May it never be. How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death?
28:21: 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
28:28: Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection.
28:40: Let's pray together. Father, what a powerful word that is.
28:46: We are united with Christ, united with him in his life, his perfect life, and his resurrection.
28:54: Amazing truth and an amazing gift, something that we will forever be grateful for. And so we stand here in awesome gratitude and we're just knocked to our knees because of your great faithfulness to us.
29:07: And I pray, Lord, for Cornel, as he opens your word, I pray that he would go neither to the left nor the right, that he would, as he does, faithfully share your word and that your word would have its way with all of us.
29:18: Those of us who need to participate in baptism, need to follow you in obedience, in believer's baptism, would hear this message and take it to heart and apply it appropriately.
29:28: And for those of us who have been baptized, just a great reminder of our unity with Christ, our unity with one another, of the great work that you have done on our behalf.
29:38: And so we're grateful for that. We want to sing to you from our hearts and we want to listen well to your word preached.
29:43: Lord, in Jesus' name, amen. Please stand and let's sing together,
29:50: Great is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness,
30:11: O God, my Father. There is no shadow of turning with Thee.
30:22: Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not.
30:31: As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.
30:39: Great is thy faithfulness, Great is thy faithfulness,
30:47: Morning by morning, New mercies
30:53: I see. All I have needed,
30:59: Thy hand hath provided. Great is thy faithfulness,
31:08: Lord, unto me. Summer and winter
31:17: And springtime at harvest, Sun, moon, and stars
31:25: In their courses above, Joined with all nature
31:33: In manifold witness To Thy great faithfulness,
31:42: Mercy and love. Great is thy faithfulness,
31:50: Great is thy faithfulness, Morning by morning,
31:57: New mercies I see. All I have needed,
32:05: Thy hand hath provided. Great is thy faithfulness,
32:14: Lord, unto me. Lord, enforce it,
32:23: And the peace that entereth, Thine own dear presence
32:32: To cheer and to guide. Strength for today
32:38: And bright hope for tomorrow, Blessings all mine
32:47: With ten thousand beside. Great is thy faithfulness,
32:55: Great is thy faithfulness, Morning by morning,
33:03: New mercies I see. All I have needed,
33:11: Thy hand hath provided. Great is thy faithfulness,
33:19: Lord, unto me. In 1
33:25: Corinthians 15, it says, Now I make known to you, brothers, the gospel which
33:32: I proclaimed as good news to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which
33:42: I proclaimed to you as good news, unless you believe for nothing. For I delivered to you, as of the first importance, what
33:50: I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the
33:59: Scriptures. We're gonna end our music service this morning in singing Come Behold the Wondrous Mystery.
34:15: Come behold the wondrous mystery In the dawning of the
34:23: King Hear the theme of heaven's praises
34:29: Broken, frail humanity In our longing, in our darkness
34:38: Now the light of life has come Look to Christ who condescended
34:47: Took on flesh to ransom us Behold the wondrous mystery
35:03: He the perfect Son of Man In his living, in his suffering
35:12: Never traced nor stained of sin See the true and better Adam Come to save the hell -bound man
35:25: Christ the great and sure fulfillment Of the law in his we stand
35:34: Behold the wondrous mystery
35:45: Christ the Lord upon the tree In the stead of ruined sinners
35:54: Hangs the Lamb in victory See the price of our redemption
36:02: See the Father's plan unfold Bringing many sons to glory
36:11: Grace unmeasured, love untold
36:23: Behold the wondrous mystery Slain by death, the
36:29: God of life But no grave could ever restrain him
36:35: Praise the Lord, he is alive What a foretaste of deliverance
36:44: How unwavering our hope Christ in power resurrected
36:52: As we will be when he comes What a foretaste of deliverance
37:01: How unwavering our hope Christ in power resurrected
37:10: As we will be when he comes You may be seated.
37:38: Good morning. So David used coffee for Sunday school this morning.
37:43: I didn't know you could do that. I thought that was illegal. I thought you could only use water. Maybe that's
37:50: Sunday school. Would you open your Bibles with me to Matthew chapter 28 and let's read
38:01: 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.
38:13: 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.
38:27: And so I will do it a little bit slower for those of you who take notes. This is a well -taught group so there will probably be nothing new here.
38:35: I'll address that in a minute after we pray after we read God's Word and after we pray. So Matthew chapter 28 verses 16 through 20.
38:43: But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee to the mountain which Jesus had designated.
38:50: When they saw him, they worshipped him. But some were doubtful, and Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying,
38:56: All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the
39:06: Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.
39:12: And, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. He has given us so much and he has required so little.
39:23: I'm not really an expert at simile or metaphor or comparison.
39:29: And so you ask yourself, then why is he about to try that? He's given us the continent and asked for an acre.
39:39: Now it's a lush acre and it's productive because he has made it such. He's given us the globe and asked for a county.
39:48: 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.
40:06: Well, actually long before this, but pretty soon you're so small you cannot even pick out the billion parsec area where you reside.
40:16: If that's a comparison, that's probably the best I can do. You'll have to forgive me. Of what
40:22: 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.
40:33: One of them is baptism. And so with that as a basic introduction,
40:39: I'd like to work through this section of Scripture and a couple of others. And like I said,
40:44: 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.
40:52: Some of you may not know Jim if you haven't been here very much. Jim's our regular teaching, preaching elder.
40:59: The other three elders speak as needed. So again, with that introduction, earlier
41:08: I mentioned that this is a well -taught group and there's no way that I can go over baptism and present anything new.
41:15: As a matter of fact, that tendency is what generally leads to cults to try to come up with something new.
41:21: 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.
41:32: But in 1 Peter, excuse me, 2 Peter, the apostle Peter said that he didn't mind doing that kind of thing.
41:37: He did not mind going over the basics that you already knew. 2 Peter 1, verses 12 through 15, he says this,
41:48: Therefore I shall always be ready to remind you of these things, what he had spoken of before.
41:54: Add to your faith, etc. 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.
42:12: Knowing that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent, boy,
42:19: I'm not going to be with Peter there, but as also our
42:24: 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.
42:33: 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.
42:42: So today we're going to look at baptism. What does it mean? Why are we baptized?
42:49: And what are the scriptures that undergird this wondrous sacrament that Jesus has required obedience to after giving us everything?
42:59: This is not going to be primarily a refutation of infant baptism or baptism according to the
43:06: Roman Catholic Church although I confess I will touch on those issues throughout this message at times.
43:13: 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
43:21: Lord Jesus Christ that are to be carried out by believers. These two sacraments are baptism and the
43:27: 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
43:41: Lord's Supper and baptism the sacrifice of the Son. What He has given us is immeasurable and He's asked obedience in this.
43:49: So baptism is both the result of grace and a means of grace in that it symbolizes the washing away of sin.
43:57: 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
44:05: Lord Jesus Christ comes and washes us clean of our sin upon repentance and salvation and all of that is done by the
44:14: Father. All of that is done by the Father because if it were left up to us we wouldn't do any of it and He has done it for us.
44:21: I will elaborate on the Scriptures and read through eight points. My normal method again as I mentioned of exegesis is verse by verse for the purposes of this morning we will depart from that.
44:32: Again I will go slow enough that if those of you want to write down Scripture references you can do that. So the eight points are going to be this.
44:40: 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
44:47: Thomas wanted it so badly but I'm not going to do a mime in support of these points. Number one, it is commanded.
44:55: Number two, it is based on a decision. Number three, it unites.
45:01: Number four, it is immersion. Number five, it marks a new life.
45:09: It marks a new life. Number six, it is non -regenerative. Number seven, it is done by trusting believers.
45:19: And last, it is a public confession of faith. And all of those things will be true because the
45:26: Scripture says they are so. So we read through Matthew chapter 16 just a moment ago and that is the one of the sections
45:36: I will be using as well as Romans chapter 6 for the main bulk of what
45:41: I'm about to say to you this morning. But remarkably the Scripture speaks of it in a number of places
45:47: I shouldn't say remarkably anything that is important God makes certain we know about it.
45:53: So the first is baptism is a command. Matthew chapter 28 and 19
45:59: Jesus Himself said this, Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
46:06: Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. These were some of Jesus' last words. All of His words are important so I won't say these were
46:14: His most important. Every word, every jot, every tittle of what Jesus said that was recorded for us is important.
46:22: But these are very important words. Acts chapter 2 verse 38 says this,
46:31: 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
46:41: 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.
46:52: Now the discipling part is a lifelong sanctification journey for each of us.
46:59: The baptizing part is a point in time that occurs and it's a result of this command.
47:09: So Jesus commanded the disciples to go and make baptizers, excuse me, to make disciples and to baptize them.
47:15: Peter strengthens that in his great sermon on Pentecost where 3 ,000 were saved and baptized on the same day.
47:22: And by the way, that is the original, the early church's form of membership.
47:28: You got saved, you were baptized. Boom! Those were your papers. That was your constitution, if you will.
47:34: 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.
47:46: 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.
47:54: Even those who practice the ordinance of infant baptism acknowledge that there is no distinct command in the
48:00: 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, end quote.
48:14: 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.
48:31: There are no instances, there are no commands to baptize infants, there are no instances in the
48:37: Bible where infant baptism is modeled. After a profession of faith in Scripture, we see that the 3 ,000 of Pentecost, this is
48:45: Acts chapter 2, verse 41, were baptized. The men and women of Samaria, after a profession of faith,
48:52: Acts chapter 8 verse 12. Simon the sorcerer, Acts chapter 8 verse 13.
48:59: The Ethiopian eunuch, remember he went down to the water, he said, there be water, what prevents me from being baptized?
49:06: Acts chapter 8 verses 36 through 38. The many Corinthians in Acts chapter 18, verse 8.
49:14: The disciples of John, Acts chapter 19 verse 5. The apostle
49:19: Paul, Acts chapter 22, verse 16. And Gaius, 1
49:25: Corinthians 1, 16. There's never a similar depiction of infant baptism.
49:32: Everyone that was baptized in the New Testament was baptized based on their profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
49:38: And our love and devotion to Him as the Savior makes this a delight.
49:45: Makes this something when one comes to regeneration, faith, salvation, you want to do what
49:52: He says. Do you remember what it was like when you first got saved? I still remember some of it. I'm really old.
49:58: And I got saved a long time ago. But I still remember some of it. Man, everybody was going to know about this.
50:07: And I used my outdoor voice everywhere. It was not a pretty thing, Peter. Yeah, it was not a pretty thing.
50:16: But the zeal that comes with first knowing, oh, would that stay with us and be tempered by wisdom.
50:22: Back to the Scripture here. Baptism is a command. And the Lord Jesus Christ made that command.
50:28: It is fully and further informed and strengthened by the
50:35: Apostles in their words. Number two. Baptism is a decision that requires reason and belief.
50:43: Acts chapter 16, verses 31 -33. They said, I believe it was
50:49: Paul and Silas. Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. You and your household.
50:55: 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
51:02: He was baptized, He and all His household. By the way, note there, He spoke to all who were in the house.
51:09: Now, when I speak to an adult, I use one form, believe and be baptized. When I speak to an infant,
51:14: I use a different form. I know that sounds silly, but it's important to read that.
51:22: The assumption, and I believe the correct biblical assumption here is that just as the jailer believed, so the rest of the household did as well.
51:30: Frankly, the remarkable miracle here is that an entire household would believe and be baptized.
51:36: That's the remarkable thing. I've never seen that happen. I'm sure there are missionaries that can tell us stories about that.
51:43: 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.
51:52: It's no more important than one person coming to Christ, but it would be for us, at least for me, incredible to witness.
52:00: We are taught by the Scripture to believe and be baptized. It would be spurious to assume that Paul, the careful stenographer of the
52:07: Holy Spirit, would arbitrarily violate the truth that he declares elsewhere and here.
52:13: Well, I guess elsewhere. The decision to be baptized is an important one and should be taken with great care.
52:21: It is a demonstration that one has come into the kingdom of God. You are already in the kingdom of God at salvation.
52:28: Baptizing, baptism does not confer that upon you. You are already in. It is a decision that it should be taken carefully, thoughtfully.
52:37: It is a demonstration that one has come into the kingdom of God and become a child of God. It's a demonstration of that.
52:44: It's an explanation to those who are looking on of that and as such should not be taken lightly.
52:50: Believing in the truth of Christ's work prompts devotion and love for Him and obedience.
52:58: It's a loving thing back to the Lord Jesus Christ to obey that command to be baptized and to disciple others.
53:04: And we should be grateful for it every day. In the great epistle to the
53:10: Corinthians we'll see something speaking about the third principle which is that baptism unites.
53:18: It unites believers. It unites us to God. 1
53:23: 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.
53:34: 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.
53:42: These were baptized. These were believers and they were suing one another over stupid things.
53:49: 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.
53:55: You took my pencil. I'm going to sue you. It's almost that silly.
54:00: 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.
54:14: He reminds the Corinthians again and again that the Holy Spirit gives the gifts which are to unite and bless the church.
54:21: In chapter 12 verse 11 1 Corinthians 12 .11 He says but one in the same spirit works all these things distributing to each one individually just as he will.
54:34: 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
54:45: God. To preach the gospel. To disciple others and to see them baptized.
54:52: Remember also Romans 6 .5. It unites us with Christ. Number 4.
54:59: Baptism is immersion. 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.
55:09: Or you probably knew it before that. Matthew chapter 3 verse 6. They were being baptized by him in the
55:14: Jordan River as they confessed their sins. Now why would you take someone down into a river and then just kick the water out?
55:21: They were immersed. Matthew 3 .16 and 17. And when Jesus was baptized immediately he went up from the water and behold the heavens were open to him and he saw the
55:32: Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him and behold a voice from heaven said this is my beloved
55:38: 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.
55:45: John chapter 3 verse 23. John was also baptizing in Anon near Salim because there was much water there and people were coming and were being baptized.
55:59: John the baptizer. There is also no scriptural precedent for this in the ordinances.
56:04: There is non -scriptural precedence. That is other than scripture precedence.
56:10: Now our considerations are most certainly to be firstly concerned with what scripture says.
56:16: But there are outside the scripture references to the same thing. So this would have been nothing new to the Jews. If a
56:22: Gentile came into a community of Jews and became a proselyte, that is someone who had heard the Old Testament scriptures, understood them and believed them and wanted to become a child of God by submitting himself to the
56:33: 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
56:41: 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.
56:49: And they had even figured out just how much water it took to immerse someone in and I don't remember what the
56:55: Hebrew name for it was but it was 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.
57:05: It was important to follow that particular rite. Third, they would offer korban or a blood sacrifice of an animal.
57:11: So those three things had to be done by anyone, had to be performed on someone who wanted to become a
57:17: 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
57:28: Old Testament. This is as a preface to our look at the ordinance of baptism. So when John the
57:33: 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.
57:43: 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.
57:53: Not to the Jehovah. To Jesus to be baptized. Why would
57:58: I put Jehovah in quotes? Never do that. To the true God whom Jesus is.
58:04: 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.
58:17: 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
58:27: Lord of all. The word for baptized is actually a Greek word which means to immerse.
58:32: That is the Holy Spirit wanted to communicate. If the Holy Spirit wanted to communicate the idea of sprinkling
58:37: He had, the Holy Spirit that is, He had at His disposal perfectly good
58:43: Greek word which means to sprinkle. 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.
58:58: Every time. No exceptions. Further, when speaking of baptism, the New Testament never uses the words in a passive sense.
59:05: That is to be, someone never had the water baptized onto them. Rather the clear implication is that of immersions, submersion under the water.
59:16: 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.
59:29: Unquote. And I remember thinking when I first read that, John, what gives? He has never answered.
59:36: I don't have his email address. Devoting ourselves to Christ demands it.
59:43: Demands our obedience to this. It is a command of Christ. It is a loving command of Christ.
59:49: And it is a loving response that he is looking for. Number five, baptizing, baptism marks a new way of life and a genuine commitment to the
59:59: 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
01:00:08: Lord Jesus Christ. Romans chapter 6 verses 3 and 4. Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
01:00:16: 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
01:00:23: Father, we too might walk in newness of life. Walking in newness of life.
01:00:29: Spoken of this morning in Sunday school about walking in Ephesians especially starting with chapter 4. Our method of living changes at salvation.
01:00:39: We declare it to the world at baptism. I no longer am walking in that old life.
01:00:45: I am now walking in this new life by the power of the Spirit that lives in me. And here in Romans chapter 6 is that wondrous symbolism that occurs when one is baptized.
01:00:57: A person is immersed into the water symbolizing the death of the Lord Jesus Christ who died for us.
01:01:02: Then that person is raised from the water symbolizing the resurrection from the dead of the Lord Jesus Christ.
01:01:08: 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
01:01:16: God, the sovereign God who saved us in the first place. And our baptism is a beautiful picture of that and it tells the world that we truly believe that there is no king but King Jesus in our lives.
01:01:30: 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.
01:01:49: It's just I've got to be really careful because something happened to me at about 35. I got really weird.
01:01:56: I can't sing through Amazing Grace without tears. I was so tough when I was young I could sing all the way through it twice.
01:02:05: Not anymore. So that's number five. It marks a newer way of life and shows a genuine commitment to the
01:02:12: Lord Jesus Christ. To the world. Baptism, number six, does not regenerate.
01:02:19: It doesn't make us something. Rome teaches that baptism is the sacrament of regeneration through water in the word.
01:02:29: In the Catechism, section 12 .13, 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.
01:02:42: 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.
01:02:50: Baptism is the sacrament of regeneration through water in the word. Close quote.
01:02:57: False. It is a wonderful thing, but it is none of those.
01:03:02: This comes from the Council of Florence in the Roman Catechism number two. If a
01:03:08: Catholic dies before being baptized, the combination of desire, repentance, and works will assure their salvation.
01:03:16: Section 12 .59, 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.
01:03:38: I have four words. Thief on the cross. Or five words.
01:03:45: The thief on the cross. What about him? We'll get back to him.
01:03:52: What a great... A life of sin punished by a
01:03:58: 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.
01:04:10: He was given the universe, and all he was required was belief.
01:04:17: He believed. He believed. Okay, that's another sermon for another time. Baptismal regenerationists point to a four -part formula for salvation.
01:04:25: Believe, repent, confess, and be baptized. For the purposes of this message, it would be impossible for me to go into all the points that are raised by baptismal regenerationists.
01:04:37: People who believe that you are saved by baptism. You are not saved by baptism. You are saved by the death, burial, and resurrection of the
01:04:44: Lord Jesus Christ and your belief in it. And that is it. Baptism is a command for obedience.
01:04:53: And we do that out of love for Christ. When interpreting the Scripture, one must also always filter one's interpretation through the lens of other
01:05:00: Scripture. There are multiple verses in the Bible that speak of faith being all that is necessary for salvation.
01:05:07: So what do you think the word all means here? Most? Some?
01:05:16: Important? No, it's one of those times when the word all means all. All that is necessary is for belief, faith, and belief.
01:05:34: Repentance is a result of the regeneration of the Holy Spirit. And by the giving of Him to us, faith, in order to believe.
01:05:46: 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.
01:05:52: This well -taught group knows that. But it's good stuff to go over. Who among us would have done it first?
01:05:59: Would have sought God? None among us. He sought us. What a blessing. Because salvation is all the work of God and the pride of man must be suppressed in every respect in recognizing this, it is clear that the
01:06:12: Scripture teaches that only faith is necessary. Baptism is important. It is a following in obedience to a command of Christ.
01:06:19: But it is not what saves us. It is not necessary for salvation. Believing we are saved.
01:06:26: As a result of that, salvation confers responsibilities. And one of those responsibilities is in fact baptism.
01:06:33: And so baptism is closely linked with salvation but it is not a requirement for salvation.
01:06:39: Scripture carefully teaches that belief is necessary for salvation and that unbelief indeed proves lack of salvation.
01:06:48: There is no verse in the Bible that postulates that belief, that no baptism equals no salvation.
01:06:54: Let me say that again. There is no Scripture in the Bible that postulates that no baptism equals no salvation.
01:07:02: There are many that teach that no belief equals no salvation. No belief equals no salvation.
01:07:09: We believe in the one who gave us this life freely. Number five, baptism is for those who can trust
01:07:19: 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, close quote.
01:07:38: They further teach that approximately the age of 12 or 13 a child is then confirmed. I went through confirmation when
01:07:44: 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.
01:07:54: 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. But this is approximately at the age of 12 or 13 the child is then confirmed, which finishes the work that baptism started.
01:08:06: That is their belief. The early reformers taught infant baptism and sadly in some cases even required the life of those who taught otherwise.
01:08:19: The anabaptists or the rebaptizers were targeted and in many cases killed just for believing and acting upon the belief that baptism required understanding.
01:08:29: Unfortunately both the Roman Catholic Church and those early reformers, some of them, participated in this.
01:08:35: The merging of the church with the state facilitated this and fortunately we do not have that today. One of the early ideas was that baptism was a replacement for circumcision.
01:08:45: There is nothing in the scripture that indicates this. There is never an infant baptism spoken of in the
01:08:50: New Testament. Circumcision was a sign that one belonged to the Jewish nation. It was not a sign of salvation.
01:08:58: Then as now, faith is the doorway to salvation. Paul's epistle to the
01:09:05: Galatians shreds this idea because were baptism to be associated with circumcision,
01:09:14: Paul could simply have told the Judaizers that baptism had replaced circumcision. Most likely because they were a legalist group, that form of legalism would have been just as acceptable to them as the other forms they were proposing.
01:09:28: Scripture is clear. Salvation is by grace through faith alone and even that faith is a gift from the
01:09:34: 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
01:09:43: Father should they experience an untimely death. We must not let external concerns override the need for proper hermeneutical exposition of the scriptures.
01:09:53: 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,
01:10:01: 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.
01:10:11: 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.
01:10:23: 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.
01:10:29: And he said this in 2 Samuel 12 22 and 23, he said while the child was still alive
01:10:36: I fasted and wept for I said who knows the Lord may be gracious to me that the child may live.
01:10:43: Verse 23 But now he has died, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him but he will not return to me.
01:10:53: David's baby was in the arms of Christ and David knew that. Last point, baptism is a public confession of faith.
01:11:08: Now there were times in history and most certainly will be times again where baptism was a little bit or a whole lot dangerous because by baptism the local journalists knew that oh he's one of those one of those extremists he's one of those
01:11:27: Christians we need to report this to the authorities. And when they did that many were killed, they lost their goods, they were exiled they were imprisoned for baptism because baptism made everybody know this was a follower of Christ.
01:11:46: 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.
01:11:57: By the way baptism is not mentioned there. For with the heart a person believes resulting in righteousness and with the mouth he confesses resulting in salvation.
01:12:07: Believe and confess you will be saved. This is the love of God salvation holy of him for him and do we not get some benefit out of that salvation?
01:12:21: Some benefit? 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
01:12:34: Lord Jesus Christ, to follow the living God, to follow and be controlled by the Holy Spirit.
01:12:40: 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 and they were willing to make that public confession because of their love for Christ.
01:12:58: It's loving obedience that a believer gives back to Christ as if you will a sweet I don't want to get too symbolic here but a sweet aroma to him that they love him and they obeyed him.
01:13:13: This is what baptism is. 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.
01:13:22: If you have been baptized, rejoice. If you have not and you have come to faith in Christ, you need to talk with myself,
01:13:31: Dave Rich, Jess, Jess has already left or Jim Osmond about the class on baptism and possibly even soon enough the actual baptism which is in the bulletin so you can consult your bulletin for those things.
01:13:48: Christ gives everything and asks some things and then he gives us the grace and the power to do those things.
01:13:57: Why would we not? Let's pray. Father we are so grateful for your love your love through your son the
01:14:08: 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.
01:14:20: 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.
01:14:29: You have made those things to be a blessing eventually and something for us to give more glory and obedience and exaltation to you.
01:14:40: Thank you for the gift of salvation. Thank you for requiring the obedience of a baptism of love and obedience to the
01:14:49: 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.
01:14:58: And it's in your name we pray. Amen. Let's stand and end our service this morning and sing
01:15:14: Christ our hope in life and death. What is our hope in life and death
01:15:28: Christ alone Christ alone What is our only confidence that our souls to him belong
01:15:41: Who holds our days within his hand What comes apart from his command
01:15:49: And what will keep us to the end The love of Christ in which we stand
01:16:00: Oh sing Hallelujah Our hope springs eternal
01:16:09: Oh sing Hallelujah Now and ever we confess
01:16:17: Christ our hope in life and death What truth can calm the troubled soul
01:16:31: God is good God is good Where is his grace and goodness known
01:16:39: In our grave change Redeemer's blood Who holds our faith when fears arise
01:16:48: Who stands above the stormy trial Who sends the waves that bring us nigh
01:16:56: Unto the shore the rock of Christ Oh sing
01:17:04: Hallelujah Oh sing
01:17:12: Hallelujah Now and ever we confess
01:17:19: Christ our hope in life and death Unto the grave what will we see
01:17:33: Christ he lives Christ he lives And what reward will heaven bring
01:17:42: Everlasting life with him There we will rise to meet the
01:17:49: Lord Then sin and death will be destroyed And we will feast and have the joy when
01:17:59: Christ is ours forevermore Oh sing
01:18:07: Hallelujah Our hope springs eternal
01:18:14: Oh sing Hallelujah Now and ever we confess
01:18:21: Christ our hope in life and death Oh sing
01:18:26: Hallelujah Our hope springs eternal
01:18:33: Oh sing Hallelujah Now and ever we confess
01:18:41: Christ our hope in life and death Now and ever we confess
01:18:48: Christ our hope in life and death And the grace of our