A Pattern for Baptism (Acts)

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Last week we finished up a long series on the book of Hebrews and we're going to dive into the next series in due time. In fact, one of the first people to see me this morning immediately asked me. So what's what's your next book?

Actually, they asked is it the book of Jude and It's not the book of Jude to disappoint anybody thought it might be the book of Jude. It's not going to be the book of Jude. But instead over the course of the next couple months, I'm going to put together something of kind of a potpourri of different messages.

We could just call it a summer potpourri series other churches do like summer movie series themes or you know Campaign for giving or whatever it is. This is just going to be a potpourri of different messages kind of an eclectic blend of things that have been rattling around and rattling about in my own heart and mind over the course of the last several months and things that I have preached elsewhere and thought I really wish that I had an opportunity to share this at church and since I never really depart from a series kind of once we jump into a book except for resurrection Sunday and Christmastime or special events like a like baptism.

I really try not to deviate from that and just throw messages in kind of Whenever they pop into my head, so this is going to be my opportunity to do that. So here's I Know that fall really doesn't officially start till the end of September.

But in North Idaho, it kind of starts with Labor Day 1st of September. That's when we start thinking about fall. So the next series will be in fall start that at first week of September. But until then here I want to give you a little bit of an idea of what's up in the next few weeks.

Baptism, Elders, Communion, and the Upcoming Fall Schedule

Today because we have a baptism class next Sunday and then a baptism service next month today. We're gonna look at baptism in the book of Acts both the command to be baptized as well as the pattern that we see there.

Then next Sunday, I'm going to preach on the subject of elders and defending the flock from the book of Acts Paul's Charge to the elders of Ephesus where he says be on guard for yourselves and for the whole flock among which the Holy Spirit has Made you overseers.

We just talked about elders in Hebrews 13. I kind of kept wanting to deviate off into that subject. But in order to Not to exasperate you I kind of kept it focused and I thought well do that during the potpourri series.

So that's the what we're doing now. This will look eclectic blend and then the following Sunday is the first Sunday in August. So since we're kind of talking about church ordinances. We're gonna have a message on the subject of communion.

Why we take it what it means when we should take it when we shouldn't take it what the warning means. Whether children should take communion, etc. I'm gonna kind of tackle that from 1st Corinthians 11.

That's a message I preached to I think two other times in 30 years of ministry and it's kind of come up on the the decade clock. It's time to revisit that again. So we're gonna do that the first Sunday in August.

Then I'll be gone a Sunday in August be back. I don't know what that message is gonna be. But it'll be something sort of fits with the potpourri theme and then I'll be gone another Sunday in August and then we're in September.

So that's what we have ahead. Like it or not if you want to sit those out. D I would understand but then oh then in September what we're gonna do is we're gonna be in a series in the Psalms. Now calm down.

Not all the Psalms it's just gonna be probably four Psalms maybe five Psalms that will sort of take us through the end of the year and. Then after the first of the year, we'll do something else. So you're in the book of Acts chapter 2.

The Command to Be Baptized in Acts 2

We're gonna look today at the command to be baptized and the pattern of baptism in the book of Acts. Just to turn our thoughts and our hearts toward obeying this command of Christ and and what that looked like in the early church.

We turn to Acts chapter 2 because this is the first instance of baptism in the book of Acts. And and here's what we're going to do today. We're gonna look at every Recorded instance of baptism in the book of Acts.

So someone asked me today what them what what we're starting today. I'm preaching through the whole book of Acts. But we're just looking at the baptisms that are recorded in the book and we're just going to observe the pattern that is there.

We're going to observe what they do and why they do what they do any Explanations about baptism that are provided in that book and we're just going to see every last one of them here. It's going to be a little bit.

You can tell that we're going to be flipping through the entire book. But you'll begin to see a pattern emerge as we do this. So we begin with Acts chapter 2 and last year during our baptism service, which we had I think in July or August I preached from this passage that we're going to be looking at today.

But I specifically answered the issue of verses 38 and 39 which seemed to indicate that baptism is necessary for salvation. Where Peter says 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 Holy Spirit and we just talked last year about what that means what Peter meant by that is it Necessary for one to be baptized in order to be saved and if that's a question for you I would just point you back to that message.

We're not going to deal with that today. In fact, there's going to be passages here where you're gonna it's gonna raise some questions in your mind. I want you to understand. I am aware of the questions that exist.

But if we were to stop and deal with those in every passage. We would never get through today. And if you're interested in the book of Acts, by the way I preached and this is like when there are probably four people here that were here when I preached through the book of Acts.

That was a while ago. It was before John. It was three and a half years and where we dealt with all of these passages in depth. So if you have questions about any of these subjects, I would refer you back to that series of messages.

All right in Acts chapter 2. This is a bit of the context. It is the beginning of the church. It is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy regarding the coming of the Spirit and the dawning of the Messianic Age.

Which we live in that now we don't live in the Messianic Kingdom, but we live in the Beginnings or the the time of the Messianic Age when the Messiah has arrived and he has done his salvific work. Ascended to the Father's right hand and promised to come again to judge the living and the dead.

And so now we live in the era of the church that era begins in Acts chapter 2 With the pouring out of the Holy Spirit and that was the beginning of the church. The promise that is mentioned in verse 39 of Acts 2 is the pouring out of the Spirit.

He is identified as the promised spirit in Luke's gospel. Luke is also the author of Acts and the Spirit is identified as that which was promised back in Acts chapter 1. So what is promised there is not the fulfillment of Abrahamic Covenant.

But the promise mentioned in verse 39 is the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. Peter preached a sermon in verses 14 through 36 in which he indicted the people for their sin and Proclaimed the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Then of course, he argues from two Psalms Psalm 16 and Psalm 110 that those Psalms look forward to and anticipate resurrection and he makes the claim that David speaking of not being abandoned to the grave was not speaking of himself since his grave was in Jerusalem at that very time.

But rather that he was looking forward to and speaking of the Messiah who was to come. So Peter now has indicted them for their sin talked about the the crucifixion their part in the crucifixion. This man attests to you by signs and miracles.

You put to death by the hands of godly men and now ungodly godless men ungodly men and now God has raised him up again. According to the scriptures. Now we get to verse 37 and just observe what is here and what is unfolding.

Now when they heard this they were peers to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the Apostles brethren What shall we do? 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 Holy Spirit for the promise that's reference to the Holy Spirit is for you and your children and for all who are far off as Many as the Lord our God will call to himself that promise is not for any whom the Lord does not call to himself.

But all those called by the Lord that is drawn by the Father to the Son those Granted repentance and granted faith whom God brings to himself those ones received the Holy Spirit and believe Verse 40 and with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them saying be saved from this perverse generation.

So then those who had received his word were baptized and that day there were added about 3 ,000 souls. Now who is it that were baptized from verse 41? Those who had received or believed his word these are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ who are part of the New Covenant and by the way the Holy Spirit is the sign of the New Covenant the Spirit is given to Believers in the New Covenant era that is the sign in the ceiling of the New Covenant and what makes the New Covenant so much Superior to the Old Covenant is that in the New Covenant only believers are in that Covenant.

The Old Covenant was a covenant with a nation in which you had yes adults and children and believers and unbelievers and even Gentile proselytes who came into that and Made themselves Jews by virtue of their outward customs.

But in the New Covenant, it is only believers. It is only those who are filled with the Spirit who have believed upon Christ who are members of the New Covenant. So now you have a group of people who have crucified Christ.

They have rejected him scorned him. In fact, they asked for a murderer to be given release instead of Jesus of Nazareth. So they are guilty and Peter has indicted them for their guilt and pointed out what they did.

They did this in spite of all of the signs and wonders that Jesus had done. Demonstrating that he was the Messiah and now having having confronted them with that sin now They're asking what must we do to be saved?

And so Peter lays it on them they must repent and be baptized each of them in the name of Jesus Christ. And Repentance and belief are used sometimes together in acts sometimes apart from each other in acts.

Sometimes one and not the other because there are two sides of the same coin. What God demands is a repentant faith and a faith filled repentance. That is a repentance that turns from idols from sin to Christ but it is a is a repentance that is motivated by faith and God doesn't demand just faith without repentance because the faith that saves is a faith that turns from sin.

So Peter says you have to in essence believe Repent and turn from your sin. And so what were they to do after they repented and turned from their sin? They were to be baptized now. I want you to understand that the Apostles did not make up the idea of baptism out of whole cloth.

It's not like they were sitting there on the day of Pentecost and had a bunch of wicked Jews come up and Sarah. What must we do now? We recognize we've killed the Messiah. So what shall we do? And Then John turns to Peter said I don't know what maybe we should let's dip him in water.

Maybe. And Peter said I never thought of dipping him water, but that sounds as good as any. It was a dip in the water because that's what we will do. That's not how baptism came to be. There was already baptism being practiced in in some circles in Judy in Judaism itself as a symbol of ceremonial cleansing.

And of course John the Baptist had come on the scene and was baptizing people with the baptism of repentance. Calling upon them to to repent so they're already familiar with this this idea of Immersing people in water and in fact, they're just obeying when they can make this command.

They're just obeying what Jesus told them to do in Matthew 28 verses 18 to 20. Jesus came up and spoke to them saying 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 Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe all that I commanded you and lo I'm with you always even to the end of the age. That was their commission at the end of Luke's gospel.

Luke says now he said to them. These are my words which I spoke to you while I was still with you. That all things which are written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.

Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures and he said to them. Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day and that repentance. For the forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem.

Your witnesses of these things and behold I'm sending forth the promise of my father upon you. Notice the reference to promise the promise of the father was the Holy Spirit. But you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.

Now this event Pentecost was the very event that Jesus had predicted back in Luke chapter 24. So we read in Acts chapter 1. He said to them it's not for you to know the times of the epochs. What's the father has fixed by his own authority, but you'll receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you.

And you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and even to the remotest parts of the earth. So they were to preach Christ they were to to preach the gospel and Those who repented and believed were to be baptized in keeping with the command of Christ.

And so that's what they did verse 41 of our passage. So then those who had received his word were baptized and that day there were added about 3 ,000 souls. Now he had called upon them to repent and then he calls upon them to be baptized.

Why. Because baptism Identified them with the Savior that they had rejected. This is why it is key in Acts chapter 2. He is speaking to a group of people who had scorned and reproved and rebuked their Messiah.

Wanted nothing and put him to death at the hands of godless men. Those are the people to whom he is speaking and now he is saying to them this one whom you have scorned and Rebuked and reproved and cast off.

He is the one in whose name you must now be baptized. In other words, he is calling upon them to declare and to proclaim publicly Their faith in Christ and their allegiance to the very one they had crucified.

So this would have been a stumbling block and that day about 3 ,000 souls were added to them because those who received the word. That is those who believed and were saved that day were baptized. So who was baptized in Acts chapter 2?

Believers were baptized those who received the word were baptized people who Understood the news of salvation in Jesus Christ and the forgiveness of sins. They believed that they embraced that and received that word and then they were baptized.

Baptism in Samaria, the Ethiopian Eunuch, and Saul of Tarsus

Turned down to Acts chapter 8. There's a lot of time we spent on one but it gets faster as we move through this Acts chapter 8. Saul of Tarsus had been persecuting the church in Jerusalem the 3 ,000 that we just observed there.

He has been persecuting them and so that spread believers out through surrounding regions. And now you begin to see the as Jesus described in Acts chapter 1 verse 8. The gospel begins to go from Jerusalem and Judea to Samaria and to the remotest parts of the earth.

This is the trajectory of the book of Acts. It does that very thing of the church in Jerusalem. Then you have believers in Samaria and then the Apostle Paul takes the gospel to the remotest parts of the earth.

So here we have it going to the Samaritans the gospel in Acts 8 beginning at verse 4. Therefore those who had been scattered went about preaching the word. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began proclaiming Christ to them.

The crowds with one accord were giving attention to what was said by Philip as they heard and saw the signs which he was performing. Now look down at verse 12. But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ.

They were being baptized men and women alike even Simon himself believed and after being baptized He continued on with Philip and as he observed the signs and the great miracles taking place. He was constantly amazed.

So who was baptized? Again in Samaria, it was believers. They were giving attention. They were paying attention to what was being taught. They received the word and believed and they were being baptized.

They.

Heard him and believed Philip preaching the good news about Jesus Christ and the name of Christ in the kingdom of God and those who Believed were then baptized men and women alike. By the way I think it's interesting that Luke identifies It was men and women alike because the men were not being baptized on behalf of their entire household including their wives.

It was men and women who were being baptized together. Indicating that now you have Equal heirs of the kingdom of God in terms of salvation inside the kingdom so that both men and women Are called upon to obey Christ in baptism.

Look down at verse 26. The next instance is the Ethiopian eunuch. Verse chapter 8 verse 26. But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza.

That is a desert road. So he got up and went and there was an Ethiopian eunuch a court official of Candace Queen of the Ethiopians who was in charge of all her treasure and he had come to Jerusalem to worship and he was returning and Sitting in his chariot and was reading the prophet Isaiah.

Then the Spirit said to Philip go up and join this chariot. Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and said do you understand what you're reading? And he said well, how could I unless someone guides me.

And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now this is amazing. Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this. He was led as a sheep to the slaughter and as a lamb before its shearer is silent.

So he does not open his mouth in Humiliation. His judgment was taken away. Who will relate his generation for his life is removed from the earth. Just so happens that the Ethiopian eunuch was not reading about Isaiah's Commission or any one of the Prophecies that deal dealt with Moab or the Philistines or the Edomites or any other Egypt or any other nation?

It was reading a prophecy about Jesus Christ written 700 years before Jesus lived in fact a prophecy that described his substitutionary and sacrificial death on the cross. The eunuch verse 34 answered Philip and said please tell me of whom does the Prophet say this of himself or of someone else?

Then Philip opened his mouth and beginning from this scripture He preached Jesus to him and as they went along the road they came to some water and the eunuch said look water. What prevents me from being baptized.

And Philip said if you believe with all your heart you may. And he answered and said I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he ordered the chariot to stop and they both went down into the water.

Philip as well as the eunuch He baptized him when they came up out of the water the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away and the eunuch no longer saw Him but went on his way rejoicing now. What is the qualification for baptism.

Look water? What prevents me from being baptized? So what does Philip say if you believe with all your heart you may. That's verse 37. So who qualifies in the passage for baptism if you believe with all your heart.

And The man makes a credible confession of faith because Philip has explained the Word of God to him given him the gospel. This man sees it. He's obviously understands it and he wants to identify with this one in the passage in baptism and he wants to know is there anything that would keep me from being baptized.

And Philip says if you believe with all your heart you May and immediately he is baptized. The word baptized by the way is Transliteration of the word baptizo, which means to dip or to dunk which says something about the the meaning of that word.

If it had been Translated instead of transliterated there would be a lot less confusion about proper modes of baptism. Which we'll get to that here in just a moment. Now turn to Acts chapter 9. This is now Saul of Tarsus after his conversion the Apostle Paul chapter 9 verse 17.

So Ananias departed and entered the house and after laying his hands on him said brother Saul the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.

And Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales and he regained his sight and he got up and was baptized and he took food. And was strengthened. Now if you're familiar with the context of that you understand Paul was a persecutor of the church.

He had was going house-to-house even on his way at that moment with letters from the high priest to arrest those in Damascus who had called upon the name of Christ. He was persecuting the church and he of course had a face-to-face radical encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus which altered the course of his life and then he sat stunned until Ananias came didn't eat.

It was just that wrecked him and Ananias arrived and as an obedience to a vision baptized the Apostle Paul. And now you have in Acts chapter 9 one who was persecuting the church who is now Identifying with the church and even this man is being obedient to the command to get baptized.

Cornelius, Lydia, the Philippian Jailer, and Crispus

Then turn to Acts chapter 10. Acts chapter 10 is the account of since in of the Italian cohort verse 1 says. And The Apostle Peter brings the gospel now to a man named Cornelius. So in Acts chapter 2 you have the gospel going to the Jews and Jews are being baptized.

And then you have in Acts chapter 8 the gospel going to the Samaritans which were sort of hybrid Jew Gentile Half breeds as it were. Intermingling Jews and Gentiles they believe and they are baptized.

You have the Ethiopian eunuch who is this sort of lone lone convert out in the desert who is baptized? And now you have the gospel going to Gentiles. There are some people by the way who argue that baptism was a Jewish ordinance and the Gentiles were not baptized and that Paul never would have baptized.

Paul didn't think it was necessary. That was really just for the early church. That's not true here. You have a Jewish Apostle Peter who is baptizing a believing Gentile in Acts chapter 10. We skip forward to where Cornelius responds to the gospel after Peter speaks of Jesus and his miracles as message.

So look down at verse 39. We are witnesses of all the things he did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put him to death by hanging him on a cross. God raised him up on the third day and granted that he become visible not to all the people but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God that is to us who ate and drank with him after he arose from the dead and He ordered us to preach to the people and solemnly to testify that this is the one who has been appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead of Him.

All the prophets bear witness that through his name everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins now. All of that is the good news of the gospel. That Christ was attested to all the people by signs and wonders proving himself to be the Messiah.

But the Jews put him on a cross hung him there at the hands of godless men. But God raised him up and granted that he become visible to witnesses who saw him. Those witnesses then are sent to proclaim that Jesus Christ is the one appointed by God as the judge of the living and the dead and he will return again and he will judge all men.

But now God has a time of clemency a time of Grace in which you may be forgiven for your sins if you will come to this one who was crucified in the place of sinners. Cornelius obviously believed that because verse 44 says.

While Peter was still speaking these words. The Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message. All the circumcised believers who came with Peter were amazed. Because the gift of the Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also a little bit of a side note.

Why were they amazed that somebody would believe the gospel? No, but that these Gentiles would manifest the exact same spirit the same spiritual gifts that the Apostles did in Acts chapter 2. They were not amazed that somebody would believe the gospel.

But they were amazed that Gentiles would receive the Holy Spirit. The Spirit was being poured out on Gentiles this they Weren't quite ready to to deal with just what you see from the next chapter. I just this is not in my notes.

But this I think I have a little bit of time for this where the other Apostles called Peter and say hey Give an account of what you did gospel to Gentiles since when are we in that business and Peter said look I I went there I preached the Spirit fell on them.

They spoke in tongues just like us and then that the Apostles go. I Guess God has granted to the Gentiles also repentance that leads to life. Like what can we do about it? That's what Peter says who am I to stand in the way if God gave them the same gift that he gave to us?

This was evidence now that this gospel is going out of Judea and out of Samaria and now it's wide open for everybody. So Gentiles now can be saved Verse 46 for they were hearing them speaking with tongues and exalting God then Peter answered surely.

No one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did can he? Ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay on for a few days.

What was the qualification for someone to be baptized in Acts chapter 10? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we did. Cornelius believed He was saved and indwelt by the Spirit and therefore Peter said we should Baptize him.

This is what Christ has commanded us to do. So who is to be baptized those who have believed those who have received the Holy Spirit? Cornelius obviously is saved apart from baptism because he is saved and filled with the Spirit and manifests a spiritual gift Before he is baptized.

So baptism is not necessary for salvation because Cornelius was saved before he was baptized. Turn to Acts chapter 16. We have the account of Lydia. Lydia's the first convert on the continent of Europe.

This is Paul on his second missionary journey came to Macedonia. Acts chapter 16. They went outside the city of Philippi to the river where Jews met for worship outside the city gates and there Paul was preaching the gospel verse 14.

Acts chapter 16 a woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira a seller of purple fabrics a worshiper of God was Listening and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. And when she and her household had been baptized She urged us saying if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord come into my house and stay.

And he and she prevailed upon us now who was baptized. She heard the Lord opened her heart, which means that she responded. That's what verse 14 says she responded to the things spoken by Paul which would have included a Command to repent and to believe and to trust in this Savior and then she and her household had been baptized.

Now here's where it gets a little sticky because this is where the discussion of infant baptism enters the baptismal Theology because of the reference to household. And so then it is assumed that if her whole household is baptized that household must have had infants in it.

Now I have a household has no infants in it. I Had a household at one time that had no infants in it. Just because there's a household doesn't mean that infants are necessarily present in there. And it seems odd to assume that infants would have been present in this since up to this point.

We have no mention of any infants being baptized or of children being baptized at but only believers. In fact only believers who have been filled with the Holy Spirit and responded to the word that is spoken.

So the most natural assumption would be that everybody in Lydia's household believed the gospel and that's why everybody in Lydia's household was baptized. Does that include small children? It may have included her children if she had any.

The text doesn't say that she had any. The fact that she is an Industrious woman making her own living seems to suggest that she is not only wealthy because she was a seller of purple fabrics. But also it seems to suggest that she was a woman of such stature that she would have been able to have many Servants and people waiting on her in her house, and she had a household large enough to to open it up for Hospitality to all the people traveling with Paul, which means that she had some sort of a substantial means and a substantial place to stay.