Baptism-Identified with Christ

On page nine hundred and forty-two in the Bible in front of you.

What shall we say then?

Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?

By no means.

How can we who died to sin still live in it?

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

We were buried, therefore, with him by baptism unto death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

For one who has died has been set free from sin.

Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again.

Death no longer has dominion over him.

For the death he died, he died to sin, once for all.

But the life he lives, he lives to God.

So you must also consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions.

Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law, but under grace.

He will be in the week ahead.

Our God is still on the throne.

That is a glorious, foundational truth.

A truth that has consequences for us as we go through our lives.

Truth always has consequences.

This week we're going to take a break this week and next from our series on the book of James.

Next week, of course, is Easter.

How can we not talk about the resurrection on Easter Sunday morning?

Actually, it's pretty simple.

There was a friend of mine who was pastoring a church, and he said, you know, every day is Easter, and he refused to preach on the resurrection during Easter.

I thought that was kind of silly.

What better time to preach on the resurrection?

Well, next week we're going to talk about Easter very clearly.

This week as well, we're going to do something a little bit different.

We're going to talk about the biblical teaching, the truth, and the consequences of that teaching relative to baptism.

Baptism.

What I hope to do is to take a portion of God's word, especially the portion that we just had read to us.

Thank you, Deb, for reading that.

And to look at that truth and to ask ourselves what the consequences of that truth is.

So I was thinking this week, in preparation for this message, of the old TV game show, Truth or Consequences.

Now, the vast majority of you are actually old enough to remember it, and don't pretend that you didn't.

I will believe that from a few of you.

Truth or Consequences was one of the two longest-running, incredibly popular game shows.

It ran from 1950 to 1988.

For 38 years, Truth or Consequences every week was on television.

And for much of that time, Bob Barker was the host.

And that was before he became the host of the longest-running television game show, and that was Truth or Consequences.

And some of you may be fans of old-fashioned radio, or you may remember old-fashioned radio.

And before television and Truth or Constance came along, there was a radio program of the same name.

And Ralph Edwards was the host of that, and that ran from 1940 to 1956, which means that Truth or Consequences, be it on radio or television, has been a part of our popular culture.

And some of you say that's popular culture.

Listen, Truth or Consequences, which ran all together for 48 years, was as influential and was wildly popular, and this new Johnny Come Lately of American Idol doesn't even doesn't even match up to the popularity that Truth or Consequences had.

It really doesn't.

But it was that significant.

The show Truth or Consequences was really pretty simple.

There would be a contestant, either chosen from the audience or maybe arranged ahead of time, who was brought up, and Bob Barker or whoever happened to be the host in that particular year would pose a question.

And the questions that were posed were either incredibly silly or incredibly hard.

But the point was it was almost impossible for the contestant to give a right answer.

But if they didn't speak the truth and give the right answer, then they had to face the consequences.

And it was the consequences which what the show was all about.

So they had to do either embarrassing or outlandish things.

Just to give you a feel of it, one of the uh uh one of the episodes of Truth and Consequences, there was a man who failed to tell the truth, to give the right answer to whatever the question was.

And so the consequence was that he, there in front of the live audience and broadcast live all the way across the nation, had to act as though, had to pretend that he was making romantic advances to a seal.

And so he was going through these contortions, and of course the audience thought that was really funny.

And finally he got it down pat, how to kiss a seal, an imaginary seal, and stroke it, and you know, all the that kind of stuff.

And just as he thought it was done, uh the host went and brought in a live seal and had him make romantic advances to the seal, and the place went wild.

I mean, this was just the funniest thing that had ever happened.

Uh my, how humor has changed.

Uh, the things we find funny now in comparison.

But the the point of that, really, is that truth does have consequences, whether we get it right or we get it wrong.

And what I would like to try to do is to talk about the biblical truth of baptism, uh water baptism, and that is the outward sign of an inner reality, a spirit baptism, our identification with Christ.

I want to talk about both that inner reality and the outer expression of it in water baptism.

Now, a month from now, uh we're going to have, Lord willing, uh as part of our Sunday morning service, um some baptisms here.

So the piano will be moved away, those panels, which you may or may not be able to see in the platform, will be removed, and what is hidden down there is a baptismal tank.

And uh we will have as part of our service a baptism.

And this message is not specifically designed as a recruitment for baptismal candidates.

However, um, should you feel led, and I hope you will if you are a believer and have not been baptized, uh, then just see me or see Greg or see Scott, and uh there'll be a time or two where uh we could get together with you and talk through, make sure uh your understanding of a baptism and exactly what's going to happen here.

But in lieu of doing it over here this morning, I'm going to baptize a couple of objects uh over here.

That's what this is set up for, but hold on, uh it's not quite time for you to uh uh to uh to see that.

But so it's the truth of baptism that we want to look at this morning and see what the scriptures say about it.

My goal is, as it always is, is to go to the scriptures and and and bring the scriptures, the teaching of the word of God to light, and then bring our lives in contact with the truth.

And the truth of God always, always has consequences for us.

And uh we want to look at both the truth and the consequences of the biblical teaching on baptism.

Now, baptism has been practiced by uh Christians from day one, actually.

We'll be looking at a moment for a moment, uh, in a moment, at the baptism of Christ, but uh by John the Baptist.

But from the beginning, baptism, bapt water baptism has been a part of what Christians have done.

There's lots of different ways, different modes that it has been done.

Sometimes there is sprinkling, sometimes there was pouring.

Some of the early Christian art from the second and third century portrays someone either sitting or kneeling in shallow water and a pitcher of water being poured over their head.

That was one way of doing it.

Baptism by immersion of dunking has been done in all kinds of different settings.

From big fancy churches with stained, beautiful stained glass.

It's just a shame that uh we're gonna find a way.

We're working on uh screens so we don't have to hide this beautiful stained glass behind us.

But it's been done in cathedrals, it's been done in megachurches, it's been done in muddy rivers, it's been done in streams in Africa and India.

Um the last church that Jane and I uh were in was on South Padre Island in Texas, and their baptisms were held on the beach on Sunday morning in uh the Gulf of Mexico.

And so there would be 40 or 50 people out there surrounded by everybody who was there on the beach for the day in various stages of dress and undress.

And it was this phenomenal thing, very public, and it really drew a crowd, um, and it was really a testimony.

And you see, baptism is designed to be an outward expression or testimony of something that is real on the inside.

Uh, another church I served in, um, we rented out the local swimming pool on a Sunday afternoon.

And uh in that church the tradition was everybody wore a white uh shirt and pants or a gown or something, and boy, that drew some attention uh at the public pool uh on that Sunday.

Um another church uh where I served, uh baptisms were done in the backyard pool of one of the members, and it was a great celebration.

It was a big family event.

Uh the little kids looked forward to it because until I got there, what they looked forward to with baptism was they could go swimming afterwards.

Uh I put a stop to that, but you know, uh an hour or so after the baptism service, sure.

But the baptism service was not an introduction to a swim class.

The baptism service, the act of baptism, is an outward display of something that has already happened to us on the inside.

Something that's normally not visible, at least not at first.

That deep inner transformation that takes place when we come to faith in Christ.

It's usually initially hidden.

And the act of baptism is an outward picture, uh, an outward demonstration, an outward testimony of that inner change that has already taken place in someone's life.

Um so the truth about baptism, uh, it's an important biblical practice that has been known and practiced throughout history in all different kinds of ways.

The way we do it here, hidden away in a sanctuary, uh, in a church on Sunday morning where we remove the panels and see the tub, that's just one way of doing it.

It's a good way of doing it, it's not the only way of doing it.

But it's always been part of the Christian faith.

Uh, after all, uh, Jesus himself was baptized.

That's a significant fact.

I'd ask you to turn for just a minute to Matthew chapter 3, verses 13 to 16, and I'd like to read for you about Jesus' own baptism.

Matthew 3:13–16

Part of the reason why believers are baptized is in following Christ, and Christ submitted to this act of baptism.

So we read in Matthew chapter 3, verses 13 and following.

Matthew 3:13

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan, to the river.

Took place in a muddy river.

Uh, came to John, John the Baptist.

No surprise there.

John to be baptized by him.

John would have prevented him saying, I need to be baptized you, and do you come uh by you, and do you come to me?

So John didn't think it was quite appropriate for the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world to be baptized.

And it's very interesting what Jesus says, verse 15.

Jesus answered John, Let it be so for now.

Just chill out, John.

Just let it be.

Okay?

And then what he says is very significant.

He says, For thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.

And then John consented.

We really need to stop and think about that.

Now, Christians, Christ followers, have this wonderful and I believe divinely intended habit of doing things a little bit the way Jesus did them.

For example, uh, believers are commanded to take up their cross daily and follow him.

Now, we don't take up our cross exactly the way Jesus took up his cross, and yet there is something right and righteous uh about a believer taking up our cross and following him.

Now we could expand on that, we'll do that another time, but believers, believers are to do some of the things that Jesus did.

Another thing that believers are told to do is to, when we wrestle with problems, when we're all but overwhelmed with the struggle, um, like Jesus on the night before he was crucified, wept as it were tears of blood, uh, and struggling with obedience to the Father's will.

Almost bizarre to think about.

The Son of God had to struggle and say, Not my will, but your will, O Father, be done.

And Christians, Christ followers are to follow Christ in a similar thing.

And it's right and righteous when we struggle and we know God is wanting something of us that is hard or painful or whatever, to say, Not my will, but your will be done.

And in the same way, uh believers, the disciples of Christ, are commanded to baptize and to be baptized.

Turn for just a minute to Matthew 28, the final page of Matthew's gospel.

Matthew 28, verses 18 and following, the Great Commission.

Matthew 28:18

Um the Great Commission, right up there with sharing your faith, is baptism.

It's a little bit surprising to us.

We don't think in these categories.

So, uh, verse 18 of Matthew 28, Jesus came up to the disciples and said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.

Now, we we think of this correctly so as the Great Commission, the assignment, marching orders for believers.

And uh a few weeks ago, uh Daryl Thompson was here, and he spoke on this, the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.

And he rightly said, there's really one exhortation here, one command, and that is to make disciples.

And then three aspects of making disciples.

Going, make disciples, baptizing, make disciples, teaching to obey, make disciples.

And then we go on with other things, but why baptism?

Why is that put up there with going and teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you?

And the answer, really, uh, is that in the New Testaments, um those who were believers, those who had become believers, were the ones who were baptized.

And the ones who were baptized were the ones who had become believers.

And the two went so intimately together, not that people come to faith through the act of baptism, but as people come to faith, in the New Testament, the natural next step to show what had happened inside after repentance and faith was to be baptized.

And so to say you are to go and you are to baptize really was almost a code word for go and share the gospel and see people come to faith, and when they come to faith, they'll be baptized.

And then teach them to observe all things that I commanded you.

We don't think of baptism in that category, but it was so intimately tied in the New Testament with by grace through faith, receiving forgiveness of sin and responding to a loving God.

Baptism was the natural and typically the next thing that would almost automatically happen.

And we see this example which the early church set, uh, Acts chapter 2, verses 38 to 41.

Acts 2:38–41

This is on the day of Pentecost, the first sermon, Peter, uh, not a learned, wonderful, uh, exquisitely well spoken person, someone who, after the apostles uh spoke, they said, How is it that they are talking like this?

They never went to seminary.

Well, no, it's not what they We're saying, but they're just really simple, normal laymen, and look at what they are saying and what they are doing.

It's really interesting.

But Peter then, at the end of the message, Acts chapter 2, verse 38 and following, Peter said to them, to the crowds, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 2:38

Interesting, we'll touch on this again.

The Holy Spirit comes to us, is given to us at the time of salvation, at the beginning of our spiritual life.

Verse 39 for the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far off far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.

Repent and be baptized and receive the Holy Spirit is for everyone who calls upon the Lord.

Verse 40.

And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, Save yourself.

So this matter of salvation from the crooked generation, this is all tied to what he had just said.

So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about 3,000 souls.

What I'm trying to suggest is that although this is far removed from the way we think of things and the way we we practice things, the pattern was come to faith, repent, and believe.

God changes your heart, God gives you his Holy Spirit, and an outward manifestation of that is of that spirit baptism is water baptism.

So this is part of the truth about baptism.

Now we need to just for a moment touch on the difference between an ordinance and a sacrament.

Many of you, if you were raised in church, depending on what tradition, you hear a lot about sacraments.

We don't talk so much about sacraments in our setting.

We talk about ordinances.

And so let's just real quickly explain what the difference is.

An ordinance, and the word says something about these are the orders or the instructions that Jesus gave.

We take the instructions that Jesus gave, and these are specific acts that had a symbolic sense of expressing real truth and bringing it to light and making it visible.

We had an ordinance this morning already.

We took the Lord's Supper or took communion.

And it's just a symbol, it's just a reminder.

Nothing mysterious happens when we take the bread and we take the cup, except that it is a reminder of something that is incredibly significant.

And as Scott so well put it, the curse of God that we deserve as lawbreakers, as stubborn, sinful people, that is placed upon Christ.

He has become the curse that we ought to experience, that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

And so that little act of a cup and some bread is nothing in and of itself except to the extent that it pictures a reality of what Christ has done in our lives.

It's a way of testifying and reminding ourselves.

And so also is baptism.

It's an ordinance.

Whether you use that word or not, that's what's been meant by that.

Typically, there are two ordinances in most churches, baptism and the Lord's Supper.

There are groups that add a third, namely foot washing.

I don't know if anybody's been a part of a group or around a group, but there's some wonderful, positive, uh, gospel-focused churches that practice foot washing as well.

After all, Acts 13, Jesus said, you know, the whole thing.

I don't have a problem with that.

All I know and all we're talking about this morning really is baptism.

And it's very clear this is something that He has given to us.

Now, a sacrament adds something to that thought.

It adds the idea that in some way, this act or ritual, uh in some way that's almost mysterious, that by doing it, grace is imparted to us almost in a physical, tangible sense.

So it has the idea that the act is more than just a symbol, but it's actually something where God divinely grants us something, grace, through doing the sacrament.

This idea was kind of codified in the Council of Trent at the time of the Reformation, where the Roman Catholic Church was aghast that all of these heretics had were running around and they were doing things that weren't proper.

And so the Council of Trent was a clarification, in this case, of Roman Catholic teaching, and the issue of sacraments was talked about and was clarified.

It was a guiding conviction, as it were, of the uh the Roman Catholic Church, if you want to put it in those terms.

And it said the following this is taken from the Council of Trent, something presented to the senses, in other words, a tangible, visible kind of a thing, which has the power in and of itself by doing, it has the power by divine institution, not only of signifying, but also efficiently, efficaciously, effectively, really, truly conveying grace to the one who practices the sacrament.

So it's a bit of a different idea.

Um we uh understand baptism to be an outward sign of an inward reality that is already taking place.

If if you do a cannonball in the baptismal tank in a month, I was talking to a man this morning who uh wants to be baptized, and he said, Can I do a cannonball?

And I said, You could probably do it in the Gulf of Mexico, but my friend, if you do a cannonball there, all the water's gonna be gone.

Um but by being baptized, there is nothing special that happens.

You are not different by having dunked in water.

It's a testimony to a difference that has already taken place.

And you can be baptized without that inner reality, but it's not a baptism, it's just a bath.

If your heart hasn't been transformed by the gospel, the outward rite of baptism is nothing more than getting wet.

Because it doesn't do anything to us, it testifies to a reality on the inside.

So the inner truth that baptism pictures, uh, what is it an expression of?

What's the inner truth?

Well, let's look for that at our passage in Romans chapter 6, verses 3 through 7.

Romans 6:3–7

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

He's not talking here about water baptism.

He's talking about the inner reality that has already taken place in the life of a believer, of which water baptism is a picture.

And notice he puts that in past tense.

Don't you know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ were baptized into his death.

We were buried therefore with him, uh, buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead to the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

And baptism pictures a burial, a death, and a resurrection.

Death to sin and being raised to new life.

That's the inner reality of salvation, of redemption, of salvation by grace through faith.

God works deeply and truly in our lives, and we are then new creatures as a result.

We were buried, therefore, with Him by baptism and death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

You see, that's what happens when we come to faith in Christ.

We die to the old self.

There's a new us, there's a new set of inclinations, all of that.

We're dead to the old and raised to newness of life.

Verse 5, for we have been united with him, with Christ, in a death like his, and we shall surely be united with him in a resurrection like his.

We know that our old self was crucified with him.

Past tense, that's already happened for the believer, in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

For one who has died has been set free from sin.

Now, if we have died with Christ, we will also be raised with him.

And Paul keeps going on in this context.

A couple of simple things to note briefly.

Paul is not speaking about water baptism here.

He's talking about the spiritual reality.

We could call it spirit baptism because it happens at the same time and the spirit is involved in it.

He's talking about that inner reality of which water baptism is a picture.

Okay?

So this passage is not teaching water baptism.

It's talking about the real spiritual thing of us being identified with Christ.

Identified with him and in death, identified with his resurrection.

So united to him in death and in resurrection that we are new creatures.

That's the inner reality.

The context of this in the Gospel or in the book of Romans, he will soon be moving into the matter of sanctification, of new life.

And that new life has its foundation when we die to sin and are raised to the newness of life, where a new you, a new us, is born, reborn, as it were.

Verses 12 and 13.

Therefore, let not sin reign in your mortal bodies to make you obey its passions.

Don't go on presenting your members of sin as instruments of righteousness, unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God of those who have been brought from death to life and yourself, your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

What he's saying is, since this fundamental thing on the inside has happened, it is going to result in a new life, a new, a transformation.

And just as James has been telling us for weeks now, if our faith isn't resulting in changes within us, then there's something that's not real about it.

And in Paul's terms here, we will not have, if we don't have newness of life growing within us, then all we've had is the equivalent of a bath, not an inner transformation.

And the picture is that of having been identified and immersed and overwhelmed by and so surrounded by the working of God in our lives.

So he will go on and he will talk about its baptism that he's talking about is for all believers.

The believers have been baptized in this spiritual sense.

In fact, if we haven't been baptized by the Spirit, then we don't belong to Christ.

Take a look at 1 Corinthians 12, 13 sometime.

It's very clear.

And I understand that groups are saying you need to experience the baptism of the Spirit.

That's true.

You do need to.

You need to come to faith in Christ.

But if you don't have the Spirit, according to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12, 13, you don't belong to Christ.

See, this is a spiritual thing.

This is the Spirit baptism.

It happens when we come to faith in Christ.

And so he will say in Romans 8, 9, that's where he says, however, if you are in the flesh, not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you, anyone who doesn't have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

This is for believers who have already come to faith and have experienced that inner transformation.

And so at the time of salvation, there's dramatic things that happen.

I read a book at one point that I think it talked about over a hundred specific things that God does in us at the moment we pass from darkness into light, almost all of which I was oblivious to when I came to faith in Christ.

And a lot of those things I kind of take for granted.

But God does amazing things internally hidden that we may not even know about at the time, and we may only begin to express as the years go by.

There is this profound inner change, a change that baptism highlights are being identified with and drenched in Christ.

Just one final thought here before I get to do a baptism.

The words that are used in Scripture are significant.

They're not just casually given.

It's the verbal plenary inspiration of Scripture.

And the word baptism has a meaning.

We don't decide what its meaning is, we find its meaning given in the historical context and the way language was used.

And the word baptizo means to take something and dip it or dunk it, typically in a fluid of some kind.

In the upper room, when the Last Supper was being celebrated, they took the bread and they dipped it in the wine and they ate it.

In some churches, I think it's a beautiful picture, you get a cup, probably have to be a little bit bigger than the cups we use, and a piece of bread, and unless you want to get your fingers wet, the bread would have to be a little bit bigger too.

And when they when they do the Lord's Supper, they actually soak the edge of the bread.

They immerse the bread in the wine and take it.

It's that picture of dipping and immersing.

And when that bread is in the wine, it changes color and it takes on the nature of that in which it has been dipped.

And the other thought of Baptizzo, the word there, is it's an intensive word.

Either talking about repeatedly or more typically just stuck down and held under as though you're about ready to kill somebody by drowning.

Now, a lot of times if people are afraid of water in the thought of being immersed, it's like, will I ever come up?

I have a uh some good news for you.

The human body floats.

Um when uh the most practical course I ever had in seminary, they took us to a swimming pool and we practiced baptizing one another.

And you know how hard it is to get somebody all the way underwater because your body floats.

It's real easy to bring them up.

The problem will not be coming back up.

The problem is getting down completely.

Um but that immersion that completely be surrounded by it so that you're you come out totally wet, totally changed as a result of being in that fluid.

It's also used in a figurative sense.

You may be familiar with the expression on the battlefield of people being baptized by fire.

Uh, the intense experience of going into warfare and the danger and the pain and the crisis of that, that does something to people.

And they used to talk about they were baptized by fire.

They were forever changed as a result of that.

And the interesting thing um, where did the Banda brothers come from?

That wonderful book and that wonderful movie.

These were people who went through it together.

They were identified by this common experience, a very dramatic experience of being in warfare together.

They were baptized in the combat.

And they were identified for the rest of their lives.

That had a lifelong impact upon them.

And that's kind of the intensive idea of uh of what baptism, what water baptism is all about.

Now, I'd like to uh I'd like to give a demonstration here.

Um This is water with uh writ dye in it.

Um I'm just hoping that I don't spill it all over the floor and that this platform would never be the same again.

Um and I'm also hopeful that I will uh not spill it all over my shirt.

I wore a black shirt because if it gets uh baptized by red, nobody's gonna mind.

Uh I got a um, it's a whole lot easier to tie this without rubber gloves on.

But uh Jane had this uh apron.

She offered me uh a blue frilly apron, and I I didn't think I needed to distract you with that.

So we have water, it's just simple water, but it's got a uh a very strong dye in it.

And we're gonna just let this maybe the red would make you think of the blood of Christ or the death of Christ.

We're baptized into his death and we're raised to newness of life.

So um let's let's take uh a cloth, soft, supple, absorbent.

Uh when this cloth is baptized, um it will not come out the the way it went in.

And this cloth will never, ever, ever be the same again.

It is forever changed because by its nature um you might compare this to a heart that God has softened already, and through the gospel, a heart that is ready to respond, and as a result of spirit baptism, uh not necessarily water baptism, uh that heart will never be the same again.

No, I want to baptize something else.

This is not soft, um, it is not absorbent, and you can give it a bath.

And if we took the time, all of the water would just rub off, and it will not have changed this thing whatsoever.

You see, by nature we have hearts of stone that are not responsive to God.

And we stiff arm God and we keep Him at a distance, and then something happens which we can't explain.

We can't explain because it's not our doing.

God changes us, God changes a heart.

It can't it takes a heart of stone and makes it into a heart of flesh.

But you could go through the process of trusting Christ and confessing sin, and it just be so many words or so many actions, and it make absolutely no difference in your life whatsoever.

Now, this is the reality of what water baptism pictures.

Identified with Christ, forever changed.

It's a picture of having been forever transformed, no longer the person you were, no longer the wretch that you were, not yet, not yet what you will be, because.

It's a lifelong process.

And it doesn't show at the very beginning.

It takes a long time for that inner transformation to become visible.

But the initial sign, outward display of that, that God has intended is water baptism.

And may this picture, this object lesson, stick in your thinking of a responsive heart and a change that is permanent and forever, not because of what you do, but because of what God has done in your heart.

And then water baptism is simply a testimony of that reality.

Truth.

Truth has consequences.

Real simple, real easy, actually.

The consequences of this truth of baptism, a couple of thoughts.

The mode of baptism or how you do it, there's a variety of ways it can be done.

We tend to believe, and I do believe, that immersion is the most powerful picture of what the New Testament practice of baptism was all about.

The mode is not given to us in Scripture, but we here believe there's something about this being drenched that pictures what happens when Christ changes us.

The drenching is just on the outside, but the life transformation begins at the inside and expresses itself outward.

Immersion, dunking underwater, a beautiful picture.

And that's why we use that mode.

Second of all, in the New Testament, baptism is the initial mark of the believer.

It's not the only mark, it's not the only outward sign.

In fact, as life goes on, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, meekness, self-control, the fruit of the Spirit, perseverance under suffering, learning to love your enemies, learning to trust God when life falls apart.

All the things, all those things are indicators of the reality.

But the initial, the initial one that was given in the New Testament was to be baptized.

Water baptism was intended as the initial sign of who the believers were.

Not that they voted Republican, listened to QFM, and said, I don't drink, smoke, or chew, or go with girls who do, as though that's the sign of being a Christian.

That is not the God-given sign of believers.

The God-given outward initial sign is baptism.

And in that day, in that culture, in those villages, everybody knew who was baptized.

Those who were believers in Jesus Christ were baptized, and those who were baptized were believers in Jesus Christ.

It was just two sides of the same coin.

We have gotten far away from that.

I'm not going to try to change church history.

I'm just saying let's understand what was going on in the New Testament times.

We believe in believers' baptism and practice as opposed to infant baptism.

I'm not going to do or die over this issue.

There are churches that there's two kinds of infant baptism.

There are those who believe that that makes, that that's a like a christening.

It's making one a Christian as though something happens through that sacrament.

I don't believe the Bible teaches that.

But there are other groups who see baptism of infants in a line with the Old Testament practice of circumcision of Israel.

And there's some biblical basis for that.

I wouldn't make fun of that.

I wouldn't say that's silly.

But really, when we understand and see the New Testament focus on what baptism pictures, the question really is: has an infant, newborn Carson Douglas Niederwerter, or however you pronounce his name, beautiful boy, held him right here this week in the hospital.

Has that child, or would that child by being sprinkled, become a believer?

No.

That child, by God's grace, will one day, by God's grace, and the baptism ought to reflect that.

That's why we believe in believers' baptism.

I, again, I'm not interested in fighting over that.

There's some reason why a number of Protestant groups practice infant baptism.

That's not our practice here.

And again, just like we do it by immersion, we feel it's the best picture.

We feel that it's appropriate for individuals who could stand up and give a testimony.

I don't know how it happened, but by God's grace, I'm different.

Christ has forgiven me.

Christ is changing me.

I can't explain.

I don't even know really what's going on, but something has happened.

That ability to give a testimony is precisely the only thing that's necessary for believers' baptism.

Normally, baptism will take place in the New Testament shortly after experience of salvation.

There's many people in our world today, and many people in our church, perhaps, who have been believers a long time and haven't been baptized.

Are you a second-class citizen if that's the case?

No, not at all.

Maybe a bit inconsistent if you understand what baptism is all about, but hey, I'm inconsistent in a lot of areas in my life as well.

However, um, why not?

We're going to be having a baptism service, and I know of at least two adults who are going to be baptized, and they're a little bit, they feel a little bit funny about it because they're longtime Christians.

They're known by everybody as spiritual mature Christians.

They just never have gotten around to being baptized, and they've said, you know, we ought to do it.

I and they had to overcome a little bit of feeling awkward about it.

But it's a good thing.

It's fitting and right, Jesus said, for Jesus himself to be baptized.

Interesting case for those of you who may have been baptized years ago, maybe before he even really came to conscious faith, maybe in a whole totally different setting.

Read Acts 19 sometime.

There Paul came across a group of believers who had only heard the message of John the Baptist, and they hadn't heard more about the one that John the Baptist was pointing to, and they were baptized a second time.

They had been baptized initially with a very partial understanding of the gospel.

And now, once they they understood the rest of it, they said, Hey, let's go again.

I'm not saying it has to be done that way.

I'm saying there's good biblical warrant for somebody who was baptized in the past without really understanding much about it, to say, you know, I just want to do what's right and righteous, and I just want to follow the Lord.

This is not intended to fill up our service in a month or so with 30 people who want to be baptized.

That's not what it's about, folks.

We just need to talk about this subject maybe more than we do.

And the last thing I would say is there's really only one requirement for water baptism, and that's the reality of a life that has been transformed by the Spirit, by the power of God, having died to sin and being raised imperfectly, but having been raised to newness of life, the life of God living within you, transformation, imperfect, imperfect, not who you once were, not who you one day shall be.

We're on a journey, but there's a change that's come, and if that change has come as a result of repentance and forgiveness and trusting Christ and acknowledging your sin and receiving God's free gift, which was offered on the cross as he became a curse for us, if that is the case, then there is no other requirement for being baptized.

I guess what I would say is, you know, there may be people here today who've gone through all the rituals and maybe haven't completely understood and yet completely experienced the reality of transformation by Christ.

And I would encourage you to simply trust in Him.

He died for our sins according to the Scripture.

He died that we may be dead to the old way of living and raised to newness of life.

It's something God does on our behalf.

And the penalty which we deserve that was placed on Christ, we get the benefit of his death.

And it just comes through simple faith in the gospel, the good news that Jesus died for sinners like you and me.

And if there's something in your heart that says, uh, boy, I don't understand all of that, but I know I've got issues here, and I need an inner change.

Let today be the day that that happens.

Would you pray with me?

Heavenly Father, we thank you for pictures, images, visual expressions of things that are sometimes hard to put into words.

I thank you for the picture of the bread and the wine.

I thank you for the picture of the waters of baptism.

You work deeply and truly in our lives.

Father, I don't know what the consequences of today's exposure to this truth might be in the lives of different people.

It's probably very different.

But truth has consequences.

You are good and trustworthy and faithful.

And we accept we accept what you what you do out of grace.

Father, if there's someone who needs to respond in faith to you, even write this a second.

Lord, I trust you.

I acknowledge my sin.

I acknowledge that I need to turn from it.

I don't have the ability and the power to turn from my own sin.

There's just not bad choices.

It's a sin.

It's just wrong.

It's offensive to you, and I don't even like it.

I need help.

Oh Lord, you are gracious and full of mercy.

May that person in the quietness of their own heart simply receive forgiveness and repentance.

And Father, for all of us, may that inner change, if it's already transpired, may it become more and more visible in our lives.

To that end we pray in Christ's name.

Amen.

I ask you to stand for the benediction.

Truth has consequences, and the truth of who God is enables me to confidently encourage you to go into the world in peace, to have courage, to hold on to that which is good, to honor all men, to strengthen the faint hearted, to support the weak, to comfort the grieving, to restore the wandering.

And may the grace and the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us all.

God bless you.

And amen.