Does It Really Matter HOW We Baptize? | Liberty at Home

Let's immerse ourselves in a study on the doctrine of baptism

on today's episode of Liberty at Home.

Hey there everybody. It's Adam Rivero here with the

latest episode of Liberty at Home.

I'm the pastor of Liberty Baptist Church, which meets on

Washington Street here in town. And today, as always, I'm

broadcasting from Easton, MA, where I had been patiently

waiting in line for the new Chipotle to open at Shaw's

Plaza. But the construction workers

told me I'm about 3 months too early.

Today we're going to take a look at a passage of Scripture from

the book of Acts and then take a few minutes to consider the

ordinance of baptism. So let's read together Acts

Acts 8 · chapter mention

chapter 8, beginning in verse #34.

And the eunuch answered Philip and said, I pray thee, of whom

speaketh the prophet, this of himself, or of some other man?

Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same Scripture,

and preached unto him Jesus. And as they went on their way,

they came unto a certain water. And the eunuch said, See, here

is water, What doth hinder me to be baptized?

And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart,

thou mayest. And he answered and said, I

believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

And he commanded the chariot to stand still, And they went down

both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, And he baptized

him. And when they were come up out

of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away.

Philip and the eunuch saw him no more, and he went on his way,

rejoicing. A few years ago in our Wednesday

evening services, we were going through a sermon series called

Why My Baptist. I found this series to be

helpful because many folks have questions about why our church

and many other Baptist churches operate in the fashion that we

do. It's always a joy to take folks

through the Bible and show them the scriptural reasons why we

believe what we believe. One of the questions people ask

me often is why do Baptists baptize in the way that they do?

Historic Baptist baptism has always been by immersion and has

only been for someone who has already accepted Christ as their

Savior. Of course, this is different

from many other denominations where infants are sprinkled with

water. So the question begs to be

asked, why do Baptists baptize in the fashion that they do?

Does it really even matter how or who or when someone is

baptized? And the answer is simple, yes,

it matters. And it matters because of the

Scriptures. As Baptists, we base all of our

beliefs and practices completely on the Bible, not on tradition

or teachings of church councils. The supreme authority of

Scriptures guides our beliefs on every issue, including baptism.

For example, Baptist believe that baptism is by immersion

because Romans 6 shows us that baptism is a picture of the

death, the burial and resurrection of Christ, and

immersion is the only mode of baptism possible that can

actually picture this. Also, several times in the Bible

we see baptisms performed in bodies of water.

When Jesus was baptized, He went up straightway out of the water

as it says in Matthew chapter 3 verse 16.

Matthew 3:16

In fact, John chapter 3 verse 23 tells us that John the Baptist

John 3:23

found a place to baptize specifically because there was

much water there. To have someone go into a body

of water to be sprinkled would be overkill, but it is vital if

someone is to be immersed. When you add to these

Scriptures, the fact that we never find a baptism in

scripture performed by sprinkling the evidence is

compelling. As Baptists, we also do not

baptize infants. This may seem odd to some who

are used to different traditions, but again, we draw

our conclusions from Scripture. Never in the New Testament do we

find a baby baptized. In fact, each time we find

someone baptized in the New Testament, it always follows a

confession of faith. Because a baby is not able to do

this, baptism is withheld by Baptists until an individual

believes in Christ. Our text in Acts chapter 8 is a

Acts 8 · chapter mention

wonderful passage showing this principle.

The Ethiopian eunuch, after having his eyes open to the

gospel, saw a body of water. In verse 36 he asks Philip the

evangelist, See, here is water, what doth hinder me to be

baptized? Philip's reply in the next verse

is telling. If thou believeth with all thine

heart, thou mayest. The unit confirms his new found

belief in Christ and they both descend into the water for

baptism. Also, since baptism always

follows belief, we additionally see that baptism does not wash

sin away. This is why baptism is not a

sacrament. It cannot offer salvation in any

way, shape or form. Now why is that?

Because only the blood of Christ can accomplish this.

In Revelation chapter one, verse 5, we're told that we are

cleansed by the blood of Christ Jesus Christ, who is the

faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead, and the

Prince of the kings of the earth, unto him that loved us

and washed us from our sins in his own blood.

It says This is also why first Peter chapter 3 verse 21 tells

1 Peter 3:21

us baptism is not the putting away of the filth of the flesh,

but the answer of a good conscience towards God.

I hope you can appreciate the great difficulty of condensing

such an in depth topic into a few short minutes.

If all this sounds new or strange to you, I'd encourage

you to be like the Bereans of Acts 17, verse 11 and immerse

Acts 17:11

yourself, pun intended, in the Scriptures to learn more about

this important topic. Well, we've covered plenty of

ground here today on Liberty at home, and now it's time to say

goodbye. But not before I give you your

weekly invitation to Liberty Baptist Church.

We meet at 800 Washington St. here in town, and you can find

our online address at my libertybaptist.org.

There you can locate our weekly podcast, live stream services,

and even the full playlist of the last 75 or so episodes of

Liberty at Home. And of course, we do hope you

visit us in person this coming Sunday or Wednesday.

Well, this is Pastor Adam Rivero signing off with a reminder, as

always, that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there's liberty.

Catch you next week on Liberty at Home.