Why: Baptism - 25th January 2026

Well, good morning. Uh, please grab your

Bibles and open them up to Matthew

28. Please grab your Bibles,

open them up to Matthew

28

this morning. That is the first few

verses we're going to be looking at, but

we're going to be looking at a lot more

verses than that. We will start in

Matthew 28. Uh, but the rest of the

verses that we'll be looking at, they

will be up on the screen behind you

hopefully. Um, so that will just help us

uh to follow God's word this morning.

It's different from what we usually do.

Normally, we take a passage and just

walk through it. Uh, but what we're

looking at is the theme of baptism. and

we'll look at that throughout the

scriptures this morning. So, let us pray

together.

Lord, we thank you for your word.

Thank you that we have it in front of

us.

Help us to learn and seek to live out

this word that you have given us.

Speak to us, Lord. We pray for your

servants are listening.

Help us hear your voice. Help us apply

it in our lives and hearts.

And we pray all these things

in Jesus precious name.

Amen.

These last few weeks we have been going

through a series kind of called why

and it's related to why do we do what we

do as a church and Steve has preached

some excellent sermons to us. If you

haven't heard them I'd encourage you to

listen to them. Why do we preach? Why do

we pray? Why do we sing?

And now this morning we're asking why

baptism?

Why do we have baptism?

And it's important for us as a church to

ask this question. Why? I don't know if

you notice sometimes in your life,

you're you're doing things and you're

just going through the motions and then

when you stop and pause, you kind of go,

why am I doing this?

Why am I doing the things that I am

doing? And that's important for a church

to do as well. Sometimes we go to church

and we go through the motions. We pray

and we sing and we preach and we do all

these things. But it's very important

for us as a church to stop and ask the

question, why are we doing this?

It's really important to ask that

question.

Do you know why

most churches

who are dead

forget to ask the question why we're

doing what we're doing? The early guys

who started the church, they know. But

then what happens is people end up doing

things on the basis of tradition rather

than on the basis of God's word. And so

what we want to constantly be doing as a

church is come back and ask the

question, why are we doing this? because

we want to do it because the Bible tells

us to do it, not just because it is

tradition.

So that's why we're asking the question

of why when it comes to baptism. Why

baptism?

And the first thing I want you to see

about why baptism is this, it's very

simple actually. The first answer, it's

it's it's the easy one. Why baptism?

Baptism is a command.

It's the first thing we are commanded to

do it. That's why we do baptism. And I

would love if in a baptism service

sometime down the line, you could just

picture that it's your very first time

coming to a service like that and people

are getting into the water and someone's

getting dunked and they're all wearing

clothes and they're all adults and you

and if you were to just look at it, come

in to the church for the very first time

and it's good for us to remember that it

looks kind of weird.

It's a strange practice. seems normal to

us, but actually we need to put

ourselves in the shoes of people who are

visiting and kind of go that's strange.

It looks really weird that you're doing

this. You're actually adults making that

decision to get into water, cold water,

and dunk someone. Why are you doing

that? And the simple reason is this. It

is a command.

Look at Matthew 28:18.

Matthew 28:18

Sarah read it to us earlier. It says

this, "And Jesus came and said to them,

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 of the Son

and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching

them to observe all that I have

commanded you. And behold, I am with you

always to the end of the age." This is

why we do baptism. It is a command and

it is given by the risen Lord Jesus.

People forget that at the point that

Jesus gave this command, he is now

resurrected from the dead. Can you

imagine if a friend of yours was dead

and he comes to life and he says the

first words he says to you? Those first

words, they're going to be important,

aren't they? These are the first words

that Jesus, the resurrected Lord, says

to the apostles. And he says this, "All

authority has been given unto me."

Here's what I want you to do. Here's the

command. Make disciples. And then how do

you make disciples? Well, there's two

ways of doing that. You baptize them in

the name of the Lord and you teach them.

This is the command given to us. So

that's why we baptize. We're commanded

to do this. And that's why every

Christian should be baptized. They are

commanded to do it by the Lord Jesus.

Baptism is a command. The second thing

you need to learn about baptism is this.

It is a personal decision. Baptism is

not only a command, but it is a personal

decision. It's not like you're you're

commanded so I'm robotically going to

go. It is a personal decision to obey

that command. That is baptism. So what

happened with the apostles after they

received this command? After the

apostles received this command, what did

they do? They went out and they started

preaching about Jesus and they started

preaching that he not only died, that he

not only was buried, but this Jesus, he

rose from the dead. And they pleaded

with people to believe in Jesus. They

pleaded with people to repent of their

sin. And they told people, "Get

baptized."

They gave that command to people that

Jesus gave to them. And we see this

after Peter's preaching in Acts chapter

Acts 2 · chapter mention

2. Look at Acts 2:37.

Acts 2:37

Here's what it says in Acts chapter 2

Acts 2 · chapter mention

2037.

Now when they heard this, they were cut

to the heart. This is after Peter's

preaching. They were cut to the heart

and said to Peter and the rest of the

apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"

And Peter said to them, "Repent and be

baptized, every one of you, in the name

of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of

your sins, and you will receive the gift

of the Holy Spirit." They hear Peter's

preaching. They're convicted to the

heart. They know. who they put up their

hands and say, "I'm a sinner. I know

that in in my thoughts, in my words, in

my actions, they're they're cut to the

heart with the gospel." And they ask

this really important question that all

of us should ask in our lives. What

shall we do? Okay, you've preached the

gospel. Great sermon. Everybody's

listening. There's thousands of us here.

Now, tell me what to do. What's the

application? What should we do?

He says this, "Repent

and be baptized

for the forgiveness of sins."

Doesn't that show something of the

importance of baptism?

What must I do? You must repent and you

must be baptized. It's a command.

But notice the personal decision. They

say, "What must we do?" Because they

know from hearing the preaching of the

gospel, we must do something. We must

decide. We must make a personal decision

here. The personal decision is this. You

must repent first,

confess your sin first,

personally,

and then be baptized.

That's the biblical pattern. And then

after this passage, you see in Actsap

2:41, look at that. It says, "So those

who received the word, his word, were

baptized, and they were added that day

about 3,000 souls."

3,000 people heard this message. They

received the message personally

themselves. They made a personal

decision to believe that word, that

gospel by faith and they were baptized

and then they were added to the church.

It was a personal decision. They

received the word. They were baptized.

And then as the gospel went out forward

in the book of Acts, Philip went out

from Jerusalem. He went out to Samaria

and he went out preaching the gospel

that Jesus died for your sins. That he

was buried. That on the third day he

rose again. And if you would believe and

trust in Jesus, you will have all your

sins forgiven past, present, and future.

And you will rise with him from the

dead. And after they heard this message,

look at what happens in Acts 8:12. It

Acts 8:12

says this. But when they believed

Philillip as he preached the good news

about the kingdom of God and the name of

Jesus Christ, they were baptized both

men and women. What did they do? They

heard the message. They believed and

trusted the message. It was a personal

decision. And then they were baptized.

Baptism

is a command that needs to be obeyed.

And baptism is a personal decision that

you need to make. You need to repent of

your sin, trust in Jesus, and then be

baptized.

That is the call for everyone. And then

if someone is reading the book of Acts

quite well, and and hopefully you did,

we spent like a year in it, so hopefully

you did.

In the book of Acts, you have these

three occasions that people bring up.

It's in Acts 11, Acts 16, Acts 18. And

in Acts 11:1, 16, and 18, households are

Acts 11:1

baptized. So what people say is they

say, well, is it a personal decision?

Because these households seem to get

baptized. One person believes and the

whole household gets baptized.

But as you see the pattern in the book

of Acts, it is always a pattern that

they believe first and then they were

baptized. And I would argue that that is

the case especially with the households

as well. I'll give you one example from

one household. It was Paul and Silas

were in prison and they were broken out

of prison miraculously by the Lord. And

after they are broken out of prison

miraculously by the Lord, the jailer is

going to kill himself. Paul comes back.

Paul runs out of prison and he decides

to come back. Like who goes back? Who

goes back? Paul goes back. Paul runs

back to him

and then he says this. The jailer says

in Acts 16:30. Look at Acts 16:30. Then

Acts 16:30 Acts 16:30

he brought them out and said, "Sers,

what must I do to be saved?"

And they said, "Believe in the Lord

Jesus and you will be saved, you and

your household." So the jailer says, he

sees this kind of sermon and action.

They're like blow out of jail. And and

then he's asking the personal response

like the crowd, "What must I do? Tell me

what I must do." He says, "First,

believe in the Lord Jesus and you will

be saved. You and your household." The

implication is this. you and your

household, all of you must believe and

then you'll be saved. And then it says

later in Acts 16 that him and his

household were baptized because they

believed, they were saved, all of them

were baptized. And what we ignore at the

end near the end of that account is they

rejoiced.

The whole household rejoiced.

And so all of this tells us that baptism

is not just a command. It is a personal

decision.

One of the things I love about our

baptism services,

one of the favorite things I love about

our baptism services is the time when

people stand up and they give their

testimonies.

It's wonderful when people stand up and

they declare their testimony before

people. Our last baptism, wasn't it

wonderful to hear hear Carl's testimony

and and Zara's testimony and John Luke's

testimony and Nicole's testimony. We

didn't have 3,000. Maybe one day we

will, but it was four

wonderful testimonies. And what were

they saying? This is a personal decision

of mine.

I'm telling all of you publicly that I

have repented of my sin. I'm telling all

of you publicly that I've put my faith

and trust in Jesus. And I'm telling all

of you publicly that now I am obeying

him and I'm being baptized.

That's why I love the testimonies. Now,

there might be a day there might be a

day where we don't have everyone give

their testimonies. Hopefully, we'll have

too many pe I don't think on the day

that 3,000 people were baptized, they

gave each of them like 20 minutes for

their testimony. I don't think that

happened. But I still think it's a a

good practice if we can do it. So, we

can hear this is personal. This is

personal to the person.

So, baptism is a command. Baptism is a

personal decision.

Then what must we do? Well, the answer

to what we must do is is very simple.

All of you in this room

need to determine this. Have I put my

faith and trust in Jesus?

Have you

repented of your sin?

Have you said to Jesus

of sinned in thought, I've sinned in

word? I've sinned in deed. I know you. I

know you have sinned. The game is up.

And guess what? All of us are the same.

We're all the same. All of us are in

this boat. And there is a way to be

free. There is a way to be forgiven. And

it is by trusting in Jesus.

And if you do that, do you know what the

next step is?

It is to obey and be baptized.

To confess your sin before Jesus and to

be baptized in front of everybody else

is a public declaration, an outward

display of an inward change of the

heart. That's what you are called to

personally do.

And that's a call for everybody in this

room.

And it's even a call for the children.

And I think we as a church need to think

through this. Well,

what about the children? You know,

people often push me for an age of

baptism.

What's the age of baptism, Shane? What's

the age of baptism? Well, look at the

scripture and I can see when you're

eight, you get baptized. When you're 10,

you get baptized. When you're 12, you

get baptized. When you're 15, you get

baptized. When you're 21, you get

baptized. I don't see an age. Do you see

an age? If you see an age, tell me. I

don't see an age.

But here is the important thing.

We believe that all who are baptized,

they must repent of their sin, trust

personally in Jesus. And so for

children, we want to be really careful

that they have repented of their sin and

that they have trusted in Jesus.

So as a church, here's what we're going

to do with children. We are going to

take our time

because it is especially tempting for a

child to try and please a parent, try

and please the church, try and go at the

crowd. And what we want to make sure it

is really dangerous for us to baptize

someone and say, "Hey, you're in the

faith." And they're not. So what we want

to do is take our time with the

children. While we will say as a church,

we don't have an age, we will say as a

church that we want to take our time and

ensure that this is their personal

decision that they have decided to

trust, believe in Jesus. So what's our

age? I don't have it personally. I do

have a bit of an age in our family, but

you can ask me that afterwards.

So, baptism, it is a command.

It is a personal decision. But there's

another thing that we often ignore as we

think of baptism. And it is this. It is

also the church's decision.

It is not just a command and a personal

decision. It is also the church's

decision. Often what we do with the

practices of the church is we make them

guess what? Guess what we do with

everything? We make it all about

ourselves.

So preaching, we were talking about

preaching and we make it about me. How

did I feel after that? How how did he do

according to me or whatever? We make it

all about me. But it's not all about

you. It's us who are receiving the

preaching and us who are giving glory to

God. And then we do that with our our

singing, don't we? Oh, how did the song

make me feel? Do I like the song? Do I

like the genre? Do I like the We make it

all about me. But it's not about you

alone. It's about God and his glory. And

when you're singing, you're not only

singing to yourself and the songs that

you like. You're singing praises to God

and to one another. It it is corporate.

All of these practices in the church.

They're not just individual. They're

corporate. And so it is with baptism. It

is the decision of the church. Now, how

do we know it is the decision of the

church? Not just an individual decision,

but the decision of the church. When

someone is getting baptized, here's

what's happening. The person standing

there is making a decision, aren't they?

But the person who gets in also has to

make a decision. Will I baptize them?

So, it's not just them making the

decision. It's the person getting in.

So, what gives them, the person who is

baptizing, authority to do it? What

allows them do that?

Well, what allows them do that is the

authority that is given from Jesus. In

the Gospel of Matthew, you have this

theme that runs throughout the Gospel of

Matthew that is about the authority of

Jesus.

And we see in the Gospel of Matthew the

authority of firstly Jesus' words. In

Matthew 7 verse 28, it says this after

Matthew 7:28

the sermon on the mount, after Jesus

preached the sermon on the mount, it

says this. And when Jesus finished these

sayings, the crowd were astonished at

his teaching, for he was teaching them

as one who had authority

and not as their scribes. Jesus had

authority in his teaching. He had

authority in his words. But Jesus not

only had authority in his teaching and

authority in his words, he had authority

in his actions.

After Jesus' sermon, he went and he did

a few miracles. We know that about

Jesus. And after he had healed the

paralytic, here's what it says about his

actions in Matthew 9:8.

Matthew 9:8

When the crowds saw it, they were afraid

and they glorified God

who had given such authority to men. So

Jesus, he is authority in his words. He

is a authority in his actions.

And then you come to Matthew 28 verse

Matthew 28:18

18, the great commission. And Jesus came

to them and said, "All authority in

heaven and on earth has been given unto

me. Go therefore and make disciples of

all nations, baptizing them in the name

of the Father and of the Son and of the

Holy Spirit.

Jesus has authority in his teaching.

Jesus has authority in his actions.

Jesus comes after raising from the dead

and he says, "All authority has been

given unto me." And then what does Jesus

do? He hands that authority over to the

apostles. He hands that authority over

to the church and says, "Here's what I

want you to do. Go and baptize and go

and teach." Who is the authority to

baptize? Well, it was given to the

apostles and then the apostles became

the 120 and the 120 became the 3,000.

And the 3,000 were called the the

church. And then they went and they

started other churches and there was

elders. And so it is the responsibility

of the church to baptize. The church is

the one who has authority to do these

things.

People are baptized then by the church

and they are baptized when they are

baptized into the church.

The church gets to decide according to

Jesus. We'll talk about this more next

week when we talk about membership. But

the church gets to decide by the

authority of Jesus who is in the church

and who is out of the church.

They get to decide who is in the church

by who they baptize according to the

testimony. And they also in Matthew 18

when Jesus says about church discipline.

They also to get to decide when it's

time for someone to leave the church.

And we'll talk about that more next

week. But baptism is by the church and

baptism is into the church. Here's why I

say that. Acts 2:41.

Acts 2:41

So those who received his word, they

received the word baptized

and they were added that day about 3,000

souls.

They believed by faith. It was their

personal decision. They were baptized

according to the command of God. And

then they were baptized by the church

and then they were added to the church.

That's what happens in baptism. Again,

you can see this in 1 Corinthians 12:3.

1 Corinthians 12:3

It says this there, "For in one spirit

we were all baptized into the one body,

Jews and Greeks, slaves are free, and

all were made to drink of the one

spirit."

In the one spirit, we were all baptized

where? into the one body.

The baptism of water and the baptism of

the spirit are connected in Jesus

baptism. When you are baptized, you are

baptized into the body that is the

church.

So baptism should be by the church and

baptism should be into the church.

So, let's imagine for a second, and I'm

going to pick on Steve for a second. Not

going to embarrass you. Just going to

pick on him because it's easier um to

choose an elder. So, pick on Steve.

Chose not to. I I always pick on

Brendan, but I'll go with Steve. So,

let's say

Steve goes out and he evangelizes into

passage.

He's telling people about Jesus and he's

calling on them to trust and believe in

Jesus and repent of their sins. And

there's was this one guy. He repents of

his sin. He trusts in Jesus. He

believes.

Should Steve take that guy straight away

in that moment and baptize him in the

water?

I would say no. That's Steve going on

his own. people at the time were

baptized by the church and baptized into

the church. He shouldn't go it alone,

but

that's the norm. But there are occasions

where it might have to happen. So in

this scenario, there actually is a

church in passage who Steve can bring

the person to and the church can decide,

are we going to baptize this person?

Let's say Steve in another scenario,

Steve goes,

he flies to the middle of nowhere and

there's no church around and he calls on

this person to believe, repent of their

sin and be baptized

and he decides to baptize that person.

Now, is that wrong? I would say no, it

is not wrong because there's no church

there. And there are unique occasions.

The majority of occasion is this in the

book of Acts. People believe, they're

baptized, and they're added into the

church. But there is this one occasion

in Acts chapter 8. It's not the rule,

Acts 8 · chapter mention

it's the exception. And in Acts chapter

Acts 8 · chapter mention

8, you have Philillip and the Ethiopian

unic.

And with Philip and the Ethanopian unic,

here's what happens.

Philip shares with him. They're in a

desert at the time. The church is just

being built. there's no church around

and they say, "Well, here's water." So

he says, "Why delay?" They say, "Okay."

And they baptize him. So there are

occasions,

exceptions where people are baptized not

directly by the church. But the norm is

people are baptized by the church and

they're baptized into the church. So

what is baptism? Baptism is a command.

Baptism is a personal decision. Baptism

is a church's decision.

And you also need to think about baptism

like this. Number four, baptism is kind

of like this. Baptism

is a birth if you like. There's a guy I

was reading called Jonathan Leman and he

gave this image of baptism being like a

birthert. What do I mean by that? That

baptism is like a birtherer.

I remember the day that Talitha was born

and it was a interesting birth story.

You can ask Lana about it. I won't tell

it here.

Talitha is born and we know like she's

part of the family. I mean, straight

away, as soon as she's born, I'm like in

love with her straight away. She's mine.

You know, it's crazy. In normal

relationships, you kind of have to work

on the love and all that kind of stuff.

When you see a child, it just happens,

doesn't it? It's like phenomenal. I know

of no relationship where it just happens

like that. Phenomenal. I see her. But

then you kind of need to make it

official, don't you? I mean, she's part

of the family. Absolutely. And you

celebrate that, but you you need to make

it official. And how how do you make it

official before the eyes of the country,

and the eyes of the law, you have to get

a birthert

to to make sure that everybody knows

this person is really part of this

family. You you got to believe me. She's

beautiful. I'm not. But but here's the

birth to prove it. Like she's part of

the family.

And so you're you're like really nervous

like putting her name down and trying to

say I'm like confirming Willowana. Is

this what we want to call her? Okay.

Yeah. Okay. Grant. And you make the

birth to confirm officially confirm this

one is part of the family. That's what

baptism is. Baptism is the birther that

confirms that this one is actually part

of the family. You'll notice it's not on

the screen, but you'll remember from the

verses that I shared with you in the

great commission where Jesus says,

"Baptize them." And what does he say?

Baptize them in the name

of the father and the son and the holy

spirit. Have you noticed when we get

into water with someone, we baptize them

in the name of the father and of the son

and of the holy sp. Why do we do that?

Because it says it in the scripture.

What's amazing about that statement? It

is is it is a trinitarian statement.

Baptized in the name, one name of the

father, son, and holy spirit. But what's

also amazing about that statement is

this. It tells you something about your

identity.

When you are baptized, you are baptized

into the name of Jesus. You're you're

wearing the Jesus jersey as as you like.

You're you're holding out. You're

identifying yourself with Jesus. I'm a

follower of Jesus. I trust in Jesus. So,

not only in baptism are you identifying

with Jesus, but you're clothing yourself

with Jesus. In Galatians chapter 3 verse

Galatians 3:26

26, it says this, "For in Christ Jesus,

you were all sons of God through faith.

For as many of you as were baptized into

Christ have put on Christ."

So in these verses, verse 26,

how do you come to Jesus? You come to

Jesus. Verse 20. How do you how do you

get called a son of God? You get called

a son of God. Not by baptism, but it

says through faith. It is by faith that

you are saved. But then it says this,

for as many of you as were baptized into

Christ, being baptized into Christ Jesus

is another way of being baptized into

the body of Christ, into the church,

baptized into Christ. You then put on

Christ.

So baptism is actually quite

significant. The moment of it is quite

significant. The water can do nothing.

The water cannot cleanse you from your

sin. It's faith and trust in Jesus. But

in the moment of baptism, you are

declaring something really important.

It's not just this this random thing

that we kind of have to do and faith is

the main thing. Actually, faith and

baptism are really tied together. And

baptism is really important because

baptism is how you get the birthert.

And the birthert is really important to

you. Here's why it is really important

to you. Have you ever ever once doubted

your faith?

Can I put up my hand first?

And can I imagine that all of you are

putting up your hand at some point that

you've doubted whether you are in Jesus

that you've said to yourself, I don't

really know. Am I part of this family?

or Satan comes to you and he said you're

are you really part of the family do you

know what baptism does in those moments

you go you take out the birth serve and

you say here

yes I am I was baptized and here's the

evidence there was a day in my life when

I made a decision and said in front of

everybody I'm following Jesus

and guess what I didn't make that

decision alone

The church said he's a follower of Jesus

or she's a follower of Jesus and here's

the evidence to prove it. I have put on

the clothes. Get back from me, Satan.

That's what the birthert is. That's what

baptism is. It is so so important.

So baptism is a birthert. Number five,

baptism is also a sign. It's important

for us to know that baptism is a sign to

us. It is not just a birthert that helps

us when we're doubting. It's it's a sign

to us. And it is a sign to us of this.

It is a sign to you and me of the most

important relationship that you have on

this planet. It is a sign of your

relationship with God.

It is a sign of the covenant

relationship with God.

When we think of signs of the covenant,

we did a series on the covenants in the

Bible. When you think of signs of the

covenant, the covenant that we know and

understand in this world is the covenant

of marriage.

And what is the earthly human sign of

the covenant of marriage? Well, one of

the earthly human signs of the covenant

of marriage is the ring.

We put on this ring as a sign of the

covenant. as a sign of my relationship

between me and Lana. This ring is an

outward sign of that relationship that I

have with her. Now, does the ring

actually mean anything? No. But the ring

confirms that I have a deep meaningful

relationship with her. So, what does it

do? The ring, it tells me, reminds me

that I have a relationship. I have a

covenant relationship. And what does the

ring also do? The ring tells everybody

else that I have a covenant

relationship, that I am taken. Not that

anybody cares, but that I am taken.

That's what the ring says. It confirms

the covenant. And so what you have in

scripture, you have signs of the

covenant. The sign of the Old Testament

covenant was the sign of circumcision.

It was the sign given to Abraham in and

through the promise in in Genesis 12,

Genesis 15, and particularly in Genesis

17. It was the sign of the covenant. And

the sign of the covenant that you,

Israel, are going to be a nation after

me. Whether you're a believer or not,

I'm going to confirm you as my nation,

as my possession. And here's the sign

for you and everybody else to know. It

is circumcision.

physical circumcision for the males

among you. But then that sign

actually was there to point forward to

not physical circumcision, but spiritual

circumcision. That sign was always there

to point forward to spiritual

circumcision. And here's where we see

that in Deuteronomy 30:6. says this,

Deuteronomy 30:6

"And the Lord your God will circumcise

your heart and the heart of your

offspring so that you will love the Lord

your God with all your heart, soul,

mind, and strength, and that you may

live." So this circumcision sign in the

Old Testament, the Old Covenant, it was

a physical sign. That physical sign was

the point forward to the spiritual sign

that will take place.

And then that sign, that spiritual sign

pointed forward to the new covenant sign

that we have of baptism.

The new covenant sign of baptism is

this. Colossians chapter 2 verse 11

Colossians 2:11–12

to12. It says this, "In him also you

were circumcised with a circumcision

made without hands by the putting off of

the flesh, but by the circumcision of

Christ, having been buried with him in

baptism, in which you were also raised

with him through faith in the powerful

working of God, who raised him from the

dead."

There was a sign of the old covenant and

there is a sign of the new covenant

relationship. They are different signs

and the only way you can get the sign of

the new covenant relationship is if you

have put your faith and trust in Jesus.

And one of the ways you wear that sign

publicly is by getting baptized.

Now, all of that is to say, not sure if

you all followed me there, but all of

that is to say this.

What if

I were to walk into a room

and you were to see me do this

and put this away here nowadays?

And I was to walk in the room like this.

Now, some people, you know, the ring

doesn't fit anymore. I get it. and you

lose it and all that, okay? And it's a

cultural thing, all that.

But if I were to actually choose

not to wear it,

choose to take it off,

what would that say?

That would say this to Lana,

I'm keeping my options open.

I mean, I've made a personal decision. I

love you. Why do I need to wear

something to prove that? Why are you

constricting me to wear something to

prove that I love you? Just let it be

enough for me to personally say I love

you. No,

we have to trust in the Lord Jesus. Say

we love the Lord Jesus and go public

with it. Wear the sign and tell

everybody,

"I'm in a relationship with him and no

other. He's my first love.

That's what baptism does. So, so

significant.

The final thing that we learn of baptism

is this. Number six. Baptism is a theme.

Is a theme. Baptism isn't only a

birthert. Baptism isn't only a sign, but

baptism is a really important theme in

the scriptures.

When you think about the way we baptize

in this church,

I want you for a second to think about

all that happens when we have to baptize

someone. You might have thought about

this, but here's what happens. There's

this broken up pool in a store storage

facility in Middleton.

Okay, the pool is all broken up.

Brendan, usually Brendan gets in the car

and he has to drive to Middleton,

confirm with the guy that we're going to

do this or whatever and take and then we

get the pool. He shoves it into his car

and then he drives up here early morning

on the day of the baptism.

Then it takes a few lads to kind of get

it together and then there's like this

plastic thing that's like I don't know

if you how do you describe it? It's like

if you're putting um like you know those

really annoying swimming hats that are

like you just like have to hold it and

like pull it back. That's what it's like

except a massive one of those that you

need to pull around and and shove around

the pool. Then for hours that morning,

we need to get a socket thing, put it

into the the sink in the kitchen, you

know, with a hose or whatever, put that

hose in, and then it needs to fill up

for hours. And we've even tried to heat

it, but we can't. It's freezing.

Why do we do all that?

Like why do you do it? I'll tell you why

we don't do it. We don't do it because

it's practical.

It is in no way practical.

We do it because we believe it is

biblical.

That's why we do that. That's why we go

to all that effort to fill the pool so

someone can get in so we can actually

put them down into the water and take

them up out of the water. We do it

because we believe it is biblical

and not just because of the word

baptism. The word baptism is the word

baptiso

in the verb form and in the noun form.

It comes up in the Bible about 96 times.

Each time it comes up, it does mean as a

word, it means to immerse or to dip or

fully immerse into water. That's what

the word means. And that's why we

immerse people fully into water. But we

don't just immerse them fully into water

just because of the word. We immerse

them fully into water because of the

Bible's theme.

This is the image and picture in the

Bible. And we get this theme from 1

1 Peter 3:20

Peter 3 verse 20. 1 Peter chapter 3

1 Peter 3:20

verse 20.

says this,

"God's patience waited in the days of

Noah while the ark was being prepared in

which a few that is eight persons were

brought safely through the water.

Baptism, which corresponds to this, now

saves you not as a removal of dirt from

the body, but as an appeal to God for a

good conscience through the resurrection

of Jesus Christ.

You're near the end of the sermon. Why

do you bring up that verse? Baptism

saves. And you've just been making the

point that it doesn't.

It's like seriously like when I was

studying this, it's like it's like a

moth to a flame. That's an interesting

verse. What What does that mean?

It says it in the Bible, doesn't it? I

mean, it says it in verse um before we

get to the team, I have to explain the

verse and go the long way around it, but

let's do it. It says in verse 21,

"Baptism, which corresponds to this, now

saves you." Does it not say that? That's

what it says. But you need to remember

the next part of the verse.

Not as a removal of dirt from the body.

In other words, it baptism doesn't

cleanse you. Doesn't cleanse you from

your sin. It doesn't clean off the dirt.

It doesn't remove the dirt. It doesn't

do any of that. What what cleans off the

dirt. What removes the dirt is

repentance and faith.

But baptism is so closely intertwined

with faith. That is the first step of a

Christian after they've believed and

trusted in Jesus is they get baptized is

so tied to that that it says that it's

not the removal of dirt or the removal

of sin but it is an appeal to God for a

good conscience

through the resurrection of Jesus.

You're appealing to the resurrection of

Jesus.

Your clean conscience is this. You're

obeying in in baptism. You're obeying

the command of Jesus. And that's part of

of your conscience being cleansed, being

baptized. That's part of the appeal.

It's not the washing away of dirt. It is

the belief and it is the appeal or what

I prefer, the word I prefer is a pledge

of a clean conscience to the Lord.

That's what baptism is.

Now you get to the baptism theme.

He says in verse 21,

baptism corresponds to this. Meaning

baptism links to this. Now if I heard

him preaching this, I would say Peter,

you are stretching because he's saying

the water of baptism. Do you know what

the water of baptism reminds me of? And

it's kind of like he's almost making

this stuff up. The water of baptism

reminds me of a story in the Bible. What

story? Remember Noah in the water?

That's what baptism corresponds to. If I

was listening to that sermon, I'd be

like, "Where are you getting that from?"

Where is he getting it from? The Holy

Spirit. He's inspired by the Holy

Spirit. And he's saying, "Baptism

corresponds to Noah and the flood." And

you're like, "How on earth does that

work?"

Here's how it works. It links in with

the theme of immersion.

It links in with the theme of immersion

in the Bible.

Noah was saved through the waters of

judgment. Noah and his family were saved

through the waters of judgment. Though

they weren't saved by the water, who who

were they saved by? They were saved by

God

through the waters. They were saved out

of the judgment waters. That's what

that's what the waters pictured. The

waters pictured judgment and they were

saved out of that by the grace of God.

They were saved through the waters

and Noah and his family came up out of

the water as it were.

And then you have Moses and the picture

of Moses when he was in this basket

which is tea which is another word for

the ark. He was put in this small ark.

That's the word in the scripture. He was

put in a small ark. And what happened?

He was rescued out of the waters, the

judgment waters. When all the other

babies were killed, he was rescued up

out of the waters. He was saved up out

of the waters. And then you have God's

people. What happens? God's people, they

come to the Red Sea and the Red Sea is

parted and the judgment waters, they

they close over the Egyptians. But God's

people are what? They're rescued up out

of the waters.

And then you have Noah or Jonah. And

Jonah, he was there in the belly of the

fish in the waters for three days and

three nights. And what happened? He was

rescued up out of the waters.

And all of that points forward to this

moment when this guy Jesus, he walks up

to John and says to John, "John, I want

you to baptize me." John says, "No way.

I'm not going to baptize you. You need

to baptize me." He says, "No, you need

to baptize me." It's like arguing over

who's going to pay. You need to baptize

me to fulfill righteousness.

We need to complete this picture

because one day I'm going to be buried

and on the third day I'm going to rise

again so that those who believe in me

they might be buried and they might rise

again.

And all of that story points to our

immersion story. In Romans chapter 6:3

it says this.

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 into death in order that just as

Christ was raised from the dead by the

glory of God the Father, we might too

walk with him in newness of life.

Baptism is a sign and a symbol of that

new creation that we have in Christ. We

died with him in the waters of baptism

and we were raised up again with him to

newness of life. Here's what should have

happened with you at your baptism. Can I

tell you what should have happened with

you at your baptism?

You should have been put in the water

and you should have been left there.

You should have been

Just like all of the other people in the

time of Noah

left in the water.

Just like the Egyptians

left in the water.

But what happened? What's the picture?

We were rescued up out of the judgment

waters just like our Jesus was.

We're brought up to newness of life in

Christ Jesus.

Baptism is beautiful. I don't see why

any Christian would not ever be

baptized.

Obey him.

Live for him. And when you doubt,

go back to that birthert. Remember that

day. Yeah, I'm in Jesus.

Let's pray together.

Lord, we thank you for your word. We

thank you for this time that we've had

thinking about baptism. Lord, we haven't

gone through all that we could have gone

through in this and yet um we trust that

it was enough for us in your word. So,

thank you Lord for what you have done in

Jesus that you are buried and on the

third day you rose again. In your name,

Jesus, I pray these things. Amen. What

we might do instead of singing our

response song, maybe we'll go straight

into the Lord's supper if that's okay.

Thank John.