Baptisms and our New Identity

Hello everyone, I'm Dr.

Steve Holt.

I want to welcome you to the Road Church Podcast.

Each week we go into God's Word.

We teach chapter by chapter and verse by verse.

We are here to build the Kingdom of God revolution through empowering people to change the world.

So we pray this will minister to you at your heart level and change your life.

Jesus modeled baptism by getting baptized.

So Jesus had done no miracles, he had not been involved in any signs and wonders or any public ministry until he first got baptized.

So in Mark 1, we read, It came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

And immediately coming up from the water, he saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove.

Then a voice came from heaven, You're my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.

So Jesus began his public ministry with a declaration of how important baptism was in what would later become the Christian church.

But even in his apostolic mission, he was baptized.

Then here's what's interesting about Jesus: he concludes his public ministry on the earth, commanding us to baptize new believers.

Matthew 28.

And Jesus came 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 things that I've commanded you, and lo, I'm with you always, even until the end of the age.

So Jesus pronounced that the first thing we should do in making disciples was to get them baptized.

That it was step one in the discipleship process.

And for you that were here last week, I shared with you our new mission statement here at the road: cultivating wholehearted disciples, cultivating whole-hearted disciples of Jesus who bring the kingdom of God everywhere.

So isn't it interesting that after that message, and we didn't, I wish I could say it was really planned all perfectly, but that we would go from a message on the importance of wholehearted discipleship to the next week we're doing baptisms, which historically and biblically is the first step, the first step in your walk with God.

So why do we get baptized?

Well, we get baptized mainly because there is, I guess there's a reenactment.

It's a reenactment of the whole gospel.

And so Peter understood this.

Peter understood this, and so in the book of Acts, which is what we're in right now, we're going through the book of Acts.

I think we're in chapter 10.

We'll get back to that next week.

This is what Peter said in his first sermon.

He said, Repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

So Peter begins the first church, the book of Acts church, the vintage church, with repent of your sin, get baptized, and the forgiveness of God will be upon you.

So what is water baptism?

Let me give you a definition.

Here's the depth, this is my definition.

This is our definition at the road for baptism.

Water baptism is the first step in being a disciple of Jesus.

It is a public act of obedience and faith signifying a believer's private identification of Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection.

So let me say it again.

Water baptism is the first step in being a disciple of Jesus.

It is a public act of obedience.

So we're following the model of Jesus publicly.

So all of us are watching you get baptized.

I got baptized as an infant.

And I guess people were watching.

I don't know.

I was six weeks old.

And I was baptized in a dress.

Something wrong with that, but that's what you did back there.

They call it a wedding gown.

Anyone know what a ever heard of wedding gowns?

Maybe it's a Lutheran-y thing.

But anyway, I was baptized, and I've seen the pictures.

I remember it was Pastor Stinder who baptized me in Decatur, Georgia.

So I was baptized.

But when I came to real faith in Christ, and I really decided to follow him at Georgia, University of Georgia, I got baptized a few years later in the Jordan River.

And just show you how ecumenical and how cool my dad is, where infant baptism is a tradition.

He thought it was super cool that I was getting baptized as a believer.

So I've always loved that inclusive nature of my dad doctrinally and stuff.

And he baptized me.

So he was there to baptize me in the Jordan River.

And when we do a tour to Israel someday, we had it planned during COVID and got nixed for some reason.

And enough of us didn't want to do that.

So anyway, we'll we'll get to that sometime and go to and go to Israel.

And you'll have the chance to get baptized in the Jordan River.

And it's exciting.

But why do we get baptized?

We get baptized because the act of baptism, it's a physical act, is a reenactment of the gospel itself.

So you're going under the water, representative of, symbolic of, and spiritually dying to self.

It's Christ going to the grave for us, taking on death, his blood being shed, and then in a moment's time you're under the water, representing death to sin and death in Christ to coming up out of the water as the resurrection that we were co-identifying with the death of Jesus, the death of self, and the resurrection of Jesus and the resurrection of self in Christ.

So it's about the blood of Jesus.

You have been born with contaminated blood.

So I went and saw a doctor last year, and he did a number of blood tests on me.

So I remember before I ever had a blood test, and people would tell me, you should get a blood test.

And I go, why?

Because there might be something wrong with your blood.

And I said, okay.

And they said, oh, and and you know what?

They can check for this, this, and this.

And I remember that was during the HIV AIDS scare, you know, in the late 90s and early 2000s.

And I thought, having not done a, I'd given blood, but had never had a set of blood tests, I thought they kept, they kept sticking the needle in for each thing that they're gonna test you on.

I didn't realize that they can stick it in and they keep it in, and then they keep taking that vial out, you know, and then they take that to the to the lab and all that.

I didn't want to do that.

I'm not gonna let them poke me like 25 times to see if I'm HIV positive or something.

Um well, they don't do that.

So I'm sure all of you guys have way more blood tests than me.

But anyway, last year they did that.

Why?

Because they're looking to see if there's things that are unhealthy and things that are healthy in my blood, and you get these counts, as all of you know, that are probably over 30.

You've had this happen, and and they check you because they're if you know if you're carrying cancer or you're carrying AIDS or something like that, you can't even give blood because your blood's contaminated.

Well, guess what?

All of your blood is contaminated with sin.

We all have contaminated sin.

We all have selfishness.

And if you think you're not selfish and you're married, just ask your spouse and they can help you along with that.

Um and if they say no, you're not selfish, then just have kids.

And um you'll find out a few things, right?

So I don't think we have to convince anybody here that our spiritual bloodstream, our spiritual bloodstream is contaminated with a thing called sin.

And sin is simply being separated from God, it's it's spiritual cancer.

And we're all born with it because of Adam and Eve and because of the garden.

And we were born selfish.

We were born caring about ourselves more than anybody else in the whole world.

When the picture is taken of the group at your Thanksgiving party with your family, the first person you're gonna look at in the picture is yourself, and then that will determine whether you like the picture.

So you'll have everybody looks great, everybody's smiling and everything, and then one person's like looking away, done, forget it.

That picture's out because you're gonna hear about it for the next year from the one who's looking away, right?

So we're all selfish, we're all thinking about ourselves, and because of that contamination of our spiritual bloodstream, Christ came.

That's why he came.

He came to forgive us, but also to empower us with new life.

So if you do, if you would, but just turn to Romans, the book of Romans, chapter 6.

Romans 6 · chapter mention

This is going to be my text today, Romans 6, talking about physical baptism.

And Paul is drawing out for us what baptism is and the significance of it.

And it's quite significant because of our spiritual mitochondria that is tainted by sin.

So he starts off with verse 3.

Let's look at Romans 6.3.

Romans 6.3.

Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

So the first thing to remember about baptism is when we when we're baptized, we're identifying with the cross.

We're identifying with the death of Christ.

These men and women that are wearing the burgundy, the burgundy shirts.

I love them because I think it represents the blood of Christ, but it also looks very much like the maroon of the University of Alabama.

And that's that's a problem for me.

But the but the red of the University of Georgia looks too orangey, so we're sticking with it.

All right.

But you're wearing that because of the blood of Christ.

We chose red.

We could have chose white.

White would have been appropriate too.

But we chose red because the first thing we read is, do you not know?

That's how Paul begins.

Do you not know?

In other words, even at that time, within just a dozen years or so since the death of Christ, it was known.

He's being rhetorical.

Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his blood, into his death?

We could color the water red.

Because that's what it's like.

We're going under the blood.

We're identifying with the death of Christ.

It's Jesus dying at Calvary that we're looking at and that we're identifying with.

Because it's at Calvary that it all happened.

So as important as the resurrection is, and it's super important, Muhammad never rose from the grave.

Buddha never rose from the grave.

The Dalai Lama never rose from the grave.

Only Jesus rose from the grave.

That's really, really key.

But you don't have a resurrection without a death.

And so the cross is what Paul preached.

And it was and it was scandalous.

It was scandalous for at least the first 500 years of Christian history.

You guys follow a criminal who died on a Roman cross, and the explanation had to always be given, always be given.

It would have been easier, and it's easier for a lot of churches today, skip the cross, get to the resurrection.

You can't do that, church.

You have to have the cross to have the resurrection.

We are crucified with Christ, and it's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

But that, but that truth begins with going under the water.

So if you've never been baptized today and you want to make Jesus your Lord, that's step one is to understand that Jesus died on the cross because of sin.

Because of our spiritual mitochondria is tainted by sin.

And sin literally means separation from God.

That's what it means.

It's not about porn, it's not about alcohol, it's not about rebellion, though it's all those things under the rubric of it, but it's separation from God.

In other words, when we're separated from God, we are full unadulterated sinners.

Every one of us in this room.

And that sin in our life separates us from God.

So we are, so, so sin means we are living a life without the life of Christ in our life.

Right?

Does that make sense?

So, in other words, we can, you can, you can be with someone, living with someone, have a relationship with someone.

It's a great person.

They're fantastic, they're honest, they tell the truth.

They're just flat good people.

There's just as many good people outside the church as inside the church.

And there's some people that are gooder outside the church than inside the church.

And the way you know that is you get involved in the church.

So the reason people don't go to church is because they know people who do.

So the reality is that we're sinners, and that's why Christ came.

Is to bridge the gap between us as sinners and a bridge through the grace of God into a personal, life-giving relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

That's why he came.

So if the law could have done it, if being a good person could have done it, he would have done it.

So the question being then, why did God bring the law through Moses?

Why did God bring the law through Moses?

Why did he say that they had to be circumcised?

Because it was prophetic.

It was a prophetic work of the Spirit through blood sacrifice, through the tabernacle, and then through the temple, to prepare our hearts.

The scriptures say in Galatians that it was a tutor.

It was like a training to get us ready for the blood sacrifice of Jesus.

So the Bible says in Romans that sin, that the wages of sin is death, meaning spiritual separation from God.

So I think of it as spiritual cancer.

Like the wages of sin is like spiritual cancer.

And how many of us know that have had cancer, you don't know you have cancer.

You don't know you have cancer until they tell you you have cancer sometimes.

I mean, sometimes you're seeing the symptoms, but a lot of times you go in for the checkup and they say, You got cancer.

And they say, ah.

Because cancer is flowing through your physical bloodstream, cancer cells.

And so they do all these treatments to get rid of your cancer.

Well, we have the sin cancer, the cancer of sin running through our spiritual bloodstream.

And so it so the scriptures say in Romans that the wages of sin is death.

So we go, how could that person do that?

How could they cheat on their wife?

How could they cheat on their husband?

How could they cheat on their taxes?

That was easier to understand.

But how could they cheat?

You know?

Because it's the wages of sin.

In other words, as a sinner, not redeemed by the blood of Christ yet, you're dying.

You're dying a lot faster than everybody else because you haven't been forgiven.

You haven't been set free by the resurrection power of Jesus Christ.

And so the wages of sin become separation from God, but then separation from people.

And separation from new life.

And separation from health in our lives.

The healthiest people, and don't misunderstand what I'm about to say, the healthiest people are not what we would call Christians.

Because that the title Christian is on everything in America.

Everybody's a Christian counselor.

Until they're not.

But anyway, there are everybody's a Christian counselor.

Everybody's a Christian mechanic.

Just, you know, just look at the fishies.

There's little fishies on the bumpers of all these people as they cut you off in traffic, as they cut their way in line.

Means nothing, right?

But I'm talking about true believers who really know Christ in a personal way.

They're growing in Christ.

They are what we call around here a wholehearted disciple of Jesus, are healthier.

They just are.

Because they're quick to forgive, so they're not carrying the stress of unforgiveness.

And nobody's perfect in this, but I'm talking about as we grow, we're learning to live mentally and emotionally and hopefully physically and relationally healthier in our lives.

It's a healthy life.

But we have this cancer, and it's called sin.

And the wages of sin are a real bummer in our life because as one who've some of you, if I show of hands, a lot of people have had cancer.

We just had a couple stay with us who are from Georgia and close friends of ours for years and years.

And they were sharing, he was an Air Force pilot, that in his day they were in Germany when the whole Chernobyl meltdown happened.

And that cloud, because of wind from Chernobyl, blew over Germany.

And they were recounting how many people have gotten cancer of their friends because of the nuclear fallout that came down upon Germany because of Chernobyl.

That's kind of how sin is.

Romans 5.8.

You don't have to turn there.

I'm going to put it up on the screen, is a powerful verse.

But God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Much more than having now been justified by his blood.

That's underlined in my Bible.

Justified by his blood.

This is Romans 5 8.

We shall be saved from wrath through him.

Through him.

For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, how much more, having been reconciled, are we saved by his life?

So what we need is a spiritual blood transfusion.

Not dialysis.

Literally uncontaminated blood transfusion is the only way to get saved, and it's the only way to find new life.

So dialysis is religion.

You know what dialysis is?

Dialysis is taking your blood, running it through the system of dialysis and putting it back into you, kind of cleansing your blood.

That's religion, in my opinion.

It's you trying to be a good person.

It's you trying to be a religious person.

It's you and I attempting to be the best person we can.

Is anything wrong with that?

No.

As long as we understand it doesn't save us.

Because what happens is when we get saved, when we come into a personal relationship with Christ, there is a discipleship process by which we are disciplining our lives to know Him in an intimate way.

But men and women, listen.

Religion is always outward trying to get inward.

So if I do these things, if I go to Mass, if I get baptized, if I follow the Eucharist, if, if, if, then I'll have a personal relationship with Christ.

Versus true Christianity, true faith, is that by realizing I can't do it and I'll never be good enough, and I'm never going to be able to change my life myself, I surrender to Christ.

Starting with the inside work of a transformed heart and a transformed spirit, then the outward actions of our lives reflect the inner change because of a personal, intimate relationship with Christ.

And so this blood transfusion came through Christ.

Ephesians 1:7.

Ephesians 1:7

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace.

1 Peter 1.

Redeemed not with corruptible things, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish.

1 John 1.

But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin.

Isn't that exciting?

Romans 5.

Much more than having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

You see that?

Through him, through him, in him, through him, redemption, redemption, redemption.

Folks, it's not about what you can do, it's about what he did.

You see, Jesus died the death we could not die, so that we can live the life we could not live.

Through the power of Christ.

Now look at again.

Go back to Romans 6, the next verse, verse 4.

Therefore we were buried with him.

Remember, we're going to go under the water.

We were buried with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead, coming up out of the water, by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Really important.

Old identity.

I am dead in sin.

I can't tell you.

Hundreds of people over the years in ministry have come to me at different points in their journey and said, I'm dead in my sin.

I'm a loser, I'm a failure, I've gone through this, this, and this.

God can never forgive me for what I did.

That's the old identity, church.

Don't stay there.

The new identity is I am dead to sin.

So I was dead in sin, and now the new identity in Christ is I am dead to sin.

The power of sin has been broken.

Not by you.

I mean, some of you still have stuff you're struggling with, right?

But you're dead to sin.

In other words, you're in this, we call it the sanctification process.

It's this process of getting better and better in Christ, not better and better in you.

It's re-surrendering.

In a real sense, nobody cares what you've done in the past.

Now you may have to grapple with the consequences of stuff that you've done, and that's tough, man.

That's hard for all of us.

But as far as being forgiven of your past sin, it's forgiven if you've put your faith in Christ.

And then it's working out the inward resolve of the blood transfusion of Christ making you cancer free.

Don't you want to be cancer free?

How many of us have heard that word from the physician?

You're cancer free.

Well, guess what?

In baptism today, you're spiritually cancer free.

You're walking now in the newness of life.

And if some of you in this room haven't done that, join us.

Just jump in and we'll baptize you.

If you're giving your heart to Christ, you want to follow him, you've never done that.

Or you're coming back to Christ, you've never done that.

Come on.

We want to baptize you.

And we want you to walk in dry and leave wet in the blood of Jesus.

Old identity, I'm dead in sin.

New identity, I'm dead to sin.

I am buried with Christ and raised up with Christ.

So many believers get half of the, half of the interaction, half of the transaction.

I'm buried with Christ.

And they're always mortifying themselves and constantly down on themselves and living in this perpetual viewpoint of failure when you're also raised up with Christ.

And his resurrection power is flowing in your spiritual bloodstream.

So baptism, and a simple way to look at it, is an identity.

It's identifying with the forgiveness of sins.

In other words, going under the water is saying, I identify, I am dead to sin.

I'm dead to sin.

And we're going to take you all the way down and we're going to hold you there.

About one second.

And it doesn't count if your nose is still dry.

So we want to take you all the way down because we want you to totally identify with the death of Christ and we're going to raise you up.

And some of you are going to come up like this.

Some of you are going to lose your demons down there.

We always, every baptism, somebody who's demonized gets set free.

And they don't even know they're demonized until they go under and they come back and they go, they go, Pastor Steve, man, I used to, I was battling with this my whole life.

And I don't really understand it, but it seems like at baptism, it broke off.

And I go, yeah, it happens to all of us in some way, shape, or form.

That's how powerful baptism is.

Now, I don't want to make it some magical tub, but there is spiritual significance in communion, baptism, and I think in the marriage ceremony.

I think the marriage ceremony under the rubric of the cross and Christ, a Christian wedding, has power on it.

And it seals something.

Something gets sealed here.

Something gets sealed every time we take the Lord's Supper.

I believe in that.

And so the identity of baptism is first of all, you're buried, but then second of all, you're raised up.

So you are a resurrected saint now.

You have the blood of Christ flowing.

You've been, you, you've experienced the transfusion of Christ.

Now, listen to what I'm going to say next.

Really important to understand.

And I say this to the men all the time at Wholehearted Men on Tuesday morning.

You've been given a new heart.

So some in some way, some spiritual sense, by giving your life to Christ, you get a new spirit.

You get the Holy Spirit, but you also get a new heart.

And so we read in Ezekiel 36, I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put in you.

I will remove from your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

So there's this work of the Spirit by putting our faith in him that God gives us actually a new heart.

So look at verse 5.

Look at verse 5 in Romans 6.

For if we've been united together in the likeness of his death, that's what we talked about, going under the water, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of his resurrection, that's coming up out of the water, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away, the power of sin wiped away, with that we should no longer be slaves of sin.

For he who has died has been freed from sin.

So the new identity is I'm resurrected with Christ.

The new identity is I'm resurrected with Christ.

And the blood of Christ has given us this identity.

Listen, everybody.

My history does not define my legacy.

Don't miss this.

My history does not define my legacy.

And so, and so, so, in the in a real sense, everything that's happened in the past is now covered by the blood of Jesus by putting your faith in him and it's forgiven.

That the resurrection life of Christ can flow in you, and you now have a new life.

You have a new legacy before you.org.

That's theroad.org.