What happened in the water

We're talking about baptism today, and uh this is one of those lessons that I probably need about four lessons to get everything in.

So we're gonna have to get moving this morning.

You may want to buckle up, so grab that seat belt and go ahead and plug it in.

We're gonna get rolling here.

Uh, we're gonna jump right into this lesson.

So when you think about baptism and uh what it means for each of us, I think we can go back to the very beginning of time.

We can go back to the way God relates to his people.

We can see hints of what's coming as we study God's word from the very beginning.

But this morning, as we dive into this lesson, we're gonna start with John the Baptist.

And uh you have this image of him as you read through the text.

We have John the Baptist.

Matthew introduces us to this guy wearing camel's hair, a leather belt around his waist.

He's out there eating locusts and honey, and uh, which by the way, if John walked into Chisholm Hills this morning looking like that, we'd probably at the very least keep an eye on him to make sure what's up with this guy, right?

But he's out here in the middle of the river telling people to come in and dunk into the water.

He's saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

And then people are just starting to come to him.

They're confessing their sins, they're walking down into the Jordan River, and John is baptizing them in that moment.

And here's what I find fascinating.

Nobody seems confused by this.

As we read through the text, there's not this note that everyone couldn't figure out what was going on.

It's like it was expected.

Nobody is standing on the riverbank saying, Okay, John, I understand the preaching, I understand what it means to repent, I understand confessing my sins, but what is it about the water?

Why are we down here at the river?

Apparently, they already had some kind of frame of reference for what's happening.

They know there's something associated with the water in this moment, but think about the story.

In this moment, Jesus hasn't died yet.

There hasn't been a resurrection, there hasn't been a Pentecost.

We see Peter hasn't preached in Acts chapter 2 at this point, and Jesus hasn't even given the Great Commission.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

There isn't even a church yet, and yet people are still being baptized.

So the question becomes: how does something that was already happening before Jesus ever went down to the cross, how does it eventually become one of the most beautiful pictures of what Jesus accomplished on the cross?

Spoiler alert this morning, I don't think that happens by accident.

This is something that was prophesied.

It was something that was pointed towards from the very beginning of time because God has been telling this story long before the people started standing on the banks of the Jordan River.

He does it throughout Scripture.

He teeks things that people have seen and things people have experienced for generations.

And then Jesus comes along and suddenly we look back at that and we say, Oh, now that makes sense.

And we see that over and over again.

And I think baptism is one of those beautiful pictures, one that's been led up to, one that's been foretold, one that's been experienced over and over before they really understand what's going on in this moment.

So, how do we go from John standing in the Jordan to Paul now saying in Romans 6 that we've been baptized into the death of Jesus?

And now that that's what I want to explore this morning.

That's what I want to take us through as we get into our text.

So the first quarter, our focus of this quarter, I should say, has been this growing in favor with God.

We talked about growth this entire year.

And this quarter, we've been talking about what it means to grow closer to Him, to grow in favor with Him.

And at some point, I think God says to us, here's what I want you to do.

I think baptism is one of those things.

Here's what I want you to do.

And in faith, if we want to be pleasing to Him, if we want to grow in favor with Him, our natural response should be, okay, I'll follow your lead.

I'm gonna do what you want me to do.

You want to grow in favor with your parents, all you kids out there, the best way to do it is to do what your parents tell you to do.

Any parents want to say amen to that one?

You want to grow in favor, you just follow the instructions.

You are obedient to them.

And the same is true with our relationship with God.

You want to grow in favor with God, just do what he tells you to do.

It's really that simple if you break it all down.

It's because I trust you I'm gonna do what you tell me to do.

And if he is God, if he loves me, and if he knows better than I do, then I want to understand what he asked me to do, and I want to follow him.

And so one of the things God asks us to do is to be baptized.

Now, I realize what I said.

I know I'm speaking to a church of Christ this morning and we're talking about baptism, and I know everybody in this audience has heard a lesson on baptism probably dozens of times in your life, perhaps even hundreds if we're going down that road.

You may hear me say Acts 2.38, and you begin to quote it in your head, right?

Repent and be baptized, every one of you.

We know the Ethiopian eunuch, we know Saul, we know Romans chapter 6.

Romans 6 · chapter mention

Some of you have been studying baptism longer than I've been alive, let's be honest.

So I'm not particularly interested this morning in spending 30 minutes simply trying to prove something that you already believe.

What I want to do is to help us maybe get a better grasp on it, to understand it a little more.

Why baptism, why water?

Why did God choose this mess that this method for us to encounter the blood of Jesus?

And maybe even more importantly, especially for those of us who've been baptized many years ago, what does my baptism have to do with the way that I live today?

And so that's where we're going this morning as we make our way through this message.

So we're going back to before John, before the first few minutes.

We're going back before the story is told in Romans chapter 6, because maybe the question isn't simply, have I been baptized?

Romans 6 · chapter mention

Maybe it's do I understand what happened to me in that moment.

So, as a result, let's follow the water.

That's that's the general idea.

And I got seven points this morning.

I know you're probably thinking, we usually have three or four.

This is gonna be a long one.

Hopefully, we're gonna keep running and get through it quickly.

So stay with me.

Keep that seatbelt buckled.

Number one this morning is the water already meant something.

This is what I want you to see.

There's a frame of reference that happens here before John steps onto the scene.

So let's go back.

Long before John ever started standing at the banks of the Jordan River.

The water already meant something to God's people.

And honestly, if you start reading through the Old Testament, especially books like Leviticus, you discover pretty quickly that God's people did a lot of washing throughout time.

And you may be thinking, well, that's exactly why I don't read the book of Leviticus.

But stay with me here once again, because I'm not going to walk you through every purification law this morning.

That's the good news.

But I do want you to get this picture about what God has been painting, right?

Go all the way back to Exodus chapter 30.

Exodus 30 · chapter mention

God is giving instructions concerning the tabernacle.

And he tells Moses to make a bronze basin.

And what this is is a place for Aaron and the priest to wash their hands, to wash their feet before they enter the tent of meeting and approach the altar.

So why would this be important?

Well, the answer is because they were approaching the presence of a holy God.

And then you get into Leviticus and you see this idea all over again.

There were all kinds of circumstances that would make you ceremonially unclean.

And so, what does that mean?

Well, you have to do something.

And unclean didn't necessarily mean that they had committed some horrible sin.

Oftentimes, this uncleanliness was brought on by illness or bodily functions or even coming in contact with a dead body.

And so there were different circumstances in ordinary life where under the law a person becomes unclean, and over and over again, what do we find?

Washing.

And then that's water.

That means cleansing, that means purification.

So generations before John ever showed up at the Jordan, God's people had already learned to associate water with movement.

Something is happening here.

So there's this process of going from unclean to washed.

All of a sudden we become clean once again.

Now, understand the water was never magical.

It was never about the water itself.

It's still just plain old H2O.

The water meant something simply because God said it meant something.

It wasn't the water itself, but it was simply being obedient to him.

And I think that's an important idea that we're going to come back to in just a moment.

But what I want you to see is over hundreds of years, this became deeply embedded into the lives of God's people.

It was a part of Jewish life.

In fact, by the time you get to the world of Jesus, Jewish people were using what we call a mikveh.

It looks something like this.

And in this mikveh, it was a ritual immersion pool.

And if you've ever been to Jerusalem, or maybe you've seen some photos from Jerusalem or the archaeological pictures, you can still see some of them today.

So basically, they've uncovered these ancient pools around Jerusalem, including near the temple area.

And they're interesting because many of them have these steps, as you can see, that descend down into the water.

So people would go down into the water as part of this ritual purification.

So picture this you're a Jewish person living in the first century, you've grown up hearing the law, you've watched purification practices your whole life.

Maybe you've even personally walked down these steps into the water.

So you understand what the water means.

You've already come to associate in your mind kind of this pattern.

So there's water, cleansing, purification, and it's all part of this process of approaching God.

And I think that's the picture we need as we enter into this discussion about baptism.

And so then one day you hear about this crazy preacher out in the wilderness.

He's standing at the Jordan River and he's telling people to come on down into the water.

And now suddenly our opening makes a little more sense.

Nobody has to come and approach John and say, Why the water?

What is this all about?

But John is about to say something with that water that is much bigger and much more important than anything they've associated it with before.

And actually, God has already hinted at this long before Ezekiel 36.

God is talking about a day when he's going to restore his people.

And he says, I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanliness.

Now, if you're an Israelite, you understand that language.

Remember the progression: clean water, uncleanliness, cleansing.

So you've heard that your entire life, but listen to what God says next.

And I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put into you.

So don't miss that progression.

God isn't ultimately interested in getting his people clean on the outside.

He's aiming for something more important.

He's shooting for the heart.

I want to cleanse you on the inside, not just the outside.

So there's more to this.

And John says, repent.

This is no longer something merely associated with external cleansing cleanliness.

John is going after the heart.

But then he says, something is coming.

And I think that's the important part.

More specifically, someone is coming, and you need to get ready.

That's John's message standing there at the Jordan.

Someone is coming.

So John didn't invent this idea of water representing cleansing.

God has been using water the entire time for generations.

Now, number two, John changes the conversation, and that's where we're headed with this.

So John didn't invent this picture.

The water already meant something, but John does take this familiar picture and does something different with it, with it.

Matthew 3.

In those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea.

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

And then Matthew tells us the then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the regions about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were being baptized in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

So you see, it's a little different.

This isn't simply I become ceremonially unclean and I need to wash.

John is looking at his at God's people and saying, You need to repent.

There's something going on in your life.

You need to put away the past.

Something is wrong.

And it isn't something water on the outside can fix.

John is now focused on the heart.

And remember who he's talking to.

These are Jewish people.

These are God's covenant people.

These are descendants of Abraham.

These are people who know the law and they understand.

They know the scripture.

They know the traditions.

And if anyone could have looked at John and said, It's all, we're good.

We don't need all that water business.

We're good to go.

It would have been these people.

And apparently some of them did exactly that.

You've heard of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, right?

They show up in verse 9.

Do not presume to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father.

In other words, don't give me your religious resume, he says.

Don't tell me who your grandfather was.

Don't tell me how long your family's been part of God's people.

So I think that directly comes to us.

That directly comes to you and me.

I think there's something for those of us who have spent our lives around church because it's possible to know the right answers.

Been there before.

It's possible to show up to service every Sunday.

It's possible to know Acts 2.38 by heart.

It's possible to know exactly what to do and say and still have a heart that's nowhere near God.

That's what I want you to see this morning.

You can inherit a Bible.

You can inherit traditions.

You can even inherit a spot on the church pew, right?

Maybe we can start moving those a little forward more forward in the coming weeks.

I don't know.

But you can't inherit.

It's not something that's given to you, it's something you must choose.

And I think that's part of the story.

John is looking at these people, God's people in this moment, and he's saying, You need to repent.

Why?

Because something's about to happen.

Listen to his message again.

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

He's not trying to make these people feel guilty, he's simply preparing them.

In fact, that's what John's administration is entirely about.

Remember last week we talked about he must increase, I must decrease.

He's pointing forward to Jesus.

He's saying, get ready.

Someone is coming.

And John tells him in Matthew 3:11, I baptize you with the water for repentance, but he who is coming is mightier than I.

Matthew 3:11

There it is.

Someone else is coming.

He's pointing to Jesus.

I baptize you with water, but someone is coming.

And I love that because John never makes himself the center of the story.

He's always pointing forward, pointing outside of himself.

People are coming from everywhere to hear John in this moment.

The crowds are gathering, the people are responding.

His ministry is exploding.

And what does he continually do?

He points to Jesus.

He says, It's not about me, but he is coming.

There's someone greater, there's someone mightier.

He must increase.

I must decrease.

So John has been standing in the water, baptizing people who are doing what?

They're confessing their sins one after another.

People are coming into the Jordan, acknowledging, I need to repent.

I haven't lived the way I should.

Change needs to happen in my life.

And then one day John looks up, and who does he see standing there?

There's Jesus.

Jesus is in line waiting to be baptized into the water.

And all of a sudden we have a lot of questions, right?

Why does Jesus need to be baptized in the first place?

Well, that's where we're getting this.

And then we see in Matthew 3 14, he says, John would have prevented him saying, I need to be baptized by you, and you come to me.

And then Jesus answers that and he says, Let it be so, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.

And I think that's where we need to begin.

Why does Jesus do this?

Well, he says, Because it is fitting for all righteousness.

In other words, he's saying, This is what the Father wants.

So we must fulfill it.

And I think there's something beautifully simple about that.

He knows the will of the Father, and he simply submits to it.

How much less complicated would our lives be if we would simply follow that truth?

We know what God wants, so we do it.

It really makes a lot of sense if you think about it, even in its some its simplicity.

And maybe I think that's worth it for a moment, especially in this quarter where we're talking about growing in favor with God.

Because I think sometimes we approach obedience by asking, Do I have to do this?

Or what can I get by with?

But that's not what obedience is truly about.

It's about saying, This is your will.

How can I fall further into your will?

How can I obey you more completely in my life?

Instead of saying, What can I get away with?

How can I be more pleasing to you?

That should be our goal as followers of Jesus Christ.

To grow in obedience to him.

It's not what's the least God requires of me, but it's what does the Father desire from me.

I think that's what Jesus does in this moment.

He didn't need to be baptized, he had never fallen short of God's will.

He fulfilled it completely.

But he did this to fulfill all righteousness.

And then the Father, it says, is pleased with the Son.

Jesus is walking faithfully in the will of his Father.

But there's something else happening here that I don't want us to miss.

Jesus has to step into the water with the very people he came to save.

Think about that.

And I think that's going to be the story of his life.

We see it play out in his ministry.

He eats with sinners.

He'll touch people that everybody else avoids.

He's going to sit at tables with tax collectors.

How crazy is that! He's gonna be known as a friend of sinners, and eventually he's gonna do more than stand into the water.

He's going to die on the cross for those people he steps into the water with.

He's gonna die on the cross for you and me, the ones that need repentance.

Because something still hasn't happened yet in this moment.

Jesus hasn't died yet.

Jesus hasn't been buried.

He hasn't risen, but he will.

The same Jesus who comes up out of the Jordan is eventually going to walk toward Jerusalem.

He'll be betrayed, he'll be arrested, he'll be nailed to a cross, and he's going to die.

His body will be placed in a tomb, and one day he's gonna walk out of that tomb.

And once that happens, the water is going to tell a much bigger story.

Let's follow the water.

Our next point, point number four, after the cross, the water tells a new story.

And that's exactly what happens.

Jesus died, he's buried, he rises again, and after his resurrection, Jesus gathers his disciples and to and he gives them what we call the Great Commission, another one that everybody has memorized, right?

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Go therefore, you can say it with me, go therefore, right?

You know it, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

You know that truth, right?

And this is what happens as a result of what Jesus did for us.

This is the Great Commission.

And right in the middle of that is the water again.

Only now something has changed.

John stood at the Jordan and he said, Someone is coming.

But now Jesus stands on the other side of the resurrection and he says, Go into all the world and tell them that I came, tell them that I died, have them take part in this.

Baptism is part of the mission, and that's what I want you to see.

The Great Commission for all of us it's it's embedded in.

There.

Baptism is part of that action.

Go into all the world.

Then we turn the page into Acts.

Jesus ascends, the Holy Spirit comes.

Peter stands up on Pentecost and preaches the gospel.

And what is it that Peter preaches?

He preaches about Jesus.

Jesus was crucified, he was raised.

Jesus is Lord and He's the Christ.

Then in Acts 37, what do the people say?

They say, Well, what shall we do?

You know this verse.

What's his response?

He doesn't say, nothing.

If you feel bad about it, that's enough.

Just make a choice in your heart right now.

You're good to go.

No, he says, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins.

And there it is again.

He points to the water.

But notice what has changed.

Now this baptism is in the name of Jesus Christ.

And so it's connected with forgiveness of sins.

It's the response to the good news that Jesus has died and risen again.

So the water wasn't new, but Jesus is in this moment.

And this is what the gospel message is all about.

This is where we come in contact with his blood.

Suddenly, all those places we've been following start to come together.

For generations, water has spoken the language of cleansing.

John now connects that water with repentance as preparation.

He says, Someone's coming.

And so Jesus now comes and dies.

He's buried.

And now the gospel message is someone came.

We're supposed to share that with the world.

And when people hear that message, when they believe it, and when we see it believed over and over again in the book of Acts, what do they do?

You know the stories.

What do they do?

They're baptized.

Acts 8, the Samaritan, believes Philip as he preaches the good news about the kingdom of God.

And what does he do?

He's baptized.

Later in the same chapter, Philip is writing with an Ethiopian eunuch.

Philip tells him the good news about Jesus as they're traveling.

And he says, Hey, look, there's some water.

What prevents me from being baptized?

Saul encounters Jesus.

And when Ananias comes to him, what happens?

Saul is baptized.

We see Cornelius in Acts 10.

He and his household, when they encounter Jesus, what happens?

They're baptized.

This one's pretty easy.

We see in Acts 16, Lydia and her household encounter Jesus, and what happens?

They're baptized over and over again.

The natural response to hearing the gospel is putting our faith in Jesus, being baptized for the remission of our sins, receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Later in the same chapter, the Philippian jailer hears the words of the Lord.

And in the middle of the night, he and his household are baptized.

It's over and over again throughout the book of Acts.

People hear the gospel, they believe Jesus, they respond, and they go to the water.

Now, we could spend the rest of the morning walking through every account in Acts, and some of you would love that, right?

We're not going to do that.

Some of you are already mentally turning to Acts chapter 8.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

I don't want to simply prove that the early Christians baptized people.

You already know that truth.

What did they understand was happening here?

Why does a man riding down the road in Acts chapter 8 hear the good news about Jesus and then suddenly start keeping an eye out for water?

Acts 8 · chapter mention

Why, when the Philippian jailer comes to faith in the middle of the night, then they not say, Well, we'll schedule a baptism for next month's baptism Sunday.

No, they respond in that moment.

Why does it happen that night?

Well, what makes that moment so important?

I think that's where the conversation in Romans 6 comes into play.

Because Acts shows us that they did it, but Romans 6 gives us more insight into the why.

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

We begin to understand a little more.

Next point, what happened in that water?

Romans 6 in verse 3.

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

And then Paul says in verse 4.

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 the Father, we too might walk in what?

Newness of life.

And there it is.

I think that's the picture.

And when you see it, man, baptism's really kind of beautiful, isn't it?

Because think about it.

God could have chosen any way for us to be baptized.

He could have stood up here, he could have given us the declaration in Scripture, once you believe in Jesus, you got to sprint seven times around the church building, and then you'll be saved.

That would be one way to get our steps in this morning, right?

But that's not what he chooses.

He could have said, Well, if if you believe in Jesus, what you got to do is stand on your head and read the Ten Commandments.

Some of us would have been in big trouble if that was the case.

Maybe some work in order to get there.

He could have told us to climb a mountain or take a journey, perform some great religious feat.

God could have chosen anything.

He could have said, you have to choose one book of the Bible and memorize it.

Would it be worth it?

Absolutely, because in it we enter into salvation, into it.

We encounter the blood of Jesus.

But he makes it really simple.

And there's something beautiful in that simplicity.

He says, baptized.

Why?

Well, look at the picture.

Jesus died.

Paul says that in baptism I'm united with him in his death.

Jesus was buried.

Paul says in baptism, I'm buried with him.

Jesus came out of the grave.

Paul says in Romans 6, I'm raised with him to walk in newness of life.

Do you see it?

The act itself tells the gospel story.

Your baptism tells the gospel story.

There's death being buried in the water.

So you're buried as part of that burial.

The old self is now passed away.

So your resurrection comes when you're pulled out of that water and you're raised for what?

To walk in newness of life.

So the gospel isn't just something I hear.

In baptism, I'm surrendering to the story of Jesus.

His death becomes my death, his burial becomes my burial, his resurrection becomes the beginning of my new life with Jesus.

And suddenly we can look back across everything that we talked about this morning and say, Oh, now I see it.

This is the story that God's been pointing to all along.

This is what all that ritual cleansing was about.

This is why they had those mikvas back in the day.

It's leading up to something, it's fulfilling God's plan.

What is to come?

In that moment, the water isn't.

It's not about the water.

It's not about some magical formula in the H2O, it doesn't become like H4O plus or something like that.

It's still simple water.

But in that moment, in our obedience to God, our faith is telling the story.

In that moment, we are obedient to Him.

God is doing something in our face.

That's what I want you to see.

It's not about the water, it's about your heart.

It's about what God is doing in that moment.

God has been using water to speak about cleansing for generations.

John stood in the water calling people to repent and saying, Someone is coming.

Jesus did come.

He died.

He was buried.

He rose again.

And now Paul looks at Christians and says, When you were baptized, you entered into that story.

This is where I want to be very clear this morning.

There's nothing magical about the water.

Our baptistry isn't filled with some kind of holy water.

If it were, we'd probably take even better care of it than we already do.

In fact, there's no water in there right now.

We got to fill it up.

We turn on the switch and it just fills up with just plain old water, right?

The water isn't our savior, but Jesus is.

Baptism doesn't save you because getting wet brings you in favor with God.

If Jesus had never gone to the cross, if blood had never been shed, if he had never risen from the grave, baptism would simply get you wet.

There'd be no point in it.

Power is in Jesus Christ.

The power is in his blood.

The power is in his grace.

So when we talk about baptism being connected to salvation, we don't look at it as some kind of act and say, look what I did.

This is about what Jesus is doing for you in this moment.

And there's something real about the way we do it there too.

Because how many of you can say, I just went and baptized myself?

No, someone is physically lowering you into that water.

And in many cases, somebody probably even held your nose for you, right?

Baptism isn't something you do, it's something that God is doing in that moment.

Colossians 2 12.

He says that we are buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith and the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.

You catch that?

The powerful work of God.

God is doing the work.

But look at what baptism is.

What are you bragging about?

Somebody lowered you into that water in the first place.

Baptism is not earning anything.

Baptism looks like surrender.

You have to trust the person that's lowering you into that water.

Ultimately, you have to trust in Jesus with your soul in that process.

Baptism is coming to God and saying, I believe you.

Throwing our hands up, we are empty-handing, handed.

I believe Jesus is the Son of God.

I believe he died for me.

I believe he was buried.

He rose again.

And I believe I cannot save myself.

And this is where you have told me to meet Jesus.

I'm going to follow your lead.

Trust you.

This is what you command.

And I think that's what our faith is all about.

That's why I don't have to choose between saying we're saved by grace or saved by grace through faith and saying baptize, baptism matters.

I'm going to say that again because I messed it up.

That's why I don't have to choose between saying we're saved by grace through faith and saying that baptism matters.

The Bible doesn't put those things against each other.

And that's what I want you to see.

There's no controversy here.

Baptism depends entirely on grace.

It's all about grace.

We aren't saved because baptism is impressive.

We're saved because Jesus did something incredible at Calvary.

It's all about him.

Even in that moment, we're saved because Jesus is God.

And in baptism, through faith, we surrender ourselves to what he has done.

So I would say this: baptism is not the source of salvation.

Jesus Christ is.

But baptism is the God-appointed moment in which through faith we are united with him.

Let's make it even more simple.

We're not saved because we're baptized, we're saved through baptism because of Jesus.

And that's what it comes down to.

And I think that's what Romans 6 is trying to show us this morning.

We're baptized into Christ, into his death, his burial, his resurrection.

So it's not because the water's powerful.

It's because Jesus is powerful.

Couple caveats, uh two more points.

We're almost there.

Stick with me.

Two ways baptism.

Two ways we can get it wrong.

Two ways we get it wrong.

I want to spend a few moments here because I think it matters, especially right now, because something interesting has happened in the broader religious world over the last several years.

I'm going to read most of this because I don't want to mess it up.

Baptism has become pretty popular.

Right?

We'll see churches having baptism Sundays.

They'll have dozens, sometimes hundreds of people baptized in this one moment.

They're going to go out and make videos, they're going to celebrate.

People will cheer when someone comes out of the water.

And listen, I love seeing people excited about following Jesus.

I want you to understand that.

I'm not interested in making fun of that whatsoever.

I'm not questioning anyone's sincerity.

If someone wants to obey Jesus, I'm going to celebrate that every single time.

But sincerity doesn't mean we shouldn't ask, what does the Bible actually say is happening in baptism?

Because it's possible to use the right practice and give it the wrong meaning.

And I think one of the most common explanations you'll hear today goes something like this Put your faith in Jesus, invite Jesus into your heart, pray a prayer, and receive Jesus as your Savior, and then sometime after that, you can be baptized as a public declaration that you've already been saved.

I want to be gracious here.

My problem with that isn't that's not how Church of Christ does it.

That's not a good enough reason in and of itself.

We're not the standard, right?

But God's word is.

Ananias comes to Saul in Acts 22.

He says, And now why do you wait?

Arise, be baptized, wash away your sins, calling on his name.

Galatians 3, 27, for as many of you as were baptized into Christ to put on Christ.

And we've heard Romans 6, all of us who have been baptized into Christ were baptized into his death.

That's stronger language than tell everybody about something that's already happened.

Baptism is not go out and spread the good news that you've been saved.

Now, is baptism public?

Usually.

Does baptism declare something?

Absolutely.

Is there symbolism in baptism?

Of course.

We've studied that.

We went through it.

We just spent several minutes looking at the symbolism.

But the Bible never reduces baptism into merely a public declaration.

There's more to it.

The New Testament consistently places baptism right there in the conversion itself.

People hear the gospel, they believe, they repent, they confess, they're baptized into Christ.

There's not this picture where someone is saved on Monday, and then three months later they let everybody know about it through a baptism.

That's why the Ethiopian eunuch sees the water and he says, What prevents me from being baptized?

That's why the Philippian jailer is baptized in the middle of the night.

There's an urgency to it in that moment.

Because they don't see baptism merely as the first thing I do after I become a Christian.

They understand that it's part of our surrender to Jesus.

Baptism certainly declares something, but according to Scripture, God is doing more than giving us something to declare.

Now, before anybody in the room gets too comfortable, we start thinking, that's right, preacher, you tell those people across town, I want to tell you, we've got our own ditches we can fall into sometimes.

Because I think sometimes even the people in the Church of Christ get it wrong.

We can talk about baptism so much, we can defend baptism so strongly and emphasize the necessity of baptism so often that if we're not careful, we begin to talk about baptism as if it's the Savior itself.

We can reduce the conversation to a checklist, right?

You've heard it.

Hear, believe, repent, confess, be baptized.

Check, check, check, check, check.

All done.

I've completed the steps.

I got the formula right.

Therefore, God owes me salvation.

But that is not salvation either.

That's simply a checklist.

Ephesians 2.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing.

It is a gift of God.

Salvation is a gift that's handed to us.

I didn't earn it.

I couldn't earn it.

I couldn't be, I could be baptized a thousand times and never wash away a single part.

Wash away a single sin apart from the blood of Jesus Christ.

The water doesn't forgive me, but Jesus does.

The baptism, the baptistry doesn't save me.

Jesus does.

And we certainly are not saved because churches of Christ have happened to figure out the proper formula.

No, we're saved because the Bible shows us the way to salvation.

We're saved by Jesus Christ.

We're saved by his grace.

And biblical baptism doesn't compete with any of that.

Biblical baptism depends on.

Remember Colossians 2.

We're buried with him in baptism and raised to walk with him through faith in what?

The powerful working of God.

God, as at work.

God is doing the work.

So there are two ditches.

One says, I'm already saved.

Baptism is simply something I do afterwards to tell everybody about it.

The other one says, I performed baptism correctly, therefore my act has saved me.

And I don't think either one captures the message of Romans chapter 6.

Romans 6 · chapter mention

Here's the picture that Scripture gives, the one we've been talking about this whole time.

Baptism is neither an optional symbol after salvation nor a work that earns salvation.

It is a God-given act of faith in which I surrender myself to Jesus, and in it I'm united with Him.

His death, his burial, his resurrection.

You notice I've said that multiple times.

Because why?

Because it's all about Him.

Without Christ, I ain't nothing.

You get it?

It's the mantra of our lives.

It's who we are as Christians.

Why were you baptized?

You were asked that?

Would your answer be, because I was told I had to be?

Because I wanted to go to heaven?

Because that's what my church teaches?

Would you say, because I believed in Jesus and I wanted to give my life to him?

That's what happens in the water.

When you follow the water, that's what it's all about.

But here's the part of Romans 6 that we haven't talked about yet.

And our final point this morning, I know we're over time, but it's going to be quick.

And this may be the most important part of the sermon.

Some of you have been baptized for many years.

Paul doesn't bring up their baptism because he's trying to convince the people to be baptized.

They already were.

He brings up their baptism because he's trying to teach them how to live.

So our final point is live baptized.

What does that mean?

What does that look like?

Go back to Romans 6 because notice how Paul begins this whole conversation.

Do you not know?

Think about that.

He's reminding them of something.

He's not writing to a group of people who need to be baptized, he's writing to people who have been baptized.

And he says, Don't you understand what happened to you in that moment?

Romans 6 is Paul's reaching back to a moment in their past.

And he says, This is how you live as a result of that.

And maybe that's part of the baptism we don't talk about enough.

Because those of us who grew up in the church learning how to defend baptism, we know the verses, we know the arguments, we know the conversion of accounts.

We can explain why it matters, but do we know how to live baptized?

Because Paul says something happened to you in that water.

He says, in that moment you died.

In that moment you were buried.

In that moment you were raised.

So let's take those one at a time.

You died with Jesus, Romans 6, 6.

We know that our old self was crucified with him.

And I think that's a lot stronger than I decided to be a little more religious.

Christianity isn't Jesus helping me become a slightly improved version of myself.

No, something died, passed away.

That means it's gone, it's buried.

My old allegiance, my old master, my old way of living, where I was thinking I was in charge.

I've come to you and I say, now you're in charge.

You are Lord.

I am not anymore.

In other words, as John said, he must increase, I must decrease.

You see how it all connects?

The old chase, well, he's gone.

I'm no longer putting him at the center of my life.

He is dead, is what we say.

And you put your own name in there.

The old me died with Jesus, so there ought to be new attitudes, new habits.

And that sin that I used to make excuses for, I no longer negotiate in my head with that.

You can leave that in the grave.

And number two, you were buried with Jesus.

We were buried, therefore, with him by baptism.

Man, burial's pretty final, isn't it?

It's not something we say, oh, we'll go back and check that out in a couple weeks.

Maybe a couple years, we'll go see how that's looking.

When you bury something, it is gone forever.

You don't bury something because you're planning to pick it back up.

And yet, isn't that exactly what we're tempted to do with our old life?

We enter into that grave, we're baptized, we're buried, and then a few months later we say, Hey, remember when I used to have fun doing that?

But that's not who we are.

We bury bitterness and then dig it back up often.

We bury lust and then we dig it back up.

We bury pride and dig it back up.

We bury that temper and we get cut off in traffic.

Hold on.

I know exactly where I buried that.

Let me go get it.

And here we are with a shovel.

But Paul reminds us you buried that old self.

Leave the old life in the grave.

But thankfully, baptism doesn't end underneath the water because if it did, we would have an entirely different problem, wouldn't we?

I think that's where Paul is really trying to take us.

You were raised with Jesus.

You weren't left there in the water.

You were raised up.

Romans 6, 4, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

That's the goal.

Paul isn't merely interested in whether you went into the water, he's interested in the person who came out of that water.

And I think this is where this sermon becomes incredibly practical for all of us.

Baptism has a Monday morning attached to it.

If I was raised to walk in newness of life, that life needs to show up somewhere in my life.

It should show up in our marriages.

It should show up in the way we parent our kids.

It shows up in the way we treat people.

It shows up in the way we use our money on a daily basis.

It shows up when I look at my phone when no one else is around.

It shows up in how I handle anger and the way I forgive.

It shows up in my integrity and my priorities and the way I speak to people and the things I do when absolutely no one is watching.

Because if I was raised to walk in newness of life, at some point I got to look at my life and say, well, where's the newness?

What has changed?

How have I grown closer to Him?

How has my maturity increased?

How have I grown in favor with God?

It's not a question about perfection, but being baptized doesn't mean you never struggle again.

It doesn't mean you never sin.

Read the rest of the New Testament.

Christians still struggle, they still stumble, Christians still need grace.

But the direction of my life has changed.

I have a new king, I have a new identity, I have a new purpose, I have a new life.

That's the beginning.

You died, you were buried, you are raised again, just as Jesus came out of the blood, out of the water, out of the grave.

We too must walk in newness of life.

And I think maybe that's the challenge for those of us who've been baptized a long time ago.

Maybe you were 12 or 17 or 35.

Maybe you can still remember the room, the church building, or even the person who baptized you.

Maybe you remember how the water felt or what you were wearing.

But here's what matters most.

Are you still living out that decision?

Are you still walking in newness of life?

Have you still left those old things buried in the past?

Because that's what it means to live baptized.

It means continuing to trust in him, continuing to grow closer to him, continuing to walk in obedience because my life belongs to him now.

So maybe we haven't spent, maybe we have spent enough time asking the question, have you been baptized?

Maybe we haven't asked enough, am I still living like it?

Conclusion.

So this morning, followed the water.

It's taking us on quite a journey, maybe a little longer than we anticipated.

Long before John ever stood in the Jordan, God had already been using water to tell a story of cleansing.

Then John steps into the scene, repent, get ready.

Someone is coming and who comes.

It's Jesus Christ.

He lives for us, he dies for us, he's raised for us.

And his story becomes mine.

When I put him on in baptism, when I enter into that water, I die with him, I'm buried with him, and I'm raised with him.

And in all of that, it's none of my doing.

It's Jesus who saves me in that moment.

Baptism is this beautiful, God-given moment where faith says, Jesus, I trust you to follow your lead.

My invitation this morning is twofold.

First, if you've never experienced that moment, you're still walking along and haven't trusted him enough to simply do what he asked.

I want to make a plea with you this morning.

Let's make today that day.

The day when you say, I trust you.

The day when you say, Well, God said to do this, let's respond in faith.

The day when I say Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior, and then I believe He died on that cross and he was raised again.

Celebrate with you as you're baptized into that watery grave, raised to walk in newness of life.

What a beautiful moment that would be to be here this morning.

Perhaps you've made that choice this morning, but maybe you haven't been living baptized like you should.

What are those old things that keep creeping back in?

Those things you're buried that you continually get out that shovel.

Are you carrying your shovel this morning?

Throw it back in the shed.

Let's put our faith in Jesus Christ and walk closer to Him and to Him each and every moment.

You need to be baptized this morning.

You need to repent of sin and rededicate your life to Him.

Throw that shovel out.

Let's do that this morning.

We simply need the prayers of the congregation.

If there's any way we can help you this morning, please come.

As together stand and sing.