the pains of our expiring lord
the honors of His sorrows made thy justice
known and paid, for folly's not His own. Oh, for His sake our guilt forgive,
and let the more I like how that talks about all the powers of
hell, the powers of death, The sons of Myles, how they all
came against our Lord, but it was God's design for that. You
know, that kind of takes me back to the whole story of Joseph. You know, all the things that
the brothers did and the things that he went through, you know,
they meant it for evil, but God didn't turn it for good. He didn't
rearrange it for good. He meant that for good. God meant
those evil things to take place so that there would be good to
come out of it, just as the Bible says, that it was according to
the determined counsel of God, that by wicked hands, men would
take Christ and crucify him, so that what would happen? All
his people would be justified, right? His people would be redeemed. They'd be forgiven of their sins.
They'd be reconciled to God. They'd be given new life. All the things that Christ's
death fought for his people prior to the cross and after the cross,
amen? Beautiful thing. Turn with me
now if you'll go back to hymn 119. Hymn 119. Hymn 119. Access
to God in Christ. Great God, from Thee there's
naught concealed, Thou seest my inward frame. To Thee I always stand, revealed
exactly as I am. To Thee I always stand, revealed
exactly as I am. Since I can hardly therefore
bear what in myself I see, how vile and black must I appear? Most holy God to But since my savior stands between
in garments dyed in blood when I approach to god is he
instead of me is seen when I approach to god He pleads before the throne. His life and death in my behalf
and calls my sins his own. His life and death in my behalf
and calls my sins his own. What wondrous love, what mysteries
in this appointment shine. My preaches of the Lord, his
and his obedience mine. my breaches of the law are his
and his obedience mine. Amen. That's a great song, isn't
it? Yes. Since my savior stands between
and garments dyed in blood, tis he instead of me is seen when
I approach to God. Thus though a sinner I am saved
He pleads before the throne his life and death in my behalf and
calls my sin his own. What wonders, love, what mysteries
and disappointments shine, my breaches of the law are his and
his obedience is mine. Thank God for imputation, right? Both ways, imputation of righteousness
to us, imputation of sin to Christ that's allowing us to have that
imputation of righteousness. All right, we'll sing hymn number
now, 836. And after that, if anybody has
any requests for hymns that you would like to sing, we'll take
that after this next one. Hymn 836, Christ's Resurrection. Let's sing this to the doxology
tune. Believer, lift thy drooping head,
thy Savior has the victory gained. See all thy foes in triumph bled,
and everlasting life obtained. God from the grave has raised
his Son. The powers of darkness are dispersed. Justice declares the work is
done. And God and man are reconciled. Lo, the Redeemer leaves the tomb,
See the triumphant hero rise, His mighty arms their strength
resume, And conquest sparkles in His eyes. death is death's wound has now
received and in the sins entirely prisoners of hope are quite reprieved
and all the dreadful death is Amen, never to be paid again.
All right, does anybody have a request for something? Any
of the hymn books? We have 438. Hymn 438 in the
old school? Mm-hmm. Let's see that old school
book there. What number did you say? 438.
438 in your old school hymn book. 438. Showers of blessing. There shall be showers of blessing. This is the promise of love. There shall be seasons refreshing. Sent from the Savior above. Showers of blessing. Showers of blessing we need. ♪ Mercy drops round us are falling
♪ ♪ But for the showers we plead ♪ ♪ There shall be showers of
blessing ♪ ♪ Precious reviving again ♪ ♪ Over the hills and
the valleys ♪ ♪ Sound of abundance of rain ♪ ♪ Showers of blessing
♪ Showers of blessing we need. Mercy drops round us are falling. But for the showers we plead. There shall be showers of blessing. Send them upon us, O Lord. Grant to us now a refreshing. Come and now honor thy word. Showers of blessing, showers
of blessing we need. Mercy drops round us are falling,
but for the showers we plead. There shall be showers of blessing,
oh that today they might fall. Now as to God we're confessing,
now as on Jesus we call showers of blessing showers of blessing
we need mercy drops around us are falling but for the showers
we plead anybody else got something About 436, just the back of the
page. Saw that as I was about to close
the book here, and it sounded like a good one to sing this
morning. I will sing the wondrous story
of the Christ who died for me, how he left his home in glory
for the cross of Calvary. Yes, I'll sing the wondrous story
of the Christ who died for me. Sing it with the saints in glory
gathered by the crystal sea. I was lost, but Jesus found me,
found the sheep that was astray. through his loving arms around
me, drew me back into his way. Yes, I'll sing the wonder story
of the Christ who died for me. Sing it with the saints in glory,
gathered by the crystal sea. I was bruised but Jesus healed
me. Faint was I from many a fall. Sight was gone and fears possessed
me. But he freed me from them all. Yes, I've seen the wondrous story
of the Christ who died for me. Sing it with the saints in glory. Gathered by the crystal sea. Days of darkness still come o'er
me. Sorrows pass, I often tread. But the Savior still is with
me. By his hand, I'm safely led. Yes, I'll sing the wonder story
of the Christ who died for me. Sing it with the saints in glory
gathered by the crystal sea. He will keep me till the river
rolls its waters at my feet. Then he'll bear me safely over
where the loved ones I shall meet. Yes, I'll sing the wondrous
story of the Christ who died for me. Sing it with the saints
in glory, gathered by the crystal sea. All right. Look forward to that day. Turn
this light off because I didn't look better last time I did that.
I had that glare behind me. Yeah, we're looking forward to
that day whenever we shall cross the waters and see our Lord. That's our first and foremost
goal, right? I have a lot of friends and family I praise there.
Definitely can't wait to see them again. As much as I understand
they will know who they are, our relation together won't be
the same as it used to be. But the main thing is that we're
gonna see Jesus. I love that song that talks about
that we wanna see our friends and our family and all that stuff.
We wanna be taking down the streets and going and all that stuff.
But the main thing is I wanna see Jesus. That's the first thing
I wanna see when I get there, Jesus. Well, turn with me, if you would,
this morning over to 1 Peter chapter 3. 1 Peter chapter 3. We began last week in a new section
of our series on the church. It's been an extensive study.
Been it now for many months. And we're now dealing with the
ordinances of the church, and particularly in this first part,
the ordinance of baptism. We see that baptism was the first
ordinance that was established by our Lord in the church. And after that, the Lord's Supper. Now, I know a lot of people wanna
get to nitpicking and start talking about there are other ordinances
that are given in scripture, like the ordinance of preaching. That should be an ordinance of
the church. But we're talking about ordinances
in the fact that these are antitypes of things that are preaching
the gospel that we are to hold forth in the assembly that reveal
the gospel or that teach the gospel and are memorials of what
Christ has done. And so last week, I began an
introduction on the ordinance of baptism of showing that water
baptism as an ordinance is extremely important. No, it is not salvific,
okay? It has nothing to pertain to
your salvation, but the ordinance of baptism in its symbology,
in its anti-type is closely tied to the gospel and Christ has
ordained and commanded baptism as an ordinance to be carried
out by the local church and an ordinance and a thing and commands
to follow by the new disciple made disciple, that this picture
show the gospel. And you can't divorce the ordinance
of baptism from the gospel. It is closely tied, it is extremely
tied. And if you remember last week,
I mentioned Jesus, whenever he went from Galilee down to Jordan
to meet with John, who was a man sent by God ordained of God and
commanded of God to baptize. Matter of fact, God had given
him the name, the Baptist for that purpose. Jesus went to that
man to be baptized in water, immersed in water. Why? So that it would fulfill all
righteousness. The righteousness being that all that the father
had bestowed upon Christ to accomplish in his life and his death. the
righteousness that was his fulfillment of the law, fulfillment of the
covenant of God, and baptism was part of that. Otherwise,
he would not have said, you know, thus it, you know, is for us
to do this, to have all righteousness fulfilled. And if you remember,
it said us, he didn't say him. This, you know, this is for me
to do so that I might fulfill, he included, the administrator
of baptism with the baptism. Jesus said, this is part of bringing
in righteousness, is you have to do this to me, and I'm doing
this as an example to all my sheep who will come after me,
that they are to follow me in this as an outward example, as
an outward sign. Jesus didn't need to be baptized
for the remission of sins. and neither do we to have our
sins remitted. We do them because they have
been remitted. It's because they've been remitted.
We went over those verses, and I'm gonna go all over those.
For those watching or listening, go back to last week's message.
And then in the second half of last week, then we began to see
that the proper subject for baptism is those who believe. We looked
at several verses in the New Testament where we've seen that
everybody that was baptized were people who believed and then
were baptized. Only believers are to be baptized. We don't baptize babies, okay? We don't baptize people who do
not believe. If they have a credible profession
of faith, and we've seen that's tied to it too, okay? You don't
just take people out of the world. They have to have a credible
profession of faith. John the Baptist refused to baptize the
religious leaders because they did not show forth fruits of
repentance, and until they showed forth those fruits of repentance,
then he would not baptize them. And we should, the same thing,
if they do not show a credible profession of faith, meaning
that they are professing trust, belief in Christ alone for their
salvation, meaning his imputed righteousness, that all that
Christ did as the substitute as the one who came as our surety
and substituted for us that His death or His life, His death,
His resurrection is the only thing that is needed for our
salvation. It doesn't mean that we have
to decide or believe or receive or walk an aisle or be baptized
or raise a hand or join the church that those things have nothing
at all to do with the gift of salvation, that the gift of salvation
is given freely, okay? And it doesn't come to those
who are not Christ, okay? So when Paul wrote that, you
know, the gospel that he gave was that Christ was, that he
died according to scripture and that he was buried and that he
was raised according to the scripture, Death, burial, and resurrection
isn't what people profess. I profess that Jesus Christ died,
that he was buried, and he was resurrected. That's not the confession
we're looking for, okay? Although that's part of it. What
we're looking for is what does the scripture say about why he
died and what was accomplished in his death? Why he was buried
and raised again? See, that burial and resurrection
also has significance in the gospel as that it pertains to
the fact that God was satisfied with that act of life and death
that Christ did as the substitute, that everything that Christ did
and everything that Christ experienced in taking on all of our sin,
that that was enough to satisfy God to justify all of his people. And the resurrection was a sign
or was a showing that God was satisfied with that and that
Christ was resurrected to the glory of the Father and by the
glory of the Father, by the way. And so the baptism is closely
connected with the gospel. And for those people who just
disregard baptism, water baptism, as something that's not of any
importance, I think they err in that. Yes, it's not salvific. And yes, we shouldn't break fellowship
and say that one person is not a brother or sister because They've
either not been baptized or they've not been baptized according to
the scripture. But yet, as far as fellowship
within the church, yes, that has a great importance because
the Bible teaches that only those who were believing and scripturally
baptized were added to the church. You can't be added to the church
if you've not been believing and been scripturally baptized.
And that's the order of the church. That's the order of things. And
then once you're part of the church, then the second ordinance
of the Lord's Supper is then open to those people. So we'll
see when we get to the Lord's Supper that the Lord's Supper
has a prerequisite of someone believing, being baptized, and
then added to the church. Then they are able to come to
the table and receive the ordinance and the elements of the Lord's
Supper. Now, So we've seen last week
that the people that were baptized or the proper subjects were those
people who heard and understand, believe, and came forth and confessed
Christ Jesus, and then they were saved. They were people who were
born again, who had been given faith to believe, and they exemplified
that in their baptism. And if they don't have that,
if they don't, if they're not baptized according to the scripture,
by immersion, under a profession of faith in the true gospel,
then, and by the proper administrator, as we'll see also, then that
baptism is null and void. And I don't sit here and preach
this thing to people without having fingers pointed at myself,
because I too have had many baptisms in the past And the baptism that
I received prior to my last one was one that, in all sincerity,
I went and I believed to be baptized. But the gospel that that church
preached was not the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was not the
true gospel of imputed righteousness alone. It was a gospel that taught
that Christ never does give that salvation to anybody until they
repent and believe. that there was a hinge pin of
belief first, then being born again, that salvation wasn't
specific to specific people and given to specific people, but
that it's available to all, but you have to believe to get it,
to receive it. And so upon that, I realized
that that church did not have the authority to baptize because
it wasn't preaching the gospel. And so the gospel that I would
profess or the faith that I would profess was a faith in something
that was not the gospel. And so I believe that that was
an incredible and not an, no, not credible. Okay, my grammar's
bad, and so is my vocabulary. It wasn't a credible baptism
in my eyes because of the gospel behind it and the church that
was administered. And so that's why I asked for
baptism here, and Brother Howard administered that as one who
the church had commissioned to do so under the gospel that we
know to be the true gospel that the Bible teaches. And I wanted
to profess that faith, that my trust is not in my decision,
it's not in me coming, that Christ didn't save me because I did
that. That Christ saved me before I did that, before I ever was
even born, before anything was ever created. Christ saved me
as the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world and the
covenant, the everlasting covenant of grace. And so, baptism is
extremely important, brethren. And let's not ever think that
it's not. And for those that are listening,
I pray that you would begin to study this a little bit more,
especially outside of teaching that goes against the biblical
things, you know. And again, at the end of this
study, I want to show you where Reformed teaching on baptism
today isn't even what they thought back then whenever the reform
movement began with Luther and all those guys back in the Reformation
days, that even people today has moved away from that, and
how important baptism was even to those Westminster men that
brought up the Westminster Confession of Faith, that it was so heatly
debated that they just about put immersion in their confession. It was only, and I'll show this
to you, there's only one vote that separated that whole group
of men. I don't call them divines. People
call them the Westminster divines. I don't call them divine. They're
not divine. There's no one divine, okay, except God. The Westminster
men that gathered together for that confession of faith, put
that together, they were split, and only one vote broke the tie. And that was Dr. Lightfoot. He's
the one that broke the tie. And so, anyway, I'll read you
some quotes about that on down the road. Today, though, we want
to talk about what is the design of baptism. We kind of hit on
that a little bit in our first two messages, what's the proper
design of baptism. But the proper design of baptism
deals with the motives which prompts or urges one to be baptized. The proper design of baptism
is, what is baptism designed for, to do? J.R. Graves wrote this, this quote,
and I'll read to you here, and I thought it was great. Christian
baptism, quote, Christian baptism is a specific act to be administered
by a specific body to persons professing specific qualifications
for the profession of specific truths. Let me read that again. Christian baptism is a specific
act to be administered by a specific body to persons professing specific
qualifications for the profession of specific truths. And that's what we found so far
in the in the scriptures that Christian baptism began with
John the Baptist. And that baptism was only given
to specific people. OK, it wasn't given to just anybody
that came. It was only those who had come
in repentance. OK, and for the remission of
sins that came, repenting of their self-righteousness, repenting
of their works, repenting of their sin, Okay, and it was by
a specific body. In that case, in John's case,
it was by John who was called of God to do so. And then after
John, it was by the disciples who was commissioned by Christ
specifically to baptize. And then after his resurrection
and ascension, Christ commissioned the local church to carry out
the administration of baptism in his stead as his body. his
body continued his ministry, that ministry that began with
John the Baptist who prepared a way for the Lord. The Lord then completed his ministry
and then gave that ongoing ministry and delegated authority to the
local congregation of baptized believers to continue out to
make disciples, to baptize, and to teach them all things whatsoever
Christ commanded. The exact thing that John did,
the exact thing that Jesus did, the exact thing that the apostles
did in the first church, and the exact same thing that every
New Testament church has done through every age in all times. Not one place has there ever
been a break in time that there has not been a gospel witness
by a gospel congregation preaching the gospel truths, administrating
the gospel baptism, making gospel disciples, following Christ's
example. That's what a disciple is, a
follower. And if you don't follow Christ
in his doctrine, and you don't follow Christ in his ordinance,
then you're not a disciple, okay? And so, I believe this to be
true. Christian baptism is a specific
act, okay? immersion in water, that's what
John did, to be administered by a specific body, those who
are authorized by Christ to do it, commissioned by Christ to
do it, to persons professing specific qualifications. Who
was that? That was the ones who were believing
and repenting, right? For the profession of specific
truths. Believing what? The gospel of Jesus Christ. Believing
what Christ had done, not what they had done or what they needed
to do or what their works were, but believing what Christ had
done, believing the fact that he was the Messiah, he was the
Christ, he was the lamb who takes away the sins. He is the one
who was the surety, the substitute. He is the one who is the imputer
of righteousness and the one who was imputed sin, okay? These are the things that people
are, given in the gospel, taught in the gospel, and when they
are made disciples, then the design of baptism is to show
forth what they believe as a confession of faith. We're confessing the
faith that we have. The faith that we have is that
Christ paid it all. All to him I owe. Sin had left
a crimson stain, but he washed it white as snow. Nothing in
my hands I bring, only to the cross I'll cling. Jesus only
is the one who's saved. And we profess that, confess
that in our baptism. Baptism says, that's the gospel. That's what saved me. That's
how it happened. And nothing else is the hinge
pin of why God has deemed me justified. And so, That's why we do not
believe that baptism is a sacrament. We talked about that last week.
It doesn't convey any grace. We do not baptize anybody in
order to wash away sin. We do not baptize anybody to
unite one to Christ in the sense of real, eternal, vital union. That happened in eternity, right?
Union to Christ. happen in eternity. But there
is also another type of union to Christ, and we'll talk about
that here in a little bit, that a lot of people misunderstand.
They think that means when we're actually united or unioned with
Christ as we were before the foundation of the world. But
this unity to Christ or this union to Christ that it speaks
of in time is a different union, and we'll talk about that. We
do not baptize anybody to quicken them, to cause them to be born
again. Nobody is quickened, or as the
theological term misused, regenerated, okay? We do not baptize anybody
to remit their sins, okay? Baptism is not a means of our salvation
whatsoever. Baptism is a picture of the gospel
that we have already believed. It's a picture of the death,
burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It's a picture of that. It's an antitype of the work
of righteousness of Jesus Christ. It signifies or pictures that
we have died with Christ through our old life, that we've been
raised to walk in newness of life. That's what it pictures.
It's a picture. And I know some people say, well,
no, it's a sacrament. No, it is, it's a picture, and the Bible
preaches that. It teaches that. We should teach
that and preach that. We should hold to that. And then
some say it's a picture of something besides that. There are some that hold that
baptism is a picture of the same thing as circumcision was. That's
not true either. Baptism and circumcision are
not equal anti-types. Circumcision was a picture of
the making of a new heart, the circumcision
of the heart, okay? Baptism is showing forth and
is the antitype of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus
Christ, the work of Christ on our behalf. So you can't put
those as equal. Circumcision and baptism is not
equal. The only thing that is equal
about them is they are both anti-types, okay? They are something that
preaches the substance of something else. And we do not believe that the
Bible teaches that the waters of baptism washes away sin as
the Campbellites do, but that it is a picture of the
blood of Jesus Christ that washes away our sins. So what is baptism? Well, as I understand it, and
there may be more to it than this, and I'm good with that,
as I see it and study through here and find, I find that there
are threefold things found in baptism and what the proper design
of baptism is for. And probably the first and foremost,
which is the most simplest and easiest to see and understand
is that baptism is our act of obedience to the command of Christ.
First and foremost, to be baptized is to follow Christ
in obedience to his command. Turn with me, if you would, to
very familiar verses back in Matthew chapter 28. Matthew 28, verse 18. And Jesus
came and spake unto them, the church, saying, all power is
given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach
all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the
Son and of the Holy Ghost. Okay, there's two parts of the
commission. Making disciples by teaching
the gospel, baptizing those who are made disciples. We talked
about this in our part of the, the church's commission. And
then thirdly, teaching them, the ones who were made disciples
and were baptized, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
I have commanded you. Christ has commanded baptism. If you are a Christian and you
profess faith in Christ Jesus, You have been commanded to be
baptized. If you have not been baptized
and you are a believer, you have put faith in Christ Jesus as
your only hope of salvation, and you have not been baptized,
you are breaking the command of Christ. That is a command
of Christ, a New Testament command to be baptized. I know a lot
of people want to throw off some of these other commands besides
love the Lord your God and love your neighbor. Okay, everything
else doesn't count. That's not true. This is a New
Testament command by the Lord Jesus himself. Teach all things
whatsoever I commanded you. As a faithful pastor, I want
to teach all things whatsoever Christ commanded and he commanded
every disciple that is made to be baptized and then brought
into the church and taught, okay? That's what we found in Acts
chapter two, if you would. Once again, this is repetition,
but it's there for our understanding and to see the congruency throughout
scripture of these things, Acts chapter two. Verse 37, this is Peter preaching on the
day of Pentecost. He just preached the gospel to all these people. And it said, therefore, let all,
or excuse me, now when they heard this, they were pricked in their
heart and said unto Peter and unto the rest of the apostles,
men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them,
okay, so obviously disciples are being made here, right? They've
heard, they've been pricked in their heart, and they're asking,
well, what must we do? And what did Peter say? Repent
and be baptized. Every one of you, why repent?
Because that was the prerequisite to be baptized. One must be a
believer repenting of their false belief of works righteousness. That's what the Jews were believing,
that their righteousness came from their law keeping. And he's
saying, repent of your law-keeping thoughts and see that under the
law, you cannot keep it, that there is none justified by keeping
the law, that there is none who ever has met the law's demands
except for one, Christ. And he did it on behalf of all
his people and all those who believe in Christ trust in that,
okay? Repent of your own thinking about
how you're saved. Repent on everything that you
think is you conditioned, okay? Turn to Christ. That's the prerequisite
to be baptized. Making disciples. Disciples are
people who follow Christ's teaching. And what did Christ teach? No
one can come to the Father except by me. All that the Father gives
me shall come to me. There are many of you who believe
me, but there are some that believe not. The reason that you believe
is because you're not my sheep. See, Jesus preached that there
was a specific election, that there were sheep and there were
goats. There were sheep that was given to listen, to believe,
to understand, to come. And there were others that were
not. I praise you, Father, Lord of
heaven. You have blinded the eyes of these. You've hid these
things from the wise and the proved. See, Jesus preached those
things. And to be a follower or a disciple
means that you believe and follow those things. You acknowledge
those things are to be true. So you've repented of your wrong
thinking of what those things are. And now you're baptized. Repent and be baptized. So Peter was commanding these
people that if you believe, if you have turned from your way
of thinking about how salvation is attained and brought in, and
received, then repent of that and then be baptized. Show it
in baptism. Show it in the fact that Christ
died, was buried and resurrected for you. That's what your salvation
is about. And it says, repent and be baptized,
every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission
of sin or because of the remission of sin, and ye shall receive
the gift of the Holy Ghost. We're gonna talk about that here
a little bit later, the gift of the Holy Ghost, what the gift
of the Holy Ghost is. For the promise is unto you and
to your children, so it's okay for children to be baptized if
they believe, right? If they repent and believe. And
to all that are far off, but here's the qualification, even
as to as many as the Lord shall call." The only children that
are to be baptized are the ones that the Lord shall call. As
many as children that repent and believe. Those are the ones
who are to be baptized. And with many other words did
he testify and exhort saying, save yourselves from this untoward
generation. Then they that gladly received
his word, those that believed it, those who repented, they
received his word, meaning that they thought, okay, that we agree,
okay? We need to repent of those things.
We need to repent of our wrong thinking about the gospel and
look to what Peter just told us what the gospel was, okay? So the doctrine of the gospel
of imputed righteousness, Jesus alone for salvation, these things
is what they said, okay, that's what we should be looking and
believing and we do, we believe in those things. They that gladly
received his word were baptized. The ones who gladly received
his word, those who, and that's why I said, if you remember,
that true worshipers will worship in spirit and in truth, okay?
You have to be a true worshiper. That's what God makes you, a
true worshiper. And you worship him in spirit and in truth. Well,
here we see that the true believer in Christ Jesus will repent and
follow the command of Christ and be baptized. The day that gladly received
his word were baptized and the same day there were now, here's
who was added? The ones who received his word,
repent and believe, and were baptized were added to the already
existing 120 member church. So 3,000 people received the
word gladly, 3,000 people repented of their wrong thinking about
the gospel, And 3,000 people were fully immersed in water,
baptized, showing forth 3,000 deaths, burial, and resurrection. Even though there was only one
death, burial, and resurrection that counted, their 3,000 symbols
of death, burial, and resurrection all pointed to the fact that
they're trusting in that only for their salvation. And so once
that was finished, then they who did that were added to the
church. Why were they added to the church? Verse 42. Or if you want, Matthew,
the last part of the commission, teach them all things whatsoever
Christ has commanded. And they continued steadfastly
in the apostles' doctrine. The apostles' doctrine was what?
The doctrine of Christ, right? It wasn't the doctrine that the
apostles came up with. It was the doctrine that the
apostles were given and entrusted to teach as the churches were
being established, especially this first church. And they continued
steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship and in
breaking of bread and in prayers and fear come upon every soul
and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles and all
that believed were together and had all things common and sold
their possessions and goods and parted them to all men as every
man had need, and they, continuing daily with one accord in the
temple and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their
meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and having
favor with all the people, and the Lord added to the church
daily such as should be saved." And so we see here that baptism
is something that was a command of Jesus Christ. Whenever the
jailer believed, what did Peter say? They need to be baptized. Whenever Cornelius believed in
his household, what happened? They need to be baptized. Whenever
Lydia opened up their heart, what needed to be done? They
need to be baptized. Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch, whenever he believed, what was
the first thing impressed upon the heart of the Ethiopian eunuch?
Here's some water, what hinders me from being baptized? And what
was the prerequisite that Philip said he had to have? If you believe
us with all thine heart, You can be baptized. Believe what? Well, he was just reading out
of Isaiah, teaching him what Christ had done. And obviously
in that, joined that with the anti-type baptism of the death,
burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Somewhere in there, this
Ethiopian eunuch had heard about immersion in water as a sign
or symbol or as something that was uniting him with the people
of God who believe these things, the body of doctrine. And so
it was through that teaching that this Ethiopian said, hey,
I need to be baptized. There's water, can I be baptized?
Philip said, what was the prerequisite? If I believe with all my heart. So see, brethren, it's congruent
throughout every place baptism is found. There's not one place
in scripture that is found where anybody was saved and then not
commanded to be baptized. There's not one place whatsoever
that whenever they profess faith, they repent of their sins, that
they were not told to be baptized. Everyone was told to be baptized. And that should be the ongoing
ministry of the church, the ongoing Baptist ministry of the church.
That's why we have talked about here before. We're not Baptist
in denomination or name. We're Baptist in ministry. We're Baptist in our service. We're Baptist in the way that
we do the things that we do. We continue that same thing,
preaching repentance, faith in Christ Jesus, preaching that
baptism is prerequisite, and teaching all things whatsoever
Christ commanded, everything that the commission told us to
do. We continue that just like John
started it all. Jesus solidified that and taught
the reasons for that and taught the fuller part of that. And
then that was entrusted to the apostles, given to the church
to carry out, and has been for every generation. So that is
what we're looking at. We're looking at, first and foremost,
obedience. But second of all, we see that
the proper design of baptism is for the outward ordinance
of the gospel. It's not only just to be obedient
to Christ, but it is given to the church and to the candidate who's about to be baptized. It is given for them as an outward
ordinance of the gospel, an outward teaching of the gospel. a visual
application or a visual picture of the gospel. If you look with
me there, if you're still back in 1 Peter chapter 3, and I want
us to read verse 20 and 21. It says, verse 20, which sometimes
were disobedient when once the long-suffering of God waited
in the days of Noah while the ark was at preparing, wherein
few, that is eight souls, were saved by water. Now there are
some that want to take that and mean that you're baptized and
that's what saves you legally, meaning that washes away your
sins, quickens you experientially you know that's not what that means and
we'll see that here just a minute how it how does water save us
and we'll fix and see here in the 21st verse the light figure
where unto even baptism does now also save us so the way the
ark and the water around the ark saved the people on the ark,
in the ark. Baptism does not save us. Now, but look at the words here. I want you to pay close attention.
Baptism is what? A light figure. A light figure. That word light figure is, or
that phrase light figure is one word in the Greek. That word
is antitypos. Antitypos, can you, just from
the sound of that, can you hear what that is in English? Antitypos? I've said it now several times
this morning. Antitype. That, the light figure where
unto even baptism doth now save us, the word light figure is
antitype. The antitype, whereunto even
baptism doth now also save us. Now, I don't want people to take
my word for it. I want to show you in a couple
of places here. Let me pull this up real quick. On my phone so I don't have to. In the Young's literal translation
of the Bible, verse 21 reads like this. Also to which an antitype
doth now save us baptism, not a putting away of the filth of
flesh, but the question of a good conscience in regard to God through
the rising again of Jesus Christ. The literal translation of the
Bible. Now both these Bibles, by the
way, are based upon the received text, so I don't have a problem
looking at these things. But in the literal translation
of the Bible, it says this, which antitype now also saves us baptism,
not at putting away of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience
towards God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. who going into
heaven is at the right of God, the angels and authorities and
powers being subjected to him. So I'm not off by saying that
baptism is an antitype. There have been other translations
of the scripture that have seen that that word antitypos means
a like figure. And it's made of two words, anti
and typos. And the word typos, these words
together, means to form after some pattern, okay? To form after some pattern. So
baptism is a form after some pattern. There is a substance
that this thing is representing. That's what the word typos means. It's an in sample, an example. fulfillment of or excuse me something
that has been fulfilled it is the showing of that every part
of that resembling all these words talking about that baptism
is a pattern or a resembling of something of a true form okay
if if we make it that's one of the reasons that God says not
to make any graven images no former Okay? Because that form
is a picture of the sum and substance of what's behind that. And God
says, don't make that because you cannot put a form that embodies
who God is in substance. Right? And so baptism is an ordinance
that is an anti-type. And as with all anti-types, especially
if we go back in the Old Testament, God was serious about the anti-types
and that they be perfectly carried out because they pictured or
embodied the truer, fuller substance. The priest had to dress exactly
the way that God commanded him. The tabernacle had to be arranged
and decorated exactly the way Christ had commanded him. They
had to carry out the sacrifices exactly the way that God told
them to carry the sacrifices. They had to do everything exactly
the way that God had commanded them to do that. Otherwise, the
antitype would not picture properly the substance that it was supposed
to be showing, okay? And so when we look at baptism,
to just say flippantly, well, baptism can be any way, we can't
say that because the antitype has to be commensurate with that
which is the substance for which it is anti-typing. The anti-type
is pointing to, as it says here, baptism is the light figure that
points to something, okay? Now, there's a lot of things
that the Bible tells us that this baptism points to. Look
if you would with me, Romans chapter six. Romans 6. Romans 6. Let me start reading
in verse 3. Know ye not that so many of us
as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his
death. Okay, so there is a being baptized
into Christ Jesus and a baptized into his death that's being talked about here.
Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism into death that
like as Christ was raised. So here we see the word like,
and being buried with him by baptism, which we found that
baptism was a like figure, it was like that of what happened
to Christ, okay? That's what it's saying here.
Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism into death, that
like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of
the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For
if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death,
we shall also in the likeness of his resurrection. Okay? So we see that baptism is a likeness
of the death and the burial and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That we have died with him, that
we have been buried with him, and that we have been raised
with him. Antitype, it shows something
of the fuller. The fuller is the work of Christ.
But here in our profession of faith, we are showing what we
are trusting in as our only hope of salvation. And we are showing
that we believe that we are united in Christ when he did that. That
we were in him when he substituted. See, whenever someone is a substitute,
that means that person is taking the place of another, right?
Now, my kids are homeschooled, so they don't really know what
a substitute teacher really means, but in public school, I had substitute
teachers, okay? I'll just use my sixth grade
teacher, because she's one of my favorite teachers, Miss Belizzie,
okay? Miss Belizzie was my teacher,
but occasionally, Miss Belizzie got sick, and whenever she was
sick, then they would have somebody else come in and stand in her
place and teach the class as if she was there. They call that
a substitute teacher. That teacher took Miss Belizzy's
place because Miss Belizzy couldn't do the job. Okay? Christ is our substitute. That
means he has actually taken the place of someone actually not
there. Someone actually not experiencing
that, going through that. Okay? And so as a substitute,
That means there is a substance of someone who he is substituting
for. There is someone actually, he
is standing in their stead. And in baptism, we are saying
not only that we believe that it is that gospel that saves,
but we're saying that we believe that we were substituted in that,
that we were united in Christ in his death, in his burial,
and in his resurrection. That as he died, we died. As
he was buried, we are buried. And as he is resurrected, we'll
be resurrected. So that baptism has to be commensurate
with that. And so if it's an antitype or
the light figure of death, burial, and resurrection, that is why
Christ chose immersion in water to be that very thing. That as
we go, down into the water, it shows our death. Now, let me
say a couple of things about this. The person who is professing
their faith in Jesus Christ needs to understand they deserve to
die. They deserve to die. The Bible
says that the wages of sin is death. And the believer who comes
to profess Jesus Christ is saying, that I believe that my total
inability, my depravity, my nature that is against God, that is
at wrath against God, that is at enmity against God, that cannot
keep God's laws, is deserving of death, and that I identify
with the fact that death must take place. And so the believer in baptism
is acknowledging the biblical teaching of our sinfulness and
our deservedness of death. And that Christ substituted for
us so that we wouldn't have to actually die. He died for us,
but because he was our substitute, that death was credited to us
because we were united from all eternity in him. And so whenever
he died, he died in the place of Mike Smith. And so we have to acknowledge
that. And that that burial and resurrection, by the way, is
a picture of God's satisfaction, as I mentioned a while ago. And
the believer in their baptism is saying that that death, life
and death that he died, of course, you know, whenever we go into
the water, we're showing that there is life, there is death,
there is resurrection. Jesus came and lived the life
that we couldn't live and kept the law of God that we could
not keep. He died the death that we should have died, taking on
upon our sins upon himself and made himself the one who took
God's wrath for those sins in our behalf. Once again, life
that we could not live, he lived it for us. Death that we could
not ever die to satisfy God, he did for us. and then raising
to new life something we could never do of our own self, he
did for us. And God was satisfied with that.
And so the believer in their baptism, in the anti-type, is
not only saying, that's the gospel, death, burial, and resurrection,
that's what is the issue of salvation, but it's saying that I'm united
to Christ in that, death, burial, and resurrection, but it's also
saying that God is satisfied with me because of that. That's where back in Peter, it
says it is an answer to a clear conscience. Whenever we are baptized,
we are saying that we have a clear conscience, that what Christ
did and he did only is enough for our salvation. And that's
what we're trusting in, that our conscience is cleared, that
that was for us. And that was efficient for us.
It was sufficient and efficient, which by the way are equal. The
sufficiency of Christ's death and the efficiency of Christ's
death is equal. I read a good article about that
this week. Something that I've believed for a long time. Something
that the reformers teach are different, the Fullerites. You
know, whenever the Fuller movement came in and the Baptists began
to weaken through this Fuller movement, they began to say that
Christ's death was sufficient for all, but only efficient for
the elect. Only efficient. And what I meant
by sufficient means that it was available to all, but only made
possible to the elect, okay? That's not it. The sufficiency
equals the efficiency. Everyone that it was sufficient
for, it was efficient for as well. Anyway, that's another
story. Another day. But back in Peter,
it says that this is an answer to a good conscience. I've heard
a lot of people that have used that verse in saying, well, my
baptism is good. I have a clean conscience. It's
an answer to a good conscience. I believe that my baptism was
good, even though I was baptized over here in the church that
was preaching the Armenian gospel, that my gospel was good. I believe
that it was the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Well, did you believe in the doctrines of grace? Did you believe
in imputed righteousness only? Did you deny belief in salvation
and repentance and all that stuff before or after or before quickening
to get quickened? Well, no, I believed all that
stuff, but I believed it was only Jesus that saved me. Well,
then you didn't really believe the gospel, okay? If you did
not believe how Christ died according to scripture, was buried and
resurrected according to scripture, then you didn't believe the gospel.
That Arminian gospel was not something to be baptized under,
okay? And so you united yourself to
something other than the Christ of the Bible. You've united yourself
to a false Christ. This is what this united means,
to be united in Christ in time, means to be united to Christ
and his gospel and his church. By baptism, we are united to
Christ and in being united to Christ, we are united to his
body, which is the local church. It says, know ye not that many
of us were baptized into Christ Jesus, were baptized into his
death. Being baptized into Christ Jesus
means that we were baptized into being united with him in how
we think and understand of the gospel. We're baptized into the
fact that this is what we believe about the gospel and to his church
because baptism, being baptized, is the prerequisite of being
united to the Lord's body. So we were baptized into Christ
Jesus. We were baptized into the church. But it says those who were baptized
in it were baptized into his death, meaning that they were
immersed in the death of Christ. The Bible talks about a baptism
of fire, right, that Christ had to go through. There was water
baptism, which is the ordinance, to be carried out to all generations
as a command of Christ that continues on to this day, and that baptism
is a baptism of believers fully immersed in water, but there
was a baptism that John said that he's gonna baptize you with
the Holy Ghost and with fire. So there were two more baptisms
that the Bible was gonna talk about, but those baptisms wasn't
the baptism of water. It was the baptism of the Holy
Ghost and a baptism of fire, okay? The baptism of fire, Jesus
told his disciples, they wanted to follow him. And they said,
where I'm going, you can't follow me. You cannot endure the baptism
that I'm about to be baptized with, meaning the wrath of God.
That's why he had to be our substitute. Christ was the only one who could
take that baptism of fire of judgment from God. So there's
a baptism of judgment of fire and that was the death, burial
and resurrection of Jesus Christ. By the way, that's what the Bible,
the biblical term regeneration is speaking about. Do your study
on the word and the context for where those words are found.
Regeneration is not being born again. Regeneration is being
unified in Christ during his death, burial, and resurrection. But anyway, so we see that there
is the death, the burial, and the resurrection, and that uniting
to Christ in that is the baptism of fire. And we are baptized
into his death. We are immersed in his death,
burial, and resurrection as he is our substitute. Now, the baptism of the Holy
Ghost also has nothing to do with being born again, as many
people believe it. Matter of fact, a lot of sovereign
grace believers still hold to that today. Many of my friends
watching and listening are probably holding to that thing today.
But the baptism of the Holy Ghost was a one-time event. Well, I
say one-time event. It happened in a couple of places,
but was a specific event at a specific time, never to be repeated again.
Nowhere in the Bible, anywhere, does quickening ever be referred
to as being a baptism of the Holy Ghost. Nowhere. And we're gonna teach on that
at the end of our lessons in baptism, okay? So, turn with
me, if you would, to Acts chapter two. Acts chapter two, what time
is it? Let me look. Acts chapter two. Acts chapter 2. Look with me down at verse 38 again. Repent and be baptized every
one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remissions of
sin and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Two things
I want to point out to you here. Remember, I talked last week
about the word for there, for the remission of sin. That was
because your sins have been remitted. So baptism as the anti-type shows
forth the light picture or the light figure of one who has had
their sins remitted. It shows the remission of sin.
What was the remission? What was the act that remitted
our sin? It was Christ's death, burial,
and resurrection. So we are baptized for or because of the remission
of sin. Not to get our sins remitted,
but because our sins were remitted and we are identifying in the
light picture, the light figure, in the anti-type, we are showing
forth the fact that sins were being remitted and how were they
remitted? By death, burial, and resurrection.
Not by confession, not by repentance, not by belief, not by raising
your hand, walking in an aisle, being baptized. The act of baptism
didn't remit your sins. The death, burial, and resurrection
remitted your sins. Baptism is what pictures that,
not causes that, okay? But it says, if you do that,
you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. What is the gift
of the Holy Ghost? Well, there's a few things that
I can think of, and I don't believe that it means being born again,
or the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit
was already indwelling these people, right? They already, a matter of fact,
those who were in the upper room, the 120 that was in the upper
room, whenever the Holy Spirit came down upon them in the upper
room, they were ones who were already indwelt by the Holy Spirit
of God. The Bible says that if you have
not the spirit of Christ, you are none of his. But Christ called
those people his people. Those people believed and were
baptized. Christ commanded that only disciples
who believed and should be baptized. So those people believed. And
we know that the Bible teaches that the only ones who believe
are the ones who have been made spiritual. They've been born
from above. So the gift of the Holy Spirit
here cannot be the gift of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
It cannot be being born again, because that has already happened
to them to bring them to this point. What is the gift of the Holy
Spirit here? Oh, well, it's speaking in tongues. Well, nowhere is
that found. The speaking in tongues actually happened prior to this.
And by the way, that speaking in tongues were actual languages,
not babble gibberish that somebody has under the influence of some
satanic outpouring in their mind in these false churches. It's not talking about the gift
of the Holy Spirit being speaking in tongues or being slain in
the Spirit. The gift of the Holy Ghost What is the gift of the Holy
Ghost? Well, for one, what is the Holy Ghost given to us for?
Jesus said it right before he left. If I go away, I will send
unto you what? Another comforter. How did Jesus
comfort his people before he left? He continued to comfort
them about what he was about to do for them, that he was about
to die for them. And after his death, how did
he comfort them? He comforted them, letting them know what
that death accomplished. He comforted them that their
sins were being forgiven, that they were loved of God. They were comforted by Christ. But now that Christ was gone,
they would have somebody given to them that would bring them
comfort. Why would they need comfort after they've been saved?
Someone would probably say, well, why would they need comfort if
they've already been saved? They're saved, right? Why would
they need comfort? Don't you comfort somebody to
make them feel better? And so these sinners are the
ones that need comforted to let them know that there's been a
salvation for them. Well, brethren, even those of
us who have been born from above still need to be comforted. Why? Because as Romans 7 says, O wretched
man that I am, the things that I want to do, I don't do. And
the things that I don't do, those are the things that I do. And
whenever I do the things that I don't want to do, it's sin
that's in me. There's still sin that's in us. And that sin and the tempter
continually points the finger to the Christian You're not worthy. You didn't do it right. You've
not done it right. You can't be accepted of God.
God cannot love you. Look at how sinful you are. Look
how you continue to sin against God every day. Their accusations
continue to fly in the face of the believer. But the Holy Spirit is there
to comfort, to point back to Christ and to say, it is finished. to say satisfied, to say redeemed,
to point them to the cross, the death, burial and resurrection
of Jesus Christ that satisfied God in your behalf, not your
sin, not your sin quitting or your law keeping. It is what
he done and that is enough. Look to that. The gift of the
Holy Spirit is to comfort us in the fact that Christ is enough.
Grace is enough. Mercy is enough. That it isn't
on how we live and how we keep ourselves that make us acceptable
before God or keeps us in God. It is Christ in Him alone. And
the comforter, the gift of the Holy Spirit is that inward work. that not only propels us to do
what God wants us to do, that gives us a love for God, that
gives us a love for the brethren, that gives us a desire to be
obedient to God, that that gift comes, but it also brings comfort
to us and peace to us to know that it's only in Christ. And
we keep looking to him and he preserves us by the Holy Spirit's
work in us. And baptism is the antitype that
points to that. And whenever we in baptism see
the truth of the gospel, we say that's what it is. And whenever
we are baptized, we are showing we have a clean conscience before
God to come before him. and that this conscience is clear
because I know that I never will make it. I never will have kept
the law. I never would have been perfect.
I never would have been holy. I never could have taken on the
full wrath of God and satisfy God. I am trusting that Christ
and what he did was enough. And that's what baptism is saying
outwardly. Every time we go into the waters
and take someone down and bring someone up, that person is saying,
my conscience is clear that Christ is all. That's what the answer
to a good conscience is, brethren. Not that you were baptized at
the right place. Being baptized at the right place is something
that you need to have a clear conscience on by any means. But
brethren, listen. The answer to the clear conscience
is what the substance has said. that Christ has done it all.
That Christ has done it all. Look with me, if you would, at
Acts chapter 22. It's a moving thing, isn't it, sister?
Praise the Lord. Christ is good, isn't he? Love to see people The gospel
excites them. Love to see that. Acts 22, I'm
encouraged by that, by the way. I'm encouraged by your tears.
Acts 22, look at verse 16. Look with me if you would. down
to verse 10, Acts 22, 10. And I said, what shall I do,
Lord? And the Lord said unto me, this is Paul, arise and go
into Damascus and there it shall be told thee of things which
are appointed for thee to do. Now, let me just pause here for
just a minute. I want to backtrack a little
bit. This is about Paul's conversion, right? This is where Saul, hating
the gospel, hating the church, is out to go to Damascus. Why
was he on his way to Damascus? He's going there to persecute
the church there. And he was to round them up,
to take them in, and in many cases was to kill them. That
was Paul's intent. That's why he was going to Damascus.
He wasn't going to Damascus to learn of anything else. He was
going with that, the intent of his heart was that. And on the road to Damascus,
nobody preached him a message. Nobody taught him the gospel.
Nobody asked him, gave him an invitation to come. Paul or Saul
was stricken down by Christ on the road. and was asked, Saul, why persecutest
thou me? Paul answered, who art thou,
Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou
persecutest. Whenever you persecute the church,
you're persecuting Christ. By the way, whenever you're persecuting
a New Testament church, you're persecuting Christ. There's a
lot of churches out there that aren't New Testament churches.
They don't preach the gospel. They're not being persecuted
like we are. Matter of fact, we're being persecuted by a lot
of them out there. He said, and they that were with
me saw indeed the light and were afraid, but they heard not the
voice of him that spake. They saw that light, but they
didn't hear the voice. There's a lot of people that
might see the light. The light has been made manifest to them
in Christ coming and God showing himself to be God and in Christ
coming. The light may be seen, but it's not heard by everybody
because only those who are called by God here. See, they didn't hear because
why? Because Christ had come specifically to call Paul. And
he said, and I said, what shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said,
arise and go to Damascus, and there shall be told thee of all
the things which are appointed for thee to do." So God already
had things appointed for Paul before he ever was converted
on the road to Damascus. So you can't tell me predestination
is only about eternal salvation. Predestination has to do with
everything. Every minute thing has been predestinated
of God. Paul didn't come by his free
will. Paul came dragged. God struck him down. gave him
life, converted Paul, and Paul was a Christian after that, and
loved God, loved his brethren, preached, wrote most of the New
Testament by the Holy Spirit. And listen, that wasn't because
he chose to. It was his free will. It wasn't by that. Paul had no thoughts of ever
doing that whatsoever, and Paul would be the first one to tell
you that. He says, and when I could not see for the glory of that
light being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came
into Damascus and one Ananias, a devout man according to the
law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there,
came unto me and stood and said unto me, brother Saul received
thy sight and the same hour I looked upon him. And he said, the God
of our fathers hath chosen thee. The God of our fathers hath chosen
thee. That's always the default. That's
always the gospel. That's always the case. It's
never you chose Christ. It is always that he chose you. If that's not part of your gospel,
it's a false gospel. If that's the gospel that you professed
when you were baptized, you were baptized under a false gospel.
Your baptism is not good. You professed something other
than the Christ of the Bible and his salvation. You united
yourself with a false gospel with a false Christ, and if that
church is preaching that, a false church. The God of our fathers hath chosen
thee that thou shouldest know his will, and see that just one,
and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth. See, God had chosen
Paul for that, to hear, to see Jesus, For thou shalt be his
witness unto all men what thou have seen and heard, to be his
servant. God chose Paul to be his servant. Paul didn't choose to be a servant
of Christ. God chose Paul to be his servant. See, servants are chosen. I mean,
you look down through history and we've seen slavery in our
country. Was there ever a time where the slaves had the choice
of their masters? No. No. Matter of fact, today, if
you want to twist that and make it employer-employee, does the
employee have the choice of their employer? Now, I can choose where
I want to go to work, but I don't just stroll in and start working,
do I? I have to be chosen by the employer. I got to go present
myself. I got to give him a resume, and
he's got to look on me and decide whether or not he wants me to
work for him. The choice is still the employer. The employer chooses
the employee. Now, thankfully God isn't looking
at my resume and deciding upon that. He looked at Christ's resume. It says, and now why, here it
is, verse 16, and now why tarryest thou? Arise and be baptized and
wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. And it
came to pass that when I was coming into Jerusalem, even while
I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance, and we won't go
on any further on that, but here, Paul was commanded to be baptized,
and it says, and to wash away the sins. What does that mean
whenever it tells us to wash away our sins in baptism? We
already know that it doesn't mean, because we've read it,
right? Back in 1 Peter, let me read
that once again, lest we have, you know, confusion. The like
figure, whereunto even baptism doth also now save us, not the
putting away of the filth of the flesh, Okay, baptism doesn't
put away the filth of our flesh. But an answer to a good conscience,
right? That's what he's saying. Be baptized and wash away the
conscience of all the things that you've done before. Matter
of fact, Paul even put that in pen later on. The Holy Spirit
had Paul write that down. I was a Pharisee among the Pharisees.
Circumcised the eighth day. Man, I was the chief guy in the
Jewish religion, of the religious sect. Everybody looked at me. I sat under the greatest teacher
of that faction. He said, keeping to the law,
perfect. According to man's standard,
perfect. Not according to God's standard, by the way. What did
he say? He said, all those things that
I've done, I consider that done. for the righteousness of God.
Only Christ's righteousness is what was important to him. Why? Because the sins were washed
away in his conscience. All those sinful things that
I did as an unbeliever, all those sinful things that I did as a
religious zealot, all those things I did with a false gospel under
a false God, under a false Messiah, I did, but yet Christ saved me. My sins were washed away. And
in my baptism, in his baptism, that consciousness is cleared
because we're professing that Christ only was my salvation. So I'm gonna try to teach to
wash away our sin, but brethren, that baptism is symbolic and
is a public profession of our hearts that have been cleansed
by the Holy Spirit and has been given faith to look to Christ
only. That's why it's important that
we profess our faith in baptism, because that picture tells all
those that are watching that we are looking to that one thing.
We are looking to that one thing and that one thing only. It's
a symbol of the resurrection of Christ and the satisfaction
of God and of spiritual renewal that our spirit has been given
life See, we were dead in trespasses and sin and had no spiritual
life. But God, give us spiritual life
so that we could see these things, hear these things, understand
these things, love these things, desire these things, come to
Christ and be saved. In our mind, saved, not saved
in the legal way, but saved in our conscience, saved in our
understanding, saved in our experience. So Jesus was figuratively buried,
raised in baptism, that we who follow him, planted in his likeness
and under his death might be raised. And then the third fold reason,
which I actually got into the third fold, which was the conscience,
obedience to Christ, an outward ordinance of the gospel, showing
the gospel, and to have a clear conscience. But there is another
reason are designed for baptism, I guess I should have said four
things, because those middle two kind of basically one, is to be added to the church.
That's the additional design of baptism. In the Bible, you
will find no one added to the church who is not saved or unbaptized,
except for the thief on the cross. I know that. Everybody wants
to pull it, well, the thief on the cross wasn't baptized. Well,
no duh. He was hung on a cross. His sentence
was to die. And that is another reason why we
believe that you don't have to be baptized to be saved because
salvation isn't in an act of anything that man does. It's
in the anti-type, right? That baptism shows. Not in baptism. But everyone you see in Acts
and throughout the scripture were saved. by Christ legally,
experientially quickened, given faith to believe, brought in
conviction and repentance by the Holy Spirit, repented of those sins, were
baptized, and it was then that they were added to the church. Whenever we are baptized, we
are baptized saying we are uniting ourselves not only to Christ
and the doctrine or the gospel of Christ, but we're uniting
ourselves in submission under the authority of those who preached
that gospel to us and made us disciples to be baptized by them
and then to be taught all things whatsoever Christ has commanded.
That's what the gospel is. See, the commission is for us
to carry out, but it's also for us to teach the others that are
being made disciples on what the action that they are to do.
What must we do? Okay, repent, be baptized, join
yourself to the local church so that you can be taught all
things whatsoever Christ has commanded. Baptism is that thing
that brings us to the place where we can be added to the church. And so we must be baptized, we
should be baptized. I urge all those who are here,
that are watching and listening, that if you believe upon Christ
as your only salvation, that you believe in sovereign grace,
you believe in imputed righteousness alone, if you believe in justification
by Christ alone, and you've not been baptized,
scripturally baptized, immersed in water by one who has been
authorized to give that baptism. I urge you to do that. I urge
you to do that. Baptism is an important thing.
Now, while we've already talked about it, we will go back and
see, Lord willing, next week, the proper method of baptism. We'll look at the proper administrative
baptism and we'll have some more comments as we go. So we've still
got a couple more weeks or three in this as we go. Anybody have
any questions or comments? Anybody have anything they'd
like to add? All right. We don't have to wait
for her. Heavenly Father, we thank you
for Jesus Christ.