Turning our Bibles to Romans
chapter 6. Since we are baptizing Kimberly
today, I wanted to preach this morning
on the picture in baptism, the picture in baptism. And then
the next hour, I'll bring a message on the confession in baptism. So we'll look at the picture
in baptism. Next hour we'll see the confession
in baptism. Now in baptism, we're picturing
that our salvation is by the death, burial, and resurrection
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that He is all our salvation, that
it was accomplished in the death, burial and resurrection of the
Lord Jesus Christ. This is how God is honored. This
is how righteousness was established for God's people, how they were
justified. This is how they are brought
to be innocent before God with no record of sin. if by Christ,
by Christ alone, by His death, burial, and resurrection. And
so that's what we're picturing in water baptism. Now first of
all, baptism pictures the fact that the believer's old man of
sin died in the death of Christ. The water is symbolic of a grave,
the watery grave. And when that believer goes under
in that watery grave, buried in that watery grave, they're
picturing that their old man of sin, the old fleshly sinful
man died in Christ when he died. That's what we're picturing. Look at Romans 6 verse 3. No ye not. that as many as were
baptized, and the word here is unto Jesus Christ, we don't baptize
ourselves into Christ, we're baptized unto Christ, and many
as were baptized unto Jesus Christ were baptized unto His death. It simply means Christ's death
is what we pictured by water baptism. That's what it means. Christ's death is what we pictured
by water baptism. Verse 4. Therefore we're buried
with Him by baptism unto death. Therefore we're picturing by
baptism that we're buried with Christ. You see that? That's
what we're picturing. That we're buried with Christ.
Now, let me ask a question. Why did Christ have to die? He had to die. Why did Christ
have to die? It was necessary, first of all,
for God. Before it was to your benefit
or my benefit, it was to God's benefit. It was to declare God
just. To declare God just. Look at
Romans 6.23. The wages of sin is death. You see that? The wages of sin
is death. And God's glory is, He told Moses
in Exodus 34, 7, I will by no means clear the guilty. By no means. That God is just. The sinner must die because God
is just. But Christ knew no sin. So why
did Christ die? He knew no sin. Our Lord Jesus
was not conceived in sin like you and I are. You and I are
conceived in sin from our Father. We get His sin nature. And He
got it from Adam, all the way back to Adam. Christ wasn't conceived
in sin like we are. And not only that, Christ walked under the law for thirty-three
and a half years. and never sinned one time. Not in thought, not in word,
not in deed. Christ was proven by that to
be God providing Himself a Lamb. Remember when Abraham told Isaac
that? God will provide Himself a Lamb. And that Lamb God provided is
the spotless, Lamb, without spot or blemish. Pictured in that
Old Testament, Lamb. But the purpose for which Christ
came into this world was to be the head of His people. The purpose
for which He came into this world was to be head of His people,
to be their legal representative, to be their substitute. The purpose
for which He entered this world is at the appointed hour Remember
what He said throughout Scripture? His hour had not yet come. And
then there came a time when Christ said, My hour has come. And that
hour came and it was appointed that Christ would present Himself
to the Father as the spotless Lamb fit so that God could lay
on Him the iniquity of all His people. So that God could make
Him sin. who knew no sin in place of his
people. That was the whole reason he
came so that then having been made sin, God would be just to
bruise him in the place of his people. Listen to Isaiah 42.21. This was to honor God's law.
This was to satisfy God's justice. Isaiah 42.21 says, The Lord is
well pleased for His righteousness sake. That chapter begins talking
all about Christ. It says, Behold my servant whom
I uphold. And then it says in verse 21,
The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness sake. The Lord
is satisfied, justice is satisfied by His righteousness. He will
magnify the law and make it honorable. You and I don't magnify the law. We broke the law. The law wasn't
given for you and I to magnify. The law was given to declare
us guilty. That's what the law was given
for. Christ came to magnify and honor the law. So Christ, His
own self, bear our sins in His own body on the tree. That's
1 Peter 2.24. When God made Him sin, that's
what Scripture says, 2 Corinthians 5.21, He had made Him sin for
us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. And when He made Him sin for
us, Christ bore our sins in His own body on the tree. Now when
Christ was made sin, as the head, the legal representative of His
people, as the substitute in place of His people, when He
was made sin, and I hear this carefully, God immersed Christ
in judgment. And God immersed Christ in justice,
in the just judgment of God. He was immersed in it by divine
justice against sin. That's what Christ was bearing
on the cross. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd. Against the man that is my fellow,
saith the Lord. Smite the shepherd. and the sheep
shall be scattered, and then I'll turn my hand upon the little
ones and gather them." Smite the shepherd. That's what was
happening. The shepherd was being smitten in place of his people
because he was bearing the sins of his people. Listen to this. He was wounded for our transgressions. You see substitution in that?
In the place of all his people. In the place of His people, in
the place of all those God gave Him to represent, He was wounded
for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him. And with His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray. We couldn't honor the law. All
God's sheep. Christ said, I lay down my life
for the sheep. All His sheep went astray. We're
ungodly. We could not do anything to honor
the law. This was Christ honoring the
law. All we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone
to his own way. And the Lord hath laid on him
the iniquity of us all. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. That's why he did it, to satisfy
his justice. When it said it pleased the Lord
to bruise him, it's not that God takes some pleasure in Christ
being bruised. It's that he's satisfied. Justice
is honored. Justice is satisfied. God has
by no means cleared the guilty. And the reason that we immerse
believers all the way under the water is not only because the
word baptism actually means immersion. That's what the word means. Baptism
is immersion. But we do it not only because
of that, but because on the cross, Christ was immersed in judgment. He was immersed in judgment.
Every part of Him suffered by the judgment of God. He was immersed
in it. Let me give you some Scripture.
Psalm 69.1 says, and you know the Psalms are all speaking of
Christ. These are prophetical speakings
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And many of these are the speakings
of Christ on the cross. Psalm 69.1, He says, Save me,
O God, for the waters are come in. unto my soul. I sink in deep mire where there
is no standing. I come into deep waters where
the floods overflow me. Listen to Psalm 18, verse 4.
The sorrows of death come past me, and the floods of ungodly
men made me afraid. And so in Lamentations 3.54,
waters flowed over mine head. Then I said, I am cut off. When Christ said, my God, my
God, why hast thou forsaken me? He was cut off. You know, 1 Thessalonians
tells us that's the wages of sin. The wages of sin is not
the first death. The wages of sin is after that
death, when you meet God in judgment, you will be cast out from the
glory of God's presence. And on the cross, Christ was
suffering that living second death in the place of His people.
He was cut off from the glory of God's presence. That is a
mystery. God forsaking God is what took
place on the cross. He was cut off from the glory
of His presence. And when He did that, He said,
waters flowed over mine head. Then I said, I am cut off. Psalm
42, 7. Deep calleth unto deep at the
noise of thy waterspouts. All thy waves and thy billows
are gone over me. Deep calleth unto deep at the
noise of thy waterspouts. When God calls for judgment,
judgments fall in. It's falling. You remember the
ark in Noah's day? It was a picture of this. The
rain of judgment. That's what that rain was. It
was judgment. It came down from above, but
it didn't just come down from above. God opened the water spouts
of the deep and all the waters in the earth came up. So that
that ark was immersed in the judgment of God on the cross. I mean, in the ark. what the
ark was. That's a picture of Christ on
the cross. So by this, brethren, God's justice
is honored and the law is fulfilled. His justice is honored and the
law is fulfilled. When Christ died, when He bore
that just judgment in place of His people, God's justice was
honored upon all His people. That was God executing all His
people. by executing His Son in their
place. So God's just. He did not clear
one single sinner. He punished all sinners when
He punished Christ. Now, there's another reason,
another picture that we're picturing in baptism. We're declaring that
God is the justifier of His people. Not only that God is just, but
He is the justifier of His people. This is the second purpose for
which Christ came. He came to declare the righteousness
of God, how that God might be just and the justifier of him
that believes in Jesus. Men like to talk about how they
justified themselves in some way, like believing on Christ.
Faith receives justification already accomplished by Christ. He came to declare God is the
justifier. That's Romans 3, 21 I believe. He came to declare God is the
justifier. Look at verse 6, Romans 6, 6.
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the
body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not
serve sin. When Christ was crucified, every
elect child of God was in Christ. Christ was made to be what we
are. And we were in Him. And therefore
our old man of sin is crucified with Him so that the body of
sin, that is our old fleshly man, is now destroyed. Now let me tell you what destroyed
means. Here's what destroyed means. The word destroyed means
to render inactive. to deprive of force and power,
to cause to cease, to make to pass away, to be done away with. So on the cross, our old man
was crucified with Christ so that our old man might be rendered
inactive and cause to cease and pass away and be done away with. When Christ died, the old man
of sin and all his people died before the judgment seat of God. And let me tell you something,
that's all that matters. That's all that matters. How
does God see me? What does God say about me? Our
old man of sin was crucified when Christ was crucified and
it was done away with. It was destroyed. in Christ on
the cross. And so, what happens when a man
dies? What happens when a man dies? Can the law say anything to him
when he dies? Do you see these men who are
wanted? When they're caught up with and
they're shot and killed, do you see the law then propping them
up in a courtroom and trying to take them and sentence them
and take them to jail? The law has nothing else to say
to them. They're dead. Well, look at Romans 6-7. He
that is dead is freed from sin. You know what that word freed
means? Justified. Justified. We're going to see that same
word later, but it means something else later. It's translated from
a different word later. We'll see that in the next hour.
Here it means justified. Justified. To be justified. What
is that? What is it to be justified from
our sin? That means our sin. Now get this. The sin of everybody Christ was
representing on that cross. Listen to this carefully. The
sin of everyone who professes faith in Christ, who is born
of God and brought to faith in Christ. Listen to this. Our sin
in thought, word and deed, past, present and future was blotted
out of God's record book. And God will remember our sins
no more. No more. It's not just as if
we never sinned. Just as if I'd never sinned.
Before God, I don't have and never have had any sin. There's
no remembrance of it. It's gone. That's what it is
for the old man to be destroyed. for us to be justified from our
sin. And so God says to everyone who
believes on Christ... Now listen to me carefully. This
is not said to everybody. This is said to everybody that
believes on Christ. I press upon you the urgency
of believing on Christ. There is no salvation outside
of Christ. Faith in Christ is renouncing
all your works, everything about you, and saying, I'm trusting
Christ only to save me. And God says to all who believe
on Christ, listen to this, verse 11, Romans 6, 11, Likewise reckon
ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin. We are dead unto sin. God says,
I do not see sin in my people. And I don't remember ever seeing
sin in my people. Christ has put it away. To be
justified is to be made the righteousness of God. That's what Christ did. He made His people the righteousness
of God in Him. Get that now. If the law can
never say anything, if the law can never charge you or me with
sin, the only reason it can't do that is if we're as righteous
as the law is righteous. As righteous as God is righteous.
And that's what Christ is and that's what we are in Christ.
Isn't that good news? Alright now, what do you do with
a dead body? You bury it. You bury that dead
body. You bury it. They took Christ's
body there and they buried it in a tomb. Now when you see that,
just know this, you're an old man of sin. Just see your old
man of sin buried in that tomb with Christ. So when the believer
goes completely under the water, into that watery grave, it's
a picture that we died when Christ died. We were buried when Christ
was buried. Justified. Here's the second
thing that the believer is showing in this thing. When he comes
up out of the water, he's showing that when Christ arose, we arose
in Him to newness of life. Romans 6.4 Therefore, we're 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've been planted together
in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness
of His resurrection. Now if we be dead with Christ,
we believe that we shall also live with Him. We believe that all those Christ
justified on the cross arose with Christ when He arose from
the dead. Ephesians 2 verse 6 says, He
raised us up together and He made us sit together in heavenly
places in Jesus Christ. And in addition to that, we believe
that all whom Christ justified shall in time be regenerated
and partake of that first resurrection to newness of life where they
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. We are bound to give thanks all
the way to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Everybody God chose, everybody
God predestinated, He chose to be saved through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. And in addition to this,
we believe that all those for whom Christ died shall at last
be raised in the final resurrection to be with Christ in glory forever.
For this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortality
must put on immortality. Now this is a must because Christ
satisfied justice. That's why it's a must. Christ
satisfied justice. He justified His people. Look
at verse 9. Knowing that Christ, being raised
from the dead, dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over
him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once, but in that
he liveth, he liveth unto God. Christ dies no more. He can die
no more. Death has no more dominion over
Christ. You know why? Because 1 Corinthians
15.56 says the sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin
is the law. You know what Christ did? He
fulfilled the law. He put away the sin of His people.
By His one offering, by dying one time, He fulfilled the law
and put away the sin of His people. So then, death has no more dominion
over Christ. And because death has no more
dominion over Christ, death has no more dominion over His people. In that He liveth, He liveth
unto God, and so do His people. So do His people. And therefore,
we are assured by the justice of God. You see, righteousness
is the key. If you want to believe on God,
He's going to make you behold His righteousness at the cross.
Because you'll only trust somebody that's trustworthy. And that's
what He's declaring in Christ on the cross. He's showing that
God will do what is right and just always. And being assured
that God is just and that He will not pour out judgment a
second time on those that have already been cleared. He won't
do that. That wouldn't be justice. And
God will not do what's not justice. He will not pour out sin on those
for whom Christ died. And being assured of this, brethren,
God says to every one of us who believe on Christ, verse 11,
likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but
alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So here is the
picture. When the believer goes down into
that watery grave, he is picturing that he was crucified with Christ,
buried with Christ, justified by Christ, made righteous by
Christ. His old man of sin was buried,
put away, destroyed. And when he comes up out of that
watery grave, he is picturing that when Christ arose, He arose
to the newness of life. that when Christ entered into
him and regenerated him by the Holy Spirit, he became a regenerated
new man. And now, from henceforth, he
is walking in newness of life. That's the picture. And we'll
look at that more next time. But what we're declaring is that
thanks be unto God who giveth, freely giveth us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 23. The wages of
sin is death, but the gift, the free gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Alright, we'll come back
and see confession of baptism. Let's pray together. Father,
we thank you for giving us this ordinance and showing us in such
a clear, visible picture what Christ accomplished for you and
for your people on the cross. Make us this day, Lord, behold
Him and rejoice in Him as we see this believer go under the
water and as we see this believer come out of the water. Cause
us to thank You. Cause us to see Christ and rejoice
in what He's accomplished for us. Father, forgive us our sins. We ask this in Christ's name.
Amen.