I want to talk to you this morning
about baptism. It seems that baptism in our
day has been taken or is taken from one extreme to the other.
Religion preaches baptism as the final step of salvation. Religion uses all sorts of gimmicks
anymore to get people in their door. And then they pressure
folks, men and women, to walk an aisle and say a prayer. And they do this so they can
get them in the water, which makes baptism to them really
nothing more than just the final step in the progression of free
will works salvation. But we know that salvation is
of the Lord. What happens next is sinners
wind up making their decision, making their will, making their
profession, and making their baptism the reason for their
salvation. There are thousands that are
trusting in these things that have never heard the unsearchable
riches of Christ. And that is so alarming. I know
these things by experience. I went to church the majority
of my life in a church that practiced these things. And I dedicated
and I rededicated myself so many times. I believe I was baptized
at least three times as a child. And each time I had no understanding
as to why. Just peer pressure. Nothing but
peer pressure by harlings in sheep's clothing to put just
another notch on their leading people to Jesus belt. I think
of my dear grandmother. My grandmother was not a godly
woman. She was an honest woman. She
was a hard working woman. She was a good wife, a good mother,
and a great grandmother. Man, she could cook. But I never knew her to attend
church. I never knew her to have an interest
in the things of Christ. I never knew her to have any
concern for her sin and the forgiveness of it. And yet when she died,
the preachers stood at her funeral and said that she was saved.
And the reason that she was in heaven was because she had been
baptized when she was a little girl. This way of thinking caused
me for many years to trust in my baptism, but not in Christ. I want you to see the danger
of this way of thinking. You see, religion has made baptism
salvation. And if you're baptized, then
you're saved, they say. But believe me when I tell you
that it just ain't so. Excuse my poor English. Now you can be immersed, and
that's what baptism is, it's not sprinkling, it's not pouring
a little water on your head, it's being immersed in water,
and you can be immersed in every creek, pond, lake, and swimming
pool, and church, and baptismal in the world, and still be lost,
and still perish forever. And that's one end of the spectrum. And then on the other end, Many
who actually know and love the Lord Jesus Christ, who have trusted
in Him and in Him alone to put away their sin, have laid aside
the ordinance of baptism as though it's no big deal. Some of you,
who I'm convinced show great evidence of knowing Christ, have
done just that. And I'll take a great deal of
the blame for it. You see, I'm convinced that we're
not preaching baptism the way it should be preached. I know
that we preach Christ, but this blessed ordinance is so important. So I want you to first turn with
me to Matthew chapter 28, if you would. Matthew chapter 28. Here we have the Lord's great
commission. Matthew chapter 28, beginning
in verse 19. Give you a moment to get there.
I want you to see this in your Bible. Matthew 28, verse 19. The Lord Jesus says, go ye therefore
and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. teaching them to observe
all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with
you always, even into the end of the world." Now, if you would
turn over to Mark chapter 16. Mark chapter 16. Look at verse
15, Mark 16, 15. And he, speaking of Christ, said
unto them, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to
every creature. And he that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved. But he that believeth not shall
be damned. Now one other place, look over
in Acts chapter two. Acts chapter two, verse 38. This is concerning when Peter
preached the gospel of Christ on the day of Pentecost. And
when he finished here, he said unto them, verse 38, repent. and be baptized every one of
you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and
you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Look down at
verse 41. Then they that gladly received,
gladly bowed to his word were baptized. And the same day there
were added unto them about 3,000 souls. Can you see from these verses
how closely preaching the gospel, believing the gospel, repenting
of your sin and receiving our bowing to the spirit of God is
associated with baptism. Why are believers to be baptized? Well, first it's the commandment
of God. The great commission of our Lord
Jesus that we just read in Matthew chapter 28 and also in Mark chapter
16 is the commandment of God. The Lord Jesus Christ who is
God said, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to
every creature. This is not a suggestion. This
is not a mere recommendation. It's a commandment. Go, go. And let me say this, there is
no other reason for the church of God, the bride of Christ,
this world of believers, to be in this world other than to preach
the gospel. No other reason. Well, preacher,
I thought that we were here to give glory to God. That's how
you give glory to God, by preaching His word, by preaching His gospel. And when you truly preach the
gospel, it gives all the glory to God. You see, true preaching
reveals God's right to have mercy, compassion, and grace, and forgiveness
on whom he will. The scripture is very clear about
that. He has mercy on whom he'll have mercy, and God gets all
the glory. And when you see through the
scriptures, through preaching, that you cannot be saved by a
work of righteousness that you've done, but only according to His
mercy, you're gonna give God all the glory. When you see that
you cannot be saved by a decision you made or a choice that you
made, but only by God's predestinated choice and decision to save you,
you'll give God glory. And when you hear through preaching
that you're not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver
and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without
blemish and spot, oh, I'm telling you, when you understand by God's
word that you cannot accept Jesus, but that God accepted you in
Jesus Christ, the beloved God to get all the glory. And you'll
be glad to bow to that divine truth. When you see that you
cannot save yourself by your free will, but only be saved
by the will and purpose of God, it's then And only then that
you'll give all the glory to God for your salvation. And it's
then and only then that you'll preach the gospel as God has
commanded. Now, God commanded us in his
great commission to preach, but that's not all that he commanded
us to do. He commanded us to be baptized.
Go ye therefore and teach. Now, I don't know if you have
a marginal Bible, but mine says make disciples. Go ye therefore
and make disciples everywhere in all nations, baptizing them. Yet the baptism of a believer
doesn't make them holy. Believers' baptism doesn't make
a sinner righteous. In Christ, believers are made
the very righteousness of God in Him. The baptism of a believer
is a commandment of God. How do we know that? Well, we've
got to be taught by the word of God. What did the Lord mean
when he said to baptize those who believe in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost? Well, in baptism,
we're confessing the name of God. We're confessing who God
is. He's God in three persons. He's
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. He's the thrice holy
triune God. In baptism, We're confessing
what God has done. He died for the sins of His people,
the just for the unjust. Christ, who is God, came into
the world to save sinners. He came to seek and to save that
which was lost, and He lived perfectly, He died unjustly,
and rose again victoriously over death and the grave. And that's
what baptism pictures and represents. In baptism, we're confessing
to the world when God did this for us. He did it before the
foundation of the world. And in preaching, we're confessing,
and in baptism, we're confessing why God died to save his people,
because it seemed good in his sight. It pleased the Lord to
make you his people. So we teach and we preach for
saved sinners to observe all things that God and Christ have
commanded. Now, we just read in Mark 16,
verse 16, that he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved,
but he that believeth not shall be damned. Now, this is what
our Lord Jesus said. Man didn't make this up. This
is the will and the commandment of God. And men say things like,
well, I'll attend to that later at a more convenient time. And
I ask you, do we dare put off what God commands? Another says,
believe on Christ and thou shalt be saved. And no doubt that is
true. I rest all my hope and peace
upon that blessed truth. But our Lord said, he that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved. Now, let me again say, so you
don't misunderstand me, baptism is not salvation. but the sinner
that God saves will be baptized if they can. Why? Because first, it's the commandment
of God. Now, secondly, I would have you
to notice here that our Savior's words teach us that baptism always
follows faith. He that believeth and is baptized. We should never neglect the order
of things in the scripture. Mr. Spurgeon once said that if
God puts things one, two, three, that we should never put them
three, two, one. That's good advice. Religion
today does just that. They take things out of order. Matter of fact, the common teaching
of baptism today is he that is baptized believes. Got it backwards. He that believeth is baptized.
Man-made religion makes baptism a condition to being saved. And
as I said earlier, many in works religion today actually make
baptism their salvation. Just like in the case of my grandmother,
she trusted in her baptism and not in Christ. Oh, that's so
dangerous. We should never baptize anyone
who does not believe the gospel. And someone who believes the
gospel should always be baptized. He that believes and is baptized,
that's the scriptural order. Now I want you to stay with me.
I think this will help us see the importance of this. When
you impartially study the scriptures, you'll always find that those
who were baptized were believers. It's believers baptism. They
believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and then, They were baptized
in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. And as we read in Acts chapter
two, then, when? When they heard the gospel. When
they heard Peter preach, then they gladly received his word
and were baptized. That's what believing is. It's
receiving, gladly receiving the gospel that is preached. You're in Acts 2, right? Turn
over to Acts chapter 8 with me. That Ethiopian eunuch that Philip
joined himself with in the chariot was reading out of the scriptures
in Isaiah chapter 53. And Philip asked, he said, do
you understand what you're reading? And that fellow answered in verse
31 and said, how can I accept some man should guide me, teach
me and show me? Look at verse 32. And the place
of the scripture which he read was this. He was led as a sheep
to the slaughter, and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened
he not his mouth. So Philip, right then, he preached
the gospel of Christ, substitution and satisfaction to this man.
We talked about that in the first hour, substitution and satisfaction. And he preached that to this
man out of the book of Isaiah. Let me show you that. Hold your
place here in Acts chapter eight, stick your marker there and turn
with me to Isaiah 53, beginning in verse one. Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed? For he, speaking of Christ, shall
grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry
ground. He hath no form nor comeliness,
and when we shall see him, there's no beauty, no beauty naturally
speaking, that we should desire him. And he is despised and rejected
of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we
hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed
him not. That describes every man and
woman by nature. We didn't care about his grief.
We hid our faces from him. Now look at this, verse four.
Surely he hath borne our griefs. Do us good to underline that
word, our. Whose griefs? The griefs of his
people, the griefs of his elect. And carried our sorrows. Whose sorrows? The sorrows of
the sin of his chosen. Yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. Oh, I tell you, friends, how
great the wickedness and the ingratitude of those who hated
Christ without a cause. They claimed that God smote him
on the account of his own sins. He was stricken and afflicted
by the sword of divine justice for standing in the room and
the stead of his chosen people. That's what I deserved. That's
what you deserve. And it wasn't due to any sin
of his own. He knew no sin. He was made to be sin that we
might be made the righteousness of God in him. And I never grow
tired of hearing that. That's my only hope of redemption
that Christ did for me what I couldn't do for myself. Now read on verse
five, but he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised
for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was laid upon Him. It was upon Him. And with His
stripes, we are healed. That's substitution. That's talking
about Christ doing for me what we couldn't do for ourselves.
That's talking about substitution. Christ and Him crucified. That's
the gospel. How can a sinner who is alienated
by sin be reconciled back to God? That's a good question. It's one that you need to find
out. How is that accomplished? Substitution. How is that accomplished? Satisfaction. He was wounded
for our transgressions. He had none of his own. He was
bruised for our iniquities. He was broken and crushed to
pieces under the weight and the punishment of our sin. The chastisement
of our peace was upon Him. The punishment of our sins was
inflicted upon Him. Oh, I pray that God enable us
to see that. God's vindictive justice and
wrath was poured out on Christ. It should have been poured out
on you and upon me. And divine wrath is appeased
and justice is satisfied and peace with God is made. Never heard such good news in
my life. And with his stripes, we, who
his people, are healed. Sin is a disease belonging to
all fallen men and women, and it's a nauseous, a hereditary,
incurable disease. But the forgiving of sin can
be had no other way than by the blood and the sacrifice of the
Son of God. Well, what about us? What do
we do? How do we contribute? What can
we add? Look at verse six. All we like
sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Verse seven, he was oppressed
and he was afflicted. Yet he opened not his mouth.
That's the verse that the eunuch asked Philip about. He's brought
as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shears
is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. Now let me ask you a question. I'm sure you know the answer,
but maybe some of you don't. Do you know why Christ opened
not his mouth? Because he was standing. in the
place of the guilty. So by substituting himself in
our place, he could not rightly defend himself. He had to face
the penalty of our sin. Verse eight, he was taken from
prison and from judgment, and who shall declare his generation?
For he was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression
of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the
wicked and with the rich in his death, because he had done no
violence and neither was any deceit in his mouth. And this is the most amazing
thing of all. Verse 10, yet it pleased the
Lord to bruising. If you have any question, child
of God, of how much God loves you, you read that verse. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. Why? So he wouldn't have to you. He hath put him to grief. When
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed,
he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many. I thought he died for the whole
world. No, no, for many. Yes, a number no man can number,
but not for all, for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore
will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide
the spoiled with the strong, because he hath poured out his
soul unto death. and he was numbered with the
transgressors, and he bared the sin of many and made intercession
for the transgressors. And that is what Philip preached
to that Ethiopian eunuch. He preached the gospel. He showed
him the gospel and the substitution and the sacrifice of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now look back in Acts chapter
eight. Look at verse... And the eunuch answered Philip
and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this, of
himself or some other man? And then Philip opened his mouth
and began at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus. And as they went on their way,
they came into a certain water. And the eunuch said, see, here
is water. What doth hinder me to be baptized? And notice what Philip says here
in verse 37. And Philip said, if thou believest
with all thine heart, thou mayest, if thou believest, thou mayest
be baptized. And he answered and he said,
I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. What do you need
to believe to be saved? Jesus Christ is a son of God.
He came and he died for the sins of his people. And he commanded
the chariot, verse 38, to stand still. And they both went down
into the water, or they went down both into the water, both
Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. You see, friends,
he that believeth and is baptized. That's the first thing that this
man, wanted to do after believing. And that's what a believer wants
to do. He wants to profess his or her faith in Christ by being
baptized. The saved sinner wants to be
identified with Christ. He wants to be identified with
his death, with his burial, and with his resurrection. As I said,
that's what baptism pictures. But if one does not believe the
gospel, they shouldn't be baptized. Do you believe? Do you believe?
If you do, then what hinders you? Now, God's word does not
say, he that believeth and comes to the communion table shall
be saved. He that believes and is baptized.
And again, I say, there is no salvation in baptism itself. The act of baptism can't wash
away the first sin. That would be going back to the
Old Testament covenant of works, those old ceremonies of the Mosaic
law, all those washings under the law, which never washed away
one sin. It's the precious blood of Christ
that washes away sin. What can wash away my sin? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. But I would have you to notice
again what our text in Mark chapter 16 says. Can you turn back there
with me? I think I'm through turning you.
Mark chapter 16, verse 16. The Lord Jesus said,
he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Yet I'd have
you notice that when the condemnation here is announced, It is simply
he that believeth not shall be damned. And the matter of baptism
is not mentioned. Why? Well, I believe to let us
know that there are some who believe, who may not be able
to be baptized, yet they are assuredly saved. And the first
one that comes to mind is that dying thief on the cross. He
couldn't be baptized. Why? Because his feet were nailed
to a cross. But I am convinced that if he
could have been baptized, he would have been. I'll also say
this, I'm not one that has a lot of confidence in these deathbed
conversions, but I do know this. If the Lord is pleased to save
one right before they die, He can, He can. And that'd be another
example. You see believer's baptism is
the outward expression of inward faith. The sinner who believes
in and on Christ, they with their heart will confess their faith
before God and before the church by being baptized. They see that
God commands it. They see that it follows their
faith in Christ. And in Mark chapter 8 verse 8,
you don't have to turn there. The Lord Jesus said, whosoever
therefore shall be ashamed of me, And of my words in this adulterous
and sinful generation, of him also shall the son of man be
ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his father with the
holy angels. Now who are they that are ashamed
of the Lord Jesus and his word? Those who do not confess him. How does a believer confess his
inward faith in Christ outwardly? In baptism. In baptism. Do you see the importance of
this? How important is it? Well, so important that Christ
himself was baptized. John told the Lord, he said,
I have need of being baptized of thee. And the Lord Jesus said,
suffer it, allow it to be so now, for thus becometh us to
fulfill all righteousness. What does that mean? Well, baptism
beautifully sets forth our Lord's immersion into suffering, his
burial into death, his resurrection unto life. And thus typically
in baptism fulfills all righteousness. It's only in our dying with Christ. are being buried with Christ
and are being resurrected in Christ, that Christ's perfect
righteousness is fulfilled in the believer. It so beautifully
pictures our union with the Lord Jesus. And when the Lord Jesus
was baptized, we're told of the presence of all three blessed
persons of the Trinity. God the Son manifest in the flesh
is baptized. God the Spirit descends like
a dove and lights upon him. And God the Father speaks from
heaven and declares, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well
pleased. And the child of God has been
taught that there's no hope of redemption apart from the union
that they have in Christ. Remember, baptism is a confession.
It's a identification that they are one in Christ. That's what we're saying. I identify
with him. He's all my hope. He's all my
righteousness. He's all my salvation. It's confession
of the only hope that we as believers have. The child of God has died
to self. died to sin, and the child of
God has been buried with Christ by baptism unto death, that like
as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the
Father, even so they also should walk in newness of life." Romans
6, 4. Now let me say this in closing. To those of you whom God has
revealed Christ, what hinders you? What hinders you from being
baptized? I hope and pray that God has
shown you the importance of this blessed ordinance. It's the commandment
of God. And may God enable you to boldly
confess your faith in Christ before God and before his church
in baptism. And if any of you desire to be
baptized, let me know and we can certainly arrange it. Well,
I hope that's been of some help to you. Let's go to the Lord
in prayer.