Alright, this hour we're going
to be in Romans 6. Romans 6, looking at verses 3
and 4 this morning. Now Paul, in Romans 6, has been
addressing carnal man's objection to salvation by grace. Paul's proclaiming and declaring
salvation by grace. Let's look at verses 1 and 2.
He says there in Romans 6, 1 and 2, what shall we say then? And
here's the objection. Shall we continue in sin that
grace may abound? And he answers it, God forbid. How shall we that are dead to
sin live any longer therein? Now Paul is speaking from a knowledge
born of spiritual birth. It's born out of spiritual birth. He's spiritually alive. He has
the Spirit of Christ and so that's how he hears grace. He knows it's by the power and
the authority and the work of the Spirit of Christ in us. Now
man-made religion There's many religions. There's a lot of religion
in the world. And man-made religion knows nothing
about true righteousness. We have our understanding of
what we think righteousness is, what are good works and what
pleases the Lord. But natural man doesn't know
what pleases the Lord because he doesn't have the Spirit of
Christ until the Lord gives him the Spirit of Christ. And so
man-made religion is always looking at the outward, the outward appearance
of things. The Lord called them whitewashed
sepulchers, that is graves, because inside they're full of dead men's
bones. They look good on the outside,
but within they're dead. And so Paul speaks of them as
well, calling them those which glory in appearance, the outward
show of religion. They glory in that, but not in
heart. not in heart. There's no effectual
grace and faith in the heart given to them by the Lord. So Paul goes on now to declare
that believers are united with Christ. We have a union with
Christ and that union is through spiritual baptism, through spiritual
baptism. Now, he does this while also
denouncing, we shouldn't miss the fact that he is denouncing
those who would boast of continuing in sin that grace may abound. Now, as we go through our study,
when you look at Romans 6, I read the whole thing very carefully
and looked it over. And Paul never, ever once has
us look to the Law of Moses for our righteousness. He never turns
the believers to the Law of Moses for righteousness. But, like
all the Apostles, turns us continually to Christ. He has us looking
ever to the Lord Jesus Christ for righteousness. Now, what
he does is he And what we learn by the Spirit,
what we see by the Spirit, is that we're constrained by Christ. We're constrained by His love
in us. We're constrained by His power
working in the believer who gives us a new heart and turns us to
the Lord to want to follow Him and to seek after Him. And so, it's because we're alive
now by the Spirit, alright? having died with Christ when
he was crucified, we are raised with Christ unto newness of life,
and so we ever keep looking to Christ. Our title is Baptized
into Christ. Baptized into Christ. And so I wanna look at our baptism
into his death and into his life, all right? We'll look at our
baptism into Christ's death and life. So our text here deals
with two baptisms, two baptisms, all right? One is a baptism by
water, a baptism by water. Look at the beginning of verse
three, Romans 6.3. No he not, that so many of us
as were baptized into Jesus Christ, there he's talking about our
water baptism. Don't you know that there was
a lot of us here? And of us, there's many of us that were
baptized into Christ by water baptism, and that we that were
baptized into Christ were baptized into his death. This is the other
baptism he's talking about, that there's many of us Of all of
us that are baptized, many of us were baptized into his death.
That is the spiritual baptism with Christ. So, let's just talk
for a few minutes about baptism. About baptism, alright? Because
it'll begin to make this all a lot clearer what he's conveying
to his hearers. What he's trying, what he's putting
their minds on so that they would know that We have now, we that
are in Christ, have a spiritual life whereby we walk in faith
and obedience to Him. He's the one teaching us. He's
the one instructing us. He's called us. He's faithful
to do the whole thing. That's really, in a nutshell,
what He's saying. Christ is effectual in His people,
okay? Now, after our Lord's resurrection,
in Matthew 28, verses 18 through 20, Matthew 28, Our Lord comes to his disciples,
this is after his crucifixion, and he's risen from the dead,
and now he's about to go up to the Father, and he says to them,
in verse 18, that all power is given unto me in heaven and in
earth. All power means that Christ has
all authority given to him by the Father, so that when you
read in Revelation of the Lamb slain in the midst of the throne,
and he takes the book out of the hand, of the Ancient of Days
sitting on the throne of God to judge the nations. When he
takes that book out and he opens the seals, it means that he has
authority and power now to implement the will of God in the earth,
which he's doing even now. That's what he's saying here.
All power. I have authority right now. I'm ruling and reigning.
It's given to me in heaven and in earth. And he tells them,
in verse 19, 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 unto the end of the world. Amen. So it's our Lord who sent
his disciples out. He, by his authority, we now
have authority to go out and to make disciples of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And those that believe, he commands
them to be baptized. He's speaking of believer's baptism. That's what he's talking about,
believer's baptism. He doesn't tell them, you just grab people
that you want and just dunk them down in the water whether they
want to or not. No, he's talking about believers' baptism, those
that believe, baptize them in the water, in the name of Christ.
Now, that is, if you believe Christ, if you believe his word,
if he is Lord and Savior, If he is the one who was sent of
God to save his people, and it's not your righteousness, it's
not your works of righteousness, but his righteousness that makes
us clean. It's his righteousness that makes
us fit to stand before God, and we are now alive in him. If you
believe Christ, then be baptized. Be baptized. Come and be baptized
in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. If you were baptized,
what the world calls baptism, if you were baptized as an infant,
you were sprinkled or dunked as an infant, that's not baptism. That's not baptism. You aren't
a believer then. If you were baptized under a
false gospel, if you didn't know the truth and you were under
a false gospel, then come and be baptized. Come and be baptized. Or if you were baptized because
it's some religious ceremony, because it's a religious ceremony, if you were baptized because
you think that in doing that right, in doing that step is
that God's going to confer or give you some grace for doing
it, that, you know, if that's why you were baptized, that's
not baptism either, right? Much of the world does religious
things because they think, well, God would be pleased with this,
and that's gonna earn me a couple of credits with the Lord, and,
you know, it'll make Him happy, and so I'll be baptized, and
I'll do what this religion says, and I'll do what that religion
says, and I just practice everything, because they think that God is
pleased with these various things. But, whether you were baptized,
in that sense, which isn't baptism, That's not baptism. If you now
believe, if you hear the gospel and you believe Christ, then
come and be baptized. Be baptized. Follow him in believers'
baptism, because the Lord is the one that saves us out of
dead-letter religion. Those things are dumb. Those
things are worthless, and Christ saves us out of dead-letter religion
and calls us to follow him. And so the point being, obey
your Lord and be baptized. Now let's look at Philip and
the Ethiopian eunuch. They're in Acts chapter 8. Here's a picture or a pattern
of believer's baptism in Acts 8 and at the very end of verse
35 we're told that this occurred after Philip preached unto him
Jesus. All right, so Philip, when Philip
was preaching, just like all the apostles and the disciples
in our Lord's day, they preached Christ. That's what we're to
do, we're to preach Jesus Christ. And so he preached unto him Jesus.
And after that, verse 36, as they went on their way, they
came unto a certain water, and the eunuch said, see, here's
water, what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said,
If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered
and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He believed the gospel that Philip
preached to him concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. He heard, remember he was preaching
from Isaiah, and he understood that that one of years beforehand, all that
word of prophecy was fulfilled in this Jesus of Nazareth, that
he is the Christ, the Son of the living God, who was sent
by God to obtain eternal salvation for his people, to put away their
sins. What Isaiah said and all the
prophets, what they said, he believed him and so he was baptized. You see that he heard the word
and was baptized because he believed Christ. This Jesus is the Christ
who you say he is. I believe him. I believe what
the Lord has declared to us. And so this is important because
we preach Jesus Christ. We declare Jesus Christ because
that's what our Lord did. Our Lord declared himself. The apostles declared Jesus Christ. Turn over to Luke 24. Luke 24
and we see this. Luke 24, go to verse 25. We read
there, Luke 24, verse 25. Then Christ said unto them, these
are the men on the road to Emmaus. He said, O fools, and slow of
heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. What all
did the prophets speak? Ought not Christ. See that there in verse 26? Ought
not Christ. What did the prophets speak?
Christ. Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things and to enter into his glory?" So he's saying there
the whole book, this whole book that we have here, given to us
by the Lord, it wasn't given to make us good little boys and
girls. It wasn't given to make us good
little Pharisees to know how to live and be moral, morally
good citizens in this life, how to be productive people in this
life. That's not why the book was given. It was given to show
us Christ, to show us our need of Christ. That's what they're
saying there. The whole thing was written to show us we're
sinners, bankrupt sinners who cannot work righteousness for
ourselves. that we need in his son, Jesus
Christ. The whole book declares to us
the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're to see his suffering,
meaning why did Christ come? Why did he need to come? That's
how awful, wicked, sinful, full of iniquity and darkness that
we are that we cannot save ourselves. So God provided salvation in
his son, Jesus Christ, who suffered and died because of me to put
away my sin on the cross under the just wrath of God. That's
what it's declaring. It's showing us how sinful we
are, how worthy of eternal wrath we are, because we're sinners,
but that Christ put it away forever by himself. When we declare the
cross, that's what we're saying. We're saying we can't do it,
we can't save ourselves, but he is the very righteousness
of God. It's really not any more complicated
than that. And then verse 27 there, Luke
24, 27. and beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded
unto them in all the scriptures, any one you want, the things
concerning himself. Now drop down to verse 44, Luke
24, verse 44. He's still talking to these guys
and he says, unto them, these are the words which I spake unto
you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled
which were written in the law of Moses and in the prophets
and in the Psalms concerning me. That's the whole Old Testament. Every book that's concerning
Christ. And then, verse 45, then opened
he their understanding that they might understand the scriptures. So that we see and know that
we must be born again. It's a spiritual work. We've
got to be born again by the Lord because otherwise we look at
this and say, oh, I'm supposed to do this, I'm supposed to tithe,
I'm supposed to go here and do that and wear this kind of robe
and do that. And that's all people see is
different works that they're supposed to do. Because they
don't have the spirit. They're just looking for ways
to make themselves righteous before God. And they don't see
the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we've got to be born again
that we be delivered from the mist and darkness of fools who
are slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
That's how we are naturally, we're slow and hard to believe
it. Our Lord, when he was speaking, stay there in Lupa, when he was
speaking to the Jews in another part, he told them, search the
scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life. You think
you open these things and get life, get some grace, get some
guidance from the Lord on how you're supposed to live. But
he tells them, they are they which testify of me. When we open these scriptures,
we're looking at the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ, not
how I can improve my life and be a good little boy or girl
before God, so that he might give me eternal life. So he gives
us understanding, and then he tells them, and ye will not come
to me, that ye might have life, because that's the natural heart
of man. We will not, we will to not believe him. We will not
come to Christ. That's where we are, until the
Lord turns our heart and draws us to himself and to know him
and to believe him until he opens our understanding to understand
the scriptures and to know what they're speaking of, the Lord
Jesus Christ. All right, now verse 46, and he says unto them,
thus it is written and thus it behooved Christ to suffer and
to rise from the dead the third day and that repentance and remission
of sins should be preached in his name among all nations beginning
at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these
things." We're witnesses of these things. This is what we are called
and sent of God to witness, to those who the Lord brings to
us, to witness of what Christ has accomplished for his people. We're to declare, which he said,
that Christ must suffer. Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things. We're declaring this because,
again, it strips us down and shows us that all our works of
religion and righteousness are filthy dumb. They're filthy rags
in His sight. They don't please Him. They don't
impress Him. He's not looking to us for our works. He's looking
to His Son, Jesus Christ, and declaring to us, that's where
you and I are to look, to His Son, Jesus Christ, whom He's
provided. That's our witness. And so it's
the Lord who sent His Son to deliver us from the coming wrath
of God because all men are sinners, worthy of eternal death, but
God has provided that salvation, deliverance from that wrath,
in His Son, Jesus Christ. That's what we're declaring. Baptism is a picture of our union
with Christ. It's a union in his death and
a union in his life. So, water baptism doesn't save. Water baptism does not save us
any more than being baptized in water means that we're saved. It doesn't even necessarily mean
that we're saved, as Paul said. But what baptism is, is it's
a public confession. You're confessing Christ. You're publicly confessing Christ,
that He's my Lord and my Savior. He's my righteousness. I have
no hope in myself. I have no confidence in this
flesh. But I believe Him. I believe
Him. It's not that we're deciding
whether we're the elect or not. Do you believe? Do you believe
Him? Do you trust Him? If you trust Him, then follow
His Word. Honor His Word. baptized. He's the one who calls us to
it. It's a public confession that, Lord, I need you. I have no other hope but you,
Lord. And so what we're dead to is
we're dead to the law of Moses. We're dead to the body of sin
in Christ. It's as what Paul said, for I
am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. and the life which I now live,
I live by the faith, the faith of the Son of God, Jesus Christ,
who loved me and gave himself for me. That's Galatians 2.20.
All right, now, Paul says in verse three, he said, know ye
not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were
baptized into his death? Now, he's not saying there's
some there that are the church that aren't baptized, and then
some that are baptized. That's not what he's saying,
but he's concluding here that there are some there that were
baptized that don't believe, that don't believe Christ. He's
not all their confidence. He's not all their righteousness.
He's not all their hope, right? but they did it as a religious
rite. They call them rites of passages,
I think some religious institutes refer to them as. Different things
that we're supposed to do in this life to obtain grace in
favor of God so that when we die, we stand before him and
are accepted of him. But that's not what the scriptures
teach at all. They teach Christ. They preach
that Christ is our righteousness and salvation. So some were there
that didn't understand. They didn't hear with the ear
of faith. They looked at it and trusted in that work of being baptized. And therefore, it was no wonder
that when they came up out of the waters, they came up spiritually
dead as they were when they went into the water. It's just nothing,
because it doesn't provide any grace. It doesn't impart any
special favor to us by doing it. And as an example, I should
have told you to stay in Acts 8, but in Acts 8, if you drop
down to verse 18, or go up to verse 18, That's where it's speaking
of Simon the sorcerer. And he's an example of those
who are baptized that don't believe. They didn't believe Christ. And so he was baptized. He heard
what everybody else heard with the ear of flesh. And he was
baptized like everyone else. And he was a sorcerer. He had
bewitched them. And he was impressed with what
he was seeing when the apostles came down to see what the Lord
was doing in Samaria there. And it says in Acts 8.18, When
Simon saw, this is Simon the sorcerer, when he saw that through
laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he
offered them money. He offered money saying, give
me also this power that on whomsoever I lay hands he may receive the
Holy Ghost. But Peter said unto him, thy
money perish with thee. because thou hast thought that
the gift of God may be purchased with money. The emphasis being
on purchased, earned, obtained by something we do. Thou hast
neither part nor lot in this matter for thy heart is not right
in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this thy
wickedness. Repent of your dead letter ritualistic
services that you do to earn and obtain God's favor and pray
God if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee
for I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness and
in the bond of iniquity. So what we see here the point
I'm making is that there's many in many different places that
are just like Simon the sorcerer they're trying to purchase to
earn some favor with the Lord, right? They think that the gift
of God, His eternal salvation, is something that they can purchase,
right? Whether it's their giving of
money, or their giving of time to the church, or their working
their good works, or doing these little rituals, and doing these
things. They think that by these things
they obtain the gift of the Lord. So they're all forms of purchasing.
It doesn't have to be money like Simon. Anything that we do that
we think earns us favor with God is trying to purchase the
gift of God by something that we've done. And so there's many
forms of dead letter religion out there and Simon did a religious
thing. He was baptized and it did nothing
for him. He went into the waters, he came
out of the waters, and was filthy in sin. He had no power or authority
with God. But Peter said to him, you're
in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity. So what
it is is that it doesn't matter whether you've made a profession
of Christ and you've been baptized. Paul is saying there's some that
are still living in the flesh. They go into the waters, they
come up, and they still go out and they fornicate and get drunk
and just do whatever they want to do, just living in the flesh.
And then there's others that go in and come up out of the
waters, and they do all kinds of religious things, thinking
that these are the things that save them. It's just one of many
ritualistic things that they think they're supposed to do
to please God. But this is the very repentance that we're to
turn from. Turn from these thinking that
is by my religious works, my dead religious works to save
me. Turn from that and hear what
he's saying. Look to Christ, believe him. That's the repentance that we're
to declare in the name of Christ. We preach Christ, we declare
that he was crucified for his people because we're filthy sinners,
unable to work a righteousness for ourselves, he obtained it,
look to him. Stop trusting your dead works
and trust the living God. Trust him that he has saved his
people by the death of himself. That's the repentance that should
be preached in his name among all nations and ye are witnesses
of these things. these things, right? We declare
these. You know, you think about the Pharisees. They were zealous,
so zealous that they crucified the Lord of Glory in their self-righteous
zeal, right? And so we're to turn from our
dead works of religion that cannot save us and don't reveal the
truth to us. Now Paul was speaking to the
Romans about the Jews and he says, he is a Jew which is one
in relief. And circumcision is that of the
heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is
not of men, but of God. So, not in the letter of Moses,
right, the law of Moses, not in the letter of religion and
what religion tells you to do. But we're to look to Christ,
it's a spiritual work. And religious men get angry with
that. They hate that message. They
don't like the message of grace and so they find every reason
to knock it down and to make excuses of why they have a right
to continue in dead letter religion. Just doing what they think is
right and acceptable and pleasing to the Lord. The Lord doesn't
let us glory in anything that we do. He doesn't let us glory
in those things. So Christ sent us to preach this
word, to preach Christ, to preach his grace and his mercy and his
salvation, right? We're told in 2 Corinthians 3,
6, that Christ also hath made us able ministers of the New
Testament, right? The word written in his blood,
not in the letter, but of the spirit, for the letter killeth,
right? whether it's a letter of Moses
or it's the letter of religion. The letter killeth, but the spirit
giveth life. And so as long as we think our
religious services sanctify us or improve us, we'll be among
those who use all manner of forms and things to purchase the gift
of God, all right? And so we've got to be born again.
We've got to hear what the Lord is saying. We need his spirit
to teach us so that we stop trusting in these things and what we can
do and we trust alone in the Lord. Just like Paul. Paul had
a lot of religious things behind him. He had a lot of credentials,
religious credentials that he could have trusted in, but he
said they're all dumb. I was a Jew, born and circumcised
on the eighth day of the tribe of Benjamin. a Hebrew of the
Hebrews, a Pharisee of the Pharisees, he did all those things. He was
a student of the law, but he said they're all dung and don't
do anything for us. So, we must be born again by
his spirit, looking to the crucified Savior, trusting that he's our
righteousness. All right, now, our Lord said
that repentance, right, that which we just spoke of is to
be preached, and remission of sins should be preached in his
name among all nations, you're witnesses of these things. And
that's what the apostles declared to us, right? Peter, when speaking
to Cornelius, said to him, give all the prophets witness that
through his name, whosoever believeth on him shall receive remission
of sins. That's all he said, whosoever
believeth on him And that's exactly what the Apostle Paul said, right? We look, I know in religion we
hear so many things, right? We've been told you've got to
do this, this has to be in place, this has to be solid and settled
here for you, and you've got to do all these various things
and meet these check boxes before you can believe Christ and rest
in him. But Paul even said it the same
way. He said, the word is nigh thee, even in thy heart. and even in thy mouth and in
thy heart, that is the word of faith which we preach. Do you
believe? Do you believe? The Lord, that
the prophets have said, all that believe on him shall receive
remission of sins. They put no other qualification,
and believing isn't your work. It is a testimony that the Spirit
has given you that, that he's shown you your need, that you
have no other righteousness. He's turned you from dead letter
works and from trusting in those things that the world trusts
in. and shows you your need of Christ, why he suffered, because
I'm a filthy sinner, unable to save myself, and he did this
work. Therefore, because the Lord did
this, right, and because he's put this faith in our hearts,
whereby we believe, there's nothing special about us. It's pretty
simple, really. It's pretty basic. There's nothing
to glory in. All we know is that in my heart,
the Lord has shown me my need of the Savior, and that He is
the Savior, He is sufficient, and I believe, Lord, I believe
Him. Then go be baptized. Be baptized. Therefore, because
we have faith in Christ, we are buried with Him. by baptism into
death. We go into the water baptism
as he commanded us. Nothing special, not trusting
in it, but because he said, go and do it. You that believe,
go and be baptized, believing 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. Believe Him, believe Him, and
walk by the Spirit, because we know there ain't nothing special
about us. There's nothing good about us.
We know this flesh. We know how it works and how
it acts and what it does. We know it's filthy. It ain't
changed yet. But we believe, and we shall
be raised up in that day, and until that day, we walk by the
Spirit, looking to Christ, trusting Him, believing Him, not trying
to go on back to the world and live like the world, Not that
we're living perfect, but we don't trust in those things,
and we know that we can't look to Moses because he hasn't helped
anybody either. All he does is just show us what
a sinner I am. So we're ever looking to Christ, ever continuing
in the Lord Jesus Christ, so that we stop acting like Simons
of the world, looking for some way to purchase favor with God,
whether it's money, time, or works. And we seek the Lord,
Lord have mercy. Keep teaching me, keep drawing
me. Please don't let me go. Keep turning me to you, Lord. Continually looking to him, all
right? So that by his spirit, we have
a living, spiritual, vital union with Christ. And that's how we
walk is in him. The apostle John says, hereby,
know we that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath
given us of his spirit. And that's how we believe, and
that's how we walk in newness of life, by his spirit. Just
trust him. If you read the rest of Romans
6 today, when you get home, read it. He never, ever, ever, ever
turns you to the law. In fact, he says we're not under
the law. We're always being turned to Christ. And that's what he's
saying. We have a union with Christ now. We were baptized,
and those of us that were baptized believing, we're baptized spiritually
in him. We've been raised with Him, so
we walk looking to Him, trusting Him that He keeps us and purifies
us as is necessary, as He's using us and teaching us. So, in our
conversion, the Lord converting us, we're drawn to Him, we're
drawn to Christ, we die to self. He's growing us, He's teaching
us, He's the one separating us from the things that He will
have us to let go. I can't enumerate them for you.
Because the Lord knows, and He's the one who's teaching you. If
I tell you to go do something, if you're unsettled and not looking
to Christ, you'll do it, because you think, oh, well, that's my
life. No. Keep looking to Christ. Keep preaching Christ, because
He's the one that saves us. So, all that hear this, they
seek God, they continue to seek God for His salvation in Christ,
by the Spirit, and not the flesh, where so many perish and iniquity
of the lust of the flesh or its iniquity of religious things.
But the Lord delivers us from that. So if you've never been
baptized, right, if you were baptized as a baby or under a
false gospel or once did it as a religious ceremony, don't trust
in that. But if you believe Christ now,
if you know him, if you believe in your heart, not that you're
special or See the things that you think that you should see,
but if you believe Him, then come be baptized trusting Him. Trust Him, believe Him. So I
pray the Lord will bless that to your hearts. All right, I'm
not gonna, well, let's, well, we're gonna take the Lord's Supper
and I'll close this in prayer and
then you can post that and then we'll take the Lord's Supper
together. All right, let's pray. Our gracious Lord, we thank you,
Father, for your mercy, for your grace, Lord, that breaks through
the death and the darkness of us natural sinners in Adam, Lord,
who have nothing to boast in. Lord, you know what we are. You
know how weak we are. And Lord, we ask that you would
Be merciful to us in your Son, Jesus Christ. It's in his name
we pray and give thanks. Amen.