Matthew chapter 20. Now, we're
not going to do this, but if I were to stand up here this
morning and ask you all, I'd say, if y'all would, if this
side of the room just stand up, and if everybody would sit over
here, you'll right my left, and y'all sit down over there. You'd
probably get up and go over there and sit down. Why would you do
that? Well, I hope you know I love you. I hope you love me. I hope you trust me. But you
do it because I asked you to, wouldn't you? That's what our
Lord's asked us to do some things. He's commanded us. He's gave
us some ordinances in His church, and that's why we do them. He
asked us to. We love Him. We trust Him. In baptism, we confess that we
died with Christ on the cross. that we deserved to die. He died the death I deserved. And he took our place as our
substitute. And whenever we go into that
water, we were buried with him, with Christ. And as we come out
of that water, we're raised as he was raised. We're surely gonna
be raised as he was raised, from death and from the grave. We
declare that Christ was victorious in the work that he was sent
to this earth to perform. He accomplished it. Baptism and
observing the Lord's table are the two ordinances that we were
given by our master. That's why he freed us from the
law. We have no law that we're bound under, free from the curse
of the law. Free from that sin that we are because of that law.
And he said, now here's two ordinances I want you to observe. And I'd
love how to trust willingly his children obey their Heavenly
Father. We're glad to. Now I'm not trying
this morning to convince anyone to be baptized. I pray that I
never push someone to that and equally so I pray I never restrict
anyone that believes with all their heart Christ is all. I
hope I'm never a roadblock in that act. But last Sunday we
observed the Lord's table and we looked at the ordinance of
observing the Lord's table. His cross body being broken,
His unleavened body, His sinless body broken for us. His blood
shed for the remission of our sins. And those that are His
we take. We eat and we drink. He commands
us to. Now that's not a sacrament. That
means as we take the bread and we drink the wine, that's not
something that makes us receive grace. That act doesn't do anything
for us. It's a declaration that an act's
already been accomplished. By taking that, we're saying
that body's already been broken for us, that blood's already
been shed for us, and that remission of sin was accomplished in Christ
on the cross. The Father accepted that blood
sacrifice. We're just saying what's already
been done. Believer's baptism is the same. It's a confession
that we are Christ and that His death accomplished what He set
forth for it to accomplish. And going into that water does
not make anyone a child of God. But if you're a child of God,
you go into the water. I hope that's plain. We'll see
that again this morning. These two ordinances, they go
together, Lord's Table and Baptism. Look here, Matthew 20, we begin
in verse 20. Then came to him the mother of
Zebedee's children with her sons, worshiping him and desiring a
certain thing of him. And he said unto her, What wilt
thou? She saith unto him, Grant that
these my two sons may set one on the right hand, the other
on the left hand in thy kingdom. But Jesus answered and said,
Ye know not what ye ask. Are you able to drink of the
cup that I shall drink of, and be baptized with the baptism
that I am baptized with? That's what brother Bob, we looked
at this morning in Luke 12. The Lord brought fire to us hearts
that's already been kindled, prepared afore. If you get a
bonfire ready, you don't put a match to it yet, you get the
kindling ready, prepared ahead of time. But he had a baptism. He was already there, Luke 12,
he'd already been baptized, physically. He had a baptism that we must
be baptized with, that baptism of the fire of God's judgment.
And so our Lord asked her here, Are you able to have that baptism
that I have to be baptized with?" He told him, beginning, you don't
know what you're asking. You're able to drink that cup
of wrath and suffering that I've drank of. It's my job to do. And they answered there in verse
22. They say in him, we are able. Does he whip them? Does he chastise
them? Look here at verse 23. And he
saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup. We will partake of his blood.
Those are his will partake of that suffering, that wrath that
was put on him, that judgment that was satisfied. And ye be
baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with. But to sit
on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give, but it shall
be given to them for whom it is prepared of, of my Father."
Every blood-bought child of God will partake in the body of Christ,
the blood of Christ, and that burial and that resurrection
of Christ that He performed. And we shall indeed. It's a sure thing. But we're
looking at baptism today. Why do we practice baptism? Why do we still do it? Haven't
we grown out of this? That's why we feel about everything.
Oh, we've grown past all these things that great-great-grandma
and grandpa used to do. We've rose above, haven't we?
Why do we practice baptism? First off, our Lord, just as
we looked last week with the Lord's Table, our Lord commands
it. He commands it. Turn over just
a few pages there to Matthew 28. Matthew 28. Again, verse 19. Our Lord's commanding those disciples
he sent out. He 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 until the end of the world. Amen. Now there's
two different Greek words there for teach. There in verse 19,
it says, go ye therefore and teach. That means to make disciples,
to make pupils, an effectual teaching. And then there in verse
20, the word teaching means to instruct. That's to continue
instructing. God Almighty here is speaking
to His preachers that He's sending out, and He's given us a pattern.
He's given us a pattern, and He gives us an order for things.
Here's the pattern. The Lord sends His Word. He says,
Go ye therefore. He ordained His Word, and He
sends it. And it says that disciples were
made. The Gospel and the power of the
Holy Spirit will make disciples. Men don't make disciples. God
does. He makes those That spirit of
new in their hearts. He's the one that quickens. It
says to teach, make disciples. And then those that are, that
here, if that's effectually been worked in, they are baptized.
And the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the, the Godhead in a body. He's the father of the Son and
the Holy Spirit walking this earth in his name. And then they
are continually taught. teaching them to look to Christ
and that He will be with us always. The Lord comes effectually in
the heart of His child, teaches them who they are, convicts them
of sin, teaches them righteousness, convinces them of judgment, and
then He says, I'll be with you always. That ain't never going
to change. Mark 16, he says, and then he
said unto them, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel
to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. He believeth and is baptized.
But he that believeth not shall be damned. If Christ has not
given command into the heart of His people to hear Him, given
them ears to hear, given them a heart to believe Him, they
will not believe Him and they will not continue to be taught
of God. But those that the Word has been sent affectually to,
those that are taught through the preaching of the Gospel,
through His Word, that Christ is the truth, they will obey
the commandment of the Savior in being baptized. They will
continue to be taught of the Spirit, and they will be kept
for all eternity by Christ, comforted, knowing that He's with us always.
So why do we practice baptism? First off, the Lord commanded
it. He told us to. Second is, the Lord was baptized.
Turn back to Matthew chapter 3. Just as at the Lord's table,
He took it, said whenever He had ate and He had sucked, then
He gave it to them. Same with baptism. There in Matthew
3 verse 13. Then cometh Jesus from Galilee
to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. That's John the Baptist.
But John forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptized of
thee, and thou comest to me? And Jesus answered, said unto
him, Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill
all righteousness. Then John suffered. And Jesus,
when he was baptized, went straightway out of the water. And, lo, the
heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God
descending like a dove and lighting upon him. And, lo, a voice from
heaven sang, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
I've told you before, that's the general call, and the effectual
calls are on the Mount of Transfiguration. He said, This is my Son, in whom
I am well pleased. Hear ye Him. But that's the shortest gospel
message we can get. This is God's son. This is God.
And that's the only way. In him is the only way God the
Father is ever pleased. Only in Christ. We've seen that
so often that Christ fulfilled all of the law for his people,
but we don't get a hold of that. We say those words, but that
truly doesn't hit home. Every jot and tittle of the law
has been completed by Christ for His people. Is that the old
mosaic law? What about the moral law? All
of it. The precepts. Everything. Anything that's in
this scripture that's required of a man to be in God's presence,
Christ fulfilled it. Period. And He says there, for
it becometh us. to fulfill all righteousness,
becometh us. It benefits us. We are one with
Christ. Is Christ speaking of Himself
and John? Yes. He's talking about Him and
John the Baptist. But He's also speaking to that
thief on the cross, and He's speaking to Lazarus, and He's
speaking to you, and He's speaking to me, and every one of His children
ever. It becometh us. Because He's one with us, and
we're one with Him. Each of God's children were baptized
physically. What's required of us 2,000 years
ago when John the Baptist baptized Christ. Every one of us. But
if physically and spiritually I was baptized with Christ, why
should I still do it in this day? It's already been done. Why would I do that? Our Lord
commanded it. He was baptized. He performed
it. And the apostles baptized the
early church out of obedience. And that early church was baptized
to obey our Lord lovingly. Turn over to Acts chapter 10.
Cornelius the centurion and his whole household had the gospel
sent to them. That's that pattern again. Peter
preached to them. They were given hearts to receive
it and they were baptized. This is that order. This is that
pattern. There in Acts chapter 10, Cornelius had heard that these
preachers were coming and they were going to have a meeting.
And he gathered all of his people, everybody he could. All his kin,
his whole family, his friends. And when they were all together,
they had a worship service. Peter was sent to them. And he
preached Christ to them. There in Acts 10, verses 34 through
43, he tells them who Christ was. Then in verse 46, Acts 10,
46. For they had heard him speak
with tongues and magnified God. Up in verse 25, Paul first came
to them And they praised Paul, they bowed to Paul's feet. And
Paul said, get up, I'm just a man, no different than you. He praised
the Lord, not me. But now they heard those brethren
that the Lord had entered hear them speaking in tongues, they
magnified God. They praised God now. Then answered
Peter, can any man forbid water that these should not be baptized
which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? Same as
we did. And he commanded them to be baptized
in the name of the Lord. We remember Lydia. Turn over
to Acts 16. Just a few pages. Acts 16, verse
14. She's that woman who sold purple. Acts 16, 14. And a certain woman named Lydia,
a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshiped
God, heard us. That message was sent to her
and she heard, she was given ears to hear, whose heart the
Lord opened. She didn't make a decision for
the Lord, He opened her heart. That she attended unto the things
which were spoken of, Paul. And when she was baptized in
her household, she besought us saying, if ye have judged me
to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide there.
And she constrained us. After she was baptized, she said,
you come in my house, you step in me, I'll feed you, and I'm
going to constrain you. You keep teaching me. Lord sent
you, I have been taught, he gave me a new heart, I obeyed him
out of love, I was baptized, and you keep teaching me. Tell
me more about this. Tell me more about Jesus. The
world was sent, made effectual in her heart, she was baptized,
and then she constrained them. Paul and Silas preach that Philippian
jailer after that earthquake came. Down there in verse 32,
Acts 16, 32. And they spake unto him the word
of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took
them that same hour of the night, and washed their stripes, and
was baptized, he and all his, straightway. That was commanded
by our Lord. He observed it. Those apostles
came and told them what he said. told them who he was, what he
had accomplished, and those early believers 2,000 years ago, they
obeyed. They wanted to. So we see that
we do it because the Lord commanded it. He set the example. He was
baptized. And the apostles obeyed the command
and example of Christ. So we see why we baptize. We see why we do this. But what
is it? Baptism is the result of a repenting
heart. A heart that's been turned. Turn
just a little left there to Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2. Verse 36. Acts 2.36, Therefore let all
the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same
Jesus, whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now, when
they heard this, they were pricked in their heart. The Lord sent
that messenger. They were made to hear and said
unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren,
what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent. and be baptized every one of
you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. And
ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." True baptism
is the result of repentance, of a heart work. It's turning
from religion, turning from self, turning from what I am, what
I think, from this world and turning to the one that saved
us, turning us to Christ. We put down everything that we
have. We let go of it. And we cling only to Him. There
in Mark 1, it says, John did baptize in the wilderness, preaching
the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Here,
repentance means a change of mind. The word repentance has
five different meanings in the Scriptures. Here, it's a change
of mind. My whole mind's changed. I did a 180. Because you have
a new mind in you. Let this mind be in you. And
Lord's sovereign, almighty providence, He moves our lives and everything
in our lives and directs us and puts us exactly under the sound
of the gospel. And then that spirit enters us,
giving us a new understanding and power, gives us ears to hear
and convicts us of what we are. When we see Christ and Him as
He is, not as we think He is, not as grandma and grandpa told
us, and that's what everybody on the street says, When we truly
see Him as He is, God Almighty, a holy God, we turn from everything
we knew before, all of our experiences, all of our knowledge, and we
turn to Him. We cling to Christ the truth, and our minds are
changed from loving ourselves and hating God to hating ourselves
and loving God. We repent. We turn from ourselves
to Christ. Who are these people that turn
and repent? Is repentance given to everybody?
It's open to you. Is that the way it is? Read there
in verse 39, Acts 2, 39. For the promise is unto you and
to your children and to all that are afar off, that means not
now, down through the annuals of time, even as many as the
Lord our God shall call. Who's granted repentance? The
ones that the Lord calls. He foreordained, sends his preacher
to, does a work in. Have you been called? Has providence
brought you to hear the truth? You're sitting here today. Do you have a new heart in you?
Have you been turned from everything that you once were to Him? Not
to a doctor, not to a thing or a creed, to a person. Christ,
verse 40, and with many other words did he testify and exhort,
saying, save yourselves from this untoward generation, this
perverse generation. Peter keeps preaching the same
message over and over. Messages don't change. What's
the result? What did the Holy Spirit move
these men and women to do after hearing the same message over
and over? Verse 41, Then they that gladly received His word
were baptized, and the same day there were added unto them about
three thousand souls. That's something. Heavens rejoice
over one saint that comes to know Christ. I'll be honest with
you. I read that and I thought, man,
I bet his arm was wore out after three and a half. Turn over Mark
chapter one. I've quoted this too, but let's
look at it. Mark chapter one. Believers confess their sin.
We repent from thinking what we are is right and good and
we confess that Christ is all and that he had to be our surety. It was necessary for that sinless
body to be broken and that blood to be shed. Had to happen. Mark
1, verse 4. John did baptize in the wilderness
and preach the baptism of repentance. If you have a marginal reference,
it probably says unto. It's the word for. I mean because
of, unto, the remissions of sins. And there went out unto him all
the land of Judea and they of Jerusalem and were all baptized
of him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Baptism is a believer
declaring that I am nothing but sin. I deserve to die. God is just by punishing me for
eternity. But cross died in my place. He
bore me, everything that I am. He was raised from that tomb,
and I was raised with Him from that tomb, given His righteousness.
Because of His righteousness, His perfection, He was accepted
of the Father. That's the only way I'll be accepted
of the Father. That's in whom God is well pleased,
only in Christ. Now, getting into that water
does nothing. It only declares something that's
already been done. Turn over to Acts 19. I should have warned you we was
going to turn a lot this morning, but it's good for us to keep us awake
and keep our eyes on it. One thing to hear, another thing
to hear and read it. Acts chapter 19. Now many people have been
baptized. All across this country, millions
of people have been baptized. But they didn't know Christ when
it happened. They do not have the word sent
to them. They did not hear Christ preached in truth. And they did
not have a heartwork done. We looked at that before in Jeremiah.
Somebody asked me one time, they said, well, can God save a man
from a false preacher? The question isn't can he, it's
does he. The answer is no. He said, it will not profit my
people. But all these people that, millions of people in our
nation's been baptized, but they just went through the motions.
They didn't know what they was doing because they didn't know
Christ. You can't confess someone you don't know. Look here in
Acts 19 verse 1. And it came to pass that while
Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper
coast, came into Ephesus and finding certain disciples. And
he said unto them, have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?
And they said unto him, we have not so much as heard whether
there be any Holy Ghost. We haven't even so much as heard
about something like this. What are you talking about? We were
baptized, but we have no idea which we're speaking of. Verse
3. And he said unto them, unto what then were you baptized?
If you never heard the gospel, what did you get baptized for? And they said unto John's baptism. We just did what John did. That's
what everybody else was doing. We got on the bandwagon. Verse
4, Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of
repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on him
which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. Paul immediately corrected him.
What did he do? Turned him to Christ. Here's
what John, you said you got baptized under John, but then you didn't
get baptized under Christ. John said, look to him. When
they heard this, when they heard Christ preach for the first time
ever, they thought they heard before. When they heard it the
first time, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus,
not in the name of John, not in some man, not in some religion,
in a person, in Christ. Many people have made a false
profession of faith. They didn't know the difference
because they weren't taught of the Spirit of Christ. But when
they hear the truth, They submit to Christ, not to a man, not
to a baptism of John, but to Christ Jesus. Now when this happens,
I spoke to some folks about this recently. Judas baptized some
folks. The message that he preached
was the truth of Christ. Does that mean that it didn't
count because he fell away? No, the man doesn't matter. It's
the message. If you're baptized down at the
old Southern Baptist Church and you say, well, that was my baptism.
Could you sit underneath the same message? The man doesn't
matter. Could you sit underneath the
same message then you're baptized? That's whenever you now know
the truth. The man doesn't matter. I was saying that we built two
rooms on our house there in New Jersey, and I used a Sawzall
blade. That blade was used, and it was
a true blade. But after I had used it, I threw
it away. The rooms are still standing.
It didn't change what work had been accomplished. The tool that
I used changed. Same with the Lord. The man doesn't
matter. The message is what matters, what He builds. But here's a
true confession through baptism. Look over in Acts chapter 8.
The Lord ordained this sinner to be saved and He sent His ambassador
to them and He gave them a heart to hear and to understand and
believe Christ and to obey the one that saved them. Here in
Acts 8 verse 26. And the angel of the Lord spake
unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south, and to the
way that goeth from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is the desert. And he arose and went, he obeyed.
And behold, a man of Ethiopia, and eunuch of great authority
under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her
treasure, had come to Jerusalem for to worship, was returning,
and setting his chariot, read Isaiah the prophet. Then the
Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, join thyself to his chariot. The Lord had ordained this man
to hear the gospel, and he speaks to his ambassador and said, You
go to him, preach to him. You go join near him. And Philip
ran thither to him and heard him read the prophet Isaiah and
said, Understandest thou what thou readest? You're going through
his motions. Do you know what you're reading out loud? And
he said, how can I accept a man should guide me? And he desired
Philip that he would come up and sit with him. He said, you
get up here and show me what that means. And he said, the
place of the scripture which he read was, he was led as a
sheep to the slaughter, like a lamb done before his shears,
so open not he his mouth. In his humiliation, his judgment
was taken away. And who shall declare his generation?
For his life is taken from the earth. And the eunuch answered
Philip and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet
of this? Of himself or somebody else? What does this mean? The messenger
was sent to one across sheep, and now the gospel is going to
be preached to them. Look here in verse 35. Then Philip
opened his mouth and began the same scripture and preached unto
him, Jesus. So let me tell you what that's
about. I'll tell you who that's about. And as they went on their
way, they came to 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,
said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and everything
that entails. And he commanded the chariot
stand still, and they went down both into the water, both Philip
and the eunuch, and he baptized them. And when they were come
up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord called away Philip.
And that eunuch saw him no more. And remember the Lord said in
that pattern that he's going to continue to teach us and he's
going to be with us always. The eunuch saw him no more and
he went on his way rejoicing. The Lord is with me. You've got something to rejoice
about. You've got something to be happy about. So what are these
requirements? What leads up to it? The Lord
must ordain it. Man can't. If it begins with
man, it's wrong. He must send you the Word, like
John the Baptist crying in the wilderness, make straight the
way. Then the Holy Spirit pierces your heart, gives you life, and
you believe on Christ, you're made a disciple, you're taught.
Not just believing in Him, but as Enoch told Peter, I believe
with all my heart. How is it performed? There in
Romans 6, it speaks of the seed being planted. of it being buried. And I give credit to the translators
for this. They were the Church of England
back then for the King James Bible. And that's why, you know,
the reason I adhere to the King James Bible strictly, but they
were Episcopalians today. They believe in sprinkling. But
everywhere that the Bible, the scriptures speak of, of baptism
when it concerns water, not of fire, but of water, it uses the
word baptismo. And that's a transliteration.
If I said that there's La Mesa, And then I said, that's the table.
You understand what it is in English? I translated. But if
I just took the letters and said, well, it's M-E-S-A, that's transliterated. Baptismo means immersion. And
they didn't tweak the scriptures, their translation to fit their
doctrine. They kept it there. But it says, therefore, we are
buried with him by baptism into death. Buried, like a seed in
the ground. Fully. As like Christ was raised
up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, we also
should walk a duties of life for we have been planted together
in the likeness of his death. Fully immersed, fully covered.
If we go under the water showing we died with Christ, buried with
him, and we come out of the water showing we are risen with him,
we declare that he is able to raise us from the physical grave
and that he has raised us from that spiritual grave. that deadness
of our old nature. He's accomplished what he came
to do. So is baptism required for salvation? If you want to
keep part of the law, you got to keep the whole law. Absolutely
required, isn't it? However, if we follow and obey
out of love and appreciation our Lord Jesus Christ, it's already
completed, as is the rest of it. Is there any believers that
were not baptized? We always think of the thief
on the cross, don't we? But we're always quick to forget about
Abraham. What about David? John the Baptist
hadn't come along yet. Moses. The Lord baptized them
in himself when it became us, when it becometh us. Those Old
Testament believers were saved by the same Christ that saves
his people today. Nothing's changed. If it's not
essential, why preach it? There's many things that aren't
essential. Do we have to give an offering to the church? You
don't have to. It's not required for salvation.
Do we have to read the scriptures? You don't have to. It ain't required
of you. Do we have to attend service
and gather with the local body of believers and love one another
and lean on one another and go through trials together with
one another? It's all been completed in Christ, but do we? Of course
we do, willingly, joyfully. True love doesn't sit around
and decide how much it can get away with. It honors God by saying, Lord,
what will you have me to do? That's the public confession
of baptism. My Lord told me to do it, and
I'm going to do it because I believe him. If you will, turn over to
Psalm 116. We'll close. Brother Trevor read
this in a study this morning. Thought it was very fitting. Psalm 116. Psalm 116, verse 16. Oh Lord, truly I am thy servant. I am thy servant and the son
of thine handmaid. Thou hast loosed my bonds. I
will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving and I will call
upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord
now in the presence of all his people. You've loosed my bonds. I'm going to praise you and I'm
going to declare it in front of all your people. in the courts
of the Lord's house in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem, praise
ye the Lord." That's a light and easy yoke. What do you got to do? Praise
the Lord? Lord, all glory is yours. He commands us to do that,
His children. He performed it for us, and we
willfully and joyfully obey Him. And whatever he asks us to do,
because we love him and we trust him, don't we? Amen. I hope it's
a blessing to you. Let's pray together.