If you want to turn in your Bibles,
you can be turning to Acts chapter 2. That'll be where my text will
be found today. Acts chapter 2, starting in verse
37. And as you can see, I've titled
this message, Repent, Be Baptized, and Be Saved. That's a three-fold
command issued by the Apostle Peter from a question asked by
him in verse 37 of Acts chapter 2. Look with me at Acts chapter
2 here. Now, when they heard this, many
were listening to Peter, and when they heard this, they were
pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and to the rest of
the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? As many of
you know already, the context we're looking at here is Pentecost.
It's when God poured out His Spirit on the apostles, and tongues
of fire set on their heads, and they preached the gospel, the
good news of God, in different languages, languages of somebody
present there. And Peter went on and expounded
that message, a message of the gospel. That's why this question
came from men. And we'll see here in Acts 2,
38 through 40, Peter's response to this question. Look at Acts
2, 28. Then Peter said unto them, Repent,
and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ,
or the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of
the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you,
and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as
many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words
did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward
generation." Now, we see the threefold command, the answer
of Peter to this question here. You see, repent, That's the first
command. Be baptized, every one of you,
in the name of Jesus Christ. That's the second command. And
then down in verse 40, you see, save yourselves from this untoward
generation. That literally should be, be
saved from this untoward generation. That's the same verb tense as
be baptized. It's something that happens to
you under the preaching of the gospel. God delivers His people
under the preaching of this message. Now, last time I stood before
you, we dealt with that first command, repent, initial repentance. Now, I'm not going back into
all those details. Robert asked me if I was going
to be talking about repentance, and I said, yeah, I'm going to
be talking about repentance. I talk about it every time I
preach the gospel, but not in the details I talked about that.
If you want to hear that message, you get that tape. It's initial
repentance, which I preached last time. Today, we're going
to deal with this second command, and this second command only.
Be baptized. Our subject today is baptism.
We'll be looking at baptism as the means God has given believing
repentant sinners to identify with the gospel, with the Christ
of the gospel, and with others who've been baptized before them.
And we're going to look at baptism under three points. Baptism,
first of all, was commanded by Christ. Baptism was exemplified
by Christ, and baptism is impossible apart from Christ. Now in that
last point there, it's impossible apart from Christ. We're going
to be talking about biblical believers' baptism. That's what's
impossible apart from Christ. You can get dunked in the water.
But you can't be baptized until you've heard the gospel, until
you have faith in Christ and repentance from dead works. All
right, first, baptism was commanded by Christ. Now we have two familiar
scriptures commonly referred to as the Great Commission, which
contain this command. So look with me first here in
Matthew chapter 28, verses 18 through 20. Jesus came and spoke unto them,
he's speaking to his disciples here, saying, all power, all
authority is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore
and teach, literally make disciples of 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. And then look on at Mark 16,
the second that we generally refer to as the Great Commission,
Mark 16, 15. And Christ said unto them, his
disciples again, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel
to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. So Christ
commanded his disciples to preach the gospel to all the world and
to baptize those who believed it. Natural man, which you and
I are and were before we came to the gospel in this sense,
natural man takes verses like this to preach that believing
and being baptized are conditions that sinners meet, must meet
if they're to be saved. You're not saved now, but if
you'll believe, God will save you. God will save you. If you'll
be baptized, God will save you. Conditions in order to be saved. Whoever believes the gospel and
is baptized in accordance with the gospel will, in fact, as
verse 16 of Mark 16 here says, they will be fully and finally
saved. But why? Why will they be saved? Will they be saved because believing
and being baptized were conditions they met? that saved them? No. That's legalism. That's the false
gospel of a lost yet religious world. Those who believe and
are baptized under the gospel will be saved. They'll be saved
because they are those who have identified with the gospel and
with the Christ of the gospel. They'll be saved because they
have rested their complete salvation in the Christ declared by the
gospel. And they'll be saved because
they were delivered from thinking that believing and being baptized
were conditions that they met in order to be saved. As we'll
see further in the lesson, baptism is not what saves us. Baptism
is what identifies believing, repentant sinners with those
that God has already saved by the work of Christ alone. In
1 Peter 3.21, Peter calls baptism not a condition sinners meet
in order to be saved, but baptism is the answer of a good conscience
toward God. First point here, baptism was
commanded by Christ. Second, baptism was exemplified
by Christ. Baptism is about identification. In baptism, sinners publicly
identify with the Christ of the gospel. In baptism, sinners publicly
identify with the one who initiated believer's baptism. In baptism,
sinners openly identify with the one who himself was identified,
that is, made known to those of his generation beginning with
water baptism. Look at John chapter 1 verse
29. This is where Christ was identified
to the world. This is where He began to be
identified. The next day John seeth Jesus
coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh
away the sin of the world. This is He of whom I said, After
me cometh the man which is preferred before me, for he was before
me. And I knew him not. John the Baptist is saying, I
didn't know. I didn't know Christ. But that he should be manifest
to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. And John
bare record saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven
like a dove, and it abode on him. And I knew him not, but
he that sent me to baptize with water. God, who sent him to baptize
with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see
the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same as he which
baptizes with the Holy Ghost. And I saw in bare record that
this is the Son of God." Baptism is the means God chose to identify,
begin to identify Christ to the world. The spirit remaining on
Christ at his baptism is what identified him as the one who
had been given the spirit without measure. That's how John knew
him. That's how he was recognized. John, the apostle, said this
of him in John 3 and verse 34, that Christ was given the spirit
without measure. He says, for he whom God has
sent speak in the words of God, for God giveth not the spirit
by measure unto him. Every time Christ performed a
miracle, it was further proof, further identification by the
Spirit that God was always with him, that he was given the Spirit
without measure. Listen to Nicodemus in John 1
in verse 2. The same came to Jesus by night
and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher
come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest,
except God be with him. Even men could recognize God's
presence with Christ. Nobody could do what He did except
God be with Him. And then look at Romans 4 and
verse 1. concerning His Son Jesus Christ, our Lord, which was made
of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to
be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness
by the resurrection from the dead. The Spirit's abiding presence
on Christ, in every word He spoke, in every work He performed, identified
Him to be the Son of God and the Son of Man that He declared
Himself to be. Christ was unknown to the world
he came to. He created the world, but he
was unknown to that world. He had to be identified to that
world. That identification continued
throughout Christ's life in his message and in his miracles. It culminated in his death and
resurrection. But water baptism is where that
identification began. Now you and I know something
about identification. Y'all know what this is, might
not can see it well, but it's a driver's license. And driver's
license has all kind of information on it that identifies me, even
my picture, my weight, my height, the color of my hair and eyes
and all that, so that I can be identified by this, by someone. And it's hard to get along in
this world without a driver's license. I mean, you're always
being asked for a picture identification. And we know something further
about identification. Are there any emblems on the
back of windows or bumpers and cars in our parking lot today?
Are there any big G's or A U's or yellow jackets or Seminoles
or anything like that out there? Well, what is all that? That's
just somebody identifying with a team that they support, that
they like to see win. And we might even see a crimson
elephant on some of them since Alabama is right up there close
this year. But baptism is about identification. We know something about that.
That's what believers do who are baptized in the name of Jesus
Christ. They follow the example Christ
set. They identify openly and publicly
with the Christ of the gospel and with those who have professed
him in baptism before them. They openly and publicly renounce
the Christ of their imaginations. that Christ they had in their
minds before they heard the gospel and believed in the Christ identified
and distinguished only in the gospel. Baptism was exemplified
by Christ. He set the example. And those
brought to Him for all of salvation follow that example. They are
baptized in His name. And that brings us to our third
and final point. It's going to be a little longer,
so don't think I'm almost done. Biblical, that is, believer's
baptism is impossible apart from Christ. It doesn't happen apart
from Christ. Repentance is the command to
everyone hearing the gospel. Turn from the Christ of your
imagination to the Christ revealed only in the gospel. Baptism is
commanded only of those who have been brought to true faith in
that godly repentance. Baptism is the outward public
declaration of this faith and this repentance. This is where
We need to see a distinction between the baptism so-called
by men and biblical, what I'm stressing to you today, believers'
baptism. There is a difference. There's
what men call baptism and there is biblical believers' baptism. Radically different. What's the
difference? Well, almost all of us prior
to hearing the gospel entered a baptismal pool under a counterfeit
gospel looking to a counterfeit Christ and a God of our imagination.
That is, we submitted to what men call baptism while we were
ignorant of the only true God, the God who is just to justify
ungodly sinners based on the imputed righteousness of Christ
alone. Now that baptism It was a reality. We got wet. We were immersed
in water. We obeyed the traditions of men.
Our consciences were appeased. We experienced a sense of peace
with God. It was just a dunking in the
water. We did not, at that time, experience believers' baptisms.
There's a great difference in seeing your need for salvation,
seeing your need for a Savior, and actually submitting to the
salvation worked out by God in Christ alone. We all, by nature,
know we're sinners. We know by nature that something
needs to be done if we're to be right with God. What we don't
know by nature is what God Himself has done in the person and work
of the Lord Jesus Christ to make sinners right with Him. True
scriptural believer's baptism is an outward expression of an
inward change. It's a declaration of that which
can't be seen. Truly believing, truly repentant
sinners have undergone a radical change of mind. They've changed,
first, their gospel. They once sat under, gave agreement
to, and supported a message which declared a Christ who died for
all without exception, a Christ who would save any sinner who
would believe that he died for them. They once sat under a message
that placed no emphasis on the righteousness of God, but which
at least alluded to a righteousness found in the doing of sinners.
But there's been a change in these sinners. They now understand
the gospel to be the declaration of what God has done in Christ
to save a multitude of His choosing. They now understand the gospel
to always reveal the righteousness of God. I'm not ashamed of the
gospel. It's the power of God unto salvation.
Why? Because it's therein is the righteousness of God revealed.
It always reveals the righteousness of God. It always reveals that
righteousness by which God justifies every sinner He chose and Christ
redeemed. They now insist that any message
failing to reveal how God is just to justify ungodly sinners
based on Christ's imputed righteousness alone is not the gospel. It's
another gospel. So they've changed their gospel. Also, sinners who are candidates
for believer's baptism have changed the God they worship. They once
worshiped a God without regard to the satisfaction of His law
or His justice, but they've changed. They now worship a God who is
just when He declares them righteous because He does so not based
on anything found in them, not based on any obedience they've
done, but based entirely on the imputed righteousness of Christ
alone. Look at Titus 3 verses 3-7 with
me here. For we ourselves also were sometimes
foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving diverse lusts and pleasures,
living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another." Now,
what Peter's describing there is all of us by nature under
our false religion. That's who he's describing. But
after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man
appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according
to his mercy, his mercy in Christ, he saved us by the washing of
regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed
on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being
justified by his grace, based on Christ alone. We should be
made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Candidates for
Believer's Baptism are those who have changed the God they
worship. I don't have the same God I used to worship in mine
today. I have a totally different God.
In addition, those who are candidates for Believer's Baptism have changed
the Christ they trust. for salvation. They once trusted
a Christ who died for all without exception, but whose death itself
did not save any sinner he died for. His death alone didn't get
the job done. His death only made salvation
possible. His death only made a way for
sinners to be saved. That's why multitudes this so-called
Christ died for will perish, because more is required for
salvation than his death alone. This so-called Christ saves only
those sinners who appropriate his death or make his death effectual
to them by believing, or walking an aisle, or reforming your life,
or whatever condition men put on salvation. But again, these
sinners have changed. Those who are candidates for
believers' baptism now believe the Christ of the gospel, the
one revealed and distinguished in the gospel alone. They now
rest their complete salvation in the Christ whose death itself
delivered every sinner he died for from the eternal wrath they
justly deserve. They now believe in the Christ
whose death itself and whose death alone paid the ransom price
for the many he represented. Look at Matthew 20 and verse
28. Christ said, even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered
unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. A ransom is a price paid for
freedom. It's a price that purchases redemption. Where the price has been paid,
there is redemption. The ransomed must go free. That's what Job declared even
hundreds of years before Christ came and actually paid the ransom,
literally with his blood. He had to come. He had to shed
his blood. But Job declared this long before
he came. Listen to Job 33, 24. Then He
is gracious unto him and saith, Deliver him from going down to
the pit. I have found a ransom. God found
a ransom. He found a ransom for every sinner
Christ died for in the death of Christ alone. And where God
has found a ransom, that sinner must go free. To imagine a sinner
perishing for whom Christ died, it's unthinkable. Yet, men think
it still. I thought it. You thought it.
It's unscriptural. But men rest the scriptures,
do we not, until God delivers us? Those who are candidates
for believers' baptism are those resting their salvation in the
Christ whose death itself and whose death alone has paid the
ransom and therefore redeemed every sinner he died for. In
addition, those sinners who were candidates for believers' baptism
now find their hope of final glory in the Christ whose obedience
unto death established the one righteousness by which God declares
them and every sinner He died for righteous in His sight. They
no longer see themselves righteous based on anything found in them.
not based on their obedience or reformation of life or religious
zeal, but rather they see themselves made the righteousness of God.
That is, they see themselves legally accounted righteous based
on Christ's righteousness charged or imputed to them. The merit
of Christ's obedience unto death is righteousness, and that righteousness
charged to the accounts of these sinners has become all their
salvation. This is a familiar scripture,
but look at 2 Corinthians 5, 20 and 21. We are ambassadors for Christ,
as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you in Christ's
stead, be you reconciled to God, for he hath made him to be sin
for us, that is Christ, Christ who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. Those who are candidates
for believers' baptism are those who see themselves made righteous
by the imputed righteousness of Christ alone. Baptism is a
center declaring openly to all who want to see, I have left
the counterfeit Christ I once trusted my hope of salvation
in and I have turned to the one Christ and identified and distinguished
by the gospel. Those who are candidates for
believers baptism have changed the Christ they trusted for salvation. The sinners who are candidates
for believer's baptism have experienced a radical change of mind. They've
changed their gospel. They've changed their God. They've
changed their Christ. Repentance is the change of mind. Baptism is the open public declaration
of that change. And that's why believer's baptism
is impossible apart from Christ. Look at Romans 10, 13 through
15. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call
on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they
believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring
glad tidings of good things. Now, in these verses, you see
four questions asked here, and all four have the same single
answer. And the answer is they cannot. They cannot call on Him in whom
they've not believed. They cannot believe in Him of
whom they have not heard. They cannot have heard of Him
without a preacher. And they cannot preach Christ
except they be sent. The final theology of every true
believer begins with the gospel. It's not the theology we start
out with. but it's the theology every true
believer ends up with. We don't begin our religious
experience in the gospel, but every true believer ends up in
the gospel. That's why the greatest single
need of any sinner is to hear the gospel, is to hear the declaration
of Christ, His person and His work and what He's done for every
sinner He lived and died for. The gospel alone declares the
Christ whose death itself delivered every sinner he died for from
the eternal wrath they deserve, that eternal wrath that they
would be facing apart from Christ's death as their substitute. The
gospel alone reveals the one righteousness established by
Christ in his life and death, and by which God declares righteous
every sinner Christ lived and died for. The gospel alone declares
how God is just to deal mercifully with sinners. how he can be right
and still save and show mercy to any sinner on the basis of
Christ's imputed righteousness. All efforts by those sinners
excluded. Now that's why any trip to a
baptismal pool before a sinner hears the gospel, the gospel
wherein the righteousness of God is revealed, the gospel that
declares to Christ, I'm preaching to you. It cannot be believer's
baptism. And that's why this third point
is valid. Baptism, believers' baptism, is impossible apart
from the gospel. The gospel commands initial repentance. It commands that those who claim
to believe the gospel experience a radical change of mind. It
commands that those who claim to believe the gospel be delivered
from the Christ of our imagination to the one true Christ distinguished
by the gospel. In addition, the gospel commands
baptism. It commands that those who have
believed the Gospel and repented be identified with the Christ
of the Gospel and those before them who have believed and repented.
And there's one more thing the Gospel commands. It commands
separation. I told you that word back there
in verse 40 of this context said, be saved, be separated. And that's what the third command
is. It commands that believers be saved, separated from the
religious world that surrounds us in every generation. Look
at Acts 2 and verse 40. And with many other words did
he testify and exhort, saying, Be saved from this untoward generation. This is the third command of
the gospel to those who believe it. And obviously, I'm going
to have to cover this point in another message. Today I want
to summarize what I've said concerning baptism and close with verse
41 of Acts chapter 2. Then they that gladly received
his word were baptized, and the same day there were added unto
them about three thousand souls. They that gladly received his
word." In other words, they that gladly believed the gospel Peter
had preached to them. They that gladly turned to the
Christ that gospel declared. They that gladly renounced the
former so-called Christ of their imagination. They were baptized. They openly, publicly identified
with Christ of the Gospel and those who had preceded them in
baptism. They were separated from their
religious families and friends who rejected the Gospel and its
Christ in initial repentance. And as we'll see in the message
when we preach on this separation, they continued this separation
under the Apostles' doctrine. Such is the experience of every
sinner so moved by the gospel to ask, men, brethren, what shall
we do? At the command of the gospel,
they repent. At the command of the gospel,
they're baptized. At the command of the gospel,
they're separated initially from the Christ of their imagination
to the Christ of the gospel. And they continue to be separated
from the wicked and evil generation around them by the gospel that
called them under this liberty. Such, I pray, is the experience
of everyone hearing this message. If not, I pray that God may grant
you that faith, that repentance, that baptism, that separation
that you've heard about here in this message today.