Is Baptism a Work?

way was glory to the flesh. It was a picture of what the Lord was going to do directly to the heart of his people. And we heard that they are not all Abraham's seed that be of Abraham. They are not all of Abraham, which are of Abraham. What he's saying is, is that the Lord has made a spiritual people and a physical people.

There's people right now that believe the nation Israel over in the Middle East is God's chosen people. That's not true. God's people are the elect, and they're from every nation, every tribe, every kindred, and every tongue. Are there Jews that are elect? Absolutely.

Look at the Old Testament. There's many that the Lord gives and shows, from Adam to Noah. From Noah to Abel to Abel to you understand what I'm saying. There's many that were elect and brought into the understanding of the Lord's truth. But it was the same faith given to Abraham that you and I are experiencing now. They were given faith to look to the cross. We're giving faith to look back, so to speak, but both are to look to Christ. That's the only way salvation can happen is if the Lord gives us faith to believe and look to him. Abraham and Noah was looking to himself. Abraham and Sarah said, you know, God might need our help in this situation. Is that not what our flesh thinks? Our flesh immediately thinks, I've got to do my part. I need to do this. I need to do that. That's what the flesh runs to. It's what the flesh desires.

And so Sarah gave Abraham her handmaid and said, she'll bear you a child. And she did. And his name was Ishmael, and that's the whole chapter 16. Now we're in 17, and it says this. And when Abraham was 90 years old and nine, the Lord appeared unto Abram and said unto him, I am the almighty God. Walk before me and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee and will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abraham fell on his face and God talked with him. I need a savior.

That's what we're learning here is it wasn't about what Abraham did that made him righteous. God gave Abraham faith to believe God because it was reckoned to him. It was accounted to him for righteousness. That means God made him righteous and Abraham believed God. That's what that means.

God is the first cause of all things. This, and this is important because we're asking the question, and I'm going to keep reverting back to this, is baptism a work? Well, is circumcision a work? Absolutely. If a man's looking at it as any part of their salvation.

And as I said, that token is past. We have the fullness of Jesus Christ. We have the promise of the everlasting covenant being fulfilled in the person of Christ. And we have the evidence of that, our justification by his resurrection. So we're not looking to anything on the outside any longer. That's the whole point here.

If I'm looking to something that I do, and I said this the first hour, fill in the blank, for circumcision. You could say, you have to pray this prayer. You have to memorize this. You have to say these many, what is, uh, they say Hail Mary is in the Catholic church.

I'm not picking on anybody. I'm just saying that fill in the blank, do this and live. And the Lord says, no, no, I'm looking at your heart. Not what you're doing on the outside. I'm not looking to your obedience. I'm looking to the obedience of Christ. I'm not looking to your faithfulness. I'm looking to the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not looking to your service or your sacrifice. I'm looking to the service and the sacrifice of one, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ alone.

That's what the token meant back then. And the tokens that the Lord has given us is the Lord's table and baptism. To believe we do anything as part or evidence of salvation is to substitute the covenant of grace for the covenant of works. The covenant of works says do this and live. The covenant of grace says I have and you shall. I will and you shall. That's God saying that. I will save you and you will be saved.

That's the covenant of grace. That's the covenant that we rejoice in because we realize we cannot keep God's holy law. We can't do anything to uphold the law of the Lord. They that are under the law are counted as guilty because the flesh cannot keep God's law, not one part ever.

And God requires perfection, doesn't he? Can you and I produce perfection? Have you and I ever committed a trespass or a sin one time? Have you and I ever thought the wrong thought, said the wrong thing, made a mistake, lied? Guess what we're guilty of then? We're guilty of breaking the law of God.

You know what the wages of that is? You know what the requirement is? Death. Somebody said, well, that's a little harsh. We're dealing with a holy God. We're not dealing with man. God is just and right and holy and good and everything he does is right. The wages of sin is death. I'm thankful he didn't stop there. He said, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

So is baptism a work? Well, if it's a work that I do as any part of my salvation, it would be sinful. It would be called iniquity. Do we see that? Anything that I do to obtain salvation or to make the blood of Christ effectual or to be saved, so to speak, if I do it, it's called iniquity. And what does God say in Psalm chapter five verse five? Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. So it can't be a work as part of my salvation or as evidence of my salvation that I'm looking to.

I'm looking, okay, I was baptized so I know now that I am a believer. No. No. I was baptized so I know my sins are washed away. No. No. That's the point of baptism. We are confessing. that we were buried with him in baptism and raised again to walk life anew, as it says in Corinthians.

We're not, that our only hope is that when he died, we died. It's a token. Our only hope is that when he lived, we lived, that we might have perfect works. When he died, we might have life. When he was resurrected, we've been justified freely by his grace. That's what it signifies. We are confessing him. We're not confessing what we've done. We're not saying, look at me. We're saying, look to Christ.

That's the question a minute ago. Is reading your Bible or praying or coming to church or work? It can be. That's why he says very clearly here in verse three. Well, we're not our text. Go back to our text. So I says very, very clearly in verse three, the end and have no confidence in the flesh. That means none zero, but I'm any confidence in the flesh.

Somebody might say, well, what about the thief on the cross? He was not baptized. Yet the Lord said, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. So why should I be baptized? Isn't it a work? Doesn't that make it a work? Well, let me tell you this account.

In Acts chapter eight, Philip was sent to speak to an Ethiopian eunuch that was coming back from Jerusalem. And he's reading Isaiah 53. He's in his chariot. And Philip comes up and said, understandest thou what thou readest? And he says, how can I understand unless a man teach me? And he said to him, Does the prophet speak of himself or another?" And it said, and Philip began to expound. He began to preach him the gospel from Isaiah 53. And by the end of it all, the Ethiopian eunuch said, well, here's water.

What prevents me from being baptized? And guess what happened? Philip baptized him. Why? Because that man wanted to identify with the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why. What we do when we are baptized is we are identifying with God. We're not doing it as part of salvation, and we're not doing it as evidence of salvation. We're doing it by confessing before men in God, I want to confess Jesus Christ as all my wisdom, all my righteousness, all my sanctification, and all my redemption. Because if he's not it, I have none. That's what it is. That's what it is. I'm dying.

It's to state I died to myself. whenever he died, that's my hope. That I was buried with him when he was buried, that's my hope. And that I was resurrected with him when he was resurrected. Was it a work for the Ethiopian eunuch to be baptized? No, he wanted to identify with Christ.

Which brings us to our second point. On the day of Pentecost, Peter was preaching to the very same group that had crucified Christ. How do we know that? Well, we're going to turn there in a second. You're going to see that Peter says to them, you specifically, he says, you have taken and with wicked hands have crucified and slain. He does say by the determinate counsel of God, but you see what I'm saying? I mean, he's like, he's letting them know you're the ones that did it. And they were pricked to the heart.

Do you ever, have you ever entered into the fact that I'm certain that you have, if you're the Lords, of what our sin cost our Lord, the suffering and the agony, the anguish that he felt, when his soul was made an offering for sin, the brevity of that, the gravity of that, how much weight was laid upon him because of this. And when they heard, the same as David heard, you are the man, heard we have sinned against the Lord. I mean they said that we have sinned against the Lord the same as we do. And so they asked the question what must we do? What must we do? Turn with me to Acts chapter 2. Look at verse 22 through 28. You men of Israel, hear these words.

Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as you yourself also know him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and by wicked hands have slain, crucified and slain. Whom God hath raised up, whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that it should be holding of him, holding of it.

For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face and he, for he is on my right hand that I should not be moved. Therefore did my heart rejoice and my tongue was glad. Moreover, also my flesh rest in hope. Because that will not leave my soul in hell neither without suffer the Holy one the Holy one to see corruption that has made known to me the ways of life that shall make me full of joy with that countenance when they heard all this they were made guilty. As do all the Lord's elect. When we hear the truth of the gospel according to the Lord's will, he sends his spirit in time, he sends his spirit and power, and it pricks our heart, it makes us alive, and we see God as high and lifted up, and we see ourself as the chief sinner.

Not just a sinner, not just one who commits sin, but the chief sinner. That's why we don't stand in condemnation of each other. I don't have time. I'm too worried about my own sin to worry about yours. That's the way that the Lord teaches his people to be. We don't have time to, well, I don't do what you do. I don't do that. I don't know. That's gone. I don't have time to worry about your sin. I got my own. I'm praying the Lord forgive me about.

So what'd they do whenever they heard that their heart was pricked? Look at verse 37. Now, when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? What shall we do? And Peter said unto them, repent and be baptized. Every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sin and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Now, first of all, repentance is the gift of God.

It's not a decision man makes. I didn't wake up one morning and say, okay, I have decided I'm going to repent. I'm going to change my mind forever about who God is. It's not possible because this flesh is bound to its will, its nature. The flesh hates God. Scripture's clear on that. It's enmity against God. You're saying, I hate God right now in the flesh. Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. The Lord has to give us a new heart that loves him because this flesh does not love the things of God because they're foolishness to it. Foolishness. Lord, we can't understand the things of God. He's other than we are.

So he pricked him in the heart. And he tells them, repent and be baptized. Well, repentance is the gift of God. So that tells me that if you are seeking baptism, the Lord has given you repentance to see that he is high and lifted up, that he is holy and sovereign and just, that salvation is of the Lord and it's not up to you and I, that salvation is most definitely a choice, but it's not my choice or yours, it's his. And it was from before the time ever began, before the foundation of the world.

I quoted this the first hour, but 2 Timothy 1.9, it's on the bulletin. It's the verse I kept on there since we started this four years ago. It said, God has saved us and called us, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time ever began. That's simple, isn't it? That's simple.

Once he said that to them, They weren't like Naaman. Remember Naaman the leper? He said, why do I gotta go dip in the Jordan River? That's terrible. So Naaman was a leper and the prophet sent his servant out and said, okay, all you have to do in order to be healed is go dip yourself in Jordan River seven times. Seven's the number of perfection. Jordan represents death. You have to die the perfect death. That's what he was saying. He was like, there's plenty of other rivers around here that are clear and clean and pretty and everything else. And he said, no, Jordan, because it's muddy.

See, it's an abasement of the flesh. Do we see that? Being baptized is embarrassing to the flesh. It doesn't exalt the flesh. It literally is, uh, it, I mean, it's not something, look at me. I'm about to get dunked. No, it's not like that at all. No. Baptism is the reflection of what the Lord has done on the inward parts. It's a confession of what Christ has already done for his people. Naaman went down and dunked seven times and he came up clean and These men didn't say, why do I have to be baptized? I don't like that. I don't like that. No, they heard, look at verse 41.

Then they that gladly received his word were baptized. They gladly received his word. Gladly, why is that? The Lord gave them a heart to receive it gladly. And the same day there were added unto them about 3,000 souls. They received the word gladly and were baptized. See, baptism is not nearly a suggestion. The Lord told the disciples before he ascended off the Mount of Olives, he said, go into all the world, preach to every creature of the gospel, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. That was the command. It was a command for the Lord's people.

It's our opportunity to confess him. That's what it is. It is not a work unless we make it one. Because they were making, that's the issue in our text in Philippians, they were making circumcision the issue. They were like, yeah, Jesus Christ and his blood, that's all in salvation, but you have to be circumcised as well. And that was the issue. So anything could be made into a work if we put it that way.

So we're baptized to confess him, and Peter put it this way, 1 Peter 3.21, the like figure wherein so even baptism doth also now save us. You mean you're saved because you've been baptized? Well, he continues and he says, not the putting away of filth of the flesh, but a good answer, an answer of a good conscience towards God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Do we understand what that means? That means that our conscience, We have identified with Christ and therefore we're saying in my hand no price I bring simply to the Lord Jesus Christ I cling.

It's his blood alone. It's his grace alone. It's his sacrifice alone. It's not my sacrifice. It was his baptism and I was baptized in him whenever he went to the lowest hell on the cross of Calvary enduring the wrath of God as the substitute for his people. He was baptized then and my hope is that I was in him being baptized in him that I have died to death. And then I was resurrected with him. That's what baptism represents. When we are baptized, we're confessing that I can't wash away my sin. But if he did, they're gone. If he did, they're gone. That gives me hope. That gives me hope. That's what I'm confessing. I confess, Lord, you're going to have to do it.

Remember what the Lord told Ezekiel, prophesy to these bones. Well, he asked him first, he said, can these bones live? He was in a valley of dry bones. He said, prophesy these bones live. And he said, Lord, God, thou knowest. What is he saying? If those bones are going to live, you're going to have to do it because I can't do it. And the Lord said, prophesy unto them. And he did. And they stood upright.

See, the work of salvation, everything pertaining to salvation, starts with God, is fulfilled in God, and ends with God. And you and I are the benefactors if we are His people. It's that simple. Salvation's of the Lord, Christ is all in salvation, and salvation is all of grace.

This is what we confess. So is baptism a work? Well, it can be. Well, if it can be, then why be baptized? Well, number one, God said so. Number two, it gives the believer a spiritual answer towards our guilty conscience. We're looking to Christ. We're confessing him alone. And thirdly, and this is kind of three points inside of the three points, so forgive me for that, but lastly, it is selfish to be baptized. It's not, or selfless to be baptized. It's not selfish. What do you mean it's selfless?

It is a blessing to the brethren. Because every time we come together and someone is baptized, then we actually, as the Lord's people, confess the same thing that they're confessing while they're doing it. Is that not true? We're reconfessing it. You're saying amen in your heart. Yeah, that. Confessing that. That's what we do at the Lord's table. That's why it's selfless. It's a encouragement to the brethren. It's an encouragement to the Lord's people, that the Lord's calling sheep, that the Lord's moving, that the Lord's given this person the desire to confess him. He's like, that's my confession too. My confession. And thankfully the Lord gave us the Lord's table or every single service we'd want to get baptized again. I want to confess him again. I want to confess him again. I want to confess him again. Again, you can make anything a work. We could have the Lord's table every single service and end up making a work out of it. You know what I'm saying? That's just how we are. Now we do it in remembrance of him. We do it looking unto him. If you believe the gospel, it is selfish not to be baptized because of what the Lord has said and what the Lord has commanded. We're literally saying, I can do, whenever you're baptized, I can do no work.

Only Christ can do the work. I cannot work righteousness. Only Christ is my righteousness. I cannot save myself. Only Christ must save me and I must identify with him. Now, I pray the Lord allows us to enter into this last point because I probably should have started with this and made this the whole entire message. I don't know, but the Lord will get all the glory either way. Lastly, is baptism a work? And it's not if you're looking to Christ as your righteousness before God. Christ was baptized. Don't miss that. Christ was baptized.

Why? Why was the Lord Jesus Christ baptized? Did he need, what was he confessing? Did he need forgiveness of sin? I mean, what was he doing? What was the point of his baptism? I'm just letting that sit there for a second to think about because that hit me between the eyes. It's like, well, why would the Lord be baptized? Well, I'll show you why. Turn with me to Matthew chapter three. This is glorious. Look at verse 13 through 17.

John the Baptist is baptizing many people and the Pharisees are telling him their opinion about the situation, but it's not changing anything anyways. Verse 13 says, Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him, but John forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? Now stop right there a second. Think about what just happened. The Lord Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, the triune Godhead bodily, walks up to John the Baptist, a sinner needing a savior, and says to him, I need you to baptize me. Now, how are you and I gonna respond to that? What did the one say? I'm not worthy to unloose your shoelaces, Lord. Isn't that right? And yet, what does the Lord say to him?

Verse 15, Jesus answering said unto him, suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. It, becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. The question at hand is, is baptism a work? The Lord Jesus Christ was, now I guess I should say a work unto salvation or as part or evidence, look at me, salvation. No, it's not. So why was the Lord Jesus Christ baptized?

It says, then he suffered him. Well, let's finish reading this and then I'll elaborate. And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water, and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him. And he saw the Spirit of God ascending like a dove and lighting upon him. And, lo, a voice from heaven saying, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.

Understand something that is very, very important that we cannot overlook. Everything that we do is sinful. No matter how hard we try, no matter how good of works we think we have, no matter the good deeds that we think we do, no matter how nice we are to people. Now, I'm not saying we're making excuses to be rude to people, and I'm not saying I'm making excuses to sin. That's not true at all. We're guilty. We need a Savior.

What I'm saying is everything we do is tainted by this flesh. However, Everything that the Lord Jesus Christ did was working out the righteousness for his people. Think about that. Everything that the Lord, from every breath that he took, every step that he took, every thought that he had, every prayer that he prayed, he was working out the righteousness for his people.

So that our account no longer says guilty. Our account no longer says tainted and sinful and death. It says life eternal, perfectly righteous, holy, just and true. Why? We are in who is our righteousness. The scripture says, as he is, so are we in this world. This is the new man created in righteousness on the inside. He was baptized because whenever you and I go to be baptized, even in doing that, in trying to honor our father, it's going to be tainted because we are sinful.

And yet he did it on behalf of his people. So when the Lord looks upon that, he sees his son's baptism and he says, I'm satisfied. Everything required, everything required for the salvation of God's elect, the Lord Jesus Christ completed and fulfilled. Nothing's left to do, nothing's left to do. So what was he confessing? He was confessing his people. He was confessing oneness with his people. was fulfilling all righteousness to honor the Father for the salvation of His elect. And when we are baptized we are confessing His life, death, burial, and resurrection as our only hope of salvation. This is not a work for righteousness brethren this is just an act of obedience by faith bestowed. And if the Lord doesn't give us faith we don't have any business being baptized.

But if you are looking to Christ as all your wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption the Lord tells us clearly that Repent and be baptized. Confess Him. Confess Him. We're baptized because Christ is our righteousness, not to obtain it. We're baptized because the blood is our only hope for the remissions of sin, not to remit our sin. That's what we're confessing. The Lord, this water is not gonna do me any good whatsoever. If I'm not confessing you, I'm just taking a bath or swimming or just getting wet.

But if I'm looking to the blood of Christ saying, Lord, you're the one that's gonna have to wash away my sin, I can't do it, and we're confessing that, who are we honoring in that? We're honoring the Son. We're honoring our Savior. And the Lord gets himself some glory.

That's what that means. Baptism is God-honoring because it honors the work of the Son. It doesn't point to self. Baptism is only a work if you're doing it as any cause or to show evidence of salvation. But just like our believing is a gift, baptism is a gift of the Lord. He gives us the ability to confess him. What a privilege. What an honor.

You know who desires to be baptized? Those who see themselves as utterly wicked. They see themselves as needing a Savior. And they don't do it in order to remit that wickedness or to cause the Savior to do anything, but to confess Him as their Savior. He's all my hope. He's all my hope. I have no hope for eternal life except Him alone. Baptism is not a work if we're confessing Christ is all of our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption.

Turn with me in closing to Colossians chapter two. Some men might hear this and. They might twist it and change it and whatever like they do. That's why he says here, beware. Verse eight, chapter two of Colossians, beware. We've already looked at three bewares last week. Well, here's another one. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of this world and not after Christ.

What does that mean? Some man could stand in a pulpit somewhere and say, unless you are baptized, you are not going to heaven. Somebody could say that. I mean, there's no doubt. Probably happens all the time. That's not what I'm saying. That's not what I'm saying at all. That's a work then, isn't it? That's adding to the salvation that God accomplished on the cross of Calvary for his people. That's not what I'm saying.

I'm saying, that we confess Him alone, Him alone. For in Him, verse nine, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and ye are complete in Him. That's what you're confessing. I'm complete in Him. I'm not lacking anything. He's my all. He's everything.

I'm complete in him which is the head of all principality and power in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands in putting off the body of sin of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. Buried with him in baptism wherein ye also are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God who hath raised him from the dead. And you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh hath he quickened together with him having forgiven you all trespasses blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it." Is that your desire? Is that he blotted out the handwriting of ordinances against you that were contrary to you? That he did everything necessary for your salvation?

That's the believer's hope, isn't it? It's the believer's hope. We desire to identify with him, to confess him. Do you know what that means? You qualify. A man or a woman desires to confess Christ alone as all of their wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, and they qualify for baptism. With everybody else, it would be a work done.

Question is, have you been made to have no confidence in the flesh? That's a good way to put it, because if you have, If I have no confidence in the flesh, I'm not going to be looking to my works if I do something. I'm going to be looking to Christ alone as all my hope.

If you desire to confess him alone, to identify with him and his gospel as your only hope of salvation, then baptism's not a work. Baptism's not a work. He says, repent and be baptized. Look to him alone. Look to his finished work alone, never to self. That's the whole point here. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we ask that you would teach us your truths, your precepts. You would cause us to have understanding. You would forgive us, Father, for our unbelief. And you would cause us to confess you in our heart. Bless us to our understanding in Christ's name. Amen.

Is Baptism a Work?

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Is Baptism a Work?

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