It's been a while since I've
spoken on the ordinance, so I thought I might bring this morning's
message on baptism. And I read for you in a minute
Matthew's testimony on the Great Commission, and I read for you
Mark's. But I wanted you to see that baptism is to be preached
with the gospel. You don't preach the gospel and
forget about baptism. Baptism is a very close-knit
thing with the gospel of Christ. And when he gives the commission
to the church, he adds baptism with it. Go into all the world,
teach all nations, Matthew says, baptizing them in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. And then
Mark tells us, to baptize them in the same way, in the same
method. So if you will, take your Bibles
this morning and turn with me to Matthew 28. I won't change
my mind this time. Matthew 28. Here in Matthew 28, the Holy
Ghost has preserved for us the Great Commission, which our Lord
comes and gives to His disciples before his ascension into glory. And what he tells them, I want
you to, especially you young kids, I want you to listen close
to what I'm telling you this morning. If nothing else, I want
you to understand in your head what this ordinance is all about.
I want you to see that it's the commandment of God, the commandment
of Christ. I want you to see that it's here
in the Word of God. And I want you to see that it's
very important. I want you to understand what
it confesses. But what our Lord gives in His
great commission to the church is the business of the church.
This is what the church is here for. There's no other reason
for His church to be in this world except to preach His gospel. Do you hear what I'm saying?
There's no other reason for His church to be left. They're not
getting holier and holier. They're as holy as they're going
to get in Christ. They're godly. They're as righteous
as they're ever going to be in Christ. So why are we still here? We're ready. He's already accomplished
our redemption. He's already ascended into glory.
He's already received our inheritance from the Father and sits there
as our guarantor, guaranteeing the salvation of His elect. So
why are we still here? Because God has purposed in His
grace for us to be fellow laborers with Christ in the kingdom of
God. And He's left us here on this earth to preach His gospel.
It's the only reason we're still here. And when that's taken out
of the way, when that's finished, when all God's elect have been
called in, He's going to wrap things up. He's going to wrap
it all up. So what He says here is the business
of the church of the living God until the return of our Lord
and the end of time, as we know it. So let's read here in Matthew
28, verses 18 through 20. And Jesus came and spake unto them,
that is, His disciples. And He tells them, all power
is given unto Me in heaven and earth. Water and assurance. If
I didn't believe that, I wouldn't be up here today. If I didn't
believe this, I'd have never started in the ministry. All
power in heaven and earth has been given unto me. Go ye therefore, and teach all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Now we know what His name is.
His name is who He is. I'm not talking about We're going
to baptize the Lord willing here in just a little while. And in
that baptism, I'm going to tell them, I baptize thee in the name
of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. But that's not
what he's talking about here reciting this. He's talking about
what that name is. When you're baptized, you're
going to confess that name. That's what it means to be baptized
in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.
That baptism is going to speak out clearly that name. And then
he tells us this, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Ghost, verse 20, teaching them. Teaching them. We've got to be taught because
we were born ignorant. We've got to be taught because
religions twisted everything upside down, sideways. I didn't know how ignorant I
was until I heard the truth. Teaching them to observe all
things. Now listen. Whatsoever I have
asked you. That ain't what that says. All things that I recommend for
you. That ain't what that says. You teach them to observe all
things that I have commanded you. And lo, I'm with you always. even unto the end of the world.
Amen. Baptism. What is it? What is it? I had a man come visit me here
the other day, and he just lives a few miles from here, planning
on, when he retires, to come here and hear the truth. And
he said, the only thing we disagree on is baptism. And I said, well,
why are we disagreeing on baptism? Baptism is immersion, isn't it?
Barry didn't know. He said, I believe in Franklin.
I said, I ain't baptism. That's Franklin. There's just
one kind of baptism, and that's immersion. Immersion. So what is baptism? Is it important? Should we insist that believers
observe this ordinance of baptism? How should we baptize? What does
it mean to be baptized? And what does this ordinance
say? What's it all about? And these are all questions that
are asked by those who want to follow our Lord. They know something
about who our Lord is, and what He's done, and where He's at,
and why He came. What he's accomplished. They
know something of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And they want to follow Him and
submit to Him in all things. And the first thing they run
into is baptism. Baptism. So let's begin here with this
question. What is baptism? Baptism is the
confession of the believer's hope. By way of being buried beneath
the water by another. You don't bury yourself. Another
lays you down in that water. And another raises you up out
of that water. Raised up out of that watery
grave to walk in the faith of Jesus Christ our Lord. What is baptism? It's the confession
of a professing believer, and baptism is immersion. And you
can argue these things. Brethren, these men are not ignorant.
They're wise men, wise men. They're intellectual men. They
can argue. Otherwise, from a purely intellectual
standpoint, they can get out the textbooks and get out the
dictionaries and go through all these things and they can argue
these things, might even be able to persuade you about these things.
But I want you to hear me. Sprinkling and pouring does not
preach, does not picture the believer's hope. No way. No way. And his hope is his union
with Christ. We're buried with him in baptism. Isn't that what it says? If you're not buried with him,
then the burial means nothing. If you're not raised with him,
then it means nothing. When we baptize somebody, that
somebody that's being baptized, he's telling you about his hope.
And his hope is union with Christ. His hope is that back yonder
in eternity, God chose him and put him in Christ. And he's got
a good hope in that election. He's got a good hope that he
was one of those for whom Christ was appointed as his head, as
his representative. His hope is in union with Christ. And the evidence is that God
sent to him the same gospel that reveals that election, that same
gospel that makes known to the sheep that they're sheep. He's
received that gospel, and now he's confessing what he understands
that gospel to be. That's his hope. His hope is
in union with Christ. It's immersion, and you can argue
all day long about it. And if you look at it from a
purely intellectual standpoint, you might even be convinced of
it. But I'm telling you this, it's a confession of what you
believe. And Sprankling doesn't confess anything except a man's
ignorance. That's all it confesses. In Romans 6, verse 3, it says,
know you not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus
Christ were baptized into His death? Do you not know that? Now, it's not talking about our
being brought into union with Christ in the water. That took
place in the old eternity by an act of God's eternal electing
grace. And his predestination unto adoption,
having predestinated us, he says over there in Ephesians 1, unto
the adoption of children. That's a done deal. That was
already done way back in old eternity. And he's not talking
here about being baptized into the mystical body of Christ. Well, this is how I become a
member of his church. Oh, I beg your pardon. All his
church. was called into that body way
back yonder in eternity. That's right. That's where His
church was formed. He made Him to be head over His
body, the church, way back yonder. Not talking about our being baptized
into the mystical body of Christ, which is His church. What this
is talking about is our confession of our conversion which is an
evidence of that eternal election. That's what it's talking about.
It's the confession of that faith to which all of God's elect are
called. And it's the revelation of how
that salvation in Christ was accomplished. You didn't accomplish
anything, he did. That's what faith doesn't say,
I'm going to go out here and do it. No, it said it's done.
That's what faith says. It's done. He did it. I'll embrace him. If I can embrace
Christ, I have all things. Paul warns us over in Colossians
2. He said, don't you let these
wise men and these talkers and thinkers and philosophers, don't
you let them talk you out of this. They'll draw you away after
these things. After a while, you'll be over
here believing you don't even know what. He said, you study Christ, and
you stay right there. As you receive Christ Jesus,
the Lord's soul walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him, established
in the faith as you've been taught. Don't you go anywhere. Don't
you go anywhere. For in Him, in Christ dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in
Him." He's the head of all principality and power. It's the confession
of that faith to which all God's elect are called, and it's the
revelation of how that salvation was accomplished in Christ. Now
watch this, Romans chapter 6, verse 4. We are buried with Him by baptism
into death. That like as, what does that
mean? That means as a figure, similar,
a figure of it. That like as Christ was raised
from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should
walk in newness of life. And then here it is again, down
in verse 5. For if we have been planted together
in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness
of His resurrection. Now, I want you to show me the
death of Christ as we understand it in the gospel, being planted
together with Him. I want you to show me that in
sprinkling. If you can't show me that, then the ordinance,
if it's sprinkling, doesn't say anything. You see what I'm saying? You don't go over here and find
all these technical. That's not what faith is. Faith is a revelation of Jesus
Christ. It's understanding who he is,
why he came, what he did, and where he is now. And those who
know that confess that in baptism. In Colossians chapter 2, Paul
tells us we're complete in Christ. Everything wanted is supplied
in Him. Everything demanded is furnished
in Him. Everything required has been
accomplished in Him. We're complete in Christ, who
now sits at the right hand of God, being head over all principality
and power. I read it to you in Matthew 28.
All power is given unto me, heaven and earth. And we've been called to faith
in Him, and rooted and grounded in Him, and established in the
faith. And now he says, Colossians chapter 2, verse 12, buried with
Him in baptism. wherein also you are risen with
Him." How? Listen, through the faith of
the operation of God. Through that godly understanding,
through that faith, that revelation of the Holy Spirit of how this
salvation was accomplished in Him. That's how we're raised. That's how we're planted, and
that's how we're raised. Through the faith of the operation
of God, who raised him from the dead. It's not baptism that saves
us, but our union with Christ, which our faith confesses in
baptism. Now then, if baptism is a confession
of our death, burial, and resurrection in Christ, we must be buried
and raised to confess it. Does that make sense? That's
why I tell you about these other forms of baptism not being baptism. You can't take a glass of water.
I mean, I know they got fancy goblets and jewels and probably
hand spun on a mill and all that kind of stuff and they take it
and they take this little baby and they lay it head over here
and they pour that water on it and mumble some stuff in Latin.
That's not baptism. What's that confession? That
confessing your ignorance is what that's confessing. If baptism is a confession of
our death, burial, and resurrection in Christ, we must be buried
and raised to confess it. Baptism, what is it? It's the confession of a professing
believer. That's what it is. And it's immersion. It's being buried. It's picturing
what you believe in your heart. I'm buried with Him. I'm risen
with Him. I'm seated with Him in glory. It's immersion. When Philip baptized
the Ethiopian eunuch, it says over in Acts 8, verse 38, And
they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch,
and he baptized him. He didn't get out his canteen
on the chariot, Russell, and sprinkle his head. That eunuch
knew exactly what baptism was because Philip preached it to
him. And you know what? Philip didn't have a New Testament.
Philip was reading, that eunuch was reading from Isaiah 53. Huh? New Testament hadn't been
written yet. And Philip said, you understand
what you're reading? He said, how can I except some
man tell me what this means? He said, good on. He got up there
and he preached the gospel of substitution out of Isaiah chapter
53 and satisfaction. And ever how he preached the
gospel to that eunuch, as soon as that eunuch saw a little creek
or a bayou or wherever he was, a river, a lake, or whatever
it was, he said, wait a minute. He said, there's water. He said,
what does hinder me from being baptized? He said, if you believe
with all your heart, you believe with all your heart, you may.
He said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And
it said, they both went down into the water, both Philip and
the eunuch, and he baptized them. Isn't that something? When John the Baptist baptized
Jesus, it says, when he was baptized, talking about our Lord, John
laid him down in the water and baptized our Lord. He told our
Lord, he said, you come to me to be baptized. He said, I need
to be baptized with thee. He said, suffer it to be so for
now. It's our duty, it's our job, it's our mission to fulfill
all righteousness. And that requires me to be baptized. He said, so you baptize me. And
John said, all right. And so he laid him down into
the water. Now listen to what it says here.
He baptized Jesus. It says, when he was baptized,
he went straight way up out of the waters. He didn't sprinkle
him, did he? All right, secondly, baptism
is the commandment of God our Savior and Lord. Baptism is not
a suggestion. It's a commandment. It's a commandment. Baptism is not to be preached
as a recommendation by the church. It's to be preached as a commandment. Isn't that what I read to you
over in Matthew 28? You read it again. You go and
preach this gospel. You teach all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Ghost. And you teach them to observe
all things which I have commanded you. That's the way you teach
it. Church is not an independent
organization set in motion by the Lord 2,000 years ago and
by His apostles and then left to kind of evolve on their own
and make up their own message and their own ordinances with
whatever age they happen to be in. The church is to teach what
Christ has commanded us to teach. That's what we're to teach. Well,
what if it makes everybody mad? I guarantee it's going to make
everybody mad. I don't wonder if they're going
to get mad every now and then. I wonder when you don't get mad. It's offensive. It's offensive
to the natural man. We teach what Christ has commanded
us. And baptism has all been laid
aside by my generation. They just lay it aside. They're
just indifferent to it. They don't preach it at all.
And when they do, it's just a recommendation, isn't it? I find it of particular interest,
by our Lord's own testimony, the greatest preacher born of
woman, John, and the very forerunner of Christ, had the word Baptist
woven into his own name. Huh? Here's the one who's to
come and make clear, make plain the way of Christ, the way of
salvation. He's the last prophet in the
Old Testament, the only prophet in the New Testament. John the
Baptist, the forerunner of Christ. He's going to come. He's going
to make the way straight. He's going to make the way plain.
No misgivings about it. And he was plain. What did they call him? John
the Straight. I don't know what they called
him. They called him John the Baptist. And do you know there's
places in the Scripture where the T.H.E. is taken out altogether? He's called John Baptist. He preached baptism with such
authority and so closely knit to the Gospel that they took
that name and made it a part of his. That's John Baptist. John Baptist. Do you know that in most occasions
in the book of Acts were the conversion of sinners talked
about? He also states their baptism.
Peter preached at Pentecost in the power of the Holy Ghost,
which was poured out upon the Church of Christ. And he preached
with a power that we've not seen much of in our generation. And
he preached to these Jews, these legalistic Jews that have been
so steeped in their tradition and in their understanding that
they're just impossible for them to believe. And Peter preached
to them, preached Christ to them. And the Holy Ghost came upon
them. And he revealed Christ to them, convinced them of their
sins. And they said, what are we going to do? We've murdered
the Son of God. What are we going to do? Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know it says that he
preached to those people over in Acts chapter 2 verse 4. Preached
there on Pentecost and it says, they that gladly received his
word were baptized some three thousand souls. That'd be a day's
work wouldn't it? I don't know how many of them
there was doing the baptizing, but they baptized that day three
thousand souls. The Philippian jailer. This all happened after midnight.
God shook the doors of that prison open, and Paul and Silas just
kept their seat right where they were. And this old jailer had
been given charge over them by an emperor, and if he was to
lose those prisoners, he was going to be put to death. And
he was about to take his own life. He didn't want to be tortured
by them. He was about to take his own
life. And Paul yelled out to him in the dark. He said, don't
do yourself any harm. We're still here. We haven't
went anywhere. And so he decided to take a seat
and listen to what these men had to say. And Paul preached
the gospel to him. He took those two men and he
began to put ointment on their wounds and where they'd beat
them and whipped them dress those wounds and care for them and
get them something to eat. And Paul and Silas was preaching
to them the whole time, preaching to them, preaching to them. That same night, we're talking
about 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning, that Philippian jailer wanted
to be baptized. And he went down and was baptized,
it says, in his whole house, 2 o'clock in the morning. Somebody stands up and preaches
baptism today, well, maybe one of these days I'll think about
it. We're not preaching baptism the
way it's meant to be preached. These men, whatever they heard,
ever how they heard it, I don't know. We don't have a recorded
word for word copy of the gospel that they preached to these men,
but it's obvious to me by what people did that they attached
to this thing of baptism an importance. I'm not saying it's a work of
salvation, but I'm telling you it's important. It's important. is important enough for our Lord
to include it in both his gospel testimonies of the Great Commission. And I find it of particular interest
that upon hearing Philip preach, that old Ethiopian eunuch, he
want to be baptized. What is baptism? It's immersion,
which is a figure given to the church by divine command by which
all proficient believers are to confess their faith. If you
can't confess faith this way, you don't have an understanding
of it. That's just so. And baptism, my friend, is a
public identification with Christ and his church, with those who
do preach this gospel. Southern Baptists have a, I forget
the name of it, But they've got a group within their denomination,
and there was enough of them until where they formed a name
for it. But they have within their denomination a group of
people who profess to be secret disciples of Christ. And they
adhere to the five points of Calvinism. They do. They agree with the Calvinistic
doctrine. The ruin of man. and all of these things. They
agree with those things. Total depravity and all these
things. They believe the gospel, but they refuse to be publicly
identified with the church of the living God. Now, I'm going
to tell you what our Lord said. He said, if you're ashamed to
confess Me before men. How do we confess Him? Baptism. If you're ashamed to confess
Me before men, He said, I'll be ashamed of you in the day
of judgment. You keep your silence now, I'll
keep mine then. Over in 1 Corinthians chapter
15, Paul establishes the necessity of the resurrection of Christ
as a necessary doctrine of the gospel of Christ. If He be not
raised, he said, our preaching is vain. We're found to be false
prophets. We're saying God said this, that
he was raised and he wasn't raised. So our preaching is vain. We're
found to be false prophets. Jesus of Nazareth, if he'd be
not risen, still in the tomb. All those who died in the faith
are perished forever with no hope if he'd be not raised. And then
he goes on with one more argument. One more argument. If Christ
be not raised, being victorious over death, hell, and the grave,
1 Corinthians 15, 29, what shall they do who were baptized for
the dead? Huh? What in the world is he talking
about, baptized for the dead? He's talking about believers
whose public baptism Marked them out for murder. And they were murdered as a result
of it. We don't have many martyrs in
our day. What we do have is men and women who are ostracized.
That's a big word. What's that mean? Ostracized. That means you're, somebody goes
to somebody else and whispers in their ear and says, boy, he's
odd. He's odd. Ostracized, marked out as abnormal,
kicked out of the group, banished out of mainstream religion and
worldly recognition, looked at as odd by your own family. Huh? Ostracized. Baptism is a public identification
with Christ. One man went so far as to say,
old Rock Barnard did, that baptism is the putting on of the uniform
of the kingdom of God. Now you can have whatever politics
you want, and you can believe pretty much anything you want
to believe in, and you can just go on. Life is normal every day. Just go do whatever you want
to do. But boy, when you put on a uniform, huh? People identify
you with whatever policies that this government stands for, whatever
principles this nation stands for. They connect you immediately
with that when you put on the uniform. He's one of them, especially
if you go overseas, go out of this country. And so it is with those who confess
Christ, we're identified With that body of believers, we're
identified with that doctrine they preach, with that gospel
they preach, that Christ that they preach. Fourthly, baptism
is an act of submission. We're not taught anywhere in
the scripture to wait until we feel like being baptized. I hear
that more than anything else. Well, I just, you know, I'm just
waiting until the Lord lays it on my heart. I can't find a single place anywhere
in the Scripture where it says to wait until you feel like being
baptized. Or to wait until we understand
it a little better. Or to wait on somebody else's
approval. We're baptized, now listen to
me, in obedience to His divine command. Is that right? That's what I'm going to tell
this young couple. In obedience to His divine command, I baptize
you. Huh? That's what it is, isn't
it? And I'm going to tell you something.
Christ will never be your Savior apart from being your Lord. That's
a false hope. If you have that, you've got
a false hope. He'll never be your Savior without being your
Lord. He's the Lord, our Savior. And
now what the Scripture says? Paul said, if thou shalt confess
with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart
that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. And then fifthly, baptism confesses
our union with Christ. We're buried with him by baptism,
risen with him through the faith of the operation of God. Ephesians
2.6 tells us that by way of the quickening of God, you who were
dead, you hath He quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins.
Through that quickening of God, He raised us up together, made
us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. I'm going to
make this as clear as I know how to make it. There is absolutely
no hope of salvation apart from union with Christ. Now, you can
forget it. I don't care what you believe.
I don't care what you confess. Salvation is union with Christ. If God has not chosen us in His
Son, if Christ has not come on our behalf and in our room instead
died on that cross, and then raised us up with him, justifying
us from all things, and seated us with him in the heavenlies.
We're not saved, and never will be. He said in Adam, all die. Everybody in union with that
old federal head Adam, all die. No hope for any of them. Even
so. In Christ shall all be made alive. Baptism is the giving of oneself
in willing submission to the God of all grace to confess His
faith by way of union with Christ. And then, sixthly, and I'll close,
baptism is the answer of a good conscience toward God. Turn with
me to 1 Peter chapter 3. We've been studying this in our
Sunday school 1 Peter 3, verse 18. For Christ also hath once suffered
for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God,
being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit,
by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison. Now,
you're not talking here about going back in time preaching
to disembodied spirits. He's talking about what he just
said. He's talking about the gospel
of God's sovereign grace. He's talking about Christ having
suffered for sin, the just for the unjust. And that is by the preaching
of Christ who would come and suffer for sins, the just for
the unjust, and manifest the way to God by His gospel and
the Spirit of Christ that He also mentions in this epistle.
He was preached to those fallen sons of Adam before the flood. Now look at verse 20 and I'll
show you that. Which sometimes, here's these
spirits in prison, which sometime were disobedient, when once the
long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the
ark was a-preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were
saved by water." Noah preached the gospel to them. The just for the unjust that
he might bring us to God. He was a preacher of righteousness.
Not self-righteousness. The righteousness of Christ.
Now watch this. Verse 21. The like figure whereunto
even baptism doth also now save us, not the putting away of the
filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God. God gave them through his messenger
Noah, God gave them directions for a vessel to be assembled,
told them what that vessel was for, Told them the only way to
be saved was to go inside the vessel. When the time come, they
were to go in. God shut the door. And you go in, or you stay here
with the rest of this doomed world. That's what He preached
to them. He preached Christ in the ark,
and all those that believed entered in. They entered in. It was the
answer of a good conscience toward God. A purge conscience, a quicken
conscience, a justified conscience. Old Robert Lowry wrote this hymn. He said, what can wash away my
sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. For my pardon, here's what I
see. For my cleansing, this is all
my plea. This is all my hope and peace.
This is all my righteousness. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. It's the answer of a good conscience
toward God. And all them that believed in
Noah's day, Walked up that, I pictured that door laying down like a
big ramp and all those animals going in. And when everything
was in the ark, there went the people. Eight souls walked up
that gangplank onto that thing. God shut the door. That big door,
first, second, and third stories, that big door, God shut that
door. Shut them in. And they were in there till God
opened the door. And they came out on new earth. That's my hope, huh? All that
believed, all who had a good conscience toward God entered
in the ark. All who believed the gospel,
they embraced Christ. They embraced Christ. Their hope
is in Him. And they confessed it through
baptism. May God give us all a better understanding of it.