If you will turn in your Bibles
back to the gospel of Luke. We'll be in Luke gospel chapter
three as we lay a foundation for our baptismal service today.
As you see in your bulletin there will be a number of our ladies
who will be baptized today and therefore we will try to expedite
to a certain extent our message so that we can encompass that
and get out of here at a reasonable time. Let's see here, we are
looking at about 12 of our sisters who will publicly identify with
their Lord and Savior. We're thankful for that, are
we not? So our message today is baptism
because whenever we are privileged to lead someone or several as
our text has illustrated into this ordinance that our Lord
left us, We are obliged by the word of God to teach the doctrine
of baptism, to teach what baptism is so that all that are listening
and therefore also observing the baptismal service will be
educated in the inherent meaning of baptism. So that baptism is
not simply a ceremony or some ritual we perform on an existential
level that we kind of are ignorant of or distant from because of
its mere symbolic nature. We are called upon to understand
everything that we do, say and perform for the cause of Christ.
The Bible is clear that we are to do all things with an understanding. So it is with baptism. And I
love the occasion upon which we are baptizing people to teach
on this subject. So today we'll deal with three
points with regards to this glorious doctrine of baptism. The title
of our message today is Baptism, a Symbol of Our Complete Redemption
in Jesus Christ. Baptism, a Symbol of Our Complete
Redemption in Jesus Christ. Baptism is a sign, for sure. But it's more than a sign, it's
a symbol. Baptism is also a message and
a command. Baptism is a commitment. And
when you properly understand your baptism into Christ, baptism
is a comfort. But baptism is also a confirmation
to the believer of the believer's escape from sin, death, and hell. It's a sign and symbol of his
escape from sin, death, and hell by his union with Jesus Christ. One of the things that makes
baptism such a wonderful doctrine, and it should be exciting to
every believer to have the opportunity to hear the doctrine of baptism
taught over and over and over again, because baptism teaches
the full impact of our union with Jesus Christ. And nothing
ought to excite you more than to know that you are one with
Christ. Nothing ought to excite you more, child of God, than
to know that your oneness or union with Jesus Christ is the
grounds of your eternal security before God. And when we are able
to illustrate that in the waters of baptism, we get to say in
a very eloquent way to those that are watching, this is how
God saved me. This is how God saved me and
I know who saved me and I know how he saved me I am not ignorant
as to how God saves and when we are privileged to the ordinance
of baptism men and women get to once again see how it is that
God saved you in a form in a symbol in a type in an ordinance and
that's what baptism does as we partake of the lord's table as
you did last week my wife My elder and his wife wanted to
be here so bad. We were right on the port in
San Francisco early that morning, wanted to join the saints in
the large table, but it wasn't God's providence. We had done
it, however, the day before. I had an opportunity to preach
on the resurrection on Saturday on the boat. You know, I was
happy. And so as a consequence, we had the table on Saturday
because there was a body of believers who were hungry for observing
the table, knowing that they weren't going to be able to do
it that Sunday. We thought we were going to be able to do it
twice. Now, what's so important about the table? The table represents
our communion with Jesus. Christ is our life. And like
the bread and the wine that we drink and eat, Christ is the
totality of our life in communion with him. He left us his flesh
symbolically through the word of the gospel for us to feed
on him. Do we not feed on Christ? And
so baptism and the Lord's table teach union and communion. Union and communion is the essence
of the gospel Everything we teach and preach here at grace is about
our union with Christ and our communion with Christ because
in him is life and Christ is the life of every man that comes
into the world of whom he has been pleased to Illuminate and
show his saving glory. So when we say that Baptism is
a symbol of how we escape sin death and hell. We're talking
about how our Adamic nature which had us bound to a life and trajectory
in a course of unavoidable destruction, has now been nullified by our
union with Jesus Christ on the cross. And the believer in Christ
has eternal life. That's Romans 6.23, as you know.
And baptism teaches that. Now how important, ladies and
gentlemen, is the doctrine of baptism? It's a term that's used. The word baptism is used in the
New Testament almost a hundred times. It's used 21 times in
the book of Acts alone. The gospel doctrine of baptism
is clearly taught in the book of Romans, in the book of Corinthians,
in the book of Galatians, in Ephesians, in Colossians, in
Peter, and in the book of Revelation. Do you think the doctrine of
baptism meant something to the early church? Paul taught it
in every book. He extracted from baptism those
aspects of who Christ was and who he was for us as believers
to help us understand. When you were baptized at that
point in time that it occurred, you were saying certain things
to the world that before God are true, no matter what's going
on in your life. You see, when you enter into
the waters of baptism, you are telling the world that your identity
completely summed up in the person of Christ. Now what that means
is many women get to look away from you to Christ to see what
your hope is. But it also means this that many
women get to look at you and watch to see what it means on
a practical everyday level to be in union with Jesus. As the
title of our message underscores, that baptism is the symbol or
type of the complete redemption of the believer in Christ. Baptism
teaches our justification. Baptism teaches our sanctification. And baptism teaches our what?
Glorification. It teaches the whole span of
our redemption in Christ. And as baptism underscores the
totality of the believers union with Jesus Christ, we understand
baptism in its root meaning to be brought into identification
with Jesus. One of the ways we understand
the word baptism is to be made to identify with Christ. Now
there are some people in the world with whom you don't want
to identify. Isn't that right? And there are some people in
the world who don't want to identify with you. But every child of
God ought to be willing to and wanting to identify with Jesus
Christ, since Christ is their Savior. And when you enter into
the waters of baptism, what you are doing is committing yourself
to the full-fledged identification of who Jesus is, because as you
have learned before, everything that Jesus was for you, you are
in Him. Our identity is in Jesus Christ. And the marvelous, marvelous
reality of baptism, as we are going to develop it under three
points, is that the root word baptism is the word bapto, and
it's in Revelation 19, 13, and it's the word for dyeing a garment,
D-Y-E. I love this metaphor because
what it's suggesting is that there is an element called dye
into which a garment is placed. The garment is the object that
is passive now being placed into the dye. It's not sprinkled with
the dye. It's dipped in the dye. And when
once it's dipped in the dye, all that the dye is becomes what
the garment used to be. So when the garment comes up
out of the dye, it looks just like the contents of the dye.
How glorious that is. The sinner outside of Christ
is hell bound. But once placed into Christ,
the full identity of Jesus Christ now encompasses the whole of
the sinner. When he comes up out of the dipping,
he looks just like Christ in the mind of God. Now, if you
think that's wonderful, think about Christ being the only righteous
person in the world choosing to be baptized for us. Hallelujah! The Son of the Living
God, the Righteous One. allowed himself to be dipped
into our sin, so that when he came up out of that, he was identified
with us as the sinner's substitute, burying our sins under the wrath
of God. How much love is that for a sinner? That Christ would be identified
with us in order that we might be identified with him. Is that
good or not? It's one of my arguments today.
For those of you who are professing to be Christians, but you have
delayed to be baptized, you are ignorant of the Gospel and of
the privilege of identifying with the One who left glory to
come down here to live in this sin-cursed earth and to suffer
under the wrath of God and the ignominy of men just for you. He identified with you before
you even knew Him. And He would call you to do the
same for Him. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
All right, then let's go to work a little bit. There's some things
I want to teach. Point number one, under the doctrine of baptism,
point number one, baptism is a confession of faith. Baptism
is a confession of faith. In other words, when a subject
is placed into the ordinance of baptism, they are made to
go through that process. They are very much aware of what
they are doing. Confession is one of those Old
Testament and New Testament terms that's really worth you developing
and exploring for yourself. Because every believer is a confessor.
Every believer confesses faith in Christ. Every believer does
what David said in the psalm, I will praise thee with my whole
heart. I will give thanks unto the Lord at all times. Because
the term confess in the Old Testament is the Hebrew word yadah. I'll
talk about that a little bit more. And it means to open the
mouth wide. to say everything you know about
God and to say everything you know that God has taught you
about yourself you see a confessor is someone who has been caught
that's good since I'm still dealing with prison analogies I have
to because I'm dealing with a bunch of sinners confessors confessors
are people who have been caught and they're not like the folks
on 48 hours who lied to the last second you guys know what I'm
talking about Is man evil or what? Will he not put on an academy
award-winning show when he's being caught on camera? He will
lie to the end. Believers don't lie. They tell
the truth about who God is, who Christ is, the work of redemption,
our salvation. They quickly confess that they
are hell-bound sinners by nature. That if it wasn't for the mercy
of God, I'd be on my way to hell. That if it wasn't for God looking
down in grace and kindness to save my wretched soul, I'd still
be lost. I don't mind telling the world
that I was a hell-bound sinner and God snatched me out of the
fires of hell, turned me around and started leading me in the
right way. And it was all by the grace and mercy of God. You
know what I'm doing right now? I'm confessing. I'm telling the
truth God caught a guilty convict on his way to hell and stopped
me in my tracks Many decades ago turned me around by his grace
and I had nothing to do with it. I had nothing to do with
it That's what confession means and that's why it's quite quoted
that way in the gospel of Luke where the expression of it is
set forth in the third and fourth verses notice this in Luke's
gospel chapter 3 verses 8 and one through four. I will not
deal with verse one and two, verse three. And he came into
all the country of Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for
the remission of sins, as it is written in the book of the
words of Isaiah, the prophet saying, the voice of one crying
in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, prepare
ye the way of the Lord and make his paths straight. What was
he preaching? Repentance for the remission
sins and the people according to this according to the gospel
were coming confessing their sins they were acknowledging
their sins and in fact what's so wonderful about Luke's account
is as you see it in verses 9 and following they were asking Luke
now what do we do How do we live now since we have submitted to
the gospel and have went through the waters of baptism? What this
means is when you understand your baptism aright, it means
that you understand that a change of life is mandated. What do
we do now? that we have told the world that
we identify with Jesus Christ. How shall we live now? And that
is the sanctification part of the believer's life. How do I
live now? And you're willing to submit to the Word of God
and be taught by the Word of God how you are to now live,
since you didn't tell the whole world. that Jesus is your savior. And so going back to our point
under the first point, baptism is a confession of faith. There
are two things that are three things I want to set forth here.
Actually, two. One is repentance and faith is
taught through the preaching of the word. The only reason
men and women should come to the waters of baptism is what
verse four says. Rather, verse three says, and
he came into all the country of Jordan doing what? Preaching.
And he preached primarily but not exclusively the baptism of
what? Repentance for the remission
of sins. Now what is he teaching? He's teaching repentance. You
know what that means? That means you come to understand
how God views things and then agree with Him. Repentance is
our coming to understand how God views things and agreeing
with it. I would like to say that repentance is also sorrow
of heart. But there are lots of folks who
don't mind crying and whining, who never change the direction
of their life. They will call that repentance,
but that is not repentance. We would accept theologically
that repentance incorporates an emotional conviction about
the form of life that we live. No doubt about that. But we do
not stop right there. Repentance, metanoia, is the
word for the changing of the mind. Now what God uses instrumentally
to change our mind is the preaching of the Word. Because we have
to first be informed that we're wrong. And then we have to be
told how to get right. And if the Spirit of God is working,
that will result in our conversion, our turning. It's critical to
the aim of preaching. And so he preached repentance,
did he not? And the eloquent analogy of it is given in verses
5 through verse 7, or verse 4 and 5. I'll just use those two. It
says, and as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah
the prophet, saying, the voice of one crying in the wilderness,
prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make his path straight. That's
our duty, saints, to prepare for the coming of Christ. Make
his path straight. In other words, remove every
obstacle or hindrance or anything that would obstruct The effectual
work of christ in your heart look at verse 5 and here's what
he declares repentance results in Every valley shall be filled. You know what that means those
who have been brought low will be lifted up and every mountain
And hill shall be brought low. You know what that means? The
lofty and the proud and the haughty are brought down How are they
brought down through the preaching of the gospel? and the crooked
shall be made straight, and the rough way shall be smoothed out,
and all flesh shall see it together." This is the work of preaching
and teaching that results in the turning of the heart. When
a man or woman sees the glory of God in Christ, and they see
the beauty of His perfections, and recognize they are not like
that, and they need what He has and who He is, the heart then,
by the work of the Spirit of God, begins to yearn for Jesus. It begins to yearn for what he
has accomplished in terms of their salvation, and they desire
him more and more. Think about this group of people
coming out to Jordan. There are multitudes coming.
Hundreds and thousands are coming to Jordan. Why? Because the Spirit
of God is moving. Why? Because they understand
impending doom is at hand. Why? Because they know they are
culpable of their sins. But why really are they coming?
Because a door of mercy has been opened up through the preaching
of the gospel. See, you and I may know that we're doomed, but what
you and I need is a door. And that door of mercy is Jesus
Christ. And when the sinner really sees
his doomed state and hears the message of redemption and realizes
the door of mercy is open, guess what he's going to do? He's going
to go through that door. The sinner is going to go through
that door. This is why we call this a sinner's gospel. It's
only for sinners. The Pharisees came, yes, but
their hearts were not right. This is why John says, you guys
better bring forth fruits worthy of repentance, because these
people are coming in earnest seeking God. The Spirit of God
is doing a work in their life. And this is what we love about
the period in which we are when we do baptisms, because we know
God has begun to work. The ordinance is to never be
despised. So the first thing under confessing
our faith in baptism is acknowledging that we're hell-bound sinners,
Asking for God's grace to turn us because we cannot turn ourselves
and granting faith in our heart To be able to look the Jesus
Christ as the totality of our salvation another verse that
underscores is his first Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 9 and 10. Here's what Paul said when he
came to those Gentiles and he had preached the gospel powerfully
to them He says in 1st Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 9 about how the
gospel impacted their life mark this for they themselves Show
of us what manner of entering in we had unto you that is when
we preach the gospel Here's what happened you turned to God from
idols to serve the living and true God you see that You turn
to God from what? Idols. And the totality of our
life, apart from Christ, is nothing but idolatry. When the gospel
gets you, you turn. Do you guys understand that?
Your life changes. The trajectory of your life changes.
You are now headed in a direction of faith towards Christ, love
towards God and obedience to the gospel. That's the change.
And that is essential, essential to an authentic baptism experience. Has God in the preaching of the
gospel gotten a hold of your heart? Has he caused you to see
your need for Christ? Has he brought you to that place
of understanding that you cannot live without Christ? Which brings
us to our second point and our final point under this one. The
hearing ear and the seeing eye respond to the preaching of the
gospel. Does it not? The hearing ear
and the seeing eye respond to the preaching of the gospel. This is what we see in our Luke
account and in our Matthew account where John is preaching. The
people are responding. Do you guys remember that account
in the book of Acts chapter 16 verses 14 and 15 where the Apostle
Paul met up with a bunch of sisters down at a river. They were praying.
And they were being led by God to seek God, but they had not
yet known God in the cause of the gospel. And in Luke's gospel,
Acts 16, verse 14, this is what it says about a woman named Lydia.
Watch this. A certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple of
the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God. Now, she worshipped God
with all she knew, but she didn't know the gospel as of yet until
Paul came and preached it. Now, I want you to see how The
Spirit of God must work through the preaching to reveal Christ
to you. The text says, She heard us whose
heart the Lord opened. See, what we tell people in this
generation is that when we say that salvation is of the Lord,
we mean that in total. That a man can't hear unless
God gives him ears to hear. And a man cannot see unless God
causes him to have eyes to see. And a man will not come to Christ
until God enters into the heart and opens the heart up to make
him long for Jesus. And the evidence that you long
for Him is that you attend to the things that are preached.
Do you see that? The Lord opened her heart that
she attended to the things which were spoken of Paul. Let me ask
you, child of God, as we get ready to move to our second point,
are you still attending to the things that God has spoken to
you? Those of you who have been baptized
700, 800, 900 years ago, you didn't forgot
where it was, who baptized you. Are you still attending to the
voice of God? Is your heart still open and
is the urgency to know Him and to know Him better still with
you? Those are valid questions, aren't
they? They are very valid questions, because as we learned this morning
in our Bible study, there's a way in which the believer goes, and
that way leads to eternal life. And it's a way that's never aborted.
Are you still in that way? As you observe the men and women
that are going to be baptized both this week and next week,
can you say, I remember that time of love? when God warmed
my heart and opened my eyes and gave me the boldness to stand
up before all these funny-looking people and to admit that Jesus
Christ is my Lord and Savior. See, you get a chance once again
today to look to see if the wedding ring is still on your finger.
Because, see, the baptismal font, as we're going to talk about
it next week, is a promissory note from the son to his bride. That's the one thing you and
I know on a symbolic level is the external evidence that he
loved us and gave himself for us. And that's why we're gonna
press home another critical point in the doctrine. Don't ever despise
the ordinances of God, children of God. Point number two says,
the hearing ear and the senile respond. They respond to the
preaching of the gospel as did Lydia here in this context. By
baptism therefore, we confess that Christ is the only escape
from hell. Look at verse seven. Then said
John to the multitude that came forth to be baptized in him,
O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to do what? Flee from
the wrath to come. So I want you to understand,
incorporated in baptism, as you'll see it today, is the fact that
that person that climbs in the water admits that the only way
they're going to escape hell is to be in Jesus Christ. That
outside of Christ, hell is for sure. And that to escape hell,
I must be in Christ. Not the water, Christ. but those
who are in Christ will come to the water because the water is
Christ's ordinance to let the world know there's a kingdom
here and many women who were filthy in their sins have been
washed into that kingdom as it were symbolically through the
water and they are willing now to let the world know my only
hope for glory is that man who is represented by that baptismal
font My only hope for glory is that man represented by that
baptismal font. And so John was one of those
politically incorrect preachers like your pastors, some of our
teachers here, because we're going to tell you and we're going
to tell the world exactly what the scriptures say in season
and out of season. We are not so concerned with
the opinions of men that we are willing to deny the glory of
God in Christ. We are willing ourselves to be
rejected by you So long as somehow you find this savior before you
die as altogether lovely and glorious This is why we will
warn you Escape the wrath of god today If you are sitting
there under the presumption that you know christ and you really
don't You have a great opportunity as you watch these people entering
into the water to pray while you're watching Lord have mercy
on my soul Lord grant me the ability to actually experience
Substance lease substantively what they are going to be doing
Symbolically in the water help me to get the reality of the
gospel. So many people will perish Having observed how God brings
many women into the kingdom through these lowly means and They themselves
do not enter in Let's then consider our second point. Baptism is
not only a confession of faith, but baptism is a what? It's a
command. That's one of the words we don't
get in this present generation either. It's something that can
be pressed home to the nth degree and it can become noxious for
us. But the reality is, is when we
submit to the crown rights of Jesus Christ, it means that he's
Lord of our life. That means he runs the show.
Is that true? That's what that means. And when the man or woman
begins to do that by virtue of obedience to the waters of baptism,
we call it the obedience of faith, that first principle of obedience
is coming to the water because now you are taking Christ on
a public level now seriously. And so when the man or woman
comes, they are saying to the world, he's Lord, he's Lord.
And he's the one who has commanded us to be baptized. So the gospel
of Matthew chapter 28, 19 and 20 says, go ye into all the world
and preach the gospel, make disciples, baptizing them into the name
of the father and of the son and of the Holy ghost, teaching
them to observe whatsoever things I've commanded you. Now follow
this children of God. We won't be here much longer.
Follow this. We don't baptize in order to get numbers. We don't
baptize in order to increase giving. We don't baptize to do
anything other than obey Christ. That's the reason we baptize.
And there are lots of churches and lots of 21st century Christians,
I meet them all the time, who dare to call themselves Christians,
who live constantly in rebellion to this command. Some of you
are in this room right now. You will quickly say you're a
believer in Christ, but you don't obey him. You have not come to
the waters yet, but somehow you're reconciling. I'm sure I'm saved.
I just don't want to do that one Do you guys understand the
incongruency of that? how Dishonoring that is to Christ
For you to say I believe I'm a Christian I trust the Lord
Jesus Christ, but I'm not gonna obey him in this public ordinance
of the water You are actually in rebellion against God You
are actually in rebellion. Why do you call me Lord? Lord
did not follow my instructions, my imperatives, my obligatory
standards by which on a public level, men and women get an opportunity
to see how my grace has begun to reign in your life. As we
say then, the idea of being baptized is rooted in a command. Do you
guys remember that awful warning of Mark 16, verse 15 and 16? He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. But he that believeth not shall
be damned. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. Do you know
a lot of scholars have tried to excise that passage out of
the scriptures? You know why they do that? Because
they say that doesn't sound like the lovely Lord Jesus. It actually
sounds like Christ to me. It actually sounds more like
Christ to me than much of what I hear today. The lovely Lord
Jesus has a right if he actually himself submitted to the waters
of baptism. For you! For you to submit to
the waters of baptism for him. Is that true? And he has the
right the lovely lord jesus the good lord, you know, we call
him the good lord Like he doesn't have any wrath in him. The good
lord has the right to tell you and me what to do and this ordinance
that was Imposed upon the church in the first century as I said
was done 21 times in the book of acts You know what? That means
the apostles got it, right? They didn't allow anyone to enter
into the church, be added to the church, who were not willing
then to step up to the waters of baptism. Critical necessary
doctrine for many reasons. And so we have two observations.
One is we baptize because it's a command, why call you me Lord
and do not follow my instructions. I pray that the spirit of God
does something to some of our hearts in here today, because
I know that some of you have hardened your hearts against
Christ. and you have not recognized the preciousness of obedience
in this area. For some of you, when you enter
into the waters of baptism, let other people, you know, poo-poo
these ordinances. Don't you do it. Ask God to grace
you to draw near to him as he draws near to you. And that when
you come up out of these waters of baptism, that there's a greater
revelation of his glory given to you simply because of the
obedience of faith and don't care at all what other people
do. See, because here's what I know.
I know that people are actually ashamed of the gospel. I know
that people are ashamed of the gospel. I know that people are
scared to talk about Jesus. They're scared to witness for
Christ. They want to be saved. But they don't want to actually
share Christ with others or declare the gospel to others. And therefore
that fear and that shame causes them to retreat from basic ordinances
like baptism. No true believer in the New Testament
refused to be baptized. No true believer in the New Testament.
So my second argument for why this command of baptism should
be observed by every believer is Christ's obedience to it compels
us. Do you remember? When the Lord
Jesus Christ was baptized in the Gospel of Matthew chapter
3 verse 15 through 17 and John the Baptist said, Lord, no, no,
you don't have to do this. You're not a sinner. You're righteous. You're the son of God. You gave
us this ordinance. You don't have to do this. Do
you remember what our master said, John? Listen, brother,
you and I have to always fulfill all righteousness. Your job in
mind is to demonstrate to everyone that God is to be taken seriously.
Moreover, I am here as a mediator for sinners. And what that means
is God has placed on me, says Christ, the sins of all those
that are going to believe on me. And what that requires of
me is perfect obedience. Even the Son of God himself had
to obey all of God's commands in order for you and I to enjoy
the benefits of eternal grace. Do you have the confidence in
your soul that you are the righteousness of God in Christ? Do you have
the confidence in your soul that you are saved by the grace of
God in Jesus Christ? Y'all do because that's what
salvation is Do you have the joy as we'll deal with our last
point here in a moment of knowing? That there is no condemnation
to them that are in Christ. Do you guys know that do you
rejoice? In your in your right standing
with God the grace and mercy and kindness of God in Christ
Do you know why you have that joy because someone obeyed every
command for you including baptism Do you know how compelled Christ
was to baptism? In Luke's Gospel chapter 12,
here's what he said, I have a baptism to be baptized with and how constrained
I am until it be accomplished. You know what that means? He
did not take his baptism lightly. He didn't take his baptism when
he started his ministry in Matthew 3 lightly, nor did he take his
baptism in Luke 12, which led him to Calvary lightly. See,
he went to Calvary, didn't he? And baptism teaches death, doesn't
it? And this is why we're learning
in Romans chapter six, as many of us were baptized into Christ,
we were baptized into his what? Death. He died for us. He actually took on all of the
obligations and mandates and imperatives that we are called
to do in order that you and I might stand right with God. It is therefore
a small thing for us to do something that does not merit our salvation.
Now you and I know water baptism does not save us. Is that true?
You and I are not saved by works of righteousness which we have
done. Is that true? But by his mercy has he saved
us. Is that true? By the washing
of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which he poured
on us abundantly through Jesus Christ. We do not, we do both
know that by the works of the law shall no flesh be what? Justified
in God's sight. But when I am calling you to
obey God, I am not calling you to obey God to merit anything. but to demonstrate your love
and your obedience to Christ, for no one else is called to
obey God but God's people. No one else. So from this day
forward, whenever you hear me expand or expound or my elders
or our teachers, the imperatives and commands of scripture, presume
that we are not telling you to do something in order to merit
favor with God, but to affirm your loving obedience to the
one who loved you. and gave himself for you. Am
I making sense? Last point then, last point. Baptism is a powerful,
powerful, powerful confirmation of our salvation. Baptism is
a powerful, powerful, powerful confirmation of our salvation.
Look at our, it's a powerful confirmation of our redemption.
First Peter chapter two verse 24 and 25. I'm going to stop
here. I'm going to work here and close out. and then we're
going to have the offering and then we'll have the baptism of
our sisters. Listen to what we mean when we
say baptism is a confirmation of our salvation. When we properly
understand the doctrine of baptism, what we understand is the death
of the one who assumed the human nature, right? His burial, right? And his resurrection. Listen
to how Peter puts it in 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 24, 25. I want to go to 25. First Peter 2 25. Then it's a
little bit further down the road. Let me see here. I don't want
to deal with that part. I want to deal with the latter
part of it. First Peter chapter 3. Verse 24 first Peter chapter
3 verse 21. I'm sorry first Peter 3 21 and
22 Listen to what Peter says as he is speaking to the flood
and Noah's day Using it as a symbol the ark in the Old Testament
as a symbol of our baptism verse 21 He says the light figure we're
unto even what? Baptism doth also now save us
now stop for a second I'm actually working on this whole account
of the Noah and the Ark event in Genesis 6 through 9 with our
ladies in the Ruth study around the concept of rest. Do you know
that God destroyed the whole world in the days of Noah's flood?
Do you know that that Ark symbolized Jesus Christ, the only escape
from hell? Do you know that the only Souls
that entered into the ark were eight souls those eight souls
represents God's elect Do you guys know that the only gods
elect are gonna come to Christ now watch this they come to Christ
to escape hell The waters that destroyed the world in Noah's
day destroyed every living Breathing thing. Do you guys remember that?
It's a massive massive testimony that God will punish sin But
it's also a massive testimony that God will always save his
people before he destroys the world God had an election. It
wasn't but eight people. I'm so thankful. I'm in the new
testament, aren't you? Because see i'm sure I would have been
lost I'm sure I would have been the one vandalizing noah's ark
And still in some of the wood to start a fire at night because
I you know, I would have been like the rest of them thinking
This man is crazy But every gospel truth is foolishness to the natural
mind And what grace God put upon Noah to have him and his family. That's another study. Have him
and his family become the objects of ridicule and scorn by the
whole world while they preach the gospel for a hundred years
and building the testimony of the glory of God in Christ. This
ark spoke to the whole world about the one way to God and
that's Christ. And they had to endure all of
the ridicule, scorn, and scandal, and vandalism, and hostility
against that. You know they did, because whenever
you identify with Christ, you suffer. And according to the
Hebrew writer, what Noah did, he did to the moving, to the
saving of his soul, and the saving of the soul of his house by something
that seemed so foolish. It had never rained before. Men
and women were given a prophecy of eternal judgment, universal
judgment on a day they did not know was coming. That's the same
condition our world is in now. Men and women die every day not
knowing that they're going to fall into an eternally burning
hell. And today, those of us who are obedient to the gospel,
you know what we offer men and women? An ark of escape called
Jesus Christ. And when men and women comprehend
the mercy of God in that ark, And they see it for what it is.
Here's what we're taught. I want you to see what we're
taught. We are taught, as Peter says, that it is a figure of
that which doth now save us. Baptism itself doesn't save us,
but what baptism points to. Correct? It points to the death,
burial, and resurrection of Christ. Not the putting away of the flesh.
I want you to mark this now. This is why we teach baptism
in our new members class before we baptize people. But it's the
answer of a good conscience toward God. Do you see that? By what?
The resurrection of Jesus Christ. What are you saying, preacher?
Here's what I'm saying. When the gospel is taught to
you properly, you see in Jesus Christ both his death and his
burial and his resurrection yourself. And you see how that God has,
through the death of Christ, put away your sins. By his resurrection,
justified you freely by his grace so that when Christ rose, you
rose again also. And the Spirit of God speaks
to your conscience and says to you, forgiven, forgiven, redeemed,
liberated, freed. And the conscience now is clear,
and the conscience is cleansed, and the conscience is purged
by the blood of Christ, by the Spirit of God in the mind and
the heart. Because the Spirit of God has
taught you that everything that Christ was for you, you are in
Him. Is Christ risen? Then you are risen. Did Christ
die? Then you die. Did Christ justify
you? Then you are justified. for all
eternity through the merits of Jesus Christ. And this is what
baptism teaches in a figure and it impresses itself upon the
conscience of the believer so that the believer enters into
the water and comes out of the water having said to the world,
this is my answer to everyone that asked me of the hope of
the calling that's in me. My conscience is clear because
my Savior died for me 2,000 years ago. My conscience is clear because
when he died, I died. My conscience is clear because
when he rose, I rose. My conscience is clear because
where he is, I am right now in him. See, the Spirit of God has
to do that for the heart and the soul, for you to walk out
of that water and then live your life confidently before God.
I want to press on one other analogy around this point, and
we're done. One other analogy. Going with
me to Leviticus chapter 14, verses 1 through 7. Some of you have
heard this explained before, but I'm praying that the Spirit
of God does something for you right now along these lines.
I'm going to develop the gospel of baptism out of that briefly,
and we're done. What we have said to many people
is the gospel is in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. You
guys believe that? That means if you properly interpret
scripture, you see Jesus in every book of the Bible, every chapter
of the Bible, every passage of the Bible. If God gave it to
you, every word of the Bible. And so therefore, baptism is
in the Old Testament all over the place. I have taught baptism
for years, have I not, saints? All over the Old Testament. I
want you to see a picture of baptism in Leviticus chapter
14, verses 1 through 7. Now, Leviticus is the book of
cleansing. It's the book of cleansing because
the people of God are called to be clean. Wholly separated
and clean. And the priest is the one who
is to examine you to determine whether or not you're clean.
Now we all who are true believers have one great high priest. What's
his name? Do you know Jesus is the only
one that can declare you clean? And here's the analogy of it
right here. Verse 1, And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
Verse 2, This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his,
what? Do you know that you and I, outside of Christ, are lepers?
Can I keep talking then? He shall be brought unto the
priest. Can I ask you a question? Did you come to the priest, or
were you brought to the priest? Did you come to Christ on your
own strength, or did the Holy Ghost bring you to Christ? That's
what must happen to the leper, because by law, he cannot be
in contact with anyone. This gives us insight into the
character and nature of this high priest. This high priest
is willing to be in contact with filthy sinners. Don't you love
him? This is the only high priest
that can be in contact with filthy sinners and never himself be
made filthy. Verse 3, mark this. And the priest shall go forth
out of the camp. And the priest shall look and
behold if the plague of the leprosy be healed in the leper. You know
this never happened in the Old Testament. Not one leper in the
Old Testament in the Jewish people were healed. The only lepers
that were healed were Gentile lepers. Do you guys understand
that? And this law of the priest going to determine the healing
or leprosy of sinners, they never fulfilled Leviticus 14 until
Jesus came. Why? Because healing is only
done by God. Healing is only accomplished
by the merits of Christ. Lepers were only healed when
they came in contact with the true high priest. Watch this.
then shall the priest command to take him that is to be cleansed
that is the leper representing baptism two birds what's their
condition alive clean and cedar wood and scarlet and hyssop.
All of these are components in the temple for the purging of
sin and for the ceremony of death. So we got two birds and then
we got cleansing ceremonies here. Do we not? The leper, which represents
you and me, are getting ready to watch a picture of how God
saves them, how God cleanses them. You and I are one of these
two birds. Y'all follow that? Who's the
other bird? Who is the other bird? Who is
the other bird? Now you got it. See, I know that
there are not many churches who do, who preach Christ, but this
church ought to know the subject of the book is Christ. And the
only reason that you and I have hope is our union with him. This
leper is being brought into union with another person who is made
just like him. Look at the Lord. Two turtle
doves, two pigeons. We used to eat those in the hood.
We used to cook them and turn them into barbecue. I'll leave
that alone. They taste just like chicken. But Marcus, the leper
is sinner with another one who is just like him. How humble
is God to make himself like the poor sinner in order to identify
with us that we might identify with him. Is that glorious? Watch
it now. Watch it now. First five. Here
it is. And the priest shall command
that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running
water. So the leper is about to watch one of the birds be
killed. And that bird's going to be killed over running water.
Literally in the Hebrew, it's living water. It's a reference
of the Holy Ghost. It's going to be killed in a
vessel. That vessel represents the humanity of Jesus, because
Christ had to become a human being. You and I are all earthen
vessels. So the bird that was killed was
killed in an earthen vessel. That means Christ had to assume
a human nature in order to die, but his blood was retained in
the vessel. and the water was retained in the vessel. This
is he who came by blood and water. Not only by water, but by water
and blood. This is Christ. This is the death of Christ.
Are you seeing that? The leper then is having the gospel preached
to him right here concerning the one who actually has to die
for him. There are two birds. One is killed. Who's the one that's killed?
Christ is killed. Verse 6. Here it is. As for the
living bird, he shall take it and the cedar wood and the scarlet
and the hyssop and shall baptize them in the living blood and the living
bird in the blood of the bird that was killed. Do you see baptism? Take the living bird who represents
the leprous sinner and dip him In the Septuagint version, that's
our word for baptism. Dip him into the blood. It's identification. It's union. It's contact with the death of
Christ. Know ye not that as many of us as were baptized were baptized
into his what? You and I have to be brought
into the death of Christ. We have to be brought into the
full death of Christ. That living bird is brought into
the contact of the death of the dead bird. It's blood. and the
running water. Do you see the running water?
That's the Holy Ghost. You and I are washed by the washing
and renewing of the Holy Ghost. We are cleansed by the blood
of the God-man, Jesus Christ. Both are working correspondingly
to purge and cleanse and to bring about justification in your life.
See, you and I have to be born again of the Spirit of God. We
have to be washing the blood. Are you washed in the blood?
Are you washing the soul-cleansing blood of the Lamb? That's why
we sang it. Some of y'all got it, most of y'all didn't, because
we're just religious around here. Hallelujah for the blood of the
Lamb of God! Hallelujah for the blood of the
Lamb of God! Hallelujah for the blood of the
Lamb of God! Do you think that leper was feeling
good that day? There's a few lepers in here
today that's gonna feel good when they get in the water because
they see the gospel They see the gospel verse number seven
then verse number seven Having dipped him in the blood He shall
sprinkle upon the leper that is cleansed from the leprosy
seven times What does he sprinkle him with the blood and the water
the leper now gets to be sprinkled and that is experimentally feel
the death of the one bird and the life of the other bird. which
brings him into contact with the symbology of the metaphor.
He gets to feel it. That's what happens when you're
converted. That's what happens when you're born again. You experience
the regenerating work of the Spirit of God. You experience
the power of the blood to cleanse your soul. It's not a mere academic
event that this leper is watching. He is being symbolically brought
into union with the gospel. He's being told that this is
what God must do for you in order for you to be liberated from
the bondage of your leprosy. Listen to it. And he shall sprinkle
upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times. The number seven is the number
of what? Perfection. That's why Naaman had to be dipped
in the Jordan River. How many times? Seven times.
And we're not going to dip y'all seven times because the water
would be jacked up before us to do that. We're going to do
it one time. Watch this now. And once he was dipped a sprinkle
seven times, he shall be pronounced what? Clean. And he shall let
the living bird, what? Loose into the open field. Can
I tell you what that leper saw? That leper saw the little bird
that was dipped in the blood liberated, freed, emancipated. That is the immediate benefit
of the justifying work of Christ in our souls. That leper saw
the bird flying upwards into heaven and realized his liberation
in Christ, his freedom in Christ. How, whereas once he was bound
by his sin under the curse of the law and the tyranny of the
devil and the bondage of the flesh, now he is liberated by
the death atoning work of Jesus Christ, free, free, free. And this is what the Bible means
when it says, Whomsoever the Son shall set free will be free
indeed. This is why Peter says it is
the answer of a good conscience toward God by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. The resurrection of Christ is
vivid in my mind because when Christ rose, I rose. I rose. I rose. I rose.