Lord willing, tonight I'm going
to be preaching on this subject, having praise from God. What in the world's that mean?
Having praise from God. Would you turn back to Hebrews
chapter 6? We're going to have a baptism
this morning. Hunter Small is going to confess
Christ and believe His baptism, and I thought, I have not preached
on the subject of baptism in quite a while, and I want to
try to bring a message on baptism. I want you young people, I want
everybody to listen, but I want you young people especially to
listen to this message. What is baptism? What is this
thing of going under the water and coming back up? How important
is baptism? Question, do you have to be baptized
to be saved? Was the thief on the cross baptized? No, he was nailed to a cross,
he couldn't be. Was he saved? Absolutely. The Lord said to him today, thou
shalt be with me in paradise." You can't have any more assurance
than that, can you? If it doesn't save, how important
is it? How important is baptism? Going under the water and coming
back up never saved anybody. How important is baptism? I've entitled this message that
to show us what a bad question that is. That's a bad question. If God says to do a thing, is
that a legitimate question? Can we? Quantify any command
God gives, well, that's important, that's less important, that's
more important. Everything God says, without
exception, is of critical importance. Does Christ say anything that's
unimportant? Well, this is more important
than this, Is any man fit to make a judgment with regard to
what's important? How important is baptism? Dumb
question. If my father told me to do something
or commanded me to do something, and if I said, is it important
that I do that? I would have found out swiftly
that it was. If I was interviewing you for
a job, and I was giving you the responsibilities that that job
would entail, and you asked the question, well, is that really
important? You ain't getting a job. You're not even going
to be considered. The question, is it important,
is to be removed from our consideration. Yes, everything God says is important. Now what I want to do, by the
grace of God, is preach the gospel from baptism, from the word of
God, but from baptism. Baptism is a critical importance. What it teaches is important. As a matter of fact, the gospel
message is found in baptism. I hope we're going to see that
by the end of this message. Now, you'll notice our text in
Hebrews chapter 6 verse 2. Well, let's begin in verse 1.
Therefore leaving the ABCs, the principles of the doctrine of
Christ, let us go on unto perfection. Not laying again the foundation. And he mentions the foundational
truths of the gospel. He mentioned six things, repentance
from dead works, faith toward God, the doctrine of baptisms,
of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead and of eternal judgment.
Those are the six foundational truths of the gospel. I would
like to bring a message from that when I do that, but we're
just going to confine ourself right now to the doctrine, the
teaching of baptisms. You'll notice the word baptisms
is in the plural. There are several baptisms taught
in the scripture. There's the baptism of the Holy
Spirit for generation, baptism into Christ, Romans chapter six,
verse three, the baptism of fire that the Lord experienced. When
he said in Luke chapter 12, he'd already gone through water baptism.
And he says, I have a baptism to be baptized with. And how
is my soul straightened until it be accomplished? He was going
to be immersed, baptized under the wrath of God. He was going
to be completely immersed in God's wrath. And that's what
took place on the cross. Baptism. What's the word mean?
You know, I think it's interesting that it's a transliteration of
the Greek word baptizo, baptism. I think it's interesting they
don't translate it. What it means is immerse. That's
all it means. Immerse you. are submerged under
the water completely. You're immersed, you're submerged
under the water. You come back up from the water. You have emerged from the water. That's what the word means. And
yet it's translated baptized. I wonder why that is. I think it has something to do
with the people that translated the scripture didn't practice
baptism by immersion. Therefore they just kept it baptized
to keep it kind of Whatever you're doing when you do something like
that, but the word means to immerse, to go under the water. Now, sprinkling is not immersion. Pouring water on somebody isn't
immersion. You see, baptism represents death,
going in the grave. You don't throw dirt, you don't
sprinkle dirt on somebody's dead, do you? No, there. taken all
the way into the grave and completely covered. The proper mode of baptism is
immersion. And probably most, if not everybody
in here will agree with that. But you know, you can have the
right mode. I'm right on baptism and miss
the meaning of it all together. The meaning of it, the doctrine
of it is what is important. What does baptism In our text, we read of the doctrine
or the teaching of baptism. What does baptism actually mean? The whole gospel is illustrated
in this act of baptism. You know, there's not one instance
of anybody ever being baptized in the Old Testament. Never happened,
not once. You can look, I've heard people
call baptism just an Old Testament rite. No, it's not. It's not
even found in the Old Testament. No one was baptized in the Old
Testament. What is the doctrine of baptism? Union with Jesus Christ. Somebody says, what's that mean?
Well, turn to Hebrews chapter two and I'll show you. The doctrine of baptism, whether
we're talking about the water baptism, whether we're talking
about the baptism of Christ, when the fire of God's wrath
fell upon him, if we're talking about the baptism of the Holy
Spirit, whatever baptism we're speaking of, the doctrine is
union with Jesus Christ. Look in Hebrews chapter two,
verse 11, here's what union is. For both he that sanctifyeth
and they who are sanctified are all of one." Not simply join
closely together. One. I am one with Jesus Christ. If I'm one with him, who he is,
I am. What he did, I did. That's what
union with Christ means. I'm one with Christ. Who he is, I am. I take his name. What he did,
I did. Listen to this scripture. As
he is in the world, so are we. Union with Jesus Christ. Turn
to Hebrews chapter seven. While you're in Hebrews chapter
seven, or Hebrews, this illustrates what this means. Verse nine. As I may so say,
Levi also who received tithes, Levi represents the priests in
the Old Testament. Under Old Testament law, you
were to give a 10th to the priests. But here, Levi who received tithes
paid tithes in Abraham for he was yet in the loins of his father
when Melchizedek met him. Now, when Abraham paid tithes,
because Levi was in his loins, his great grandson, Levi paid
those tithes. It doesn't say it's as if he
paid those tithes. It says he actually paid those
tithes. If I'm in Christ, when he kept
the law, I kept the law. Whatever he did, I did. Isn't that the hope of the gospel?
Union with the Lord Jesus Christ. The only hope I have of being
saved is if I am eternally united to Jesus Christ. That's the doctrine
of baptism. Turn to Romans 6 for just a moment.
Romans 6. Verse 3. Know ye not, Romans chapter six,
verse three. Know ye not that so many of us
were baptized, or as many, know ye not that so many of us as
were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death.
Now, is he saying that everybody who goes through water baptism
is baptized into Christ's death? No. How many people have been
baptized in water and never knew Christ? How many people have
been baptized and were never truly saved, never truly regenerated? How many people have I baptized
who are no longer here? Many, many, probably more than
people who have remained when it comes right down to it as
far as these things of baptisms. He's not talking about everybody
that was baptized by water is baptized into Christ. He said
everybody that's baptized into Christ was baptized into his
death. when everybody in Christ, everybody united to Christ, everybody
baptized into Christ, immersed into Christ, united to Christ,
only God can do that. This is a baptism only God performs.
Water baptism, I represent something, I'll put somebody down and bring
them back up, but this is the baptism that I must have, this
baptism into Christ, being immersed into Jesus Christ. Know ye not
that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, every one
of us were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried
with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised
up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should
also walk in newness of life. For if we've been planted together
in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness
of his resurrection." Turn to Mark chapter one, Mark chapter one, verse four, John talking about John, the
Baptist did baptize. This is talking about water baptism.
John did baptize in the wilderness and preach the baptism of repentance
for the remission of sins. And there went out unto him all
the land of Judea and they of Jerusalem and were all baptized
of him in the river Jordan." See, it was water baptism. They
were baptized in the river Jordan. Doing what? Confessing their
sins. Now what's that all about? Does
that mean that before I go through water baptism, I first got to
get up in front of everybody and confess all the sins I've
committed? Or even the ones I know about? No, that's perverted. That's what that is, that's perverted.
What's it mean then? You get up and confess your sins
in baptism. I am safe in the act of baptism
that I personally am so sinful that I can only be saved by what
baptism depicts, the life, the death, and the resurrection of
Jesus Christ. The only hope that I have to
be saved because I am, I repeat, so sinful. That's what it's talking
about when it talks about confessing your sins. I am so sinful that
I cannot possibly be saved by my works. If there's something
that I need to do before I can be saved, I won't be saved. The only way I can be saved is
if I'm united to Christ, His perfect obedience, His life,
His law keeping, The only righteousness I know anything about, the only
righteousness I have, I don't possess anything but that. The
only thing that can be done about my sins, I can't do anything
about them, I can't make them go away. The only way that my
sins can be forgiven is if I was in Christ and when He died I
was in Him and my sins were paid for and put away. The only way
I can stand righteous before God, I'm so sinful, that the
only way that I can stand righteous before God is if when Christ
was raised from the dead, I was raised with Him, all my sins
were put away, and by His act without my help, He justified
me. That is the doctrine of baptisms. union with Jesus Christ. Here's what I'm confessing in
baptism. I'm saying, here's the only hope
I have that when he lived, I lived. When he kept the law, I kept
the law. When he died, I died with him. I was crucified with Christ.
My sins were put away. When he was raised from the dead,
I was raised with That is the only hope I have
of salvation because I am so sinful. That's what it means
to confess your sins in this thing of baptisms. I'm confessing
I'm so sinful that what baptism depicts is the only way that
I can be saved. Is that your confession? Do you
believe that? Do you know that? Do you understand
that? That the only way that you can
be saved is if Jesus Christ lived for you, if he died for you,
and he was raised again for you. Well, I'm saying that's my only
hope. I believe that from the depths
of my heart. Baptism is my public confession. that I'm so sinful that all my
hope, all of it, 100% is found in what baptism depicts the life,
the death and the resurrection of Christ. Now then, what most people believe denies what baptism teaches.
They might even believe in water baptism. Oh, I believe in water
baptism. I believe in baptism, Bob Mercer. Well, congratulations,
you ought to. It's what the word means. You know, that's a no-brainer.
You're not gonna find any support in the scripture from sprinkling
or, it's just ridiculous. I've heard people say it, baptizing
infants, for instance. They say, well, it takes the
place of circumcision. Where's that in the Bible? I mean, that's
just purely pulling something out that's crazy. Baptism is
by immersion, there's no doubt about it, but here's what most
people teach. In Lexington, Kentucky this morning, Jesus Christ died
for all men. He lived for all men. He died
for all men. He was raised for all men. He
paid for everybody's sins on Galbraith's tree. He was making
a sin payment for everybody. He was dying for everybody's
sin. He may live for you, He may die for you, and he may be
raised again for you, but you might go to hell anyway if you
don't do your part. You know what that is? A denial of the
gospel. A denial of what baptism represents
in the first place. You're going to tell me that
Christ can live for you, Christ can die for you, Christ can be
raised for you, and you wind up in hell anyway? Why, you believe
in salvation by works. You believe it's dependent on
something you do. No believer believes that. We believe our
salvation is completely dependent upon what he did in my stead
as my substitute. And everybody that he lived for,
everybody that he died for, everybody he was raised for, they're all
saved. They're all saved. Now, if you
believe that Jesus Christ can live and die and be raised for
somebody and they wind up in hell anyway, you deny what baptism
means in the first place. Union with Christ doesn't make
salvation possible. Union with Christ is salvation. Let me show you a passage of
scripture in Matthew chapter 20 that I think would be helpful.
Matthew chapter 20. Then came to him, verse 20, Matthew
chapter 20, verse 20. Then came to him the mother of
Zebedee's children, that's James and John, with her sons, worshiping
him and desiring a certain thing of him. And he said unto her,
what wilt thou? And she said unto him, grant
that these my two sons may sit the one on thy right hand and
the other on thy left in thy kingdom. My mom would have done that.
I was her only son. She'd make sure he's the top
dog. You'd probably do that with your
kids, too. I know you would. I mean, if you got what you wanted,
that's what you'd want. You might not admit it. But this
woman admitted it. I want them to, I want James
and John to be on your right hand and on your left hand. But Jesus answered and said,
you know not what you ask. And he's speaking to these boys
now. And we know that from one of
the other accounts. He says, are you able to drink of the
cup that I shall drink of and to be baptized with the baptism
that I'm baptized with? And he's talking about, Him being
baptized under the wrath of God. Look at their answer. Yep. We're up to the task. Now, if I was Lord, I would have
harshly rebuked them. Are you guys crazy? But look
how he answers. And he said unto them, You shall
drink indeed of my cup and be baptized with the baptism that
I'm baptized with. When Christ drank that cup, I
did too. What he did, I did. When he went to, when he was
crucified, when they nailed his hands and feet to that cross,
I was right there with him. I was nailed to that cross. I'm
crucified with Christ. I did experience the baptism
that he was baptized with. I did. Every believer did. It's called union with Jesus
Christ. That is the teaching. of baptisms. Now, when the Lord
gave his great commission before he ascended back to the father,
he said in Mark chapter 16, verses 15 and 16, go ye into all the
world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. As a matter of fact, why don't
you turn there? Cause I want you to see this with your own eyes.
Mark 16, verse 15, Mark 16, verse 15. And he said unto them, go ye. into all the world and preach
the gospel to every creature. Verse 16, Mark 16, verse 16.
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth
not shall be damned. And notice he did not say he
that is not baptized shall be damned. He didn't say that, did
he? He said, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.
He that believeth not shall be damned. Now, what is the point?
In this verse of scripture, the Lord identifies to us who should
be baptized. He that believeth. That's the
requirement for baptism. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. What is the one requirement for
baptism, believing who Jesus Christ is. Well, don't you need
to show your life has changed? Don't you need to get some evidence
of being saved before you try something like that? No. No, that works. I remember reading
one guy who said, when somebody wanted to be baptized, they'd
have to stay in the church three years to be examined before they'd
let them be baptized. See, baloney. That's foolishness. That's all that is. That's foolishness. What is the one requirement for
baptism? Faith in Christ. You know, people
baptize infants. Infants can't believe. It's right
evil to do something like that. Somebody says, well, that's what
I've always been taught. Well, quit thinking that way then. That's
not right. Who is to believe? Who is to
be baptized? Those who believe. Those who
believe the gospel. Well, I was baptized before I
believed the gospel. I believe, no, you weren't, that
wasn't baptism. That was some kind of religious right. You're
baptized when you believe, when you hear and believe and not
before then. Baptism is believers' baptism. It's the believers' confession
of Jesus Christ. Now, what I'd like to do for
the last 15 minutes or so is look at the baptisms in the book
of Acts. Turn with me to Acts chapter
two. Acts chapter two. Now, this is
Peter's first sermon. After the resurrection of Christ,
it's what's known as the Sermon on the Day, the Pentecostal Sermon,
and the Sermon on the Day of Pentecost. And at the end of
this sermon, 3,000 people were converted. We don't have an instance
like anything like this anywhere in the Bible than this, this
glorious sermon he preached. Look in verse 22, ye men of Israel,
hear these words. Here's where it begins. 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 also know him being delivered by the determined counsel and
foreknowledge of God, you have taken by wicked hands, have crucified
and slain whom God had raised up, having loosed the pains of
death, because it was not possible that he should be holding of
death. Now, at the end of this message, he says in verse 36,
therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that
God hath made this same Jesus whom you have crucified, both
Lord and Christ. Now, when they heard these things,
they were pricked in their heart. These were the murderers of Christ.
Remember who they were. They participated in his death.
They were yelling for his death. They were pricked in their heart.
And they said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles,
men and brethren, what shall we do? We're in trouble. Then
Peter said unto them, repent and be baptized every one of
you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and
you shall receive the Holy Ghost. Repent. Everything you think is wrong,
change your mind. It's all wrong. All your thoughts
of God, all your thoughts of salvation, all your thoughts
of yourself. That's what repent means. It means change your mind.
Change your mind. Everything you think is wrong.
Your thoughts of God are wrong. Change your mind. Repent. And
be baptized. That's what you do when you repent.
Be baptized. Every one of you in the name
of Jesus Christ knowing His name is the only way you'll be saved
for and that word for can just as easily be translated concerning
the remission of sins. Now understand this repentance
in its very essence is a change of mind regarding the remission
of sins. You think your sins will be forgiven if you do something?
And then you change your mind and you understand your sins
will only be forgiven in his name, for his sake, by what he
did. Repentance in its very nature
is a change of mind regarding how God forgives sins. Now look in verse 41. Then they
that gladly received his word were baptized. I've often wondered,
how do you baptize 3000 people? I don't know how they managed
it, but they did 3000 people. And then they gladly received
his word, the word of the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ
were baptized in the same day that were added into them about
3000 souls. Turn to Acts chapter eight. This is when Philip came into
Samaria preaching the gospel. And I love verse eight. And there
was great joy in that city. There was great joy in that city.
Look down in verse 12, but when they believe Philip preaching
the things concerning the kingdom of God, now here's what they
heard. When they believed Philip preaching the things concerning
the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized. both men and women. They heard
him preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, the king
of the kingdom, the absolute sovereignty of Jesus Christ.
His name, His name is the only way I can be saved. Not my name,
His name is the name that God will accept. Have you understood
that? His name is the name God will accept, not your name, His
name. When they heard this and they
believed this, they were baptized. men and women. Look in verse
36 of this same chapter. And as they went on their way,
they came into a certain water. Obviously water is used in this
confession. They came into a pool of water
and the eunuch said, see, here's water. What does hinder me to
be baptized? Now he heard Philip preach the
gospel so clearly unto him. You'll remember he was in his
chariot reading Isaiah 53. He didn't have any idea what
it meant. And Philip came up to him and said, do you understand
what you're reading? He said, how can I except some man should
guide me? Well, I love his attitude. Here's what I think it means.
Here's what I believe. I'm not taught, this is what,
I wish you and I would be like this man. How can I? I'm so spiritually
stupid. Somebody's got to give me the
truth because I'm not gonna be able to figure it out. How can I? Except some man should guide
me. And we know that he began at that same scripture where
he's reading Isaiah 53 and he preached unto him Jesus. He heard
the gospel. And during the course of that
message, evidently Paul said something about baptism because
he comes up and he says, here's water. Now you tell me what hinders
me from being baptized. Is there a reason I shouldn't
be baptized? I want to know. And look at Philip's reply in
verse 37. And Philip said, if thou believest
with all thine heart thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe
that Jesus Christ is the son of God. Do you hear that? He
didn't say, I believe that Jesus Christ died for my sins. He didn't say, I believe I'm
one of the elect. He didn't say, I believe I've been born from
above. He didn't even say, I believe
I'm saved. He said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son
of God, God the Son, the second person of the blessed Trinity.
Faith is believing who He is. Now understand that. Don't miss
this. Faith is believing who He is. Do you believe that Jesus Christ
is God the Son, the creator, the absolute sovereign of the
universe? He said, I believe that Jesus
Christ is the son of God. What did they do? And he commanded
the chariot to stand still verse 38. And they went down both into
the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. Do you believe that Jesus Christ
is the son of God? Acts chapter 16. Verse 14, and a certain woman
named Lydia. You know, God always saves certain
people, people that he's appointed, individuals. There's nothing
generic about the gospel. A certain woman named Lydia. A cellar of purple in the sea
of Thyatira was worshipped. God heard us. She heard the gospel. heart the Lord opened." You see, it was a closed heart
until the Lord opened it. And it began with her hearing. You
see, your heart's not opened if you've never heard. Hearing
and opening comes at the precise same time in the divine economy. You hear, God opens your heart. What happens when God opens your
heart? She attended. She listened. unto the things
which were spoken of Paul and when she was baptized." And there's
the divine order. She heard and her heart was opened.
She listened to what was said and she was baptized. Look in
Acts chapter 16, once again, verse 30. This is when that Philippian
jailer has It's when he was getting ready
to kill himself, thinking the prisoners had been fled when
an earthquake opened up the jail cells. And we read in verse 20
of the book, but Paul cried with a loud voice saying, do thyself
no harm. We're all here. Then he called for a light. Well, there's a lot of, uh, that's,
that's more than just a physical light. He called for a light. and sprang in and came trembling
and fell down before Paul and Silas and brought them out and
said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? Now there's not a more
important question you could ask. Notice he didn't say, what
must I do to save myself? He saw he couldn't save himself.
What must I do to be saved? Look at the answer. And they
said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Same thing that Ethiopian eunuch did. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. And thou shalt be saved in thy
house. And they spake unto him the word
of the Lord to all that were in his house. He preached the
gospel to him. And he took him the same hour
of the night and washed their stripes. and was baptized, he
and his, straightway. Turn to Acts 22. This is the
last one we'll look at. Now Paul was on the road to Damascus
to kill some Christians. That's what his purpose was.
He wasn't on his way to a prayer meeting. He was there to stamp
out the name of Jesus Christ. He hated Christ. And Christ appeared
to him as a great light above the light, the brightness and
shining of the sun. Christ appeared to him and he
hit the dirt. He said, who art thou Lord? He
said, I'm Jesus, whom thou persecutest. That's when I said, Lord, what
would you have me do? He said, well, you go to the
house of straight and it'll be told you what to do. And then
a man by the name of Ananias comes to him. I love this. You
know Ananias, you never heard of him before this or after this. He was a nobody. He was a nobody. Now I would have sent John or
Peter or an apostle to him, but Lord doesn't do that. He sends
a nobody from nowhere, a man named Ananias. And Ananias comes
to him and he says, brother Saul, receive thy sight. And he looked on him and he said,
beginning in verse 14, look with me. And he said, the God of our
fathers has chosen me. First thing he heard was election. First thing he heard, God chose
you. God chose you. Listen, if you're
saved, if you believe the gospel, let me tell you why God chose
you. You can't give your free will credit. That's ridiculous.
God chose you. The God of our fathers has chosen
thee that thou should know his will, his will of redemption.
That's not talking about knowing his will for what job you take
or no, it's his eternal will of redemption. that you should
see that just one, how he made a way to be just and justify
the ungodly, and should hear the voice of his mouth, for thou
shalt be his witness unto all men of what you've seen and heard. And now, what are you waiting
on? What are you waiting on? Why are you
tearing? Arise and be baptized and wash
away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. Why tariest? Now, with regard to faith, believing
the gospel, what are you waiting on right now? If you're waiting on anything,
that works. You're thinking about what you need to do. That works. Well, don't I need to have more
of my life changed before I believe? Don't I need to give some kind
of evidence of me being? Do you hear what you're saying?
That works. Believe now. Believe the command
of the gospel now. It's a command. Well, I just
don't feel led to yet. That ain't no excuse. If my dad told me to do something,
I'd use my dad again. If I said, well, I don't feel
led to, there would be some consequences to that. I don't feel led to. What's that got to do with it?
You're commanded to believe. The gospel's a command. Believe.
Your right to do it is with his command. Believe the gospel right
now. With regard to baptism, what are you tarrying on? What
are you waiting for? If you're waiting for, well, I'm waiting
until I feel more. I'm waiting until I understand.
That's works. That's works. Believe the gospel
and confess Christ in believer's baptism. You're confessing, I
am so sinful that I know that the only way
I can be saved is if I was in Jesus Christ. And when he kept
the law, I did. That's my only hope of obedience,
his obedience. I can't do anything about my
sin. The only way my sin can be dealt with is him putting
it away by his precious blood. The only way I can be saved is
by his resurrection. He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. My salvation has absolutely nothing
to do with my works. It's his works. Yeah, I believe
in salvation by works, his works. That's what I confess in believers
baptism. How important is baptism? Stupid question. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for this
ordinance you've given us and its simplicity and Lord, we are so amazed and
grateful at the thought of union with Jesus Christ. And Lord, truly, our only hope
of being accepted before you is being united to the blessed
son, being one with him. Lord, to think that when he lived
and kept the law, we did. When he died on Calvary's tree,
suffering your wrath against sin, we did. And when he was
raised from the dead, we were raised in him. And he is all
our salvation and all our desire. In his blessed name, we pray.
Amen.