Whatever I feel, my salvation
has been completely taken care of by what my Lord did when He
said He accomplished something. Do you remember in 1 Kings chapter
18? I love that story of Elijah. The false prophets of Baal, they
bring out their their sacrifice and they start leaping on and
saying, Baal, hear us. And they start asking Baal to
do something for them. They were so desirous for him,
but nothing happened. No answer from heaven. Remember
Elijah said, the God that answers by fire, he's God. And they waited
on that. And so Elijah comes up and he
He, I love what he does to the sacrifice. He douses them with
water three different times. They're soaked down. He has trenches
with water in them. I mean, the thing is submerged.
And then he prays. Remember those other fellows
prayer and fire didn't come down from heaven, but he prayed. And
the scripture says fire came down from heaven and it licked
up the water. It consumed the sacrifice, it
consumed the stones, it consumed the dust, it consumed the altar.
When that fire came down from heaven, can you imagine, as all
those people looked on, nothing was left. Not a single thing
was left. Consumed away. Now when the Lord Jesus Christ
was on the cross, something completely different took place. The fire of God's wrath fell
down upon him. He was baptized. He was immersed. He was submerged in God's wrath. But here something completely
different took place. This time the fire didn't consume
the sacrifice. But the sacrifice consumed the
fire. And now God says, there's no
fury in me. What a glorious being that he
can completely satisfy, put away the sins of God's people. And
now there's no wrath, no fury. signifies union with the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's the doctrine of baptism. You know, when we read the doctrine
of baptisms, well, when he was talking about that baptism with
fire, yes, he suffered God's wrath on Calvary's tree, but
you know somebody else who did? I did. Everybody he died for
did. When he was raised from the dead,
he wasn't the only one raised from the dead. Everybody in him
was raised from the dead. That's what baptism teaches.
Union with the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no more important doctrine,
all the Word of God, than this thing of union with Christ. Now
somebody says, well, what does that mean, union? Well, that's
a good question. Remember when the scripture says
in Ephesians chapter 5, talking about the husband loving the
wife, and he says, he that loveth his wife loveth himself. When Christ loved his wife, you
know who he loved? Himself. because all of God's
people are united to the Lord Jesus Christ. They are one with
Him. Not just real close, but one. If we believe not, He abideth
faithful, for He cannot deny, what? Himself. You see, if He'd
deny me, you know who He'd be denying? Himself. That's how real union with the
Lord Jesus Christ is. Whatever He did, because I'm
one with Him, because I'm united with Him. Whatever He does, I
do. And that's what we confess in
baptism. When someone's baptized, they
say, here's my hope of salvation. When He lived, I lived. When
He kept God's holy law, I kept God's holy law. When He died
and suffered under God's wrath, I died and suffered under God's
wrath. When He was raised from the dead, I was raised with. That is what we confess in Believer's
Baptism. You see the whole gospel in this
thing of Believer's Baptism. Now let's go back to Matthew
chapter 3 for a moment. I hope those comments will make
this scripture seem more real. Verse 13, Then cometh Jesus from
Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. Verse 14,
Matthew chapter 3, But John forbade him, saying, All need to be baptized
of thee, and comest out of me. And Jesus answering, said unto
him, Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh. And what's
that next word? Us. To fulfill. All righteousness. Whatever Christ
did, he did as an us. He did this for everyone who
was united to Him. Thus it becometh us. John the Baptist, Todd Nyberg,
everybody else I'm dying for. Thus it becometh us to fulfill
all righteousness. Now, that's what we're confessing
in Believer's Baptism. We're confessing that His righteousness
Here's my hope of being accepted. I was in Him. When He fulfilled
all righteousness, I fulfilled all righteousness. This is the
gospel. This is the teaching of baptism. Thus it becometh us to fulfill
all righteousness. And when the Lord fulfilled all
righteousness and perfectly obeyed God's holy law, I did too. I
think the most beautiful example of this is Lot. Everybody knows
Brother Lot. He's the one who chose the well-watered
plain. He's the one who pitched his
tent towards Sodom. He's the one who got himself
in all kinds of grief and trouble because of bad things that he
did and bad decisions he made. Lot. And yet, you know what God
calls Lot? Just Lot. And this is God's testimony,
not man's. Me and you'd call him a weak man. an incestuous
man, a drunken man. That's what we'd call him. The
things that he did, he did some terrible things. But when God
testifies of this man, he calls him just lot. He speaks of that
righteous man who is vexed from day to day with their unlawful
deeds. And they spoke of his righteous soul. That's God's
testimony. And how God testifies something is the way it is. If
God says he's righteous, you know why? It's because he is
righteous. Whatever God says, that's the
way It is, and how we glory in that. Now, when the Lord went
under the water and came back up, he knew exactly what water
baptism represented. You see, when the Lord was baptized,
I said, why was the Lord baptized? He's not a sinner like me. I
mean, I can see why I'm baptized, but why would the Lord be baptized?
Well, the Lord was confessing union with us. He was teaching
us what baptism means. He was confessing union with
us. When we are baptized, we confess
union with him. When he was baptized, he was
confessing union with us. In the garden was the immersion, on the cross
was the submergence, and the resurrection was the emergence.
Now, when the Lord went under the water and came back up, I
love to think about this. Let's stay in Matthew chapter
three, verse 16. And Jesus, when he was baptized,
went up straightway out of the water. And lo, the heavens were
opened unto him. How was heavens open? By what
baptism represented. The only way heavens will be
open to me or you is by what baptism represents. And lo, the
heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God
descending like a dove and lighting upon him. And lo, a voice from
heaven saying, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Now let me give you a story within
the story. The very day that the Lord had
to experience this baptism of fire. That one of which he said,
oh, how is my soul straightened until it be accomplished? The
very day that he had to experience this baptism by fire, there was
a man in prison. He was a wicked man. He was a
murderer. He was an insurrectionist. He's
nobody you'd want to be around. and his name was Barabbas. And
he was supposed to be executed on that very day. Now can you imagine if you knew
you were going to be crucified today how you would feel? To
know that your hands would have nails driven through them and
your feet would have nails driven through them and you'd be fastened
across and be put up in the air and there you'd hang for hours,
perhaps sometimes several days they would hang there. And can
you imagine the overwhelming dread that he felt? And then all of a sudden he hears
the prison door open and the guards are coming after him and
he's frightened, he's scared, and they give him this news.
You're set free. You're set free. You remember
that the crowd asked, there was a custom that on the feast day,
some prisoner would be let go and Pilate suggested do this
for the Lord. And they said, no, give us Barabbas.
The innocent died that the guilty might go free. Now that happens
all the time in our life, doesn't it? How many times have men been
put to death who didn't really commit the crime? How many times,
how many people are there in prison right now while I'm speaking
who are sitting there in a jail cell being accused for something
that they really didn't do? The innocent being punished.
And how many people are there right now on our streets who
have committed horrible crimes and they've never been caught?
Nobody knows anything about it. They're walking around scot-free. But let me tell you this about
this time when the Lord Jesus died and Barabbas was set free. When Jesus died, the guilty was
punished. And when Barabbas was set free,
the innocent was set free. That is what the Lord did on
the cross. He was guilty. And he got exactly what he had
coming. And Barabbas was set free because
Barabbas was innocent because of what Christ did for him. If you're a believer, you're
innocent. You have no guilt. You have no
sin. Now, how is heaven open to people
like Brabus and me and you? The baptism of the Lord Jesus
Christ and what it accomplished. That's all that it takes. That's the teaching of baptism.
Now, Look back in Matthew 3, verse 17, it says, And lo, a
voice from heaven, saying, After the Lord was baptized, This is
my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And if you're in him, God is
well pleased with you. Isn't that a wonderful thought? God looks at you right now and
He's well pleased. He sees no sin. You know why
He sees no sin? It's not because He can't see
well, it's because there is no sin. That's what Christ accomplished
on Calvary's tree. He made it to where you are justified. You are without sin. That's what we confess by believers'
baptism. Turn with me to 1 John chapter
3. Let's see this in the scripture. Verse 4. Whosoever committeth
sin transgresseth also the law, for sin is the transgression
of the law. And you know that he was manifested
to take away our sins. That's why I came, to take them
away. And in him is no sin. In him I have no sin. Some concluding words with regard
to baptism. Christ was baptized. That's so
significant. Christ was baptized. And the
next time baptism is mentioned is on the great day of Pentecost
when Peter preached that message and 3,000 people confessed Christ
in Believer's Baptism. What must that have been like?
I mean, we're thrilled with six. They had 3,000 people in one
day confess Christ in believer's baptism. And the next time we
read of baptism is in Acts chapter 8 with regard to the Ethiopian
eunuch. And Philip had preached the gospel
to this man. To me, this is one of the most
significant passages of scripture in all the word of God. So you
listen carefully. You zero in to what's being said
right now. after he heard him preach the
gospel, and included in that message he heard, he heard something
about baptism. Because he said, see, here's
water. What doth hinder me from being
baptized? Now, I want to know, is there
anything holding me back? Is there anything hindering me?
Is there anything that I need to do? Is there anything I need
to believe? Is there something that I need
to understand more of? Do I need to have more evidence
that I'm a child of God? Do I have to have more evidence
that God has done something for me? If there's something I need
to do, I want to know what it is. What hinders me? And Philip said, If you believe,
with all your heart, you may." And he answered, and I love his
answer. He did not say, I believe I'm
a Christian. He did not say, I believe that
Jesus Christ died for me. He did not say, I believe I'm
one of the elect. He did not say, I believe I've
been born again. What did he say? I believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I believe He is God the Son. I believe He's the second person
of the Blessed Trinity. Believing that He's God the Son,
I believe that whatever He does must be successful. And you know what Philip did?
He baptized Him. Here's the one requirement for
Christian baptism. Do you believe that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God? Yep, I do. I do. I really believe. He is the eternal Son of God. Now, the next time we read in
the book of Acts of baptism, it was that of the Apostle Paul.
How he was on the road to Damascus. God knocked him down, blinded
him with a light greater than the sun. And he sent Ananias
to preach the gospel to him. And Ananias said, The God of
our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou mightest know his will,
and see that just one, and hear the voice of his mouth. For thou
shalt be his witness to all men of what you've seen and what
you've heard. You know what he said next? And
now why tarryest thou? What are you waiting on? Evidently, I'm sure Paul had
Stephen on his mind. He'd held the coat of the people
who were stoning Stephen. He knew what wickedness he was
guilty of. Me? Be baptized? Shouldn't I
have a probationary period? Shouldn't, I mean, all of a sudden
I go from Christian murderer to an apostle? Shouldn't there
be some kind of waiting period? Or shouldn't something happen?
What hinders me from being baptized? Now what hinders you if you've
not confessed Christ in believer's baptism? What hinders you? The gospel's free. There's nothing
you need to bring. There's nothing you need to achieve.
There's nothing you need to pay. It's absolutely free. There's nothing holding you back. God's grace is free. Are you waiting to get better?
It ain't gonna happen. I can tell you that right now.
It ain't gonna happen. You always have your flesh, your
old nature. It doesn't improve. Are you waiting
to understand more? Well, how much do you need to
understand? Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God?
What else is needed? Do you need to have more experience?
Your experience is no good. It really isn't. I mean, all
the experience that you have, the best thing you can do is
get rid of it. I'm sure of that. I'm sure of that. are you waiting on? Arise and
be baptized, calling on the name of the Lord. Now, baptism never
washed away one sin. I was talking to somebody just
this week who was speaking of baptism and washing away sins. Baptism doesn't wash away sins.
You think going down into the water and coming back up would
wash away sin? Well, no. You know better than
that, surely. But what baptism signifies? As we're getting ready to watch
these people confess Christ in believer's baptism, I want to say to everybody here,
if you've not confessed Christ in baptism, do it now. Let not conscience make you linger.
nor a fitness fondly drained, the only fitness he requires
is to have a need of him. This he gives you, this need,
tis the spirit's rising beat. Everybody who believes that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God. I don't care what your age is.
Somebody says, well, I've been baptized four or five times.
No, you haven't. There's only one baptism. You might have gone
under the water four or five times. Like I said, I was talking
to one guy. I said, the tadpoles know my name. I've been baptized
so many times. There's one baptism. When you
understand that the only hope you have is that when Christ
lived, he lived for you. That's the only hope you have.
He kept the law for you. He died for you. He was raised
for you. You're hanging your hat right
there. That's the only hope you have. That's what's called baptism. And it's your public confession
of Christ. You confess this in baptism. In 2 Peter 3, let's look at one
last scripture, 2 Peter chapter 3. I'm in 1 Peter chapter 3. Verse 21. The like figure, talking
about Noah's ark, the like figure were unto even baptism doth also
now save us. Not the putting away of the filth
of the flesh. That didn't happen in water baptism
where the sins were put away by that. But the answer of a
good conscience toward God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And the only thing that satisfies
this sinner's conscience is the resurrection of Jesus
Christ. God says, I can ask for no more. God satisfied with Christ. Are
you? Let's pray together.