mentioned earlier that we're
in Proverbs for both hours. And I'm delighted to see, even
though we drew a text from Proverbs 28, if you want to be turning
there, Proverbs 28. We drew a text from there back in December on
the 28th as we went through Proverbs together. I was encouraged to go back over
Proverbs and studying for this for today. and found something
new. And I think that's so like what
the Lord does for his people over and over. We read something
and it means something to us that day. We see the Lord's face
and we rejoice in it. And then the next day we go and
read it again and maybe it says something different to us. And
the Lord gives us fresh manna. That's why we are here, is for
fresh manna. When the manna would fall from
heaven for the children of Israel in the wilderness, he said, you
can only gather for that day, except for the day before the
Sabbath. The day before the Sabbath, they
were together twice as much, and the Lord would call the manna
to keep during the Sabbath day so that they didn't do any work
on the Sabbath. But that's a picture of the Lord
giving us manna every single day, and Christ is that manna,
and we rest on Christ our Sabbath. That's what this is a picture
of. We're here to see new manna, praying that he would cause us
to. Look with me, Proverbs 28 at verse 13. He that covereth his sins shall
not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have
mercy. Happy is the man that feareth
always, but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief. as a roaring lion and a raging
bear, so as a wicked ruler over the poor people. The prince that
wanteth understanding is also a great oppressor, but he that
hateth covetousness shall prolong his days. A man that doeth violence
to the blood of any person shall flee to the pit. Let no man stay
him. Whoso walketh uprightly shall
be saved. but he that is perverse in his
ways shall fall at once. This might seem like an odd title
to draw from this text, but I've titled the message, Why Are We
Baptized? Why Are We Baptized? The first
thing I want to make very clear is that water baptism is not
salvation. Water baptism is not Salvation. A perfect example of this would
be the thief on the cross. When the Lord was hanging upon
the cross, he's made seven sayings on the cross. And that thief
heard the gospel from the Lord Jesus Christ. And that thief
believed because of the repentance God gave him. The only way that
a man could have saw Christ as being the Christ on the cross,
as being God on the cross, he had to have faith. There's no
other explanation. If we were to behold him in our mind's eye
in the grotesqueness of everything, the blood that was coming forth
and the man being on the cross with the crown of thorns upon
his head. No one would have said, just by looking at the natural
man would not have said, well, he's God. There's no way. So
it was faith that was given to this thief, wasn't it? One on
one side and one on the other, and only one believed. The Lord
did this. And what did the Lord say to this man? Well, the man
begged him and said, Lord, remember me. Remember me when thou comest
into thy kingdom. And the Lord said, today thou
shalt be with me in paradise. Was that man baptized? Not with
water, not physically with water, he was not. And yet he was found
in the Lord's kingdom that day with Christ. We know this because
that's what God said on the cross, didn't he? Then we know it's
true, God cannot lie. So baptism is not salvation.
It is not salvation. So why are we baptized? I have
five reasons that we're baptized, five. And my intention in this
is to not, make anybody desire baptism based upon just me putting
pressure on people. That's not what I'm trying to
accomplish here at all. I'm answering the question, why
are we baptized? Let's find out why. And the Lord
will reveal his gospel in this. This is the whole point. We don't
want to miss the Lord's gospel in this. Now, number one, we
are baptized to confess Christ. We are baptized to confess Christ
before men, before God. We are baptized to confess Christ. Now the two Greek words that
are used in the scripture for baptism are bapto and baptizo
and they're both interesting and unique in of what they mean.
I told my daughters on the way here that I was going to be mentioning
this and I about got ahead of myself so let me wait just a
second on that comment. Bapto means to be dipped and brought
back up. That's what we do. That's what
we do when we baptize, is we dip and we bring back up. Baptizo
means to submerge and change into something else. Submerge
and change into something else. Now, men believe in religion
that baptism is baptizo, and it's not. The submersion of your
body in the water and coming back forth is not salvation.
The submersion in the body of water is a confession of Christ. Now, the best example that I
could come up with or what I read and what I was researching is
that you take a cucumber and you dip a cucumber in water and
you take it back out. It's still a cucumber. But if
you take that same cucumber and you put it in vinegar and you
leave it there, what does it become? Pickle. It becomes something
totally different. Its molecular structure has completely
changed. Its taste has changed. Its appearance
has completely changed. Its texture has changed. Everything
about it is totally different. And you can never take a pickle
and turn it back into a cucumber. Now, that might seem like a shallow
example. And I'm not going to elaborate on it for very long,
but that's exactly what we are referring to when we talk about
baptism. It's not the physical that we're looking to do and
then become the pickle, so to speak, if I can put it that way.
It might sound silly. But it's that it's already happened,
and therefore we confess what has happened. Do we see the difference?
See, you and I cannot change ourselves. Nothing that we can
do can change ourselves. We can't become a new creature.
We cannot be born again. Nicodemus asked the Lord, how
can a man, when he is old, enter into his mother's womb a second
time and be born? What he was implying was it's impossible.
And he said, well, with men, it's impossible. God, all things
are possible. So we see that it's the work
of the Lord that changes a man or a woman into a new creature. So baptism in and of itself,
getting wet in a pool is not going to change you into a new
creature. It's not. But yet we do it as an ordinance
unto the Lord to confess Christ before God and before man. This is why we are dipped, if
I can put it that way. We are baptized, dipped and brought
back up because we have been baptized, changed into something
new, submerged and changed into something new. So what are we
confessing? What are we confessing whenever
we are baptized? We're confessing Christ's life. We're confessing
his death. We're confessing his burial.
We're confessing his resurrection as our only justification before
God. I love the fact that that Baptistry
that we have right there is almost like a coffin. It's perfect.
It's the exact shape of the coffin, about as big as it is. And I
know people will hear this recording. We have a portable baptistry.
They wouldn't know what I was talking about unless I explained it.
And it's exactly the same shape as a coffin. It looks kind of
like a coffin. I love that because that's what we're confessing
is his death, isn't it? We're literally dying with him. That's
what we're saying. When he died, I died. That's my only hope.
When he was resurrected, I was resurrected. That's my only hope.
When he endured the wrath of God, I endured the wrath of God
in him. That is my only hope and my only
justification before God and before man. That's my only hope. Baptism is a ceremony, a ceremony. It is a ordinance that is a ceremony. Now, I remember being a child,
and I'm certain you do too, if baptism was just simply getting
wet or being put underneath water, then we've all been baptized
in that sense, in that form. I mean, I had a cousin one time,
he, well, all the time, he was bigger than me, he always hold
me under the water. So if that's baptism, I had been baptized
many times as a kid, but that's not what baptism is, is it? It's
a ceremony. It's a ceremony. It's something
that takes place in front of the Lord's people. It's a confession
of Christ. It's not, It's a ceremony. It's a confession of the union
that's already taken place. Now, I've heard men say, I can
confess Christ without baptism. I can confess Christ without
baptism. That's true, isn't it? That's true. You can confess
him verbally. You can confess him if that's
what a man chooses to do. But the best example I can give
you of what this ceremony represents is marriage. It's marriage. I heard Todd Nobert mentioned
this once. Whenever a man and a woman come together to become
married, do they fall in love that day after they're married? Is that what makes them love
each other? Is the marriage ceremony that took place? No, certainly
not. A man and a woman come together to become married because they
already love each other, don't they? I mean, I would hope so
anyways. That's typical. I mean, if you look at history,
I think that's how it works. You love each other and you become
married. I know there's arrangements of different things, What I'm
trying to say is, is that a man and a woman come together to
become married because they love each other and they want to confess
what? Before everybody. Confess the
love that they have towards each other. Is that not true? Now,
can I love my wife? She would be my girlfriend, I
suppose, not my wife if I wasn't married to her. Can I love her
and her not be my wife? Yes. Yes, I can. Can I move in? Can she move in with me? Can
we live? It's pretty popular in society, isn't it? People
living together without marriage. Why? Because they don't want
to commit to each other. They don't want to completely
100% commit and say, you're the only one that I want for the
rest of my life. You're the only one that I want.
And I want to confess my love for you before everybody. Confess
that you are mine and I am yours forever. That's what marriage
is. Did you know that's exactly what
baptism is? It is a confession. of the love
that the Lord hath shed upon you and a confession of the love
that you have in your heart towards him before men and before God.
You are confessing Christ. You are saying he is mine and
I am his forever. You are not getting in the water
to be baptized. I am not getting in the water
to be baptized in order to be saved. It's because we have been
and we want to confess him before men. This is why we are baptized. We have another ordinance that
we observed that we're going to be doing this morning. And I'm thankful
that the message the Lord gave me actually lined up with this
too. We take the Lord's table, don't we? Why do we do that? Well, we don't do it to be made
holy, do we? The Catholics believe that you're
literally eating the body of Christ and it's literally making
you holy. That's not true. It's just not. There's nothing
about us that's holy. Nothing that we consume can make us holy.
Why do we do it then? We are remembering. We are confessing
that it's by his body alone, and it's by his blood alone,
the two elements. That's exactly what we're doing
in baptism. We are confessing it's his body
alone, it's his blood alone, and it's his death, burial, and
resurrection alone. That is our justification before
God, or we have no hope. That's why we are baptized, and
that's why we take communion. Now, I wanna say something very
clear. There's no such thing as rebaptism,
no such thing. There's only one baptism, the
scripture tells us. The scripture is very clear.
There is one body, one spirit, even as you're called in one
hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. One God and father of all who
is above all and through all and in you all. There is just
one baptism. If you were baptized in false
religion, you were not baptized. It wasn't a confession of who
the Lord is or his gospel. You must be baptized. If you're
going to say you were baptized, it has to be under the sound
of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why are we baptized? To confess Christ, number one. Number two, to confess our sin. To confess our sin. You see in
Proverbs 28, you're there, verse 13. He that covereth his sins
shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them
shall have mercy. We confess our sin before men.
I want to show you that in Mark chapter one. Turn with me there. I do apologize. I have a cough
lingering, so if I cough, I seem like I might get choked up. I
don't know. We'll see. Maybe the Lord will be merciful in
that. Mark chapter one in verse four. John did baptize in the wilderness
and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. There
went out unto him all the land of Judea, and they of Jerusalem,
and were baptized of him in the river of Jordan, doing what?
Confessing their sins. Now I can tell you exactly what
that doesn't mean. That doesn't mean that they looked
at John the Baptist and said, I'm guilty of this, and I'm guilty
of this, and I'm guilty of this, and I've done this, and I've
done that. I've done all these things wrong. That is not what took
place. It wasn't a confession booth.
It wasn't. The very act of them being baptized was a confession
of what they were, that they needed a covering, that they
needed to be washed. Do we see that? That's what being
baptized is, is confessing that we are sin, that we are nothing
but sin, that we need a savior, we need a substitute. So we're
confessing Christ and we're confessing our sin, what we are, what we
are by nature. It's not a confession of the
mouth. Now, certainly we do confess
with the mouth before each other. We confess that the Lord Jesus
Christ is God. We confess that he successfully
redeemed his people. We do confess that. But this
confession is an action that takes place, that shows others,
it's a declaration saying, I'm sin, I'm false, and he's full
of truth and grace. That he's good and I'm not, I'm
bad. That's what baptism is, that we confess that Christ is
all. Baptism represents, notice that
he says, in verse four that he preached the baptism of repentance.
Now, baptism of repent, that doesn't mean that they were baptized
in order to repent. That means they were given repentance
and they were baptized because they had been given repentance
in faith. So salvation precedes baptism always, always proceeds. Baptism represents the washing
away of our sin. It doesn't wash away our sin.
Baptism doesn't wash away anything. It represents what has already
been done in the heart of the believer. When he died, our sin
was put away in him. That's what it represents. That's
what the water represents as a grave, being put in the grave
with him. Baptism is an outward expression
of an inward work that has already been done by God. So why are we baptized? To confess
Christ, number one. to confess our sin, number two,
and because Christ Jesus himself, our example, was baptized. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
three. Look at Matthew chapter three
in verse 13. Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan and to
John to be baptized of him. And John forbade him, saying,
I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?
Jesus answered and said to him, Suffer it to be so now, for thus
it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he suffered
him. And Jesus, when he was baptized,
went up straightway out of the water, and, lo, the heavens were
opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God 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." Christ Jesus
was baptized. That's the third reason that
we observe baptism. Christ Jesus was baptized. Now,
if we confess our sin in baptism and we confess Christ in baptism,
what was Christ confessing? He was confessing you. He was
confessing union with you before the Father, His people, His elect
before the foundation of the world. The ceremony was done
to show forth that when He died, His people were going to die
in Him. That was what He meant by fulfilling all righteousness.
He was confessing us. He was confessing us. That was
what He was confessing. Confessing that He would put
away our sin. What humility our Lord shows
forth in that. He'd become a man, first of all.
He humbled himself to death, even the death of the cross.
But Christ Jesus humbled himself to baptism. Think about that.
The Lord Jesus, God, was baptized. That blows my mind. I can't wrap
my mind around the amount of humility, the example of humility
given to us by our Lord and Savior. He was confessing that He is
the only way, that His death, His burial, His resurrection
is the only way to eternal life. That's what He was confessing. Why are we baptized? To confess
Christ, number one. Number two, to confess our sin.
Number three, Christ our example was baptized. And number four,
to confess this gospel, is the only gospel that clears our conscience,
as we heard in the first hour. This gospel is the only gospel. This gospel is the only gospel.
I could stop right there, couldn't I? It's the only gospel. It's
the only good news. Other people talk about the gospel. They talk
about the Lord being born, the Lord living, the Lord dying,
but they don't really talk about what he accomplished. They talk
about him trying to do things. The Lord successfully redeemed
his people. That's what we're confessing when we're baptized.
We're confessing that his gospel is the only gospel that clears
our conscience. Turn with me to 1 Peter 3. Look with me in verse 18. For
Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust. that he might bring us to God,
being put to death in the flesh, quickened by the Spirit, by which
also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison, which
sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God
waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was preparing, wherein
few, that is, eight souls were saved by water, The like figure
where into even baptism doth also now save us. Now look at
the parentheses. If he just left it there, then
we all have to be baptized to be saved. Here's what he says.
Not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, not to put away
your sin, but the answer of a good conscience towards God by the
resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and
is on the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers
being made subject unto him. Baptism represents what the Lord
Jesus Christ did for his people. Baptism represents that we are
confessing the Lord's gospel is the only hope that we have
before the Lord. And it is the only thing that
clears our conscience. Noah is the example given here
in this text. And I want us to think about
Noah on the ark. as the waves are around him.
The earth was completely covered in water, the scripture says.
That doesn't mean, that means exactly what it says. That's
what it means. When the Lord says the earth was completely
covered, it doesn't mean that there was islands popping up here and
there. It was completely covered. There was no other place to hide
except in the ark. And that is our picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ, isn't it? He was in the ark, him and his
family, his sons and his sons, wives and his wife, his eight
souls, he just told us that. They're in the ark and the rain
is beating down upon the ark. The wrath of God is falling upon
the ark and the Lord is sparing the people that are in the ark
as he ordained to do so, as a picture of what the Lord Jesus Christ
did for his people. represents, the rain represents
the Lord's wrath and the ark represents our safety, our security. And he actually says, as the
rain fell down, that's exactly what we are confessing is that
when Christ endured the wrath of God, I must have been in him
or I have no hope. When Christ endured the wrath
of God, if I was not in him, I have no hope. This is what
you're confessing is Christ is your ark. Christ is my ark. Christ is the cleft of the rock.
Christ is my hiding place. Christ must have endured my wrath,
the wrath that I deserve, or I have no hope. That's what we're
confessing. You remember Zebedee's wife comes
up to the Lord, James and John's mother, and she says unto the
Lord, Lord, Let it be so, whenever my two sons, James and John,
are with you in your kingdom, that you'll let one sit on the
right and one sit on the left. Can you think about requesting
that from the Lord? I mean, that's an incredible request, number
one, but it's such a picture of us, isn't it? We don't know
what we should ask for or how we should pray. Lord, teach us
these things. The Lord said unto them, are you able, are you able
to drink of the cup that I will drink with and be baptized with
the baptism that I shall be baptized with." And you know what they
said? We are able, we are able. Didn't have a clue what they
were saying, did they? But you know what the Lord said? You
shall indeed be baptized with the baptism I'm baptized with.
You shall indeed drink of this cup that I drink. What was he
saying? He wasn't talking about the baptism of water. He was
talking the baptism of fire that his father was gonna pour out
upon him for the elect sin. That's what baptism represents
is when the Lord Jesus Christ was on the cross. He was baptized
by the wrath of God. The wrath of God kept beating
upon that arc. The Lord Jesus Christ, our arc
over and over the waves of God continued to beat upon it. And
the only hope that you and I have is that we were in him when it
happened. If we're not in him, if we were
not in him, then we have no hope of eternal life. That's what
baptism represents. We're confessing that we're confessing,
Lord, You are my hiding place and I have no other hope. Lord,
you endure the wrath of God for your people and I am confessing
you before the world as my only hope. Lord Jesus Christ bore the sin
of his people. I've had a conversation this
week with someone that told me that the Lord could not have
became sin or the sacrifice would have been tainted. The scripture
says Christ was made sin for us who knew no sin. What does
that mean? Christ was made sin for us who knew no sin. He took
our sin unto himself and was offered up as the sacrifice for
his people. And when he died, the moment
he said, it is finished, every person that was in him, every
person's sin that he was bearing was put away forever. It literally
was paid for in full, put away, cast as far as the East is from
the West, never to be remembered again. Turn with me to Romans
chapter six. Look at verse three, Romans six,
verse three. Know you not that so many of
us as were baptized unto Jesus Christ were baptized unto his
death. Therefore we are buried with
him in baptism unto death, that like as Christ was. So you have the picture there
of what transpires during baptism. This actually is a seated position,
but you sit and then you were laid back into the water and
you're brought back up. What he's saying is we're baptized
unto his death is what it represents. Being buried with him, going
under the water is the watery grave that Christ went into for
his people. Do you remember Jonah? Whenever
the storm came, And I think I mentioned this recently. Jonah was running
from the Lord. He didn't want to preach to Nineveh.
So he ran from God and God sent a storm on a ship and it was
going to overtake the ship. They began to lighten the load.
They were trying to do everything they could. The lot fell upon Jonah
that it was his fault. And he said, the only thing that's
going to save you is if you cast me overboard. What did that represent?
Number one, it represented men trying to get to God by lightening
the load, by trying to work or do something that would please
God. And when they couldn't do that, the only thing left was to cast Jonah
over. Jonah represents Christ there.
Do we see that? He had to go into the watery
grave. He had to go be cast over the
ship so that you and I could be saved. If the Lord Jesus Christ
didn't endure the wrath, we have no hope. And the Lord prepared
a fish, didn't he? said, lifted up his hell in eyes
and then lifted up his eyes in hell is what Jonah said when
he was in the belly of the fish. And what did the scripture say
about the Lord? As Jonah was in the belly of the well three
days and three nights, so shall the son of man be in the heart
of the earth three days and three nights. So what happened? The Lord died
for his people. The Lord died for his people
in the grave. God died. The Lord Jesus Christ, the man
died. Think about that. And he did
that for his people. The wrath of God was appeased,
wasn't it? The wrath of God was pleased. It was satisfied. Justice
was satisfied. And what happened to the storm?
It stopped. The storm abated. The storm quit.
As soon as the Lord's wrath was satisfied in Noah's time, the
storm stopped. The Lord was satisfied. The Lord
was satisfied. And the wrath is gone. What happened
to Noah after he got off the ark? He got to see a rainbow,
didn't he? Now, people say rainbow represents many different things.
It represents one thing, the promise of God to his people,
period. That's it. That's all the rainbow represents.
And it's glorious, isn't it? I love driving down the road
and seeing a rainbow. Perhaps sometimes I'm having a bad day
or something, but I reminded, this is his physical promise
that we're seeing in the sky that he give to Noah. What did
it represent? He will never flood the earth
again, that his wrath was satisfied for his people. It's the promise
of Christ. It's a representation of the
covenant, isn't it? The bow in the sky. The Lord raises up, we're buried
with him in baptism, as I mentioned, we're buried with him in the
watery grave, we're raised up to walk in newness of life, a
brand new creature, aren't we? A brand new creature, just like
I mentioned before. Why we're baptized? Because there's
no other gospel. There is no other gospel that
purges our conscience. Our conscience is now clear before
the Lord, as we heard the first hour. because of the resurrection
of Jesus Christ. It's the only thing that gives
a good conscience. Galatians chapter three, verse 26, it says,
for you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been
baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Now, is he saying
that we have to be baptized in order to be put in Christ? No,
he's saying you've been baptized on the cross of Calvary. That's
what baptism represents, is that you were in him being baptized
by the fire of God's wrath in Christ Jesus. You were baptized
in him. Therefore, you are baptized physically
now representing that. The only thing that clears the
conscience is the confession of Christ. That's it. I'm not
telling you that you have to be baptized to have a clear conscience.
I'm telling you that if you, that a clear conscience comes
through and by knowing the Lord Jesus Christ and confessing his
gospel as all. And that's exactly what baptism
represents is confessing God's gospel is the only thing that
clears the conscience. The word baptized there. The word baptized says baptized
into Christ have put on Christ. Baptized into Christ is the Baptizo,
it's the one where you're submerged, like the pickle. You're submerged
and completely changed. Everything about you's changed.
That's a new creature, isn't it? That's how you're born again,
as Christ Jesus did that. I don't want to use that example,
and that's a terrible example, I suppose. That's the best I
could come up with. That's exactly what happens. We're new creatures
in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he's done. By his
own blood, he did that. By himself, We have put on Christ. We've put on Christ, robed in
his righteousness. He did that. Baptized with the
fire of God's wrath. So why are we baptized? To confess Christ, number one. Number two, to confess our sin,
what we are. Number three, because our example,
the Lord Jesus Christ was baptized. Number four, to confess this
gospel is the only gospel that clears the conscience. This gospel
is the only gospel. And lastly, we're commanded to,
we're commanded to in the scripture. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
28. Matthew 28, verse 19. Go ye therefore and teach all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always,
even to the end of the world. Amen. Believers, baptism is ordained
of God. It is ordained of God. The commandment
is repent and be baptized. That's what Peter preached on
the day of Pentecost. That's what Paul preached so often.
Do you remember whenever Philip met the Ethiopian eunuch? The
Ethiopian eunuch was reading Isaiah chapter 53, and he said,
Philip walked up to him and said, do you understand what you're
reading? He said, how can I except a man show me? He said, is he
talking about himself or is he talking about another? And Philip
began to declare unto him the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ from Isaiah 53. What was the eunuch's response?
Well, the Lord gave him repentance and faith at that moment, didn't
he? That's how it comes. It's through and by the preaching
of the gospel, no other way. And what did the eunuch say? Well,
there's water right there. What prevents me from being baptized?
I want to confess that. That's what I want to confess.
I believe. I believe what you just said is the truth. I believe
that that is salvation. I want to confess that. Here's
water. What prevents me from being baptized?
What happened? He baptized him right there,
didn't he? This is the heart that the Lord gives His people.
We desire to be baptized, to confess Him. Just as marriage,
we wanna confess our spouse, the love that we have for our
spouse, we wanna confess Christ in baptism. Men say, I don't have to be baptized.
You're absolutely right. If you think that way, if men
think that way, you don't have to do anything as far as baptism
goes. What a privilege. What a privilege to be able to
confess. the King of Glory. What a privilege
to be able to confess Him as your Savior, to confess Him as
your Lord, to confess His gospel as your gospel. That's what it
represents. Baptism no more saves a man than
the Lord's table makes a man holy. But yet the Lord commanded
us to. So why should I be baptized?
Whenever I first heard the gospel, I wanted to be baptized, but
my wife had not heard the gospel and I waited. I did. She was angry, first of all.
And we, well, I won't elaborate on that. She didn't like the
gospel. Let's just put it that way. I heard and it was the best
thing I'd ever heard. I was set free. The Lord saved me. He called
me. I was just amazed at the grace
of God. I saw myself as the sinner and
saw the Savior and it was glorious. And yet my wife hated it because
it stripped her of her righteousness. A year went by and we I guess
she kept coming to church and thankfully, thankful for that
Southern teaching that we were raised that a woman follows the
man. And I know that that's not a popular thing, but she wanted
to make sure that she followed me wherever I went. So she followed
me to church. She said, well, you're the head of household.
The Bible says so, so I'm following you. I was like, okay, thank
you. I mean, what do you say to that? She followed me to church.
She kept following me every service. She'd be faithful, getting our
children ready. And man, you could just look
at her and she just looked like she was hateful. Her eyeballs was
angry the whole time the preacher was preaching. Boy, I'm sitting
there and I'm just rejoicing. Yes, that's the truth. Amen.
In my heart, I'm not saying it verbally, but in my heart, I'm
just rejoicing. It's the best news I ever heard. Finally, one
day on the way home from church, probably a year, I believe a
year went by and she's not here to correct me. So I asked her
this Wednesday. Pretty sure it was a year at
least. We're driving home and she looks over at me with tears
in her eyes and she says, I want to confess Christ. And I said,
what? Didn't have a conversation with
me about it. Didn't tell me anything was going on inside of her. That
was a no-fly zone. We didn't talk about the gospel.
I knew better. It led to a fight every single time. She looked
at me. She said, I want to confess what
I heard tonight, the gospel. I want to confess Christ. I want
to confess Him and what He done to save sinners. I want to confess
Him, His righteousness alone. pulled the car over. I didn't
know. I was like, do you know, are you serious? Do you know
what you're saying? And she just kept elaborating. I said, okay, well,
I mean, according to her confession, there's nothing preventing her
from getting baptized. Me and my wife were baptized together.
We were baptized together about a month later. It's a privilege. It's a privilege to confess Christ
in baptism. It's not a requirement. You're
not going to be hounded by anybody here. You're not gonna be hounded
by a gospel preacher to be, I mean, maybe some of them, but not me.
I'm not gonna hound you about it. It's a privilege to confess
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a privilege. There was nothing
pleasing about it to the flesh, I'll tell you that. Getting wet,
it's not enjoyable, but oh, the rejoicing in the heart that we
have whenever we get to confess him, confess that he has done
it all for his people. And the Ethiopian eunuch said,
I believe. What hinders me from being baptized?
Nothing. That's the requirement that you believe the Lord Jesus
Christ is all in your salvation. That is the requirement. If you
believe that with all your heart, and I don't mean the heart of
stone. I'm talking about the new heart
that he's given you. Through faith, you believe Christ. You are qualified to be baptized.
You're qualified to confess him before God and before men. Now in closing, I wanna turn
to Colossians chapter two. Colossians chapter two verse
16 tells us, I'm sorry, Colossians two verse
six. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk
ye in him, rooted and built up in him, established in the faith
as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware
lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit after
the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not
after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all
principality and power. in whom also you are circumcised
with the circumcision made without hands and putting off the body
of the sins of the flesh for the circumcision of Christ, buried
with him in baptism, wherein also you are risen with him through
the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from
the dead. And you, being dead in your sins
and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together
with him, having forgiven you all trespasses." Notice it doesn't
say, that if you be baptized with water, then your trespass
will be, that's not what he's saying at all, is it? Christ did this,
verse 14, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against
us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing
it to his cross, and having spoiled principalities and powers, he
made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. It's so different
than religion, isn't it? In religion, men make it a requirement.
They say, you have to do this, or you have to do that, and it's
part of salvation. Everything I have told you is true, and
I have not said that it is a requirement. It is not a requirement for salvation.
It's a requirement because the Lord commanded it, but it's not
a requirement for salvation. All of this is what the Lord
has done. Everything we believe is through
the faith of the operation of God. It's what he's done on the
inside. He quickened, we reread this,
you probably noticed, but he says he quickened, he's forgiven. He blotted out our transgression. He nailed them to his cross.
See, it's all him. That's what we confess. He did
it all. He nailed them to his cross and
he spoiled and triumphed over all principalities. What makes our baptism different?
Why are we baptized? Because we confess Christ. We're
not drawing attention to ourself. We're not trying to please men. We are confessing Christ, number
one. Number two, we're confessing
our sin. We're confessing what we are, that we need a righteousness,
that I must be found in him, not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, but the righteousness, which is by the
faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. Third reason is Christ our example
was baptized. Fourth reason, we confess the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is the gospel. And it is the
only thing that clears our conscience. And the fifth reason that we
are baptized is we are privileged to and commanded to. Lord Jesus
Christ told his disciples, go into all the world, go into all
the world. What did they declare? The gospel.
And what did they do? They baptized. Why? That's the
ordinance, that's the way the Lord ordained it. It is the outward
confession of what has been done on the inside for the Lord's
people. Amen. Father, thank you for baptizing
your people on the cross of Calvary and giving us the ordinance to
be able to be baptized in water, representing what you have already
done in accomplishing salvation for your people. Bless your word
as you have promised calls us to look unto you. In Christ's
name, amen.