The Ordinance of Baptism

We're on lesson number 15 in ecclesiology this week. We'll be looking at the ordinance of baptism. Last week, in lesson 14, we looked at what an ordinance is. And as you remember, we talked about symbols. The Bible is full of symbols, and culture is full of symbols. A lion is a symbol of courage oftentimes, a dove of peace.

But we also have what we call rites. Rites, R-I-T-E-S, we talked about last week, are religious symbols that are employed regularly with specific intent. For example, in the church, we have what we'd call the laying on of the hands of ordination. That is a symbol that's made a rite when it's used regularly for that specific intent of approving and sending people into the mission field and on mission for Christ. Likewise, extending the right hand of fellowship is another Christian rite that's employed regularly in the churches.

But churches also celebrate and observe what we call ordinances. Ordinances are rites that picture the gospel, picture the truth of the gospel, that were ordained by Christ or commanded by Christ to be obeyed at all times among the churches, perpetually until He comes. And many churches recognize different ordinances. We talked about that last week. They may call them sacraments, but we recognize two and only two. And that's the ordinance of baptism and the Lord's Supper. So tonight, we're going to be talking about baptism, what it is, what it symbolizes, what's the proper mode, what's the proper subjects of it, and what it points to. And then next week, we'll be looking at the Lord's Supper. So let's begin with Bible point number one.

The church is the great company of persons who Christ has saved. This is our definition we've been working with. We believe that the church is a regenerate people, right? Distinguishes it from the Old Covenant Israel. It distinguishes it from some groups that believe they're a mixed congregation. But the church is those who are regenerate. They're born again. And whom He dwells. They're born again because they are united to Christ. Christ lives in them. He dwells in the church. And we are said to be in Him. To whom and through Him He reveals God. Apart from Christ revealing Himself to us, we would not know God, right? And in turn, we are to be ambassadors for Christ.

And in whom He exercises spiritual dominion. We serve our Lord Jesus because He is our Lord, right? He exercises His dominion over us. We want to obey Him. He's given us hearts that desire Him. Hearts that want to obey, unlike our hearts before regeneration, which were in rebellion against Him and were not even bothered by sin.

United to Christ, the church is the temple of God's indwelling. Christ commanded — that's the first plank. Christ commanded the church to perpetually observe baptism and the Lord's Supper. To vividly express to all men the truth. Truth is the second blank of the gospel. Gospel is the third blank. Both baptism and the Lord's Supper picture the truth of the gospel. Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. His sacrifice on our behalf.

Jesus ordained these symbolic rites to visibly picture the church's union with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. These ordinances must thus nourish and strengthen — strengthen is the fourth blank — the faith of all believers. When we see and observe someone being baptized, it should thrill your hearts because they are acting out the gospel, right? They are being buried with Christ, their old man and their sinful self is no more, right? They are being submerged into Him and they're raised in newness of life. The same resurrection power that raised Christ from the grave is now at work in and through us by His Holy Spirit, right? That's a picture and a celebration of the gospel. The same with the Lord's Supper that we'll be talking about next week — rather than us being in Christ, it's Christ in us, right? The hope of glory.

When we say that these things nourish our faith, what can nourish your faith other than the gospel? Considering who Christ is, what He has done for us is amazing love for reprobate sinners like us, right? Who apart from Him would have no hope of life. But He graciously shows us His love — while we were still sinners, He died for us. That's what nourishes our soul and that's why we are to take baptism and take the Lord's Supper and celebrate continually, because we need that, right?

The application for number one: do you need — need is a blank — do you need encouragement and reminders in your life? Yes. How many of you have little notes on your refrigerator, right? Pick up the dry cleaning, take the dog for a walk, order this for your kid's school. You do things like that. Maybe set a reminder on your cell phone the same way, right? We need reminders. If we need reminders for the most basic things in life, right, such as eating and making sure we have the things we need in the refrigerator, how much more do we need reminders of spiritual things, right? And that is what the ordinances serve. They are there to perpetually put before us Christ crucified, Christ's death for us, His burial and His resurrection, because His death and burial and resurrection is ours. It gives us hope and we need to be reminded of that all the time.

But point number two, Jesus commanded baptism. We see that in what we call the Great Commission, Matthew 28, 18 through 20. We'll read that in just a moment. Baptism is to be practiced by His disciples continually until He comes. He says we need to do this not just once in the first century and no more. It is a perpetual observance in the church in all ages at all times. Baptism is fundamental to discipleship. It's one of the ways that the Great Commission is carried out. Discipleship is the first blank. It's fundamental to discipleship. You say, well, how can that be? Well, let's read the Great Commission here. It's listed here below on Bible point number two.

"And Jesus came and spoke to them saying, 'All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.'" Right? That's part of discipleship — we are to be disciples who make disciples. And that entails baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit. To make a disciple, you first make a convert, right? You have to share the gospel with them. That's our witness of who Christ is and what He has done. That He is the Savior to all men who call upon Him. After they become a disciple, what do we do? We baptize them, right? That is their public identification with the Messiah. And then what does it say? "Baptizing in the name of the Father and of the Son and Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you and I am with you even to the ends of the age." Amen.

We're to teach them and we're continually being disciples and we're continually making disciples. No one can ever say they've arrived. The most godly saint in the world who may be 90 years old is still a disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ. And baptism is integral to that. If we want to be faithful in our discipleship, Jesus says, "Baptize the converts," right? Go and make disciples and baptize them.

As soon as one has made a disciple of Christ through faith, baptism — that's the second blank — is to follow. Follow is the third blank. So the first blank is discipleship. The second blank is baptism. The third blank is to follow. We baptize those who have been made disciples. That's what the Great Commission tells us to do. The disciple is to be baptized into the name of the triune God because all who are united to Christ truly belong to the triune God and partake in a fellowship, in this fellowship, through participation in the Son. In other words, Jesus says, "Baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit," because through Christ, we have the favor of the Father, right? Through Christ, the love of the Spirit is poured out upon us. Through Christ, we can go before our Father in prayer. Through Christ, His Spirit is within us, right? Who's making intercession for us. Every time our heart is moved to pray, it's because the Lord Jesus Christ is before the Father, making intercession for us there. His Spirit is at the same time making intercession within our heart. So we get to participate in this triune fellowship through the person of Jesus Christ. Now, if you were not baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, but in the name of Jesus, that's actually okay. You'll see in the New Testament, sometimes people are just baptized in the name of Christ, but that does not remove the significance of what we're actually baptized into. We're baptized into the Son, and into the Son we receive the Father's favor, the Spirit's love, and empowerment and blessing.

In Christ, they receive a new identity — this is the fourth blank. The believer is baptized based on their union with Christ through faith. In Christ, they receive a new identity in Him, forgiveness of sins through Him, and a new principle of life by the indwelling of the Spirit. The very minute that the believer puts his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, he is said to be in union with Christ. He's become spiritually one with Christ. God's Spirit is poured out upon the believer at that moment and his heart is regenerated, his heart is changed. And these things happen. They receive a new identity, forgiveness of sins, and a new principle of life, a new way of living through the Holy Spirit. And we see this in Acts 2, 38 through 39.

This is the great sermon of Peter at Pentecost. He says, "Then Peter said to them, 'Repent'" — repent, by the way, it's the same as believe, right? Repent and believe are the same act, just different sides. To repent is to turn away from sin, the world, the flesh, the devil, any of your own confidence, and faith is to turn to Christ, placing our confidence in Christ. So sometimes you see repentance, sometimes you see belief, sometimes you see repent and believe, but repent and believe is the same action. It's the God-wrought action of regeneration within your heart. It says, "Repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ." We are baptized in Him and that's who we receive our identity from. We take on His name. We are called Christians, right? Followers of Christ, those who are one with Christ, not only to receive a new identity, but what does it say?

It says, "For the remission of sins." In Christ, because we're united to Him, our sins are covered, right? He takes in our union all of our sin, our shame, our shortcomings, our failures, and He takes them to the cross. And in turn, He gives us His righteousness. He gives us His purity, right? We give Him our filthy rags and He gives us His glorious righteousness. So our sins are remitted in our union with Christ. Not only that, it says, "And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." We receive the promise of the Holy Spirit, wherein we are sealed to the day of redemption. And the Holy Spirit is the one who not only quickens us, but who sanctifies us, right? All of our days, He is at work within us, conforming us to His Son. Convicting us of sin, of righteousness, of judgment, right? He won't let you get away with sinful actions anymore. He convicts you of those things and He points you to the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. So we have this new principle of life within us the very moment that we're united to Christ.

The application for number two: how is baptism part and parcel of being Christ's disciple? Disciples — the blank. How is baptism integrally linked to being Christ's disciple? To follow His example — was not Christ baptized, right? And does not He command us to be baptized? If He is our master, don't we want to obey our master? To be His disciple means to be His follower, right? To follow His example and to follow His commands, exactly right.

Bible point number three. The believer's union with Christ is the very meaning — meaning is a blank — of baptism. There are lots of different ideas of baptism. It's ritual cleansing. It is initiation into the church. It is identification with Christ, and it is all those things, but only as they flow from our union with Christ. Union with Christ is the principle thing, the chief thing that baptism signifies.

All other understandings of baptism must flow from this idea of union with Christ. The immersion of a believer into water is a token of his previous entrance into the communion of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. So we mentioned last week, baptism isn't a magical thing. There's no efficacious power in the water that regenerates you or that saves you. It's symbolic of what Christ has already done for us. He's already saved us. We've already been united to Him through faith. When we place our trust in Him, we express our faith and repentance. Christ comes to live within us. And that is what baptism symbolizes, our identification. It is death, burial, and resurrection.

Romans 6, 3–6 explains how our union with Christ is depicted in baptism. Let's read that. It's here below.

Paul writes, "Or do you not know that as many of you as were baptized into Christ Jesus, were baptized into His death?"

Means that we are identifying with His death. We are dying with Him. "Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in the newness of life. For if we have been united together" — now the word "united together" literally means grafted, engrafted into Christ. It's a horticultural term — "if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin." We're now slaves of Christ, right? We serve Him and Him alone.

Back up at the top. Romans 6:3–6 explains how our union with Christ is depicted in baptism. I enjoy reading theology, and union with Christ in particular. Last year I picked up Sinclair Ferguson's excellent little volume on union with Christ. And right there in the very beginning, he mentions that baptism explicitly and only means our union with Christ. I was actually a little bit surprised to hear that from him because he has a different understanding of baptism than we do — he acknowledges that. That's what it signifies, both beyond a covenant sign or initiation in the church, your purification, anything. It signifies our union with Christ. And you can't get around Romans 6 here. It's so beautifully stated.

"Baptism tells of the nature and penalty of sin." We see that in verse three. It says, "Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized in Christ were baptized into His death?" Christ did not deserve to die. Why did Christ die? For us. He died for us in our place to pay the penalty for our sin, right? So baptism testifies of the nature of sin and its penalty, right? Christ died to that. He died for that. And we being in Christ in His death, we no longer have to pay that penalty because Christ paid that penalty once and for all in His death. And our identification means that there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.

"Baptism tells of the nature and penalty of sin." "Of humanity delivered from sin in the person of the crucified and risen Savior." Savior is the third blank. Meaning is the first blank. Sin is the second blank. Savior is the third blank. And we see that in verse four. "Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." He's our risen Savior. Christ rose again from the dead because death cannot contain Him. He was an innocent man, right? For Christ to stay in the grave would have been the ultimate injustice, right? Because death has no hold on an innocent man. The wages of sin is death. Christ was the sinless one, the spotless Lamb of God, slain before the foundation of the world. So in His resurrection, God the Father says, "My Son is just," right? He is righteous. And Christ's resurrection is our justification, right? That's why He is our Savior.

"Tells of the risen Savior, tells of salvation secured for each soul that is united" — that's the fourth blank, "united" — of Christ in Romans 6:5. And we see that in verse five. "For if we have been united together," and as I mentioned, that means grafted together.

If you put something into one another, two plants, and they're grafted, they grow together, right? We are grafted into Christ. We can't be separated from Him. And in being grafted into Him, the very principle of His life flows through us. A branch has been grafted into the tree. Now the very sap of that tree flows through its branches, and it receives life and nourishment from that tree. The same with us in Christ, right? We receive all new life only because we are grafted into Christ.

"And of obedience to Christ as the way to life" — life is the fifth blank — and glory, Romans 6:6. We see that in verse six. "Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin." What a glorious thing to know that God can take us who were wholly given over to sin and free us from that, right? It's not that we're perfect. One day we'll be perfect, right? When our faith is made sight and our sanctification is made complete and we're glorified and made into His perfect image. But even now, we've come so far, right? Because of Christ. Your desires have changed, right? The fact that you're sitting here wanting to hear God's Word, to hear the words of Christ, says that you have a heart that's been affected by truth. You have a heart that loves Christ and loves His very words, right? God changes our disposition in regeneration and changes our actions. We're no longer the same man or woman that we were before.

Flip over on the back.

I'll show you another couple of passages like Romans 6 that speak of our baptism in terms of our union with Christ. Colossians 2:12: "Buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God who raised Him from the dead." Our faith is what connects us to Christ. And in trusting in Christ, we are buried with Him in baptism and raised with Him in newness of life. And separately, it unites us to Christ through faith by His Spirit. Galatians 3, 26 through 29, very similar. "For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus." Faith, again, is what unites us to Christ, right? We believe into Him. And because of that, we are sons of God. Now, you say, "Well, I'm a daughter." Well, no, you're actually a son because the reason why you're a son is Christ is the Son of God, the firstborn, the heir of all things, the one who inherits God. And in Christ, so do you, right? As Christians — we've talked here in ecclesiology — the church is called the Bride of Christ. Dudes have to live with that. Well, ladies have to live with son, right? And it's a saving benefit for you to know that all the favor and riches that God bestows upon His Son is bestowed upon you, because you are a son of God through faith in Christ Jesus. "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ." You're stepping into a garment and a cloak and it's totally covering you. It's Christ, His righteousness, His power, His Spirit all around you. "There is neither Jew nor Greek, neither is there slave nor free, neither is there male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." One of the most disappointing things in society is all of the division, right? That is stoked in universities and even in churches, right? Along racial lines, along gender lines, along caste or what we call economic lines — all that's gone in Christ Jesus.

What matters is your identity in Him. That's the primary thing. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. We receive all the promises of God, which were made to Christ. We find that actually in the same passage, but up in verse 15, that Christ is the one to whom the promises were made, right? And in Christ, those promises are bestowed upon us, and that unites us all together. We are all one in Christ and fellow recipients of the promises. Put back on the front. The application for number three: "How does union with Christ sum" — sum is the blank for number three — "up all the meanings of baptism?" How does union with Christ sum up all those meanings? Well, think about it. Sometimes people think of baptism as purification, right? How are we made pure? Only in union with Christ, right?

Sometimes people think of baptism as entry into the covenant. How do we get into the new covenant but through faith in Jesus Christ, right? Sometimes we think about baptism as being an initiation into the church, right? What is a church but the body of Christ, and how do they become a member of His body? Through union with Christ, through our faith in Christ when we're regenerated by His Holy Spirit.

But point number four, because baptism symbolizes our union with Christ the Savior, baptism declares our regeneration. Regeneration is the blank. It declares, it celebrates, it heralds our new birth, our regeneration.

Because baptism declares our regeneration, some verses appear at first glance to teach baptismal regeneration. And I have these listed here. These are some of the main ones that people who subscribe to baptismal regeneration will point to. And let me explain what I mean by that. We're not going to go through all these verses because of time, but there are some denominations such as the Church of Christ and the Lutheran denomination that teach that baptism actually imparts faith and salvation and regeneration to you. That in the act of baptism, God gives you faith and regeneration, and you are made new in the act itself. That's not what Jesus said, of course, in the Great Commission, right? Go make disciples, then you baptize them, right? Again, our baptism follows our faith, our union. It's not the cause of our union. The Catholic Church, who baptizes infants, the reason why they do that — they believe that baptism is an external ordinance that physically unites us to Christ. And so that baptism is a work, so to speak. It's an act that's necessary to be united to Christ. The same with the Eucharist or what we call the Lord's Supper, right? It's through active participation, and continuous participation in that, that you're united to Christ. That's not the case. Your union with Christ is not a physical thing. It is a spiritual thing. It is faith in Christ. It's our regeneration, synonymous with our salvation. It's when the Holy Spirit regenerates our hearts through faith and He comes to live within us, sealing us forever as His own.

A closer exegesis of these proves contrary. Now, let me give you just one example. This is probably one of the most common ones that you'll see in support of baptismal regeneration. It's on your handout here, just below number four. 1 Peter 3:21 talks about Noah and the flood and the water, and through the water Noah was saved, right? This is in verse 21. And this is also an antitype. We've talked earlier when we went through ecclesiology about type and antitype. Something in the Old Testament that God gave specific meaning to, to point toward and to look toward Christ, who is the antitype, right? He's the fulfillment of that. For example, in the Old Testament, you had the Passover lamb, right? That was a type.

It was a sacrifice, but the blood of that lamb could never remove sins, according to Hebrews, which we're studying on Sunday mornings. But what did it point to? The need for a sacrifice to be made on our behalf. And that ultimately finds its fulfillment in Christ, right? And in the New Testament, He's called Christ our Passover, right? He is the antitype, the fulfillment of that. "There is also a type which now saves us, baptism. Not the removal of the filth of the flesh." In other words, the water doesn't have any salvific significance as far as actually cleansing you from your sin. You can't get soap and water and wash away your sins, because sin isn't a physical thing. It's something that affects the soul.

"But the answer of a good conscience toward God" — this is what removes sin. The answer of a good conscience toward God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. What is it that saves you? What saves you is the answer of a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In other words, through our participation in the death, burial, and resurrection, which is what salvation is — believing that Christ died for me and rose again.

I know that my sins are forgiven. I have a good conscience. I know that I received the very righteousness of Christ. I'm in good standing with God, not because of anything I have done, but solely because of the work of Christ, right?

So this is not teaching that baptism saves. It's saying that baptism is pointing to Christ, right? Who is the only one who can remove the filth away from us. Water could never remove that, but it's through identification with His death, burial, and resurrection, His salvific work on our behalf, that we can have a good conscience before the Lord.

Flip over on the back, please.

Titus 3, 4 through 7, even though it doesn't explicitly mention baptism, some people use this as a reference for baptismal regeneration. I want to point this one out too, because it's not talking about baptism at all, but it is talking about the salvific work of our Lord and Savior and regeneration. This is, "But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit." He's not talking about water here. He's talking about the Holy Spirit who washes us. It's the Holy Spirit who makes us new, who takes that heart of stone and makes it into a heart of flesh.

"Whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior." It's through belief in Jesus Christ that the Holy Spirit is poured out abundantly upon us, right?

"Having been justified by His grace that we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life." So it is through Jesus Christ that the Spirit is poured out upon us, that we are justified, and that we are heirs and have hope of eternal life, right? Again, it's not through participation in a baptismal ceremony. It's not through getting wet. Getting wet doesn't save you, right? But it's through participation in Jesus Christ. Put back over on the front. The application for number four: according to John 3, 6 through 8, from where does regeneration come? "Come" is the blank. Some of you know John 3, 6 through 8 very well. I'm going to read this to you. Let me look it up here real quick.

This is, of course, Jesus speaking to Nicodemus.

And this is what He tells Nicodemus who came to Him by night. He says, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh." In other words, you can't use fleshly means or outward means to save yourself. "But that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. You must be regenerated. You must be born from above, born anew." Verse 8: "The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it but cannot tell where it comes from or where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."

Where does Christ say that regeneration comes? From the Spirit, the Spirit of God, right? We are to witness. God uses means, right? He uses a faithful witness. He uses the Word of God. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. But never forget that the Spirit must quicken the hearer, right? So when we are testifying of the grace of God, when we're sharing our faith, do it on your knees. Even though you may not be on your knees physically, do it in the Spirit of prayer, because only the Spirit can regenerate someone, right? Water, any outward thing can never do that. That's only the flesh. It must be done by the Spirit.

Exactly right. He was never baptized, the thief on the cross. Amen. He didn't have time to be baptized, right? That very day, he was with Christ in paradise. Excellent point.

Okay. Number five, because baptism symbolizes our union with Christ, who is our righteousness — we find that in Jeremiah 23. We're not going to read that for time, but it's that Christ is the righteous Branch. He is the Lord our Righteousness, which is who the Messiah would be. Baptism speaks of our purification. People were right to say that baptism reminds them of the purification rituals of the Jews, where if you wanted to become a convert to the Jewish faith, you were a Gentile, you were going through the initiation, you were ritually washed as symbolically saying you're no longer considered an unclean Gentile, but now you're a God-fearer, right?

But baptism speaks of our purification, but in the context of our union with Christ, because the water doesn't clean — that's right. It's Christ who cleanses us. We must remember that this purification or cleansing from sins is not the primary meaning of baptism. Our purification from sin is only derived from our union with Christ. Baptism symbolizes our entering — entering is the second blank for number five — entering into Christ's death and resurrection, in which we are declared just and righteous because He is just and righteous, right? We're plunged into Christ, and when God sees Christ, He sees the perfect Lamb of God without spot and without blemish, and we are in Him, right?

In union with Christ, we have become one with the righteous one. Submersion — this is the third blank for number five — submersion and emergence are the very sense of the symbol. In other words, what does baptism symbolize? Being brought down and being brought up, emerged into new life. Baptizo, which is the Greek term for baptism, is used about 91 times in the New Testament. It means to immerse — this is the third blank — dip, that's the fourth blank — overwhelm — and metaphorically, as within a flood, you're overwhelmed.

Or soak — soak is the fifth blank.

So it means to immerse, dip, overwhelm, or soak. The sprinkling or pouring out of water in the administration of baptism doesn't point to the procuring cause of our purification. In other words, to just simply sprinkle isn't really the best mode of baptism, right? Because it doesn't point to being plunged into Christ, being submerged into Him, right? It doesn't even go with the primary meaning of the word. Immersion into water far more accurately pictures our immersion into Christ. Second Corinthians 5:21 says, "For He made Him" — God made His Son, made Christ — "who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." Right? It's through our union with Christ that we're made the very righteousness of Christ. And so when we consider the mode of baptism, the best mode is immersion, because that is the very sense and the symbolic significance — an immersion, submergence, and emergence.

Flip over on the back.

First Corinthians 1, 30 through 31: "But of Him you are in Christ Jesus." We don't get ourselves into Christ Jesus. It's the work of God, the work of the Holy Spirit. "But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, that as it is written, 'He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.'" It's God's doing. And we find those things — we find righteousness, we find sanctification, we find redemption — in Christ Jesus.

Application for number five: "Know that believers are fully" — fully is a blank — "fully immersed in Christ's love."

Ladies, when it's your anniversary, or it's your birthday, or it's Christmas, whether it's your husband or your son, whatever man in your life, you like them to recognize that, right? And to give you gifts. What if they just dropped one little tiny gift, just kind of sprinkled, right? Would you rather have that? Would you rather be showered with gifts, right? We just had a shower here at our church for Gabby, right? And what a precious family it is to have Gabby and Jordan, that little baby coming, right? And isn't it nice to be able just to flood someone with gifts, right? Because we want to show them our affection. We want to show them our appreciation. We want to show them our love, right? And know that as Christians, you are the full recipient of the love of God in Christ Jesus. He's not holding anything back. The perfect love of God that He's had for eternity, for His Son, is yours. It's all yours. Beautiful grace. How can we ever describe or repay that?

So, Bible point number six.

Because baptism symbolizes our union with Christ, only those who are united to Christ through faith — faith is the first blank for number six — by His Spirit — Spirit is the second blank for number six — are the proper subjects. Subjects is the third blank for number six of baptism. Because baptism symbolizes our union with Christ, only those who are united to Christ through faith by His Spirit are the proper subjects of baptism.

I used to work with a gentleman who was a Mormon and tried my best witnessing to him, but he was hook, line, and sinker. His eyes were darkened in that church. But he told me that in the Mormon church, if there is a public figure or a celebrity you've got a crush on, you can actually go to Salt Lake City, and if no one's baptized them in the Mormon book, you can pay some money, write your name down, and they're going to be yours in the afterlife, basically. And you can baptize them without their knowledge or even their knowing. It is wild. Well, the point is, can you baptize someone who's unregenerate? What is baptism but our identification in the death, burial, and resurrection? Can I go baptize my dog? No, right? Can I say, oh, you know what? I saw that commercial, feed the children for UNICEF, and feel sorry for all those poor kids in sub-Saharan Africa. You know what? I want to go baptize them in their absence here so that way they get to come to heaven, right?

Why would that not work? Because they have not been united to Christ, right? Through faith by His Spirit.

In the Acts of the Apostles, baptism always — this is the one, two, three — the fourth blank — always and invariably — number six, the fifth blank — invariably, in the Acts of the Apostles, baptism always and invariably follows belief in Christ. And this is so important. I want to demonstrate this to you. If you will, open up your Bibles to the book of Acts. We'll just take a second to flip through these passages.

Baptism always and invariably follows our faith in Christ or our conversion.

Here are the baptisms you find in Acts 2, 38 through 41. When Peter preached at Pentecost, that day, 3,000 people gave their life to the Lord Jesus Christ. "What must I do to be saved?" Right? They were cut to the heart. They were convicted. And what does Peter tell them to do? We see here in Acts 2, 38 through 41, it says,

"Then Peter said to them, 'Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, for the promise is to you and to your children, to all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call.'" And he said to everyone, whether you're a Jew or Gentile, near or far, old or young. "And with many other words, he testified and exhorted them, saying, 'Be saved from this perverse generation.' Then those who gladly received his word" — here are those who received his word — were what? What preceded their baptism? Receiving the word. "And that day about 3,000 souls were added to them." Right? Let's go to the next one here on our list. We see the Samaritans — this is in Acts 8, chapter 12, or verses 12 through 13.

There are actually Samaritans, not one Samaritan.

Acts chapter 8, verses 12 through 13. "But when they believed Philip" — Philip was an evangelist, right? And he was also, I believe, one of the first disciples, if I recall right too. Not apostle — disciples. Disciples were as much evangelists as they were servants. "But when they believed Philip, as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God, in the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were" — what? It was after they believed Philip. When he had preached the things concerning Christ, then they were baptized. Really important to get that right. Look over in Acts chapter 9. This is Paul himself, or Saul, when he was converted. Acts chapter 9, verse 18.

"Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once, and he arose and was baptized."

And just in the prior verse, someone had preached to him the word of the Lord, and then he was baptized, right?

Acts 10, 47 through 48. This is Cornelius.

Cornelius was representing the Gentiles here, and the contingent that had come with him.

Acts 10, 47 through 48.

"Then Peter answered, 'Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?' And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then they asked him to stay for a few days." They heard — you can read the prior verses — they believed, they received the Spirit, and then they were baptized. Let's also look at Acts chapter 16, verse 15.

When Paul hears the Macedonian call, and he sets off to go out of Asia Minor into Macedonia, Lydia, the seller of purple, she hears the gospel and welcomes it. God opens her heart so she's able to receive it, is what it tells us in Acts 16.

And then we get to verse 15.

It says, "And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, 'If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.' So she persuaded us." If you read the prior verse: "Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul." Then verse 15: "And when she and her household were baptized." So she heard the Word of God, God opened her heart, she was able to heed the message, she had faith, and then she was baptized, right? And then let's also look at the Philippian jailer, Acts 16, the same chapter, verses 30 through 33.

"And when they brought them out and said, 'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?'" Remember how Paul and Silas along at midnight were deep within the prison in Philippi, and they were praising the Lord, and an angel set them free, and the jailer thought for sure that they had escaped and that his life would be taken.

"And they brought them out and said, 'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?' So they said, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You will be saved, you and your household.' Then they spoke the Word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them that same hour of the night, late at night, and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all of his family were baptized." A beautiful picture. "They heard the word, they believed, and they were baptized."

Crispus and the Corinthians — we find this in Acts 18:8. Let's keep flipping through. Acts 18, verse 8.

"Then Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his household. And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized." And they believed first, then they were baptized. Every time you see baptism in the book of Acts, it's upon hearing the Word of God, expressing faith and repentance, every single time, unequivocally. And then the Ephesians — twelve of them — we find this in Acts 19, one chapter over, verses 1 through 7. "And it happened while Apollos was at Corinth that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples, he said to them, 'Do you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?' And they said to him, 'We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.' And he said to them, 'Into what were you baptized?' So they said, 'Into John's baptism.' Then Paul said, 'John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him,' that is, on Christ Jesus. And when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Spirit came upon them, they spoke with tongues and prophesied. Now all the men were twelve in all." Again, we hear the preaching of the Word, the acceptance, and then baptism. Application for number six.

"Should you declare" — declare is the blank for number six — "an unregenerate person to be in Christ?"

No. If you baptize someone who is not a believer, you're making a false profession. You're saying before the world, "This one is united to Christ. This one is one spirit with Christ. This one has repented and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ." Because that's the very essence of the symbol — our union with Christ. Apart from faith, there is no union with Christ. You can't believe for someone else, right? They have to do it themselves. That has to be effected by the Spirit. God has to open their heart, just as He did Lydia's, so that they can believe. Okay?

Bible point number seven. Infant baptism has no warrant — no is a blank — no warrant in Scripture.

You may recall a famous debate. You can find it on YouTube. There's no video of it, but there's audio of it, between John MacArthur and R.C. Sproul, two brothers in Christ who share the same soteriology. That's what unites us — that we are saved through faith in Christ, His death — but they had different ecclesiologies, right? Different views of baptism. And they had a debate on baptism. And John MacArthur said, "Well, I'll only debate you if you only use Scripture. You can't use history and you can't use reason."

And R.C. said, "Sure."

You should listen to that debate. It's very interesting because there is no place in Scripture that commands or describes — there's no warrant at all for infant baptism.

Infant baptism has no warrant in Scripture. There is no command for infants to be baptized. There is not — not is the second blank — a single example of an infant receiving baptism. None — this is the third blank — none of the household baptisms support infant baptism. Some people say, "Well, hey, we just read where some whole households were baptized. Surely there must have been a baby in there, right?" Well, you should look at those closely. In fact, I want to look at two of them real quick. We just looked at Cornelius, Acts chapter 10. So let's flip back over there.

Acts chapter 10, verse 44.

Cornelius's household was baptized.

But what does it say? It says, "While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word," right? And then they were baptized, right? So they heard the word. Everyone in that household heard the word. They're the ones who received the Spirit, right? Let's look at Acts 11, 15 through 17.

This is the same family here, Cornelius.

Acts 11.

Let's look at verse 18. "When they heard these things, they became silent and they glorified God, saying, 'Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.'" This takes place immediately thereafter. Peter is recounting the conversion of Cornelius and his household, the Gentiles, to Jewish believers. And they say, "Even the Gentiles have repented. They believed the gospel." And we see that in verses 15 through 17 as well. "And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them as upon us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, 'John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit. If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave to us when we believed on the Lord Jesus, who was I that I could withstand God?'" So they heard the word. They received the Holy Spirit, and then they were baptized. Babies weren't filled with the Spirit, right? Babies weren't hearing the word.

"Likewise, the jailer's household believed and rejoiced." Acts 16:34 — you can see there in Acts 16:34, if you said, "Well, his whole household was baptized and maybe that would include babies." Well, verse 34 says, "Now when he had brought them to his house, he set food before them and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household." In other words, all his household believed in God. He believed in God with all of his household, right? So again, these baptisms — there may have been children there, but they weren't baptized because they wouldn't have been able to express faith, right? Nowhere does Scripture evidence that in the Word of God.

Now, different denominations will baptize infants for different reasons. As I mentioned, the Catholic Church has kind of a mechanical view. It's an outward rite that physically unites you to Christ. That's the way they view the sacraments. The Episcopal or Anglican Church has a different view of it, more of a covenantal view, which I'm going to explain in just a minute. The Lutheran view is baptismal regeneration straight up — that the water saves. And so they baptize an infant, and later on they will say, "You're saved because you were baptized." "Well, I don't feel it." "Well, look to your baptism. Just remember, you were baptized, so you're saved." They believe that's a mechanical thing, that it imparts faith and it imparts regeneration.

In the Reformed churches, there's not one universal or unified reason for infant baptism, believe it or not. There are many different reasons. Some Reformed churches teach that babies are baptized on behalf of the faith of their parents.

I don't believe that's right, but that's what some of those churches teach.

The church would say, "Because we are in continuity with the old covenant saints and God tended to work through families in the old covenant, therefore our children are special covenant children. And it is our faith that assures them of their salvation. They will be saved just as we are saved." Right? I'd point out that in the old covenant, you would have Jacob and Esau — they were brothers, right? They were both from Abraham's seed, were they not? "Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated," right? So bloodlines, even spiritual bloodlines, don't matter.

Others in the Reformed tradition don't look at it as based upon their parents' faith, but they look upon it as a firm belief that their children are elect.

And they believe that their children are elect because they themselves are elect, and therefore their children are elect. Again, there's not a basis for it. We don't know who's elect, right? That's why we preach the gospel to everybody. Not sure if every child here is elect, right? And I hope that one day they will come to faith and repent and trust our Lord Jesus Christ if they haven't already. We don't ever wish someone not to receive election, right? But we treat everyone as un-elect and hope that they will be shown to be elect, right?

Others in the Reformed tradition do it based simply upon what we already discussed — I think it was in lesson 6, 7, or 8 — when we looked at the conception of Israel in the church. And in the Reformed tradition, we mentioned that many in the Reformed tradition say that the New Covenant is not new. That it's just a new administration of the Abrahamic covenant, and that under the Abrahamic covenant, there was a sign that was given for all the covenant children, and it was circumcision for the men.

In the New Covenant, the same symbol has been changed, but it's baptism. It's the sign of the New Covenant in their opinion. And therefore, we should baptize all children just as old covenant children were circumcised, to identify them with Christ.

Again, I cannot disagree more with that, but I just want to give you some of the ideas or the reasons behind infant baptism.

Application for number seven.

Can an infant express faith in Christ and repentance of sins? Now, there are examples in Scripture of kids who were said to be filled with the Spirit from the mother's womb, like John the Baptist, right? Those are not the norm, right? But we would not know that unless Scripture tells us, and they can't communicate that, right? So we're not to baptize them presumptuously, as if my kid is just like John the Baptist and is going to be a good kid, right? We don't know that. So an infant is not able to express or communicate that. But one day, what's that?

Exactly right. Many times in the narrative passages, the Bible will describe something, showing that, for example, John was filled with the Spirit from his mother's womb, but that's not prescriptive. That doesn't mean that every baby is born filled with the Spirit. We know that because we are born sinners — as soon as we go astray, or as soon as we're born, we go about speaking lies, right? We need to be converted, or else why have an altar call? Why have the Great Commission? Why preach the gospel? Exactly. He fulfilled all righteousness. He was circumcised.

You know, His baptism — He fulfilled the old covenant so He could offer us the new covenant. But the new covenant is new. It's different. We talked about that when we talked about the difference between the church and Israel. There's some newness to the new covenant where there's discontinuity. There's continuity, but there's also discontinuity. And the sign of the new covenant is not baptism. And we'll talk about that here in just a second.

Number eight. Colossians 2:11 does not teach that baptism replaces circumcision in the new covenant. This is where they get that from. Let's flip over on the back and let's read Colossians 2:11 through 15. "In Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him" — we read this a little bit earlier — "buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross, having disarmed principalities and powers. He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it." That's declaring what Christ did for us. He gave us total victory over sin.

But look at verse 11. This is where the Presbyterian and Reformed branches, such as the Westminster Confession of Faith, equate circumcision and baptism as being equal covenant signs. They get it from verse 11, and I think they make a bad exegesis here. And it says, "In Him" — in Christ — "you were also circumcised." Is that speaking of physical circumcision or spiritual circumcision? Spiritual circumcision. In Christ, it's in Him that our sin is cut off, right? We are baptized into Christ. We are dead to sin. "And the circumcision made without hands" — that spells it out right there. It's a spiritual circumcision where Christ cuts away our fleshly heart that was defiled and gives us a new heart, right?

"Without hands, by the putting off of the body of sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ" — saying that what Christ does to our heart, this spiritual circumcision, is regeneration, right? It's being born again. And regeneration is what is the sign of the new covenant, right? It's being filled with the Spirit of God, being one with Christ. Colossians 2:11 does not teach that baptism replaces circumcision in the new covenant. It teaches that regeneration — regeneration is the second blank — takes the place of circumcision in the new covenant. In the old covenant, the men were to be circumcised on the eighth day. The universal sign of the new covenant is regeneration. You can't enter the new covenant apart from being regenerate, apart from being born again. To be in the new covenant is to be united with Christ by faith — that's the third blank — and made alive in Him.

Then a reference, Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 36. These are the chief verses about the new covenant. Let's read them. Here in the Old Testament, God prophesied the new covenant was coming. "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel." This is on the back of your sheet. "After those days," says the Lord, "I will put My law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know Me." Because He's revealed Himself to us. He lives within us, right? "From the least of them to the greatest of them," says the Lord, "for I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will remember no more." Because we're one with Christ, our sins have been erased. Look at Ezekiel 36.

"Then I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart." This is that spiritual circumcision. "And put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh." He's going to cut it out and give us a heart of flesh. "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My judgments and do them." That's the mark of the new covenant — regeneration, right? His Spirit indwelling within us and the newness of life that that brings.

The application for number eight.

"Are you born again? Does Christ live in you?"

If you hear this and you're like, "Wow, that sounds kind of fantastical. That sounds like some holy roller language. I don't know if I have that new principle of life within me. I don't think I've ever given my life to Christ." You can do that tonight.

No hoops to jump through.

There's no altar call to attend or to come down and do. Simply, right where you're at, say, "Save me, Christ. I need You. Give me a heart of flesh. Give me a heart where Your word is written on my heart and Your Spirit indwells me and I receive Your forgiveness and my sins are remitted from me." And Christ will do so. That's faith. That's faith and repentance in the Lord Jesus Christ, His death, burial, and resurrection.

About point number nine.

Infant baptism contradicts — contradicts is the blank — Scripture.

It's not only absent from Scripture in that it's not commanded nor is it ever described, but it actually contradicts Scripture.

First of all, baptism is commanded for disciples only. And we see that in the Great Commission. We already looked at that. "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them," right? So if we want to follow Christ's command, we are to baptize. That command is saying to baptize disciples, baptize believers.

Baptism symbolizes the believer's union with Christ. We see that in Galatians 3:27. We read that earlier. Just as we don't bury — bury is the second blank — we don't bury people until they die. We don't baptize people until they have died to sin. Died is the third blank. We don't bury people until they die. We don't baptize people until they have truly died to sin. And that's what baptism signifies — our inclusion into Christ, our submersion into Him, our death to the old man and our emergence in Christ.

Application for number nine: have you been baptized after believing — believing is a blank — into Christ?

Some are baptized as a child and then later on they figure, well, I don't need to be baptized again. Well, if you've never been baptized as a believer, you should be. It's not a shame to your parents who may have baptized you or anything else. It's recognizing the authority of Jesus Christ and what He has commanded us to do. It's an act of obedience of faith. The same goes for young children who haven't been baptized, but who have believed. Many times when a child is maybe 12 or 13, they've come to a recognition of their sin and their guilt and their parents lead them to Christ. They're a little bit timid about coming forward and being baptized. Sometimes they're waiting on maybe a friend or a peer or a brother or sister. And I understand that and that's okay. But know that baptism isn't scary. Baptism is something that the church celebrates. And in being a bold witness for Christ — which is what you are when you're baptized — you're blessing the congregation. And to not be baptized is to deprive the world of witness to the truth of our Lord Jesus Christ. So if you haven't been baptized, see Casey, see myself, see any of the elders here. And we'd love to walk you through that so we can bring glory to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.