Concerned in our Bibles? You're 28 and we are on page 27
in the book, so you can turn there.
Does anybody need a copy of the lesson for tonight?
I we have a few copies of them. Maybe you forgot your book or
something. Anybody need a copy?
All right, buddy. Gary, one of the little girls
here, and Julie, anybody else? All right, very good.
We're going to jump into this. We'll see how far we get.
I've added a few things into it, so maybe you can take some notes
in the side along with this and some extra verses and things.
There's not so many verses that we need to have people
necessarily read tonight. But baptism is very
misunderstood by a lot of people.
I think maybe not once you become a Christian and, you
know, accept Christ as your Savior and then move on to that
step of baptism, but I think the world as a whole has, has very
much misunderstood baptism. And a lot of that is because of
religion. Religion has made baptism such a
huge important step and made it, you know, the, the salvation
experience. And it was never intended to be
a salvation experience. It's the next step after
salvation. And we're going to make that
very clear by the things that we talk about tonight.
So there are 7, sorry, 6 important questions about
baptism. We'll try to get to them
tonight. We'll see what happens.
If not, I'm not going to rush through it just to get to the
end unless we're close. And I don't want to keep you all
night. So we'll see what happens and
how far we get into this tonight.
But let's have a word of prayer and then we'll jump into it.
Father, again, we thank you so much for your goodness and thank
you for an opportunity we have to study your word.
I pray that it would be a help to us tonight.
And again, we thank you for all that you do for us in Jesus
name, Amen. I meant to mention this and I, I
forget often. I, I've thought about it several
different times. I know we have some of some of
you that are newer and maybe have never had this explained to
you before, how to find the verses in the Bible.
I know the easiest way is to just memorize the books and you
know exactly, you know how to get to it and what order they're
in and everything else. Sometimes you have tabs in
there, sometimes you don't. I don't have tabs in my Bible,
but it honestly the Bible most Bibles, in fact, I've never come
across one that did not have it. But it has a, a, a table of
contents, if you want to call it that.
But a list in the front of all the different books that are in
the Bible and I can't even find mine.
I have a huge my, my mine is a study Bible.
So it's got a really big section of study notes at the beginning.
But if you go to the front of your Bible, you'll see the list
of all the books of the Bible, all the Old Testament, 39 books
in the Old Testament and then all the books of the New
Testament, 27 books in the New Testament.
And all of them will be listed there in in order that they are
in the Bible. And then they'll be a little
page number next to each one of those.
There it is for me. But Genesis through Revelation
and like, let's just say my Bible says that the book of
Philippians is on page 1339. So you turn to page 1339.
If we're looking for actually, let me just do it with what we
have here. We have Matthew chapter 28.
So to find Matthew 28, you'd go to the front, you'd find where
Matthew is. Mine says that Matthew is on
page 1055. So you turn to page 1055 and
then you look for chapter 28 and we're going to be looking at
verses 19 and 20. And that's how you find any of
the references in the Bible. And of course, the more you do
it, the easier it gets and the more familiar you are with where
they are in the Bible and what order they're in.
Every Bible is going to be the same if it's, especially if it's
a King James Bible. But all the books are always
going to be in the same order unless you have a chronological
Bible and then they'll be out of order just a little bit.
But easy to find still, but the exact same way.
So Matthew chapter 28 tonight. And the first question that we
have about baptism then is a very important one.
What is the meaning of baptism? Well, baptism #1 is the first
step of obedience after believing.
And that's obviously the the most important part of of what I
want you to get tonight. This is the first step of
obedience after salvation. Matthew chapter 28, verse #19
The Bible says, Go. You 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 all way even unto the end of the world, teaching baptizing,
teach all nations, baptize them in the name of the Father, Son,
Holy Ghost, and then teach them to observe all things.
So you have, you have salvation, you have baptism, you have
discipleship. Jesus commanded baptism, and the
believer is to submit to it as a step of obedience.
What is the significance of baptism?
Where we're going to talk about a few things, but literally
you're just getting dunked under the water.
Why do I have to get dunked under the water if it's not
washing my sins away? If it's not, if it's not getting
me closer to heaven, if it's not doing any of those things, why
do I need to do it? Well, the same reason we pray.
Jesus commanded us to do it. Prayer does not really make
sense to me in a lot of ways because God already knows what
we're going to be bringing to him.
He already knows what the answer is going to be, but He said to
do it. So we do it and it and he wants
to hear from us. He wants to have those
conversations. When I say that it doesn't make
sense, I understand what prayer is, but you know, God knows
everything already and He knows that we're going to pray to him.
He knows what we're going to say when we pray.
He knows that we're going to come and how often we're going
to come, but he still tells us to do it.
And so if it's a command that he gives us, then obviously it's
something that he wants us to do.
Baptism is the same way He tells us to do it.
So it's something that we should do and we're going to see the
significance of baptism here as we move forward.
First Corinthians, chapter 15. Let's turn over there.
First Corinthians chapter 15 and we spent a lot of time talking
about this when we cover the section on the gospel.
Baptism not only is the first step of obedience, but baptism
is a picture of the gospel and very clearly in First
Corinthians 15 verse, well one through 4, but verse 3 and 4
especially. For I delivered unto you, first
of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died
for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was
buried, and that he rose again the third day, according to the
Scriptures, it is a picture of the gospel.
It's a picture of the death, the burial, and the resurrection of
Jesus Christ, which again, it's sad that we even have to defend
immersion as a mode of baptism. It literally is what baptism is.
And we're going to talk about that in a little bit as well.
But you know, you don't. When somebody dies, you don't
just leave their body laying above the ground and sprinkle a
little dirt on them, right? Or even pour a cup of dirt on
them. Do you?
You dig a hole and you bury them in the ground.
That's what that's what death is.
That's what burial is. And baptism is a picture burial
and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And so it's another. That's the meaning of baptism.
The third thing that we see here under the meaning is that
baptism shows the believers identification with Christ.
The death, burial and resurrection is only associated
with Christ. No other religious leader rose
from the dead the way that Christ did.
So it is an identification with Christ.
Let's go over to Romans chapter 6.
Romans chapter 6, Baptism shows our believer with him.
It's symbolic of of our death with Christ and of our
resurrection to the new life that Christ has called us to as
Christians. And again, it's it's why baptism
cannot come before salvation. You don't have that new life
until you are saved. Romans chapter 6 and verse #3
know you not? There's so many of us as we're
baptized into Jesus Christ, we're baptized into his death.
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death.
That like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of
the Father, Even so we also should walk in newness of life.
So we're baptized in a symbol of a symbolic and symbol of his
death. And then we are raised the same
way that Christ was raised from the dead, raised up to walk in
newness of life and to be that Christian that God has called us
to be #4 then baptism is a public testimony before the
world that I believed in Christ and that I intend to live a new
life in Christ. It's an announcement of my
discipleship to Christ. Every baptism in the New
Testament was an event that was witnessed by other people.
And I think there's a few things here, you know, I've, I've heard
people say before, well, I'll get baptized, but I'm, I'm
really shy. So I don't want to do it in
front of anybody. I would rather just do it on a,
on a weekday when nobody's here. You know, people have asked me
that before. And well, I don't want to get
baptized because I really don't like getting up in front of
people. Well, it takes a little bit of
humility, right? That's, that's one of the
aspects of baptism as well. The whole purpose of baptism is
to let everybody know I am identifying with Christ.
And if you do it in a closet where nobody can see you, then
what's the purpose of the identification with Christ?
You are not letting anybody know that you've identified with
Christ. You're not letting anybody know
that you've been saved And you want them to know it, right?
It, it takes a little bit of humility.
I don't know, I don't know if Brian remembers this or not.
I was, I was young, I was probably 10 or 11 years old and,
and there was an older lady that had gotten saved and she wanted
to get baptized. And so she was up there in the
front and, and big church, you know, we actually had a
baptismal behind the stage there and they had a little curtain.
So the curtains opened up and she was standing there ready to
be baptized. And and you know, they kind of
give a little bit of her testimony and went to baptize
her. And she grabbed down to both
sides and she said, I don't want my hair to get wet.
And he said, well, if I'm going to baptize you, you have to get
your hair wet. And she said, I don't want to
get baptized then I don't want to get my hair wet.
And I was like, good, it takes a little bit of humility, right?
Especially for a lady that doesn't want to get wet, you
know. And so I, I say all that to say
that baptism is a public testimony to the world, as many
people. And I'm telling you this, I've,
I've seen this and maybe you've seen the video here before in
obviously in other countries, they don't have the luxury of
having a nice heated baptismal. Well, neither do we, but for all
the people who got baptized the last time, the heater was not
working the right way. But you know, they, they, it was
in Russia. And obviously, you know, Russia
is, is very cold. And the, the video comes on and
you just see these guys chopping into the ice and there's a
little sign sitting there. It's in Russian.
You can't tell what it's saying. They chop a hole big enough for
a person and for two people actually.
And here comes the pastor and here comes somebody down to get
baptized. Chopped a hole in the ice.
I mean, the ice was thick. And the, the interpretation in
Russian of that sign was basically I am committed or
something along those lines. This is, this is my dedication
to let people know, not that I'm getting saved, but that I am
saved, that I'll go to whatever lengths I have to go through to
make people, to let people know that I am identifying with
Christ. And that's, that's the meaning
of baptism. It is a picture of the death,
the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ #2 does baptism
make, make somebody a Christian? Does baptism make somebody a
Christian? Well, let me, let me look at it
this way. Well, let's read this first.
Let's let's turn over to Ephesians chapter 2.
And then I, I want to explain a couple things here.
There's a vast number of people and this is, this is what I was
talking about really when I started.
There's a vast number of people that believe that baptism makes
you a Christian. Roman Catholicism teaches that
Catholics believe that. Greek Orthodox believes that the
Church of Christ believes that. Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims
typically believe that baptism makes you a Christian.
Certainly you could throw the Mormons in there.
They are getting baptized for the dead, for the people who
have who didn't convert to Mormonism before they died, you
can go into the Mormon temple as a card carrying Mormon and you
can get baptized for somebody who's already died.
So obviously they believe that baptism is, is necessary for
salvation, but it doesn't it, it does not mean that baptism is
necessary for a salvation. Personal faith in Jesus Christ
makes you a Christian. And, and I've said this many
times, true Christianity is not a religion.
It's not following a set of rules.
It's not doing things to hope to have a chance to get to heaven
someday. True Christianity is a personal
relationship with Jesus Christ. Baptism is just a picture and a
testimony of your faith. Water doesn't save us, right?
If, if, if baptism was necessary to wash away your sins, then it
would be reasonable to say that Jesus was a Sinner and needed to
be baptized to wash his sins away.
Why did Jesus get baptized? And I, I saw a children's book
that was, that was, was written by a Methodist and very, very
plainly it said Jesus, Jesus got baptized because he needed to
have his sins washed away the same way that we need to have
our sins washed away. His blasphemous as you can, as
you can get. Jesus was not a Sinner.
Jesus never sinned or he would have never have been able to
save us. Water does not have any power to
wash away your sins. There's nothing special about
water that has the ability to wash your sins away.
Only the blood of Jesus Christ can do that.
So to say that you can go down into the water, get baptized,
and then come up clean is such a misunderstanding of what the
Scripture actually is saying when it talks about baptism.
Baptism does nothing to save us. Only Christ can save us.
And to say that I need to be baptized in order to be saved is
saying that the death of Jesus Christ on the cross is not
enough. I need his death plus something
else, right? It's, it's, it's baptism is the
wedding ring, right? Baptism is just a picture.
I wear a ring because I want people to know that I'm married,
right? But if I take my ring off, it
does not mean that I'm not married, right?
I'm still married. I just wear it so that other
people know that I am right. I want, I want people to know
that I have a wife. I, I want people to know that,
that I'm not looking for somebody else, right?
And so on the day that I got married, I gave my wife a ring.
She gave me a ring. This is just the symbol of our
marriage, right? And that's exactly what baptism
is, right? I'm married whether I wear a
ring or not. I wear a ring because I'm proud
of the fact that I'm married and I want people to know it.
Salvation is exact. I mean, it is the exact same
thing. Baptism is just the ring that
you wear, if you will. Salvation happened.
I'm saved. I'm on my way to heaven whether
I get baptized or not, but I get baptized because I'm proud of
the fact that I've accepted Christ as my Savior.
I'm proud to identify with Christ, and I want people to
know that I have been saved and I'm identifying with Christ.
So I get baptized as the symbol to let people know that that's
the decision that I've made right now.
Here's the danger in putting baptism in front of salvation.
Let's just say that I decided that I'm old enough now, and I
feel like I should be at an age where I should be married.
So I walk down to the jeweler and I go and I buy a wedding
ring. And I pick out the one that I
want, and I stick it on my own finger.
And I start walking around telling everybody that I'm
married. No wife, no nobody at home
waiting for me. But I go to work and I say,
yeah, the wife wants me to go home tonight.
So unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to go out with you
guys. She's cooking dinner and I got
to get back home, Right? And you go home to an empty
house and, you know, you walk around, you're playing with it
in public. So people know that you're
married because you want everybody to know that you found
somebody for you, but you're not married.
And you know what's going to happen?
Eventually it's going to come out.
People are going to find out that you just bought a ring and
stuck it on your finger and pretended to be married.
And you don't actually have a wife, right?
That's what baptism is. Without salvation.
You can pretend all you want to to be a Christian and you can
show up at church and you can say, well, I can't do that
because Christians don't do those things, right?
And you can pretend all you want to, to be a Christian, but just
because you get baptized and pretend to be a Christian does
not mean that you are one. You've got to come to the
marriage alter 1st and get married to then put the ring on
your finger and wear it legitimately right.
And then the same way we come to Christ for salvation, and then I
get baptized as a way to say that I am this, you know,
getting baptized before salvation is putting the wedding
ring on before you've ever been married and trying to make
everybody else think that you're a Christian, trying to make
everybody else think that that that you've that you've done it
the right way. Trying to make everybody else
think that you know that you're under right heaven or whatever
else it is that you're trying to convince people that you know
that you're doing baptism can do nothing to save you.
The same way that going to a jewelry store and buying a ring
and put it on your finger makes you married, right?
It can't do anything for you. You putting that wedding ring on
does not make you married. It's just the symbol that you
are. And so, you know, you wouldn't
wear a ring without being married.
You shouldn't be baptized without being saved.
It's, it's just as simple as that.
That's the way that the Bible explains it.
Baptism is just a picture of salvation.
And so there's a lot of, there's a lot of religions out there who
say that you have to be baptized in order to be saved.
But that is putting the sanctification in front of the
justification, right? You're doing everything you can
to live a sanctified life, doing everything you can to live the
way that a Christian would live. But you've never been justified.
You cannot truly live a life of sanctification until you've been
justified, until you've experienced justification.
And an easy way to to understand what justification is, is just
as if I'd never sinned. I come to Christ.
I accept Him as the only payment for the penalty of sin that I
have to pay. He died on the cross to pay for
my sins. I come to him and I ask Him for
that forgiveness. I ask Him for that salvation
that only He can give me. I'm justified because now I can
stand before God just as if I'd never sinned.
That's how God sees me when he looks at me.
And then I can get baptized and then I can begin that process of
living a life of sanctification. I cannot do it in any other
order. Just like I can't live my whole
life not married and then get married at the end of my life
and pretend that I've been married my whole life, right?
Doesn't work that way. That's not the order that it
happens in. You get married, you put on the
ring, and then you work at your marriage, right?
That's how it goes. You get saved, you get baptized,
and then you work at living the way that a Christian ought to
live. Justification, baptism,
sanctification, that's the order that those things go in.
And baptism is the first step in that process after you've been
saved. So good works don't save us,
religious rituals don't save us. These things follow salvation,
but it is personal faith in Christ that saves us.
Salvation is a free gift of God's grace.
And in Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 8 and 9, it says, for by
grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of
yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast.
If I could add even one word to it in order to be saved, that
means it's not a free gift. And by the way, if I can do
anything to lose my salvation, and that means I'm doing
something to keep it, I can't do anything to keep my salvation.
We're not on eternal security. We will talk about that, but.
Basically, to add anything to salvations, to say that Christ
is not enough. If I, if I have to accept Christ
as my savior and do this or anything else, that means that
his death alone is not enough. And that's a very, that's a very
serious accusation to make. It's Christ plus nothing or you
have nothing and that's that's baptism is literally just a
picture to show that. And by the way, that kind of
eliminates all of the arguments in favor of infant baptism,
right? If a bait if you baptize a baby
number one, I don't know if I've ever seen a baby actually get
immersed right. It'd be a pretty dangerous
thing. More than likely they they just
sprinkle a little water on that baby.
But if, if accepting Christ is a personal relationship with him,
how can a baby make a decision to accept Christ and have a
personal relationship with him when he has no idea what's even
going on? Right.
And, and for my entire salvation experience to be my mom telling
me that when I was a baby I got baptized and I have no knowledge
of it and no memory of it and no recollection of it.
That's a very dangerous spot to be in.
That's not a personal relationship at all.
If I didn't make the decision to initiate that relationship,
there's nothing personal about that at all, right?
It's just religion. And religion is very different
than relationship. The religion is the part that's
been added by man. The relationship is what was
initiated by Christ. So here's a couple verses.
Then what about Mark 1615 and 16?
And what about Acts 238? Because there are there are like
the Church of Christ and some of these other false churches that
claim that baptism is a necessary part of salvation and
they have the proof for it. Two of their favorites are Mark
1615 and 16 and Acts 238. So let's go look at those.
By the way, any perceived, any perceived discrepancy in the
Bible is just that. It's perceived there is an
explanation for all of it. And most of the time all it
takes is reading the Bible into context and comparing scripture
with Scripture. The Bible is not going to
contradict itself. So if it if it says one thing
and then it appears to say the exact opposite, it's not a
contradiction. It's your perception of what
that passage is saying. And Mark chapter 16 verse 15 and
16 is one of those. And he said unto them, Go ye
into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he
that believeth not shall be damned.
OK, sounds very much like the Bible is saying there that you
have to believe and be baptized in order to be saved, right?
Well, here we are taught that baptism is closely associated
with believing, but it is separated from salvation itself.
The Sinner is not damned because he doesn't get baptized.
He is damned because he doesn't believe.
And the wording is very precise and very important.
Baptism is an evidence that the person has truly believed.
Those who claim to believe in Jesus but refuse to be baptized
are not true believers. Jesus said that those who love
him will obey him. And we don't need to turn over
there. But John chapter 14 and verse 23
says that now we're going to, we're going to talk about both
of these in a second, but let's go over to Acts 238 and look at
this. So we understand where we're
coming from. Believes and is baptized.
OK, That's that's, that would maybe sound like it's saying
that you have to be that you have to believe and you have to
be baptized in order to not be damned to hell, right?
Well, obviously the Bible is not saying that.
It's saying that belief is or unbelief is the damnation, not
the unbaptism or the not baptized.
Acts chapter 2 and verse 38. Then Peter said unto them,
Repent and be baptized, everyone of you, in the name of Jesus
Christ, for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the
gift of the Holy Ghost. The believer does not get
baptized in order to be forgiven for his sins.
He's baptized because he has been forgiven.
Think about it like this. If somebody says I need to take
some ibuprofen for a headache, are you going to take ibuprofen
in order to get a headache or are you taking ibuprofen because
you have a headache, right? It's a small word that word for
I need, I need some aspirin for my headache, right?
This is what the Bible look Acts chapter 2 and verse 38.
Everyone of you repent and be baptized, everyone of you in the
name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.
So their interpretation of that passage is repent, be baptized
so that you can have the remission of sins, right?
If I take aspirin for a headache, am I taking aspirin
because I want to get a headache or am I taking aspirin because I
have a headache, right? Repent and be baptized, everyone
of you in the name of Christ because of the remission of
sins, not in order to get the remission of sins, right?
That that word is very, very, very small, obviously, but it
carries a lot of weight to it. Repent and be baptized, every
one of you in the name of Jesus Christ because of the remission
of sins, not in order to get the remission of sins very small,
but obviously a very big difference.
So the expression for the remission of sins could mean in
order for your sins to be forgiven or because your sins
have been forgiven, right? And the same way that I
explained it, somebody can say, well, I think you're wrong.
I think what it's actually saying is this, well, let's look
over there. In Luke chapter 5, there's a
similar expression that's used in the way of because your sins
have been forgiven. The exact way that I just
explained it, Luke chapter 5, Luke chapter 5, and verse #13
This was a leper that was coming to be cleansed of his leprosy,
or Christ cleansed of his leprosy, and now he had to go
show himself to the priest. And so the Bible says, and it
uses the same exact phrasing here.
Luke 513 And he put for this hand Jesus, and touched him,
saying, I will be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy
departed from him, and he charged him to tell no man, but
go and show thyself to the priest and offer for thy
cleansing, according as Moses commanded for a testimony unto
them. The leper was instructed to
offer himself to the priest. For thy cleansing mean that he
had already been cleansed by Christ, right?
It wasn't in order to get cleansed, right?
That same word. For for thy cleansing, go show
yourself to the priest in order to get cleansed.
Or go show yourself to the priest, because you have been
cleansed, right? It's the same word and you can
you can you could say that the interpretation could be made
both ways. Are you going to get cleaned or
you going because you're clean? Well, it's he's going very
obviously by the context of this passage, he was going because he
was clean. And I think the same exact
interpretation is what we find in Acts chapter 2 and verse 38
because of not in order to. So we know that this meaning,
this is going on to the next page, page 28.
We know this is the meaning of Mark 16.
We know it's the meaning of Acts chapter 2 by comparing Scripture
with Scripture. The apostle Paul said that it is
the gospel of Christ that saves Romans 116 for it is the power
of God unto salvation. And he taught that baptism is
not the gospel. By the way, then let's turn over
the First Corinthians chapter, chapter 1.
I want to give you a couple more verses here that we know for a
fact by the Word of God that baptism is not necessary for
salvation. It's not only that verse, It's
not only these verses that are left open for interpretation
that would tell us that baptism is not necessary for salvation.
And I think first Corinthians chapter 1 is one of the most
powerful verses that we have, really kind of the whole passage
there. But verse #17 actually, let's go
back. Let's go back into this.
Is Paul talking to the Corinthians there?
And he says this in verse 12. Now this I say that everyone of
you saith I am of Paul and I am of Apollos and I have Cephas and
I have Christ. Is Christ divided?
Was Paul crucified for you or were you baptized in the name of
Paul? I thank God, I thank God that I
baptized none of you but Crispus and Gaius.
If baptism is necessary for salvation, do you think Paul
would be so thrilled that he never LED anybody to Christ?
I'm so thankful that I didn't lead any of you to Christ by
baptizing you. So thankful that none of you
came to know Christ as your Savior by being baptized.
They will Christmas and Gaius, those two, but unfortunately
they got saved because I baptized them, right?
It's it's it's ludicrous to say that Paul would be thrilled that
he didn't baptize any of them because baptism was a part of
salvation, right? He says, I thank God that I
baptize none of you but Crispus and Gaius, lest any should say
that I had baptized in my own name and I baptized also the
House of Stefanus. Besides, I know not whether I
baptize any other. But here's the important part
verse #17 for Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the
gospel, not with the wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ
should be made of none effect. Do you see the important
distinction there at the beginning of verse 17?
Christ sent me not to baptized, but to preach the gospel.
If baptism was part of the gospel, then what Paul's saying
here is a is a contradictory statement.
Christ sent me not to preach the gospel, but to preach the
gospel. If baptism is part of salvation,
you have to say that, right? Baptism very clearly is not a
part of salvation. And Paul is very clearly saying,
my mission, what I've been given to do is not to go baptize
people. It's to share the gospel of
Christ. Very, very distinct between
sharing the gospel and seeing somebody get saved and then
seeing somebody get baptized. Let's, let's look in verse,
sorry, chapter 15, First Corinthians chapter 15.
And we've already been through this.
We've already looked at all these things.
But here's this distinction again.
First Corinthians 15, one through 4, the gospel in a
nutshell. And I want you to see how many
times baptism is mentioned here. Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also
you have received, and wherein you stand, but by which also you
are saved, if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless
you have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first
of all that which I also received.
How? That Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He
rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures.
And that ye must be baptized in order to be saved Doesn't say
that, does it? Because here's the gospel, the
gospel in a nutshell, and no mention of baptism anywhere.
Do you think if baptism was necessary for salvation, he
would have at least included it in the gospel in the places
where he gives us the gospel? Because baptism is not necessary
for salvation. Let me give you a couple other
verses. Let's go over to Luke chapter
23. The one exception, baptism is
necessary for salvation. But there was 1 exception, Luke
chapter 23. I'm being facetious obviously.
But verse #43 Jesus was hanging on the cross as he's dying, and
he's got 2 thieves on either side of him.
And one of them mocked and made fun of Jesus.
And but the other one, verse 42, said unto Jesus, Lord, Remember
Me when thou comest into thy Kingdom.
He recognized who Jesus was. And Jesus said unto him, Verily
I say unto thee, today thou shalt be with me in paradise.
Now, what you don't have in this passage is that they went and
undid the nails from that thief, brought him down off of the
cross, baptized him, and then put him back up on the cross so
that he could finish dying. That's not in the passage, but
we know that's what happened. No, it's not what happened, is
it? He didn't come off the cross,
get baptized, and then go back up on the cross so that he could
complete his salvation, right? No way that he came off the
cross. He died just a few hours later,
a few hours after this, he was, he was dead.
They broke his legs and he died, right?
He didn't have time to come off the cross and get baptized.
So did God make an exception for this thief?
He didn't have to come the way everybody else came because he
couldn't come off the cross and get baptized.
Or is baptism just not necessary for salvation?
I think it's more likely, right? Let's look at another one.
Let's go to Acts chapter 10. Acts chapter 10.
Again, the way the Bible words, things matters.
And this is one of those circumstances where the way the
Bible words, this matters. Acts chapter 10.
And Peter is preaching to the Gentiles here verse #43 well,
verse, verse, verse 42. Peter's in the middle of a of a
sermon. And he commanded us to preach
unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained
of God to be the judge of quick and dead.
To him give all the prophets witness, that through His name
whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins.
While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on
all them which heard the word, and they of the circumcision
which believed were astonished as many as came with Peter,
because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of
the Holy Ghost, for they heard them speak with tongues and
magnify God. Then answered Peter, Can any man
forbid water that these should not be baptized which have
received the Holy Ghost as well as we and he commanded them to
be baptized in the name of the Lord, then prayed they him to
tarry certain days. Now I think this is an
interesting thing we read in Galatians chapter 4 that the
that the Holy Spirit is the mark of sonship, right?
The Holy Spirit coming into somebody's life is a mark that
they are saved and that they are sons of God, right?
In Galatians chapter 4 and verse 6 tells us that.
So the Holy Spirit, these people get saved, the Holy Spirit comes
upon them and then they get baptized, right?
So if baptism was necessary for salvation, there would be no
Holy Spirit that's coming upon these or they're or they
wouldn't have, they wouldn't have been saved, right?
The Holy Spirit came on a bunch of unsaved people.
It didn't happen that way. They were saved.
The Holy Spirit came up, came upon them, and then they were
baptized. Cornelius received the Holy
Ghost before he was baptized. So either baptism is not
necessary for salvation or the Holy Ghost came and fell upon
people who are not saved. And we know that that can't
happen because they're, they're still dead in their sins, right?
The Holy Spirit is what quickens us, makes us alive in Christ.
So either baptism is not necessary for salvation or the
Holy Ghost fell upon people who are not saved.
I don't think we can say that. Let's let's go to Acts chapter
20. Acts Chapter 20.
And verse #21 this is a verse that we focused on quite a bit,
on repentance and faith, testifying both to the Jews and
also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our
Lord Jesus Christ. Why was Paul not testifying of
them toward baptism, right? Or testifying to them of
baptism, If he's testifying of repentance and faith, If baptism
was necessary, shouldn't he also have at least mentioned that
he's testifying to them about being baptized too, Right?
It's because it's not necessary for salvation.
Let's go look at another one in Romans chapter 10.
Romans chapter 10, Just kind of going through these in
chronological order, but Romans chapter 10.
And these are verses that are very familiar to you.
We use these often when we're sharing the gospel with
somebody. Verse #9 That if thou shalt
confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in
thine heart that got it raised him from the dead, thou shalt be
saved. Do you think that if baptism was
necessary for salvation, he would have said, Believe in
thine heart that got it to raise him from the dead, and are
baptized? Thou shalt be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, with a mild
confession is made unto salvation, and with baptism the
sins are forgiven. I mean, it would, it would be,
it would be very easy to put that in there if that's what was
necessary for salvation, right? It's not there.
But there's no difference between the Jew and the Greek.
For the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon
him. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord and be baptized shall be saved.
It's not there, right? Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Baptism is there's, there's the
gospel in the nutshell again and again, no mention of baptism.
Let's try this. Let's go to 1st Corinthians
chapter 1. We mentioned this one already,
but since we're here and kind of putting these in a little bit of
chronological order verse #17 as we already read for Christ sent
me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, Why would Paul be so
adamant about not preaching baptism and making such a
distinction between that and the gospel?
Here's another one. Let's go over to Ephesians
chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1.
Verse #13 In whom you also trusted.
After that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your
salvation. In whom also after that you
believed you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.
What is that sealing of the Holy Spirit?
Well, that is, I've got you in my hand, and nothing can pluck
you out of my hand. You cannot lose that salvation.
You are sealed until the day of redemption.
But what was the prerequisite for that?
Saved and baptized, right? No, baptism is not a part of
that. Saved.
You believe and you're sealed right Now baptism is that step
of obedience. It's necessary, but it's not
part of salvation. In whom you also trusted.
After that she heard the word of truth, the gospel of your
salvation, in whom also after that ye believed you were sealed
with that Holy Spirit of promise.
There is no mention of baptism in there, and for good reason.
You can write down first Peter chapter 3 and verse #21 as well.
We'll, we'll, I'm going to move on because I want to finish
this. But that's a symbol of the
purification of our hearts. It's a picture of salvation
only. He's talking about the, the days
of Noah, how they were saved. But it's just a picture of that
purification of our hearts. Let's move on.
What is the mode of baptism? And I think for most of us, we
understand this. So I'm going to move through
this fairly quickly. But, and again he mentions this,
it's sad that we even have to discuss the mode of baptism
because the Bible is so clear about it, but we have to discuss
it because a lot of professing Christians practice sprinkling
and pouring. Scriptural baptism is immersion
in water or burial in water. 5 evidences here.
Number one, that's the meaning of the word, the word baptize.
It comes from the Greek word baptizo, which literally means
to immerse. So I'm going to immerse you in
water by sprinkling you. Doesn't make sense.
I'm going to immerse you in water by pouring water on your
head. That's not immersion.
Immersion can only happen by going under the water and
literally being immersed in it. The word means to immerse.
Or to dip #2 This was the manner in which Jesus was baptized.
Mark chapter 1. And again, we don't have to take
the time to turn there because the Bible very plainly says he
came up out of the water. Why would Jesus go down into the
water to be sprinkled right? Why would he go down into the
water to have water poured on his head?
No, he came up out of the water and that's when the Holy Spirit
came down and rested upon him in the form of a dove and
everything else. This is also the example of the
early Christians. And let's turn over to here,
Acts chapter 8. Acts chapter 8, There's a
candidate for baptism, and there's a preacher.
Acts chapter 8, verse #38 And he commanded the chariot to stand
still. This is, this is Philip with the
Ethiopian eunuch. He commanded the chariot to
stand still and they both went down.
They went down both into the water, both Philip and the
eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they were come up out
of the water, so very, very plain, they went down into the
water. They came up out of the water
and he was baptized. He was immersed, he baptized
him. That word baptized is in the
Greek would literally have said to immerse, right?
He, he went down into the water, he immersed him and they came up
out of the water. And that's exactly what the
method was for all of the other early Christians as well.
The only reason for that would be to practice immersion.
Otherwise why would they both go down into the water?
That's me. And I'm just going to dump a
little cup of water on somebody's head and then you can
go in the water if you want to. I'm just going to get a little
cup and dump it on you, right? There's no reason for it unless
they were being immersed #4 This is the only mode that fits the
biblical meaning of the practice.
And I alluded to that already. You don't sprinkle a little bit
of dirt on somebody when they die.
You dig a hole, you bury them in the ground, right?
And that's exactly what the the whole purpose of baptism is, as
a picture of the death, the burial, and the resurrection of
Jesus Christ #5 immersion was the only mode of baptism in the
churches for many centuries. And this is interesting because
I've been in some of these places as well in Israel and
other places. But many ancient baptistries
testify to that fact. The most ancient baptistry in
Rome, for example, is a large pool that was obviously used for
immersions, right? As opposed to a little stand of
water that you see nowadays, you know, you go into a lot of these
churches where they're doing the baptisms and it's just a little
stand with a little bit of water in it, right?
Where they can kind of dip their fingers in it and, and sprinkle
you with that, right. I mean, that was, you don't find
that anywhere in these ancient churches, in these, in these,
you know, ancient early Christian churches, you don't
find evidence of that anywhere. You find evidence of a pool, you
find evidence of a of a rock tank, you know, a tank made hewn
into the rock and everything else.
Brother Cloud says I've stood in the baptistry and it comes up to
my waist. The same is true for an ancient
baptistry I've seen at a church in Ephesus.
So obviously, the way that they did it for many, many years,
turn over to First Timothy chapter 3.
First Timothy chapter 3. Who has the authority to
baptize? Well, the New Testament church
has the authority to baptize, right?
It's the Lord's chosen institution for this age, and
it's the House of God, the pillar and ground of truth.
First Timothy chapter 3 and verse 15.
But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to
behave thyself in the House of God, which is the Church of the
living God, the pillar and the ground of truth.
Every baptism in the book of Acts was conducted by a
preacher. That's who has the authority.
The local church has the authority.
Not some parachurch organization, not some, you
know, extra ministry somewhere that's not under a local church.
The local church has the authority to baptize.
And then what follows baptism? Well, let's turn over to Acts
chapter 2. And this is obviously the very
first church. And they were saved at
Pentecost. And then obviously the Bible
says they were baptized. So the thing that follows
baptism is Christian service and holy living.
As I mentioned, there is justification, there is baptism,
and then there is sanctification.
And again, if you're not willing to take that first step and
follow Christ in obedience and get baptized, then you cannot
grow in your Christian life. You cannot grow in your walk
with God. You cannot grow in that
sanctification if you haven't even taken that first step or if
you won't take that first step of obedience that Christ has
commanded us to do. So the thing that follows
baptism in Christian is Christian service and holy
living. And we find that in Acts chapter
2 and verse #41. Then they that gladly received
His word were baptized, and the same day there were added unto
them about 3000 souls, and they continued steadfastly in the
apostles doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in
prayers. So that's the order, saved,
baptized, added to the church, discipled, growing.
That's that's Christian service and holy living.
And so the individual that takes baptism is testifying that he
has died to the old life and that he's going to follow Christ
as the Lord of his life or as the Lord of her life.
It's a very serious and solemn practice.
The Christian in the first church at Jerusalem, the
Christians in the first church at Jerusalem continued
steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship and in
breaking of bread and in prayers.
So it was a very serious thing that they did saved, baptized,
added to the church grow in their Christian life.
And that's the order that it has to be in.
And if you've never been baptized after you're saved,
then it's important that you do that.
Listen, there are some people who who who make a profession
or, or you know, don't even realize if they've gotten saved
or not and get baptized maybe even.
And then later on in their life, and many times it happens with
kids, they get saved at a young age and they start questioning
their salvation. Later on, they get that settled.
And I don't know if I was saved before, but I know I'm saved
now. Well, it's important to get
baptized on the right side of salvation.
If you got baptized before you were saved, you just got wet.
That's it, right? If you got sprinkled as a baby,
that's not a valid baptism. You just got wet.
That's it. It's no different than jumping
in the swimming pool, right? It's no, it's no different than
baptizing yourself in a bathtub or doing any of those kind of
things, right? If you're just getting wet.
I mean, we used to do that as kids, you know, when, when, when
we were real little, we, we all took a bath together, you know,
and, and we would practice baptizing each other in the tub,
you know, I mean, didn't, didn't, didn't do anything for
them, right? Didn't do anything because they
were just, they were literally just getting wet, right?
Baptism is done under the authority of the local church.
It's done by immersion, it's done after salvation, and it's
done in obedience to what Christ has commanded us to do.
He did it to show us what to do. He told us that we should do it
in obedience to His Word, and that's why we do it.
Not only that, it's a picture of the death, the burial, and the
resurrection of Jesus Christ. And it is an example and a
testimony to all the world that I know that I'm saved and I want
everybody else to know that I'm saved and I'm going to go on and
live for the Lord. I am raised to walk in newness
of life. There ought to be something
different about me after I get saved.
There ought to be something different about me after I make
a profession in front of everybody to let them know that
I've been saved by getting baptized.
Baptism cannot do anything to save you.
Baptism is a work like confession to a priest or like
doing the Holy Eucharist or saying Hail Marys or doing any
of those other things. It's a work just like all of
those things are. It cannot save you.
But once you have been saved, then baptism is that step of
obedience that every one of us should take to let everybody
else know, hey, I've been saved and I want you to know it.
I'm going to live for Christ. It's an important step, but but
it's not, it's not a step that is necessary for salvation only,
only the gospel, only accepting Christ as our Savior, accepting
his death on the cross, realizing that I'm a Sinner and
accepting that death on the cross is the payment for my sin.
Baptism is the step that comes after that.
Hope that's a help. Hope some of those verses will
help you maybe in in explaining that to somebody else.
And we'll we'll move on with into eternal security next week.
And I'm going to give you some questions about this next week
too. Let's pray.
Father, again, we thank you so much for your goodness to us.
Thank you for the opportunity to be here together tonight.
I pray that it has been a help to us.
I pray that you would use it in our hearts to help us maybe help
somebody else understand this and come to the knowledge of
Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, themselves and God.
I pray that if there is somebody in here that never has been
baptized after salvation, that they would take that step and
move forward in their Christian life and in their walk with you.
Thank you again for all you do for us in Jesus name, Amen.