Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives.
The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist
Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us
or contact us at my libertybaptist.org or just look
us up on Facebook. And now we hope that this
message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.
I do want to recognize with our baptistry out here today.
And all of that we got going on and do want to recognize my
friend here today, my dear friend, Brother Steve Smith.
And he's sitting here in the 2nd row.
He's the man that's taller than almost everybody here except for
Jim Weatherby necessarily. But we're glad to be able to
have Brother Steve with us. Some of you might remember back
in 2021 when I had my surgery on my jaw, that Becky Smith came
here to help assist our family while I was in the hospital for
10 days. She helped my wife help with the
children and their family has been a dear friend of ours since
as long as I can remember. Becky passed away two years ago.
And so we prayed for her during her illness and then prayed for
Brother Steve after her passing. And it's been good to have him
here the last couple days just visiting, just showing him some
of the sites around here. And so glad for that, but glad
that he's with us today and have a lot of stories I could tell
about brother Steve. He has a whole lot more stories
he could tell of me. So it's kind of one of those
things where let's just play nice.
All right? So neither of us are gonna say
anything about each other, but I'm gonna tell a story that I've
mentioned in passing before years before, but is certainly
relevant today, not just with Brother Steve being here, but
also with the baptistry out here.
This morning I was an intern for Brother Steve.
He was a pastor in Holden, MO at Holden Baptist Temple.
And he came to me about a couple months before the end of my
sophomore year and said, would you pray about coming to Holden
and living with us in the Parsonage and working for a few
months and helping out of the church, running a vacation Bible
school and doing those types of things.
And honestly, I jumped at the opportunity, one, because I want
to be to work with him and be with their family, but also
because I'd never lived in a small town before and I thought
it would be good to see another side of ministry that I hadn't
seen before being in Tampa and in Oklahoma City.
So it had a wonderful time. But I do remember at one point
he gave me the instruction very clearly.
He says, Adam, I want you to fill the baptistry.
Now, many of you understand most Baptist churches, unless they
rent like we do, have a real baptistry.
A fiberglass baptistry is probably back in the background
behind where I am right now, where people can stand up and
then be baptized fully immersed back up and then come out of the
pool. That's what most Baptist
churches have. Many of you are used to that.
And that's what it had it holding Baptist Temple.
She told me to fill the baptistry.
And I remember it getting close to being full.
And it was about lunchtime and, you know, I'm big on lunch.
And so I was about to be able to go over to the Parsonage to eat
lunch with The Smiths. And so before I left, I turned
off the water. And I remember reaching over to
turn off the water. And I don't know that I realized
or not, but I, I, I, I thought that I had turned it off, but it
actually turned it on full blast.
I went the wrong direction. Now listen, I'm no dummy.
No, no, no, no. You all, you all think you know
what's actually it's good what's happens, what you think's going
to happen. But I, I'm not careless.
I lifted up the hose to make sure.
It was off. No water came out of the hose.
Now the problem was I realized later, I kinked the hose when I
pulled it up. So no water came out.
Not because the water was off, but because I kinked the hose.
Went home, had lunch, came back in about an hour and I heard the
sound of running water and for some reason it was in the
basement. I went down in the basement and
water is running through the electrical sockets.
In the ceiling, running through the light fixtures, falling
down. I'm standing in the middle of
the water. There's about this much water
all over the basement. And all I could think of was
he's coming back from lunch too and he'll be here in 5 minutes.
And I thought maybe I can vacuum all of this up.
In 5 minutes and take it upstairs because we're in the
basement. I had to get it upstairs and
out. Guess what I could not do in
five? Minutes.
I could not vacuum it all up. Brother Smith came in.
He was very gracious about it, but at the same time, I had to
clean it all up. And he didn't pay me that
summer. But other than that, no, that's
not true. That last part's not true.
And then several years later when we worked together,
Westgate Baptist Church, I also flooded their baptistry but ran
the water overnight so that in the morning it was like a sea of
glass all over there was. So much water.
So basically we do the water this way here, one, because our
building can't support a baptistry.
But also when I'm the pastor, this is safer to be honest with
you for it to be that way. You you might even say something
like this. You might even say pastor.
Wouldn't it be easier? To just sprinkle someone to
baptize them, especially when you are the pastor and these are
the problems. Would it be easier to sprinkle
them or would it be easier to just use a?
Little cup of water maybe make the sign of the.
Cross on top of you. Wouldn't that be easier?
And the answer would be yes, it would be easier.
But it wouldn't be obedient to what the word of God says.
And The thing is, is that baptism is all about obedience.
And so this morning, as we continue our series, Christ is
All, I actually want us to look at the baptism of Jesus Christ.
And the title of my message, as I mentioned you a few moments
ago, is this, that Christ is obedient.
And that might sound odd to your ears this morning, the thought
of God himself being obedient. We'll talk about why that's
important just a moment, but we'll also see about Christ
getting baptized and why that deals with obedience.
And why it still deals with obedience for us today.
Anytime anyone goes to the water for believers baptism, Christ is
obedient. And if I had a subtitle for the
message it would be this. Baptism is all about obedience.
Would you stand pleased? For the reading God's Word.
Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be
baptized of him. There it is.
I You probably should give me a round of applause for that.
All right, but thank you. But John forbade him, saying, I
have me to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?
And Jesus answering, said unto him, Suffer it to be so now, for
thus it be cometh us to fulfill all righteousness.
Then He suffered him, but allowed him.
And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straight way out of the
water, and lo, the heavens were opened up to him, and he saw the
Spirit of God. Descending like a dove and
lighting upon him. And lo, a voice from heaven
saying, This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.
Why don't you be seated? And I think we definitely need
to pray again here this morning. So let's do that, boy.
It's warm in here. All right, Heavenly Father, we
do thank you for this morning. And I do pray to just help my
heart to be able to be what it needs to be today.
Help me to be able to calm my thoughts on these scriptures
with the thoughts that you have, I believe given me this week
what I do. Thank you for those who are
being baptized today. I thank you for their obedience
to your Word. But I hope, I pray that that you
would help us to see why it's so important to see that Christ is
obedient and why baptism is all about obedience.
So be with us now as we go through these texts and I ask it
all in Jesus name, Amen. Well, you may have noticed in
the text. That we just read, that the word
obey or obedience is not actually found in the words that
we just read. But yet I would argue to you
that it's very much inescapable in that which we just saw in
those few short verses about Christ's baptism.
So as we have before, we ask ourselves this question as we
start what does it mean to be obedient?
Now, I think we probably all have a pretty good idea of what
obedience is and a good idea of what obedience is not here this
morning. But if you were to go to the
1828 dictionary and look up the word obedience, it is this
compliance with a command, prohibition or known law, the
performance of what is required by authority, abstaining from
that which is prohibited to constitute obedience.
The act of forbearance to act must be in submission to
authority. The idea is that you are doing
that what you are or told you are submitting yourself to a
power that is higher than that which you yourself is.
Now of course we could talk about obedience to God because
there is no power higher than God.
But we also understand that obedience is also found in a
home with children, to parents, That obedience is found in a
school with students to teachers.
Obedience is found in the workplace with a worker to a
boss. That obedience is part of every
area of our life. You can't escape the very issue
of obedience. But here's the problem with
obedience. Mankind likes to disobey.
In fact, we like the rebel, don't we?
We kind of look at the rebel and have a little bit of regard for
the rebel more than the one who just follows that which they are
told to do. And mankind doesn't need to be
taught how to disobey. Never have I run up to Peyton or
AJ or Bethany or Kaylee when they were very young, maybe when
they were two years old or so and said, hey, darling, here's
what I need you to know. The next time Daddy tells you
what to do, you need to yell and scream and kick and say no, no,
no as many times as possible. Never once did I have to explain
to any of my children how to disobey.
Why? Because they were born little
sinners. They were born in iniquities and
sins, as we all were. And no one needs to be taught to
disobey. We need a lot of reminders to
obey. But in our.
Flesh we like to disobey, like I said.
We almost like the one that disobeys and seemingly gets away
with it. We have some regard for the the
rebel, the one that sticks it to the man that shows people who's
in charge, who's who's the boss. This is what we like.
In our flesh. But yet God puts a premium on
obedience where mankind in the flesh likes.
To disobey and it comes naturally to the flesh.
Man and his thoughts are much different than God's thoughts
because Saul, King Saul back in First Samuel.
He was given some real instructions from the Lord, and
he decided he knew better. And he said he was doing it for
the Lord, but he was really doing it for himself.
And Samuel comes to him and says this.
The prophet Samuel, remember, remember Christ his prophet last
week, how the prophet says what needs to be said, and the people
are supposed to listen. Well, the prophet Samuel came
and told Saul what need to be said.
And he said, This hath the Lord as great delight and burnt
offerings and sacrifices, as obeying the voice of the Lord.
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken better
than the fatter Rams. Now for us, we may not
understand the full connotation of that, but to the Jew the
sacrifice was everything. Their life revolved around the
sacrifices. And Samuel looks at Saul.
Who said that he was saving some of the best sheep to make
sacrifices? He says.
You think God needs your sacrifice?
You think God is? Needing the blood of bulls and
goats, he said. The whole point of everything
that God requires to the sacrifice is it's all about
obedience and faith. And the fact is, Saul, God
doesn't want your sacrifices. He wants your heart.
And so God puts a premium on obedience.
Man was commanded to obey in the garden.
Genesis 217 But of the tree of the garden, or the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat, for in the day
that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Yet mankind failed Adam as a representative for all of us.
If you thought you would have done better in the garden, you
would not have, nor would I Adam was the representative for all
of us because each of us in the same place.
When left to our own devices, we get to the place where we
naturally in our flesh disobey the very clear commands of an
Almighty God. It was D Martyn Lloyd Jones who
said there is nothing that is so reveals the depth of our sin as
our persistent disobedience to God's.
Word. And that's true because sin and
judgment fell upon all of us. We needed a perfectly obedient
sacrifice to be able to take the penalty for sin and death and
hell. Romans 512 says, Wherefore as by
one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so
death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.
But it says later on in that chapter, verse 19 For as by one
man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the
obedience. Of one shall many be made
righteous. Well, who was that one?
Well, that one was Jesus Christ, the obedient Son of God, who was
obedient from his birth to his death, who was obedient from the
beginning of his earthly ministry to the end of his
earthly ministry. And that's why it says in verse
21 of the same chapter that has sinned hath reigned unto death.
Even so, my grace reigned through righteousness unto
eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
Christ was obedient. And really, that brings us to
our text this morning of what we have just seen here in Matthew
chapter #3 What do we see? Well, there's.
Baptisms that are taking place, and those baptisms are taking
place at the hand of none other than John the Baptist.
Go up to verse #1 Let's widen our scope here.
Of. What we've read so far, Chapter
3, verse #1 it says this in those, excuse me, in those days
came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea and
saying, repent ye, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.
For this is he that was spoken of by the Prophet Esaias saying.
The voice of 1. Crying in the wilderness,
prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his path straight.
And the same John had his raiment of Campbell's hair and a
leathern girdle about his loins and his meat was locusts and
wild hunting. Then went out to him Jerusalem
and all Judea and all the region round about Jordan and were
baptized of him in Jordan confessing their sins.
Well, what is taking place here? John the Baptist, the forerunner
of Jesus Christ is preparing the way.
You can go to Malachi chapter 3. You can go to Malachi chapter 4.
And you see the prophet is there the that which is John the
Baptist, he's going to come and he's going to preach the word of
God and his message is very clear.
It's this repent turn from the direction you're going and turn
toward the Savior who is going to come very soon.
And the Bible says that Judea itself all comes to hear that
which John the Baptist is preaching and John is preaching
and people are turning to the Lord.
And as that's happening, they are being baptized and they're
being baptized there in the Jordan River.
Now this is important. It says in verse number six they
were baptized of him in Jordan, meaning this that they had to
get in the Jordan. And they get out of Jordan.
He said, why is that important? Well, if you're being sprinkled,
would you go inside a body of water just to be sprinkled?
The answer is no. We're going to see that again in
just a moment. But the fact of the matter was,
and we'll see this again more in Romans chapter 6 in a few
moments as well, is that they were going to be baptized by
full immersion. They were going into the water
to be able to be baptized. I was sprinkled as a baby.
As many of you were that are here this morning.
But that wasn't baptism. That was getting wet.
Why? Because it wasn't following the
biblical pattern of that, which is baptizing for several
different reasons. And I was given a glass of
water. Why?
I wasn't giving it, but I was. I had it next to me and the
pastor just made the sign of the cross three times and I was
considered baptized by the Lutheran Church.
Is that simpler? Yes.
Is that obedience? No, and baptism's all about
obedience, but here comes Jesus Christ.
Remember, we just read about him a few moments ago in in in some
chapter of the Bible. Where were we?
All right, Matthew, chapter 3. I'm just kidding.
I'm locked in now. All right in.
Matthew chapter 3. We read that Jesus.
Came. For baptism.
Now, did Jesus need baptism the same way we would need baptism?
No. Well, let's go back a step
further if you're unclear about that.
Did Jesus need to be saved like we are saved?
The answer is no. No, we needed Jesus to be saved.
Jesus does not need to be saved. We needed Jesus to be saved.
So Jesus was not going to be baptized to signify that he had
just gotten saved. No, rather he was giving us a
pattern to be able to follow. He was showing obedience to that
which God had put into place so that we could also be obedient
to the same command. This is what baptism is all
about. And so then cometh Jesus verse
13, from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him.
That's also, by the way, a pretty great distance for Jesus
to cover if. This was something that was
small or minor. Why would he do this?
No, he went a great distance to make sure he was baptized by the
proper authority and to be obedient of what was going to be
for us to do as believers later on and what believers were
already doing at that time. Verse 14 says John forbade him,
saying, I have need to be baptized at thee.
Why cometh thou to me? John?
Recognize the fact that I know who you are.
Corresponding texts tell us he said this.
Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the
world. He knew who Jesus was.
Oh no, He didn't just know him because they were family
relations, which they were. He knew that this was very much
the Christ. And he says I don't need to be
I. Don't need to baptize you, you
need to baptize me. Who am I?
And Jesus said, no, no, no, you got it all wrong.
Verse 15. This is important here.
This is really key for us today. And Jesus answering said unto
him, suffer it to be so. Now allow this, for thus it
becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.
You see those those red letter? Words there suffer it to be so
now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.
Jesus looks at John the Baptist. I'm not trying to change the
word of God here, but if I could summarize what Jesus was saying,
it'll be this. This is God's righteous plan and
you don't have the ability to change it because you would
rather do something else. John, this is what God has
ordained. And you and I, it says the word
us, you and I have to fulfill all righteousness.
We have to do that which is commanded.
And there's a word we can boil that down to, and that word is
this obedience. We're going to obey, John.
We're going to do what's right. John could have said, but, but
Lord, I'm not comfortable. With this, it doesn't matter
what you're comfortable with, you need to obey the Lord.
But but but Lord, this doesn't seem right.
It doesn't matter in your faulty senses what seems right.
You need to obey. But but, Lord, I'm not worthy.
Of this your worthiness is not found in yourself, John.
You just need to obey. Why was Jesus baptized?
Because baptism for him was all about.
Obedience. This is what this is what the
Father has told us to do. We must obey.
And then it says in verse 16 in Jesus when he was baptized
straight way out of the water, once again reminding us he went
into the water and he went up straight way.
Out of the water, OK, You can't go in and out of a water glass.
You say you're being unkind. I'm not trying to be unkind.
I'm trying to show you that the Bible's pretty clear about this.
And that modern, well, not even modern religion, but even
ancient religion has tried to take that which is very clear in
the word of God and muddy it up. And so would it be easier in a
rental building to take a cup of water and then be able to
sprinkle someone and baptize them?
Of course it would. Would it make people that maybe
don't want to go all the way into the water feel better if I
just sprinkle them? Absolutely.
It would would it be easier? For the pastor who sometimes
finds a way to get himself wet even though I'm outside the tub
and they're in the tub and I still get myself wet of.
Course it would. But it's not about like John
said. But Lord, I don't think this.
It doesn't matter what we think about it.
We just obey, you know, we're some kind of robot or something
like that, Pat, Like we don't have any thoughts or we don't.
Are you thinking things right now?
I'd say most of you are probably thinking something right now.
If we hooked you up to a, to a machine, I'd imagine there's
some thoughts going through your mind.
There's nothing wrong with our thoughts, but our thoughts are
to be brought into obedience to that which God has.
His thoughts are not our thoughts.
His ways are not our ways. And praise the Lord for it.
Because His ways are so much better than ours.
His thoughts are so much better than ours.
You ever get to this place where you're thinking something like,
what on earth am I thinking about?
Where did that come from? The kind of stuff that we
wouldn't even share with anybody else in church because people
think we were crazy church people.
But the fact of the matter is we're all in the same boat there
and we have these thoughts. Lord, what am I thinking?
Where did that come from? Why would it?
That's why every thought has to be brought into captivity and
into the obedience of Jesus Christ, and even he in his
perfect example, says John, whatever you think is better is
really not up to you. We're going to follow the
righteous plan of God. And what happens?
Lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of
God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him, and low a
voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, and whom?
I'm well pleased if everybody tells you that you can't find
the Trinity of the word of God, just take him anywhere where
Jesus is baptized, Matthew, Mark, Luke or John, because what
do we have? Jesus is baptized in the water,
the voice of the Father. This is my beloved Son, and whom
I well pleased and also said in the corresponding passage, Hear
ye him. Obedience and then also the
spirit and the representation of a dove.
What do you see? Father, Son and Holy Ghost?
So people will say, well, you don't find the Trinity anywhere
in the Bible. You don't find the the word
Trinity anywhere in the Bible. And that may be true, but you
find the Trinity all over the Bible.
What the Bible calls the Godhead, Father, Son and Holy
Ghost. You can't read this book and get
away from the fact that Father, Son and Holy Ghost, three and
one and one and three working together.
Now some of you might be troubled by the fact that you
think, well, if if Jesus is God as much as God the Father, then
why did he have to obey? Because usually one that is
greater gives the commands to one who is lesser, and the one
is lesser is the one who obeys. But here's what we see in
Philippians chapter 2 verse 8. It says it being found in
fashion. As a man, he humbled himself and
became obedient. I could just stop right there.
There's more obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross, which reminds us that He was obedient throughout His
earthly ministry, just as He's obedient throughout his
lifetime. But He became found in fashion
as a man. What did he do?
He willingly gave up the prerogatives of heaven and came
to earth 100% God, 100% man, to willingly obey the Father, to
give us an example of that which we're to do, to obey the Father.
He's our example. He is our guide now.
He's more than an example, and he's more than a guy, just as
he's. More than a prophet, but yet
those words do help us understand his ministries so
that we can in turn learn what we're supposed to do in our
Christian life. How do you respond to people
with grace when they try to get you into situations that you
ought not to be in the 1st place?
Well, Jesus Christ can help you with that.
He's our example. What do we do when we're
tempted? Well.
The Bible says that He was in all points, tempted as we are,
yet without sin. We look at his example.
By the way, quick timeout. You know what his example was?
He kept quoting Scripture. He could have vanquished Satan
with just a word. But you know what?
We can't. So what did he do?
He showed what we can do as the example and used the word of
God. You know, Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost. There is an equality of nature,
but a distinction of roles. I'm going to say that one more
time. There's an equality of nature
meaning this that. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are
all equal, but yet that's a good one, Ralph.
And they're all equal, but they have different.
Roles. You know, my wife and I, we have
different roles. The world won't tell you that's
the way Bible marriage is supposed to work anymore.
But that we have roles as husband and wife.
Does that mean I have more value than her?
Equal in value? Different roles.
There's some families where the children run the house.
It just so happens at our home. That's not the way that it
works, I think. But here's what I do know.
Because we have to tell the children what to do.
Does that mean we have a more value than the children?
No varying roles, equality of value.
Jesus was obedient not because he was subservient to the Father
or less than God, but it's because it was his God ordained
role as he who is robed in flesh to come to this world to show us
that which we should do. And if Jesus Christ could be
obedient? You could be obedient now, maybe
you say, well, Pastor, but he was perfect, right?
You think that would have made it easier for him to obey?
You know, I don't know, there's no struggle with the Lord, but
just follow what I'm saying here for just a second.
When we have to obey. We obey the Lord who's above us,
and we have to obey sinful man who is our equal because we're
sinful. Yet Jesus Christ obeyed His
Father who was his equal, and He obeyed His own creation of which
was sinful. I can't comprehend that.
There were people that were talking to Jesus like He was a
fool and He created the mouth that they were speaking to Him
with. There were people that talked to
Him like He had just showed up and appeared out of nowhere and
He created the Gray matter of which was in their heads in the
1st place. And yet Despite that, He still
obeyed. You say, well what?
What did he obey? Everyone.
He obeyed righteously because He was righteous and there was no
sin found in Him. And He's our example.
If Christ is obedient, then we are called to live the obedient
life as well. You say, pastor, how are we to
be obedient? Well, I think our text shows us
three ways that we need to be obedient as well as other texts
as well. First of all, you must obey in
salvation. You must obey in salvation.
Why were people being baptized in the 1st place?
The call of John was to repent and to turn to God because the
Kingdom was at hand. And like I mentioned a few
moments ago, Jesus was not baptized because he just got
saved. Jesus was baptized to follow the
pattern of which we were to follow, but we are saved because
of. Jesus and his righteousness.
Now, you never see someone baptized in the Word of God to
become saved. I'll be very clear about this
this morning, particularly of those of you, the Catholic and
the Lutheran and other persuasions where you might have
grown up or even as an adult, where we are told that the
sacrament salvation is conveyed through the baptismal water.
Never in the Word of God do you find anyone who was saved by
their baptism. Do you see the order so clearly
in Acts, Acts chapter 2 particularly they were saved,
they were baptized and it says they were added unto them being
the church. The Ethiopian eunuch says in
Acts chapter 8, he says, what's stopping me from being baptized?
And Philip the evangelist didn't say, well, if you give me some
money, he didn't say, well, how many good works have you done?
He said this, if you believe in your heart the message of the
gospel, you may. The Bible says that they got
into the water, he was baptized. There's a Philippian jailer, and
this Philippian jailer hears Paul and Silas singing during
the night. And then an earthquake comes
and. Now the prisoners are free.
At least God's prisoners who were there.
And this Philippian jailer says, what must I do to be saved?
And never was the response be baptized.
The response was the gospel message, and then they were
baptized. This is important.
If you are here today and you don't know that you're going to
heaven, this water will not get you to heaven.
The thief on the cross never went through the baptismal
waters. The thief on the cross never did
those things which were called. Sacraments, either 7 by the
Catholics or two by the Protestants, whatever they may
be. The thief on the cross knew none
of that other than saying Jesus, I believe you will you Remember
Me in paradise? And it was that declaration of
faith whereby he was saved. If you look at what happens here
today at this water, and you wonder if those who are passing
through are getting saved, the answer is no.
They're passing through because they are saved, and you need to
be saved today as well if you don't know where you'll spend
eternity. The answer is not in this water,
but rather this water symbolizes that which took place in each
candidate's heart. And that's the fact that they
understood that they were sinners, that they stood in face
of judgment, and that only Jesus Christ could save them from that
judgment of hell in the lake of fire.
And because they called upon Him to save them, and Him alone they
are. Saved and they obeyed in
salvation. So if you want to get to heaven
after church, you come to me and said, pastor, I want to get
baptized too. Here's what I'm going to tell
you first. You're not getting in that water
until we talk about what that water means, you say.
Would you actually do that? Well, there's a couple people
here getting. Baptized that had that same.
Conversation. People will ask me all the time.
I want to get baptized. Maybe they're not saved.
You know what I tell them. I'd love to talk to you about
that. You know why?
Because I'll tell them before I can baptize you.
This is what the Bible says. And then call upon Christ.
This is a blessed event. It's a blessed event.
I do sometimes feel like we're more casual about it than we
should. I, I am because it's a horse
through in the middle of a building.
There's no pomp and circumstance here.
It's a horse through. But I would say this, it may not
look like much, but it signifies a lot.
What does it signify? Turn to Romans chapter 6 and I
know I'm right this time. Romans chapter 6.
Because we must obey in
salvation, but we must also obey in biblical baptism.
If you're saved, you know what God wants you to do, be
baptized. We call it this.
The next step of obedience in the Christian life.
Well, why is that? Well, Romans chapter 6 will tell
us here in just a moment, but to be biblically.
Baptized. You have to have the right
candidate that someone who's already trusted Jesus Christ
their Savior. You have to have the right mode,
which is immersion, which we've shown you several times here
this morning. You also have to have the right
authority who who was given the authority to baptize?
Matthew chapter 28 says in the Great Commission it was the
church, God's biblical. Church was given the authority
to baptize with the Great Commission and with proper
doctrine. But what does it say in Romans
chapter 6? Look at verse #1 it says, What
shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that
grace may abound? Well, we could preach a whole
message on this right there. God forbid.
How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?
See, there were people who were saying something like this.
If I am saved and when I do wrong, God gives grace to
forgive me, then the more I sin, the more grace I get.
No, don't work like that, He says.
God forbid, he says how shall we that are dead to sin live any
longer there? And he says, why would you want
to go there? Why would you want to go there?
Just to get grace? God can give you grace without
you sinning. He's good at that.
Verse 3 Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into
Jesus Christ were baptized into his death.
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death that like
as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father.
Even so we also should walk in newness of life or if we've been
planted together in the likeness of his death.
We shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.
Now stop right here. What's taking place here that we
have someone who gets into the water, they are seated, or if
they're in a baptistry like that, I overflow a lot.
They would be standing and what are they doing?
They are representing Jesus Christ on the cross.
Then they are buried as Jesus Christ was buried.
And then what happens? They come up and they walk and
newness of life all it is the picture of that which Jesus
Christ did. And that's 'cause that's why we
can't sprinkle, because it ruins the picture.
That's why we can't make the sign of the cross because it
ruins the picture. This is the death, the burial
and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
That which took place in the heart is now being shown on the
outward for everyone to see. How do you know that I'm
married? Well, there's a lot of different
ways you can. One of those ways is this
wedding ring that I have that I'm kind of swelling up right
now and I can't take off. But if I couldn't show it to
you, right? Now this is an outward symbol of
that which has taken place privately between Diane and I.
What is baptism? Is it the wedding, if you will?
No, it's the ring of which shows the union that took place
between you and Christ, and for it to be anything else ruins the
picture. You need to be obedient in
salvation, to be obedient in baptism.
Now, some of you were here this morning.
Probably a lot of you say, pastor, I'm obedient in
salvation. I've been obedient in baptism.
So this message isn't about me. You know, I got something for
you right now. This is true for all this.
So we need to understand the doctrine behind us.
We do. It's sorely lacking today.
But just as you need to be obedient in salvation, you need
to be obedient in baptism, you also need to be obedient in
Christian living. Because God still tells us what
to do after we get saved, not because he hates us, but because
he loves us. You know, he's seen a few
things. You understand the sarcasm here.
He's seen a few things. He knows the end from the
beginning. And so when he tells us
something, it's not because he hates us, it's because he loves
us so much that he wants us to avoid that which could harm our
souls. Just like a parent who tells a
child don't do that and the child thinks the parent doesn't
know anything. It's amazing to me how much
older I got and how smarter my parents got because they were
dumb when I was a kid and the older I get there were pretty
wise. What was that really them
changing? No, that's me changing and
understanding. Now take that by Infinity with
God to us. He's seen a few things.
I must to keep you out of things that'll trouble your soul.
You need to obey. I need to obey.
Say, where do we find that? Well, interestingly enough, in
Romans chapter 6, and we're almost done.
Romans chapter 6, The verse #6 Knowing this, that our old man
is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed,
that henceforth we should not serve.
Sin, for he that is dead is freed from sin.
That's what he said back in verse #2 don't go back to that
which you were saved from. Now look at verse #12 Let not
sin. Therefore reign in your mortal
body that you should not. What's that next word?
Or that that you should. And what's the next word?
Obey. Oh, we're getting back to
obedience here. Obey it in the lusts thereof.
Now drop down to verse 16. Know ye not that to whom he
yield yourself servants to obey his servants, ye are to whom you
obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto
righteousness. And God be thanked that you were
servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form
of doctrine which was delivered you here.
Here's what it comes down to after you get saved.
There's things we need to do in our Christian life, and you
still need to obey. But the Bible says don't obey
the flesh, don't obey sin. And here's the real interesting
part about obedience, that obedience is not about just am I
going to obey God or not? Everybody obeys somebody.
Because if you don't obey God, the Bible says this, you obey
your flesh. I do what I want to do because
we are disobedient creatures. But you will obey somebody.
And if you're not obeying God, you're obeying your own sinful
flesh and that which prompts by the devil.
And that's not what you're looking for.
That's not what you want in your life.
So I don't obey anybody. I do what I want to do.
That's then you obey yourself. And the Bible says that's
dangerous because you think you know, but you don't know.
I think I know I don't know. All I know the older I get is
what I know in that book. Because there's a lot of things
I thought I knew that I don't know.
But this book's never let me down.
I need to obey it. I need to obey him.
And not the prompts of my flesh, not my emotions, not what I want
to do. But it's all about this, Lord,
what would you have me to do? Your flesh didn't want to come
to church this morning. Very likely.
But you're here why? You obey God rather than your
flesh. Praise the Lord for that.
Amen. Tomorrow you're not going to
want to read your Bible. Very possibly you got a lot of
things to do. Obey God and not your feelings.
You'll find that you'll be much better off.
We're not big prayer people like we ought to be.
Obey God in prayer if you feel like it or not, there's some
things you're going to do tomorrow.
Believe it or not, they'll be contrary to what the Word of God
tells you to do. Obey God and not your own sinful
desires. Baptism is all about obedience.
But you probably want to listen to someone who's been there
along the way to help you. Not your flesh, which hasn't
been there, but he who created all and knows all.
Listen to him. Baptism is about obedience.
I'll give you the story and I'll be done.
The second baptism we did here at Liberty Baptist Church at
Houghton's Pond. I mean, you know where
Houghton's Pond is over in Dedham.
OK, gentlemen that baptized Jim Jerome says, you know, I was a
kid. I used to go up there to, to to
Houghton's Pond. So I'd love to get baptized
there. We didn't have the horse through
back then. We didn't have the building then
at that time. And we know where Houghton's
Pond. I think Dwight and Diane, you
were out there on the on the seaside out there.
And I remember taking Jim out there and I was getting rid of
baptized, but all I've ever baptized with is fiberglass
pools, you know, the, the, the kind that I flood, right?
So that's, that's all I had done.
And I remember taking him out there and I remember, you know,
buried in the likeness of his death.
But as I planted this foot over here, which is what you do when
they're standing, I didn't realize that the rocks were such
that I ended up stepping down about 6 or 8 inches.
So instead of planted in the likeness of his death, I did
planted. I mean, he went and.
Then raised the likeness of his resurrection was.
Because he was so deep, raised in the likeness of his
resurrection to walk a newness of life and.
Thank the Lord still comes to church here, all things
considered, but it was bad. I mean, it was.
Really, really bad and I remember as I was doing still a
young pastors only the second baptism I done as a pastor.
I did a few at Westgate, but never outside in a in a in a
lake or anything like that. I remember thinking this, you
know, I said in the liken of his death and in the likeness was
resurrection. I said this wasn't in the
likeness of his death or his resurrection because this was
chaotic and his was playing before the foundation of the
world. I don't want to give anybody the
wrong idea of what Jesus burial and resurrection was like
because they. They did Jesus struggle to
resurrect. Not like Pastor.
No, he didn't struggle at all. When we don't obey, we give
others the wrong picture. If you want to show Christ to
the world or to those people that you've been trying to
reach, then obey. Because when you don't obey, you
give them the wrong picture. You know what the world has the
picture of Christianity is right now.
It's something that you wear across and do whatever you want.
You put a cross on your forehead on Ash Wednesday and you live
however you want. Jesus didn't die so you could be
the same. Jesus died so that you could be
radically different in this life and in the life to come.
Baptism is all about obedience. Christ is obedient.
Will you be obedient in salvation?
Will be obedient in baptism, Will be will you be obedient in
Christian living so we can show the world the picture of what a
believer ought to be? Thank you for listening to the
sermon from the pulpit of Liberty Baptist Church.
If this message was a blessing to you, or if there's any way we
can serve you, please let us know by contacting us at
info@mylibertybaptist.org. Or you can visit us this Sunday
at 800 Washington St. in Easton, MA.
May the Lord bless you as you grow in His Word.