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Let's immerse ourselves in a 
study on the doctrine of baptism

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on today's episode of Liberty at
Home. 

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Hey there everybody. 
It's Adam Rivero here with the 

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latest episode of Liberty at 
Home. 

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I'm the pastor of Liberty 
Baptist Church, which meets on 

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Washington Street here in town. 
And today, as always, I'm 

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broadcasting from Easton, MA, 
where I had been patiently 

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waiting in line for the new 
Chipotle to open at Shaw's 

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Plaza. 
But the construction workers 

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told me I'm about 3 months too 
early. 

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Today we're going to take a look
at a passage of Scripture from 

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the book of Acts and then take a
few minutes to consider the 

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ordinance of baptism. 
So let's read together Acts 

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chapter 8, beginning in verse 
#34. 

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And the eunuch answered Philip 
and said, I pray thee, of whom 

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speaketh the prophet, this of 
himself, or of some other man? 

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Then Philip opened his mouth, 
and began at the same Scripture,

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and preached unto him Jesus. 
And as they went on their way, 

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they came unto a certain water. 
And the eunuch said, See, here 

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is water, What doth hinder me to
be baptized? 

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And Philip said, If thou 
believest with all thine heart, 

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thou mayest. 
And he answered and said, I 

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believe that Jesus Christ is the
Son of God. 

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And he commanded the chariot to 
stand still, And they went down 

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both into the water, both Philip
and the eunuch, And he baptized 

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him. 
And when they were come up out 

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of the water, the Spirit of the 
Lord caught away. 

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Philip and the eunuch saw him no
more, and he went on his way, 

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rejoicing. 
A few years ago in our Wednesday

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evening services, we were going 
through a sermon series called 

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Why My Baptist. 
I found this series to be 

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helpful because many folks have 
questions about why our church 

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and many other Baptist churches 
operate in the fashion that we 

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do. 
It's always a joy to take folks 

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through the Bible and show them 
the scriptural reasons why we 

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believe what we believe. 
One of the questions people ask 

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me often is why do Baptists 
baptize in the way that they do?

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Historic Baptist baptism has 
always been by immersion and has

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only been for someone who has 
already accepted Christ as their

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Savior. 
Of course, this is different 

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from many other denominations 
where infants are sprinkled with

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water. 
So the question begs to be 

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asked, why do Baptists baptize 
in the fashion that they do? 

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Does it really even matter how 
or who or when someone is 

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baptized? 
And the answer is simple, yes, 

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it matters. 
And it matters because of the 

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Scriptures. 
As Baptists, we base all of our 

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beliefs and practices completely
on the Bible, not on tradition 

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or teachings of church councils.
The supreme authority of 

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Scriptures guides our beliefs on
every issue, including baptism. 

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For example, Baptist believe 
that baptism is by immersion 

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because Romans 6 shows us that 
baptism is a picture of the 

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death, the burial and 
resurrection of Christ, and 

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immersion is the only mode of 
baptism possible that can 

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actually picture this. 
Also, several times in the Bible

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we see baptisms performed in 
bodies of water. 

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When Jesus was baptized, He went
up straightway out of the water 

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as it says in Matthew chapter 3 
verse 16. 

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In fact, John chapter 3 verse 23
tells us that John the Baptist 

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found a place to baptize 
specifically because there was 

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much water there. 
To have someone go into a body 

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of water to be sprinkled would 
be overkill, but it is vital if 

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someone is to be immersed. 
When you add to these 

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Scriptures, the fact that we 
never find a baptism in 

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scripture performed by 
sprinkling the evidence is 

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compelling. 
As Baptists, we also do not 

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baptize infants. 
This may seem odd to some who 

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are used to different 
traditions, but again, we draw 

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our conclusions from Scripture. 
Never in the New Testament do we

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find a baby baptized. 
In fact, each time we find 

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someone baptized in the New 
Testament, it always follows a 

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confession of faith. 
Because a baby is not able to do

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this, baptism is withheld by 
Baptists until an individual 

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believes in Christ. 
Our text in Acts chapter 8 is a 

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wonderful passage showing this 
principle. 

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The Ethiopian eunuch, after 
having his eyes open to the 

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gospel, saw a body of water. 
In verse 36 he asks Philip the 

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evangelist, See, here is water, 
what doth hinder me to be 

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baptized? 
Philip's reply in the next verse

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is telling. 
If thou believeth with all thine

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heart, thou mayest. 
The unit confirms his new found 

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belief in Christ and they both 
descend into the water for 

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baptism. 
Also, since baptism always 

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follows belief, we additionally 
see that baptism does not wash 

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sin away. 
This is why baptism is not a 

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sacrament. 
It cannot offer salvation in any

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way, shape or form. 
Now why is that? 

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Because only the blood of Christ
can accomplish this. 

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In Revelation chapter one, verse
5, we're told that we are 

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cleansed by the blood of Christ 
Jesus Christ, who is the 

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faithful witness and the first 
begotten of the dead, and the 

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Prince of the kings of the 
earth, unto him that loved us 

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and washed us from our sins in 
his own blood. 

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It says This is also why first 
Peter chapter 3 verse 21 tells 

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us baptism is not the putting 
away of the filth of the flesh, 

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but the answer of a good 
conscience towards God. 

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I hope you can appreciate the 
great difficulty of condensing 

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such an in depth topic into a 
few short minutes. 

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If all this sounds new or 
strange to you, I'd encourage 

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you to be like the Bereans of 
Acts 17, verse 11 and immerse 

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yourself, pun intended, in the 
Scriptures to learn more about 

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this important topic. 
Well, we've covered plenty of 

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ground here today on Liberty at 
home, and now it's time to say 

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goodbye. 
But not before I give you your 

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weekly invitation to Liberty 
Baptist Church. 

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We meet at 800 Washington St. 
here in town, and you can find 

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our online address at my 
libertybaptist.org. 

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There you can locate our weekly 
podcast, live stream services, 

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and even the full playlist of 
the last 75 or so episodes of 

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Liberty at Home. 
And of course, we do hope you 

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visit us in person this coming 
Sunday or Wednesday. 

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Well, this is Pastor Adam Rivero
signing off with a reminder, as 

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always, that where the Spirit of
the Lord is, there's liberty. 

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Catch you next week on Liberty 
at Home.