Let's immerse ourselves in a study on the doctrine of baptism
on today's episode of Liberty at Home.
Hey there everybody. It's Adam Rivero here with the
latest episode of Liberty at Home.
I'm the pastor of Liberty Baptist Church, which meets on
Washington Street here in town. And today, as always, I'm
broadcasting from Easton, MA, where I had been patiently
waiting in line for the new Chipotle to open at Shaw's
Plaza. But the construction workers
told me I'm about 3 months too early.
Today we're going to take a look at a passage of Scripture from
the book of Acts and then take a few minutes to consider the
ordinance of baptism. So let's read together Acts
chapter 8, beginning in verse #34.
And the eunuch answered Philip and said, I pray thee, of whom
speaketh the prophet, this of himself, or of some other man?
Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same Scripture,
and preached unto him Jesus. And as they went on their way,
they came unto a certain water. And the eunuch said, See, here
is water, What doth hinder me to be baptized?
And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart,
thou mayest. And he answered and said, I
believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
And he commanded the chariot to stand still, And 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, the Spirit of the Lord caught away.
Philip and the eunuch saw him no more, and he went on his way,
rejoicing. A few years ago in our Wednesday
evening services, we were going through a sermon series called
Why My Baptist. I found this series to be
helpful because many folks have questions about why our church
and many other Baptist churches operate in the fashion that we
do. It's always a joy to take folks
through the Bible and show them the scriptural reasons why we
believe what we believe. One of the questions people ask
me often is why do Baptists baptize in the way that they do?
Historic Baptist baptism has always been by immersion and has
only been for someone who has already accepted Christ as their
Savior. Of course, this is different
from many other denominations where infants are sprinkled with
water. So the question begs to be
asked, why do Baptists baptize in the fashion that they do?
Does it really even matter how or who or when someone is
baptized? And the answer is simple, yes,
it matters. And it matters because of the
Scriptures. As Baptists, we base all of our
beliefs and practices completely on the Bible, not on tradition
or teachings of church councils. The supreme authority of
Scriptures guides our beliefs on every issue, including baptism.
For example, Baptist believe that baptism is by immersion
because Romans 6 shows us that baptism is a picture of the
death, the burial and resurrection of Christ, and
immersion is the only mode of baptism possible that can
actually picture this. Also, several times in the Bible
we see baptisms performed in bodies of water.
When Jesus was baptized, He went up straightway out of the water
as it says in Matthew chapter 3 verse 16.
In fact, John chapter 3 verse 23 tells us that John the Baptist
found a place to baptize specifically because there was
much water there. To have someone go into a body
of water to be sprinkled would be overkill, but it is vital if
someone is to be immersed. When you add to these
Scriptures, the fact that we never find a baptism in
scripture performed by sprinkling the evidence is
compelling. As Baptists, we also do not
baptize infants. This may seem odd to some who
are used to different traditions, but again, we draw
our conclusions from Scripture. Never in the New Testament do we
find a baby baptized. In fact, each time we find
someone baptized in the New Testament, it always follows a
confession of faith. Because a baby is not able to do
this, baptism is withheld by Baptists until an individual
believes in Christ. Our text in Acts chapter 8 is a
wonderful passage showing this principle.
The Ethiopian eunuch, after having his eyes open to the
gospel, saw a body of water. In verse 36 he asks Philip the
evangelist, See, here is water, what doth hinder me to be
baptized? Philip's reply in the next verse
is telling. If thou believeth with all thine
heart, thou mayest. The unit confirms his new found
belief in Christ and they both descend into the water for
baptism. Also, since baptism always
follows belief, we additionally see that baptism does not wash
sin away. This is why baptism is not a
sacrament. It cannot offer salvation in any
way, shape or form. Now why is that?
Because only the blood of Christ can accomplish this.
In Revelation chapter one, verse 5, we're told that we are
cleansed by the blood of Christ Jesus Christ, who is the
faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead, and the
Prince of the kings of the earth, unto him that loved us
and washed us from our sins in his own blood.
It says This is also why first Peter chapter 3 verse 21 tells
us baptism is not the putting away of the filth of the flesh,
but the answer of a good conscience towards God.
I hope you can appreciate the great difficulty of condensing
such an in depth topic into a few short minutes.
If all this sounds new or strange to you, I'd encourage
you to be like the Bereans of Acts 17, verse 11 and immerse
yourself, pun intended, in the Scriptures to learn more about
this important topic. Well, we've covered plenty of
ground here today on Liberty at home, and now it's time to say
goodbye. But not before I give you your
weekly invitation to Liberty Baptist Church.
We meet at 800 Washington St. here in town, and you can find
our online address at my libertybaptist.org.
There you can locate our weekly podcast, live stream services,
and even the full playlist of the last 75 or so episodes of
Liberty at Home. And of course, we do hope you
visit us in person this coming Sunday or Wednesday.
Well, this is Pastor Adam Rivero signing off with a reminder, as
always, that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there's liberty.
Catch you next week on Liberty at Home.