Services | Baptism

Bulletin

Hymn # 82 “Go, Tell It on the Mountain”

SCRIPTURE READING – Matthew 2:15 - 20
Giving of Selves and Our Offerings
OFFERTORY PRAYER
OFFERTORY MUSIC – Pru Hungate

Praise and Worship
“He Shall Reign Forevermore”
“O Come O Come Emmanuel”
“Good Grace”

Proclamation of the Word
Message by Pastor Joe
“Baptism”


PRAYER TIME / Time of Reflection

“At the Cross (Love Ran Red)”
Benediction “Egypt”

Acknowledgements and Announcements

Sermon Notes
Baptize Means to dip or immerse
Baptism Is not a sacrament
Matthew 3:13 –17 Jesus our example
Matthew 28:16 – 20 Jesus commanded us to be and do
Colossians 2:9 – 14 What baptism means – shows what Christ did
Acts 8:25 – 39` An example of one person baptized
Acts 16:25 – 34 An example of a family being baptized

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Scritpures

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Transcript of Service

We're talking about baptism today. We're going to talk about what it means to be baptized, who are the people to be baptized, and why is it we do it, and what is the mode or the mechanism for baptism. So I encourage you to come and listen to baptism talk today about baptism. I'm going to make some statements that probably you will agree with. I'm going to make a particular one statement that you're going to go, "huh?" And then I'll show you what the scriptures say about all of this and then we'll be a little more educated on why Baptists look at baptism in a particular way. So the word baptism or what does it mean? It means to dip or to immerse. So that's the meaning and that's why Baptists dip or immerse as a form of baptism and I'll flush that out a little further.

Various denominations do various things when it comes to baptism in a different mode and again I'll explain that a little further. But what I want to make very clear is that there are certain denominations that view that baptism is a sacrament. A sacrament is something that you're required to do to achieve salvation and so I believe and therefore I believe not because I believe it because the scriptures clearly teach that there is no sacrament other than that you believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died for your sins and that you call Him Lord and in fact operate under those circumstances. So the scriptures clearly say that we are saved by grace through faith and that not of ourselves. It is the gift of God so that no one may boast. And so anything that you add to salvation is improper because it is faith alone and Christ alone that causes us to be saved to accepting His salvation. So the whole concept of having to be baptized is foreign to the scriptures and so those denominations who believe that you're required to be baptized create great fear in many parents who have children who are or babies who are sick because they need to be baptized in order to be saved and therefore oh my goodness they're going to be lost so they do whatever they do to to be baptized. That fear should not be there because again baptism is not a prerequisite to salvation. We're going to see that baptism is an indication of salvation not a prerequisite for it. And so why is it first that we baptized and why is it that we get baptized? Well there are a few reasons. One is that Jesus gave it to us as an example. So in Matthew chapter and I finally got Matthew right. Matthew chapter 1 verse 13 it says this, "Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John to be baptized by him." Now why is it that John is at the Jordan River? Because it requires a lot of water to baptize people. If you didn't need to dip them or immerse them then you could go to a well get a bucket of water and sprinkle people. But in order to baptize to dip or to immerse it requires a lot of water. So John went to the River Jordan where there's a lot of water and he was baptizing people and then Jesus comes to John to be baptized.

But John tried to prevent him saying I have need to be baptized by you and do you come to me. So John understands that Jesus is the righteous one and it's Jesus who needs to baptize John rather than the other way around. But notice what Jesus says in response. "But Jesus answering said to him permitted at this time for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness then he permitted him." Notice Jesus says it is necessary to fulfill all righteousness. Jesus didn't become righteous by getting baptized. He was showing and demonstrating as our example to fulfill righteousness. So he was saying let me do this. You may not quite understand but also one of the reasons that John was baptizing so that he might discover who the Messiah was. And after being baptized Jesus immediately from the water and behold the heavens were open and he saw the Spirit of God descending as it dove and lighted on him. And behold a voice out of the heaven said this is my beloved Son in whom I will please. So Jesus performs all acts of righteousness and God in response says this is my son. He makes this declaration and he says I am well pleased. So Jesus presents to us a situation where he is baptized showing us as an example of fulfilling righteousness.

But then there's another reason that we baptized and get baptized and baptize others. And it's found at the end of Matthew, Matthew 26 verses 16 through 20. And it says this. But the 11 disciples proceeded to Galilee to the mountain which Jesus had designated.

And when he saw him they worshiped him and some were doubtful. And Jesus came up and spoke to them saying all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. And by that all authority has been given to him in heaven and on earth. He doesn't share any of it with us.

All of it belongs to him because all authority is in heaven and earth. He says this.

Go therefore. See that's what we are told. He has the authority. We don't have authority. We have been given a command or a commission to do something. And that is to do this. To go therefore and make disciples of all nations. Baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. So we are told that we're to go everywhere throughout the whole world and to make disciples. And we make disciples and we baptize them. And we baptize them not as the way John had baptized. There was a difference in the baptism. John verses the baptism that Jesus has commanded us. We are to baptize in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. So we have been commanded to him to be baptized and to baptize others. So it's an example and it is a command. And then it says, but that's all of it. Teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you and lo I am with you always even to the end of the age. So while we are making disciples and while we are baptizing the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. And while we are teaching them to observe all that he's commanded, Jesus is then with us. And it doesn't matter what time or place we are. He is there. So some almost 2000 years later in a place called Westminster Orange County, California, he is there with us. So long as we're doing what he has told us to do to make disciples, to baptize them and to teach them. A lot of people like to be evangelists. They like to make disciples and to baptize, but they're not so much about teaching them.

It's like people who want to have babies who don't want to be around to teach them to be profitable adults. And we are told that we are to be in the business, if you will, of making disciples, baptizing them and teaching them. So we do this not only because as an example, but we do this as commanded. Now I want to talk about a little bit about the actual mode of baptism. And so if you go to Colossians chapter two, verse nine, it says this, "For him all the fullness of the deity dwells in bodily form, and in him you have been made complete, and he is the head over all rule and authority. And in him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands in the removal of the body of the flesh by circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism in which you were also raised up with him through faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead." Now I want you to notice something here. There is not water in this phrase. He's not talking about baptism, the actual event. He's saying that when you were baptized, there is a symbol that takes place that you were, in reality, you were buried with him in baptism. You were completely immersed in him and your faith, you were buried with him because you died with him. You were buried with him and then you rose with him. And that picture is what happens in baptism. So baptism shows what is happening to you on the inside, is that it is a picture, if you will, a sign that you died with Christ, that you were buried with him, and that you rose again. Now, a lot of nominations will say, "Well, you don't need to be immersed, you can be sprinkled." Being sprinkled doesn't show that symbol. It may show a symbol that the Holy Spirit came on you, and that's a nice thing, but that's not baptism, that's a different symbol. The only real demonstration of what has happened is that we are immersed in baptism. Well, why do people sprinkle? Well, generally they sprinkle because Emperor Constantine, when he became, so it is reported, a believer, he wanted to have, before he fought a particular battle, he wanted his army to be Christian. And when you have thousands of people and you want to fight your battle really quickly, you don't find water and dip them all. So what he did was he took tree branches, dunk in water, and sprinkled his army, which made them now believers. Not really. Even if you do the right thing, even if you go and you get dipped, as it used to be said, if you go and be baptized and you're not a believer, you simply go in a dry center and come out a wet one. The sprinkling had no impact, not because one, it wasn't baptism, but two, it wouldn't have mattered whether they were actually dipped or not, because in order to be baptized properly, you have to be a believer. So if you got baptized as a young child or a 97 year old person, but you weren't a believer, you just were afraid that if you weren't baptized, somehow God would be mad at you. It wasn't baptism. You were just wet. But this is clearly not only does the word baptism mean to dip, but the symbol is that you are dead, buried, and rose again because you believed, if you will, in what God had done.

And so, Baptists make it very obvious that the only proper person to be baptized is a believer. The only proper mode is immersion.

Now, again, if you were sprinkled, that's wonderful. And they may have told you it was baptism.

And it may be a great symbol of the Spirit coming upon you, but notice that the teaching doesn't say it's the Spirit that comes on you while you're baptized. You're baptized because you are expressing what has happened to the internal person. And so we are buried with him in baptism and raised to walk, as we say, a newness of life. You become a new creation. And so he goes on to say, "When you were dead in your transgressions and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all of our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us. And he has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross." And again, sprinkling is a beautiful symbol, but not a beautiful symbol, of being nailed to a cross, being dead, buried, and rising again.

And so that is why we are so adamant about this.

Now I want to show you a couple of reasons why in actuality of events that happen to demonstrate what I've been talking about. So we're going to first take a look at Acts 8, and we're going to take a look at an individual. Now the situation prior to this was the church in Jerusalem was expanding greatly. Peter had preached a sermon and a couple of thousand people became believers and he preached another sermon and even more people became believers. I always find it funny, everybody talks about Pentecost. Actually more people were converted in the second message than his first, but everybody talks about Pentecost. But the church is expanding rapidly

and they're saying, "We got a problem because the church is so rapidly responding and we got a bunch of Greek believers and we got a bunch of Jewish believers." And people are complaining that they're being left out. And so the disciples say, "It's not right for us to take away from the ministry of the Word, so we're going to set seven men filled with the Holy Spirit who understand the Word of God and we're going to have them wait tables and do what they need to do." And they set aside. And one of the deacons that they set aside, preached a wonderful sermon to a bunch of pharisees and others and ended up, Stephen, getting stoned to death. There was another

disciple, I mean another deacon and it's interesting all these deacons have Greek names, Philip. And Philip was made a deacon and we're going to see what Philip does. And so when he had solemnly testified and spoken the Word of the Lord, they started back to Jerusalem and they were preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans. He is somebody. "But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, "Get up and go south of the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza." This is the desert road. So he got up and went and there was an Ethiopian etheopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of her treasures and he had come to Jerusalem to worship. So we have this high official of Ethiopia who was, if you will, trusted so much that he was put in charge of the treasury. And he's there, he's a Godfarer because he's not Jewish, he's Ethiopian and he's come to worship God in Jerusalem. And as he's coming back, this is what happens. And he was returning and sitting in his chariot and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. Now this Ethiopian eunuch who we don't know the name of,

I like this guy, he doesn't let time be wasted. Instead of just right and wrong on a desert road, and if you've ever been out in the desert, most of you have, you can go for hundreds of miles and see the same thing. You can see the same hill for hundreds of miles. And so he's going, "Okay, I've seen the scenery for a while." So now he decides he's going to do something even more profitable. He's going to read the word of God.

And so if he will, he's multitasking. He's traveling back to Ethiopia and he is reading the word of God. He's reading from Isaiah. Then the spirit said to Philip, "Go up and join this chariot." And Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah, the prophet, and said, "Do you understand what you are reading?" Now he doesn't presume he doesn't understand. He simply asks a question. He asks a question so that he might open the door to communicate the gospel. So he goes, "If he understands what he's reading, then I don't have to talk to him. But apparently there's a reason I've been sent to this guy where I've just had, if you will, a successful evangelistic crusade. I've now been put on a desert road and there's this

Ethiopian writing in a chariot and I've been told to go up and talk to him." So he does. And so he says, "Do you understand?" And he said, "Well, how could I unless someone guides me?" And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. So again, I like this guy because he doesn't know everything.

So many people think they know everything. Well, I've read the Bible once, and so therefore I know everything because I read it once. So he doesn't. He allows his humility to say, "Well, I'm reading it, but I do need some further understanding because if you will, I didn't grow up in a Jewish household. I grew up as an Ethiopian. I am a believer, but sometimes some of these prophets can say things about things that are happening during their time, or they may talk about things that are happening later." Now the passage of the scripture which he was reading was this.

"He was led as a sheep to slaughter and as a lamb before the shear is silent, so he does not open his mouth. In humiliation, his judgment was taken away. Who will relate his generation or his life is removed from the earth?" Again, notice something.

He's reading from the Word of God, Isaiah, and he's reading at a particular time about the coming Messiah who has already come and the good news. Isn't it interesting that God placed this Ethiopian reading God's Word at a particular place so that he might have a question that Philip, who has the answer, knows how to give him the answer. Sometimes in your searching, God is there saying, "Listen to me. You have a question. Listen to me."

And the eith, the eunuch answered Philip and said, "Please tell me of whom does the prophet say this of himself or someone else?" So the Ethiopian says, "Yeah, I have this question. Is Isaiah talking about Isaiah or is he talking about somebody else?" A good question. And again, I want to encourage you, a lot of times we go into Bible studies and people will never ask questions because they think if they ask a question, it will show that they're ignorant. Well, first off, the best way to avoid being ignorant is to ask questions so that you get the answers. The second thing is in all probability, there are other people sitting in the class with you having the same question, but they won't ask it because they have the same reservation that everybody will think that they should know the answer. If eunuch didn't ask the question,

he would have lost the opportunity to find the answer. Then Philip opened his mouth and beginning from this scripture, he preached Jesus to him. He started where the Ethiopian eunuch was, and he started from that scripture and preached Jesus. And they went along the road and they came up to some water and the eunuch said, "Look, water, what prevents me from being baptized?"

So apparently when Philip was testifying to the eunuch about the scripture and about Jesus and preaching Jesus, apparently a part of that teaching was baptism. Because what I believe the scriptures teach, and this is evident, is that in that day to demonstrate that you were a believer, your first confession of faith was baptism. That was your testimony that you became a believer.

Unfortunately, in today's world, what we have is churches or people will come and they'll give their heart to the Lord by whatever means they come down the aisle or they talk to somebody and they give their heart to Jesus. And then some period later, we have a baptism in our church, for instance, all the time somebody says, "Well, I want to be baptized." And we plan it in a week or two so we can build the baptistry and get it warm. And half the time we don't get it warm as it should be. And the people are cold, but at least we try. And a lot of churches, they don't have a baptistry. And so they set up period of time once a month or once a year or whatever, and they either have a little pool or they go out to the beach and they baptize that way. And that's great. But we've somehow lost the immediacy of declaring I'm a believer with an immediate baptism to show my identification with his death, burial and resurrection, that I am going to follow his example and his command to be baptized. And so what the eunuch is saying is, "I believe since I believe, since there's water there, what is prohibiting me from being baptized?"

I want to, well, let me do the next verse and we'll go on. And notice that there's a bracket. And so the bracket says, and Philip said, "If you believe with your whole heart, you may be." And he answered and said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God." The reason is, and bracket is, not all the manuscripts have that particular verse. And so I don't teach on it, but I just read it, which is more than I usually do. But it doesn't contradict anything in the scriptures. So whether it's there or not, I don't know. Then he says, "And he ordered that the cherry be stopped and they both went down into the water and Philip, as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him. He dipped him. He immersed him in water." Now I want to stop there. This is where

I'm a little different. I just talked about some churches view the baptism as a sacrament. I reject that. Most Baptist churches and other events will tend to look at baptism as an ordinance. It's like a law that the church does. Notice here in my reading of this,

when the Ethiopian eunuch says, "Well, what prohibits me from being baptized?" Philip doesn't say, "Well, you know, I got to get back to the church at Jerusalem."

And authorize me to baptize you because it's a church ordinance. So what the church is supposed to do. And so when I get back and we'll talk to the church, the disciples or the deacons or the congregation, and we'll raise our hands and we'll all say, "You ought to get baptized." And do that. Basically go, there's nothing that prohibits you from being baptized because you have made a profession of faith and your further profession of faith is that you're getting down into the water and being baptized. I don't think that it's a church ordinance. I think it's all of our requirement. He didn't say, "When you come together as a church, baptize people." He says, "Baptize people in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit." So our church is kind of semi-compromised and we will allow fathers and others to baptize their children.

But even that's a compromise because baptism is, and so in my view, if you are ministered to

you, and you come to faith, then there's a stream likelihood that the person who ministered to you probably should be the one who baptized you.

Because it's not a church ordinance, in my humble opinion.

Whether you think we ought to baptize somebody or not is irrelevant. But did the person become a believer? Did they want to follow him in baptism because it is command of God, the first step towards following in his footsteps? So the whole idea of the church being the one to either permit or withhold baptism seems to me to be wrong. So now I'll get off of my high horse and I'll get back.

So when they came out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away, and the eunuch no longer saw him, but went on his way rejoicing.

Again, it's to me obvious that the reason that they went down into water was to dip and immerse, not to throw some water on him, because they were demonstrating that by his belief, he was accepting the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus as taking place in his life.

I want to talk about another example, and that's found in Acts 16 starting with verse 25. Now we're going to talk about not a single individual, but a whole family. "What about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and seeing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Now Paul and Silas had been thrown in jail because they were preaching Jesus, and the officials didn't like that, so they throw him in jail."

Again, isn't it interesting? Just as Philip was in the middle of an evangelistic crusade, now he finds himself on a desert road to talk to a single guy. God permits Paul and Silas to be thrown in jail, and instead of being miserable about the fact that they are thrown in jail, they're singing praises, and they're praying, and they're doing all these things,

and you don't do that quietly. We like to think that they're Baptists, but sometimes they go, "Well, they're singing and praying, and apparently making a ruckus, and we tend to be reserved."

Don't raise your hand, just be quiet. But they're singing praises, and they're praying, and the prisoners were listening to them.

Maybe where you are is where God wants you to be.

"And suddenly there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone changed. We're unfashioned." Now, that's a miracle. Now, if you live in Southern California like we do, we've experienced earthquakes, and you'll feel the house shaking, and if you're up on a high building, it'll sway, and you kind of get spooked, and if you have a pool, you'll see the water slashing back and forth.

But never, ever have I ever heard anybody say, "You know, while I was in jail, the ankle breakers fell off, because that's not what happens in an earthquake unless God is in charge of the earthquake, and not only are you free from the prison doors, you are free from any restraint." And when the jailer woke and saw the prisoner doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. You see, his job was to make sure that they were kept in jail, and because he failed his job, he decided to take his own life. And I'm sure he decided not only because that was the right thing to do, it was probably easier to take his own life than allow somebody else to take his own life, because he could do it in a more painless way. But he goes, "I failed at my job, so I'm going to kill myself."

But Paul cried out with a loud voice saying, "Do not harm yourself, for we are all here." Notice he didn't just say that Paul and Silas and me are here, he said, "We're all here, because we have had an impact on all the prisoners. We've all remained." And he called for the lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas. And after he brought them out, he said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" You see, apparently this jailer heard Paul and Silas singing and praising and praying and probably having an impact on the prisoners, he probably heard it as well, and knew that God was at work.

And because of the love that Paul and Silas had, they were different.

"So what must I do to be saved?" And they said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household." He's saying, "This is how you become saved. Believe in the Lord Jesus." Notice he didn't say, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and do this, that, and the other thing." Didn't say, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, get baptized, take the Lord's Supper, and do X number of whatever." "Believe in the Lord Jesus." And he goes, "Not only will you be saved,

but it will impact your whole household." Because in reality is this.

If a family are not believers and the mother becomes a believer, oftentimes the mother becomes a believer.

But statistically, if a household is not believers and the father, the husband becomes a believer, the whole household becomes a believer.

And so he says, "You, Father, when you become a believer, you will have an impact on your family, your whole family will become believers." And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house. Notice they didn't just leave it to them.

They spoke to the entire family. He goes, "Come, not only do I want to be saved, but I want you to talk to my household how they might be saved." And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately

he was baptized. He and all of his house.

How do I know that this jailer became a believer beside the Scriptures? Suddenly he cared about Paul and Silas. Up until that point, they were simply prisoners.

After becoming believers, they cared about what was happening to Paul and Silas. He washed their wounds. Oftentimes we're told to wash other people's feet. Sometimes the wash of the feet is to wash the wounds, the things that have caused hurt in people's lives, either physically or emotionally. They washed their wounds. And because of that, they were immediately baptized. He and all of his house.

And he brought them into his house and set food before them and rejoiced gracefully, having believed in the God with his whole household. They were changed.

Now they were concerned about Paul and Silas, how they were wounded, and he dressed their wounds, and how that they were fed. And it wasn't just simply, "Oh, I've got to do this because I've got to do this." He did this, and they rejoiced greatly. The whole family was baptized, because God did something in their midst. And Paul and Silas took the opportunity of that situation to preach Jesus. And by preaching Jesus, they became baptized, the whole family. We all too often are more worried about what people think and how it's done, rather than, "I'm going to do what the Lord has called me to do." What people think and how it's done, rather than, "I'm going to do what the Lord has called me to do."

And sometimes, by one person, the jailer,

turning and saying, "What must I do to be saved?" will cause a whole generation to say, "What must we do to be saved?" And the very first thing that you can do as a believer is to make that great testimony of what has happened inside of you. And as we read in Colossians, what has happened on the inside is what we reflect by the outside. And it is a great testimony. So it is my preference. Now, we get to a point where people will say,

"What must I do to be saved?" And we preach Jesus, and then we immediately, upon their profession of faith, dunk them. Then we say, "Well, I'm open a week from next Sunday.

Are you available?" Because one of the greatest testimonies that you can give

is standing in some water and being buried and rising again. Because you can say,

"That's what happened to me." I went into water as a person condemned a sinner. But Jesus' death was my death. Jesus' burial is my burial. And Jesus' resurrection is my resurrection. And I rise again in newness of life. I am now a new creature because of what He has done. And as I've said, there are other symbols who have great, wonderful meanings, but you can't beat that one. If there are those who are believers that haven't gotten baptized, I encourage you to think about it. If you're not a believer and someday God leads you to faith,

I challenge you to say to the person who helps you to lead you, "There's water. What prohibits me from being baptized?" And all God's people said.