Biblical Baptism

BIBLICAL BAPTISM

Calvary Baptist Church

May 11, 2003 and November 21, 2010

Recently my 7 year old son was baptized at nearby Lake Tahoe. With tears streaming down my face, I watched as he came out of the water, then excitedly asked if he felt any different. "Yeah, Mom, I do," he replied. "Now I have water up my nose!" (Leslie A. Williamson, Gardnerville, NV., Today's Christian Woman, "Heart to Heart.")

INTRODUCTION: Baptism served as the bookends of Jesus ministry. It started with his baptism, and ended with his order to baptize all nations! We can hardly call this insignificant!

JESUS COMMANDED BAPTISM

As a matter of fact, we must understand that not to be baptized, far from being a trivial matter, is a direct disobedience to the clear command of Christ!

Matt 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

THE APOSTLES COMMANDED BAPTISM

Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized

I. The Method of Baptism

A. The Who of Baptism

1. Pedobaptism

The vast majority of the Christian world baptizes infants.

There are various arguments used to support their position.

Acts 16:31 34 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. [32] And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. [33] And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway. [34] And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.

This is the story of Paul and Silas and the Philippian Jailor.

Notice that Paul and Silas Preach to him (the jailor) and to those in his house.

He and his family believed God (Verse 34)

He and his family are baptized.

Believe it or not, this is the verse that those who believe in infant baptism use to make their case that infant baptism is biblical.

They say that surely this household included infants.

Where does one get the right to make that assumption.

If you operate on that hermeneutical principle, you could prove anything from the bible.

NOTICE: In our text, those who were preached to, those who believed, were baptized.

I have never in my life preached TO and infant. In the presence of, yes, but never TO.

So others resort to history or convenience as their justification.

We Baptists are biblicists! What does the Bible say?

2. Believer's Baptism

a. Those Who Have Repented

Acts 2:36 38 Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. 37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? 38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

b. Those Who Have Heard the Gospel and Believed

Matt 28:19 Go ye therefore, and [FIRST] teach all nations, [THEN] baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

Acts 2:41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.

Acts 8:12 But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.

Acts 18:8 And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized.

Acts 10:47 Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?

c. Those Whose Life Evidences Conversion

Luke 3:7 8 Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.

d. Those Who Have Died to Self

Rom 6:1 3 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? 3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?