Is It In The Water Or The Witness

Is it the water or the witness?

John 1: 29-36

Baptism points back to the work of God, and forward to the life of faith.

1. It was Public

19 And this is the record of John,

John was baptizing in the river Jordan and addressing the crowds

that gathered there.

Matt 10:32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him

will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.

Luke 12:8 Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before

men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the

angels of God:

Rom 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,

and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him

from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart

man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth

confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the scripture

saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

1 John 4:15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God,

God dwelleth in him, and he in God

Rev 3:5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white

raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of

life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and

before his angels.

2. It was Powerful

34 And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.

Jesus was All Man and All God at the same time.

John 10:30 I and my Father are one.

John 20:31But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is

the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might

have life through his name.

Heb 1:2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he

hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the

worlds; 3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the

express image of his person, and upholding all things by the

word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins,

sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

1 John 4:14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the

Son to be the Saviour of the world.

3. It was Permanent

33 And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water,

the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit

descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which

baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.

Eph 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are

sealed unto the day of redemption.

Eph 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of

truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that

ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

14Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption

of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

Baptism is a lot like a wedding ring. Baptism is symbolic of the

washing away of our sins. It is also symbolic of a new way of life.

It has been said that Baptism is to the Christian faith what the

wedding ring is to a marriage. It is a symbol. "Like the wedding

ring, baptism draws a mark on the ground between the past and the

future. Like the wedding ring, it says, "From this day forward,

I stand with God."

The poet William Blake wrote a poem about Pentecost. Part of the poem

says: Unless the eye catch fire, God will not be seen. Unless the ear

catch fire, God will not be heard. Unless the tongue catch fire, God

will not be named. Unless the Heart catch fire, God will not be loved.

Unless the mind catch fire, God will not be known.