November 4, 2007
Morning Worship
Text: Mark 1:1-4; Acts 16:25-34; Romans 6:1-4
Subject: Baptism
Title: Baptism, The Next Step
When your kids were little did they ever play church? I used to love it when our girls did that. I remember Charlotte telling me that she played church as a child with her brothers and sisters. I can’t think of anything better to play can you? How many funerals have there been for pets that have gone on to their reward (whatever that might be for pets)! Our girls used to play communion – I don’t know who got to be the priest! There was a little boy whose family attended the Assembly of God church in their town and after being absolutely amazed as he watched a baptism service, and listened to the pastor talk about baptism and what it meant, and how it should be by full immersion, he decided to try it on a family pet when he got home. So he filled the bathtub with water and went to get Boots, the cat. After saying a few words to the pretend congregation it was time to baptize Boots, so he picked her up “I baptize you in the name of the Father and….” Boots wasn’t too agreeable to what was going on. “I baptize you in the name…” “Yeooooow!” Finally after getting a firm grip on the cat he decided this was the time. “I baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and…” Did I tell you that boots had not been declawed? There was no way she was going into the water and with the door being closed there wasn’t to many places that either of them could go to get away from the other. After getting Boots settled down the boy thought he would try just one more time (because he wanted Boots to make a public profession of her faith) and one more time Boots refused. So the little boy reached down into the tub, got some water in his hand and threw it on the cat and said, “Fine, be a Methodist then!”
Now that gets me to where I want to be. I want to speak to you about baptism and I want you to look with me about what the Bible says it is and what it isn’t. In the process I want to talk to you about the three types of baptisms spoken of in the scriptures. Each one can have a direct impact on your life. Each one is a step that is necessary for you to be the Christian that God desires you to be. Listen today and allow the Lord to minister to you through His word.
I. THE BAPTISM OF JOHN. Mark 1:2-4, 2It is written in Isaiah the prophet: “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way”—3 “a voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’” 4And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. John the Baptist was the last of the Old Testament prophets. There’s no mention of baptism in the Old Testament but by the time of Jesus it had become a regular practice. In order for us to see what baptism meant to the Jews we have to first understand Jewish theology. The Jews believed and still believe that they are God’s chosen people – they are! If they are God’s chosen people then they are already saved because of their heritage as sons and daughters of Abraham. If they are already saved then they have no need to be baptized. However, any Gentile convert had to go through the baptism ritual in order to have the filth of the world washed from them. Jewish baptism has never been taken lightly, but in ancient times immersion was to be performed in the presence of witnesses. The person being baptized made special preparations by cutting his nails, undressed completely and made a fresh profession of his faith before the designated "fathers of the baptism". This is possibly where churches, sometime later, got the term Godfathers. The individual stood straight up with the feet spread and the hands held out in front. The candidate would totally immerse themselves by squatting in the water with a witness or baptizer doing the officiating. Note the New Testament points out the fact that Jesus came up straightway out of the water (Matthew 3:16). This was the form of baptism that John was practicing. Notice though that to John baptism was more than a ritual. It also required a change of heart. 4And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. John went a step further than traditional Jewish baptism because he was calling all men – even Jews – to confess their sins and be baptized for forgiveness. No doubt that this is where some Christian denominations get their belief that baptism itself can wash away sin. However we know that it is not the ritual that saves but only faith in Christ. I’ll get to that later. Even the ancient Jews, as they baptized converts, recognized that water can purify the body only if the soul has first been purified through repentance and righteousness. I want you to listen to some of these terms I use in this next sentence and see if you recognize them. The baptismal water in Jewish literature was referred to as the womb of the world, and as a convert came out of the water it was considered a new birth separating him from the pagan world. John 3:1-5, 1Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
3In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” 4“How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!” 5Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. As the convert came out of these waters his status was changed and he was referred to as "a little child just born" or "a child of one day" We see the New Testament using similar Jewish terms as "born again," "new creation," and "born from above." John’s baptism – repentance then ritual.
II. THE BAPTISM INTO JESUS. Acts 16:25-34, 25About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose. 27The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”
29The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” 32Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. 34The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole family.
This is my very favorite story in the Bible. It the story of witness, worship, compassion, and conversion. Now we see a new dynamic arising out of the old Jewish tradition and John’s ministry. Neither tradition nor repentance alone will save you. “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved… 34The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God - he and his whole family. When you trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior something new happens. Look at the steps involved. First of all repentance is required. We need to be willing to turn from our old lifestyle and become a new creation in Christ. If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation… When you trust Jesus as Lord and Savior you become immersed in Him. You are totally engulfed by Him. Galatians 2:20 –21, 20I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, (Jewish tradition or ritual) Christ died for nothing!” Paul wrote to the church in Rome, 3Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. That is the baptism that some of you will experience today. The baptism by which you identify with Christ’s death as you go into the water and identify with His resurrection as you come up out of the water. Colossians 2;10-12, 10and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. 11In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, 12having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. What will happen a little later today is a public confession of the work that Jesus has already done in you through the cleansing offered to you through His shed blood.
III. THE BAPTISM IN THE HOLY SPIRIT Acts 19:1-7, Watch as the various types of baptism are mentioned here, 1While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples 2and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”
They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
3So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?”
“John’s baptism,” they replied.
4Paul said, (1)“John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” 5On hearing this, (2) they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. (Remember that in that time no one baptized, they just stood by and witnessed the immersion) (3) 6When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. 7There were about twelve men in all. As John the Baptist preached in the desert he prophesied this, 11“I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Jesus is the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit. Look at the significance of the three baptisms. John’s baptism, a call to repentance, requires a change of heart. Our baptism into Jesus, symbolized by water baptism, results in a change of position. (We are now seated with Christ). The baptism in the Holy Spirit that Jesus gives results in a change of power. 8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Who is this baptism for? For every believer! Acts 2:39, 39The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off… This promise that Peter spoke of here is the Promise of the Father that Jesus said He would send. John 16, verse 7 I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 13But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
The purpose of John’s baptism was repentance. The purpose of water baptism for the Christian is meant to be a public confession of what Jesus has done inwardly in you. So what is the purpose of the baptism in the Holy Spirit that Jesus gives? 8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Power! Enablement to do what God has commanded. Empowerment to be witnesses for Christ. Encouragement by the Spirit’s revelation of God’s word in your life. A higher calling in your walk with God. A heightened sensitivity to what the Spirit wants to do in your life. A heavier burden for the lost. A hunger for the Word of God. A hope for the future of the church.
Repentance, confession, power – Be baptized!
