BELIEF and BAPTISM
Acts 16:22-33
Today we are celebrating the sacrament of baptism. We commemorate with an outward sign, with water, what God has accomplished inwardly by His Holy Spirit and His Word. We are looking at the tremendous act of God in Acts 16. Here, Paul is arrested in Macedonia, along with Silas, after they had been used by God to heal a demon-possessed woman.
In Acts 16:22, we read: “The crowd rose up together against them, and the chief magistrates tore their robes off them and proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods. (These were beatings with multiple rods held together, not just one, inflicting great bodily harm.) 23 When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely; 24 and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. (They were thrown into the darkest and dankest place; they were put in the hole and then fastened with multiple stocks with different sized holes that fit the thighs, knees and ankles. Then the legs were spread apart as far as they could go and the stocks were secured.)
25 But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them; 26 and suddenly there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken; (the same thing happened at Jesus death and resurrection) and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were unfastened. 27 When the jailer awoke and saw the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped.”
28 But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!" 29 And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas, 30 and after he brought them out, (out of the inner jail) he said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" (to be rescued from God’s wrath against sin and sinners.)
This is an amazing account in which Paul and Silas closely identify with the suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ in their own suffering: They are arrested by the mob, their clothes torn off of them, beaten without mercy, thrown into the darkest part of the prison, almost a tomb, and fastened to “stocks” (the word used is actually the same Greek word for “cross” (xylon; ksu-lon) used in Acts 5:30, 10:39, 13:29: “When they had carried out all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the CROSS and laid Him in a tomb.” Of course, when Jesus arose from His tomb, the angels asked those who sought Him: “Whom do you seek? He is not here but He is risen!” Paul and Silas had not disappeared from the tomb of that prison, but by God’s power they had been loosed from the bondage that had held them in stocks and in their tomb!
But this was not for Paul and Silas’ benefit, but for the sake of the Lord Jesus building His Kingdom and drawing others to Himself. It was for the sake of the Gospel: After the jailor is scared out of his sleep by the earthquake, and Paul stops him from taking his own life, the jailor falls down in fear and asks Paul what he must do to be saved: Paul and Silas instruct the jailor in verse 31:
VERSE 31: “They said, "Believe in the Lord (kurios) Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household." 32 And they spoke the word of the Lord (kurios) to him together with ALL who were in his house.”
HOW is anyone saved? BELIEVE In the Lord Jesus
HOW is anyone “SAVED”? Paul says that in order to be saved, you must BELIEVE in the Lord Jesus. What sweet words! BELIEVE in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. TO BELIEVE (pisteuo) is “to think to be true, to be persuaded of, to credit, to place confidence in.” I like that last definition: To place confidence in. Everyone places their confidence in something or someone. I have noticed that some people put their confidence or give credit to their own wills or will power. They believe in themselves. Some people put their confidence in their traditions. Some put their confidence in one teaching and hold onto that for dear life and nothing else matters. What you believe is how you live.
Remember that your confidence is your belief or your faith. Faith (pistis) is the root word for the verb “believe”. Faith is “the conviction of the truth of anything”, but NOT JUST ANY faith is saving faith. Saving faith is “the conviction that God exists and that HE is the creator and ruler of all things, the provider of all things, including eternal salvation through Christ alone. You entrust yourself to the Lord Jesus. John 3:15: Whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
It is clear that a person must believe, and he must believe IN THE LORD JESUS. But how do you BELIEVE, and WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE? It says in verse 32 “they spoke the word of the Lord (kurios) to him together with ALL who were in his house.” Do you see how this verse connects with the last verse? He spoke the WORD of the LORD (kurios) and you are to believe in the LORD (kurios) JESUS as Savior and LORD. What “Word of the LORD” did Paul speak? If you look at the message of Acts, the Words of Jesus, the teachings of ALL the apostles, in fact the message of the entire Bible, they all coincide. We have been seeing in the book of Romans how the message has been that there is NO one who is RIGHTEOUS, and that that ALL SIN and fall short of God’s perfect mark, but HE alone PROVIDES salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, by God’s WORD alone, IN CHRIST alone, for HIS GLORY alone.
Acts 10: 36 "The word which He sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ (He is (JESUS IS) Lord of all )- 42: "And He ordered us to preach to the people, and solemnly to testify that this is the One who has been appointed by God as Judge of the living and the dead. (THAT MAKES HIM LORD) 43 "Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins."
Look at verse 33: And he took them that very hour of the night (he didn’t go anywhere: the Greek word (Paralambano) means “to join to one's self a companion or associate” or “to accept or acknowledge one to be such as he professes to be”, NOT MOVING to another location: The jailor accepted or acknowledged Paul and Silas to be who they said to be) and (he) washed their wounds, and immediately (instantly) he was baptized, he and ALL his household.” (Household most likely refers to everyone who was in the building: prisoners, family members and servants: In this case, ALL WHO HEARD THE WORD of the LORD.)
The jailor had a repentant heart, a complete turn concerning God (What must I do to be saved?), but also toward Paul; instead of taking part in persecuting Paul and Silas, he now washed their wounds. Perhaps he did what we have visually seen in many western movies before there was running water. Doctors would wash the wounds with water from a large basin. (There is something that you have to realize, too: This jailor didn’t commute to work. His own living quarters was most likely attached to the jail, not a separate building.) How could someone have a complete change of heart in such a short time! ONLY God’s Spirit can do such a thing!
“HE washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and ALL his household.” They were baptized right then and there. I don’t know if the bloody and dirty water was thrown out of their wash bowl and they put clean water in. Maybe they used the blood stained water. Was there a baptistery or a pool or bathtub in that prison? Probably Not. The word does not tell us that they left the prison at midnight to search for a river or spring, or a great source of water. Besides, that would have been a crime worthy of death for the jailor, not that followers of Christ worry about dying as martyrs. We know that they heard the Word of the Lord, had a change of heart and were all baptized…immediately.
The same immediacy was present at many conversions, and also at Paul’s in Acts 9:18: “And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight, and he got up and was baptized; 19 and he took food and was strengthened.”
What we Believe
What do we Believe: Paul says in Ephesians 4:4 “There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. 7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift.”
One Lord: There is only one Lord and one God, and salvation rests in Him alone through the Lord Jesus, and people experience true unity one with another only upon this ultimate foundation. “Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) God the Father, LORD, has revealed Himself, His Love and Grace in the Work and Person of Jesus. No wonder that Paul so often uses the name of the “LORD JESUS CHRIST” to refer to Him.
One Faith: you must abandon all other hopes of salvation and trust exclusively in the saving faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. Galatians 2:16: “We know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.”
One Baptism: Our salvation and unity is in the ONE LORD God ALMIGHTY, creator sustainer, provider, and SAVIOR in the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, what is our ONE BAPTISM? Is it in water? Is it in immersion? Or sprinkling? OR Pouring? NEVER!!!! It is in the one HOLY SPIRIT which is poured out and into every believer. HE IS FAR SUPERIOR to any amount of water that can be prescribed.
We celebrate the HOLY SPIRIT as the baptizer of our Hearts and Lives, not John, not me, not the pastor who officiated at your baptism ceremony, not the amount of water used or where a baptism ceremony occurs. The Spirit and the Word have brought us to see Christ and His shed blood, being poured out for us by FAITH. He has brought us by FAITH to see Jesus dead and buried. The Holy Spirit has shown us the empty tomb, and He testifies to our hearts: Jesus is no longer dead but risen! And you are forgiven and risen to new life if you put your faith and trust in Him and FOLLOW HIM!
In Acts 11:16, Peter said, "And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, 'John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
Jesus said: "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. (John 6:63)
In John 3:3-7 “Jesus answered and said to Nicodemus, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again (from above) he cannot see the kingdom of God." 4 Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?" 5 Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water (your physical birth) and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 "Do not be amazed that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' (From above, from a higher place!)
Hebrews 10:21: Since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”
At water baptism, we identify with the invisible baptism of the Holy Spirit. We are grafted into Christ, into His death and into His resurrection, NOT BY WATER, but by the Holy Spirit. Water baptism is RELATED to the Holy Spirit’s baptism, but it is not identical to it. It is not the same or simultaneous happening, but certainly, the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives will cause us to want to be obedient to God and be baptized with water. The water is the visible sign, but the pouring of the Holy Spirit’s pouring on and into us is Invisible: He cleanses our hearts.
(NOTE: Strong’s definition of Baptizo: “to dip repeatedly, to immerse, to submerge (of vessels sunk) to cleanse by dipping or submerging, to wash, to make clean with water, to wash one's self, bathe, to overwhelm.”. Young’s Analytical Concordance defines “baptizo” as: “to consecrate by pouring out on or putting into.” In secular writings, many other meanings are implied, such as being overwhelmed with drunkenness, and thrusting a sword deep into one’s body. It is quite curious that the word "baptizo" has never actually been TRANSLATED but rather TRANSLITERATED; in other words, the word has been "Anglicized" from the Greek.)
Titus 3: 4-7: But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, 5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
It is no wonder that our story ends in Acts 16:34 with these words of celebration: “And he brought them into his house and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, having believed in God with his whole household.”
What Great LOVE God has for us: Jesus poured out Himself on the Cross and pours His precious Spirit into us, so that we may be washed clean from all sin! To Him alone be the Glory!
OUTLINE:
I. HOW and WHY is anyone saved?
A. “Believe” (pisteuo): Saving faith is “the conviction that God exists and is the creator and ruler of all things, the provider of all things, including eternal salvation through Christ alone. (John 3:15-16)
B. “In the Lord Jesus”: Paul spoke the WORD of the LORD (kurios) and you are to believe in the LORD (kurios) JESUS.
II. We believe (Ephesians 4:1-7)
A. One Lord
B. One Faith
C. One Baptism
III. We Baptize as:
A. A Personal Pledge and Profession.
B. A Visible Sign of Identification with ________ and His Body, the Church.
C. An Invisible Action of an internal Purification
We Baptize as 1. A Personal Pledge and Profession of Dedication and Consecration to what the Lord has done for us- a personal response to the Gospel of God’s grace to save. The jailor and everyone in the jailhouse and home of the jailor BELIEVED when they had heard the testimony of the Word of the Lord. They turned to God in faith: That means that the Spirit of God had already worked in their hearts through the earthquake and through the Word and Spirit. The Spirit has been poured into their hearts in order that they might believe. Acts 2:38: "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Baptism proclaims that the Lord Jesus Christ DIED for me.
2. We are not forgiven because of the Water or the amount of water. That is only a Visible SIGN or SYMBOL of Identification. There is no spiritual power or effect on account of the water. We are buried with Christ in His death, not in the water. We identify with HIM and HIS resurrection, not in water but from the grave, and we realize, that we only have NEW LIFE on HIS ACCOUNT: His Death, His shed Blood, His broken body, and His Spirit having been poured into our hearts and onto our lives. Ephesians 1: 13: In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation -having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, with His Church
3. Commemorates An Invisible Action of an internal Purification: In Acts 11:16, Peter said, "And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, 'John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' WE declare that God HAS WORKED.
Strong’s definition: Baptizo: “to dip repeatedly, to immerse, to submerge (of vessels sunk) to cleanse by dipping or submerging, to wash, to make clean with water, to wash one's self, bathe, to overwhelm.”. Young’s Analytical Concordance defines “baptizo” as: “to consecrate by pouring out on or putting into.” In secular writings, many other meanings are implied, such as being overwhelmed with drunkenness, and thrusting a sword deep into one’s body.
