Title: Dipped and Saved
Place: BLCC
Date: 4/15/18
Text: Acts 22.16; Acts conversions
CT: Answer God’s Call
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FAS: The following is from a USA Today article detailing the decline of water baptism in many American churches:
There are now baptism-style ceremonies where God is never mentioned by parents seeking to initiate their children into a world of all faiths, says Ema Drouillard of San Francisco, who runs the website Ceremonyway.com.
She conducted such an event for Kirsten and Farnum _______ of Marin County, California, for their baby, Greer, in 1998. "We just wanted a larger spirit to guide our daughter, but we didn't want to get specific. I wanted all her bases covered," says Kirsten.
The couple grew up Presbyterian, but now "we just do Christianity L-I-T-E" for Greer, who "believes in angels and fairies, leprechauns and Santa Claus."
Cathy Lynn Grossman, "Rite of Baptism Trickles Away," USA Today (4-13-06), 2D
I. Some may believe you just add water to a sinner and you get a Christian.
Not water only.
Our salvation and forgiveness of sin is more than getting wet.
Hear, believe, repent, confess, baptize.
I am not down playing or over emphasizing baptism. All I want to do is see what the Bible says about baptism. [Screen 2] Ananias to Paul.
Acts 22.16, And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.
Is God trying to get your attention today? Is your personal alarm clock going off? You can keep hitting the snooze button, but it won’t quit. God is, as I have said before, The Hound from Heaven. He will continue to seek you. He won’t quit. You are too valuable to Him.
The book of Acts is full of people that God did various things to get their attention. The ways may have varied but the response was always the same. Once they believed it was immediately followed by baptism. We are going to unpack several examples of baptism in Acts. It will show decision follows belief.
C. Acts 2:36-40, “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.” When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
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Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off —for all whom the Lord our God will call.” With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day
On the day the church started, 3,000 people responded to Peter’s sermon by being baptized. These folks heard God’s alarm clock loud and clear that day. They hadn’t come to be buried with Christ but they sure left drenched.
The apostles were on a mission from Christ, [Screen 4] Matthew 28,19, Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
Acts is that fulfillment of that mission. It is full of baptisms.
--[Screen 5] Acts 8: 9-13 Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.” They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery. But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.
Simon was obsessed with the disciples.
--[Screen 6] Acts 8:35-38, Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.
Philip started with Isaiah and told the Ethiopian eunuch the good news about Jesus, and the Ethiopian was baptized.
--[Screen 7] Acts 9:1-18, Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized.
Jesus appeared to Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus. Saul is blinded and fasts for three days, but when he hears the gospel from Anaias and is healed, he gets up and gets baptized immediately—even before eating.
--[Screen 8] Acts 10:34-48, Then Peter said, “Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.
Cornelius, a Gentile, and his household believe and are baptized.
--[Screen 9] Acts 16:14-15, One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.
Lydia, an influential, fairly affluent woman in Philippi, and her family respond to Paul’s message and are baptized.
-- [Screen 10] Acts 16:29-34, The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. The 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 household.
The jailer in Paul and Silas’ cell believes and is baptized when an earthquake releases the prisoners after Paul and Silas had been worshiping God.
-- [Screen 11] Acts 18:8, Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul believed and were baptized.
The Corinthian synagogue ruler, Crispus, his family, and other Corinthian believers hear Paul preach, believe, and are baptized.
In each case the people hear, then believe, they repent, they are baptized.
-- [Screen 12] Acts 19:4-5, Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Twelve men in Ephesus who had been baptized by John the Baptist hear Paul preach about Jesus and the Holy Spirit, the fulfillment of John’s baptism, and are baptized now into Christ.
These are all spontaneous. They did not schedule their baptisms. When God called they answered. When the wake up call came, they acted.
II. So. Is it important? As I have said before, don’t ask me.
Jesus said in [Screen 13] Mark 16.16, Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
John 14.15, [Screen 14] “If you love me, keep my commands.”
Honestly, we should consider it a privilege to be baptized. Not a duty. If you really see it as a duty you have to do, why bother.
Baptism is an invitation we give to God to come in and cleanse our heart. To make us new. [screen 15] 1 Peter 3.21, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The DBR.
Death is defeated.
III. So what? God wants your attention. He wants your response. The great thing is He will accept you just as you are today. Flaws and all. Doesn’t matter what you have done or where you have been. Let God cleanse your heart and your life today.
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Why are we to be baptized?
1. Matthew 3.13-17, Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented. 16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
Jesus was baptized even though he had no sin, to show us the way. We need to be baptized because Jesus demonstrated it. By his own baptism Jesus was saying, “If you truly want to follow me you will follow me into the water. If I, Jesus, need to do this, then so do you.
2. We need to be baptized because Jesus commanded it.
Matthew 28.19, Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Baptism is not an option. It is a commandment according to scripture. It shows we are submitting to God’s command to accept his Son. We then understand Jesus’ command to love God and love people. Matthew 22.37-39, Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. ’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. ‘
1 John 2.3, We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands.
3. Baptism is our public statement that you belong to Christ.
Through baptism we tell the world we are not ashamed to be a follower of Christ. We reflect to others his glory. Our baptism is evangelism to others.
4. Baptism is our symbol of incorporation or belonging to the body of Christ or His church.
1 Corinthians 12.13, For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free —and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
John 3.16, For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Our submission to baptism demonstrates our gratitude to God for this sacrifice.
By our baptism we become identified with Christ and from that point on God regards us as Christ in his perfection and sinlessness.
Romans 10.9, If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
You have assurance that your eternal destiny with God in heaven is secure through this identification with Christ
Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God and do you accept Him as your Lord through repentance and Savior by grace?
What are you waiting for? Baptism, commitment and eternal identification with Christ Jesus will change your life forever. You will make a decision. What are you waiting for?
Everything is ready. We have plenty of towels. The water is fresh. The Ethiopian said, “Look, here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptized?” Just like Saul, your eyes will see. All are allowed. The water is even warm. We have everything we need but one thing. You.
The alarm is going off. Its time. Don’t wait. God is calling. Don’t just push the snooze today. Get up and be baptized.
