#4 Following Jesus in Baptism
Series: Mark
Chuck Sligh
January 12, 2020
NOTE: A PowerPoint presentation is available for this sermon by request at chucksligh@hotmail.com. Please mention the title of the sermon and the Bible text to help me find the sermon in my archives.
TEXT: Mark 1:4-10 – “John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. 5 And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 And John was clothed with camel’s hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey; 7 And preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose. 8 I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.
9 And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan. 10 And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him.”
INTRODUCTION
Last time we were in the book of Mark, we looked at the “Son motif” in Mark 1. This is how the Gospel writers used two terms that reached all the way back to the Old Testament and tells us some important facts about Jesus Christ.
• The first term is the “Son of Man.” – This term was used by the Gospel writers to remind us that the Messiah would be a man, a human.
• The second term is the “Son of God”, a term used by Mark in the very first verse of His gospel and again by God the Father in our text in verse 10 when He said approvingly, “You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” – We saw that this is a term was to point to the deity of this man named Jesus Christ. God implanted the seed of Jesus into the womb of Mary, and at that point, God the Son became man. He was born on this earth as a human, so He was a son; but He was fully God as well, so He was the “Son of God.”
This led us into a natural segway into the doctrine of the incarnation—the fusion of God with man on this earth—quite appropriate right before Christmas, and what the incarnation meant to the world and to those of us who are saved. Today we want to look at this same passage of scripture, but we want to focus on the baptism of Jesus itself, not so much on the approval of God at his baptism.
Consider with me four things about baptism we see in this passage.
I. FIRST, BAPTISM DOES NOT SAVE.
Verse 4 is a little confusing until you dig a little deeper. In that verse, we read, “John…came baptizing in the wilderness, and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”
At first reading, baptism “for the remission of sins” sure sounds like baptism was doing the saving, doesn’t it? But you have to be careful when translating prepositions like “of, for, by, etc.” from one language to the other. Many of you Germans have tried to understand Americans trying to translate word-for-word prepositions that are used in entirely different ways in German than in English, and the reverse is also true. Often, I’ll hear a German say something that befuddles me until I realize that where we might use the word like “by,” a German might use another preposition in that context and if they don’t know how “by” is used in English as opposed to how it is used in German, it can cause confusion.
This is no less true when translating from Greek to English. The Greek word translated “for” here is eis, which my Greek dictionaries and lexicons say can mean to, unto, for, in, on, toward, against and an assortment of other miscellaneous minor meanings. How do we know which one is right?
One way is to compare how the word is used here compared to the overall tenor of Scripture. The New Testament teaches in scores of places that a person is saved by faith in Jesus Christ, plus nothing and minus nothing. In none of these scriptures is baptism ever mentioned, a terrible omission is baptism is necessary to salvation.
Therefore, one must look a little more closely at the only two passages of Scripture that can conceivably be interpreted to be saying that baptism is necessary for salvation, one of which is Mark 1:4 to see if the Greek can give us some indication. [The other scriptures Acts 2:38] In order to explain the apparent ontradiction, I originally took a deep dive in the Greek word eis as it is used here. It would be just a bunch of mumbo jumbo and felt that it would be too tedious and technical. The short version is that eis here references or modifies the word “repentance,” not “baptism. This would mean that the phrase would more naturally have been understood to mean that John preached a baptism of repentance, the remission of sins being the consequence of the repentance, not the baptism.
Another proof that baptism is not required for salvation is found in Mark 1 itself. Of all people who ever lived, Jesus was the only one who was not a sinner. Therefore, He never needed to repent, and hence, if baptism was for salvation, there was no reason for Him to be baptized.
So why WAS He baptized? We need to go to Matthew 3 to see Matthew’s telling of Jesus’ baptism to answer that question.
Look with me at Matthew 3:14-15: “Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John to be baptized by him. 14 But John tried to prevent him, saying, I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me? 15 But Jesus answering said unto him, Permit it to be so now: for thus it is fitting to fulfil all righteousness. Then John consented.”
Jesus was baptized to “fulfill all righteousness.” In other words, it is a righteous act for a righteous person to be baptized, and He did it as an example for us. Jesus was teaching us that baptism is important for believers! Jesus was perfect, and to set an example for those who would become perfect IN Jesus Christ through His death, burial and resurrection, He was baptized. When you turn from sin and put your faith in Jesus Christ for salvation, your sins are washed away by the blood of Jesus shed for you on Calvary. And just as perfect Jesus set the example for us to be baptized, so we who are made perfect in Christ should publicly declare our faith in Jesus through baptism.
II. THE SECOND THING WE LEARN ABOUT BAPTISM IS THAT IT IS SUBSEQUENT TO SALVATION.
Everywhere you see baptism in the New Testament, there is a correct sequence: First one repents, preparing the heart to be saved, then they believe, actualizing salvation, and only then they are baptized testifying outwardly of the inward salvation experience. Baptism is only for believers, after salvation.
If you were baptized as an infant, you have not experienced biblical baptism. It’s not your fault, because you didn’t have a choice in the matter, and perhaps your parents had you sprinkled in all sincerity and with the best of intentions. But baby baptism is NOWHERE taught in the Bible. You will not find a single verse in the Bible which even suggests it.
Baptism is a declaration of faith in Jesus Christ and the Gospel for salvation. How can a baby declare his or her faith in Jesus Christ? Babies have no understanding of sin, the need for a Savior, Jesus’s substitutionary death on the cross for them, the need to turn from sin, the necessity of faith in Jesus’ death on Calvary, and the command to symbolically identify with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The only thing they understand is warm milk, a clean bottom and lots of cuddling. To be biblically baptized, you must to be old enough to be able to understand the Gospel message and to respond to it in faith and to profess one’s faith publicly.
III. THE THIRD TRUTH ABOUT BAPTISM IS THAT BIBLICAL BAPTISM SYMBOLIZES THE GOSPEL AND THEREFORE INVOLVES FULL IMMERSION.
Baptism is a way to publicly declare your faith in the central tenets of the Gospel. Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 15 that the Gospel is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. You see the symbolism clearly during baptism by immersion [DEMONSTRATE WITH HAND MOTIONS:] Standing in the water represents the death of Jesus Christ; going under the water represents Christ’s burial; and coming up out of the water represents His resurrection.
When someone is baptized, he’s identifying himself with these truths and the fact that he is trusting in Christ’s death, burial and resurrection as his hope of salvation. Therefore the symbolism is broken if the salvation is by sprinkling or pouring for neither of those modes of baptism can possibly symbolize death, burial and resurrection.
The evidence is overwhelming that the early church baptized exclusively by immersion. The word “baptize” or baptizo in the Greek, was not a religious word in that day. It first became a religious term with the ministry of John the Baptizer.
The word itself simply meant to “dip, dunk, sink, plunge, immerse or submerge.” It was used of those who dyed cloth.
• Cloth merchants would completely dip cloth into dye so that the entire cloth took on the color of the dye.
• When women submerged their clothes in the river to clean them, they were said to be “baptizing” them.
• When a ship sank in the sea, they would say it had been “baptized,” that is, it had sunk by being totally submerged in the water.
• In Greek law records, there’s even a case of a man who was arrested for “baptizing” a man in a river—that is, he DROWNED him!
Besides the meaning of the word, we have other proof that John baptized by immersion. In John 3:23 we read, “Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were constantly coming to be baptized.”
Aenon was a place on the Jordan that was deeper than at most places on the river. Many places on the Jordan are so shallow that it wouldn’t even go to waist level. If John baptized by pouring or sprinkling, he could have baptized anywhere on the Jordan. He wouldn’t even have had to go to a river for that matter; a basin of water would be sufficient. But he chose this particular place where the Jordan is deep enough to dunk people under water.
Finally, when you consider the several instances where the book of Acts says that when people being baptized “went DOWN INTO the water” and “came UP OUT OF the water,” it becomes evident that baptism was always by complete immersion.
Illus. – Once, the symbol of baptism representing the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus was explained to a farmer’s teenage son who had put his faith in Christ. His family had had him baptized as a baby by sprinkling, and when the family changed to their present church, Dad was joyful in his son’s conversion and desire to follow Jesus, but dismissive of him being baptized by immersion, and since the son was still a minor, the pastor would not baptize him without his father’s permission.
He pled with his dad, explaining the fact that baptism was symbolic of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, but his dad told him it didn’t really matter whether you had been sprinkled, poured or immersed for baptism. “It’s all the same, really,” he said.
That afternoon one of their dogs was found dead. After grieving a few moments, his dad told him to go and bury the dog.
His dad found him an hour later and said, “I told you to bury Rover. He’s still back in the back”
The boy said, “I already buried him, Dad. I sprinkled some sand on him.”
His dad said, “What in the world are you talking about? Bury him before he begins to stink.”
A little later, his dad led him to the dog, still not in the ground, and said, “Son, what’s gotten into you? Rover’s still not buried.”
“Dad,” he said, “I poured some dirt on him this time. That’s good enough. It doesn’t really matter whether he’s been sprinkled, poured or put under the ground. It’s all the same, really.”
Suddenly it dawned on his dad what his son was getting at. He looked at him sheepishly and said, “Son, if you’ll completely bury old Rover good and proper, I’ll take you over to Preacher Tom’s and we’ll talk about getting you baptized good and proper.”
IV. LASTLY, NOTE IS THAT BAPTISM IS A BOLD DECLARATION OF FAITH.
Baptism is meant to be public. It’s a declaration of your desire to follow Jesus, who saved you by the Gospel—the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Historically, baptism has been the outward witness of inward faith in the Gospel. It’s simple to believe on Jesus to be saved. It is a bold, sometimes dangerous, move to open confess your faith, because it marks you as a follower of Christ.
M.R. DeHaan put it this way:
In the early days of the church..., baptism was a declaration that the believer was definitely identifying himself with that group of people who were called Christians and were despised and hated. To be a Christian meant something. To identify yourself with those who were called Christians meant persecution, maybe death; it meant being ostracized from your family, shunned by friends. And the one act which was the final declaration of this identification was BAPTISM. As long as a man gathered with Christians, he was tolerated, but when once he submitted to baptism, he declared to all the world, I BELONG TO THIS DESPISED GROUP, and immediately he was persecuted, hated, and despised. In baptism, therefore, the believer entered into the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ. A person might be a believer and keep it strictly a secret and thus avoid unpleasantness and suffering, but once he submitted to public baptism, he had burned his bridges behind him. . .” (Water Baptism, p. 27).
[Alternate quotation: As Chuck Colson points out in his book, The Body: Being Light In Darkness: “Most Westerners take baptism for granted, but for many in the world the act requires immense courage. In countries like Nepal it once meant imprisonment. For Soviet or Chinese or Eastern bloc believers, it was like signing their own death warrant.”]
When you’re baptized, you’re publicly confessing your inward heart allegiance to Christ, despite the consequences. Jesus said, “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 10:32) By identifying with Christ and the message of His death, burial and resurrection, you’re publicly taking your stand for Christ.
Illus. – You’re saying, “I belong to Christ and I’m signifying so with the symbol of baptism,” much the same way a person who wears a wedding ring does. When I wear my wedding ring, I’m saying to all you poor ladies out there, “Sorry, but I belong to someone, and I’m not ashamed to let everyone know it.” The person being baptized is saying the same thing: He’s saying, “I belong to Christ, and I’m not ashamed to let everyone know it.”
You’re publicly adverting that you are a follower of Jesus.
Illus. – A few years ago, there was a second-grade student who accepted Christ during our Vacation Bible School. His parents were happy and they arranged a time for his baptism. They brought the little boy to the pastor, and it was obvious they had told him what to tell him. But he was still a little confused about the word “baptized.”
Asked what he came for, the boy said, “Pastor, I believed in Jesus and now I’m going to be advertised.”
His parents corrected him, but the pastor said, “He’s closer to the truth than you think. Whenever a person is baptized, he is advertising that he is a follower of Jesus.”
Let me ask you a question, have you been advertised for Jesus by being baptized?
CONCLUSION
So that’s what the Bible teaches about baptism.
I have two questions for you today:
First of all, have you been saved?
Have you turned from sin and realized that Jesus died on the cross to pay for your sin and turned to Him for forgiveness of sins? You can be baptized a hundred times by sprinkling, pouring or immersion—it doesn’t matter—and it won’t get you one inch closer to heaven or God. Baptism won’t save you, and it won’t make you more accepted by God. Outside of being born into God’s family by faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior, baptism by any mode is useless. I plead with you to come to Jesus and be saved!
Second, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, have you followed the Lord’s example by being baptized by immersion after your salvation to publicly declare your faith in Christ’s death, burial and resurrection and to identify with Christ and His Church?
The Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20 says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. …”
The Great Commission has not been fulfilled in your life personally until you have followed the Lord’s example by being baptized. Every moment you have not been baptized is a moment of disobedience to Christ’s command to be baptized after salvation and a failure to fulfill the Great Commission in your life.
Baptism is important!
• It was important enough for Jesus to travel 60 miles by foot in the desert to get to John and be baptized as an example for us.
• It’s important because God has commanded that believers be baptized in the Great Commission.
• It was so important that when Paul came upon some of John’s disciples who had not heard of Christ, when they believed, they were immediately baptized in the name of the Trinity, even though they had been baptized by John’s baptism previously. – This is an example of people who had been baptized once, before trusting in Jesus, and immediately being baptized again to obey Christ’s command to be baptized after salvation in the name of Jesus.
If you would like to obey Christ and declare your faith in Jesus Christ by being baptized, please see me after the service, and let’s make the arrangements, or if I’m tied up, fill out a Next Step card on cabinet in the back of the church in front of the sound room and fill that out and give me your contact information. We’ll make it happen because BAPTISM IS IMPORTANT.
May God challenge you to obey our Lord by being baptized.
