What About Baptism? Series

SERIES: “IMPORTANT QUESTIONS”

TEXT: ROMANS 6:1-11

TITLE: “WHAT ABOUT BAPTISM?”

OPEN: A. Last week, we started a series called, “Important Questions”

1. We started with the most important question of all: “How Do I Become a Christian?”

2. This week’s message is an extension of a section of that message: “What About Baptism?”

B. I’ve both heard about and experienced some humorous things concerning baptism 1.

1. While I was still in youth ministry, I hadn’t been at a particular church for too long. One of

the young ladies in the youth group decided to give her life to the Lord. Being the youth minister

I was expected to do the baptism

The problem was that the waders for the senior minister were just a bit too small for me to

wear. The former preacher was about my size so a search was made for that pair of waders. It

didn’t take too long until they were located and I pulled them on.

What I didn’t know is that they had dry-rotted and there was a small hole in the toe of one of

the boots. As soon as I stepped down into the water, the left leg began to fill up with water.

The baptism went well but I had my suit pants on under the waders. One leg was soaking wet

and I had a family from the church waiting to take me to lunch. I had to go home and change

meet the family at the restaurant. Let’s just say we had a late lunch that day

2. At Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, KY, one of the fellows who helps lead in

Children’s Church is a Louisville police officer. One of the kids from Children’s Church had

decided to be baptized so this fellow was the one who would perform the ceremony.

As all the candidates were getting ready for baptism one Sunday morning, the policeman

came into the preparation room and took off his jacket, revealing his service weapon. One of the

men getting baptized that morning raised an eyebrow and the police officer deadpanned: “We

have a no back-out policy here regarding baptisms.”

3. Just this past week, I heard about a preacher who pulled on his waders in preparation for a

baptism and felt something crawl up his leg. He panicked and ran out the side door, jerked the

waders off, and found that a family of crickets had set up housekeeping in his waders.

Relieved that it wasn’t anything dangerous, he went to put the waders back on but looked

around first. He found himself standing out in the church parking lot in his boxer shorts in full

view of the cars driving down the highway.

C. Baptism is taught clearly in Scripture but the subject has been confused and contended over for a

long time.

1. The Scriptures are the best and most obvious authority on this issue

--let’s use them for our guide on this issue

2. Let’s shake away some of the confusion and clarify what God wants us to understand concerning

this subject

3. Rom. 6:1-11 – “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?

By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us

who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We 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.

If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him

in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin

might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has

died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with

him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no

longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives,

he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

I. THE MANDATE

A. As you read the New Testament, baptism is an obvious mandate

1. “Mandate” – “an order or command”

2. A command is something that must be followed

B. Let’s look at what the Scriptures have to say concerning baptism:

1. Mt. 28:18 & 19 – “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been