What Are You Wearing? Series

ILLUS: (This is a physical illustration that involves a dingy rag, a clear bowl filled with red dyed colored water) But there’s one more aspect of this “putting on Christ in baptism” that I find intriguing. This rag represents the life of someone who is tired of feeling empty. It’s drag and dingy, which represents the shame and guilt folks feel about their past… and they want to change. And so they come to Jesus. They believe in Him, repent of their sins, confess Jesus as their Lord… and then they’re baptized!!!

(Point to the red water in the glass bowl) This water is dyed red to represent the BLOOD of Jesus. That’s because its the blood of Jesus, and not the water in the baptistry, that changes people. (I put the rag down into the bowl of red water and let it soak). As I pull the rag out of the water, notice how it has changed color. It didn’t just get wet… it was saturated and took on the color of the liquid it was immersed into. Similarly, a person who wants to become a Christ goes down into the baptistry a lost sinner, and comes up changed on the INSIDE as well on as on the OUTSIDE. This rag was a drab brown, now it’s taken on the REDNESS of Christ’s blood. And that blood of Christ has soaked every fiber of the rag. It’s changed the entire appearance of that towel.

And that’s what happens when we’re baptized into Christ. It changes us. It doesn’t just get us wet on the OUTSIDE. Christ gets INSIDE us as well. That’s why, in Acts 2:38 Peter told the crowds: "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.”

When you give yourself over to Christ God saturates every fiber of your being because the promised Holy Spirit gets INSIDE of you and you totally belong to God.

But "following the rules" doesn't make us righteous. It's the Spirit of God inside of you that begins to change you so you become more pleasing to God.

ILLUS: Now, I've used this illustration before. There's road that passes by the church building that I sometimes use to go to Indianapolis. Does anyone know what the speed limit is on that road? That's right - it's 55 mph. Now if I drive down that road to Indianapolis and go 55 mph... what's the rest of traffic going to do? They're going to pass me like I'm standing still. They know what the law says, they just don't want to do it. The Law doesn't change or modify their behavior, because they law is simply something that stands between what they have to do and what they want to do. The law does not make them law-abiding. It doesn't make them righteous.

But now, let's say I'm inclined to ignore the speed limit... but my aging grandmother (whom I love) is riding in the car with me, and she's a stickler for abiding with the stated limit. What will I do then? I'll stay under the speed limit - not because of the law - but because of my love for my grandmother. The law doesn't make it so I do righteous things. But having somebody there with me that I care about - that changes me.