Proper Subjects / Attendants (“why when who how”)

The point: Always make that a standard by which to evaluate the biblicalness, the accuracy of any preachment on these ordinances.

Martin shares that previous teaching on the Lord's Supper made the ordinance more intelligent and meaningful for congregants, illustrating the value of understanding ordinances biblically.

the study in the morning made your coming to the Lord's table much more intelligent and meaningful and you were blessed as a result of it. Well, in a couple of weeks from now we shall be baptized. A number of people. And so I purpose this morning and in the next morning service in which I shall be expounding the word to bring to you some of the leading lines of biblical truth concerning this second of the two external visible words of the gospel given to the church of Jesus Christ. And I would remind you of that undergirding principle that I enunciated

0:43 - 1:21 Read in full sermon

The point: If you are ever to be saved, you will be saved because you come into direct spiritual contact with Jesus Christ and Christ alone. And the only way you will come into that contact is by laying hold of Him by faith alone..…

He suggests that if all the energy spent on polemical books about baptism were invested in prayer and advancing the Kingdom, a new day would have dawned, illustrating the historical divisiveness and misdirection of energy regarding baptism.

The second fact that I hope we are established in is a historical fact. It is the fact that this matter of baptism has been the occasion of much confusion, much delusion, and much grievous controversy in the history of the Church. If we could take all the people who have been deluded by a false doctrine of baptism, all the people who have been persecuted for holding a true doctrine of baptism, if we could take all the hours that were spent in writing books defending views of baptism, we would have a tremendous collection of people of hours and of pages. I think it is accurate to say if all the...

10:47 - 11:30 Read in full sermon

The point: And as long as the Lord Jesus has a people on earth who love him, who are subject to him, baptism will be with us, and the deeper our love to him grows, the more we shall desire that this gospel ordinance will be found i…

The story of King Saul's partial obedience in sparing King Agag and the best of the Amalekite livestock is used to illustrate that partial obedience to God's commands is regarded as total disobedience, applying this principle to obedience in baptism.

And I remind you how God regards partial obedience. Remember in the Old Testament, Samuel said to Saul, the word of the Lord Saul is this, take the Amalekites and slay them. Big shots, little shots, beasts, everybody, men, women, children, slay the whole shebang. Remember what Saul did?

18:18 - 18:40 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin turns to the Book of Acts, particularly Pentecost (Acts 2), as the framework for understanding how the apostles implemented Christ's commission. He details Peter's sermon…

He notes Peter 'lifted up his voice' on Pentecost, providing a biblical precedent for preachers speaking loudly and clearly, contrasting it with mumbling.

Men hearing in their own language the mighty works of God. And he begins his sermon in verse 14. But Peter standing up with the eleven lifted up his voice. Some of you get upset with some of us preachers who lift up our voices.

26:09 - 26:27 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He provides several examples from Acts (Samaria, Ethiopian Eunuch, Cornelius, Lydia, Philippian Jailer, Corinthians) to demonstrate that baptism consistently followed the…

He uses the analogy of 'all who had black hair came to the meeting' to explain that 'those that received the word were baptized' is both inclusive and exclusive, clarifying that only believers were baptized.

And for any to say well it's inclusive but not exclusive that's like saying all who had black hair came to the meeting. But that says nothing about people who have white hair or brown hair. Yes it does. Those that received the word were baptized and then subsequent the third fact this group came to the existing group of the hundred and twenty and was subjected to apostolic instruction and the total life and ministry of the church at Jerusalem they began to teach them all things that Christ had commanded them.

29:56 - 30:32 Read in full sermon

The point: And we need to be clear about this, dear people. Baptism is Christian baptism only if she has her bridesmaids. Make disciples.

He compares non-Christian 'baptisms' (liberal churches, Roman Catholic, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons) to 'my jumping in the pool in your backyard to have a dip,' emphasizing that without the gospel, it's not Christian baptism.

Now, this tells us that the so-called baptisms that go on in liberal churches, whether by sprinkling or immersion, the baptisms of the Roman church, the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Mormons, are no more Christian baptism than my jumping in the pool in your backyard to have a dip is baptism. And we need to be clear about this, dear people. Baptism is Christian baptism only if she has her bridesmaids.

35:22 - 35:50 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The first conclusion is that any baptism without pure gospel preaching is mere superstition, not Christian baptism. He explains that baptism visually proclaims the same message of…

He uses the analogy of visiting someone for a meal but having the real intention of discussing their soul to explain Paul's statement 'Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel,' showing that the gospel takes precedence.

Maybe I come over to your house for a meal, but my real intention is to talk to you about your soul. And after the meal, I say, look, my friend, I didn't come over. I didn't come over to your house to eat a meal. I came to deal with you about eternal issues.

37:50 - 38:00 Read in full sermon

The point: The answer is because the one you now profess to love, trust, and know commands that you be baptized.

He uses Saul of Tarsus's conversion experience (voice from heaven, bright light) to argue that even someone with such a dramatic conversion was commanded to be baptized, illustrating that baptism is not optional for any believer.

Since there's no residue of grace in the baptismal waters, yet awaiting me? The answer is because the one you now profess to love, trust, and know commands that you be baptized. If anyone could be exempt from baptism, it'd be a man who got converted like Saul of Tarsus did. Voice from heaven, a light brighter than the noonday sun, and yet God sends a humble disciple to him who says, Arise, why tarriest thou? Arise and be baptized.

44:09 - 44:37 Read in full sermon

The point: Then prove your love by obedience.

He mentions that the Greek Orthodox Church immerses infants, not just sprinkles, because to the Greek mind, 'baptize' means immersion, illustrating the historical understanding of the mode of baptism.

And if you don't believe me, ask my mom and dad. All right? If you were no disciple when water was placed upon your head or as in the Greek Orthodox Church, you were immersed up to your neck, for they do that with infants in the Greek Orthodox Church to this day. Because to the Greek mind, you could no more say, I baptize thee and just sprinkle, than you could say, I fly and lay down in the dirt.

45:24 - 45:44 Read in full sermon

The point: Mom and Dad, God has answered your prayer. And He's answered even to the point where I see now that what He requires, is that I be baptized as a disciple and thereby confess my union with Christ. And Mom and Dad, I love …

The anecdote of Spurgeon's mother praying for his salvation but not for him to become a Baptist, and Spurgeon's witty reply, illustrates the tension and ultimate joy when children follow Christ's commands even if it differs from family tradition.

Will they get mad at you? If they're true Christians, they'll rejoice. Now, they may have to say, as Spurgeon's mother did. You remember the incident when Spurgeon wrote to his mother, or his mother wrote to him after he had become a Baptist by his study of the Word of God?

47:02 - 47:15 Read in full sermon