Essential Purpose

Review of Baptism's Universal Setting and Deductions

0:04 To those who are not with us this morning, I should preface our study in the scriptures tonight by making one or two statements by way of explanation, and then spend a few minutes by way of review, since tonight is the last half of this morning's message.

0:24 Not being able to predict weather with any degree of infallibility, that's for the meteorologist as well as those of us who are laymen in these things, we had hoped that today would be one of those high Lord's Days when we would not only be privileged to sit beneath the preached word in the Sunday school hour, morning and evening worship, but would also have the benefit of both of the visible words of the gospel, the ordinance of baptism, and also the remembrance at the Lord's table. Well, we've had all of that, but the ordinance of baptism in God's name. If you are willing, there are two who will be baptized next Lord's Day immediately after the morning service. In the light of the fact that we were privileged to have these visible words of the gospel set before us again, coupled with the additional fact that it had been some two years since I preached formally on the subject of baptism, it was in the month of August of 1973 that I brought three messages, I believe, based primarily upon Matthew 28, and our church family has grown. So much since then, I felt it would be in the interest of our edification if I were to address myself to the subject of Christian baptism, and I introduced the study with words from the great southern theologian, James Henley Thornwell, who, speaking of the subject

1:49 of church government, said, though we do not put such matters as church government in the place of cardinal importance, we nonetheless believe that church government, and I would add to that, baptism, is part of the church government. And I would add to that, baptism is part of the church government, and I would add to that, baptism is part of the church government, and I would add to that, baptism is part of that which God has revealed, and everything that God has revealed deserves our careful study. And so it is with no desire to exalt baptism, for those of you who heard the message will know we did not do that this morning, and we had some very strong words to speak to those who exalt baptism beyond its God-intended place. We also had some strong words for those who pervert its significance, and by way of review, let me simply try to understand.

2:32 I thought this morning to set before the hearers what I call the universal setting of Christian baptism.

2:48 We turned to every recorded instance of baptism in the New Testament, and every group of Christendom agrees that baptism is an ordinance of the New Testament. Even the Westminster Confession of Faith, which seeks to get perspectives for baptism, strongly influences that perspective from the Old Testament. It begins with these words, baptism is a sacrament of the New Testament. And so it is proper to assess the meaning, the significance of Christian baptism from the New Testament.

3:22 And I did not start with the baptism of John, because this is a running debate among theologians and Bible students, whether the baptism of John can rightly be considered Christian baptism, or the forerunner of Christian baptism, or whether it was something entirely different. And rather than do that, I started with the ground that is agreed upon by all men who love their Bibles, namely, Christian baptism is found recorded in the record of the early days of the Christian Church. And we looked at every recorded instance of baptism in the Book of the Acts. We omitted none.

3:58 We looked at every recorded instance. And we discovered in that consideration, that baptism is an ordinance of the New Testament. A declaration of every recorded instance that there is, by the Holy Spirit, given to us what I have called a universal setting of baptism. And it is this.

4:16 Baptism always occurred in connection with, inseparably joined to, the preaching of and response to the gospel of Jesus Christ. And the only exception was the baptism of the apostle Paul. the purpose of that we saw was clearly given by the apostle himself in Galatians chapter 1 and verse 12. If then every recorded instance of Christian baptism in the New Testament, or I should say in the book of Acts, is set in the context of the gospel preached and the gospel received, I asserted that there are two very fundamental deductions from that principle.

5:00 And deduction number one was this. Baptism was not regarded by the apostles as being a magical or mystical ceremony with any meaning or significance if it was divorced from the preaching of the gospel and reception of the gospel. So wherever the gospel is not preached, you do not have Christian baptism, whatever you may have in the way of a religious ceremony. Wherever the gospel is denied, as it is in liberalism, you do not have Christian baptism, whatever you may have in the way of a religious ceremony.

5:31 You have Christian baptism. You have an empty, meaningless, hollow, delusive ceremony. And then principle number two was this. Baptism was not regarded by the apostles as having any significance that would obscure or contradict any fundamental tenet of the gospel. You do not use an object lesson to obscure the lesson given verbally. You use it to illustrate. And the apostles engaged in baptism in obedience to their Lord, not to obscure or contradict any fundamental truth of the gospel, but rather to use the illustration we used this morning to clinch the truth by bending over the nails of gospel realities. And then we just considered two of those notes, and I've got about two and a half minutes left to my review time. One of the dominant notes of apostolic

6:25 preaching was that in the gospel, the sinning, the needy sinner, and the seeking Savior come together with nothing in between. Faith and faith alone is that which binds the sinner in his need to the Savior in his omnipotence and his power. Therefore, any Christian group, any denomination, any movement that says with its lips, Christ is the Savior of sinners, to be saved, sinners need only repent and believe on Christ, but then teach that somehow the grace of Christ is conveyed through the waters of baptism, that teaching is a departure from the apostolic perspective. And then finally, we took the next principle flowing out of that. Another dominant note of apostolic preaching and instruction was the fact that no external distinctions or relationships are of any significance in assessing a man's need of the gospel or as the basis of the gospel. And so, we took the next principle flowing out of that. And we took

7:32 the next principle flowing out of that. And we took the next principle flowing out of that. And we took the next principle flowing out of that. And we took the next principle of his coming under the benefits of the gospel. The Apostles are very careful to say there is no distinction between Jew or Greek. All are equally sinful, all are equally accepted by faith in Jesus Christ. And we concluded our study with the consideration of Paul's exposition of the Covenant made with Abraham. And most of our dear friends, and there are many past and present who say that the if the children of believing parents are to be baptized because of God's promise to Abraham, I will be a God to thee and to thy seed, failed to take into consideration the Apostle Paul has expounded that covenant promise in Galatians chapter 3.

8:18 And if Paul has expounded it, we have no right to go back to Genesis and put a meaning upon it that contradicts the clear teaching of the Apostle Paul. And the Apostle's teaching in Galatians 3 is undisputably clear, or indisputably clear. He says in Galatians chapter 3 that that promise was given to Abraham, verse 16, and to his seed he saith not, and to seeds as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed which is Christ. The promise that blessing would come to Abraham and to his seed, Paul says the seed is identified as Christ.

9:01 How then do I get the blessing of Abraham? Well, I must get into Christ. And how do I get into Christ? By faith and by faith alone.

9:10 Now that's not just my projection of logic upon the text, it's Paul's exposition, verse 26, For ye are all the sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ, there can be neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female, ye are one man in Christ Jesus. Now listen carefully. This is the seed of Abraham.

9:34 If ye are Christ's, now how do we become Christ's? Not by being related to someone who is Christ's. There's only one way to become Christ's. Paul has told us, verse 26, Sons of God through faith in Christ, as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ.

9:54 Notice baptism, faith, joined together, there is but one way to get into Christ, that's by faith. And when by faith I'm in Christ, then I am Abraham's seed heir according to the promise. But I cannot claim to be an heir of any promise of grace on the basis of carnal descent from a believer. And it is a denial in some instances where they teach presumptive regeneration, that is, the children of believers are to be presumed regenerate until proven otherwise.

10:29 Many others who hold the doctrine of infant baptism are not that, the error is not as deep. I would say they obscure the truth of the gospel when they say our children come into the orbit of some kind of privilege by virtue of their external connection with the church, whatever that is to be. But you see anyone who comes under the sound of the gospel and into the orbit of Christian instruction has all of those privileges as well. And if you do not, baptize a neighbor who should move in with you and sit at family worship and come to church with you simply because he's now within, as it were, the outer courts of the church, pray tell, why should you baptize your children?

11:08 That neighbor is no more of Abraham's seed than your child is, nor is your child more than that neighbor is until they are of faith. And then when by faith they are in Christ, then they are Abraham's seed and the sign of the covenant is to be applied to them. Well, I broke my promise, I'm sorry. But I did it.

Transition to the Essential Purpose of Baptism

11:31 Time has been a terrible problem with me today. You'll indulge me that. Maybe that's the way I'm covering up some of my sense of loneliness being up here alone this Sunday and not having our dear brother with us. Well, we move now tonight to the positive aspect of our instruction.

11:48 Having considered the universal setting of baptism, its setting is always preaching of the gospel, response to the gospel, the true grace, great deductions drawn from that. Baptism was not regarded as magical, no significance where the gospel is absent. Baptism was never administered to obscure any fundamental biblical truth. Now we come to the second broad area of study tonight, the essential purpose of baptism.

12:17 Having looked at the universal setting, I told you this morning that my second heading was the indisputable purpose. And I said, no, that's not a good word. A lot of people would dispute it. So I, I changed it to the essential purpose of baptism.

12:31 And by bringing together the various references to baptism, particularly in the epistles. Now this is the wonderful thing about the doctrine of baptism, as with so many other things. The historical portions of the word of God give us essentially history as it happened. But it is primarily in the epistles that that history is interpreted for us.

12:53 For instance, when you read the gospel record about Christ's death, apart from a little, word of explanation here or there, there is very little in the actual record, say in Matthew chapter 26 and 27, very little to give you any understanding of precisely what happened when he died. You have the details of how they cast lots for his garment. You have the details of how some mocked him and spat upon him the details. All of these details.

13:19 But what was actually happening? Well, where do you find that explained? You go to the epistles. And you find such rich statements as these.

13:26 He, God, hath made him, Christ, to be sin for us, the one who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. You find such statements as this in Galatians. God has redeemed, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree, that upon the Gentiles might come the blessings of Abraham, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit, not through carnal association, but through faith, which is the peace of God, which is the blessing of God, that the earth may be ever eternal, that the earth may be ever eternal, and that the earth may be ever perfect.

14:01 Now, the same is true with regard to baptism. There is very little in the book of Acts other than the record that they baptized. 3,000 on the day of Pentecost, baptized the Ethiopian eunuch in the wilderness, baptized the jailer and his family at night, baptized the Corinthians, having heard, having believed. But what is the significance of baptism?

14:22 Well, you see, its significance, as a historical fact, is to be interpreted for us primarily in the epistles. And what you find the Apostle doing, the Apostles, the apostolic writers in the epistles, is making references to baptism in the realm of solid instruction and exhortation to the believers in the various churches. And so as our materials this morning were drawn primarily from the book of Acts, trying to find what was the universal setting of baptism in terms of the surrounding elements that give it meaning, so tonight our instruction will be primarily taken from the epistles which open up the significance of baptism, the essential purpose. Now I'm going to make an assertion. I'm going to give you a quote or two, and then I attempt to give proof from the scriptures. The assertion is this.

Baptism Underscores Gospel Truths: An Assertion

15:19 The essential purpose of baptism is that of underscoring and setting in place in bold relief the fundamental truths proclaimed in the gospel. The purpose of baptism is to underscore. Now what do you do when you underscore in a book? I do it all the time.

15:39 In fact, it's pain for me to read a borrowed book. I have to die continually. I find myself reaching for my pen. I just, oh, it's terrible, terrible, terrible.

15:49 If I can't argue with the author and amen the author and hallelujah and the margin and the rest, I find myself terribly frustrated. But now, I have some understanding. I have some underlinings in an essay of Andrew Fuller on the subject of baptism from which I'll quote a little bit later. Now what do I do when I underline?

16:04 I don't change the words. I don't change the meaning of the words. All I'm doing is underscoring to make that truth stand out in yet more forceful, in a more forceful way before my own eyes when I read it. Now baptism is essentially an underscoring and a setting in bold relief when something stands out in relief.

16:28 You don't change its substance. You just set it out to the forefront. Now what is it underscoring and what is it setting in bold relief? The fundamental truths proclaimed in the gospel.

16:41 In other words, what is proclaimed and received by the Word and the Spirit is now demonstrated in symbolic action. And in this sense, there is a direct parallel with the sister ordinance, the Lord's, the Lord's Supper. What is done in the Lord's Supper? Well, the fundamental realities of the death of Christ on behalf of His people are underscored and set in bold relief in the symbolic action of taking broken bread and the fruit of the vine crushed and poured out.

17:19 In the gospel, God says certain things to sinners. In the gospel, God comes with demands. Yes, there are demands, there are commands in the gospel. And He comes with gracious promises.

17:32 Thank God for the promises of the gospel. The gospel, may I say it reverently, drips and oozes with blessings. Now the gospel comes with commands, with promises, with blessings. And when that gospel is received, that reception involves certain things in the way of demands upon the receptor in a response to the giving God.

17:58 Now what is bad? What is bad about baptism? What is its essential purpose? Simply to underscore and set in bold relief the truths proclaimed in the gospel.

18:09 To underscore exactly what God is saying when He comes to us in the gospel and to underscore what I have said as a believing sinner in response to the gospel. Now you see how it's tied in with the context? Why is the context always the word preached and a saving response? Because, its significance is to be found precisely there.

18:32 Baptism is underscoring what God said when He brought the gospel to us. Baptism is underscoring what you said when you responded to the gospel. Nothing more, nothing less. Now may I quote, not from a Baptist author, but a Presbyterian author, who says concerning this ordinance, all admit that both ordinances, baptism and the Lord's Supper, are emblems or symbolics of biblical representations of scriptural truths fitted and intended to embody and to exhibit the great doctrines revealed in the word of God concerning the salvation of sinners.

19:14 And then speaking of certain Protestant divines, that is theologians, they have embodied the substance of these materials in their description of a sacrament and the leading features of this description is set forth in the Westminster standards are, that both ordinances, baptism and the Lord's Supper, equally and alike, are intended for believers and represent, seal and apply to believers Christ and His benefits, end quote, Cunningham, Reformers and the Theology of the Reformation, page 268.

19:53 So then, the essential purpose of baptism is this, and I hope you don't feel me pedantic by laboring the point, if you get to the point, if you get that much, the heat and the heaviness may take over and you miss everything else, I hope you'll feel the time has been worthwhile and you'll be challenged then to go into the scriptures. Well, let's take a few examples of this. What are some of the things said to us in the gospel that are underscored and set in bold relief in baptism? What are some of the things we say to God in response to the gospel that also are underscored and set in bold relief in the ordinance of baptism?

Truth 1: Christ Alone is the Object of Confidence (Galatians 3)

20:27 Well, I'll start, and there's no significance in the order except with what's number one. This is number one because it is number one. The gospel of Christ comes to us saying that Christ alone is the object, is to be the object of the sinner's confidence. Christ alone in the uniqueness of His person and the perfection of His work is to be the alone object of the sinner's trust.

20:56 We're told in the apostolic preaching, Acts 4.12, neither is there, nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. That's vigorous apostolic preaching. No other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.

21:18 Again, listen to the apostolic preaching in Acts 13.38 and 39. Be it known unto you therefore, brethren, that through this man, Jesus, is proclaimed unto you remission of sins and by Him, by Him, Him and Him alone, by Him, everyone that believeth is justified from all things from which he could not be justified by the law of Moses or the classic statement of our Lord Himself. I am the way, the truth, the life.

21:53 No man cometh unto the Father but by me. Now that's a dominant note in the gospel. When the pure gospel of the grace of God comes, that note should be sounded not as some little sub-note, some little indirect and sub-dominant and secondary motif. That's the motif that comes through again and again and again.

22:16 Christ alone, Christ alone, Christ alone is to be the object of the sinner's confidence. Well then, if baptism is intended to underscore and to set in bold relief the truths, the truths of the gospel, is there some indication that it was intended to underscore that truth? Well, go back to the Galatians 3 passage. Galatians chapter 3, one of the richest passages setting forth the significance of baptism.

22:49 Having first of all mentioned the faith by which they became the sons of God in Galatians 3.26,

22:56 he then draws an analogy or makes a statement based upon the reality of the faith of their Christian baptism. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ. Here he describes their baptism as a baptism into Christ which resulted in a putting on of Christ. And it's a rich and beautiful, although a very simple figure.

23:29 Before you came to church tonight, all of you put on the garments, that you're now wearing. Some of you may have put it on this morning. You put off your pajamas and you put on your Sunday dress or your Sunday shirt and your Sunday trousers. You put off and then you put something on.

23:46 It's the analogy of clothing oneself with something. Now the apostle says, when you were baptized into Christ, you put on Christ. There was in that symbolic action attendant of Christ upon it and with it the activity of faith which is described as a clothing of oneself with Jesus Christ. And what a beautiful description of gospel faith.

24:18 God says to us in our native state, we are vile and polluted. In the language of the prophet Isaiah, all our righteousnesses are as polluted garments. And God comes to us in our vileness and our pollutedness. And then in the word of the gospel he says, Christ has died.

24:40 Christ is risen. Christ is sincerely offered. Christ is set before you in the word and promise of the gospel. Cast yourself upon him.

24:49 And what is faith? Faith is a putting on of Christ. Philippians 3. Not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that I may be found in him, clothed with Jesus Christ.

25:02 Again in the words of Isaiah, he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation. And those garments are not something Christ gives. Those garments are what Christ is. For of God he is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

25:29 But because this is not a Jesus only salvation, we are baptized into the name of the triune God. According to our Lord's directive in Matthew 28, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. For you see, when we put on Christ, we do not put him on in some mystical way, in some kind of an existential experience with Jesus that has no relationship to Christian doctrine. No, no.

25:56 We put on Christ who is the Son of the everlasting Father, who is the scent of the Father of Heaven. We put on Christ with a view to being sanctified by the Spirit, with a view to becoming temples of the Spirit. And so we are baptized in the actual formula of baptism into the name of the triune God, but it has peculiar emphasis and focus upon the Lord Jesus as Redeemer because he is the focal point of gospel preaching. But it is not a Jesus only preaching.

26:36 Christ is central, but it is Christ sent of the Father, sent to resolve our problem with the Father as the judge of the universe against whom we have sinned. He is set before us centrally, yes, but it is Christ who procured the gift of the Spirit for all who come unto him. For it is by faith in Christ that we receive the blessing of Abraham, the promise of the Spirit through faith. And so you see, there is a vigorous Trinitarianism, but it is a Christocentric Trinitarianism.

27:07 Now that's the gospel. And baptism beautifully sets in bold relief and underscores that truth. This is why some of you remember that I often ask a person when he's standing in the water to be baptized, do you gladly confess that Jesus Christ, crucified, buried, and risen is your only hope of acceptance before God? I'm asking, have you in your heart of hearts clothed yourself with Jesus Christ?

27:38 Bold shall I stand in thy great day, for who ought to my charge shall lay fully absolved through these I am. What is the these? Jesus, thy blood and thy righteousness.

27:54 Now if this be so, that baptism is alluded to here as a putting on of Christ, do you see why faith is an indispensable requirement for baptism?

28:06 You've never heard me use the word adult baptism, today, have you? You'll never hear it from my lips. I don't believe in adult baptism. No, I don't believe in adult baptism.

28:16 I don't. I don't like people using the term that the Bible doesn't teach adult baptism. It teaches confessor's baptism.

28:26 Be that confessor six years old or sixty.

28:30 If he confesses faith in Christ, if that is a credible profession bounded by sufficient knowledge to make it credible, then that person has put on Christ. He has put on Christ in his profession and is therefore a valid candidate for baptism. But can an unconscious infant be said in any way to put on Christ? Notice it says, as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on.

29:00 The activity of putting on was theirs, not their parents. And I do not mean to be unkind, dear people who hold the position. As I said this morning, I have no desire to make people Baptist or non-Baptist. I have one desire, that my mind and the mind of all who hear me be brought subject to the word of God written.

29:20 Can an unconscious infant put on Christ?

29:25 The answer, I think, is obvious.

Truth 2: Salvation in Union with Christ's Death, Burial, and Resurrection (Colossians 2)

29:30 Well, what is the second truth? Now there's no significance in the order and I'll just give a couple more as time permits.

29:37 Another dominant note of the gospel is this, that it is in union with Christ, crucified, buried and risen, that salvation is confirmed. Now let's see the assertion of this in 1 Corinthians 15. On what basis is salvation conferred to sinners?

29:54 1 Corinthians 15, verse 1. I make known unto you, brethren, the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you received, wherein also ye stand, by which also you are saved, if ye hold fast the word which I preached unto you, except you believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which also I received, that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he hath been raised on the third day, according to the scriptures. And then he mentions the verifications of the resurrection in the numerous witnesses who could attest to its validity.

30:37 He says, the gospel which I preached had this irreducible minimum of factual content, a declaration that the salvation of sinners is inseparably united to the saving acts of Christ in death, burial, and resurrection. He said, if you relinquish that, you relinquish salvation. That's the obvious meaning of his words. By this gospel you are saved if ye hold fast the word which I preached.

31:06 If you give up Christ crucified, buried, and risen, you've given up the only grounds of salvation offered in the gospel. Well then, how do we come into participation of the benefits of Christ? Crucified, buried, and risen. Well, the whole doctrine of the gospel is by being united to Christ.

31:25 If somehow I can be united to Him, then all the virtue of that death, burial, and resurrection will become mine. Now, isn't it interesting that in the baptism allusion that is the favorite in the New Testament of those who deny some of the things I've been expounding today, this is the powerful strand of emphasis that is given. I refer to Colossians chapter 2. Will you turn, please, to Colossians?

31:53 Writing to the church of Colossae,

31:59 combating the error of these Gnostics. Don't be afraid of that big word, kids. You spell it G-N-O-S-T-I-C-S. And they were people who thought they had super knowledge.

32:11 And they went around saying, you four little Christians, you're just simple in your faith. We've got super knowledge. Gnosticism is always with us. And so he's writing to them, saying, look, verse 8, don't let anybody spoil you through his philosophy and vain deceit.

32:26 He didn't flatter their so-called knowledge, called it vain deceit. After the tradition of man and the rudiments of the world and not after Christ, for in Christ, in him, dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And in him, in Christ, you are made full. You see, the Gnostics came along and said, look, you've got Christ, let's take you on a little bit now.

32:47 You want real fullness? You listen to us, fellas. We've got super secrets. That sound familiar?

32:53 You're just saved. Come with us. We'll teach you how to get an experience. That'll really put you into orbit.

32:59 You got the first blessing? You come with us. We'll tell you how to get the second. You're just a converted Christian?

33:05 You're just born again? You're only saved? You come with us. We'll take you a step further.

33:09 You see, Gnosticism is still with us. Still with us. Paul says, no, no. He says, if you're in Christ, in Christ you're made full.

33:19 For he is the head of all principality and power. And he says, this is how you came into that fullness of Christ. Notice. In union with whom?

33:27 In whom ye were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands in the putting off of the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ. What is the New Testament parallel of Old Testament circumcision? It is not baptism.

33:48 He says, you have a circumcision. And remember, most of these Colossian Christians were Jews.

33:55 I mean, excuse me, were Gentiles. They were not Jews. They had no circumcision after the flesh. And one of the marks of the Gnostic, and many false teachers who plagued the early church and have plagued it since, is they put a great emphasis upon externals.

34:08 And he says, look, these fellows come along and say you need something beyond Christ. You're already completing Christ. If they tell you you need ceremonies to make you complete, you've already been done. Look.

34:19 In union with Christ, you were circumcised with a circumcision that has nothing to do with human hands. Whether taking off your foreskin or putting you in the water. It's a circumcision that is not external. It is internal.

34:35 It has nothing to do with the putting away of foreskin or of filth externally. Notice, in the putting off of the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ. It had to do with the work of God in making you a new creature, in causing you to die to the old life. Romans 6.

34:56 Having been buried with him in baptism, wherein ye were also raised with him through faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead. You see what he's saying? He's saying that great inward reality that the old life has been put off in the circumcision of Christ. That's what you bore witness to in your baptism.

35:22 For when you were baptized, you were declaring symbolically in union with Christ, I died to the old life. I died to the guilt and the power of sin. I've risen to newness of life in Christ my living head. Buried with him in baptism, wherein ye were raised with him through faith in the working of God.

35:46 Again, notice the carefulness of the New Testament writers whenever they say baptism to bring in the faith response. And there is no one who's had the circumcision of Christ unless he's a believer. And every believer has had the circumcision of Christ. And that circumcision comes in union with the Son of God when in the virtue of that union we experience the power of his death and of his resurrection.

36:17 And of course that truth is also opened up in greater fullness in Romans 6. I shall not take the time to go into the passage. Now, do you see the development of thought? If the first point made that the gospel comes saying Christ alone is the object of the sinner's plea, and if baptism is the public declaration that I am putting on Christ, we saw the logical conclusion is only a confessed believer is a valid candidate for baptism.

36:45 If another great truth of the gospel is that we're saved by the virtue of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, and only as we come into vital union with him who died and was buried and was raised again, and faith is the bond of that union, then I say this is one of the strongest passages indicating that the immersion of a man or woman is the most vivid demonstration of this gospel truth. When in symbolism there is that temporary burial beneath the waters, that, as it were, temporary death, and then that emergence from the water to walk in newness of life. It's an interesting thing that very early in church literature some of the commentators, some of the church fathers, actually felt that the Galatians 3 passage had distinct reference to some of the baptismal robes that way back then were worn in the act of baptism. And Connie Berry and Housen were Anglicans, certainly no friends to Baptists. And I say this because it's often people say, oh, you're just trying to promote a cause. No, dear people, not a cause.

37:54 Truth of God's word. These men who had no desire to make Baptists out of people, they were Anglicans. But in the end, they were Anglicans. And they were Anglicans.

38:01 And they were Anglicans. And they were Anglicans. And they were Anglicans. And they were Anglicans.

38:01 But in their classic work called The Life and Epistles of St. Paul, I found a tremendous quote several years ago. Listen. It is needless to add that baptism was, unless in exceptional cases, administered by immersion.

38:16 The convert being plunged beneath the surface of the water to represent his death to the life of sin and then raised from this momentary burial to represent his resurrection to the life of righteousness. Now here are Anglicans who put a little water on the candidate's head. Listen. Anglicans say this.

38:33 It must be a subject of regret that the general discontinuance of this original form of baptism has rendered obscure to popular apprehension some very important passages of scripture. End quote. Page 345 of Connie Berry and Huston. And one of the embarrassing things to those who try to defend another mode of baptism is that the greatest bulk of scholarship in non-Baptism circles, John Calvin being at the top of the list, readily admit that in all probability baptism was the original mode of baptism.

39:15 Now J. Adams has taken on a Herculean task to try to disprove that but he simply disproves it with a wave of the hand in his new book Baptism and he deals primarily with its mode not its subjects. Well why? Because these men had an interest in honesty at least in dealing with historical data.

Truth 3: Forgiveness and Cleansing from Sin in Christ (Acts 22)

39:32 And so I submit to you that if the purpose of baptism is to underscore bring out in bold relief what the gospel proclaims does not this vividly bring it out in bold relief when a person consciously age 6 or 60 but conscious of the issues at stake says I do by faith enter into what Christ has wrought for me on my behalf and in the virtue of his death burial and resurrection I too consent that the old life shall be put behind me and that I shall walk with him in newness of life. Isn't it a beautiful underscoring setting in bold relief of that truth of the gospel? Well there's another truth of the gospel that baptism sets out and underscores and puts in bold relief and it's this that in union with Christ there is forgiveness and cleansing from sin. There is forgiveness and cleansing from sin. Now this is obviously the truth of the gospel I could quote many texts let me just give you a couple of those texts we have the one I previously quoted in Acts chapter 13 through this man is proclaimed unto you forgiveness of sins in the initial gospel sermon in Acts 2 repent and be baptized every one of you unto the remission of sins the commission of our Lord in Luke chapter 24 that repentance

41:01 unto remission of sins should be preached in his name among all the nations certainly the remission of sins forgiveness and cleansing is a dominant note in the gospel because it's a gospel for sinners how shall I be forgiven that has to do with my acceptance how shall I be cleansed that has to do with my defilement well the gospel comes saying we are forgiven and cleansed in the virtue of the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ well then baptism is intended to underscore that truth turn now to one of the few passages where you have some interpretation of the significance of baptism in the book of Acts Acts chapter 22 Acts chapter 22 and here we have Paul giving his testimony in which he recounts his own conversion and the subsequent events in relationship to this humble servant of Christ who came to him Ananias and he includes something here that you don't get in the original record in Acts chapter 9 verse 15 Ananias is speaking in the name of the Lord to him thou shalt be a witness for him unto all of what thou hast seen and heard and now why tarriest thou arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins calling on his name

42:31 now those who want to put the grace in the water they love this text oh how they love this text they said see the Bible says you wash away your sins by baptism that's exactly what it says is that what it says look at the text arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins calling on his name now one of these two things is the symbolic means of cleansing and the other is the real means of cleansing now what is the real means according to the unanimous testimony of scripture getting baptized or calling on his name for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved but what happens when a man calls on the name of the Lord what happens really in the realm of his own experience before God and in his own heart forgiven and cleansed is symbolically declared in baptism and that the apostle Paul understood it this way is clear from his own preaching he said I don't go out to baptize if baptizing would get men forgiven Paul would have the biggest hose anywhere and he would have done everybody up yes he would have but he says Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach

43:58 that men might call on his name and when they called upon his name and experienced forgiveness and cleansing in the virtue of his blood and righteousness then it was not beneath his dignity even in the wee hours of the morning to take the jailer he and all his and baptize them that they might symbolically wash away sin and catch the beauty of it here's a man a woman a boy a girl who's been steeped in uncleanness whose mind is a very faint of iniquity whose thoughts have been thoughts of impurity and pride and lechery and meanness and jealousy and this word of the gospel comes saying you'll be cleansed here's another sinner full of thoughts of pride and self-righteousness the problem there has not been lechery and foul external manifestations of sin but all these other subtle sins of pride and smugness and self-content and all the rest and the gospel comes saying calling you're forgiven and it seems too good to be true think of the mountain of sin that's accumulated grain by grain over the many years to say that in one moment of true faith all of that dissipates and is gone that's hard to believe God says I'll strengthen your faith arise be baptized and wash away thy sins how long does it take for your body to go beneath the waters defiled and come up clean why it's done

45:28 in a moment God says that's what I do with your sins he says I'm telling you in baptism what I'm telling you in the gospel call on his name you're saved does that mean you just begin to get the sins God begins to make them erode the mountain erode no no if you're a good boy long enough maybe you'll get two inches off the top no no though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow though they be red like crimson they'll be as wool now that's hard for us to believe God says I'll stoop to your weak faith arise and be baptized washing away thy sins you mean I go beneath the waters defiled I come up clean why if physical water can do that for my physical body what can the infinite righteousness of Christ and the blood of God do for my soul no different gospel proclaim just that gospel enforced underscored set in bold belief and in that sense Luther was right when he said if only he had the right base for it when a believer is tempted to doubt and to question the validity of the promise of God he should remind himself I am baptized in what sense did he mean that I remember when in a solemn declaration of confidence in the virtue of Christ I was plunged beneath the baptismal waters and in the words of Hebrews there was this having my body washed with pure water

46:55 God has not gone back on his word of promise that the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanses me from all sin what a beautiful and simple and powerful declaration of the gospel in the cleansing from our sins born witness to in the waters of baptism you have a similar analogy in 1 Peter 3 21 that very difficult passage the light figure which doth now save us not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience toward God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead he ties baptism with a good conscience and the resurrection of Jesus and you say how is all that tied together well you see the scripture tells us he was delivered up for our offenses he was raised for our what justification and if Christ is raised you know what God has said in the resurrection you know what God has said in the resurrection you know what God paid in full Christ's resurrection is God's receipt to every believing that the debt is paid now Peter says baptism doth save us he said now I don't mean the ordinance in which you put away the filth of your flesh I don't mean the water that passes over the body externally no no he says the light figure baptism doth now save us not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but when you have that which baptism bears witness to namely faith in Jesus Christ crucified buried and risen whose righteousness

Truth 4: Only Believers are Part of God's Visible People (1 Corinthians 1)

48:24 is now openly declared so believing in him you are forgiven you are accepted you are cleansed you are pardoned that's the only gospel we have to preach both by word and by simple and then the last point I want to make tonight and then I think I'll close with this another dominant note of the gospel I shouldn't say dominant I should say one of the strong secondary notes that's a better way to say it one of the strong secondary notes of the gospel is this the only way to become a part of the people of God is by union with Christ you see the gospel proclaims this great dichotomy amongst all men it's not a sexual dichotomy a racial dichotomy it's the saved the lost the just the unjust the believers the unbelievers in Christ and out of Christ those who love him those who don't all the way through the scriptures old and new testament now when a man says how in the world do I become part of God's people the believers how do I become part of the people of God well the answer of the gospel is clear only by being joined to the head of the church that's why the book of Acts says and believers were the more added to the Lord why did Luke say that that was his view of how you get out of the world and into the visible body of God's people believers

49:53 were the more added to the Lord not believers and their children believers were the more added to the Lord thus baptism has great significance in enforcing this principle baptism becomes the threshold over which a man visibly and self-consciously and volitionally interacts with the world and identifies himself with the visible people of God now that's not just the view of Baptists that's the view of Presbyterians and Reformed people I read from our Trinity Hymnal page 666 so again you'll realize this is not a tempest in a teapot that the question of baptism is the question of the nature of the church that's the question and I read the bottom of 666 under the baptism of an infant although our young children do not yet understand these things they are nevertheless to be baptized for the promise of the covenant is made to believers into their seed and to the people as God declared unto Abraham the very promise that we said was expounded by Paul in Galatians 3 in a little different way than it is expounded and understood here and so he quotes it now in the new dispensation no less than in the old the children of the faithful

51:21 born within the church now get this next phrase have by virtue of their birth interest in the covenant and right to the seal of it and to the outward privileges of the church for the covenant of grace is the same in substance under both dispensations and we say amen and the grace of God for the consolation of believers is even more fully manifested in the new dispensation we say amen moreover our Savior admitted little ones into his presence embracing them and blessing them yes but never baptizing it says he made and baptized more disciples the Holy Ghost is careful to emphasize if the argument of our pedobaptist friends is a valid one that where the Jew always thought about himself and his physical children because of circumcision they would have risen up in horror if they had not baptized their babies wait a minute my friends listen it says they brought their little ones to Christ to bless them not to baptize them he was instituting a new covenant a covenant that had as its indispensable requirement for entrance no longer national distinctions it had to do with vital union with himself so the children of the covenant now get the next phrase are by baptism distinguished from the world and solemnly received into the visible church question one

52:50 do you acknowledge that although our children are conceived and born in sin and therefore are subject to condemnation they are holy in Christ and as members of his church ought to be baptized why are they members of his church because they are in Christ and how are they in Christ by virtue of their birth now I'm fully aware that many pedobaptist theologians bleed the words in Christ in the church of their full vigorous significance but I say what right do you have to take biblical words and then change their meaning in the scriptures in Christ means one thing union with the son of God if any man be in Christ a new creation he is not he may presumptively become if any man in Christ new creation wherever a man is a new creation he's in Christ if he's in Christ he's new creation if he's not new creation he's not in Christ now how does he become new creation not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God and that act of God as far as we are concerned what God does with imbeciles and infants dying in infancy is none of our business that act of God is always in conjunction with the preaching of and reception and response to the gospel beloved this is a church issue

54:19 and the gospel declares no one is part of the visible people of God who is not united to the head of that people who is Christ and no one is united to Christ on any other grounds but living faith that is the gift of the Holy Spirit in the context of the preaching of the gospel and the thing that makes me at times weep inwardly and I believe I've shed tears outwardly is that a failure to reckon upon this has blurred the line between the church and the world as I said this morning where the devil could not gain a victory in the godly reformers who articulated the word of the gospel salvation is all of grace it's of sovereign power administered sovereignly as the wind blows where it wills the devil was driven from the field of exegesis on the content of the gospel but he pitched his tent in the sacraments and there he's planted his gospel and he's been shooting at the people of God ever since and by and large the reformed churches have been crippled because a generation of godly people raises another generation who presume they're in a no man's land they're not in the world and for the life of them they know they're not really joined to Christ but they've been told they're somehow in some way in some relationship sanctified in Christ part of the church where in the world are we?

55:50 my friend it makes a difference how you deal with your children how you preach I don't think I brought it I meant to I had a choice quote from Bunyan he was dealing with the Anglicans in his day who were preaching up the prayer book and they said to him well Mr. Bunyan if we don't give a prayer book to our children how will they learn to pray? you know what Bunyan's answer was? he says tell your children they're lost they're under condemnation they have hearts that are full of iniquity tell them they need to be born again tell them the wrath of God is over their heads unless they repent and he says then they'll learn to pray he said conviction of sin is the first real lesson in true prayer and the tragedy is they put in the mouths of children who've never known any conviction whatsoever the precious words of that Heidelberg catechism and I took my psalter and put it back in the other room but the essence of it is what is your only hope in life and in death and it's put in the first person my only hope is and then it's the richest kind of language about prayer it's the most personal intimate faith in Christ and the majority who learn those words have never been brought to Christ they were brought to the font tragedy it's a tragedy in many Baptists

57:19 and independent churches they don't have infant baptism they have toddlers baptism in the moment some child evangelism worker or some Bible club worker can get the kid to raise his little lily white hand they put a little white robe on him and dunk him in the water and you raise a generation of skeptics I have to deal with them when I preach at college in high school camps so the sacramental spirit is not in our dear pedo-Baptist friends alone it's native to the human heart and will continually blur the distinction of what is the church and I've challenged men to take the New Testament as I challenge you and read every description of the church whenever the apostolic writers describe it and they never describe the church in terms of two circles those that are vitally joined to Christ and those that are only sort of potentially halfway covenantally loosely joined to Christ no, no a specimen passage and I only give you one if you're really in earnest you'll search out the rest it's 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and I could go right through the epistles and bring forth at least I think six to seven other clear examples Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God and Sosthenes our brother unto the church of God which is at Corinth even them that are sanctified in union with Christ Jesus called the saints not called to be the to be verb is not there the emphasis upon the fact that they are saints

58:47 who've been effectually called now notice not saints who've been effectually called plus their children whom we hope shall be called when he thinks of the church at Corinth he sees one thing a body of the Hagia those set apart by union with Christ those effectually called by the Father through the Spirit who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus in every place both their Lord and ours and that's the uniform description of the church in the New Testament the New Testament church was made up of true disciples or hypocrites true disciples or hypocrites but in both cases they were confessors who claimed to be in union with Christ and people say oh you're talking about a pure church it's not possible my friends know of course not but I'm saying that in the New Testament everyone in a local assembly was a true saint or a hypocrite he was not someone at a halfway station it's utterly unknown and I close tonight by quoting from the perceptive words of Andrew Fuller that great man of God who was so instrumental in sending Cary to India it was Fuller's book the gospel worthy of all acceptation that broke the back of hyper-Calvinism and the first great fruit of that was Cary going to India he says concerning baptism nor is this all the same

The Danger of Blurring Church and World Distinction

60:16 the ordinance adapted merely to separate between believers and unbelievers individually considered its design is also to draw a line of distinction between the kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of Satan whatever may be said of baptism as it is now generally understood in practice and of the personal religion of those who practice it it was originally appointed to be the boundary of visible Christianity had the Christian church in all ages admitted none to baptism from whom soever descended but those who profess to repent and believe the gospel it is scarcely conceivable that any others would have been admitted to the Lord's Supper and if so a stream of corruption which is actually deluded deluged it with anti-Christianism would have been diverted at the springhead carnal descendants of godly people could not have claimed a place in Christ's visible kingdom neither scripture nor the practice of the ancient churches affords a single example of a baptized person unless his conduct was grossly immoral being ineligible to communion and that's true they that were baptized were added to them and they continued steadfastly people say oh but we can't admit children to the Lord's table till they can discern the Lord's body you will take one requirement for the ordinance of the Lord's Supper

61:45 and let it completely violate the parallel with the Passover the Passover the kiddies came to it God said at what time your kids ask you hey pop what means this supper I'm enjoying this hunk of lamb here but what's the meaning of all this God says you tell them then you give them the history of your deliverance from Egypt I say to my pedo-baptist friends wait a minute if there's a parallel between the Lord's Supper and the Passover all the children in the covenant family ate the Passover why don't you get communion to your children they said because the New Testament said let a man examine himself one requirement all the requirements that say believe and be baptized all the requirements all the requirements all the requirements all the requirements all the requirements all the requirements all the requirements all the requirements all the requirements all the requirements they say well we'll go back to the Old Testament my friends you can't have your cake and eat it too and I challenge some of you in Christian love and I've wrestled before God in the matter I challenge you to wrestle this thing through with an open Bible on your knees before God because it's not a matter of your loved ones and your tradition and your friends or your church it's a matter of the truth of Jesus Christ that says my people here on earth my visible people are to reflect my glory and they cannot do so unless the disciples have a distinction between the profane and the holiest kept that's why church discipline is a mandate in the church of Christ if any professed disciple does not walk as a disciple he is to be excommunicated if the further or the previous admonitions are not effectual and what a curse it is

63:12 to see this blurring of the distinction between the church and the world because a fundamental note of the gospel has been denied in baptism namely the only way to become part of the visible people of God is to be a disciple of God and to be a disciple of God and to be a disciple of God and to be a disciple of God and to be a disciple is to come in union with their living hand and there's only one way to come into that union and that's through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ Fuller goes on to say he said I am not so foolish to think that maintaining the purity of one ordinance will preserve the church forever from error and I say to Andrew Fuller amen and amen don't anyone opt out by saying oh well I get so excited churches that maintain the purity of baptism they decline too that's true but my friend here's the issue here's the one issue one issue one issue alone one issue alone one issue alone Jesus Christ the head of the church has instituted baptism in the light of what we've studied today what did he mean when he instituted it how did the apostles understand his institution and having resolved those questions then I ask the question of you are you being obedient to your Lord are you being obedient to your Lord by submitting to the ordinance that he himself is ordained for your strength and edification to underscore the blessings that in grace that in grace is given ah but you say there are great implications yes there are some of us

64:41 have no marks in our bodies for our fidelity to Christ but we've paid some price we've known the alienation of loved ones of friends but King Jesus is worthy of obedience Jesus I my cross have taken all to lead and follow thee then we're going to write in a little clause and say accept accept ah but my mother and my father he that loveth father and mother more than me is not worthy of me ah but my son or daughter he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me yes but my friends what is that to thee follow thou me my friends you see this is not a matter of symbolism how much water and on whom I hope we've seen today it's a matter of the integrity of the gospel and I say to you dear young men with varying levels of aspiration to the work of the ministry don't let anybody throw a curve at you and say concern about baptismal integrity is a tempest in a teapot or a tempest in a baptistery it's a matter of the integrity of the gospel it's the gospel in symbol let it be neutralized let it be perverted and the gospel in proclamation will soon follow

Call to Obedience and Concluding Exhortation

66:11 may God give us the grace needed may God give to me the grace needed because I know and I've wrestled this through and been in great agony of soul in preparation I know that in the words of the apostle Paul I may be loved the less by some of you because I've loved you enough to be faithful to what I believe to be the teaching of the word of God that's not easy for me I love to be loved and accepted just as you do but I must be true to my Lord and if you believe I've misrepresented his word you have a solemn obligation to come to me I trust in the spirit of graciousness as one who's overtaken in a fault you come to me in meekness and point out to me from the word of God where I've erred and I don't throw that out as a cheeky challenge I mean that sincerely my friend if you search the scriptures and realize that I've not erred but this has been in its main substance the teaching of the word of God for no human presentation is without error at some point my friend the issue I leave with you and the sovereign Lord of the universe before whom you'll stand in the last day these are solemn things may God grant that his word should be heard heeded and obeyed for remember the promise of our Lord Jesus he that hath my commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will manifest myself to him

67:39 to have the manifestation of Christ in the path of obedience turns the most thorny path of obedience into a path of blessedness but my friend I care not how smooth any other path may be if his presence is clouded by a condemned conscience that path becomes a living hell far better to look up into the unclouded face of your Savior through bitter tears and see his smile than to have bells that go jingle jangle jingle in the clouded face of the Savior now that's your option my friend that's a serious one God grant us to face it for his glory let us pray