“Into the Name of” (essential significance)

Introduction to the Series on Gospel Ordinances and Review of Previous Points

0:00 The eighth chapter of the gospel according to Matthew, and as you turn for the benefit of those visiting with us, I may say just briefly by way of introduction to our study today that since this is an unusual time in the life of our church as far as focusing our attention upon those holy ordinances that God has instituted or which God has instituted, namely the Lord's Supper and Baptism, I felt it would be good to bring a brief series of studies on these gospel ordinances. The Lord willing, next Sunday afternoon we shall have the privilege of seeing ten or a dozen people being subject to the command of the Lord to be baptized, and then, Lord willing, next Lord's Day evening we shall gather to his table, and it is absolutely essential that these ordinances do not degenerate on the one hand into mere superstitious religious rituals. On the other hand, into mere empty religious activities, and so the sacrament, the ordinance must continually be brought under the scrutiny of the word of God written, and I've emphasized in this brief series thus far that it's absolutely vital for us to maintain the biblical purity

1:22 of the sacraments or the ordinances because the purity of the gospel is bound up with the maintenance of the purity of God. The gospel ordinances, for God has but one gospel to lost and needy sinners. It is the gospel of saving mercy in his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, and it is that one gospel that is preached verbally in the proclamation of the gospel. It is preached symbolically in the gospel ordinances, and if you pervert the one, it is not long before the other is perverted, and historically it can be demonstrated that purgatory is a sin.

2:01 The restoration of pure gospel preaching has not long remained where there has been a prostitution of gospel ordinances, and conversely, the restoration of pure gospel preaching has always brought to some degree a restoration of pure gospel ordinances. Having considered the teaching of the apostle in 1 Corinthians 11 concerning the Lord's Supper, we come this morning to the second of a series of studies on the subject of baptism as that subject. It is treated by our Lord in that commission which is directing the church concerning its baptizing activity until the Lord returns. Matthew 28, beginning with verse 16, But the eleven disciples went into Galilee unto the mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came to them and spake unto them, saying, All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth, going therefore, a better translation, or having gone, an aorist participle, assuming that the whole activity throughout the breadth of the age will be the activity of going, with the message, having gone, therefore, make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the

3:27 Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things. That is the word I am asking placing here, so if you prefer to be a leader of the church, you've read the first of this carga, and the module is last. This is the second one for this training. Last part is a simple one.

3:40 The first part concepts the last part of this line to explain them. The second part focuses on them and is the practice of suchhth evacuating your number by number. The next part is that it is a argument that the initial reprogram mss to adequate undoing is not the one that the first principle of the thing that an association or running away from each other is. The third point William said.

4:01 verb the others are participles ranged under it i'm very much aware of that however since the baptizing activity of the people of god is inseparably joined to their discipling activity there is no better passage from which to gain our regulative perspectives on this ordinance than the passage which is before us and i've suggested that there are four lines of thought in the passage two of them we've studied i shall mention them briefly review them and then we'll move today to a beginning consideration of the third first of all the supreme authority which undergirds the baptizing activity in the light of the fact that in the gospel the sinner and the savior come into direct contact by faith why should we be concerned about baptism at all since it has no efficacy to cleanse a man from his sins since it has no power to raise him to newness of life since the great spiritual blessings of the gospel come by the direct contact of the sinner with the savior why be concerned with the water at all and the answer is because jesus christ has all authority in heaven and in earth and he has commanded the baptizing activity

5:23 therefore wherever and in whatever circumstances jesus christ is recognized as king and sovereign over his people there will be concern with the subject of baptism and some people think it's the height of spirituality to rise above such concerns as the waters of baptism i say to such when you're so spiritual that you can flaunt the authority of jesus christ you're too spiritual all authority has been given me baptizing them and the vision of and an entitledẹ sorry i was offended that jesus baptized this valve everybody CHEERING Galileo when the twoklärit tavaresarena how i want to thank the and the third what the church i have in return for aren't up to a question under the Almighty heavenly mansion of the holy security the only logically recognized, but experimentally embraced, will always bring into its orbit the concern for baptism. And because Jesus meant something precise when he said baptize, there will always be concern about the proper subjects of baptism. When he said baptizing them, who did he mean? When he said baptizing them, what did he mean? Put a little water on the forehead? Pour some water on the

6:28 head? Or plunge them beneath the waters of, what did he mean? And you see, it's not up to us to say, well, the matter of subject in mode is a matter of irrelevance. No, no, my friend. Jesus had something precise in his mind when he said baptize and baptize them. And therefore, a respect for his authority will bring us to this inquiry, Lord Jesus, you must be obeyed. Give us light to know what you want us to do that we might obey. And that then is the supreme authority, which undergirds the ordinance of baptism. And then secondly, we have in the passage the indispensable attendance of baptism. In the baptizing act, what are the two indispensable activities or attendance that must always be found present if it is baptism according to the commission of Christ? And we saw in our study that baptism is flanked on the one hand with the making of disciples, and on the other hand with the teaching of disciples. And on the other hand, make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them. And the them, the pronoun, the plural

7:36 pronoun refers not to the nations. Because of the gender, we know that it cannot. It refers to the disciples thus made. And then there is a matching of the genders. There is this making of disciples. There is this teaching of disciples. And whenever baptism is properly administered according to the authoritative declaration of Christ, she will never be found stripped of her bridesmaids and her attendants. Baptism must be flanked by the making of disciples and by the teaching of disciples, both of which are never done apart from the word preached and the word consciously and deliberately embraced by the one baptized.

8:22 And this, of course, we demonstrated by a study in the book of the Acts that whenever they baptized, it was in the context of the preaching of the word, the reception of the word, and the incorporation into a community of disciples subject to the word. And so we closed with the three very fundamental conclusions and applications that come out of these first two perspectives, that all administration of baptism where the gospel is not preached is religious superstition. Secondly, all administration of baptism where there is no confessed discipleship is a violation of this commission. And thirdly, all professing of baptism where there is no confessed discipleship that is not followed by baptism is disobedience to a clear precept of Christ.

The Essential Significance of Baptism: 'Into the Name of'

9:06 Now that was a rather lengthy review because it's been three weeks since we looked at the material, and we do have a number of folk with us this morning who were not with us previously, now we come to the third leading thought in this Matthew 28 passage, and it's what we might call the essential significance of baptism. And it's bound up in the little phrase, baptizing them into the name of Christ. And it's bound up in the little phrase, baptizing them into the name of Christ. And it's what we might call the essential significance of baptism. And it's bound up in the little phrase, baptizing them into the name of Christ.

9:29 of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. The authority that stands behind the act of baptism is that of an exalted, enthroned Christ. The two inseparable attendants of baptism are the making of disciples and the teaching of disciples. But now what is the precise significance of the actual baptizing act, having established why there should be baptism, who should be baptized?

10:01 We come to the third question. What is the significance of baptism? And this little phrase, baptizing into the name of, is the key to unlock the whole New Testament doctrine of baptism. As with many of the sayings of our Lord, He gives us the kernel of a doctrine in His own words, a doctrine which is then fleshed out and amplified and developed in the full apostolic teaching in the epistle.

10:29 But may I suggest that nothing is taught in the epistles which contradicts or negates the significance of the phrase baptized into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Now to think our way through the material this morning, we shall consider first of all the meaning of the phrase baptized into the name, just the meaning of that phrase in general. Then we shall see the meaning of the phrase baptized into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Then we shall see the meaning of the phrase baptized into the name of the Triune God in particular.

11:03 And then thirdly, the significance of the phrase as it relates to the full-blown teaching in the epistles. And there are three words that will help you to collate all of this material. And I know it's warm, and I know it's not the best of mornings to think hard and long, but I've labored to reduce it to its irreducible simplicity, and here it is. The first phrase, baptized into the name of, speaks of relationship.

11:28 The second phrase, baptized into the name of, speaks of relationship. The second phrase, or the amplification of it, baptized into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, speaks of relationship with the Triune God. Then the third grouping of materials will show us that it's baptism, or relationship, into the Triune God by virtue of union with Christ in death, burial in resurrection. So what we have then is the smallest concept, the bit larger, and then the full-blown concept as we look at the Scripture.

Meaning of 'Baptized Into the Name Of' (General Relationship)

11:58 First of all, then, when our Lord said to His own, make disciples, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, what did the concept, baptizing into the name of, convey to His own? Well, I'm grateful that this is one of the passages where Scripture can very clearly be its own infallible interpreter. And I would direct your attention to two passages in which this same construction, in the original, is found. First of all, 1 Corinthians, chapter 1.

12:32 And all we're trying to do now is to find the essence of the significance of baptism in the phrase of Matthew 28. 1 Corinthians, chapter 1. And you remember the setting. Paul is dealing with the problem of divisions in the church at Corinth.

12:52 And he wants to show them how this dividing into segments, the Paul segment, the Peter segment, the Apollos segment, is contrary not only to their inward experience, but even to their outward subjection to gospel ordinances. And in the midst of his argument, he says, 1 Corinthians 1.13, Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you?

13:18 Or were ye baptized into the name of Paul? Now, what does the phrase mean in this context? Well, I think the meaning is obvious. What he says is, Now, how stupid it is for you to be gathered into a party around me, or around Apollos, or around Cephas, because you were not baptized in relationship to me.

13:41 Your baptism did not declare supreme religious adherence to Paul, or to Peter, or to Apollos, or to anyone else. So you see, the significance of being baptized into the name of someone is precisely this. To be baptized into someone's name is formally and constantly, to commit myself to the leadership, to the laws, to the directives, to the worship of the one in whose name I've been baptized. See the similar thought in 1 Corinthians 10.

14:13 In the midst of his developing the theme of Christian liberty, and the danger of indulgence of the flesh, and the necessity for watchfulness and self-denial, the apostle is going to show that Israel had great privileges, but privileges did not secure glory. And so he begins to develop that argument in chapter 10 by saying, For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were all baptized, and as you see the marginal reading in the ASV, number 8 at the bottom, into Moses. It's the same construction in the Greek. Baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.

14:56 Now in what sense was the nation of Israel baptized into Moses? Well it's obvious Moses was not their savior. Moses was not their God, their redeemer. But when God brought them out of Egypt, and was to bring them formally into covenant with himself at Mount Sinai, he brought them through the Red Sea and under the cloud, and in so doing they were related to Moses.

15:22 He became their official leader, governor, and director under God. So to be baptized into Moses means to be identified with Moses, to establish a formal relationship of leader and follower. Now do you see the meaning? I think it's quite clear in these two passages.

15:44 Now bring it back then to the passage in Matthew 28. To be baptized into the name of simply means to become formally identified with the God into whose name we are baptized. It speaks of a relationship of adherence, allegiance, obedience, and trust. It is that act by which the reality of inward discipleship is outwardly and formally declared and consummated.

16:17 Let me give it to you again. What happens when a man is made a disciple? Well by the inward work of the Holy Spirit, he is brought into a living relationship with the living God. Baptism is the outward and formal declaration of the establishment of that relationship previously established by God's grace.

16:40 And I'd like to state that in this sense, baptism becomes the formal espousal of ourselves to Jesus Christ. I quote now, not from Baptist literature, but from the treatment of the subject of baptism by Professor Murray, who says, commenting on this very passage, According to our Lord's institution in the Great Commission, baptism in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost is an integral part of the process of discipling the nations and is therefore an essential mark of discipleship. Baptism is not an addition to discipleship, but that by which discipleship is consummated. You get that? It's not an addition to discipleship, but that by which discipleship is consummated. And discipleship comes to fruition and receives its vindication in the observance of all things which Jesus has commanded. In the terms of the Great Commission, the Church consists of those who are disciples.

17:45 Since discipleship is not consummated without baptism, we must regard baptism as an indispensable mark of the Church. The person who refuses baptism and declines the reproach of Christ which it entails cannot be received as a member of Christ's body. Now, he doesn't say he may not be a Christian. What he's saying is we have no grounds to regard him as a member in Christ's body if he refuses that consummating declaration that he is a member of Christ's body.

18:16 And the organization which discards baptism and thereby evinces its rejection of the authority and lordship of Christ, cannot be accounted a branch of the Christian Church. And I believe the words of our Lord warrant no other conclusion than that which Professor Murray has deduced from the text. All right? Having sufficiently examined the little phrase, baptized into the name, it means to be baptized with reference to a person, to come into a relationship with him.

Meaning of 'Baptized Into the Name of the Triune God' (Specific Relationship)

18:47 What does the phrase mean, baptized into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit? Well, the key idea here is obviously that the relationship established is a relationship with the Triune God as revealed in the Gospel. Think first of the little word, the name. As you've often been told from this pulpit, in Hebrew mentality, name is something more than mere identification or a convenient calling card.

19:22 So if I want you, I can say John or Henry or Paul, or Peter. No, no. In the Hebrew concept, the name embodies the character of the person whom it reflects. And in the mentality of the Scriptures, the name is often synonymous with the person.

19:39 For instance, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. That is, whosoever shall call upon the Lord as he is revealed in his name. You see, the name has to do with God revealed. Again, there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.

20:01 Were we saved by some magical waving of the name Jesus? If you looked at some religious groups in our day, you'd think so. The height of spirituality is how many times you say the word Jesus in the space of five minutes of conversation. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.

20:16 No, no, no, no. We're saved by faith directed to the person who is revealed in that name and the truth concerning himself. And so you find this throughout the Scriptures. The name of the Lord is a strong tower.

20:30 That is, God is a strong tower as he is revealed in his many names. Therefore, our Lord is teaching that the significance of baptism is found in this. It is a formal or the establishment formally of the relationship of a fellow girl, man or woman with that God who is revealed in the Gospel as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which tells us that the Gospel of God, the belief of which constitutes us disciples, is decidedly and unequivocally Trinitarian at the heart. May I repeat that?

21:13 The Gospel by which we are made disciples, for only disciples are to be baptized, and we saw they are made disciples by the preaching and reception of the word of the Gospel, it is so decidedly Trinitarian so unequivocally Trinitarian that I cannot even enroll in the number of those who have been made disciples of the true God without a confession of my belief in and subjection to the one God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But remember, baptism is not the sheepskin of your Ph.D. or graduate school.

21:50 It is enrolling you in the kindergarten of the school of grace. And at the kindergarten level, no one is to be enrolled who has not embraced the one true and living God revealed in the Gospel, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. When people are baptized biblically, into whose name are they baptized? That is, whose followers do they thus formally become?

22:16 Whose teaching do they embrace as the rule of life? To whom is the supreme religious allegiance now sworn? The answer is, it is sworn to the one God. Notice the Scripture.

22:28 It doesn't say, into the names, plural, but into the name, into the one God. But that one God is revealed, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. What then is the person saying who submits to the ordinance of baptism according to the commission of Christ? Well, this is what he ought to be saying, and now I'm talking as the one God.

22:53 This is the one who presents himself to be baptized. He says, God in mercy has brought the message of salvation to me as a needy sinner. And he has opened my eyes to see my own sinfulness, my own need of the grace that he offers in Jesus Christ. And I, having heard, do believe and embrace that revelation.

23:15 And here and now, now notice carefully, I do receive the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, as my God and Father. I do acknowledge him as my Creator, Provider, and Sustainer. I do acknowledge him as the one to whom I should now live. I do acknowledge his love in sending his only begotten Son to be the Savior of sinners.

23:40 I'm baptized. I enter formally into relationship with the one God who is revealed as Father. Never Father in abstraction, but the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, I say, I do here and now formally declare that I have received his only begotten Son as the one true Savior of sinners.

24:04 I do embrace him as my prophet to teach me, my priest to forgive and intercede for me, my king to rule over me. I embrace him as the one and only mediator between God and man. I do embrace his perfect life and his substitutionary death and his subsequent resurrection as my one ground of acceptance with the Father. I do gladly own him as my God and my Savior.

24:30 I gladly own his people to be my people, his ways my ways, his laws my laws. I do here and now proclaim myself to be his. Baptized with reference to the Son, the Son revealed in the Gospel, but not only baptized into the name of that one God who is revealed as Father, Son, but who is revealed as Holy Spirit. I do receive the Spirit as the sanctifier, the guide and comforter of my soul.

25:01 I do acknowledge him as the one who alone has been able to quicken me to newness of life and savingly to reveal the Lord Jesus Christ to me. That's what it means to be baptized into the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. It is to declare that the God revealed in the Gospel is now my God. I am his disciple.

25:25 He is my God, my Savior and my sanctifier. To summarize then our study to this point and we'll see this definition expanded. We may say that baptism is a sovereignly instituted symbolic action, sovereignly instituted. All authority hath been given, baptize them.

25:46 It is a symbolic action, as we'll see in subsequent studies, by which the person baptized solemnly, consciously and publicly declares his wholehearted reception of and submission to the one God revealed in the Gospel who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. May I give you that again? Because I've thrown out all extraneous material and I don't know a word that can be cut out without butchering some facet of the teaching of this passage. Baptism is a sovereignly instituted symbolic action by which the person baptized solemnly, consciously and publicly declares his wholehearted reception of and submission to the living God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit as he is revealed in the Gospel. As Matthew Henry has stated in that quaint old English way, baptism is the context of the contract of our espousal to Christ and his salvation. Baptizing them into the name, into the relationship with him who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But now at this point we have a problem.

Reconciling Matthew 28 with Baptismal Formulas in Acts

27:05 And some of you have already been anticipating the problem. If you haven't, I want to anticipate it for you because if you read your Bibles you'll encounter it sooner or later. The problem is this. Why in the book of Acts, whenever we read an account of baptism, do we not find the formula of Matthew 28 used?

27:22 For if you'll read through the book of the Acts you will find these phrases. Acts 2.38 Peter says, Repent and be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he uses the little preposition upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

27:37 Acts 18 says they were baptized in or into the name of the Lord Jesus. Then in Acts 10.48 you have baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. And Acts 19.5 you have baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Now how do we square those things? Well some people have tried to square it by the convenient out of saying this. Well what we have in Acts is not a record of the formula used.

28:05 It is simply a statement they were baptized upon the authority of Christ. I come to you in the name of the law. That is I come to you in the authority of the law. Therefore when they baptized in the name of Christ that simply means they were baptizing in the authority of Christ.

28:19 Well the problem with that is it will not stand the close scrutiny of careful exegesis. Because you have the phrase not merely baptized upon the Lord Jesus which could warrant that interpretation but you have the same little structure as you have in Matthew 28. Baptized into the Lord Jesus. Well then the Jesus only people come along and say, aha, see, see, you've just got to admit our case is right.

28:43 The only God whom we worship is Jesus Christ in that sense we are not Trinitarians. Jesus is the Father and the Spirit is Jesus and all is Jesus. Must we give the case to these? No.

28:55 Well what then is the answer? Well I think the answer lies in these three following lines of thought. Number one. Since the person and work of Christ are central in the message of the gospel it is only right and natural that he should have preeminence in any form that might surround the gospel ordinance.

29:17 Since the person and work of Christ are central in the message of the gospel it is only right and natural that he should have the preeminence in the administration of the gospel ordinance. Colossians 1.18 uses the phrase that in all things he, Jesus Christ, might have the preeminence. So New Testament religion and I'm going to use some big words but dear ones I declare to you for two weeks I wrestled to get it down as simple as I can and I can't get it any simpler than that.

29:46 I can't get it any simpler than this. So you'll just have to think. I'm sorry. But you'll just have to think.

29:50 I've labored in the word. I can reduce it into no more simple elements without destroying it. But the New Testament religion is a Christocentric that is Christ-centered Trinitarian theism. It is a doctrine of God that is pervasively Trinitarian.

30:11 But it is a Christ-centered Trinitarianism because it's the interaction of sinners with the Triune God. Angels may not need a Christ-centered Trinitarianism but sinners do for it is by and in the Lord Jesus that we approach unto the Father and come into the orbit of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. So in a very real sense what Luke may give us in the book of Acts is simply a compendium using a part for the whole. There is no indication that they may not have used the Trinitarian formula.

The Indivisibility of the Godhead and Approach Through Christ

30:48 But the very fact that the Son was mentioned and He was central in the message would warrant using in the record they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. So that's reason number one. Reason number two and this to me is even more fundamental. According to our Lord Himself union with Christ always brings union with the Father and with the Spirit.

31:13 Look at John 14 and verse 16. John 14 and verse 16. And I will pray the Father and He shall give you another Comforter that He may be with you forever even the Spirit of truth. Our Lord says the Holy Spirit as divine Comforter is going to come to you.

31:36 But now look at verse the latter part of verse 17. For He abideth with you and shall be in you. But now when we turn to verse 23 we have these words. Jesus answered and said unto him If a man love me he will keep my word and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him.

31:59 In other words there is such an indivisibility in the Godhead that where the Spirit is the Father and the Son are also. And though Jesus leads the disciples to believe that the crowning gift of His sufferings and His exaltation is the gift of the Spirit. He does not want us to believe He does not want them to think of union in the Spirit apart from union with Himself and with the Father. Therefore when the Scripture says they were baptized into the Lord Jesus they came into this formal declaration of their union with Jesus Christ such union is impossible unless it also involves union with the Father and with the Spirit.

32:42 You find this teaching again in John 17, 21 to 23. And the third line of reasoning is this. The only way of approach to the Father and entrance into the life of the Spirit is how? Through Jesus Christ.

32:56 Oh dear Christians get hold of this this morning. All kinds of errors exist through a failure to grasp this simple principle. The only way sinners can approach the Father is how? Through Jesus Christ as revealed in the Gospel.

33:12 And the only way you can come into the orbit of the work of the Spirit is through Jesus Christ as revealed in the Gospel. You have no Biblical dealings with the Father or the Spirit if you rinse them loose from Jesus Christ in the Gospel. Chapter and verse. All right.

33:29 I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. Hebrews 7, 25. He is able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God through Him.

33:47 There is one God and one Mediator. There is one God and one Mediator between God and man. The man Christ Jesus. Now what about the Spirit?

33:54 Well listen to Jesus' words. If any man thirsts let him come unto me and drink. Let him come unto me and drink as the Scripture saith he that believeth on me out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. This spake he of the Spirit which was yet to be given for the Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified.

34:19 You see what our Lord says? He said the plentitude of the gift and grace of the Spirit comes not by having direct dealings with the Spirit but by coming in my thirst to Jesus Christ. He that believeth on me if any man thirsts let him come to me. And all that that principle understood by our generation being led astray by every wind of doctrine because of a failure to grasp this simple principle.

34:50 Therefore when we read in the book of the Acts that they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus could it not be that this record is given in that form to emphasize this principle? The way they came into loving communion and reconciliation to the Father the way they came into the orbit of the ministry of the Spirit was only through faith in and reception of the Lord Jesus Christ. Of course this is the teaching of Galatians chapter 3 so clearly verse 2 and verses 13 and 14. Now then what can we do in summarizing all this material we've given thus far?

Summary of Baptism's Meaning and the Importance of Gospel Content

35:29 Well first of all we must be careful in assuming that the Matthew 28 words are always to be regarded as a rigid formula. When it is my privilege to baptize people I use this formula but after this two weeks of study I shall never feel that the formula is absolutely essential to valid baptism. What is essential is this that the disciple baptized has had sufficient purity of gospel preached to him that the God to whom he formally identifies himself is in his mind and heart the triune God of the Bible. That's the essence of baptism.

36:09 You see it's the content of the gospel preached not the precise language of the ritual performed. That is the importance of this important thing. And these people that quibble over trine immersion backwards forwards formulate they missed the whole point baptizing them into the name of this great God. He is the one that I've come to know through Jesus Christ.

36:34 I've been quickened by his spirit. I've been brought to him as my end and goal in my life. I now formally declare my allegiance to him his laws his people his ways baptized into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Now having established the meaning of the little phrase into the name in general the phrase into the name of the triune God in particular now I want to begin this morning and that's all I'll be able to do to show how that basic perspective given to us in Matthew 28 is beautifully amplified and enlarged upon in the epistles in what we might call the full blown doctrine of baptism. Now how can we summarize what we've come to thus far? Well I remind you of what I spoke previously that baptism is that God instituted or sovereignly instituted a symbolic action by which formally consciously and solemnly I commit myself to the true God the Father, Son and Spirit as revealed in the Gospel. Now what we're going to see as we look at these passages in the epistles is this next development of thought.

37:53 Relationship is the key word when I think of the phrase into the name. Relationship with the triune God when I think of the full phrase into the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But when I come to the full blown teaching in the epistles I'll see that this addition is necessary. It is relationship to the triune God as revealed in the Gospel on the basis of the on the basis of union with Jesus Christ in his death, burial and resurrection.

Baptism as Union with Christ in Death, Burial, and Resurrection (Romans 6)

38:23 In other words if you were to sit here this morning and say but Mr. Martin how do I come into that relationship of discipleship so that I can be baptized into the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit? The answer of scripture is only when you are united to Jesus Christ in the virtue and power of his death, burial and resurrection. And the two pivotal baptism passages in the epistles teaching this truth are Romans 6 and Colossians 2.

38:54 And I want you to look at them briefly this morning. And may I say that this is not as some would say a perverted and inveterate attempt of someone of Baptist persuasion to claim these passages. They are quoted in the Westminster Confession as giving the heart of the teaching of the doctrine of baptism. I have an article in the banner the official publication of the Christian Reformed Church by William and Marian Radius a matter of death and life in which they expound baptismal views using Romans 6 as their key passage.

39:27 And I know of no treatment on the subject of baptism from a Baptist or paedobaptist view that does not agree with but one or two very glaring exceptions one of them a contemporary preacher who has expounded Romans 6 and would say that there is little if anything to do with baptism. I shall cast my weight behind the shadow of the overwhelming consensus of the people of God in the history of the church. Alright? That's always safe.

39:54 Now look at Romans 6 for a moment please. The Apostle Paul is answering the supposed objection of someone who says now look Paul this gospel you preach is crazy. You've told us that sinners are saved solely by the doings of another that the righteousness which brings them into the world by the favor of God is not their own wrought by their own works their own penance their own repentance but solely based upon the obedience unto death of Jesus Christ. Why Paul if I believe that that I was wholly saved by the work of another regardless of what my conduct had been once saved that way then it makes no difference what my conduct is in the future.

40:38 A sin that grace may abound. Now that's the objection that Paul is answering to in Romans 6 and the way he says he answers to it is this. He says such conduct would be a contradiction of your valid spiritual experience if you're a Christian the very experience to which you bore witness in your baptism. Now that's the kernel of his argument in the passage here.

41:05 Get it again. Someone says if I'm holy I'm saved holy by the doings of another regardless of what my doings have been prior to accepting him and receiving his righteousness then the logical consequence is let us sin that grace may abound. If my salvation my dependence my acceptance with God rest holy outside of me in the work of another then what I do makes no difference. And Paul says no that cannot be so because such a conduct such conduct would be a contradiction of what has happened to you if you're a Christian and what you have declared in your baptism reflecting upon your experience.

41:44 Look at verse 3. Are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father even so we also might walk in newness of life for if we've become united with him in the likeness of his death we shall be also in the likeness of resurrection knowing this that our old man was crucified with him that the body of sin might be done away that we should no longer be in bondage to sin. Now do you see his basic line of thought is this.

42:28 He says if you're a Christian you have so shared in Christ's death you have been so united to him that when he died you died. We so shared in his burial so united were we to him and he to us that when he was buried we were buried. We shared in his resurrection so united to Christ that when he was raised we were raised with him. That's the leading line of thought in the passage.

43:00 He says how can you say all right now that I'm saved by the doings of another I'll live in sin. He said no no this cannot be because you were saved by faith and faith brings union with Christ united to Christ the virtue and the power of the saving work of Christ is not only put to your account but infused into your very being so that his death for sin becomes your death to sin. His burial is the final attestation the death was real was his burial. His emergence to newness of life becomes your emergence to newness of life.

43:38 You see the strand of thought sure we're saved by the work of another the outside of us but we come into possession of that by faith and faith unites us to Christ and union with Christ makes operative in us all the saving work of Christ death burial resurrection. And will you notice carefully he connects baptism not with crucifixion. Those who object to immersion say all you can't arbitrarily say that baptism must be by an immersion to fit the picture of Romans 6 because it says in Romans 6 if we've been planted together in the likeness of death how do you reflect crucifixion? Will you notice the word baptism is not used when speaking of death only when speaking of burial and of resurrection. Notice verse 4 we were buried with him through baptism. Baptism particularly signifies our co-burial with Christ and our co-resurrection with Christ that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father so we also might walk in newness of life. What is the result then of this union with Christ?

44:54 All the demands of the law are satisfied. My guilt is gone. The old man all that I was in the totality of my sinfulness apart from grace was crucified and buried with Christ. The bondage is gone.

45:09 And as a new man in Christ I emerge of life because I am joined to him. Baptized into the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost I come into this living relationship with the living God. How? When by faith I am united to Christ and when I am united to Christ I share in his death his burial and his emergence to newness of life.

Baptism as Spiritual Circumcision and Co-Resurrection (Colossians 2)

45:34 Now turn to Colossians chapter 2 the other key passage. There are other passages that are helpful in focusing just upon these two because they are the most pivotal. And again they are passages upon which almost all without exception are agreed that they do refer by analogy and illustration to the act of baptism as well as spiritual inward baptism. Paul is showing to the Colossians that everything they ever can need or desire is in Christ.

46:09 The Gnostics came along and said you've got Jesus but we want you as Christians you'll be content with Christ only. We super Christians we want Christ plus. You ever hear anything like that? A lot of you people are simply converted.

46:23 You've only been born again. But some of us we have something more. Come and get our something more. Beware of the theology of more unless it's more into Christ.

46:36 And then beware of any theology that doesn't whet your appetite for more of him. So Paul is saying look verse 8 anyone makes spoil of you through his philosophy in vain deceit after the traditions of men and rudiments of the world and not after Christ. For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Stupid people he says.

47:00 Going outside of Christ for something more when you've exhausted the Godhead then you leave Christ and look for something more. In him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Now ye are made full in him in union with Christ all that he is to needy sinners he is to you who is the head of all principalities and power. Now he's going to delineate some of the blessings that have come through their union with Christ.

47:28 Look at it. In whom in union with whom ye were circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands in the putting off of the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ. Whenever people get a Christ plus religion and Father Jesus or that's what it is the Lord with whom we have to sacrifice what we have to put into Christ. So the Bible has a way of giving a world of meaning to Christ so when your family comes to you to look at Christ you can see all the good and the that you have in Christ. Why, when you were joined to Christ, God did not cut off a mere part of the external body. He stripped off the whole body. And out emerged a new man in Jesus Christ.

48:31 I got the goose bumps saying that. I don't know what it does to you. You catch the thrill of that thing. Do you see it?

48:38 He says, look, you have a true circumcision. That which physical circumcision was but a dim sign and evidence of you have inward spiritual circumcision you've stripped off the whole foreskin of your old manner of life. The old man has been crucified. Now, how was that testified to?

49:01 Bad English, but you get the question. Look at verse 12. Having been buried with him in baptism, wherein ye also were raised with him through faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead. You see what he's saying?

49:17 Your inward spiritual circumcision by union with Christ was the precise truth to which you bore witness in your baptism. You declared in your baptism you were buried with him. Your union with him meant that the old life went into his tomb forever to be gone. And out of that tomb came a new man in Jesus Christ.

49:41 And so I say the full-blown teaching of the epistles on baptism into the name of the triune God leads us to this. Conclusion. We come into this relationship to the God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit accepting the Father as our Father, the Son as our Savior, the Spirit as our Sanctifier when by faith we are united to Christ and share in the virtue and power of His death, burial, and resurrection. Now, is that too complicated to hold together?

Conclusion: The Spiritual Reality Signified by Baptism

50:18 I hope it isn't. If it is, I'll have to go to work some more and see if we can...

50:22 deuce it down to some simpler elements. I'm warranted in saying in conclusion this morning and we'll just have to cut things off at this point. If you don't have what New Testament baptism signifies, you're lost and you're not a Christian. Now, listen to me.

50:40 Don't anybody go out and say, that man said you're not baptized. No, no. I said if you do not have as your own spiritual experience what baptism signifies, you're not a Christian. In other words, if you've not been united to Jesus, in the virtue and power of His death, burial, and resurrection so that the living God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit has become your God, you're not a Christian.

51:07 You're not in Christ.

51:11 Oh, my dear friend sitting here this morning in this auditorium or down below,

51:18 do you have what this doctrine of baptism conveys inwardly and experimentally? Has God by the Spirit through the Gospel shown you your need of the Lord Jesus? Yes. Have you in faith and repentance embraced Him as your Savior?

51:35 If so, then you've entered into the virtue and the power of His death, burial, and resurrection, and you are now living in communion with the triune God. If you don't have what baptism signifies, you're not a Christian. But thank God I can back it up with this second statement. You may have what baptism signifies here in this very place this morning if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

52:00 You see, it's not a hard thing to preach the Gospel from the base of an exposition on the ordinances. They're Gospel ordinances. They preach the same Gospel. What Gospel do I preach to you?

52:10 The Gospel of Christ crucified for sinners. Christ buried, Christ raised. Believe upon Him. Repent of sin.

Application: Why Be Baptized and Addressing Infant Baptism

52:18 Cast yourself upon the Savior. The second major statement I want to make in conclusion is this. If in God's grace you do have what New Testament baptism signifies, why? Haven't you been baptized to declare it?

52:37 You see, every time a person is baptized, they give praise to God saying, Lord, in Your mercy, You have wrought again in a poor, helpless sinner the mighty virtue of Your beloved Son and His salvation. Beyond the testimony given by the one baptized, even beyond the confirmation to his own heart of God's work to him, baptism is an act, a holy act, in which God is praised, in which there is visibly displayed the power of the Gospel. Does it mean that everyone who is baptized is saved? No.

53:12 Of course not. The Bible says that some will come to the waters who've never come to the fountain of grace. But at least at the point of their baptism, they're declaring outwardly, if not inwardly, the truth of the Gospel, like it or not. They're declaring that truth.

53:28 And so I plead with any of you who've not been biblically baptized, not been baptized upon the basis, the basis of the commission of Jesus, I say in the words of Ananias to Saul, Why tarriest thou? Arise and be baptized. Is it a grievous thing for God to command this simple ordinance which proclaims the glory of His Son and His salvation? Would it be a torturous thing for you publicly and solemnly and consciously to declare, God in mercy has come to me in the Gospel and I publicly own that God is my God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and I do here publicly and consciously and unashamedly announce that I've come into that relationship through the virtue of Christ Jesus, crucified, buried, and risen? Should that be a burden for any true Christian to make that confession? How but some of you say, my godly parents presented me to the Lord in baptism as children. And dear ones, I would not question the godliness of those dear parents nor the sincerity of their act.

54:31 My only question is this, is what they did. That which Jesus commands in Matthew 28 is what they did,

54:41 what Jesus commanded in Matthew 28. Make disciples, baptizing them. Not present children in baptism in the prayer and hope that they will become disciples. Solemnly consecrating yourself as a disciple to rear them and train them.

54:58 That's the sacred significance of infant baptism to many godly people. And don't ever make light of it. It's a serious matter. When publicly in the presence of God as an act of worship, they say, I do here solemnly own my responsibilities to rear this child to God's glory and praise.

55:18 I shall pray for its conversion and its ultimate salvation. And when water is applied upon the forehead of that child in the name of the sacred trinity, they're not playing games, many dear Christians. They mean business. Now others, it's superstition, just like baptism as adults is superstition for a lot of people.

55:35 But I ask you, I ask those of you to whom this was a sacred experience.

55:40 Is that the baptism commanded in Matthew 28? That's the only question I leave with you. If it isn't, then whose authority shall you respect? Whose feelings shall you regard?

55:51 Christ's or your parents?

55:55 You say, Pastor Martin, you're ruthless. No, no, dear ones. I love you enough to press the issue to its core.

56:03 Whose feelings will you respect? Whose word will you respect? Christ's? For your godly parents.

56:13 As we pointed out several weeks ago, if indeed when they presented you this was their prayer, all you need do if they're still living, if they haven't gone to glory, is to say, Mom and Dad, the Lord has so answered your prayer and brought me into obedience to Christ that I see something Christ wants me to do that I never saw before. Wouldn't you want me to do it? Why, they'd say, of course. Well, you say, Mom and Dad, I'm going to be baptized as a confessed disciple in obedience to the Lord Jesus.

Final Exhortation and Anticipation of Next Study

56:38 Isn't that a gracious way to say it? And I've got to sneak in there. I've got to sneak in suspicion if the people in heaven know what's going on down here, they'd be happy at that.

56:49 The Lord willing, we'll take up in our next study the unchanging perpetuity of this baptismal directive. All the nations, I am with you to the end of the age, and I hope to demonstrate on the basis of an honest exposition of those words that all of the attempts to say, well, this commission only applies when the gospel initially goes into a heathen community and from then on, from there on in, we have a different kind of baptism.

57:19 Dear ones, the words of Jesus utterly, utterly sweep away that objection. All the nations, unto the ends of the age. That's pretty all-embracing. And to say that our Lord only envisioned baptism in the initial missionary thrust and left the church without any clear directives for the rest of her history, but that she'd have to go to the Old Testament and get inferences and analogies and shadows and types is to cast dispersions upon the wisdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

57:48 May God grant that we shall not regard the matter of baptism as the springboard of controversy, as the occasion of debate, but may we come under the gracious authority of our loving Lord and say, Lord Jesus, what will thou have me to do? And for those of you who are to be baptized next week, I trust that this morning's study and next week's study will likewise be used of God to bring you to that hour of the Lord. And I pray that you will understand the great privilege and awesome solemnity of that which you declare when plunged beneath the baptismal waters you say in the presence of God and men, I do now here formally become the property of the triune God, His people my people, His laws my laws, His ways my ways, and I owe it all to Jesus Christ, crucified, buried and risen. Oh, may the Holy Ghost come down upon the cross and come down upon the cross and come down upon the cross and come down upon the cross and come down upon the cross and come down upon the cross and come down upon the cross and come down upon the cross in symbol and own it with power to our edification and to His own eternal glory. Let us pray.