Element, Mode, Perpetuity

Introduction: The Importance of Ordinances and Review of Previous Principles

0:00 Those of you who attend upon this ministry regularly will know that in the few recent opportunities to preach that I have had, I've been directing your attention to some of the leading principles of the Word of God relative to the ordinances or the sacraments, if you please, of the Lord's Supper and of Baptism. And just briefly now, by way of review, I would remind you of the fundamental importance of having clear views on these very practical subjects, because the Scripture very clearly teaches that there is one gospel of grace and salvation, a gospel in which the sinner in all of his need is brought into direct contact with the Savior and all of his grace. We must never assume or begin to think that the sacraments have any saving merit or virtue and therefore cut the nerve. If you want to assess any particular movement that claims to preach the gospel, ask yourself this question, how clearly does this movement, this preacher, this system, how clearly does it enunciate this fundamental principle that the needy, helpless sinner comes into direct contact with the gracious Savior through faith and faith alone?

1:25 But because God has... God has been pleased in that same Bible which teaches us this great truth of salvation by grace to reveal a doctrine of the ordinances, we must not be indifferent to them.

1:40 Because in reality, these ordinances simply explain, affirm, and confirm the message preached in the gospel. So we have the spoken gospel and the visible gospel, the verbal and the symbolic. And therefore it is of great concern to maintain the purity of the gospel, both by maintaining careful guard over the preached ministry and also carefully to guard the symbolic ministry of the Lord's Supper and of baptism. Now what I've been doing is seeking to extract from Matthew chapter 28 the four basic baptismal principles given by our Lord in what is common. It is commonly called the Great Commission. I direct your attention again to that portion of the Word of God. Matthew chapter 28 and verse 16.

2:38 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 to Galilee.

2:57 Therefore make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you, and lo, I am with you all the way, even unto the end of the world or to the consummation of the age. Thus far we have discovered three of the four principles, and we were midway, halfway across the stream in number three. Principle number one is the unchanging and supreme authority which undergirds the act of baptizing. More simply stated, why baptize anyway?

3:39 And the answer is because Jesus Christ has all authority in heaven and in earth, and he has commanded his people to baptize all who have been made disciples. Indifference to baptism, then, is an affront to the authority of Jesus Christ, and wherever his authority is. In other words, if baptism is loved and embraced, baptism must of necessity follow. Secondly, we have seen the necessary attendance of baptism, or, more briefly stated, who should be baptized.

4:10 And the directive to baptize is sandwiched between the command to make disciples and the directive to teach. Therefore, any act of baptism which is not set in a context of disciples being made through preaching. And disciples having been made who are prepared to be taught a life of obedience is a prostitution of baptism according to the commission of Christ. Whatever significance it may have, whether practiced upon infants, adults, teenagers, or old people, it makes no difference, the true attendance of all true biblical baptism are the making of disciples and the teaching of disciples.

4:55 Clearly deduced from that. Anyone who is not capable of being made a disciple through the preached word, responded to in repentance in faith, is no candidate for baptism. Anyone incapable of being taught all things, whatever Christ has commanded, is also incapable of being a biblical candidate for baptism. And then thirdly, we have been examining the essential significance of baptism itself.

5:23 And the significance is bound up in the phrase. Baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. And in expounding this phrase, which I do not propose to do again tonight, I gave you three simple lines of thought. To baptize into someone or something means to be placed in a relationship to.

5:47 Baptism then signifies relationship to. But to whom or to what? Our Lord says it signifies relationship to the Father. Relationship to the triune God.

5:58 Baptized into the name, that is, the one God revealed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And then looking particularly at Romans 6 and Colossians 2 and a number of passages in the book of Acts, we saw that our Lord goes on through the apostles to expand this teaching. Baptism signifies not only relationship, relationship to the triune God as He's revealed in the Gospel. But relationship to that God through union with Christ in the virtue of His death, burial and resurrection.

The Element of Baptism: Water and its Significance of Cleansing

6:34 Now that's our review. And at this we have not exhausted the simple and basic teaching of the Scriptures relative to baptism. As with the Lord's Supper, the things surrounding the baptismal act themselves proclaim the heart of the Gospel. In other words.

6:55 When we come to the Lord's Supper, it is not only that we eat and drink that has significance. But it is the elements that we eat and drink that also have significance. Our Lord took bread, the staff of life in those days. And He broke bread and distributed that which was the staff of life, indicating that the eating has symbolism in terms of the very elements used.

7:21 He took the fruit of the vine. The grape had to be crushed. And its life poured forth before there could be the wine in the cup. And so there is significance not only in the fact that we eat, but that we eat bread.

7:36 Not only that we drink, but that we drink the fruit of the crushed grape. So likewise with baptism. It is not only significant that we are baptized into the name of the Father, Son and of the Holy Ghost. To signify relationship with that God.

7:54 Relationship to Him as He is revealed in the Gospel. Relationship to Him in the virtue of Christ's death, burial and resurrection. But the very element in which we are baptized. And the very activity of baptism itself declares those relationships.

8:11 And what I want to demonstrate tonight, time permitting, is that in the baptismal act itself, its significance is eloquently declared. What are the great blessings of the New Covenant? The New Covenant. When we come to the Lord's table, we hear those words oft repeated.

8:30 This is the New Covenant in my blood. And almost as often you have heard read at the communion service the words of Hebrews 10, Hebrews 8, taken from Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 36. That in the New Covenant God pledges to do two things. He pledges to purge us completely from the guilt and defilement of sin.

8:54 He says. The sins and their iniquities I'll remember no more. And He pledges Himself to deliver us from the bondage of sin. I will give them a new heart and I will put my Spirit within them, making them my sons and daughters, making them Christ's free men.

9:12 Now in baptism the heart of the message of the New Covenant is declared with the same eloquence as it is declared in the Lord's table. For they proclaim one Savior. One Gospel. One way of salvation.

9:27 How then does baptism in its very act declare these truths? Well think with me first of all of the element in which we are baptized. And you will see as we look through the scriptures that the element in which we are baptized underscores cleansing from the guilt and pollution of sin. Then we shall see that the very baptizing act eloquently declares our liberation.

9:55 Our liberation from the bondage of sin and our emergence to newness of life as the gift of God. All right. First of all then the element in which we are baptized underscores cleansing from guilt and pollution. As we think our way through this first major heading tonight let us ask two questions.

10:18 Question one. What is the proper element in which to be baptized? And thank God. Here is one point.

10:24 It is the element upon which all denominations of all colors and creeds are in perfect agreement. All agree that the proper element is water. Now why do we agree? Have we all followed some pied piper of ecclesiastical dogma and been led down the primrose path of delusion?

10:44 No, no. We agree that water is the proper element because of four basic reasons. And I'll go through them quickly. One.

10:53 All throughout the Old Testament. Water is the element of ritual cleansing and if you read through the book of Leviticus you will find the use of water in the ritual cleansings of the Levitical system. Secondly, John's baptism, the forerunner of Christian baptism, was administered by water. John said in John 1.26, I baptize in or with water.

11:21 That's repeated in Acts 1 and verse 5. Thirdly. The baptism of Jesus, which enters the baptismal theology of the New Testament, was a baptism with water. Matthew 3.16, we find Jesus coming up out of the water.

11:38 And then fourthly, the records of baptism in the book of Acts explicitly state that water was the element. Acts 8 and verse 36, the Ethiopian eunuch says, here is much water, what doth hinder me from being baptized? baptized and they went down into the water and philip baptized him and they came up out of the water acts 10 47 peter says who can forbid the water to these who have obviously been baptized with the holy spirit so then the proper element is water and upon this all are in agreement now the second question is this what is the basic significance of the use of water and the answer to that question is relatively easy to arrive at in the old testament the cleansing of water or the application of water ritually symbolizes cleansing from guilt and from defilement we could look at many passages the most pivotal is the 36th chapter of the prophecy of ezekiel god declaring what he will do to his people as he restores them to himself in grace says in verse 25 of ezekiel 36 and i will sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean

13:02 from all your filthiness and from all your idols will i cleanse you the filthiness of sin the filthiness of idolatry can never be cleansed by water but god says i will do inwardly that which is symbolized by the application of the of the waters of purification. And this imagery is found throughout the Old Testament. This idea is picked up and amplified in the New Testament. Therefore, Jesus says to Nicodemus, Nicodemus, though you are a Pharisee, a separated one, a pure one, you are so defiled and polluted, unless you are born of water and of the Spirit, you'll never enter the kingdom of heaven. Our Lord is not saying you must have a spiritual experience in which the waters of baptism and the work of the Holy Spirit are synchronous in their application. No. He's saying, Nicodemus, you need what I've promised there in Ezekiel. You need a cleansing from the filthiness of your heart. You need to be born of

14:10 water as well as of the Spirit. We find it picked up in Ephesians 5. How will Christ cleanse the church? By the washing of water with the Word.

14:22 Titus 3.5, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Ghost. Now, this idea, you see, is then picked up, amplified, and then indelibly stamped upon the baptismal theology of the New Testament. There are two explicit statements in the New Testament. There is no question but the context of the New Testament. There is no question but the context of the New Testament. There is no the actual act of baptizing in which this element is underscored. Cleansing is symbolized in the waters of baptism. The two passages are Acts 22.16 and then 1 Peter 3.18-22. Let's look at them in

15:11 that order. Acts 22.16. The Apostle Paul is giving an account of God's dealings with him in grace.

15:23 And each account brings into it some details left out by the other accounts. We have three such accounts in the book of Acts. You will notice in Acts chapter 22, the directive of Ananias is very clear. Verse 16. And now why tarriest thou? Arise and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on his name. And the baptismal regeneration of the Holy Ghost is called on his name. And the baptismal regeneration of the Holy Ghost is called on his name. And the baptismal regeneration of the Holy See what it says? How are sins washed away? By being baptized. Strange is it not that he forgets the little word arise. When those who believe in baptismal regeneration start telling the little kids laying in mother's arms, arise. If you're going to prove anything from this verse, take the whole. Don't take part of it. Here was personal activity on Paul's part. And the same God who

16:25 commanded him through Ananias to arise and to be baptized. And the same God who commanded him through Ananias to arise and to be baptized. And the same God who commanded him through Ananias to arise and to be baptized. And the same God who commanded him through makes it very clear that the cleansing from sin comes instrumentally, not from the waters of baptism, but by calling on the name of the Lord. Look at the construction. You can see it in the English. It's even more vivid in the original. Wash away thy sins, not by being baptized or be baptized, therefore washing away. But the conjunction is there. Arise and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, not by being Be baptized and wash away thy sins, calling on His name.

17:06 The instrumental cause of the washing away of sin was calling on the name of the Lord. That's faith. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. The washing away of sin, which comes instrumentally by calling on the Lord's name, comes away symbolically by being baptized into His name.

17:35 And so you have sins washed away vitally, personally, truly by calling on His name. You have sins washed away symbolically, sacramentally, in an object less informed in the waters of baptism.

17:55 Then to say that baptism does not signify the washing away of sin is to flee. To flee into the face of a clear text such as the one before us. All right, now the second text is 1 Peter and chapter 3.

18:13 I almost said something, but some of you would have thought it was a pun. I was going to say, we usually don't puddle jump this way in our study.

18:23 1 Peter chapter 3.

18:27 But I think it's essential to see the text as well as to hear it read. Picking up the thread of thought at verse 18 of 1 Peter chapter 3. Because Christ also said, He suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit, in which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison, that aforetime were disobedient, when the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water, which also, after a true likeness, doth now save you, even back then, And those who teach baptism and regeneration, they put three little dots there and then quotation marks. Which, after a true likeness, doth now save you, even baptism. And they say, see, baptism saves. But oh, let's listen to Peter.

19:26 Not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the interrogation or the answer or the appeal of a good conscience towards God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now, do you see the things that are, that are woven together in Peter's mind? Water, baptism, and the cleansing of the conscience. Water doth save us, even baptism, Not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, though that is done in the water, but the putting away of the true filth.

20:02 The filth of a condemning conscience, that now becomes the answer of a good conscience, based upon the person and work of Jesus Christ. So according to Peter, to Peter, the ground of the cleansing of the conscience is what? Not the waters of baptism, but the work of Christ in death, burial, and resurrection. That's the ground, the only ground that can purge a conscience from its sense of condemnation and guilt. It is the work of Christ and that work alone which cleanses. For the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. So the ground of our cleansing is the work of Christ, but the figure of our cleansing is the water of baptism which puts away the what? The filth of the flesh. And so in these two texts we

20:54 have explicit statements that baptism signifies cleansing from guilt and from pollution. Then there are three texts which have, as it were, a baptismal shadow over them. These two are solid retreat baptismal passages indicating cleansing. And now you have, as it were, three key texts which have the shadow of baptism cast over them. I shall simply quote them quickly. 1 Corinthians 6, 11. Such were some of you, but ye are washed, ye are sanctified, ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God, an allusion to what happened in their baptism. And Paul says, what happened to you externally in that bath of baptism? What happened to you externally in that bath of baptism? And what happened to you externally in that bath of baptism? And what

21:39 happened to you externally in that bath of baptism? And what happened to you externally in that bath of Baptism has occurred inwardly by the Spirit applying the virtue and the merits of the Lord Jesus. Hebrews 10.22 Having a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near.

21:53 How? Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. See how he ties together the washing externally and the purging inwardly by the virtue of Christ. And then Titus 3.5 He has saved us not according to our works, but as Titus tells us, Paul tells us in Titus, the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. This then shows that the element in which we are baptized proclaims this first great blessing of the new covenant, cleansing from the gospel. From the guilt and from the pollution of our sins. Now do you see how it's an easy thing to move from this teaching to the proclamation of the gospel?

22:48 I'm able to say as I've said on at least three or four occasions in this series of studies, if you do not possess inwardly and vitally what baptism declares externally and symbolically, you're not a Christian. To be a Christian is to come under the canopy of the blessings of the new covenant. To be cleansed. To be cleansed from my guilt.

23:09 To be cleansed from my defilement in the blood and in the virtue of Jesus Christ. And the only way to come to that virtuous blood is by faith. And if you do not have then what baptism signifies, you're not a Christian. And if you believe by grace you do have what baptism signifies inwardly, the Lord calls upon you to declare it outwardly and symbolically as a testimony of his grace and as a confirmation of his grace.

The Mode of Baptism: Immersion as a Declaration of Death and New Life

23:38 Confirmation and strengthening of your own faith. Now in the second place, having seen that the element in which we are baptized underscores cleansing, consider with me this truth that the activity by which we are baptized underscores our deliverance from bondage and our emergence to newness of life. Now we ask the same two questions. What is the proper activity in the baptizing act?

24:10 And oh how I wish I could say as I said concerning the question concerning the proper element that there has always been agreement amongst the people of God. I can never speak upon this subject without pain. For one of the deepest areas of spiritual pain to me is that godly men so viciously and violently differ on this subject of the proper significance of baptism as it relates to its mode. And those are servants of a certain deities that I have long respected and never are unrey editors.

24:50 And I firmly believe that that difference is not due to the obscurity of Scripture. If I did I would not presume to speak upon the subject. And in any given case, that obscurity can be due to many, many reasons. But the activity by which we are to be baptized, which underscores liberation from bondage and emergence to newness of life, is nothing more or less than thatok� smaller than a fresh unaffected MontanaNice we have now.

25:10 the old stature, the old sadly on theme. Oh, here's the stature! goodbye Good momento! of being dipped into the water in the name of the triune God.

25:16 Now you say, Pastor Martin, there you go with one sentence, answering a question that is filled volumes and the rest. On what grounds do you do so? Well, you've asked a good question. It's upon me now to answer it.

25:28 And let me give you four basic reasons as to why we may know that the activity by which we are to be baptized is immersion, submersion, and emergence from the water in the name of the triune God. Four reasons. Reason number one, because of the meaning of the word itself. There are two words, all lexicographers, all students of the Greek language agree, that the Greek word bapto and its intensified form baptizo are twin words.

26:04 And isn't it interesting that in the three times in which the word bapto and its intensified form baptizo occurs in the New Testament, it's never just transliterated bapto as they've done with baptizo into baptized. You see, they haven't translated the word baptized. They've transliterated it. They've taken the Greek letter and the English letter and just made substitutes.

26:26 Now they didn't do that with bapto.

26:29 Three times it's used. And you know how it's translated all three times in all of our English Bibles? Dip. Yes, it is.

26:37 When the rich man is baptized. When the young man in hell is crying out, he says, oh, Father Abraham, may someone come and just dip his finger and give me a drop of water.

26:51 It's used again in John 13 and verse 26.

26:57 John 13 and verse 26. So when he had dipped the sop, he didn't take the substance and sprinkle it upon the sop, nor did he pick it up and pour it over. The sop. The sop was dipped into the substance.

27:16 And the third usage is found in Revelation 19, 13, speaking of that one who comes as the head of the armies of God, whose name is the word of God, and his vesture was dipped in blood. Blood was not sprinkled upon it. Blood was not poured upon it. It was dipped into the element of blood.

27:38 And all lexicographers, without exception, agree that the words, apto and baptizo, mean in a primary sense to dip, to plunge, or to immerse. Now listen carefully to what I'm saying.

27:53 No lexicographer says that in every case the words mean that.

28:01 But all lexicographers agree that in their general usage, this is the primary and overwhelming use of the word. Now a basic rule of biblical interpretation is this. When a word has a general, generally accepted usage, we never change its meaning unless the context or the whole body of scriptural teaching demands that we give it a different meaning in that particular place. You and I do that all the time.

28:32 For instance, someone was backing out of our driveway. And I said to them, this was just this afternoon, I said, now when you back off the side of that driveway, when the back of your car hits the end of the garage, then you cut your wheel. He says, you don't mean that literally. Do you?

28:47 I said, remember your principles of hermeneutics. Now he knew what I meant. I didn't mean literally back it into the end. When you hit the end, that is when the car backs up to the point where it is parallel to the end of the garage.

28:58 He understood fully. Why? Because he would not take the word hit in its generally accepted usage. Context demanded otherwise.

29:07 But if I had said, look, you do that again and I'm going to hit you in the nose, he'd know exactly what I meant. I wouldn't say that. But if I said it, he'd know exactly what I meant. And he would take the generally accepted usage of the word hit and he would be perfectly proper in so doing.

29:24 Therefore, when we come to the word that is used in the New Testament, understanding that the Bible has a very legitimate word for sprinkle, it has a very legitimate word to pour, it has a very legitimate word for these other forms of so-called valid baptism, why has the Holy Ghost chosen? Almost as it were to coin a word, for there are no non-secular usages of this distinctive usage of baptizo and of baptismos describing the act of Christian baptism.

30:03 And so we dare to assert that the activity in baptism is a dipping in, a plunging into water in the name of the triune God, reason number one, because of the meaning of the word itself. Secondly.

30:18 And thirdly, because of the attendant circumstances of the recorded baptisms in the scriptures. Do the circumstances surrounding the recorded baptismal activities give us any hint as to what happened when it says so-and-so was baptized? I believe they do. Let's look at three or four of them very quickly.

30:41 First of all, John's baptism, the forerunner of Christian baptism. Well, remember when Mark says the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God. It starts with the ministry of John. Those who would say that John's baptism has no relationship to Christian baptism are simply seeking to evade some of the most powerful lines of argument for believers' baptism by immersion to be found anywhere in the scriptures.

31:06 John 3 and verse 23. And John also was baptizing in Anon near to Salem because there was much water there or there were many waters. And they came and were baptized. Now, it will not do, as one servant of God has said, to say this has nothing to do with how people were baptized because they were coming distances, they needed many watering holes for their camels.

31:39 That is not a straw man I could quote the book and the page and read it to you. You see, if we're determined not to hear the biblical voice and listen to the biblical evidence. The biblical evidence will not convince us. The attendant circumstances of John's baptism were much or many waters there.

32:01 Of course, the other statements that he baptized in Jordan. Secondly, the circumstances of Jesus' baptism and Mark is very, very explicit in his teaching. Mark 1 and verse 9. And it came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee.

32:21 And was baptized of John. Now, this is interesting. The preposition is exactly the same preposition that we have baptizing them into the name of. And your marginal reading in the ASV rightly renders it.

32:38 Jesus was baptized of John into the Jordan. All right, now let's see if it makes sense. And Jesus was sprinkled of John into the Jordan. And Jesus was poured of John into the Jordan.

32:57 And Jesus was dipped of John into the Jordan.

33:01 Now, dear ones, I haven't read anything into the passage. You see, the person baptized was baptized not by the element, but into it. He was baptized by John into the Jordan. Verse 10.

33:18 And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens rent asunder, and the Spirit as a dove descending upon him. Now, it's interesting. Those who deny that immersion is the God-ordained symbolic action say, well, it could very well that Jesus stood in the Jordan up to his waist, and water was poured over him. But isn't it interesting that those who make that claim, they do not cause their people to stand in water and have water poured over them.

33:47 There are three little sweaty fingers applied from a baptismal font to the forehead. Now, dear ones, I'm not meaning to be facetious. I say, this, even having to deal with a subject like this is painful, but I must be true to the clear teaching of the Word of God.

34:02 The circumstances clearly are in favor of the understanding of the normal use of the Word to dip, to plunge, or to immerse. The circumstances of John's baptism, the circumstances of Jesus' baptism. Thirdly, the circumstances of the Ethiopian eunuch's baptism. You see what we have?

34:23 John's baptism, the baptism, Jesus, and now a full-blown case of Christian baptism. And what do we find? Let's look at Acts chapter 8,

34:37 verse 35, And Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this scripture preached unto him not baptism, but he preached unto him Jesus. But in preaching Jesus, he didn't omit baptism, because, in the sequel we read, as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water, and the eunuch said, Behold, here is water. What doth hinder me to be baptized? And he commanded the chariot to stand still.

35:02 And Philip went down, and took a pitcherful of water, and poured it on his head.

35:09 If pouring were what was what Philip did, why does the scripture say, And they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch. Now, it's almost as though God is saying to us, Look, unless you missed the point. If it says they both went down, well, who else was there? I'm not a...

35:31 I'm not a... I'm not a...

35:31 I know it was Philip and the eunuch, but God says, Just so, I want you to get the message. They both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and in the context of both in the water, he baptized him, and when they came up out of the water. Now, do you know how a godly scholar seeks to do away with the evidence of this passage? The same one who says, Well, much water it ain't on because of the camel, says, The fact that they both went down into the water doesn't prove that they were baptized.

36:01 It doesn't prove that the eunuch was immersed. Because if it proves the eunuch was immersed, it also proves that Philip immersed himself.

36:09 Now, how many were at the baptismal service last week? Did I go down into the water with the candidates? Did I baptize myself? No.

36:18 But we both had to be into the water for me to baptize them. A circumstance you would describe in simple narrative precisely as the Holy Ghost has described it in the book of Acts through Luke.

36:32 It was necessary to have more water than was available in his life. In his chariot. And no man in his right mind goes across the desert without some water jugs. If he was to sprinkle or pour him, he could have done him right there in the chariot.

Further Evidence for Immersion and its Doctrinal Implications

36:44 It was necessary for both to go into the water. Both came out of the water. So our second reason for asserting that the activity by which we are baptized underscores death and emergence to new life, that that activity is dipping in the name of the triune God, the meaning of the word itself, the circumstances attending the recorded baptisms in the New Testament. Thirdly, because baptism is spoken of as a burial and a resurrection experience.

37:15 And the two key texts we studied in detail in a previous time, I will only read them, not exegete them. Romans 6.3 Are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried there for with him through baptism into death.

37:39 The little phrase, baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so also we might walk in newness of life. And then Colossians chapter 2, Colossians chapter 2, verses 11 and 12, in whom ye also were circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands in the putting off of the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ, 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. The analogy of baptism and death, baptism and resurrection, is entirely unknown in the sprinkling of water, in the pouring of water, but it is vividly and overwhelmingly proclaimed in that emergent, that immersion into the water, that submersion beneath the water, that temporary burial and that being raised, as it were, unto newness of life. And then the fourth reason why we assert that this is the God-ordained activity, and I put this last, because almost all responsible scholars admit that immersion was most likely the primitive method.

39:03 And my quotes will not be from Baptists, but my first quotes are from two Anglicans, Conny Bear and Housen. Listen to what they say. This is a verbal quote. It is needless to add that baptism was, unless in exceptional cases, administered by immersion,

39:21 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. It must be a subjectivity, a subject of regret, that the usual, the general discontinuance of this original form of baptism has rendered obscure to popular understanding some very important portions of the Word of God. End of quote. That's an Anglican saying.

39:56 It is to be regretted that the general discontinuance of the original form,

40:04 I quote from Baker's Theological Dictionary, an astute, church historian writing, immersion was fairly certainly the original practice and continued in general use up to the Middle Ages, and the Reformers agreed that this best brought out the meaning of baptism as a death and resurrection.

40:26 Now, I'm a little bit offended when people say, well, it seems that that's what the apostles did. It seems that's what early Christians did. But how we are baptized is a matter of indifference. Suppose you came to the communion table the next time, and in place of bread, there was some dried fish.

40:45 And in place of wine, there was some high sea orange drink.

40:52 And I saw you looking at the table and frowning. And I began to say, look, it's just a matter of indifference what elements we use. You say, wait a minute. Our Lord said this bread.

41:04 Ah, and when Jesus said baptizing them, he wasn't speaking double Dutch to them. And they understood what he meant. Why? They had seen him baptized.

41:14 They had seen him go into the waters of Jordan. They had seen John baptized. They themselves had been baptized. They understood full well what he meant.

41:24 And I do not like the kind of piety or scholarship that treats lightly anything that our Lord has revealed as his will for his children. Now, why should we be concerned then about the activity of baptism? Because of this close relationship between the sign and the thing signified. See?

41:45 That's why we're concerned. There is such a close relationship between the sign and the thing signified. If baptism is meant to portray the results of union with Christ, what does union with Christ bring? It brings a total cleansing from all of my guilt.

42:02 So I call myself washed. And that word washed is not for the sponge bath, but it's for the complete bath. Jesus said, He that is completely bathed needeth not save the sponge bath. His feet...

42:16 And so the symbolism of the complete cleansing of my past, the sins and iniquities remembered no more. How eloquently that truth is declared when the entire body passes beneath the waters of symbolic cleansing and the man, the woman comes up, clean every wit, not through the waters of baptism, but through the blood of Jesus Christ that cleanses us from all sin.

42:43 If baptism is meant to convey that union with Christ, it brings death to the old life and emergence to newness of life. How eloquently does that temporary burial in the watery grave bespeak the death and the being raised, not on your own. That's why I insist to those who are baptized, you be passive. All but one use of the verb to be baptized in the New Testament is in the passive form or in the passive form, because it symbolizes that it's through the work of another that the old has been put off.

43:16 And by the power of another, you have been raised to newness of life. Baptism proclaims sovereign grace, transforming grace, efficacious grace in a most eloquent way. That's why we're concerned about the mold, not because we're nitpicking at non-essential details. It's because we love the truth of the gospel, the objective truth that it's Christ's death, burial and resurrection by which I'm saved.

43:43 The subjective truth that when I lay hold of Christ's crucifixion, I'm crucified, buried and risen by the same spirit I experience of death to the old life and emergence to the new. Do you see that if this truth of the significance of baptism were rightly preached and explained to the people of God, if the proper mode as well as the significance of baptism were widespread in the visible church, do you see the tremendous implications this would have? All of the floods of so-called deeper life that takes Roman 6 as some kind of esoteric, intimate teaching for just advanced saints that they died with Christ and they're to reckon themselves dead, Paul says that was all settled at your baptism. Live consistently with it. He argues from their baptismal experience to press them on in the way of holiness. Do you see how all talk of so-called carnal Christians would go out the window?

44:47 If I'm a new man in Christ, I will evidence that I'm a new man in Christ. If I'm a new man in Christ, I will evidence that I'm a new man in Christ. If I'm a new man in Christ, I will evidence that I'm a new man in Christ. I will evidence that the old has died.

44:56 And though I'm not a perfect new man, I'm pressing towards perfection, but I am a new creation in Christ. The old is past. Behold, all things become new. See how easy it is to preach the gospel?

45:10 To say, look, if you don't have inwardly what baptism declares outwardly, you're not a Christian. If you're still an old man, that is a man in whom sin reigns, you're not a Christian. Until you have died, and risen to newness of life with Christ, you're not a Christian. That's the description of a Christian.

The Voluntariness of Baptism: Conscious Reception and Submission

45:28 You hath he made alive who were dead. Now we walk in newness of life. And then the third thing that I want to bring before you tonight. Can you take one more?

45:38 Is it too hot out there? I get worked up and work up a lather, and I could go on for an hour, but you're sitting out there where it's hot. All right? Thirdly then, not only does the element signify cleansing, one of the great blessings of union with Christ, the act itself, signifies death to the old life, emergence to the new, another fruit of union with Christ, but the voluntariness by which we are baptized underscores our conscious reception of the blessings of the new covenant, and our conscious submission to the terms of discipleship.

46:13 The voluntariness by which we are baptized underscores the conscious reception of the blessings of the new covenant, and our conscious submission to the terms of discipleship. All of the portions where there is a baptismal command underscore the fact that baptism is to be a personal voluntary act. Acts chapter 2, they cry out, Sirs, what shall we do? And he says, Repent and be baptized every one of you.

46:48 You see, the command comes to them personally, individually. They are to be baptized. It's a passive verb, but it's in the imperative. You are to do it.

46:56 You are to allow someone to plunge you beneath the baptismal waters. And that's a totally voluntary act. Standing there last week, at any point, if I had said, I baptize you into the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost, and they did not, as it were, go limp and let me drop them down and raise them, there'd have been no baptism. If they stood up rigid, if they planted their feet, no, no.

47:20 There is a very strong element of voluntariness in the very act of baptism. That follows through all the commands to baptism. Read them through the book of Acts. I will not weary you with laying them out before you.

47:33 So we must not confuse the issue at all. We're brought into a state of grace by a sovereign, powerful work called theologically effectual calling, called biblically just plain calling, when God lays hold of us and in the mysterious hidden depths of our being, he quickens us to life in the context of the preached word. And the first response of that new life is consciously in repentance and faith to embrace the Savior. The Westminster Confession defines it beautifully in the section on effectual calling.

48:09 He enlightens our minds, subdues our wills, enables us to turn so that we come most freely and willingly, being made willing by his grace. And baptism wonderfully declares this truth, that it's by God, by the sovereign activity that the old has been put off and the new has emerged, but the expression of his activity is our conscious embrace of that new life, our conscious embrace of the blessings of his grace. Baptism then is this voluntary declaration that God has called me. I do now possess by his grace cleansing from my sin, a new heart, a new life, and I do consciously submit, and I do consciously submit, to the triune God, the Father to be my Father, the Son to be my mediator, the Spirit to be my sanctifier. There is that strong element of voluntariness in the whole baptismal act. And it's the absence of this in the sprinkling of infants that has stripped baptism of its true vigor and its biblical significance. That's not just my conclusion.

49:22 One of the most profound works on theology from a historical standpoint that I've ever read, and this is heralded by all theologians, William Cunningham, the reformers and the theology of the Reformation. Mr. Cunningham was professor of church history at the Free College in Edinburgh, a godly convinced Scots Presbyterian, a convinced paedo-Baptist. But listen to what he says in his section on the doctrine of the sacraments concerning baptism.

49:54 Notice his admission. Notice his admission. Now, adult baptism exhibits the original and fundamental idea of the ordinance and is usually brought before us as it is directly and formally spoken about in the New Testament. And when baptism is contemplated in this light, that is, a consenting adult, there's no more difficulty in forming a distinct, indefinite conception regarding it than the Lord's Supper and I say amen.

50:20 It's when they tell me that this doctrine taught in the New Testament applies to the children that the where-as is in the how-evers and the in-as-much-as and it's all in a muddle and you can't get two theologians to agree as to the precise nature of the baptismal act upon a child. Why? Because the Bible gives us no material for forming the same. Of adult baptism we can say, just as we do of the Lord's Supper, that it is in every instance, according to the general doctrine of Protestants, either the sign and seal of a faith and regeneration previously existing, or the reception of the Lord's Supper.

50:55 Or the reception of the New Testament, which was a hypocritical profession of a state in mind and feeling which has no existence. That was Simon Magus. Now then, listen as he says further, Why should any man desire and ask to be washed with water in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, unless he has already been led to adopt such views of the three persons of the Godhead and the way of salvation and must have led him to embrace Christ as all his salvation and all his desire? That's the question he asks.

51:27 You know? And I say yes. And why bring my children to a baptismal font who have not been able to be acquainted with God who is Father, Son and Holy Ghost and has not been led to adopt such views of the three persons of the Godhead and of Christ as his Savior and his all? In short, an application to be baptized and the being actually baptized as the result of the application plainly imply a profession that the person so acting has been already led to believe in Christ to receive and accept of him as his Savior and his Master and that he intends to profess or declare by being baptized the views he has been brought to entertain concerning Christ and the relationship into which he has been led to enter with Christ and to pledge to discharge all of the obligations due upon him as a disciple of Christ. And that's the question, isn't it? How does he enter with Christ as a disciple of Christ? and feeling have not been produced, we cannot conceive that the baptism of an adult can be an honest and intelligent act. I say take out the little phrase of an adult and say without this

52:41 baptism cannot be an act ordained of God. Now some of you perhaps have wondered where did the word sacrament ever come in and it fits right here. You know where it originally came in? If you were a young man about to be conscripted into the Roman army, you would have to swear in what was called the sacramentum and when you swore your allegiance to the emperor and to the army into which you were being conscripted, that was the sacramentum. So in the early church, baptism was called a sacrament because it was the open avowal of a disciple that he was swearing allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now it has long since lost that significance so we must be careful in using the term but if we could return that meaning, I'd buy it. I think that's a great concept. It is the oath of allegiance and no one can make it for me. You go down to the local recruiting office and you go in there and give my

The Immutable Permanence of Baptismal Perspectives

53:40 name and get sworn in in my name and I say wait a minute my friend, you go join up if you want to, let me talk for me. You can't conscript anyone else or neither can you be conscripted by proxy. The idea that the sacred conscripted into the army of Christ should be done by godparents or by godly parents or by anyone else, no, no. It's when God has effectually called the sinner, brought him out of death into life, he is then privileged to declare by submitting to this ordinance through faith in his son, I am cleansed. By union with his son, I have died and I have risen and I now embrace all the obligations and privileges of a new man in Christ under the canopy of the gracious provisions of the new covenant and then we'll close with that fourth perspective in Matthew 28 and this I can treat in just about three minutes. How long and in what circumstances should these baptismal perspectives bind us? And in the passage in Matthew 28, we have the fourth point that I'm calling the immutable permanence of these baptismal perspectives. Two phrases, look at them. Make disciples,

54:59 make disciples of all the nations. That word nations is translated in our English Bibles three ways. Gentiles and heathen. In other words, our Lord envisions all the multitudes of those who were never in a covenant relationship with him, those Gentile nations. He says make disciples of all the nations and then he says, lo, I am with you all the time, even to the consummation of the age, until time. Merges into eternity. All the nations, all the time, these baptismal perspectives are binding upon us until our Lord returns and in every situation. It will not do to say as Watson does in one of his appendices in the body of divinity. I think it's in the section in the Ten Commandments on baptism. Well, Matthew 28 applies when the gospel first goes to the heathen and after that, then it doesn't apply.

55:59 We can't do that. Bishop Ryle says the same thing in his expository thoughts in the gospels. That's not exegesis. That's manipulation, my friends. Jesus said, when you go out, my apostles, and your task is then passed on to the church when there are no more apostles, these perspectives, who should be baptized, the significance of baptism, these are binding upon all the nations. First, second, third, twentieth generation, Christians, make disciples, baptize them and teach them. Nowhere does he inject make disciples, baptize them and their children and their servants and their cousins. No, no, baptize them, teaching them to observe whatsoever I have commanded you. And how long is this to go on? Until the Lord returns again. Well, I trust that this study has not been tedious to you. If you love the gospel,

Conclusion: Repentance, Belief, and Improving Your Baptism

57:02 you should love gospel ordinances. You should come to gospel ordinances intelligently. And my closing word to those of you who are not disciples of Christ, my word is not primarily come to the waters of baptism. My word is repent and believe the gospel. What gospel? The gospel of the ordinances, that Christ died. Christ was buried. Christ rose. For whom? On behalf of sinners. What sinners? All and any sinners that will come to him. For he's promised him that comes cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out. What about those of you who believe you have been enabled to come, but you've been more spiritual than God is? You've said, if I have everything through direct contact with the Savior, why do I need the waters of baptism? You've told us from the Scriptures, it's the blood of Christ that cleanses, it's the Spirit that gives us new life.

57:51 Why do I need the waters? Because God says you do, and He's wiser than you are.

57:57 Your faith may be so strong as not to need the external support. If so, you're wiser in your own eyes than you ought to be. God knows that you and I need that supportive influence, that visible reminder. And I have found, dear ones, and we ought all to do this, that my baptism on occasions has been a great means of sanctification.

58:19 I've found myself tempted in a given area of sin, here or there, and I've said, no, I cannot. I've been baptized. I've been baptized. I've declared that that life that responded to those enticements is dead and buried and is parched.

58:34 And the remembrance of my baptism has been the occasion of my being enabled to reckon myself dead indeed unto sin and alive unto God through Jesus Christ. That's Romans 6. That's exactly what Paul was doing with them. Oh, dear Christian, learn to improve your baptism, as the old writers would say, by remembering the spiritual significance of what God has wrought by His grace.

59:02 And if He's wrought that in you, I say, with Ananias, why tarriest thou? Arise and be baptized, washing away thy sins symbolically, calling upon the name of the Lord, the instrumental means of their being cleansed. Some of you may ask, Pastor Martin, why is it you don't ask people to come down the front if they want to accept Christ? Why is it you don't ask people to raise their hand or come to an inquiry room?

59:26 Because I see in the New Testament the only invitation to any external act is to declare that God has effectually called you, by coming to the waters of baptism.

59:37 That's the only one I see taught in the New Testament, but I do see it taught in the New Testament. And therefore I say without embarrassment, if Christ has laid hold of you, why tarriest thou? Arise and be baptized. And I hope, by God's grace, when He gives us a new building, that we'll have a baptismal tank that can stay full all the time, put a little chlorine in it once in a while, and what a joy it will be to have people come any time, during the week, on the Lord's day, declare to the elders what God has wrought for their souls.

60:10 Move the pulpit to the side and let them declare His work in them, in that sacred ordinance which He has ordained for His glory and for our good. Let us pray.