Requirements #3: Discipleship Baptism Part 1

Introduction: The Importance of Church Membership Standards and Baptism

0:02 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, May 6, 2001, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. I would ask you to follow with me in your Bibles as I read two portions of the Word of God, to which we will return in the exposition this morning, along with a number of other passages. But follow, if you will, please, first of all, from Matthew 28, verses 16 to 20, and then a portion from Acts chapter 2, Matthew chapter 28, in verse 16. Our Lord has risen from the dead, has manifested himself in various circumstances to his disciples and other followers. And then we read in 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.

1:06 And Jesus came to them and spoke unto them, saying, All authority has been given unto me in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and 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 command, and to know that I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Now, Acts chapter 2.

1:47 They have obediently followed the directives of their Lord, waiting in Jerusalem until the Spirit was poured out from the exalted messianic King, the Lord Jesus. And on the day of Pentecost, Peter is preaching to a vast multitude, and we read in verse 37 of Acts chapter 2, Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brethren, what shall we do? And Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, for to you is the... And to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call unto him.

2:47 And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, Save yourselves from this crooked generation.

2:57 They then that received his word were baptized, and they were added unto them in that day about three thousand souls, and they continued steadfastly in the apostles' teaching and fellowship in the breaking of bread and the prayers.

3:20 Now let us again look to God in prayer, asking that the Holy Spirit would be present, working mightily in all of our hearts as we come to consider God's word. Let us pray.

3:37 Our Father, we come again into your presence, conscious that it is not... that it is not in man that walks to direct his steps, that we have no innate, native power rightly to understand your word, that we are dependent upon your Holy Spirit who gave this word, that we might understand it, and for that grace needed to obey it.

4:04 And so we look up to you, our gracious Father who delights to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask, and we ask that he may be given even this day as the spirit of illumination, the spirit of understanding, the spirit of persuasion, the spirit who can open hearts and open eyes and unstop ears. Blessed Holy Spirit, come and do that work we plead. Amen. In our ongoing consideration of some of the biblical witness to the matter, of our life together as the people of God, as that life is codified, or the biblical principles are codified in our Constitution, we've come to the article dealing with the matter of church membership. And I began the first two messages on this vital subject two Lord's Days ago by making the following assertion. As a general rule fulfilling the God-prescribed purpose of the church, and may...

5:19 Maintaining a God-prescribed standard for membership in the church will stand or fall together.

5:31 Now I want that to sink in. As a general rule fulfilling the God-prescribed purpose of the church, and maintaining a God-prescribed standard for membership in the church will stand or will fall together. And having spent some 19 expositions dealing with the purpose of the church, as its purpose is condensed in a very concentrated way in the statement of our Constitution, having looked at numerous portions of the word of God in order to grasp something of the high and noble purpose of the church, it is vital that we give close and serious attention to this matter of the membership in the church for as a general rule fulfilling that purpose will be commensurate with our maintenance of a biblical standard for church membership and as we address this subject initially two Lord's days ago I tried to set before you an extended metaphor an analogy, an imagery towards which we will or to which we will look again and again as we work our way through this matter of membership

6:56 in a biblically ordered church I use the imagery or the analogy of a house with a large front door and a back door and that house represents the church those within it are given a responsibility to exercise a stewardship with respect to opening the front door or to opening the back door and though the leaders in the church God appointed elders have a peculiar and concentrated responsibility with respect to who is admitted at the front door who is dismissed at the back door they do not have an independent function with respect to the doors of Christ's church and I don't have time to go back over the scriptures that I set before you which unmistakably unmistakably affirmed that position that the church in her corporate life has the stewardship of the latch of the door both the front door and the back door and I said using that imagery that there are two questions that we must continually ask and make certain that our answer to those questions is rooted in the holy scriptures the person coming to the door of the church must ask this question who has a right and a responsibility

8:23 to seek admission to a biblically ordered church who has both the right and the responsibility to be found knocking on the front door certain people do have a right and the responsibility others have no right and no responsibility what is it that qualifies one to be a legitimate knocker at the front door of the church what credentials must he or she bring with him or her and then those within the house who have a responsibility as to whether or not they open that door they must ask this question whom does a biblically ordered church have both a right and a responsibility to receive into its membership those within the house don't get in a huddle and say well let us decide what will be the standard we will use to open or keep the door shut no both the one knocking and those who hear the knocking must look to a standard external to themselves and that standard is the word of God the holy scriptures and if ever Isaiah 8 20 has a very burning application it is here to the law to the testimony if they speak like this

Review of First Two Membership Requirements: Age and Gospel Knowledge

9:50 not according to this word there is no light in them so that imagery and we're going to carry it right through hopeful that it will my purpose is I'm hopeful that it will help to hang the materials together we then looked at that man knocking at the door and from the language of our constitution but more importantly from the scriptures we considered the first two requirements for membership in a biblically ordered church our constitution states it this way any man or woman shall be eligible for membership in this church who professes repentance towards God faith in our Lord Jesus Christ who manifests a life transformed by the power of Christ these first two requirements I defined this way first of all the requirement with respect to age or maturity our constitution says any man or woman not a male or female generically of any age of any level of maturity but it uses the term man or woman and then we sought to demonstrate from the scriptures that any definitive passage that describes who was admitted in the apostolic church it is clear that it was not comprised

11:17 of children of infants but of men and of women some young men some young women but certainly none who were prepubescent they certainly at least had come into puberty and there was emerging manhood and womanhood so that the scriptures state multitudes were added men and women then secondly we considered the requirement with respect to what I called gospel knowledge profession and experience gospel knowledge profession and experience any man or woman who professes repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ that profession if it means anything involves a modicum of knowledge of fundamental gospel truth how can one profess repentance toward God who does not know that God made him God placed him under his law that he has broken God's law he's gone into the God business he has defied the God of heaven the language of his heart is what we read this morning I will not have this man to reign over me how can there be any meaningful profession of repentance without at least a modicum of knowledge of God's authority our creatureliness our obligations to God the standard of his law the consequences of breaking that law

12:44 and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ there must be a modicum of knowledge of who Christ is and why it is that he is uniquely fitted to be the savior of sinners and what he did that God might justly and righteously pardon sinners that he was crucified the just for the unjust that he was raised for our justification that he lives at the right hand of the Father there must be a modicum of gospel knowledge and then our constitution goes on to say not only knowledge and justice and profession but also experience who manifest a life transformed by the power of Christ profession is relatively easy to make in a context where there is no life and death persecution when you know that to profess Christ may be to sign your death warrant generally speaking you're not going to do that unless there's been a radical transformation at the deepest level of your being but the standard of repentance and faith does not change because of the circumstances in which it is made and so those who are listening to the one knocking at the front door saying sir ma'am what are your credentials they must be able to respond I am a man

14:11 I am a woman I am a young man I am a young woman but I am a man I am a woman we say good credential number one you pass muster credential number two what do you know of repentance toward God and of faith to what our Lord Jesus Christ and if the answer is such that I got years ago when I was in a traveling ministry and I was witnessing to someone I met in a diner somewhere and asked him if he were a believer oh yes I believe in Christ I said well what do you believe about Christ he said I believe he's for good I said tell me a little more what else do you believe I believe he's for good that was the sum and substance of his faith in Christ I believe he's for good I believe he's for good now would I have any biblical grounds to believe that man had saving faith if that was an accurate reflection of what he believed about Christ no even the devil believes Jesus is for good that's why he trembles in his presence there's got to be some substantial gospel knowledge and profession of attachment to Christ and some validation that that is the faith that works by love now then we come this morning that brief revelation a relatively brief review we come to the third requirement and this is how it reads in our constitution any man or woman shall be eligible for membership in the church

Introducing the Third Requirement: Discipleship Baptism

15:37 who professes repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ who manifests a life transformed by the power of Christ who has been baptized upon profession of faith who has been baptized upon profession of faith who has been baptized upon profession of faith and what I'm calling this is the requirement of discipleship or confessors baptism we have the requirement of age or maturity the requirement with respect to gospel knowledge profession and experience requirement number three is that of discipleship or confessors baptism now most of you who know me over many years will know that I have no penchant for novelty and these terms may sound a little novel but I'm using them deliberately and I trust that when we get into the scriptures you'll see if that's not the wisest way to express it at least it is a good way and a helpful way the requirement of discipleship baptism or confessors baptism well you say pastor isn't that the same as believers baptism well not exactly isn't that the same as adult baptism not exactly

16:59 because both of those terms can be loaded in such a way as to skew the teaching of scripture the teaching of scripture is that the person knocking at the front door is able to bring forward as one of his credentials that he has been baptized as a disciple as a confessor of Jesus Christ as Savior and as Lord now I'm fully aware from my reading of church history and my understanding of the circumstances in the evangelical world today that for many the whole question of baptism is an irritant one man wrote a book a few years ago called the water that divides and he was referring to baptism showing how among the relatively thin ranks of evangelical Christians compared with other religious movements that there is this great divide over the matter of baptism. Who should be baptized? How? What is the significance of baptism?

Addressing Objections to Baptism: Division and Indifference

18:04 And some who have seen this reality that the water of baptism has been the water that divides, they've just thrown their hands up and said, if something is so much the occasion of divisiveness and volumes written and acrimony and bitterness and accusing and counter-accusing, just forget the whole thing. If salvation is in Christ, there's no salvation in the water. One can get all he needs to be right with God in Christ. Forget the water.

18:36 Now that's what the Salvation Army has done. I was reared in a home with a mother and father who loved Christ, who manifested an attachment to Christ, but I never saw a person baptized until I was 16. Because I was reared in the Salvation Army and they practiced no form of baptism. General Booth said, look, we're out.

18:55 We're out to win sinners in the down-and-out sections of London and we're going to go after sinners and see sinners won to Christ and we're not going to get them all hung up on this matter. So the Salvation Army practices neither baptism nor the Lord's Supper. And then, of course, there are the Quakers and other religious movements that said, if we have in our experience what baptism signifies, why bother with the ritual? Our great concern should be the spiritual experience.

19:24 Then there are others who aren't ready. They're not ready to go that far. But there exists right now, in this moment in which I speak, a rather large denomination in our own country that says, look, good and godly men have differed for so long and so deeply and so vehemently. Who are we to sort this out?

19:42 Who are you to sort it out? And so you can come into the church with any view of baptism you want. If you want to have your child sprinkled, that's fine. If you want to have water sprinkled on you or poured on, that's fine.

19:54 So they take. An absolutely flexible position on baptism. And you say, Pastor, are you out to foment division? No.

20:04 Do you delight in seeing that the water of baptism is the water that divides? No. Not at all. Well, why then in the world are you going to spend this morning and this evening preaching on baptism?

20:18 And we know you well enough that when you turn to the Scriptures, you're going to assert that these Scriptures point in a given direction. Why are you doing that? Isn't there enough on which we agree with all who profess faith in Christ to just forget the whole thing? Do our own thing, but do it kind of, you know, secretly.

20:40 And not make an issue of it.

The Necessity of Obedience to Christ's Command on Baptism

20:44 Well, that's a good question. And I hope you will be persuaded with me that if we could follow the tendency and the desire of a peace-loving heart, we would take that position. But the same Bible that mandates, a peace-loving heart mandates, we've read it, that those who make others disciples are to teach them whatsoever Christ has commanded. And it is my persuasion of conscience that when Christ commissioned the eleven and envisioned that commission being in place to the consummation of the age, that when he said make disciples, baptizing, bless them and teach them, not one of them said, Lord, oh, yes, sir, what is your question? What did you mean by baptism? And, Lord, who should be baptized? There was no question in their mind as to what Jesus meant.

21:45 And I hope to demonstrate from the Scriptures, the record of what they did establishes that they had no question as to what Jesus meant. And therefore, with all due respect to those who do not see these things, as we see them, we cannot relinquish the word of Christ in some pseudo-spiritual effort at ecumenicity. One of the inner circle of my dearest friends does not agree with what I'll preach this morning. He preaches in this pulpit every year, and he will continue to preach here.

22:24 He and I have a deep bond of Christian love and communion and fellowship. I'm speaking of Pastor Donnelly. So, if you're sitting there and you hear me come down right angles and say, oh, well, that just means...

22:36 No, no, friends. Our practice as a church shows that we are not schismatic and nasty to those who differ from us, but our graciousness to those who differ from us in this matter must not be construed as a lack of depth of conviction and commitment to what we believe the Scriptures teach. Our Trinity Book Service, three-quarters of the books on our shelves that are on your shelves are written by people who would not embrace what I'm to preach this morning. I'm preaching over the top of them, and I'm conscious that much of what they've written has been such a means of grace to my soul. So, I do not speak these things as a nasty Baptist, but I speak them as I trust a servant of Christ who wants to be obeyed, and I speak them as I trust a servant of Christ who wants to be obeyed, and I speak them as I trust a servant of Christ who wants to be obeyed, to the word of Christ. Well, then we come this morning and we're going to address the duty to baptize established. And then tonight, in conjunction with the communion service, and you'll see a bridge between them, we'll take up the significance of baptism explained. First of all,

The Three Pillars Establishing the Duty to Baptize

23:51 then, the duty to baptize established. Here's the man knocking on the front door. And we say, do you have your baptismal certificate? Can you validate that you have been baptized as a professed disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ? And if he were to answer us from outside the door and say, yo, folks, I hear you say I must be baptized. Can you tell me what is the basis of that duty? I hope after this morning you'll be able to answer, yes, I can give you a threefold response to your question, sir or ma'am. The clear command of the Lord Jesus Christ, the consistent pattern of the apostolic practice, and the common assumption of the apostolic letters. The duty for confessors or discipleship

24:44 baptism rests upon these three massive pillars of biblical revelation. The clear command of the Lord Jesus Christ, the consistent pattern of apostolic practice, and the common assumption of the apostolic letters. And when anyone can, to my rational mind, dismantle those three massive pillars, then I shall be prepared to put baptism into the category of a thing indifferent. But until then, I cannot. As Luther said before the Diet of Worms, my conscience is held captive by the word of God. First of all, then, the clear command of our Lord Jesus Christ. We turn back to the Matthew passage. As I've already indicated before reading the passage, our Lord is risen from the dead. He is about to return back to the right hand of his Father. And he comes

Pillar 1: The Clear Command of the Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 28)

25:48 to a place appointed, and at least the eleven are there. Some conjecture that this may be the place where the five hundred brethren mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15 may have been gathered. But the Bible is silent. It focuses upon the fact the eleven disciples, that is, the eleven remaining apostles, Judas has gone out and hung himself and gone to his own place. They meet at a place appointed by Jesus. And when they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted. And this is why some commentators say this could well be the five hundred, because by then the apostles had had these several very dramatic encounters with the risen Christ as recorded in John chapter 20 and in Luke chapter 24. But be that as it may, now that the Lord Jesus has them before him, he's going to open his mouth. And notice what he does in verse 18.

26:49 And Jesus came to them and spoke unto them, saying, and the first thing he does as he is about to prepare them for their marching orders, the first thing he does is turns the spotlight on himself. Before you consider what I command you, Jesus is saying, I want you to consider seriously who I am. Before you receive from my lips what you are to do, I want you to consider in a focused way who I am. And all that I tell you to do, I want you to do. And all that I tell you to do, I want you to do. And all that I tell you to do, I want you to do.

27:31 is to be conditioned by the reality of who I say that I am. And notice what he says about himself. All authority has been given unto me in heaven and upon earth. Speaking as the risen messianic king, Jesus says that in the fulfillment of his messianic task, the Father, though he doesn't mention the Father, the concept of givenness, he says, all authority has been given, delivered, handed over to me. All right to govern and to act in every single realm of God's universe, in heaven and upon earth, all authority has been given to me. Now before you receive my words as to what you are to do, let your minds and hearts be filled with this reality.

28:31 I who speak to you have plenary, unrivaled authority in every realm of existence in the entirety of God's universe. All authority in heaven and upon earth has been given unto me. Now, when the messianic king speaks from his throne, shedding all the light upon the unrivaled nature of that throne, dare we treat what he says lightly? Dare we treat what he says with a matter of indifference because problems have arisen in the implementation of what he says?

29:14 The thought borders on blasphemy. Then the Lord speaks, and what does he say? Verse 19. Here you have for you Greek students in aorist participle which absorbs into itself the imperative pressure of the central verb. The central verb is make disciples. That's the imperative. An aorist imperative, make disciples. But something of the imperatival weight and flavor is absorbed by the participle. That's why many translations would give the impression that it is an imperative. Go ye therefore. We could render it going therefore, as you will surely go. Make disciples. That's the central task. That's the imperative

30:04 verb, make disciples. You are to go forth, and you are to go forth among all the nations, and you are to do so with a view of making disciples. Your task is to make disciples. Now, what meaning would these people put on the words make disciples?

30:27 They themselves had been made disciples. They were engaged in a discipling ministry with their Lord through the remainder of his earthly ministry. They would understand that to make disciples means that by preaching and by instruction, you are to seek to bring men and women into an intelligent faith and surrender bond to Jesus Christ. To make a disciple is to make a learner.

30:57 To make a follower is to make one who puts himself under the authority and the directive of another. He said, this is your task, to make disciples, not to go out and get people to give mere professions of faith, to give lip service to me, not to go out and seek to Christianize the nations and take a fire hose and baptize thousands and claim them Christians. No, you're to make disciples. And they knew exactly what that meant, we read in John chapter 4, that when they knew, when our Lord knew, that the Pharisees knew, that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John, then they come and they try to stir up some problems with that, making disciples and baptizing them. This was the central task. Then there followed two present participles. Going therefore, or go therefore, in the light of who I am, therefore, there's the connection.

32:00 The disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe whatsoever I have commanded. Here are the two attendant activities. Whenever people are made disciples, they are to baptize them, and they are to teach them. Now notice the simplicity of the structure. Central task, make disciples. You make disciples by preaching. You make disciples by instruction and teaching, by entreaty, by pleading that they will be responsive to the grand gospel indicatives. You proclaim what God has done in Christ, and then you graciously command them to repent and to believe. And those who embrace the message, believing the indicatives, obeying the imperatives, and they are made disciples, such now are to be baptized.

32:58 Baptizing them. And having baptized them, though there is no explicit reference to forming them into communities of disciples, it's the undergirding assumption of the passage, and when we read parallel passages and see how the apostles fulfilled the mandate, there is an underlying assumption that teaching them will not be done atomistically, but will be done corporately. Ephesians chapter 4. Christ, the head of the church, the exalted Lord, gives gifts to his church, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the church.

33:38 He gives them to his church. And within the framework of that church, those who've been made disciples and have been baptized are to be taught not merely to know whatsoever I've said, but that teaching is to have an intensely ethical and practical teaching. Practical focus. Teaching them to observe whatsoever I have commanded you.

34:08 Now that's not all there to teach. And if we look at the apostolic letters, it's not just a string of commands. There are marvelous gospel indicatives, what God has done for us in Christ. But the great end of all the indicatives is the gospel imperatives.

34:25 That's why Ephesians 1-3, takes us into the heights of the glorious provisions we have in Christ. In chapter 4, I beseech you, he says, Therefore, in the light of this, that you are to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace, walk in humility and lowliness of mind. The apostle is seeking to teach the Ephesians to observe whatsoever is commanded. And you can't have God's people making bricks with no stone.

34:58 With no straw. You give them the straw of what they are and have in Christ, but you never leave them holding an armful of straw. You tell them how to make bricks with their straw. Teaching them to observe whatsoever I have commanded you.

35:14 That is the commission of the risen Lord Jesus Christ. And wherever His authority is loved, and His authority is respected, you will see, you will find men and women taking seriously the mandate to baptize. Just as surely as you will find them taking seriously the worldwide scope of the church's mission, make disciples of the nations, you will find a serious concern to implement baptism. Now, in some cases, that serious commitment, we would judge, is misguided with respect to how people are baptized. A few drops of water put on the forehead of a baby. But the person doing that has made conscience about baptizing. We may judge that their understanding is deficient and their appreciation of the significance is greatly truncated, but wherever Christ's authority has been recognized, baptism, in some way or other, has been present.

36:27 Because a passage like this, will not let you off the hook, unless, there is an extreme form of dispensationalism. Now listen carefully. I am not making a blanket condemnation of dispensationalism. Please turn this cassette over to continue the message.

36:46 There is an extreme form of dispensationalism. Now listen carefully. I am not making a blanket condemnation of dispensationalist, or dispensationalism, but I am saying what is a fact. There is an extreme, form of dispensationalism, that says, no, we can read this passage and understand it, but it doesn't speak to us in the church age.

37:09 It applied to the kingdom age, which had not yet been concluded, until Paul turns to the Gentiles in Acts 13. Now there aren't, compared to the broad scope of evangelicalism, there aren't a lot, but there are some, and you may meet someone who says, sure, I believe all of that, but that has nothing to do with us in the church age. And that's not a caricature, that's not a straw man. That position is in print, and if any of you question, come to me, and I'll be glad to give you the documentation.

Pillar 2: The Consistent Pattern of Apostolic Practice (Acts)

37:38 But wherever, as a general rule, amongst the vast segments of what we would call Christendom, over the centuries, where Christ is regarded to be what he says he is, the Messianic King, with all authority in heaven and in earth, given to him, there you will find people, concerned to obey his word, make disciples, baptize them, and teach them. Now we look at the second pillar. The duty to baptize is established not only by the clear command of the Lord Jesus Christ, but secondly, by the consistent pattern of apostolic practice. Now in these studies on the church, we've come back again and again to making flyovers through the book of Acts, to see what the apostles did. And I cannot, emphasize enough why we do that. We do that because we believe that though the apostles were unique and held an office that cannot be perpetuated, when the last apostle died, the apostolate ended, and though they had peculiar gifts of direct inspiration when they wrote what is now the scriptures, when they made pronouncements about God's truth, and though they had peculiar gifts of miracle-working powers, Paul speaks, of the signs of an apostle that were wrought in and through his ministry in 2 Corinthians 12.

39:06 What they did in establishing the churches and ordering the life of the churches becomes normative for the churches to the end of the age. There is an apostolic tradition, and you'll find that word tradition about six times in the letters of the New Testament. And unlike the use made of that terminology by Rome, we believe that there is an apostolic tradition. And the apostles teach us not only by what they say, but by what they did.

39:39 And therefore, when we are concerned to know, is our understanding of the command of Jesus accurate? If it is, then we should feel very much at home with what the scripture says the apostles did as they lived out that command. And so we're going to look at this second body of evidence, the second pillar, that points to the duty of baptism established the consistent pattern of apostolic practice. Turn, please, to the book of Acts.

40:10 And in the 28 chapters of the book of Acts, there are 9 to 11 recorded instances of baptism. Why 9 to 11? Not 9, 10, or 11. Well, if we take one incidence where it's recorded that Paul was baptized, and then later on when he's giving his testimony, about his conversion and baptism, he adds some additional material that would move it from 9 to 10.

40:39 And if we take the account in Acts chapter 8 that speaks of a group of people, and in the next verse of an individual, and include them as 1, then we have 10, but if we include it as 2, we have 11. That's it. And so we're going to take a flyover. And I do this for two reasons.

40:57 First of all, I trust to persuade you afresh, and if you're already persuaded, I've waited to confirm you in your persuasion, that there is a duty, with respect to the matter of baptism, that cannot be ignored if we claim to be those who follow apostolic instruction by word and by example. And then also to furnish you with what I hope is a helpful grasp upon these passages, so you can sit down with someone who is ready to inquire, what did Jesus mean when he said baptize disciples? And take someone through the scriptures and not say, oh well, if you've got a question, talk to one of my elders. No.

41:38 You should be able, with an open Bible, to take a thoughtful, reflective, teachable man or woman through the scriptures and demonstrate this fact. All right? Acts chapter 2. Here the Spirit has come on the day of Pentecost.

Apostolic Practice: Pentecost (Acts 2)

41:54 Peter is preaching to a serious group of men and women, intelligent, attentive hearers, of Peter's preaching, because we read in verse 37, when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart and they said. So whatever the age bracket, we know this had no reference to unconscious infants, to little toddlers. It had reference to people gathered at Jerusalem at the special Jewish feasts. They hear Peter's preaching.

42:28 They understand. They are pricked in their heart. They receive the message and they respond with the question, what shall we do? Verse 38.

42:36 And Peter said unto them, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For to you is the promise and to your children and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call unto him. And with many other words he testified and exhorted them saying, save yourselves from this crooked generation. Then they that received his word were baptized.

43:13 Now without anything approaching, a detailed exegesis. Look at the passage at face value. These people are troubled and they cry out, what shall we do? Peter says repent, but he doesn't mention believe, does he?

43:28 This is one of the passages where in response to the question, what shall I do to be saved? What shall I do to be right with God? The biblical writer simply puts repent. Other passages simply says believe.

43:42 Acts 16.31. The jailer cried out, what must I do to be saved? And Paul said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

43:50 But when we bring all the passages together, we know that never is there a summons to repent that does not assume that it's a believing. It's a believing repentance. And when you have simply believed, it is never assumed that that's an impenitent faith. It is a penitent faith.

44:08 It is a believing repentance. It is a penitent faith. And implicit is in these words. Be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

44:19 That is, baptized into this person, into connection with him, unto Jesus the Christ, who died, who rose, whose work is the basis of forgiveness of sins. Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins. Remission that is not rooted in the water, but is rooted in Jesus Christ. It's symbolically declared in the water.

44:47 And furthermore, upon doing this, you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. We have received the Spirit, the gift of the ascended Christ. He has shed forth this, which you see and hear. He is the Christ.

45:02 He is the Messianic King. You get rightly related to him by repentance and faith and by an open declaration of your attachment to him. And you'll have every blessing from Christ that we have. And Peter says, this promise is to you.

45:18 And furthermore, if every one of you embraces it, you won't exhaust it. It is to your children, embracing it on the same terms that it's offered to you. You must repent explicit, faith implicit, gift of the Spirit promised. The promise is to you, not irrespective of repentance and faith.

45:41 And to your children, not irrespective of repentance and faith. And to all that are afar off, not irrespective of repentance and faith. In fact, Peter says, it is as expansive and limited in these terms as many as the Lord our God shall call to him. Now, dear people, if you don't have an ax to grind, what do Peter's words mean?

46:15 What is Peter conveying to these people? He is conveying to them that in the light of all that God has done in Jesus Christ, God now freely offers forgiveness of sin, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and he sets it before you in promise. Repent implicit, believe with a faith that does not drive you underground as a secret disciple, but a faith that brings you to open confession and identification with Christ. Now, is that how they understood it?

46:53 Verse 40, With many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, Save yourselves from this crooked generation. He lays out the implications of discipleship. He doesn't say, Man, let's strife while the iron's hot. They're all trembling and crying out.

47:10 Let's be sure to clinch the deal before they get off the hook. Peter knows if God's got him on his hook, he's going to hold them. He's going to draw them. And he doesn't give them some cheap, tawdry, truncated view of what it means to be a disciple.

47:26 He gives them many other words. Many other words in order to help them to understand what discipleship will mean. It will mean being delivered from this crooked generation, not only its judgment, but its ways, its estimation of Christ, and all that's involved in it now. Verse 41, Then they that received his word, his message, notice it's not his words, his word, singular, his message, they that received the totality of his message were baptized.

48:03 Now, I don't mean to be unkind, but do you think any dogs and cats were baptized? Anyone think any dogs or cats were baptized? Why not? Because it doesn't say.

48:20 As many as received his word plus their dogs and cats were baptized. And if there were dogs and cats and God told us, we'd say, I don't understand why, but that's what the Bible says and I'm going to believe it. And I'm ready to wait until I get to heaven to find out why. We have no more warrant to read in, they that received his word were baptized, and their children, then we have a right to read in dogs and cats.

48:48 This is a limiting, descriptive phrase. They that received his word. There was no proxy faith. There was no baptism on the pledge that these children of these penitent believing baptized sinners now stood in a peculiar place of privilege.

49:14 No, no, no. There is not a shred of it. And dear people, I get weary when I read the books on our shelves downstairs when good and godly men address this. And they give us the justification the promise is to you and to your children.

49:34 Dot, dot, dot. End of discussion. Well, my brothers and sisters, that's not the end of the discussion with me. If the word and to your children warrants their baptism, then it warrants baptizing all that are afar off irrespective of whether they are called by God into union with his Son.

Apostolic Practice: Samaria (Acts 8)

49:59 Let God be true and even good. And godly men must stand judged before the statements of God's holy word. Now the next incident is Acts chapter 8. We'll gather some momentum, I assure you.

50:20 Acts chapter 8. Saul is persecuting the church. People of God are scattered except the apostles. Philip, who had been recognized as a leader, appointed with the other six to administer the table of the widows, apparently manifested some preaching gift.

50:40 We don't have any specific reference to that in the earlier chapters, but obviously he would not take upon himself without some validation from the apostles that he was uniquely qualified to preach and apparently there was an apostolic conferral of some measure of gift to perform miracles and signs. You read all of that in verses 5 through 8. Now we read verse 9. But there was a certain man, Simon by name, who before time in the city used sorcery and amazed the people of Samaria.

51:18 Giving out that he himself was some great one, to whom they all gave heed from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is that power of God who is called great. And they gave heed to him because of long time he had amazed them with his sorceries. But when they believed Philip, preaching good tidings concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Now notice the order.

51:48 Philip is preaching. There's a group of people who believe this preaching of good tidings, this gospel preaching. And those who believe were baptized, both men and women. Luke, under the guidance of the Spirit, is specific.

52:08 Men on air and women, gune, adult males and adult females. Upon hearing, somehow made it known that they had embraced the message and upon profession of their faith, and here repentance is not mentioned, but it's assumed that it was a penitent faith, though faith alone is mentioned. And then verse 13, And Simon also himself believed. Now was that true saving faith?

52:43 No, we're going to find out later in the chapter. It wasn't. It wasn't just faith. He said, I'm a believer.

52:49 He came to the front door. Who are you? I'm Simon, former magician, charlatan, fleecing the people with my magic tricks. Well, why should we let you in?

52:58 Well, I'm a male. I'm an adult. I profess to believe the good tidings. I've turned away from my magical arts.

53:04 And I'm prepared to be baptized. Look at the text. Continuing with, I'm sorry. And Simon also himself believed that he was baptized.

53:12 Now, I'm not saying that he was baptized. I'm not saying that he was baptized. I'm saying that he also himself believed and being baptized, he continued with Philip. Well, at this point, everything looks great that he's one of the many who have seen their sins and owned the reality of their need of Christ.

53:27 And they've embraced the good news about Christ. And upon profession of that faith, they've come forward to declare it. They are confessors and they enter in and experience confessors, discipleship, baptism. And so does this man, Simon.

53:43 And so does this man, Simon. And so does this man. But it isn't long before he shows his true condition. And Peter, by an unusual gift of knowledge given to him, he knows the state of this man's heart.

53:59 And he says to him in verse 22, repent of your wickedness and pray the Lord if perhaps the thought of your heart be forgiven you. I see you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity. Your heart is not right before God. But what happened?

54:18 Well, Philip was just being obedient to the commission. He is preaching Christ. And here are people who profess to embrace the message of Christ. And there is nothing of a glaring contradiction in that profession.

54:33 So they are baptized including this man, Simon. Time proves that his profession of faith was furious. That he had no real saving attachment to Christ. But the fault lay with Philip.

54:51 Philip was simply carrying out the commission given to the eleven obviously passed on by word of mouth and by example to Philip working under the apostles there in Jerusalem seeing the pattern of people made disciples, baptized, gathered to be taught. And when his life indicates that there is no fruit of saving faith notice his baptism didn't do him a lick of good. His baptism automatically conveyed anything. Peter could not say your heart is not right before God you have no part nor lot in this matter.

55:30 His baptism was nothing but a free wash. That's all nothing more. It was a meaningless right. Why?

55:40 Because the root of true repentance and faith was not in him. God did not give to Philip the ability to read hearts. But he was following the directives of his Lord. That's why I don't like to use the term believers baptism only.

55:58 I can't tell whether someone has true faith. Only God knows the heart. I can tell if someone's confessing Christ if someone professes to be a disciple of Christ. That's why I like the term discipleship baptism confessors baptism.

Apostolic Practice: Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8)

56:17 If we add the word professing believer baptism we're not comfortable with it. Now then, further on in this chapter, you remember God takes Philip right out of Samaria where there's a mighty work of God going on sends him down into a desert that he might preach to an Ethiopian eunuch a man who's come up from very much south of Palestine is returning from the Jewish feast him? And we read in verse 34, and the eunuch answered Philip and said, I pray thee, of whom speaks the prophet this, of himself or some other? Right in the heart of Isaiah 53, what did Philip do? Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this scripture, preached unto him Jesus. He preaches the Lord Jesus. He says, here's a man I want to see him made a disciple. How do we make

57:15 him a disciple? We preach Jesus to him. We preach that Jesus is the fulfillment of all of the Old Testament prophets. Jesus is the one led as a sheep to the slaughter and a lamb before her shearers that was dumb. It is Jesus in whom all of the prophetic scriptures find their fulfillment.

57:34 But along the way, you see, after preaching Jesus, he must have said something about, and if you really embrace this Jesus, you must be baptized, even though there's not an exposé yet to be given to you. And he said it. No church there in the wilderness, even though one else is going to witness it, because look at the next passage. And some of you have an extra verse in there, and I won't go into the textual problem.

57:56 We come to verse 36. And as they went on the way, they came to a certain water, and the eunuch said, Behold, here's water. What doth hinder me to be baptized? I'm now a disciple.

58:09 You have answered the question of my heart. Who is the one of whom Isaiah speaks? And you preach Jesus to me, and I see in Jesus, whom he had never seen, as far as we know, with his physical eyes. He comes to faith by the preaching of the word, by someone who declares the truth about Jesus.

58:28 And somewhere along the line said, And if you have embraced it, you must declare it in the ordinance established by Jesus, the exalted messianic king. What doth hinder me to be baptized? And he commanded the chariot to stand still. And one of the most powerful circumstantial descriptions that point to something more than a few drops of water on the forehead, or a cupful poured on the head, and they went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.

59:01 And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, and the eunuch saw him no more, for he went on his way rejoicing. Here Philip is obeying the commission of Christ. Make disciples. Baptize them.

59:15 Now, he couldn't fulfill the latter part, and he had to leave that with God. You see, the Lord puts these things in here so that we never think we've got it all set up like the details of Mosaic legislation. We've got it all tidy. God loves to mess up our tidy little schemes.

59:31 Is there ever a warrant to baptize someone when we cannot see how they will be incorporated into a local church immediately? Apparently, Philip did it, and there's not an indication that God frowned on him or said, Naughty, naughty.

59:45 So it's there. It's there. And if for nothing else, it keeps us from thinking we've got all the little pieces all tied up neatly. But one thing he didn't do, he didn't violate the framework, make a disciple and baptize him.

Apostolic Practice: Saul, Cornelius, Lydia, Jailer, Corinthians, John's Disciples (Acts 9, 10, 16, 18, 19)

59:58 All right? Then you move on to Acts chapter 9, and here the Lord says, I'm going to get my man. This man breathing out threatenings and slaughters against my people and abusing me in my people. And Saul of Tarsus is on his way with letters giving him official.

60:16 Right to apprehend Christians, and the Lord says, it's time to get my man. And the Lord comes to him, speaks from heaven, blinds him with a bright light above the brightness of the noonday Syrian sun. And then what happens? Well, you remember, the Lord talks to a humble disciple by the name of Ananias.

60:39 Verse 10. There was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I'm here, Lord.

60:48 The Lord said, Go to the street called Straight. Inquire the house of Judas for one named Saul, a man of Tarsus. Behold, he prays. And he has seen a man named Ananias coming in, laying his hands on him that he might receive his sight.

61:00 And Ananias says, But wait a minute, Lord. I've heard about this character. You've got to give me some more information. And the Lord says, All right, I'll tell you some more about him.

61:08 And he assures Ananias that he's in no jeopardy going to this man. Verse 17. And Ananias departed, entered into the house, laying his hands on him, said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, who appeared to you in the way which you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Straightway there fell from his eyes as it were scales, and he received his sight.

61:30 He arose and was baptized. Now, wait a minute. You mean if you hear the voice of Christ speaking out of heaven, and you are given a revelatory experience for one of the requirements of a apostle, he must have seen the risen Christ. And the risen Christ appears to Saul of Tarsus.

61:53 And the risen Christ speaks to Ananias, saying, He's a chosen vessel to me. This man is going to take my name far hence to the Gentiles. With all of that experience and the dignity of his calling, surely a simple watery rite can add nothing to this man. God says, No.

62:14 He's going to be on the same level with the humblest person who ever becomes identified with me. He's got to go down in the water and come up and be marked as one of mine in that visible sacrament, or I don't use the term sacrament in that visible ordinance of baptism. And Paul refers to this in Acts 22, which we'll see in a subsequent study. But now we hasten on to Acts 10.

62:43 Peter's been led again by direct revelation. He has a vision. Someone's going to come to him. Same time, God is deeming.

62:52 Deeming with people there in Caesarea. Sorry, up in Joppa, in Caesarea.

63:01 And what happens? Peter comes into the household of Cornelius and his house. And remember, we've got to back up. I must back up to this.

63:09 I'm trying to cut corners here. But there's something very critical in the opening part of the passage that we must not overlook. That when God speaks to Peter and tells him that he is to go and to minister to these people.

63:35 Let me just pause a moment. I want to get the specific verse. Oh, it's in the opening of the chapter. I'm sorry.

63:44 Now, there was a certain man in Caesarea, Cornelius by name, a centurion of the band called the Italian band. Now notice, a devout man and one that feared God with all his house. This was a God-fearing man. Who had nothing but God-fearing people in his household.

64:06 And that's a term that's used for Gentile proselytes or proselytes of the gate halfway becoming Jews. But the Spirit of God is careful to articulate that this man was not the only man who feared God in his house. His entire household were God-fearers. Then God gets Peter there in the household.

64:28 He's preaching to the household. And now we read, verse 44, While Peter yet spoke these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all them that heard the word. The Spirit comes where the word has been preached, where there is attentive hearing of the word. They of the circumcision that believed were amazed, as many as came with Peter, because when the Gentiles was poured out the gift of the Holy Spirit, they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God.

64:57 Then answered Peter, Can any forbid the Word? The water that these should not be baptized who received the Holy Spirit as well as we? The promise is already fulfilled in them. The ordinary pattern is, Repent, be baptized, you should receive the gift of the Spirit.

65:15 Here they are listening, they repent and believe. The Spirit is given with miraculous signs to persuade these prejudicial Jews that Gentiles get the same blessings in Christ that Jews get. Peter says, How can we forbid? The water, these have received the Spirit.

65:33 Now look at verse 48. And he suggested that if they felt there was something lacking, they might be baptized. No, he commanded them to be baptized.

65:42 They already had everything that these apostles and Jewish Christians had in Christ. Why do they yet need the water? Because the Lord had said, Make disciples, baptize them, and teach them. And the next verse says, They prayed they, Then, Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.

66:05 And it appears that he did. And what did he do? He tarried out his Lord's commission. Having made disciples by preaching, having baptized them, they are then taught.

66:15 Our time is gone.

66:19 Go to Acts 16. On your own this afternoon. Lydia and her household, same thing. And then the jailer and his household gathered under the word.

66:31 The whole household believes. The whole household is baptized. The whole household is described as rejoicing in God. And then Acts chapter 18.

66:40 What happened at Corinth? The same pattern many of the Corinthians hearing, believed, and were baptized. When Paul makes reference to the ones he specifically remembers baptizing in 1 Corinthians 1, he speaks of one of those very families as being addicted to the ministry of the saint. It was a household of at least young adults.

67:02 And full-blown adults. And then Acts 19, 1 to 5. A lot of questions. But one thing is clear.

67:09 That where these people did not have sufficient knowledge to warrant gospel faith, Paul, quote, re-baptizes these who have been baptized by John. Because even if they had heard a fully adequate Job, John the Baptist's message, part of John's message was, one is coming who will baptize in the Holy Spirit. And they said, we've not so much as heard that the Holy Spirit is. And so, Paul says, then Paul baptized them.

67:34 He preached the full-blown apostolic gospel. And upon their profession of faith, they were baptized. What do all these passages set before us? They set before us a careful, conscientious obedience of the word of Christ.

Conclusion: The Unwavering Biblical Mandate for Discipleship Baptism

67:50 The third pillar, we're just going to have to leave it. This batter of preaching gets more and more frustrating. But we'll go and we'll somehow do something to adjust what I'd hoped to bring tonight and where I've left you off. Very raggedly.

68:03 This morning, but if nothing else, I hope you've come to the place where you say, if I am persuaded that discipleship baptism is biblical, then I ought to be persuaded in such a way that I will not feel nervous with any explicit record of who was baptized and how in the book of Acts. Is that fair enough? If I have to be embarrassed, and I have to admit like one of the most godly, profound theologians of another generation did, there is no evidence of the baptizing of infants in the New Testament. That's not an enemy of the practice, a supporter of it.

68:46 Dear people, God did not give this initiatory ordinance so that profound covenant theologians could come up with about four or five different rationales for it. No, it's a simple initiatory ordinance to be implemented throughout all the world, wherever the gospel goes, with a view to making disciples, that those disciples should be baptized and gathered into groups of disciples called churches, that they might be taught whatever Christ has commanded. So we come back to where we started. We're at the front door of the house.

69:26 What are the credentials that should be present? Maturity, confession, experience, knowledge, and that of baptism. Inside the house, we are not making a standard. Why do you Baptists insist?

69:44 The question is, what does Jesus Christ insist? That's the issue, dear people. And there are some of our forefathers who were martyred, martyred, because they would not call a little water on an unconscious infant what Jesus meant by baptism. A great price has been paid, and we don't glory in men, but we must recognize that the devil assaults this issue in every generation because, as we shall see, and I've already tried to persuade you in that opening statement, the purpose of the church often stands or falls with respect to requirements for admission. And if you get into the church by an assumed privilege and by merely absorbing knowledge and a climate and an ethos of religious life, and then validate what happened to you in your infancy by being able to give the right answer, and now you are a fully communicant member, so often it sows the seeds of declension and formalism the same way toddler and adolescent baptism ruins Baptist churches.