The Importance of Baptism

PDF

This morning, I thought it would be appropriate, since we're going to later be partaking of the Lord's Table, to step back and look at the other ordinance that Christ gave the church. You know, I think, if we're honest as Christians, some of the things that we do can seem rather strange to the uninitiated – I'll never forget, one of my friends out in California brought his young son into one of the services at Grace, and it was his first baptism service. He'd never been exposed to believer's baptism before, and, of course, they walked out in the little pool and he thought that was odd, but he really couldn't tell from where he was seated that it was water. And so, he heard the man give his testimony, and then he sat there in stunned and shocked amazement as John put the man under the water and brought him back up, and in fact, he almost jumped out of his seat and he grabbed his father's lapel and he said, "Dad, did you see what pastor John just did? He just shoved that guy into the water!" He thought maybe John had taken leave of his senses or something.

It's true that baptism does seem strange, if you try to imagine yourself having never heard of it before and then hearing about this rite, this ceremony called baptism – why did Christ demand such a ceremony; what exactly is its significance? You know, it's interesting that God often uses pictures – symbols – to drive home the truth that He has already communicated in words. I think, in reality, God is doing what we do as parents, but He's doing it with us. If you want to teach your children a complex, abstract idea, what do you do? You present it to them in a concrete image; you draw them a picture. God, in a sense, with the two ordinances that He's given the church, has given further understanding of them through the pictures of those realities that He's drawn for us.

Really, when we talk about these two ordinances of the Lord - baptism and the Lord's Table – they are pictures, or more technically correct, they are symbols or signs. A symbol or a sign is simply a visible object or action that points to a reality different and more significant than itself. For example, on my way home from the church, I drive down Pleasant Run and through Big Bear Creek. As I come out on the other side, there's a sign that says you are now entering the city of Colleyville. Colleyville is a place that is represented by that sign. The sign is not the reality; the sign only points to the reality that is the city of Colleyville. In the same way, these two ordinances are signs that aren't the reality themselves, but they point to the central realities of the gospel that you and I believe. And when we participate in these signs, these symbols, we profess our own personal faith in the reality that they represent.

I want us to take a look at baptism this morning. Baptism, I think, is the most neglected of the two ordinances Christ gave His church, and I think part of that is because in our day it's hard to make baptism user-friendly; it just doesn't seem like it fits the culture. That's not to say there haven't been those who tried; you probably read as I did this past week about an area pastor of a large church who decided that he wanted to try to help the people get over the sort of stigma attached to baptism, and so he brought in and put on his platform, reassembled a Krispy Kreme making machine. Now that's not a bad idea – I don't mean, about the platform, but I wouldn't mind having some Krispy Kreme doughnuts in the church. But his intention was to use it as an object lesson, and he said, you know, baptism is a lot like this Krispy Kreme doughnut – as this fried doughnut passes underneath the sugar, that's like baptism. Now, don't ask me what that means; I have no idea. My guess is that when he finished, most of the people sitting there probably simply wished they could have one of the doughnuts. Baptism, for that reason and others, has been greatly depreciated in our society, and because of that, there are many professing Christians who more and more are refusing to be baptized, who simply just aren't being baptized. What are the reasons that those who profess to know Christ would not be baptized? Well, I made a little list – let me give them to you, just a few reasons that professing Christians might not be baptized.

The first is a lack of knowledge – I mean, after all, you never hear a message on baptism; this may be the first message you've heard in a long time on baptism. You don't hear about it on Christian radio, Christian television, there's no recent book about baptism – so, sometimes, it's just a lack of knowledge. Another reason, I think, some don't follow the Lord in baptism is because of indifference – they really fail to appreciate how important it is. A third reason might be pride – I mean, after all, if you've been a Christian any time at all, and you fail to be baptized, and then you eventually come to the realization you should be, that's a hard hurdle to get over, to say, you know what, I've sat in the church for years and I've not been baptized, and so I'm not sure I want to do that now. Pride can get in the way of baptism. For others, it's simple rebellion – they understand the command and they're unwilling to obey it. And, for some, I think, it may simply be unbelief – the reason they won't be baptized is because their faith really never was genuine at all. Now, when we're done this morning, I hope that you won't let anything get in the way of your being baptized.

Now, many of us already have been baptized, and I don't want to leave you out of the message this morning. There really is another reason for me preaching this to all of us, and that is, I think, there is an equal danger of those of us who have been baptized failing to appreciate the importance of that ordinance, not allowing it to be the symbol or sign that God intended it to be in our lives. So, I want, this morning, to reconstruct for us what the Bible teaches about this crucial issue, and we're going to take it more as sort of a teaching format and, let me just go through with you four issues regarding baptism.

Four issues regarding baptism – the first issue I want us to look at is the background of baptism. The background of baptism – you see, the concept of baptism was not new in the first century, when Christ commanded it. There had already been what was called Jewish proselyte baptism. By the time of Jesus, if you were a Gentile and you wanted to become a sure enough Israelite, you wanted to be a true proselyte to Judaism, then the rabbis said, if you want a full standing in the covenant to Abraham, you have to do three things. The first, the rabbis called korban, that is, you have to make a sacrifice, a burnt offering. Secondly was milah – milah was circumcision; if you were a man, you had to be circumcised. And thirdly was tvilah, and that was baptism. Baptism – it had to be with three witnesses present; usually they were members of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Ruling Council. And the person who was going to be baptized cut their nails, cut their hair, and then fully immersed themselves in the water so that it touched every part of their body. If you were a woman, then women were attending you – the rabbis stood just outside the door, making sure that it actually had happened, after the event had occurred. The rabbis said that when that Gentile came up out of the water, he came as "a child of one day." A little child just born – they weren't talking about spiritual renewal or renovation, they were simply saying, it's like you're starting an earthly life all over again, you're getting a fresh start on life, you have a new relationship to God and to Israel – that was proselyte baptism.

Into that context, that background, comes a man named John – John the Baptist. Turn to Luke 3 – let me just remind you of John's ministry. Luke 3:1-2 gives us the context geopolitically, but then it says this in verse 3. "And he" – that is, John the Baptist – "came into all the district around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins." You get a little flavor for his preaching in verse 7.

So, he began saying to the crowds who were going out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers (not exactly user-friendly stuff!), who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore, bear fruits in keeping with repentance and do not begin to say to yourselves 'We have Abraham for our father,' for I say to you that from these stones, God is able to raise up children to Abraham. Indeed, the axe is already laid at the root of the trees, so that every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."

And his message was very effective. You notice verse 10 – "the crowds were questioning him, saying, 'then what shall we do?'" Tell us, how we can demonstrate repentance in our lives? And he goes on to do that.

What is John doing here – what is this baptism of repentance? Really, this is simply a continuation of Jewish proselyte baptism, but John gives it special meaning; here's what he says. He says, listen – you're a Jew, but you are no closer to the true Kingdom of God, you're no closer to being a true Israelite than one who is born a Gentile. You need to repent of your sins, and you need to truly embrace, in a real way, the God of Israel. The fact that you were born a Jew, as he says here, the fact that you're Abraham's children, means nothing – God can raise up from stones children to Abraham. Your physical descendant means nothing to you. If you want to truly be associated with the God of Israel, then you lay aside your sin, you repent of your sin, and you humble yourself, become like a Gentile, and admit that you have no relation to the God of Israel, and that you need to be brought into the people of God through proselyte baptism.

According to Acts 19, John's baptism was not true Christian baptism – you remember in Ephesus, when Paul got there, he found those who'd been baptized only with the baptism of John. He instructed them, and then he rebaptized them. But John's baptism was very important – it was an indication to the Jewish people that they were no better than the Gentiles and they needed to embrace the God of Israel, in a true way, that was expressed through repentance and faith. You'll remember, of course, that Jesus came to John to be baptized with the baptism of repentance. You see it in Matthew 3, and you remember John tried to stop Him, and Jesus said, no, I want you to permit it for now, in order that we can "fulfill all righteousness." You see, Jesus didn't need repentance, He didn't need a baptism of repentance. He didn't need to admit His sinfulness to enter into the true Israel, but He did it because it was the right thing to do as our representative. He lived a perfect life, and part of that perfection was this baptism of repentance.

So, John baptized, but John wasn't the only Baptist in Israel during that time – turn to John 3:25. "There arose," it says, "a discussion on the part of John's disciples" – we're talking about John the Baptist now – "with a Jew about purification," issues relating to cleansing. And these disciples of John come to John, and they say to John, "'Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified'" – obviously, this is Jesus Christ they're talking about – "'He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him.'" It's in this context we have that tremendous comment by John in verse 30: "He must increase, but I must decrease." But what I want you to see – notice John 4:1, "Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John." We know that there were crowds going out to John; in a form of hyperbole, the writers of scripture say all Judea went out to John at the Jordan, and now we find that Jesus and His disciples were baptizing more than John. But verse 2 says it was really His disciples, because "Jesus Himself was not baptizing" – that's an interesting comment that John makes in passing. R.C. Ryle writes this about that verse, he says "this verse intimates that baptism is neither the first nor the chief thing about Christianity. We frequently read of Christ's preaching and praying, once of His administering the Lord's Supper. But baptize, He did not, as though to show us that baptism has nothing to do with salvation." So that is the cultural background into which Christian baptism comes – they were accustomed to the idea through Jewish proselyte baptism. The Jews baptized to show that a Gentile was repudiating his old life and becoming attached to Israel's God. John came along and he did the same thing, but he argued that it wasn't just Gentiles that needed it – there were Jews that needed it as well, and that they needed it along with genuine repentance for their sins.

That's the background, and that brings us to the second issue I want us to see this morning about baptism, and that is the command of baptism. The command of baptism – turn to Matthew 28. You'll remember that after our Lord's resurrection, verse 16 says, "the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated" – they're going to have a rendezvous – and "when they saw Him, they worshiped Him, but some were still doubtful." Verse 18: "Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying 'All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth'" – what an incredible claim. Jesus is claiming all-encompassing, unrestricted sovereignty over the entire universe. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me – it's in the context of that statement that He delivers what we call the Great Commission. It's really the Great Command because it is a command – notice verse 19.

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

Now, I want you to notice verse 19 again and just remind you of the construction of this verse – in the original language, there is only one main verb and one imperative or one command. It's translated here, "make disciples" – that is the core of this sentence, "make disciples." By the way, this is an important key that Christ gives us to understanding that expression in the rest of the New Testament, that idea of making disciples or becoming a disciple. Notice that since baptism immediately follows becoming a disciple, that means that in New Testament terminology, to become a disciple is no different than becoming a Christian – it's choosing to become a follower, a learner of Jesus Christ. That's what it means to be a disciple, because immediately upon becoming a disciple, you're to be baptized.

Now, notice again that expression that's the central verb of the sentence – "make disciples." It is modified by three participles. I know I'm scraping back your English upbringing; you've got to think about this for a moment. There's one main verb modified by three participles – the first one is translated in the NAS, "go." Literally, in the Greek language, it says "having gone." Having gone, make disciples – there's an assumption that we will go, that we will have a passion for communicating the gospel, for making disciples – having gone, make disciples. There's another participle that modifies make disciples or make Christians, make learners of Me, make followers of Me, and that is "baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." Now, a couple of Sunday nights ago, we looked at this baptismal formula, so I won't do that again today – if you'd like to learn more about that, you can look back at that message. But notice the final modifier, verse 20, "teaching them to observe all that I command you" – make disciples, having gone, make disciples, baptizing them and teaching them.

Now, let me make several important observations about baptism from this foundational command – let's see if we take it apart a little bit and look at what we can learn about baptism here. First of all, you can notice the importance of baptism. The importance of baptism – there are churches that teach that baptism is not for us, that it's a Jewish ordinance that doesn't belong to the church; for example, the Quakers, the Salvation Army, and hyper-dispensationalist groups, if you understand what that means. But here, we see that baptism is a command of Christ to His apostles, and to all those who evangelize, because it comes connected with the imperative; it has, in essence, the form of an imperative. Make disciples and baptize them, is how we could understand it – once you make disciples, you're to baptize them. Also, in that phrase, there is an implied command to all who become disciples – once you become a disciple, be baptized.

There's another observation we can make of this verse, and that's of the timing of baptism. Notice the divine order – become a disciple and become a Christian, become a learner of Jesus Christ, be baptized, and be taught the truth. You see this in the early church – you remember, in Acts 2, on the day of Pentecost, 3,000 people came to faith in Christ, then later that same day they all were baptized. And we can assume, based on the rest of Acts, that they were taught, from there, the things they needed to know about the truth – that's the divine order.

Notice, also, we can observe in this verse the qualification for one who wants to be baptized – you have to be a disciple, you have to be a Christian, you have to be a learner committed to following Jesus Christ. Now, this raises the issue that comes up frequently, and that is, well, what about those churches that practice infant baptism? I told them in the first hour, I thought about trying to fit in some arguments here against infant baptism, but I don't have the time to do that this morning. That's another message but let me just say this: There is not a single example in the New Testament of infant baptism. You say, well, what about those verses they cite in Acts where it says that households were baptized? Well, if you'll look at those carefully, several of those clearly state that those who were baptized first heard the word and then believed and then were baptized. So, it's true, there were households baptized, but those households that were baptized were those who heard, believed, and then were baptized. And, again, we'll deal with that in more detail at some point. Before someone should be baptized, they should already have exercised saving faith, and they should be able to provide a credible testimony of regeneration. John the Baptist provides the precedent for that – remember when the Pharisees came out asking to be baptized, what did he say to them? "You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" Go and show forth fruits "in keeping with repentance."

Now, this brings up a question I need to address and that is, if those who are disciples, those who make a credible profession of faith in Jesus Christ are to be baptized, then why, as a church, don't we baptize younger children who profess faith in Christ? That has always been the practice of this church, and I wholeheartedly agree with it. It's because, although Scripture commands believers to be baptized, it's best not to rush the ordinance in the case of a child, even if a child can say enough in a testimony to make it reasonably clear that he understands the gospel and embraces it. We believe it's best that baptism should wait until that child can manifest two things: A clear, deliberate understanding of the Gospel, and an evidence of the Gospel in a more mature setting – that is, out from under parental control – when he can evidence those realities, both his understanding and the reality of change, independent from parental control. Because, sometimes, if you don't wait for that with children, you can drive a stake in the ground to which they cling, when in reality, they may not be Christians at all.

Also in this command, in Matthew 28, we see something else about baptism, and that's the mode of baptism; that is, how it's to be carried out. You see it in the meaning of the word baptized. Now, you often use an expression "that's Greek to me," or some people use that expression because the idea is, I don't know any Greek, except the little one that runs the restaurant down on the corner. That's not true, you do know Greek, you know a Greek word if you know the word baptize – that is a transliterated word straight from the Greek language. The Greek word is baptizo, spelled exactly the same, except for the ending. The word baptizo is the only word used in the New Testament to describe believer's baptism, and according to every classical lexicon – and believe me, most of these guys, in fact, none of them were Baptists, just as we're not – the word means to dip or to plunge. It's even used in secular Greek for drowning, which isn't really the intention of Christian baptism, but some have come close, I suppose, from time to time. It's also used figuratively for being overwhelmed, of being immersed, as it were, in trouble – being plunged beneath trouble. It's interesting that Martin Luther and John Calvin, both of whom were pedobaptist – that is, they believed in baptizing infants by sprinkling or pouring water on them – both of them admitted that the word baptizo means immerse, and that that was the practice of the early church.

You see this in other places in the New Testament, you see this coming out – for example, in John 3:23, it says John baptized at a place on the Jordan where there was much water, which would have been wholly unnecessary if all he was doing was sprinkling or pouring. In Mark 1:10, it says Jesus at His baptism came up out of the water, and there's some very interesting Greek prepositions that are used there – they make it clear that he was down in the water, and he came up out. Acts 8:36-39 describes the baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch, and again it says that both he and Philip went down into the water – Philip baptized him, and then both came up out of the water. Immersion was the practice of the early church. There's an interesting, non-canonical book that doesn't belong in the scripture, but it was written toward the end of the 2^nd century A.D., and it allows for pouring, but only if immersion is impossible – and that was at the end of the 2^nd century. I've done a lot of reading and study on this issue, and I can tell you this – without question or without argument, even from those who disagree with what we practice – they will tell you that immersion was the primary mode of baptism, even in the Catholic Church until the mid-13^th century, when pouring became a more convenient mode. Immersion is also the best mode to reflect the meaning of baptism, as we'll see shortly. So, the bottom line is this: immersion is what the word means, it's what was done in the New Testament, it's the primary practice of the church for the first 1,200 years of its existence, and it best demonstrates the meaning of baptism, so that's why we do it that way.

Now, let me just summarize what we've learned from Matthew 28. Baptism is commanded by Christ – once you have become His disciple or His follower, you should be immersed in water. That brings us to the third issue I want us to consider, and that is the efficacy or power of baptism. The efficacy or power of baptism – does baptism accomplish anything, or more specifically, what is the relationship of baptism to salvation? Well, we've already answered that in Matthew 28, haven't we? Baptism follows becoming a disciple or becoming a Christian. But because there are those who teach that we are saved by our baptism, I need to address it a little more. For example, the Christian Church, the Churches of Christ, the Disciples of Christ, have all taught baptismal regeneration through the years; that is, that a person is regenerated, he's made right with God, he's given new life in the waters of baptism, by the act of baptism. Mormons have baptisms for the dead – in one year, over 2.5 million Mormons are baptized; proxy baptisms for dead people. The Roman Catholic Church teaches infant baptismal regeneration; that is, that the water that they sprinkle on that child or pour on that child cleanses the baby from original sin and results in regeneration. Well, we should always ask the question, what does the Bible say? Let me give you several reasons it's clear that baptism accomplishes nothing, that it is not part of salvation.

First of all, Christ didn't attach baptism to salvation – we just saw in John 4:2 that He didn't baptize. He came to present the gospel, He came to proclaim forgiveness, He came to make a sacrifice – and yet, He never baptized. You'll remember the thief on the cross who cried out for forgiveness – Christ says to him, to a man who was unable to be baptized, "Today you will be with Me in paradise." The apostle Paul divorces baptism from the gospel message – you remember in Acts 16, when the Philippian jailer – we looked at it when we started our study of the Book of Philippians – the Philippian jailer comes to Paul, comes running out and he falls down before him and Silas, and he asked the question that's just perfect for anybody who loves to communicate the gospel – he says, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" Paul said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ." But Paul makes this even more explicit in 1 Corinthians – I want you to turn there. 1 Corinthians 1 – you remember the division and dissension that was occurring in Corinth; they were fighting, lining up behind different Christian leaders. Verse 12 – you know, some of you are saying I'm of Paul, others, I'm of Apollos, I'm of Peter, and the really pious ones, I am of Christ. He says, verse 13: "Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you." And then he remembers, oh, there was "Crispus and Gaius, so that no one would say you were baptized in my name." Oh, I remembered someone else too – see, this happens when you don't have computers – "Now, I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any other."

But here's the point – he says, verse 17: "For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void." You see how Paul distinguishes between the good news of forgiveness in Jesus Christ and baptism – he said they're not related; baptism has nothing to do with salvation. In fact, he dedicates an entire epistle, the Epistle of Galatians, to this issue – remember, Paul writes Galatians to confront the Judaizers. The Judaizers were simply Jews who said, yeah, faith is important to salvation, but you need to add circumcision. Now, circumcision, like baptism, was a rite God demanded, and yet Paul says you absolutely cannot add it to faith as a means of salvation.

The rest of the New Testament consistently proclaims that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone. Those wonderful verses that we've all repeated so many times in Ephesians 2 tell us that we are saved by grace through faith, and that even the faith we have is not of ourselves, it's a gift of God. The whole thing is of God; no human effort or work is involved. You see in the New Testament, before water baptism, there's an interesting list of things that are said to have happened: repentance and confession of sin. Acts 2:38, Peter says repent, and then be baptized. Receiving the Word – Acts 2:41, those on the day of Pentecost who received the Word were baptized. Faith is exercised – in fact, I want you to turn to Acts 8. Philip goes to Samaria, and in verse 12, says that there were people there who believed Philip's preaching of "the good news about the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ," and "they were being baptized, men and women alike." You see, faith precedes baptism – you see that consistently, you see in Acts 18:8, in Acts 19:2 – that's the consistent message of the New Testament. In Acts 10:47, receiving the Spirit, which happens at the moment of conversion, precedes baptism, and as we already saw in Matthew 28:19, becoming a disciple of Christ, becoming a Christian, precedes baptism.

Baptism accomplishes absolutely nothing – in answer to our question, what's the power or efficacy of baptism? Nothing – it has no part in your salvation or your right standing before God; that is solely on the basis of the perfect life and the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ. It follows salvation – and yet, throughout the New Testament, we're told how important baptism is – why? If it has no part in salvation, why is it so important? And that brings us to the final issue I want us to consider this morning, and that is the meaning or significance of baptism. The meaning or significance of baptism – there are three reasons given to us in the New Testament; three purposes, three aspects of the meaning of baptism; let me give them to you.

The first is, it is a public identification with Jesus Christ. A public identification with Jesus Christ. It's a confession of faith in the person of Jesus Christ – you stand before others, and you say by the act of your baptism, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, I am a follower of Jesus Christ, He is the one whom I love, and whom I follow, to whom I have devoted my life. You see this in a number of places in the Book of Acts – in Acts 2:38, Peter says that we're to "be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ," associated with Him. Acts 8:16, the Samaritans were "baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus." Acts 22:16 – as Paul recounts his own baptism, he says that he was baptized while he called upon the name of the Lord – in other words, even as he was baptized, Paul publicly confessed his being a disciple, a follower of Jesus Christ. Your baptism is a public identification of you with the person of Jesus Christ – I am His disciple, He is my teacher, the One from whom I learn.

Secondly, baptism symbolizes the believer's identification with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. In other words, baptism pictures the reality of regeneration, the inward cleansing and change of the heart of a believer. Turn to Romans 6. Now, before I go through these verses with you, let me just say this – there is no water in these verses. You remember, baptism with water is a sign that points to a reality – here's the reality to which baptism points. Notice verse 3.

Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized (or immersed) into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore, we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection.

Here's what Paul is saying, and I can't take you or plumb the depths of what Paul is saying, but I can tell you essentially what he means is this. In a way that we can't understand, when we came to faith in Christ, God so united us to Jesus Christ, it's as if back there 2,000 years ago, we were in Christ when He died – we were dying in Him; we were committed, connected intimately to Him. When He was buried, we were buried with Him. And when He was raised to new life, we were raised. It's as if God did all of that in Him, and it's a picture – you see, baptism is a picture of that reality. When Christ died, our old selves, our old lives died. When Christ was buried, who we used to be was buried forever to be gone, and when Christ was raised, we were raised to walk in newness of life – that's the picture of baptism; that's what he wants us to see. We were in Christ when Christ died and was buried, and we were raised with Christ to walk in new life.

There's a third meaning of baptism, and that is, it pictures our being united with other believers into one body. It pictures our being united with other Christians into the body that is the church. 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 describes the reality of that; it says this: we have all been baptized by the Spirit "into one body." That's the reality, we've been united together – just as we were united with Christ, the Spirit, at the moment of salvation, united us to each other. And Acts 2:41 shows us that baptism is the picture of that reality that occurred the moment we were saved, because it says that those who believed there on the day of Pentecost "were baptized," and then it says they "were added" to the church. Baptism was sort of the visible sign of the fact that they had been initiated into the visible church. Ephesians 4:5 – Paul puts it this way; he says, we are united in what? We're united in "one Lord, one faith and one baptism."

The scriptures couldn't be clearer; baptism is absolutely crucial for every believer. If you've not been baptized, whether you've been a Christian a long time or you've just recently come to faith in Christ, you need, today, to start the process toward baptism. I encourage you to pick up an application out in the foyer after this service. Begin the process – everything you need to know will be in that little application – begin the process to pursue the next baptismal service here at Countryside. By the way, you'll note in the application that you have to listen to a message on baptism – you've already fulfilled that requirement this morning.

But most of us have already been baptized – what's the lesson for us? Listen, we need to reaffirm the meaning of your baptism and of my baptism. When you were baptized, you publicly confessed that you are a disciple, a follower, a learner of Jesus Christ – are you? Are you learning from Jesus Christ, are you putting yourself in a position daily where you can learn from Him by reading and knowing His word? When you were baptized, you pictured the reality that your old self had died, and that you've been raised to walk in new life as a new creation – are you still putting off the thoughts and the actions of that old life that died with Christ, or are you beginning to tolerate some of those old habits and sins that were connected to who you used to be? In your baptism, you said that you had become united to other believers in a tie stronger than blood – are you treating your other brothers and sisters in Christ like that? I want you to take a few moments in silent prayer to confess your sin to God and to reaffirm those commitments that you made in baptism. Let's pray.