There was a church that met at a river one day to baptize some of its members. While they were there, the town drunk stumbled by and ended up being the next in line to be baptized.
The preacher dipped him under and brought him up, asking him if he had found Jesus yet. The drunk said, “No.’ So the preacher dunked him again and held him down a little longer. When he brought him up again, he asked if he had found Jesus yet. Again the drunk answered, ‘No.’
Then the preacher put him under again and held him down even longer. When he brought the man up, he asked him for the third time, “Have you found Jesus yet?” and the man, spitting water out of his mouth stuttered, “Are you sure this is where you lost him?”
Today, we will be baptizing 15 people in the water at Snake Creek. The water will be very cold today, but I am more than willing to endure it because of the reason you have for doing it there.
You have told me that you not only want baptized, but you want baptized the way Jesus was baptized – outdoors in a stream or river. That desire means more than you might realize. See, our entire walk as a Christian is wrapped around doing things the way Jesus did them. And your baptism should be no different.
But before we receive baptism today, I want to talk to you about it. I want you to understand what it is; why we do it; and what it means to our walk as Christians. I want you to fully understand why you desire it in the first place.
Turn with me, if you would, to MATTHEW 3:13-17
‘Then Jesus went from Galilee to the Jordan River to be baptized by John. But John didn’t want to baptize Him. “I am the one who needs to be baptized by You,” John told Jesus, “so why are you coming to me?”
’But Jesus said, “It must be done, because we must do everything that is right.” So John baptized Him.
’After His baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on Him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, and I am fully pleased with Him.”
Here we are, at the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry. John the Baptist had already been preaching about repentance and the need to be baptized. But now, something amazing occurs. Something unexpected. Jesus comes to the Jordan river and asks John to baptize Him.
Why would Jesus ask John to baptize Him? Here He is, the Son of God, without sin, sent to die for the sins of humanity - why would He, in the form man, seek baptism?
When John hesitated to baptize Him, Jesus said, “It must be done, because we must do everything that is right.”
Christians always seem to amaze me. Did you know that -
· a full 20% of all girls who get an abortion go to church every Sunday and consider themselves to be born-again through Jesus Christ?
· 92% of evangelical pastors claim they are not comfortable with talking about salvation to a lost person they do not know?
· many people who consider themselves to be saved through Christ who see no need whatsoever of being baptized?
Christians are supposed to be different than those in the world around us, yet too many times, we cannot tell the difference in how the unsaved acts and how a Christian acts.
Why would somebody who claims to be a follower of Jesus refuse to do the things that Jesus did and commanded us to do? In MATTHEW 28:19, Jesus gave us something called the GREAT COMMISSION. It tells us to go everywhere and make disciples and baptize them in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
The Son of God Himself, the one person without any sin, requested to be baptized because it was the right thing to do. If it meant that much to Jesus, don’t you think He meant it to be that important to us, too? If we are to follow the example of Jesus in everything we do, why would we not also want to follow in the example of baptism?
Throughout the New Testament, we see evidence of the importance in being baptized, but we also see something else. Every time baptism is written about, it is written for believers in Jesus Christ. It was never meant for the unbelievers. If an unbeliever got baptized, it would be nothing more than a quick dip in water – that’s all. And if a person got baptized with the wrong heart, it would mean the same thing. Only when it is done with a heart that yearns for Jesus, will it mean what it was meant to mean.
We also see something else in Scriptures. Every time somebody was baptized, it was because they made a personal choice to do so. They chose to humble their hearts before the Lord God and repent from their former ways.
One reason the subject of baptism has gotten so confused is because too many people have over-emphasized it. They have preached about it so much they have forgotten to talk about the condition of the heart that must precede baptism. And now, we look at it like it is nothing but an act, a task, but not as a symbol of our burial to sin or an act of obedience.
Did you know that God sees no differences in sin? The way God sees it, if you steal something, or if you tell a lie, or if you do something much worse, it is all seen as sin. And sin is disobedience to what God wants us to do.
Before we chose to have Jesus into our hearts, we lived in sin. Now that we have Jesus in our hearts, we feel like we need a bath. Baptism is that spiritual bath. It provides a way to wash the sin away; it provides a renewal of spirit. And it follows a decision to stop living like we did and now live for Christ.
On the Day of Pentecost, seven weeks after Jesus’ resurrection, the Holy Spirit filled the room where the disciples were and gave them the power of God and boldness they never knew before. Right after that, they went out into the streets where the Israelites were, and Peter gave his first sermon.
It was in that sermon that Peter said,
‘Each of you must turn from your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy spirit. This promise is for you and your children, and even to the Gentiles who have been called by the Lord our God.’
In the 1960’s, I was in Japan and had the opportunity to see Billy Graham in Tokyo. He spoke about the Lord through an interpreter. Now, you and I both know that when something goes through an interpreter, things tend to lose their meaning. But when Billy Graham gave the invitation, about 50,000 Japanese people went forward to receive Jesus Christ as their Savior. This was visible evidence of the power of the Holy Spirit.
That was the same power and the same Holy Spirit that enabled Peter to give such a strong sermon that over 3,000 people received Jesus that day, too. That is the same power and the same Spirit that we see overseas today when thousands in Africa or South America respond to Jesus at one time. And the American church struggles to see one or two people a year come forward to receive Jesus.
In ACTS 5:13-14 it tells how people were afraid of the believers, but they still respected them. Why would they feel that way? Because the believers made a point to live as Christians; to be different from those around them; and to adhere to the teachings of Jesus.
Today, Christians should look and act and think differently than those around them, too. But we don’t. We like to blend in so nobody will notice us.
We tell our close relatives and those in our church that we are filled with the Holy Ghost, but won’t even tell the people down the street that we go to church. We use the gift of tongues as a way to elevate ourselves above those who don’t have that gift. We cower in fear of telling an unsaved person about salvation, all the while trying to impress others that we are somehow more righteous than they are.
It is imperative that you who are going to be baptized today realize that this is one of the two ordinances that Jesus left us. One is the observation of the Lord’s Supper. The other is baptism.
Be baptized for the remission of your sin.
In ACTS 8, a sorcerer heard Philip preaching and, because of the word of God that he heard, he believed and was baptized. Later, Philip encountered an Ethiopian eunuch; the man was confused by the prophecy of Jesus from ISAIAH 53.
Philip not only explained the meaning of the text, but did it in such a way as to make the man believe upon Jesus that day, and then they stopped right there to baptize the man in a stream. Do not ever fool yourself into thinking that baptism is not a very important part of your being forgiven of sin.
Through the centuries, as the church developed, something happened to the act of baptism. Instead of it being done through a personal choice to forgive you of your sins, it became something the church did so people could join the church. And they even extended this to infants who were too young to make any decision about anything.
We do dedicate infants to the Lord, but we do so in the context of how Samuel’s mother dedicated him to the Lord. We ask God to protect that child and to take that child to be used for His purpose, and then we remind the family that their duty now is to make sure this child is raised in a home that has Jesus as its head.
But since a baby cannot make a decision to receive Christ, we do not baptize them. That is left for those who are old enough to understand the need and have the desire for Jesus.
In other words, the church did to baptism what it has done to almost everything else in God’s word: It watered it down to where the only meaning left is that which benefits the church, not your eternal salvation.
As denominations began, they seemed to all put their slant on baptism. In some churches, the person was baptized 3 times – once for the Father, once for the Son, and once for the Holy Spirit.
When the Catholic church first began to have indoor baptisteries, they started making them in the shape of a womb, to signify the new life.
We must be very careful not to subvert the true word of God to something we feel comfortable with. We must be very careful to keep its meaning true and precise. Whether it concerns the prosperity of believers or the reason for baptism, we must study the scriptures so we know for sure what God meant. There is great symbolism and significance in baptism. It provides a universal experience with unimaginable benefits. But there is still the question of whether baptism is really needed to be saved.
Let me answer that by telling you what a real Christian is.
Every one that believes in Jesus Christ as the Messiah, and repents of his sins, and obeys him in all things is a Christian. Everyone else just thinks they are Christian. A Christian is, therefore, a person who follows God’s word as closely as they are able, and being baptized is one of those areas.
But let me also give you something else. Baptism, by itself, will not get you into heaven. Too many times we hear where a person cannot go to heaven without being baptized. Let me clarify the error in this belief.
In Arizona, Diana and I had a nursing home ministry for a few years. Each Sunday, we would visit a particular place and have fellowship and prayer with the residents.
It was there I came to know a man and his wife; both proclaiming to be atheists. The man died, and the day he died, he was asked to receive Jesus. He chased everyone out of his room. Hours later, he lay dead.
The surviving wife, Virginia, was in her upper 80’s and she soon began showing signs of Alzheimer’s. Every Sunday, I would spend a few minutes holding her hand and talking to her about Jesus. I would always say that when she was ready, we would pray together.
One Sunday, as we went inside, I found her sitting there waiting for me. She reached out and said, “I am ready today.” We sat and prayed, and she received Jesus. From then on, she would join us in prayer and she would always look up at the ceiling when praying, and she would always end her prayers with, “I love you, Jesus.” I think she was looking past the ceiling into the very center of heaven, and I think Jesus was looking back down at her with a smile on His face and love in His heart for her.
But Virginia was never baptized. Her children would not give permission because they were atheists, and the nursing home could not let her do that without the family’s permission. But there is no doubt that this wonderful woman who received Jesus in her last days is now in heaven, telling Jesus that she loves Him.
So why do I say we need to be baptized, but Virginia went to heaven without being baptized? Virginia wanted to be baptized, but couldn’t. Her heart was obedient, but her legal guardians weren’t. If she could have been, she would have been.
Here it is in a nutshell. It is my belief, after reading and studying the Bible that baptism is the first step of an obedient walk with Christ. If a person wants to be a Christian, but sees no need in getting baptized, I would question whether or not that person really wants to be a Christian.
That being said .... there are instances where a person would get baptized if they could, but there is just no way for them to get baptized. In these cases, their heart is right with Jesus, so I believe that person goes to Heaven anyway.
For example, the thief on the cross was not baptized, but Jesus said he would be in Paradise that very day. Some people say that all took place before the veil was torn. Again, in my opinion, the veil had nothing to do with the thief’s salvation, but the condition of the thief’s heart had everything to do with it.
If a person decides they do not need baptism, their heart is not right, and if their heart isn’t right with Jesus, nothing else is either.
What it comes down to is personally reflecting on your relationship with God. If you have already been baptized, I’d encourage you to continue to learn about the importance of this event and share it’s joy with others. For those of you who are considering baptism, know that this is a beautiful opportunity to declare your life to Jesus Christ. Baptism is an outward expression of an inward decision.
When I was baptized, I don’t remember anything coming down to light on me, but I do remember a feeling that I was somehow different. Even as a child, I knew I needed baptism to be with Jesus. I may not have understood all the details, but I knew I needed it and I knew I wanted it, more than anything else.
As an adult, I understood so much more, so when Diana got baptized, I chose to get re-baptized with her. And I very much remember that when I came up out of the water, I had left my old self behind, to come out new in Christ Jesus.
Jesus said to go into the world and make people believe in Jesus and then baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. This is your job after you get baptized. But for them to become believers, they must first have a desire to have a new life in Christ. Their hearts must cry out for forgiveness.
And before you can be new in Christ, you must first ask Jesus into your heart. You must be willing to give up your old self so Jesus can come in and clean you up from the inside out. Will you do that this morning?
As we go into this call for salvation, will you come up here and pray with me?
INVITATION
