R1026 The Joy of Baptism

God has an encouraging word for you and me today through the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Don Wilson here on The Encouraging Word.

We do believe that God has spoken so richly in the Bible itself, God's encouraging word, that we'll discover insight that today will help us live our lives in a better way, in a more Christ-like way. As we discover these things together, know that we're here for you. We're connecting right now online at www.tewonline.org. That's www.tewonline.org, and this phone number, 866-899-WORD. So many folks are asking about how they might give away this wonderful opportunity to study God's Word every day, the Daily Encouraging Word Bible Guide.

It's free from us, and you can share it with your friends. Discover more online at www.tewonline.org. We'd love to share that with you.

And now, Dr. Don Wilton. I was privileged to go down to Greenwood, and I was invited by faith home to come and to preach and to share with an incredible group of men and women. People came from all over the community. They put up a tent, and I thought I was going there just to chat to a few people at faith home. We're beginning Celebrate Recovery right here in our own church. I'm telling you folks, God is doing something. You ever been to faith home, you need to go down there. See what God's doing. I got up last night, I guess about, I don't know, nine o'clock last night, and I told them about Jesus. Got to the end of what it was that the Lord put in my heart and said, I don't want anybody bowing their heads. I want everybody looking around. And if there's anybody here who wants to give their heart and life to Jesus, I want you to step out from this great crowd and come and stand with me.

Seventeen add-ons, all add-ons. I'm talking about folks without a second thought. Gave their hearts to Jesus last night. I want you to join me in thanking God for people like that.

What an incredible time. Now, you're going to need your Bibles this morning. I want you to open your Bibles with me. This is going to be quite a day, and you need to open your Bibles with me to Acts chapter 8, the book of Acts and the eighth chapter. If you're struggling today, that's quite OK. Not everybody knows where the book of Acts is. I want you to turn there in your Bible.

Now, folks, we're going to do something special. I want you to stand with me in honor of God's word, and I want you to have a copy of the Bible in your hand. Everybody stand in honor of God's word. I don't make a practice of doing this. I don't ask you to stand when we read God's word nearly as much as I ought to.

I realize you're getting comfortable in a good sense. You're getting pens and pieces of paper in your hand. And for some people, it's more difficult to stand. But I've got a reason asking you to stand today, because we're about to read something here in God's word. And there was a man who was standing. He wasn't only standing, he was riding in a chariot. And he was reading God's word and something happened to him. And I'm just going to read this passage to you as you stand together with me in honor of God's word. Acts chapter eight and beginning at verse 26. Now, the angel of the Lord said to Philip, Go south to the road, the desert road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.

And so he started out and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship. And on his way home, he was sitting in his chariot.

I can't imagine how bumpy that was. Reading from the book of Isaiah, the prophet and the spirit of God told Philip, I want you to go to that chariot and I want you to stay near it. Then Philip ran up to the chariot and he heard the man reading from Isaiah the prophet. You understand what you are reading? Philip asked.

How can I? He said, unless someone explains it to me. And so he invited Philip to come up and sit with him in the chariot. The eunuch was reading this passage of scripture. He was led like a sheep to the slaughter and as a lamb before the shearer is silent so he did not open his mouth.

In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth. The eunuch asked Philip, tell me please, who is the prophet talking about himself or perhaps someone else? Then Philip began with that very passage of scripture and told him the good news about the Lord Jesus Christ and as they continued to travel along the road they came to some water and the eunuch said, look here is water.

Why shouldn't I be baptized? And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. When they came back up out of the water the spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away and the eunuch did not see him again but went on his way rejoicing. I want to speak to you this morning about the joy of baptism. May God's name be praised, please be seated. Get out your pens, papers, listen carefully because the Bible tells us about exceeding great joy associated with one man who had given his heart to Jesus, he came to an encounter with the living God through his word, the Bible, saw water and was immediately baptized.

It's an amazing story. Before I even show you this passage of scripture, there are people today you're watching me and you need to give your life to Christ. That is the most important thing and we want to help you give your heart to Jesus and I want to encourage you even now to say Lord Jesus I know who you are and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. I repent of my sin and by faith I receive you into my heart. You do that right now.

Bible says they that call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. You give your life to Christ. You can do it right now where you're sitting, where you're at.

If you're at that television set, do it right now. Give your life to Christ. I promise you he's the best friend that you'll ever have.

He'll fill you with such joy. That's the bottom line and if you've given your life to Christ you must be baptized and many of you have not been. If I was to begin telling you the numbers of calls I've had personally, we've had people from all over, not just in our church. We've had people say, Pastor would you or one of the ministers, would you baptize me tonight? I don't go to your church. Some have even said, well we just don't do that in our church, but I believe what the Bible says and I want you to baptize me. We've said yes.

If you've given your heart to Jesus we'll do it. Some have called and said, you know Pastor when I was a younger person, had one man in particular told me that when he was a very young person he was baptized, but it's always bothered him because he only gave his heart to Jesus when he was 27 years old. He knew that.

I asked him that. He said, well I gave my life to Christ when I was 27, but I was baptized when I was 10. He said, do I need to be baptized? Absolutely yes, because the baptism of the Bible is baptism for those who have trusted Jesus. You do not go to heaven because you've been baptized. You get baptized because you are going to heaven and there are many special occasions in our life and I celebrate with people who have high marks in their spiritual growth and in the context of their own faith practices, but I share with you today what the Bible teaches us.

I'm telling you what the Bible says. That's why this man was reading the scriptures. I've had people say to me, Pastor I've been a member of your church for years and for years and for years, but I've never been baptized. Had someone say to me this week, it seems like every time someone speaks about baptism I get a kind of a nervous tingling.

It's not a nervousness. It's just God saying to you, you've got some unfinished business. We're going to begin serving. The joy of baptism according to this passage lies in two areas. Number one, the preparation for baptism. What happened here to this man, the Ethiopian eunuch.

By the way, I'm not going to give you a whole. For example, the name Candace was not the name of the queen. The name Candace, you'll be interested in the time that this was written, was the title of all queens in that part of the world.

They were known as Candace. By the way, the Ethiopian eunuch was a very important man. He was a businessman and he was in charge of the whole treasury. I think we would have called him like the minister of finance or the secretary of the treasury.

What what? I mean this man was an important person. He was a high official.

By the way, he had a lot of people who knew him and looked up to him. Now folks, let me tell you I'm convinced today that there are many people who hold back on being obedient to the Lord because they are concerned about all the people. They're concerned about what a family member might think or who's watching. I've even met people who are concerned about getting their hair wet. I can understand that.

But you have nothing to be concerned about. I promise you it is the greatest joy that you've ever experienced and the preparation for baptism according to the scripture involves four aspects. I'm just going to give them to you. Number one, the work of the spirit and if you study this passage as I have, you're going to discover that believers baptism is inextricably tied into the work of God by his spirit in the very act of salvation, the very act of redemption, the fact that God himself, a sovereign and a righteous God would come and knock on your heart's door and say my son the Lord Jesus died for you. Without me you're nothing and God by his spirit draws us into his heart and in this passage in verse 26 and verse 29 we read time without number that the Lord God spoke to this man and to these men concerning these things. God is speaking to you isn't he?

That's the spirit. If there's been a stirring going in your heart that's the spirit of God. He's knocking at your heart's door and you may be the most loveliest Christian person and I know that so many of you are but you need to follow Jesus in believers baptism. For some of you folks sitting out here that is the missing link in your Christian life. It's a gap, it's a vacuum, it's a void because the spirit of God is telling you that you need not only to give your heart and life to him but having done so that you need to follow him in that public place of your public confession where you completely identify publicly with the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

What a picture is painted. The second aspect of the preparation for baptism concerned the obedience of the pastor. I can't avoid that folks.

Bible tells us about Philip, he was the pastor and the spirit of God came to the pastor and said I want you to go and associate yourself with that chariot over there and just wait. I want you to get ready to do business. Folks I want to make an announcement to you today.

I love you so much but I'm sharing these things with you today because God has told me, God has told me to tell you these things. Please forgive the interruption we'll be back in just a moment but Dr Don wants me to remind you it's not just a presentation it's a conversation. We'd love to hear from you. Our phone number is 866-899-WORD. Jot it down, store it in your cell that's 866-899-9673 or we can connect keyboard to keyboard online at www.tewonline.org.

That's www.tewonline.org. Now back to today's message with Dr Don Wilton. I'm not trying to be some kind of mystic. I'm not trying to say anything outside of that but I pray for you and God put in my heart that we need to do this and that there were people that are sitting on the edge of their seat and there are some people today who are listening folks that unless you do this you are going to never get to that point where your life is filled to the capacity of God's joy the way God intends you to live this life. The obedience of the pastor is very very important not because I'm any different from anybody else but I'm so privileged to be your pastor and your friend and today I simply in obedience to the Lord I share with you these things concerning believer's baptism and I invite you to follow Jesus in believer's baptism but you must give your heart to Jesus before you're baptized. Well the third aspect is the revelation of the scriptures we've already discovered that isn't it an amazing thing from verse 28 that this man was reading the scriptures here he was now we know that he was an elected official he he was high up in the court of Candace the queen of Ethiopia and he went to Jerusalem and on his way back he began to read the scriptures do you know that the bible is the full and complete revelation of God in Christ Jesus that's why our church stands upon the value of absolute truth see folks I wish that I could stand here and say you know I prefer to do it like this and as far as I'm concerned the tradition of my family is that this is what it means and I want to tell you my church has always said you see folks this is not about first Baptist Spartanburg this is not about the encouraging word broadcast ministry that you're listening to in Minneapolis this this is not about a pastor or a convention or a denomination it's about what the bible says this is the full and complete revelation of God in Christ Jesus that's the third aspect of preparing for baptism but here's the fourth one I love this the openness of the heart the openness of the heart this man this Ethiopian eunuch you know what he did he filleted himself in the presence of God he opened himself up to what God wanted to say to him now folks let me just tell you something he went to Jerusalem he was a seeking man and he went there in order to try and connect with God but evidently it didn't work there was a missing link because the bible says when he had this encounter he was on his way back home he still hadn't found the answer have you ever found yourself like that you've gone to that crusade or you've gone to that church service or you've been part of that group yes you've been looking but you have not arrived at the point at which you can say ah I have found the answer you see this man had a seeking open heart that's what I've been discovering this week scores and scores of people with open hearts saying Lord this is all about you and I'm going to do what you tell me to do and so there are four aspects of preparing for baptism that result in this extreme joy there they are right there in the scripture the work of the spirit God by his spirit speaking to you and me now I want to help you identify that today that the spirit of God is speaking to you see folks that makes this a great compulsion if you're you've got a stirring going on right now you that person number two the obedience of the pastor together with so many hundreds of thousands of faithful men and women I share with you today the truth of God's word I wish that I could say that I had come to the point at which this is what I've decided to do but I just share with you in humble obedience this is what God says and my obedient component is to share it with you and invite you to participate number three the revelation of the scriptures the bible we stood in honor of God's word now folks you've read it that's what the bible says you've read it what is hindering you from being baptized what's holding you back why would you not want to have this kind of joy that this man had all right if that's the preparation because of the openness of this man's heart the second area connected into the joy of baptism is the practice of baptism what actually happened here well there are four things number one bible implies that he believed implicitly now I use the word implicitly because I want to be true to the text evidently between verse 35 and verse 36 our text skipped over from the original documents all the details of him giving his life to Christ but we know that he did he believed implicitly now here's what happened isn't this this is such a great thing folks watch this here's this man he's an important businessman and he's goes to down to Jerusalem and he does all the rituals and tries to do what's right he's very sincere this was evidently this was a fine individual folks I'm telling you I think I would admire this man very much find it very hard to say anything negative about him but he doesn't find the answer on his way back he picks up the scripture begins to read about Jesus in the prophet Isaiah and God has gone before and the spirit of God is speaking and here we find him believing implicitly the gospel of Jesus because in verse 35 the bible says that Philip began in that passage and then told him the good news about Jesus isn't that wonderful it's good news folks what's the good news you can be forgiven you need to give your life to Christ you can have a full and meaningful life there is hope and a future for you you can know that you know that you know that you know beyond any doubt whatsoever that when you die with Jesus were to come again that you'd be taken immediately into the presence of the Lord Jesus that's the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ the death burial and resurrection of our savior he believed implicitly number two he responded immediately did you notice that as they traveled along now I wish I could have been a little fly on the wall and they probably were a bunch of flyers with all those horses around there but I tell you what had I been able to be there I just can picture the scene here's this man and he hears the gospel and the spirit opens his heart and he believes implicitly and he responds immediately some of you going to say to me well brother Don I've known Jesus for many many years I know it's taken you a while to really hear what God's saying about baptism do it I don't find anywhere in the scriptures where it says that if you didn't respond immediately that somehow you would get punished for it all I do know is that the bible says that Jesus was baptized because he wanted to show us how important it is for us to be baptized and when we are baptized we receive incredible joy remember God himself confirmed said to Jesus his son this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased do you know that in the next chapter in Acts chapter 9 we have the story of Saul who became Paul Saint Paul we talk about him people quote him wrote most of the bible under the inspiration of the spirit and the bible says that after he gave his heart to Jesus he was immediately baptized he responded immediately well number three the practice of baptism he was baptized promptly you see folks Jesus death was not partial Jesus was not just sprinkled with death he was immersed in death he died completely and this is a picture that is being portrayed that Jesus demonstrated for us he was baptized promptly that's a beautiful picture and then finally and I just I love this I love this verse 38 he rejoiced exceedingly that's what the bible said I don't have time to talk to you about the spirit of the Lord snatching Philip away but I believe that that was God's confirmation demonstrating once again something uniquely special about this thing called baptism there is there is something about the joy of being baptized God does something and he wants to do it for you God will do it for you I pray that you would take a moment before we get away and hear these closing thoughts from our pastor and chief encourager here at the encouraging word this is Dr Don Wilton are you ready would you pray this prayer with me right now dear God I know that Jesus loves me and that he died on a cross for me today I repent of my sin and I confess my sin to the Lord Jesus and I give him my heart and my life in Jesus name I pray amen if you've prayed that prayer from your heart and you've given your life to Christ I welcome you to the family of God you are my brother my sister in Christ let's get engaged together because we are connected together forever as believers in Christ if you just gave your life to Jesus or rededicate your life let us put some resources in your hands call us right now at 866-899-9673 that phone number is a way to connect in many many ways also a special way to connect for prayer prayer is important prayer is powerful prayer is life changing we would love to be your intercessory prayer partner the encouraging word has a 24-hour live prayer line you can call 866-899-word and talk to a live person who will be glad to pray with you that's 866-899-9673 the encouraging word is a viewer and listener supported ministry thank you for listening today our time's gone for today but oh tomorrow what a great message coming up from Dr Don here's the title when the dog and the chicken man come to church we're going to Philippians chapter 3 it's an exciting message I can't wait to share it with you I pray you'll not only come but maybe invite a friend to join us between now and then let's stay connected online at tewonline.org and as Liz mentioned a while ago jot the number down 866-899-9673 we'll always connect you with one of us happy to be as Dr Don would say one of your 2 a.m friends we're here to encourage you at The Encouraging Word