Hi, you're listening to the Himly Proclaim podcast with John Fawnville. We're in season six called Little Ones to Him Belong. What is the practical advantage to baptizing children of believers? Christian baptism sets someone apart. and baptism for infants, children, or adults, means that the name of the triune God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, has been placed on them, and that they are part of the Trinitarian faith.
It's a powerful, countercultural declaration to the world that God is the one true God and that we identify with Him and are trusting in Him for our salvation. Here's John. This is the question we've been looking at: why do we baptize children of believers? Because basically, you have to think about it like this. It's like an iceberg.
You see 10% of the iceberg on top of the water, and that's what you see today. You see children, babies, and small children being baptized. But 90% of the iceberg is under the water that you never see and may not be aware that it's there, but it's there. And it's the 90% that is the reason for the 10%. Let me just quickly rehearse for you what we've looked at.
And I want us to look at something specific this morning. Why do we baptize children of believers? One, because Abraham is the pattern. God has made promises to believers and their children. And so he repeats that promise throughout all of redemptive history.
He promises to be a God to us and to our children. And that promise is at every epic in redemptive history, all the way to the consummation of the new heavens and the new earth in Revelation 21. Second, Jesus institutes baptism within the context of the Abrahamic covenant. In the Great Commission, which is given to the visible church, Jesus commands his visible church, make disciples of all the nations. And we looked at this phrase, all the nations, which comes from the Abrahamic covenant, Genesis chapter 22, verse 18.
In that passage, listen to what the Lord promises Abraham in the Abrahamic covenant. He says, In your offspring, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. And so, what is the Great Commission? What is the new covenant? We looked at this, it is simply the new administration.
of the Abrahamic covenant. The third reason we looked at last week is because Infant baptism is not a child dedication service. Baptism is a divine ordinance of God which God has ordained in the words of institution in Matthew 28. This is why we do not practice a man-made ceremony in the church. Child dedication, baby dedication, we looked at is a human invention, it's an innovation, it's misguided and it's not authorized in the church.
What do we say that infant child dedication does? Is that Child baby dedications focuses our attention on the promises and actions of the parents. But baptism first and foremost focuses our attention on God's actions and His promises to us. What is baptism? Baptism is not my public sign of my promise.
It is first and foremost a sign and seal of God's promise to be a God to us and to our children. It signs and seals God's promise. Baptism, whether it be infant household baptism or adult believer baptism, is a testimony to the sovereignty of God's grace in which He loved us before we loved Him.
So, baptism, what is it? It is a joyful sign, visible sign of the gospel. It is a visible gospel. And this is why baptism is such a wonderful picture of the gospel. You have the helplessness of a little baby.
Being marked out by God's people through no power of their own. And that's a far better picture of God's gracious sovereign work of salvation than a parent's well-meaning, it is a well-meaning, but imperfect and unreliable promise. You see, baptism signifies and seals God's promises, which are not like mine as a parent, which is imperfect and half-hearted. God's promises, his Faithfulness to always fulfill his promises. He's filled with.
Steadfast love. That is, he's made a promise and he keeps it. This is what baptism signifies in sales. And so that's what we looked at last week. Here's the fourth point: why do we baptize children of believers?
This is in the form of a question. What does infant baptism do? Right? What advantage does the baptized child have? Let me tell you first what baptism doesn't do.
Okay. Baptism doesn't regenerate. It doesn't grant new life. Baptism is not the instrument. of new life.
Baptism is the outward visible sign and seal of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit's gracious work of giving new life, by which one becomes part of the new creation. What was the Holy Spirit doing at Pentecost? He was poured out by God the Father, God the Son, the ascended Christ on his church. to reverse Babel.
What you had at Pentecost were all these languages that nobody understood, all of a sudden, understanding the gospel and their languages before. It was the reversal of Babel. It was the fulfillment of God's promise of the Abrahamic covenant. for the seed, the offspring of Abraham to be a blessing to the world. Titus chapter 3, verses 4 through 7.
Listen to how Paul describes God the Father. He says, when the kindness Not amazing. When the kindness and love of God our Savior the Father toward man appeared, how did God the Father appear? He says, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us. through the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.
Whom God the Father poured out on us abundantly. through Jesus Christ our Savior. Look, then having been justified by his grace, we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. And Paul says this is a faithful, a trustworthy saying. This passage that I just read to you is an early Trinitarian creedal confession of the church.
Which is quite amazing. In the first century, you already have this creed in the Bible for us. But in verse 5, this washing is an implied reference to baptism in the pouring out, this rich pouring out that Paul says. He says, is an echo of Pentecost. Uh At Pentecost, the church was baptized with the Holy Spirit.
God the Father, Paul says, did not restrain himself in pouring out the Spirit on the church abundantly. How did he do it? Through Jesus Christ our Savior. Just as the prophet Joel promised.
So baptism, Paul says, is a sacramental counterpart to the lavish outpouring of the Holy Spirit who brings about a new creation. If any man be in Christ, he's what? He's a new creation. All things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.
Now that you're in Christ, You are now part of the age to come. The new creation to come.
So baptism. Who is the outward counterpart to that? It is the visible sign and seal of that, but it is not magic. Baptism is not magic. It's not sprinkle some water on the baby or the child and presto, voila, we have a new creation.
It doesn't work like that. Baptism does not work. Look, ex opera operato, by the working it is work. By doing it, it's magic. It's not how it works.
Baptism does not unite us to Christ. Baptism does not forgive our sins. Original sins, all personal sins, as well as punishment for sin. Righteousness does not come to us instrumentally through baptism. It is faith alone that unites me to Christ.
And that faith is a gift given to me by the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the gospel.
So, in brief, what I'm saying to you is this: that baptism doesn't save us, Christ does.
So, if baptism doesn't save the individual, adult, or child. What is the practical advantage of being baptized, particularly an infant? What does infant baptism do? Why do we baptize children of believers? And I'm gonna give you two reasons.
First, Infant baptism says to the world, this child is not a Muslim. It says to the world, this child is not a non-Christian Jew. This child is not an atheist. This child is not a pagan. You see, baptism serves as a mark by which the church is discerned from all various sects.
which exists in the world. And so, those who are received into the church by this public sacrament is a badge. By this badge, as they're received into Christ's visible church, they are distinguished from the rest of mankind. Our child is not a pagan, our child is a Christian. received into the church.
And so, what is Christian baptism? Christian baptism is a naming ceremony. Listen to the words of institution by Jesus. He commands his visible church, he says, make disciples of all the nations by means of, and here's the first way you make a disciple, by means of, Baptizing. Make disciples of all the nations by means of baptizing.
And how? Baptizing them in the name of, and here it is, of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Christian baptism is a naming ceremony. The baptized person is given the name of the triune God. In baptism, the child or the adult believer.
The sign of the name of the triune God is placed upon them. And so, this Trinitarian emphasis and belief is highlighted in the baptismal vows that parents take. Or then baptismal candidates as adults make. And you'll hear this in just a minute. This is what they're asked: Do you believe and trust in God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?
And the answer is, we do. And then, together, right after that affirmation. The baptismal candidates, or the parents, on behalf of their children with all the church, affirms this Trinitarian faith. into which we are the church is baptized in the words of the apostles In the words of the Apostles' Creed, by which when some people in the fourth century made this public confession and were baptized, they were then martyred for it. This is a powerful declaration of faith.
These are not empty words. And so, a naming ceremony, baptism, is a powerful countercultural declaration to the whole world. That the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, He is the one true God with whom we identify and with whom we are trusting for our salvation. That's the first thing that baptism does for that child. Second.
Infant baptism initiates our children into the visible covenant community called the church. Baptism is the outward visible sign and seal of initiation or entrance into the visible covenant community called the church.
So perhaps you're thinking, what advantage is thereby being brought into the visible church?
Well, we could ask it like this: What advantage is the external administration of the covenant of grace? This is what the Apostle Paul talks about in Romans chapter 3, and he answers this very question in verses 1 through 4. Listen to what he says about the external administration of the covenant of grace for the Jews in the Old Testament through the Mosaic covenant. He says, what advantage has the Jew? He says, what is the value of circumcision?
Listen much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.
Well, what if some of the Jews are unfaithful? Does their faithfulness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means. Let God be true, though everyone a liar, as it is written, that you may be justified in your words and prevail when you are judged. And so Paul is answering this question, what value is circumcision?
What value is it to receive the external administration of the covenant of grace in the midst of God's people? What value is baptism? Paul's answer is much in every way. Listen carefully because this is very different ecclesiology from what you may have grown up with. There is a great advantage of being part of the sphere of the outward administration of the covenant of grace.
That is coming to the visible church. God has promised to work in and through the means that He has instituted in the context of the visible church. Jesus highly values the visible church. In Matthew chapter 16, verses 18 through 19, listen to how much he values the visible church. He says, I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
He says, I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. The visible church is the only institution on earth which Christ has given the keys of his kingdom to. This can be said of no other institution on earth. That's why baptisms that are committed by schools, baptisms that are done in camps and parachurch organizations, we call those in the Reformed faith irregular because they have not been instituted in those institutions. Christ told the church.
His visible church, he has given the key. Keys of the kingdom to his visible church. And so, what are the keys of the kingdom? It is the ministry of God's word. It is the preaching of the law and gospel.
It is the sacraments, which are visible gospels, and it is church discipline. These are the ministries of the keys of Christ's kingdom. And so, what is the visible church? What is this place where we come? It is the place where covenant children come to faith.
And then, for a lifetime, they are nurtured in that faith, and that's where they flourish. Let me say it like this. We might be able to say it like this: the visible church is like air for the bird or water for the fish. The visible church is like asking these questions: What is the value of a ship? on the open sea.
What is the value of an airplane when you're 35,000 feet in the air? As the Apostle Paul says, much in every way. This is what Cyprian said, the church father. He who would have God for his father must have the church as his mother. And this is what all the Reformed confessions agree to.
Belgic Confession, Article 28, a part of the Confession of our Church. Listen to what it says. It says, We believe that since this holy assembly, the visible gathered church, And congregation is the gathering of those who are saved. He said, and there is no salvation apart from it. No one ought to withdraw from it.
No one should be content to be left. to himself. This is why the Lutheran theologian Gene Veith, he's written a fabulous book called Godded Works, a book on the doctrine of vocation, which was recovered in the Reformation. Listen to what he says about the value of the local visible church. He says, minimizing the ordinary local church is a great mistake.
Minimizing the ordinary local church is a great mistake. Christ is hidden in his church on earth, and he always has been. Just because he is not seen, just because there are no spectacular spiritual effects, or because those who worship him in church are not religious superheroes. I'm not, right? does not mean that Christ is not present.
Christ is present where he has promised to be. Where has he promised to be? He is present in the Word of God, the law, and especially the gospel. He is present in the sacraments and in discipline where he gives these chilling words in Matthew 18, 20, where two or three are gathered together in my name. I am there in the midst of them.
Amen.
So, having been initiated into Christ's visible church, the child now is eligible for catechesis, instruction, catechism class to be instructed in the Christian faith. This is why, in just a moment, in the baptismal liturgy. The parents are going to make vows to do all they can to teach their children. And listen carefully, and to have their children taught in this Christian church. The doctrine of salvation, the Christian faith.
And so, parents, in the context of the visible church, what do we do? We pray for our child, we nourish and nurture our children. We raise our children as Christians. We don't treat our children as little reprobates. Right.
Rather, we treat our child or our children as covenant children, as heirs and proper recipients of this outward administration of the covenant of grace. And so, this is why we administer baptism. We do not administer baptism on the basis of speculation. No, they're saved. We don't administer baptism on the basis of a personal profession because baptism doesn't signify your promise, it signifies God's promise.
We don't administer baptism on the presumption of regeneration. We administer baptism on the foundation of God's promise to Abraham. which is also to us. Genesis 17, 7. I will be a God to you.
and to your children after you. And Peter, because this is Pentecost Sunday, he repeats that promise of the Abrahamic covenant at the feast of Pentecost. And he says to all those Jewish families who were standing there on that day. He says, for the promise. This Abrahamic promise, this promise is to you.
And to your children. And to all who are far off, the Gentiles. Genesis 12, verse 3, Galatians 3, 8, where Paul calls Genesis 12, 3, the gospel beforehand, the gospel and promised. The Abrahamic covenant is the gospel. Peter says, it is always in the beginning.
The Abrahamic covenant has always included the Gentiles. And so he says, for this promise is to you and to your children and to all the Gentiles who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call. What a wonderful promise we have. And so that's why we administer baptism. Let's pray.
Father, we thank you for your promise. We thank you for your promise to Abraham that you have promised that you will be a God to us and to our children after us. And so we come to you today trusting the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, by whom we are marked forever. Trusting in you. To do for us what we cannot do for ourselves, nor can we do for our children.
And we pray that you would take this visible sign and seal and confirm to the whole church today the promises of your gospel. And we pray you would do this through the power of your Holy Spirit in Jesus' name. Amen.
Thanks for listening to the Hymn We Proclaim podcast with John Fawnville. Him we proclaim as a ministry of John Fondill of Paramount Church in Jacksonville, Florida. You can check out his church at paramountchurch.com. We look forward to next time.
