The Sacrament of Baptism, Part 2

Thanks for listening to the latest message from Him We Proclaim. In this encouraging series, Pastor John walks us through the resurrection of Jesus, the reality of eternal life. The grace of baptism, and the unshakable assurance believers have in Christ. I hope you have your copy of Scriptures along. We'll be looking at passages like 1 Corinthians, Luke, 1 John, and more.

To get gospel-centered reminders of God's faithfulness, power, and grace toward His people. Whether you're seeking hope, clarity, or a deeper understanding of the gospel, these sermons are rich with biblical truth and comfort. Let's listen now to today's message called The Sacrament of Baptism, Part 2. In preparation for baptism next Sunday, I thought it would be helpful for us to. Look at baptism this Sunday and next Sunday because it's such an important aspect of the Christian faith.

So let's look at baptism today. Matthew chapter 28, verses 18 through 20, is the Great Commission. And Jesus says this in the Great Commission, he says, All authority has been given to me in heaven. And Oh no. Or Earth.

And so, because of that, he says, Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations. And The question is how ought we to make disciples. Right? And Jesus. Does he doesn't Leave us guessing.

He tells us right here, he says, go make disciples. Hmm. all the nations. And here it is. By baptizing.

That's h how disciples Uh are made. Baptizing. Baptizing. Um He and how we do this he st has In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. And then, second, how do we make disciples?

He says, teaching them, teaching them to observe. all that I have commanded you. And then he gives us this promise. He says, as an end, he says, and I'm with you always, even to the end.

So careful notice what Jesus says. about making disciples. He says that disciples are made by baptizing and Teaching, baptizing and teaching. What is that? Word and sacrament.

It's so simple, isn't it? Right. Jesus says, make disciples how? Baptizing and teaching, word and sacrament.

So Jesus commands that converts to Christianity are to be baptized. Why? Because baptism plays a central role. It is, it is, baptism is central, it is of first importance. To becoming a disciple, to the life of discipleship.

Now, if it is central, if that's how disciples made, Here's the question. How are we to understand? Baptism. All right, how do you understand this? Uh oh.

Uh-huh. In this service next week. We're just gonna look at Three truths about baptism. There's much, much more we can look at. We could spend weeks looking at baptism.

We don't have time to do that, but here are three important truths that you have to understand about baptism. Because baptism is to be central to your life as a disciple. All right, so here's how you understand it. Here's the first point. Baptism.

isn't necessary for salvation. You've got to get that. Baptism. Isn't necessary for salvation. That doesn't mean that baptism isn't important.

We're coming back to that, but this is where we have to start. Why? Because many people trust in their baptism for salvation rather than trusting in Christ. That's a mistake because just like Paul prior to his conversion, just like the Pharisees. who place their confidence in circumcision.

That's a mistake. Because Jesus says very clearly in John chapter 8 to the Pharisees, he says, You're of your father, the devil. And they were saying, But we're circumcised, we're Abraham's children. And Jesus says, No, you're not. Yeah.

And what baptism cannot do is bring about. Spiritual life, regeneration. It cannot do that. Because if baptism could bring about regeneration. You wouldn't have to preach the gospel.

What would you do? You would just get everybody wet by pouring water on them. Right? Baptism. Isn't necessary for salvation.

It's a sign of regeneration that occurs when a person receives the gospel through faith. But baptism itself cannot cause it. Hawes this This is. spiritual life to come about. automatically And baptism, the sacraments, the mark of the true church.

How do you identify that true church? Mm-hmm. the pure preaching of the gospel, the pure administration of the sacraments, baptism, Lord's Supper. And so if baptism is to be administered purely, we have to reject this false idea that baptism is necessary for salvation. We have to reject that.

For example, in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, it states this, baptism, quote, baptism is necessary for salvation. It says this. It says the church, the church. the Roman Catholic Church is as does an No. Is any other means?

Other than baptism to assure entry into eternal beatitude. By baptism, all sins are forgiven. Original sin. personal sins, punishment for sin. That's That's not what we teach here.

That's not what our church confesses. Baptist enemy. isn't necessary for salvation. Baptism is a sign and seal of the covenant of grace. Listen carefully, but baptism itself.

is not the forgiveness of sins. Because if baptism were the forgiveness of sins, baptism wouldn't be a sacrament. You saying. Scott Clark, my teachers and mentors, and a good personal friend, he explains it like this. He's the is it He says, in the nature of signs and seals, they're not the thing represented.

and field. He s hasn't The embossed stamped and signed diploma is not your education. The marriage certificate is not a marriage. And he says, just as a marriage certificate is not your marriage, so baptism is not your salvation.

So, how do we get faith? How do we get salvation? We've heard this repeatedly. Romans chapter 10. Faith comes by...

And hearing behind what? Mm-hmm. word of Christ. Very specific there. which is the gospel.

The Holy Spirit creates faith in our hearts by the preaching of the gospel, and He assures that faith. He nurtures and strengthens it. by the use of the sacraments. But the sacraments do not create that. And so And short.

The sacraments The sacraments of baptism, the Lord's Supper, it doesn't work faith. Party It what does it do? It reinforces faith. It assures faith. It confirms and strengthens faith.

Just unlike Just like for example. Wednesday and ring right here. This is not my marriage. But this confirms that I'm married, right? And that's what the sacraments do with baptism.

So that's what we have to understand, first of all, is baptism. isn't necessary for salvation. Here's the second truth. And this is so vital to get. Baptism, what is baptism?

Right? What is it? Baptism Is this is Invincible gospel A visible gospel. Baptism is pure gospel. Pure gospel.

God Announces to us the gospel through the preaching of the gospel, but also through visible signs and seals, both. Baptism and Holy Communion. Why does he do this? To sustain and strengthen the weakness of our faith. This is what John Calvin says.

He says, We have determined that the sacraments are named the testimonies of God's grace. You hear that? Baptism, what is baptism? It is a testimony. of God's grace.

He has clothed, he said, and they're like seals. of the good will that he feels towards us. You hear, that's comfort. That's assurance. Where do you go to get assurance that God is favorable towards you?

You go to baptism. That's why, for example, baptism font is right there at that door when you walk into church.

Sometimes people say, gosh, that batch is right there at the door and walk in. That's the point. Because it's saying when you come to church, God feels good towards you today. Welcome to church. It's good news.

It's an invisible sign that Is like this neon sign flashing: gospel, gospel, gospel. God. Fear old. good towards you today for Christ's sake. Listen, we get that kind of attestation to us as we come to church week after week, weak and broken, and having blown it throughout the week.

And we come into church dead, and our hearts are far from God at that point, right? And we're just cold. And you walk in, and the first thing you see is that water in the baptismal font. And it's just shouting to you as a God's testimony to you. Grace.

Grace, grace. There's grace here for you today. Welcome to church. That's what baptism is. It is a seal of the righteousness that you have by faith, just like Abraham when he was circumcised, which was a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith.

This is what Paul says in the book of Romans. He said, Abraham received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness which he had by faith while. uncircumcised. It's baptism. Is what is it?

You have to understand this: it's a visible gospel. It is a testimony of God's grace. It's an expression, it's an announcement, it is a visible sign that you can see, that you can feel, you can get wet from. You can touch. Which is saying to you, God has good will towards you.

For Christ's sake. That strengthens your faith. That comforts you. And what is baptism? Baptism is God's sign and seal to us, it's not our sign and seal to Him.

We have to get, we, most of us grew up Baptists, and so when I say that, it's so foreign for us to hear that. But let me ask you a question because I grew up Baptist too.

So I can fairly pick on Baptist because I was Southern Baptist. about two-thirds of my life. Until I discovered the Protestant Reformation. But but think about this for a moment. Baptism.

is God's sign and seal.

So think of Malf, for example, think about it like this. Go go back. Uh no way a covenant. What is the sacrament? in that covenant.

What is it? The rainbow. Yeah, the rainbow, right? The rainbow. God attached his promise to that physical sign that you can see in nature.

What is his promise? What is his pledge? What is his vow? What is it? Never pledge it earth again.

Whose promise was that? No other gods.

So Listen, why if that sacrament is God's sign? And it is his promise and his pledge. Why do we take baptism and make it our sign and our pledge? There's not a sacrament in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation that is our sign, that is our pledge. I didn't create the rainbow.

And I didn't come up with baptism. God ordained it. Jesus ordained it. Jesus instituted it. Go make disciples by means of.

Baptizing. It's his creation. It's his design. I did not create water. I did not.

Achieve the good news of the gospel. Jesus did. It's his work, the gospel. It is his promise about that work attached to his creation, water. It's his sign, it's his promise.

You think? What is baptism? It signifies and seals to us God's promise to us, not our promise to Him. What was Peter's promise to Jesus? How good was his promise?

God, I will never, never, never leave you. I will die for you. And Jesus looks at Peter and he says, oh, Peter. Tonight You will deny me three times. How good and faithful was Peter's promise?

But how good and faithful was Jesus' promise to Peter? But Peter, don't worry, I've prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you turn again, strengthen your brothers. You think What is God's promise?

So, if baptism is God's visible sign and seal of His promise to us, here's the question we have to answer: What is His promise? What does he promise to us in baptism? Listen to the Hudelberg Catechism, Question 69, as it summarizes the teaching of Scripture. It takes lots of scriptures and it just summarizes it. Very nice and succinctly.

It says, Christ has instituted, that's the great commission that you just heard. Christ has instituted this. outward washing with water. And he's joined this with a promise, with his promise. What is his promise?

As surely as I am washed outwardly with water. Whereby the filthiness of the body is taken away.

So you take a bath, you take a shower, right? It's as so certainly I am washed with His blood and His Spirit. from the pollution of my soul, that is from all my sins. Psychologists tell us that sometimes people who owe great amounts of guilt. Take showers.

Isn't that interesting? Because they have so much guilt and feel so dirty that they just go take a shower, take a bath to feel clean. Because the guilt is so intense. Baptism points to the spiritual reality that just. as when we take a shower after being in Florida humidity in the summertime, right?

And you just want to get in a nice cold shower with a lot of good smelling soap. Yeah. and get clean. And you come out refreshed. Baptism.

To the spiritual reality that of the washing away of my sin. All of my sin past. present and future. But the blood of Christ. And by his Holy Spirit.

I love how Jerry Bridges describes the complete forgiveness of sins. Listen to what he says. He says, Not only has the debt of our sin been fully paid. There's no possibility of going into debt again. Jesus paid the debt of all our sins, past, present, and future.

We don't have to start all over again and try to keep the slate clean. There's no more flight. And that's what baptism Signifies and says to us visibly: there's no more debt. There's no more slate. You don't have to go back and try to keep your slate clean.

There's no slate. All your sins by the blood of Christ. By the Holy Spirit, have cleansed you past, present, and future, you are completely and totally forgiven. Amen. Praise the Lord.

And so the focus on the sacrament has to be on God's promises, what He has done. what he is doing and what he will do for us. Not on our promises, on what we have done, what we are doing, or what we will be doing for him in the future.

So, one of the things that I have learned as I have grown in my discipleship is this. I am far less faithful than I once thought. Have you ever noticed about what it's like to grow in grace? Two things happen simultaneously. The first thing that happens is this, is you become increasingly aware of just what a miserable, wretched sinner you are.

And you just go, mine. Goodness, really? That's me? Yeah. And you haven't even seen half of it.

Because if we saw all that we are in our fallenness, we couldn't take it. God is merciful and faithful. He's patient with us. And He just shines in light. He shines in light.

He shines in light. He shines in light. He keeps shining the light. The Holy Spirit keeps going to sin after sin after sin. And we just go, oh my goodness.

Wow. I'm not faithful. I'm not half of what I thought I was. I remember back when I first got saved, I was just so on fire and energetic, and I was so happy, and I was just walking on clouds. Man, now I'm just, I'm not even walking on the concrete.

I'm down in the pit somewhere. And I just see my sin. That's what it's like to grow in grace. But here's the opposite point side. The good part.

As your skin gets bigger, Christ gets bigger. His grace gets sweeter. His forgiveness and his gospel gets bigger and bigger. Because Paul says, where sin abounded, grace More abounded. We sing that song in this church: his mercy is more.

Right? His mercy is more. And so oh. We come to this realization, I'm far less faithful than I thought I was, but Jesus is far more faithful to me than I've ever. ever known This is what the Sa'ama says.

100 verse 5. Loving kindness. Yeah. Everlasting. and his faithfulness to all generations.

Listen to Jeremiah and Lamentations 3, verses 22 and 23. The Lord's. Loving kindnesses. Never Thief. His loving God.

Kindnesses never Cease. His compassions never failed. fail. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.

It's a great Matt uh uh matter Edmund has a great on new mercies. I play it. Every single day when I first wake up. It's the first thing I do. I turn on scripture.

I listened to my uh daily prayer, right? Scripture. And I turn on that song and look out at the sunrise. And he's saying, mercies are new. Every morning, great is your faithfulness.

And I just say, God, thank you. Because I reflect back on the day before, and man, I wasn't faithful. But the Son comes up, and the scriptures tell me that his Compassions never fail, they're new every morning. Great is your faithfulness to me. That's what baptism tells us.

That's what baptism greets us with when we come to church. That's what that font back there represents to us. You understand that is not just a sign like a stop sign. A stop sign does have power. Right?

It does. And if you don't listen to that power, there's another power that reminds you. If you're so unfortunate to have that power right there, like we have one right here, he'll arrest you and give you a big ticket. And he should, because it is very bad to not stop at a stop sign. Finds have power.

Yeah. When you come to church and you look at that baptismal font, it's not an indifferent sign. It's like, oh, there's a baptismal font. No. No, it is announcing two things to you.

If you have faith, good news. If you don't have faith, look at this picture. Look. This is a picture of baptism, and that's why we have it here. That's you if you don't have faith.

That's called judgment. Right? This is you if you have faith because that's Christ. Who's taking you through the judgment water safely? When you look at that baptismal finding, you come to church, it does two things.

It either judges people or it absolves them. It's not an indifferent sign. You can't be indifferent to that baptismal font. That's why, when you come to church, church architecture matters so much. Because most churches you come to America, the evangelical churches.

church machine, what does church look like? It looks like a concert, a theater. I have a book this thick that traces the history of church architecture in our country. which shows how the theology of the church changes church architecture. The title of the book is called When the Church Became Theater.

There's no acting up here. None of us are actors. None of us are trying to put on a show. None of us are trying to look polished. None of us are trying to look great.

We put the singers behind the Lord's supper table. We put the drums over to the side. We don't put everything out front for you because here comes the big worship leader. Has nothing to do with us. Thank you.

Nothing. Church is not a theater. Church is otherworldly. And with our space that we have, with the budget that we have, we do the best we can to make this place look different. Why?

Because we want to make the gospel paramount in all things, including architecture, so that when you come to church, we know what you need to hear, we know what you need to see. Christ. And he's seen right there in that font, right when you walk through the doors, it is good news if you have faith. And if you do not have faith, it is not good news. Which tells you repent.

And trust Christ today. Have faith in Christ today. Baptism, baptism, it's important to understand that baptism is not so much our pledge of faithfulness to Christ, it's God's pledge of faithfulness to us, despite our lack of faithfulness. That's our hope. That is good news.

And so this places the emphasis on God's promise and action in the sacrament of baptism, not our commitment. What are the baptized primarily confessing? Not undying devotion to God. But God's unfailing devotion to redeem, to cleanse, to sanctify, and ultimately glorify this weak. sinful fallen believer.

Yet, because I grew up Southern Baptists, right, how often was baptism presented primarily as our undivided devotion to God? Baptism. Was it administered upon the profession of faith? Upon your profession of faith, I now baptize you. Those were the words.

administration. Upon your profession of faith, I baptize you. That's a bad profession. That's bad faithfulness. Upon your pledge of obedience to follow Christ and obey Him, to follow Him and be His disciple, now I baptize you.

That is called remodeling the gospel. You change it 180 degrees. The gospel is going this way. You turn it around and make it go this way. You turn it into a legal action.

But the Protestant reformers taught that baptism is not just this outward sign of profession that someone's a Christian. It is that, but it's much more than that. Listen, for example, to our church's confession of faith from the Protestant Reformation, Article 25 and the 39 Articles. It says the sacraments instituted by Christ are not just badges or tokens of the profession of Christians. They're not just that.

But Listen, there are also shorts. your witnesses And affectionate signs of God's grace and His goodwill. towards us. Let me ask you a question. Who wants to have A constant testimony and witness.

of God's good grace and good will towards you. At all times. Who would like to have that? Where do you find that? in the gift of baptism.

You see, what happened was this. When I grew up Southern Baptist, I was baptized on my profession. My pledge to obey and follow Jesus Because I did that, I get baptized.

Now I was pulling up out of the water and said, go be obedient. My baptism was left in the rearview mirror and I was never taught that it is the gift that keeps on giving throughout the rest of my life.

So go back to it and learn how to use it and understand it. And baptism, when it's set forth, simply is our public profession, our promise of obedience. It remodels the visible gospel into legal work. It's not God's gift, it's my pledge, it's my gift to God. And that's not how it works.

Michael Horton says that rather than a sign and seal that God comes to us in love and grace. Placing his mark of ownership on his covenant people. Baptism becomes something that we do to show that we truly mean. Business.

Some people In my past. theological tradition, they'll get baptized two, three, four, five times. Because they just say, well, when I got baptized, then it didn't mean anything, but I want to do it now because it's meaningful. Because now I mean business.

So we could baptize again. And again. And again. Israel get baptized in the Jordan to go to a Youth camp, get baptized in youth camp, then go to a Christian school and get baptized at a Christian school. Because now I mean business.

Now it means something. Michael Horton said that's a mistake. He said, because understood properly, baptism is a visible sign and sailor of the gospel to show us that the tri-nung God means business. Baptism signifies and seals God's promise to us for Christ's sake, not our promise to Him. How does John say it in 1 John?

As we'll come back to 1 John eventually, but how does John say it? Wheat and love. Because He first loved us. That's how baptism works. Baptism is God's love to us that draws out our love to Him.

Our obedience to him. Baptism is God's promise, it's His sign, it's His creation, it's His water, it's His promise, it's His gospel. And it's meant for our assurance.

So as we reflect on baptism today, what are we saying? What is it? What is baptism? Because it's central. Go make disciples means of baptizing.

So baptism is central to my life as a disciple. central to my discipleship. Disciple is just lifelong learner. That's all it is. You just keep learning, you just keep learning, you keep learning, you keep following Christ, you keep on learning.

If it's central, what is it? It's not necessary for salvation. The Holy Spirit gives us life through the preaching of the gospel, and He confirms that. life through the use of the sacraments of baptism. Holy uh Holy Communion.

But baptism is God's wonderful gift. to the church. In just a few minutes, you'll hear that these are the gifts of God for the people of God, right? Bread and wine. GIF, GIF.

Water, water. attached to God's promise of salvation is a gift. It's God's Gift. That's why I've said this so many times in our church. Why do we come to church?

What is it? What is happening this morning? It is Christmas morning. We are gathering not around a Christmas tree, but around God's gifts of sacraments, word and sacrament, to be given. Gift to be gifted.

We're here to be blessed by grace. to be served and gifted. Baptism is God's wonderful gift to the church, but it doesn't work by magic. Baptism works as a sign and seal. And it becomes this seal when the Holy Spirit gives new life.

True faith through the preaching of the gospel. And second, we saw baptism is a visible gospel. It works as a sure witness. An affectional sign of God's grace and goodwill towards us. For Christ's sake, The Holy Spirit working through baptism, we'll finish with this.

What does he do? Just listen to this. Because when we come to baptism next week, I love the baptismal service because it's not just for the people being baptized. for the whole church. And when you witness that that baptism, those baptisms next Sunday.

What are you witnessing? You're witnessing the Holy Spirit assuring you. That just as you're outwardly washed with water From the filthiness of all your body.

So certainly are you washed by Jesus' blood and spirit from the pollution of all your sins. You have complete and total forgiveness. and reception as a son of God. And that's what baptism is. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for this great gift. This great gift.

So help us to receive it. Help us. To use it. to find great assurance. of your favor, of your grace, of your good will towards us.

We thank you that. It tells us. as a visible sign and seal and it confirms to our hearts that Altlar thin. Past, present, and future. is washed away.

We have complete and total forgiveness now. And forever. Not because of our promise. Not because we are perfectly faithful. But simply because I'm your promise And because you were Mercies art new Every morning, great is your faithfulness for Christ's sake to us.

And we say thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. John Fawnville sends his thanks for listening today. And before we wrap up, can I tell you about an encouraging book you might want to get soon? It's called Hope and Holiness: How the Gospel Enables and Empowers Sexual Purity.

You're not alone if you've tried to conquer sexual temptations and tried all the methods available, only to find yourself feeling defeated again. This book may be just what you're looking for. With his shepherding heart, John shows that the gospel, not practical steps or more self-discipline, is God's provision for the power to live a life of sexual purity. and it's available to every Christian. What I like is the book is available in three convenient ways.

paperback, audiobook, or Kindle. The links are in our podcast descriptions, or just search for Hope and Holiness by John Fawnville on Amazon. to get a copy for you and it's a wonderful book to go through with a small group. Him we proclaim is a ministry of Paramount Church in Jacksonville, Florida. You can find us at paramountchurch.com.

We'll talk again soon.