Hello and welcome back to Cultivating Growth. We want to thank everyone for joining us again this week. This month we have been tackling the topic of salvation and we have, uh, spent the past couple of weeks talking about man's greatest problem, which is sin. And then we began talking about how God has approached the solution to that.

And we've talked about things like grace and mercy and faith and repentance. Today we're gonna spend some time talking about the role that baptism plays in that. So with that, let's get right to the discussion for today.

Well, John, you made mention that we are in week three of our discussion kind of surrounding salvation. And, uh, you know, it's interesting, you know, we kind of started, uh, a couple of weeks ago in, in talking about what is really the greatest problem that man has is sin. And it, it is what separates us from God.

It is what? What will cause us to, to lose our soul for eternity. It, it is in every way the greatest problem that man has. And, and certainly God knows that. And God doesn't wanna be separated from us. And we know that because of what he has done to help man overcome sin. And we talked a little bit about that last week, and specifically, uh, the grace and mercy that he has bestowed upon us.

Specifically through the giving of his son and Jesus himself, and the sacrifice that was made and, and the blood that was spillt on the cross, that in in essence, will make forgiveness, uh, of those sins, the wiping away of those sins, uh, a possibility for man and, and God is. In, in every way responsible for that.

And it is nothing that man has done to, to earn that in any capacity to simply out of his love and his goodwill that he has offered these things, this avenue, if you will, that man can deal with sin. But yet man still has to deal with sin. There has to be an accepting, if you will, of, of these good blessings that God is, is bestowed upon us and a and a part of that.

Is the role that baptism plays and, and it is something that is, is at the very beginning of the gospel message, really to the very end. And you see it playing out literally from the very beginning. I mean, we can go lots of places, certainly in the, in the book of Acts, but in the very. Outset of the Lord's Church in Acts chapter two, when the apostles are there speaking on the day of Pentecost, and they're talking, uh, about Jesus and his story about his death and about his resurrection.

Mm-hmm. And, and Peter is making the, the, that reality known to the Jews that are there. And they come to that realization that the one that just days before, weeks before had had crucified and had put in the ground. He, he was not just a prophet or, or not just a good man, that he was the Christ, that he was the son of God.

And of course they were bothered by that, right? And, and, and asking that question, well, what then can we do? In their mind it's over. We put him to death, right? Yeah, he is. It's what, what can we do now? We had our chance and we blew it. What can we do? And, and he answers that in a, in a pretty straightforward kind of way.

In verse 38 of Acts chapter two, repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. Mm-hmm. And so now. We have that picture of sin is the problem. How do we get rid of that? And now we see baptism playing a prominent role in that from the very beginning.

Yeah. I mean, you mentioned the, what takes place there in Acts chapter two and the as the gospel begins to spread. Beyond just the Jews and into the Gentiles. That's the story that the Book of Acts tells us. And you can go through the book of Acts and see nine different times where people are converted to Christ, where they become a Christian, and in every single one of those.

They are baptized into Christ for the remission of their sins. And so it becomes very clear even Jesus himself as he concluded his time on earth and ma in Mark chapter 16, he concludes that by telling the apostles, now that I'm gone, your responsibility is to take this gospel message into the world and everyone who believes it and is baptized shall be saved.

He couldn't have been more clear. About the directive that he is giving the apostles, and then the Book of Acts couldn't be more clear in sharing the story of how that transpires over time. And so it's very clear by the words of Jesus himself and by the acts of the apostles in the days and weeks and months and years to follow.

That baptism was going to be that moment in which someone has truly given their life to Christ and finds the forgiveness of their sins that they're looking for in the waters of baptism. That is a consistent message throughout the New Testament writings. The Book of Acts is full of it. Romans speaks about it.

Peter speaks about it. It's all over the New Testament. That baptism is that moment in which the one's sins are forgiven. One of my favorite passages to, to go to in talking about this is in one Peter chapter three. I really like that passage because it's a passage that uses an Old Testament example to highlight what baptism does for us today.

And so in one Peter chapter three, verses 18 through 22. I won't read all of those, uh, today, but Peter is going to point to the day of Noah and, and the time in which the flood came and judgment was brought upon the world and so many lost their lives, but Noah and his family were saved. And then he says there's an anti type or, or there's a, a pattern there.

There's something similar that I want you to consider today. Uh, there's this anti type, which now saves us baptism. And so he's making that connection that water was the thing that divided those who are saved and those who are lost in the days of Noah. And it is water that does that today as well.

Baptism is where we find salvation. And so again, wherever you turn in the New Testament, there is a clear directive that God wants us to recognize that baptism is that opportunity for us to have our sins forgiven. Yeah, and you know, it's. Some may say that, you know, when it comes to baptism, that it just sounds you like some arbitrary thing that God has just kind of tossed out for man to do.

But when you really dig in scripturally, it just isn't the case. Mm-hmm. I mean, you made the point, you know, from Peter in writing. Eons back, you know about Noah and being able to, you know, make that correlation. But really Paul does it for us in Romans chapter six, you know, in making that point and making the correlation between baptism and specifically coming in contact with Jesus' blood.

And you know, we see in other places. Ephesians chapter one specifically makes mention of the forgiveness of sins and coming in contact with the blood of Jesus. That that is ultimately the key and, and that really plays out in Romans chapter six. And you, you brought up, you know, just a moment ago.

Sometimes we're asked the question, I mean, it can, how can we know when our sins are, are directly taken away? If it's gonna be the greatest problem that man has, can we even know when, when sins, and I think absolutely we can. Mm-hmm. And, and that's what we get in Romans chapter six. And we won't read that whole passage, but specifically in just verses three and four, you know, it says, do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus, were therefore baptized unto his death?

That we were buried with him through baptism and to death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead, by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. And so if you just kind of piece, you know, that picture altogether, what we have an an old man of sin, a a, a bad guy, if you will, of sin.

He has to be put to death. He has to be crucified, if you will. Mm-hmm. Just like Jesus was crucified. He's got to be put to death. And then after that, that old man is put to death. Just as Jesus was buried in a tomb, we then have to be buried in baptism. And that brings us, you know, to the, the definition of the, you know, the term of immersion.

And, and you see specifically, you know, in, in the book of Acts, you know that certainly playing out. But then the important part of. Like, then Jesus being raised from the tomb. Mm-hmm. We will be raised to walk in newness of life. And so if you, if you take that old man of sin with that sad face on, and then you raise a new creature with the happy face on, well, how, how, how did you get from one to the other?

Well, what is there in the middle? It is baptism because that is when our sins are washed away and now we are raised to be a new creature with a relationship with God just like he wants. You know, I think one of the things that sometimes gets, uh, brought up, and it's a fair question to pose when talking about the topic of baptism is.

Well, isn't baptism a work? Mm-hmm. And we're not saved by our works. We're saved by God's grace. We talked about that last week in Ephesians chapter two, that our works cannot and do not save us. Right? So how could baptism then be that moment in time in which our sins are forgiven? It seems as if we are doing something to earn God's forgiveness in that way, and, and I understand where that question would come from.

However, I would push back a uh, quite. Uh, heavily on that to, to say this, if, if baptism were a work that led to our forgiveness, then what about faith? Mm-hmm. What about belief? What about saying a prayer? I. Are those things not works if we're gonna classify them in that way? Well, they all require something from us.

You, you have to make a confession. You have to do something, you have to believe, you have to have faith. If, if one is going to be a work, then all of them have to be works. But the reality is, is when it comes to baptism and all of these things that we're talking about, they are signs of complete submission.

Mm-hmm. To God, I, I've gotten in water. A thousand times in my life, probably more than that, right? But only once have I had the belief and the faith that I have come out of that water forgiven of my sins. The water is not what's special, it's what happens. In that moment of submission to God in which I put my faith and my trust in him, that when I am immersed in this water, I am going to come out of it completely and totally forgiven.

It is a complete act of submission on our part. It, it is not a work. That I am doing. It is an act of obedience that I am participating in, in the same way that faith and, and in the same way that repentance, all of those things are acts of submission and obedience and placing our trust in God. Baptism falls into the same category in that regard.

God has chosen this. As a way of signifying, as you pointed out, that there is a moment in time in which your sins are forgiven. And as you referenced there in Romans chapter six, and not only is it that moment in time, but it's also symbolic in that we participate in Christ's, Christ's death, burial and resurrection in the act of baptism.

Yeah. And, and I, you know, when we start to really, you know, think about it, you know, it comes down to believing and trusting. In God, and certainly what he says. So you, you have a belief that sin is a big problem and you come to that realization, right? And you come to that, we talked about that, you know, minutes ago in Acts chapter two.

Mm-hmm. They, they came to the realization that, man, we made a big, we made a big blunder, we made a big error. Maybe the biggest error that's, you know, ever been made. Yeah. And so they're, they're, they're, they're concerned about that. And so we have to understand the seriousness of sin. Of sin. That's why we talked about it in the very first week.

We've gotta understand what sin is. What sin does, it separates us from God. It, it keeps us from being with him for eternity. We, we gotta understand what God has done to, to help us with that sin. And now what he has said. Removes that sin. Mm-hmm. And so if I trust in all of that, and I believe in all of that, that that is where the power is, that's where the punch is.

And so that's why you've made reference already in Mark chapter 16. When Jesus is there talking, you know, to his disciples and, and he makes the point that he who believes and is baptized will be saved, but then he follows that up. Well, he who does not believe will be condemned. Well, he doesn't have to add and he who does not be baptized.

Right? Right. Because belief is what is pushing us in, in that direction. And it is trusting in God, in his way and his way says, baptism is the moment that your sins are washed away, your. Your sins are forgiven. And now I trust in that. Mm-hmm. And I think you make a good point. I've been submerged in water countless times.

Mm-hmm. But just one of those times my sins were washed away, you know? And that's probably most clearly I. Seen in the story of Paul's conversion. He recounts that for us in Acts chapter 22. It takes place earlier in the Book of Acts, but he recounts his conversion there in Acts chapter 22 and I, and I think the way he describes that moment for him.

It couldn't have been more evident to him. Remember Paul, if you go back to Acts chapter nine, Paul was called into service By God, he encounters Jesus on the road to Damascus. There is miraculous intervention that takes place. In that moment, all of those things have transpired. But Paul says very clearly that it's not until Ananias says to him, arise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord that Paul's sins are forgiven.

That's the moment in time. It wasn't when he was called into service, it wasn't when he had this miraculous encounter with Jesus. None of those things were the moment in which his sins were forgiven. Paul can reflect on this time period, and he knows very clearly when his sins were forgiven. And so again, I think that's a great example for us, that Paul's belief and Paul's faith and Paul's obedience, all of those things were necessary.

All of those things were required. In order for him to get to that point in which his sins could be forgiven in the waters of baptism. And so when we talk about baptism, it's in no way exclusionary of any of these other things that we've talked about already. We have to be able to take a step back and see how all of this works together.

God has a plan for his creation and he wants us to submit to him in obedience and he wants to save us, and he has given us an avenue in which that can take place, there's no doubt. Well, I'll add one thing and then we'll close in that same text, he was also fasting and praying. I. Yeah, that's right in the, that's right in the midst of all of that.

Yep. Well, you know, it, it is there in Acts chapter 22, as Paul is recounting this story that you, you get in a very pretty straightforward kind of way as he's dealing, uh, with all that he's dealing with. And, and an Ananias is there to help him. And he says in Acts chapter 22 and verse 16 and will close with this question because it's a good one.

Why, why are you waiting a rise? Be baptized and wash away your sins. Calling on the name of the Lord.

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