No Secret Disciples: The Public Declaration of Baptism

"What do we do now?" That's the desperate question from a crowd who just realized they killed the Messiah. Peter's answer in Acts 2:38—"Repent and be baptized"—reveals something stunning about God's saving grace. Baptism isn't optional obedience you can delay indefinitely. It's not a solo act we passively observe. It's your public declaration that you've died to sin, been raised to new life in Christ, and united yourself to His people. There are no secret disciples in the kingdom of God.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

I want you to play a game with me, so to speak. If you can picture yourself in the story that I just read, imagine that you are a Jew. You grew up being taught the sacred scriptures of the Old Testament your entire life. You have been longing, just like every other Israelite, for the coming of the Messiah. You're growing up a Jew under Roman oppression, and from an early age, you know that Rome is the enemy. They are our great oppressors, but you long for the day when the Messiah who will come and will be a conqueror king who will uh usurp the throne of Rome, so to speak, and re-establish Israel in all its greatness, as when King David was on the throne. This is what you're being taught as a child as you grow up. You're familiar with the Messiah, you cannot wait for his coming. But then one day, this Jesus comes on the scene. He's performing miracles that you can't deny. Maybe you had the privilege of even witnessing some of these miracles. But then he starts making some radical claims, forgiving sin, healing people on the Sabbath, and making it very clear that he is under the understanding that he is God in human flesh. But this kingdom he's talking about has nothing to do with a military force. He's teaching about love and forgiveness, serving your neighbor, the kingdom of God being at hand. And you're like, well, wait a minute. What about Rome? Wait a minute. What did he say about taxes? Are you serious? Pay to Caesar, what? So you're filled with rage. And when it's time for his unjust trial, maybe you're in the crowd shouting, crucify him. You watch him murdered, you watch his friends take his body off of the cross, and you go home and you sleep well. Because you think, good, another false Messiah taken care of. But then 50 days later, you're standing in this crowd in Acts 2, you're witnessing this the Holy Spirit descend on people, speak in known human languages and never learned to proclaim the goodness of God. You recognize this is this is this is an act of God. And then Peter, the guy who you might have heard of, the coward who denied his his Messiah three times and fled out of self-preservation, that same Peter is now standing up, helping you connect the Old Testament dots to Jesus. And as you're listening to Peter, your heart is getting heavier and heavier. You're realizing something you didn't realize before his crucifixion. As Peter is exhorting the crowd, you're starting to realize, wait a minute, was Jesus the Messiah? And as Peter goes on, it clicks. You realize he was who he said he was. But as that happens, as the Holy Spirit illuminates truth to your heart and mind, and you realize who Jesus truly was, you hear Peter say this in verse 32. God has raised this Jesus. We are all witnesses of this. Therefore, since he has been exalted to the right hand of God and has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit, he has poured out what you both see and hear. But then verse 36 is what grips you. Therefore, let all the house of Israel know with certainty that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah. And your first response when Peter says that sentence is, What do I do now? That is the beauty of Acts chapter 2. Conviction of sin, but also a realization of the message of salvation. And Paul's answer to that question, what should we do, brothers? reveals something beautiful about God's saving grace and the ordinance of baptism. What I want us to do this morning is to look at specifically verses 36 through 40 and just talk about together, celebrate together, meditate together on the beauty of salvation and the ordinance of baptism and what it symbolizes. And I want you to leave encouraged with this thought. We'll see from this text that baptism is your joyful public declaration that you have died to sin, been raised to new life in Christ, and you have united yourself to Christ and Christ's people. Now, there's a lot we can cover in Acts chapter 2. There's so much going on here. I can't wait to preach through the book of Acts. But I just want us to focus on verses 36 through 40 and just let's just zero in on what's going on here and how is it significant for us. When you look at these Jews' response to Peter's preaching, you can think of it as like a medical diagnosis. Like let's say you go to a doctor for a routine physical, and you're going in thinking, hey, you know, I generally feel healthy. I have no concerns. This is just something I check, you know, annually. And but the doctor comes in with a concerned look on his face and gives you a diagnosis that you weren't expecting. A serious diagnosis that alters the entire course of your life from that point forward. You can't unhear that diagnosis. From that moment forward, once you leave that doctor's office, your whole life changes. How you eat, how you make decisions, what you prioritize is all going to be based on that diagnosis you received from the doctor. That is exactly what these Jews are going through. Life was fine. They thought, great, we got Rome to crucify this false Messiah. His story is done with. But now, like receiving a medical diagnosis, they come to the understanding: wait a minute, this is far more serious than we thought. We played a hand in the murder of our own Messiah who we've been praying for for centuries. And it completely changes the trajectory of their lives. But what's further crazy to me is the heart of Jesus in this story. Jesus was murdered by this same band of people, even if they didn't play a hand necessarily in driving the nails into his body, they certainly advocated for his death with a clear conscience. And yet Jesus died for some of these very people who had a hand in his death. Jesus grants forgiveness and faith to those who played a hand in his unjust murder. Which reminds me of Paul's words in Romans 12, uh Romans 10, I mean, when he says, if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved, including those who murdered the Messiah. That's how scandalous the grace of Jesus Christ is. It is in all encompassing of the quote-unquote worst of sinners. So just know if you struggle with, you know, whether or not God loves you as a Christian, or if you're not in Christ and you wrestle with, well, I don't know if Jesus could ever forgive me of what I have done, if he will be willing to forgive the very people who played a hand in his murder thousands of years ago, I think we all got a great shot at being loved by Jesus, don't we? That is the very definition of loving your enemies. But I want to ask you this morning, when you look at these Jews' response in verse 36, when he says, Whom you crucified is both Lord and Messiah, the text says, When they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brothers, what should we do? I want to ask you something this morning. Do you, I don't care what your testimony is, whether you grew up in a Christian household and you can't remember a day not loving Jesus because the Lord graciously saved you at a young age, whether you came to faith later in life and you can remember the exact day when Jesus saved you, or maybe it was a gradual process the Lord drew you to Himself. Can you recall the moment when you realize you were pierced to the heart because of your sin? Is that a faint memory or is that still fresh to you? Do you go back and recall? I don't care when the Lord saved you, can you remember when you had this same experience as these Jews, when the light bulb clicked, when you realize I am a sinner and I need salvation and I can't redeem myself, and you were pierced to the heart when you recognized I put Jesus on the cross with my sin. Do you remember that day, that season, how the Lord revealed that to you before he made the gospel precious to you? That is good for us to reflect on. Not to go back and wallow in our past sin and beat ourselves up, but just to remember salvation is a supernatural act. It's not based on logic and persuasion in the sense of we all make a pros and cons list and say, you know what, this Christianity sounds really good. Like I think that'll work well for me in the business world and stuff. So I think I'm gonna become a Christian. There was a moment where supernaturally, God in his loving kindness, through the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit, opened the eyes of our hearts to see our sin and our need of a savior. And we too were pierced to the heart and had to plead to the Lord, what should I do? That same grace that pierced the hearts of those who killed Jesus calls us to respond as well. I just want to I just want to present that to you guys. I think sometimes, the longer you're a Christian, sometimes we can fall into the snare of thinking salvation is just a logical thing. Like if you just have a persuasive enough argument, you can convince anyone. I I saw a book recently, uh, I didn't read it, but the title was something around the lines of like how to win anyone to Jesus. Now, I don't want to criticize the book. I haven't read it, but I was like, that's a that's a rather odd title. I mean, if it was that easy, I mean we wouldn't even have service today. Let's just read the book and go share the gospel, however, that book uh entails. But salvation is a supernatural act. These these Jews were not looking to follow Jesus, they thought they did a good work in murdering Jesus. And 50 days later, they become disciples of Jesus. But we see in verses 38 through 39, Peter's answer to their question. If you look down Acts chapter 2, let's start at verse 37. When they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brothers, what should we do? What's Peter's answer? Peter replied, Repent and be baptized, each of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for the promises for you and for your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call. We're gonna spend most of our time in these few verses here. Peter is boldly proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ 50 days after Jesus' ascension. This is this is just so profound to me. This is the same Peter who, out of self-preservation and fear, denied Jesus, even though Jesus was like, he looked like a day one, didn't he? He was like, Jesus, I'm ready to die for you. I will pull out my knife. We can get, we can get active if we need to, I will kill for you. And yet he denies Jesus three times and flees in Jesus' most vulnerable moment. Peter abandons his friend. But now Peter is standing up, proclaiming the goodness of Jesus Christ and salvation before these Jews who just had his friend murdered days ago, who could have used that same influence to have Peter killed, and yet Peter courageously and boldly stands up as a herald for the Messiah and proclaims the good news. Do you know what Peter reminds me of? He reminds me one of Jesus, his faithful proclamation, but he also reminds me of our friend John the Baptist. If you turn back to Luke chapter 3, you see some similar parallels here in Luke chapter 3, describing the ministry of John the Baptist. Look down at verse 4 of Luke 3. 4 through 10, 4 through 10. It says, As it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah, a voice of one crying out in the wilderness, prepare the way for the Lord, make his path straight, every valley will be filled, and every mountain and hill will be made low, the crooked will become straight, the rough way smooth, and everyone will see the salvation of God. He said this to the crowds who came out to be baptized by him. Brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Therefore, produce fruit consistent with repentance, and don't start saying to yourselves, We have Abraham as our father. For I tell you that God is able to raise up children from Abraham from these stones. The axe is already at the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree that doesn't produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. Look at the response. What then should we do? The crowds were asking him. Now we come to Acts chapter 2, and in a similar vein, we have Peter, almost in the spirit of John the Baptist, standing up boldly proclaiming the good news of salvation, calling his audience to repent, even at the risk of losing his own life. And notice Peter's boldness in his evangelism. Peter does not water down the good news of salvation. Peter's not focused on, I don't want to offend anyone in the crowd by what I'm about to say. He's not trying to create a message that he knows would be palatable to the audience. No. If you look down at Peter's words, he is proclaiming faithfully a message of repentance. He is telling them you are not a good person, you are a sinner who just murdered your own Messiah. That is confrontational language, friends. He's calling the audience murderers. That's not how you win friends and influence people. He is faithfully proclaiming the good news of Jesus, not because he's wanting to be abrasive or controversial just for the sake of being controversial. He's simply being faithful to the message that is true. The only message that could answer their question, brothers, what should we do? Max Stiles and his book on how a church corporately can together pursue evangelism defines evangelism as this evangelism is teaching the gospel with the aim to persuade. I love that. Just a very concise definition. Evangelism is teaching the gospel, not our gospel, not Peter's gospel, teaching the gospel with the aim to persuade. And notice the first word out of Peter's mouth. When they asked Peter and the apostles, brothers, what must we do? What is the first word out of Peter's mouth in his response? Repent. Repent. Peter replied, Repent and be baptized, each of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. Let's talk about that word repentance. What does that mean? Repentance is a gift from God. It is a gift from God. It is a gift from God's Spirit that humbles you on the inside and changes how you live on the outside. It's a both and repentance isn't just verbally confessing sin. There are a lot of people who have worldly sorrow over sin where they're just sorrowful because of the consequences of their sin, but they're not broken over the fact that they've sinned against God who loves them. So true repentance is a gift from God's Spirit that enables you to change inwardly, but also to change outwardly in how you live. Or to put it another way, in genuine God-honoring repentance, your heart breaks in two directions. You're broken for your sin and genuine sorrow, but you're also broken from your sin as you turn from sin and turn towards Christ. This is why in the New Testament you see this language of putting off, but it's also followed with put on. We put off sin and put on the fruits of the Spirit and righteousness so that we walk in a manner worthy of the gospel. This is important because in the modern church, there's a lot of confusion about repentance. I think some believe repentance should just be a verbal assent to acknowledging you might have done something wrong or you've made a mistake. And so sometimes there's a confusion about, well, is so-and-so truly repentant? Well, only time will tell. Because repentance is also followed by a repentant lifestyle. That's why Paul uses this language of walking in a manner worthy of the gospel. Someone can verbally say they're repentant all day, but if their life has not changed to match that verbal profession of repentance, then there is no genuine repentance. Thomas Watson, a great Puritan, wrote an entire book called The Doctrine of Repentance. Excellent read. I would commend it to you. He says this repentance is a spiritual medicine made up of six special ingredients. Number one, sight of sin. Number two, sorrow for sin. Number three, confession of sin. Four, shame for sin. Five, hatred of sin, and six, turning from sin. True sorrow for sin is when a man sorrows more for the evil in sin than the hurt that follows it. True sorrow for sin is when a man sorrows more for the evil in sin than the hurt that follows it. A good picture for me is I think of Joseph when Potiphar's wife tries to ensnare him into an adulterous relationship. And what does he say? How can I commit this great evil against my God? That is a heart that has a proper understanding of the sight of sin and recognizing that sin is primarily an offense against God. But what I love about this response from the audience, so Peter is faithfully proclaiming, he's telling them to repent and be baptized. They're getting their answer, but in their response, we're also seeing the fact that repentance leads us outward, doesn't it? Repentance doesn't lead us inward to gaze at our navel spiritually, so to speak, and just focus inward on our sin and our guilt and our shame. It's leading these brothers and sisters outward, outside of themselves, to recognize, okay, I see my sin. I played a hand in the murder of the Messiah. I am a sinner. I am guilty before God. I can't save myself. So then that knowledge leads them outward to say, well, then where is salvation? It's not in me. I can't save myself, which is why they ask Peter, brothers, what must we do? What does God say? That is what genuine repentance does. It leads us to a place of God-honoring helplessness where we recognize I need something otherworldly to redeem me. And it can only come from the hands of God. But notice when Peter gives them an answer on what they are to do, he doesn't just say repent, he pairs repentance with an action, which we see in 38 through 39. He says, Repent and be baptized, each of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promises for you and for your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call. There is a lot going on in just those few verses. And what I want to do, I want to encourage us in our understanding of the beauty of the ordinance of baptism. Because I realize in the modern church there is a lot of confusion about what baptism is, who's a candidate for baptism, how should churches practice baptism? Does baptism save you? So let's take our time, roll up our sleeves and do some theology and look at these two verses, because it's helpful sometimes to see how do we address the misconceptions about baptism so we can better appreciate what baptism really is according to scripture. So we're gonna do some theology, roll up your sleeves, we're gonna be turning to some passages of scripture a little bit here. But let's start with when Peter says, or I'm sorry, when uh Acts 2 says, uh, well, yeah, Peter. When Peter says, be baptized in the name of Jesus, what is he getting at there? Well, I believe what he's getting at is in the kingdom of God there are no secret disciples. What he's saying is, no, you're being baptized in Christ Jesus, meaning you are publicly declaring that you are uniting yourself to the very person that you had crucified because you thought he wasn't who he said he was. This is a big deal. There are no secret disciples in the kingdom of God. So for anyone who wrestles with, well, I'm a I believe I'm a Christian, but I don't want to get baptized. Because, you know, I got saved 10 years ago and I'm just kind of concerned about what people think of about me, or I just don't want people to see my legs. I gotta wear shorts and get into the baptismal. Like I'm embarrassed about like I've heard all sorts of different reasons. But brothers and sisters, I I heard a story recently of a young lady who uh professed that she came to faith in Jesus Christ. She grew up in the Mormon church. Her family is still in the Mormon church, and she went to a Bible believing gospel preaching church and she wanted to be baptized. She said, I believe God saved me and I want to move forward in obedience to be baptized. However, uh I'm sorry, no. She did not want to be baptized because she said, I believe my baptism in the Mormon church is meaningful and I shouldn't have to be baptized again. And the pastor tried to lovingly help her understand the Mormon church has a different gospel, therefore you were not baptized. And we want to help you understand what baptism is before you join this church. And she would not uh recount her faith in the Mormon church, which means she should not be baptized because she has a faulty understanding of what baptism is. You can't be a secret disciple, excuse me, of Jesus. But why do you think we baptize in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit? Well, the way I would think about it is because we want to give him all the glory and the praise for our salvation. God the Father was the architect of your salvation. God the Son is the one who purchased you on the cross, and God the Spirit is the one who applies salvation and sanctification, which is why we baptize in the name of the Father and the Son and the Spirit to give them all the glory and the praise. But if you look at the verses there, there could be some confusion when Peter says you are to be baptized, repent and be baptized, and he uses the phrase for the forgiveness of sins. For the forgiveness in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Okay, so is Peter saying that the waters of baptism saves somebody? Well, I would say that's an emphatic no from scripture. But let's let's unpack that a little bit. The Roman Catholic Church, for example, and some other groups, but predominantly the Roman Catholic Church, does teach that the waters alone, as you are baptized, do save and regenerate a Christian. Just to quote their own catechism, they this is their definition of baptism as a grace. It says, by baptism, all sins are forgiven, original sin and all personal sins, as well as all punishment for sin. In those who have been reborn, nothing remains that would impede their entry into the kingdom of God, neither Adam's sin nor personal sin, nor the consequences of sin, the gravest of which is separation from God. Brothers and sisters, that is heresy. That is a different gospel. There is nothing in the biblical data that says anything about the waters of baptism having some kind of supernatural power of grace in which God removes the original sin of Adam and grants regeneration. That is a false teaching that has been perpetrated for centuries through the Roman Catholic Church and other denominations, but it doesn't fit the biblical data. And just a good biblical interpretation principle for you guys: always take passages of scripture in light of other passages of scripture. Always to keep in mind what has the Bible also said on this topic in other books of the Bible to have a full understanding of God's teaching on a particular topic. But there are some passages that some will use to this day to argue that baptism does save. One example is 1 Peter chapter 3. 1 Peter chapter 3. You can turn there. Some will take that verse and say, see, baptism saves. So if you are not baptized and you die, you will not go into glory because you were not baptized. However, friends, whenever you're reading the Bible, context is always helpful. Go up a few verses of 1 Peter 3, look at verse 18. It says, For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit, in which he also went and made proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in the past were disobedient when God patiently waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, and in it a few, that is, eight people, were saved through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a good conscience toward God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels' authorities and powers subject to him. Peter is very plainly saying, similar to how Noah and his family were saved through the water, meaning they were saved from God's wrath poured out on the earth. That is how that corresponds to your baptism. He's not saying baptism itself saves. That's not what he's saying. He's saying Noah's family, or just as the waters lifted the ark that saved Noah's family, baptism identifies a Christian with Christ who saves us. Baptism is more of a public pledge of an already changed heart and the outward sign of an inward faith. That is what Peter is getting at. Okay, well, if we look at verse 39, Peter uses this language of the promise. For the promise is for you and for your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call. This, among many other passages, is used to argue for infant baptism. We are friends with our Presbyterian brothers and sisters, and there are Lutheran and Methodist streams that also hold to infant baptism. But let's let's address this for a second, because I understand most Christians have never maybe dived into this to think well about what does the biblical data say about this. So some will use this passage and others to say, see, this is why we should sprinkle children, infants into the new into the covenant, so to speak, if you have believing uh parents. And some will also use the example in Acts, since we're in Acts, of household baptisms as evidence that we should sprinkle infant children who belong to believing parents. We don't have enough time to look at every last one of these, but let's look at a few of these household baptisms real quick. Turn over to Acts chapter 10. Let's start with the first one, which is Cornelius's household. In Acts chapter 10, beginning in verse 44. And again, I'm just walking through these because I want you guys to be able to realize we're not committed to believers' baptism because we're a baptistic church, even though, hey, we're not ashamed of being Baptists. But I want you to be able to see what the biblical data show so you know how to faithfully study your Bible. In Acts chapter 10, beginning in verse 44, we have our first household baptism of Cornelius' household. The text reads, while Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came down on all those who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. For they heard them speaking in tongues and declaring the greatness of God. Then Peter responded, Can anyone withhold water and prevent these people from being baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have? He commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay a few days. Now, first point I would just suggest to you is you don't need to know Greek to understand your Bibles, but the Greek word here for baptism, baptizo, means to immerse. So that doesn't encompass sprinkling. No scholar would disagree with that. Even faithful Presbyterian theologians and scholars would agree, baptizo means to immerse or dip. But if you pay attention in Acts 10, 44 through 48, if you're an observant reader, you you realize that the Holy Spirit fell on who? All those who heard the message. The Holy Spirit fell on all those who heard the message, and the ones who heard the message spoke in tongues and praised God before baptism, demonstrating that only those who were capable of hearing and comprehending the message that Peter preached are the ones who were then speaking and are baptized, not infants. How can an infant hear and then respond in doing Acts of God in that passage? Turn over to Acts chapter 16. Just gonna spend a little time on these, not too much. This could be a whole sermon in and of itself. But Acts 16, verse 28, we have the Philippian jailer's household. Acts 16, beginning in verse 28 through 34. It says, But Paul called out in a loud voice, Don't harm yourself, because we're all here. The jailer called for lights, rushed in, and fell down, trembling before Paul and Silas. He escorted them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? They said, Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household. And they spoke the word of the Lord to him along with everyone in his house. He took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds. Right away he and all his family were baptized. He brought them into his house, set a meal before them, and rejoiced, because he had come to believe in God with his entire household. Now, if you're an observant leader, reader, what do you see in that text? It says that Paul and Silas spoke the word of the Lord to him along with everyone in his house. And the jailer rejoiced because he had come to believe in God. And what does it say right after that? Along with his entire household. So clearly that excludes infants because infants can't hear Paul and Silas explain the message of the gospel and then believe, and then later rejoice. So clearly, uh it says they spoke the word of the Lord to him along with everyone in his house. So everyone who was able to comprehend the message heard it, and then later they rejoiced because he rejoices, it says, rejoice because he had come to believe in God along with his entire household, indicating two things. The entire household heard the gospel and believed the gospel, and in obedience were baptized. Turn over to Acts 18. We'll look at our last one. Acts chapter 18, verses 5 through 8. When Silas, verse 5 of chapter 18, when Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself to preaching the word and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah. When they rested, I'm sorry, when they resisted in blaspheme, he shook out his clothes and told them, Your blood is on your own heads. I am innocent from now on. I will go to the Gentiles. So he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius, Justice, I don't know if I'm pronouncing that right, a worshiper of God who was whose house was next door to the synagogue. Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord along with his whole household. Many of the Corinthians, when they heard, believed and were baptized. So yes, we have household belief and baptism. However, the text explicitly states that Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord. And what follows that sentence? Along with his whole household, making it clear that household faith preceded household baptism. All that to say, brothers and sisters, there's not a single example in any part of scripture of an infant being baptized or of a command for Christians and churches to baptize infants. You even faithful Presbyterian and other infant baptism uh theologians would agree that the biblical data does not support that argument. So, what is the argument? Because billions of people believe in baptizing, sprinkling infants. I'm gonna do, I'm trying to do this justice, but to boil it down in summary, the argument goes like this just as in the old covenant, circumcision was the sign of God's people who were under the covenant. Now the covenant continues. However, the sign of the covenant has changed to baptism/slash sprinkling. So believing parents are to sprinkle their children to bring them into the covenant, as Israel would circumcise their their male children to bring them into the covenant. Now, there are sorts all sorts of, I would suggest, and I want to be very charitable here, but I I we we have strong disagreements because you have to do a whole lot of theological gymnastics to make this work. Number one, that means that you are saying that the church, the new covenant, is filled with unregenerate people. That as a church, you're sprinkling people into the membership of your church who have not professed faith in Christ, they're not born again, they're members of the church, but they can't partake in the Lord's Supper. That is confusing. Or even if we looked at the old covenant sign of circumcision, that's a strange one because the sign was given to male children. So what about the women? So where's the transition where, okay, so if now sprinkling replaces circumcision, what's the jump to argue that women are now included in this new sign? Or the argument also goes, well, there isn't necessarily a new covenant, it's the same covenant God made with Abraham that has continued. However, the biblical data would push back against that as well. So if you turn over to Jeremiah chapter 31, for example, Jeremiah 31, let's go to the Old Testament, verses 31 through 34. Jeremiah 31, starting in verse 31. Through 34, let's read. The text says, Look, the days are coming. This is the Lord's declaration when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. This one will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. My covenant that they broke, even though I am their master, the Lord's declaration. Instead, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days. The Lord's declaration, I will put my teaching within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people. No longer will one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they will all know me, from the least to the greatest of them. This is the Lord's declaration, for I will forgive their iniquity and never again remember their sin. So clearly that last sentence is communicating that this new covenant that is to come includes God forgiving iniquity, which doesn't fall in line with how our Presbyterian brothers and sisters would argue, well, no, no, no, we sprinkle children, but they're not saved. But that seems to fly in the face of what Jeremiah says here. But not only that, Hebrews chapter 8 quotes Jeremiah 31 in full and says that Jesus is the mediator of a better covenant. And in verse 13 of Hebrews 8, it says, by saying a new covenant, he, meaning Jesus, has declared that the first is obsolete, and what is obsolete in growing old is about to pass away. So clearly there seems to be an understanding from the Old and the New Testament that there is a new covenant that has replaced the old covenant. Jesus from his own mouth in Luke chapter 22, in referring to the Lord's Supper, says, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Second Corinthians 3:6, Paul says, He has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the spirit. Let's just look at one more passage. Uh, you don't have to turn here. I don't know, I got y'all flying all over the place. Colossians chapter 2, verses 8 through 12 is another passage that's used to make this argument. Colossians chapter 2, verses 8 through 12. You may remember this as we covered it a few weeks ago. Paul says, Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elements of the world rather than Christ. For the entire fullness of God's nature dwells bodily in Christ, and you have been filled by him, who is the head over every ruler and authority. Now, verse 11 is what tends to be used to argue for infant baptism. You were also circumcised in him, with a circumcision not done with hands, by putting off the body of flesh in the circumcision of Christ. Now that passage is used to say, see, sprinkling our children, our belief children of believers, is the new sign of the new of the covenant, and that brings them into covenant relationship with God. It's a spiritual circumcision. Okay, look at verse 12. He says, When you were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him, what does it say? Through faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead. If that phrase through faith was not there, then maybe there would be a strong case to use that passage to argue for sprinkling quote-unquote covenant children. And this is why also, friends, the mode of baptism is not the most important thing, but it does matter. Immersion communicates the reality of baptism better than any other mode. Think of Romans 6, 1 through 3, where Peter talks about this is my favorite passage of the beauty of baptism in union with Christ, where he says, Are you un are or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we were buried with him in bap by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him, so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless, so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin. Brothers and sisters, the biblical data I would suggest is very clear that baptism is for believers alone. This is why our statement of faith defines baptism as such. We believe that Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is a solemn and beautiful emblem that declares our faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Savior, as well as our union with him in death to sin and resurrection to new life. Baptism is a prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and the Lord's Supper. Okay, that was a lie. What I am getting at, though, is when these men and women come under the conviction of the Spirit and they call out to Peter and the apostles, brothers, what must we do? Peter says, repent and be baptized, implying if you're saved, be baptized in the name of Christ Jesus. Why? Well, because baptism is the initiating oath sign of the new covenant. Picture someone who joins the military and they have their swearing-in ceremony. What's happening there? They are now being marked off from being citizens like you and I, and now they are soldiers making an oath to defend the Constitution from domestic and foreign enemies. That is similar in our baptism. It is an initiating oath sign where we, if you've been baptized, you went public to say to the world, I am marked off from sin, deaf, and Satan, and I now follow Jesus Christ. I identify with Christ and his people. But the candidates for baptism are only those who understand what baptism is because they have been regenerated. I recently purchased a rhyming catechism by a pastor who uh modernized a modernized a very popular catechism by a brother who lived in the 1600s. And I've just been eating this thing up. This is this is really good. I just want to read a few questions in this catechism on baptism. And if you're not familiar with catechisms, this was a very common practice. As a matter of fact, churches centuries ago would actually uh take their time in letting people join the church, sometimes up to a year, to make sure they catechized them in a form of you know memorizing questions and answers about key doctrines of the faith to make sure the people being baptized and joining the church truly understood the Christian faith. But in this catechism, I want to read four four questions on the ordinance of baptism. It says, for a definition, what is baptism? The rhyme goes, To everyone that Christ forgave, a dunking in the watery grave is the proper way to show heaven's hope on earth below. Who should be baptized? Where Christ is loved and sins despised, these alone should be baptized. How should we be baptized? In lots of water they are laid, like being buried in a grave. A sprinkle does not picture well how Jesus conquered death and hell. A dunk in water shows it most in Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. What is the duty of those baptized? Anyone who's been immersed needs to join a local church. Walk in all our Lord's commands as they grow and understand. Friends, biblical baptism is by immersion after repentance from sin and faith in Jesus Christ, or it is not biblical baptism. I say that in love and charity. I love those who have a different view, but the biblical data does not support any other form of baptism. Now, again, these are second-tier issues. Those I might disagree with, I still think are in Christ. They're going to be in glory with us, and their theology will be corrected then. But until then, we want to be loving and charitable, but we also want to be clear about what the scriptures teach. Now, why am I bringing all this up? I'm going to encourage you this morning, as members of Redeemer Church, that the act of baptism is not primarily an individual's act, it is a corporate act. Whenever someone gets baptized in this church, we're not just passive observers watching people get in the water and emerge from the water. It is a corporate act. I love Bobby Jamison's definition where he says that baptism is a church's act of affirming and portraying a believer's union with Christ by immersing him or her in water and a believer's act of publicly committing him or herself to Christ and his people, thereby uniting a believer to the church and marking off him or her from the world. So when we baptize someone, it is a corporate act of beauty in which, brothers and sisters, if you're members of this church, you have been baptized at some point in your Christian life. And it's similar to like attending a wedding. If you've had the privilege of attending a wedding or if you are married, you go to attend to observe two people enter into a marriage covenant. And when they exchange vows and a ring, they are closing themselves off to the world and saying, we are now in this new covenant relationship with each other. But those who are there present, you're not just there for free food and to dance. You're there also as a public witness to corporately celebrate with that couple as they come into a new covenant relationship. And that is something similar to what we're doing as a church family. We have the privilege of saying we are also going public with those who are being baptized to say, we believe, as best as we can tell from our human vantage point, that that is a brother or sister in Christ Jesus. And we wholeheartedly extend, as those who have the authority to baptize, we extend the ordinance of baptism to these individuals to baptize them into our church family. This is very important because in the modern church, many Christians have too far low of a view of baptism. And some of that is, you know, we're all products of our disciples. Some just have not been well taught. And so what ends up happening is a few things. Number one, baptism is treated primarily as a solo act instead of a church act. I saw recently, you know, a large Christian event that's going to be taking place and they're planning on baptizing people at the event. I would say that is an unbiblical means of baptism. There is no local church authorized to baptize those people into church membership for accountability and shepherding. Or we see that baptism can be extended to young children who don't yet comprehend the gospel, repentance, or faith. Let me be clear what I am not saying. Jesus absolutely saves young kids. Praise be to God. I pray he saves every young kid in this church. I heard a story of a church that had a second baptismal for young kids that was designed to look like a fire truck. And every time a child is baptized, horns go off and confetti shoots out. That is very sad because it is minimizing the beauty of the ordinance of baptism by just saying if anyone desires to get in the waters of baptism, we're going to dunk them. That's too little of a view of baptism. Or baptism can be performed with absolutely no connection to a local church. This is why, and again, I want to be gracious and charitable here, but this is why we would not encourage baptisms at a youth camp that's not attached to a local church. Baptism is not an ordinance given to families for husbands and wives and spouses to baptize their children in the swimming pool or each other in a river and so on and so forth. These are not biblical practices of baptism because baptism is an ordinance like the Lord's Supper by Jesus entrusted to the local church who have been given the keys of the kingdom, who are authorized to say who's in and who's out. Or baptism is treated as an optional thing to do for a Christian. If you come to faith in Christ, one of the first things the Lord puts on your to-do list is to be baptized specifically into a local church. It's not an optional thing. Baptism does not save, we made that very clear. Look at the thief on the cross. He was promised by the Messiah himself that he will be with him in glory. But if you have come to faith in Jesus Christ, if you're confident the Lord has redeemed your soul, and you have studied the biblical data and you are convinced that baptism is a biblical mandate from the Lord, and you refuse baptism, then your first act as a disciple of Christ is to disobey the Savior who redeemed you. Another way we minimize baptism is we see it as something that's done more for family tradition rather than personal conviction. Well, I want to baptize my kids because you know my grandma would really love that. Or my family's really pressuring me to get baptized. Baptism can be watered down and lose a significance in beauty if we're not committed to Scripture. All that to say, baptism is a beautiful ordinance entrusted by Jesus Christ, the chief shepherd of the church, to local churches, to function as a local embassy on earth that represents the kingdom of God, who extends the ordinance to those who have a credible profession of faith. That is why we take church membership very seriously here at Redeemer. That is why we have a meaningful church membership process. We want to do our due diligence as elders to, as best as we can ascertain as humans, is this individual who wants to join our church born again? And if so, we present them as a candidate for baptism or membership to our congregation, who then has the authority to receive into the membership of this church those who profess faith in Christ. Now you might wonder, well, in Acts 2, Cam, we don't see a church membership process. We don't see a membership class they had to sign up for, they didn't have to do a they didn't have to fill out a questionnaire. So what's going on? Well, brothers and sisters, in Acts 2, you have predominantly Jews who are professing faith in Christ, which would have been absolutely radical. No one was questioning the genuineness of their faith because everyone understood, okay, well, if you are saying you identify with Christ, you are completely leaving behind Judaism. You're gonna be expelled from your local synagogue. You're gonna be seen as an outcast. That would be to modernize that, that would be like if someone came to Redeemer and said, the Lord has saved me and they're coming from a Muslim family, and they know it's at stake. If I get baptized and join Redeemer, my family is gonna disown me. They are not gonna talk to me. I might lose much. We would not question the genuineness of that person's salvation. That is what's similar, similarly happening in Acts chapter 2. All right, I know I'm hitting y'all with a lot, but let's look down at verse 40. Notice it says, with many other words he testified and strongly urged them, saying, Be saved from this corrupt generation. So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about 3,000 people were added to them. There's another argument for church membership sidebar. Someone counted. They knew who was in, who was out, right? But also notice again, according to the biblical data, who's a candidate for baptism? Look at verse 41. So those who did what? Accepted his message were baptized. They didn't baptize everyone who was there and heard Peter preach. They didn't baptize everyone who listened to Peter and the apostles. They only baptized those who accepted his message. And that day about 3,000 were added to them. Brothers and sisters, what we're doing this morning in baptism is celebrating God's goodness. I absolutely love when we have baptisms, and I love when we take the Lord's Supper, and we watch you all walk up and grab your elements because those are visible signs of a spiritual reality that God is still building his church through his son Jesus Christ, and he has purchased a people called the church, and he is bringing them into local churches who make the universal church visible locally. And I love his uh in the next verse, how it talks about what did the church do after all this? After those thousands were added to the church in Jerusalem, what did they do? When the Gentiles heard this, they rejoiced, or in Acts 13, I'm sorry, it says, When the Gentiles heard this, they rejoiced and honored the word of the Lord, and all who have been appointed to eternal life believed. And in our text in verse 42, it makes it clear that after this, they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and meeting together for the fellowship. That's what we're doing. We are devoting ourselves to the word of God and ministering to one another and celebrating these ordinances that the Lord has entrusted to us. So I would encourage you, brothers and sisters, whenever you have a privilege of witnessing a baptism, whether it's here at this church or you're visiting somewhere else, don't just be a passive observer. But just like when we take the Lord's Supper, look back to what the Lord had did, has done in saving your soul. Look back to that moment when you were pierced to the heart and asked, Lord, what must I do to be saved? But also look inward at the commitment you made to follow Jesus Christ and look forward to the future grace that is to come when Jesus will come for his church and we will be with him forever in glory. This is a corporate celebratory act. So may it stir our hearts and remind us of what God has done in us and remind us that He still is in the business of saving sinners like you and me. Amen. Let's pray.