Baptism Short Series Part 2 - How Should Baptism Happen?

This is the second in a short series of teaching on Baptism from the adult Sunday School sessions at Immanuel Church.

The recording is from Sunday 18th May 2025 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:00

We're spending three weeks thinking about baptism, or more specifically, making the most of baptism. We saw last week from Matthew 28, the Great Commission, how the Lord commands baptism of his disciples. And we thought about what baptism is for. We saw that baptism is a sign and a seal of the covenant of grace. So it's a picture of something given to us by the Lord. And it is a faith strengthener. That's what a seal is, something given to strengthen our faith in the Lord. And what is pictured to us in baptism? Well, it's what God has done for us in the gospel. And we saw that the outward sign, the visible sign, water, is actually closely connected to the inward and invisible work of the Spirit in applying the gospel to us. Such that Peter can actually say in one Peter that baptism now saves you. And we thought a little bit about what that does and doesn't mean. And we saw that we live our whole lives under this sign of the gospel. We live as baptized people. So it's not I have been baptized, but if you're a Christian, I am baptized. Something has been given to you, put upon you. We saw that baptism itself is not a sign of faith, but it does call for faith. And all of those things that are signed to us in our baptism, they are only received by faith. And today we're going to think a bit about well, how should baptism happen? And what does that signify? So that's where we're going this morning. Let me pray. Father, we thank you for your grace and your mercy. We thank you that you have given to us a wonderful gospel, the gospel of a Saviour. Thank you that you hold out the gospel not just in words but also in signs. And to do us good, to draw us to your Son and to strengthen our faith in him. Please be our teacher this morning. And we pray in his name. Amen. Amen. So if you were to think to yourself, how should baptism happen? I don't know what you would say. Well, let's work through the Bible's answer. Firstly, with water. It must involve water. You cannot have a dry baptism. It would be like having a food-free feast. Or like vegetarian chicken. Baptism, it's got to involve water. Now, what kind of water? Now the Roman Catholic Church used to consecrate it once a year. They would make it really special. They would add salt or they would add oil to it. They would use candles. They would exorcise the water. They would purify it to try and make it feel more special. Now it's strange, isn't it, how people like to add extras to the worship of God. Those are all superstitions. Medieval baptism, it actually became theatrical and elaborate, but those things are actually made up by man. They don't help. Some of the reformers even called Catholic baptism, they called it bewitched water. Tap water is fine. It's good if it's clean, doesn't have bits floating in it. That's actually quite fitting, not just for health reasons. The Bible says things like, I will sprinkle clean water on you. It says things like, our bodies are washed with pure water. So actually, a clarity of the water, it helps the imagery, but it is just water, it's ordinary water, to which God gives a holy use. It's actually a kindness of our God to use physical signs. We are physical creatures and we are weak creatures. And very wonderfully, he gives us water in baptism, he gives us bread and wine at his table in order to convey the gospel to us and to do us good. And we're going to see in a minute what it is about water that is so significant. So think about that word significant. It's got the word sign in it. What does it signify? It's a sign of something. So with water, second, into the triune name. We baptize in or into literally the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. It's Matthew 28. The triune name, it is really significant. The Trinity is not a side note. Here is the God, the only God, and He has revealed Himself in the Lord Jesus Christ. You cannot know the Son without also coming to know the Father by the Spirit. Now, when a person is baptized at whatever age, they don't have to be able to comprehend the intricacies and wonder of God the Holy Trinity, but at the entrance of the Christian life stands the triune God. In Acts, just a bit of a side note, in Acts, there are a number of references to baptism in the name of Jesus. Down the years, some actually heretical groups, like Oneness Pentecostals, have said, well, actually, you should only baptize in the name of Jesus because Jesus is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They're all the same person. That's actually an ancient heresy called modalism. That's not what we should take from those references in the book of Acts. When they baptized in the name of Jesus, they were simply saying he is the focus of baptism, the one who the sign points to. When a person is baptized, they are baptized into the name of the one true God. In fact, they have the name of this God put upon them. So if you're baptized, you've had his name, the triune name, put upon you. It's a mark of belonging. We said last week that gangs have initiation ceremonies and that baptism is the mark of joining the church gang. I can put it like that. It's invisible, but more surely than a tattoo on your arm, the name of the triune God is put upon the baptized person. And from that moment onwards, you carry that name. That's actually one of the applications of the third commandment. You know, do not bear, or literally do not carry the name of the Lord your God in vain. Sometimes in some church cultures, people are given even an entirely new Christian name at the point of their baptism to mark their new identity, to remind them that they belong to God's covenant people, that they bear the name of God. And that actually reflects some biblical principles. Abraham got a new name when he was circumcised. John the Baptist and Jesus, they were named in connection with their circumcision. And that makes for a biblically valid baptism. So with water into the triune name. But the Bible actually would say a bit more. Go on. Third, over the page in the handout, with the word. I'll explain what I mean. In Ephesians 5, 26, the Apostle Paul says this, talking about what the Lord Jesus does for his body, his bride, the church. It's talking about his self-giving. Why? That he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word. It's talking about how Jesus cleanses the church. How? By the washing of water with the word. So there is actually a connection between the word and water. And that's got an application for baptism. We could say that water baptism needs the word. Here's how Augustine put it many centuries ago. If you take away the word, what is the water? But water. Add the word to the element, and it becomes a sacrament. Itself, as it were, the visible word. So, in other words, the sacraments, they need the preaching of the gospel. Without the word going alongside, they are dumb signs, they don't speak properly. If you take away the word from water, you don't have baptism. Some recipes they'll say, please add water. And the recipe for baptism says, please add the word. Water without the word is not a sacrament, it's just getting wet. So you need not just the baptismal formula, but also the preaching of the gospel. And it is actually sad that in churches up and down the land children have water sprinkled on them. The triune name is used. That does mean it's a valid baptism, but there is no clear and biblical preaching of the gospel. There always is meant to be preaching the word alongside the sign. Fourth, in church. So Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12, 13, for in one spirit we were all baptized into one body. So baptism is never just you and Christ. It brings a person into the body of Christ, that is into membership of the church. So like the Lord's Supper, it is a church ordinance, a church command. And that has implications for the where and the who of baptism. So where? In the same way that we shouldn't have private or personal communion services, nor should we have private baptisms. They belong to and in the church. One curious little Old Testament detail, I'll just mention this. In the Old Covenant, boys were to be circumcised on the eighth day. Which, when you sort of count it along, that actually means Sunday, what we would call the Lord's Day. It's fascinating, isn't it? You would just park that for now. So in other words, it is a very fitting thing to baptize in Lord's Day worship. Who should baptize? Now you can think of emergency situations where any Christian will do. Maybe that's what's going on in Acts 8. Do you remember Philip, the Ethiopian eunuch? He's on his way back to Ethiopia. He's not going to find a church there, not yet, anyway. Well, so Philip baptizes him on the spot. Ordinarily, though, it ought actually to be a church minister who baptizes because it is a church ordinance. It's connected to admission into the church. And there is a particular role for church elders in saying you're in, or indeed you're not in. And also because it must be accompanied by the preaching of the word. And yet it's true, we are all meant to be Bible sharers, but not everyone is called to be a Bible preacher. So just think for a moment. Imagine it's a summer holiday, your kids are in the back garden, there's a paddling pool out. This has happened many times over the years in my family. You can probably guess where this is going. Your children baptize each other. Has that happened to anyone in the back garden? This has happened to us many times over the years. That doesn't actually mean your children are baptized. It's not a DIY activity. It belongs to and in church. Let's go on. Fifth heading. So where are we at? Baptized with water into the triune name, with the word, in church. But then how much water? How are we washed? There are three options dipping, sprinkling, pouring. Which of these methods is right? Answer all of them. That is, there is something in each of these modes of baptism that reflects something distinct and wonderful about the gospel. Each of us, each shows a different angle on God's saving grace. Each shows in a slightly different way the love of Christ which is signed and sealed to us in baptism. So one encouragement here, embrace as much of the richness of baptism, the symbolic richness of baptism as you can. It is simple on the one hand, a child can understand baptism, but it's also very, very rich. There are deep and wonderful things for you and me to see about our baptisms. So let's think firstly about uh dipping or immersion. So we're talking here about uh the method when somebody's body is submerged in the water. Oh, and they come back up again. That's the other key bit, isn't it? And that's what I've tried to indicate uh in that diagram there on the right. And it is a sign of death and of resurrection life, and it's trying to reflect these verses from Romans chapter 6 and actually a whole bunch of other uh gospel truths. So listen to Romans 6, 3 and 4. Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. Now, do you notice this is a different idea to the idea of washing? Here, the Bible is saying that baptism is it is dramatizing the death and the resurrection of Jesus. There is actually something deadly about the water of baptism. Water doesn't just clean, it can also drown. So the flood waters killed the population of the world. The waters of the Red Sea killed Pharaoh and his riders. There is meant to be something almost scary about baptism, and that is part of the symbolism. It's there with circumcision too. Circumcision is a cutting off of something. In Luke chapter 12, verse 50, Jesus said, I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished. He's talking about his death. His death is a kind of baptism, and he was dreading it. So, if you are a baptized man or a baptized woman, in your baptism, the Lord signs and seals to you your union with Jesus. You are joined with him. He died and he rose. When he died and rose, you were with him in his dying and in his resurrection to new life. So just consider the water that was applied to you, whenever that was, however it was. Let the Holy Spirit direct you to this particular word. It tells you that your old self has died. There has been a cutting off, there's been a drowning, there's been a burial. And wonderfully, the Lord has raised you to newness of life, true resurrection life, even now. And one day there will be a resurrection body to go with it. It's a wonderful thing, isn't it? Well, let's go on. Our next subpoint sprinkling. Your second possible method of baptism is sprinkling. Imagine uh somebody having uh water uh dripped or sprinkled upon their head. Now, why might you baptize in this way? Well, in the prophet Ezekiel, God promises to cleanse, and there is explicit sprinkling, cleansing imagery. So Ezekiel 36, 25, I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols, I will cleanse you, and I will give you a new heart. So this promised cleansing, uh it's just it's depicted by sprinkling, and the symbolism of sprinkling is very rich in the Bible. Back in the Old Testament, the main thing that was sprinkled was blood. Hebrews 9.22 says, under the law almost everything was purified with blood. Blood is what purifies, blood is what makes clean. And the way it was usually applied was by sprinkling or smearing. So just imagine having blood splattered upon you. So when in Exodus 24 the people came before the Lord and the covenant with them was ratified, they were literally sprinkled, they were sprayed with blood. Because there is a dirtiness and an idolatry in our souls that needs washing. And it can only be washed away by the blood of an atoning sacrifice. And we read in 1 John 1 that the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. He washes us clean. His blood it gives to us white robes. So if you're a baptized man or a baptized woman, in your baptism, the Lord signs to you an assurance of your sin being cleansed. Whether you can remember your baptism or not, it does not matter. You are baptized, you've been given this precious sign of cleansing. So allow God the Holy Spirit to speak to you through it. You have been washed, you've been cleansed, you have been claimed by the precious blood of Jesus. That's wonderful, isn't it? Third method pouring. Water baptism is linked to spirit baptism. They're two sides of the same coin. Uh the one depicts the other. And when you ask the Bible, how are we baptized with the Spirit? Well, the imagery used in the Bible is very clear. So in Acts chapter 1, chapter 2, we read, You will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. So how is the spirit given? He is poured out. Really, we ought to imagine here a waterfall descending upon a person. This is actually the only time in the Bible that baptism is explicitly linked to one specific method. We're told that baptism with the Spirit is by pouring. And that does tell us such a lot about the Lord's wonderful love for us. Back in the Garden of Eden, the Lord made a river to flow that watered the garden paradise. In Ezekiel 47, the prophet saw a vision of the new temple, and that new temple is Jesus, from whom flows a river. A river which does things like this. It turns sea water into fresh water. It brings life and fruit and healing wherever it goes. And in Revelation 22, this water of life flows from the very throne of God. And it flows upon you and me. It pours upon us. Christ Himself has come to us by his Holy Spirit. He dwells in us, and he's not come to us in a half-hearted way or a meager way. He pours himself upon us and in us. He pours his love into us by his Holy Spirit. All of us, we need all manner of healing and restoration. And if you are a baptized man or a baptized woman, you bear a sign of the outpoured spirit. Allow him to reassure you of Christ's love and Christ's presence and Christ's healing. It is a wonderful thing. Just a few questions and encouragements, just on the back of the handouts. So which of these three methods is right in terms of how a baptism should actually happen? Well, answer all of them. Now, of course, in practice, a person can't be baptized three times over. You have to pick a mode, you're not missing out on anything. Normally, a church would say, Well, this is how we do things. Now you might be surprised to know that over the centuries reformed churches have usually leaned towards sprinkling and pouring because they've felt that the washing aspect of baptism is primary. Some churches dip everyone, including babies. Some churches, like Emmanuel, we are happy for folk to choose the mode of baptism. But genuinely, the Bible encourages us to have a broad and big view of what the Bible signs and seals. We shouldn't try and reduce it down to one single thing. A related question, though. Have you ever heard someone say this? Doesn't baptize mean to immerse? And the short answer to that is no. Sometimes folk say that the New Testament Greek word for baptism, so it's baptizo or bapto or baptismos, that's the noun, it actually means to dip or immerse, and therefore there is only one real way of doing it. And it's worth knowing that that's incorrect. We don't want to get the Bible wrong, obviously, and God forbid that we might be tempted to think of another Christian that they hadn't been properly baptized. Or even worse, you know, that my baptism's better than your baptism, or my baptism is worse than your baptism. So just a little note on this point. Word meanings in the Bible. The New Testament word for baptism, it's got a range of meanings. It can mean to dip or to immerse, but we also read in Mark 7 4 that the Pharisees, when they came from the marketplace, do not eat unless they wash, or literally, unless they baptize. In the same verse, we read how they washed, how they baptized their dining couches. Now they didn't immerse themselves, they didn't immerse their dining couches before eating, they just washed. Similarly, Hebrews 9.10 talks about various baptisms in the Old Testament, but we know there are no Old Testament rituals involving dipping. Now we don't really know how baptisms in the New Testament actually happened. Maybe that's deliberate, maybe that's a good thing. The answer in the Jordan doesn't actually answer the question, really. It might be some were immersed, it might be that others weren't. We don't really know. In Acts 8, when Philip baptized the Ethiopian eunuch, it says literally that they both went down to the water and they came up out of the water. I mean, presumably Philip and the Ethiopian were not both immersed. Simply, they went down to the water and something happened there, whereby the Ethiopian was baptized. So, simple point, baptism and to baptize in the New Testament, it has a broad range of meanings, and that makes sense. It kind of has to, because the Bible says that baptism portrays the gospel and portrays the love and the work of Christ in various different ways. We've just seen them uh dying and rising, being washed clean, having the Holy Spirit poured out on us and in us. One caution don't underestimate how influenced by tradition we all are. It's true of me, and that's true of you. So we might be, I don't know, Pentecostal, charismatic, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, whatever. But whatever we have seen in church influences us. It shapes how we think of anything, including baptism. Maybe positively, maybe negatively. It's true for me, it's true for you. Now that's not a problem, it's just a reality. But it is worth recognizing it. Some folks don't. They think they are they're just trying to be biblical, and you can completely set aside any traditions. Uh, some folk would even say it's against our custom to have tradition, which is obviously self-contradictory, but it is something to be aware of. This is something that no one can free themselves from, and indeed we we shouldn't try to. Big message though. Have a big view of what the Lord signs and seals to you in your baptism. Uh, question 94 from the Westminster Shorter Catechism is really helpful in trying to gather together in just a couple of sentences all that the word teaches. So let me read it. Baptism is a sacrament wherein the washing with water, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, doth signify and seal our engrafting into Christ and partaking of the benefits of the covenant of grace and our engagement to be the Lord's. And so much, so much is kind of boiled down and summarized in that last sentence. Why don't we take uh two or three minutes just to share with a neighbour things that have encouraged us, uh, any puzzles we may have, and then in three minutes' time we'll uh take some questions. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_00: 26:21

I was baptized as a child, and then when I got converted in 2008, I got rebaptized. And the guy who did it baptized me in the tri-in name and in the name of Jesus, because it was care, mate. Do you does that have how am I supposed to understand that or what is there a knock on effect that doesn't invalidate my baptism on this unit?

SPEAKER_01: 26:48

No, not at not not at all. I think it was in the church congregation, so I think I think the Bible would just say minimalistically, if you're baptized with water into the triu name, you're baptized.

SPEAKER_00: 27:00

Yes.

SPEAKER_01: 27:01

There might there might be lots of other things surrounding our baptism. This I know having talked with various folks during the week, there might be various things around it. You think, well, in an ideal world that might have looked a bit different. Um but that's that's the that's what I think the Bible would require, and you've you've been given that you know the sign and seal of uh the covenant and you know praise God for it. So, in a sense, relax, but then also continue to make use of your baptism. I think that's what that's one of the encouragements, isn't it? In the same way we we constantly make use of the word, we regularly receive the Lord's Supper and we need it. Um, there's there's also a way in which we're meant to sort of continue to use our baptism, however it happened. Yeah. Anyone else got a question?

SPEAKER_02: 27:45

Because when I put a washer and try to get the blood out of whatever, it's a real big pain. Why blood?

SPEAKER_01: 27:53

Yeah, absolutely. Anyone try to wash blood out of something, I don't know, cricket whites. I used to feel so sorry for my mum, you get blood all over my, I don't know, diving in the field, blood on your cricket whites, and she had to magically get it out. Well, it's the gospel, isn't it? You know, how how do we get washed clean? Well, it's by blood. It's by the it's by the shed, it's by the spilt blood of our Saviour. And that blood, it cannot be apart from us. If Jesus sheds his blood over there, and that blood does not reach me in any way, it doesn't, it doesn't do anything for me. I need to be joined to Christ, I need to be in union with him. I need to have that blood put upon me. Yeah, in the same way that the priests had the blood put upon them, and the whole people of the Old Testament had his blood put upon them, both to forgive them and to claim them. So I need this blood, but wonderfully, and it's sort of it's sort of counterintuitive if you've ever done a wash. This is blood that cleanses, it's blood that makes us white. Um so it is it is the gospel, isn't it? Does anyone have any anything else to add on that one?

SPEAKER_00: 28:52

It's a random anecdote, but my father uh worked at an abattoir fixing something, and the guy came out with greasy hands, and he said uh the man who worked there told him to wash his hands in his blood, and he said he did that, and he said it was amazing how clean they got. I don't know if that's just true, but this is what he did.

SPEAKER_01: 29:14

If anyone would like to to verify that, you've got greasy hands, try washing them in blood, and you can report back. I'd love to know how that how that works.

SPEAKER_00: 29:21

It's very anecdotal.

SPEAKER_01: 29:22

But wonder wonderfully, that is what Christ's blood does for us. Now, obviously, one of the differences between the old covenant and the new covenant, uh, the way that old covenant worshippers experienced the cleansing power of Christ's blood was through faith and through actual blood. So if you were an old covenant worshipper, you could not be forgiven and not get bloody. You were saved by faith, you were saved by faith in the Saviour who was to come, and under the old covenant, the way you expressed that was the particular signs and seals which the Lord gave, the sacrificial system being included, that you had to be covered with blood. Literally. Come to the New Testament era. One of the blessings of being New Covenant worshippers, the, if you like, the apparatus of worship is simpler, yet it is also deeper. And we access the same Saviour by the same saving faith. We are forgiven by the same cleansing blood, but we don't have to have physical blood put on us. But we do continue to make use of the word and the signs which he has given. Word, baptism, Lord's Supper. Does that help at all? Anyone else got a question? I've probably got time for one more. Go on back, Winter.

SPEAKER_02: 30:41

Just number three with the word, as you mentioned that. What's the I sort of understand the concept of it? Is there a scope to it in terms of how much has to be said or what has to be said, or is that just in the minister's hand in terms of explaining the concept when doing it?

SPEAKER_01: 30:59

Yeah, so so point three, Ephesians 5.26, washing of water with the word, or how much word. Um I I don't think the Bible exactly nails down. You have to give a 15-minute 15-minute mini-sermon or uh two minutes or but there needs there needs to be the word. So not just water, but the word. And there's that's at the very least that's the triune name, but then also you ought to explain what the sign signifies. So in the same way, when you have the Lord's Supper, it's not enough simply to say bread and wine, eat, drink. Because the Bible doesn't do that, does it? It gives us 1 Corinthians 10, uh, 11, 10 and 11. Um, yeah, so I I don't think there's a specific answer, but there needs to be the word given. Uh we ought to draw stumps there. I'm going to pray. Um, please ask other questions. Next week, Lord willing, we'll think about who should be baptized. That's the plan. Let me pray. Um, Heavenly Father, in all of these things, we've been thinking about your grace toward us and your love for us, and we thank you and we praise you for it. Uh, we ask that your Holy Spirit would press into it, press into us by your word and through your signs and seals, your wonderful love. Help us to feel what it is to have died and been brought to new life, uh, truly to be cleansed, um, to have your Holy Spirit and your love poured inside of us. Um, we ask for a growing understanding of that with both head and heart, and for Jesus' name's sake. Amen.