What is Baptism?

[0:01] Everybody doing good this morning. Enjoyed the rain. Had a had a good soaking the other day, so that's good. Good to see each and every one of you with us this morning as we come together to worship up here on the Laurie's Day. Everybody doing well?

[0:18] Doing great. I got some nausea. Something like, I don't know.

[0:26] Let's see. VBS, July 10 to the 13th. Just being prayer about that. Of the children.

[0:35] VBS, I'm sorry, I got a problem going on in my ears. But anyway, close to my brain. Let me rethink and come back again. VPs, July 10 to the 13th. Just being prayer about that.

[0:51] Inviting children to come and looking forward to that. We still need workers. I think Tiffany said she needs a couple of leaders, one for games and winford. I think that's right up your alley. You could do games, couldn't you?

[1:08] We need somebody to do the games. We need some volunteers for that. If we don't have people to do it, it's not going to work too well. So please sign up on the sign up sheet or see Tiffany or Paulo about what's going on with that. So we're looking forward to having a good BBS this year.

[1:25] So that's the July 10 to the 13th. There are also some flyers back there on the table if you want to pick up one to give out to people or post somewhere, that would be good. So keep that in mind. You got enough snacks, meals?

[1:47] We got most of the snacks, meals, just a finger food type snack, so sign up for that too. That's just around the corner. What, two weeks away? Something like that. So it'll be here before we know it, so just keep that in mind.

[2:03] Children's activities on Wednesday nights, keep in mind, are postponed until in August because of the summer break vacation and all those things going on. Announcements wise. I don't have a whole lot. We got the installations all done in the fellowship or the activity building. Praise the Lord for that.

[2:25] We're done with insulation for a while. So we had a good work day the other day and they're planning on finishing the sheet rock one day this week, so that'll be good to get that done when go on to painting and some of the other things. But just keep at your prayers. It moves along. Anything else as far as announcements wise?

[2:52] You are all quiet this morning. All right, just a couple of prairie quests. One, Jack was out here helping us and fell. His shoulders been bothered, so he finally decided he got to go to the doctor and have that checked out. Well, guess what?

[3:09] He gets to have surgery in August. Now he's touring some ligaments and stuff in his shoulder. So it's been prayer for Jack, and as he has to go through that, it'll be in August the 16th, I think he said. So just keep him in your prayers. Robin like, thank you for the prayers for her mother.

[3:26] She's back with Papa now, and so they're happy and got see them the other night. So just keep them in your prayers as they go through this phase of their life. Also, the Murphy and Susan Jackson. Sandra Jackson. Okay, I'm getting all kinds of names.

[3:47] Who are they?

[3:50] Johnson. All right. Murphy and Sandra Johnson. Sorry, you all know I'm terrible. There's a couple that sit right here.

[3:59] A lot of times have been visitors. They've got some health issues. I think you've got some back problems and things. So just keep them in your prayers. They've asked for the church to pray for them.

[4:09] We're going to put them on the prayer list, but I just want to give you an announcement of that. Anybody else? Anything else?

[4:19] Zachary is the only one talking to me this morning. Yes, ma'am.

[4:26] Pray for Ms. Molly. Ms. Molly, we were praying for her. You all know she's had some things with taking this medication made her swell.

[4:36] And I think they're getting that under control now and she's doing better, but just keep praying for us. She's going to get several in our church. And Miss Elinor, she's at home now, right, Darryl? And getting better, doing better with that after she fails. It's.

[4:53] Got a lot of folks that need our prayers right now. Just keep them in mind. Anybody else? Anything else this morning? All right, we're going to do some jumping jacks and get everybody woke up this morning.

[5:07] I hope we start off with something lively.

[5:15] All right, well, let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we just thank you for the day and for your blessings and for the privilege to come to your house to worship you. We pray, Father, now that you would just be with us in these next few minutes as we sing songs instead of your word that you'd be honored and glorified and all that we say and do. Father, we just thank you for our nation. We thank you for the things that are going on and we just want to praise you for those this morning.

[5:44] We pray, Father, you continue to work in our nation to bring us back to you. But Father, we still understand. We are so blessed to live here, to be able to worship freely and help us not take for granted the freedoms and liberties that we have. Lord, just leading guide and be with our church, be with our vacation Bible School. Comes the Lord that we'd have workers and that the children would come and that we would spread the gospel of Jesus Christ, that it would be proclaimed clearly to everyone that comes.

[6:17] We pray now for each and everyone that's sick and are hurting with injuries, father, you know all their needs. We just ask for your healing and comfort and peace during those times of our loved ones who can't be with us this morning. Lord just leading guide and everything is said and done here this morning. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

[6:42] All right, let's take our handles and turn to page 56. If you feel like standing, all may do so to God bring the glory redemption of burgess of Lord to every day labor a promise of God's be. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Let the earth there to page 295.

[11:55] Tell me the story tell of the grave where they lay down tell how we live in love in that story so tender clearer than ever I see stay, let me wait while you whisper lost around our gracious heavenly Father, we come before you today thanking you for each and every blessing you were stolen upon us in the church of this community in the past week. Father, we thank you mostly that you gave your son, Father. He's going to be the redeemer of each and every one of us. Father, we ask that you'll be there with the sick that were mentioned today. Father, reach down.

[13:33] Touch the hearts of each and every one of them. Also be with their caretakers as they go through this upcoming week. Father, we ask is we take up this offering that you'll bless it and use it for the building of our kingdom. For your Son's holy name we do pray. Amen.

[15:48] All right, let's turn to page 330. This is a good old song right here.

[16:10] Have you been to Jesus?

[16:21] Are you holy? Trusting in his braces are you walking?

[17:49] Will your soul be ready for the mansion to bright as we walked in the floor?

[18:00] Are you white? And the blood and the blood of the lamp are your are they white? And lay outside the garbage that our saint whisks and washed in the blood of the lamb that's a good old song. The children are going out with Bobby and Miss Debbie. Do children's church have a good time?

[19:38] And they're all excited about it. Bobby, I think you're scaring them.

[19:43] Amen. Good service so far. I really like that song. Are you watched in the blood of the Lamb? I asked Robin, I guess, or she picked that.

[19:54] I said, Yeah, that would be a good one this morning. I would like to talk to you about baptism. And I know we're all Baptist and we all know all about it, right? And you wonder, why in the world would I talk about baptism? I want to share with you some things and I guess I just have noticed a lot here lately.

[20:16] There's a lot of debate on how you're baptized. Should you get baptized? Was it for the Christians or was it just for the Jews? And honestly, Christians nowadays saying there's no point, there's no sense in being baptized. It wasn't for us.

[20:34] It does nothing for us, so we don't do it. Now, us being Baptist, we know that's not true, right? Because that's where we get our name Baptist. We baptize. We dunk them.

[20:44] It reminds me of the story Jerry Claude used to say about Marcel. And I got to tell you this because I love Jerry Clauer. I had about all his tapes and listened to him. But him and Marcel were arguing one day over baptism. Jerry, being a good Baptist, said, yeah, you got to dunk them all the way under.

[21:05] Marcel says, Wait a minute. Now, think about it. He said, what if I just go up to my neck? Is that good enough? Jerry says, no, that's not good enough.

[21:16] He said, what if I just go up to my nose? He said, no, that ain't good enough either. What about just to my forehead up here? No, that ain't going to do it either. He said, what about just to the very top of my head?

[21:29] Jerry says, no, that ain't going to do it. Martha said, See, I told you this was the most important part. Anyway. See, Marcel leaving just sprinkling, so it was just a funny. Maybe you'll get that on the way home.

[21:42] But how are we baptized? What is the point in it? What does it mean? Where does it come from? Where do we get it from?

[21:50] And I just want to share with that. Some of you today we are commanded to baptize by Jesus. He says in Matthew, Chapter 28, verse 19 go you therefore teach all nations, baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Father, as we study your Word this morning, I pray that you would just give me the words to say that you would speak to us clearly the truth of your Word. Help us to see those things and be doers of those things that you teach us here this morning.

[22:23] I just ask that you'd give me every word to say that I would proclaim the good news of the Gospel of Christ to everyone that here in Jesus name I pray. Amen. Sort of our motto is to love and to teach and disciple what we do. This is where we get this from. He says, Go into all the world and teach the make disciples and to baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, the Holy Spirit.

[22:52] And that's what we do as a church today. That's what we recognize, and most of us don't have any problem with it. To baptize means to immerse or in the good old country language, to dunk all the way under the baptize. baptizo is to mean to immerse completely immerse into something. It can have two meanings.

[23:18] Now, this is important for you to understand and if you want to get I'm going to give a lot of scriptures. So if you want to get your little notes out or get you a little thing in the back and make some notes so there's no way that I can tell you every detail and you to grasp every detail what I'm going to say today in 30 minutes here or so. So I'm the best I can in the time that I have just to whit your whistle a little bit of what baptism is about and to give you a better understanding of it. So there are two points that we need to understand in studying baptism. Studying baptism.

[23:52] The baptism is what it's in the Greek or just baptism. One means literally to submerge, figuratively means to identify with. So there's two types of meanings in scripture one to submerge and one to identify with. So when you're studying the baptisms in the scripture and you need to understand that I did say that the baptisms did you all know there's more than one? Then you know there's probably about four, maybe five different baptisms in scripture.

[24:37] Well, how do I know this, brother Kenny? You've lost your mind. Well, Hebrews six tells us that when he's talking about leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, this is six two, let us go on to perfection, not leaning again, the foundation of repentance from dead works that's repentance from the law and of the dead works of it and faith or God, verse two in the doctrine of baptisms. So there is more than one baptism in scripture. How is this done?

[25:10] Well, as I already told you, Jerry, Claude explained to us very plainly, you got to be dumped all the way under. Right? We get this from the teaching of what John the Baptist did, what Jesus did, what the disciples did, and how they did it. Matthew 36. It says, when Jesus was baptized, he went up straightway out of the water.

[25:33] So John didn't just pour water on his head or sprinkle water on his head. Jesus was immersed into the water and came out. And when he came out, you know the story. The Holy Spirit descended on him like a dove. The Father spoke from heaven.

[25:49] This is my beloved Son and whom I'm well pleased. And we'll discuss some of that in just a few minutes. John 323. It says that John was baptizing on ENone near the saloon because there was much water there. So if you can sprinkle or pour, why did he need much water?

[26:16] Because John the Baptist often was found baptizing in the Jordan River where there was a lot of water, where there was deep water, where they went all the way in. We'll talk about why that is important, but baptism is never really spoken of pouring or sprinkling.

[26:38] I've heard say this because a little dab won't do you. You got to be dumped all the way in. All right, so let's give you a little bit of history of baptism. When did it start in Matthew with John the Baptist? Is that where it started?

[26:55] I think it goes all the way back, way older than that. I think we could go all the way back to Leviticus and see a type of baptism and what it means. And as I explain this to you and you understand what baptism is, what it does, you understand how to relate it to the Levitical covenant. The Levitical covenant, what does that mean? Big word, right?

[27:17] That means that the tribe of Levi were to do the priestly duties in the tabernacle and in the temple. And if you go back to Leviticus, chapter eight, verses one through six, or Exodus 29, one through four, you will see that when God gave Moses the blueprints to the tabernacle, they build it all. They put all the garments of the priest together. And then God says, Okay, now that you have it all together, this is how it's going to start off. This is how you're going to do it.

[27:50] And the Lord speak to Moses. This is Leviticus eight, one to six. And the Lord speak to Moses, saying, take Erin and his sons with him, the garments and the anointing oil and the bullet for the sin offering, the two rams, the basket of unleavened bread, and gather all the congregation together and to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And Moses did as the Lord commanded. And the assembly was gathered together unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

[28:23] This is the entrance to the tabernacle, the main entrance. And Moses said into the congregation, this is the thing which the Lord has commanded to be done. And Moses brought Aaron and his sons and washed them with water. So if you get the picture here, before they could ever serve, god took the priest. And this is what they did with every priest from here on after that served in the temple.

[28:51] They were to be brought, they were to be brought before the congregation of Israel, and they were washed from head to toe. It was symbolic of them being cleansed and ready for service, ready to do the service of the Lord in the tabernacle. After that, you see where they have the labor in the tabernacle on their daily duties. They were once washed at the very beginning. Their concentration, when you see to concentrate them in Scripture, oftentimes means to wash them, to cleanse them, to make them ready.

[29:30] And it's just symbolic of them being cleansed and ready toward the Lord's work. And so then after that, every day when they'd offer sacrifices, there was a Brazen all. You come through the eastern gate, the main gate of the tabernacle. Then you had to Brazen altar where the sacrifice was made. The next piece was the labor.

[29:50] The labor was full of water. Every day the priest would do his duties. And on the day of atonement, before he would go into the holy of holies with the blood, he would stop at the labor, wash his hands and wash his feet. Another to me is a picture of a type of cleansing or baptizing with water, the use of water. Now the next one is a little bit more difficult.

[30:18] Talking about the history that you ever heard of a proselyte and everybody said no, right? A prostate, especially in the Old Testament, was one. And you read in existence when they left Egypt, some of them went with the Israelites and said, we want to serve the God of Israel. We want to be identified with Israelites. And this is where Gentiles would come and they'd want to serve with Israel.

[30:48] And they were called proselytes. Nowadays, if you want to convert to Judaism as a Gentile, you are considered a ProsLight. But back then there were times where gentiles weren't. Rehab would have been one of them. Remember Jericho where she went and she served and she worshiped?

[31:08] The God of Israel wanted to worship in that way. There are some things that they went through that God said they could. But one of the number one things that they were to be circumcised like Israel, was to be identified with Israel. Now, I think it's probably just Jewish customs or traditions, I'm not sure. And I'm told that in this commissioning of a proselyte in the Old Testament, one, they were circumcised, two, they were immersed in water and then to show that they were dead to their old life and we're going to live with their new life with the Jews to worship the one true God.

[31:54] And then there was an animal sacrifice. I'm told that is a ceremony of a proselyte in the Old Testament. Now, I have had a hard time finding that anywhere in Scripture. I do see where in Exodus where God told Moses that if any of the Gentiles were to come, that they were to be circumcised and to live according to Jews. But this other part I don't go.

[32:20] What you look for in Scripture if you know it come, tell me because I've searched a lot of them and I can't see where it is. So I tend to think that this is a lot of Jewish traditions that were passed on. So that is sort of the history of Old Testament to me, of types of baptism and what it means symbolically as cleansing. There are many references to being washed and cleansed. In the Old Testament we sang that song Are you washed in the blood of the lamb?

[32:54] The word washed there is a picture of cleansing from your sin. We are cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ.

[33:03] There's many of this and I guess I finally realized where some people get sprinkling from because if you look at Ezekiel 36 25, god is telling Ezekiel that I am going to cleanse Israel, that I'm going to give him a new heart, that I'm going to make them a new people and I'm going to sprinkle them with water. That's the only time in Scripture that I know of that they were sprinkled. So maybe that's why some people sprinkle. So just give you a little bit of history there. And then I also said that there are several baptisms in scripture.

[33:38] This is going to get better, but I got to give you the background of it, where it's at and where we're going. Like I said, Hebrew six, chapter two, talks about the doctrine of baptism. There is more than one baptism. So what are they? We're just going to focus on the New Testament.

[33:56] In the beginning, we would all say, what's the first one that we would come across in the New Testament? John the Baptist, right where he came from the wilderness and preaching repentance for the kingdom of heaven is at hand and was baptizing these people. Who was he baptizing? He was baptizing the Jews primarily. It was primarily for the Jews.

[34:22] Now, if you go by and what they're saying about the proselytes, and if you want to be a Gentile, wanting to worship with Israel and live with Israel, and you had to go through this ceremonial thing to be part of them, and one of them was to be baptized, this wasn't an unfamiliar thing to them, except now John the Baptist is saying the Jews need to be baptized, they need to be cleansed. What were they being cleansed for? Why was John the Baptist preaching baptism? Well, if you look in Matthew three, or John chapter one, or Mark chapter one, the Pharisees ask the same question by what authority do you baptize? And John answered, by, God has given me this authority to baptize.

[35:15] So what did John's baptism mean? As we begin the New Testament, we see him coming, preaching the kingdom of heaven and repentance of sin and calling them to be baptized. Much like the prostate in the Old Testament when they were washed. If this is true that they did. And what they say about it is that they died to their old way and are living to a new way.

[35:44] Remember, John the Baptist came preparing the way for who? Jesus? For a new way. For thousands of years they have lived under the law, under the sacrifices of animals, all the old covenant. And now here comes John on the scene and says, that's the old way.

[36:06] There's a new way coming, and you need to make ready, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. You need to repent of the old way, repent of your sins and be washed in the blood of the lamb. And part of that is a washing. And as they understood what John the Baptist said and they said it's right, the Messiah has talked about that. Some of them understood Isaiah 53 when it said that Jesus would come to die to take away the sins of the world, there would be no more need for sacrifices, that he would fulfill the law.

[36:43] These Jews would identify with that. They would accept and acknowledge that the Messiah was coming, as John said, and wanted to be baptized to identify with Christ, putting away the old law. So you understand why John did that baptism. And it's really important because a lot of people get this confused and a lot of people take this out of context and, oh, you got to be baptized to be saved. We'll talk about that in just a few minutes.

[37:16] But the baptism of John the Baptist was primarily for the Jews to make a public profession that I am turning from the old way of the law. Remember during John the Badger's time, he was still under the law. The law wasn't completed until Jesus died on the cross. So up to that point, everything was under the law. So John baptized this way, and as he was doing it, one day, here comes Jesus, and he says, I want to be baptized.

[37:49] And as Jesus came, behold, the Lamb of God was taking away the sins of the world. Remember that? And as Jesus come down, it's almost like John and Jesus had a little conversation in the water. And John's like, no, you need to baptize me. And he said, no, this needs to be done.

[38:05] That all righteousness would be fulfilled, that all these things would be fulfilled. What was Jesus referring to? Why would Jesus need to be baptized? Was he a sinner? Absolutely not.

[38:20] So why was it important for the baptism of Jesus? I think it is one that Jesus was giving the people there of his. See, baptism as we go, and I'm getting a little ahead of myself. But baptism, you're there, it crucified with Christ. You go under the water, you are buried with Him.

[38:42] He rose again. You come out of the water. It's a picture of his death, his burial and his resurrection. One Jesus was given a picture of what was coming. Remember, John the Baptist was preaching repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

[38:58] It's no longer the old law, but a new way. And that new way is through Jesus Christ. So Jesus was being example for one. I think, too, that in our obedience to God as a Christian, once you are saved and you've accepted Jesus, your personal savior, and you follow and believe there's baptism, I believe it's an act of public profession and obedience to God. So the Jesus being obedient to the Father, then we see the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

[39:29] You can't deny the Trinity here in the baptism of Jesus. And the Holy Spirit comes and descends on him like a dove. And the Father's voice coming from heaven saying, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. He fulfilled everything. Now I want to throw another one to you.

[39:47] There a little bit as to why Jesus may have done this. I believe it possibly was to fulfill the order of the priesthood.

[39:59] Is not Hebrews. Tell us he is our high priest who makes intercession for us, who carried his buried blood to the very throne of God to make an atonement for our sins once and for all. So Jesus also, not only was the sacrificial lamb, he was acting after his resurrection as our high priest who applied his blood on the mercy seat in heaven to atone for the sins of the world. So Jesus was a high priest and in order for a high priest to serve, he had to be what, according to Leviticus, washed. So now he is just like a high priest, he's going through the ceremony, washing and that began his earthly ministry.

[40:51] Just a bar side note for you there. Jesus was about 30 years old when this happened. It began his earthly ministry with power and with the Holy Spirit, the priesthood. You had to be 30 years old before you could serve as a priest. That's where I sort of get that.

[41:11] That's where I tie that in with maybe three reasons why Jesus felt the need to be bad. But it wasn't because Jesus was sinful and needed his sins taken away. Everybody got this to this point. I know I'm giving you a lot of information. You need to think fast here, fast, because I'm throwing a lot out there and I really just want you to understand that because you would not believe.

[41:35] You just go get on the internet, you go out and talk to people about baptism. There is some crazy ideas out there nowadays about it and I really feel like it was important. And as I prayed, I started this probably about three or four weeks ago asking the Lord, show me the truth about baptism. Teach me, help me to understand all these things that I may help others see the truth about baptism. And I believe God has done that and I want to share it with you because you're going to come across it.

[42:07] Trust me, it's a big thing. So let's see. So baptism was a symbol or an object lesson or a visible representation of a spiritual reality. It defines and completes the submersion and the omission to God, the obedience to God. In John the Baptist time, they look forward to the coming of the Messiah when they were baptized ours.

[42:43] Now what do we do when we are baptized? We look back to the cross. So now let's talk about baptism of the early church. There is also a lot of confusion. There also, remember, John the Baptist baptized primarily for the Jews to repent from the old way, the law, and to make way for the new way.

[43:07] Well, now Jesus has come, he's died on the cross, he's rose again. Pentecost has come and the church is being born. The church is starting to thrive and to grow. There are several baptisms in Acts and some of them will confuse you if you don't understand the Book of Acts. The number one thing I want you to know about Acts and studying the different things that happen.

[43:33] You cannot listen to me real close. You cannot base Bible doctrine and beliefs on the first ten chapters of the Book of Acts. You can't do it. It starts out I mean, we can look and we can see where the Holy Spirit come. We see what happens in the church.

[43:53] We see these different things. We see these other things. Things are said that we'll talk about here. And you're like, Wait a minute now, that's not what we do today. No, it's not.

[44:04] Remember, from Acts one to Acts chapter ten, it was a transitioning period from the old way to the new way, and they were still going through this process. And you can see it if you read asks about what happens with baptism at the beginning of the book and what's happening in baptism after chapter ten, it's a whole different thing, a whole different way of doing it. So from Acts one through ten, it is important. I'm not saying we shouldn't read it. I shouldn't say we ought not learn from it.

[44:38] But you can't place a solid Bible doctrine of baptism, how you're saved the gifts of the Spirit, being filled with the Spirit. None of that can be set in stone, in verse, in chapters one through ten. Does everybody understand that? Because it's the transition period of the Church from the law to grace. So with that said, I hope you understand that now God develops his pattern for salvation through this time.

[45:12] It evolves. And now, I'm not saying that there's different salvation. That's another thing that's up there. There's two different Gospels. No, there's not.

[45:21] There are people are preaching that today. Two different gospels, one for the Jews and one for the gentleman. No. Abraham acknowledged, even way back on the mountain, when Isaac asked, Where is the sacrifice? Abraham replied, God himself will provide a sacrifice.

[45:37] He was talking about Jesus Christ, the only one to come and die for the sins of the world. One Gospel. All the way back then, there's been one Gospel through all of Scripture. So don't let anybody confuse you on that. I chased a rabbit there, but that's another one that's out there.

[46:01] What I was saying is you can't say there's two Gospels. There's one Gospel. I'm not saying that about Acts. I'm just saying there's a lot of transition stuff that took place from Acts one to Acts chapter ten that will leave you scratching your head as to what's going on.

[46:19] We see that the baptism in Acts 1044. So they were saying if you go back to say Acts two, three, then Peter sent them, repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus for the remission of sin, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now, is that just totally backwards from what we believe? Did you hear it? He says, Repent from your sins.

[46:47] Be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus. Now, Jesus said, baptized in the name of the Father and Son and the Holy Spirit, that's another one. Where you baptizes the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, or you baptize the name of Jesus, that's another one. That's not what Peter is saying here. He's saying to be washed in the blood of Jesus for the remissions of your sin.

[47:15] But he's saying that you repent, you're baptized, you understand what Jesus did for you on the cross, and then you receive the Holy Ghost. That's all just really confusing. Acts chapter two is part of the transition, where he's talking to Jews, he's trying to bring it in. But in Acts Ten, while Peter Yeh spoke the words, the Holy Spirit fell on them. Now he's preaching to Samaritan Gentiles and he's saying why he's giving them the Gospel.

[47:46] It says the Holy Spirit fell on them. They believed, and the Holy Spirit fell on him. And they of the circumstances which believed were astonished as many as come with Peter, because that of the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Spirit, for they learned them, for they heard him speak in tongues and magnified God. Then answered Peter, can any man forbid water that these should not be baptized which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord, then prayed they him to Terry certain days.

[48:26] Now you see the difference there. He's saying, repent and be baptized and Jesus will wash away your sins. And Acts too. But then in ten, as he preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ, they understood it, they believed it, they were indwelled and filled with the Holy Spirit. And that was evidence to the Jews that the Gentiles could be saved as well.

[48:52] And because of their profession of faith and the evidence of it by the Holy Spirit within it, peter says they need to be baptized to give up public profession of this. So you see the difference in Acts, it's going through. And it's because Acts one through ten is a transition period, is a growing stage, and you just need to remember that. And it's transitioned but from Acts ten on. And what Paul teaches us is that you hear the gospel, you believe the Gospel, you accept Jesus as your personal savior.

[49:35] At that very moment, according to one Corinthians twelve, the Holy Spirit comes to indwell you, okay? And then because of your profession of your faith in Him, you are baptized as a public profession of your faith. That's the way we're doing. And that's the way it's been since act chapter ten. It has not changed since then.

[50:01] There's also some things in there that he talks about receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit. And later on in Acts that Paul talked to some and said that, have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed when they said, we don't even know that there was a Holy Spirit. What Paul understood is these men he were talking to, these Twelve and Acts, I think 19 or something like that. These Twelve were followers of John the Baptist. They were still looking for a Messiah or maybe had understood the Messiah had come, but didn't really understand the full implications of what this Messiah did.

[50:41] They were not yet saved. So Paul was telling him, he's come, he's died on the cross, he rose again. He's in heaven for you. They understood that, got saved, and they were baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit then, too. So I know that's a lot of stuff I give you here in Acts, but I want you to understand the different baptisms and the things that are going on around it.

[51:03] I want you to understand that a lot of things that happened in Acts were for a purpose. Remember, Jesus and Matthew gave Peter the keys to the kingdom of heaven. What did that mean? Well, Peter first preached at Pentecost to the Jews, right? And then he later preached to the Samaritans, and then he later preached and the Gentiles were saved.

[51:27] So it was to go first in Jerusalem, Judea and the uttermost parts of the earth. That's what Peter was doing as having the kingdom of heaven. So it was important that he did this with these individuals. It was important that Paul made this clear to these Gentiles. It also was important, I thought, if you wanted to be a proselyte in the Old Testament, there was one group of people that was excluded.

[51:54] You couldn't do it if you were a eunuch. Isn't it interesting that God made it a very plain in Acts that Philip went and preached to a eunuch and he was saved? Now that the Gospel has come, now that salvation has come and we're under grace, it's not limited to just anyone. It is for everyone to whosoever will believe. So that's just another little side thing I'll show you out there in Acts, just to wet your whistle a little bit, to think about.

[52:33] Are you all with me? I'm going to try to finish this up here. So now we have the baptism that is going through in Acts and the New Testament Church and now the baptism of Christians. What does that mean? And we all know this, I won't cover it real much in detail, but I just want to reiterate it to you.

[52:59] Like I said, once you are saved, the Holy Spirit comes at that very moment and indwells you and you acknowledge and by a public profession in your faith. I am want to be baptized, which means I want to identify with Christ in his death, his burial and his resurrection in obedience to the Father. That's basically us today. Now there's something to say. I don't need to be baptized.

[53:25] No it isn't for me, I'm a Christian, but I'm not going to get baptized. You can do what you want to. Baptism is not going to save you. Baptism not being baptized is not going to unsafe you. But I think it's an act of obedience to God.

[53:42] I believe it's something that we do in obedience to God and obedience to the holy Spirit within us. And once that's done, we are surrendering or submitting to the holy Spirit within us. Romans six three know you not that so many of us as we're baptized into Jesus Christ, we're baptized into his death. He's just giving you an illustration of what the baptism means. Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death.

[54:13] That like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father, even so also should we walk in the newness of life. When you're baptized you're dying to your old way. You're identifying with Christ and his death, burial, resurrection. You're saying I want to wash away my old way of life and I'm turning to the newness of life that is in me through Christ Jesus. Does that make sense?

[54:39] Is that pretty clear this morning? Cortians 212, you can write that down. Buried with him. This is when I baptize or many Christians, we say this thing is coming out of Colossians 212. Buried with him in baptism wherein also you are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God who hath raised him from the dead, crucified with Christ, buried with him in baptism and raised to walk in newness of life.

[55:09] That's where we get that from. We are identifying with Christ and his death buried on resurrection. We are saying I'm dying to my old way of living and I want to live for Christ. That's all baptism is doing. I think also too, and I remember I said that Jesus was preparing for the priesthood.

[55:27] Did you know one Peter 29 said we are a royal priesthood, a particular people.

[55:36] Let's just go to revelation five and one, five and six, I'll read that to you real quick. You are going to be shocked here to know that you're priest. Did you know that if you've trusted Jesus as your personal savior says, and he hath made us to be kings and priests and to God his father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. So if I am part of the priesthood of Christ, to share the gospel of Christ, shouldn't I follow Christ in baptism and be cleansed and washed away my old way of life, prepared for the priesthood to serve a living God, jesus did it, why shouldn't we? So that's a little more for you to understand.

[56:26] And now oh my goodness, we're about out of time. But I'm getting there. I'm close. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is another baptism. This has nothing to do with water.

[56:40] Remember what I said in the very beginning, you had a literal baptism, the merchant in water, and then you had a figurative baptism. This is a figurative baptism. When we are saved, we are dwelt by the Holy Spirit. John?

[56:58] Well, no, Jesus. I'm sorry. In Acts chapter one, he says, for John, truly baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. So we have a baptism of the Holy Spirit. Remember, from that time, the Holy Spirit did not indwell everybody all the time.

[57:19] It wasn't until Pentecost that the Holy Spirit would endwell everybody at all times. So Jesus was telling him, when Pentecost comes, the Holy Spirit is going to come, and he's going to immerse himself or you will immerse yourself in him or him in you. So the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and then you have the baptism. This happened at Pentecost.

[57:47] Then you have the baptism, another baptism of the Holy Spirit. Once he comes to indwell you, he's immersed in you, I guess, to indwell you. Then he, at that same moment immerses you into the family of God, into the body of Christ. So there's another baptism that people get confused and they read it and they don't understand, and they come up with some kind of false teaching because they don't understand the work of the Holy Spirit. The two different baptisms of the Holy Spirit, one to immerse into you or to fill you or to indwell you, and two to put you in the family are in the body of Christ.

[58:32] To put you in a body of Christ. One Corinthians twelve tells us, as the body is one and half many members, and all the members of one body being many are one body also is Christ for by one Spirit. Where are we all baptized? Into one body. But see what I'm talking about?

[58:54] All these different people don't. Oh, there's only one baptism in Scripture. If you believe that, you're going to get really confused when you start reading these things that say baptism. There are different things of baptism. One is that literal, one is figurative, one is talking about this time, one is talking about that time.

[59:12] And so I just want you to help you understand that. So, you know, to help others understand it. Ephesians four five. There is one body, one spirit, even as we are called into one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism. He's talking about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which baptizes you into the body of Christ.

[59:37] Jews and Gentiles alike come together in one body, serving one Lord through one Holy Spirit. Okay, that's what he's talking about. To be baptized by the Spirit means to be belonged to the body of Christ, to be filled with the Spirit, to means our bodies belong to Christ. Did you get that? To be baptized by the Holy Spirit means I belong to Christ.

[60:03] But to be filled with the Holy Spirit means that my body belongs to Christ.

[60:13] Let me just pause there a minute. We are identified. We are indwelt by the Holy Spirit as a promise for God at salvation. That's his work, that's his doing. Being filled with the Holy Spirit is up to us whether we surrender or not.

[60:30] I've given you that illustration many times before, and I'm at a time where I invite David to my house and say, come on in. Brother Susie comes in, I lock him in the closet. He's indwelling my house, but he's not feeling my house because I'm not going to let him out the closet. I don't want him meeting my banana pudding.

[60:57] And that's the same way when we're saved the Holy Spirit comes in. But whether we allow him to go in our refrigerator, whether we allow him to go in our bedroom, whether we allow him to watch what we watch on TV, that's the feeling of the Holy Spirit, and that depends on me. David comes in, he's in dwelling, but he's not feeling. I got to let him out of the closet and say, you can go anywhere in my house you want to. That's the same way with the Holy Spirit within us.

[61:27] We are in dwell when we are saved, but whether we are going to let him fill us or not is up to us to search every area of our life. So I got to move on. I'm out of time. So we're talking about the baptism and Spirit. So the big old question is baptism required for salvation?

[61:49] Well, I just want to give you a thought and go back to the baptism of Jesus. If you were to say, yes, you must be baptized to be saved, then I believe you're saying that Jesus needed to be saved because he got baptized.

[62:09] Hello? Does that make sense? I do not believe baptism is a requirement for salvation. Jesus was sinless. He didn't need anything washed away.

[62:22] He didn't need to walk away from his old way to a new way. There was none of that. Jesus came in obedience and to prepare for the priesthood that he was about to initiate, the ministry he was about to initiate. So Jesus didn't need to be saved. So salvation is not a requirement if you need to be saved to be baptized.

[62:45] I believe Paul would have baptized everybody and their brother because that was his number one girl, that all of Israel would be saved, that all the Gentiles would be saved. That man was on fire to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ, yet he baptized very few. He even said that, I thank God that I baptized none of you in one corinthians one four. So if it was important to be for salvation, don't you think Paul would have baptized everybody come across. He understood his only believing in the Jesus Christ and his shed blood on the cross.

[63:20] That's the Gospel period. But he had others do the baptism one, Peter 318 through 21. And for time sake, I'll just read 21. He's talking about baptism. He's talking about the quickening of the Spirit and the water.

[63:38] And he talks about Noah being saved by water and all that. And then he comes to verse 21. He says, a light figure wherein even baptism does also now save us. There's a number one verse of why people say you have to be saved to be baptized, because it said it right there plain and clear, didn't it? Baptism now says this said and done, we got to be baptized.

[63:59] Be safe. No, read the rest of the verse. Not the putting away of the filth of the flesh. It doesn't save you. It doesn't wash your sins away, but the answer of a good conscience toward God.

[64:18] What's he saying? What's Peter saying? Baptism never wash away your sins. It is just an obedience that you stand in good conscience before a holy God and obeying his command. There's two ordinances of the church.

[64:34] One is the communion, the Lord Supper, and two, to be baptized. That's all the command that Jesus gave for the church. It is an act of obedience to a holy God that we do these things all right, so we don't have to be saved or baptized to be saved. Peter makes it very clear that that doesn't wash away our sins. Jesus didn't need his sins washed away.

[65:05] And if you consider Hebrews, chapter eleven, remember the great hall of fame of the men of faith, all who by faith served God and went on to a better way, and all Abraham and Moses and Noah, he gives that whole list of all these people throughout the Old Testament who are saved by faith. Guess what? Not one of them was ever baptized, yet they were saved by their faith. Baptism is not a requirement for salvation. It's an act of obedience to the command of God to stand in good conscience before God.

[65:42] And I'll close with this one. Do infants need to be baptized? And just shortly. To me it is so simple. I believe in infant or child dedication.

[66:00] And all that is the family coming and saying, I want to bring my child up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. And I'm asking my church family to pray with me and to help me, to work alongside with me to bring my child up in the nurturing admission that's all child dedication is. Now there are some out there that want to sprinkle babies or baptize babies. I don't think it's biblical. Nowhere in the Bible does it teach that.

[66:34] And if it did well and he said, well, it's just a good thing to do, I don't know about that, because baptism and what I said, it's a profession of your faith in him to identify with Christ on something that you've believed in. Your heart has a baby believed in his heart? No. Does he know anything about the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus? No.

[66:59] Why are you baptizing them? I think it doesn't hurt them, but it certainly does not save them. And I think the problem with that is it gives them a false sense of hope. Because they'll look back at this old diploma or this little piece of paper certificate and the Bible is signed by some preacher somewhere. They said you was baptized when you was a baby.

[67:23] I'm good to go. I'm on my way to heaven. No, you're not. Not if you've not accepted Jesus as your personal savior. So to baptize babies, I think the main thing gives them a false sense of hope of their salvation when they don't have it.

[67:39] So we don't do it. Is that clear up baptism for you all? A little bit. I know I've thrown a lot of information out. I'm actually surprised it's only seven after twelve, but I really thought it was important for us to understand.

[67:53] I know us of good old badness. We know that. And John in the New Testament, he was not Baptist, by the way. You all know that. Baptist denomination didn't come out until hundreds of years later.

[68:08] He was John the Baptizer. John came baptizing and they called him the Baptizer. That's why he got the nickname John the Baptist. Okay? But he was not of the Southern Baptist Convention or none of that.

[68:24] He was John the Baptizer. So I know this was a teaching day for you, but these days and times I think it's very important. I may do more teaching because there is so much false teachings going on right now. But when it's not surprised the Bible told us that would happen. But I want you all to be very aware of what's going on, what's being said and how you can answer the questions, how you can help someone see the truth of the Gospel and see the truth about these things.

[68:56] So Lord just really laid that on my heart, that we understand what God's Word says and see it clearly. Father, we thank you for the day and we thank you for your Word. We thank you for the Holy Spirit who gives us clear understanding of Scripture. If we just look to Him and pray for wisdom and ask you for knowledge, you give us freely. Father, I pray that you thank you that You've made it very clear.

[69:29] Jesus told us, I am the Way, the truth and of life. No man comes to the Father but by Me. For by grace are we saved through faith and not of ourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. We thank you for that this morning.

[69:46] Not only through the blood of Jesus are we washed in the blood of the Lamb, are we made whole, are we cleansed from our sins, Father. And as we follow you in believers, baptism and obedience to you that we stand before you and a clear conscience that we have obeyed, which you've asked us to do. And we publicly profess that I am a follower of Jesus Christ. We just thank you and praise you for Your Word. We thank you for this day.

[70:15] Help us, Lord, to be witnesses and to preach the gospel everywhere we go. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

[70:41] When we walk with the Lord and the light of His Word, what a glory he sheds on our way while we do to his goodwill. He obliged with a still and with all who will trust and obey, trust and obey. For there's no other way to be happy in Jesus but here's. Smile.

[71:51] Not a doubt, nor a fear, not a sight or a dear.

[72:27] Mitchell has come today, and I know you're all going to think, well, he's done this because of Mitchell. Now, I thought of this message long before Mitchell did what Mitchell did. You want to tell him what you did? I got saved.

[72:42] Praise the Lord. There is no greater joy to me than to see somebody get saved. The buen is one of my children, one of my grandbabies. That's an answer to prayer. Before you were even here, buddy, papo and Mommy, Daddy were praying for that, and he went, what, a week or so now?

[73:04] Ten days or so. And I think we were on our cruise of all the time. He just asked his mom and said, I want to be saved. He's been talking for a while now, and he understood that Jesus died for him on the cross and he wanted to get saved. Now, he's coming this morning and he says, I want to follow him in baptism.

[73:26] We talked about it the other night. He wants to be baptized, to identify with Christ and make a public profession of his faith. And now he would like to join this body of believers as a Memoranda. He was an honorary member under his parents. Now that he's a child of God, he can be a member all by himself.

[73:47] Do you accept him as a member of the church? Amen. Favor. Say aye. Praise the Lord.

[73:55] A great day. And we're going to talk about that when we're going to do a baptism. We'll get that together with homecoming. We talked about maybe the Sunday after Vacation Bible School. We pray in the Lord, send some more, let them be saved.

[74:09] Maybe we'll get some get saved in vacation Bible School. We're going to work all those logistics out and let you know, but we're going to do this very soon. This boy's excited. Well, he got saved. He wanted to tell everybody.

[74:22] He called me on the boat. He got saved, Papa. And he wanted to call his buddies. He wanted to call his friends. That's evidence of your salvation.

[74:31] You want others to know. Amen. What Jesus has done for you. And I pray even from the mouth of babes I don't know preached again. This is awesome.

[74:43] So now I'm just thankful, lord, for that. And you all pray for Mitchell. I've got some good things for him. Just thankful for him. You want to say anything, dad?

[74:53] No, I'm just happy. He's just happy. Mom's happy, too. You want to come down here and staying with him?

[75:03] Make your way dad down here because everybody's going to come down here and love on you all. Leona, you want to come stand with your brother?

[75:13] You all come love on them, pray for them. This is the beginning of a journey for him, and we need to wrap our arms around him. We're thankful for it. Anything else? It's a good day.

[75:26] Every day is a good day. All right, you want to close this in prayer, please, sir? Our most gracious heavenly father, we thank you once again for this opportunity to be in your house. Father, we thank you for the example that Mitchell has shown to us this morning. Father, we thank you for the good christian home that Mitchell had been brought into in this world, and they brought him up to know you and to love you.

[75:56] And we can't thank you enough for that. Lord, we know the angels are rejoicing that we have one more member to the family of God. Father, be with us as we dive apart from this place and keep us forever in your care. And Jesus precious holy name, we pray. Amen.