What is Water Baptism?

Knowing God

Water baptism holds great importance in the life of a believer.

In the New Testament, Jesus Himself set an example by being baptized in water by John the Baptist

And one of the first things the disciples did with a new beleiver was to baptize them

For some reason many in the modern church see water baptism as something you can only do after you’ve been able to attain a certain level of spirituallty

gratefully that is not the case

rather than a indicator of a certain level of Spiritual understanding, it is instead what propelles you into spiritual maturity

Jesus showed how important this act is by getting baptised Himself.

Now realize this was very uncomfortable for John, but it was something He was destined to do from the very begining

but let’s get into it!

Matthew 3:13–17 NASB95

13 Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him. 14 But John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?” 15 But Jesus answering said to him, “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he permitted Him. 16 After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, 17 and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”

Allow me to share with you 5 reason Why water baptism is important for every believer to experience

1. Obedience to Christ:

Jesus commanded His disciples to baptize believers in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

Matthew 28:19 NASB95

19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,

Water baptism is an act of obedience to His explicit instruction.

Its really the first step in becoming obedient to Christ

So many Christian beleivers emphasis the benefits of salvation

I have to admit I’ve fallen in this trap several times.

When you sit down and start sharing your faith with someone, we often focus on the benefits of becoming a follower of Jesus Christ

we say things like

God wants to bless every area of your Life

God want to grant the desires of your heart

God wants to pour out every spiritual Blessing

Don’t get me wrong, there are uncountable benefits to being a follower of Jesus Christ.

but I believe we do people a disservice when we negate the Lordship of Christ

We might say “Make Jesus the Lord of your Life”

but how many people actually know what that means.

Let’s put this is terms to helps us relate to what I am saying

If you hire a personal trainer

you sit down with this trainer and they begin to tell you all the benfits of hiring them

Enhanced Physical Health

Increased Energy and Stamina

Improved Weight Management

Improved Mental Well-being

Increased Confidence and Self-esteem

Better Sleep

Improved Quality of Life

“You say sign me up I want all those things”

your sign the agreement

pay the fee

But you never listen to a single thing the trainer tells you to do

Do you believe you will experience all the promised benefits?

The same is true regarding the promised benefits of the Kingdom of God

You can say the prayer, attend services, even throw a few bucks in the offering.

But if you don’t follow the plans God has for your life, How can we expect to reap the benefits that God has promised.

Like in the gym you need to do the work to reap the benefits

in the Christian life you need to obey God’s leading to receive the Kingdom benefits

Making Jesus Lord of your life goes beyond merely acknowledging Him as Savior or believing in His existence.

demon’s believe God exists

It involves surrendering your will, desires, and priorities to Him, submitting to His authority, and allowing Him to have complete control over every aspect of your life.

1 John 4:8 NASB95

8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

John 14:15 NASB95

15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

If you Love God, you will obey Him

Ultimately, making Jesus Lord of your life is a daily commitment to live in obedience and surrender to His will.

It means placing Him at the center of your life, seeking His guidance, and allowing His love and grace to shape your thoughts, words, and actions.

It is a transformative journey of following Him wholeheartedly and experiencing the abundant life He offers

John 10:10 NASB95

10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

But the only way to walk in that abundance is by obeying the plan He has for your life

Water Baptism is the first step in proving your obedience.

You actually doing something He commanded you to do!

2. Identification with Christ:

Through baptism, believers symbolically identify with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus

It signifies a union with Christ and participation in His redemptive work.

Romans 6:3–4 NASB95

3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

The word baptism comes from the greek word baptizō

which litterally means to immerse, to submerge a vessel

It was used when a ship sunk and was under the water it was “baptizō”

I realized some Christian groups sprinkle with water or pour rather than immersion

they loose out on this foundational truth.

incidently the catholics practiced immersion unti Council of Ravenna in 1311 AD

when the Catholic Church proclaimed “Baptism is to be administered by tribe immersion or aspersion.” aka Sprinkling

Not sure why they made a change,

but I can only imagine the scene of dunking infants under the water

probably not very divine

incidently, we don’t practice enfant baptism

We hold the decision regarding makeing Jesus Lord of your LIfe needs to be made by the individual and not the parents.

We practice baby dedication, Where parents dedicate to raising thier kids in Godly ways.

Galatians 2:16–21 NASB95

16 nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified. 17 “But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be! 18 “For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor. 19 “For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God. 20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. 21 “I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.”

Galatians 3:27 NASB95

27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

Our New life is not controlled by our old sinful nature

rather it is directed through Christ

3. Cleansing and Forgiveness:

Water baptism symbolizes the washing away of sins and the forgiveness of transgressions through faith in Jesus Christ

Acts 2:38 NASB95

38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 22:16 NASB95

16 ‘Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.’

Going under the water symbolizes our death to the old way of doing things. the “old man”

it also represents God washing all our sins away

almost like taking a bath and washing the dirt away

Its symbolic of a Spiritual cleansing of all our mistakes, shortcoming and times of falling short

God wants us to have a tangible experience of all our sins being washed away from us

That’s why its so critical for every beleiver to be baptized right away. Don’t delay that experience

Romans 6:6–23 NASB95

6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, 13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. 15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! 16 Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification. 20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. 22 But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

4. New Birth and Spiritual Renewal:

Jesus told Nicodemus that one must be born of water and the Spirit to enter the kingdom of God

John 3:1–5 NASB95

1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; 2 this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Water baptism represents the spiritual rebirth and transformation that occurs when one accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior.

When you come out of the water it is symbolic of raising to a new life with Christ

2 Corinthians 5:17 NASB95

17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

The old life the old way of doing things no longer have control over you

with God you get a new slate

a new beginning

You are actually a new person

Maybe you’ve heard the arguement to justify a persons practices

“Well I was born this way”

Yes, you were born into sin that is correct

We all were born into a depraved state seperated from God

But God doesn’t want to leave you there,

He want to kill of the old sinful way of doing things and rebirth in you the new you!

Romans 6:23 NASB95

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1 John 3:4 NASB95

4 Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.

John 3:16–17 NASB95

16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17 “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.

God did not create us to be sinful

rather that is a result of our sinful nature

God’s plan is to end our sinful nature and rebirth it with the nature of Christ

Colossians 2:12 NASB95

12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.

5. Public Testimony:

Baptism is a public declaration of faith in Jesus Christ.

It serves as a testimony before others, demonstrating a commitment to follow Christ and live a life aligned with His teachings

Acts 2:41 NASB95

41 So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.

Acts 8:12 NASB95

12 But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike.

When you make a decision to receive Jesus’s forgiveness, and make Him Lord of your Life, those are all inward decisions between you and God

But God never intended we go at this all alone,

that’s one of the reasons why He created His Church

that we walk this journey together

One of the primary ways a person could declare they had made the inward decision to follow Christ,

was to go through the water of Baptism for everyone to see

I know the modern church has this confused

We have practised

you have to beleive in order to belong

But The early church practised

You have to belong in order to beleive

Water baptism showed the community

that this person not only belongs, but now they also beleive

This is something I beleive we have to return to, in order to participate in the next harvest

Welcoming people in even if they are prebelievers

Then celebrating with them when they begin to believe.

this celebration is marked by their decision to follow Jesus through the waters of baptism

conclusion

Water baptism, as depicted in the Bible, is not just a mere ritual

but a profound spiritual act that signifies obedience, identification with Christ, forgiveness, new birth, and public testimony of faith.

Next Sunday we will be hosting a water baptism service

If you want to get baptized for the many reasons we have discussed today

please talk to me

I have and info packet in the lobby please pick one up

it has all the instructions you need to get baptised.

Let’s pray