100-22b Salvation & Baptism--What's the Link?

Act 10:34-48

Always a thrill to open God’s Word: God told Israel that man does not live on bread alone but on every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God. We commanded to “long for the pure milk of the Word that by it we may grow in respect to salvation.” Salvation is indeed the marvelous gift of God grace…very precious.

Theologically speaking, there are a number of things that happen when you’re saved…this list is not exhaustive:

Redemption, reconciliation, forgiveness, justification, glorification, deliverance, acceptance to God, brought near, member of holy and royal priesthood, transferred into God’s kingdom, citizens of heaven, adopted, included in fellowship of saints, partners with X in life/position/sufferings/prayer/expectation of return, given possession of every spiritual blessing, heirs with Christ, freedom from the law, power to walk in newness of life, object of divine love/grace/power/faithfulness /peace/comfort/intercession

All of these realities belong to you at the moment of conversion. You don’t have to wait for them…there are no hoops to jump thru, no works, no activities in order to encounter them. You believe on the LJC and this is what happens to you.

Before we head over to the river for baptism after the service, I wanted to take a few moments to share with you the relationship between Salvation & Baptism.

In the NT, following the resurrection of L.J.C. every Christian, w/o exception was baptized. But what is more remarkable is that every Xian was baptized after his/her conversion…showing that baptism is “believer’s baptism” (reserved for those who put their trust in JC alone for salvation).

Before I answer a few critical questions about the nature of baptism, let’s go to God’s Word for instruction about this ordinance Jesus left the church to participate in.

Acts 10;

This passage underscores the progression of salvation as it happens in the NT. This is still the manner with which God imparts saving grace to those who believe today.

Here is the progression (very simple): 1) salvation is proclaimed; 2) salvation is received; 3) salvation produces fruit

I. Salvation Is Proclaimed

This sermon is unlike any other sermon that Peter has preached before. It begins in vs 34. This was a profound understanding for Peter. We have to go back to the beginning of the ch to find out why: 10:1-2.

Peter is a devoted Jew. He had walked with Jesus those 3 years and believed JC came to save Israel according to God’s promise. The thought of Gentiles being included in God’s plan of salvation was troubling to Peter.

So in 2 separate visions (Cornelius the centurion & Peter), God was revealing to Peter (and all Jews—and Gentiles) that salvation was not for Israel alone but His plan all along was to include the nations and make them recipients of salvation also.

Again, this troubled the devout Jew…b/c they understood Gentiles to be unclean. There’s more background to this than I have time to develop…let me take you very briefly to Mt 8.

Jesus heals a man with leprosy (vv 1-4) and enters into Capernaum where a centurion (Roman commander of 100 men) finds the Lord and begs him to heal his servant who is paralyzed (vs 5-6). Jesus responds (vs 7—what gracious willingness of our Lord). At this point, the centurion says—vs 8. “I am not worthy” is an acknowledgment that Jewish law forbids a Jew to enter the house of a Gentile. He had no desire to subject the Lord to ridicule but knew the authority of Jesus that He could speak the word and his servant would be healed (just say the word).

Centurions are always presented favorably in the Bible—this is 1 case. Jesus marveled—vs 10 (compared to disciples in vs 26). Jesus continues vs 11.

This divine, miraculous healing was the opportunity for Jesus to prepare His disciples for the inclusion of gentiles in God’s program. The OT taught this:

Genesis 12:3 NASB95

3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

Galatians 3:8 NASB95

8 The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the nations will be blessed in you.”

So Peter should not have been caught off guard. Come back to Acts 10. Peter has this vision—vv 9-16.

After the vision, 3 men come to Joppa to take Peter back to Caesarea and to the house of Cornelius (God-fearing centurion). Peter shows no resistance (after the vision) ad boldly confesses this is new ground for him (vs 34-35). He can no longer separate the 2 groups and Peter uses this moment to proclaim the glories of the gospel.

He begins to explain the gospel in the most simple, yet profound terms (36). Salvation is never based on the sincerity of a person’s good works. Peter understands that salvation results when the HS begins to work on the unbeliever as the gospel is being proclaimed. The message was again very simple (Jesus was sent by God—38a; Jesus is God—38b; Jesus died—39b; Jesus is alive—40-41; Jesus is Lord—36b, 42-43). The work of the HS will result in one who “fears God and does what is right” (35).

Now, Cornelius was responding tot he work of God in his soul—but he didn’t come to God on his own.

John 6:44 NASB95

44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.

The truth of the gospel is that no one (Jew or Gentile) can come to the point of salvation apart from the work of God. As Peter is explaining this gospel (good-news) and comes to the point of exhortation in vs 43… “everyone who believes...”.

For Peter (and every writer of Scripture) belief is essential for salvation. There is no salvation without exercising personal faith in JC (Eph 2:8-9; Rom 10:9-10).

So this is how you proclaim the gospel. Its very simple. At the beginning of the last century a pastor once said “The indicative of the gospel but come before the imperative of the human response” In other words, you have to proclaim what the gospel is—Who God is; what man is; what God has done to remedy our condition…then you give the imperative (command) to believe. Both must happen but in that order.

Then everyone who believes receives forgiveness of sins—what everyone needs. We need to be forgiven of the sins we have committed. Forgiven, not by each other but God. We have sinned, rebelled against the Creator of the universe (Rom 3:23; 6:23; Ps 51:4). If there is ever hope of reconciliation with God is will be by His grace, doing what we could never do on our own…atoning for our sin in the sacrifice of JC. That’s the payment God accepts and is glorified by. Trusting in that produces salvation. This is what Cornelius did along with others in the room with him.

II. Salvation Is Received

vs 44

This is happening while Peter is still preaching. They were being saved. They were believing all that Scripture claims Christ is and did.

John 20:31 NASB95

31 but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.

That’s what this group of Gentiles believed—Jesus died, buried, raised to life. Jesus conquered death, sin, Satan in one sweeping act in human history. And the evidence that people were being saved—HS came upon them (vs 44). This is a reference to the baptism of the HS—an immersion into Christ at the moment the person believes, the moment you are saved. And this always is the case.

John the Baptist predicted the time:

Matthew 3:11 NASB95

11 “As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

It is the baptism of the HS by which you are united with JC (1 Cor 6:17; Gal 3:27). It is also at that time that you are joined to the body of Christ—the Church.

1 Corinthians 12:13 (NASB95)

13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized (API3P) into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

This was a powerful point to Peter and the other Jews who were with him. God was bringing Gentiles into the church just as He had brought Jews previously.

So, here we have many unbelievers who had heard the preaching of the gospel and while listening they were saved. Now, salvation never stops there. It will always produce fruit (Jn 15).

III. Salvation Produces Fruit

Notice what happened to Cornelius and the others—the HS fell on them and they began—vs 46. It was at this point Peter commanded them to be baptized—vs 47-48.

Peter did not command them to be baptized so they could be saved—they already were. Peter’s admonition was based on the fact that they had already received the forgiveness of sins b/c they had already received the HS and that was demonstrated.

Salvation always produces fruit. One particular area of fruit it produces is the desire to obey God’s commands.

John 15:5 NASB95

5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

John 15:10 NASB95

10 “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

1 John 3:22–24 NASB95

22 and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight. 23 This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. 24 The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

Obedience to God’s Word is a cardinal mark of those who have truly been saved. This desire was produced in Cornelius—it bore fruit by being baptized. There are a lot of people today who say the church is ineffective, irrelevant, and that it needs to adapt to the culture around it so it can have an impact. The church only becomes ineffective/irrelevant when it stops preaching the gospel. When God’s Word is preached, the people God is drawing to himself thru the HS will respond by believing in JC. They will receive the forgiveness of sins, are immediately baptized by the HS (united to Christ and the church). This salvation will not go dormant but will bear the good fruit of righteousness.

The relationship, link b/t salvation and water baptism then, becomes much more clear. They are not the same thing. True salvation results in the desire to be obedient to the command of LJC—one of those is the command to be baptized having professed faith in Him.

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,

I’d like to answer a few questions about baptism that are generally on people’s minds.

Why Baptism?

Why is it necessary to be baptized, why does the church practice baptism today?

It goes back to the command of our Lord in Mt 28:19-20.

A second reason is that this is the pattern set by the early church. What follows in the NT and the early church after the ascension of Christ is that every Xn was baptized. There aren’t any exceptions to this and yet baptism is clearly not what saves anyone. The doctrine of salvation by grace thru faith permeates the Bible.

Who Should Be Baptized?

Should anyone, everyone be baptized? There were periods of church history where baptisms were compulsory. Roman soldiers following the Edict of Milan (AD 312) forced people in the empire to be baptized at sword point. This also happened during the reign of Charlemagne (AD 784). There was an early belief that baptism would produce regeneration which continues to be taught by groups like Churches of Christ, some pentecostal churches, RCC, Orthodox churches, Lutherans and mormons.

Others have practiced paedobaptism (infant baptism)—Presbyterians, Lutherans, Reformed, Anglican, Episcopalian. This position has developed for a couple of reasons:

Rooted in Amillennialism which teaches there is no earthly kingdom of God only in the hearts of God’s people. This stems from an interpretation that OT & NT people of God are synonymous and that the church has become Israel. In OT, infants were circumcised and in the NT that is replaced with baptism (nice thought, just not biblical).

Misunderstanding of those who were baptized in NT

Households (Cornelius, Lydias, Philippians Jailor, Stephanas)—the descriptions of those who were baptized was “all who believed were being baptized.” Since an infant cannot believe, infant baptism is not scriptural.

Water Baptism is simply an outward expression of an inward act of faith. Those who have been saved are the ones who are to be baptized. The church does well to do its best to make sure that those who are being baptised have been regenerated by God’s Spirit.

What Does Baptism Mean?

What does it mean to get baptized?

Baptism is first and foremost an act of identification with JC in His death and resurrection. This is the spiritual picture of what Paul says happens to the one who believes on the LJC.

Romans 6:1–5 NASB95

1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 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. 5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,

This baptism is not water baptism but that of the HS. The believer, b/c of the HS has been immersed in and identified with JC and united to Him. Water baptism is merely that outward sign of the spiritual transaction that has already happened. You are showing the witnesses (publicly) that you are united to the Savior by faith in HIs death and resurrection. Baptism is not necessary for salvation but an important step by which God accomplishes His purposes in your life.

Baptism is a sign of your identification with His Body. It is inconceivable that you could be united to the Head without also being united to His body. Baptism identifies you with church (universal and local). You are stating your commitment to the body to love, to serve, to edify, to fellowship with and to be held accountable for living the life Christ has called you to.

So water baptism, as a sign/symbol, is a picture of what has already taken place in your life b/c you have put your faith in JC. Water baptism produces nothing more than the blessing of obedience to the Lord’s command and ultimately becomes a personal pledge of loyalty to God and a testimony to the world of the new life you have in Christ.

There are other less important questions that often been asked: who should baptize (clergy, elders, any believer?) Since this is connected to the church…it is good for the representatives of the church (elders) to do that work—though historically pastors are charged with conducting baptisms.

How is one baptized? we practice immersion (dunking) b/c that is the clearest picture of the spiritual transaction Paul speaks of in Rom 6. Plus the word baptizo means to dip or immerse (Lk 16). The early church thought baptism in “living waters—running water” was best. Others have taken to pouring or sprinkling for various reasons (generally when water was not available).

When should baptism be done? The church began to delay baptisms over the issue of whether the person demonstrates personal faith. As it also began to apply that delay to children who are brought up in the church and have come to personal faith in Jesus to wait until they understand better.

Spurgeon was a good example of the importance of leading children to conversion but he waited until his own sons (who were xns for years) were 18 before baptizing them. We are right to encourage faith among the young, but are wise to wait until they have better grasped the importance of what baptism really means.

Well, it is a blessing for our gathering today to culminate down at the river (Woodside bridge) where we can witness the faith and obedience of several believers.

Prayer

Thank God for JC & Work of Cross

For salvation, forgiveness of sins, for the gift of faith by which we have eternal life

Help us as a church to be committed to following your command in baptism

For those who are being baptized that your would encourage their hearts and give the joy of obedience to each one.

Help this church to support their gifts and to pray for and encourage their spiritual growth.