Believers Baptism

Our text for this morning is going to be Acts 2:38. Please take our your copy of God’s word and find that. The topic that it is discussing is believers baptism.

different views on baptism

how do we settle this? - look to scripture

Immanuel Baptist stands on God’s word

Acts 2:38 ESV

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

poll number of baptisms

talk about personal baptism experience

importance of a biblical understanding of baptism

protection

congregation protects the church by protecting baptism

A Biblically Healthy Church is made up of Baptized Believers

intro to text

sermon at pentecost

people saw the Holy Spirit come upon the disciples and questioned

Peter preached

The people wanted to respond

scripture to answer question - why is baptism important for a believer?

2 major views in our culture on Baptism

infant baptism vs believers baptism

infant - still a sign of faith but it is parents faith

believers is a sign of personal faith

Acts 2:38 ESV

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

process of when to be baptized

what is repentance?

You hear me say “to turn” sometimes. This is true. But it is deeper

two aspects

change of mind

leading to a change of action

response to hearing the gospel

God, man, christ response

correct response is repentance

repentance(affirmative) leads to new life in Christ

2 Corinthians 5:17 “17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

denial(negative) leads to eternal separation from God’s grace

1 John 2:22–23 “22 Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.”

Everyone responds to the gospel. Which way have you responded?

faith in christ leads to repentance - which leads to baptism

Greek word for baptism means to immerse or submerge

original greek for baptism is baptizo(immerse) not rantizo(sprinkle)

Acts 8, Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch

Acts 8:36–38 “36 And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” 38 And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.”

baptism came after Ethiopian believed

striking example of immersion baptism

other times in scripture

John 3:23 “23 John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there, and people were coming and being baptized”

needed an abundance of water

if he was sprinkling, he would not have needed much water

scripture is very clear on mode of baptism and when to be baptized

Story about baptism in Haiti

not discounting anyones baptism

may have been good intentioned - Thank God for parents who intend on raising children in the faith

But maybe you just didn’t know

incorrect teaching on baptism

never understood importance of baptism

must look to scripture for how to be obedient to baptism

What does baptism mean?

not salvation

salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone

means it is not entrance to heaven

IS a sign

life change, salvation, public admission of faith

Like a wedding ring- it is a symbol

tricky question - is it necessary?

If there is any requirements to be saved other than faith makes it a work based salvation

Thief on the cross

Luke 23:39–42 ESV

39 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

We know of one man in heaven, walking in the presence of God, who was not baptized

BUT, we have a clear command in scripture to do it

Why do it?

public profession - telling the world, and your faith family that you have repented and believe

join a church - more next week on membership

done under the authority of church

pastors talk through regeneration with the candidate

membership hears testimony and examine candidates life

person is baptized into membership

obedience

The church has a command TO baptize - Matthew 28:19–20 “19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””

Individual believers have been commanded to BE baptized

Acts 2:38 “38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

“every one of you” - command to the church

“A biblically healthy church is made up of baptized believers”

desire to be a healthy church

happens through members having individual faith

Your parents faith cannot save you

Matt Chandler story of meeting with member of new church and asking his testimony of becoming a Christian. He said he had always been a Christian. He knew he was a Christian because he grew up in Texas.

This happens in every church. People believe they are Christians because they grew up in church, or their parents or grandparents are Christians

Someone else’s faith will not get you into heaven

Baptism will not get you into heaven

But believers Baptism is a sign of an individuals faith

Believers Baptism Protects the Church

We desire unity. Unbelievers being in the body causes disunity

Marcion was the son of an elder of a church in a city off the coast of the Black Sea. He was a ship owner and hauled cargo and passengers throughout the Roman Empire. Around AD 140, his fathers church excluded him from fellowship in the church likely due to bad theology. He would leave the area and go to Rome. He was quickly accepted into the church in Rome. This is likely because of a hefty donation to the church that would equal between $2-3 million today. He would infect the church with bad doctrine such as Jesus only seeming to be human. This belief came to be known as Docetism. Ultimately, Marcion denied the God of Israel and the Jesus of scripture. Because of this, the church changed an aspect of baptism. Just like many of us today have done, they would always ask the receiver of baptism questions publicly before their baptism so that their profession was a public profession. The questions had to become more detailed due to false teachings like the one Marcion was teaching. Why would they want to do this? This is so that the receiver of baptism understood that their profession of faith was different than those of the false teachings of Marcion.

We protect unity by protecting baptism

Acts 2:38 ESV

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

in the name of Jesus

we are bought by the blood of Jesus

Believers must have an accurate confession. Don’t want to turn into Marcion

So we protect baptism to be for only possessing believers

There is a difference in professing and possessing

Many profess (ie. walk down an aisle, say a prayer)

but we must possess our salvation

Baptism is reserve for disciples (Matt 28:19)

order - As you are going (we all are), make disciples, baptizing them

Who is a disciple?

Our purposes as a church are to Know, Grow, and Go

We can define a disciple as someone who does these things

A church should not be baptizing people who are not disciples

Doesn’t mean that someone must be perfect to be baptized, but must have evidences of a life dedicated to Christ

This protects the church

Answer the question - Why is baptism so important for the believer?

The most important thing to a believer has to be their dedication to Christ (growing and maturing and conforming to the image of Christ)

Baptism is a picture of us being brought into the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ

Romans 6:3–4 ESV

3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 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.

Romans 6 is pointing us to the picture of believers baptism

being obedient in first repenting, then being obedient in baptism by immersion

why? as a picture to the world of us dying to our old selves, and being raised to a new life in Christ (that has already happened at salvation)

Conclusion

for the believers - remember your baptism, know that it was a major step in displaying your faith, but know that it is not the finish line

we must not get complacent that we are good now and we don’t need to do anything else

this is a lie that Satan will try to tell us

Romans 12:2 “2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

grow in maturity, spend time in God’s word, spend time in prayer, and spend time telling others about how your life has changed because you are a follower of Christ

For the ones who have not made a true profession of faith - listen to me

Remind what the gospel is - God, man, Christ, response

Repent and believe (Mark 1:15 “15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”” )

Do you believe?

Speak to those who have first believed, and those who have not followed through in believers baptism

You have heard God’s word and what it says about baptism

Will you be obedient?

Having a membership interest lunch Aug. 4th

Baptizing into membership

If not interested in membership, still want to talk to you about baptism

I pray that this sermon has given you comfort in what scripture has to say

also pray that it has given you assurance in the word that Christ did on the cross

Sing last song, dwell on what the Holy Spirit is revealing to you through God’s word this morning.