What Does Baptism Say?

INTRODUCTION

Harvard was the first college institution in the United States. It began in 1636.

Harvard’s first President was a man named Henry Dunster.

Dunster was President for 14 years.

His name is known because as the first man to ever lead Harvard, he oversaw the first graduating college class on American soil.

His contributions to our entire approach to higher learning in this nation are significant.

The way he set Harvard up served as a model for countless universities that would come after it.

And yet—this great man lost his job. The first President of Harvard was chased out of his position. Why?

Well—he became a Baptist.

After about 11 years of leading Harvard, Dunster witnesses Obadiah Holmes get publicly whipped for preaching and practicing Baptist doctrine.

Massachusetts was a Congregationalist colony and infant baptism was official state doctrine.

Seeing Holmes be defiant, despite receiving this brutal whipping, caused Dunster to give a second thought to Baptist doctrine.

Over the next couple of years, he became convinced of Baptist theology—especially Believer’s Baptism.

In fact, he became so convinced that he refused to baptize his own child and found himself in trouble with the authorities in Boston.

But they couldn’t whip Dunster.

He was too prominent.

In the end, all they could do is chase him out of his job.

He was an advocate for Baptist convictions for the rest of his life.

MINI-SERIES EXPLANATION

This morning we are starting a two week mini-series on Believer’s Baptism.

This is something I would like for us to do to start each calendar year—explore one of the core Baptist disctinctives that separates us from the Presbyterians and Methodists.

And what better place to begin than Believer’s Baptism.

After all, there is nothing that sets us apart more than what we believe about the Baptismal waters.

For all the other convictions a Baptist might have, it is baptism that has given us our name.

And it was baptism that saw Holmes whipped and Dunster losing his job.

So we will take just a couple of weeks to think through two questions:

What Does Baptism Say?

Who Baptizes?

And then, at the end of it, we will take what we have learned and apply it immediately—we will have a baptism.

ROMANS CONTEXT

To answer our first question about what Baptism says, we will be turning to Romans 6, so you can flip there in your Bibles.

A little context so we know what is going on at this point in Paul’s letter to the Romans:

In chapter 5, he has highlighted the glorious Gospel of God’s grace.

In Adam there is death. In Christ, there is life.

Romans 5:15 ESV

But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.

But if we have salvation by grace and it has nothing to do with our own works, does that give us the license to sin?

If Jesus has paid it all, why not indulge in sin without hesitation?

This is the objection Paul is anticipating and dealing with in chapter 6.

TEXT

Romans 6:1–11 ESV

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

I have three teaching points for us as we seek to answer the question: What Does Baptism Say?

1. Baptism says a believer is united to Christ (Romans 6:4)

2. Baptism says a believer is forgiven of sin (Romans 6:4)

3. Baptism says a believer has a newness of life (Romans 6:4)

THE ORDINANCE OF BAPTISM

TWO ORDINANCES

But before we jump into those points, let’s take a few minutes just to establish what baptism is.

We can start by saying that it is one of two ordinances that Christ has given to His church.

An ordinance is a decree or a law issues by an authority.

In the case of the church, the authority is Jesus, and He has given us two pictures of Gospel.

The first one is baptism.

It is a picture of how we enter into the body of Christ by faith and how we intend to follow Jesus.

The second is the Lord’s Supper.

It is a picture of how we remain in the body of Christ, living on the body and blood of Jesus—feasting upon the grace of His salvation.

Baptism is meant to be a one time act. The Lord’s Supper is meant to be an often repeated act of remembrance.

But in both of these acts, we see the Gospel.

As the church performs them, the Word of the Kingdom is illustrated to the people of the Kingdom.

NOT FOR INFANTS

And as Baptists, we say that both of these ordinances are only for the people of the Kingdom.

Baptism is a symbol that belongs to people who have believed.

It is a way for them to outwardly proclaim what God has done inwardly by His grace.

Likewise, the Lord’s Supper is a symbol for those who have baptized into the local church.

It is a way for baptized believers to continue to proclaim the Lord’s death as they commune with God.

This may seem to put us out of step with many in church history because for centuries, infant baptism has been commonplace.

Some say we are abnormal for refusing to practice it.

But we would argue that we are normal ones according to Scripture and the earliest practices of the church.

If you read Christian literature from the first two hundred years of the church, there is simply no mention of infants being baptized.

Instead, it seems that as people were old enough to profess faith in Christ, they were brought into the church through baptism.

It is not until 3rd century that you really see Christians writing about infant baptism as accepted practice.

The practice seems to have gained a footing because of a false belief that was prevalent in the church—the belief that baptism would actually wash away your sins.

Therefore, you have to get those babies wet in order to make sure they did not die in infancy and go to eternal Hell because they were not baptized.

By 418 at the Council of Carthage, it becomes heretical to teach anything other than infant baptism.

By the 6th century, the emperor Justinian made it mandatory throughout the entire empire that all babies would be baptized.

And this was the state of things for a millenium in the church.

You have to wait all the way until the Protestant Reformation in the early 16th century for evangelical groups to begin recovering a biblical view of baptism.

They began to say, “One must repent and believe in order to be converted and it is only after that conversion, that one should begin receiving the ordinances of the church.”

For those holding to infant baptism, the baptism itself is a conduit of God’s grace.

Roman Catholics taught that baptism conveys God’s grace in and of itself, and original sin and sins committed are all absolved through the sacrament.

Lutherans believe there is new life imparted through the sacrament of baptism.

Presbyterians believe it is a sign and seal of God’s grace and works much like circumcision did in the Old Testament.

Among Baptists, baptism has never been treated as an essential conduit for God’s grace. Rather, they have regarded it as a command given to new believers and therefore the normal means for marking and celebrating their salvation. Baptism is a visible sermon informed by the Word, and entirely dependent on God’s Spirit to create the reality it depicts.

Mark Dever

And since it is a visible sermon, we argue that it is a sermon only Christians should preach.

This is the pattern in the revelation of Scripture.

Arguments for infant baptism must be inferred.

Meaning—they must utilize reasoning or deducing, as opposed to explicit statement from the Scriptures.

Believer’s Baptism is the teaching of the New Testament.

Let’s dive into some of that teaching now, by getting into our first point for the day...

UNITED TO CHRIST

The question we are asking is— “What does Baptism say?”

1. Baptism says a believer is united to Christ (Romans 6:4).

In this passage, Paul is explaining why those who have eternal life in Jesus Christ the Lord should not go on sinning. And his argument begins with the union that a believer has with Christ.

Look at what Paul says in v. 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 the newness of life.

WE were buried WITH Him.

Just as CHRIST was raised…WE too might walk in the newness of life.

You can see the union, right?

Buried with Him into death.

Raised with Him to walk in the newness of life.

It is what Paul says in v. 5:

Romans 6:5 ESV

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

When we believe in Jesus, we are united to Jesus by faith.

This means that the old man, who was an enemy of God, was co-crucified with Christ as Jesus paid for our sins.

And this means that the new man, who is a child of God, is raised with Christ, victorious over sin and death.

This is why Paul could say:

Galatians 2:20 ESV

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

This is why when we baptize we say, “Buried with Him in death, raised to walk in the newness of life.”

The words being used speak to the union the believer has with Jesus by faith.

This union with Christ means that a change has happened in our hearts. We have been given a new birth.

Our hearts have been circumcised and set apart for the Lord.

And this inner-transformation means a God-hating version of us died and a God-loving version of us is now alive.

In light of that—how can we keep sinning?

Paul takes this idea and connects it to baptism here in Romans 6 because, baptism is an outward expression of this inner-transformation that has been brought about by the grace of God.

If our union with Christ has been demonstrated in baptism, how can we live as if we are NOT united to Christ?

In baptism, we are saying that Christ has marked us off.

On one hand, He has marked us off for God.

For we are not only united to Christ, but we are united to God in Christ.

By believing in Jesus, we have access to the love Father and we have the indwelling of the Spirit.

This is why Jesus commanded baptism to be done in the name of the Father, Son and Spirit.

We are baptized in the name of the One Triune God we are identifying with.

On the other hand, He has marked us off for His people.

Because when we are baptized, we are baptized into something.

We are baptized into the church.

1 Corinthians 12:13 ESV

For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

We will talk more about this next week.

But in baptism, we are saying, “I belong to God and His Church.”

I used to belong to Satan and the world, but now I belong to God and His Church, through Jesus Christ my Lord, whom I have union with in His death and resurrection.

In 64 AD, when the Emperor Nero blamed Christians for the fires in Rome, many Christians were arrested and tortured and executed.

There was severe persecution throughout the empire.

And how did Rome know who the Christians were?

In many cases, it was because of public baptisms.

Brothers and sisters had openly told the world that they were crucified and resurrected with Christ and that they follow Him now.

It drew the ire of the world.

In other cases, they knew because the people lived baptized lives.

They lived with a Christian moral code. They were a part of the community of baptized believers.

This also drew the ire of the world.

APPLICATION

Are we living these sorts of lives?

Do we live baptized lives?

Can people look at us and say, “Those are people marked off for Christ. Marked off for God and His people”?

Do they know that we follow Jesus because we love the Lord and we love His people?

Do they know that we follow Jesus because they have seen sinful patterns fade and die in our lives and new godly patterns emerge?

Do the people who are around us the most at home and at work and at school clearly understand that we are united to Christ?

In how we live and in how we have changed, can they tell that we have been buried with Him in baptism and raised to walk in the newness of life?

To live a baptized life is to live out your baptismal identity.

And that identity is OLD MAN—DEAD. NEW MAN—ALIVE. UNITED TO CHRIST. UNITED TO THE CHURCH.

Baptism preaches this sermon.

Our lives should keep preaching it.

FORGIVEN OF SIN

2. Baptism says a believer is forgiven of sin (Romans 6:4)

IMPLIED IN ROMANS 6:4

Now, I am not sure that we can get this statement directly from Romans 6.

However, it is certainly implied.

In verse 4, Paul says, “buried therefore with Him by baptism into death.”

He is talking about the death of Christ.

And what happened at the Cross as Jesus died?

God’s wrath toward His people for their sin, was poured out on Jesus as the perfect sacrifice who died in their place.

And the direct fruit from that is that as people are united to Christ by faith, their receive forgiveness and their sins are washed away.

Their sins are crucified with Christ.

And as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, it proved His sacrifice was accepted and that He had overcome the curse of sin.

And since those who died with Christ are also raised with Him, they are accepted by the Father in Christ and they are conquerors of sin in Christ.

So then, the implication of v. 4 is that being buried with Him by baptism into death means being forgiven of sin, just as being raised with Him means walking in the newness of life.

And what is implied in Romans 6 is stated explicitly elsewhere.

Acts 2:38 ESV

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.

Acts 22:16 ESV

And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.’

It is not that Peter and Paul are saying that the act of baptism will actually wash your sins off of you like a spiritual bath.

Instead, they are speaking to what baptism demonstrates.

It depicts the spiritual cleansing that has taken place in a person’s heart because they have been born again.

Their sins have been washed away and the water of baptism is a symbol to show that.

IMMERSION

This is why I believe the Bible commands immersion.

Next week we will look closer at the Great Commission, but for now, I just want to point out one thing:

Matthew 28:19 ESV

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,

The Greek word for baptizing is baptizo.

It means to immerse or submerge.

This morning, as we have looked at Romans 6, the Greek word for baptism throughout the first few verses is the same Greek word.

What this means is that the New Testament’s command to baptize is a command to immerse the person being baptized with water.

Why would this be God’s selected mode?

Because of what is so clearly symbolizes for the watching church and the watching world.

Water is the universal symbol for cleanliness and purity.

In art, water often represents this.

Certainly in advertising—just think of all the face wash commercials with the slow-motion water splash onto the woman’s face.

In your mind—who hasn’t lamented, “I just need a shower,” after some long, dirty holiday travel.

Even in other religions, water represents cleanliness.

APPLICATION

The Lord chooses the picture of a person going under water and then coming back up in order to demonstrate one of the great Gospel realities that flows out of our union with Christ—the fact that we are forgiven people.

One of the glorious aspects of the diamond of baptism is that is gives us a very tangible picture of a washing.

We get a sermon for our eyes that tells us—the blood of Jesus cleanses sin.

We get a non-verbal display that tells us—the grace of God in Jesus Christ washes away sin.

For even my grandmother, who was born deaf, would be able to sit in a congregation and see a baptism and understand something of what was happening.

She easily could have thought, “Someone has been made clean here.”

This is why sometimes it is good for us to take baptisms outside of the church.

In the early church, baptisms were almost always in public.

This was very practical on one hand—they were meeting in homes and didn’t have big buildings with baptismal pools

But it was also for spiritual reasons—they wanted the world to know that someone had been made clean.

They wanted the world to know that someone had been forgiven and marked off for Jesus.

It has been a couple of years since we baptized at Yorktown Beach, but I believe this summer would be an ideal time to revive the practice.

NEWNESS OF LIFE

3. Baptism says a believer has a newness of life (Romans 6:4).

This we see explicitly in v. 4.

Because they are united with Christ, they have been raised with Christ and they have a new spiritual life.

And in baptism, this is demonstrated.

They come up out of the water after being immersed, ready to go and walk in the newness of this life.

Meaning—they are ready to go live out the faith they have professed in the baptism.

And they can live out their faith because of the spiritual resurrection that has occurred and all the results that come with it.

We can see those results throughout our text this morning.

First of all, The newness of life includes freedom from the power of sin.

We can wee this throughout this passage.

Look at verse 6-- old self is crucified (v. 6)

The power of sin that enslaved us has been conquered by the power of Christ that frees us.

Robert Yarbrough says:

With sin’s spell broken liberation from its tyranny is possible.

Robert Yarbrough

Another way to say this would be the way Paul says it in v. 7:

Romans 6:7 ESV

For one who has died has been set free from sin.

The Christian is no longer under sin’s domination and control.

Before you were given new life and you were united to Christ by faith, sin had hold of you.

It was a cruel Master to you.

And even in our best moments, the roots of our good works were filled with all sorts of pride.

But now you out from under sin’s thumb.

The oppressive power it had over you has been overcome by the delivering power of Christ’s death and resurrection.

Do you desire to perform works of goodness and acts of mercy that are rooted in humility and in honor of Christ? You are free to do that.

Do you desire to put sinful habits to rest, fighting temptation with faith and Scripture and prayer? You are free to do that.

Do you desire to be a more Christ-honoring mom or dad? You are free to do that.

And this is how we must think of ourselves Paul says:

Romans 6:11 ESV

So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

We can be so guilty of having a defeated mindset when it comes to the sin in our lives, because we become forgetful about the spiritual power to fight sin that comes with being a child of God.

When something is dead, you can’t control it.

You are dead to sin. Sin cannot control you.

Secondly, The newness of life includes freedom from the fear of death.

Look at verses 8-9:

Romans 6:8–9 ESV

Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.

If death no longer has dominion over Him and we are united to Him, then death no longer has dominion over us.

This is why God views the death of a believer as precious and the believer views their own death as gain.

Psalm 116:15 ESV

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.

Philippians 1:21 ESV

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

The Bible speaks this way about death because of the resurrection power of Christ.

On one hand, He has given us life now.

We have the newness of life now.

The power of sin is broken now.

However, the newness of life that we taste in the here and now are a preview of the life that is to come.

The life we possess as those who are united to the Resurrection and the Life.

John 11:25–26 ESV

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

How is that though one dies, He shall live?

It is only by believing in the Resurrection and the Life.

It is only in being united to Him by faith—buried with Him in death, raised to walk in the newness of life.

And this is all beautifully and clearly expressed in Believer’s Baptism.

Thirdly, The newness of life includes the freedom to know and love God.

Look at the end of v. 11—you are not just dead to sin, but alive to God.

There was a time when we were like rocks to God.

He would speak, but we would not hear. We would not move. We would not see. We would not love Him.

But He has taken our hearts of stone and replaced them with hearts that are spiritually newborn.

And those hearts are alive to God.

This is what you were made for above anything else.

You were made to be alive to God—to know Him. To love and obey Him. To be transformed into the image of His Son, degree by degree.

And yet, we will live for so many lesser joys.

We will drink so many other worldly elixirs of temporary relief.

We will eat from alleyways of the streets when we have been invited into to dine at the King’s table.

Because we get fooled into thinking that the oldness of life and this age will somehow make us happy.

But that isn’t true.

True joy is found in walking in the newness of life.

So the next time you see someone come up out of the baptismal waters, just remember Christian--

We are free from the power of sin.

We are free from the fear of death.

We are free to know and love God.

Buried with Him in death—raised to walk in the newness of life.

CONCLUSION

As we wrap up this morning, we can go back to Mark Dever’s quote earlier.

Baptism is a visible sermon, informed by the Word.

It is a sermon where the soul being baptized is saying to the Lord, the church and the world:

I am united to Christ by faith.

I am forgiven of my sins.

I am walking in the newness of life.

It is a sermon that the Lord Jesus commands us to preach:

It is the first step of discipleship.

Matthew 28:19 ESV

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,

When a disciple is made by God’s grace in new birth, a baptism is planned.

It is time to preach that sermon about faith and forgiveness and new life.

Let me ask you this morning—have you preached this sermon?

Have you told the world you are marked off for Christ?

Have you told the church you are united to them in Christ through baptism?

Have you proclaimed that your sins are forgiven with a symbolic washing of water?

Have you shown your family and friends that you are walking in the newness of life?

Early Christians were willing to lose their place in society for the sermon of baptism. Obadiah Holmes was willing to be imprisoned and whipped. Henry Dunster was willing to lose the President’s chair at Harvard.

The baptismal waters and the message they broadcast were too important to shrink back.

And now, Jesus wants you to preach that sermon.

If you have, I want to encourage you to look back on your baptism fondly.

Praise God for that day.

But if you haven’t, myself or Pastor Ben would love to talk with you.