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Introduction
Since the beginning of this year we have been in a sermon series unlike any I’d ever heard before.
We are Eccelesia Reformata, a Reformed Church.
We are celebrating the Protestant Reformation, and looking at the five Solas of the Reformation.
We are a church that believes in Scripture Alone as our final authority.
We believe that salvation is by Grace Alone, through Faith Alone, in Christ Alone.
And ultimately, glory goes to God and to God Alone.
We are finishing up our section on Christ Alone next week, and then we will look at Soli Deo Gloria, Glory to God Alone.
These are the truths of the Protestant Reformation.
We can summarize this entire series under one phrase: Why we are not Catholic.
Now, the majority of this series is one that all Protestants can substantially agree on.
Today will be different.
If the series as a whole can be summarized as ‘Why we are not Catholic’, then this morning’s message can be summarized as ‘Why we are Baptist’.
Why is this body called Highland View Baptist Church, and not Highland View Presbyterian Church?
Now, let me say this.
Orthodox, Confessional, Reformed Presbyterians are some of our closest brothers.
I love my Presbyterian brothers and sisters in Christ.
Though we are Baptists, we are Reformed Baptists, and in many ways we are closer to Presbyterians in our theology than we are to a large number of Baptists!
But we are called Baptists for a reason.
We hold views on Baptism that many in the church do not share.
Does that mean we are wrong?
I don’t think so.
So today I want to explain why we believe what we believe as Baptists.
That means that this will be a sermon to think about.
This is heady stuff, and I want you to know that before we begin.
We will be looking at three questions this morning, and the first two will get the majority of our time.
How do we baptize?
Who do we baptize?
Why do we baptize?
Let’s immerse ourselves into the first question, pun intended.
We are diving headfirst this morning into a very important aspect of being in Christ this morning: Baptism.
We are Baptists, and thus it probably isn’t surprising that we hold pretty strongly to beliefs on baptism.
This morning I want us to look at three questions.
How do we baptize?
Who do we baptize?
Why do we baptize?
The first two questions will take up the majority of our time this morning.
But this is Highland View Baptist Church, and I want us to firmly understand why we are Baptist, and not Presbyterian.
There are reasons for those denominational lines, even as we acknowledge each other as beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, and we’ll be looking at some of those this morning.
But that means that it will be heady.
Get ready to think.
How Do We Baptize?
The first question is “How do we baptize?”
There are traditionally three methods on baptism.
Just about everyone agrees that we have to use water.
But how that water is applied is where we have some difficulty.
Some maintain that we should baptize by sprinkling water over a person.
Others believe that water should be poured over a person.
Still others believe that we should immerse a person entirely in water.
How should it be done?
Does it even matter?
By Immersion
As Baptists, we believe that baptism should be done by immersion.
We believe that the mode of baptism is important.
Think about it.
The Lord Jesus Christ gave us two ordinances to perform in the Church: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
How we handle these is of extreme importance.
How we view baptism is not a minor thing.
People who believe like us have been drowned for that belief.
We will see next week that people have been stretched out on a rack and killed for holding to believer’s baptism.
These are not small things.
We are Baptists, the inheritors of doctrines fought for and died for by our Baptist forebears.
We cannot view it lightly.
Βαπτιζω
So why do we baptize by immersion?
We will see later this morning that immersion best portrays the spiritual realities that baptism signifies.
But for now I want to go into the Greek.
In Jesus gives us the Great Commission.
Look at what it says.
Jesus commands us to baptize disciples.
The Greek word for ‘baptize’ is βαπτιζω.
ῥαντιζω
The first word we will look at is the word.
Thankfully it sounds about the same in Greek and in English.
But what did Jesus mean when He said βαπτιζω?
Whatever He meant is something that is commanded from Christ our Captain Himself.
So what does it mean?
I don’t want to get so deep in Greek that I lose your attention.
So let me say this.
I’ve mentioned a few times before that the Bible of the early church was the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Old Testament.
This is very helpful here, because it gives us a hint as to what people thought about Greek language.
In the Old Testament, we have Hebrew words for pouring, dipping, and sprinkling.
The people who translated the Old Testament into Greek never used the word βαπτιζω to translate the Hebrew word for ‘sprinkle’.
ἐκχεω
βαπτω
They never used it to translate the Hebrew word for ‘pour’, either.
But they did translate the Hebrew word for ‘dip’ or ‘immerse’ as βαπτιζω.
I personally looked up over thirty uses of the word βαπτιζω in Greek literature outside the New Testament, and never once did it give the idea of pouring or sprinkling.
But every time where the mode was clear, it was always something like ‘dipping’ or ‘drowning’.
If such immersion is what was in the mind of Christ when He commanded us to baptize, and I believe we can reasonably assume it was, then we should baptize not by pouring or sprinkling, but by immersion.
Exceptions and the Didache
But is there ever a time where we might not baptize by immersion, and still be biblical?
Can there ever be exceptions to the rule?
Now, some Baptists say no.
They say that there is no situation that exists that would allow for any other kind of baptism.
Pastor Chris and I have talked, and we agree that there can be situations where another form could be necessary.
The elderly and infirm, who cannot leave their bed.
The prisoner who will never see a large body of water for the rest of their lives.
As far as I’m concerned, if a prisoner comes to faith in Christ, and all the evangelist has is a cup of water, I can see nothing better to use that water for than to pour it over the new believer’s head as baptism.
The problem I have is not making due with one’s surroundings to do what is possible to obey the Lord.
The problem I have is when a church is building a sanctuary, and chooses not to build a baptistry because they plan on pouring or sprinkling for baptism.
There is a major difference in pouring because it is the only option and pouring because it is what the pastor prefers.
Even in the beginnings of church history we see something like this.
One of the most useful documents of the early church is the second-century Christian document called the Didache.
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