2020-07-29 1 Pet 3:21-22
Notes
Transcript
21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you (not as the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a good conscience toward God) through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him.
I. Wait?!?! Does baptism save you?
I. Wait?!?! Does baptism save you?
21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you (not as the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a good conscience toward God) through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him.
A. God intended baptism to be the distinct sign that God saved you.
A. God intended baptism to be the distinct sign that God saved you.
21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you (not as the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a good conscience toward God) through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him.
Illus: God gave the church two distinct ordinances to practice. Baptism and the Lords Supper.
I love the old phrase that says, in baptism one is joined to the many and in the lords supper the many are joined as one.
Here is the truth we have attempted to replace teh distinct God sign of baptism with other lesser signs.
For some joining a church has become that sign.
Others it has been praying a prayer.
For some it is walking an aisle during an invitation.
I don’t want to discount any of these moments in your life, but I do want to help us return to the biblical profession of faith scripture has given us, baptism.
Baptism is the public profession of following God in your heart.
I think with Good intentions we have added unbiblical steps to baptism.
We say, if you do this, this, and this then we can baptize you.
The biblical call is, when you place your faith in christ, you do it through baptism.
9 If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
26 for through faith you are all sons of God in Christ Jesus.
27 For those of you who were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ.
B. It is not about the water, it is about the public profession of your heart.
B. It is not about the water, it is about the public profession of your heart.
21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you (not as the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a good conscience toward God) through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him.
Illus: I think I’ve told you this story before, but if I’m going to serve here for another 20 years, I promise it probably won’t be the last.
When I was a kid we would often spend Sundays just hanging out in the church. That often meant an epic game of hide and go seek.
One week I invited my catholic best friend to church with me. We would hide in the choir room, the sanctuary, and anywhere there was an unlocked door.
Well as we were playing, my catholic best friend found what he thought was a storage closet behind the sanctuary.
It was an odd storage closet. Sitting on the second story of the church is has a set of stairs downward from the door.
He probably though that he had found the best hiding place being that he found some church secret passage way.
It was all well and good until he slipped on a wet step and fell waist deep in water.
He unintentionally found his way into the baptistry.
As a catholic from birth, he panicked. In Catholicism they believe that baptism by the catholic church is a saving act which helps earn your salvation.
By slipping into our baptistry, he had inadvertently unbaptized his bottom half. Yes, to calm his fears, his priest re baptized him.
Let me bring a little application to this story.
Baptism does not save you. God saves you. Baptism is the public sign of what God has done in your life.
You can be baptized and still be lost as a goose without the grace of God.
In the same way, the thief on the cross was saved without ever being baptized.
It is faith in Christ that saves you, and you respond publicly through baptism.
38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
39 For the promise is for you and for your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”
40 With many other words he testified and strongly urged them, saying, “Be saved from this corrupt generation!”
41 So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand people were added to them.
II. What does baptism represent.
II. What does baptism represent.
21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you (not as the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a good conscience toward God) through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him.
A. In baptism you are buried.
A. In baptism you are buried.
21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you (not as the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a good conscience toward God) through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him.
Illus: Baptism is a picture. Here Peter alludes that baptism is the picture of the ark.
We look at the death of the sinful under the water, and God’s provision over it.
When you are being baptized you are making a statement of your brokenness and death.
You are saying that just as the wicked world deserved to die in the flood, I too would have been with them.
It is the bold statement that you are putting you sins, your self and your life to death.
It really is an admission of who you are. It is also the distinct statement that who you are needed to die so that Christ can rise through you.
1 What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply?
2 Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
3 Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
4 Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of his resurrection.
6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin,
7 since a person who has died is freed from sin.
B. In baptism you are raised.
B. In baptism you are raised.
21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you (not as the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a good conscience toward God) through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him.
Illus: I’m thankful that baptism is not drowning. Baptism does not stop in death, but instead continues in rising out of the water.
Baptism in many ways is a visible picture of what Christ has done for you. He put to death your sins on the cross and you get to follow him in resurrection.
As we rise, our sins stay burried, forgiven. As we rise we rise to new life in Christ.
We no longer are defined by what we were, but instead are defined by the new life Christ has given us. You are a new creation.
Today celebrate that resurrection. Celebrate it through living for Christ.
12 when you were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
13 And when you were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive with him and forgave us all our trespasses.
14 He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it away by nailing it to the cross.
III. Where does baptism place your hope?
III. Where does baptism place your hope?
21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you (not as the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a good conscience toward God) through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him.
A. The hope of the believer is in being raised from the dead.
A. The hope of the believer is in being raised from the dead.
Illus: The form of baptism matters. It can’t be sprinkling. It needs to be dunking.
Why?
Because of the message you communicate. Death and resurrection.
As your eyes come out of the water they are fixed up.
As believers we are the people of resurection. It defines the way we interact with the world.
This world does not define us, we know God is in control, and one day we get new bodies in a new heaven and new earth. In the middle of it, we trust God’s sovereign control over it.
Might we turn our hearts to Christ and embrace that we are resurrected people.
10 Now if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.
11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then he who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through his Spirit who lives in you.