Introduction

I love baptisms. To me, next to seeing someone make a verbal commitment to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, it is the most exciting experience of the Christian life. For baptism is outward confession of an inward commitment. What these young people are going to be saying here this morning is, “look at me world, I am a disciple of Christ, He is my Savior and Lord, and I am not afraid to admit it.”

For us here, standing up and proclaiming our faith in Christ through baptism may not seem like such a big deal. Sure, we may take a little razing from our friends, but it is nothing compared to what it was like for those back in the days of the early church. It was quite significant for someone back then to stand up be publicly baptized. To stand up and say, “I am a Christian.” The persecution was tremendous. For many it meant lose of job, or lose of family, or for some death. Even today, many around the world who stand up and publicly proclaim their faith in Christ, will face persecution and possibly even death.

The act of baptism itself has no saving power. It indicates our desire to publicly proclaim our faith in Christ. Its significance is our desire to identify with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. It is a symbol of the three elements of the Gospel, which these 3 have previously accepted.

Romans 6:1-11 NASB 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, 6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Transition

I would like to take the next few minutes to show how we identify with Him through baptism. First we identify with His death through baptism

Application:

We Identify With His Death Through Baptism

Look at verses 3 and 6. “Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?…knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;”

For us to be identified with Christ in His death, means that we have put to death the old self. That sinful nature that each one inherits from the first man, Adam. In the old self, sin has dominion over us. We were slaves to it.

Many of us may or did say, “I am not a slave to sin. I do not go out and constantly committed murder, or rob banks, or commit adultery.” But how many pencils or pens do we have at home in our desk that came from work. How many times have we lied, even just a little white one, to keep us from getting in trouble. Look at the perversity of the world today. If we are not slaves to sin, why are there so many addictions to things listed by the American Psychological Association. Being addicted to something, means being a slave to it.

But when we are crucified with Christ, our old self, that sin nature, was nailed on the cross with Jesus. It died along with Christ. In verse 6 the verb “was crucified” is in the aorist passive. Meaning that it is a past completed action. It is a divine fact.

What is the result of our being crucified with Christ?

1. Freedom/No longer slaves (vs. 6c-7) – Jesus' death on the cross redeemed us. That is He purchased us from the slave market. From the bondage of slavery to sin.
2. Life with Christ (vs. 8); Gal. 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.) - We now have spiritual life. For those of us who have made Christ Savior and Lord of our life, we have assurance we will spend eternity in the presence of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
3. No longer tied to the passions and desires of the flesh (Gal. 5:24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.)
4. Mastery over death (vs. 9) – Now I am not saying that we will physically live forever. What Paul is saying is that because of Christ's work on the cross we have mastery of spiritual death. The spiritual separation experienced by Adam and Eve at the fall.

In baptism, whenever we are placed under the water, we are publicly declaring we have crucified our former life of sin.

Transition

So the first we identify with His death through baptism. Next we identify with His burial through baptism.

We Identify With His Burial Through Baptism

Baptism represents the burial of the old self. Going down under the water not only symbolizes our crucification with Him, but also His burial. It is a picture of Christ when they laid His body in the grave. When we come forward for baptism, we are saying that we want to bury our old sinful self, and put our past ways behind us in order to follow Christ. We are proclaiming we no longer want to be servants of sin; instead we are now servants of Christ.

Look at the first part of verse 4. “Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death,” and the first part of verse 5. “ For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death” The word translated as “united” by the NASB and some others is better translated, “planted together.” When you plant something, what do you do to it? You bury it. Meaning that as Christ was buried in the tomb, through baptism we identify with that burial.

Transition

So the first we identify with His death through baptism. Next we identify with His burial through baptism. And finally we identify with His resurrection through baptism.

We Identify With His Resurrection Through Baptism

Now let's see how baptism also represents resurrection." In Colossians 2:12 we read, “having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.” After Jesus died on the cross for our sins and after He was buried in the tomb, the Scripture tells us He rose again from the dead (Matthew 28:1-8). Jesus died for our sins, but if He had only died and remained in the tomb that would not have been sufficient to atone for our sins. His death was not what saved us.

The resurrection is the key to the power of Christ over sin in our lives and over the sin of the entire world. We read in Romans 1:4 that the power of the Son of God comes through "the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." The resurrection proves Jesus Christ has power over death, and that He also has power over the death that we are destined to undergo. And since death is a result of the entrance of sin into this world, Jesus Christ has power over the sin in our lives as well. The resurrection shows us that Jesus has power over both sin and death.

When we are raised up from the water during baptism, it is symbolic of being resurrected just as Jesus was resurrected from the tomb. It is symbolic of our victory over sin and,death through Jesus Christ. I do not believe that baptism saves us. We are saved by grace through faith in Christ.

Conclusion

This morning I want to encourage those of you who are Christians and have already been baptized to reconsider the symbolism of baptism and what it represents and means in your own life. Did you just go through the motions or are you truly living a life that demonstrates you have crucified the sin in your life and are living in the victory and power of the resurrection? If you have been baptized and you are not living according to the testimony your baptism represented, then think about making a change and living as a disciple of Jesus.

If you are not a Christian then I first want to encourage you to accept the free gift of eternal life that is gained by having faith in God's Son, Jesus. If you truly believe Christ died for your sins and rose from the dead in order to, conquer sin and death, you will be saved. It is as easy as A-B-C. Admit you are a sinner and repent of your sins. Believe that Jesus died on the cross and shed His blood to deliver you from those sins. And confess Him as Savior and Lord and call upon Him to save you.

Once you have accepted Jesus Christ into your hearts you need to identify yourself with Christ by symbolically crucifying your life (which represents your dying to sin), by being buried with him (in the water), and by being resurrected with him as well (by rising from the water).