Assurance of Baptism

How often do you think about your baptism? Probably not nearly as often as you should. In the great commission, in Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus says, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” In our English translations, it appears that the main verb is ‘go’. But the main verb is actually, ‘make disciples’.

The command, “make disciples” is fulfilled in three ways, first by going—that is, by doing our daily activities, how you live your life wherever God has placed you, in school, at work, at home, wherever, and of course by going far away on missions. Second, by teaching-at home, at church, VBS, Sunday School, GEMS, Cadets, Youth, nursery, wherever we have opportunity to tell people and instruct them in God’s Word. And third, by baptising people. Isn’t it interesting that in his final words to his disciples, Jesus specifically mentions baptism. This means that baptism is very important.

The Importance of Baptism

The reason why it is included in the great commission is because baptism visibly identifies people as followers of Christ. Furthermore, baptism assures us by faith, that God has forgiven us. Now, just a reminder on faith- a synonym is trust. I trust that this chair will hold me when I sit on it. So too, I trust Christ will keep his promises—he promises that my sins are forgiven.

Baptism reminds us of the truth we learn from Romans 6:1-14. Baptism reminds us that we died with Christ, we were buried with him, and we are freed from sin. Sin is no longer our master, Christ is. The penalty of sin—death, is no longer over us. But we are, or we ought to consider ourselves as having died to sin.

Baptism signifies that Christ has sprinkled his blood on us. There is much I appreciate about believer’s baptism, especially when it involves immersion. We’ll likely look at this more closely next time when we study the question “should infants also be baptised?” In the immersion mode of baptism, the dying to sin and rising in Christ is powerfully represented.

A former member of the Edson church had been listening to many sermons by some prominent evangelical preachers. Their preaching was challenging his position on infant baptism, and he came to the conclusion that he could no longer subscribe to it. Before he left, he’d asked me about baptism and the mode of sprinkling in particular. I did some research and I found out that there are many places in the Old Testament where sprinkling is used. When the Israelites were rededicating themselves to God, before they entered the Promised Land, Moses sprinkled blood on them. Whenever sacrifices were made at the altar, blood was sprinkled on it. Blood was also sprinkled on the doorposts of the Israelite dwellings on that first Passover. This all points to baptism, which points to Christ’s shed blood!

We Belong

Baptism also reminds us that we are united with Christ. We are changed. We’re adopted. Baptism is like the seal of adoption, the seal that we belong to God’s family. Therefore we really should think about our baptism and its significance much more often!

Baptism ought to assure us that we belong. We’re not our own, we belong to our faithful God and Saviour Jesus Christ. We need to remind ourselves that we’re sealed in the love of God’s promise to forgive us. Nothing can break that seal. Picture here one of those time capsules. They put all kinds of important documents and then seal it. No one can break the seal until the proper time. We are sealed in Christ, and we can’t be taken away from him, not by anything we do, not by anything anyone else can do, no, not even the evil one.

No matter what kind of sin you commit, it won’t change God’s promise to hold you tight, no matter what. If you fall into temptation to eat too much, or eat what is so not good for you. Or when you lose your patience with your children and say things that you totally regret. Or when you have a part of your personality or character that you think isn’t very loving or gracious, and you wish you were different, remember your baptism. By faith, you’re clean, made new, forgiven! By faith you’re becoming the person God created you to be.

But then, all of a sudden, as you’re going along in life, working hard at maintaining good Godly habits, reading your Bible and thoughtful devotionals, when temptation arises. You diligently take the though captive to Christ, and focus on what you know you need to do. But then the temptation comes again, and again, and then you start thinking about it more and more. You stop giving over to Christ, and instead you give into the sin.

So, you try to justify it. You try to lighten the sin. You try to make it less serious. But there is no excuse for sin. Sin is sin. So, after the sin is committed, as you’re feeling guilt and shame for having done it. Guilt is the realisation that you’ve sinned. Shame is the work of the evil one who wants you to forget who you are in Christ. Guilt turns us toward Christ to repent and seek forgiveness. Shame turns us away from Christ, and makes us wallow in self-loathing. Shame encourages us to spiral into more and more sin. So before we let it, we need to remind ourselves of who we are in Christ, what baptism means. That as surely as water washes away dirt, so surely Christ’s blood and Spirit washes away sin.

God’s Promise in Baptism

The water of baptism doesn’t actually do anything spiritual. Instead, it reminds us of God’s promise, “I am faithful to forgive”. As surely as the water touched my head, your head, that’s how sure we are that Christ’s blood cleanses us!

So baptism reminds us of what Christ has done. It also reminds us that more and more we become dead to sin and alive to Christ. Again, looking at Romans 6, Paul asks the question, should we keep sinning so that grace may abound? God is incredibly gracious, and his grace covers over every sin. So shall we just life any old way?

The truth is, for the Christian, we are becoming more and more like Christ. We are becoming more and more dead to sin, because of the Holy Spirit who lives within. Now as I wrote those words, I found myself asking, “Is this really true? It seems that more and more I’m aware of my sin, and it seems like I rarely have victory over it.”

This is a result of having the Holy Spirit within us. The Holy Spirit helps us to see sin for what it is, transgressions against God’s perfect moral character. But the Spirit also wants us to be aware that we’ve died to sin, that we no longer have to be trapped into committing sins. We actually have the freedom to live as we ought to live, and that desire is in fact growing deeper every day. So on the one hand, we grow more aware of our sin, because we hate it more and more, and on the other hand, we do become more and more faithful.

Does that make sense to you? At times it seems like we’re sinning more and more because we see it more and more clearly. At the same time, though, we actually do have victory over sin, because of the Spirit’s presence in our lives. If it feels like we have sinned much it is because we are hating it more and more, and so wish it were not part of our lives!

So as you go about your week ahead, remember and think about your baptism. Remember that Christ’s blood has washed you clean of all your sin, just as surely as the pastor sprinkled water on your head, or lowered you into the water at your baptism. Remember also, that the Holy Spirit lives in and works through you, so that you are really, truly becoming more and more dead to sin and more and more alive to holy and blamelessness! Amen.