Transcript: Baptized Into Christ

Video Transcript: Baptized Into Christ (David Feddes)

When you read the New Testament, you read about a lot of baptisms. And there's a reason for that. Jesus Himself, commissioned his first disciples to make disciples and baptized, he said, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. And when Jesus gave that command, the apostles went out, when you read the book of Acts, you read that Peter preached on the day of Pentecost, and he said, to repent, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and be baptized. And he said, the promises for you and your children and for all who are far off for everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him. And so 3000 people were baptized in that one day, we're not up to 3000 today, but we rejoice that seven people are being baptized today. And as you keep reading in the book of Acts, you, you read as an Ethiopian official of the Treasury, who is told the Word of God, and while he's riding along in his chariot, he believes in the Lord Jesus, and he says, hey, there's some water, what would prevent me from being baptized, and Philip says nothing. And so he baptizes him right then and there. 

When the Apostle Paul, formerly the vicious killer, Saul, is converted. And Ananias is sent to him to restore his site, but also to be baptized. And so he lays his hands on Saul, he says, brother Saul, receive your site, and his site comes back. And then he says, And now what are you waiting for, rise up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name. Later on, there's a jailer who is suicidal, because he thinks all the prisoners got away. But then Paul and Silas are there and he says to them, what must I do to be saved? And Paul says, believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved you and your household. And that very night, he and his whole household are baptized. So baptism is something that happens again and again and again, in the New Testament. And it's been happening again and again, for the last 2000 years. And we want to think this morning before these baptisms, about what baptism is all about, once again, and the meaning of this wonderful event that God gives us. Baptism is a sign and a seal. It's a sign, which means it's a visible physical picture of invisible spiritual facts. So you're acting something out physically, which is revealing some wonderful things about what God is doing. And we'll say more about that, in our message. 

It's a sign or a picture or a symbol, but it's also a seal. A seal is something that makes something official. And in a sense, a seal doesn't add much, because if you have a whole document, it's got everything spelled out there. And the promises of the gospel spell everything out. But yeah, when a stamp is put on a document, or a signature is put to it, that makes it even more official, and really confirms it, and takes all of those promises. So in one sense, baptism doesn't add anything. It's all about the Lord Jesus Christ, and the cleansing and the new life that he brings. But in another sense, it's the way God has given us to, to make it official to really show the sign and seal of God's promises to us. And above all, it's a sign and a seal of being baptized into Christ. Galatians three, verses 26 through 29. In Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ, have put on Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. So wonderful passage, and there's a lot in there, we're going to focus on a number of things about being baptized into Christ. 

First of all, when you're baptized into Christ, you're one with Jesus through faith, you're one with him through believing, when you're baptized, you are dunked down into death, and you are raised up to life. When you're baptized, we will enact that part physically but you're stripped your cleanse and then you're re-cloth. The Bible uses that language about getting rid and sometimes in older times of baptism, even here after the baptism people will put put on different clothes. And that's that's a picture of what happens when an old way of life is stripped away from you, you're cleaned up by Jesus, and then you're cloth in His goodness and His righteousness. When you're baptized, it's a sign that you're God's children and heirs. It says those who are baptized into Christ are sons of God, children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. And another part of baptism is simply that you're made one with all other believers, you don't say, Well, those are males over there, and I am female. So we're so different, that we have nothing in common, or those people are of one nationality, I'm of a different nationality. And so the nationality that we were born into separates us. Not so, all of that becomes irrelevant compared to the importance of belonging to Jesus Christ, and you become one with all people who are believers in Jesus. 

First of all, being one with Christ, when, when we think of being in union with Jesus, there's a legal side to a legal union, where Jesus represents us, he's our legal head, he acts on our behalf. And what he does is counted by God as ours, the president of a nation acts on behalf of that nation, the mayor of a village acts on behalf of that village. And those actions they take, legally involve those for whom they are representatives. So there's this legal union that we have with Jesus and, and when he does things on our behalf, it's counted as ours. But not only that, it's a living union. There's a life, Jesus lives in us. And we live in him through a living connection. He's our living head, we're his body, and his actions affect us his actions direct our experience, his death, and his resurrection and his reign overflow into our lives. So when we think about being one with Christ, there's a legal side to it a legal union with him, but also this living union, where he lives in us, and we add him and baptism is a picture of becoming one with the Lord Jesus Christ. In the article, only a few people ate in all were saved through water. And this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also not the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a good conscience towards God, it saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

So, in one breath, it sounds like baptism saves you. But then it immediately says, it's not like washing away dirt from your body. It's not the physical water that's saving you, it saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And there's a picture of the flood of that time of Noah, when there was a whole world that was wicked, and violent, and horrible. And then the waters of judgment came upon that world. And if you were in the ark, you survived those waters of judgment, if you were outside the ark, you didn't. And that was a reminder of what happens with Jesus. If we are in Christ, we pass through the waters of judgment and come out alive into a different world, that old world was drowned, and a new world was there for those who came back out of the ark. And so when we're in Christ, we emerge into a new world. The Bible says, If anyone is in Christ, he's the new creation, the old is gone, the new has come. The old has been submerged in those waters, and a new world has come out and you're part of a new world. Order take a different story from the Old Testament that's again, linked with baptism in the new. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud in the sea. 

Remember the story, the people of Israel are trapped on the shore of the Red Sea, and Pharaoh and all his armies are there, ready to kill them. And then the Lord opens away through the sea, and they walk through the sea on dry ground. And after they're through the sea, then the waters rush back in again, and cover the pursuing hosts of Pharaoh. They were all baptized into Moses, in the cloud, in the sea, kind of almost the same phrasing as agency, were baptized into Christ. They were kind of baptized into Moses, when they went through that sea, they all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompany them. And that rock was Christ. So you read of water coming out of a rock and the people drinking from it. And then the New Testament says, and really, that wasn't just physical water. That's a picture that Christ was with them all along, and that they were living on Christ. And if they forsook Christ, then their bodies dropped in the desert. And that's what happened to so many they eat despite being baptized into Moses. Despite Having the bread from heaven, the manna. That in itself did not mean they were automatically in great shape. You can be baptized, you can come to the Lord's table. But the waters of baptism, and the bread and the cup of the Lord's table are not magic, that work on people who do not trust in the Lord Jesus Christ or who reject Him. 

And so this passage was actually a reminder that people were baptized into Moses could still perish. It's a warning that your life is in Christ, not in a particular blessed ritual that Christ gives us. But it's in Christ. And so you cannot separate yourself from Christ. And and still say, but the baptism that that covers it, no, Christ covers it. And your participation in Christ is what baptism is a sign and seal off. So again, I'm passing through the waters of the flood, what happened? Well, a whole Old World was washed away, passing through the waters of the Red Sea, and a whole enemy army was washed away, and left behind, and they were brought out into new life, they were out of Egypt. But as you know, it wasn't always so easy to get Egypt out of them. And so when you're baptized, you're brought out of the domain of darkness, you're brought into the kingdom of the Sun of God's love. But make sure that once you've been removed from that world, that not too much of that world still lingers in you. were meant to leave that domain behind. Jesus has delivered us from the domain of darkness in the works of the devil. And that's one of the great things that baptism pictures. Were one with Christ, by believing by trusting in Him by faith in Him. It comes through faith, not simply through the ritual itself. And another aspect of baptism is that we're dunked down into death. And we're raised to life. 

It's a picture of dying, and rising with Christ, because remember, what happens to him happens to those who belong to him by faith, having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. You remember the story of Jonah, Jonah was said by Jesus to be a picture of what would happen to him, he says, a wicked generation asked for a sign, they're not going to get one, except for the sign of Jonah. Well, what happened with the story of Jonah, he disobeyed God, and the sea at God's command rose up against him. And the only way that that storm would be calmed, again was with they chucked him overboard. And so they did. And immediately, the sea was calmed. Jonah, meanwhile, has a problem because he's out there in this vast sea, and he is dead. He's in the water of judgment. And then a great fish comes and swallows him. And he says, from the depths of the grave, this is his prayer from the fish. From the depths of the grave, I calls for help. You brought my life up from the pit, oh, Lord, my God, salvation comes from the Lord. So he prays to God, they're in the midst of the depths of death and judgment. And God sends him back to life again, and the fish brings him out of the waters of judgment, and back onto land. 

And Jesus says, that's a picture of what happens to me, in my death, I enter into that watery realm of the grave, I emerge again, victorious from death. And what happened in the life of Jonah is, is yet another picture of baptism of passing through the waters of judgment, and then being spared by God's mercy, and saved and given life again. And when the Bible says that you're baptized, it reminds us again and again of the realities that that are ought to go with that. We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that justice Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. Baptism is about rising again, to new life. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus, you're dead to the old realm and the demonic realm. The Bible says, If with Christ, you died to the elemental spirits of this world, why as if you were still alive to the world, the follow its regulations. So when you've died to that realm, then live two different powers, not the powers of the evil one, but the powers of Christ count yourself dead to sin, alive to God in Christ Jesus. And every time you think of your own baptism, realize again, I'm dead to sin. I'm alive to God because I'm in Christ Jesus, and my baptism is God's sign of that. 

When you're baptized into Christ, you're one with him, you you die with him and rise again, and you're stripped and cleanse and closed. The Bible says the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. Those who triumph out have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. In a little while, we'll be baptizing with water, but that water stands for something else. It stands for washing, and that washing comes through the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. If we confess our sins, He's faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. And he does that through the cleansing blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And not only is the water a picture of the cleansing by Jesus blood, it's also a picture of being washed by the Holy Spirit. God saved us not because of work done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration or rebirth, being born again, and renewal of the Holy Spirit, who we poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ, our Savior. So again, it's not any magical properties of the water itself. 

But it's a picture of the Holy Spirit is often spoken of in the Bible as living water. And when the Holy Spirit washes you, that takes it a step beyond what Jesus blood does without Jesus blood washes away our sin, our guilt, the condemnation of the punishment that would come upon us. But then living a lot of the Holy Spirit is also washing away our sins and experience and purifying us, and making us more and more the kind of people that God wants us to be the washing regeneration, it's a sign of, of that verse that the Spirit gives of the renewal of the new life. And so each of us needs to be cleansed. And this water directs us to think of Jesus precious blood, and to think of the living water of the Holy Spirit as what cleanses us and makes us white as snow. And so as an Ananias said to Saul, so many years ago, and now why do you wait, rise, and be baptized, and washed away your sins, calling on his name, there's a sense in which, hey, you're raised with Christ rise, you Soul was probably literally, you know, sitting down or on his knees, when, and Ananias lay his hands on him. But there's also just a real powerful impact in that word, rise, be baptized, let's draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience, and having our bodies washed with pure water. 

It's a beautiful way of phrasing it, there's an inner cleansing that goes on. And it's pictured by our bodies going through and being washed with that pure water. But the whole point of it is that we are baptized into Christ and therefore have our sins washed away. When you take a shower, or when you go in into the tub. You don't do that, because you're already so pristine and pure and clean, do you? When you ask for baptism? In one sense, you're not saying I think I'm ready for baptism. Now I'm a pretty good all around person. And I think I, you know, kind of reached one of the upper echelons of being like Jesus, and now and finally ready for that next step. Baptism is a sign of dirty people getting cleaned up. And so it's a sign of what Jesus does. Every time a person is baptized. It's a confession, a confession, first of all, we need it. We need the precious blood of Jesus to cover our sinfulness, we need the Holy Spirit to give us that new life. And when he does, then, our guilty conscience doesn't have to be troubled anymore, because we're cleansed by Jesus and the Holy Spirit is working in us. 

And then when we've been stripped and had all that dirt and filth and the old clothes left behind, when we've been cleaned by Jesus blood, then we're clothed again. As many of you, as were baptized into Christ, have put on Christ. That's what our text says, You have put on Christ or been clothed with Christ as other translations put it you're putting on Jesus as your clothing, put on the Lord Jesus Christ. We spoke about that a couple of weeks ago, you had a message at the end of Romans 13, that the text that saved Augustine of Hippo where he had been living a wicked life, and he kept putting it off and hitting the snooze alarm and saying, not yet, not yet, not yet. And then he read this passage to leave behind the old way of life and put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Or Colossians three puts it this way you put off the old self or the old man actually "anthropus" you. You put off an old man with its practices and you put on the new self, you're cloth with the new self which is being renewed and knowledge after the image of its creators, so, your clothing is the Lord Jesus Christ. 

But overall then, this element of baptism is so vital, just being cleaned the sign of being cleaned by Jesus. And what a blessing that is. Some of you may know, the Old Testament story of Naaman, Naaman was the General of the Army of a foreign power of the nation of Aerodrome or Syria. And he had the terrible affliction, leprosy. And he didn't know how to get rid of it. And he heard that there was a prophet in Israel, the property Elisha. So he wrote down there, and he went to Elisha, and he had his entourage, you know how all the big shots always have an entourage? Well, he had a really big entourage because he is the general. He's one of the big kuvaas, you know, and he expects to be received with the red carpet and all the other things that go with being a big shot. And when it gets to Elisha place, Elisha does not come to the door. He sends a servant boy out to talk to a Naaman. And he says, hey, go jump in a lake, well, nah, go, go jump in the Jordan River seven times. And that was as insulting, basically as being told to go jump in a lake, because here is the grand general with all of his entourage, all his important people with him. And Elisha won't even talk to him. He just sends the kid out to say go jump. And he says, we got better rivers than that, where I come from, if that's all it took was go swim in a river, we got better rivers, and he makes a U turn in his chair, and he starts heading back toward Arab. And some of the people with him fortunately had his entourage. 

He said, Come on, sir, what do you got to lose? You know, you traveled all this way. You got leprosy. So he goes over to the Jordan River. And he goes in and back out of it seven times. And he's under again, those waters, and the people you know, are waiting for him to come out. And when it comes out the seventh time he has been cleansed, the leprosy is gone. And when we, when we think of that wonderful miracle of cleansing that Jesus brings about, there's one level at which you say, well, some people might say, I don't understand that. Why would faith in Jesus make me clean? What good? I mean, baptism is supposed to be a picture of cleansing. But why would somebody who lived long ago on earth and died and rose again? How? How could that ever make me clean? Well, you can, you can keep asking that if you want, you can be kind of like Naaman and say, you know, they are wishing to give me something important to do. And instead he's just told to submit to this washing. But if you got the problem, what do you got to lose? Go to Jesus. And you just might find that if you humble yourself and stop thinking of yourself as the great big shot, instead of think of yourself as the sick person who really really needs help, that help will be there. 

And so coming to baptism again, today, we may not understand exactly how God accomplishes these amazing things through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. But he promises that he does. Naaman  and when he believed the Word of God through the prophet, and submitted to God's way was made clean. When we believe the word of the gospel, the promise that if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be saved, then God brings about that wonderful cleansing. So we're one with Christ, we die and rise with him, were stripped and cleansed and clothed in his righteousness, and we become God's children and his heirs. That's an amazing thing in Christ Jesus, you're all sons of God, through faith. And sons of God, there is not a sexist term because they're in the same passage, it talks about male and female, but sons of God are those who have the special privileges that were given to the oldest son, and who have the special privileges that they have with Christ. They are the heirs of Christ, they reign with Christ, and we don't have time to get into all the details. But what an amazing thing it is, to be a child of God. 

If you're Christ's, then you're Abraham's offspring, God made all those wonderful promises to Abraham, that you will inherit the whole earth, and you will be a blessing to all nations and you now are the children of Abraham, but better than that the children of God and because your sons of God's God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out  Aba father, you're a child, of the Creator and King of the universe. You're a child of the Creator and King of the Universe, and you are his heir which means that what belongs to Him, belongs to you as well. The Bible promises that in the future, we will sit with Christ on his throne, it makes statements as strong as that. So to be God's children and heirs is one of the things that's pictured and that the meaning of baptism involves that your sons of God through faith, and his spirit lives in your heart and calls out to God and you're a child of God. And you're also finally one with all believers, there's no Jew or Greek, no slave or free, no male or female, you're all one in Christ Jesus, doesn't matter what nation you're in, it doesn't matter what your job status is, if you're as low as a slave, you still are one with everybody else in Christ Jesus, and you're not lower and less important in God's eyes than they are. If you're really important, and you are free and powerful. That doesn't mean that you're greater than everybody else, as the Apostle James says, that the rich man ought to take pride in his low position, and the one who was poor should take pride in his high position. 

That's a kind of another way of saying what this passage just say, it doesn't matter whether you're important or unimportant in the eyes of the world, because in Christ, you're one. When that water of judgment washes away all the demons and all the sins, that water of judgment also washes away all the stuff that we think is important, and that separates us from each other, and brings people together as one in the Lord Jesus Christ. We're all baptized by one Spirit into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free. And we're all given the one spirit to drink. Just want to pause for that last phrase a little bit, because that's another dimension of baptism, that the Bible doesn't lay quite as much emphasis on, but it does, at least lay some emphasis on it. We're all given one spirit to drink when we're baptized. What's water all about? When we think about water, one thing that it does is drown. You know, we've already seen that it can drown some things, it can drown an old world, so that you emerge into a new one, when you rise from that. Another thing it does is not only drown, but it cleans and makes pure. But of course, another thing water does is it gives life. Plants have to have water to live, we have to have water to live. And we're all given one spirit to drink. 

Jesus said, if anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink and out of them will flow, springs of living water. And he was speaking of the Holy Spirit, whom he would give to those who believe in him. And so when we have this water here, we're reminded again, not just of cleansing, but of where our life comes from, where our living water comes from. And our oneness with all believers tells us, hey, if they're washed in Jesus blood, if they have the living water of the Holy Spirit in them, what's more important than that? Sure, we're different in this area, or that area. But the Holy Spirit lives in them the life of God, the Son of God loved them and gave them gave himself for them just as he did for me. There's nothing bigger than that, that separates me from others. And so baptism washes away also the the walls of separation and the differences of those who truly belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. So those are just some of the things that that baptism just wraps us up into, or envelops us in being one with Christ through faith in Him being dunked into death and raised to life, being stripped, cleansed, closed, being God's children and heirs, a sign of being a member of his family, and then as a member of his family, remembering who else is in the family. You're not God's only family member. But people have all kinds of nations all kinds of wealth and status levels. 

People who are male and female all are one in the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you've already been baptized, praise God for these wonderful realities that were assigned to you in your baptism. And if you're about to be baptized, praise God, for what you're about to receive from him, the the seal of all these wondrous amazing realities that are ours through faith in Jesus Christ. 

We thank You, Father, for the gift of your son for the precious blood that he shed for the wonderful Holy Spirit who gives new life rebirth and eternal life through faith. And so we pray again, Lord, that You will renew and strengthen our faith in you that those Lord who do not know you and have not put their faith and trust in you may be called and drawn to do so. That those who already do trust you will be forthright about their faith and declare it publicly and rejoice in You, Lord, we thank you so much for the seven people today who are presenting themselves for baptism. We thank you for Jonathan and Benjamin and Ana and Melissa Barth for Samuel Blair, for David and Sarah Marks for your work in their lives up to this point for their desire Lord to publicly declare you as their Savior and commit themselves to you as their leader and master. Help them father as they are baptized to forever remember that they are yours, sons and daughters of God through faith in Jesus Christ and help them learn to live in a way that they're set apart and, and living in a mighty way for you. We pray in Jesus name, Amen.