The Beauty of Baptism

This Sunday morning, Lord willing, we will have the privilege of witnessing five baptisms at Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church. Praise God for how He is working! And, on an occasion such as this, it is well if we ponder the spiritual beauty of what we witness when we see someone baptized. So consider, with me, three beautiful aspects of baptism:

1. Baptism is a picture.

Now, note well that baptism is only a picture. It does not wash away sins or contribute to a person’s salvation in any way. It is, rather, a portrait of what has happened already in the life of the man, women, girl, or boy who has been saved through Christ! And yet, though it is only a picture, it is indeed an important and beautiful picture! The Christian’s immersion (or burial) in water is symbolic of the marvelous reality that his or her old, sinful man has been buried with Christ! And, when that same person is then raised out of the water, we have a wonderful picture of the new, resurrection life that has been granted to everyone who is in Christ.

“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.” (Romans 6:4)

It is because of this burial and resurrection picture that we baptize only believers (only people who have actually experienced burial and resurrection with Christ). And it is also because of this picture that we baptize by immersion (or burial) in water. For it is immersion, and not sprinkling or pouring, that actually presents to us the beautiful picture that Paul describes in Romans 6 – burial and resurrection with Jesus!

2. Baptism is an announcement.

When a person goes through the waters of baptism, he is, to the best of his ability, confirming his belief that burial and resurrection with Christ has actually taken place in his life. And the elders who take responsibility for the baptism are, to the best of their ability, confirming the same. And, since baptisms often take place in front of the gathered congregation, baptism is not only a confirmation of the saving work of God in a person’s life, but also an announcement of it as well! Baptisms are occasions for public celebration of what God has done; for joining with the angels (Luke 15:10) in the celebration of God’s saving work in the lives of those around us.

3. Baptism is a marker.

Consider the context of that baptism-as-burial-and-resurrection passage in Romans 6. What is Paul’s main point in that passage? Well, he is arguing that Christians must not go on carelessly in their sins. “How shall we who died to sin still live in it?” he asks in v.2. Good question! And, to nail down the fact that Christians have, indeed, died to sin (and to remind them that Christians can, indeed, “walk in newness of life”), Paul reminds his readers (in vv.3-4) of when they were baptized, and of what baptism pictures! He carries them back to the day of baptism as a reminder that, ‘When you were baptized, the picture was that the old you was buried … and that, in Christ, a new person had come to life. So live that way! “Consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (v.11).’

And the point I am making is that Paul uses baptism as a marker in the life of the believer – as something he or she can look back on as a reminder of what God has done … and of how we should live, in light of it! And so today is an important day, for that reason, too. We are setting up a marker, as it were, in these five lives – a picture to which, Lord willing, they will always be able to look back as a portrait of what God has done in their lives … and therefore of what they are able to be and do, in Christ.

Special Occasion Sermons in July

July was a unique and happy month at PRBC.  We had a number of special occasions.  Below are the sermons connected with each event.  Enjoy!

July 8, Baptism Service
Luke 15.24 - When the Lost are Found

July 15, 50th Anniversary
Hebrews 13.8 - "Jesus Christ ... the same!"

July 29, send off for a seminary couple
Ezra 7.10 - Study, Practice, Teach

July 22, included just because!
Proverbs 4.18 - "Brighter and brighter"

The Meaning of Baptism, Part 3

In the last two weeks we have established two biblical facts:

1. Baptism does not, and cannot, save a person … nor add even an ounce to what Jesus has already done. Repentance and faith in Christ alone are what save a person.

2. Yet baptism is vitally important … because it is the New Testament way of making public profession of our faith. And, thus, every believer ought to go through the waters.

But now a third question: Why has God chosen baptism as the means by which we should make known our faith in His Son? Why is baptism the New Testament way to make a profession of faith?

Answer: Because baptism is a perfect picture of what Jesus has done for the believer. And what has He done? What has happened to us, if our faith is in Christ? Well, yes, our sins have been washed away. But that’s not really what baptism pictures. Rather, according to Romans 6, baptism symbolizes death and resurrection – both Jesus’ death and resurrection, and our own! Think it out.

First, Paul says in Romans 6.4 that we have been “buried with Christ through baptism into death.” In other words, Jesus died … and carried our sins to the grave with Him. So, if we belong to Jesus, our old sinful selves have been buried with Him! Sin no longer has mastery over us – it’s dead! And baptism symbolizes that. We are “buried with Christ through baptism!” In other words, when the believer is submerged under the water, it is a picture of burial – both Jesus’ burial, and the burial of our old sinful selves with Him! “We have been buried with Him through baptism.” What a marvelous picture!

And when we come out of the water? Well, that symbolic resurrection is a picture of an actual resurrection – both Jesus’ and ours. In verse 5, Paul says it like this, in the context of his description of baptism: “As Christ was raised from the dead … so we too might walk in newness of life.” Christ was buried, and rose … and, because He did, we rose, too! Because Christ rose, we have new life, both here and now, and in heaven forever! And we see this, in picture form, in baptism. We are buried under the water, symbolizing our death, and that of Jesus; and then we are raised back out of the water, picturing Jesus’ resurrection, and our corresponding new life of faith, hope, and love in Him!

Summary? Baptism does not save you. Baptism is a symbol and declaration of what happened to you (past tense) when you were saved by Jesus. And what happened to you? If you truly belong to Jesus, your old sinful self was buried with Him, and God created new life in your soul through Christ’s resurrection from the dead. And what better way to picture such a miracle than by having the new believer come before his fellow Christians and be symbolically buried and raised in front of them? That’s baptism! Praise God we got to see it again, recently. Let us pray that we have more and more opportunities to do so!

The Meaning of Baptism, Part 2

Last week we spent our time nailing down the fact that, important as it is, baptism is not a part of salvation. A person may be saved by the blood of Jesus without ever having gone through the waters of baptism. But having said that, we may be in danger of minimizing baptism’s importance; of treating it is though it were marginal and unimportant, which it is clearly not.

So what gives? If baptism doesn’t save us, why do we do it? And why do we require folks to undergo believer’s baptism as a precursor to membership in the church? If it doesn’t save, why do we make such a big deal of it?

The simple answer is because the New Testament makes a big deal of it! And why so? Because, while the New Testament clearly teaches that baptism does not cause us to be saved, it also teaches that baptism is a public declaration that we have been saved already!

That’s right: Baptism – not aisle walking, or card-signing, or verbal testimony sharing – is the New Testament way for a new Christian to proclaim to the world that he or she is now a follower of Jesus. Baptism is the New Testament method of making a public profession of faith. Now that is not to say it’s wrong to give verbal testimony of our faith in Jesus! Would that we all did more of that! But the fact is that baptism was the way the early believers announced their commitment to follow Jesus. And so it should be today. The way we declare our faith publically is through the ordinance of baptism!

And, you know, every believer really ought to declare his or her faith publically, oughtn’t he? Surely! And, as I said, there are other ways of doing that – some of them even good ways. But if there is a definite New Testament way of professing faith in Jesus; and if every believer ought to profess his faith publically, it stands to reason that baptism is a really big deal!

So yes, baptism is only a picture. It never has saved a single soul … and never will. It’s just a symbol. But it’s an incredibly important one … because it is the symbol which God has given us to declare our faith in Jesus! Praise God for the opportunities we have, from time to time, to see the symbol acted out in the church!

Let’s pray that we’d have even more occasions, in the months ahead, to be thanking and thinking about baptism!

The Meaning of Baptism

This Sunday we at PRBC will have the high privilege of enjoying the ordinance of Christian baptism. But what is baptism? What does it do? And what does it symbolize? There is often much confusion on the issue.

It is easy to just assume that baptism is a symbol of the washing away of our sins. What else could all that water be for, right? A few folks are even convinced that baptism actually does wipe away our sins … or that it is at least a necessary part of a person’s salvation. But is that what all that water is really all about? Is it really a symbol of washing? And does it save?

We’ll see in the weeks ahead that these ideas sail a little bit wide of the mark. In fact, what I’d like to do is to spend three weeks examining the issue of baptism in this column – asking what it is and isn’t, from Scripture.

Today, let’s be careful to notice that baptism is a symbolic ordinance, not a saving one. Baptism does not save a person, nor even contribute anything to his or her salvation! Rather, it is a symbol that he or she has already been saved.

Baptism (like good works) happens as the result of salvation, not as the cause of it! In other words, you could go through the water every Sunday from now until kingdom come, and still not necessarily be forgiven of sins … because it’s not the water that cleanses a person! No, rather we are taught that “the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1.7). It is blood, not water, that saves sinners!

But someone may argue: ‘Yes, it is the blood of Jesus that saves us. But baptism is a necessary act that enables a person to gain access to that blood. You cannot benefit from the blood, and you cannot be saved, without being baptized.’ Really? What about the thief on the cross in Luke 23? He went to paradise with Jesus that very day, without ever having a chance to be baptized in water! Simple repentance toward God and faith in Jesus was enough. And if it was enough for him, it will be enough for us!

So that’s the first big thing to notice … and we’ll content ourselves having nailed this one truth in place this morning: Baptism does not save a person … and is not a part of his salvation in any way. It is only a symbol after the fact. But praise God for the symbol! And praise God for what it symbolizes! Praise God that, in Jesus, sinners may become believers in Jesus and followers of God!

Believer's Baptism

What does the Bible say about baptism? Is it for believers only? Or is it legitimate to include the infants of believers as well? Here's John MacArthur laying out the details.