Romans chapter six the part that I want to focus on is beginning there in verse number one where the Bible reads
What shall we say then shall we continue in sin that grace may abound God forbid?
How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer there in know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into?
Jesus Christ were baptized into his death therefore
We are buried with him by baptism into death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father
Even so we also should walk in newness of life and this morning
I want to preach on the subject of baptism and
This is an appropriate subject for the first day of the year because New Year's Day is a new start
It's a it's a starting over of the calendar and a lot of people take this opportunity
To make changes in their life or you know start off the new year on the right foot by being in church
For example, I mean just think you haven't missed any church this whole year. You've been in every single service
You know, you're doing great. So if you just keep that up tonight Wednesday night next Sunday, so it's a new start
It's a brand new fresh start and the Bible talks a lot about new beginnings. Jesus said behold. I make all things new
It says in Lamentations chapter 3 that God's mercies are new every morning great is his faithfulness and baptism
Represents a new start a new beginning the Bible says in verse 4 therefore
We are buried with him by baptism into death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead
by the glory of the Father
even so we also
Should walk in newness of life and so baptism
Represents the desire to walk in newness of life now
Let me start out by saying this first of all in Romans 6 1 it says what shall we say then?
Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound God forbid now he just finished telling us in chapter 5 and
Really? This was the theme of chapters 3 4 & 5 that salvation is 100% by faith. It's not by works
It's not by the deeds of the law. It's not by obeying the commandments
It's just by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior chapters 3 4 & 5
Really hammered that and at the end of chapter 5 he said that where sin abounded grace did much more about
God's grace is sufficient to cover whatever the sins that you've committed in your life
And so where sin abounds grace much more abounds, that's what he said in chapter 5
But then in chapter 6 he follows that up with a question
What shall we say then shall we continue in sin that grace may about he's saying just because grace will about is that what we?
Should do should we just keep sinning because we know that we're saved and because we know that we can never lose our salvation
Because God's grace covers all of our sin. Well, obviously not God forbid we should not
We should walk in newness of life
so this scripture here is
Bringing up baptism as a starting point of walking in newness of life
He says in verse 2 God forbid how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer there in?
Know ye not so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father
Even so we also should walk in newness of life
You see a person who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior does not automatically walk in newness of life
Many times a person will get saved and there's not an immediate change in their life
Or there's no visible outward change in their life
That doesn't mean that they didn't get saved because walking in newness of life is not automatic. It's something that we should do and
It's something that starts with taking the first step of obedience after salvation, which is baptism
You know great example of this is pastor David burzins up in Prescott Valley
He got saved
But then he didn't get baptized until nine years later
So for nine years, he did not get baptized he wasn't going to church he wasn't reading his Bible
he wasn't really praying much so he wasn't growing it all in the Lord and
So if you would have looked at his life
You wouldn't have seen any change and it would have been very easy for someone to look at him and say well
I don't even think this guy saved look at the way he's living but then after nine years
He ended up coming to our church getting baptized and right away. He's reading his Bible
He's going soul-winning. He's just making all kinds of changes getting sin out of his life and then you know fast forward
What nine years later? He's a pastor. He's winning all kinds of people the Lord doing great works for God
But it didn't happen immediately why because he had to take that first step obedience of getting baptized
You know and then he started walking in newness of life instead of just continuing in sin
The grace might abound
So it says here that we also should walk in newness of life verse 5 for if we have been
Planted together in the likeness of his death. We shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection
Knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth
We should not serve sin for he that is dead is freed from sin
Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him
Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead
Dieth no more death hath no more dominion over him for in that he died
He died unto sin once but in that he liveth he liveth unto God
Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in the lost thereof
So here's what's symbolized with baptism the Bible says if we've been planted together in the likeness of his death
We shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection
And what is the likeness of his resurrection death having no dominion over him living to die no more and what that?
represents in our lives is
Victory over sin, you know living a new life
Not the same old life from before we were saved or the same old life that the unsaved people around us are living
But living a new life walking in newness of life
Following God's commandments and walking in the spirit not walking in the flesh
So the Bible says if we've been planted in the likeness of his death
We shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection
You know that tells me that probably if you're not baptized if you're not planted in the likeness of his death
You're probably not in the likeness of his resurrection either. You're probably not walking in newness of life
You see if you can't even fulfill that first step of obedience
How are you gonna do everything else in the Christian life? See baptism is a pretty easy step, isn't it?
I mean, how hard is it to get dunked underwater?
It takes a few seconds. It's pretty easy. Not a big deal yet
There are many things in the Christian life that are very difficult
There are a lot of sins where quitting that Santa is gonna be really hard
I mean it's hard for people many times to quit drinking or to quit smoking or to quit fornicating or to quit
Whatever the sin or or to start coming to church and coming soul-winning reading the Bible every day
Those are things that take a lot of work
Getting baptized doesn't really take a lot of work
It's really just symbolic more than anything and a lot of people think well, what's the big deal?
Maybe it's not important being dunked underwater
But it is of symbolic importance that you are basically stating your desire
To walk in newness of life to follow Christ to have a new start. That's what baptism represents
By taking that first step of obedience. You're showing God
You know what?
I'm not just gonna believe on you and then continue in my old ways if they did that grace would abound
They'd still be saved but you're basically saying I want to take the next step. I want to follow you Christ
I want to walk in newness of life. I want to change my life and follow you. That's what baptism
Represents you see we've all been dead spiritually at one point and then when we believed on Jesus Christ
We who were dead and trespasses and sins hath he quickened right?
He brought us to life spiritually and what baptism does is it represents that?
Fact that we were dead and that now we're alive in Christ. It's symbolic
It also of course symbolizes the death
Burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's what's symbolized by that
Now if you would flip over to Colossians chapter 2 Colossians chapter number 2
To the right in your Bible toward the end Colossians chapter number 2
Colossians chapter number 2 verse 12 the Bible reads buried with him in
Baptism wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God who hath raised him
From the dead so the Bible talks about the fact that God raised him from the dead that the Father raised Jesus from the dead
Okay
And so that's what's pictured when baptism takes place the being dunked underwater and then being raised out of the water. So number one
baptism represents a new start it represents a desire to follow Christ to be in obedience and to
walk in newness of life, but number two
Baptism is by immersion. The only legitimate baptism is being dunked underwater
Nothing else is a baptism
Sprinkling pouring nothing else is baptism because the Bible is clear that we are buried with him in
Baptism now a burial is not pouring
Sprinkling isn't a bear. I mean when you bury something or someone you don't just sprinkle a little dirt or pour a little dirt
No, they are completely immersed and surrounded in dirt
Buried with him in baptism. That is the only legitimate baptism you ask people sometimes have you been baptized?
They'll say well as baptized as a baby as a Catholic or as a Presbyterian or a Methodist, right?
You know what? That's not bad. You were not baptized as a baby
You were sprinkled in a false wicked religion that's teaching you lies
And let me tell you something any religion that baptizes babies is teaching lies
Any religion that baptized by sprinkling or pouring is teaching lies. You see there are things in the Bible that are unclear
There are things in the Bible that are hard to understand the deep things of God the strong meat of the word
Baptisms not one of them the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 6 verse 1 therefore leaving the doctrine of Christ
Let us go on to perfection not laying again the foundation of
Repentance from dead works and a faith toward God of the doctrine of baptisms
The doctrine of baptisms is defined in the Bible as the milk of the word
That even a baby in Christ could understand even the most newborn babe in Christ can understand baptism
therefore when you see someone teaching the baptism is by sprinkling or
Pouring or baptizing babies that person isn't even a babe in Christ
They're just simply not in Christ because no one who's in Christ has that much darkness over their mind when they read the Bible
Okay, the Bible is clear to those who are saved
the Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth and when you see some pastor who gets up wearing a dress and he's got his
Collar turned around backwards. He's got a giant cross around his neck
Like like flavor flavor or something and then he's gonna sit there and tell you that we're gonna baptize babies by sprinkling
This man is a pagan
That's not that's not scriptural. How do you get that from the Bible?
You read Matthew chapter 3 and when Jesus is baptized when the subject is first introduced in the New Testament
it says in Jesus when he was baptized he went up straight way out of the water and
Lo the heavens were opened unto him
See he went up out of the water because he was down in the water when Philip baptized the Ethiopian eunuch
They went bound both of them down into the water and he baptized him
John chapter 3 states that John the Baptist was baptizing an anon near to Salem because there was much water there
Because there was much water there. You don't need much water to sprinkle
You don't need much water to pour the Bible says we are
Buried with them by baptism into death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father
Even so we also should walk in newness of life. You will never get sprinkling and pouring out of the Bible
You will never find that in the New Testament not even anything close to that. You'll never find infant baptism
These are pagan practices that the Roman Catholic Church used because they did all kinds of other pagan things and
idolatry and hocus-pocus and voodoo that they you know brought in to biblical Christianity and then when you have the
Presbyterians and the Methodists doing the same thing. All they're doing is just following the Roman Catholic Church
Because every single one of those denominations was started by Catholic priests or an Anglican priest that was coming out of that
False system that was coming out of that paganism, but guess what? They brought a little too much with them
They brought those pagan practices. That's not biblical
Notice the sign on the the the window there Baptist Church
Okay, obviously baptism is important to us if it's in the name of our church faithful word Baptist Church
Okay, we believe in real baptism by immersion not this this this fake alternative
Now there's there's another spin-off of the Roman Catholic Church the the Orthodox Church
Whether it's Greek Orthodox Russian Orthodox Romanian Orthodox Coptic Orthodox, and this is just a spin-off of the Roman Catholic Church
It's just as pagan just as idolatrous just as false of a gospel that they teach
But the Orthodox they'll baptize babies also by immersion
They'll actually dunk babies and they dunk them three times and they actually the way that they dunk them
It's almost like a Superman swooping down. They literally take them and they go like
like headfirst
And they dunk them three times first of all, you don't need to do it three times because Jesus died on the cross once
Okay, you don't need to just do a triple dunk
Okay, number one number two
The reason that they dunk is because the Orthodox Church in its early days the language was Greek
The Roman Catholic Church the language is Latin
So therefore because the Greeks are reading the New Testament its original language
They knew that baptism means to dunk to immerse underwater
They knew that this sprinkling and pouring wasn't legit only people who are hearing their church services in a foreign language
Would would think such a thing so that's why they dunked but then they still kept this paganism of dunking babies
Underwater, which is nonsense which leads to my next point go to Acts chapter 8 baptism comes after salvation
So number one, what does baptism represent it represents a couple things number one, it represents the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ
Number two, it represents a new start a fresh start walking in newness of life
being
dead and
Crucified with Christ and being risen with Christ and walking in newness of life
So firstly baptism represents a new start secondly baptism is by immersion
And thirdly baptism comes after salvation
Go to Acts chapter 8 verse 35
The Bible says then Philip opened his mouth and began at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus
And as they went on their way they came unto a certain water and the eunuch said see here is water
What doth hinder me to be baptized and?
Philip said if thou believeth with all thine heart thou mayest and he answered and said I believe
That Jesus Christ is the Son of God and he commanded the chariot to stand still and they went down both into the water
Both Philip and the eunuch and he baptized him so right there
We can clearly see that the prerequisite to being baptized is believing on Jesus Christ
That's the only prerequisite notice. He didn't say here. Well, you got to get a haircut
Or well, you got it. You got to come to church for a seven-week baptism class or well
You know, I want to see some evidence of the change in your life, you know baptism is what starts the change
That's what's supposed to start the change
That's the first step of obedience
Not the tenth step of obedience after you do nine other things and then okay now you're ready to be baptized
Many churches will have people take classes
Wait many months what jump through hoops to be baptized in reality the one
prerequisite to being baptized is being saved believing on the Lord Jesus Christ and if someone believes on the Lord Jesus Christ
And they know they're saved and they believe the gospel. They are ready to be baptized at that moment
They're ready to go. I mean this guy got baptized by the side of the road and some water
The the the Philippian jailer in Acts chapter 16 was literally baptized in the middle of the night
Because Paul at midnight wins him to Christ and it says that at that same hour. He was baptized. Okay, so baptism takes place
After salvation the the the sooner after salvation the better so you can start walking in newness of life
But it does have to be after salvation go to Acts chapter 19
Acts chapter 19
Let me just show you that any baptism that was performed before you're saved doesn't mean anything
It's it's null and void getting baptized when you're not saved is meaningless. It's just getting wet. It's just getting a bath
See baptism is something that takes place after
Salvation now you only have to be baptized one time
But it's one time after salvation
So if you got baptized five times when you weren't saved you say well, it's too much
Okay, but now that you're saved you need to get baptized once the right way. Okay after you say
Now some people will ask the question
Well, you know who who can baptize and I'll just throw this out there while you're turning to acts 19
Who who is qualified to baptize who's about now the Bible does not give a clear answer to this
There's no clear passage. I could take you to that spells out exactly who is allowed to baptize
but if we go by the example of the Bible the only people that we see baptizing in the Bible are
basically ordained ministers of some kind whether that's a deacon an
Evangelist or a pastor or an apostle. Those are the only people you see baptizing
So therefore, you know, I would err on the side of caution
I wouldn't just kind of introduce this idea of saying well
Hey, anybody can baptize anybody which is what some people believe anybody you be baptized by anybody
You know, I wouldn't be comfortable with that and like I said, I don't have a clear scripture
I could point you to but what I would say is that every example in the Bible of someone being baptized
They're baptized by an apostle or a deacon or an evangelist or a pastor
Someone who's actually been ordained as a minister by the church, okay now
Also in 1st Corinthians 10 it talks about how the children of Israel were baptized under Moses in the cloud and in the sea
You know symbolically speaking and obviously, you know, they were in the church in the wilderness and so on and so forth
So that's what I would say that now some people have expressed concerns when they said well
You know the guy that baptized me wasn't saved
Or what if I was baptized in in some other denomination or something like that people have asked questions like that
You know my response to that is that first of all when people are baptized in other denominations, you know, they say hey
I was actually baptized in a Pentecostal church
I was baptized and when you know, Mike my question is are you sure you're even saved when you're baptized because
You're going to that church that was bogus. Okay, you know, I'm not saying that they weren't sometimes people who are saved
They do get mixed up in these kind of bogus churches and bogus denominations
But chances are a lot of times it's just people who got baptized in these bogus churches
Weren't saved sometimes. So, you know, I would challenge that person to make sure that you know, they were really saved
You know or to the best their ability think back to their doctrine what they believed if they truly knew Christ as Savior
Number one, but number two, I would say this is that you know, if you're unsure about your baptism
It doesn't really hurt anything to just do it again if it bothers you, you know sighs people will come to me and say
you know, I was baptized in a in a church where I don't even think the pastor was saved and
I say, you know
Well, were you baptized in the name of the Father the Son the Holy Spirit and you were dunked underwater?
And it was after you were saved and they say yeah, but I'm just doubting the guy who did it
I've heard people say that and I always say to people this I say, you know what if it bothers you if
It's if it's something that keeps bothering you then just redo it and then you'll know you're good to go for sure
you know can't hurt to redo it, but in my opinion if
You if you were saved when you got baptized and you were baptized, you know, you were dunked by immersion
You're in a Baptist Church. It's the Father the Son the Holy Ghost, you know, I would say you've been scripturally baptized
I don't think we have to analyze the guy who did it because I don't think that the guy who did it is really the
Important thing because you're not really being baptized in his name
You know you're being baptized
Unto the Lord Jesus Christ, but I always say this if there's any doubt in your mind where you say, you know what?
I'm not sure I was saved when I got baptized or or I you know, I'm not comfortable with my baptism
Then you know, you could always just get baptized again
But let me say this if you were not saved that that's kind of just a gray issue right there
You know, that's something that you have to decide for yourself
But I'll tell you what's black and white though
If you weren't saved when you got baptized
You need to get baptized because that is not a legitimate baptism and that's why
Infant baptism is not legitimate because that baby doesn't know or believe anything
They haven't made any choice for themselves. They're they're an innocent little baby that has no idea
What kind of paganism and hocus-pocus they're being sprinkled into in the Roman Catholic Church
Okay, so, you know look at Acts chapter 19 for the proof here
It says in verse 1 and it came to pass that while Apollos was at Corinth Paul
Having passed through the upper coast came to Ephesus and finding certain disciples
He said to them have you received the Holy Ghost since he believed and they said unto him
We've not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost
They're like, we don't even know if the Holy Ghost even exists
we know what we've never even heard of that and
And he said unto them unto what then were you baptized and they said unto John's baptism
That's John the Baptist then said Paul verily John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance
Saying unto the people that they should believe on him which should come after him that is on Christ Jesus
When they heard this they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus
Now the first thing I want to point out here is that there's nothing wrong with John the Baptist
Baptism John the Baptist baptism was a legitimate
Baptism John the Baptist the one who baptized Jesus John the Baptist is the one who baptized the Apostles
And then they went out and baptized others
And so there was nothing wrong with John the Baptist baptism that would cause them to have to be rebaptized
That wasn't the problem here
the problem here is that these people are not saved now the proof that they're not saved is
The fact that they claim like oh we're baptized by John the Baptist yet
They're saying we've never even heard of the Holy Ghost and then Paul has to explain to them
That John the Baptist whole message was about believing on Jesus believing on him that would come after that is Christ Jesus
That was news to them because then when they heard that then they're baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus now
Here's the thing about that. There are people who get baptized even in a good church
Even by a great preacher like John the Baptist, but they still weren't saved when they got baptized
You know whoever baptized them thought they were saved
But you know John the Baptist can't necessarily go real deep with each person that he baptized if he's baptizing thousands of people
He's baptizing multitudes of both men and women. He's not able to sit there and talk with each person at great length
He's just basically trusting what they're saying in many cases except when he saw the Pharisees and Sadducees come
He knows what they're about, you know, but a lot of people obviously that appear to be coming in sincerity
They got baptized by John the Baptist
Not everybody who gets baptized is saved, you know
Sometimes an unsaved person is gonna get baptized even by a great preacher like John the Baptist now
Here's what doesn't make any sense about being baptized by John the Baptist and not knowing whether there be a Holy Ghost
If you look at John the Baptist preaching, he's constantly talking about the Holy Ghost all the preaching that we have from John
He's saying that you know, the Holy Ghost is
is gonna be you know was descending on Jesus like a dove and that's how I knew that he's the Son of God and
Then he said I baptized you with water
But there cometh one after me mightier than I he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost his shoes latch it
I'm not worthy to even stoop down and unloose
Stop and think about what the entire ministry of John the Baptist was
The Bible said of John the Baptist that he sent him before the face of Christ to prepare the way before him
That's his whole ministry
John the Baptist whole job was to prepare the way for Christ to be the voice of one crying in the wilderness
Prepare ye the way of the Lord make his path straight and he always emphasized that I'm baptizing you with water
But he that cometh after me will baptize with the Holy Ghost. He's mightier than I I'm not even worthy to
Loose his shoe latch it on and on about Jesus and about the Holy Ghost if you look at his messages
well, you know these people they don't know about the Holy Ghost and
It seems that they don't even know about Jesus Christ. They just got baptized because everybody's getting baptized
You know, we don't know anything. All right, so then he preaches unto them the gospel
He preaches unto them Jesus Christ and then they get baptized again
They don't just say oh, I already got baptized by John. I'm good to go
No, no cuz you got to get baptized after you actually believe the gospel and just getting dunked without knowing what's going on
Even if it's by the best preacher, even if it's the guy that has Baptist in the name John the Baptist
I mean even if you've been baptized the Baptist that's not good enough
If you weren't saved if you didn't understand the gospel when it happened
so this is a great passage to take and by the way you soul winners if you're talking to somebody and
You win somebody to Christ and they they and you want to talk to them about getting baptized and they say well
I've already been baptized, you know, this is a good scripture to take them to to show them
Well, you know, these are people who are baptized again because they didn't understand the gospel when they got baptized
Go if you would to first Corinthians chapter 1
So this morning we said number one baptism represents a new start
It's a it's a it's it's a it's walking in obedience to Christ walking in newness of life
Number two baptism is by immersion or being dunked under the water. No other baptism is legitimate
number three baptism comes after
Salvation if thou believeth with all thine heart thou mayest and if you didn't understand when you were baptized
You need to be baptized again acts chapter 19
but fourthly this
baptism is
Not required for salvation
Baptism is not required for salvation
Now a lot of these baby baptizing religions the Catholics the Methodists the Presbyterians
Etc. The the Anglicans or Episcopalians or whoever else who baptizes babies the Orthodox
They teach that baptism is necessary for salvation
So they say well, we got to baptize these babies to make sure that they don't go to hell as if baptism
Will guard you from hell and if you don't get baptized you're going to hell. That's a false doctrine baptism is not
required for
Salvation okay, you don't have to be baptized to be said there will be a lot of people in heaven who were never baptized
Okay
Now first of all
Baptism is not salvation part of the proof is the fact that Jesus himself was baptized now. Did Jesus have any sins?
Jesus was without sin. Jesus did not need to be saved. He's the Savior
He's the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Jesus Christ was perfect and sinless
So if baptism is to wash away your sins
Then why would Jesus be baptized when he had no sins if baptism is to get you saved then why was Jesus baptized?
He had no need of being saved
You know why Jesus was baptized because he was doing it in obedience to the Father
Because he said I do always those things which please him
He said to John the Baptist when John the Baptist didn't want to baptize him because he said I've need to be baptized of thee
Comest thou to me?
John the Babs a little confused there. Okay. He thought well I should be getting baptized by you
but
Baptism has nothing to do with the greatness of the man
Who's doing the baptizing or the greatness of the man who's being baptized?
It's symbolic and Jesus said suffer it to be so now for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness
See in order for Jesus to live a righteous not life and perfect and perfect obedience to the Father
He had to be baptized and his baptism was an example that we should follow in his steps that as Christ was baptized
So we are baptized and and and of course he was baptized by John the Baptist and we are
Baptized in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit, you know by various Baptist
Churches or or at least if they don't have Baptist in the name
They're like unto a Baptist in the sense that they believe in salvation by grace through faith and they baptize adult
believers or or at least children who are old enough to have
Known for sure that they're going to heaven and so forth
But baptism is not necessary for salvation baptism is not what saves us
Now the the first proof of that would simply be I could just take you to about 200 verses
That say that we're saved by faith
Believing I mean, how could the Bible say that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life
and then let's say you have a guy who believes in Jesus, but doesn't get baptized if
God sent that guy to hell then he was a liar when he said that whosoever believeth
Should not perish but have eternal life. Look is whosoever believeth saved or not?
Because whosoever means whoever
So either whoever
calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved or not and
If you have to believe and be baptized
Then that wouldn't be true to just say well, you just have to believe you only have to believe
Look at 1st Corinthians chapter 1
Here's another proof that baptism is not part of the gospel or part of salvation. Look at 1st Corinthians 1 13
It says as Christ divided was Paul crucified for you or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
I thank God that I baptized none of you now if if if being baptized
Had to do with being saved. Why would he thank God?
That he didn't baptize him. I thank God I baptized none of you except but he's saying but Crispus and Gaius
Lest any should say that I baptized in my own name and I baptized also the household of Stephanas
Besides I know not whether I baptized any other watch this for Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the gospel
now, let me ask you this if
Baptism is necessary for salvation. This would be a ridiculous statement to say
Well Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the gospel. I'm not here to baptize people
I'm here to preach the gospel
That doesn't make any sense if you have to be baptized in order to be saved if baptism is part of the gospel
Okay
It says lest the not with the wisdom of words lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness
But unto us which are saved it is the power of God
The power of God unto salvation is the preaching of the cross the power of God unto salvation
The Bible says in Romans 1 16 for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto
Salvation to everyone that believeth to the Jew first and also to the Greek
So he said I came to preach the gospel not to baptize
The preaching of the cross is the power of God unto salvation
The gospel is the power of God of salvation to everyone who believeth not baptism
It's not baptism that saves
And again, I'm not gonna be labor the point I'm not just gonna get up here and just go through verse after verse after verse
Hopefully you've heard them before all the hundreds of verses that say we're saved by believing in Christ
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead
Thou shalt be saved. What a great promise. I'm gonna rely on that and then I die and God's like no weren't baptized
Then that verse will be a lie then Romans 10 9 would be a lie John 3 15 and 16 would be a lie
John 3 18 would be a lie John 3 36 would be a lie John 5 42 John 6 40 John 6 47
These would all be lies if they if they claim that everybody who believes on Jesus Christ gonna be saved and then a whole bunch
Of people who believe but they weren't baptized don't make it that would be false
Now, let me show you some scriptures that people will use to try to to try to prove that
That you have to be baptized to be saved go to 1st Peter chapter 3 now
The Bible is a pretty big book, right?
It's eleven hundred and eighty nine chapters if you read it every single day
For if you're an average reader and you read it for 15 minutes every day
You will read it through one time in a year. And by the way, that's a great thing to start today
Today you should start that goal get a chart get some kind of a checklist there are myriad checklists online
That you can download
Those Bibles that we give away on the back shelf the red and white ones even in the back
They have I believe a calendar on reading through the Bible in one year tells you what to read each day
But that's a pretty long book if you read it every day for 15 minutes
It's gonna take you a year to get through that's a long book if you read it every day for an hour
It's gonna take you three months to get through the Bible at an average speed
That's a pretty long book and the Bible is a very long book. So it says a lot of things
So therefore someone who wants to twist the truth
can make the Bible say whatever they want by just searching and searching and searching and
Then finding something that they can take out of context something that they can twist because there's so much in the Bible
If they look hard enough
They'll find something that they can twist or take out of context to make the Bible say what they want it to say
The thing that's going to prevent us from being deceived by that is to read the whole Bible ourselves
That way no preacher can just come at us with a few
Isolated verses or twisting these if we read the whole Bible
We actually get a complete picture and no one's going to be able to pull the wool over our eyes
You know if you read the whole Bible and you just keep saying over and over again
Now it's believe believe believe believe believe faith faith faith that we're safe
You know, you're not just gonna fall for it when somebody twists one of these verses or take something like this out of context
But there are a couple of verses that are frequently used to try to teach this false doctrine that you must be baptized to be safe
Look at 1st Peter chapter 3 verse of all look at chapter 20 1st Peter 3 20
Which sometime were disobedient when once the long-suffering of God
waited in the days of Noah
While the ark was a preparing wherein few that is eight souls were saved by
water
Okay, so this is referring back to the biblical story of Noah
Right when the whole world had become corrupt and violent and wicked so God sent a flood to destroy the earth
But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord Noah his three sons his wife and their three wives are
Actually brought on to the ark and they build the ark and then they go into the ark the door is shut
They survive only those eight people
Survive so those eight people were saved from physical death
It doesn't mean that the eight people went to heaven and everybody else went to hell. That's not true
There are many people who drowned who were saved, but they didn't get on the boat. So they drowned there's evidence of that
And I'm not gonna sit here and go through that's another sermon that I've already preached multiple times
But but the point is that you know, one of the guys on that boat was actually a really sick evil person ham
you know he gets off the ark and
Performs a perverted act and everything so and and you know, he raised his descendants to be wicked wicked people
You know worshipping false gods and so forth. So
What I want to say is that the ark was not literally
Salvation as in getting eternal life. It was a picture of salvation
Does everybody understand like for example, you know, Peter is
Sinking in the waves and he yells out to Jesus Lord save me and Jesus, you know pulls him into the the ship
Okay, obviously Peter was already saved spiritually
but he was physically saved right there because he was pulled out of the water and
That's a great picture of salvation where he yells out Lord save me and then he's he's saved
I mean that that could be symbolic of when we called upon the name of the Lord and got saved
Okay, so we have to understand the difference between things that are literal and symbolic
Okay, so the ark
Was symbolic of being saved through Jesus now the ark was not literally Jesus
The ark was a big boat made out of wood, but it pictured Jesus, you know the door on the ark
Jesus said I'm the door that's symbolic
If any man enter in by me, he shall be saved right? So the ark is symbolic of salvation
That's why it says in verse 21 the like figure now, what is a figure figure means figurative?
Symbolic it's a metaphor. Okay
So the Bible says which sometime were disobedient when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah
While the ark was a preparing where in few that is eight souls were saved by water now
Let me just stop right there and point out something
Where they were they when it says that they were saved by water
Is that saying that the water had anything to do with saving them?
Saved by water does that mean the water saved them? No, actually the water was the thing that was
That was scary right that was the thing that was the the hazard was the water
You know, they're actually saved by the boat that's not what that's not what the by there means
Okay, the by there means by as in you know as relating to near
Alongside with okay. So it says they were saved by water
watch this the like figure meaning a similar a
Similar illustration or a similar figure a like figure where unto even baptism doth also now save us
Not the putting away of the filth of the flesh
But the answer of a good conscience toward God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
So what people will do if they want to teach this doctrine that you're saved by being baptized or that you must be baptized to
Be saved they'll say well look right there saved by water
They'll just isolate that little section and then they'll isolate
Baptism doth also now save us
So they'll just take those out of context out of the sentence and just say saved by water
Baptism saves
Now that's not true. That's not what this is saying if we actually I'm being saved by water right now. My throat's killing me
But here
He says the like figure where unto even baptism doth also now save us. It's not baptism that saves us. It's the figure
That baptism represents that saves us. Here's the proof notice that part of this is in parenthesis, right?
Now parenthesis is a punctuation mark to help us
Understand the sentence, right?
I mean the whole purpose of putting punctuation in the Bible or any other book is to help us understand
Right if we see commas and periods or quotation marks apostrophes parenthesis, you could write without those things
But it's easier to understand when you have those things because when we talk verbally
We can make our voice go up and down and get loud get quiet and people
understand what we mean without us having to say comma and
period
quotation mark because when we when we quote someone will usually change our voice and
And get a different voice or something, but when you're writing you can't do that
So that's why we need punctuation when we write things down just to help people not get confused
Well, here's the thing. There's parenthesis in this verse so that people don't get confused
Because it's a long complex verse
He puts the parentheses to help us know that this parenthetical part is an explanation, right?
That's just kind of inserted into the sentence. That's what parentheses are. They don't affect parentheses never affect the grammar of the sentence
They're just inserted in there
To help us understand so here's what's in the parentheses to help us understand
Not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience toward God
So you see that in the parentheses there?
Now, let's read let's read the sentence without the parentheses
Okay, since that's something that's being added to help our understanding
Let's get the basic grammar of the sentence without the parentheses
It would say this the like figure where unto even baptism does also now save us by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
So here's what actually saves us
We're saved by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
Baptism is a figure of what?
The resurrection of Jesus Christ because when we're standing up in the water
It's a picture of him on the cross when we go down into the water
It's a picture of him being buried and when we come up out of the water
It's a picture of him being risen from the dead. So baptism is
figurative of
the resurrection what saves us we're saved by the resurrection of Christ and
Baptism is a figure of the resurrection of Christ everybody see that
Now not only that but the Bible specifically says here that baptism is not the putting away of the filth of the flesh
Now let's deal with the parentheses right not the putting away of the filth of the flesh
But the answer of a good conscience toward God, so let me ask you this
How can you have a good conscience toward God?
I mean, how can I have a good conscience toward God biblically speaking? Well, I have to be saved
Because if we believe on Jesus Christ we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ
We can have a good conscience before God we can actually have peace with God
The answer what's the answer mean the answer of a good conscience toward God the answer
always follows
something
There's a problem and then we have the answer
Everybody understand there's a question followed by an answer answer is not the beginning the answer follows something
What is the answer following here a good conscience toward God? So what happens first first?
We get a good conscience toward God then we get baptized
Because baptism is the answer of a good conscience toward God
It's the next natural step
Once we have a good conscience toward God because the Bible says that in the Old Testament the animal sacrifices
They couldn't actually clear the conscience yet the blood of Christ and being saved through the blood of Christ actually clears our conscience
You know where we don't have the guilt
We can actually just forget those things which are behind and reach forth under those things
Which are before all of our sins are under the blood
Our consciences have been purged from dead works to serve the living God. It says in Hebrews
So once we have a good conscience toward God
Then we get baptized because baptism is not the putting away of the filth of the flesh it doesn't wash our sins away
What it does is it is the answer of a good conscience toward God and it's the figure of baptism that saves us
So once you actually study this verse
It actually makes perfect sense and it actually lines up with everything else that the Bible teaches what can wash away my sin
Nothing, but the blood of Jesus the Bible says he's washed us from our sins in his own blood not a baptistery tank
If the blood of bulls and of goats can't wash away sin fluoridated tempe water definitely can't wash away your sins either
It's only the blood of Jesus Christ that can wash away our sins
Go to mark chapter 16
I'm going to the three the three big ones really
The only time I've ever had anyone put forth any kind of an intelligent argument of saying hey
You have to be baptized to be saved
These are pretty much the three verses that they'll come at you with these are pretty much the only three I've seen that that really
You know held any water
no pun intended but
But once you once you look into it, though, you'll find that the argument is, you know, really full of holes, right?
But look at mark chapter 16 verse 15
It
Says and he said to them
Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved
But he that believeth not shall be damned now
They'll take this verse and say look this says that baptism is necessary for salvation
But but that verse does not say that baptism is necessary for so if this verse said that baptism furnace were necessary
Here's how it would read
He that believe in his baptized shall be saved
But he that's not baptized shall be damned now if it said that yeah, we would have a problem wouldn't we?
But you know what you'll never find in the Bible look as long as you want
You'll never find a verse that says if you're not baptized you won't be saved
You'll never find it now you say but it says right there who so believeth is baptized shall be saved
Well, let me ask this if we have 90 verses that say whosoever believeth shall be saved
And we have one verse that says who sort of believeth and is baptized shall be saved can both of those be true
Yeah, cuz guess what I believed and I'm saved I
Believed and I've been baptized. I'm saved
Because if I believe and do anything I'm saved
Because it's believing that saves you what is it that damns you though not believing
You're never gonna find a verse that says hey if you don't get baptized you're gonna be damned not only that
Go to John 3, I'm gonna tie this in with the next verse that's brought up
Okay
Because there are three three proof texts that people will use to try to teach this false doctrine that baptism is part of salvation
Number one, they'll take you to 1st Peter 3 we blew that out of the water
Okay
Number two, they'll take you to mark 16 16 again. That doesn't prove anything. But look at John 3
This is the third one that I see is the most common
Verse 3 says this
Jesus answered and said unto him verily verily I say unto thee except a man be born again
He cannot see the kingdom of God verse 5
Jesus answered verily verily I say unto thee except a man be born of water and of the spirit
He cannot enter into the kingdom of God and they'll say see right there
You got to be born of water
That's baptism. I
Can't even count how many times I've heard that argument very common
Here's what doesn't make any sense about that Jesus said you must be born again
He didn't say you got to be born two more times
Did he?
Did he say you got to be born again and again?
He said you got to be born again. That's one more time. He's saying you've already been born
You got to be born again
One more time. Okay. Now he said you have to be born of water notice the order
You have to be born of water and you have to be born of the Spirit
And you have to be born of the Spirit
But look at the next verse he defines it in the next verse verse seven or verse six
That which is born of the flesh
is flesh
And that which is born of the Spirit
is Spirit
So what's the water birth the flesh birth?
And the spirit birth is the spirit notice how flesh and water are used interchangeably. Why because what happens when a baby's born?
What's it born in?
A sack of water the bag of water. Oh my water broke. So when the bible says you got to be born again
He's saying the water birth's not enough
You got to be born again. You got to be born in the spirit. Why because if you're only born of the flesh
Your flesh and you're going to die
And and and you know, you're not going to have eternal life unless you're born of the spirit, right? You got to be born again
And he says well, you know, can I enter into my mother's womb the second time i'd be born?
He says no
You know that was born of the flesh is flesh
That was one of the spirit spirit. The new birth is not a physical birth. It's a spiritual birth, right?
So there's the water birth. That is you're born in a gush of water you're born
In a sack of water and then there's the spiritual birth when you're born again by believing on
The lord jesus christ verse seven marvel not that I said of the you must be born again
He's saying, you know, this isn't anything to be amazed about
Marvel not means don't get amazed or shocked or confused. This isn't really that complicated
right
I mean
That was born of the flesh is flesh. You got to be born of the spirit
You can't just be born of water. You got to be born of water and of the spirit. Okay
So that's pretty easy to see isn't it flip over to john chapter four
So those are the three big verses that they got to turn the whole new testament on its head with
But notice this interesting point
John chapter 4 verse 1
When therefore the lord knew how the pharisees had heard that jesus made and baptized more disciples than john
Though jesus himself baptized not but his disciples. This is a pretty interesting point that jesus did not baptize anyone
His disciples baptized who baptized them
John the baptist so they got baptized by john the baptist and then they turned around and baptized others
Jesus did not baptize. It was his disciples that baptized on behalf of him in his name. Okay
What's interesting about that is that there are many stories
In the four gospels where jesus proclaims people to be saved
I mean he proclaims them safe like for example
He talks about the publican who went to the temple and he's beating on his breast saying god be merciful to me a sinner
Says he went home to his house justified
Well, where's the baptism there?
How about the thief on the cross where he says today shalt thou be with me in paradise?
No baptism there
What about when he looks at the man with the palsy and he says son be of good cheer thy sins be forgiven thee
What about when he says the woman that was sinful he said thy faith hath made thee whole
I mean over and over again. Jesus
Is proclaiming salvation he proclaims it to zacchaeus now is salva today is salvation come to this house. Where's the baptism?
You know over and over again. Jesus is saving people in matthew mark luke and john without baptizing them
Okay, why because baptism is not salvation and it's not required for salvation. You can be saved
without being baptized
What about the people who believed in christ, you know, and they but they wouldn't confess him openly for fear of the jews, you know
They're still saved
But they didn't get baptized and there are plenty of examples of jesus saving people
Where they didn't get baptized yet. Jesus pronounces them saved right then and there right on the spot that they have eternal life that they're saved
So when it comes to baptism number one, it's it's a fresh start. It's it's a new start
You know to to signal to god that you want to follow him and obey him number two
It's only by immersion any baptism that was not done by immersion is meaningless. It's nothingness. It's not even baptism
It defies the very definition of the word baptism number three baptism comes after salvation
You must believe in order to be baptized and number four baptism is not
Necessary for salvation the bible clearly states for by grace. Are you saved through faith?
And that not of yourselves it is the gift of god not of works lest any man should boast
And you know what if baptism were necessary for salvation
That means you'd have to rely on the church for baptism or for salvation
Think about that
Because if you had to be baptized to be saved that means that the church
Would save you, you know, you'd have to go to the church
So if you can't get to the church or if the church refused to baptize you it's like you can't be saved
Whereas you know according to the bible you could believe in jesus anywhere
You could be in in in your bed at home crippled or you could be
sick or or or in the desert or where you know, wherever
You could get saved anywhere whether there's a lot of water there or not
You can be saved by believing in christ and it's jesus who saves
Not the pastor who saves or the deacon who saves or the evangelist who saves who's actually doing the dunking?
All that is is symbolic see
This wedding ring is symbolic
This wedding symbolizes the the fact that i'm married. Okay, but here's the thing if I don't wear a wedding ring
Does that mean i'm no longer married?
And if I were to put this on you, would you suddenly be married to my wife?
Because I put this ring on you absolutely not because this is only symbolic and here's the thing many men don't even wear a wedding ring
You know a lot of men who are electricians or you know
They don't wear it because they don't want to get fried with the thing
And they don't want it to get stuck
You know i've gotten hurt before where my ring got stuck and whatever and there were times when when uh one time
I broke my finger that had my wedding ring on it
And it started swelling up and turning all black and purple and I thought to myself, you know
If I go to bed with this wedding ring on i'm afraid i'm going to wake up and my fingers is going to be dead
You know because it was cutting off the circulation because it was injured
So I had to cut it off with a pair of pliers, you know, and and so our marriage was over at that point
You know because the ring once the ring was broken, you know, I mean look
This is always symbolic and here's the thing baptism is just like this ring
And here's the thing. When do you put on the ring? You know you put on the ring after
You're married that's when you put on the wedding ring, you know engagement ring is something different but you put on the wedding ring
Do you put it on before you're married?
You put it on after you're married, right?
And when do you put it on a week later a month later a year later or immediately?
It's pretty much
You know your declared man and wife right then and there and it's like you make the vows and then it's like may I have
the rings, please boom
so
When I got married
I didn't get my wedding ring and my wife didn't get our wedding ring her wedding ring for about
two three more weeks
Okay, does that mean we weren't married until two three weeks later?
No, it was just that because of logistics we did not exchange the rings until two or three weeks after we were married
Now in a perfect world ideally right when you get married you throw on the rings, right? Well ideally in a perfect world
When you get baptized the sooner I mean when you get saved the sooner the better you get baptized
But it had you know after
You know, I my wife wouldn't just look down at some rings
She's been wearing her whole life and say well, this will just be my wedding ring now
I mean i've been wearing it my whole life. It's like well, no, you know you let's put this on now that you're married
This is to symbolize that and you can never wear rings and you could still be married
And you could never get baptized and still be saved
But you know, what if I just told my wife
That I just you know, didn't want to wear a wedding ring or if she told me I don't want to wear a wedding ring now
Obviously some people are okay with that and it's a cultural thing too like when I was growing up
It seems like most men didn't wear wedding rings and now they all do, you know, and I wear one
But but the point is if if my wife
Refused to wear a wedding ring or if I refuse to wear a wedding ring that might be okay with with the other person
But you know what? They might also feel or think
Oh, he doesn't want people to know that he's married or she doesn't want people to know she's married
Or ashamed of the that they're ashamed of the fact they're married right, you know, that could be considered
Well, here's the thing about you know getting baptized. It's it's a public profession of faith, too
So you're kind of openly
Showing the fact that you believe that jesus died and was buried and rose again sort of like the ring because look
This isn't to show me i'm married
You think I wear this ring just so I don't forget like every once in a while, you know
I'm out and then i'm just oh man. I'm married. I gotta get home my wife and kids. What am I, you know?
See, I don't have you know, maybe an alzheimer's patient
It might work that way, you know where they have like I because I used to preach and do soul winning a lot in an alzheimer's unit
and um
You know you you you're meeting these people for the first time every week literally i'm not kidding
But you know, I was able to win people lord and and and you know preach to them and minister them and so forth
but I did that for a long time, but
Many of them would have a sign on their door that said
Your name is so-and-so you live here with your cat. Your cat is named this the bathroom's down the hall like it had a whole
Instruction sheet for their life because they would forget things and get confused. They don't know where they are
So this explains every you have alzheimer's whatever
So this is not to show me
That i'm married. Who is it to show that i'm married?
Other people right? It's a signal to others i'm married
That's what baptism baptism isn't to prove to yourself that you're saved or to show yourself that you're saved
Or to show yourself that you want to walk in newness of life
It's to show god that you want to walk in newness of life and it's to show the people around you
That you want to walk in newness of life
So I would highly encourage you today if you are not baptized
And I mean scripturally baptized meaning that you've been dunked after
Believing on the lord. Jesus christ as your savior. You should get baptized today
Now we we have the baptistry set up and and you know, we have the change of clothes we have everything available
And this isn't and by the way, we're not catholics where we all buy a new dress and invite like every cousin
in the world
To come witness our baptism, you know baptism is something that's done by the side of the road or wherever
You know what? I mean in the bible. It's just the same hour. They're baptized. So it doesn't have to be a big production friend
But anyway, i'd encourage you to take that step of obedience and start out the year 2017 right by obeying the lord
And following him in baptism
And make this a year where you walk in newness of life. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer
father we thank you so much for
uh, the the the
The teaching that you've given us on baptism lord and thank you for romans chapter six, especially great chapter
And lord, I just pray that we would all even even those of us who were baptized
Many many years ago
I pray that all of us lord would decide today to walk in newness of life because we we need to keep on
Making that decision and dying daily and taking up the cross daily lord. So help those who were baptized long ago
To decide today to once again in 2017 walk in newness of life
And then those who've never been baptized lord, I pray that they would be baptized today
And in jesus name we pray. Amen