Thank you.
Amen.
Thank you.
Sunday nights at 6. Wednesday nights at 7 is our Bible study.
This week we will be in 2 Chronicles chapter 32.
We've got the so many times listed there below as well as salvation and baptisms.
Across the page we've got a wedding coming up.
This Saturday everybody is invited and so don't be shy about coming to these things even if you don't know Isabella and Micaiah.
This Saturday everyone is invited 4 p.m. to celebrate their wedding.
We'll have cake and punch and a good time of fellowship as well.
So that's this Saturday at 4 o'clock.
Keep praying for our ladies that are expecting that they'll have a safe and healthy pregnancy and delivery.
On the back we've got the note about a baby shower in honor of Lola Ro and that is going to be on Sunday, February the 2nd.
So just a couple weeks away.
2 o'clock right here.
Again we ask that you leave the children at home but nurselings are okay.
Food will be provided and all ladies and teenage girls are invited to attend.
And then below that thank you to those who participated in the recent online soul winning marathon.
It was a huge success.
6 soul winners had a total of 42 saved and this is of course through face to face video chatting on Omi TV.
So that was pretty cool.
And then keep up the great work with that.
Everybody who works on that.
And then below that again we've got the wedding coming up this Saturday.
We've got Pastor Thompson preaching not this Wednesday but next Wednesday night on January 22nd.
So don't miss that.
If you're typically a Sunday morning person make a point to be at these Wednesday nights when we have a guest preacher.
So you can hear Pastor Thompson on January 22nd and Pastor Jonathan Shelley on February the 19th.
And so that is about it for announcements.
Also I was gone on Wednesday night because we took a little cruise missions trip down to the Bahamas.
And my daughter Rebecca and I had 43 people saved down there.
So that was super successful.
And working with brother Kenton in the Bahamas is a huge blessing.
It's nice to have somebody that's already there so that you get there, you get off the boat.
Somebody's there to pick you up, take you straight to the best soul winning spots and host you and everything.
So that was super cool.
And so I encourage you to think about going on the trip to the Bahamas, the missions trip that is in March from the 23rd to the 28th.
You can always email the church email address for more details about that.
But it's extremely affordable.
And so this is a great way to get started doing your own foreign missions trip because it's very affordable.
And so reach out to us and we can give you more details about that.
Alright, that's about it for announcements. Let's go ahead and sing our next song. Come lead us.
Alright, you should find the insert in front of your hymnal with the song entitled, Sweeter as the Years Go By.
If you don't have an insert, you can raise your hand if you don't receive one. We'll sing it on that verse together.
Jesus, love that song. Sweeter as the Years Go By. Sing it out.
Sweeter as the years go by. Sweeter as the years go by.
Rager, bolder, deeper. Jesus, love that's sweeter. Sweeter as the years go by.
He taught an older day a life's path way long ago.
The people from the fountain his saving grace to know.
He healed the broken hearted and caused the blind to see.
And still his great heart yearned in love for even he.
Sweeter as the years go by. Sweeter as the years go by.
Rager, bolder, deeper. Jesus, love that's sweeter. Sweeter as the years go by.
He taught an older day a life's path way long ago.
He healed the broken hearted and caused the blind to see.
And still his great heart yearned in love for even he.
Sweeter as the years go by. Sweeter as the years go by.
Rager, bolder, deeper. Jesus, love that's sweeter. Sweeter as the years go by.
Hymn number 144.
A mighty fortress is our God. Hymn number 144.
We'll sing this out nice and strong together on that verse now. Hymn number 144. Lift your voice together now.
A mighty fortress is our God. A bold word never failing.
Our help her need amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing.
For still our ancient foe does seem to work us full.
His wrath and power are great and armed with cruel hate.
On earth is not his equal.
In the end our own strength applied. Our striving would be losing.
We're not the right man on our side. The man of God don't choose him.
Because that's who that may be. Christ Jesus it is he.
Lord sapphay on his name. From age to age just sing.
And he must win the battle. And all this world with devils failed should threaten to undo us.
We will not fear for God have willed this truth to triumph through us.
The ranks of darkness grim. We tremble not for him.
His rage we can endure. For lo his doom is sure.
One little word shall fail him. That word of all earthly power obeys to them abideth.
The spirit and the gifts arise through them who with us sign it.
Legends and kingdom come. His mortal life awesome.
The body they may kill. God's truth the might is still.
His kingdom is forever.
All right this time we'll pass our offering plates around.
As the plates go around let's turn our Bibles to Matthew chapter 3.
First book in the New Testament is Matthew. Matthew chapter number 3.
As we always do we'll read the entire chapter beginning in verse number 1.
Follow along silently with brother Corbin Brock as he reads.
Matthew chapter 3 starting in verse number 1.
Matthew chapter 3.
In those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah saying the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare you the way of the Lord make his path straight.
And the same John had his Raymond of camels hair and a leathern girdle about his loins and his meat was locusts and wild honey.
Then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region round about Jordan and were baptized of him and Jordan confessing their sins.
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism he said unto them O generation of vipers who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come.
Bring forth therefore fruits meat for repentance and think not to say within yourselves we have Abraham to our father for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
And now also the axes laid under the root of the trees therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.
I indeed baptize you with water under repentance but he that cometh after me is mightier than I whose shoes I am not worthy to bear.
He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire whose fan is in his hand and he will thoroughly purge his floor.
And gather his wheat into the garner but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him.
But John forbade him saying I have need to be baptized of thee and comest out of me and Jesus answering said unto him suffer it to be so now.
For thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness then he suffered him.
And Jesus when he was baptized went up straight way out of the water and lo the heavens were open unto him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him.
And lo a voice from heaven saying this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.
Father in heaven we love you.
We thank you Father for sending our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to seek and to save that which was lost.
We ask now Lord that you bless the preaching of your word.
We pray that you'd help us prepare our hearts to hearken unto those words that are spoken.
We pray that we would grow thereby and become better Christians in serving you.
We ask all these things in Jesus precious name. Amen.
The title of my sermon this morning is Jesus when he was baptized.
Jesus when he was baptized.
And in this passage Matthew chapter 3 we have the first references to baptism because when you start reading the New Testament obviously you start with the book of Matthew.
You start reading from left to right.
This is going to be the first time that this concept of baptism is introduced.
And a lot of times it can be helpful when you're studying a subject in the Bible to kind of go to the first place that something pops up or that idea is introduced.
And in this passage you really can learn a lot about baptism just from these few verses about Jesus Christ getting baptized.
Let's start in verse 16 there.
The Bible reads and Jesus when he was baptized went up straight way straight way means immediately out of the water and lo the heavens were opened unto him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him.
And lo a voice from heaven saying this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.
The first thing I want to show you here is that baptism is by immersion.
Okay that is the only legitimate baptism all throughout scripture.
Baptism is always by immersion.
That's why when Jesus was baptized it says that he went up out of the water because he was down in the water getting baptized.
Okay if you would flip over in your Bible to Acts chapter 8.
Acts chapter 8 while you're turning there I'm going to read for you a few other places.
In Mark chapter 1 it says the same thing in verse 10 straight way coming up out of the water he saw the heavens open and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him.
So again the reference is made to Jesus coming out of the water.
In John chapter 3 verse 23 it says John also was baptizing an anon near to Salem because there was much water there and they came and were baptized.
Now stop and think about it.
If baptism were able to be done by sprinkling or by pouring you wouldn't need much water in order to baptize.
You don't need a little bit of water you need a little birdbath which is what you see in the front of Presbyterian churches, Anglican churches, Methodist churches, Catholic churches.
They have this little birdbath of water give it a little sprinkle.
Okay the whole point why John is baptizing an anon is because there's a lot of water there.
Now what you have to understand is that John is baptizing in the Jordan River and the Jordan River obviously always contains water.
There's always going to be water in the Jordan River.
So if you just wanted to splash around you could splash around at literally any point in the Jordan River.
You can sprinkle and pour water anywhere in the Jordan River but what you have to understand is that not everywhere is the Jordan River deep enough to baptize someone.
And that's why the Bible says that he's baptizing at a particular part of the Jordan River because at that point the Jordan River is deep enough to baptize someone.
He has to baptize where there's much water because at points where the river is shallow you're not going to be able to get someone underwater.
And we've all seen rivers like that like for example the Salt River.
There are parts of the Salt River where obviously there's water flowing or it wouldn't be a river.
But it's only a few inches deep, six inches deep, a bunch of rocks and stuff.
You wouldn't be able to even dunk someone.
And so we see in Matthew coming up out of the water.
We see in Mark coming up out of the water.
We see in John.
He goes to a particular part of the Jordan River where the water is deep enough.
That's where he baptizes.
Look at Acts chapter 8 verse 36.
It says,
And right away if it were just sprinkling or pouring it would just be, hey hand me that canteen.
Hand me your water bottle.
You know hand me that mug of water and let me just kind of go like this.
You could do it with something like this.
Anybody who's traveling on a journey has a jug of water.
But yet he points to a body of water and says, see here is water.
What doth enter me to be baptized?
Philip said in verse 37,
Notice the going down into the water and he baptized him.
Right?
So they are in the water.
They aren't just splashing, sprinkling and pouring and things like that.
So you have to wonder.
And if you would flip over to Romans chapter 6.
You have to wonder where does this practice of sprinkling come from?
Or where does this practice of pouring come from?
And typically when I have spoken to Protestants and Catholics that do not baptize by immersion.
They'll typically admit, yeah in the Bible they're dunking people under water.
But this other kind of baptism is okay too.
So they'll say there's nothing wrong with immersion.
It's just that you can also sprinkle.
You can also pour.
But of course that's not coming from the Bible.
Their justification for this is typically just tradition or so called church history.
Well let me just give you a little tip on studying the Bible.
Never get any doctrine from church history.
And never get any doctrine from the traditions of the Roman Catholic Church.
Okay that's just a wrong source for material.
Well you're just going to ignore, you know, almost 2,000 years of church history?
Yes!
Absolutely!
And you want to know why I'm going to ignore it?
Because I wasn't there.
Because you weren't there.
Because nobody really knows what things were like a thousand years ago, 2,000 years ago, 1,500 years ago.
We have to go by historical records that are extremely biased.
That are written from a certain angle.
And most of the church history is from a Roman Catholic perspective.
That's what has survived.
That's what most of the writings are.
And then you have these Protestants in the Protestant Reformation.
Most of whom are like Catholic light that are just trying to like strike a balance between what the Bible actually says.
And the traditions of the Catholic Church.
And they're kind of straddling the fence.
And so you get all these weird things.
But here's the thing like saying, well we know Christians have done this throughout history.
Ergo it must be right.
First of all we could study the Old Testament and see that there were times in Israel's history where they did things wrong for hundreds of years on end.
It didn't change what the Bible said about the right way to do it, number one.
But number two, this idea that oh Christians did it throughout history.
Well sorry but I don't believe that Roman Catholics are real Christians.
And I don't think they've ever been real Christians.
I think all the way back to the first century A.D. you had false brethren the Bible warns us about.
Another Jesus.
You have people corrupting the Word of God.
Even in the first century A.D. there's nothing new under the sun.
Just as today we have real Bible believing Christianity.
And then we have counterfeit Christianity in its various forms.
That's the way it's always been.
And it is the counterfeit Christians who ignored the clear teaching of Scripture and sprinkled and poured and did these things.
Why did they do these things?
Why the sprinkling? Why the pouring?
Well the reason why is because they want to baptize babies.
Now I will say this.
There are religions that dunk babies under water.
Which would be the Orthodox for example.
The East Orthodox.
They will baptize baby by immersion.
And not only that, they don't just, they give them a triple dunk.
They're like...
Okay.
Obviously it's kind of weird.
You know it's kind of crazy.
It's a lot easier to just sprinkle some water on them or pour some water on them.
That's probably where it comes from.
Frankly if I'm wrong about that I don't care because I don't care where it comes from.
Because I'll tell you where it comes from.
It comes from the devil.
It's against every... no lie is of the truth.
It's a lie. It's false doctrine.
Infant baptism is unbiblical.
I mean we're right here. We were right there in Acts 38-37.
And he said, what is stopping me from being baptized?
What does hinder me from being baptized?
And he said, if thou believeth with all thine heart thou mayest.
Obviously a baby can't believe with all their heart.
A baby has no idea what's going on.
Not only that, in 260 chapters of the New Testament we do not have one instance of a baby being baptized.
Not one. Zero.
So much for sola scriptura for our Protestant friends, right?
Because they're claiming scripture alone is the authority.
Well then where are you going to find infant baptism in the Bible?
You don't find it. It doesn't exist.
There's not a single baby being baptized from Matthew to Revelation.
It isn't there.
There's no babies being baptized.
There's no baptism by sprinkling.
There's no baptism by pouring.
There are later traditions from false prophets and false teachers who teach that baptism saves.
So therefore you've got to baptize babies so they can be saved.
Now, the only denomination I know of that baptizes babies but does not believe that it saves them is the Presbyterians think that baptism has nothing to do with salvation.
But again, why are they baptizing babies?
Because they got that from the Catholic Church and it's just a residual vestigial thing from back when they came out of the Catholic Church in the Protestant Reformation with guys like John Calvin and John Knox.
So anyway, a little bit of a rabbit trail there, but it's pretty clear from what we've seen in the four gospels that baptism is by immersion.
Look at Romans chapter 6 verse 4. Here's the Apostle Paul for you.
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death.
Now, if baptism is a picture of burial, what's a better picture of a burial, going all the way under the water or getting a little water sprinkled on you?
Because let's face it, nobody's ever been buried by having a little dirt sprinkled on them, okay, unless maybe they were just murdered and left in the woods or something.
The way that you bury somebody is by putting them all the way underground and the way that you get baptized is going all the way under the water because 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.
Go if you would to Colossians chapter 2, one more place, then we'll go back to Matthew 3.
But Colossians chapter 2, we have a similar scripture in verse 12. First word is buried, buried with him in baptism wherein also you are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God who has raised him from the dead, buried with him in baptism.
I remember one time I spoke to a Dutch reformed guy who is of course, you know, a baby baptizing Protestant and this Dutch reformed guy, he saw my little kids, he said, I bet those little kids aren't even baptized, shame on you that you didn't baptize those little toddlers and babies of yours.
And I said, well, shame on you because I said, not a single one of your kids has been baptized. None of your kids are baptized because sprinkling isn't baptism. Baptism is immersion and so more of my kids are baptized than yours, buddy, even if I didn't do the toddlers yet because they're too young to understand.
Now, me personally, I got saved as a six year old boy and I got baptized when I was nine years old and the only reason that I didn't get baptized until I was nine is that my parents simply wanted to just make sure that I really understood and was old enough and knew what was going on, even though I got baptized when I was six.
But, of course, I was immersed, I was dunked underwater in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, which brings me to my second point. Go to Matthew chapter three again. Baptism is in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, right?
And while you're turning there, I'm going to read you the famous verse from Matthew 28. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, this is Jesus commanding, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
And so the Bible says that we are commanded to baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Now it's interesting that at Christ baptism, we have the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost all present at Christ baptism.
Look at verse 16. It says, And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water, and lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him, and lo, a voice from heaven saying, This is my beloved Son in whom I have well pleased.
So number one, we have the Father speaking from heaven saying, This is my beloved Son, and then we have Jesus himself, and then we have the Holy Spirit coming upon Jesus.
So it's no coincidence that at this first mention of baptism, we have Father, Son, and Holy Ghost all present, fathers up in heaven, Jesus on earth, Spirit of God's descending upon him.
And so baptism is supposed to be in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Now this is something that a lot of people in the Pentecostal movement will twist this and misunderstand this,
because about 75% of Pentecostals believe in the Trinity, but about 25% of them reject the Trinity and believe in something called Jesus-only baptism or the Jesus-only movement.
Okay, and this is something that started in the early 20th century at the Azusa something campground or whatever, 1913, and what happened is you have a guy who got up and preached in the afternoon.
These are a bunch of just unsaved Charismaniacs, but you have a guy who gets up and says in the afternoon, you know it's really interesting that Jesus told people to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost,
but then in the book of Acts, you see everybody getting baptized in the name of Jesus. It's kind of interesting. He just kind of made that observation, right?
So then some guy in the audience was kind of freaked out by that, and so he spent the whole night, you know, I don't know, like foaming at the mouth and clawing himself and rolling around like a rabid dog or whatever these people do,
and he's wrestling all night and going through all his whatever, and then he wakes up in the morning, the next morning, and he's running through the campground of the camp meeting saying, I've got it. I've got it.
The name of the Father is Jesus. The name of the Son is Jesus, and the name of the Holy Ghost is Jesus. It's all Jesus, right?
So he ran around, and this started the modern day Jesus-only movement, sometimes could be called Modalism or Oneness Pentecostalism or whatever, and it started a huge debate amongst Pentecostals.
There was a schism, and they ended up splitting into two factions, you know, the Trinitarian faction and the Oneness faction of Pentecostalism.
Now, here's why this guy is just way off the deep end. First of all, Jesus and God the Father are not the same person. Okay, there's one God, three persons. That's the Trinity.
How do I know that? Well, because the Bible clearly distinguishes between these two persons. For example, when Jesus says things like, not my will, but thine be done, or how about I came not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me,
or how about, you know, if I bear record of myself, then my record's not true. You know, the Father who sent me, he bears record. How about there are three that bear record in heaven, three that bear witness, three that testify in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one.
If those three are all the same person, how is that three witnesses? Right? That'd be like if I were called to the witness stand in a courtroom. All right, we're calling Pastor Steven Anderson. Okay, now Pastor Steven Anderson is going to go sit down.
Now we're going to bring up Steven Anderson, the husband, and then he's going to be a second witness. Okay, now we're going to bring up Steven Anderson, the father.
Now we're going to bring up Steven Anderson, the son, because I am a father, and I'm a son, and I'm a husband, and I'm a pastor, but I'm only one person. Okay, so that's not two witnesses. That's not three witnesses.
The three witnesses are three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. This is why Jesus could say, you know, oh, to sit at my right hand is not mine to give. You know, the Father is the one in charge of that, you know.
Obviously, if he is the Father, that wouldn't make any sense, would it? And so, you know, I'm not going to preach a whole sermon on that. I've preached plenty of sermons teaching the Trinity and debunking this oneness heresy.
But at the end of the day, you know, the key thing to understand is that this error came from a misunderstanding of what in the name of means. Okay.
They're taking the word name literally, like in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, like they all have one name or something. That's absurd.
If I said stop in the name of love, we're not talking about like love having a name. What in the name of means is on behalf of or by authority of or for the sake of.
So if I said stop in the name of love, I'm saying stop because of love. Stop on account of love. Does that make sense, right? So, you know, before you break my heart, amen? No, I'm just kidding.
But anyway, the point is, you know, in the name of, if I said stop in the name of the law, I'm saying stop because of the law or stop because of the authority that the law has, right?
On authority of the law, I'm commanding you to stop. I'm saying this in the name of. So like, for example, let's say I sent a message to someone and I said, you know,
hey, Moses, you know, you're going to go and you're going to deliver this message for me to Pastor Bruce Mejia in Los Angeles or something.
And basically Moses showed up and said, hey, I'm delivering this message in the name of Pastor Stephen Anderson, right?
What he's saying is I'm bringing you a message on his behalf. I'm doing this for him. He couldn't be here. So I'm doing it as a proxy.
I'm here speaking in the name of, and he could even say in the name of Faith Forward Baptist Church. Does that mean that everybody in Faith Forward Baptist Church has the same name?
Or he could say I'm doing this on behalf of, you know, Pastor and Mrs. Anderson, you know, in the name of Pastor and Mrs. Anderson.
Does that mean we both have the same name? I mean, we both do, Anderson. Bad example.
But the point is that obviously in the name of isn't talking about just a name. It's talking about authority or causality or something like that.
So when the Bible says that we baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost, what it's saying is that we're baptizing them on the authority of or on behalf of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
So when I got baptized, the pastor who baptized me isn't really super relevant or super important to my baptism.
It's not like I have to think about, okay, who was the guy who baptized me? What was he like? Who was he?
He's not really important because he's a proxy standing in for the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, right?
I was actually baptized not in that guy's name. And what did Paul say in 1 Corinthians 1? Hey, did you get baptized in the name of Paul?
Did you get baptized in the name of Paul? Was Paul crucified? No. So here's the thing. Even though Paul physically dunked a few people, he wasn't baptized in the name of Paul.
He wasn't doing it on his own behalf. He was doing it on behalf of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
Okay, so the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost does not mean that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost all have the same name.
Okay, so that's just a misunderstanding of the English language.
Secondly, as far as the so-called disparity or discrepancy between the Book of Acts where people are baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus versus in Matthew where they're baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost,
this discrepancy has been imagined, and I'll tell you why. Because first of all, these books are being written by two different authors, okay?
So on the one hand, you have the author Matthew who's just recording what Jesus said. He was there, you know, at the mountain. He was given this great commission, baptized him in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
The Book of Acts is written by Luke who is just observing and writing what he observed, and he is just simply focused on the fact that they were baptized in the name of Jesus because here's the thing.
If you have been baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, guess what? Guess whose name you got baptized in? Jesus.
Because last time I checked, the Son is Jesus. Does everybody understand what I'm saying? So if I got baptized in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, does that include Jesus?
Yeah, so there's no discrepancy with Luke in the Book of Acts emphasizing the fact that they're being baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. He's just emphasizing the Jesus aspect of it.
But they were getting baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Jesus is included in that. And what you have to understand is that when people are being baptized, it doesn't mean that those words have to come out of the mouth of the person baptizing them.
Like we will say, when we baptize people, we'll say, I baptize you, my brother, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. But what if I didn't say that? That wouldn't make it an unscriptural baptism. You don't have to say a magic formula.
So for example, let's say at the day of Pentecost when they baptized 3,000 people in one day, they probably didn't necessarily say it 3,000 times. They probably just said, I baptized all of y'all in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. All right, let's go. Boom, boom, boom.
Because it's 3,000. You know, I think the most people I've ever baptized in one day, I know I baptized one time 26 people in a row at the Atlanta Soul Winning Marathon. I'm not sure if I've ever baptized more than that in one day.
But I know that at the Atlanta Soul Winning Marathon, I baptized 26 people in a row. And let me tell you something, it gave me a whole new appreciation for 3,000 people getting baptized in one day because it just felt like it just never ended.
It just, 26 doesn't sound like a lot until you baptized, until you try to run 26 miles or baptized 26 people in a row. It's a marathon. You know, and so just baptizing people 26 times, it just felt like, it felt like way more than that.
And obviously you had a bunch of apostles doing the baptisms, so it's not one guy baptizing 3,000, but I don't, even if a guy had to baptize a couple hundred, he's probably not just saying this formula, chanting it over and over again.
And so the idea is, I could baptize somebody and say nothing. I could not say a word as I baptized them. It would still be a scriptural baptism as long as there's an understanding that, hey, we're doing this in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
As long as that's understood, scriptural baptism. It's not about just saying a formula. That's not the point. Being baptized, there's no issue, there's no problem with being baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus because all of us that have been baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, we all got baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
There's no issue. The issue is when you say, no, no, no, have you been baptized in the name of Jesus only? That's the issue. And the heresy is coming from the fact that they are claiming that God the Father is literally Jesus, and that Jesus is literally God the Father, and this is a denial of the Trinity.
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life, and if you do not believe that Jesus is the Son of God, you're not saved.
Okay. And so this denial of the sonship of Christ is heresy. Denying the fact that Jesus Christ is the Son of God is to deny the cardinal truth of Christianity, right?
Of course, the profession of faith that the eunuch made in Act 8 was, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and then he baptized him, right?
And, you know, again, I don't want to do a whole sermon on the Trinity, but it's important that we understand what that means, that baptism is in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are all involved in our baptism, okay? Now thirdly this, baptism does not save us or wash away our sins.
So number one, we said baptisms by immersion. Number two, we said baptisms in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And number three, baptism does not save us or wash away our sins.
Why do I say that? Because Jesus had no sins, and Jesus did not need to be saved, okay? The person that we are following in baptism is Jesus.
You'll often hear people say, following the Lord in baptism. What they mean by that is that we are following Jesus Christ's example. He was baptized, and so we are baptized following his example.
If baptism were salvation or a washing away of our sins, Jesus would not need to be baptized. But look what he says in verse 13 of Matthew 3 there.
Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. But John forbade him, saying, I need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?
And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us. That means, you know, it's appropriate for us to fulfill all righteousness.
Then he suffered him, or he allowed him to be baptized. So John's gut reaction when Jesus comes to be baptized is, what in the world? I'm baptized in you. You should be baptized in me.
I need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? But Jesus says, Suffer or allow it to be so now, for thus it becometh us, it suits us to fulfill all righteousness, okay?
So Jesus Christ being baptized was fulfilling righteousness, but it was not salvation or washing away of sins, because then he wouldn't have needed it.
He would have just skipped it, and he would have said, yep, you're right, John, I was just testing you. Let me dunk you real quick, buddy.
If that's what it was about, you're the sinner, not me, so boom, you're going under. But that's not what happened, is it? Why? Because it has nothing to do with salvation.
It has nothing to do with washing away your sins, because Jesus didn't have any, and Jesus is the prototype of baptism. I mean, he's the one who we're following in baptism.
We are baptized because Jesus was baptized, and he wasn't doing it for salvation. He wasn't doing it to wash away sins that he didn't have. He was doing it to fulfill all righteousness.
Getting baptized is an act of righteousness. It is an act of obedience to God. Jesus was obeying God the Father by getting baptized. We're doing the same thing by getting baptized.
Look at verse 17. It says, And lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And so here's the thing. When you get baptized, you're supposed to already be saved.
And if you're already saved, then you're a child of God. And by getting baptized, you are pleasing God. You're already a child of God by believing in Jesus.
And then you get baptized. That's a first step of obedience that's a way to please God and to fulfill all righteousness.
Now, if you would flip over to 1 Peter, chapter 3. 1 Peter, chapter 3. We're going to look at a couple verses that people will sometimes use to claim that baptism saves you or that baptism washed away your sins.
We're going to look at how these verses are being misused and misinterpreted and misunderstood. Because clearly we saw that baptism is supposed to take place after salvation.
Which is why Philip told the eunuch, If thou believeth with all thine heart thou mayest, and he said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, then he baptized him.
Okay? Because he was saved. Because he's already believing in Christ. He's already saved. He's ready to get baptized.
Look at 1 Peter, chapter 3, verse 21. The like figure, and figure is the key word here, right? Figure, symbol, 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.
Now a lot of people, this is how they read this verse. Baptism does also now save us. Alright, there we go. Baptism saves us. But that's not the whole sentence, is it?
Because actually baptism doesn't save us. It is the figure of baptism. It is what baptism symbolizes or represents that saves us.
And how do I know that? Because we are saved. Look at the last six words there. We're saved by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Now notice the way this has been punctuated in our English Bible where you've got a part of the sentence in parentheses. Okay?
Now what do parentheses do when we're using punctuation in our English sentences and we put parentheses in? You know what that means.
That means that that is something that is not grammatically necessary to the rest of the sentence. If something is in parentheses, you should always be able to take it out and the sentence will still make grammatical sense.
I'm not saying it's unnecessary because every word of God is necessary. What I'm saying is it's not grammatically necessary. The sentence grammatically makes sense without it.
It's like a bonus info or added info. Right? And if you've ever used parentheses properly, that's how you were using it.
You stuck something in that was a little extra clarification, a little bonus info, but it was not essential to the structure of the sentence.
So look at the structure of the sentence without the parentheses. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
So notice we're actually saved by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which baptism is a figure of that. So the figure whereunto baptism saves us by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Okay? So now that we have the basic skeleton of that sentence, now let's look at the bonus info. Okay? Baptism is not the putting away of the filth of the flesh.
So it sounds to me like baptism is not washing away your sins, but rather it is the answer of a good conscience toward God.
Well, hey, if this is the answer, what was the question? You see, an answer is something that comes after. Right?
Unless you're playing Jeopardy, right? An answer always follows something. You know, I say something to you and then you answer me.
You can't answer someone who hasn't spoken yet. Does everybody understand? And so what does it mean when it says that baptism is the answer of a good conscience toward God?
It means that it follows a good conscience toward God. Right? First you have a good conscience toward God and then that is answered by baptism. Does everybody understand?
Answer follows. Because the word answer can be an answer to a question, it can be an answer to a problem, or it can just be one statement is made and then another statement is made. Right?
He said this, he answered this. It's a response would be another word for answer. And if we're speaking Spanish, wouldn't we say for answer, wouldn't we say respuesta?
Somebody help me out. Can I get a witness? Isn't an answer in Spanish una respuesta? So it's a response. Okay?
So baptism is the response of a good conscience toward God. It's an answer of a good conscience. Well how do we get a good conscience toward God? By getting saved.
Because in order to have a right conscience with God, a good conscience toward God, we have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we have to have our sins washed away not with water but by the blood of Jesus.
Okay? We have to be saved by believing in Jesus. Then we have a good conscience. Because you remember, in the book of Hebrews, it talks about how people who offered animal sacrifices in the Old Testament, it could never take care of their conscience.
Right? Look up the word conscience in the book of Hebrews. You'll see that that didn't take care of their conscience. But that we, who have believed on Christ, right, that basically we have our conscience purged, purified from dead works to serve the living God.
And so the bottom line is that the answer of a good conscience means that first we get a good conscience toward God by believing that Jesus is the Son of God, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and then the answer to that, the response to that, the next thing that happens is baptism.
And baptism is not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, it's the answer of a good conscience toward God. The figure of baptism saves us by the resurrection of Christ because what saves us? The resurrection.
Okay? And look, baptism is a figure. It's symbolic. It's not real. It's just symbolic. It's sort of like this wedding ring right here, okay? This is a figure of marriage. This symbolizes marriage. If I take this off, I'm still married. If I put it on you, you don't suddenly become married to my wife.
Right? That's not the way things work. Right? I could wear this, not wear this. All this is, is a picture. And is it to show me that I'm married or is it to show other people I'm married?
Other people. I don't just, I'm not just going through my life and then I look down like, whoa, that's right, I'm married, I've got to get home to my family. Right? I already know I'm married. I don't need this to tell me that I'm married, it's more to show other people that I'm married.
It's just a convenient way in our society to identify who is married and who is not married. It's just something that we do as a tradition. Here's the thing. Baptism is kind of like that in the sense that it's figurative. You could be saved without being baptized. You could be baptized without being saved.
When is the best time to put on the wedding ring? The most ideal time would be like right after you get married. Right? I now pronounce you man and wife, you're married, right? And then it's like, boom. You know, you're basically putting it on at the same time, right then and there, same time you're getting married is the same time you're putting on the ring. Right?
But when I got married, you know, we did not have rings when we got married, so we ended up getting our rings like a few weeks later. Does that mean we weren't really married until we got, you know, we could have never gotten rings and we'd still be married. You could never get baptized and still be saved.
But ideally you should get baptized when you get saved, right? Or just ASAP after getting saved, you get baptized. And here's the thing about that is that if I would have put on a ring before I was married, it would have been meaningless. It would have been a facade. It would have been just a joke even, right? It'd be being silly to go around wearing a wedding ring and you're not even married. It'd be like, you know, you're almost making a mockery of the institution.
And so obviously you shouldn't get baptized before you're saved. And if you do, it's meaningless. So a lot of people, you'll say to them, hey, now that you're saved, you need to get baptized. And they just got saved five minutes ago and they're like, oh, I've already been baptized.
No, you got wet. You took a bath. You went swimming. But you haven't been baptized. You could get baptized ten different times in ten different churches if you weren't saved. It's meaningless. So you say, well, how many times do I need to get baptized? You need to get baptized one time after you're saved.
So it doesn't matter if you've been baptized zero times before that or a thousand times before that. You need one after you're saved. And when I say need, I don't mean need to go to heaven. Because you don't need it to go to heaven. You need it to fulfill all righteousness.
You need it to be well pleasing to the Father. You need it to obey the Lord. That's it. So that's a verse that people will misunderstand. But if you actually slow down and read it carefully, it's actually teaching the opposite of what they're saying.
Go, if you would, to Acts 22, verse 16. This is another one that people will use. Acts chapter 22, verse 16. And this is the apostle Paul. And he's telling the story about when he got saved and he's giving his testimony because of the fact that the Jews are super offended by the apostle Paul.
And so the apostle Paul is trying to show them, hey, I'm a lot like you guys. I was raised like you guys. And in fact, not only was I following the Jewish religion, but I also thought that Christianity was bad and was persecuting Christianity and thought it was bad.
And then he explains in the story how he's on the road to Damascus actually trying to get Christians arrested. He's actually trying to persecute Christians. And of course, the Lord Jesus Christ appears to him on the road to Damascus.
A lot of people claim that he got saved on the road to Damascus. But in reality, that's not what we see. What we see is that on the road to Damascus, he is told by Jesus Christ to go find a man in Damascus named Ananias and he will tell you what you need to do.
And this is not the only time that we see this pattern because also Cornelius is told something similar. An angel of the Lord appears to Cornelius and tells Cornelius you need to go talk to Simon Peter and he will tell you what to do.
And then Cornelius goes and talks to Simon Peter and he ends up getting saved because Peter preached the gospel to him. What you have to understand is that a human instrument is what God uses to get someone saved.
Right? God isn't just showing up to people in their dreams and sending angels door to door. Hey, it'd be great if he did. I mean, I would love it if everybody in Phoenix were having all these dreams where they're getting saved and they sleep.
That'd be great. Everybody's just getting saved in their sleep, having a dream. Christ appears to them, slaps them around a little and they get saved. Hey, that sounds great.
Hey, wouldn't it be great if all of God's angels were just knocking doors, just knocking doors all throughout Phoenix, just thousands and thousands of angels of God today, Sunday afternoon, knocking doors, winning people to Christ.
But no, that's not what the Bible says. The Bible says that God has committed unto us the ministry of reconciliation. What does committed mean? It means that he has entrusted it to us. He is relying on us to get the job done.
And if our gospel be hid, it's hidden to them that are lost. If we don't go, they don't hear. If our gospel is hid, it's hid to them that are lost. So don't hide it under a bushel, right?
We've got to preach the gospel because we have been entrusted with the responsibility of getting people saved, of bringing the gospel. The angels aren't going to do it.
And Jesus himself, when he was on this earth as a human being, yes, he did actually evangelize himself, right? Jesus sent the apostles out evangelizing, but he also evangelized himself while he was physically on this earth living his human life.
But after he ascended up into heaven, it's on us now. He's not doing it anymore. Because remember, Jesus said, I'm the light of the world.
But you know what else he said? He said, as long as I'm in the world, I'm the light of the world. And then when he was about ready to leave this world, he said, you're the light of the world, right? As the Father has sent me, so send I you.
And so we are the ones who do the evangelizing now that Christ has ascended up. He did it while he was on this earth, but now we're the ones who do it. It's humans.
So therefore, could people have a dream or a vision or be visited by an angel that would lead them to salvation? Absolutely. But that angel or vision or dream is going to point them to a person who's going to win them to Christ, right?
So look, you know, there are stories out there. And sometimes you never know which of these stories are true or not true, you know, but at the end of the day, whatever, it doesn't really matter.
The point is, let's say somebody says, oh, I had this dream and I and, you know, I was supposed to go, you know, walk to this other village and then I went to that other village and then I got there and this Christian missionary evangelized me and I got saved.
I mean, there's no reason why I would doubt that. Maybe that's true. Why not? Because God, I do believe that when we're praying and asking God to direct us and lead us as we go out evangelizing, God's going to lead us across people that are ready to get saved, people that are receptive.
You know, God goes before us and sets up these divine appointments for us. And so that's why we need to get out there and fulfill that calling and go out and preach the gospel.
And so here's the thing. I believe that, yeah, let's have a missions trip lined up a few weeks from now and I'm going somewhere, you know, God could already be working in people's hearts and minds so that they'll be in the right place at the right time so that I can preach to them.
But at the end of the day, a person has to preach to them the gospel. And the Bible says, who is Apollos? Who is Cephas? Who is Paul? But ministers by whom he believed, even as the Lord gave to every man.
Right? Everybody's got those ministers by whom they believe. People that taught them the gospel, people that preached them the gospel. With the apostle Paul, that's Ananias.
Okay. With Peter, excuse me, with Cornelius, that's Simon Peter, right? That was the guy that God used ultimately to give him the gospel.
And so here in Acts 22 16, Ananias is in the process of preaching the gospel to Paul. So Paul, he's on the road to Damascus. He didn't get saved on the road to Damascus, but basically he got a vision from Christ telling him to go talk to Ananias.
And then he's struck with blindness and he's actually blind for the next three days. Now, here's the thing. Blindness symbolizes not salvation, but a lack of salvation in this story.
You know, the fact he's still blind, like he still hasn't really seen what he needs to see. Ananias is the one who is actually going to open his eyes.
So Ananias preaches to him the gospel and in the process of preaching to him the gospel, in verse 16, he says, And now why terriest thou? Terri means to hesitate. Why are you hesitating?
Arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. Now here's the issue, is that it's not be baptized washing away your sins.
It's wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord, right? Because here's the thing, you could take the washing away your sins and you could attach it to the baptism or you could attach it to the calling on the name of the Lord.
You say, well, which one's right? Well, stop and think about this, okay? Baptism is being dunked under water, which reminds you of what? Taking a bath, right?
You get in the water, you go underwater. Historically, why have people jumped into bodies of water or gone underwater in bodies of water? Why have people historically dunked someone underwater? To get clean. Does everybody understand?
So it's a picture though, and see, the problem here is people taking these two literally, okay? Baptism is not literally salvation, but baptism is a picture of salvation.
Baptism is not literal burial. It's a picture of burial. It's not literal resurrection. It's a picture of resurrection. And so the idea here is that the reason that, oh, get baptized, washing away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord, is all mentioned in the same breath is because we have the washing away your sins here and on one side of this participle phrase, washing away your sins.
On one side, you have the symbol, and on one side, you have what actually gets it done. Because otherwise, you just say, well, just, you know, wash away, get baptized and wash away your sins, period. That's not what it says. It says wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.
And another way that you could say this is wash away your sins by calling on the name of the Lord. So getting baptized is the picture of washing away your sins, and calling upon the name of the Lord is going to bring about the reality of washing away your sins.
So that's why it is written this way. That's why it is said that way. And so, no, baptism doesn't wash away your sins. Calling on the name of the Lord is what wash away your sins because calling upon the name of the Lord is salvation, right?
The Bible says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Few verses later, it says, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
It says the same thing in Acts chapter 2, I believe it's verse 23. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Okay.
And so it is not the literal washing away of our sins. It is not the putting away of the filth of the flesh. It's symbolic of that, right? That's why water is chosen. That's why we're dunked under water because it's a picture of getting clean, right?
Because, you know, it's a picture of salvation because before we were saved, we're dead and trespasses and sins. When we come up out of that water, it's a picture of the fact that when we believed on Jesus, we're spiritually resurrected.
Before we were saved, we have a dirty, filthy garment of all of our sins that we're carrying around with us. And then once we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we've washed our robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb, right?
And we've got a clean garment now and we're saved. But the way that we get there is not by physically getting dunked under water. It is rather by calling upon the name of the Lord that we get there, which is what this verse is actually saying.
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 1 quickly. 1 Corinthians chapter number 1. And so just to review, we said, number 1, baptism is by immersion. Jesus, when he was baptized, came up out of the water.
Number 2, we said, baptism is in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. All three parties were present and active at Christ baptism, right? Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are all involved in that process.
And then number 3, we said, baptism does not save us or wash away our sins. How do I know that? Because Jesus had no sins and Jesus did not need salvation. He is the Savior.
And so we are following his righteous example by being baptized. And baptism is the answer of a good conscience toward God, so we should get baptized after we get saved.
That's why when the eunuch said, what's stopping me from being baptized? He said, well, you've got to believe. And that's what's stopping every baby and toddler from getting baptized, too, is that they have not yet believed on Christ with all their heart.
They're not ready to get baptized. It's that simple. And you know, I'm just glad that I remember getting baptized. I'm glad it's not just some picture I have to look at of, oh yeah, you were a baby and we, you know, dripped some water in your face or something.
We did a little Chinese water torture on you for a minute. But 1 Corinthians, chapter number 1, we said, baptism doesn't save you. Baptism is not essential to the gospel. The gospel isn't, get baptized and thou shalt be saved.
Okay, look what the Bible says in verse 14. I thank God that I baptized none of you. This is what the apostle Paul is saying. Now, he says, I didn't baptize any of you. Well, you know, except Crispus and Gaius.
Lest any should say that I baptized in my own name. And I, well, okay, I baptized also the household of Stephanus. But besides, I know not whether I baptized any of you. There might be a few more, but I don't think so.
Okay, Crispus, yeah, Gaius, okay, yeah, household of Stephanus, okay, yeah, okay. But I'm pretty sure that's it. But here's the point that he's making is, I wasn't baptizing people in my own name. You weren't baptized in the name of Paul, right?
Don't get so hung up on who baptized you. It doesn't matter who baptized you. In fact, I'm thankful I didn't baptize people because then people claim that I baptized in my own name or they think it was important to get baptized by Paul or Peter or somebody special.
In reality, other people were doing the baptism. Look what the Bible says in verse 17. For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
Now, if baptism is salvation, if baptism is necessary for salvation, if baptism is part of the gospel, then how could the Apostle Paul say, Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel?
Sounds to me like it's totally possible to preach the gospel without baptizing anyone. So I could go around preaching the gospel, winning people to Christ, and not baptize anybody.
And the Apostle Paul said, Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. You know, he in general left the baptism to other people. Other people did the baptizing, not him.
And by the way, Jesus didn't baptize anyone. Jesus baptized no one, Jesus' apostles. He delegated the baptisms to the apostles. And again, why? Why did Jesus not baptize? Why did he have his apostles do the baptizing?
Probably because he didn't want people getting hung up on, oh yeah, well, I got baptized by Jesus. And we do see this mentality even today where people think it's cool to be baptized by a certain person or a certain place.
Like, we'll have people that have already, and look, if you did this, I'm not mocking you or upset at you, but you'll have people that are already saved and baptized, and then they go visit Israel, and they just get baptized again, just to do it in, you know, Israel, in the Jordan River, exactly where Jesus did it.
And it's like, if you did that, you know, okay, I was silly of you, I'm not mocking you or, you know, I get it, but guess what? You're being a little superstitious and goofy to do something like that.
You know, because you've already been saved. But when we were there, we just saw so many people getting baptized. And it's like, did these people really just happen to get saved today?
You know, nah, these people have been saved for a long time. So either one of two things is happening. Either A, they're getting baptized again, I'll call it a vanity baptism, like a vanity license plate, you know, or something.
It's like a vanity baptism, just like, hey, it's a photo op, I'm in the Jordan River getting baptized, you know. So it's either A, a vanity baptism, because they've already been baptized and didn't need it.
Or B, they're like, oh, well, I'm saved now, but I'm just going to wait until I get to Israel to do the baptism, because that's a cooler venue for my baptism to take place.
And here's the thing about that. The Bible says, go to now ye that say today or tomorrow we shall live and do this or that, whereas ye know not what shall be on tomorrow, for what is your life?
It is even a vapor that appeared for a little time and then vanished at the way. For that we ought to say, if the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that.
But now ye rejoice in your boastings, all such rejoicing is evil. Therefore, to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
So the Bible says we shouldn't boast about what we're going to do tomorrow. If we know to do good today, we need to do it today.
So the Bible says to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. And the context of that is saying, oh, I'll do it next year, I'll do it later, I got the Holy, oh, man, you know, I'm going to do all this stuff down the road.
It's like, well, no, no, no, if you know to do good, do it today. Don't put it off. And so I would like to challenge you, if you're here today and you're saved, if you know for sure you're going to heaven, Christ is your savior, and you have not been baptized,
you want to know when you should get baptized? Today. Today. Go if you would to Acts chapter 16. Go to Acts chapter 16. You should be baptized today.
You say, well, no, because I really want my Aunt Plutie to be there, and, you know, I really want all my friends to be there, I want to wear a special dress and have a special hairdo, you know, I think you're kind of missing the point here.
Baptism is not some kind of a vanity, little fun, little thing that we do. It's just a basic step of obedience that we do. We just get dunked under water, you know, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and, you know, it should be done immediately after salvation.
You know, the ideal time, at the same time we're getting saved, we're also then turning around and getting baptized. Now, obviously, this is not often going to happen, it's not often going to be practical, but that, you know, that's a best case scenario, getting baptized ASAP.
Again, like I said, there were three years between me getting saved and baptized, and I totally understand that, I get that. I'm not faulting my parents for that at all because of the fact that, you know, it's a little kid, and so you're not sure how much a little kid really grasps when they say they understand something, you know,
apparently they just didn't trust me, you know, whatever. But that's fine, I get it. And I do think it is good to be, you know, we don't want to just be baptizing our kids 20 times or something, so it's good to probably be pretty confident about it.
But, you know, the average person who's a teenager, an adult, and knows what's up, once you get saved, you should get baptized right away.
So here, in Acts chapter 16, we have an example of a guy getting baptized in the middle of the night. So he's not waiting until a special day, special church service, you know, special holiday, take me to the Jordan River, you know, let me have my friends and family there.
It says in Acts chapter 16 verse 30,
Straight way means, immediately, notice, same hour of the night. If you read the context, it's literally midnight.
So he gets saved shortly after midnight, maybe one in the morning, and he gets baptized at one in the morning, okay.
And then it says in verse 34,
Now, of course, the baby baptizers will claim this is an example of infant baptism. Did you guys see any babies in these verses?
You all seen any babies in these parts? I don't see any babies in this verse. No babies, zero babies detected.
But they say, whoa, it's a household, so I'm sure the household included babies. Okay, let me ask this, who here right now, and this is one of the most baby-filled churches in America,
we probably have more babies per capita than almost any church in America, okay.
Put up your hand if you live in a household with no babies in it. Put up your hand if you live in a, look around.
Yeah, even in the babiest baby church in America, you got just scores and scores of hands of people, probably more than a hundred people who live in a house with no babies in it.
But I'm supposed to just say, whoa, it's a household, ergo, there must have been babies in it. Wrong answer. No.
If God wanted there to be a baby, he would have mentioned they even baptized a baby. He would have told us that.
But there's no verse like that in the whole Bible. How hard would it be for God to say he's baptized and his house, even the babies?
Doesn't say it. So quit basing what you believe on your little inferences and your little logic and your little, no, no, no, let's just go by what the Bible actually says, okay.
They got baptized the same hour of the night. So I remember when I was in Bible college, the church was having a big push for baptisms.
And they were trying to break the church's record for baptisms in a single year in the year 2005.
And so I was there in 2005. And so they, you know, they were really pushing back. They wanted us to really work on trying to get our converts to get baptized.
So, you know, I've always, everywhere I went, I always tried to be the best team player that I could be. Every time I was in church, I tried to really participate in the program at the church.
So I got all excited about this. Okay, you know, we're going for baptisms in 2005. Let's go.
And so partway through the year, the pastor got up and he announced, he said, we are now instituting 24-hour baptisms.
Okay, because this is a huge church, you know, 5,000-seat auditorium, big church, First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana.
And they're like, okay, we're instituting a thing where people can get baptized 24 hours a day.
We're always going to have a deacon on call because the church had like 115 deacons or something.
And they said, we're going to have a deacon on call. And this was announced on a Wednesday night service.
He said, we're going to have a deacon on call. So different deacons will take turns like leaving their phone on.
And if you come here, they're like, you can come here any time of day, Monday, Tuesday, afternoon, morning, evening.
Any time you can bring your convert to get baptized, any time, we'll have the deacon baptize him.
And they were kind of just using hyperbole by saying, even in the middle of the night, you could even bring somebody to get baptized in the middle of the night.
But I think they didn't really think anybody was actually going to do it. But this is what they said.
They said, even in the middle of the night. So the next day, the next day, Thursday, I was working with a guy and we were working all night.
So we were running wires in a school. We were doing the alarm system because I worked with low voltage electrical.
So we're running these wires and I'm preaching to this guy while we're working.
You know, we're pulling wires and talking and working and talking and working.
And I'm preaching to this guy and the guy gets saved. So then I'm thinking, like, we're going to use that 24 hour baptism.
So we were only like, because we're only like 10 minutes from the church where we were working.
So I'm telling this guy, I'm like, hey, you know, now that you're saved, you got to get baptized.
And I'm like, and I showed him, I took him to Act 16 and said, this guy got baptized in the middle of the night at the same hour.
See, I said like midnight, same hour, got baptized. I'm like, you should get baptized right now.
And he's like, really? Whoa. So I'm like, he's like, I can get baptized now? I'm like, yeah.
I'm like, I'm like, if we go to the church right now, somebody will be at the church and will baptize you at our church.
I said, our church will baptize you anytime, just like the Bible says. And so the guy's like, let's go.
So we drive, we drive over there and it's all, the building's all dark and closed and everything.
So I'm, I'm banging on the door. And remember the pastor just announces the day before.
So this is like brand new. And the security guard comes to the door like, can I help you?
And I said, yeah, you know, I'm here to get my convert baptized. You know, you heard the pastor last night, you know,
he said there's a deacon to call, give him a call. So he's kind of like, okay, yeah, all right.
You know, so he went and he found the guy's number, some poor deacon.
It's like middle aged dude comes over and he's all tired and everything.
He shows up at like two in the morning. It was like literally two or three in the morning.
He shows up and it's like, all right, let's get you dressed and everything.
And I baptized, I didn't baptize him, but I, you know, brought him in and the deacon came and the deacon baptized him at the same hour.
And of course, the pastor loved it. Like he got up on Sunday morning.
He's like, somebody already used the 24 hour back. He's like, it's already happening.
He's like, I got some Wednesday night. Somebody was out here Thursday night getting baptized at two in the morning, you know.
So they were they were super stoked about it. Now, obviously, that was a little bit extreme of a situation.
But hey, you know, I didn't want it to go to waste. But the point is, though, maybe that's a little extreme.
But the point is, we do have a biblical example of somebody being baptized in the middle of the night.
And you know what that tells me? That tells me, hey, we don't need to send out invitations and bring all your friends and family and make a big production about it.
It's more important about just about being obedient now, just getting baptized, just getting it taken care of and getting baptized.
Also, it must not be some huge, giant pomp and circumstance if you can baptize three thousand people in one day.
Sounds like it's just a quick little boom and you're done.
And it may not seem like a big deal, but you know what? It's a big deal to obey God, even if it's just a simple thing.
It's easy. And look, getting baptized is super easy. But here's the thing about that. The Christian life is hard.
But here's the thing. Baptism is just a one little easy step of obedience to get you started in the right direction.
You know, it's like you take that first step and then you take a second step and you take a third step.
It's just a way to easily get started doing the right thing by getting baptized.
So who needs to be baptized? You know, if you are saved this morning and you have not been baptized after you were saved, you need to get baptized.
OK, if you were not baptized by immersion, you just weren't baptized because baptism is only by immersion.
So you need to get baptized. OK. And if you were not baptized, the name of the father, son, the Holy Ghost.
But I don't think that's going to apply to anybody. I don't think anybody was in like a holy roller, Jesus only church.
But here's the thing. You know, there are other people out there that have all these other things of like, oh, well, you've got to be baptized in a Baptist church or you've got to be baptized by this kind of person.
You know, our church follows the biblical example of all we ever see in scripture.
We only see baptisms taking place by like ordained preachers, like you see evangelists, deacons, you know, apostles, people like that are the ones doing the baptism.
So that's what we practice at our church. We have the the baptisms only done by ordained preachers.
But we can't really be dogmatic about that because there's no Bible verse that says that it has to be that way.
It's more of an inference from just what we see in scripture. So that's what we practice.
But look, if you were dunked underwater, I don't care who dunked you underwater.
If it was in the name of the father, son, the Holy Ghost after you were saved, I believe that your baptism is legitimate.
And I do not believe that you need to be re baptized. I think your baptism is legitimate.
As long as you were dunked underwater in the name of the father, son, Holy Ghost after salvation, I believe your baptism is legitimate.
But that being said, whenever somebody comes to me and just says, well, I want to get re baptized because I disagree with you, Pastor, I think that my baptism was sus because of this bozo that baptized me.
You know, I'll you know, I'll baptize you if that's how you feel. If you're not comfortable with your baptism, I'll baptize you.
But at the end of the day, I believe that your baptism is already legitimate.
But if you're here today and you're saved but not baptized, you should get baptized literally today because today, just like every single Sunday morning, we set up the baptistry every single Sunday morning whether we need it or not.
Because we want to be able to baptize people at any opportunity. So if that's you, then today we have the change of clothes, we have the towels.
Hey, we even heated the water for you. Even though we live in Arizona and it's not that cold, we heated up the water.
We got everything you need. And so if you want to take care of that, come see me after the service or come see Brother Segura after the service or come see Brother Ramon Ventura after the service.
And we'll get you set up with a change of clothes. We'll get you baptized right now. And it's not even 2 a.m. and we'll still get you baptized right now.
Let's bow your heads in a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord. We thank you so much for salvation through Christ.
And we thank you so much for the Bible's teaching on baptism. It's such a beautiful picture of salvation. It's a beautiful picture of the resurrection.
And Lord God, I pray that if there's anybody here that has not been baptized, that they would get baptized today.
And Lord, if there's anyone here who's not saved, then I pray that they would believe on Christ and call upon His name. And it's in His name we pray. Amen.
Amen.
Amen. All right, ladies and gentlemen, take your hymnals, please. Go to hymn 248, hymn number 248.
Now I belong to Jesus. Hymn number 248 begins, Jesus my Lord will love me forever.
Hymn number 248, lift your voice together on that first.
Jesus my Lord will love me forever. From Him no power of evil can sever.
He gave His life to ransom my soul. Now I belong to Him.
Now I belong to Jesus. Jesus belongs to me.
Not for the years of time alone, but for eternity.
Once I was lost in sin's degradation, Jesus came down to bring me salvation.
Lifting me up from sorrow and shame, now I belong to Him.
Now I belong to Jesus. Jesus belongs to me.
Not for the years of time alone, but for eternity.
Joy floods my soul for Jesus has saved me, freed me from sin that long had enslaved me.
His precious blood He gave to redeem, now I belong to Him.
Now I belong to Jesus. Jesus belongs to me.
Not for the years of time alone, but for eternity.
Is that good singing this morning? We are just messing up.
We are just messing up.