All right, so I've been preaching about the fundamentals of the faith, and so I've already
preached a sermon about what it takes to be saved, what we believe about salvation, which
we obviously believe that all it takes to be saved is to have faith in Jesus Christ.
And last week I preached about eternal security of the believer, and this week the fundamental
of the faith that I'm going to preach about is baptism.
So baptism, some people are confused about baptism, I hope nobody in this church is confused
about it, but that's what I'm going to preach about.
So let's focus on the verses I'm going to focus on for the sermon.
Look at Romans 6 verse 3, the Bible says, 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.
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 free from sin.
Let's pray.
Lord, we thank you so much for the fundamental doctrines of the faith, Lord.
I pray, Lord, that you'd help me to convey this great truth in the Bible, and Lord, that
our church would be, Lord, that our foundation would be upon your words, Lord, upon the Lord
Jesus Christ.
And I pray, Lord, you'd help me to preach this sermon, and Lord, that you fill me with
boldness in the spirit of God, in Jesus' name, amen.
And part of the theme of this series that I've been preaching is from Psalm 11, 3, it
says, if the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?
And that's Psalm 11, verse 3.
And what is the answer to that question?
If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?
They can't do anything.
And so it's very important that we preach through the foundations of our faith.
Now when we first started, I went through and did like four sermons about what our church
believes like kind of in a nutshell.
I tried to cover as much as I could in each sermon, but a lot of that stuff needs to be
full-length sermons.
So that's why I've decided to do that.
And we have a lot of new people in our church, newly saved people.
And I want to make sure that we're going through and teaching the foundational truths of the
Bible so that we can know what we're supposed to be doing.
We can know, hey, I want everybody in this church to know what we believe about salvation,
baptism, eternal security, you know, why we believe the King James Bible is the word of
God and all the other ones are perversions.
There's several sermons going to be coming for this series, but today I'm going to focus
on baptism.
And we need to understand that Satan is out to destroy the foundational truths of the
Bible.
He has been, he always has been.
And that's why we have years called the dark, the dark ages where, you know, if you, if
you baptize outside of what the Roman Catholic church told you to baptize, they would kill
you.
They would literally kill you for that.
And they found new and wicked ways to kill people.
Also, it wasn't just drowning.
It wasn't just hanging.
It was, wasn't just burning them with fire.
That was one of their favorite things to do.
But they, they came up with all, there's this thing called the inquisition.
Have you ever heard of the inquisition?
The inquisition, you know, they found new and, you know, they imagined these, these
wicked things to kill people and torture them.
And so our heritage as Baptist is that we've never backed down from the truth about baptism.
Okay.
Most religions teach about baptisms.
Most Christians so-called believe that baptism is part of their salvation.
How many times do you go to a door?
I mean, most of the time people say they're going to heaven because of their good works,
right?
Or because they keep the 10 commandments or a good person, whatever.
But a lot of people say this, they say, well, I was baptized in blank, you know, whatever
year.
And then we, you know, when you try to pin them down, then they're like, oh, well, I
don't really believe that.
Well, why did you say that?
You know, the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh, right?
So baptism is a foundational doctrine of the Christian faith and is one of the two ordinances
that Christians are to observe.
So and like I said, Christians have literally been murdered by the thousands over the doctrine
of baptism.
And look, if people are murdered over this doctrine, then it must be pretty important.
If the devil hates that doctrine so much, it must be an important doctrine, right?
It's an important symbolic meaning for our Christianity.
Really the reason why the devil hates it so much is because he wants to teach that baptism
saves you.
He wants you to believe that.
He wants people to believe that baptism saves them.
So and the Bible says that all who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
Do you think it would have been easy for people to just pretend and to hide that doctrine
that they believe?
Of course, they could have baptized in secret, but they didn't.
And we're supposed to do things openly.
It is a public showing of what you believe in your heart, the change that's been made
in you.
And even though you might not, it's not going to stop you from sinning to be baptized, okay?
But it is a picture of you stopping and not letting sin reign in your members, amen?
So again, there was a time when the Roman Catholics reigned supreme in this world.
And they murdered Christians, they killed Christians over this doctrine, and obviously
they killed Christians over faith alone.
They killed Christians for all different kinds of reasons, but that was a major heresy to
them that we believe in believer's baptism.
At this church, we believe that you have to actually believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
before you get baptized, not after.
And so any baptism that you had outside of your faith does not count.
It's null and void.
So it's like you took a bath.
Congratulations, you took a bath.
So that's really what it is, and it might seem, some people have a real hard time believing
that you have to be rebaptized.
But you know what?
You do have to be rebaptized if you were baptized by some other faith or by some heretic, okay?
That's what I believe, and a lot of people don't believe that, and that's fine.
You can not believe that all you want, but you better show me some evidence.
Show me some places in the Bible where heretics baptized people, and that was just okay.
You don't see that example in the scriptures.
You don't see laymen in the church baptizing people, okay?
So show me the verse where a person just, and there's nothing wrong with being a regular
church member, I'm just saying that show me a verse where someone other than an ordained
preacher of the gospel was baptizing people.
Come show it to me after church, I'd be happy to see that, but you'll be looking for a long
time because it's not in there.
And then, I'm kind of getting ahead of myself, but I'll get into that a little bit later
into the sermon.
So we believe in believer's baptism at this church, and that means you have to be saved
before you get baptized.
So an ordinance, I mentioned two ordinances that we observe at this church.
Most Baptists believe that there's two ordinances that you observe.
One of those things is baptism, the other one is what?
The Lord's Supper, okay?
And in the Old Testament, there were many ordinances.
I'm not talking about law ordinances, like, you know, because there's ordinances like
nobody is allowed to have a gun in town or something like that, I'm not talking about
that kind of ordinance.
I'm talking about a religious ordinance, okay?
So in the Old Testament, there were many ordinances to represent the Lord Jesus Christ, right?
Such as what?
Passover.
Passover, okay, that's the first thing that I think of too, Passover.
So they were to observe Passover every year, why?
Because it represented the blood of Christ covering all your sins, you had to put the
blood on the doorpost, and you know, just like, and so that represents what?
You have to put the blood on the doorpost of your heart, you have to have the blood
of Christ just for you.
Every person has to have their own lamb, right?
So everybody had to have their own lamb.
Everybody was commanded to observe that Passover, right?
So and the same thing, was burnt offerings an ordinance?
Yeah, of course it was.
But it was something that pictured something else.
Okay, so an ordinance, a religious ordinance is something that pictures something else,
right?
So and they all picture Christ, right?
So the Sabbath, why did they have to keep the Sabbath in the Old Testament?
We don't have to keep it now.
Because the Sabbath has been fulfilled, Christ paid for all of our sins, and we have to
rest in Christ, and that's what saves us, is our resting in Christ, our resting from
our own works, and trusting in Christ's works to save us, right?
And so the Sabbath was an ordinance that they kept that pictured Christ.
Why do we not have to keep that ordinance anymore?
Because Christ has already come.
He's already done the work, all we have to do is put our faith in Him.
So many of these ordinances have been done away with, because Christ fulfilled them.
So I just kind of got this definition online, it says, an ordinance is a term for religious
rituals, especially baptism and communion, in certain Christian traditions such as Anabaptist
and all Baptist churches, churches of Christ groups, which of course, just take this for
what it is, and Pentecostal churches, depending on the denomination, such churches also practice
head covering and foot washing as ordinances, okay?
We don't do the head covering because the head covering is your hair, okay?
Anybody with two eyeballs and the Holy Spirit can see that, right?
And foot washing as an ordinance, Christ was showing an example that we should serve each
other like Christ served them, okay?
It wasn't like something that, you know, we have to sit down and everybody washes each
other's feet, okay?
So we believe in two ordinances at this church, baptism and the Lord's Supper, okay?
And that's what we believe here at this church.
So if you go over to Exodus chapter 12 verse 17, I'll show you some examples in the scriptures
of ordinances.
And so the Bible, you know, there is still, I'll prove that there's other ordinances in
the New Testament because, you know, the Bible says it.
So Exodus 12 verse 17, let's look at some Old Testament ones, Exodus 12, 17 says, And
ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread, for in this selfsame day have I brought your
armies out of the land of Egypt, therefore shall you observe this day and your generations
by an ordinance forever.
So that was an ordinance that they had to observe every year on the same day.
What was the, what was the month and date of the Passover, anybody know?
Guys in my class, Sean, anybody know?
Of what?
Abib, yep.
Correct.
All right.
Good job.
Sean, you're fired.
No, I'm just kidding.
Exodus 12 verse 43, you're already in Exodus 12, so just look at verse number 43, it says,
And the Lord said unto Moses and Aaron, This is an ordinance of the Passover, there shall
no stranger eat thereof.
And that, and we believe at this church that, and I'm not going to get into this deeply,
but we believe in this church that the Passover turned into the Lord's Supper, okay?
That's what we believe here, and so obviously Christ came, we don't have to have the, we
don't have to sacrifice the lamb anymore, he's already been sacrificed for us.
But Jesus did tell us that we're supposed to, you know, drink the fruit of the vine
and we're supposed to eat the unleavened bread in remembrance of him, okay?
And so we do it once a year, because why?
Because the Passover was done once a year.
Now if other churches, you know, have some different practice than that, then that's
their practice, we're an independent Baptist church, so we're going to keep the ordinances
as we believe them, okay?
So and then turn over one chapter to Exodus chapter 13, Exodus 13 verse number 10, Exodus
13 verse number 10 says, Thou shall therefore keep this ordinance in his season from year
to year.
So they're supposed to keep the ordinance from his season from year to year, and that
included the feast and all that kind of stuff.
So there was a lot of ordinances in the Old Testament they had to keep.
Numbers verse 18, 8, that'll be the last one I show you in the Old Testament.
Obviously there's many instances of that word and of ordinances that they were supposed
to keep, but Numbers 18, 8 says, And the Lord spake unto Aaron, Behold, I also have given
thee the charge of mine heave offerings, of all the hallowed things of the children
of Israel, unto thee have I given them by reason of the anointing into thy sons by an
ordinance forever.
So the priesthood was to Aaron, and the priesthood was, Aaron's family was supposed to be the
priest, and that was an ordinance to them forever, okay?
So obviously the priesthood's been done away with in Christ, and so he is the priest.
He is the high priest that we pray through.
When we pray to the Father, who do we pray through?
Jesus Christ.
Why?
Because he ever liveth to make intercession for us, right?
Because there's multiple examples where we pray in Jesus' name.
Who do we call upon for our salvation?
We call upon the Lord Jesus Christ, but when we pray, we should be praying to the Father
through the name of the Son.
And the Bible says that we're supposed to worship God in spirit and truth.
The days are coming when we should worship the Father in spirit and truth.
And so even in our prayers, we should have the truth behind it.
So when we pray to Jesus in Jesus' name, that's not really correct.
We're supposed to be praying to the Father through the name of the Son.
Anyway, turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 2, 1 Corinthians 11, verse 2, 1 Corinthians
11, verse 2.
Bible says in 1 Corinthians 11, 2, it says, Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember
me in all things, and keep the what?
Ordinances, as I delivered them to you.
Notice that that is plural.
It's not one ordinance, it's plural.
And so we do believe at this church that it's two ordinances, Lord's Supper and baptism.
So why do I believe baptism is an ordinance?
Well because it pictures or symbolizes something.
That's kind of what I'm trying to explain to you right now is that an ordinance in this
context is talking about, it's a symbolic thing that we do.
Now baptism doesn't save you, right?
So why do we do it?
Because it pictures something.
It pictures something.
I'll get into that in just a second.
But why do we do the Lord's Supper?
It symbolizes the fact that Jesus' body was broken for us and that the blood and the precious
blood that he spilt for us, and we're supposed to remember the fact that he did that for
us, right?
So those are ordinances.
Those are things that picture something.
Is there anything else you can think of in the New Testament that we're supposed to do?
I don't see anything in the New Testament that says that there are ordinances besides
those two things.
And let's see, so number one, that was kind of all introduction, but number one this morning,
what baptism is, what is baptism?
What is it?
It's a commandment of God.
And obviously we know that it's also, you know, you're being put into water, you're
being, you know, it's a symbolic thing that we're supposed to do.
But before I get to that, I just want to show you it's a commandment of God also.
Matthew 28, verse 19, turn to Matthew 28, verse 19.
And we've gone to these verses many times, but I want to explain to you what it is, what
we're supposed to do, what it symbolizes.
It's a commandment of God.
And you know what's the first commandment that we're supposed to do once we're saved.
Okay.
Matthew 28, verse 19 says, go ye therefore and teach all nations, what are we supposed
to teach them?
The gospel.
We're supposed to preach the gospel to them and get them saved.
And then it says, baptizing them.
Is that the second thing they're supposed to do?
Yeah.
Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.
And we're not supposed to say in this name is Jesus.
Okay.
We're supposed to baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
And if you say the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost, is that still correct?
It is.
All right.
So verse 20 says, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.
And so what did Jesus command us to do?
To teach all nations and baptize them, right?
So is that whatsoever he commanded us to do?
Amen.
It says, and lo, I'm with you always, even unto the end of the world.
Amen.
So Christ told us we need to go teach the nations, we need to baptize them in the name
of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost, and teach them to observe all things.
So we're supposed to teach them the commandments of God, right?
And so he's commanding them right here to do this.
And he's also commanding us to baptize.
And it also adds you to the church.
Turn to Acts chapter 2, verse 41.
Acts chapter 2, verse 41.
There's a lot of confusion about church membership, but it's really not that confusing.
If you're saved, you should be baptized.
Once you're baptized, you're added to the church.
What church are you added to?
The local New Testament church that you attend.
Now say you're baptized at some soul-wanting event.
Well, then you've got to attach yourself to a local congregation, and that makes you a
member of that church.
But you should be saved and baptized.
If you're baptized, are you really part of the church?
Well, you're not keeping God's commandment.
You might be going to church, but you're disobeying the command to be baptized.
Look at Acts 2, 41.
It says, Then they that gladly received his word were baptized.
In the book of Acts, you see people getting saved and baptized, saved and baptized, saved
and baptized.
You don't see people just not getting baptized.
You see them getting saved and baptized.
It's an emphasis in the book of Acts.
It's an emphasis in the New Testament to be baptized.
It says, In the same day there were added unto them about 3,000 souls.
So what added to what?
The church that was at Jerusalem.
And so 3,000 people, I mean, I want some church growth like that.
Y'all need to get busy and get some 3,000 saved and get them baptized and add them to
this church.
But so what does it say?
They're added unto them, about 3,000 souls.
So notice that they were baptized.
They gladly received God's word.
They were saved.
Then they got baptized.
And that means they're added to the church.
So when we baptize someone at this church, if they're saved and they get baptized here,
they're what?
Part of this church.
Okay.
Now you can move to another church.
That's okay.
But, you know, if you can't, you know, also you have to attend the church to be part of
the church, right?
The church is an assembly of believers.
It's not some mystical thing that, you know, there's a church in the Old Testament, there's
a church in the New Testament.
There's a congregation in the Old Testament, there's a congregation in the New Testament.
Jesus died for the congregation of believers that are all assembled together.
This building is not the church.
This building is a building where the church meets.
Amen?
And then baptism is also a picture or symbol of the death, burial, and resurrection of
the Lord Jesus Christ.
Turn back to Romans chapter 6 where we began, Romans chapter 6.
Now obviously I could preach a really long sermon about this, but I don't want to do
that today.
But I do want people to understand what baptism is, what it's not, all that good stuff.
And that it's a foundational doctrine that we believe.
Acts or, you're in Romans chapter 6, look at verse 4, it says, Therefore we are buried
with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the
glory of the Father, even so also should we, excuse me, even so we also should walk in
newness of life.
So when I baptize someone, I baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy
Ghost, and then I say raised to walk in newness of life.
That's where you get that from.
That's where we get what we say.
You could also say, look at verse 5, it says, For if we have been planted together in the
likeness of his death, we should also be in the, we should be also in the likeness of
his resurrection.
So some people I've heard say when they baptize someone, they say raised in the likeness of
his resurrection.
I don't think that that's wrong to say that.
I don't think that's wrong at all.
Really the Bible just says we're supposed to baptize in the name of the Father, Son,
and the Holy Ghost.
You don't really have to say all the extra stuff.
Okay.
We just do that for, you know, because it sounds cool, I guess, I don't know.
But it's biblical.
It's biblical to say either one, isn't it?
Because that's where we get it from, that even we should, we should walk in newness
of life.
And so the baptism is a picture of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, because
it says like as Christ, okay, it's not we're, it's not a real thing.
It's a picture.
It's something that we're doing.
When we get baptized, you go down into the water, you come up out of the water, okay.
It pictures the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.
And it says that, it's in verse five, it says we're planted together in the likeness of
his death.
We're not being killed, right?
We're being, it's in the likeness of his death.
It's a symbolic thing that we do.
In Colossians 2 12, it says, buried with him in baptism, wherein also you're risen with
him through the faith of the operation of God who hath raised him from the dead.
So baptism is a picture of the, of the death, burial, and resurrection, because it's in
the likeness of his death, and it's like as Christ was raised from the dead.
So when we get baptized, it's symbolic, okay.
And that is an ordinance, all right.
And it also pictures our new life in Christ.
It pictures our new life in Christ.
Look again at Romans 6 4, and let's focus on a couple different things that it says.
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.
So that symbolic thing, also we should realize this, that God wants us to walk in newness
of life.
Now we preach that we're not fruit inspectors here.
That people don't do any works and they just believe in Christ, they're saved, I get that.
But should we walk in newness of life?
Of course we should.
Should we do good works?
Of course we should.
But we should also, once we're baptized, it's a symbol that we're going to walk in newness
of life.
It's not just, hey, I'm going to get baptized now, I'm never going to come to church again.
That's stupid.
That's not what it symbolizes, the fact that you're being serious about the fact that you
were saved and that you're identifying with Christ's death, burial, and resurrection.
So it also says in verse 5, for we have been planted together in the likeness of his death,
we shall also be also in the likeness of his resurrection.
So just like Christ rose from the dead and he's waiting to come back and he's going to
give us new bodies, we're going to rise from the dead someday.
We're all alive right now, but someday we're all going to be dead unless Jesus comes before
we die, right?
And then we'll be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye.
But we're also to be in the likeness of his resurrection.
It pictures our resurrection into eternal life also.
Because when Jesus died, he literally died.
He died, his soul went to hell for three days and three nights, and then he rose again from
the dead.
Is Jesus alive forevermore?
Yes.
And so when we rise, it pictures our rising also forevermore.
So number two, what baptism is not, what baptism is not.
Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 11 again, 1 Corinthians chapter 11, yeah, 1st Corinthians
chapter 1, not again, for the first time, 1 Corinthians chapter 1, excuse me, 1 Corinthians
chapter 1, verse number 11, okay?
Verse number 11 says, For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which
are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.
Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas,
and I of Christ.
Is 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, but Crispus and Gaius, lest any of you should
say that I had baptized in mine own name.
And I baptized also the house of Stephanas, besides I know not whether I baptized any
other.
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.
So Paul's main job was to do what?
To baptize people, or not to baptize people, but to preach the gospel, excuse me.
So Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, all right?
So let me ask you this, if baptism is needed for salvation, was Paul doing a very good
job?
No.
I stole this from brother Shawn, and I'm just going to give him credit for it now, because
it's true.
You can use this on anybody that believes that salvation comes through baptism, because
most people agree that if you say, hey, was Paul a good, did he get people, a lot of people
saved?
Oh yeah, yeah.
Well then, if baptism is part of your salvation, then Paul wasn't doing a very good job, right?
So that's just the truth.
So baptism is not part of salvation, because preaching the gospel is the power of God unto
salvation.
It's not baptizing people.
Baptism is an important doctrine, but it's not part of your salvation.
So what baptism is not, it's not your salvation.
Turn to John chapter four, and if you really want to, you know, so Jesus is the greatest
soul winner of all time, was he not?
We're saved through the Lord Jesus Christ, through the sacrifice that he made, and he
also saved many people while he was on the surf, thousands and thousands of people.
But the Bible says that we do greater works than him.
That's pretty crazy to say that, right?
That's because we can get more people saved, because his ministry was three and a half
years.
His life was 33 years, but with all of us combined, all the soul winning we can do,
we can get more people saved in our lifetime, or the lifetime of this church, through just
going every week and doing what we're supposed to be doing.
We can do greater works.
But it says in John chapter four verse one, it says, when therefore the Lord knew how
the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, but look
at verse two, it says, though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples.
So did Jesus baptize anybody?
No, he didn't.
So if baptism is part of your salvation, then how do you explain that Jesus never baptized
anybody?
You know what I'm saying?
So baptism is not part of your salvation, because the greatest soul winner and our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ didn't baptize anybody.
And so what is baptism not?
It's not salvation, because apparently Jesus wasn't getting anybody saved, according to
their stupid works, salvation, heresy, right?
Turn to Mark 16 verse 15.
This is one that people like to use to twist and say that baptism is part of salvation.
Because really, if you think about it, if Jesus didn't baptize anybody, then how are
those people saved by something else?
Salvation is not of works.
Getting into that baptismal right there is work.
You have to walk up the stairs, you have to get in, you have to sit down, and then you
have to go through the motions.
That's not faith.
Faith is faith.
Works are works.
They're totally separate when it comes to salvation.
Mark 16, 15 says, and he said unto them, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel
to every creature.
So we're supposed to go and preach the gospel.
It says in verse 16, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.
People go, see?
See, you got to be baptized to be saved.
Well read the rest of it, though.
That's not the end of the sentence.
It says, but he that believeth not shall be damned.
Doesn't say he that believeth not and is not baptized, does it?
So it clarifies there for you right there.
But people that want to believe in a works-based salvation, they want to believe in a baptismal
regeneration.
They want to believe in baptism for salvation.
They'll take verses like this and twist them and say, see, you got to be baptized.
But who's the one that saves us?
It's the Lord Jesus Christ.
And if he didn't baptize anybody, then he didn't get anybody saved, according to their
stupid logic, right?
I mean, are you following me?
Okay, good.
So number three this morning, who's the candidates for baptism?
Who are the candidates for baptism?
Turn to Acts chapter 8.
Acts chapter number 8.
There's so much good doctrine in this chapter here, in Acts chapter 8.
You can literally go to it for many different foundational truths.
The fact that you need God's word to be saved, the fact that you have to believe before you
get baptized, how you baptize, you know, things like that.
So lots of great stuff in here.
But Acts chapter number 8, verse 12, it says, But when they believed, Philip preaching the
things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized,
both men and women.
So in Acts chapter 8, verse 12, this is before the Ethiopian eunuch, but it says when they
believed the preaching that Philip preached, they were baptized, both men and women.
Verse 13, then Simon himself believed also, and when he was baptized, he continued with
Philip and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done.
So Simon believed also, this is talking about Simon the sorcerer, who people will say, well,
Simon wasn't really saved because blah, blah, blah.
Look it says he believed, that means he was saved.
And then he was baptized also, and then he continued with Philip.
So he was, he not only got saved, he got baptized, but he followed the Lord Jesus Christ.
But he did get caught up into some sin.
So that's true.
But I'm just showing you to show you this is that it always comes before, the belief
always comes before.
You must be saved first before you get baptized.
Acts 8, verse 35, Acts 8, verse 35, just skip down in your Bible there real quick.
Acts 8, verse 35 says, then Philip opened his mouth and began at the same scripture
and preached unto him Jesus.
This is talking about the Ethiopian eunuch.
And as they went on their way, they came into a certain water and the eunuch said, see,
here's water, what doth hinder me to be baptized?
What's stopping me from being baptized, Philip?
And Philip said, if thou believeth with all thine heart, thou mayest.
So what's the prerequisite for being baptized?
You have to believe with all your heart.
That's the only prerequisite that you have.
The only thing I'm going to ask you, if you want to get baptized, is if you believe in
Christ.
That's it.
Because that's all you have to do to be saved is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
So Philip got his answer.
And then see what happens next.
It says, 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 the only thing that you have to do to be a candidate for baptism today is to believe
on Christ and that you may be baptized.
Okay, so that's the candidates for baptism.
So number four, what is the mode of baptism?
What do I mean the mode of baptism?
How do we do it?
How do we baptize people?
Because the Roman Catholics will take like a little cup like this or something.
I don't know.
I've never like seen somebody baptized.
Do they use like spoons or something?
I don't know.
It's like a little ladle or a little dish that they, and they just pour it on their
heads, right?
Let's see the Greek Orthodox Church when they split in the Great Schism, the Bible that
they had was in Greek.
And so they know that the Greek word for baptism is that they submerged them under water.
It's immersion.
That's exactly what baptism means, that you're immersed into water, okay?
So their little sprinkling is not biblical.
And so we believe at this church that you are to be submerged underneath the water,
you're immersed in water, that pictures your death.
And then when you come out, that pictures your resurrection.
So how does that, you know, having some water dribble on your head, how does that picture,
you know, being buried?
It doesn't.
So the mode of baptism, we turn to Matthew chapter three, verse 16, Matthew three, verse
16, Matthew three, verse 16 says, And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straight away
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.
So what do we notice about this verse?
The mode of baptism is, well, when he was baptized, he went up straight away out of
the water.
So it's just like when you say that Jesus went to hell for three days and three nights.
His soul wasn't left in hell, so that means it had to be there in order for it not to
be left there.
That's pretty common sense stuff.
Well, also when Jesus was baptized and he went straight away out of the water, that
means if he went up out of the water, he had to be where?
In the water, under the water, before he came up out of it, right?
I mean, that's common sense also.
But yet you've got multitudes of so-called Christianity that are saying that you are
sprinkled or dunked three times.
It just says he went down one time, all right?
When you're baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, you're only baptized
once.
You don't have to die three times.
You know what I mean?
It pictures the death, burial, and resurrection.
You don't die three times and then come back again three times.
It's one time.
That's why you're just dunked under water one time and brought up.
You're saved one time.
Picture's being born again, okay?
So if Jesus went down into the water, why are there multitudes of so-called Christians
baptizing in a different way than what Jesus was baptized in?
Wasn't Jesus being baptized an example that we should do the same thing as him?
Was Jesus saved when he got baptized?
Jesus was never not saved.
Jesus was born saved.
He died saved.
He resurrected saved, okay?
He was always saved.
And because why?
Because he did not do any sin.
So when he was baptized, he was fulfilling a righteous act.
That's how we know that it is a work to be baptized, okay?
It's a part of works.
So it's a work that God asks you to do, okay?
And so it says, And lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of
God descending like a dove and lying upon him.
So we know we can see from that that God is pleased with the baptism of Christ.
So would he be pleased if you were baptized in a way that was wrong?
No.
And just like I said before, you have to be, you know, worship God in spirit and in truth.
You have to keep his commandments, not to be saved.
But you should keep his commandments, and if you're going to do it, you might as well
do it right.
If you're going to do something, you might as well do it the right way, right?
And we try to do things the right way as much as possible at this church, and obviously
we're not perfect.
This church isn't perfect, and maybe we do stuff that's not 100% right.
I don't know, but I'm trying to do things right to the best of my ability here, and
I'm sure all of you are also.
Turn to John 3.23.
John 3.23.
John 3.23 says, and John also was baptizing at Aenon near to Salem because there was much
water there, and they came and were baptized.
So when John the Baptist was baptizing people, he had to have much water.
Why?
Because he had to have a whole bunch of cups to put on people's heads.
That doesn't make sense.
He was baptizing in the Jordan River in Aenon near to Salem because there was much water,
and because you need much water to baptize someone because you have to go underneath
the water.
It's pretty simple, right?
It wasn't because he needed a thousand Dixie cups to fill up and put on people's heads.
That's not the right mode.
The right mode is to do it the way the Bible says to do it, and baptize literally means
to immerse.
That's what the word means.
And there had to be enough water to immerse that person.
Turn back to Acts 8, verse 38.
Acts 8, verse 38.
Acts 8, verse 38 says, 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.
Why do they have to go down into the water?
Because in order to dunk somebody under the water, you have to be in the water, don't
you?
Now, I don't have to be in the water with someone when I baptize them, and I did that
intentionally so I don't have to do that, because we don't have a way for me to get
into that water.
I'm too big.
Anyway, it'd be weird to be water all over the river.
We need a bigger baptism, I'll just say that, and that's a big one.
So anyway, but if you're going into a body, say I baptize someone in the river, which
I want to do someday, if I baptize someone in the river, don't I have to get in the water?
I mean, I can't just throw them in and say, I baptize you in the name of the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Ghost.
You know, that's a good idea, though, to just catapult them.
That way I don't have to get cold, you know, I'm just kidding.
They just splash once and come back up, it's still biblical, right?
Just kidding.
Anyway, it's hard to take pictures of that.
You've got to have a really good camera of the cannonball launch, you know.
So, you know, my point of showing you this verse, though, is that they had, they'd come
up out of the water and the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip and the eunuch saw
him no more.
He went on his way rejoicing.
Why was he rejoicing?
Because he got baptized.
He got saved and he got baptized.
So number five, though, who may baptize?
Now this is the controversial part of the sermon, okay?
So, and you can just not believe what I'm saying right now, but I'm going to show you
that the Bible's true and that's all there is to it.
So but if you disagree with me, that's fine.
You can believe whatever you want.
As long as you believe that you got to be saved before you get baptized, you got to
be baptized in the name of the Father, Son, the Holy Ghost, and you have to be immersed
in the water.
I'm good with that.
If you don't believe this part of it, I'm not going to be mad at you or anything like
that.
But I would ask you to show me from the scriptures why you believe something different.
Matthew 3, verse 13, turn to Matthew 3, verse number 13.
Matthew 3, verse 13, let's talk about when Jesus came to be baptized by John, okay?
Who may baptize?
Matthew 3, 13 says, Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized
of him.
But John forbade him.
He said, No, Jesus, I'm not going to baptize you, saying, I have need to be baptized of
thee, and comest thou to me.
So John's like, Hey, I'm a sinful man, you know, I need to be baptized by you, not me,
not the opposite, right?
And look at what Jesus says, Jesus answered and said unto him, Suffer it, which means
allow it, right?
Suffer me, you know, suffer the children means allow the children.
Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness, then he suffered
him.
That means then he allowed him to be baptized.
So John baptized the Lord Jesus Christ, right?
And 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 am well pleased.
So was God pleased with the whole thing, the whole baptism of Jesus, was he pleased by
that?
Who did Jesus, did Jesus go to the priests to get baptized?
These guys that are teaching a works-based salvation?
No, he went to the guy that was the anointing, he was the one crying, the voice crying in
the wilderness.
He is the prophet that was anointed by God to preach Jesus Christ, and to get people
saved, and to baptize them.
And who did Jesus go to?
He went to the Baptist that believed like he did.
He went to the Baptist that believed eternal security.
He went to the Baptist that believed in what, you know, once saved, always saved, and that
you have to have faith only to be saved, okay?
He went to the guy that was the anointed man of God, okay?
So now this is where people get upset, they're like, well, can't just anybody baptize you?
Can't anybody just say in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost?
Well, what if they don't believe in eternal security?
Are they an authorized person to baptize you?
What if they're a Jehovah's false witness?
They baptize people.
Is that legit?
People that don't even believe that Jesus Christ is God, they believe that he was just
some great man and that was it?
Is that a guy that you want to, if you get baptized by Jehovah's Witness, is that baptism
legit?
If you get baptized by a Catholic, by someone putting a Dixie cup over your head like that
when you're a baby, is that a legitimate baptism?
No?
Did Jesus go to the Pharisees and say, Pharisees, please baptize me?
No, why?
Because they didn't agree with him.
They didn't believe the same things.
So why in the world would you count a baptism of somebody that didn't even believe the right
things?
So if your baptism, and this is what I believe, and people get mad about this, and you know
what, I don't care if you get mad about it or not, the facts are the facts.
Jesus went to the right person who had the right mode, who had the right beliefs, and
he said, no, you, John, have to baptize me.
You suffer it to be so for now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.
It was a righteous act that Jesus had to do as an example to us.
And so if we're going to take Jesus' example, why would you go to the Mormon church and
get your baptism done by them?
Would Jesus go to the Mormon bishop and say, please baptize me, it's so for it so to be
now?
No.
He went to the Baptist, he went to John.
And so this is my point, is that we should be baptized by the right people.
Now people are going to go, well, Pastor Thompson, you say the only Baptist should baptize you?
Not exactly, I'm saying someone's saved that believes the same things that we do.
And most of those people are Baptist, just so you know.
Now am I saying that I'm some special person, you know, look, John, who baptized the eunuch?
Was it Philip?
What was Philip?
Philip was an evangelist, but he was also a deacon.
He was ordained to do the things that he did.
Now look, I'm going to say this, if I send somebody on a mission trip and I say I'm going
to give you the authority to baptize, then I think that that's okay.
Now I don't really have a leg to stand on in scripture, though, because any time you
see someone baptize him, it's always someone that's ordained, every time.
When Jesus' disciples, they were ordained the 12, right?
They were ordained to be apostles.
Now Paul did baptize people.
He said he didn't baptize a lot of people, but he did baptize people, because his main
job was to get people saved.
But he would have his guys do it, who were also ordained, Timothy, Apollo, and all those
Apollo's, if you want to say it like that.
All those guys were the ones that he had to do it, right?
So if you got saved at a tongue-talking, fire-walking Pentecostal church, and right before you got
baptized people were rolling around on the floor and barking like dogs, and they don't
believe in eternal security, is that a right person to baptize you?
No.
And so why did people get so mad at the Anabaptists for baptizing again?
Why do people get so mad at Baptists because of the doctrine of the true baptism?
Why do people get so mad about it?
Because they want to believe that it's a work of some sort.
And the Pentecostals, they don't believe in eternal security.
Show me a Pentecostal that believes in eternal security.
They might say with lip service that they do, but they all believe that you have to
keep doing good things, or you have to talk in tongues in order to be truly saved.
If you didn't talk in tongues, and you didn't get the gift of the Holy Ghost, or you're
not really saved, that's what they say.
So the Church of God, now they believe that their special cult is the only one that can
baptize people.
So I'm not saying nobody else can baptize people, I'm just saying that if you get baptized
you better be baptized by someone that believes the same thing that you do.
Because that doesn't make sense.
Not anybody can baptize a legit baptism.
You know why?
Because they're not saved!
Why would you get baptized or count that baptism of someone that wasn't saved?
If someone turns out to be some kind of heretic, do you want to count, oh I remember when so-and-so
baptized me, but now he's a modalist.
Why would you count that baptism?
I wouldn't.
When I was up in Vancouver, I baptized a young boy that had already been baptized, because
he wanted to wash the modalist scum off of him.
That's what he said, okay, I'll wash it off for you.
I just rebaptized him.
And I don't see anything wrong with rebaptizing.
Now people take it to an extreme.
People will say, well, if you don't believe 100% every single thing that we believe at
this church, then it's not legit.
I don't believe that, okay?
You believe the fundamentals of the faith, I'm okay.
If they don't believe in the post-trib rapture, I would still count that baptism.
If they believe that Jews are God's chosen people, I wouldn't count that as a wrong baptism.
I'm talking about salvation by faith alone, eternal security, the proper mode, the proper
person.
If your husband baptized you in the swimming pool, that's not legit.
I know a lady that she just would dig in and get so mad, because none of the Baptist churches
would accept her baptism.
And you know what?
I wouldn't accept it either.
He was some Church of Christ guy that was trying to start his own church, it was her
former husband that died, baptized her in a swimming pool, and she just held to that
baptism as her true baptism, wasn't even saved.
So how are you going to tell me that that's a legit baptism?
It's not.
And so that's what's controversial about it, is that I believe that it's got to be the
proper mode, you have to be saved, and so the proper mode is immersion, right?
And that you have to be saved, and also that it has to be someone that's probably ordained.
Okay?
They have to be ordained.
Why do I say that?
Does the Bible say it must be an ordained person that does it?
No?
That's what we go to, we go to our secondary, right?
The examples that we see in the Scriptures.
And show me an example where it's not somebody that's ordained.
So just show it to me.
I mean, if it is, I'll come up here and I'll apologize and say, you know what, I'm wrong.
I'm sorry.
Timothy was not a pastor at the time, he baptized or whatever, it's not going to happen though.
Anyway, so baptism is an important doctrine.
Why is it important?
Because people died for it.
Because Jesus, it completes the picture of Jesus, it shows that we're walking a newness
of life, and God commanded us to do it.
What other reason do we need to find it important?
God commanded us to do it.
It's the first thing he wants us to do.
Why?
Because it shows that we're in unity with Christ, that we believe the right things.
So if you got baptized by some unsaved devil, it's not legit.
You can struggle and wrestle with that all you want.
But it's not legit, in my mind.
And then, I mean, what's the application to us?
Well, part of the Great Commission is baptizing people, isn't it?
So have you brought any converts in for baptism?
Is there somebody that, because we've got a lot of people saved at this church.
So but are you trying to get your converts baptized?
So if people are getting saved, there's, you know, the example we see in the scriptures
that people get baptized afterwards.
We've had five baptisms this year so far, and praise God for that.
Happy about that.
But, you know, we need to get more people baptized.
We need to work a little bit harder, I think, at getting our converts baptized.
And you know, have you tried?
Have you actually tried to get them baptized?
So that's an application to us, is that we should try to get our converts baptized.
Now, I'm not saying take them back to your house and dunk them in the swimming pool.
I mean, if you miss that part of the sermon, when you're zoning out, thinking about something
else about how I'm wrong, then, you know, whatever.
But we should be trying to get our converts baptized.
Have you tried?
We should try.
Have you been scripturally baptized?
Are you holding on to a baptism that's not legit?
Did you get baptized by some tongue-talking firewalk in Pentecostal?
Did you get baptized by a Jehovah's Witness?
Did you get baptized at the Mormon Church?
I don't know everybody's baptism story.
I know a lot of people in this church have been re-baptized.
So and I don't always ask the reason why you are, you know, baptisms just seem to happen
and then they pile up and whatever.
But if you haven't been scripturally baptized this morning, I would say, why not today?
Why not today?
Why don't you wash that scum off of you of your former fake baptism?
The person that wasn't really ordained to do it.
The person who's a false prophet.
The person who's a wicked person and you're counting as that as your baptism.
Did you get baptized by a heretic?
Then maybe you should get re-baptized.
If you think I'm wrong, that's fine.
You can just believe what you want.
But come with me.
Come at me with some scripture and obviously, you know, you're not supposed to rebuke an
elder so you better have the right attitude.
But I am bigger than you still too.
So anyway, that's all I got for today.
But if you do want to get baptized today, we have towels.
The water is warm.
I've ran it since last night and I really want if anybody needs to be baptized, if you've
been saved but you've never been baptized, today's the day.
We got towels.
We got things that we can help you out with.
If you didn't bring clothes, maybe just come back tonight and get baptized.
So anyway, let's pray.
Lord, we thank you so much for the word of God and how clear you make it about the doctrine
of baptism.
Pray, Lord, that this would be a foundational truth that our church never loses sight of.
And I pray that you would just bless the congregation, Lord, if there's anybody that needs to be
baptized.
Maybe they didn't get scripturally baptized, I pray, Lord, that you would help them to
work that out and to get baptized.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.