a little while I feel like there's been a bit like you know you guys know that I've been going
through our statement of faith and it's time to get back onto that uh so last week um obviously
been what is the date was it wasn't years no hold on wasn't new year's no it wasn't I wasn't here
last okay that's what happened I wasn't here last week well I was in Sydney that's what happened and
the week before that was new year's day so I did a new day's message and before that was christmas
day so I did a christmas day message anyway this is so we're back on program now we're going for
our statement of faith our doctrinal statement as a church and if we look at matthew 28 verse
chapter verse number 18 matthew 28 18 it says and jesus came and spake unto them saying this is the
great commission all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth and now we have three major
parts that should make up every church every church you know it says go ye therefore and
teach all nations and of course we know that this has to do with going and teaching the gospel
preaching the gospel to all nations we've been given the privilege of being in australia we're
to preach the gospel in australia hey and if the lord sees fit and uses us to go to another nation
praise god for that but number one we see that our first job there is to go and teach all nations
then it says baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy of the holy
ghost so the second part of the great commission is baptism and the third part is verse number 20
teaching them to observe all things all things whatsoever i've commanded you and lo i'm with
you always even unto the end of the world amen we have three part uh process there of the great
commission and today we're going to be looking at baptism today uh the title of the sermon this
morning is baptism and it works out really well because we'll be doing baptisms after this service
we've got three that are getting baptized if there's anyone else that needs to get baptized
that has you know hasn't done it yet please let me know it's never too late okay you can just
get you a towel and you'll be fine but baptism and i just guess works out well because we are
up to this topic when it comes to our statement of faith works out well that we have a few that
needs to get baptized today now the reason we read that great commission i just want to share
with you like obviously all those things are important and you know verse number 20 that's
my job as a pastor to teach them to observe all things you know the goal that i have is to teach
the whole bible you know as long as god gives me life as long as i have the mental capacity
and the ability to preach god's word my goal is to teach you all things okay i don't really want
to have a hobby horse you know some preachers have a hobby horse and they keep hitting that
same thing over and over and over again i kind of just want to teach all things i want to be
as balanced as i can as a preacher and teach as often as the bible teaches on certain topics
that's kind of my personal goal to teach all things you know i don't want to hide anything
from you you know if there's something in the bible that might be a little bit offensive
if there's something in the bible that society does not agree with it doesn't matter my job is
to teach all things that's part of the great commission you know if we have a church that's
not teaching all things they're not fulfilling the great commission the other part of course
part the first part that we have there is go you there for and teach all nations this is why the
primary ministry of this church is the door-to-door ministry the soul winning that we do on a regular
basis and you know the two things about the soul winning and the preaching and observing all things
is that this gets done every week within our church right every week we're observing all
things every week we're going out teaching all nations but one thing that we don't do every week
of course is baptizing okay and this is why for me the most exciting part of the great commission is
is the baptizing for me personally the most fun the most exciting part is because we don't do it
that often okay we don't do that often where someone believes in christ gets saved and then
the next desire of course is to get baptized but it says in verse number 20 go you therefore teach
all nations baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy ghost and
of course name there you know often we talk about the word the name we you know you could say is that
a personal name of course in this context it's authority right if i do someone in the name of
the if i do something like if an officer says to you hey stop in the name of the law they're
saying hey stop by the authority of the law and if my children are doing something they might say
i'm doing that on the authority or by the name of my father there's someone that they're doing
that by that authority when we do baptisms we're doing it in the authority in the name
of the father and of the son and of the holy ghost you see here we have of course the triune nature
of god being revealed to us having that great authority giving us that authority to go and
preach the gospel giving us the authority to do baptisms giving us the authority to observe all
things which makes all sense because in verse number 28 jesus christ says that all power is
given unto him in heaven and in earth but one thing that i really love the at the end of verse
number 20 it says and lo i'm with you all way even unto the end of the world i'm with you all
way you know something that i've taught in the past in the king james bible sometimes it's
translated all way sometimes it's translated uh always you know you read all obviously we don't
use all way in our modern day vernacular right we use all ways for all things but they're actually
quite different always has to do with time right has to do with time you say i'll do you know i'll
love my wife always i'm saying that i've all you know in all time i'm going to love my wife but
if i said i'm going to do something all way i'm saying that i'm doing it all the way all the way
so wherever we are it's talking about distance it's talking about travel okay wherever we are
jesus christ says that i'm with you all way because just finish saying go to all nations
okay christ is in australia just as much as he is in some other nation
that's that that's serving the lord right uh and wherever we go wherever we accomplish in this
great commission christ is that he's going to be with us all the way even to the end of the world
and so of course the end of the world in context of of distance would be a place like australia
when christ was talking there in judia you know say go and go to the end of the world yeah
Australia will be pretty far from that location but baptism is the one that i'm going to be
focusing on this morning now in our statement of faith we're going to have this written down
it says i'll just read it to you and again i want your feedback if you if you don't like
it if you think it's i don't know if you don't agree with it please let me know okay because
this is not necessarily my doctrinal statement it should be the doctrinal statement of the church
it says we believe that baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the father
the son and the holy ghost it is a public declaration and symbolism of a person's faith
in the death burial and resurrection of jesus christ as the means of salvation okay so what is
baptism it's a public declaration that you've already placed your faith and trust on jesus
christ okay baptism represents the death of christ the resurrection of christ being put under that
water it represents christ's death coming out of that water represents christ's resurrection
and so you're making a public declaration that your faith is on christ and his finished work
it is not part of salvation it is not part of the gospel it is something that is done afterward
as a public declaration all right if you can come with me to luke chapter 3 come with me to
luke chapter 3 and verse number 21 luke chapter 3 and verse number 21 we'll quickly look at the
baptism of jesus now what i like about the baptism of jesus is again it reinforces the fact
that baptism is not a means of salvation there are some people that teach you must be baptized
in order to be saved you know there are many churches of christ that teach this but baptism
is part of the gospel but jesus christ got baptized did jesus christ need to be saved
did jesus christ need forgiveness of sins of course not okay but it says here in luke chapter
three verse number 21 now this is about john the baptist and we are a baptist church so we're
following up the tradition there of john the baptist it says now when all the people were
baptized so i'm going to show you something that many people several people are being baptized it's
a public declaration right it's not like they're just taking one person you know just secretly and
doing it no when there's an opportunity for all people to be present that's why they do it when
all people were baptized it came to pass that jesus also being baptized okay jesus christ when
he got baptized there were others there to witness to witness here to give testimony
of christ baptism but there are several people there this is again why it ought to be a public
declaration where others can witness this taking place it says that jesus also being baptized and
praying the heaven was opened and the holy ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him
and a voice came from heaven which said thou art my beloved son in thee i am well pleased wow
the father was pleased that his son for getting baptized and for those of you that are getting
baptized after service the father will be well pleased with you when you take that step of
obedience okay and again what do we see here we see christ giving us the authority by the power
of the name of the father son of the holy ghost to do baptisms we see that when christ got baptized
we see the the the triune nature the the three in one you know the father speaking from heaven the
holy ghost is sending upon jesus and jesus christ of course being baptized we see that triune the
trinity there all in this time frame and of course you may recall we've been going through the book
of john when john saw this take place he says i bear record that this is the son of god again
just publicly testifying of his experience say hey i've testified of jesus christ getting baptized
and the great miracle that took place here in the voice of the father saying that this is my
beloved son now come with me also to john chapter 3 if you can we are going to bounce around remember
when we're going through this statement of faith we are it's pretty much a bible study okay so
you got to get your fingers ready to go through the bible please so john chapter 3 and verse number
23 john chapter 3 and verse number 23 we're going to quickly talk about the method of baptism
if you go to different churches there are different forms of baptism and uh you know
obviously the one that gets done the most of course is comes from the tradition of the roman catholic
church and many protestant churches have of course taken that on board it's to baptize little babies
and when they baptize little children like that they often do the sprinkling
or the pouring they get a little bit of water all right just a little bit of that water there
and sorry brother but a little bit of sprinkling right there and well he's baptized you know you
know no no that's look if that's all we need to get baptized then this wouldn't make a lot of
sense in john chapter 3 verse number 23 this is again about john the baptist says and john also
was baptizing in anon near salem why why was he baptized in there because there was much water
there and they came and were baptized so in order to get baptized we must go to a place of much
water this is not much water this is not much water there you know sprinkling or pouring does
not fit the context you know in order to get baptized look when john says all right let's
find a place to get baptized let's find a place of much water because as a baptist church the
practice that we do and what is biblical is baptism by immersion getting that person
completely under that water and coming completely out okay now look i've had i've had several people
actually ask me this question so it's not really a foolish question say what what if i wasn't
completely immersed like what if my elbow was sticking out look don't worry about it so much
all right it's it's symbolic is what it is okay it's symbolic of you you know having put your
faith and trust on jesus if your nose was sticking out a little bit nothing to panic
about don't worry about it okay but the point is we're trying to follow this procedure of finding
much water for the purpose of course of being immersed how do we know that it's immersion that
took place maybe they're just looking for much water because there was much sprinkling to be
done i mean i don't i don't think so but you know even if you go back to the greek the word baptize
baptism you know comes from the greek word baptizo baptizo which according to the greeks
we have any greeks here according to the greeks that means immersion being completely covered
that's what it means in the greek baptism in fact this is why the roman catholic church had a split
and then you've got the orthodox church that came out of it is because the greeks understood
just by their language that baptizo means immersion and they would not agree with the
catholics doing the sprinkling or pouring they said no we need to go and and and immerse people
that you know or you know little children and they still do it wrong because they immerse little
children okay and what they do they kind of get a little baby and they they they say in the name
of the father they dunked the child in once and of the son they dunked the child in again and of
the holy ghost and they dunked that child in again three times that's ridiculous three times that
doesn't make a lot of sense and i'll explain to you why that doesn't matter in fact i would
explain it to you now i've got verses later on but if baptism is to represent our faith and trust
on the death burial resurrection of christ how many times did jesus christ have to die and be
buried and rise from the dead three times no just once okay once for all it's complete it's done
the moment christ died and so when we do baptisms we don't do it one two three do it once because
it represents christ death and resurrection is what it represents okay so even though the greek
orthodox kind of got it right that it's my immersion they've got everything else wrong
i mean obviously that obviously the most important thing that they got wrong of course
like the roman catholics is a false gospel all right if you can come with me to acts chapter 8
acts chapter 8 and verse number 35 acts chapter 8 and verse number 35 and this is of course the
famous passage on philip and the ethiopian eunuch and now we see who gets baptized who is it that
should get baptized and also what's covered here is how how you know how early should i get
baptized you know at what point should i get baptized well let's look at acts chapter 8
verse number 35 acts chapter 8 verse number 35 then philip opened his mouth and began at the
same scripture and preached unto him jesus reverend what is the gospel is is philip here
preaching baptism to the ethiopian eunuch all right ethiopian in order for you to get saved
you must get baptized easy preaching hey in order for you to get saved you to turn from all your
sins and live a good life you've got to keep the commandments he says look he preached unto him
jesus all right and brevin just remind yourself when you go and preach the gospel the the core
message is jesus okay don't get sidetracked it's very easy to get sidetracked when you're trying
to give the gospel people start asking questions and you think you're going to answer all the
questions look just bring it back to jesus bring it all back to jesus and keep it going okay so he
preached it up to jesus verse number 36 and as they went on their way they came into a certain
water and the eunuch said see here is water what doth hinder me to be baptized or what he's saying
is what prevents me from being baptized because i want to get baptized what's stopping me from
getting baptized philip what does philip say verse number 37 and philip said if thou believeth
in fact let me before i read that your modern bibles don't have this verse they remove this
verse and the equation okay but the answer is verse number 37 philip said if thou believeth
with all thine heart thou mayest thou mayest you know what's going to allow you to get baptized if
you believe in jesus with all your heart with all your heart not oh well some of my heart believes
in jesus and some of my heart believes in my good works no or some of my heart is on jesus
and some of my heart is on my church to get me to heaven no you've got to believe with all thine
hearts okay it's not saying hey put the ah yeah with all that i believe in jesus i'm putting
great effort no just with all your faith all your heart that's in your faith even if your faith is
the size of a mustard seed you'd put it all on jesus and jesus christ alone the finished work
of salvation then thou mayest be baptized so who gets baptized little babies they don't know the
gospel little babies don't have don't have the understanding how can you baptize little babies
when they haven't believed on christ with all of their heart of course that is incorrect the moment
you have trusted as soon as you're someone that have placed your faith on jesus christ you say
yes i've done that pastor you know then you may get baptized that's the next step baptism
you say how quickly should i get baptized well oh i didn't finish verse number 37 and he answered
if you have a unique answer and said i believe that jesus christ is the son of god so does he
believe in christ absolutely verse number 38 and he commanded the chariot to stand still
and they went down both look at this they went down both into the water look if this
is how you get baptized by this cup and sprinkling i don't know how you're going
to get into that water i don't know how that's going to work okay they find a place obviously
with much water with how you can both go into that water and it says both philip and eunuch
and he baptized him listen the if you're in eunuch did not need a 12-step program you know before he
got baptized all right if you have in eunuch did not have to get to a certain time in his life
to get baptized you know philip didn't need to well hold on let me just observe you for a few
years let me make sure that you're truly a believer let me make sure that you're truly
following jesus christ the way that you ought to let me make sure that you're just truly living
for the lord and then when i'm satisfied then i'll baptize you no you baptize him straight away the
moment he's made a confession of faith yes my belief is on jesus the son of god
then he commanded the chariot stand still all right let's get baptized there is no delay there
is no wait you know ideally the time to get baptized is as soon as possible as soon as
possible it is a public declaration that you have trusted christ it is not a public declaration that
you started attending church it's not a public declaration that you finished reading the bible
cover to cover it's not a public declaration that you're now trying to live godly and righteously
it's a public declaration that your faith is on christ the son of god and once you have done that
yes you are permitted to get baptized you know if a child comes up to me let's say eight years old
and say pastor i've trusted jesus christ as my savior i know it's it's it's salvation going to
heaven is based on him and him alone his death and resurrection and i have eternal life i can
never lose that can i get baptized what's going to be my response well let's wait till you're 12 years
old pastor say that no okay based on your confession of faith based on your faith on
on the lord okay i will baptize you all right and you say well hold on pastor what if later on we
find out that they're just repeating words and they never trusted christ okay well okay they got
wet they got wet the first time what do you find out that child actually was never saved and and
he finally something dawned on him when he was 15 years old let's say and he goes you know what
i never really treated for my faith in christ you know i never really understood what i was doing i
my faith was still in my good works my faith was still in in church or whatever it was all right
now that they have trusted christ let's get them baptized for real the first time was a little they
got a little wet doesn't matter you get we'll get baptized now after you've trusted christ
but i look i'm not going to wait and and look someone wants to get baptized as long as they've
confessed christ to me their faith is on him and him alone then you can get baptized we can stop
stop the chariot immediately let's go get baptized okay all right come with me to first corinthians
first corinthians chapter 15 first corinthians chapter 15
actually um can you come with me to colossians turn with me to colossians chapter one sorry
about that go to colossians chapter one colossians chapter one because first corinthians 15 you all
know it very well i'm sure which i'll read it to you very quickly when we talk about the gospel
we talk about someone's faith on the gospel on jesus christ this is what we're talking about
in first corinthians 15 verse 3 it says for i delivered unto you first of all that which i
also received now this is important this is the gospel how that christ died for our sins
according to the scriptures all right where did he die on the cross and then it says and that he
was buried right where was he buried in that grave and that he was buried uh and that he rose again
the third day according to the scriptures this is the gospel this is what you're trusting in okay
yes you're trusting christ and by extension you're trusting his shed blood you're trusting his death
on the cross his burial his resurrection from the dead now if you're there in colossians chapter 1
colossians chapter 1 verse number 20 let's have a look what it says here colossians chapter 1
verse number 20 because as i said to you baptism represents the death burial resurrection of christ
all right when you're standing out of the water when you're standing up getting ready to get
baptized that pictures the death of christ okay death as christ died on the cross he
was upright when he died and then when you're taken into the water you're buried okay buried
like he was in the grave and then you know we know that christ was in the grave three days and
three nights but i'm not going to hold you down that long all right maybe three seconds max okay
then you're coming out of that water to picture the resurrection of christ okay this is what
baptism is this is why sprinkling pouring does not convey the message like when you're going to
bury a dead body you're not going to just sprinkle a bit of dirt on it okay now you're going to
immerse that body completely six feet under and that's what with baptism is and then you come
out of the water okay and that represents the resurrection of christ what is the significance
of these three things well you're in colossians chapter 1 verse number 20 what is the significance
of the death of christ it says there in verse number 20 and having made peace through the blood
of his cross you see christ has given us peace with god by his death on the cross that's the
significance okay this is god saying hey i want to have peace with man instead of you being
rebellious my enemies those that are just openly rejecting me i'm offering you my son to die in
your place i'm giving you peace i'm giving you a way to be made right with me it says by him to
reconcile all things unto himself by him i say whether they be things in earth or things in
heaven look at verse number 21 before we will say it says and knew that was some time there was there
was some time in the past that this was you alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked
works yet now have you reconciled amazing your wicked works made you an enemy an alien to god
but now you've been made reckon you've been reconciled to him look at this verse number 22
in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unbelievable and reprovable in his
sight wow what an exchange that by the body of his flesh through death the death of the cross
right there the death of his body god has extended peace toward us okay and not just
paid for our sins we know of course that when christ died all our sins were imputed upon him
he became sin for us he became the curse for us but we often forget the exchange christ gives us
his righteousness this is why you don't go to heaven by your own righteousness it's not like
some people think this this when they think of the bible they think this and this is false this
is a false gospel they think all right the moment you've trusted christ by faith okay all of your
sins from today and your past have been forgiven but now you've got to do your part from tomorrow
and live a righteous life in order to make sure you go into heaven or if you don't do it you'll
lose your salvation no no you got it all wrong yes christ did pay for all of our sins but not
just today's sins and yesterday's sins but even tomorrow since all the sins is paid for them all
okay and not only that then he gives us his righteousness so we live in his righteousness
when god the father looks at us he sees us through the righteousness of jesus christ
this is why you're not going to be perfect tomorrow this is why you're not going to be
sinless tomorrow there will come a time when you're sinless of course it'll come when you
get you receive your new resurrected bodies but it says here to present you holy and unblameable
and unreproveable in his sight you're once an enemy to god but now he sees you holy
unblameable all right no sins your sins have been covered by the death of our lord all right and
very quickly i'll read to you from if you can come back you come back you go to matthew 12 please go
to matthew 12 and i'll quickly read to you in first peter chapter 1 verse 18 you go to matthew
12 first peter chapter 1 verse 18 it's as for as much as you know that you will not redeemed
with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from
your fathers but with the precious blood of christ as a lamb without blemish and without spots you've
been redeemed by the blood of jesus christ okay his body by for us his blood redeems us washes us
from sins and of course this is why when christ you know we're looking at one ordinance here
another ordinance that christ gives the church is the lord's supper and he gives us that grape
juice that represents his blood and the bread that represents his body and he says you know
this too in remembrance of me you know this is in it's you know in remembrance of his death
you know the broken body the shed blood and of course this is the this is the significance
of the death of christ that we've been cleansed that god has reached out and given us peace now
you're there in matthew chapter 12 let's think about the significance of his burial okay like
why did christ have to be buried for three days well number one well let's have a look at it here
okay matthew chapter 12 verse number 38 then certain of the scribes and of the pharisees
answered saying master we would see a sign from thee and he answered and said unto them an evil
and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign and there shall no sign be given it by the sign
of the prophet jonas or jonah for as jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly
so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth
okay the significance of three days and three nights number one is that christ was
fulfilling prophecy okay christ was fulfilling the scriptures okay he came to fulfill the law
and as i've said to you many times you got to look for christ in the bible you know even the
picture of jonah being swallowed by way is is a is a type it's a foreshadowing it's a picture
of jesus christ so jesus christ is fulfilling the fact that jonah was in the whale's belly for three
dozen three nights okay that's number one but number two you know why didn't christ just die
on the cross and let's say five minute passes and then god just raises him from the dead
you know he awakens off the cross or something like that well the reason for that you know this
i guess is my opinion but i believe it's correct anyway is that you know if christ just rose from
the dead five minutes later is that people could just turn around and say well maybe he wasn't
really dead okay maybe he just passed out and now it's just been revived maybe it was just in a
brief coma and now he's just woken out of that coma no three days is a good time to determine
this man is dead and there's no life in him okay there is nothing like that so of course the three
days you know being taken into a tomb and being buried there actually come with me to matthew 27
come with me to matthew 27 verse number 62 matthew 27 verse number 62 that's the defence of his
burial is to confirm his death to confirm that he truly died okay matthew 27 verse number 62
now the next day that followed the day of the preparation this is the next day after
the crucifixion the chief priest and the pharisees came together unto pilot saying sir we remember
that the deceiver said while he was yet alive so they said look he's not alive anymore okay
but they recognize that after three days i will rise again so they know well christ spoke about
that he was expecting to rise from the dead after three days verse number 64 command therefore that
the sepulcher we've made sure until the third day lest his disciples come by night and steal him
away and say unto the people he has risen from the dead so the last error shall be worse than the
first so they say to part look if these disciples come and take his body steal his body away then
they can start claiming that he rose from the dead things are going to be much worse for us
than it was before okay so so obviously these chief priests these pharisees they are that
they're confirming themselves that christ is dead okay they know this and they're worried that the
body's going to be taken away and the disciples are going to pretend that jesus christ is alive
so verse number 65 pilot said unto them you have a watch go your way make it as sure as you can
so policies all right get some security guards i don't know get some watchmen there
to make sure that nobody enters nobody can go in and also seal that stone make it as sure as you
can verse 66 so they went and made the sepulcher sure stealing the stone and setting a watch so
they have watchmen let's say security guards making sure nobody can come to this place
and they also seal the star i don't know how they seal it exactly but they reinforce it so no man
can open it okay all right let's go to the next chapter matthew chapter 28 please matthew chapter
28 and verse number one matthew chapter 28 in verse number one it says in the end of the sabbath
as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week came mary magdalene and the other mary to
see the sepulcher and behold there was a great earthquake for the angel of the lord descended
from heaven and came and rode back the stone from the door and sat upon it i mean i don't know how
they seal that stone okay but the angel of the lord comes and has no problem rolling that stone
away all right just showing you the power of god there right verse number three his countenance was
like lightning and his raiment was white as snow that's the angel and for fear of him the keepers
did shake and became as dead men so you can see the keepers are still there the watchmen are still
there all right but they became as dead men and the angel answered and said unto the women fear
not ye for i know that ye seek jesus which was crucified he is not here for he is risen as he
said come see the place where the lord lay you know the angel came and rode that stone away
he did he didn't do it so jesus could come out jesus has already left he did it for the mary
magnolin the other mary to come and be a witness that the body was gone they were a witness that
the stone was in place it's been moved and after it was moved the body's gone christ was already
resurrected from the dead and look the sepulchre the grave this burial site was not preventing him
from escaping okay look let me see the power of jesus christ able to i don't know phase through
or transport himself through walls it's not going to stop god okay in his resurrected body he's able
to do such a miracle and of course you know these ladies and of course several other disciples
and even this what these watchmen they're all witnesses that the body's gone they're all
witnesses of course that christ rose from dead and then christ would again reveal himself to several
of his disciples 500 at one time and so the significance of his burial is the confirmation
that he was dead he was dead three days and three nights meaning that on by the fourth day
there's no longer death okay he had rise risen from the dead come with me to first
corinthians please first corinthians 15 first corinthians 15 first corinthians 15
oh lights and internet now anyway you guys can hear me preach
acorn's on all right doesn't matter first corinthians 15 please first corinthians 15
verse number 13 what is the significance of his resurrection so you know we already got
confirmation that christ has died for us all right we have confirmation that he was buried
and of course we talked a little bit a little about his resurrection but what is the significance
of his resurrection what if christ was not resurrected from the dead you know is that
sufficient is that sufficient for our salvation well first corinthians 15 13 1st corinthians 15
verse 13 it says this but if there be no resurrection of the dead then is christ
not risen now what paul is speaking about here if there is no resurrection of the dead he's speaking
about our resurrection the resurrection of believers if there's no resurrection of the
belief with the rapture like we believe in the rapture we believe in the resurrection
but if that is not to take place then christ is not risen in other words christ's resurrection
guarantees our resurrection christ's resurrection guarantees new resurrected bodies
made like unto jesus christ that is a significance verse number 14 and if christ be not risen
then is our preach in vain and your faith is also vain reverend if christ was not resurrected then
this preaching is vain right now empty worthless what are you doing here this morning if christ
was not resurrected your faith is in vain what are you guys doing don't do something else go
do what everyone else on the sunshine coast is doing this sunday morning whatever they're doing
okay because this is all vain if christ did not rise from the dead the fact that you're here this
morning you know proves to us you know guarantees that your faith is real in the resurrected savior
but it continues in verse number 15 yay and we have found false witnesses of god okay if christ
was not resurrected then we're false witnesses of god because we have testified of god that he
raised up christ whom he raised not up if so be that the dead rise not because we're witnessing
that god raised him from the dead but if he was not raised then we have no resurrection then we're
false witnesses it's funny that the jw's you know they call themselves jehovah witnesses but they
don't believe christ resurrected bodily from the grave they don't believe they believe he resurrected
spiritually but they don't believe he resurrected bodily they don't believe in the resurrection
okay they don't believe in the resurrection so what are they according to paul here
they are false witnesses of god because they're saying christ is not raised bodily
but the bible says no he rose bodily okay
verse number 16 for if the dead rise not then it is not christ raised and look at verse number 17
and if christ be not raised your faith is vain look at this ye are yet in your sins
see the significance of christ rising from the dead is it is he's showing that he has victory
victory over sins victory over death victory over hell victory over the grave
that's what the resurrection represents christ victory over the sins that he went to pay for
without christ's resurrection there is no victory for our sins we are yet in our sins it is so
important that christ rose from the dead and then verse number 18 then they also which have fallen
asleep or those that have passed away in christ are perished if christ did not rise from the dead
then all believers if they have died they're all perished in hell right now
if in this life only we have hope in christ we are of all men most miserable so if christ did
not rise from the dead there's no resurrection and we only have this life to live then it says
here we're the most miserable people on earth if christ not rise from the dead your faith is in
vain your this preaching is in vain you're still yet in your sins and you're just miserable miserable
people why are you here on sunday morning miserable people no you're not miserable people
you're children of god because of course indeed christ did rise from the dead verse number 20
but now if christ but now is christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that
slept so christ is the first fruits okay he's the first that resurrected bodily from the dead
and then it says in verse number 22 for as in adam all die yeah we're all going to die because
of adam's uh the sin nature that was passed on from adam even so in christ shall all be made
alive amen but every man in his own order christ the first fruits afterwards so christ is the first
to rise from the dead bodily in a new resurrected body okay it says afterward they that are christ's
at his coming are you of christ well you're going to rise from there too you're going to be
resurrected as well at his coming at the rapture okay so that's the promise that's the significance
of the resurrection christ's victory over sin and the promise of our resurrection a new resurrected
body that will be without sin all right so when we talk about putting out doing baptisms okay
it is all symbolic of this truth that our faith is in the completed work of jesus christ
come with me to act chapter 16 acts chapter 16 please acts chapter 16
this is a very popular verse that i i often use when i go soul winning i'm sure many of you use
it as well act 16 verse 30 i'm just reinforcing the when here when should we get baptized
have you put your faith and trust on the death the burial of the resurrection of jesus christ
is your faith that christ has overcome sin you've been cleansed from sin because of his work
verse act 16 verse 30 and brought them out this is the philippian jailer and said sirs what must
i do to be saved what's the what's the must okay and they said get baptized and they said
go to church and they said repent of all your sins they said keep the ten commandments and they said
live a holy life no what must i do to be saved and they said believe on the lord jesus christ
and thou shalt be saved and thy house his house is his family because if you and your family
because they went to the philippian jailer's house if you and your family believe on jesus christ
you'll be saved thou shalt be saved praise god for that but look at verse number 32
and as they spake unto him the word of the lord and to all that were in his house
and he took them to all in his house so this would be i guess man i'll get me let's say he's
married he's got people in his house i suppose he's married i suppose he has children he might
very well have servants in his house okay hey they're preaching to all in the house
verse number 33 look at this and he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes
and was baptized he and all his straight away or as we would say it straight away
in the same hour the same hour that they believed on jesus christ
they were then taken to get baptized straight away
they were not told all right you got to go to church and sit down with the pastor and go through
a 20-week series uh you know covering the the fundamentals of the faith you know before you
can get baptized no same i don't know how you how much can you teach in an hour okay in an hour i
mean look for those of you that are experienced soul winners okay okay one-on-one is going to be
quicker than a household of people okay because you're trying to explain to everybody in the
household you'll easily present in the gospel will take half an hour to an hour okay depending on the
kinds of questions that might be coming up from several people in the household easily in that
hour you'll be preaching the whole gospel okay you won't have time for anything else okay you'll be
taking them all right you've trusted christ you know what must they do to be saved believe all
right then straight away you can get baptized the moment you've trusted christ i just want to make
that very clear and that's the principle i have if someone says to me pastor i want to get baptized
look i may not be able to get you baptized immediately on the same hour okay but definitely
by the next church service we can make it happen okay i don't want to delay for
unnecessary reasons or anything like that okay but i think that's biblical i think that is the
right way there are several times we see this taking place immediately there's no delay man
woman and child doesn't matter everybody in the household that has trusted christ they got
baptized straight away come with me to romans chapter six romans chapter six
romans chapter six now we've understood that baptism represents or symbolizes the death
burial resurrection of christ that we have publicly put our faith upon that but there's
just also something further that you need to understand here it is often said you've probably
often heard it said and it is true that baptism is the first step of obedience okay the first step
the moment you get saved you're born again you become a child of god the very first step
of obedience is baptism okay i mean if you're getting baptized the same hour of hearing the
gospel there were no other steps you could take okay that is step number one right if you have
been eunuch as soon as he asked yes i believe that jesus christ is the son of god immediately
they command that chariot to stop they go down and get baptized okay it's the first step that we see
in the bible now what is the signal why is this the first step in what sense
well romans chapter six verse number one okay and this is important because sometimes when i
i want to be look i want to be so clear on the gospel that there is no confusion where i stand
okay you don't have to turn from sins to be saved okay that is a work that is a good work to do
but good works don't save you coming to church is a good work to do getting baptized is a good
work to do but none of these works save you but once you are saved romans chapter six verse
number one hey we're to teach all things remember to observe all things whatever i've commanded you
well romans chapter six verse number one says this what shall we say then shall we continue in sin
that grace may abound so once you are saved say pastor all right i know salvation is not
turning from my sins so should i just continue in my sin because grace god's grace abounds
all right well verse number two god forbid how shall we live that are dead to sin
live any longer therein listen the moment you've been saved christ has paid for your sins
they were nailed to that cross christ died for you that part of you that fleshly part of you is
dead with christ now it gives you the new man born again the born-again spirit we're to walk
in the spirit brethren we're to walk in holiness god forbid that you should continue your sins
yeah turn from your sins yeah repent from your sins to be saved no not to be saved
okay this is what we should be striving to do after we're saved after we're given the new man
because now we have the ability through the holy spirit to live after christ verse number three
no you're not that so many of us as were baptized into jesus christ were baptized into his death
notice that so baptism isn't just symbolic of the death of christ but it's symbolic
of your death to self your death to this flesh your death to this sinful nature
you say that is not me anymore that part of me dies that old man but we've got to do it every
day actually the bible says to do it daily you know to mortify that flesh daily to crucify that
old man because that old man loves to come back okay every time you've seen that old man rose
from the dead again you've got to go and crucify him again okay but the baptism represents you
know what i'm no longer living after that old man it's done okay is that salvation though is
salvation i'm no longer going to live after the old man that is not salvation we're talking about
baptism after salvation now that represents the fact that i'm putting away that old man
i'm going to try to live after that new man the born-again spirit that i have because it says
there in verse number four therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death that like as christ
was raised up from the dead by the glory of the father even so we also should walk in newness of
life you see it's the first step of obedience baptism you come out of that water you say you
now i'm going to walk in newness of life not that old life not that old flesh not that sinful nature
now i'm going to try to live in accordance to god's ways live in accordance with spirit the
newness of life remember we're called a new life baptist church it comes from this passage the goal
is to live in newness of life you know not that we should continue in sin are you going to continue
in sin are you going to continue sinning unfortunately yes you will okay till the day
you die because that old flesh is still here still here okay it's still here it frustrates me
hey but it's the only flesh i've got it's the body of god it's got to be in subjection to the
holy spirit it's got to be in subjection to the new man then god can use this body for his purposes
okay we don't want to destroy this body too quickly it's got a sinful nature yes
but it can be used by god as long as it's submissive to his will submissive to the new
man submissive to the holy spirit okay and when we do that with the body that we've been given
we should walk in newness of life remember a new life baptist church because yes you know we want
to be clear on salvation we don't want to muddy the waters at all if you muddy the waters of
salvation you've got a false gospel but i also want to you know i don't want to neglect this part
as well that recommends to walk in newness of life your life ought to be different okay
and the first step ought to be baptism you know i was saved when i was four years old
childlike faith christ says unless you be converted like little children you shall not enter
the kingdom of god okay yeah little children can be saved and you know i went to church and yeah
learned things but this is my testimony and i've heard many people share similar testimonies like
this i did not really grow until i got baptized even though i went to when did i get baptized
i think i was 20 or 21 and i got saved when i was four okay and i was going to a baptist church
say why didn't you get baptized
i did not understand baptism number one i was a little bit timid to go in front of everybody get
because in the church i was they had a baptismal thing in front of the whole congregation i was
too timid to do that number one but number two i was sure that when i got baptized god's gonna
call me to be a missionary in the middle of africa and i didn't want to do it
because that's what i thought baptism was it's like all right lord whatever you want now
so i was scared about that i didn't want to go to africa thank the lord he sent me to the sunshine
coast like completely different okay if i knew that i would have got baptized a long time ago
but i didn't understand it okay but what he represents of course not just that you place
your faith on him but you're making a public commitment now that you know what i'm gonna
try to live godly i'm gonna try to live righteous i'm gonna try to live up that new man you know
and and it's a good thing it's a good thing to make that public confession now none of us are
gonna be perfect at it we all know we're gonna mess up life and you know make mistakes but at
the same time we shouldn't just be like i sinned again oh well you know we saw earlier shall we
shall we continue in sin that grace may abound god forbid you know god wants us to live a life
that pleases him you know even though we don't have a resurrected body we still have the new
man within us god has given us the ability to live holy and righteously he's given us the ability
power the victory over sin that has come through christ jesus we have the ability to overcome
temptations so we don't sin in your sight and of course when you do sin thing you should do is go
to the lord say lord please forgive me you know messed up again please give me the victory over
this sinful flesh all right one more passage please act chapter 2 act chapter 2 verse 41
in conclusion
act chapter 2 verse number 41
this passage again just reinforces the fact that people get baptized immediately that
is a biblical way to do things but there's one other point that i want to draw out of this
actually the two of us number 41 then they that gladly received his word were baptized
you know for those of you getting baptized today have you gladly received his word you know what
baptism is something joyful something that should give you gladness you know what yes i'm so
thankful that i believed his word i'm so thankful that i believe the gospel i can't wait to get
baptized it's not always like that like like me i was kind of timid a bit shy maybe you're feeling
that way a little nervous but what we see here is when you gladly receive the bible
receive the gospel i should say you baptize and the same day they were added unto them
about three thousand souls that's pretty public baptism having three people present three thousand
three thousand people getting baptized let alone who's watching okay that's a big i don't know how
long that it would take to baptize three thousand people i don't think there was one person doing
that there would have been several of course doing baptisms but it is something that is glad
it is something that is that should give us great joy this is why when it comes to the great
commission this makes me the most excited okay because i mean it's all great getting someone
saved is the best part you know someone going to heaven but what gets me excited in ministry
is baptism because we don't get to do it every day we don't get to do it every week and so this
is a time of rejoicing and i really do appreciate those that are willing to make that public
confession that you've trusted christ after the service all right in summary the statement of
faith once again is going to say this under baptism we believe that baptism is the immersion
of a believer in water in the name of the father the son and the holy ghost it is a public
declaration and symbolism of a person's faith in the death burial and resurrection of jesus christ
as the means of salvation okay let's pray