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