Okay. All right.
Also, the testimonies were recorded. If anybody would like a copy of them, you can see the folks in the Tape Ministry afterwards. They are not on the internet, is that right? Not on the internet, but they were separately recorded.
Okay. All that is taken care of now. All right.
Well, we are going to read some familiar Scriptures. Ones have already read and shared from some of them, but today we just want to have a brief word on the testimony of baptism. What does baptism speak of? What does it testify of?
We can turn first to Matthew 28, verses 18 to 20.
And Jesus came up and spoke to them—that is, the disciples—saying,
“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
And now in Romans 6, verses 3 to 5.
Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?
Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death,
in order that, as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father,
so we too might walk in newness of life.
For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death,
certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection.
And now 2 Corinthians 5. We will read verses 14, 15, and 17.
For the love of Christ controls us,
having concluded this, that One died for all, therefore all died;
and He died for all,
that they who live should no longer live for themselves,
but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.
Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature;
the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
And finally, 1 Corinthians 12, verses 12 and 13.
For even as the body is one and yet has many members,
and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body,
so also is Christ.
For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free,
and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
Let us pray.
Lord, we thank You for the precious testimony of these five lives. Lord, we thank You, even as we reflect back over the months, how You have been working and touching ones, and making very fresh within all of our hearts this reality of baptism.
Lord, as we consider it again today, we look unto You that You would speak and teach us. Lord, as we come to this matter of baptism, the more we see of it, the more we realize how little we know of it. We would come to hunger and thirst after You, that You would reveal more of the reality of it within all of our hearts today, Lord.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.
We just wanted to consider briefly this morning the matter of the testimony of baptism, because baptism really is a tremendous testimony of a spiritual reality within our Christian lives.
We know that there are several things that we do physically that, in themselves, or if you look at them naturally, are not much outwardly. But in the spiritual realm, we touch a spiritual reality; and as we partake and do these things, they testify of the greatness of what our Lord has done.
We just partook of the Lord’s table. Now, in the natural, outwardly, we just had a little bit from the cup and a little piece of bread. But, oh, when we reflect upon the spiritual reality of all that speaks of, how it does touch our hearts.
Our sisters wear head coverings, testifying of the great divine order that our Lord has established. And as we come to this matter of baptism too, if we think about it physically, in many ways all that happens is that you get wet.
But beyond that, when we look at the spiritual reality, it is a tremendous testimony of this new life that we have in Him, of identification with Him and all that He has done.
So it is not just a little symbol. It is not just a little ritual. It is not like some little ritual we go through in joining a club or something. But it really speaks of the great reality that we will consider in a minute.
I think one of the things that reflects and reinforces the value of baptism is the battle through the ages that there has been over baptism. Many have been put to death. Many have lost their lives, loved not their lives unto death, over this matter of baptism.
What that shows us is how much the enemy hates it. It testifies in a marvelous way that ones have left the world behind and have decided to follow Jesus. Oh, how the enemy hates that. He tries every which way to stop it.
Even today, we know many of our brethren who have been saved out of Islam. In many Muslim countries, the element of baptism almost puts a sentence of death upon their lives. It is still being contested these days.
We can partake of it so freely, but there is a great battle even today over the spiritual reality and the testimony of all that baptism speaks of.
So, as we look at it, I want to consider four aspects, or four realities, within this testimony.
The first is the testimony of our new birth. It is the testimony of our salvation. It is a testimony that we have been born again to a living hope.
In Matthew 28, the Lord commanded those disciples to go out, declare that glorious gospel, make disciples, and baptize them. As ones have already shared in previous months, this is believer’s baptism. It is a testimony that I have repented. It is a testimony that I have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior.
What a marvelous testimony. This is a testimony of something that has occurred within us inwardly. Our spirit has been born again, and this is to publicly testify: “I have been born again. I am a partaker of a new life. I have entered into this way of salvation. I have believed in our Lord Jesus Christ, and I want to testify of it.”
That is why we refer to it often as believer’s baptism, because there is one thing that always precedes baptism: believing in our Lord Jesus Christ. And that is the only thing that precedes baptism.
We can see how much the enemy hates it just from some of the testimonies. Ones would say, “You know, I knew I should, but I kept putting it off, putting it off.” We have heard from other brothers that there is absolutely no reason, once we are born again, not to go ahead and be baptized as our Lord has commanded us.
How precious it is when, in obedience, ones take that step of faith. In obedience, they make this public testimony of the reality of a new birth.
The second aspect of this testimony of baptism is the testimony of our identification with Christ.
As it speaks there in Romans 6, which was referred to in several of the testimonies, we are testifying that we are identifying with the death, the burial, and the resurrection of our Lord.
Now, we do not understand all this. Sometimes one of the hang-ups on baptism is that we think we have to comprehend all the truths and realities associated with it. No. It is a matter of obedience.
Really, baptism is one of these aspects in the Christian life where we learn more of baptism after we are baptized than we ever knew before.
That is one of the things I love about this whole matter of having the public testimony of baptism: there is a uniqueness in each one. It is not a little carbon copy. It is not a ritual where you get up, do this and this, and we go through this.
No, we see the freshness of the Lord’s life in each one—how ones have come to this place of knowing. Even though they do not know fully, we enter into this: “I know that I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”
We identify. We have a new position. We are in Christ, and praise God for that. Praise God that, just as it says there in Romans 6, just as He died, we died; just as He was buried, we were buried, going under that water.
Thank the Lord, we were not left under the water. But as He was raised, we have been raised again to newness of life. It is a marvelous testimony of our identification with Christ.
The third aspect of this testimony is the testimony that we are a new creation.
As it says there in 2 Corinthians 5, we are a new creation. In some translations, it says, “There is a new creation.” In Christ, there is that new creation.
Because we are that new creation, we can relate back to Romans 6:4: we walk in newness of life. We heard in the testimonies this morning that now, as we have come into knowing our Lord, there is a newness of life that we want to enter into.
It is a concluding of the past, of no longer living for ourselves but living for Him who has loved us and died for us. It is that separation from the world, separation from everything of the past, and the testimony that we are a new creation.
Praise God. Again, I do not understand all this fullness of being a new creation, but that does not hinder the reality and truth of it. Every day we discover more and more of the riches of all that the testimony of baptism speaks of: the testimony of a new birth, the testimony of identification with Christ, and the testimony of being that new creation.
The fourth aspect of this testimony is the testimony of being part of the body of Christ.
It is the testimony of being born again—not just our spirits being made alive. When we are born again, we are born into the body of Christ, and we are brothers and sisters. We have been brought into all the fullness of that: by one Spirit we were baptized into this body.
It is not just an individual testimony, but it is a testimony of the corporate life that we have entered into. It is the testimony that we have been brought into the body of Christ, and now we are joined together with our brothers and sisters—not only within this room, but really with all the brothers and sisters throughout this earth.
Praise God. What a marvelous testimony this is: to see it as beyond just something for us. It testifies of what we have been brought into in Christ, and of the marvelous family of God that we all now live in and are part of.
As we think of this matter of newness of life, of walking in newness of life, and of being part of the body of Christ, what follows baptism? What follows baptism?
If we look at our Lord as an example, our Lord was thirty years old. Much of His life had been a hidden life. Then He came out, was baptized, and from that He went into a public ministry. His public service was really commenced at baptism.
If you look at Acts 9, we see Paul’s marvelous testimony. Paul went through this marvelous conversion of being knocked off his high horse, being humbled to the point of being blinded and having to be led into the city.
Then we know how Ananias came, addressed him as Brother Paul, and laid his hands upon him. What was Paul’s response after he had been born again and filled there with the Holy Spirit?
If we look at Acts 9:18:
And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales,
and he regained his sight,
and he arose and was baptized.
He took some food and was strengthened. For several days, he was with the disciples who were at Damascus. Right after he was baptized, he was with the disciples, being part of this body of Christ. He was with the brothers and sisters.
Not only was he with the brethren, but if we continue into verse 20, it says:
And immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”
Paul testified of what he knew. As soon as he was baptized, he stepped into serving the Lord. He stepped into declaring among the brethren. He declared among those he had known formerly, “Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
We know Paul went through many other things to receive further illumination on much of what the Lord had touched his heart about. But there was an immediacy of his life changing from being against the Lord to returning to Him.
After baptism, he came in and started testifying, not only among the brethren and having fellowship with the disciples. I am sure Paul learned much from them because they had already walked with the Lord. There was this mutual sharing, this mutual encouragement one to another.
Then Paul went to that synagogue and testified who the Messiah was and that the Messiah had come. Praise God, there were ones who responded and came to the Lord.
Sometimes, as we look at the Scriptures, if we use Jesus as an example, or if we use someone like Paul as an example, we have trouble relating to them. We say, “Well, they are such great men of God.”
But go back to the day of Pentecost. Look back at Acts 2. We know how, on that marvelous day—the day of the birth of the church upon this earth—Peter stood up, testified, and gave this marvelous sermon of who Jesus Christ was.
Ones were touched. There were three thousand who were touched, and they said, “What must we do?” He said, “Repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be baptized.”
So, if we look at Acts 2:41, we see this great response:
So then, those who had received his word were baptized;
and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
But it does not stop there. We all know Acts 2:42, but do we ever connect Acts 2:41 and Acts 2:42? Acts 2:41 was when they were baptized. They believed and they were baptized, and there is no break.
The fruit, the response, the coming out of those waters of baptism—what did it lead to? It led them to entering in. It led them, as it says in Acts 2:42:
And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship,
to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
They became active, functioning members within the house of God, within the family of God. Yes, their individual lives were growing. They had entered into a newness of life, but they also saw that this newness of life was beyond them.
They entered into a relationship together. They were seeking the Lord together. They were going on together.
Brothers and sisters, when we think of this aspect of the testimony of all that baptism speaks of, let us not forget that corporate side also: the testimony that we have been brought into the body of Christ.
Yes, it is the testimony of our new birth. It is the testimony of our identification with Christ. It is the testimony of that new creation. But in that same way, it is the testimony of being made a living, functioning member within the body of Christ.
As we speak, see, and fellowship much about our Lord’s returning and hastening His return, what hastens our Lord’s return is the functioning members within the body of Christ allowing His life to be lived out within us—that Christ can be seen in us and that we respond to all the riches and glory that we have in Him.
So we are very thankful today that we are witnesses of these five. We come alongside these five. We have a responsibility with them.
As we witness this time of baptism, we are not just spectators. In one sense, we do see; but in spiritual reality, we are joining with them. We are coming alongside our brothers and sisters and standing with them, because we know how much this matter of baptism is contested.
We are thankful, and we are rejoicing in a spirit of worship and adoration that we can be witnesses today of the marvelous testimony of baptism.
Let us pray.
Lord, we are so grateful for all that You have done in these five particular lives. Lord, continue to work in our lives, showing us more and more of the reality, the spiritual testimony, that there is in baptism.
Thank You that we can join with these ones who are being baptized. Lord, we are thankful that even as there are others who are considering this, Your Holy Spirit works. Your Holy Spirit convicts.
Lord, we desire that each brother and sister within the body of Christ would take this step of faith to be baptized. Use these testimonies of our brethren today. Use the testimony, as we go and participate in this baptism, to work within many hearts and many lives for Your glory and for Your honor.
In Jesus’ name.