Well, this is a wonderful day of celebration, as we are here to witness the wonderful testimony of baptism in the lives of seven of our dear brothers and sisters. We are very thankful to be witnesses of this great grace, the manifold grace of God, as it is worked out in lives.
As I am standing here now, I am caught between two tensions. There is the tension of most people saying, “Mac, hurry up and sit down so we can hear their testimonies.” But I have seven over here saying, “Mac, take as long as you want.”
Well, we will just leave that part to the Lord, and He will work out all the timing. Let us pray.
Lord, we are thankful for this joyful blessing that we have of seeing You working in lives. What an encouragement it is. We talk about encouraging one another, Lord, when we see You working, just as we have partaken of Your table and seen the great work You did there.
Lord, these ones are here today to testify of truly desiring to live for Jesus and live for You only. Just as we were singing that song, it is an aspect of their testimony, Lord. We do commit this time into Your hands. In Jesus’ name, amen.
I would like for us to read, first of all, out of Romans 6—some familiar verses on baptism. This morning, I am going to share briefly; then we are going to have the testimonies, have some prayer, and then go outside for the baptism and have more prayer.
You know, we will be praying a lot for these ones because they are entering into a great transaction that is occurring in their lives today.
We look at Romans 6:3-5.
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.
As we come to this matter of baptism, the phrase that is upon my heart this morning is the testimony of baptism. This is a testimony of a spiritual reality.
We will see something outwardly that will occur, but what is being done goes far beyond what we see. It testifies of a spiritual reality. It testifies of these ones truly being identified with Christ.
You know, this is not a symbol. It is not just a little ritual that we go through, or something like that. It is a tremendous testimony that the Lord has called us unto, each and every one of us. We are thankful for the response within these lives.
You know, we simply have to look back through history, and we see the battle over testimony—the battle over the testimony of baptism. How many have died so that we could freely gather here today and witness this baptism?
We see how much the enemy hates it simply because of the way the enemy has tried to destroy the testimony of baptism. Even Christendom, in all of its religiosity, tries to, if you can use the phrase, water down baptism and make it meaningless, or just some little ritual or ceremony that we go through.
But we are here today to say that there is a spiritual reality. I believe, as we look at it, we will see there is a fourfold reality to this testimony.
There is a testimony of a new life, a new birth—a testimony of salvation. These ones, as they are being baptized today, have had something precede this: they accepted Jesus Christ into their lives. They were born again. They believed in Him, and they can testify that Christ is in them.
What a wonderful testimony this is as they are walking through this life, as we have this transaction today. Their testimony is that the life of Christ is within them. Because of that testimony, they are able to be baptized because of Christ in them, because there is really no other qualification.
When we think about the qualifications for baptism, it is simply that you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You are saved, and you can be baptized.
Oftentimes, as we wrestle with this—and some of them have been wrestling with this for a little while—we can think, “Well, I am not good enough yet. I need to be a better Christian before I am baptized.” No. If we believe in Him and we want to live for Him, He is saying, “Come unto Me.”
You know, sometimes we say, “Well, I need to have some more experience as a Christian. I need to do some good works.” No. It is believing in Him and being baptized.
Sometimes we can say, “I really do not understand this.” Well, I think if you surveyed this room—those of us who have been baptized—what we understood of baptism at the moment of our baptism and what we understand now, there is a great gap. Fortunately, we see more.
But there is a truth that you see now, and the more we step out in faith and respond to that, the more and more we see of the great reality, the great testimony, and all that baptism speaks of. So we are thankful for this aspect of the testimony related to the new birth and the new life that we have.
There is also this aspect of the testimony that speaks of our identification with Christ. As we read here in Romans 6, there is that identification with His death, with His burial, and with His resurrection.
Again, we learn more of this as we go on, but by faith we are taking this step today. We are saying, “Lord, just as You died, just as You were resurrected, I am thankful, Lord, that I can enter into this death, this burial, and resurrection of all that You have accomplished. Lord, I would join with You today.”
We are so thankful that we stand—because in the first aspect of our testimony, it was Christ in us; and now, this aspect of our testimony is that we are in Christ.
That actually reminds us a little bit of what we heard in Toronto: “I abide in You, and You abide in me.” That is the wonderful aspect of this testimony. Yes, there is a testimony that we are in Christ.
We see that it is not only Christ in us, but we are in Him. We are testifying that we are part of that, and we are identifying with Him.
A third aspect of this testimony is that we are a testimony of a new creation. We are thankful that these old things have passed away. Look over in 2 Corinthians 5.
If we look at 2 Corinthians 5, there is this wonderful testimony of this new creation. If we look at the context of what Paul was sharing there with those in Corinth, we look at 2 Corinthians 5, starting in verse 14.
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.
Verse 17:
Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature;
the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.
We are thankful for this testimony of this new creation. We are thankful, as our brother Jeffrey shared with us a few weeks ago, that we can actually enter into the joy, the blessing, and the fullness of this new creation now. Yes, there is a fulfillment of it in the future, but we can enjoy and enter into the glory and the blessing of this life now.
As you are testifying today through this act of baptism, we are seeing how you are testifying that you have this desire, as Paul wrote here, to no longer live for yourself, but to live for Him who has loved you and died for you.
There is this separation. There is this concluding of the past. There is a separation from the world, and you are saying, “I do not want to live for myself anymore.” Publicly, I am coming up here and making this testimony that I no longer desire to live for myself, but I want to live for Him who has loved me and died for me.
I know I cannot do that in myself, but praise God, by His grace He has made us a new creation. We have that new life, that eternal life that we heard during our worship time. The eternal life that has overcome all things is living within us.
Now we have a life within us that is just desiring to burst forth. As we say, “I do not want to live for myself,” there is a life in there that says, “Yes, I want to live for You. I want to come out and express myself through you.”
What a joy we have of seeing that life expressed, even as you take this step of faith today. We can say amen to all the Lord is doing. Thank the Lord, He is Lord of your life.
You are making that declaration now and this separation, because today is a day of transaction. It is that public testimony of saying, “I do not want to live for myself any longer. I want to live for Him.”
We also know that the fourth aspect of the testimony of baptism is the testimony of being part of the body of Christ. This is a wonderful part of the testimony.
If we look back at 1 Corinthians 12, we look at verses 12 and 13. Paul has this wonderful chapter on the marvelous body of Christ.
For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members, 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.
Praise God, when you were born again, you were baptized into that body of Christ. As we are making this public declaration today, we are saying, “Yes, I want to continue, and I want to be an active, serving member within the body of Christ.”
We notice, if we look back upon our Lord Jesus’ life, that following His baptism, He started His public ministry—that public aspect of serving, drawing many, and seeking and saving those who were lost.
As you look at Paul’s life after his baptism, it says that after he was baptized, he went and was with the brethren, and he was testifying that this Jesus is the Christ. Paul immediately went out and was serving the brethren.
As you look at Acts 2, as ones were born again and baptized, then they started going from house to house. They were sharing the Lord with one another. There was an entering into serving the Lord and serving one another, and being those active members within the body of Christ.
This is what you are testifying of today. We are so thankful that, as we are in this wonderful body, there is a place for each and every one of us to express His life.
It gets expressed in such a wonderful, diverse way. It gets expressed in so many varied ways, and we are thankful that we can see the Lord’s life expressed through each one of you in a wonderfully unique way also.
So, as we have this matter of baptism today, would we see that this is a glorious testimony that goes far beyond what we see? There is a spiritual reality being accomplished today.
As these dear ones are baptized, they are making a spiritual transaction, and we have the privilege of being witnesses with them, able to support them and stand with them.
Now, that probably was not long enough for you.
We are now going to have each one who wants to share their testimony. Let us have a word of prayer for them.
Lord, we are thankful for these dear ones. We are thankful for what You have done in their lives, and we are thankful, too, for the presence of Your Holy Spirit.
We do come, and we commit them into Your hands, Lord. Lord, anyone who stands here is nervous, but we are thankful for Your peace, Your comfort, and Your provision of life.
Lord, we would be jealous to really be able to hear the wonderful words and the wonderful testimony of the way You have worked and called each one of these to take this step of faith. In Jesus’ name, amen.