“Hast thou heard Him, seen Him, known Him? Is not thine a captured heart?”
We just heard some wonderful testimonies. The answer to that question for those two was yes. They had seen Him, they had heard Him, they know Him, and their hearts are captured—in a wonderful way. They have chosen the better part.
We are thankful that we are able to witness this matter of baptism today. It always brings us back to reflect on our own relationship with the Lord. I think it is far more than just sitting back as spectators. We are joining together with them and allowing the reality of what they are speaking of to touch our hearts in a fresh way today.
Like much of the Christian life, baptism, in one sense, is a one-time event. But in many ways, we are living it out every day. Would the Lord make it very fresh in all of our hearts today.
Let us pray.
Lord, we are so thankful that we have this marvelous privilege today of seeing Your life, capturing Your life, working out in two dear young ones. Lord, we are thankful they have chosen the better part.
Lord, today, as we would spend some time to pause and reflect on this matter of baptism, we pray that Your Spirit would refresh it to all of our hearts, that we could see the beauty of it, see more of the reality of it, and see the awesomeness of it.
We are thankful, Lord, that we are those who have first been loved by You. In that, we want to respond to You with hearts of love today. In Jesus’ name, amen.
These last few weeks, we have been considering this foundation series of so great a salvation. Part, obviously, of that foundation series is this matter of baptism. We are thankful that we do not just have to speak about it in a theoretical sense; we are able to join together today and be participants in it.
We do want to reflect upon what the Lord has spoken to us as He would share with us this matter.
I would like for us first to turn to Romans 6:3-5.
As we look at baptism today, we want to use this term: the testimony of baptism. It really speaks volumes. There is a testimony associated with it, and so today we are considering this matter of the testimony of baptism.
Again, these are familiar verses to many of us. There is always a challenge when you read familiar verses: we skim over them, or we think about some other thoughts until the reading is finished and then tune back in. But let us turn our hearts to these verses and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to us in a fresh way.
The reality of what the Lord has done for us in these three verses is of eternal value, and we continue to receive further and further revelation every day of our lives. If anybody says they have got a grasp of these verses, I would like to talk to you.
Every time you see them, there is a richness here. Is that not the way it is in the Lord? You touch Him, you think you see Him, and then you touch Him again—there is more and more. As we look at these verses, that is the spirit in which we are looking today.
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.
Praise God for that.
As we consider this matter of the testimony of baptism, we as God’s people have a charge upon us to carry the testimony of Jesus. Praise God, that is a marvelous testimony of Who Christ is.
Within that, there are some other testimonies that we also share in. We just took the Lord’s Table. There is a testimony there. A testimony is something public that speaks of something far beyond what we just see in the visible; it speaks of a spiritual reality.
When we speak of the testimony of the Lord’s Table, the vastness of that spiritual reality speaks of His death, His burial, His resurrection, the hope of His return, the oneness of the Body of Christ, and the power of the blood of the Lamb. On and on, we see the many aspects that the Table testifies of—the reality that we have been brought into.
We have the testimony of baptism today, which we will be considering. We have the testimony of marriage: a beautiful way that God brings a man and a woman together to speak of His great love for the Church—Him being the Head and the wife the body—far beyond what the world has so distorted today.
We also have, though perhaps not quite as prominently, the testimony of a sister wearing a head covering. There are various thoughts on that, but in my opinion, it testifies of God’s divine order: God being the Head, and we are all under the covering of His precious headship. He has a divine order that He wants us to live in.
So we see, through many physical things that we can see and partake of, that it is far more than just having a little piece of bread and a little cup, far more than just getting wet in a tub, far more than just having something on our head or a ring on our finger. There is a spiritual reality, and this is what the Lord is really after.
This morning, as we touch on this matter of the testimony of baptism, what is it really speaking of? This matter of baptism is far more than a symbol. It is far more than something we follow out of ritual or tradition; far more than saying, “Our Lord was baptized, therefore we should be baptized,” or, “The Scripture says we should be baptized, therefore we should do that.”
In some places, you have to be baptized in order to become a member. Actually, they have it backwards there. You have to be a member in order to be baptized. You have to be a member in the Body of Christ; then you can be baptized, because baptism is a second step. The first thing is this salvation that we have been brought into. Praise God, it speaks of so much more than that.
It is interesting to see, just from an outward point of view, that you can tell things that are of real value to the Lord by how much the world and the enemy hate them. When we think of the Lord’s Table, we see how it has been contested throughout the years. Think of marriage: you see how it is so contested and so hated in the days we are living in.
Even this matter of baptism, throughout history—the many who have been put to death over their belief in baptism—shows the enemy’s hatred. Even today, in a Muslim country, quite often people can come to know the Lord and, in one sense, live kind of safely and hidden. But once they take that step of baptism, it speaks of something. It is like a mark of death is upon their head.
That shows us the intensity of how much the enemy hates it. That should awaken our own hearts to know, “Wow, if it means that much to the enemy, how much does it mean to us?” Sometimes we can take these things so carelessly and not really value them.
Would we wake up and see the great value, far beyond traditions and rituals, but the spiritual reality of all that the Lord is desiring to show us when we consider this matter of baptism today?
As we look at this, I have approached it from what I call a fourfold aspect of the testimony. I think it is hard to say baptism speaks of only one thing, because there are various aspects.
In Ephesians, when the Lord is trying to describe His purpose, He describes the manifold wisdom of God. When we see the things of Christ, quite often there is a manifold wisdom associated with them. There is a multifaceted aspect of what goes on here. Baptism is multifaceted.
The Lord’s Table also speaks through the many facets that we see in it. Today, first, I think baptism is a testimony of our new birth and our salvation.
When we make this declaration, it is a testimony of our new birth and our salvation. We are saying that something has preceded baptism. There is a point in time when one came to know the Lord as personal Lord and Savior. They repented and believed in the Lord, and because of that, they now have Christ in them.
We see how, even in the Gospels, at the end of Matthew, the Lord says, “Go out and make disciples.” What is He saying? Make disciples and baptize. We see this relationship between salvation and baptism and how, when we come to Him, the Lord wants us to respond.
When we are first saved, and as part of discipling others, when we lead people to the Lord, it is not over then. There is an old worldly song—excuse me—but, “We’ve only just begun.”
When we bring people to the Lord, there is this matter of bringing them into some reality of baptism, consecration, discipling, and going on—walking together. That is what this step testifies: first of all, “I have settled this issue. I am now a child of the living God, and I have decided to follow Him.”
So what is the qualification for baptism? Honestly, it is just believing and being saved. But there is another aspect of this matter.
We see that there is now a desire within the heart of one to follow Jesus. It is tragic today, the way we have watered down the gospel. We have allowed people to know Him as Savior, but there is also this aspect of knowing Him as Lord.
In baptism, we are saying, “I am concluding the past.” That is true. But now also, “I want to follow Him. He is Lord of my life. I do not want to go my own way. I am choosing this way to go.” This is the public testimony.
This is what these ones have already testified to today. I am so thankful that, in this matter of baptism, we do not have to wait until we become a better person. We do not have to wait until we do more works. We do not have to wait until we get a better understanding.
Praise God, I know Josiah and Sarah are both thankful that they do not have to stand up and give a theological explanation on baptism. It is like salvation: when we are first saved, we do not know all the theology of it. The only thing we know is, “I was blind, and now I see.” Praise God.
You are in the Body of Christ, and now they are saying, “I want to put the world behind me. I want to follow the Lord.” That is what they are doing.
As we go along, we see more and more of the reality of baptism. Most of us, if we reflect back upon our lives and the day we were baptized, probably did not have a whole lot of understanding of it. We might have had a little knowledge from what we read in books and things like that, but what we see and know of it now is far more.
My own personal testimony is that my father was a military chaplain, but he had Presbyterian training. So I was sprinkled and christened as a child.
For many years, all through my growing up—junior high, high school, military, everything—if anybody ever asked me if I was baptized, I said, “Yes.” I was sure I was baptized. My parents said I was baptized, and that was what it was. I was very comfortable with that.
Then, after we got married, Stella and I moved over here to Richmond, and we started going to Mount Vernon Baptist Church. In order to be a member there, you had to be baptized according to their understanding. But I still appreciate that there were two brothers there, because they realized I had not been baptized: Charles Klein and Ben Bradshaw.
They did not beat it over my head. They just said, “Have you ever really looked in the Scriptures and seen what baptism was about?”
I said, “No. My parents told me I was baptized.”
They said, “Go look in the Scriptures and see what it is about.”
The more I started looking, I said, “Wow, this is for believers. I was not a believer when I was a baby. This is for somebody who believes in the Lord.”
Actually, Stella and I ended up getting baptized together. She grew up on the opposite end of the theological spectrum from the Presbyterian tradition. She grew up in a Free Will Baptist church, where you could lose your salvation.
Stella had a rough life growing up. She lost her salvation a few times and had to get rebaptized. Love covers; I am not going to go into any details.
But finally, when she saw what baptism really was, we were baptized together. It was kind of cute because the pastor there was a brother named Tom Vundeberg. Tom Vundeberg came up about my waist.
He said, “When you and Stella get in there, kneel down.” So we got in there and knelt down, and he baptized us.
But it is for believers, and it is wonderful. We probably all have our own testimonies of how the Lord made it real.
Now, I do want to say: it is wonderful when young parents dedicate their children to the Lord, and I think we should. There is a way of giving your children to the Lord—not so much in a ritualistic ceremony, but by committing our children to Him.
But there comes a time in each young person’s life when eventually your God has to become their God. That is our prayer for all of our young people as they are growing up: that that transaction would occur, and they could put the things of the world behind them and decide to follow the Lord.
We are thankful that this matter of baptism is this wonderful testimony of our new birth and salvation in Him.
There is another aspect of this testimony: the testimony of our identification with Christ. As we read those verses in Romans 6:3-5, we see within this an identification with His death, His burial, and His resurrection.
He has done it all. Because He has died, we can say we have died. As we go into that water, that is symbolized—speaking of death, that we have died. The past is behind us; it is concluded. We have been buried with Him, and then we are brought up out of that water. There is a resurrection life.
It is wonderful how we have been studying the Gospel of John. It speaks of, “I am the resurrection,” but there is so much life in that Gospel. We see the Lord’s life being expressed in so many wonderful ways, and that is the life we now have.
We have Christ in us. It is a matter of faith that we stand in this. We might not understand it. We might not feel any different. But there is a truth that now we are in Christ, and we are thankful for all that He has done for us and all that He is continuing to do as He carries us through every day of our lives.
The Good Shepherd that our brother opened with today—He never leaves us or forsakes us. I was thinking about that even this morning as we took the Lord’s Table. Some were praying about the faithfulness and goodness of the Lord as Shepherd, and it is wonderful.
Every Sunday we come, and there is a cup, a loaf, and a table right there. We change a lot. Chairs around this room can change. We wear different clothes. Different ones are here or there. But that Table is ever the same. There is that cup and that loaf.
There is a testimony of that aspect of our Lord in our life: He is ever the same. He is ever faithful. Even in a simple symbol like that, it speaks volumes to us of His faithfulness, consistency, and steadfastness.
This is what we have now that we are identified with Christ and have Christ in us. It is so wonderful that we not only have Christ in us, but we are in Christ.
Galatians 3:27 says:
For all of you who were baptized into Christ Jesus have clothed yourselves with Christ.
There is that being clothed with Him—surrounded by Him, protected by Him, kept by Him—in the power of His resurrection life and the greatness that we have in Him.
It is so encouraging that we know this and can be those who are encouraged and drawn unto Him in a fuller and greater way. We are thankful how that testimony of the new birth and that testimony of our identification with Him continue day by day to hold us steady and encourage us in all that we would face in life.
The third aspect of this testimony is that we are a new creation. Praise God for that. The past is concluded. We are now walking in newness of life. We have His life, and we have the Holy Spirit within us.
Turn over to 2 Corinthians 5. Paul, as he is encouraging these ones here, is again speaking in many ways of the testimony of baptism.
2 Corinthians 5:14-15 says:
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.
Then 2 Corinthians 5:17 says:
Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
Praise God for this newness of life. Praise God for the life we now have, that we are no longer living for ourselves, but we are living for Him. He has died for us. He has risen from the dead. He has that victory.
As we make this declaration—and we often hear it during times of baptism—we are declaring that He is Lord, the world is behind us, and He is before us. What is occurring is not only a testimony, but a transaction.
There is a transaction going on in the spiritual realm, where I am saying no to the things of the world, no to the past, and yes to Christ. There is a marvelous transaction that takes place in that. It takes place in hearts and in lives, and we can hear it, join in it, and be witnesses with it.
We are very thankful for these ones as they go through this time today. There is much going on, and we are thankful that we can support them and stand with them in that.
There is another aspect of this testimony. It gets beyond just ourselves: the testimony of being part of the Body of Christ.
Praise God, when we are born again, that is so rich. It is like, how much more could we have? We have His life within us. But praise God, when we are born again, we are born into the Body of Christ.
Look over at 1 Corinthians 12:13:
For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
Praise God, when we were born again, we were all baptized into that Body of Christ. We were born by the Spirit of the living God into that Body of Christ. We are no longer living for ourselves, but now we are also living within this Body.
He is the Head; we are the body. We have relationships with one another. We are thankful for that.
As we see this matter of baptism touching our hearts and lives, we realize it is not just an independent thing. We become more and more conscious of how we are related to our brothers and sisters and how we are called into service.
It is interesting, as you look throughout the Scriptures at this matter of baptism, to look at Paul’s life. I am not going to touch on our Lord’s life because Herb is going to share something about our Lord afterward at the baptism, and I do not want to tread on Herb’s territory because he is bigger than me.
But if you look at Paul’s life, after Paul was baptized, what did he do? He went out into public ministry. He started serving. Right there in Damascus, he started sharing the glorious gospel with those around him. He did not wait. He started testifying of Who Christ was.
If you look at the early believers in Acts 2:41, we see how they believed and were baptized. Then immediately, what are they doing? They are living together, serving together, meeting together, gathering, caring for one another, and going from house to house. It is that spontaneity of life after baptism.
We see the reality of being in the Body of Christ. There is that call to be an active member within the Body of Christ. When we are born again, we are a living stone. But just being a living stone is not enough. We have to be a functioning living stone.
We are not just living alone for ourselves, but we are those who are brought into relationship with one another. There is serving one another, serving in the house of God, serving and testifying of Him to the world, and being led by the Spirit of God under His headship.
How does He, in His specific way, call each one of us into that service? We are thankful for that multifaceted way of service within the Body of Christ. There is not a limited way where I have to serve in this or that. He puts us right where He wants us. He has placed us there, and He has called us simply to be faithful right where He has put us.
This is an aspect of baptism: there is this testimony. As we look at this matter of baptism, we have that testimony of the new birth, the testimony of identification, the testimony of the new creation, and also the testimony of being part of the Body of Christ.
There is a fullness here. There is a richness here. I am just touching upon it in a kind of bird’s-eye view. It would be good to go back and reflect upon it even more. There is a depth here.
Today, we did not want to get into too much of a theological aspect, but rather to consider it from a testimony and encouraging point of view. So we are thankful.
Praise God, when one is baptized, what follows baptism?
I will touch on Herb’s territory a little bit. He can share it again too. But after our Lord Jesus was baptized, He was led into the wilderness and tempted.
After Paul was baptized, he was there in Damascus sharing the gospel, but what happened? There was a threat on his life. They had to let him down over the wall in a basket to get him out.
It speaks to us of the battle. We need to be aware of the battle over this testimony. When one makes a public testimony that, “I have decided to follow Jesus,” praise God, we can take notice—but the enemy takes notice too.
The enemy is going to try to come in and discourage those ones. That is why we really need to stand with them. As people are baptized, we pray that they would know that fresh anointing and enabling of the Holy Spirit—the Spirit Who can lead, guide, and protect them.
We are praying, too, that they would know they are kept not only by the prayers of a great High Priest, but by the prayers of the saints. We do pray for one another in these matters. We stand with one another because, particularly in this day and time when believing in our Lord Jesus Christ is so contested and so watered down—not so much by the world, but by the religious society that we find ourselves living in—we need to be those who stand with one another.
We have a great opportunity today to be a living testimony of the oneness of the Body of Christ as we witness what these two are going to go through, and then as we stand with them in that reality, testifying, “We are one with them. We are standing with them. We are supporting them in prayer.”
We continue to support them in prayer, and we are thankful for how the Lord has led them. We pray, too, that if others are considering baptism, the Lord would be touching their hearts and they could take this step.
Everybody has probably had their own little argument about why they did or did not want to be baptized. But praise God, He is the answer, and He has the way for us to come through in that.
We do want to go ahead and close now and ask the Lord to prepare the time out there. After I finish, we will have a little break and then head out to the baptism place so we can be witnesses of that.
Parents, go to the classes quickly and get your children so we can move on out. Let us pray.
Lord, we are thankful that You have called us to be witnesses of the reality of the work that You have first done.
Lord, we are thankful for the lives of these two, how they have given themselves to You. They have come to know You, and they have this desire within their hearts today to make this public testimony of desiring to follow You.
Lord, we do come alongside them. Lord, we pray that You would be speaking to all of our hearts also of the richness of this reality, the encouragement of it, and that we too could walk in the faithfulness of what You are showing us.
In Jesus’ name, amen.