All right, well, we've been going over the different facets of our statement of faith, and one of our, this week and next week, we're gonna be looking at the two ordinances that we observe. So my first, well, I guess the first thing we'll do, let's pray, then we'll dive into the lesson. Heavenly Father, we just thank you for this day, and Lord, most of all, we thank you for your Son, Jesus Christ. Lord, right now as we open up your word and look at your word, Lord, we just pray you would open our hearts and our minds that we would be listening to you, Lord, and see the word that you have for us. Lord, my prayer is that I would say nothing wrong, Lord, to lead somebody astray. Lord, I just pray that we would have a good discussion today. For it's in Christ's name I pray, amen. All right, now the question, and I know this because I asked my wife this this morning, my first question, I was gonna ask a question right off the bat, and it's, yeah, it was difficult. So I have to phrase this in such a manner, put yourself outside of being a Baptist and being part of this church, all right? You could be, I don't know, a Presbyterian, Episcopalian, a Catholic, I don't care what you are, for this question only, all right? If somebody walked up to you and said, what belief or practice makes Baptists unique? What would you say? I mean, I had a boss that was Catholic and everything, and he's like, I know you're Baptist. I'm like, well, what does that mean? We had a very good discussion. I refuted Catholicism, he didn't like that, but that was okay. So, if you were a complete stranger and completely separate from this church and the Baptist church, and you were asked that question, what's your answer gonna be? What sticks out in your mind? I think we take the whole word of God whole. Yeah, I agree with that. It's not the answer I'm looking for, but you're right. No, I mean, think about it. In the different denominations. Yeah, see there, you caught on really quick. Now you think about it, Catholics sprinkle, Methodists sprinkle, Presbyterians for the most part sprinkle, Lutherans some sprinkle, some do immersion. Episcopalians, I have no idea. That's what I said, they sprinkle too. So the point is, is that most people, if you were to look at a complete stranger and somebody that was outside of our church or a Baptist church and said, what makes Baptists unique? I mean, it's just the name, our name, Baptists. All right. So, you know, in spite of this, baptism is not the Baptist's primary concern. I mean, I'm going with you, that we believe in the whole scripture, okay? We do, however, believe the Bible contains very clear teachings concerning baptism, and the goal for this morning is to show you briefly, and hopefully in a manner that you guys can remember very easily, why, all right? All right, and again, this is the first of two ordinances, and we'll start with that word right off the bat. Is baptism an ordinance or a sacrament? Baptism is a sacrament? Wrong answer. Baptism is not a sacrament. The definition of the word, I'll give you some definitions, and this is a big thing here, right? Baptists refer to baptism as an ordinance, an authoritative rule, law, decree, or command. In the Christian context, ordinance means a symbolic act or ceremony commanded or ordained by Christ. Now, a sacrament, right, are you listening? Sacrament, little different. A sacrament is a visible sign that symbolizes or confers inward grace. It is often referred to a ritual that creates or improves one's relationship to Christ. All right? So, ordinance. I mean, think about it. The Bible clearly teaches what? Salvation comes through faith, not works. A sacrament would almost be a work, because if you take part in this, somehow or another, you're given grace by God. No. It's an ordinance, all right? It's a symbolic act. Okay? It does nothing for us. Actually, it does, but not in that way. And we'll see that at the end. When we get to the end of it, we'll start talking about that. So, second point. What does the word baptized mean? And this is where you get into it when you start thinking about things. The word baptized comes from the Greek word baptizo. Baptizo means to dip, sink, submerge, or immerse. All right? Now the word sprinkle, I'll probably kill this, Travis, so you can correct me, is it rontizo? R-O-N-T-I-Z-O, rontizo? And that's not found in the New Testament, but baptizo is. Alright, so right off the bat, we can look at the definitions, and I'll give you some Bible verses now. We'll cruise through them pretty quick, but when you think about it, you know, to dip, to sink, submerge, or immerse. Alright? And what does it say? John baptized in the Jordan River, you know, Matthew 3.6. Christ was baptized. After Christ was baptized, he went straightway up out of the water, Matthew 3.16. Mark 1.10 speaks of Jesus coming up out of the water. John considered a place suitable for baptism because there was much water there, John 3.23. Philip and the eunuch went down into the water for baptism and came up out of the water, Acts 8.38 and 39. So, in all those instances, had there been, quote, sprinkling, a different word would have been used. And, yes, Malvin? I gotta ask you, what about the disciples of Christ's Christian church? Did they do a baptism? Couldn't tell you. Don't know. because there's a lot of ones that say disciples of Christ in some capacity, but if I'm understanding it correctly, Malvin, they do baptize by immersion, but they'll differ from us because they'll say, like a sacrament, that baptism saves, that baptism is, it brings God's grace so you are cleansed as you're baptized. And Fred will talk about more about what we believe, what baptism actually does. We'll talk about it then. All right, so, baptize, again, we go back to it, means to dip, sink, submerge, remerce. We looked at our different examples, all right? Now, the next question is, third point would be, how important is baptism? The question I have is, is believer's baptism important to God? or does God consider it optional for believers? Yes. I agree. All right, we'll see some of that towards the end of our lesson, too. Yeah, is it important? Yes. Is it optional? No. No. And the key verse in today's lesson would be Matthew 28, 19. Somebody want to read Matthew 28, verse 19 for me? Go for it. All right. Now, if it wasn't important, would Christ have put it in his command to us? No. No. So it is important. There's a lot of people out there that don't think it is. Well, if it doesn't save us, then why do I have to do it? And, you know, it's important. And again, number five, we'll really get into it. Let's see here. I mean, Matthew says what? It says, go thee for teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. All right? But throughout the book of Acts, right? And this is, I'll give you a list of verses all out of the book of Acts that talk about, you know, examples of baptism and how important they are. All right? What? Acts 2.41, 3,000 at the time of, you know, at Pentecost. You had what? Chapter 8, verses 12 and 13, you have the Samaritans, both men and women who believe Philip's preaching, were baptized. The Ethiopian eunuch in 838, Saul of Tarsus, right? Chapter nine, verse 18, Cornelius and his kinsmen and his friends in 1047. Lydia in 1615. The Philippian jailer in 1633. Crispus and his house and many of the Corinthians in chapter 18, verse eight. All right, we're all baptized. Baptism is like all of God's commands. It's voluntary, but it's not optional when you think about it. All right, next step. Next one is the relationship to, and this is probably, this is an important one here, the relationship of baptism to salvation. Now, we've done seen, actually, if you look at Ephesians chapter two, verses eight, Ephesians chapter two verses eight and nine says what? For by grace you have been saved through faith, that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. All right? So we know that salvation is not, baptism doesn't do anything for us concerning salvation. All right? Baptism, if anything, would be considered, it what? It follows salvation. All right? Baptism comes after salvation. And again, there's numerous Bible verses that allude to that. And to be quite honest, all of the ones I just read, If you look at it, all of the people, if you go to the verse and read the verse, all of those individuals, what? They believed and then were baptized. All right? So, you know, people were being baptized after they became disciples, after receiving the word, after being forgiven of their sins by God, that's when they were baptized. All right? So we just have to make sure we don't get the cart before the horse. Again, salvation is by faith. Baptism is, if anything, an outworking of that, right? So, I mean, that's where you have to remember. Baptism follows salvation. Number five, and this one I hope takes a little, Longer, if not, it's gonna be a really short lesson today. Number five, what is the exact meaning and symbolism of baptism? Now we've already decided baptism means, you know, baptizo means to be submerged, dipped, immersed, sunk, all those. So when we look at this and you say, what is the meaning and symbolism of baptism? I think it's identifying with the death and resurrection of the Lord. I'm crucified with Christ, therefore I no longer live. Christ lives in me. Right. Now, I'm probably showing my age in here now, but there used to be a pastor at First Baptist of Dallas, Texas named W.A. Criswell. Yeah. Oh, I forgot. You're older than me, Malvin. That's cool. Right. In other words, years and years ago when I was a younger man, the Southern Baptist Convention, big war going on in the Southern Baptist Convention between the liberals, who like to be called moderates, and the conservatives. and the conservatives were winning. And one of the speeches that W.E. Griswold gives that I just, I can never forget, I listened to it, and he got up there on the floor of the convention, and this would have been in the late 80s, and he was talking, and he was talking about this and that and moderates, and he goes, there's no such thing. It's black and it's white. It's God's way or it's not. And then he said, you know, a skunk by any other name still stinks. And I've taken that to heart. But that's not the reason I'm talking about W.A. Criswell. He was a really charismatic guy. And I don't mean that necessarily in his doctrine, but in his showmanship. Because if you were baptized at First Baptist Church in Dallas while he was there, they had a big tank there or whatever, and they had glass blocks around it. And when you got into the tank, red lights shone into it, so it was red. And when you came up out of it, they turned to white. That's your picture right there that you just give. Yes, baptism is a beautiful picture of the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. All right? The immersion symbolizes the death and the burial. being raised up out of the water symbolizes the resurrection. All right? For me, the big points would be, if you would turn to Romans chapter six, verses one through five. Romans chapter six, verses one through five, it says, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not. How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? or do you know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death, therefore we were buried with him through baptism unto death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in the newness of life. When you think about what it symbolizes and what it means, and some of you guys have alluded to it, and everything, and it's what? Baptism identifies a person with Jesus Christ. I mean, it's a public testimony of that individual's spiritual union with Christ. All right? It's a public pledge, if you will. What? To walk in the newness of life. To live in harmony with the Holy Spirit's desires rather than the desires of our own flesh. So is baptism important? Yes. I mean, after you have been baptized, you do kind of think, well, it's not in the way the Lord would want it to be. I guess if you ask for forgiveness, I believe that he does that, but does that, Okay, well to me it does nothing to do with baptism. It would be that you sinned after you accepted Christ as your Savior. You asked for forgiveness, but hopefully you repented of your sins, right? Right? Well, you know, I guess that's, in some ways that might be open for interpretation. I would say that I believe that every Christian sins after they become a Christian. And I don't know about you guys, but I don't see anywhere in scripture where it talks about degrees of sin. All right. As man, we like to think that there are, right? Because we would like to hope that the little white lie about the lady's dress that looked like a funeral home curtain, right, is not as bad as some pedophile that's doing something else. And maybe it is. Maybe that's one of the mysteries of the faith that we don't understand or haven't been told. But we're told that sin is sin. and that our little white lie is just as bad as anything else. So I would say, Melvin, I think all Christians succumb to that. It's a matter of whether we are seeking the Lord and repenting of that and trying to see if the Lord will work in our lives for us to continue to that sanctification process. So. The point is, is that, you know what, baptism is important. You know, I mean, it's like, I mean, it'd be kind of hard if, I mean, we're here, if the Royals had a baseball team, and yet everybody that went out there on the field had a different uniform on. No, you're part of the team. You're identifying yourself as a royal. Maybe that's not a good example, but that's what I'm trying to get to. The point is, is that as a Christian, because, you know, to chase a rabbit, do you have to be baptized to be saved? Can anybody give me an example? There you go. Said that one to my wife this morning. I was like, hey, wait, what about the thief on the cross, you know? Now, do I think that was probably an extenuating circumstance? Yeah, I do. Oh, you're just trying to get me in trouble, Melvin. You're just trying to get me in trouble with a question like that. You know, people probably wouldn't like what I think about that. So, I mean, do I believe that you can make a false profession of Christ? Yes, I'm sure there has been many throughout history. I also think that right now in our world, the biggest thing that Satan uses on us as Christians is what? Doubt. I believe that Satan uses doubt on a Christian so much. And I believe that it's very possible for somebody to have been saved, truly saved, and baptized, and yet succumb to doubt. Now, you know, who's to say? That's not for me to say, personally, in everybody's circumstance, because that's not my role. That's God's role. But do I think that exists? Yes. I mean, because one of the other things that we like to say is that Baptists believe is what? Once saved, always saved. So, anyways. Are there any questions? Did I make it any clearer for you? I mean, I hope I did. In other words, the point is is that baptism does not do anything for salvation. I used the word earlier and said it was an outworking, meaning that if you're truly saved and the Lord has saved you, that you're going to want to follow his commands. You know, you're gonna want to follow his command that says what? Be baptized. I would agree with that. I mean, that's just another one of those things. You're in awe. You want to be, and it's just like at the end here when we talked about it, you know, it's a public testimony that you align yourself with Jesus Christ. And anymore, I don't know if you guys watch the news, that doesn't seem to be a very popular thing right now. I mean, some of the stuff these people are talking about, the poor souls that died in Texas in the flood and everything else, when they put a Christian moniker in front of them, some of the stuff that's being said is outlandish and horrible, you know? So even in the United States, Christianity is under attack. And when you align yourself with Christ, that's what you're supposed to do. You're telling everybody whose team you're on. Yes, Melvin? Well, you know what? You know, I give you guys a story, and I mean, it's a personal story. Part of people in my family probably wouldn't like for this to come out, but you know, hey, it is what it is. You know, my father died when I was 25 years old. Died of a massive heart attack. Collapsed at work. At that time, I had already been a deacon for almost a year. I was never discouraged from going to church as a kid or as an adult after I was married. But I was asked, when I became a deacon, it was, instead of, you know, you think, you know, hey, your son's been asked to serve as a deacon in a church, that's pretty good, you know, he's not on the corner selling drugs, right? You know, my father looked at me and said, oh, you got religion now. That was all I got. Okay, fine. I say all that to mean that my dad did not know, he did not know the Lord. All right? He did not know the Lord at all. When he died, very suddenly, of course, my parents are not affiliated with any kind of church, Joe Braden volunteered to preach the funeral. And he looked at me and said, how do you want me to preach it? And I was like, Jesus Christ. So Joe got up there and preached Jesus Christ was the only way. Nowhere in there did he impart any qualities or whatever to my father, right, at all, which was perfectly fine with me. I mean, I love my dad, but the nuts and bolts of it was he did not know the Lord. My mother thought that was the most beautiful service she had ever seen. I feel like people, the Lord, what am I looking for? The Lord causes some people not to see, right? Is that true, Travis? I believe that some people, so when you ask a question like that, Melvin, I think that's where we go with that. Some people don't see things because the Lord's not opened their eyes to see things. Well, Vic Gordon preached at my wife's funeral. He just preached, like you say, and there might have been people there who were, you know, I don't know, other people that lived. But while my wife was saved, she was. All right, anybody have any questions? Like I said, the big thing is just remember what it is. It's an ordinance. It's a symbolic act. We're doing it out of, word I'm looking for, allegiance to Christ, obedience to Christ. We want to be identified with Christ. That's what it is. It doesn't impart anything to us, okay? It just shows that we are obedient to God. Yes, sir. Well, one of the comments, one of the things I read was it, you know, it talked about who carries out baptism. The local church carries out baptism. I mean, that's who's supposed to do it. It signifies that you are a believer in Christ, and when you talk about the Lord's Supper, you should be a believer in Christ to take the Lord's Supper. And I'm sure there are people out there that are either fooling themselves or trying to fool anybody else when the plate goes by, but you know, I have a very simplistic outlook on that. They can't fool the Lord. It's not my job to pass judgment on whether you know the Lord, whether you're saved or not. But it is the Lord's. And you might fool me, you might fool Travis, but guess what? You're not gonna fool the Lord. But we are commanded to do. So when we say that you should be a believer to take Lord's Supper, you should be a believer. Therefore what? You should be baptized. Well, yes. In other words, I have seen grown men and women be baptized because there was probably no doubt in their testimony But the church that they belonged to did not baptize by immersion. And to become a member of the church, they had to be baptized. And people are like, oh, that's what, I'm sorry, no. I believe very strongly that if you come from a, I mean, I can accept your statement of faith if your fruit is showing, all right? But if you were baptized and sprinkled, I don't think you can be part of the Baptist church if you weren't coming in from an outside church, all right? So hopefully I didn't offend anybody there, but I don't aim to. Yes, Trudy? Well, like I said, I was baptized twice, but I guess the reason I was the second time was I was gonna join this church in Wichita, Kansas, and he had insisted that And he didn't give you a good reason? He didn't give you a reason. Then I would say, then I would probably say the politically incorrect thing and say that that preacher wasn't right. And the only scenario in which they would have had been, you know, quote, baptized before is that we realize that it wasn't. So it was done in the incorrect mode, or it was done not in a church, or in a church where they believe something so radically different about baptism that we really can't even call it baptism. So therefore, when we're baptizing someone, we're not baptizing them a second time, or a third time, or a fourth time. We're baptizing them for the first time, because we're recognizing now they have trusted in Christ. and are following up their faith and trust in baptism. And the hard part is that that means that for those that are baptized as infants, they have to wrestle through, OK, what does that mean to my parents? If you were here two Sundays ago when Jill Inman shared her testimony, she shared about how she was baptized as an infant and wrestled through that in college. came to an understanding that baptism in the New Testament is by immersion, was baptized, and her parents struggled with that, but later on in life came to be baptized as well. So, you know, praise God for her. Oh, I would agree wholeheartedly with that because of the manner in which he was baptized and at the age. But I would still, I'm still gonna stand behind what I said earlier about people having doubts and being baptized as, quote, grown adults, you know, more than once because they... What I did, I realized I needed to be saved. to accept the Lord, to be with Him, you know. And that was the first time that I was baptized. Sure. Then later, that was at nine years old. Right. And then later, I just felt, I just felt, I want to make sure I'm well out of, so I was baptized again, because I just kind of committed my life more I wanted to make sure. Well, again, like I said earlier, I'm sure there are some people that were going through the motions and, and as you say, it was not a true baptism. I still think that there's a lot of people that possibly get baptized because they're just doubting. So yes, Connie. Well, I mean, I've realized right. I didn't understand it at the time, but it wasn't affiliated with the church. They just wanted to do what Jesus had done. It's tourism. Right. Without sharing inappropriate details, most of the time that tourism means you are less than close in that context. I've had friends that have gone to that place, and it's a very odd scenario. All right, well, I thank you guys for being so attentive and chiming in. And hopefully you've learned something. Next week, we're talking about the second ordinance, the Lord's Supper. Thank you.