all the preparation, and I still write this wrong song down. Thank you for singing the correct song. The sermon which I'm about to read has been prepared by the Reverend G. Wieskam, Minister Emeritus of the Tintern Spring Creek Canadian Reformed Church, and is an explanation of Lord's Day 27 and what the Church confesses and the Bible teaches about baptism. In connection with this, our Scripture reading is 1 Corinthians 10, verses 1 through 13, and we'll also read Article 34 of the Belgic Confession. So 1 Corinthians 10 verses 1 through 13. For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them, God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things took place as examples for us that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were. As it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and 23,000 fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble as some of them did and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now, these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore, let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability. But with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it. Then we turn to Article 34 of our Belgic Confession. We believe and confess that Jesus Christ, who is the end of the law, has by his shed blood put an end to every other shedding of blood that one could or would make as an expiation or satisfaction for sins. He has abolished circumcision, which involved blood, and has instituted in its place the sacrament of baptism. By baptism, we are received into the Church of God and set apart from all other peoples and false religions, to be entirely committed to Him whose mark and emblem we bear. This serves as a testimony to us that He will be our God and gracious Father forever. For that reason, he has commanded all those who are his to be baptized with plain water into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. By this, he signifies to us that as water washes away the dirt of the body when poured on us, and as water is seen on the body of the baptized when sprinkled on him, so the blood of Christ, by the Holy Spirit, does the same thing internally to the soul. It washes and cleanses our soul from sin and regenerates us from children of wrath into children of God. This is not brought about by the water as such, but by the sprinkling of the precious blood of the Son of God, which is our Red Sea, through which we must pass to escape the tyranny of Pharaoh that is the devil and enter into this spiritual land of Canaan. Thus the ministers on their part give us the sacrament and what is visible, but our Lord gives us what is signified by the sacrament, namely the invisible gifts and grace. He washes, purges, and cleanses our souls of all filth and unrighteousness, renews our hearts, and fills them all with comfort, gives us true assurance of his fatherly goodness, clothes us with the new nature, and takes away the old nature with all its works. We believe, therefore, that anyone who aspires to eternal life ought to be baptized only once. Baptism should never be repeated, for we cannot be born twice. Moreover, baptism benefits us not only when the water is on us and when we receive it, but throughout our whole life. For that reason, we reject the errors of the Anabaptists, who are not content with a single baptism received only once, and who also condemn the baptism of the little children of believers. We believe that these children ought to be baptized and sealed with the sign of the covenant as infants were circumcised in Israel on the basis of the same promises which are now made to our children. Indeed, Christ shed his blood to wash the children of believers just as much as he shed it for adults. Therefore, they ought to receive the sign and sacraments of what Christ has done for them. As the Lord commanded in the law, that a lamb was to be offered shortly after children were born. This was a sacrament of the suffering and death of Jesus Christ. Because baptism has the same significance for our children as circumcision had for the people of Israel, Paul calls baptism the circumcision of Christ. Then we'll turn to Lord's Day 27. Does this outward washing with water itself wash away sins? No, only the blood of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit cleanse us from all sins. Why then does the Holy Spirit call baptism the washing of regeneration and the washing away of sins? God speaks in this way for a good reason. He wants to teach us that the blood and spirit of Christ remove our sins just as water takes away dirt from the body. But even more important, he wants to assure us that by this divine pledge and sign that we are as truly cleansed from our sins spiritually as we are boldly washed with water. Should infants too be baptized? Yes. Infants as well as adults belong to God's covenant and congregation. Through Christ's blood, redemption from sin and the Holy Spirit who works faith are promised to them no less than to adults. Therefore, by baptism, a sign of the covenant, they must be incorporated into the Christian church and distinguished from the children of unbelievers. This was done in the old covenant by circumcision in place of which baptism was instituted in the new covenant. After the sermon, we shall respond by singing hymn 56, stanzas one, two, three, and four. Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, baptism is important in more ways than one. In many churches, it stands in the center of their service to God. Many who call themselves born-again Christians derive all their certainty of salvation from their baptism. Well, is that not wonderful? Is that not the purpose of baptism? Did our Lord not institute it to help us believe? Baptism was certainly given to strengthen our faith, beloved, to picture and assure us of what Jesus Christ has obtained for us by His suffering and death. However, how does baptism do that? How must we evaluate this sacrament? How exactly does it help us to become absolutely certain that we have the forgiveness of our sins and that we truly belong to Christ and our heirs of eternal life? It is here where the problems start, and not only today. All during the history of the Church, baptism has been and still is a controversial issue. Christianity is split right down the middle when it comes to this sacrament. Many only want to know of believers' baptism. They reject the baptism of infants out of hand. Many others stress just as strongly that all Christians must be baptized, including the little ones. Who is right and who is wrong? Why is there no unanimity? How come Christianity is so divided about a sacrament which was given to help us? Isn't baptism supposed to make us more certain of our peace with God through the blood of his spirit? That is the contents of Lord's Day 27. In Lord's Day 26, we heard what baptism means. It contains a promise that must be followed, that must be believed, and an obligation that must be followed up. But today we will concentrate on how exactly it works. We will focus on how it gives us the certainty that we are God's children, and how it portrays and seals the forgiveness of our sins and assures us of eternal life. For it is here where the difficulties begin. Almost every Christian agrees on the necessity of baptism. Almost every denomination uses this sacrament. But the question remains, how do they view baptism? What comfort do they derive from it? How does it function in their lives? And how does it give them what God wants to give by means of this sacrament? Like every other doctrine of the Bible, also the teaching about baptism can be misunderstood, and therefore, misapplied. and the only safeguard to appreciate this sacrament for what it really proclaims is the Word of God. There we must go for our answers. We may not take our starting point in people. We may not explain this sacrament from our side, and we must never let the abuse of or the contempt for baptism influence our point of view. We must not overestimate it nor slight it. but we must confess it on the basis of Scripture, and not only the New Testament, but the Old as well, for the Bible is unity. You may not play one part against the other. So let us listen to the gospel of Jesus Christ as it comes to us in the sacrament of holy baptism. I preach to you under the heading, Baptism Guarantees the Truth of God's Covenant Promise to All His People. Brothers and sisters, in question and answer 67 of Lord's Day 25, the church confessed that the sacraments intend to focus our faith on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross. That is the only ground of our salvation. And Lord's Day 23 taught us that only by a true faith in Christ do we become righteous before God. We don't have to go into all that as long as you remember this when we deal with baptism this afternoon. For once you detach baptism from the Bible and from faith, it loses its blessed value. As soon as you regard it as an event by itself, you miss out on the great benefits God has joined to it. And that is the error of the Roman Catholic Church. Rome lost sight of the covenant and the demand of that covenant, namely, faith in God's promises. Rome regards the sign for what it signifies. It externalized religion. It viewed the sacraments no longer as supporting and underlining the promises of God to help people believe. Rome put all the emphasis on the act itself. It identified the ceremony with the truth it symbolized. In other words, Rome took the word away and was left with the sign. And when that happens, you no longer enjoy the blessings which baptism pictures. For then all your attention is riveted on the right instead of on what it signifies and points to. Then you start to act foolishly. Then you ascribe the blessings of God no longer to him and his word of grace, but to a thing, to an act, a ceremony. And it does not make any difference that this act was prescribed by God. It is not the first time that people commit idolatry with matters or things which God himself has instituted. Do you remember what Israel did when it fought against the Philistines and won Samuel 4? When they were losing the battle, they fetched the Ark of God. That would give them victory. Was God himself not present in the Ark? Did he not dwell in it amongst his people? But it was to no avail. The Ark became Israel's coffin, so to speak, and 30,000 people died. Why? because they did not live by faith. They thought they could force God to help them. They committed idolatry with the sign of God's presence, while the Lord himself had left them because of their unbelief. Or think of the brown serpent, which Moses had to make in Numbers 21. It was a sign given by God to be looked at in faith and so to be rescued from the fiery serpents as their punishment because Israel had rebelled against God and Moses. In 2 Kings 18, we read that the godly king Hezekiah destroyed this bronze serpent. And why did he do that? It was because the Israelites offered incense to it. The Old Testament church committed idolatry with a sign. Instead of relying on the Lord, they trusted in a bronze serpent. Do you see, beloved, how signs as tokens of God's grace and mercy can be abused? Not only did this happen during the Old Testament, but also in the New. How else must we explain Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 1? He says, I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius. How could Paul say that? Had Christ not sent his apostles into the world to preach the gospel and to baptize all nations? Where does Paul get the nerve to separate what his master had joined together? Well, most probably from the fact that the Corinthian church was plagued by divisions People were showing off. One claimed a higher spiritual status than the other. One pointed to Paul, another to Apollos, still another to Peter, and a fourth to Christ. And apparently, it had a lot to do with the event of their baptism and with the minister by whom they were baptized. Instead of living by faith, they appealed to an event. Instead of trusting in God, they competed with the names of great men in the church. And this still happens, brothers and sisters, and not only in the Roman Church. Many so-called born-again Christians proudly point to their baptism as the guarantee of their salvation. But when it comes to true faith, when it comes to grace alone that results in obedient living, they are not home. No, we do not judge people's hearts. We leave that to the Lord. But when all the hope is fixed on the sign, while there is no real concern to live obediently by faith in God's covenant promises, there is something seriously amiss. That is why the catechism warns so strongly not to externalize religion. Only the blood of Christ saves you, and nothing else. And there is no salvation unless you believe in Christ. That is all that a sinner must do. That is all the Lord is after. Instead of using baptism to help people believe, Rome and many evangelical denominations do exactly the opposite. The sign is seen as the real thing, and thousands are lost because they trust in the sign without relying on the God who stands behind the sign. And God says, give me your heart. That is what I am after. With anything else, I'm not satisfied. However, you can also go overboard on the other side. Baptism itself does not wash us from our sins. Only the blood of Christ does, in the way of faith. And this scriptural truth leads many others to despise baptism or to neglect it. They withhold it from those for whom it is meant. That is why the catechism not only warns against trusting in the mere fact of your baptism, but also against hollowing out its great comfort, robbing it of the blessings which the Lord has tied to it. For that is also possible, brothers and sisters. You can also witness that all around you. There are perhaps many genuine souls who don't give a care about their baptism. Oh, they say, what does that mean? I wasn't even involved consciously. My parents presented me for baptism, but they did not bother to wait and ask me first of all. What's the value of that? I must first believe, they say, and only then does baptism become real to me. Only then will it be a strong support for my faith. Oh, it sounds so scriptural, for is it not true, beloved, that your baptism only benefits you when you believe? Is it not true that the mere fact of baptism does not guarantee salvation, since faith is absolutely necessary? But everything that sounds scriptural is not necessarily scriptural. Heresies never deny all that God's word teaches. That is what makes them so dangerous. For many people fall for a text here and a prayer there, and all of us are so easily impressed with those who speak very religiously and reason so convincingly. We are often much more impressed with that than with what the Lord says and what he teaches us. Is it simply not true that your baptism only benefits you when you believe? Now, please don't misunderstand that. Don't go home and say, the minister denies that you must believe your baptism. God's word is too clear in that regard. Without faith, it is impossible to please him, says the Bible. But to whom does the Bible say that, brothers and sisters? Who is addressed when God's word calls us to repentance and faith? Is it not those who are old enough to believe? Is it not the older children and adults? But must baptism then wait until you possess faith? Is that what God had in mind when he gave this sacrament to his church? No, beloved, no, and no again. For if that was the case, your baptism would lose all value to help you believe. Then it would only benefit those who already live by faith. But what about your children then? What about your little ones? How would you have to regard them? How could you as parents ever be certain that they also belong to the Lord and to their Savior, Jesus Christ? Oh, the teaching of adult baptism alone is a cruel teaching, for it throws the ball in your lap. You must first believe, and then baptism will give you the added certainty that you belong to the Lord. But that is reasoning in a circle, beloved. How can baptism only help you if you, first of all, must come to faith? What do you gain from the fact that your baptism is the means by which you are assured of faith? It's like pulling yourself out of the quicksand by your own bootstraps. You won't have a hope. For the big question is and remains, how do I come to faith? How do I know that what God promises in his word is absolutely true also for me? And to that question, your baptism can never give you the answer if you regard it as the proof of your faith, as your response to God that you really love him. For all your so-called certainty will never stand up to the doubts and insecurities of your sinful heart. For what is the great error which the advocates of adult baptism are ensnared in? It is that they fail to see that baptism is an act of God, first of all. It is that they have no eye for the covenant. It is that they see the church as an organization which you join when you are ready for it. instead of as the people of God whom he called into existence. And when you don't see that, everything else is misinterpreted. Even your stress on faith, though scriptural itself, becomes an untruth. For you are putting things back to front. You begin with people and you end with God. But the Bible never does that. The Bible always puts God first. God entered into a covenant with man. He did not ask him, will you please agree? He didn't give him the option of saying no. He simply established it in his grace and love. And all through the Bible, it is God who reestablished it. God starts anew when people break the covenant. He remains faithful to what he once promised. You witness that very clearly in the life of Abraham. God appeared to him and said, I establish my covenant with you and with your children. I promise you salvation by grace alone, but you must believe my promise. That is why God gave the sacrament of circumcision, not as a pledge from Abraham's side that he agreed, but to underline the truth of God's promise. It was a guarantee to Abraham that God's word is always reliable. And that did not change in the New Testament, or what did we read in 1 Corinthians 10? To whom was this letter addressed? Only to the physical children of Father Abraham? No, brothers and sisters. It was addressed to both Jewish and Gentile Christians. According to Acts 16, there were, besides the Jewish believers, also a large number of Gentile Christians who belonged to the Corinthian congregation. And they had no tie to Father Abraham at all, except the bond of faith. But that was sufficient. For that shows the fulfillment of what God had said to him. I will make you a father of many nations. That underlines the unity of the one covenant which God made with his chosen people. And that is the reason why Paul writes to them about our fathers. These Christians from the Gentiles shared in the same promises which God had given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And that tells us that the New Testament is the continuation and the fulfillment of the old. It does not sever the unity of that one eternal covenant that God's promise belongs to parents and children alike. Acts 2 verse 39 contains the same message. The promise belongs to you and to your children, says the Apostle Peter. That must always be our point of departure, God and His covenant of grace. It is He who determines who belongs to His church. He does not wait for people till they grow up. Oh, of course, when you get older and refuse to believe, you have no part in the blessings of baptism. As far as that goes, faith is absolutely necessary for your baptism to benefit you. But God does not want you to wait with baptism until you have matured and believe. Instead, he commands his people to give the sign and seal of what he promises to all who belong to his covenant. For he wants to use this sacrament to help you to come to faith. He wants to make you absolutely certain that what he promises in his covenant is also true for you. That is why the Bible uses such strong expressions like, baptism is the washing of regeneration, or the washing away of sin. Sure, it is a figure of speech. It is not the bare reception of this sacrament that saves you. Without faith, in what your baptism assures you of, it will and cannot help you. But don't we sometimes speak in a similar vein? When you look at a picture of the king, for instance, you don't frown when someone says, that is King Charles, the ruler of the British Empire. Of course not. Of course it is not the king that you see, but a picture of him. You know very well what is meant. Should we then misinterpret God's word when it tells us in 1 Peter 3, verse 21, that baptism now saves you? Do you honestly think that Peter believed that the mere reception of baptism was sufficient? The same apostle says in chapter one, verse nine of his first letter, as the outcome of your faith, you obtain the salvation of your souls. There, all the stress falls on faith. That is the means to salvation. Faith in God's promise, faith in your baptism as the guarantee of that promise. Why then does the Bible use such strong language? Did the Lord not know that it might be misinterpreted? Why does he take that risk? Well, God does that so his people may come to faith. He not only pictures in baptism that you are washed from all your sins, but he also seals or pledges to you that he really means what he says. When you trust in the God of your baptism, you won't trust in vain, beloved. When you believe what God has promised you, you will never be disappointed. For God must have known that there is an even greater danger than equating baptism with salvation, and that is the danger that you don't dare to believe that God's promise of salvation is also true for you and your children. The danger is that you are constantly swayed by doubts whether God really loves you, too, because you know how great a sinner you are. Why is there so much confusion about baptism? Why are there so many who are not satisfied with the sacrament which they received when they were babies, but let themselves be rebaptized when they come to faith? It is because they have lost sight of the covenant They put the horse before the cart. They start with man and his faith instead of with God and his promise. And when you do that, it is no surprise that you finish up beside the tracks. Many think this is too simple and easy, too down to earth. I would almost say fancy that, they mutter, to baptize your children. What about their faith? What about their own input? But God says, what faith and what input? Even your faith is my gift, and your input is absolutely zero, for I am the sovereign God. I choose who will be saved. I call my church into being, and I give her my promises, not just for the adults, but for their children as well. Do you really think, proud man, that your faith is first? Do you think that you have to make the first move? That salvation ultimately depends on your response? The Bible calls God the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, and that also applies to the religion. God's promise is always first, and He alone determines who receives that promise. In the Old Testament, that was Abraham and his descendants. In the New Testament, it is the believers and their children. That is why Abraham is called the father of all believers. That is why they and their offspring are sons of Abraham. For God does not give his salvation to the odd individual, but he works via the generations. He works via believers and their seed. He redeems a people for himself, a nation, a church. And this people consists of parents and children, grandparents and babies, men and women, boys and girls. Many take offense at this scriptural truth. It is not spiritual enough, it seems, and it does not allow for man's freedom to choose. And it doesn't, for it proclaims that they belong to God's people without giving them the opportunity to say yes or no. But we ask, not spiritual enough. But what is spiritual? Is it not that which is worked by God, the Holy Spirit? And who dares to argue with him when he says in 1 Corinthians 12 verse 13, for we were all baptized by one spirit into one body. Do you hear that, brothers and sisters? We were all baptized, and that includes the little ones, the youngsters, too young to believe. We said how cruel is the teaching of adult baptism. Oh, those who reject infant baptism do not mean to be cruel, of course. but they are nonetheless. Adult baptism takes away from the sovereignty and good pleasure of God. For by denying baptism to their little ones, they rob them of God's promises. These are the promises of salvation. They seem to believe that there is salvation outside of those promises and outside of the covenant. Do you understand, brothers and sisters, that with all their stress on the necessity of faith before baptism, they actually force God's hand. They compel Him to wait until a person believes. But that is not what Scripture teaches. There the Lord is and remains, number one. He decides who will be saved. Granted, the normal way is the way of faith. As the children grow up, they must believe their baptism. but it always starts with God's promise. And when that promise comes to all, the believers and their children, how dare we deny the sacrament of baptism to them? Let's never forget that baptism is a sign and seal of what God promises to all the members of his church. First of all, as a sign. As a sign, it pictures the washing away of your sins. As a seal, it convinces you and your children that God entered into a covenant of grace with you, in which he opens the treasure chest of his salvation, not only for the adults, but also for their little ones. That is as true as you have been baptized, beloved. Do you now realize why the Bible uses such strong language when it comes to baptism? God, so to speak, wants to hammer it into us that His promises can be trusted, that they are absolutely true and well-meant, and that we never rely on them in vain. That is why God gave us the sacraments. That is the whole purpose of baptism. It wants to help you believe. And how do you react to all this, beloved? First, with regards to yourself. Do you take God at His word? Do you trust unconditionally in His covenant promises, also as they are signed and sealed to you? Does your baptism drive you to the God who stands behind it? Is He your greatest joy? Does your life center around Him, and do you exert yourself to live in thankfulness to Him, a God who was already busy for your salvation before you even gave Him a thought? and then with regards to your children. How does baptism function in your family life? What does the covenant mean to you? For it is not enough to have your children baptized. You must also bring them up in the fear of the Lord. These are the questions which flow out of baptism. Though it is administered once, it remains important for as long as you live. Oh, we readily admit that even the most godly upbringing does not work faith in our children's hearts. Only God works faith through His Holy Spirit and Word. But it is just as true that He wants to use us. He is pleased to work through the faithfulness of the parents. We must plant in water. That is the way God has ordained to give the growth. Oh, we have heard many sermons on the sacrament of baptism, and we have discussed it more than once at home and at our Bible societies. But do we also live from it, brothers and sisters? Do we use it as God wants it used? Do we simply believe it? And do we draw strength from it? And do we appeal to it when we pray for our children that they may grow up to love their Lord? After all, that is why God gave it. That is why Christ joined it through the preaching of his word. How glorious it is to be reformed, brothers and sisters. How certain and sure is our salvation and that of our children. It does not depend on us. It depends on God's covenant promises. You don't have to wait till your little ones have grown up and can make a conscious choice for or against the Lord. Thank God you don't. You may start from the moment of their birth and then, not in hope against hope, but by taking God's promises seriously. You can appeal, you can plead and appeal to the Lord to keep his own words. That is what God loves to hear. And to that he will certainly answer. Oh, how sad that so many externalize their baptism. How sad that the Roman Catholic Church sends thousands to their dooms with an imagined heaven because they detach baptism from the Word. They concentrate on the event while forgetting to point to the Word behind it, which must be believed and obeyed. How sad that many others have robbed baptism from its greatest comfort. by regarding it as their answer to God. They stress that you must first believe before you may claim the right to the sacrament. But by doing that, they rob the people of the certainty which God intended to give in baptism. Not the certainty about your faith, but the certainty that God always stands behind what he has promised. People of God, don't ever give an ear to either of these errors. Don't ever entertain the thought that the only way to be sure of salvation is to believe first and then be baptized as proof of your faith. Don't invert the order which God has established. Don't put yourself before God, but simply live from the truth of your baptism. this truth, God loves you and promises you salvation. That is what his covenant is all about. Believe this promise, my brother and my sister, whether you are young or old. Believe it for God's and your salvation's sake, and let your baptism be a constant aid to help you believe, to bring you to the certainty that Jesus Christ also shed his blood for your sins. Is that too simple, you say? But the gospel is so gloriously simple. People like to make it complicated by pulling the Bible to shreds, by denying the unity of scriptures. They destroy the continuation of that one covenant of grace in which Adam and Eve already lived, and which is the basis of the entire Word of God. By grabbing a text here and quoting a phrase from there, you can let the Bible almost say anything. but that does not help you to believe. That never brings you to find rest in God's faithfulness alone, in his promise of salvation, and in his sacraments that do nothing else but back up his word. Once again, why does the Lord use such strong language? because He wants you to believe. He wants you to be certain and steadfast and convinced that you are able to live and die in the sure knowledge that you and your children may belong to the Lord. He wants you to be absolutely certain of your redemption, because God did all that had to be done in His Son, Jesus Christ. That is why we are called to do nothing else but believe His promises. These promises are given to us in his covenant, preached to us in his word, and pictured and sealed in holy baptism. When you simply take God at his word, you will never be disappointed. Amen.