Ready? Our statement of faith, we are going to be looking at the subject of baptism today. And very, very, very simple position on baptism. Very simple discussion. It might be done before our time is up. Okay, so we'll open for questions after we cut the live feed. You know, so if there's anybody that has any questions we can answer those. But I'm going to read our statement of faith here, what it says, and then we will get into some discussion on that. So, baptism. We believe that all who have received Christ as Lord and Savior should be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. That baptism is by immersion in the likeness of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. We believe that baptism publicly identifies with Christ and adds the individual to the local church under whose authority they are being baptized. That's that. Amen? That's just real simple. In fact, I believe it's so simple, we could almost just read that and say, there it is. Although, we want to go to some passages here to back that up. In Matthew chapter 26, we're going to look at a couple things here. Oh, I'm sorry, no. Matthew 26 is not about baptism. For some reason we have that in our statement of faith there, probably because we were supposed to also address the Lord's Supper in this passage, but we did not. I mean, not in this passage, but in this section of our statement of faith, but we did not do that. Now, let's go over to Matthew 28. Just point out, I feel like I'm jumping to the end to go to the beginning, and that's kind of what we do, I guess, anyways. But Matthew 28 and verse number 18, Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching Them to observe all things whatsoever. I have commanded you and lo I am with you all way even unto the end of the world amen so We're looking at here is a command. This is this is the basic gist of what the the progress of What takes place when we reach out to someone with the gospel? First, we teach them in the sense that we preach the gospel to them. This word teach is different from the word teach in verse number 20. Verses 19 and 20 have different underlying words for the word teach. In verse number 19, it is more of a proclamation style teaching. This is akin to Mark chapter 16, where it says, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel. every creature Matthew or Mark 16 15 he said of them go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature and so that is that is the the the type of teaching that is being mentioned in Matthew chapter 28 verse number 19 in verse number 20 well we'll get there in a second so verse number 19 it is a proclamation it's teaching them The first thing that they need to know. What's the first thing that a center needs to know? Young teenage men. What is the first thing that a center needs to learn? What is it that we should teach a center first? First thing. Okay? What do we call that? It's the good news. What do we call that? The one word? gospel yes the gospel right and so the gospel is the first thing that's what that's what he says in mark go in all the world and preach the gospel to every creature and so that first thing that the that sinners need to hear is the gospel this is the the the Order that things happen. They hear the gospel. They learn the gospel, right? You teach them the gospel now That is not to say that you teach them everything that there is to know about the gospel You teach them the basic facts of the gospel. They are sinners Sinners will suffer the wrath and judgment of God in hell, right? There's wages for that sin that Christ died for our sins and that he was buried that he rose again the third day and he offers them salvation and so uh... that is and and they they are offered salvation by repentance and faith they simply have to turn to god and trust in jesus christ and so it's repentance toward god and faith in our lord jesus christ so that that is salvation we talked about salvation last week uh... in our sunday school uh... lesson there and this week After one is saved here, the first section of this paragraph of our statement of faith, it says that we believe that all who have received Christ as Lord and Savior should be baptized. Now, this matter of should be baptized, the reason that they should be baptized is because Christ commanded us His disciples, the followers of Him, He commanded His disciples to what? Preach the gospel and then baptize. That's the next step. It's the next step. We call it the first step of obedience. However, it is the first step of obedience actually for the disciples. to do. It's our responsibility as believers who have led other people to Christ, it is our responsibility to lead them then to the waters of baptism. It's commanded, He commands us Now, we find in the Gospels reference that He does so as an example. We see reference that He tells John the Baptist, suffer it to be so for now, and it's going to fulfill all righteousness, right? And that fulfilling of righteousness, He did as our example, and so we do so, just the same. But He commands us to do this baptizing. Now, there are folks out there today that believe that there is no need for water baptism anymore. We believe that there absolutely is a need for water baptism and we are commanded to baptize believers. That is not so that they can be saved. It is because they got saved, right? We see the command given by Peter in Acts 2 when they said, what should we do? He says to repent and be baptized. Every one of you in the name... Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sin. It's kind of like, let's see here. I'm trying to think of an illustration that goes with it. When we do something, like when Jesus says, whatsoever you ask in my name, does that mean that as long as we tag in Jesus' name at the end of a prayer, that we're just going to get whatever we ask? Like you ask for a million dollars in Jesus' name and it's going to happen? Not necessarily. In fact, probably not. Asking in his name is kind of like if you take If you take a I'm gonna move these after this Let's see here I have here in my hands a checkbook and it says Melissa a Campbell Aaron B. Campbell on it put her name first, because I like her more than I like me. Alright, so here we have, and I'm covering the account number in case somebody finds a way to zoom in and is like, hey, let me, okay, anyways. So here I have a check. Now, if you were to, if I were to write a check to you, from this account, it would be written in my name. Depends on how big it is. $5, it'll cash. Now, you know what? She has the ability to also write a check out of this account. she can do so now the accounts in my name and it's in her name so we can both write checks at this account now if I gave you power of attorney over me to to do things on my behalf okay and you were to you and you were to write a check now obviously power of attorney is limited it's typically limited to doing things that I would do if I were able to do so and so power of attorney does not mean that you can do things that I wouldn't do right that can be challenged in court and you can lose right if you if you say oh you know what I have power of attorney I'm going to write myself a check Well, if I would have written you that check had I been in the right scenario to do so, in the right mind and health and coherency, if I would have written that check and if it were ever to be challenged and then when it was challenged it was proven that I would have written it, then It would be fine. It would clear now you that obviously if you have power of attorney you could write the check and it would clear The question is will you have to pay it back, you know? so that matter you must if you're going to do something in my name as power of attorney then you are going to have to make sure that what you're doing in my name is according to my will and That make sense? So if you want to, if you want to write a check for mowing my grass or something, right? Because maybe my kids are, or maybe I'm talking about one of my kids. They have power of attorney. Isaac has power of attorney. And he's busy living life and winning souls to the Lord in the military or something. And I'm in poor health, and she's unavailable for the writing of the check. And so he's got power of attorney, and he's in Japan preaching the gospel to soldiers and folks. And so he's like, well, Somebody needs to mow dad's grass because it's 18 feet tall and you know and it's I mean it's only a postage stamp but anyhow I'm gonna pay them $3.45 to cut the grass because that is what he would do if he had the ability to do so. We're just assuming that they would do so for $3.45. I'm being I'm being a little facetious on it. But he can write He can do something in my name. Let's say Jareth wants to mow the grass for $3.45. He requests then that a check be written for him to mow the grass. He requests it by the one who has the power to do something in my name. And he writes the check, right? That's kind of the scenario. Now, let me take this back to this concept of being baptized in Jesus' name. How is it that Jesus told us to baptize? He told us to baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, right? Or Holy Spirit. What's that? Which is God, yeah. But it is to do something in His name is to do something after after His commandment and under His authority. Right? So He can write a check in my name if He has the authority to do so. Now, before Jesus ascended, He said, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. That is all authority. All power, that's the word power there is the word that we use for authority, right? It's not the same power that's given in Acts chapter 2 where it says you shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. That's dunamis. And then the other power, I forget now the Greek word behind it, what's that no that's that's the one that's the one in Acts 2 in this passage it's it's more of a authoritative power like in in was it Romans 12 where it says that You know, the powers that be are ordained of God. That word power has to do with authority, right? Resist not the power, the authority of God. And so, he says what? All power is given unto me, go ye therefore and teach all nations. So, first of all, we go and we preach the gospel with the power or the authority of Jesus Christ. Who has authority to tell us we cannot preach the gospel? No one, not a single person on this planet has authority to tell us that we cannot preach the gospel because all power is given to Jesus. And so Jesus has with that power, that authority that He has, He commanded us or He delegated that authority to us to preach the gospel. And then He further commanded us to baptize. and that is having to do with bringing people into the congregation so that they can have the next step, which is discipleship, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And so, some people will try to take the examples in the book of Acts and say, see, this is how it has to be in Jesus name and it has to be like this or whatever or it didn't work or something and Really it has to do with trying to fit their mystical opinion of the Holy Spirit Into that concept and and and it's it's a misapplication of the word there by the way When he says for the remission of sins just real quick so that y'all don't misunderstand this He's not saying that you're being baptized so that your sins can be remitted but rather for the remission of sins in other words because they've been remitted just the same if I were to if I were to go into the post office tomorrow to get stamps and I look on the wall and I see I see on the wall a picture and it says and it's got it's got her face on it and it says Emmeline Campbell wanted for murder now Is she wanted for murder because of her amazing skill and the ability to murder people? People want to bring her so that she can murder? No! No. No, that wouldn't be murder then. That'd be something else. They want her because she's committed the crime, right? So just the same in Acts 2.38, we're not being baptized. We're not repenting in action and being baptized. so that our sins can be remitted. We're repenting in action and being baptized because our sins have been remitted. Does that make sense? In this case, you see that all of these people had received the word, which it says a few verses after that, but they They had before that, they had heard the gospel, they had conviction, they realized that what was going on was a work of God, and they believed the message that Peter had given about Jesus and what He had done for them. And so their response was, what do I do now? repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. And by the way, there was a matter of action there that took place slightly different than the way it does today now that we have the whole Word of God. So there was a transitional period in the book of Acts that's a little bit different there. So, anyhow. The command is baptizing them in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost does that make sense? I want to make sure that I that I covered that I spent a lot of time dealing with that specific Concept you know because a lot of people get that wrong a lot of people get that wrong and and they'll have people they'll you know, they'll they'll take people to these passages in the book of Acts and say see says in the name of Jesus and Yep. Just like, you know, y'all know me as Pastor, right? And if I were to write a check to you, it would be in Pastor's name. But it would be in my full name. Or it would be under the name by which I have authority to write something to you, right? I can't write a check and sign it Pastor. I can't write a check and sign it, I would sign it with my signature which represents my name. And so what represents the name of Jesus in the book of Acts? What He commanded us to do in Matthew 28. Baptizing them in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost So there's that so I know we could spend a lot of time talking about these things and I was just saying We'll probably be done early, but it looks like we're not looks like we're gonna be done either right on time or a little bit late, so We believe so so now that that baptism is is by immersion. We see throughout the Word of God that baptism takes place that you go under the water, right? Or down into the water and up out of the water. You see examples of this when Jesus was baptized, when He went with John. I'm trying to just summarize here. When Jesus went to John to be baptized there in Jordan, first of all, why would John baptize in Jordan? if he's just going to pour a bowl of water on their head? Why would he baptize in Jordan if he's just going to sprinkle it on them? He wouldn't. Y'all know the River Jordan, it's kind of deep. I mean, he was able to stand it. It might be like this or like this. But I saw a video one time, I can't remember where it came from, but it was just a depiction of what was going on there in the Gospels. and somebody went down to be baptized by John, and John had a bowl, and the guy came down into the river to be baptized, and it showed John take a bowl and fill it with water and dump it on the guy's head. I'm like, that is ridiculous. Where did that come from? And it came from that particular group of people believe that pouring is baptism. Baptism is immersion. You'll find that the Ethiopian eunuch, when he was with Philip there, Philip preached the Gospel to him. And he believed the Gospel. And they come upon some water. And he said, see, here is water. What doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, if thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he said, I believe that Jesus is the Son of God. And he said, okay. And they went down into the water, both of them. He baptized him and they both came up out of the water. Why would you go down in the well? I mean He probably had a water pot on the chariot. He could have just Sprinkled him or dumped it on his head if that was an acceptable Baptism But it isn't. And so we believe that baptism is by immersion. There's no evidence or example even of baptism any other way in your Bible. Sir? So it's not a tradition, right? Baptism is not a tradition? It's a commandment. But some things that are commandments are also something that we do by tradition. We traditionally follow the commandments of God. That's fine. As long as it's according to the word of God. Traditions are not all wrong. However, If a tradition isn't backed up by the Word of God, it's not authoritative. And so if you follow tradition, fine, as long as it doesn't violate the Word of God, and as long as you don't teach it as the commandment of God. Like our tradition is to have pizza on Sunday nights. If we don't have pizza, are we violating some scripture? Absolutely not. If we decide to have spaghetti, is that okay? Yeah, that's okay. What if we decide to just have salad? Yeah, that's fine. What if we decide to fast and have nothing? That's fine too. It's totally fine. Because it's not a commandment of God. We don't want to teach for commandments of God the traditions of men. Right? That's where you run into issues there. But when it comes to baptism, we get that from the Word of God. It's not just a tradition. It's commanded. So it's immersion, and it is in the likeness of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. I don't have time to go to all the passages, but the likeness there is, and that's, by the way, one of the reasons that we believe that it's immersion, because it is as Christ was laid in the grave when he died. He was buried there. And when He rose again the third day, He came up out of the grave. And so, just the same, we are baptized in the likeness of Christ. Not in the exact likeness of Christ. Obviously, we don't put people in the water and leave them there for three days. Right, Brother Bell? I tried to do that with him, but he wouldn't let me. What's that? You've got to try it again. The likeness of that is the concept that Christ was put into the grave. And the water there, representing dirt in that sense. But it does not wash away your sins. But it is a response of a good conscience toward God in the sense that your sins have been washed away by the blood of Christ, and then the water then shows everybody else what has happened already. That your sins have been washed away. You're put in the water in an appearance of washing, but it's just symbolic of what Christ did already in your heart. And then, it's in the likeness of what Christ has done, and then we do this publicly, and it identifies you with Christ. And I'll put it this way as well, we don't say it this way in our statement of faith, but it identifies you with Christ as we preach Him. as we as a church preach Him. And the reason that I specify that is because we do not accept baptism from any other organization or institution, whether it call itself a church or not, we do not accept baptism by another organization that preaches Christ differently. if they preach a different Jesus, or if they preach a different gospel, or if their doctrine is different than our doctrine, than what we teach. The reason for this is because of what he said in verse number 20 there of Matthew 28, when he says, "...teaching them to observe all things, whatsoever I have commanded you." And so, just the same, when we baptize someone, we are putting them in a position to be taught to learn what we teach from the Word of God. So, that's why we don't accept what folks would call alien baptism. Now, it does not mean that you were abducted by aliens and baptized, or that you are from some other country or planet. Alien baptism means baptism by by another belief system. We'll put it that way. We don't believe necessarily in denominations in that sense. As Baptists, we're not a denomination. We're Bible believers. So it's not necessarily just that someone from another denomination, but someone from a different belief system. Some folks may come from a Baptist church and want to join, but that Baptist church does not believe the Bible the way that we believe the Bible. Sometimes that's the case. For example, Free Will Baptists, they believe you can lose your salvation. We would ask that person to submit to the authority of the Word of God in relation to that doctrine and the way we teach it. And when you're publicly baptized, you are identifying with Christ as that church preaches Him. And you're identifying with the doctrine of that church by doing so. And by doing so, you are by default rejecting any previous doctrine that you used to identify with. Does that make sense? So that's why if you were, say, if you were to, God forbid, leave here, stop being a member here, or if you were to go to, say, a Catholic facility and meet with the folks there and say, I want to become Catholic, they're going to say, OK, where are you from? What do you know? And you tell them, well, I'm a member of such and of Glory Baptist Church. And they're going to say, well, you're going to have to submit to our doctrine and be baptized by us. You have to convert. And the reason that they do that is because they recognize, and rightfully they recognize, that baptism identifies you with their doctrine and tells everyone that you reject the doctrine you came from. Now, I just said that they did something right. That doesn't mean everything's right that they do, okay? So that's that concept there. So that there's a public identification and it then also adds that individual to the local church under whose authority they're being baptized. So when we baptize somebody here, they become a member of this church. So you say, how do I become a member of the church? Well, you've got to be baptized into this church. In order to be baptized into this church, you must be born again. You have to be scripturally saved by the Word of God, by the Lord Jesus and what He's done for you and according to what the Bible tells us about salvation, right? You repent toward God and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and the work that He did at Calvary. Then you can be baptized. And upon baptism, you become a member of the church. then further there's teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you that continues that discipleship right that's why we do not require discipleship before baptism now we do usually do some discipleship before baptism just basic stuff but we don't make somebody go through the ABCs of Christian growth before they can be baptized now they might not be quite ready to be baptized and so we have them go through some of it and then After that, we go ahead and baptize them. But it's up, you know, it's kind of case by case. But really, when somebody gets saved, we want them to get baptized as soon as possible, because that's what God, that's what Jesus commanded us to do. And that's every example that we see in the Word of God. Somebody gets saved, then they get baptized. Anyhow, we're not going to have time for questions. We'll have to save that for another time. Sorry, I went a little long. This is all I had for my notes today. And you know what I have for my notes for the morning service? Um, now I haven't written in my Bible. So, all right, we're going to pray and then you'll be dismissed for just a couple minutes. Um, and then we'll come back for our morning service. I were running a little behind. Sorry. Father, we thank you Lord so much for your goodness to us. We thank you Lord, uh, for sending Jesus to die on the cross of Calvary to be buried and rose again the third day. Lord, we thank you that salvation is made available for all who will trust in you, who will turn to you and trust in you and your work at Calvary. Lord, we just pray that you'd, Bless our services to come here and give us a good time. I round your word in Jesus' name. Amen.