The Gospel of Mark today, Mark chapter 1. So I'm breaking from our regular sermon series in Hebrews. because we're welcoming people into, nine people, into church membership today. And we are so thankful for these new members, and I wanted to have a special sermon since we're having baptism. Four of these new members are adults who are professing their faith, and three of them are being baptized today. One of them was already baptized. Four of these new members are little children, little girls, in fact, all four of them. And so they're daughters to these new believing families that are being baptized. And so these children are also being baptized along with their parents. So what we're seeing today is household baptisms that you often see in the New Testament where Paul says, I baptize the house of Stephanus and things like that. There's a whole household that is baptized when they come and profess faith. And then we also have a believer who is coming from where she's professed faith in a sense in the past, and so we received her just this morning. We had been meeting with her, and we're happy to receive her as well. So we have these nine who are being welcomed into membership today. She was already baptized, and so she's not being baptized. Two of the nine are not being baptized, and the other seven are. So for this special service, I selected Mark 1, verse 8. for a preaching text. And in this text, John the Baptist is quoted as saying, I indeed baptize you with water, but he will baptize you, referring to Jesus, of course, he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. So what do these words mean, and what do they teach us? That's what I want to focus on today. But before we begin to look at them more specifically, I want to read the context in which they occur. So we'll look from verse one of Mark, Mark chapter one, verse one, the very beginning of Mark. So here is the word of God, and I'll read through to verse eight. Mark chapter one, verse one, this is the word of God. The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as it is written in the prophets. Behold, I send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way before you. The voice of one crying in the wilderness. Prepare the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight. John came baptizing the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Then all the land of Judea and those from Jerusalem went out to him and were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel's hair and with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached, saying, there comes one after me who is mightier than I, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose. I indeed baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. And there we end the reading of God's word. May he use his word in our lives to help us to know and to love and to believe and to serve him. May he use his word. Notice how Mark picks up here. on the monumental nature of what was going on when John came baptizing in the wilderness, the one we call John the Baptist. It was the beginning of a new era, a new time of phase of God's redemptive work. He calls it, Mark calls it, the beginning of the gospel. Gospel is the good news, and it is the good news in particular that the Messiah had come, that he was at hand and was soon to appear among the people to bring salvation to the world. It was from prophecies that had begun 4,000 years before that we're now coming to a fulfillment in the coming of this one that would change the course of the whole world. Mark picks up on the word of the prophet Isaiah, who gave an oracle from God 700 years before this happened, saying that his visitation of the Son of God, of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, would be preceded by a herald, a voice crying out in the wilderness, that that would be the sign that his day had come. John was his herald. announcing that he was now to appear. So this is of a great event that Mark calls the beginning of the gospel. And then you see, we go down to verses seven and eight, and we're told what John said about him. as he was out baptizing. And he preached, saying, this is from verse seven, there comes one after me who is mightier than I, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose. I indeed baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. In considering these words, especially the words in verse 8, I want you to see, first of all, that John sets up here a huge contrast between him and Christ regarding baptism. He says, I indeed baptized you with water. Look at that first and then that he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. We'll look at that second here. So he says, I indeed baptized you with water. Baptism was a thing that was very well known to the Jews. They knew that baptism was a purification rite that God had appointed by washing with water. They had, as it says in Hebrews 9.10, various washings. And the Greek word that is used there is baptismos, or you get our word, baptism. For example, we're told in Numbers 19.13 what was required for their purification when they touched a dead body. It says, whoever touches the body of anyone who has died and does not purify himself defiles the tabernacle of the Lord. That person shall be cut off from Israel. He shall be unclean because the water of purification was not sprinkled upon him. His uncleanness is still on him. This is but one of many examples. They had to be baptized after contact with things that were associated with a curse, like we just saw with a dead body. After having leprosy, even when they were healed, they had to go through rituals of purification and washing, washings with water and with various things sprinkled upon them. And they had to do so even after an emission of semen Leviticus 15, 16 calls for that washing. Why? Because now after the fall, we bring forth children who are defiled. The seed that comes from us is defiled and brings forth children, as we sang in Psalm 51, who are conceived in iniquity. And the priest had to be baptized before entering their ministry. Why? Because they were but men who were sinners. There had to be purifications and washings of all different kinds that they engaged in. And the congregation had to be baptized with blood before presenting themselves before the Lord. For example, in Exodus 24, there were washings of all kinds that go on and on and on. They were very familiar with this. As again, Hebrews 9-10, speaks of various baptisms that they had in the Old Covenant. John tells us that he was indeed baptizing those who came to him with water. He was, in other words, putting upon the people the symbol of cleansing or of purification from sin, the symbol that God appointed. John's message was that people were all sinful, that God's people were sinful, the people that he was preaching to, and that they needed to repent and be cleansed, to be washed from their sins. That's what it means when he says, or what it means when it says that he preached repentance. The people who saw and confessed that they needed cleansing were the ones who were baptized. They repented and they looked to the promised cleansing that was to come from the one that John was proclaiming to them. This is what baptism continues to signify. We have to be washed In order to come to God, our sins have to be washed away, both our guilt as well as our defilement. And God works in us to bring that about. When people are baptized, it is still a sign of the washing away of their sins. They acknowledge that it is God who washes them. We see this, for example, years later, some years later, after Jesus had ascended, when Paul was converted, and he was told in Acts 22, 16, arise and be baptized and wash away your sins. calling on the name of the Lord. So you see there, the water baptism is a symbol of washing and purification. That's what it always was, washing with water. John tells us that this baptism with water is what he did. This is all he could do, was washing with water. That's what Paul received from Ananias, the minister that baptized him. That's what I will be doing today, Lord willing, later on in this service. I will be baptizing with water. the ritual that God appointed that points to what God does in a person by His Spirit in saving them from sin. Jesus told us to go into all the world and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. and teaching them to observe all things that he commanded. So this sign is to be put on those, to mark them out as those who are washed by the saving work of Jesus Christ and who baptizes with the Spirit. John baptized with water, and so does every minister of the gospel since, because that is what God told us to do. when people come to Him for salvation. That is all that ministers can do, is baptize with water. We cannot baptize with the Holy Spirit. But now let's see what is set in contrast with John and all ministers of the Gospel. In contrast with baptism with water, John announces that the Lord will baptize with the Holy Spirit. This speaks of an actual cleansing from sin and defilement. It is actual cleansing that is symbolized by water baptism. It is a washing that is accomplished by Jesus, the Lord, the Son of God, washing us with his Holy Spirit. Only he can do this. He is the Lord, Yahweh, the divine name, the self-existing one. Why do I say that? Because when you look at what it says in Mark about him, he quotes from Isaiah the prophet, who said, prepare the way of the Lord. And he uses the name Yahweh when he says Lord. Who was the coming one? It was Yahweh, the Lord of all, God of gods, light of light, very God of very God, the Son of God who is coming. And John was preparing the way of the Lord. John describes him as the one whose sandal he is not even worthy to unloose. And that was the job of the lowliest of slaves. Jews were not required to do that for another Jew. It was for the lowliest to come and undo the sandal. And John says, this thing that is such an unworthy task, I'm not even worthy to do that for him. He's not like me. He's the Son of God. He's in a whole different realm. I'm down here. He's up there. I baptize with water. He baptizes with the Holy Spirit. What a contrast is given here. The Son of God then, who came to do the actual saving that God promised, had come at this time. People in the Old Testament were saved by trusting in what God would do to save them in the future. But now Jesus has come to bring that about. And it is the beginning of the gospel that God has come, that Jesus, the son of God, has come to save sinners. By coming to John's baptism, the people then confessed that they were sinners who were turning from their sin, repenting, and looking to the Lord. to baptize them in this way. That's still what people are to do when they come to Christ. This is the sign that God has given to be put upon them. They are sinners. They cannot cleanse themselves. And they come and say, I am cleansed by him because I cannot cleanse myself. Now, what does the Lord Jesus do when he baptizes us with the Holy Spirit? That's the next thing that I want to look at. In short, he makes us alive through union with himself in his kingdom. He uses the Holy Spirit to so work in us that by the Spirit's work, we are united to Christ and are transformed. Also, the Spirit working through that union with Christ. This is the most marvelous thing because we are so very dead. until God does is so very dead, not a little bit dead, not kind of dead. We're dead. When Paul speaks to the Ephesians about this very thing of of death and life, he says, you are you who are dead, you he made alive, who are dead in your trespasses and sins. Now, actually, in the original, it doesn't say, you he made alive at the beginning. They added that in for clarification. But that's what the whole passage shows us. It talks about how dead we were. And then it says, but God, and it tells about how he made us alive as the passage goes on. This speaks, then, of being spiritually dead, not physically dead, spiritually dead. You see, lifeless, spiritually lifeless, unresponsive to God as God. We might respond to God, but not as God, not as our God, not as the one that we serve and that we honor. We're dead, and the carnal mind cannot subject itself to God. You see, as sinners, and since Adam, we're all born in sin, we're against God. We're against our Creator. We don't engage with Him as our God. We don't obey His commandments. We don't trust Him or serve Him as our God. We're dead to God until He acts to change that. It should be obvious that if we are against God, then we're not fit to live with Him in heaven. People always want to say people went to a better place when they died. They did not go to a better place unless they were resting in Jesus Christ, the only Savior, because we're condemned. We're against God, and if we're against God, we're not going to be found in heaven. Sin is the reason that Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden. and that the world was changed from a place of paradise to a place of sorrow and death that we now experience, where people die, where they have hardships and troubles and sorrows and disappointments and breakups of relationships and all sorts of other troubles. When we rebelled, we all became enemies of God by nature. Once they sinned, then they only could bring forth children who are sinners. They became vipers and they bring forth little vipers who grew up to be big vipers. If we are against God, that means that we must be punished. Ephesians 2, 3 says that we are by nature, this is what I was just explaining, by nature the children of wrath before we are made alive by the Lord. Sin is an affront to God and it cannot be left unpunished. He will not leave it so, because sin presents God as if He is not God at all. And he will not allow his holy name to be dishonored in this way. It's as if he is not worthy to be obeyed as God in the way that we as fallen sinners treat him. As if he is not worthy to be served, to be loved, to be worshipped when he is worthy of more service and love and obedience than we could ever even give him. It calls, then, for severe condemnation for human beings to be against God. Now, even though we want to deny it, we want to say it's but a little thing, God says it's a big thing. He is just and holy. It deserves eternal punishment. We say that because we don't know God, because we are dead, and we diminish who God really is in our minds. He is just, and He cannot leave such a breach of justice left unvisited with punishment. When He judges the world at the last day, He will completely set the record straight. And that means that unredeemed sinners will go to hell, and those who are redeemed will be presented in Jesus Christ, who made atonement for them as the only way that they are accepted in God's sight. to make matters worse in our condition, we're hardened in this sinful condition. We're so dead in our sin, unless and until God makes us alive, we won't even come to Jesus for salvation. Even if He is tenderly and sweetly presented to us, and appeals are made that are done in a gracious manner, we will not go to Him. because we're so twisted and we're so hardened until God works. If we are believers, it is because he made us alive, who are dead in our trespasses and sins, not sort of dead, but dead, spiritually dead. He brought us to life. That's what this is talking about. The Bible uses lots of different ways to speak about the baptism of the Spirit as the Holy Spirit making us alive. Let's look at a few of those ways. Jesus refers to it in John 3 as being born of the Spirit. of a new birth, of being born from above. Again, it's the Holy Spirit's work. He tells a Jewish leader named Nicodemus that unless a person is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven. As long as we remain dead in our sins, we can't live with Christ. We can't live with Christ in God's kingdom where we can serve God and inherit eternal life. We can't go to heaven. As long as we're dead in our sin, we will never come to Jesus for forgiveness, because we don't want to be forgiven. We don't want to be with God, because we're so twisted. Paul speaks of this work of the Spirit making us alive then. He speaks of it in Titus chapter 3, where he says, This is Titus three, verse three, for we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. That's the way we were until we were washed by the Lord. Paul goes on. Verse four. But when the kindness and the love of God, our savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, we couldn't do any righteousness, but according to his mercy. He saved us undeserved through the washing of regeneration. Regenerate, making alive again regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, that's the baptism of the Spirit. You see that we did not wash ourselves somehow. Jesus poured out his spirit upon us and he washed us. by the baptism of the Spirit, the washing of regeneration, life from the dead, and renewing of the Holy Spirit. As our Savior, He poured the Spirit out on us, or baptized us with the Holy Spirit. When the Spirit changes us, when He does that work, we then, at that very same time as that happens, we see clearly that we're sinners who need to be saved. And we see that Jesus went to the cross to bear punishment for our sins. And, most importantly, we now want that salvation. By the regenerating work of the Spirit, we've been born again now to desire this salvation. And we see that God accepted the sacrifice of Christ for sins. And we understand that, we grasp that like we never grasped it before. Maybe we heard that Jesus died, but we didn't really know what it was talking about. It didn't really click with us or connect with us. Now we see, this is what I need. This is what I must have in order that I might be saved. That having been justified by His grace, the passage goes on, we should become heirs, inheritors of the hope of eternal life. In Galatians, the spirit is said to unite us to Jesus when he baptizes us. So here's another picture that's given of the baptism of the spirit. On our part, when the spirit does that, we repent of our sins. Why? Because what I was just saying, the spirit makes us alive when we're born again. So we repent, we turn away from sin. And we trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of sin. When we're made alive, we see that our sins are worthy of everlasting punishment in a clearer way than ever before, than we could ever see it. And we see that Jesus came to bear the punishment. And we believe. We want to be saved. Our baptism with the spirit or our new birth brings justification. How? Because we trust in Jesus who justifies us by faith in him and makes us righteous. He gives us life then, through his suffering and death on the cross. The spirit, you see, is the one who establishes that union with Christ. We are baptized into Jesus Christ by the spirit. In Romans, the spirit, we're looking at all these different ways that this baptism of the spirit is spoken of. In Romans, the baptism that the spirit does is called being buried with him in baptism and raised to life. That's a wonderful picture. Romans six, verse three through 10 is fuller passage. It's such a radical change in us. You see that. What is it referred to? It's referred to as death being brought to life, being raised from the dead. Again, it's all the things we've seen, a new birth, a regeneration. It's all of these things are spoken, speaking of the same great work. The spirit joins us to Jesus by repentance and faith so that we are pardoned and we're raised with him to live a new life in him. In Colossians, it's called being circumcised without hands. In Colossians 2.11, 2.11 through 13, it says, in him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands. It's not talking about bodily circumcision. By putting off the body of sins of the flesh. That's what circumcision represented. The cutting away of sin. by the circumcision of Christ, the cutting away that He does. See, they circumcised the flesh. but God circumcises in the heart. It represents what God does just like baptism does. So he goes on, he says, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, buried with him in baptism, okay, we die to what we were, in which you also were raised with him through faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead. So circumcision represented God giving his people a new heart to love him. How do I know that? Because the scripture says so in Deuteronomy 36, where God mentions that I will circumcise your heart to love the Lord your God. Jeremiah speaks of it as God writing his law in our hearts. So here's another picture of regeneration of baptism of the Spirit in Hebrews 10, 15 and following this is this is quote quoting Jeremiah's prophecy. He's quoted in Hebrews 10, 15 as saying, but the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us. For after He had said before, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord, I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them." It's a cleansing inside. God's law within so that you are desiring to follow God as your God, to obey Him as your God. And then He adds, "...their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more." So forgiveness is associated with this as well. Here is life with God, God's law written in our heart so that we want to serve him. We who before did not want to serve him. This is the great change. This work of regeneration is described powerfully by Ezekiel. where baptism, washing with water, is associated with the baptism of the Spirit. Ezekiel 36, 25 and 26 says, then I will sprinkle, the Lord speaking, then I will sprinkle clean water on you. Now that means that he appointed it to be so. Like in the New Testament, it talks about Jesus baptizing people, but he didn't baptize them himself, but his disciples. But it was him baptizing people, sending his disciples. He says, the Lord says, then I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean. So the symbol will have, the symbol will have corresponding to it a true cleansing, not a bodily cleansing that the water only, that's all that the water can do, but a true cleansing. The Lord says, I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. And how does God get them off of their idols? It's by the baptism of the Spirit. This washing with water is associated with it. He says, I will give you, this is, the passage goes on, I will give you a new heart and put, this is verse 26, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. Now there the Spirit is talking about giving us a different, a renewed spirit, like our spirit, our human spirit will be changed. But then he goes on in verse 27 talking about the Holy Spirit. I will put, God says, my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you will keep my judgments and do them. So in other words, it's no longer a heart of stone. Why? Because the Spirit came. Because the Spirit changed the heart of stone into a heart that responds to God. A heart that is no longer against God, but a heart that is for God, and that wants God's salvation, and wants to live for God and be with God. Wants to please Him and be in His kingdom. A heart that turns to Him for the salvation that's promised. This is nothing less than the new birth that Nicodemus should have known about. Jesus said, you're a teacher in Israel and you do not know about the new birth when it's talked about so much in the scripture. You see, it's a it's a baptism of the Holy Spirit. He makes us alive by transforming us and uniting us to him. Jesus Christ is the one who died and rose again in order that we may die to sin and that we may live forever with him. The action that brings us about is the washing of the Holy Spirit, the baptism of the Holy Spirit that Jesus alone can do. Then baptism therefore testifies to us that salvation is of the Lord. It's not something that any human can do except for God made man, Jesus Christ, the son of God who became flesh. The Lord himself washes us. We do not and cannot wash ourselves. We do the symbol at His command, but He does the actual washing that is symbolized. How should this affect us, knowing that it is of the Lord? What effect should that have on us? Well, seeing that salvation is God's work ought to humble you. Give up on trying to save yourself. You can't wash away your sins. How could you wash away your sins? You can't get your act together and become all that you really ought to be. You know that gnawing sense that we're not? Even people that don't even acknowledge God know that things are not as they should be. It's futile to try to go on without God. That's what Satan wants you to do. You can be like God in your own steam, in your own strength. No, you can't. Some people get so far as to want to be reconciled to God. In other words, they come closer and say, you know, I need to be reconciled to God. But then they continue to try to wash themselves. They say, oh, I'll do some great works that will put me right with God, or I'll make a great sacrifice, or maybe some people even, I'll cut myself, or I'll beat myself up, or I'll do something. But you can't change your spots. Only God can do that. You can't change your heart of stone. How can you make your heart of stone a heart that responds? You can't do that. Can you shed tears or do works to atone for your sin? Of course you can. You need to give up on yourself, humble yourself, and turn to Him for salvation. False religion focuses always on what you can do. True religion focuses on what God does to save, and that we have to come to Him for salvation. That's the difference. People say, why are there so many religions? Well, all the other religions are various ways for man to try to fix things and work things out. The true religion is the one that says God does the saving, and we have to trust in Him. It stands out above all the others. Humble yourself. Seeing that salvation is God's work, the second thing it ought to do is it ought to give us great confidence if we are looking to Him. Is anything too hard for the Lord? So I'm a mess. How can God possibly do any kind of great work in me like this? Because He's God. That's why. He is the eternal God who created all things by His breath, by the word of His power. And He is able to raise the dead. It's something that He shows us that He can do. Not only the physically dead, but the spiritually dead. He was able to raise Jesus when bearing our sins. He went to the grave and was raised up. John 5, 21, the Lord says, the Lord Jesus says, for as the father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the son gives life to whom he will. He's the Lord, he can give life where there is death. Verse 24, most assuredly I say to you, he who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has everlasting life and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death unto life. See, there's a certainty there. He's the Lord. He can do this. You trust in him. He can save you. Don't rely on yourself. He goes on. Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming. And now is when the dead and he's talking about spiritually dead here. After this, he talks about physically dead, but in the graves. But here he's talking about spiritually dead, because listen to what he says. The hour is coming, and now is, it's not future, now is that Jesus is here, when the dead, spiritually dead, will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. They will live, what we've been talking about. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted this Son to have life in Himself. It doesn't matter how great your sin is. Our Lord is able to save, as it says in Hebrews, He's able to save to the uttermost those who come to God by Him. You ought to come to Him. You will say, but I have not been made alive, as you've been talking about. I have no interest in Him. You can't use that as an excuse. Whether you've been made alive or not, it is your obligation all the same to come to him. If God Almighty calls us to come and be reconciled to him, we need to go and be reconciled to him. You're you're refusing the call of the holy God who calls you to come and have peace with him, to be reconciled and restored to him. That's a reprehensible thing. And there is no excuse. He is there. calling us, open call, free offer the gospel to come and be washed. And you say, no, I don't want to be washed. I don't want to be washed for my sin and to be with God. Jesus tells us in John 6, 37, that the one who comes to me, I will by no means cast out. Third, seeing that salvation is God's work ought to make sense out of household baptisms. This is the thing that many are confused about today. We have the pattern established in the Bible of children receiving the sign of the covenant when their parents do, or if they're born later than at their birth. And how do I mean the sign of the covenant? Well, it began when Abraham was called to be circumcised, and was commanded to circumcise his son and his servants, and their sons, and thereafter to circumcise all who were born in his household on the eighth day." All males that were born to his household. Circumcision, just like baptism, was a sign of the renewing of the heart by the Lord. Because as I said before, God promised in connection with that sign of circumcision that he would circumcise the hearts of the people to love the Lord their God. For example, in Deuteronomy chapter 30, verse 6, and he repeats that. He talks about that a lot of times, that they're circumcised in the flesh, but not in heart. They have the outward sign, but they don't have the work of God. The sign of regeneration then, what we're saying here, was given to the sons of Abraham and all of God's people before they were old enough to show that they had a heart of faith and repentance in a way that anyone could discern. God was confirming His promise that He made, that He would be God to them and to their children after them, to their offspring. He was giving them a sign of a renewed heart, of a heart renewed by Him when they were but infants. Then we come to the New Testament and we have baptism as a sign of the new birth, the baptism of the Holy Spirit to be that was to be used after Jesus comes after Jesus came and carried out the work of redemption. And that was only shadowed in the old covenant. Right. The work of redemption was shadowed in all the temple ceremonies and all those things that pointed to atonement through the shedding of blood, but done over and over because it was just a picture. It was just rituals. But the thing itself was done by Jesus. And when that great event happened, then the bloody sign of circumcision was put aside as the sign of regeneration. And baptism became the sign of the new heart, the circumcised heart, as we have seen. So there was a change that was made. And what do we see in the Apostles' times? In every baptism where there is a household, the entire household is baptized. And not only that, but when Peter calls for repentance and baptism at Pentecost, he mentions specifically that the promise that is signified by baptism, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, you baptize with water, pointing to baptism of the Holy Spirit. So he mentions the promise of baptism of the Holy Spirit in connection with his call to be baptized. And then he declares, for the promise is to you and to your children. using the same language that God is going to circumcise your heart and the heart of your seed, the heart of your children. He is continuing the promise that God would be God to us and to our children. And since He is the one who baptizes with the Spirit, then we're not required to leave our children under the condemnation of sin in which they're born. We're not required to leave them in that condemnation until they're old enough to indicate that they have a new heart of faith and repentance. The Lord marks them out with their parents as his people who belong to him, and he calls them saints, holy ones. This does not mean that they're necessarily all regenerate, any more than it means that all adults who have the covenant sign and profess faith are regenerate. truly regenerate. Some of them later on show that they're not whether adults or children. But we are commanded to bring our children up, not as outsiders, but as those who are heirs together with us of the grace of life who know the Lord. We are to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. And we are to warn them. just as we're to warn adults to take heed, as we saw in Hebrews recently, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief and departing from the living God. The warnings are real. There are hard hearts that are not regenerate. And those that are baptized in body, but not in spirit. And they need to be warned and called to repentance, whether adult or child, that begins to manifest a hardened heart. Rather than presuming, though, that they are unregenerate, and so enemies of God, since we're all born in sin, we are to receive them as God's people and tell them what the Lord has done for us, that they might with us profess the Lord as they grow in maturity and are able to articulate and indicate the new heart that God gives to his people. In 1 Corinthians 7, 14, Paul answers the question of what is to be done with children who have one believing and one unbelieving parent. He says that even if there is only one believing parent, the children are holy. Now that word could be translated that they are saints, holy ones. That's what saint means. They're counted as God's people. When he writes to the saints at Ephesus, he's writing to them, the adults and the children. Whereas if they do not have a believing parent, he says that those children are unclean. They're outside of the people of God with their parents. Where the parents are, that's where the child is. If there's only one believer, they're holy. If not, they're unclean. It's a sharp distinction between holy and unclean. So even if there is one, then the child belongs, is marked out as God's. If the baptism of the spirit was a work that the sinner must perform, then it would make no sense at all. to baptize our children until they can be told what to do, the work that they must do, and indicate that they have done it. But if it is a work that God does, then it is quite reasonable to baptize them, especially since God clearly gave the sign of regeneration to children in the Old Covenant. When a person is of maturity and ability to exhibit repentance and faith, we require it. before they are baptized. In other words, a person that's not been baptized and they've grown up outside of the Lord, they must exhibit then the marks of a regenerate heart, of faith and repentance. They need to have a life consistent with that before they are baptized. But when they're a child of someone who makes a credible profession of faith, we're to baptize them and to regard them with their parents as one of his people, urging them to continue in the Lord all the days of their life. seeing that salvation, and then a fourth thing, seeing that salvation is God's work, ought to stir us up to tell others of His grace. We have a message to declare to the nations, a message of hope from our gracious God that we are to carry to all the world. The message is simply that God saves sinners. He does the saving through Jesus Christ crucified. Tell your friends, tell your family about this Savior. He commands us to go into all the world and proclaim the gospel, the good news that began when John declared that one was among us who would baptize with the Holy Spirit, who would cleanse people from their sins so that they might be saved. We have the full revelation and message now of His saving work. that he went to the cross to atone for our sins in order that we might be forgiven. He was punished for our transgressions so that trusting in him, we can have the forgiveness of sins. And he gives us the Holy Spirit to bring about that transformation. You cannot save yourself, but the Lord will save you if you come to him. Not only will you be forgiven, but you will be changed. Your heart will be circumcised to love the Lord your God. He baptizes with the Holy Spirit. Finally, seeing that salvation is God's work ought to make us very, very thankful. Isaiah tells us in Isaiah 12, one through three. And in that day, you will say, oh, Lord, I will praise you or translate that. I will thank you, though you are angry with me. Your anger is turned away and you comfort me. Behold, God is my salvation. I'm not my salvation. God is my salvation. I will trust, I'll rely on Him and not be afraid. With confidence, I'll trust in Him. I will trust and not be afraid. For Yah is a shortened form from Jehovah. The Lord is my strength and song. He has become my salvation. Therefore, with joy, you will draw water from the wells of salvation. If you're saved, you did not do it. If you're saved, you did not deserve it. You give thanks to him for his mercy in Jesus Christ. God sent his son to do the saving. You're not going to be any good at saving yourself. You need to turn to Him. He's the only one who can save you. Who can take away our sins? Only Jesus Christ, crucified on the cross. Only through faith in Him can we have salvation. Please stand and let's indeed give thanks to Him. Oh Lord, our God, we come before you, Lord, with thanksgiving because of what you have done. Oh Lord, this great, this great, event when John appeared in the wilderness, the beginning of the gospel announcing that the time had come for Messiah to come into the world to save his people from their sins and to save the nations, as the prophets had foretold. And we marvel, O Lord, as we see this fulfillment of prophecy, this culmination, this coming together of all of your promises that are yea and amen in Jesus Christ. What a blessing it is to see how that in Christ, all of those things in the Old Testament converge. Here is one who is a king, who is righteous, who sits on David's throne forever and ever. Here is the one who is the priest, who makes atonement for sin, that will atone for sin forever and ever, that truly does atone for sin, and is not just a picture of that. Here is the one who is the prophet, who proclaims to us the truth from heaven, who brings to us light and salvation in order that we may walk in the light of the Lord, that we may know you as we could never know you before, until Christ came and revealed you and made you known. Lord, we pray that we would cherish Him, and that we would delight in Him, and that we would proclaim Him, and that we would tell others of Him, our friends, our relatives, that we would send out the Word to the nations. Father, we pray that You would be glorified in Your Son, in making Him known. We pray that Your Holy Spirit would work, O Lord, for the Gospel can go out all over the place, and we can preach, and we can do all the things in that way, But it is only when the spirit works that there will be conversion, that people will come to you. Father, we need that so desperately right here in our own community. We see so many people that in the last years have hardened their hearts, many whose parents once knew you and walked with you, whose grandparents are somewhere down the line. And now, Lord, Here they are turning away from you and hardening their hearts to this glorious salvation, believing lies, falling into deception, twisted and distorted in their minds. Oh, Father, we see the confusion that you're sending upon our land. We see the disorder. We see the disharmony within our people. We see your hand of judgment falling upon us. Father, we pray that you would have mercy and that your gospel would truly go out. And that as these ones that are coming to profess their faith today, that you would bring people into your kingdom, that you would bring them to yourself, Lord, that they might know the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, the baptism that Jesus does. We do the sign, He does the thing itself. We thank You that that's the way He is throughout the whole pages of Scripture, that all of those Old Testament rituals were signs, what man can do ritually, but what Jesus does is the actual fulfillment and accomplishment of all of those signs. And we praise you, Lord, for you are glorified in your Son and in your Spirit. May you work among us, O Lord, as a people that we might be filled with the Spirit to go out and proclaim your name and to see our children rise up and serve you and call on your name all the days of their life, that they would not depart from you, O Lord, but they would continue in your grace. We ask these things in the name of our risen, glorified Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Please be seated. Receive now the blessing of our gracious Lord. Now to him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began, but now made manifest and by the prophetic scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God for obedience to the faith. To God alone wise be glory through Jesus Christ forever. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. Amen.