We're going to spend a few minutes together in the word and then we have a great way to end our service tonight as we have four young people that we will be baptizing. And I want to say a few things from the scriptures before we do that. I know a lot of you don't realize this, but I occasionally make pieces of furniture. I bring home a flat box. Usually somebody helps me unload it, take it wherever it's going to go, cut it open, fold the pieces out, and there are, you know, pieces of wood or something that looks like wood, and there are bags of parts, and somewhere in there, there's some directions. It usually takes an hour, a couple hours. I don't know why it takes people so long to make furniture. Just, you know, there you go. It's all right there, and you put it together. And the amazing thing is that you can look at this kind of, you know, all these pieces and parts and this sort of jumbled mess and think, how in the world are all of these parts going to go together and look like the thing that I saw on the shelf or in the picture? And the way it happens for me is I can't visualize it in my mind. I cannot just do it. I know some people just charge into it without the directions. I have to have that piece of paper with very specific step-by-step instructions. Do this first, do this next, do the third thing. And in those instructions are pictures of all the little parts and pictures of what each step in the process is supposed to look like. You know what I'm talking about? So it's not enough for me just to see it in writing. I've got to see the pictures so that I know exactly what it's supposed to look like every single step of the way. Even then, if there's a way to get something backwards, I usually do. So I work through it. I realize something's backward, backwards. I take it apart. I turn it around the other way and I get back to it. Can anybody identify with me on that? That's how I make furniture. All right. Great. Thank you. Okay. But but those pictures are so important and I really would not be able to to understand the instructions or or produce a final product without those very clear and specific pictures. You know, the Bible contains a lot of instructions and contains a lot of truth. But God has also given to us some pictures that help us to understand spiritual truth. And that's really what baptism is, and that's how I want to talk about it tonight. In fact, I want to talk about baptism as the picture of your new life. Would you join me in Romans chapter six, please? Tonight, Romans chapter six. Now, as you can tell, my mind is relating just about everything to your new life right now. So we've had a bonus session and supplemental material. And this is a related topic. As we talk about your new life, some of you know what I'm talking about here. You know, actually, baptism is kind of a strange thing, isn't it? People get into the water, they go under the water, they do it in front of a lot of people. You know, there's some good reasons that we do it. There are good reasons that we do it. In fact, I think it's important for us as we go through just life and the life of church and Young people growing up in church that we go back to those reasons and understand why we do it kind of like eating turkey on Thanksgiving or shooting fireworks on the Fourth of July. We know we're supposed to do it, but why do we do it? And that's what I want to focus on here tonight. And one good reason that we do it is that Jesus commanded it. Jesus said in Matthew 28, 19, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them. immersing them in water, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. So Jesus said, when people respond to the message, they believe in me and they want to follow me, then baptize them. And so that's an instruction from Jesus. So as Jesus instructed us to do it, we're going to do it. Another reason that we do it is that it was the the practice of the apostles. Now, they did it because Jesus said to. But we do see a pattern there. And there are people who say, well, Jesus did it, but it stopped there. Acts 8.12 says, But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, as we have been talking about and singing about here tonight, both men and women were baptized. And even Paul in 1 Corinthians 1.10-17 lists people, names people that he himself baptized in the city of Corinth. So this is an ongoing practice in the church. So the fact that Jesus commanded it is a good reason. to be baptized. The fact that the apostles practiced it and carried it on is also a good reason. But the reason I want to focus on here tonight has to do with baptism as a picture of your new life. And we've been talking about spiritual realities a lot. And really, baptism represents some spiritual realities that are connected to your new life. And each one of these happens when you believe in Jesus Christ to save you. Now look at Romans chapter six, the first couple of verses he is he is saying, you know, the fact that you're saved is not a reason to continue to sin. In fact, you have a whole new life now to live. And here's what he says. Let me read Romans chapter six, starting in verse three. Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore, we were buried with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. Now, what happens when we believe in Jesus Christ to save us and what is it that baptism represents in pictures for us? First of all, it represents the fact that when we get saved, when we believe in Jesus Christ, we are placed into Christ. We are joined to Jesus Christ. We are connected to Jesus Christ, not in a physical way, not in this earthly life, but in a spiritual transaction that God himself performs. And that's what it means when he says you were baptized into Christ. The word baptized means to plunge or to immerse or to place into. And the word baptism here is not referring to the kind of baptism we're going to do here in a few minutes. That's the that's the picture. This is talking about the act of God where he placed you into Jesus Christ and united you to Jesus Christ. So what we do is we go into the water. And I will stand there and I'll have somebody in front of me and I will place that person down into and under the water. And that is a picture of this spiritual reality of what God does. And we trust in Jesus Christ. He places us. in Christ, He joins us to Jesus Christ, and He unites us to Jesus Christ. Now this is something that's, again, it's difficult for us to understand, comprehend. It's a spiritual reality. We accept it by faith because God's Word tells us it's true. But you know what you can do? You can read through the Scriptures, especially Galatians and Ephesians and Philippians and Colossians, and you can read all the things that happen and what all belongs to you because you are joined to Jesus Christ. And there's a whole lot there. It'll keep you busy for a while. It'll bless you for the rest of your life. There are blessings there that are yours because you have been placed into Jesus Christ. And you know what I would like to do in just a few minutes as we as we have this baptism up in front of everybody with these four young people, we're going to be baptized. I would like those of you who are saved, and maybe you've been saved for a long time and none of this is new to you, to just be thinking and to not be sitting there passively taking it in, but to be engaging your mind, thinking, you know what? What a blessing! There's a picture. There's a picture of what God did for me when I trusted in Jesus Christ and he placed me in Christ. I have been placed into Jesus Christ. I'm joined to him, united to him. Praise God. All the blessings of Jesus Christ are mine because of what happened at my salvation. Now, that's what these people will be will be proclaiming and picturing for us. But we can all participate in the blessing of that and thank God for it for them, but also for ourselves. There's another spiritual reality that baptism pictures, and it is the fact that we are also buried with Jesus Christ. We are placed into Christ, but we are also buried with Jesus Christ. And he says that. In verse four, we were buried with him through baptism, through being placed together with Christ into death. Look at verse five. For if we have been united together in the likeness of his death. Certainly we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection. Look at verse six, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. How many of you were here this morning? All right. You heard us talk about this a lot this morning, didn't you? But here, what he's saying is that you were baptized into his death and buried with him through baptism into death. That is that when when you trusted Jesus to save you, when you put your faith in Christ, God performed this transaction. He joined you to Christ. And in doing so, you were joined to Jesus Christ in his death. And this means a couple of things. It means, as I shared this morning, that, first of all, his death counts for you. It's as when Jesus died, you died, he died in your place, and so he was paying the penalty for your sins. And when you put your faith in Christ and receive what he did for you, then that penalty counts for you. It's been paid in full and you go free. Now, that's something to praise God for, isn't it? And again, as we sit here in a few minutes and watch this take place and be thinking, you know what? I was crucified with Christ. I was buried with him. When he died, I died. Praise God. His death counts for me. But it also pictures something else for us. Not only did his death count for us, but by his death, our sinful self was crucified with him. Talked about that this morning, didn't we? Now, notice something in verse six. Notice that he says our old man was crucified with him. Talked about that this morning. But then look at what he goes on to say that the body of sin might be done away with. What's he talking about here? I think he's talking about our physical bodies, what we live in in this earthly existence, and it has been characterized by sinfulness. It is a body that is characterized by sinfulness, or we would even say controlled by sin. This body in which I live before I'm saved is characterized by sinfulness and it is controlled by sin. What he says is that because we died with Christ, this body of sin, New King James says, might be done away with. King James, I think, says destroyed. Let me tell you what the word means. What it means is this word means to be rendered inactive. To be put out of use. To be made inoperative is broken. It doesn't work like it did anymore. What this is saying is that sins control over your physical existence has been rendered inoperative. It's been put out of use. It doesn't work anymore unless you let it, as we talked about this morning. Now, there's a great blessing. There's a great blessing. And again, as we watch here in a few minutes and as we see this picture of your new life in Christ, let's just be blessed by the fact that you died with Christ. And because of that, sin does not have to control you, doesn't have to characterize your life. In fact, what he tells us is that we are to walk in newness of life. In fact, it's a powerful reminder to you that if you are allowing sin to characterize you or to control you, so you know what? That's not what's supposed to be happening in my life. I died with Christ, I died to sin, and so I need to walk away from that. But then there's another spiritual reality here that baptism pictures. It pictures being placed in Christ, it pictures being buried with Jesus Christ and dying with Christ. But of course, it also pictures being raised with Christ. Verse four, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father, Even so, we also should walk in newness of life. In verse eight, he says, if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. Look at verse 11. Likewise, you also reckon yourselves, consider this to be true, to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. What this means is that when you put your faith in Jesus Christ to save you, he gave you his resurrection life. He made it possible for you to start fresh, to live in a new way. There's a whole new path ahead of you, and he gives you the power to do it. Remember that the same power that brought Jesus Christ back from the dead is available to you to live this new life. And that should compel us, that should motivate us, that should should set before us this opportunity that we're saying, you know, I don't want to do anything else than just live this new life for the glory of God. And there are many other possibilities and other choices. But let me tell you something. Here's the life I'm now living. And so you are picturing that those of you being baptized, you are picturing that for us, but you are also announcing that. When you're baptized, you are announcing, you are saying, I'm a Christian, I'm following Christ, I'm living now this new life. And let that be a reminder to us also tonight as we watch this baptism take place that, you know what, we have new life in Christ. He has empowered us to live. There's a new path before us. I want that. I should be on that path. I should be going that direction, following God's will, living for Jesus Christ, all out for him. And if any of us have drifted or strayed or departed from that path to say, you know what, that's where I need to be. Now, one of the greatest things that baptism pictures for us is that all of this is available. To anyone, it's available to you, as our verse said tonight, whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. You know, we're talking about some complicated stuff, some kind of spiritually deep stuff. But the simple truth is we have disobeyed the God of heaven. We have been independent from him. We've exercised our self-will. We've lived apart from him. We have we have broken his laws and his commandments. And the penalty for that is death. But what Jesus Christ has done by coming to this earth and giving his life on the cross is to pay for those sins. And he rose from the dead, showing that he is the son of God and that he is victorious. He overcame sin and death. And he lives now to hear you call upon him and say, Jesus, I want you. I need you to be my savior. And I call upon you and I trust you to save me. And baptism is a picture of that. And as we have people before us tonight who are being baptized, they remind us that there is one, there's another, there's another, there's another that has called upon Jesus Christ to save them. And that same thing can be true of you. You can call upon Jesus Christ to save you, and I certainly hope that you will. You can do it now. You can do it as you watch. You can do it with someone. But trust in Jesus and call upon him to save you. In just a few minutes, we'll be baptizing these individuals. Each one of them has given a clear testimony to their parents, also to Pastor Ben Ice, of their faith in Jesus Christ. Each one has expressed their own desire to be baptized. We don't do this to people. When you are taking this step, it's because you want to. You have faith in Christ and you have a desire to do this. There are no unwilling participants. And, you know, when when you're young, it's kind of a matter of simple obedience. I know God wants me to do this, and so it's what I'm going to do. But as you grow, as you get older and as you grow spiritually and you're understanding the significance of it becomes clearer. And your understanding of it deepens. And that's what I want for us tonight. I want for all of us to be reminded of the significance of it and to have an understanding of it and what Jesus Christ did for us of what is ours in Jesus Christ. And we are praising God by doing this tonight for the truth that Jesus died for our sins and rose again. And we are praising God and we are celebrating the fact That there is an end to sins reign in us, and we are praising God tonight for the fact that there is the possibility of new life and that we have the power to live it. And you know what else we're celebrating and thinking about and praising God for? It's just the miracle. It's just the miracle of what God does for us when he saves us. And a lot of this stuff we just don't even realize is happening. But when he saves us, he's doing all of these things in us. So we praise God tonight for the faith of these boys and girls. And I encourage each of us to think about what is yours in Christ and be encouraged to live your new life. Would you pray with me, please? Father, we are so grateful tonight for all that is provided for us in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we thank you for these boys and these girls and for how you have worked in their lives. We thank you for their families. We thank you for their faith in you. And we pray for them and we ask that you will help them now to walk in this newness of life. And Lord, I also ask that you would be using all of this to speak powerfully and personally to the hearts of people here tonight who need to trust you and be saved. And I pray the Holy Spirit will make the message clear. I pray that this will picture for them tonight what is available to them through Jesus Christ. I pray that you would grant them faith and repentance so they might trust you and be saved. And we pray that this would be a great blessing for each of these young people and something that is firm and solid in their hearts and minds as the beginning of the new life that they now have in Christ. And we pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.