Take your copy of the Scriptures and stand with me, if you're able, as we turn to 1 Peter chapter 3. We'll find the opening text of our sermon this afternoon in that passage, 1 Peter chapter 3. I'm going to be reading verses 18 through 22. It's one of several passages that we'll be referring to today. We'll have a couple of others that we'll also read in the course of our study. This will get us started. 1 Peter chapter 3, beginning of verse 18. Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient, when once the divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. There is also an antitype which now saves us, baptism. Not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who's gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to him. Congregation, this is the word of the Lord. Amen, you may be seated. So we look forward to baptizing another covenant child today. And so whenever we do that, I like to preach on baptism. I just feel like you can't preach too much about baptism. Maybe it's an overcorrection for under emphasis in some places, but I do want to spend a little time this afternoon reflecting further with you on what the scriptures reveal about this sacrament. Some think about the doctrine of baptism merely in terms of questions like who should be baptized. or when, or how, or maybe why should they be baptized? And I do believe that the Bible answers all of those questions. We covered some of those very questions last week, but the Bible does reveal far more to us about baptism and its place and importance in the Christian life, in the church's faith and practice than just those simple logistical questions. Some of what the scripture teaches is communicated directly by declarative and imperative statements that are relatively easy to identify. Other truths are taught by inescapable implications that lead to necessary conclusions. And as you can imagine, that is where some disagreements are found. But there are other ways that scripture reveals God and his ways to us. And one of these is what we often refer to as typology. Now, typology is the study of patterns of relationship between words and promises and people and events in earlier and later parts of the Bible. You will have a type at the beginning of scripture that is fulfilled by a greater anti-type later in the Bible. The study of typology basically is a study of patterns, both in history and in God's revelation, that are intended to help us better understand certain events and certain rituals. For example, in the Old Testament, animal sacrifices were presented to God. You begin to see it in Genesis chapter 4, although it's actually in Genesis 3 as well. Abel, Noah, Abraham, Job, and then in the Law of Moses, all of Israel is required to bring different animal sacrifices for atonement and consecration and reconciliation. You have all of this Old Testament background, this pattern of worship, and then you turn the page to the New Testament, and Jesus steps onto the scene and is greeted by John the Baptist as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. What is John working off of? He's working off of that Old Testament pattern of sacrifice. You've been conditioned to think of a lamb in relation to worship, in relation to approaching God, being made right with God, being brought into a relationship of peace. And so the entire Old Testament history of sacrifice and everything that's revealed about it and recorded about it has some relationship to Jesus. And those earlier revelations of sacrifice help us to better understand Jesus and his sacrificial work. In typology, there is a type and an antitype. As we said, the type is the earlier image. The antitype is the later image that fulfills the expectations that were created by the type. And it's important to recognize that typology is not supposed to be like cloud watching, where we read our Bible and we imagine connections in our minds that are not in God's mind and are not really there in the text. No, in typology, the connections are in the text. In fact, frequently, the types and shadows that we see are called out by the apostles themselves in their exposition, even as we will see in several passages today. It is the Bible that teaches us these relationships. They've been placed there in history and in Scripture by God for our edification. Now, some of them are explicit, like the three that I'm going to draw your attention to today. Some of them are more subtle, but these are not imagined similarities. They are purposeful. They are providential connections intended by God for our instruction. So our sermon text in 1 Peter 3 uses that word, antitype, we mentioned a moment ago. In this passage, Peter connects the flood in Noah's day to baptism in the church. He tells the story of Noah, and then in verse 20, he says, eight persons were saved through water, and there's an antitype, baptism, that now saves you as well. Now, this might not at first seem to be an obvious connection, but it's not an imaginative interpretation. What you have here is actually an inspired commentary by an apostle of Jesus Christ. He is the one, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, who says, Now, you might say, but Pastor, actually, those eight persons in the ark were saved from the water. That's not what Peter says. It would be true, but it's not what he says in the original text. The Aethytosts, through water, they're saved. And he compares that to baptism. And why? You need to ask yourself the question, why does Peter see a connection that so many Christians today might not? In fact, many evangelical Christians might be quick to insist, water does not save us. But what does Peter say? He says baptism saves us, just as the flood in Noah's day saved his family. Now, Peter is immediately careful to point out that when we say baptism saves us, we're not talking about the physical washing of water on the body. It's not the removal of the filth of the flesh. It's rather the answer of a good conscience that is involved in baptism-saving operation. In fact, that's what baptism is. It's calling upon the Lord. It's being cleansed by him. You cannot wash away sin with water the same way that you can wash dirt off your body. But the outward visible action of baptism is related to an inward invisible action of the Spirit. And this is where sometimes people get off track. They will say, well, yes, pastor, it is Spirit baptism that Peter's referring to. Not water baptism, of course. Water baptism can't do that. It's Spirit baptism. But did you know that the Bible never makes that kind of distinction? and that that distinction between water and spirit baptism is actually shockingly recent and modern in terms of theological study. Beyond that, Peter is very explicit. Noah was saved through water. We are saved through baptism. He's not referring to a type of baptism that doesn't involve water. That's the whole point of the connection. Noah is saved through water, and you too are saved through the baptismal water by which you were brought to Jesus Christ. He is saying that just as water was involved in Noah's deliverance, so water is involved in our deliverance as well. Now let's think about that connection for a moment. Both Noah's story and our experience in baptism involve water, but there are more connections than just that. Both involve trusting and obeying God. Both involve the believer submitting to something else he cannot control. You cannot baptize yourself. And Noah was not steering the ark. You might notice as you're reading it, it's a box. It's a waterproof box. It's a coffin. It's a tomb. It's not a boat as we think of it. There's no rudder. There's nothing to steer. There's no sails. There's no power at all. They are entombed in the ark as it rides upon the waters of judgment. And similarly, baptism is a passive act that we receive. It's not something that we perform. That's one of the reasons we would say that the baptism of infants and children is entirely appropriate, because every adult baptism is an infant baptism too. You were a baby Christian when you were baptized into Jesus Christ, and you didn't baptize yourself. Rather, God performed that work upon you. Another connection that might not be immediately obvious is that both Noah's baptism and ours involved households. Noah is said in Genesis chapter 6 to be the only righteous man on earth in God's sight. And yet, when the floodwaters come, God puts Noah's wife and his three sons and his three daughter-in-laws all on the ark as well. And as you look at the rest of the story, in Genesis chapters 8 and 9, at least one of those sons appears to be an unbeliever. But all of them were saved from the flood. And that does not mean that their souls were saved from eternal judgment, merely based upon the righteousness of their father. But it does mean that their lives were spared. They were saved from judgment on that day, in that place. because their father put them on the ark. When we carry forward into the New Testament, we notice that half of the baptisms, half of the baptisms recorded in the book of Acts are household baptisms. The head of house believes and his entire household is baptized. Now, some will say, but that's because every member of his household also believed. The Bible doesn't actually say that. And if that were the case, it would not actually be a household baptism. It would simply be the baptism of every individual in it. When the Bible refers to households being baptized, it is using covenantal language. Household is a covenantal category. It is the opposite of individualism and egalitarianism. It's speaking of covenantal solidarity. If every individual had to have true faith prior to getting on the ark or receiving baptism, then households would never come into the picture. Later in 2 Peter chapter 3, Peter describes the flood in Noah's day as a judgment and destruction of the world. Notice that text with me, if you will. Just turn a page or two. Verses 5 and 6 of 2 Peter 3. He says, "...for this they willfully forget..." He's referring to scoffers who are denying the judgment that was before them. "...this they willfully forget, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished." Being flooded by water. God destroyed the world. You say, no, no, no. God didn't destroy the planet. He didn't wipe out the globe. He did not uncreate the material universe. But what did he do in Noah's day? He brought judgment on the world of the ungodly. He wiped out men, women, and animals who were outside of the ark. The ark was prepared as the house of the Lord. It's a box. It's a house. It's not a boat. It's a refuge from judgment. And it is the place of salvation. As God destroyed the world, the ark carried those inside it through the waters of judgment into a new world that had been cleansed of sin and misery. You remember what Moses says about the world conditions prior to the flood. Genesis chapter 6 and verse 5, Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And Noah and his family were delivered from that accursed state and from that accursed place. The ark was a tomb and they were buried inside of it. The world was destroyed. Humanity died. and then the doors of the ark were opened and humanity appeared again in a new world. The Lord killed everyone and everything, but he brought Noah and his family and the animals with them through death and then out into a type of resurrection. When they left the ark, they began a new life in a brand new world. Sin and misery and death had been washed away, and now they were to rebuild a life of righteousness in a world of holiness. Now you will know that the world quickly became corrupt again, of course, sadly. Sin survived the flood. But the experience of judgment and salvation in Noah's day was typological. It was a type. It was a pattern. It was a shadow of something greater to come. and Noah and his family experienced a type of death and resurrection. That's what it was, and that's what it was meant to anticipate in the future. God really judged the wicked world in their day, and he really saved them, not just from floodwaters, but from the ungodly that were all around them, from the sinners that were corrupting the world in which they lived. God saved them through judgment, and Peter says that salvation was a type of baptism. That salvation through the waters of judgment that destroyed the world was a type of baptism. And how does this help us think about baptism in our own day? Well, baptism is an experience of salvation through judgment, through water. It delivers us from sin and the world of ungodliness. It brings us into a new life in righteousness. It involves death and resurrection, as Rich read to us from Romans 6 just a few moments ago, and as we'll see again later this afternoon, sin and the wicked world are being washed away. Now, you can say that it is washed away symbolically, or you might say sacramentally, because after all, you know it's not the water itself doing the work, but Before you offer all of these qualifications and caveats, don't minimize what God is imaging here. And don't minimize what He's revealing or what He's doing. The baptized person is considered a new creation. That's what Paul says, 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17. And just like Noah and his family, he lives in a new world. He rises to walk in newness of life. He's been cleansed of sin. He's called to a life of righteousness. He's called to pursue holiness. He's to build and labor in faith as part of God's new world. The dominion mandate is renewed in Genesis 9 and is renewed in each of our lives when we pass through the waters of baptism. Notice back in our text in verse 21 that Peter says, baptism saves us, and then you've got a parenthetical statement, this qualification Peter offers, but he says, baptism saves us through the resurrection of Christ. That's how it works. That's what makes baptism more than just the application of water. Now we'll develop this a little more fully in a minute, but think about how resurrection, and specifically Christ's own resurrection, was connected to Noah's salvation. You might say, Noah lived a long time before Jesus was born, much less died and was raised. 3,000 plus years before! But Jesus' work was effective not only for the salvation of those who came after him, but for the salvation of those who came before. What does the Hebrews writer tell us? Hebrews 9, verse 15, Christ is the mediator of the new covenant by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. In other words, Jesus' blood flows forward and backward in time. Jesus' blood is what saved Adam. It's what saved Abel. It's what saved Noah. It's what saved Abraham. It's what saved Moses. It's what saves you. Noah was not saved by animal sacrifices, and he was not saved eternally by taking a boat ride in a flood. He was saved by the sacrifice of Christ. and his experience on the ark was made effective by the death and resurrection of Christ, that his experience on that ark symbolized. And so too, in our case, in baptism. We die with Christ, we are cleansed by judgment, and then we are then delivered through the waters of judgment and raised to a new life. Well, let's look at another text. Turn in your Bible to 1 Corinthians 10. 1 Corinthians 10. We're going to weave these together and see what we can learn about baptism from them all. I would be happy to spend all of our time just continuing to develop the idea of Noah and our baptism, and there's more that we could say, but we're going to make this more of a survey than a deep dive. So let me take you to another example in 1 Corinthians 10, beginning at verse 1. Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness, Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted, and do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. nor let us commit sexual immorality, as did some of them, and in one day 23,000 fell, nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted and were destroyed by serpents, nor complain, as some of them also complained and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now, all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed, lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you, except such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it." Now that's a long reading, but did you notice how Paul is emphasizing the things that happen to Israel in the wilderness are for you. They are examples for you. And not just moral examples, no less than moral examples, but typological examples, a pattern, a covenantal experience that informs our experience today. And how does he underline that point? He calls the Israelites in the Old Testament, our fathers. And he is writing to a congregation made up of Gentile converts. The church in Corinth was not primarily Jewish. I don't know how many Jews were actually in it, but there were many Gentile converts there who would not have ordinarily claimed any biological descent or heritage from the Israelites in the Old Testament. And yet Paul says that spiritually, these were our fathers. He's claiming that the church in the New Testament is connected by covenantal and family descent to Israel in the Old Testament. This has not been replacement. This has simply been expansion. God's people in the Old Testament now include all who believe in Jesus and exclude the Jews who do not. We're connected covenantally, and our experience of covenant grace and of covenant judgment is consistent and continuous. We have to make this connection because there are many in the world today who would deny the second part of that connection. They would say, yes, we're connected to Israel and all of the promises and all of the blessings and all of the salvation, but none of the judgment. That's different in the New Testament. The very point Paul is making in this passage is that the blessings and the curses of the covenant that Israel received have come now to us in Christ so that we would not be presumptuous. Paul describes Israel's Red Sea crossing as a type of baptism. He says all our fathers were baptized into Moses under the cloud and in the sea. In fact, he says they passed through the sea. What does that sound like? It sounds like Noah in the ark. They passed through the sea just like Noah did, just like you did when you were baptized. They are baptized into Moses. And then, he says, they go on in the wilderness to eat spiritual food, heavenly bread, and a drink of the rock that followed them, which rock was Christ. What is he saying? The bread and drink of Christ himself is a reference to the Eucharist. But we'll save those connections for another time. Notice that just as in the case of Noah, not everyone who went through the Red Sea was a true believer. They were all baptized, but with most of them God was not well pleased. And the rest of the paragraph shows that Paul is warning the Corinthians not to become complacent with regard to idolatry, not to take for granted their relationship to God, and so fall under curses due to unbelief. But the Lord doesn't hand out a survey prior to leading them through the Red Sea. All of Israel passed through. All of Israel were baptized, men, women, and children. Why? Because they were a covenant people. They were holy, set apart to God. And even if some of them were not elect from the foundation of the world, even if some of them were not personally trusting in the Lord, they were all baptized in the sea and into Moses, just as we are baptized into Christ. You might wonder about that language. How can you be baptized into the man Moses? Well, Moses is a type of Christ. the deliverer, lawgiver, prophet, priest, and king. He represents Christ to these people. And insofar as they are baptized under his leadership, they are obligated to live in covenant obedience and faithfulness to God's chosen leader, just as we are committed by baptism to obey the true Christ, our King. Now, some of you might say, but pastor, the Israelites were not in the sea. The Egyptians were. The Egyptians are in the water. Israel is not. But remember, the same was true with Noah. He's on the waters. He's surrounded by water. He's protected from the waters. Similarly, the Israelites. They're in the water on dry land. They're surrounded by water, but not drowned by it. The waters of the Red Sea were waters of judgment through which Israel would be saved. How? By being delivered from the Egyptians, who were their oppressors. Egypt was the land of bondage, the land of curse, the land of death, where the Pharaoh would kill the sons of Israel. And God brings Israel safely through the waters of judgment, and then drowns and destroys their enemies in the same waters, just like Noah. Just like Noah. Noah is saved through water, both by the water bearing up the coffin of the ark, as well as by drowning all of the ungodly. And in the same way, the waters of the Red Sea become the instrument of Israel's deliverance, and so too in the case of your baptism. The waters of judgment did not consume God's people then, and it does not consume God's people now. But what does it do? It washes away our enemies. It destroys our foes. The old man dies. The old world is washed away. You pass through death. and resurrection in baptism. And that's what happened with Israel. They were buried in the sea and then brought safely out the other side to live life in a new land of freedom and blessing. The Egyptians were buried in the sea and never rose again. The judgment destroyed them. But that same judgment sanctified Israel. The Egyptians were the embodiment of sin and death. They were the despots who kept Israel in slavery. And the waters of baptism overwhelmed them and killed them. And Israel comes out of the water to freedom and life. That's what's happening in your baptism. You are being set free from tyrants, specifically the tyranny of your own sinful heart. Well, one more passage I wanna point you to is in Colossians 2. Turn with me to Colossians 2, and let's look at verses 11 to 15. Colossians 2, beginning at verse 11, Paul says, in Christ, you were also circumcised. Are you following this? It's right into the church. He just said Israel was baptized in the Old Testament. Now he says the church in the New Testament has been circumcised. In Christ you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us, and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. Here, Paul describes Jesus's circumcision to which we are joined in baptism. And the context makes it plain that although Jesus's circumcision on the eighth day as an infant was a type of this event, Paul is not referring here to Jesus's circumcision as an infant. He's referring to his death on the cross. You see that in the way that he unpacks the significance. Look at verses 13 and 14 again. You've been made alive with Christ in his resurrection, having been forgiven of everything that was nailed to his cross. When was the Lord cut off? Not on the eighth day of his life on earth, but rather when he was nailed to the cross for our sins. In what sense is Jesus' crucifixion an anti-type of circumcision? Well, circumcision was a sign in the body of every Jewish male of God's promises to Abraham. His offspring would multiply like the stars of heaven. They would possess the land once held by their enemies. God would bring the blessings through Abraham's son to all nations of the world. And it's not a coincidence that this sign was placed in a private, hidden area that the man would see every day, several times a day. He would be continually reminded of God's covenant promises and the trajectory of history. Moreover, the flesh of the Forskian literally stood between the promise of reproduction and its fulfillment. and that foreskin would be cut away. What's circumcision saying then? It's that all barriers to God's work and promise were being removed. That whatever obstructed was a kind of defilement, and that would be cut off. That piece of flesh distinguished God's covenant people from everyone else. The presence of the foreskin on a man was a sign that he did not belong to the covenant community, that he was not a member of the redemptive kingdom of God, that the promises of God were not to him, even if ultimately one day those promises would reach his nation. Everything that was signified by circumcision is accomplished by Jesus's crucifixion. Are you following the train of thought? Everything signified by circumcision is fulfilled in Jesus's crucifixion, and then Paul's going to connect that to baptism. At the cross, Jesus cut away that which defiled the sons of God. It removed the barrier of sins which stood against the promise of God and its fulfillment. It ensured that God's sons would multiply like the stars of heaven in the sand of the seashore, that they would possess the gate and land of their enemies, that they would bring blessings to every nation under heaven. Jesus' crucifixion was the cutting off that accomplished all of those things. He was cut off on behalf of His people. He became accursed for our sakes, and in His cutting off, our sins have been removed. The transgressions that marked us as unholy have been nailed to the cross. We died with Him. We now rise with Him by the Spirit to enjoy life everlasting. And then do you see why Paul connects crucifixion to baptism? Because what is baptism? It's the application of the circumcision of Christ to our souls. He says, you've been circumcised, but not with hands. You've been circumcised with the spirit wrought circumcision of Jesus. Baptism is where, visibly and sacramentally, sin is removed, and defilement is cut away, and transgressions are laid on Jesus, and God's holy judgment is applied to us in a way that destroys the old man of sin and brings to life the new Son of God. In the Old Testament, all of God's sons were to be marked by circumcision, and that circumcision entered into the daughters of God through marriage in order that they might produce holy offspring. And in the New Testament, all of God's sons and daughters are marked with the water circumcision of baptism as a sign and seal of the same covenant grace which God promised in the garden long ago. You all have been circumcised, every one of you who have been baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And just like Israel of old, some of you may be failing to live in light of your circumcision. The sign of the covenant is objective, placed upon your body as a permanent reminder of your relationship and obligation to God. But the appropriation of that sign and the grace that it signifies, Paul says, can only be by faith. Did you see that in our text, Colossians 2? You were raised with him through faith in the working of God. You will pass into judgment if you believe you will pass through. If you do not believe, you will die there. Circumcision of an unbeliever became a mark of judgment on his body, a sign that he despised the grace and mercy of God, which it signified. And so, too, if we neglect our baptisms, we would then become like those in the wilderness who were circumcised in Egypt, who passed through the Red Sea in baptism, who ate spiritual food and drink sent from heaven by God, but fell under judgment because of their presumption and idolatry and unbelief. So brethren, remember your baptism and what it signifies. In baptism, we pass through death to life. Baptism is the river of death. And so once you pass through, you don't have to fear coming to that river again. It is the waters of judgment. It is the flood that drowns the ungodly and destroys the world. It is the sea that crashes over the army of the enemy and buries its chariots beneath its waves. This is the cutting off that cleanses, the sign that removes defilement and brings us formally into the covenant community of God. And someone right now will say in their mind, surely water does not do that. We are saved by faith. Exactly. Exactly. Water cannot do any of these things. But the Bible says baptism does all of them. Because baptism is not just water. And the grace that is signified and sealed in baptism is received and applied through faith. Sacraments in the Bible are active, powerful signs and seals of God's covenant. To the believer, they bring life and blessing. To the unbeliever, they're a mark of judgment and an act of discipline from God. So this child may not understand what is being done today. But what is being done today has ramifications. for the rest of his life. It's formally inaugurated into the kingdom of God, made a citizen of Zion, washed and cleansed of all defilement, passing through judgment, being brought safely to life on the other side, so that this child never has to fear God's wrath on the last day. Because baptism assures us all that our sins have been judged in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And because we are united to Him, we will share life and glory with Him and be vindicated by God on the last day and rejoice in His presence forever. So, brothers and sisters, pay attention to your baptism and remember what it says. Remember what it means. Remember what it has done and live in light of it. You are not uncircumcised. You've been circumcised with Christ. You have escaped Egypt. Stopped living as if you're still a slave. God's wonderful signs and powerful grace have brought you deliverance. Your enemies are drowned in the sea. You pass through on dry ground. You're safely in the ark. And though the world will be judged with a flood of fiery wrath, you are kept securely by God for life in the new heavens and earth. So no longer be unholy or fearful, but rather pursue the holiness to which God has called you and rejoice forevermore. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Let's bow together. Gracious God and Father in Heaven, we're thankful that you have promised yourself to us and to our children, and that even as infants were brought by believers of old to the Lord Jesus for blessing, so you welcome our infants and children into the kingdom of God. We are thankful that you have promised to be God to our children and to give them faith. And we are thankful, O God, for the grace that is signified and sealed in the baptism that we all share. We are thankful, O God, for the mercy that you have shown to us and for the mighty deliverance that you have wrought on our behalf. We pray, O Lord, we pray that you would keep our baptism before our eyes, and the power of that grace, and the truth of your promises, that we would ever live before you by faith with humble hearts. with a grateful, cheerful spirit, seeking to do all that is pleasing in your sight, resting in no righteousness of our own, but rather in the righteousness of another, even our Lord and Savior, to whom you have united us and in whose name we pray. Amen.