Week three of the Means of Grace series that we're looking at. Kind of the base text that I'm using this morning is Romans 6, 1 through 4. We've now read it twice, so I won't bother reading it again. Let's think about the Word as we kind of considered it last week as a little bit of review. We saw that the Word of God is very, very powerful. There's no power in all the world like the Word of God. We saw last time with preaching and other means that the Word comes to us through reading, also singing, also praying the scripture. The word is so powerful that it literally makes blind people see, deaf people hear, and dead people come to life. As Jesus told his disciples to go and tell his cousin John, who was in prison, and he was worried that maybe Jesus wasn't the Messiah, he said, go and tell John what you hear and see. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. This is a power that comes from heaven, it does not come from earth. It comes from God, it does not come from man. In fact, this power is in one sense God himself, because the second person of the Trinity is called in the Bible in many places the word, of God. So when God's words hatch themselves supernaturally to the person of the word, or when God's words are infused with the very spirit of Christ, friend, they cannot help but be a great power. Consider Jeremiah. Is not my word like a fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? God told the same prophet, because you have spoken this word, behold, I am making my words from out the fire, and this people would, and the fire shall consume them. That doesn't sound so positive, but consider this one in Isaiah. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there, but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word that goes out of my mouth, it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I send it. Now in this verse in particular, the power of the word is for the good of the people. And I think Isaiah needed to hear this because if you go back to see chapter six, you'll see that he wasn't gonna see a whole lot of converts in his life. So God was giving him a great glimpse of grace here. The word of God is likened to water raining down on the earth, producing sprout from seed and giving bread to the eater. And so you have water and food in that one little verse. Those are the two main things that are here. And these just so happen to be the contents of the two sacraments of the church, baptism and the Lord's Supper. So today we're going to look at the first of these as we consider baptism as a means of grace. And the next time we're going to look at the Lord's Supper in a very similar kind of a way to what we're doing here today. So last time we looked broadly at the word as a means of grace. We define the means of grace very loosely as something like this. It's the ordained way God has established for the gathering of the elect, the edification of the saints, and the building up of his spiritual body. The chief means of gathering the elect is that of preaching, for preaching as a means has in mind first and foremost the saving of God's people. Now the word preached and also read, sung, and prayed also has a further purpose of edifying the saints and building up the spiritual body of the church. This is what we refer to as something called sanctification. The process of being made more Christ-like in this life. It's being set apart as holy. There's another means of grace that God has been pleased to use for these same sanctifying purposes, and these are what the church, for nearly as long as there has been a New Testament church, has called sacraments. Sacraments can be thought of as the visible word, whereas what we looked at last week is the invisible word. It's the word to the ear, so these are the visible word to all the rest of your senses, And it's particularly the word of the gospel, just like we looked at last time with the preaching of the word. So let's look at this idea of a sacrament, because many Protestants don't like this word, because they incorrectly think that it's something evil made up by Rome. Sacrament comes from a Latin word, and the Bible was not written originally in Latin. So if you say, is the word sacrament in the New Testament? I'd say, no, not exactly. But there is a biblical word called mystery, the Greek word is mysterion, and it is the Greek equivalent of the Latin word sacramentum. So mystery appears many times in the New Testament, and the Latin translation often translated mysterion as sacramentum. So for example, Ephesians 1.9 says, God will make known to us the mystery of his will. That word there is the word sacrament of his will. Whenever Paul uses this Greek term, he is always talking about the gospel. So is sacrament in the Bible? Well, actually it is in the Latin translation. So what does this word mean? Well, originally a sacrament was a military term describing the oath of allegiance and obedience that a soldier solemnly pledged to his commander. And do you remember last week what I said about the word evangelical? It's interesting because last time we saw that the word gospel is also a military term in Greek and it was used to give good news of victory to the citizens of a city after a battle had been won. Now much later, the word sacrament came to mean anything that is sacred or consecrated. Tertullian was among the first church fathers to apply it to the word baptism and he lived in the second century. Calvin provides a good working definition of a sacrament, and by the way, I highly recommend reading Calvin's Institute's whole long sections of it on this topic, even though I disagree with him on baptism. The way that he talks about sacraments and then goes specifically into them, there's really nothing better that's ever been written. Here's his definition of a sacrament. It's an outward sign by which the Lord seals on our consciences the promises of his goodwill towards us in order to sustain the weakness of our faith. So let me read that again. It's an outward sign by which the Lord seals on our consciences the promises of his goodwill towards us in order to sustain the weakness of our faith. Very importantly, notice that when the sacrament is administered that faith, as far as humanly possible it is to see, is already present in the application of the sacrament. To put it another way, we receive the sacrament by faith. Our conception of a sacrament is therefore very different from the Roman aberration to the original view. They came to believe that a sacrament works ex opera operato. This literally means by the very fact of the actions formed. In other words, they believe sacraments create faith, not strengthen it. And all that has to happen is for the priest to perform it. This runs contrary to the word of God, especially when you add in the fact that Rome has seven official sacraments, confirmation, penance, extreme unction or last rites, holy orders or ordination, marriage, and then baptism and the Eucharist. For Rome, all that matters is that you do them. Doesn't matter if you believe it or not. That's not the way we think that the Bible teaches these subjects. A word here on why the Reformation only taught two sacraments. First, as Calvin shows, this was a view of the early church. He cites Augustine as an example. Augustine said, God has bound together the society of the new people by sacraments, very few in number, very easy to observe, very excellent in meaning. Such are baptism, consecrated with the name of the Trinity, and the communion of the Lord's body and blood, and any other that is approved in the canonical scriptures. So he mentions only those two by name. Second, the Reformers believed strongly that the sacraments had to first be commanded by Christ. Second, they had to be allowed to be taken by all Christians. Third, they had to be visible representations of the gospel, that is signs by which God's covenant and promise is sealed. And then fourth, the word of God must proceed or go before the sacrament. In other words, scripture must offer a visible sign and attach it to the promise of God. So think about Rome. First of all, they have many sacraments that are not even commanded by Christ at all. So for example, where is extreme unction even in the Bible? I don't know where it is, I have never seen it. Second, some will never be able to partake in the sacrament of marriage or become a priest and receive ordination rights. And so therefore this grace is only there for certain people, not for everyone. Third, some of them are not pictures of the gospel. What does laying hands on a priest have to do with a picture of Jesus work for us? Fourth, some of these aren't even visible signs of anything, as far as I can tell. Instead, the Reformers wanted all Christians to be able to partake of the graces given by God to them in the visible gospel. Because they meet all the criteria, baptism and the Lord's Supper were those following the early church that fit the bill. They are outward signs of the invisible gospel that produce inward graces in the heart of the believer. One more point here before going to baptism and looking at it specifically. Some might think that we Baptists have no business calling these things sacraments. but this simply is historically untrue. For example, in his Orthodox catechism, I mentioned him last week, Hercules Collins, question 64, seeing then that only faith makes us partakers of Christ and his benefits, from what does faith proceed? Answer, from the Holy Ghost who kindles it in our hearts by the preaching of the gospel and other ordinances and confirms it by use of the sacraments. Collins was a Reformed Baptist. He then asked in question 65, what are the sacraments? Answer, they are sacred signs and seals set before our eyes and ordained of God for this cause, that he may declare and seal by them the promise of his gospel to us, especially that he gives freely the remission of sins and life everlasting, not only to all in general, but to everyone in particular that believes for the only sacrifice of Christ, which he accomplished upon the cross. Now while some have chosen not to use the word in our circles, it's clear that other Reformed Baptists have been completely fine with it, and I follow in their tradition. So today I want us to think about the grace of baptism. To start, let me first parse out what I mean by baptism, okay? In the creeds we confess this, there is one baptism for the remission of sins. Now this one is a hang-up for a lot of people. What does this mean? Notice that the creed does not say baptism remits sins. It doesn't say that. It says there's one baptism for the remission of sins. The word for is put there. In this way, the early church was arguing right along with Peter in Acts 2 that baptism is a sign that points to the things signified. The sign is water, the thing signified is forgiveness of sins. There is a sacramental union or a mystery between the two, but they are not identical. Signs are not the things signified, they point to them. This is Rome's biggest problem, they confuse the two. They merge them into one. Recall that the same Peter said, baptism, which corresponds to this now saves you not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In this way, the waters of baptism do nothing in and of themselves, but they do signify to you the spiritual reality that comes when you repent and believe the gospel. And so God is pleased to use that through the faith that you have when you hear and understand it. Another way to put this is that when you are saved and regenerated, you are sprinkled with the Holy Spirit. This is a form of Old Testament baptism that particularly symbolizes cleansing. You see this throughout Leviticus, for example. When you're sprinkled, you're made clean. You're washed by his word for the first time. This is the spiritual baptism that saves. That's the baptism of the creed. This is the baptism that remits sins. We believe in one baptism for the remission of sins, it's when the Holy Spirit saves you and regenerates you and sprinkles your heart. Water baptism is a physical sacrament, in some sense signifies and points to this inner spiritual reality that comes through faith alone. Repentance and water baptism are two of the first good works. Did you hear what I just said? Repentance and water baptism are two of the first good works that the Christian does in light of having received already the inner baptism that comes by grace alone. Now good works always follow grace. They do not come before it. And yet baptism is more than a good work because in it, God gives you this sign precisely so that you might know that the spiritual invisible reality that you are actually washed by the spirit is actually true. He seals the promise upon your heart through the sign so that you might be more certain of the invisible reality. It's a means of grace. The visible points you to the invisible. By grace, you have been saved through faith, and this is not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. Now, what few realize and understand is just how significant baptism is to the whole Bible. It's found in many more places than just the apostles or even John the Baptist telling people to be baptized. The following is a biblical theology of baptism that I hope will help you grasp the grandeur of this theme, especially as it relates to the various covenants of Scripture, because the sacraments are profoundly attached to the covenants of the Bible. not just the covenant of grace in the New Testament, the whole set of covenants. Tertullian, who I mentioned earlier, was a second century Christian who wrote one of the earliest treatments of baptism. He begins his inquiry into baptism by asking this. He says, in what respect, pray, has water merited an office of so high of dignity? His answer, water is one of those things which before all the furnishings of the world was quiescent with God and yet in unshapen state. And he goes on to cite Genesis 1, 2 to begin his investigation of baptism. How interesting. Genesis 1, 2 says, the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. So Tertullian sees this verse is talking about baptism. Now, Jerome was a fourth century Christian who translated the Bible into Latin. He calls us to, quote, sing the praises of water and of baptism. In the beginning, the earth was without form and void. The Spirit of God above moved as a charioteer over the face of the waters and produced from them the infant world, the type of Christian that is drawn from the labor of baptism. Now, Jerome was an infant Baptist, that's why he says that, but notice that he's connecting baptism to Genesis 1-2, just like Tertullian did. So the idea is that baptism is rooted in creation. Catholics and Anglicans and even Reformed Christians have all seen the waters of creation as prefigurements of baptism. What is baptism symbolizing at creation? Well, that's a pretty good question, because obviously it can't have anything to do with sin, can it? Because there is no sin. And so some people, I've had people say to me, well, that's not even possible. Baptism is for the remission of sin. So how could there be baptism when there's no sin? There's no people that have even sinned. There's no people that are even in the world. So how can baptism be there? Well, the significance of baptism here is that it is a symbol of consecration. To consecrate something is to dedicate it to a special purpose or a service, usually with a religious purpose. And this is exactly what God is doing with the earth through its baptism in the water at creation. This is clear in Genesis 1.10 when it uses the word mikveh to describe the gathering of the waters. What's a mikveh? Well, a mikveh is the word Jews use for a ritual bath or a baptism. It's the exact same thing. In Exodus 7.19, this gathering is translated as the reservoirs or pools of water that they use for the mikveh. This is a traditional ritual bath where the Jews would go down into the water in a fresh pool of water. As the figure of the dry land coming out of the waters in Genesis 1 shows you, the mikveh, the baptism, is an immersion. God is setting the earth apart to be the royal footstool of his throne. Creation depicts God's building himself a temple, wherein he will take up residence and rule over the creatures that he has made. The earth will become a holy place set apart by God for holy use, and baptism is how God sets it apart. We often use a different word than consecration, but it carries the same basic idea. This is a word I used earlier. The word is sanctify. To be sanctified is to be set apart. The New Testament closely associates sanctification in the water, for example, in Ephesians 5.26, that he might sanctify his church, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word. This meaning of baptism as something that sanctifies is related to the baptized object's nature as well as to its function. As to its nature, the symbol here is chiefly that of a new creation. What is God doing in Genesis 1? Obviously, he's creating. Baptism is a symbol of that creation. What is the symbol of Christian's baptism? It's that of a new creation. So in baptism, a person's being created anew for a unique and holy purpose, set apart. This purpose is directly related to the way that we are to live and to behave in the world We saw this throughout Genesis 6. Go back and read it, or sorry, Romans 6. Go back and read that with this in mind and you'll see exactly what Paul is talking about when he brings up baptism and then he says, offer your bodies as instruments. That's exactly the point. This is such a rich theme. I'm gonna kind of go back to it a little bit more at the end of what I have for us this morning. Now, let's move to after the fall. Adam and Eve in the garden, they've fallen into sin. We find the Jews telling us very interesting legends about Adam and Eve as it regards the mikvah or baptism. They've fallen into sin, they become despondent in their grief, they think to themselves, what are we to do? How can they ever find forgiveness? So Adam and Eve, Adam says to Eve, you cannot do as much as I, but do as much so that you might be saved. For I will go do 40 days of fasting. You, however, arise and go into the Tigris River and take up a stone and stand on it in the water up to your neck. In the depth of the river, let not a word go forth from your mouth since we are unworthy to ask the Lord for our lips are unclean from the illicit and forbidden tree. Stand in the water of the river for 37 days. Don't ask me why 37 days, I have no idea. I will, however, do 40 days in the waters of the Jordan. Perhaps the Lord will have mercy on us. It's an actual quote from a book called The Life of Adam and Eve, intertestamental book. So Eve walks to the Tigris River and does as Adam tells her, and likewise Adam walked to the Jordan River and stood upon a rock up to his neck in the water. Now obviously this story has false Jewish theology, because it appears to almost be a works-based view of baptism. Also, we of course have no biblical record that Adam and Eve ever did such a thing. But we do have the River of Eden playing prominently in the stories of our parents. Not only this, but one of the words chosen for the waters of Eden specifically relates to the idea of an ordeal, which I think the fall certainly qualifies as. Whether our parents took the plunge or not, what is clear is that the Jews were attaching this particular meaning of baptism. It is the meaning of baptism for repentance and forgiveness. The New Testament identifies this meaning of baptism many times. You'll remember John the Baptist was baptizing with water for repentance. And we heard a moment ago that Peter told the people listening to him during that first great Christian sermon, he said, repent and be baptized, every one of you, for the forgiveness of your sins. It's not that your water baptism takes away sins, but that it points to the one whose baptism does take away your sins. This refers to Jesus's second baptism. You go, second baptism? What are you talking about? Oh, remember, he was baptized when he was 30, but he said to his disciples, I have another baptism to undergo. This is his second baptism. And that referred to the baptism of his death on the cross for us. Therefore, most practically of all, anyone who wants to be baptized must repent of their sins, confess them, admit them, and turn from them by turning to Christ by faith, trusting that he will save you from the ever rising waters of sin and evil. Rising waters of sin and evil. What is this about Jesus' second baptism? What was this second baptism? Again, it was his baptism into death. And it caused him great distress. It was his baptism on the cross. Here we have explicitly stated the idea of an ordeal. Perhaps at no other point in the history of baptism does the ordeal theme become so prominent than in the days of Noah. Remember, Peter tells us that Noah's flood is the anti-type of Christian baptism. So the flood is a kind of baptism. Peter said so. I'm not making that up. Get it from Peter. What happened in the baptism at the flood? Well, let's think about it. What happened is that many, many people died in that baptism. The waters not only reached up to their necks, they engulfed their very heads, submerging them in a torrent of overwhelming power and destruction. What a terrible cataclysm God wrought upon the surface of the earth in that day. The very depths of the seas spouted like mighty fountains and overwhelmed all the living things upon the earth. This was the world's greatest ordeal up till now, and it will not be matched again until the great and terrible day when God will baptize the earth in fire. Holy Scripture teaches us that this catastrophe came upon us because of great wickedness that had covered the land. People were not willing to repent and seek God's forgiveness. Thus, he shut them out from the land of the living. But not all were destroyed, were they? Eight people were brought safely through the ordeal, through the death and destruction, in an ark that preserved them and kept them safe. Figuratively speaking, when they got off the ark and they set foot on the holy mountain to offer a sacrifice, they had been raised from the dead. And so baptism signifies death and resurrection. This is also explicit in the teaching of the New Testament. The book of Romans begins that great chapter on Christ's duty to God with baptism. Do you not know that all of us who've been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. Now, as we keep working our way through the Old Testament history of baptism, we come to Abraham. And you think to yourself, Abraham, when was he ever baptized? Well, I'm not gonna tell you that he was actually baptized other than perhaps figuratively speaking, and yet I want you to consider an old idea. It pertains to the above mentioned Euphrates River. You see, the Euphrates was the western northern boundary of the promised land to Abraham in Genesis 15. As he was coming from the east into the land, Abraham had to cross over this great river. Joshua associates Abraham's crossing of the river with the promise. He says, I took your father Abraham from beyond the river and led him through all the land of Canaan and made his offspring many. I gave him Isaac. And the curious thing about Isaac and Jacob after him is that both of them were told to return to the other side of the river to find their wives. Then they were to cross back over the river as Abraham did. And only then was the covenant confirmed to each one of them. Given what we're going to see in a moment about crossing over the Red Sea in baptism, it seems to me that ancient interpreters are not far off the mark when they say things like the Euphrates was a type of baptism. This may very well be why the Jews picked it for the location of that story with Eve. There's something significant here in terms of the meaning of baptism. That when you're baptized in this sense, you're gaining entrance into the promised land. It serves as a kind of a sanctuary and a holy place with all of its blessings. You must first cross through the waters. When we cross through the waters of baptism, we enter into the new kingdom and the new land. And we swear allegiance to the new king. It's curious that in the sentence immediately prior to the one I just read in Joshua, this is what it says. Fast forward then to the days of the early church and their baptismal pledges where the initiates did things like this. At the time determined for baptism, when the elder takes hold of each of them who are to receive baptism, he shall tell each of them to renounce, saying, I renounce you, Satan, and all your service and all your works. After he said this, he shall anoint each with the oil of exorcism, saying, let every evil spirit depart from you. The early church was quite familiar with this idea of transferring of kingdoms at baptism. If you want to serve a new God, you must first renounce the service and servants of the old ones. Baptism symbolizes this transference of allegiance and entrance into a new kingdom. It's part of our good confession. and it's a clear conscience that we talk about in the New Testament. The world needs to hear a message like this because it's clearly being held within the ever tightening grip of the evil one. Let's move on from Abraham and come to another baptism that the New Testament also makes explicit in the old. This is in 1 Corinthians 10. It says, all of them were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. And they all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink for they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them and the rock was Christ. The Apostle Paul identifies the water in the cloud and the water in the sea as baptism. He then relates their crossing over with the food and the water that they then drank, which was Christ. Israel being baptized here was her being essentially baptized into the law of Moses. This was never meant for them to be a means by which they would achieve salvation, for they had already been saved by grace in the Exodus. but their baptism was a means by which the law would become a new principle to guide them. This is why Paul immediately goes on to say that God was not well pleased and that they desired evil and that they were idolaters and they engaged in sexual immorality and they grumbled and their punishments and disobedience were written down for our sake on whom the fullness of the ages has come. See, because they had been baptized and set apart, they were to obey the God who delivered them. They did not, even though Christ was the one guiding them and feeding them. And therefore, how much greater is our obligation and responsibility when we've been baptized into the fuller and more highly realized promises of the one who was himself baptized for us in his flesh. That's what I think Paul's also getting at in Romans 6. Why would you keep sinning so that grace would abound? That's not why you were saved. During the life of Moses, baptism also became identified with his brother Aaron in Exodus 29. To me, this is probably the most immediately practical aspect of baptism in the Old Testament. You shall bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting and wash them with water. Now this washing is the same word used for Bathsheba's bathing and Naaman's baptism in the Jordan. This is part of the priest's ordination ceremony. Upon completion of the ceremony, he could then begin all of his holy service to the Lord in the temple. There's another part of this ceremony. Immediately upon being washed, he used to have the garments made for him put onto him. In other words, he was to be clothed with the royal robes of the priest. It's because of its direct relation to this ceremony that the Apostle Paul tells us this, all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. Perhaps it's from this very ceremony that the early church had the following rather bizarre sounding custom. After the renunciation of the devil, the bishop passes each of them on nude to the elder who stands in the water. They shall stand in the water naked. A deacon likewise will go down with them into the water. No one shall take any foreign object with themselves down into the water. Now don't get hung up here. There's nothing sexual going on. And I'm not advocating that we do this today. It is at best, even from the Old Testament counterpart, an inference, but it has a theological significance. The idea is simple, and it can be viewed by looking once more at the idea of a river. Think of the old spirituals that talk about crossing the Jordan, being like going over to heaven. Deep river, my home is over Jordan. Deep river, Lord, I wanna go over into campground. There's so many of them that sing that way. What can you take with you to heaven? Well, nothing except what you remember and believe. Material possessions are meaningless there. They cannot help you. And thus when Elijah left the world, he crossed over the Jordan like Israel, but being taken up into a chariot of fire, his cloak fell to the ground. When he crossed over, he was united to Christ in heaven. And that is also symbolized in the baptism and clothing ceremony. As it says about baptism, for if we have been united with him in his death like this, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like this. Union with Christ gives us the very lifeblood that we need to carry out what we've been commissioned to do. And thus, was the priest ordained into his ministry to serve the Lord for the next 20 years of his life, And this is why places like Romans 6 immediately discuss offering your bodies as holy vessels and sacrifices. Or why Peter talks about as being a kingdom of priests when he talks about the same language. Now there are others that we could look at in the Old Testament. I mentioned one with Jonah. You could think about the crossing of Elisha in the Jordan River. You could talk about Naaman, many other things in the Old Testament. But the final person I want to identify baptism with is David. David knew a thing or two about baptism. Now, the closest thing we find to actual baptism in his covenant is maybe the pouring of oil on the anointing of the king. However, listen to some of the Psalms that he's associated with. Psalm 51, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Psalm 69, save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. Psalm 78, he divided the sea and let them pass through it. He made the waters stand like a heap. It's as if in David, all the great themes of baptism from the Old Testament are coming to a confluence. And why not? He's the great King of Israel who foreshadows better than all the others the coming Messiah. Now putting all these together, we can begin to make some sense of Christ's baptism and of Christian baptism and its application. As you will remember, Jesus was baptized in the Jordan in his first baptism. He did this to fulfill all righteousness, he tells us. What this means is that he was taking upon himself both the legal purpose of baptism in the priesthood, as well as all of its symbolic meaning from the other baptisms. His baptism allowed him to enter into his high priestly ministry, which began immediately after that moment, and continued to his death on the cross, where he offered himself as the Lamb of God, as the high priest for our sin. It continues on into today. It is his obedience to this baptism, his obedience to God's law, his obedience to go to the cross for our sin that saves us. Our sacrament of baptism must never be viewed as that which saves a person, but rather as that which takes upon itself these many symbols and carries us out in the light of the finished work of Christ on our behalf. As we see at creation, we've been consecrated and set apart for some kind of service in a holy place. Our bodies are those holy places, that temple, and they're washed just as by God in baptism and through the word of Christ. This is the new creation to which our baptism now points as the sacrament is attached directly to the new covenant as the sign of the new creation. The same holds true for everything else that follows in terms of the new creation. As we see in Eden, baptism symbolizes repentance and forgiveness of sins. Therefore, we should not continue to live in sin any longer. As we see in the flood, baptism symbolizes death and resurrection. We have died to sin. We will be raised to life with Christ. How can we live in sin any longer? We've been raised to new life and the life we live is now we live to God. As we see in Abraham, baptism symbolizes our transference to a new kingdom and a new allegiance and to a new king. Therefore, we should no longer live as those who live in darkness, carrying out the passions of the flesh, but let us live as children of light that belong to the light. Let us renounce the devil and his ways and have nothing to do with the kingdom of darkness. As we see with Moses, baptism symbolizes a new creation, a new relationship that we have to the law. It is not given as a burden, but people can make it a burden if they think that they can merit God's favor by it. Because it's a yoke that no one can bear, its demands are impossible, and it only threatens and terrorizes. As we see with the priest, baptism is an ordination that begins our new careers into the priesthood of believers, the kingdom of priests. Romans 6, which begins with that baptism, makes this very priestly application to us. Do not present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, instruments of tabernacle language, temple language. Those are the things that you use to offer things in the sanctuary. Rather, present yourselves to God as those who've been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments of righteousness. It's like you become the tongs of the altar, right? It's like you become the laver of the baptism. It's like you become the incense of the temple. Listen to this language of the New Testament. Brothers, by the mercies of God, present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Right now what I'm doing is called the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God. Something else is called the fragrant aroma of the gospel ministry. That's the incense. This is part of my calling in the New Testament temple, but you have your own holy calling in work. Consider prayer, which is the golden bowls full of incense in the very temple of God in Revelation 5. Prayer is a holy calling and a priestly duty, something only those who have entered into the temple can carry out. For when others pray, unless they're praying for forgiveness first, God will not hear them. Their prayers fall on deaf ears. Consider giving money to the church, a topic no sane pastor likes to talk about, but which is called a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. Sacrifices, even fragrant offerings, were offered by holy men. This particular sacrifice is for the benefit of God's kingdom and the spreading of his name throughout the earth using these common means to do it. It's important and it's part of your baptismal duty. Consider suffering on behalf of the gospel, something referred to as a drink offering poured out in Philippians 2. For those to whom you're suffering will be of eternal benefit. We suffer today as a nation. Tomorrow we will forget. No one forgets those saints who have gone before us, martyred for their faith because they were willing to stand for truth, even though it cost them their life. Fox's Book of Martyrs is one of the best-selling books of all time. It's a sacrificial calling that God gives to some, but all God's baptized saints must be willing to suffer for the name of Christ. And when they do, Paul says it's a holy duty. Consider doing good to one another, which is called the sacrifices pleasing to God in Hebrews. Colossians says, therefore clothe yourself with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, because you've been baptized, and it's now your duty, it's your calling, and it's your delight to do this. These are the practical implications of the history of baptism. If you've not been baptized, consider why you've not been. For if you have trusted in Christ, he calls you to make the good confession in front of many witnesses. It is how he disciples the nations. It is his command to do it. Don't wait. If you believe in Jesus and you haven't been baptized, please get baptized. I'm more than willing to do it. Most of all, through these things, I want you to see how the gospel of Jesus Christ is pictured in baptism. For this is how it is a means of grace. Going down with Christ in his death and being raised anew in his resurrection is what Paul told us baptism shows. The death and resurrection of Jesus. It's the old man dying, the new man coming up as a new creation. That is the gospel, is it not? Baptism is a visible representation of the gospel, and as such, it is the power of God. It is the power of God because it is the word of God made manifest to our senses. It is a mystery how all this works, but believing it is how we receive it. Often during baptismal services, the preacher will say, remember your baptism. Well, why? Because in doing so, you're remembering that once for all grace that God gave to you when he granted you eternal life by the power of his Holy Spirit. Trust that this power is real and think often on the many aspects of baptism that we've surveyed as we've looked at how it comes to us through the entire Bible. not just the New Testament. Baptism is a grace that goes back to the beginning of creation and its lasting effects will continue all the way into eternity for those who believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. What an amazing grace he has given to his people that we might know for certain that Christ has died and he was raised to life for us. Let's pray together. Lord, the means of grace are so fun to talk about, and yet they're so despised and misunderstood in our day. I pray that you would bring clarity to the minds of people about this particular means of grace in baptism this morning, that your word would be clear to them, that it would show them so many different aspects, and especially show them the continuity of this sign from Genesis 1 all the way to Revelation. It is there. As the sign of creation and the new creation, you always attach the covenant to baptism in one way or another. And we know this very clearly in the new covenant with our own baptisms. Help each of us to think upon our own baptism, to remember our baptism. that it might be a means of grace to us. And I would pray that your word would be confirmed in our hearts and seal it and use it as a way to sanctify us this morning as we have drawn near to you through the proclamation of the word today. It's in Christ's name we ask these things, amen.