May 4, 2008
Sun Oak Baptist Church
Introduction
The old saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” is true because the majority of us better remember what we see portrayed visually. The Bible continually communicates eternal and spiritual truth through imagery and pictures. One example of this is “types.”
Baptism and the Lord’s Supper serve as pictures that both teach and remind. And both of them are commonly referred to as “ordinances.” “Protestants” (the broad classification of Christians that we fall under) have historically recognized 2 ordinances: baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
The term “sacrament,” which comes from the Latin word “sacramentum” which means “a thing set apart as sacred.” The term “sacramentum” in the Latin Vulgate was used to translate the Greek word translated “mystery” in Eph. 5:32.
To prepare us for the baptism we will be observing this morning we’ll look at this ordinance (not “sacrament” because it does nothing in terms of earning us anything with God), but “ordinance” because it is an outward rite prescribed by Christ to be performed by His church.
I. What is baptism?
See Matt. 28:19. Baptism is a ceremony by which a person is immersed into water. The Greek means “to dip completely; immerse; submerse; etc.”
II. What does baptism accomplish in a person’s life?
See Matt. 28:19. Baptism does not save us; it does not earn us any righteousness “points” in God’s eyes. It does at least 2 things in a Christian’s life.
A. It demonstrates obedience.
B. It publicly identifies the person with Jesus Christ, in particular with His death and resurrection. See Rom. 6:1-5.
Baptism is a public declaration that the believer has been united to Christ, by and through faith, in Christ’s death and His resurrection. It also demonstrates that we are willing to confess Him publicly. See Matt. 10:32-33.
III. Does baptism need to follow a particular order or sequence in a believer’s life?
Answer: absolutely. Notice that Jesus established a particular order, or sequence in terms of when a person should be baptized. See Matt. 28:19.
First we make disciples – then those disciples are to be baptized. And this is the pattern that the church followed in the Book of Acts. See Acts 2:38, 8:12, 8:38, 9:18, 10:48, 16:14-15 – etc.
IV. What are the various views of baptism?
Like so many other matters pertaining to the Word of God, when man departs from the plain meaning of Scripture, he runs into trouble, and in the case of the ordinance of baptism man has “created” a number of false views of what baptism means, what it accomplishes, and what it signifies.
A. One view is that baptism is a means of saving grace – some call this “baptismal regeneration.”
B. Another view is that baptism is a sign and seal of the covenant.
C. The final view is (Biblical, historic, orthodox) is that baptism is a symbol of our salvation – in other words, it is a picture of what happens when someone is saved.
Conclusion
A. In order for an ordinance to be valid in the church, an observance had to be 3 things:
1. It had to be instituted by Christ Himself
2. It had to be practiced in the Acts of the Apostles.
3. It had to be explained in the Epistles of the N. T.
Only 2 such practices meet these 3 criteria: baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
B. Baptism is symbolic. It is a picture of what happens to a person when they are saved. Their old man dies – it is buried. See Gal. 2:20 and 2nd Cor. 5:17.
C. For his baptism one man wrote:
I take God the Father to be my chief end and highest good; I take God the Son to be my prince and Savior; I take God the Holy Spirit to be my sanctifier, teacher, guide, and comforter; I take the Word of God to be my rule in all my actions and the people of God to be my people under all conditions; I do hereby dedicate and devote to the Lord all that I am, all that I have, and all that I can do. And this I do deliberately, freely, and forever.