[0:00] Thank you so much David. Let's come and praise the one who made it all so purposeful for us.
[0:15] ! We'll praise the name of the Lord our God. I cast my mind to Calvary, where Jesus bled and died for me.
[0:44] I see His wounds, His hands is me, my Savior on that cursed tree.
[1:00] His body bound and drenched in tears. They laid Him down in Joseph's tomb.
[1:15] They had transformed by heavy stone. Messiah still and all alone.
[1:27] Oh, praise the name. Oh, praise the name of the Lord our God.
[1:39] Oh, praise His name forevermore. For endless days we will sing Your praise.
[1:52] Oh, Lord, oh, Lord our God. Then on the third at break of dawn, And in our heaven rose again.
[2:15] Oh, trampled death, where is your sting? The angels roar for Christ the King.
[2:27] Oh, praise the name of the Lord our God.
[2:38] Oh, praise His name forevermore. For endless days we will sing Your praise.
[2:51] Oh, Lord, oh, Lord our God. He's coming back. He's coming back. He shall return in robes of white.
[3:07] The blazing sun shall pierce the night. And I will rise among the saints.
[3:19] My grace, my grace, my grace, my grace. And I will rise in Jesus' name. Oh, praise the name of the Lord our God.
[3:37] Oh, praise His name forevermore. For endless days we will sing Your praise.
[3:50] Oh, Lord, oh, Lord our God. Oh, praise the name, oh, praise the name of the Lord our God.
[4:06] Oh, praise His name forevermore. For endless days we will sing Your praise.
[4:18] Oh, Lord, oh, Lord our God. Well, before we come to a time of baptisms, I want to take the opportunity to explain what baptism is and why we do it.
[4:54] Perhaps the first time, probably the first time I ever met my wife was at somebody's baptism. So I'm just saying, you never know. But that was in Loch Lomond at Luss.
[5:10] You can be baptized anywhere where there's enough water. But I want to answer the question why it looks like we have a bath in the church building here. So baptism comes from the Greek word baptizo, which means to dip or submerge into liquid.
[5:27] In the Old Testament, there were various commands for the Jews for washing, for purification. And eventually they built these pools called mikvahs.
[5:39] These pools were never for regular washing, but for spiritual purification, a new beginning. Immersing into a mikvah also became a very important step for any non-Jews converting to Judaism.
[5:56] Again, this marked a purifying and a rebirth with a new identity with the people of God. So even before there was a church of Jesus followers, baptisms were already practiced as a means of purification, rebirth, and identification.
[6:17] And we'll see how these three things relate to Christian baptism. Now, the most famous baptizer, of course, was John the Baptist. And he was sent as a final prophet to prepare the way of the Messiah, Jesus.
[6:32] John immersed people in the Jordan River, which was reenacting the moment when the Israelites first crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land. He was taking them back out to do the same thing, calling them to turn away from their sins and rededicate themselves to God.
[6:49] And it also harkens back to Exodus when the people first arrived at Mount Sinai and were about to meet with God. And they were called and commanded to purify themselves with water before meeting God.
[7:03] And so when John is doing the same preparation for the people for the arrival of Jesus, what does that tell you about who Jesus is? Now, this theme of rebirth through water is seen throughout the entire Bible.
[7:17] And we see this theme in creation as God's Spirit hovers over the water and creates life. We see it with the flood where the earth is cleansed and God begins again with Noah.
[7:30] And we see it with the Red Sea in Exodus in which Israel is born as a new nation. And then they cross again over the Jordan River into the Promised Land. These are major points in God's plan of redemption, particularly in the flood and the Exodus.
[7:46] Sin is judged justly and people are saved graciously. These events point to who Jesus is and what he has come to do.
[7:56] And so like the flood, as sinners, me and you, we make the earth a terrible place. We deserve to be judged. But there is a greater ark.
[8:08] The first ark didn't actually stop sin from being on the earth because it was in Noah's heart. But God's Son has taken our sin to the cross.
[8:21] And he gives us a new heart with his righteousness. He saves us from the flood of judgment and makes us into a new creation, as David said. Like the Exodus, humanity was born in slavery, slavery to sin.
[8:37] And Jesus came to bring a greater Exodus. The first Exodus took the people out of Egypt, but it didn't take Egypt out of the people. Sin was still a problem.
[8:48] And so the Exodus that Jesus brings is a rescue from slavery to sin and darkness. And he graciously rescues us out of darkness and brings us into his marvelous light.
[9:00] And he will, he will bring us safely through the Red Sea and into the promised land. We have that hope. And so baptism signifies our going through the water.
[9:14] Noah had to have faith in God to build the ark. The Israelites had to have faith in God to cross through the Red Sea. It wasn't the water that saved them, but God used the water so that they would demonstrate faith in him to save them.
[9:32] And so if you have faith in Jesus, you will obey his command to be baptized as a sign of your faith in him, to put your sin to death and raise you up into new life.
[9:45] So remember those three things. It's a purification from sins. It's a rebirth. It's a birth. As it signifies burial and resurrection. And it's an identification with Jesus Christ and his people because we're baptized into his name to be a part of his people.
[10:04] We see from Matthew 28 and the final instructions of Jesus on this earth. He commands his disciples to make disciples of all nations, even Scotland or wherever you're from, even to Bell's Hill, to the ends of the earth, and to baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to observe all that he commanded.
[10:28] You see, baptism is one of the few things explicitly commanded by Jesus. It's one of the earliest, easiest, clearest, most basic commands to obey, to demonstrate your faith in Jesus.
[10:44] Why wouldn't you be baptized? Some of us were chatting on Wednesday night at our Bible study and prayer meeting and we were praying for those of you who are being baptized and we were talking about how you grow into the understanding of your faith in baptism.
[11:02] Just like Jesus said to baptize and then teach them to observe all that he has commanded, you will grow. As we all will attest to, we will grow into the understanding of what these things mean.
[11:16] And so thinking of these three things, purification, rebirth, identification. Well, in Acts 22, Paul talks about his own conversion and that moment when Ananias said to him, why do you wait?
[11:31] Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name. Likewise, in Acts chapter 2, when the people realized their own guilt and sin, Peter said, repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
[11:53] Ananias and Peter aren't thinking that the water actually washes your sin away, but it's an appeal to God through faith. Peter says this in his first letter.
[12:04] 1 Peter 3 says, For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God. And then he speaks about how, in Noah's day, the people did not obey when God patiently waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared in which a few, that is eight persons, were brought safely through the water.
[12:28] And Peter then says, 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, who's gone into heaven, is at the right hand of God.
[12:45] So it's not the water that saves you, it's Jesus who saves you. Just like it was not the flood water that saved Noah, but God saved him, if God didn't give him an ark, he would have perished.
[12:57] Likewise, if God did not give us an ark, if God did not give up his only son, we would perish. So being baptized in the name of Jesus signifies our faith in him, that we are united with him in death and resurrection.
[13:14] If we are buried with him, we will rise with him. Likewise, in Romans chapter 6, Paul says, all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death.
[13:30] Notice that he's not really talking about water, your baptism signifies that you are immersed in Christ Jesus. We were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death.
[13:43] 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. And he goes on to say, if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall be united with him in a resurrection like his.
[14:00] Our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. And then the logic of it, for one who has died has been set free from sin.
[14:15] Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. And so, you must also consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
[14:28] Paul says the same thing in Colossians 2. in Christ, you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of flesh by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God who raised him from the dead.
[14:51] And you, who were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands, this he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
[15:14] Thank God. Thank God. And so, in these passages, we can see that baptism is an outward act of obedience to God, professing faith and trusting in Jesus, which demonstrates God's act upon us.
[15:28] God's inward act of uniting us with Christ so that our old life of sin is buried and we are raised with Christ into newness of life.
[15:38] So, I hope that you can see how baptism represents a purification from sins, it represents a rebirth as our old life is buried and we are raised as new creations and new life in Christ, and how it represents our identification with Jesus and his people.
[16:00] If you believe in Jesus, if you trust in Jesus to forgive you, to purify you, to save you and give you eternal life, why would you not want to express that faith in obeying his command to be baptized?
[16:16] There are many things, thinking about what David said earlier, many things in life that you could identify with, but in this world, identifying with Jesus is not easy.
[16:32] A lot of people claim the name of God, but as soon as you start talking about Jesus, the one and only things happen. If the world hated him and rejected him, it will do the same to his followers.
[16:46] But this world, as David pointed out, can't offer as much. All this world offers us is a meaningless vapor. But God offers us meaning.
[17:00] This world can give us darkness, sin and death. This world will be judged. This world itself will be like a vapor and it will pass away. But those who are made alive as new creations in Christ will be with him forever in his kingdom and enjoy all the goodness of God.
[17:20] And so finally, baptism is a command by Jesus. And not only is it a command by Jesus, it's one of the few things that you will publicly do with your body and say with your mouth that will demonstrate your faith and allegiance to Jesus Christ.
[17:39] what will you stand for? You'll stand for something or you'll fall for something. And today, what a wonderful thing that folks are willing to stand for Jesus.
[17:52] Baptism's one of the few things you'll publicly do something with your body and your mouth that will demonstrate your faith and allegiance to Jesus Christ. And when all is said and done, do you want to be marked by the name of Jesus or by something else?
[18:06] And so as we celebrate these baptisms, some people might need to consider baptism. Some people might first need to consider Christ. And if you have been baptized, then let's remember our own baptism and have confidence to say, I have been baptized in the name of Jesus and I'm not ashamed.
[18:29] For he's the Lord of all things, the King of kings, the judge of the living and the dead. He is my saviour and my king and there is no other hope but Jesus Christ and in him we will have eternal life.
[18:41] Amen? Amen. Well, we're going to sing a song now as folks get prepared and then we're going to enjoy celebrating together people standing in the name of Jesus.