[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word.
[0:14] Take your Bibles if you would and open with me please to the book of Mark chapter 1. I'm excited today to talk to you about a subject you probably wouldn't think we'd talk that much about, but baptism.
[0:27] It's not talked about a lot, but it's in the Bible a lot. It's a big and important doctrine in the church, or teaching. And when Jesus comes on the scene in the book of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the first time you're going to see Jesus doing anything, he's going to get baptized.
[0:46] Mark chapter 1, you've already seen, it starts off with there's somebody coming before him and telling them to get ready for the coming of the Lord.
[0:58] And he's a very famous guy called John the Baptist. Baptist Church didn't start there, by the way. But anyway, this is a picture of Jesus getting baptized. And so today I'd like to answer the question to you, answer a question.
[1:11] I'll give you the question, I'll answer it for you. Why be baptized? Biblically, why be baptized? Read with me, if you would, Mark chapter 1 and verse 3, and then we'll skip down to verse 7 and 8, and then I'll lead us to prayer again.
[1:25] Look, if you would, Mark 1, 3. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
[1:35] Now skip down, if you would, to verse 7. And preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latching of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.
[1:47] I indeed have baptized you with water, but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost. Father, I pray this morning that you would work in our hearts. I pray you'd help us to understand why it is so important to be baptized.
[2:01] I pray you'd help our people to understand what's happening when we do practice baptism here. And I pray, God, that your name would be glorified and magnified. I pray for those here that might not be saved, might not be on their way to heaven, that today they would find out that they're sinners and find out they need to be saved, and they can trust you and enjoy the salvation that only you can give.
[2:25] And we'll give you praise for all that you do now. In Jesus' name, amen. So we're Baptists, you know? And we baptize. And we don't have an actual baptistry here simply because of the size of the building, so we set one up here.
[2:41] It's basically a Lego baptistry so the guys can put it together real quick and take it apart quickly and not spill too much water. But they did overfill it one time and flood the whole place.
[2:53] But anyway, brand new building. They flooded it. What do you say about that? But anyway, we baptize. Now, why in the world are we baptized? And what's so important about baptism?
[3:05] And why would a church be called Vision Baptist Church? You know, because baptism is really part of what's going on there. And so I want to take you through that. And the first thing we're going to start with is that Jesus was baptized, and he's my example in everything.
[3:19] Jesus was baptized, and he's my example in everything. In the verses I just read to you, notice that when they came to John, they heard preaching about Jesus.
[3:31] You got your Bible open there still? You see, baptism, you know, every church does this difference. You know, they baptize babies some places. They baptize by sprinkling some places. They baptize you when you're 12 by sprinkling some places.
[3:44] They baptize all sorts of ways. And so we are going to figure out what the Bible says about this. And so I want you to notice in this story here, in the story we start out with in the book of Mark, we're in the life of Mark, we're in the book of Mark, and the story we're going to start out with is John the Baptist is down there at the River Jordan, and John the Baptist is baptizing people.
[4:08] And when they come, you need to understand what's happening. He's not just baptizing, he's preaching Jesus. That's where baptism starts. He's preaching Jesus.
[4:19] Look again at Mark chapter 1 and verse 3, and notice what it says. In Mark 1, 3, it says, hey, get ready. I am preparing the way of the Lord.
[4:29] I'm preparing the way of God. I'm preparing the way of the God-man, God in human flesh. Jesus is on his way. You may come out here and think I'm somebody big, as you listen to me teach and preach, and all of Judea is coming out.
[4:45] Everybody knows what's going on down here at the river, and all you guys are coming down here to John and is baptizing, but you need to know I'm not here about John. I'm here about somebody else, and he's coming. And then in verse 7 and 8, he says, the guy that's coming after me, he's stronger than I am.
[5:00] I'm not worthy to untie his shoes. I'm not worthy to even bend down there below him to do that, and I'm just baptized with water, but he's going to baptize you with the Holy Ghost.
[5:11] Not only do we see the example of Jesus and follow it, but look, this is the first time baptism is mentioned in the Bible, and guess who's getting baptized? Jesus is going to get baptized.
[5:22] They came and they heard preaching. They were adults. That's important. They were adults that could understand and could respond to preaching about Jesus.
[5:36] John made it clear that he's talking about the Lord. He is getting a people ready for the Lord Jesus Christ. So when baptism took place in Mark, which is a book we're studying right now, when baptism took place there, they were adults, and they was preaching about Jesus, and that's what's going on, and they came confessing their sins.
[5:58] Look at Mark 1 and verse 5. You got your Bible open? In Mark 1 and verse 5, they confessed their sins, and they were living a new life. So look what it says. And there went out, Mark 1 and 5, there went out unto him all the land of Judea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized to him.
[6:15] So tons of people are coming out, and tons of people are getting baptized in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. You should underline that. They didn't just come down to do a little ritual.
[6:26] They didn't just come down to the river to have a little party. They came down, and they were confessing their sins. In Matthew chapter 3 and verse 6, we get a parallel passage, another passage that talks about that, and this is what it says.
[6:42] They were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. And then these Pharisees, these Adjuvies in verse 7 and 8, they came down. So these were religious leaders, and they came down to him, and he said, who's warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
[6:57] So there's a mention. There's wrath coming. You know that sin, sin brings consequence. Men are sinners, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
[7:08] And if you're a sinner, then the wrath of God abides on you until you trust Christ and believe. And he said, hey, you religious leaders, who warned you? And he said, by the way, if you come down here to the river and you confess your sins, we're talking about real life change.
[7:23] We're not talking about some ritual. We're not talking about something that's playing about. We're talking real ritual. They saw a real move, not ritual. Repentance means that they saw their sin.
[7:36] They turned from their sin. They had to be old enough to realize, I've sinned. They had to be old enough to realize, I need to make a decision to trust Christ as my Savior.
[7:47] Jesus came to John to be baptized. And that's what's going on in the baptism. That's a big lesson for us. Just stop a second. We get baptized around here.
[7:58] We don't baptize our babies. And we want to wait till every child, if they're going to get baptized, even as a child, they need to know what's going on. They need to understand, I have sinned against the Holy God.
[8:10] They need to understand, I deserve to go to hell. But by the grace of God, he has forgiven me. And I have trusted him. And I believed him. And this is real now in my life. And I'm going to make an outward statement of what God's done on the inside.
[8:23] Go with me, if you would, to Mark chapter one and verse 10. Jesus got baptized. Jesus got baptized. And in Mark chapter one and verse 10, the Bible says, See, a bunch of stuff going on here.
[8:50] A whole bunch of stuff going on in that verse. The first thing I'll just mention real quickly is they came out of the water. They came out of the water. That means they were in the river Jordan, in the water, and he came out of the water.
[9:01] That's why we baptize by immersion. That's what the Bible teaches. That's what the word means. And that's why we do that. So you might wonder, well, why do we have to baptize with so much water? I know about other churches. They baptize.
[9:11] They just use a thimble full. Well, John the Baptist used a river full. And Jesus went to the river full to get his baptism. He came up out of the water. And I want you to notice this in that last verse.
[9:24] Would you look at it? Thou art my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. Do you understand what just happened? Do you understand what just happened? Jesus is no normal mortal man.
[9:36] Jesus is God in human flesh. And Jesus comes to John and gets baptized. And when he comes out of the water, somehow the heavens open and a voice comes out of heaven and says, Hey, everybody, that's my son.
[9:50] Everybody knew that. There wasn't any loudspeakers that loud. There wasn't anybody you might say that. How in the world did that happen? And God spoke and said, That's my son. And you know the spirit like a dove descended on him.
[10:01] And so, this was a clear declaration to everybody. This is God in human flesh. This is Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ.
[10:12] Our Savior who is there. God publicly announces that he's his son. And he's well pleased with him. Now he's pleased with him because of who he is, period.
[10:23] But he mentions it very clearly when he gets baptized. He could have mentioned it a whole bunch of times. He could have mentioned it when he was born. He did. He could have mentioned it when he was 12. He could have mentioned it every day of his life.
[10:35] But it's interesting that on the day he gets baptized, it's like, Hey, everybody, take a break. Gotta say something. You saw him. He got baptized. You know who that one is? That's my son.
[10:47] And I'm well pleased. I think the Lord said, I'm pleased with him as a person. And I'm pleased with what he's doing. He's getting baptized. Here's an interesting thing for you to notice. The first public act that Jesus does as an adult is get baptized.
[11:06] That's amazing, isn't it? The first public act Jesus does as an adult is get baptized. Now we know about him when he was a child. We hear a little bit about him up to about the age of two.
[11:16] Then we know a little bit about him at 12. And then he basically disappears for 18 years. Now he's alive and he's living there. But we don't have any biblical record of what was going on.
[11:26] And now he's about 30 years of age and he's come and the very first thing he does is go get baptized. I don't know how you're going to make that less important.
[11:38] I don't know how you're going to in any way look at that and say, well, baptism is not that big a deal. I don't know how in any way you could say that the very first thing that Jesus does is not that big a deal.
[11:50] This is, he's making a statement here. He's making a statement. He's saying baptism's a big deal. By the way, the Father from Heaven says baptism's a big deal.
[12:01] By the way, the Holy Spirit says baptism's a big deal. So that's what happened when he got baptized. If Jesus started out with baptism, what do you reckon that would mean for you as a born-again believer?
[12:15] If the Father announces pleasure with his Son at his baptism, what do you reckon that means for you? I can't leave this passage of Scripture without showing you the Trinity because it's there and you need to see that.
[12:29] It's the whole Trinity, the Godhead, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are all right here. Go with me, if you would, to Mark chapter 1 and verse 10. And straightway coming up out of the water, that's Jesus coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened and the Spirit like a dove, the Spirit, and the dove's not the Holy Spirit, it's the Spirit like a dove, it's a symbol, it's an image, it's a picture, the Spirit like a dove descending upon him and there came a voice out of heaven saying, Thou art my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased.
[13:04] From heaven I hear the Father, from the water I see Jesus, and from the Spirit like a dove descending I see the Holy Spirit. That's three persons at one time, all God, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost.
[13:21] That is God in three persons. You should say amen right there. You worship that God. God, three people in one, one person in three, and you understand that and you accept that by faith and there he is exhibited right there.
[13:39] John was baptized, or Jesus was baptized as an adult because it was the right thing to do. Jesus was baptized as an adult because it was the right thing to do.
[13:49] Look with me if you would. Mark a note in your Bible here, Matthew chapter 3 verse 14. Put down this parallel passage. You can look up at a later time. Look at Matthew chapter 3 verse 14 and 15.
[14:00] We're going to read those two verses. The Bible says, But John forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and thou comest to me. Now here's the picture. John knows who Jesus is.
[14:12] In fact, in John 1, 29, when he saw him, he said, Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. He saw him and he said, I know who you are. I know you are God in human flesh.
[14:22] I know you was born of a virgin. We're kin folks on the mama's side anyway. And I know who you are. And Jesus came to the river and John said, Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
[14:33] Whoa, I can't baptize you. I can't baptize you. I mean, you're a God and I'm just a man. I can't baptize you. And look what Jesus said in verse 16, if you would, in Mark chapter 3 and verse 15, verse 15.
[14:49] And Jesus answering and said unto him, Suffer to be so. Allow it to happen now. Just do it. Just do what I'm asking you to do. For thus it becomes to fulfill all righteousness.
[15:03] Then he suffered him. Then he allowed him. So in other words, what happened was he said, Hey, I can't let you baptize. I can't baptize you. And Jesus said, Just do what I'm asking you to do because we're going to please the Father here.
[15:16] Just do what I'm asking you to do because we're going to do what's right to do. See, Jesus always sought to please the Father. Could I get an amen there?
[15:27] You ought to always seek to please the Father. Amen. And so here's Jesus getting baptized and John's even going, Hey, I know you're not a sinner and I know you didn't come down here like regular people.
[15:38] I know you're not one of them. He said, And you want me to baptize you? I just can't do it. And Jesus said, It's the right thing to do. Look at it. Underline it. It becomes us to fulfill all righteousness. It's the right thing to do.
[15:51] Jesus didn't get baptized to wash away sin because he didn't have any. By the way, nobody else ever gets baptized to wash away sin. Huh?
[16:02] Nobody else ever gets baptized to wash away sin. I was in Mahas, a place outside of Arequipa, the city. I used to live in Peru and I was there and everybody in Peru would build these, they build these like tanks for water and you use this water for your house because no water.
[16:21] Our son and Kyle and all those guys down in Peru recently, they've been getting water about every third day. It's been raining a whole bunch so the whole water system is shut down in the city so water comes on at night and you hope you got a tank that you can fill up and so everybody had these tanks outside and they just, all it is, it's just a little swimming pool kind of thing.
[16:40] It's about three or four feet tall and about three or four feet wide and about six or seven feet long and they fill that thing up with water. A tanker truck comes out and fills it up and fills it up. And a lot of the churches when they first get started out in a country area, they'll baptize in that thing.
[16:54] And I was standing there beside it one day and a little old Peruvian man came up to me and he said, there's a lot of sin in that tank.
[17:08] Now, the problem is in Spanish the word for sin and fish are pretty close. So I knew he didn't mean sin. I mean, who would say sin? Wouldn't that be kind of dumb to say sin? So I said, really?
[17:20] You got fish in there? And he said, I didn't say fish, I said sin. And I said, we need to explain, I need to explain something to you. You know how sin gets washed away, don't you? That's not water, that's blood.
[17:31] That's not water, that's blood. And I told him, there's no fish in there and there's no sin in there. We get baptized as a symbol. Jesus got baptized. He didn't need to have any sin washed away, did he?
[17:42] Jesus got baptized to please the Father and to do right. It was a testimony that he wanted to do what he knew the Father wanted done. Second thing, first reason you ought to get baptized.
[17:54] If you are baptized, you ought to be able to explain it. Somebody ever says to you, why did you get baptized? Well, that's what my church does. That's not a good answer. That's what my church does. You know them Baptists, man, they like to put you under the water.
[18:05] A bunch of dunkers up there, they dunk everything. That's not what we say. We say, we do it because we do what the Bible says. Amen? And Jesus got baptized. The second thing, if you study your Bible, you'll find out that baptism is like the first step for a Bible believer.
[18:21] A new Christian, it's the first step you take. Look, if you would, at me in Matthew chapter 28 and verse 18 through 20. Now, you know this passage. I mean, we talk about this one all the time because we're talking about carrying the gospel around the world.
[18:35] In Matthew chapter 28 and verse 18. And basically what Matthew 28, 18 says is this. It says, hey, all power's given me. God's given all power to Jesus.
[18:46] He has the right to say anything he wants to say. He can tell you what he wants to because he's God in human flesh. He can tell you what he wants to because he died on a cross and paid your sin debt.
[18:59] He can tell you what he wants to because he was dead for three days. He was buried and he rose again from real dead, real dead, dead, dead, to real alive, alive, alive. This ain't some angel kissing you with the wind that blows by or mist falling on your face.
[19:13] Jesus was dead but he rose again. And now he stands and he says, by the way, you know who's talking here? You know, you got to remember that you got to think of what they're thinking.
[19:24] When Jesus told them earlier in the book of Matthew, he said, look guys, we're going to go to Jerusalem and I'm going to die but I rise again. And they were very sorry, the Bible says. Well, you know, they were very sorry because they caught the first part and didn't catch the second.
[19:36] Or maybe they caught the first part and didn't understand the second part. Or maybe they thought it was kind of like you do when you watch a TV show. You know, you watch a TV show and they die and they say, well, they'll always be with us. Mama's still with us. That's not what happened when Jesus died and was buried and rose again.
[19:49] What happened when Jesus died was Jesus was physically, literally dead and he was in the grave for three days and he literally, physically came alive and he came alive in a body again and they knew it and they were seeing him.
[20:02] He's standing there now and he says, I can tell y'all anything I want to tell you. Y'all ought to obey me. Amen? So let's look at what he said in verse 19, if you would. In verse 19, he said, go and teach all nations.
[20:14] Go and teach all nations and baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Now watch what he told them to do. He said, go tell everybody about me.
[20:25] Go explain to everybody what God says. Go explain to everybody that they have sinned against the Holy God. Go and explain to everybody that they deserve to go to hell. Go and explain to everybody that no one has a chance to go to heaven without Jesus.
[20:39] Go tell them about me and tell them about me dying. Tell them about me paying their sin debt. Tell them about me rising again from the dead and tell them and let them become believers. Go and teach all nations. And when they become believers, the next part of the verse, and baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
[20:54] And when they become believers, baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And then the next verse, if you would look at verse 20, it says, and teach them to observe all things whatsoever I command you.
[21:05] You go tell them. Go tell them how to get saved. Baptize them when they get saved and teach them how to keep on doing right. That's why we have a church. That's why we're church planting people. That's why we have church service.
[21:16] We became believers and we got baptized and we get together to keep learning more about what Jesus said and putting more of that into practice. That's what happened in the story. So they were obeying God.
[21:28] When we get baptized, we're obeying God. The one who rose again said, go preach it, go baptize them, and go teach them to keep on doing more stuff. So when you got baptized, you got baptized to obey God.
[21:40] So I never really understood all about that. Just know this. You don't have to always understand everything. You just got to obey. Can you imagine being a missionary over in China today? You know, our guys over there, one of our deacons is over there right now, and Mark Tos and Ben Johnson are over there in the city, and I know last week or a week before they baptized somebody.
[21:59] Can you imagine these people know nothing about God, know nothing about the Bible, and they were atheists before, and then they got told the gospel, and they heard about Jesus, and they got saved, and they're on their way to heaven, and as soon as they get saved and on their way to heaven, the men of God say to them, you know, you need to be baptized.
[22:18] Can you not imagine what their first question might be? Well, why? And I'd say number one reason because Jesus said do it. I'd say another reason is because Jesus got baptized, and so they're obeying the Lord and following Him in believers' baptism.
[22:33] Go with me to Mark chapter 16 and verse 16, if you would. Mark chapter 16 and verse 16. Look at that verse with me. See, baptism and salvation are extremely closely related.
[22:46] Now, baptism doesn't get you saved, but it's kind of like when you get saved, it's just expected that you're going to get baptized. So in Mark 16, 16, the Bible says, he that believed and is baptized shall be saved.
[23:02] He that believeth not shall be damned. Now, the way you go to hell is you don't believe. Look at the verse. The way you go to hell is you don't believe. It's not if you don't get baptized, you go to hell. So look at the verse.
[23:13] You got it open there with me? Mark 16, 16. He that believeth not shall be damned. You go to hell because you don't believe. If you're here this morning and you haven't accepted Christ as your Savior, if you're here this morning and you haven't trusted Him and believed that Jesus is God and He came to earth and paid your sin debt and you deserve to go to hell, but Jesus died for you, you are cursed, damned, and on your way to hell.
[23:36] I didn't say that. It's right there in the Bible in front of you. But notice what happens in Mark 16, 16. It says, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.
[23:47] It's really kind of like a marriage ceremony. I'll be performing. We do marriages around here. Like regular people do church services. It seems we have marriages all the time. So we're going to have another one on Saturday.
[23:59] And James and Rosie will get married. Now I haven't even asked him if they got rings. I haven't even asked him if they want a ring ceremony. So I've not even questioned that. You know, I didn't even say, now, do y'all want me to, do you want me to do the little thing about giving the rings to each other or are y'all just going to do that?
[24:16] You see, because you don't need a ring to get married. In fact, some of you guys aren't wearing your wedding ring right now. My daddy never wore his wedding ring. He could have, he worked in a factory. He was a maintenance man and it was against the rules to wear his ring, but that didn't make him less married.
[24:33] And if I took my ring off and gave it to you this morning, it wouldn't make you married to my wife. So the baptism went in the part, but notice what happens. He that believes and is baptized. It's like, man, when you believe, you're just going to go get baptized.
[24:46] When you get married, you're just going to go ahead and give her a ring. So I just know that already. So in the middle of the ceremony on Saturday, and we haven't practiced and I haven't even gone over it, I haven't even written the vows yet, but I can already tell you I'm going to go ahead and put that ring part in there.
[24:59] But if they didn't make the vows, they wouldn't be married. If they don't use rings, they could still be married. Do you understand that? If you do, say amen. If they make the vows and no rings, they're married.
[25:11] If they make the vows and rings, they're still married. If they make no vows and give rings, they're not married. If you got that, say amen. That was deep. I mean, it's hard to understand. You have to really go to college to get that one.
[25:23] Amen? Well, that's how baptism works. If you believe and get baptized, you're saved. And if you believe and don't get baptized, you're still saved. But if you don't believe and you get baptized, you're going to hell because he that believes not.
[25:35] But in the Bible, every time we see them getting saved, they're getting baptized. I mean, it's just like, that's what happens. So go with me if you would. Go with me if you would to Acts chapter 2 and verse 41. In Acts chapter 2 and verse 41.
[25:48] The Bible says, then they that gladly received his word were baptized, and the same day they were added unto them about 3,000 souls. So I want you to underline, you got your Bible open, same day, that's what you want to write down beside this, or underline in that verse.
[26:04] It says, then they that gladly received his word were baptized, and the same day were added. But look at this. First off, what happens? Before they got baptized, what did they do?
[26:15] Help me. What'd they do? Before they got baptized, they? They gladly received the word. Help me now. Before they got baptized, they what? Gladly received the word.
[26:25] So before they got baptized, they what? Gladly received the word. That means they had to be old enough to understand it. They had to believe it. They had to trust it. They were excited about it. Oh, you mean I'm a sinner and I'm going to hell, but Jesus died for me and I could be saved?
[26:40] I trust him? I'm glad to hear that word. I'll believe that. And then they were baptized and were added to them on that same day. Go with me, if you would, to Acts chapter 8 and verse 12.
[26:50] Let's go through the book of Acts. It'll be just for a few minutes. Because in the Bible, when you get saved, baptizing is just like part of it. Not getting saved doesn't make you saved, but it's like it's just what you do.
[27:01] Look at Acts chapter 8 and verse 12, if you would. It says in Acts 8, 12, and when they believed Philip, preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
[27:15] Now, look at the verse for me. If you've got your Bible, I want you to mark it. Look what it says. They believed Philip. That means they were listening to him. So somewhere, note, write this down, they heard the truth.
[27:26] You see, Philip was preaching. You can't really preach to the nursery. If you go in there and get those six-week-old babies and eight-week-old babies, if you get those two-year-old babies, preaching is just pretty hard.
[27:38] I mean, just getting them to sit down and eat is pretty hard. How many of you ever did that thing where you went, here comes the airplane? You ever had to do that? Because you're just trying to get the kid to eat. So preaching ain't gonna work.
[27:49] And they believed Philip, preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ. They heard him. He talked to them about the kingdom of God.
[28:01] He talked about how to go to heaven. Talked about how to be with God. And he told them it was Jesus that was the way. And it says they believed Philip and the name of Jesus Christ and they were baptized, both men and women.
[28:16] Go with me, if you would, to Acts chapter eight. Same chapter. Just a little bit further down. Eight, chapter eight and verse 35. Chapter, it always works this way in the Bible. You hear the truth, you believe the truth, and you get baptized.
[28:31] You hear the truth, you believe the truth, and you get baptized. Look, if you would, at Acts chapter eight. Why should I get baptized? That's what they did in the Bible. That's what God's people have been doing.
[28:41] That's the pattern set for us. In Acts chapter eight and verse 35, then Philip opened his mouth and began at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus. And here's the story. Remember? Listen to this.
[28:52] Get the story with me. The Ethiopian eunuch has been in Jerusalem and the day of Pentecost has happened and thousands of people have gotten saved. Three thousand got baptized in one day. The whole city is talking about it.
[29:04] Jerusalem has been filled with the doctrine of Jesus Christ. Everybody's talking about it. He's a rich guy working for the queen. He evidently went down to the bookstore and bought him a copy of the book Isaiah.
[29:14] And he got in his chariot and had the guy driving for him. And while he's driving, he's unrolling the scroll and reading the Bible. Reading the book of Isaiah. And as he unrolls the scroll and reads the book of Isaiah, he's not understanding anything.
[29:26] How many of you have experienced that? Say amen. You're reading Isaiah and you're like, I'm not getting a lot of this. And so somehow by the working of God, he got to Isaiah chapter 53 and God had already told Philip to get ready.
[29:37] And Philip comes jogging up and Philip said, hey buddy, what you reading? He said, I'm reading this book about Isaiah. He said, you understanding what you're reading? He said, nope, not a thing. He said, how can I?
[29:48] If no man will explain it to me, how am I going to understand it? Philip said, you want me to explain it? So Philip jumped up. He didn't have to run anymore. He got in a taxi with him. Amen. He got in there and they're riding down the road and look what he did.
[29:59] He opened his mouth and began at the same scripture right where they were and he preached unto him, Jesus. Look if you would at verse 36. And as they went on their way, they came to water.
[30:10] There was this body of water and the eunuch said, hey, there's some water. I was up in Jerusalem. I saw him getting baptized. I know that's what you do when you believe. He said, can I get baptized?
[30:23] And look what Philip said. He said in verse 37, if you believe with all your heart, you might, you can, you may. And he answered and said, well, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God.
[30:40] He believed. And then the next verse, they both went down into the water. See, it's a big enough piece of water like the river Jordan, like a baptistry, something where they could both get in the water and he baptized him and he baptized him and in verse 39, he comes, Philip and the eunuch come up out of the water.
[31:02] Here's what happened. Baptism. They read scripture. They understood what scripture had explained to him. They believed and they were baptized. That's what we do.
[31:13] Why be baptized? Well, Jesus was baptized. Why be baptized? Because in the New Testament, that's what believers did. Go with me, if you would, to Acts chapter 16 and verse 14. We meet a lady named Lydia in Acts chapter 16 and verse 14.
[31:27] And Lydia is going to pay attention. That's what she's going to do. She's going to pay attention to the Bible teaching. Look at Acts 16, 14. And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Tyre, which worshiped God, heard us, underline that in your Bible, she heard us, whose heart the Lord opened, God's spirit convicted her.
[31:50] That's how you found out you was a sinner. You would have never accepted you as a sinner. You're too proud and stinking obstinate to accept that. Me, admit I'm a sinner, but the Holy Spirit of God brings conviction.
[32:02] He points it out and convinces us we're sinners. That's what Jesus said his ministry would be. Showed him it was a sinner. She figured out that she was a sinner. The Lord spoke and opened her heart and look at what it says.
[32:13] And she attended unto those things. She attended unto those things which were spoken. And then after she heard it and attended in verse 15, she was baptized.
[32:26] She was baptized. Notice what she did. She had the Bible. She heard it. She believed it. She was baptized. She heard it. She believed it. She was baptized.
[32:37] She heard it. She believed she was baptized. Acts 1630. Acts 1630. There's a jailer in this story. The boys are in prison. The Lord works a miracle.
[32:48] And I don't have time. I'm really running short of time here. But in the story, in Acts 1630, the jailer says, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
[32:59] How can I know I can have eternal life? How can I know I can go to heaven when I die? How can I be sure I'm saved? And they said, in verse 31, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved in thy house.
[33:15] And they spake unto him the word of the Lord. They spoke the word to all that were in his house. And he took it the same hour of the night and washed their stripes and was baptized. In verse 34, the last phrase says, Believe it in God with all his house.
[33:29] Watch this. Heard, believed, baptized. Heard, believed, baptized. Can I hear those three words from you? They heard, believed, and baptized.
[33:41] Let me give you one more story. Go to Acts 18 in verse 8. Acts 18 in verse 8. I'll give you some more about this next week.
[33:51] We're going to talk about baptism in a week or two. Look at Acts 18 in verse 8 if you would. The Bible says, And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, God, this is a big shot down at the religious center of the Jews.
[34:05] Believed, underline it in your Bible, believed on the Lord Jesus with his house. And many of the Corinthians, now I want you to underline this part of the verse. Hearing, believed, and were baptized.
[34:18] Hearing, believed, and were baptized. Are you with me? Hearing, believed, and were baptized. Let me ask you a question. Why should I get baptized?
[34:29] I'll give you more next time. Why should I be baptized? Well, it's the first thing Jesus did. I mean, when he breaks on the scene as an adult to start his ministry, you know what he does?
[34:41] He goes to John and gets baptized. That's the first thing he does. The first thing he does. I mean, he could have done something else, but in Matthew and Mark and Luke, that's the first thing he does as an adult.
[34:54] And Jesus got baptized. And Jesus didn't need to be baptized to wash away sin. Jesus got baptized to fulfill all righteousness, to do the right thing. Jesus got baptized.
[35:05] And so Jesus has given me an example that I should follow and I ought to follow that in his footsteps. If you think he's worthy to be followed, say amen. Have you followed him in baptism? Have you said, well, if baptism's good enough for you, it's good enough for me.
[35:18] I grew up in the country. We used to say, give me that old time religion. If it was good enough for Paul and Silas, it's good enough for me. How about this? If it's good enough for Jesus, it ought to be good enough for you. Then the second thing, and I never got around to the third one.
[35:30] The second thing was, believing and being baptized, they go hand in hand in the scripture. Now, you don't have to be baptized to go to heaven and there's proof of that. We'll look at that later. But you know what?
[35:41] When people get saved, when people believe they want to, it's a way of identifying yourself. It's a way of saying, hey, I'm one of his followers. I'm one of his. I need to wear the badge of honor that says, I took the step and publicly stated, everybody look this way, I am.
[36:00] Now, I got married 43 and a half years ago. And Betty and I were dating so much that everybody that knew us knew we were going to get married and I had not asked her.
[36:11] And people kept saying, when y'all going to get married? And I was like, I don't know. I'm not even sure we're getting married. You know? What was she going to say? Then I finally, I asked her and it took her two years to answer the question.
[36:21] I asked her, I said, will you marry me? And there was this dead silence and it seemed like forever. She claims it was only a couple of seconds, but I'm pretty sure it was two hours. And then she answered the question and said she'd marry me, but just because she said she'd marry me, you know, and I'm glad she did, but you know what?
[36:36] Then one day publicly, at Fellowship Baptist Church in Rome, Georgia, I stood at the front and she walked down the aisle saying to everybody, I'm here to marry that guy. When you get baptized, you know what you're saying?
[36:46] I have believed Jesus and I am publicly declaring that to everybody. Now before we go home, you've got to figure out one thing. You're probably not ready to be baptized.
[36:58] You see, because baptism won't do anything for you but get you wet unless you have believed. The symbol is worthless. The symbol is worthless without the faith that precedes it.
[37:12] You might have been brought up with the idea that baptism washes away sin. You might have been brought up with the idea that baptism is how you know you're saved. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
[37:23] You must believe. Have you come to the point in your life that you realize you've sinned against the Holy God? Have you come to the point you realize you've sinned against the Holy God? The Bible says in Romans 3.10, there's none righteous, nobody right, nobody perfect, not a one.
[37:38] The Bible says in Romans 3.23, all have sinned and all have come short of the glory of God. There's not one good person on the planet. The Bible says the wages of sin is death when you're a sinner and we're all sinners.
[37:51] We've sinned because that's the way we were. We were born into a family of sinners and we sinned because we want to. Can't blame it on anybody but me. We're sinners and we sinned and then one day we realize I'm a sinner and there's somebody who stands ready to save me and forgive me.
[38:09] It's the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm going to trust him to be my savior and we believe. We believe that he did come from God. The Bible says in John 5.24, Verily, verily, I said to you, he that hears my word believes on him that sent me half everlasting life.
[38:27] You have it. So if you haven't trusted Christ, today's your day. You should be saved. You should trust Christ today and you should follow him and live for him and honor him. If you're not saved in just a minute, I'll give you a chance.
[38:40] There'll be the men of our church will be sitting at the back and they'll answer your questions. They'll take you to a private room and they'll talk with you if you're a lady. A lady will go with you if you're a man. It'll be one of the men and they'll answer your questions.
[38:52] There'll be no pressure, no manipulation, no pushing you. We're not asking you for money. We're not asking you to join the church and we're not asking you to get baptized. We're going to ask you to believe Jesus and what he did on the cross at Calvary.
[39:03] There might be some Christians in here that took the step of believing but you haven't taken the step of being baptized and it might be your day to say, you know what, I'm going to obey the Lord.
[39:15] I'm going to take that first step. I'm going to follow Jesus' example. I'm going to be baptized. This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia.
[39:29] For more information, log on to www.visionbaptist.com where you can find our service times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recordings.