In this sermon, Jacob Prast discusses the topic of baptism, specifically focusing on water baptism. He references Colossians 2:12, which speaks about being buried with Jesus in baptism and being raised up with him through faith. Prast emphasizes the importance of personal acceptance of Jesus and rejects the idea of God having grandchildren. He also mentions Matthew 3:7, where John the Baptist confronts the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism. Prast explains that water baptism symbolizes a funeral and resurrection, referencing Romans 6:1-4. He emphasizes that Christians should have already experienced their own funeral through water baptism.

Hello, my name is Jacob Plath. Today we're going to look at the subject of baptism focusing principally on water baptism. Turn with me please to the book of Colossians chapter 2. Verse 12 tells us, having been buried with him, that is with Jesus in baptism, in which you were also raised up with him through faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead, having been buried with him in baptism. You think of people, mainly unsaved people, going to a funeral and the casket is brought in with the corpse of a loved one, perhaps a mother, a father, someone who was close to them, and they realize how futile and how short this world and this life is. The scriptures tell us born is near to those who mourn, and at times of bereavement people are more open to consider spiritual things and the message of the gospel than they would be otherwise. And people live in dread of this death. They live in dread of their own funeral, ignoring the fact that one day it's going to be them in the casket, unless of course Jesus comes first. For the born again Christian, however, this should not be the case. Christians should have already had their funeral. We've been buried with him in baptism. A water baptism is a funeral service and a resurrection service. To understand this, turn with me please to the book of Romans chapter 6. Commencing in verse 1, what shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase? May it never be. How shall we who die to sin live in it? Do you not know that all of us who've been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death? Now Jesus Christ is Jesus on earth. Christ Jesus is Jesus ascended in glory. Therefore we've been buried with him through baptism into death. In order that as the Messiah was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. For if we become united with him in the likeness of his death, certainly we shall be in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. For he who has died is free from sin. Now if we have died with the Messiah, we believe we shall also live with him. Knowing that the Messiah, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again. Death no longer is master over him. For the death that he died, he died to sin once and for all. For the life he lived, he lived for God. Even so, consider yourself to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lust. We have a great misunderstanding so often of salvation. We simply think that the Lord Jesus died on the cross for our sins, that he took our sins and rose from the dead to give us eternal life. Well you know that's very, very true. It's absolutely true. But it's only a part of the truth. As we read here in Paul's epistle to the Romans, Jesus didn't simply say, I'm going to die for your sins. He said, get up here on this cross and die with me. When they nailed him to the cross, they nailed us to the cross. And when he rose, by faith, we raised with him. We misunderstand salvation. We call it all salvation. But salvation has three aspects. Past, present, and future. The past is justification. When Jesus died on the cross, he took our sins and gave us his righteousness. This is called justification. Even though we are guilty, because he took our sin and in turn to our sin gave us his own righteousness, imputed to us, we have been justified. I've been saved means I have been justified. But then there's the present. I am being saved. That is called sanctification. When we were saved, when we were justified, we co-died with Jesus on the cross. I've been saved, I've been born again. But now, presently, we're called to die daily. Pick up our cross and follow him. Crucify the flesh and its sinful passions. We're to die every day. It's an ongoing reality. We are being crucified with Christ. We've been crucified with Christ. We were justified. We are being crucified with Christ. We are being sanctified. That is made holy. But then is the future. We shall be saved. What does Jesus say? He who perseveres to the end shall be saved. Well, we've been saved. Well, haven't I been saved? Yes. Well, then what does Jesus mean when he says, he who perseveres shall be saved? Again, it's past, present, and future. I've been saved. I've been justified. I'm being saved. I'm being sanctified. I shall be saved. Lift up your head. Your redemption draws near. The future is redemption, redeemed. Already, he's redeemed us in the sense he's given us an earnest, a pledge, the Holy Spirit, the down payment, proving that he's bought us. One day he'll come to pick up his package. I've been crucified with Christ. I'm being crucified with Christ. I shall be. We shall one day physically die and be planted in the earth and then resurrected. We've been buried with him. We're being buried with him. And we're going to be buried with him. We've been resurrected with him. We're already living our eternal life. We're being resurrected with him. Every day we should be dying to ourselves, the world, the flesh, and living in newness of life. But ultimately, we shall be resurrected with him. When you go under the water, it's burial with him. When you come out, it's a picture of resurrection with him. We become identified with the Lord Jesus himself. As Paul puts this in the third chapter of his epistle to the Galatians, in verse 27, all of you who are baptized into the Messiah have clothed yourselves with the Messiah. It is no longer us who live as such, but he who lives in and through us. Baptism originated with the Jewish rite of mitzvah. We know from the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Essenes practiced continual baptism. But there were also pagan forms. There is a cultic organization today who teaches we should be baptized on behalf of the dead. However, let's look at this practice as Paul comments on it in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, the resurrection chapter. Beginning in verse 12, he says, Now if the Messiah is preached and he has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even the Messiah has been raised. And if the Messiah has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, your faith is also in vain. Moreover, we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we witnessed against God that he raised the Messiah whom he did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even in the Messiah has been raised. And if the Messiah has not been raised, your faith is worthless, you are still in your sin. Then those who have fallen asleep, that is died, and the Messiah have perished. If we have hoped in the Messiah in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. But now the Messiah has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as an animal dies, so also in the Messiah all shall be made alive, but each in his own order. The Messiah, the firstfruits, after that those who are the Messiahs at his coming. Then comes the end when he delivers up the kingdom to the God and Father when he has abolished all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death, for he has put all things in subjection under his feet. But when he says all things are put in subjection, it is evident that he is accepted who put all things in subjection to him. And when all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself also will be subjected to the one who subjected all things to him, that God may be all in all. Now pay attention. Otherwise, what will those who are baptized for the dead do? If the dead are not raised, why then are they baptized for them? He is not referring here to a Christian practice of baptism. The only dead we're baptized for is ourselves. He's referring to the pagan version. It was a paganistic practice. He was writing here to a church that was a combination of Jews, but mostly non-Jews, who had pagan influences in their culture and even residually in their religious thinking. Even the Greeks knew this idea about judgment, sin, afterlife, etc. Nonetheless, he says, why are they being baptized on behalf of the dead if there's no life after the dead? He is making a reference to a pagan, not a Christian or a Jewish practice. The Jewish version was mikvah. The Christian practice was co-death, co-burial, and co-resurrection with Christ. The pagan one was baptism on behalf of the dead. Now let's continue understanding baptism from 1 Corinthians 10. Paul tells us here that the perfect illustration of baptism is the exodus event with Moses. In 1 Corinthians 10, Paul writes this, I do not want you to be unaware, my brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and the sea. When the Hebrews came out of Egypt, it is a symbol or a type of us coming out of the world. As Moses led them out of Egypt through the water into the promised land, as the way Jesus leads us out of the world through baptism into heaven. They were baptized under the cloud and through the sea. The cloud, of course, is the shekinah, what we say in Hebrew, harahakodesh, the Holy Spirit or the Spirit of Holiness. Being baptized in the cloud is spirit baptism. Being baptized in water is water baptism. Notice it's water and cloud. He puts the two together. Let's look please to Ephesians chapter 4 verse 5. Here Paul restates the same point in a different context. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. We can draw a distinction between the water and the cloud. But it's still one baptism. We're born of water and the Spirit, but then we're born again. You have the water and you have the Spirit. These things may happen simultaneously or separately. Let's understand this in the book of Acts. In the epistle on the gospel of Saint John, chapter 20, Jesus tells the apostle, receive the Holy Spirit in verse 22 and breathes on them. And the Hebrew word for breath, ruach, is the same word. They receive the Spirit. But the day of Pentecost, however, Jesus tells them to wait for the Spirit. You have the Spirit indwelling and the Spirit outpoured. When someone is born again, the Spirit of God comes inside of them and dwells inside of them, making them a new creation. If you don't have the Spirit of God, you're not a Christian. But then he says, wait for it to be outpoured. A tree gives water two ways, through its roots, but also osmosis through its leaves when it rains. Now from the moment that someone accepts Jesus and prays to be born again, they've co-died with Christ and been co-resurrected. You die with Jesus and you're raised from the dead from the very instant, the very instant you actually receive him by repentance and faith. Baptism becomes a subjective experience of what has happened to you. When someone goes under the water, it is burial with Christ, and again when they come out, it is resurrection with Christ. Somebody has already been baptized, in effect, from the moment they accept Jesus. They've co-died and co-resurrected. Let the Scripture say to have baptism, water and clouds. Baptism, what baptism does, and all baptism does, is take what is already positionally true and make it experientially true in the life of the believer. It takes an objective truth and makes it a subjective experience. When you pray to be born again, you've died with Christ and been resurrected as a new creation. When you go through baptism, it takes this objective truth and makes it a subjective experience in your life. Spirit baptism is no different. The apostles received the indwelling of the Spirit, but then the baptism of the Spirit happens the day of Pentecost. But let's look very quickly at the book of Acts, chapter 2, verse 38. What do we read here? And Peter said, Repent, let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Here these people were born again, baptized in water, and they received the Holy Spirit simultaneously. However, let's go to the book of Acts, chapter 8, in the case of the Samaritans. In Acts, chapter 8, verse 12, we read the following. But when they believed Philip, preaching the gospel about the kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike. And then in verse 17, they began laying their hands on them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit. Water baptism, then Spirit baptism. They didn't happen simultaneously here in Acts, chapter 8, as they did in Acts, chapter 2. But now let's look at the story of Cornelius in Acts, chapter 10, verses 44 to 48. While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message. And all the circumcised believers who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gifts of the Holy Spirit had been poured out upon the Gentiles also. They were hearing them speaking with tongues and exalting God, and Peter answered, Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, Kenny. And he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay on for a few days. So we have people who were born again, then were baptized in the Spirit at a different point. We have people who were born again, then baptized in water, and then, as in Acts, chapter 8, were baptized in the Spirit. We have people, conversely, as in Acts, chapter 10, were born again, baptized in the Spirit, then baptized in water. And in Acts, chapter 3, we have people who were born again, baptized in water, and baptized in the Spirit all at the same time. The point is, it's printable, not modeled. God wants us all to be born again. He wants us all to be baptized in water and Spirit. The chronology by which the experience happens doesn't matter. Some people will have a born again experience that will also be simultaneous with Spirit baptism. Think of a charismatic movement. These people didn't have two experiences. When they came into a genuine charismatic renewal, if they really were born again, it didn't just join a movement. And I'm sorry to say, much of the charismatic movement of people were never saved. It was simply people who joined a movement. But if they were renewed of the Spirit, they were baptized in the Spirit at the same time, weren't they? Others are born again, then they're water baptized, then they receive Spirit baptism, as in Acts 8. Others, it all happens in one. The only chronology we don't have is to baptize someone who is not born again. The idea of infant baptism, Peter baptism, and so on, it has absolutely no biblical basis whatsoever. What people must do is engage in asegesis, read things into the Scripture it does not say. We're told in the book of John, they are born not of the will of man, but of God. To take someone down and sprinkle them with water and pronounce them a Christian, that's of the will of man. These people never accepted Jesus. Let's continue, however, looking at this. We can believe in dedication of a baby, and praying that the parents will raise them up in the ways of the Lord. We can also say that the faith of parents sanctify children, up to a point they can make their own decision. But there is no biblical basis for saying God has grandchildren. They must reach a point where they accept the Lord Jesus personally. Let's look at this in Matthew 3, verse 7. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath that comes? Therefore bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance. Unless there is a genuine repentance from sin, there can be no biblical baptism. Yet today you see people getting baptized and joining the church and sprinkling babies when there's been no repentance. First of all, Jesus said, Suffer the little children unto me, theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed is he whose sin God does not take into account. Jesus does not hold those children accountable for their own sin under the judgment of hell until they are old enough to become responsible for it. Babies who die go to heaven. Nonetheless, today we have people being pronounced Christians in the traditional Anglican Book of Common Tract. The ritual for sprinkling a baby pronounces a baby born again. And I know people in the Anglican Church who were born again and came to the vicar and said, wait a minute, when I was a baby, you sprinkled me and told me I was born again. But at the gospel meeting the other night, he told me I was born again last Tuesday. Which was right? Were you telling me the truth when I was a baby? Or were you telling me the truth last Tuesday? You see the confusion when you go away from the word of God? Now let's look further. Let's look at Mark 16, 16. Here we read the following. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved. He who has disbelieved shall be condemned. Notice it does not say that he who has disbelieved and has not been baptized shall be condemned. It just says that he who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved. We make a distinction that the word of God doesn't. Clearly the scriptures here are not talking about what we would call in Latin an ex operato regeneration of baptism or baptismal regeneration. That is sacramental salvation. By some clergyman sprinkling a baby, telling him he's born again, he becomes a Christian. This is of course rubbish. Some people believe it, but they can't justify it from scripture. They have to read things into the Bible it doesn't say. When Jesus made predictions, or when Peter gave predictions, you and your whole family shall be saved, it was a prophecy in that given situation. But you can't say that someone is a Christian because their parents are. There is no biblical basis to any of this. He who has believed and is baptized shall be saved. This is not to say that if someone does not get baptized they'll go to hell. The verse doesn't say that. It's only those who disbelieve shall be condemned. What it does mean is we separate baptism and belief in a way the scripture doesn't. You think of the Ethiopian eunuch who met Philip in the book of Acts. He was baptized immediately. There is no biblical basis whatsoever for the practice of catechumenism, of giving people lessons in this and that and the other thing, and waiting to be baptized. Once someone truly believes and has a personal saving knowledge of the truth and a relationship with Jesus, they should be baptized. Nobody disputes that children can be baptized, providing they're really born again. It's only infants that can't be born again. Now let's look further. He who has believed and is baptized shall be saved. No, it does not mean baptism is necessary for salvation. What it means is baptism is part and parcel of the same process. You think of a Jewish wedding. What you had in a Jewish wedding was the following. You had a betrothal, which was legally binding. You had the actual nuptial or wedding ceremony itself. Then you had the consummation of the relationship when the two became one flesh. God told Adam and Eve to become one. Hence, becoming one flesh is part of the wedding. When two people fall in love and get married in the church and they're Christians, they make a vow to God. They get a license and they have a wedding ceremony, a nuptial in the church. And they become man and wife because they've made a vow to God. Hence, in the eyes of God they're married. In the eyes of the church they're married. And in the eyes of the state, the law, they're married. But suppose Jack and Jill never sleep together, never consummate their relationship. Are they married? Well, yes they are. They made the vow. They made the wedding contract. God says they're married. The state says they're married. The church says they're married. The state says they're married. They're married. But why don't they complete what they began? It's silly to have an unconsummated marriage. They shall become one flesh. It is part of the overall process. An unbaptized sister or somebody sprinkled as a baby and then who was saved afterwards, it's like an unconsummated marriage. There is no biblical basis for it. In conclusion, turn with me please to the book of Jeremiah chapter 31 verse 31. Jeremiah was up against a particular problem, what we might call today elastianism, a state church. Jewish people thought because they were circumcised as babies they were members of a covenant. John the Baptist had the same problem. You think you're Abraham's children just because you are physically Jewish and circumcised? God could raise up Abraham's children from the stone. Paul says he is a Jew who is not one simply physically or culturally or religiously but one inwardly. You could be born in a Jewish family but if their heart was not right they were not true Jews. Similarly, you can be born in a Christian family but being born in a Christian family does not make you a Christian any more than being born in a bakery makes you a donut. You must be born again. Jeremiah said a time would come when this would no longer be the case, where it would no longer be a national covenant but a personal one where God would write his law on our heart and he puts it this way in Jeremiah 31 31. Behold days are coming declares the Lord will I will make literally in Hebrew I will cut a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers. A new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Notice the new covenant was made with Israel and the Jews not the church. Romans 11 tells us that Christians are grafted into the Jewish covenant. The church does not replace Israel. Christians simply replace Jews individually who reject their Messiah but the new covenant is made with the Jews. Now let's look further. It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers. You're not going to sacrifice you're not going to circumcise the babies and pronounce them believers and members of the covenant because of a ritual when they're a baby. It'll be different the new covenant. You'll have to make a personal choice. The very thing that Jesus came to abolish and the new covenant he came to give. Constantine put it back. Augustine put it back. The medieval church put it back. Even the reformers put it back. Circumcise the babies. Sprinkle the babies. Make them part of the church. Make them part of the covenant. The word for church means ecclesia in Greek for called out ones. Those have been personally saved. My dear friends if you're not born again I don't care what church you go to or how Christian your parents are. You need to make a personal decision to turn from sin and accept Jesus. I don't care if you were sprinkled as a baby. He who believes and is baptized. Don't separate things God doesn't. No the good Jesus he was not baptized and he went to heaven. But if you are baptized Jesus said to make disciples not converts. He who is baptized and believes. The Lord wants you to obey his ordinance of baptism. You must be born again and if you are born again you must follow Jesus on the basis of scripture. That begins with baptism. Full immersion believers baptism and the stillness of God's spirit. God bless you and thank you.