What Is Water Baptism

Good morning. Welcome each one to the house of God here this morning. Greet you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and may the peace and the grace of God rule in our hearts here this morning as we continue in the service.

Appreciate it, Brother Abe, your thoughts there as well as Brother Henry on your thoughts in the children's lesson. Both the opening and the children's lesson, it really boils down to having a heart that's submitted and committed to God. I appreciated that.

Today, the message that I will share with us here this morning, I share at the request of a brother that I would share on this as I had mentioned at the brother's meeting that we might do it this Sunday and here we are. So a brother contacted me, this is, I don't know, some time ago, a month, two months ago, time goes fast. So I'm not sure, but it's been a bit and he said if you ever feel led, he would appreciate hearing a message on this very specific doctrine and I don't know exactly what he's looking for, perhaps more clarity, but I pondered.

I took that request to heart and I've been thinking about it from time to time and I was thinking perhaps there's others that would appreciate a teaching on the very topic and I was thinking maybe even perhaps we have some younger ones here that would have some questions regarding this topic. So at the request, by God's grace, I will endeavor to try to lay it out very simply. I want to make it plain.

I want to make it simple. My heart would be that even the youngest convert would be able to understand this doctrine, this teaching. But before we do that, I invite you to stand to your feet.

We'll have a word of prayer. Father, once again, we come into your presence, stand before your throne, as it were, throne of grace, throne of mercy, and we thank you, Father. We thank you that as we've already heard, you have not left us to ourselves.

You have given us a roadmap, given us warnings, and Father, even give incentives for us to make the right choice. You so desire that we would make the right choice and you bless and reward the right choices that we make. So Father, help us, as we heard, to grab a hold of that steering wheel and turn it in the right direction so that our life, that vehicle, would move along the right path.

And whenever we run out of fuel, we're ushered in to your presence where there's joy forevermore. We pray, Father, as we continue to look into your word and we consider very clear command here this morning, very clear teaching, we ask God that you would give us understanding. I do pray, Father, that scales, that fog, anything that would obscure the clear teaching and commands of your word could be removed.

Father, I pray this morning that perhaps we have many questions here. I pray that you, by your Spirit, would answer those questions. I pray, Father, further that in discussion times, other questions might arise and could be answered.

Father, I don't stand here claiming to be able to answer all questions or even to know what all the questions are, but I trust you to guide and to lead so that many a question could be answered. For your glory and for your honor, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

You may be seated. So if you were at Brother's meeting, then you already know what the topic is. The topic at hand for this morning is water baptism.

Now, I don't know where each one of you is at, but I do know that if you have questions or if there's unclarity in your own mind regarding the topic of water baptism, especially if you're one that has grown up and went through the motion of baptism and only come to faith afterwards, I realize that even just announcing what the topic is could put a little bit of a, oh no, in your heart. It could cause you to be a little bit uncomfortable. If that's you, if there's someone like that here this morning, I want to encourage you to just relax.

Just relax and take the word of God for what it says. I will endeavor to do my utmost to be plain, to be simple. I'll put it out there and it's for you to grab a hold of.

And it's for you to take up with God from there. So we're not here teaching on the topic of water baptism. My heart is one and one only.

Very plain, very simple that we would have an understanding. But because the requests had come, I realized that there are probably questions. And understandably so.

I will say this, that the doctrine of water baptism is actually a very simple doctrine. It's very simple. But it has been complicated.

And it has been distorted over the years. In many a setting, in many a church setting, in many a people group setting, water baptism has lost its meaning. It has lost its purpose.

Some churches, some people groups have stopped the practice of water baptism altogether. They have written it off as an unneedful practice. And everything is just becomes the spiritual.

And the spiritual is of utmost importance. The spiritual must be experienced before water baptism has any importance. Or yeah, you have to have the spiritual.

But I believe that God has so ordained and given the doctrine and the practice of water baptism so that there is a physical visual demonstration of the unseen inward work that God does in the heart of man. Does that make sense? When I think of water baptism having been complicated and distorted over the years, when I think of that in the context of many of our background, those of us who sit here this morning, water baptism, though once, and I believe even in our own background, at one time it was clearly understood, the purpose was understood. But it has lost its meaning and it's been distorted.

And it is largely today something you do because you have reached a certain age category. You reach that age of 17, 18, 19. You hit 20, you're waiting way too long.

Water baptism has become something that you do because it's expected. Everyone's doing it. And if you don't want to be left out and be an oddball, well, then you do it too.

Water baptism has become something that you do to hopefully become a better person. By going through water baptism, I hope, and brothers and sisters, we can sit here and we can shake our heads this morning, but that's the reality. Many a sincere person goes through baptism with the hopes that through water baptism they will become a better person.

Water baptism has become something you do to just simply become a member in a church. You join church. And for many, it's become nothing other than the license to get married.

Because without it, the church where many of us come from, you could not get married unless you were baptized. And I don't say that that's all wrong, to have some kind of application and requirement. I mean, they want you to marry into faith.

But water baptism, that motion of going through water baptism doesn't confirm that you have faith. So whether you reach a certain age category, or you do it because everyone else is doing it, or you do it sincerely hoping that by it, through it, you will become a better person, and through it, you join the church, and through it, you now get married, are any of these biblical reasons for water baptism? That is a question that we have to answer. If we are not clear on an answer to that question regarding some of those scenarios that I just gave us, then the rest of what I have to say today will probably not help you at all.

So are any of those valid, scriptural, biblical reasons to go through with water baptism? You answer that question. As you ponder that in your own heart and mind, see if this is going to work. It's supposed to be done with hot water.

So here, any time, any time, any scriptural, clear scriptural command is distorted. Like the teaching of baptism, we complicate matters, and that which once was clear becomes muddy. It becomes obscure.

We're trying to see the heart of God through this now. Pretty hard to see through there. I can see you through this.

I can't see you through this. Somehow, we're trying to see God through a distorted understanding of a very clear command and teaching. As any clear doctrine, not baptism only, as any clear doctrine gets distorted and becomes muddy, the sad thing is that whatever you see or don't see through this muddied up view, that becomes the normal practice.

And not only does it become the normal practice, it becomes what is deemed right. The right practice. Are you with me? So through which lens are we going to be able to interpret the doctrine? Any doctrine, but this morning we're talking about water baptism.

Again, I'll say, any time we distort a clear scriptural command, like water baptism, we complicate matters, and that which was clear becomes very muddy at best. And then sadly, that muddy view becomes the normal practice deemed as good and right. And then, when God, and God does this, God is so faithful in this, He brings back a people from time to time with a clear view once again.

Through the study of His Word, through prayer, through the fellowship of like-minded believers, you once again see what maybe you grew up with looked like this, you now see it like this. God is faithful. He's able to do that.

That's a blessing. I call that God bringing people back to a very clear teaching, and then practice. But then those that are looking through that muddy lens begin to raise all kinds of alarms.

They label the right practice as a wrong practice, because this has been deemed right. This has been right for so long, X amount of time, X amount of years, X amount of generations even. And those that have gone back to the Word of God see it as given in scripture.

They raise an alarm, they say, beware, beware, false teachers. They're not staying by that which they've been taught. They're not staying with what they've learned.

Beware. They even go beyond just calling it a wrong practice. They'll make some pretty strong claims and condemn us to hell.

They will go to the extreme and say that if you correct, if you went through, let's just say you came to faith after. You went through a motion of water baptism with this kind of a view, later on come to faith, and if God opens your eyes to see, I was not a child of God. I was not a candidate for water baptism by any means.

And you see it. And you now realize that the command for me is to get baptized still stands. It's still a requirement.

If you do it, some will say that's the blasphemy of the Holy Ghost. I know that many of us can identify, many of us that sit here can identify with the opposition to a correct understanding and practice of water baptism. And what I have said here thus far, I don't say that to fault or to criticize where we come from.

This is all they grew up with. This is what they grew up with. We cannot fault them.

I remember it was this very doctrine that set my father against me to the extent that he finally forbade us to come home. And I tried desperately. And I actually had convinced myself that very possibly by giving him a couple of illustrations that he would lower his guards and he would understand.

But he didn't. So I'm not faulting them. And I will actually give them credit that I'm glad that they're able to stand for what they firmly have been indoctrinated to believe.

What aches me and pains me is that for the most part there's an unwillingness to take what's been handed to them and cross-reference that with the teaching of the New Testament. That hurts. I wish they would just simply do that.

But we can't, we can't make them do that. The clear view and the muddy views, they clash. They are at odds.

They're as much at odds with each other as evil and good are at odds with each other. They always have been at odds and they will always continue to clash. And it's this clashing of views that brings on the struggle to rightly practice water baptism as commanded in the New Testament.

I mean who, when the majority that know you are looking through this, who wants all that opposing pressure? And that pressure is something you have to push through. You have to battle through. Nobody wants it.

But those clashing views, they then bring on this struggle to rightly practice water baptism as commanded in the New Testament. This clashing of views is what causes some that are truly, genuinely converted. Did you hear me? Truly, genuinely converted to resist biblical water baptism after they've gone through the motion of some years prior to being a child of God.

It is this clashing of views that causes many to justify why their first baptism, though it wasn't a baptism, not in a biblical sense, why it is valid. And again, I don't fault anyone. I understand where those pressures are coming from.

I understand where the battle's coming from. But once God has brought back a clear understanding, then there is an accountability that he holds us to. He holds us responsible to what we know and understand.

So it's too bad that mankind has made a mess of so many things that God has clearly commanded in scripture, this being one of them. But does what I have said thus far make sense? Are you with me? So I want to consider the topic, this doctrine of water baptism, in a question and answer format. Some of the questions I'll be asking will be asking the very same thing and just in different words, different terms, to try to look at it from maybe a different angle.

Because maybe you grew up with the term being a Christian. Maybe someone grows up using the term being saved. And to them, in their mind, Christian and being saved is not necessarily even synonymous.

So we'll do some of maybe some asking some of the same questions from with different terms. But the goal of my heart would be that we would have a clear biblical view. So let's start with our first question.

What is water baptism? A pretty simple question. What is water baptism? Well the word in the Greek, the word baptism in the Greek is the word baptizo, which means to immerse or dip. In a biblical sense, to baptize a person in water means to put that person completely underwater.

According to the Bible, water baptism is a symbolic act whereby a new Christian identifies with Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. Water baptism, okay, we're trying to answer the question, what is water baptism? Water baptism is a way of giving an outward testimony to an inward work of God that the New Testament calls the operation of God. Water baptism, when you go through, whether you were immersed or whether you were poured on, is supposed to, without any words being said from the one being baptized, give off that testimony that I've identified with Christ.

I'm one of his. It's a silent testimony that speaks louder than any words that we could say. If that's what water baptism biblically represents, that's what it is.

If we did not have that testimony of being a child of God, if we did not have the testimony of having come to saving faith, what does the motion of going through baptism do for you? It doesn't confirm your faith, doesn't seal your faith, doesn't give off a clear testimony. It's actually a lie. We're portraying, we're demonstrating a lie.

For anyone who knows what baptism represents, I can go to a baptism service somewhere and I would assume that those that are getting baptized are Christians. They don't, I don't know them, I haven't communicated with them, but my assumption is that they're a child of God. That's why they're going through water baptism.

That's what their act is telling me. But if it's not true in their heart, they've only deceived me. Their act has become a lie.

Does that make sense? Now try to reconcile that demonstration of a lie to be a valid form of water baptism if only faith comes some years down the road. Water baptism is a symbolic act whereby the believer identifies, testifies of Christ's death, Christ's burial, and Christ's resurrection. Water baptism is a public profession and testimony of a person's repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.

Water baptism is a way of giving an outward testimony to an inward work of God, as we already mentioned. In Colossians 2, 11 through 13, we read these words. "...in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands." It's not like the Old Testament circumcision.

This is a new form of circumcision. Without hands. "...and putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, buried with him in baptism.

Wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses." I find those verses to summarize the act of water baptism pretty good. So, what does water baptism signify? When God baptizes you into Christ, meaning you come to him, you've repented, you've turned away from your old selfish sinful life, and you turn towards God.

And God receives you. He does. He rejects none that come to him.

Praise the Lord. So, as you come to him, he accepts you. He accepts everyone that will turn to him.

But he doesn't leave us the way we are, right? He does not leave us the way we come to him. We come to him with all kinds of baggage. We come to him with a load of selfishness and sin.

Doesn't matter how little or how small. We come to him with some type of baggage. He receives us, and he takes and removes that baggage.

He cleanses us from that. He makes out of us a new person, a new creation, a new creation in our heart. We get a new mind.

So, it's in the unseen where God does this miracle, this work. As we come to him by faith, trusting him, he doesn't change our outward look. We remain the same.

But even our outward begins to clearly show that something's happened. Maybe before, we had a very long, sad face. We had a face that very seldom did it reflect joy when things didn't go my way.

Oh, I was happy. I had my moments when I was happy. But that's when things were going my way.

All of a sudden, you get a clear countenance. You can just tell they've had an encounter with God. Something's happened.

But the work is done in the unseen, where you and I don't see the operation. He makes of us a new creation in heart. Our bodies remain largely the same.

They're corruptible, and they will remain that way until the resurrection. That's just, that's how it is. In John 6, Jesus says, There's an inward change.

Your heart is washed. You are cleansed by and through the blood of Jesus. Your spirit is quickened.

It's made alive. I don't know how many testimonies I've heard. I've heard multiple testimonies that have said the same thing as what I experienced.

You know, my dad had a requirement that we would read the Bible. Good requirement. But it was a dead letter to me.

I mean, some of the stories I could kind of follow, and they were somewhat intriguing, but it wasn't like God was speaking to me. It wasn't like I was making application to my life from the Word of God. It was, at the very best, a storybook.

But then when I got saved, all of a sudden, the Word of God became alive. God quickened the spirit within me. That which was dead spiritually became alive.

And now it was no longer a matter of dad telling me, oh, you have to read. And dad did have a requirement, and some of you know this. I've shared this before.

Even on a Sunday afternoon, dad had a requirement. He wanted, somehow, he had a heart to want us to want to get God's Word into us. So we had to read our Bibles X amount of times a week.

We had to, on a Sunday afternoon, you know, you come home from church, and you have lunch, and then you want, you're ready, you're excited to get together with your friends. Run with the young people, right? Do what they want to do. You have plans.

Oh no, dad made us sit at home from 12 30 to 1 o'clock and listen to Mr. Ed Martins on the radio. We had to listen to a half-hour sermon before we could leave, Sunday afternoon. All of that changed when I got born again, from I had to, to I look forward to it.

Why? Because God quickened the Spirit within me. If I went through, and I could have gone through, water baptism without the Spirit having been made alive, without the Spirit having been quickened, and all I would have done is gone through the motion, as someone has said, went in the doors, a dry sinner, and walked out maybe a wet sinner. In heart, nothing changed.

Maybe I hoped something would change, but the water has no power to change. Another point of contention with my father, the last visit I had with him face to face, adamant that the water is what cleanses you. The water is what washes away the sins.

I'm not faulting him. This is what he grew up with. I tried desperately to clear it up.

Two times, maybe three times, even after forbidden to come home, I tried on the phone yet. But this is what he grew up with. This is what he's sticking to.

Not all stick to it, praise the Lord. So, Christ, this is the will of God, Jesus says, that he would lose none, and that he would raise them up again on the last day. This is the will of, also he says again in verse 40, this is the will of him that sent me, so the will of his Father, God, that everyone would see of the Son and believe on him may have everlasting life.

This is what water baptism signifies. I have that. So there's an inward change.

Your heart is washed, it is cleansed by the blood of Jesus, your spirit is quickened, you now have the indwelling of God himself within you. God has taken up residence. His abode is within you.

You are now, you have become this creation, this new creation that God makes out of us. He takes this stony heart, as we heard this morning in the children's lesson, I think it was, and he puts in, as some of the prophets would say, I think it's Ezekiel or Jeremiah, talks about taking out that stony heart and replacing it with a fleshly one, something soft, something pliable, something that's workable. It's not hard and stony.

That transforms this heart of ours into a temple of God. We become his abode. A place for him to abide within.

And that's supposed to be there before you go through baptism. If that's not there, if that's not a reality, what are you saying? What are you testifying of? So the Spirit of God moves in, and now, as part of this new creation, we now have the ability to communicate with God. We have the ability to hear his voice.

We are now loved by him, and in return we love him, and we obey him. That's our heart. We want to obey him.

We now have a power to overcome sin. When we get born again, not all sin is radically dealt with all the time. Some have a bit of a battle to contend with, even after a Christian.

But he gives power to overcome sin, and he gives grace to walk out the salvation that we have received. Simply walk it out. Having said that, I would say that water baptism symbolically bears testimony that we are someone that has been totally recreated.

Not just renovated. God didn't just go in and renovate one room, or two rooms, or one section, or two sections of our heart. No, he recreated.

We are a new creation, not a renovated individual. If any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Behold, all old things are passed away.

Behold, all things are become new. By going through water baptism, we illustrate that our old man is dead to sin, and we have been buried with Christ by faith, but also resurrected a new person. We are saying, I am freed from my old master, the devil.

I am freed from him. I now have a new master. His name is Jesus.

I now serve Jesus. So as we experience this new birth, sometimes there's confusion. When was I born again? Where was I born again? God doesn't seem to be concerned about a date and time.

God's concerned about a new heart. And for some, it's a longer process than others. But whenever someone is born again, the spirit, that part of man that was spiritually dead, becomes alive.

And that's perhaps one of the greatest proofs that you are now a child of God. You know, you and I can sit down with an individual, and they seem to be remorseful, and they can be confessing sins, and based on the Word of God, it seems like they're genuinely repenting, and they're turning to God, and praise the Lord. But in the end, you know what? You and I cannot determine what actually happened.

We can believe, and we can trust, and we hope that they truly repented and gave their heart and life to God. But only the individual will actually know, because the Spirit of God will bear witness with their spirit. Their own spirit will become alive.

And you and I can't necessarily tell that, other than observing. You know, give them time. It manifests itself outwardly, but it's an unseen inward work that only the individual and God really know at first.

But it's beautiful. Now we have a new master. We are now committed to walking in righteousness, not just because we still have this old cell, same body, doesn't mean that we walk the same course.

No, we have a new course, steering wheel, power through the indwelling of the Spirit of God. Romans 8 11 says, All right, let's go on to another question. Is water baptism necessary for, and then I have about four questions, sub-questions to that.

Is water baptism necessary to win or gain God's favor or acceptance with God? Is the question clear? Is water baptism a requirement for you and I to obtain the favor of God? Some would say yes, some would say no. What do you say? I say no. I say no.

Romans 4 2 verses 2 through 5 says, I'm accepted by God so that I can have a different life, a better life, a cleaner life, less sin. Maybe not sin free, but less sin. That'd be works.

Faith. Faith, true faith, the most holy faith, the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ. That faith, when we get that gift, and I call it a gift, the gift of faith, when we receive that gift, we receive acceptance with God.

That gift of faith is embraced before water baptism. If we want to have a New Testament baptism, a baptism that testifies of faith, faith must come first. In Romans 5 7 through 9, Paul writes these words, you know, he's talking from a human perspective, if you and I were called upon to give our lives for someone, maybe there's a slight chance that possibly for a very good close friend, we might be willing to die.

That's the picture he's giving here. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die. Yet peradventure for a good man, some would even dare to die.

But God commanded his love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, there was nothing good in us. Christ died for us. He died for us.

We did nothing to earn his death. We did nothing to deserve him dying for us. We were yet sinners.

So much more than be now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. So is it necessary to undergo water baptism to gain the favor of God? No. Romans 11 would tell us something very similar to Romans 4, just in the context of grace, but yet grace and works, grace and works.

Secondly, is baptism, water baptism, necessary for spiritual regeneration or salvation? Do we need to undergo water baptism to experience true genuine salvation? This is where the New Testament can get a little bit tricky because we have verses on both sides of the coin. Some almost seem to indicate that it is through baptism that we receive remission of sins. But I'm just going to try to keep it very simple here this morning and ask the question again.

Is water baptism necessary for you and I to experience this regeneration or the salvation of God? Redemption. And again, I say no. No.

In John 3, Jesus meets with Nicodemus there. Nicodemus, he came to Jesus by night and he addressed Jesus as a rabbi, acknowledging that Jesus was someone that was sent from God as a good teacher because he saw the miracles. He had heard of probably more miracles than he had actually witnessed himself, but he knew that this was a miracle working man.

And he says, my conclusion is you are a man sent from God. And Jesus tells him, accept a man, be born again. He doesn't say, accept a man, be baptized.

He says, accept a man, be born again. He cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus was stumped by that.

How can a man be born a second time? I mean, how is that even possible? I mean, he's just thinking in the natural, in the physical way. How is that possible? And Jesus says in response to his question, I say unto thee, accept a man, be born of water and of the spirit. He cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

And the word water there, I believe means, some would say, actually take that and say that means water baptism. But I don't believe that. I believe that's talking about the physical birth, the water that's involved in the physical birth.

That's the first birth. And then you have the rebirth, the spiritual, born again. Back to what Jesus told Nicodemus, born for the second time.

So you need to be born initially, obviously. I mean, you can't get born again if you're not born for the first time. But then after the first birth, you need to experience, if you want to see God, you need to experience the second birth.

And water baptism has nothing to do with that. So asking the same question in a different way, is water baptism necessary to become a Christian? No. A Christian, again, is someone within whom the spirit of God dwells.

In Romans 8, Paul writes, you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the spirit of God dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his. Bring it right back down to the spirit of God, God himself taking up a residence within us.

You can go through the motion of baptism, have water poured on you, be immersed, be sprinkled, whatever form of baptism. None of that can do the work that the spirit of God does. And the spirit of God is not in that water.

The baptismal waters have no power. It's all symbolic. Is water baptism necessary to be part of the church of Jesus Christ? Now, in our church, we have a practice, we take into membership only those who have come to faith and been baptized.

But is baptism necessary for you to become part of the church of Christ, the body of Christ? And again, I would say no, it is not. Again, we believe that on conversion, every individual receives the spirit of God, that Holy Spirit of promise. And upon receiving the Holy Spirit, you then automatically become part of the church of Christ, that universal church.

And none of us would disannul that, even though within the local brotherhood, we require that commitment to be sealed with water baptism. We are by that not saying you're not part of the universal church. The church of Christ, what is it? It is the family of God upon the face of this earth.

It's what it is. It's the family of God. And so when someone is born again, the Spirit of God is within him.

You are automatically part of that family without the water baptism. Water baptism won't bring you into God's family though. Your heart is not right.

Maybe your heart is right in that you desire to be free from sin, but you're not free from sin. Water baptism will not do that. It will not give you power over sin.

It will not bring you into the family of God. It can't. Does that make sense? 1 Corinthians 12, we have the analogy of the body with different members, many members, and yet being one body, and we'll just leave it at that.

But when we have the Spirit of God, we are part of that body. Now, having said all that, the Bible does tell us that there is a baptism that I think I've already stressed. Maybe I hadn't intended to anyway.

There is a baptism that is necessary to be part of the family of God. And that is that spiritual baptism, that baptism into Christ, the baptism of Christ. That must happen first for there to be any significance, any truth in the water baptism demonstration that we then go through later.

Spiritually baptized. Paul writes there to the believers at Galatia saying this in chapter 3, verse 25. But after that, faith has come.

We are no longer under a schoolmaster, for ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. That baptism into Christ is a spiritual baptism.

It's part of that operation of God. So at the moment of repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, you and I, all, every individual, is buried with Christ in baptism. Wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God who hath raised him from the dead.

So many would say and insist that water baptism is necessary for salvation. And although they are closely linked, I want to clearly state that water baptism is not required for salvation, but it is required after salvation. It follows after the spiritual rebirth.

Salvation is and always has been about faith in Christ Jesus. It's been about faith in his sacrifice. It's about faith in his shed blood for the remission of sins.

That is something only the blood of Christ can do. The Old Testament foreshadowed all the shedding of blood pointing to, finally, where Christ fulfills. His blood fulfills.

But all the animal sacrifices can only point towards. Does that make sense? So water baptism follows the experience of having been washed and cleansed by the blood of Christ. It's always about faith in Jesus.

Water baptism is purely an outward sign of God's cleansing work in a person's heart and is therefore meaningless without a prior spiritual baptism. Is water baptism important? So by now maybe you kind of feel like it's been downplayed a little bit. I did not intend on downplaying the importance of water baptism.

I'm just trying to put water baptism in its proper sequence. I hope you followed. Is water baptism important? Now I would say the answer is a resounding yes.

Like I said earlier, some church groups have done away with the practice of water baptism and spiritualized everything. But I say it is important. And I've seen individuals who refused water baptism.

Actually, I'm thinking of one particular young man right now. I worked with him for a number of years who, by all appearance, came to Christ, entered the family of God. But right from the get-go he said, but I will not get baptized.

And I remember looking at him. I said, why do you say that? He said, I am not comfortable getting baptized. I said, well, baptism is not a salvation issue.

But I said, if you start to kick against the clear teaching and commandments of God, this will become a salvation issue for you. And to my knowledge, to this day, every now and then I still meet him. I don't know that he's ever gotten baptized.

And he's got no word of testimony of walking with God. I link the two together. Is water baptism important? It's a matter of obedience.

It's a matter of us responding in faith, obeying in faith something that God has commanded that we do. And when we start to kick against that, when we start to resist that, it becomes a salvation issue. Water baptism, is it important? Yes, it is.

Again, Romans 6 verse 6, Paul says, knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. Is a unwillingness to submit and obey the word of God, even in the command of water baptism, a sin? Is that a sin? We need to come to a place where we're willing to say yes, if we're not there. That is a sin.

When we come to Christ, that body of sin is supposed to be destroyed. And it's supposed to be a surrenderedness, a yieldedness to the heart and will and commands of God. So, is it important? Yes, it is.

So who should be baptized? We have the example here in Acts 8. Here's Philip, who meets up with the eunuch. And Philip joins himself to the chariot. And the eunuch says to Philip, see, look, here's water, what hinders me from getting baptized? You ever wonder where he got that notion, to get baptized from? It's the common expected thing.

It was even then already. And Philip responds to the eunuch, he says, well, I mean, if you believe in your heart, you may. And the eunuch confessed, saying, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

That was the word of his testimony. Evidently, it was convincing enough to Philip to see the genuineness of this man, and he went and baptized him. The disciples throughout the New Testament, not just the twelve disciples, but disciples of Christ, they all were baptized.

And part of the reason was to proclaim their allegiance and commitment to following Jesus. And they did this regardless of some fairly severe consequences. For many first-century Christians, this identifying with Christ was unto death, even as it was for many of our forefathers.

Just a quick recall of some biblical examples here, New Testament examples of people that got baptized, were answering the question, who should be baptized? So in Mark 1 5, John the Baptist is on the scene, and he baptized all those that would repent. Acts 2 41, on the day of Pentecost, there was 3,000 people baptized. Acts 8 12 talks about the Samaritans that believed and were baptized.

Acts 9 18, Paul was baptized three days after he met Jesus on the road to Damascus. Acts 10 47, Cornelius and some of the other Gentiles were baptized. Acts 16 15, Lydia and her household were baptized.

Acts 16 33, many other Corinthians were baptized. Acts 19 5, the Ephesian disciples were baptized. All the biblical accounts have this one thing in common, water baptism followed belief in Jesus.

It was never the other way around, as we see it so confused today. Mark 16 16 says, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. Now what if I was sincere when I went through baptism, and I wanted to experience a changed life, sincerely? And I believe there are many such that approach water baptism with that kind of a heart set.

I want, I want to experience a changed life. What if a person says, I'm sincere, I was sincere. I did the best I knew, to the best of my understanding.

I know that I wasn't born again. I know that I wasn't saved, but my heart was sincere and good. I want it, a changed life.

Does God honor that baptism, if I get saved later on down the road? When you get baptized, you're supposed to be clean. Your water baptism does not cleanse you. You can dunk this, you can pour water on this all day long, all the days of your life.

It will never make this thing white. In a sinner and out a sinner. When you get baptized, this is supposed to be the state of your heart.

White, clean, the righteousness of Christ, blood supplied. This is qualified. This person is qualified to get baptized.

But what if I was sincere? You know, I'm not all black. I'm a pretty good person. No, I'm not white.

I don't have the righteousness of Christ, but I'm certainly not black. I mean, I'm pretty good. My intentions are good.

Well, you can dunk this all day long. It will not turn black necessarily, but it certainly won't turn white either. Something needs to happen in the heart.

Your spirit, the spirit of man needs to be quickened, made alive. And only then do we get baptized. Neither one of these, dunked all day long, are a baptism according to the New Testament.

Not a baptism on the confession of faith in Jesus Christ. Not a baptism of having identified with Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. Only once we receive the righteousness of Christ can we actually give off the right biblical testimony.

So, does God honor that baptism if I get saved later on? Maybe it's only a few months. Maybe it's a year. Maybe it's two years.

Maybe it's 20 years. Does God honor that baptism? Well, in response to that question, I would simply ask you, what is the meaning and the purpose of baptism? And then you answer the question whether God can honor that or not. Water baptism demonstrates obedience to the command of Jesus when he says, Go ye therefore, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

Water baptism gives evidence of saving faith. So, is it okay to be baptized more than once? Well, you only need one baptism. You just need to make sure it's a valid one.

Ephesians 4 talks about one faith, one Lord, one baptism. There is only one, though there's many versions. There's many wrong lords.

There's many wrong gods, false gods, false Christ, but only one true one. And we only need the one Christ because only the one can save and will save and does save. There's only one true faith.

Many different beliefs out there, but there really is only one faith, one true faith. And so it is with water baptism. There is only one true water baptism, and that's the one that follows faith.

Does that make sense? Water baptism, the true, the one true baptism follows faith, not the other way around. So, is it right to get baptized again? Maybe we should return it and just say, Get baptized, if I went through the motion. Acts 19, it came to pass that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper coast, came to Ephesus and finding certain disciples, he said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.

And they said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said unto John's baptism. Then said Paul, John barely baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. And when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Here they were, a group of believers, heard the teaching and the preaching of John the Baptist, embraced the teaching of repentance, got baptized unto John, so to speak, in his teaching. Paul comes on the scene, Hey, have you received the Holy Ghost? What are you talking about? We haven't even heard of such a thing. Well, what were you baptized unto? Well, for them, it was the repentance that John preached.

For us, it could be marriage. We're baptized unto marriage, so to speak, just so we could get married. It could be to hopefully become a better person.

In a nutshell, it puts us in the same camp as these people. We were baptized, but not unto Jesus. Not baptized because of faith in Jesus.

We hadn't experienced the new birth. Lastly, I'll just say this yet, raise the question, does the mode of water baptism matter? The mode, whether it's pouring, whether it's immersion, does it matter? My answer is no. I think over the years, we've always left it open for the individual to decide.

I say no, only because the Bible does not seem to emphasize the mode. The Bible puts all the emphasis on the individual being baptized that his or her heart would be right with God. That's where the emphasis of the New Testament is.

However, if you want to portray the best visual demonstration, the best visual picture of what baptism in the true sense, what it says, what it speaks of, immersion is perhaps the better way. Because in immersion, you signify that you have died and you've been buried. You go into the water, you've been buried with Christ, and you're resurrected.

You come up out of the water, a new person. Physically, that makes the most sense, gives us the clearest, best picture. But does the mode matter? And I say no, I don't think so.

Do I have a preference? I do, but the mode by itself, I don't think matters. What matters is that you have a true, clear testimony. And you come before however small or big the group of people is, and you demonstrate that by sealing that faith of yours, that relationship in Christ through water baptism.

I think we've ever only had one in our own local church over the years, and I don't question that mode. But do I have a preference? Yeah, I do have a preference, but that's where I leave it. It's a preference.

So I hope that answers some questions at least. I'm open to receiving other questions. Water baptism is actually very simple.

The purpose of it, the reason behind it, is very simple. It's just mankind has made a mess of it. And it creates real struggles.

It does. We acknowledge that. Let's pray.

Father God, we come before you again at the close of this service. We thank you, Father, for this time. We thank you, Father, for your word.

We thank you, Father, for the clarity of your word. Father, we want to thank you this morning for opening our eyes to see. And should there be someone here who sees dimly, not clear yet, I pray, Father, again, that you would clear up any fog.

Father, I pray that each one that names the name of Christ, would have a clear conscience concerning water baptism. It's a beautiful thing. We thank you, Father, for that ordinance.

But more than that ordinance, Father, we thank you for the inward reality that we can have with Jesus Christ. Continue to minister to us, Father. I pray that by your Spirit, any lingering questions could be answered.

Commit this service to you. Commit all that has been said to you, asking for your blessing again. In Jesus' name, Amen.