1 Peter 3:18-22

• 1 Peter 3:18-22

  • Main Theme: Understanding the role of baptism in salvation, as Peter says, "There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism" (v. 21).

  • Key Question: Does baptism save, and if so, how?

  Points Discussed:

  1. Extremes in Baptism Theology:

     • Over-objectification: Viewing baptism as salvific by itself (e.g., baptism automatically regenerates or washes away original sin).

       • Problems: Redefines terms like "regeneration," adds extra-biblical rituals (e.g., penance), creates false assurance of salvation.

     • Memorialism: Seeing baptism as a mere declaration or symbolic ritual without spiritual effect.

       • Problems: Neglects the biblical connection between the sign (water) and the thing signified (cleansing and union with Christ).

  2. Balanced View of Baptism:

     • Baptism is a sacrament, a "holy ordinance instituted by Christ" that involves:

       • A sensible sign: Water symbolizing cleansing, regeneration, and union with Christ.

       • Spiritual reality: The Holy Spirit’s work in uniting believers to Christ and applying salvation.

     • Baptism itself doesn’t save, but the Holy Spirit uses it as a means of grace when paired with genuine faith.

     • Like the Lord’s Supper, baptism has both outward and inward components: the outward sign (water) and inward work (renewal by the Spirit).

  3. Infant Baptism:

     • Based on biblical patterns (e.g., household baptisms, Colossians 2:11-12 linking circumcision and baptism).

     • Parents baptize children in faith, treating them as disciples and praying for the Holy Spirit to bring them to saving faith.

  4. Application:

     • Don’t trust in baptism as a mere ritual or outward sign for assurance of salvation; trust in Christ alone.

     • Remember your baptism as a call to holiness and a reminder of God’s covenant promises.

     • For children who have been baptized: Parents and the church pray and labor for the day they profess faith in Christ.

  5. Theological Foundations:

     • Westminster Confession of Faith: Baptism signifies and seals the believer's union with Christ, cleansing from sin, and regeneration by the Spirit.

1. Context and Themes

• Historical Context: Written by Peter to Christians facing persecution, reminding them of Christ’s suffering and victory.

• Key Themes:

  • Christ’s atoning work: “The just for the unjust” (v. 18).

  • Symbolism of Noah’s ark and baptism (v. 20-21): Salvation through judgment.

  • Assurance of Christ’s victory: His exaltation at God’s right hand (v. 22).

2. Digging Deeper

1. What does “baptism now saves you” mean?

   • Explore the relationship between the outward sign (water) and the inward grace (Holy Spirit’s work).

   • Compare other Scriptures: Titus 3:5 (washing of regeneration), Romans 6:3-4 (union with Christ in baptism).

2. What is the antitype in verse 21?

   • Discuss how Noah’s ark prefigures salvation through Christ. Just as Noah was saved through water, baptism points to salvation through faith in Christ.

3. Role of the Holy Spirit in Baptism:

   • Highlight the Spirit’s sovereignty in applying salvation and regenerating hearts (John 3:5-8; Ezekiel 36:25-27).

3. Westminster Standards Integration

• Westminster Confession of Faith (28.1): Baptism signifies and seals engrafting into Christ, remission of sins, and walking in newness of life.

• Larger Catechism (Q.165): Explains the benefits of baptism as signifying and applying Christ’s work through the Spirit.

• Shorter Catechism (Q.94): Defines baptism as a sacrament of initiation into the covenant of grace.

4. Practical Application

• Reflect on your baptism: Are you living in light of its promises and obligations?

• Trust in Christ alone for salvation, not the act of baptism.

• Parents: How are you discipling your baptized children to bring them to faith?

• Daily repentance and renewal: Baptism reminds us of God’s ongoing work in our lives.

Please turn over in your Bibles with me to 1 Peter chapter 3. 1 Peter chapter 3. We'll continue to do our kind of deep dive series through verses 18 through 22. 1 Peter chapter 3. We'll read verses 18 through 22. You'll find that on page 1078 if you're using the provided New King James Pew Bibles. Hear now God's perfect word. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison. who formerly were disobedient when once the divine long-suffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is eight souls, were saved through water. There is also an antitype which now saves us, baptism. Not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God. through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him. Thus ends this portion of the reading of God's Word. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God endures forever. Let's pray. God, we need your Holy Spirit this morning to help us Lord, I'm just a sinful man who slips up in speech, messes up words. So Father, we pray that your Holy Spirit would take indeed your word that's written on this page and give us eyes to see, give us ears to hear, give us hearts to believe, give us your spirit to give us wisdom and understanding, Lord. We pray that we would indeed be shaped by Your Word, by the power of Your Holy Spirit. Father, we need You to help us now, in Jesus' name, Amen. Two stories, two very different people. both involving baptism. One was a co-worker I had, and he and I had lots of conversations about Jesus and the gospel. And he was, the first time I ever met him, he said, I said, well, what's your faith? What do you believe in? He said, I'm a pagan. Wow, I've never met anybody who just outright says it. This is cool. Let's talk about this. Well, we worked together for two summers, and he was not a Christian. Jesus was just a good moral teacher. He didn't feel contrition for sin. He didn't have any hope in salvation in Jesus alone. And yet one day he said something weird. He said, Brian, I just got to get baptized. What do you mean you just got to get baptized? He said, yeah, I just got to get baptized. I don't know what it is, but there's something in me that I just got to get baptized. kind of picked around a little bit to see maybe something had changed. Maybe he did believe in Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. Maybe he did believe that Jesus had died on the third day, or died and rose again on the third day. Maybe something had changed, but no, it wasn't. No, he just felt bad about stuff that he was doing, and he just wanted his conscience cleaned off, and he thought, if I just get baptized, then I'll feel better. Well, that's not what baptism's about. But then another person in a church, a congregation, was going through a period of time where they were going through their roles and they were seeing who had been baptized and maybe they became a Communicant member, but they weren't coming to church anymore and nobody knew of their Christian faith. And this one lady, she was not living a Christian life. She was just living like the rest of the world. And when the elders said, we're going to be taking you off the rolls, she protested and sent a picture of her baptism certificate and said, but I was baptized here. See, she saw baptism as just this absolute right that she belonged no matter what. Do you see, both of these people were treating baptism in an incorrect way. Seeing it as somehow, either this, both of them, almost a guaranteed way in which God or the people of God must accept this person. So what is the case? What do we do with verse 21? This is where the main thrust of this is going to come from. Remember in verse 20, Noah was saved while the ark was being prepared in which a few, that is eight souls, were saved through water. And then it connects that type, Noah being saved through water in verse 20, with the anti-type. There is also an anti-type which now saves us baptism. So here's the question. Does baptism save you? Noah was saved, and that was a type, and he was saved through the water, and the anti-type which now saves you, baptism. So does baptism save you? That's the main question that we need to wrestle with today, and the debate largely swirls around these issues. Well, one, what in the world is baptism? Right? Is it some just religious ritual? involving some magic water, some blessed water? Is it nothing more than Jewish purification ceremony? Secondly, what does baptism do? Does it do anything? Does it do nothing? Does it wash you from something? What does baptism do? And thirdly, what does baptism have to do with the resurrection? We're going to explore that especially next week. But as our mode of going through this sermon series has gone, I'd like to start with what I think are two extremes. If you've ever seen those granny or grandfather clocks or whatever they're called. They got this pendulum that goes side to side, moves back and forth and back and forth. Sometimes there's extremes when you come to theological debates. On one side is this over-objectification of this phrase, which now saves us, baptism. And that means baptism does save you, period. And the other side is baptism doesn't save you, period. So one says baptism does everything and the other says baptism does nothing. So let's start with the literal side. So baptism literally saves you. I believe this is a problematic extreme. And if you read theologians and even different churches' catechisms that have this position, They'll say that baptism works by its doing it. The Latin phrase is ex opere operato. Just by the doing of the thing, the stuff happens. Just like when you put fire to wood, the wood burns. Just by doing it, it happens. The Holy Spirit works in baptism, they say, because the Holy Spirit works because He promised to do it from or through baptism. And so as you read through these catechisms, and I spent lots of time making sure that I'm not bringing you strawman arguments, I made sure I was reading their own materials to make sure I was understanding things correctly this week. What does that mean, though, that baptism saves you? Does it mean that baptism, they really believe, regenerates a person, makes them born again? Yes, they say, it does. They'll say baptism, when we say baptism saves you, we really do mean that the adults and infants who are baptized are born again. So what do they say it does then? They say it washes away original sin. All the guilt that came from Adam is washed away. They would say it's an initiation into the church and an initiation into this life of grace. That baptism is grace infused. And that this grace is offered again and again and again throughout the person's life. I think there's a number of problems with this. Problem number one with this is you have to redefine your terms. If you say, does baptism really save you? They say, yes, baptism saves you. But then we say, But does it really, like if they're saved, like you pulled someone out of, like somebody was drowning in the water, you save them from the water, now they're no longer drowning, now they're alive and they're safe and they're saved, does it really save you like that? No, not really save you like that. It's more like the person's drowning and you've given them a life jacket maybe, but they can still take the life jacket off and die. It's just a possibility. being saved. The second problem with this is so you have to redefine regeneration and what salvation means. The second problem with it is there's an over objectification here. What happens if somebody is saved but then in their lives they prove to be ungodly or non-Christians? Well, then you know you gotta deal with that, right? If the person's really saved because they're baptized, but then they prove to be sinners, well, what do you do with the sin? Well, you have to come up with different types of sins, right? There are sins that will condemn you to hell and sins that won't, right? There's mortal and venial sins. And so these sins really prove that you're not a Christian and you're gonna actually die. And these other ones, well, they'll be dealt with somehow else. So it doesn't actually save you from your sin. Problem number three, if baptism just cleanses you from your original sins, what about your actual sins? What about your actual sins? What about stuff I actually do? I think every single one of us knows our problem is not just the guilt that we inherited from Adam or the bent towards sin that we naturally have. I get impatient with my children. I like candy too much. I struggle with being a sluggard at times. We deal with our own real sins. So what do you do if baptism washed you from those original sins, but not your actual sins, what do you do? Well, this school of theology will say, well, you deal with that through a number of different ways. Through confession. By taking of the Lord's Supper. By doing penance, giving alms, and fastings, and prayers. Or through certain sacramentals you can remit sins. By doing certain things with holy water, and blessings, and wearing of a scapular, or even at the end of your life, getting a special blessing by a priest called extreme unction to make sure that you actually make it through the door. Do you see how, okay, you want to say so badly that baptism saves you in a real objective way that then to deal with all the theological problems of that you have to bloat all this unbiblical stuff or extra biblical stuff into the system. That doesn't actually give anybody any hope of being saved. Because what happens if you missed penance? You didn't confess enough sin. You die without extreme munction. When are you ever sure you're actually saved? Leaves a whole bunch of weight and no assurance, no rest. The other problem with this, the fourth problem with this over-objectifying of the sacrament is that it treats baptism like a totem or superstitious. It treats it as if just because, it's almost like when I was overseas, I remember people would wear little emblems. And because they had this little sign on them, evil spirits would be kept away and they'd be kept safe. That's how it treats baptism. Superstitiously. It's this assurance that because I am baptized, thus I am definitely saved. And then it, because of this, brings in through the back door a whole complex system by which you're able to somehow stay saved and maybe possibly truly be saved even though you were told baptism does save you. It's a bait and switch. It's a problem. So that's this extreme of this kind of literal baptism does save you position. But what about on the other side? The other extreme is a memorial view. And in history, this is a reaction against this sacramental-fueled and sacerdotal-filled interpretation. The extreme opposite was, no, it doesn't save you, period. It does absolutely nothing, but it's just a bare declaration that I am with Jesus. That's what it is. It's saying, I believe in Jesus and that's it. It's saying, I believe in Jesus, and because I believe in Jesus, I'm united to Jesus, but baptism means nothing more than me making that declaration. It's meaningful to the person who's declaring, but it means nothing else. Baptism doesn't save you. They would say, Peter is just using hyperbole here. And the pledge, which this speaks about, this answer of a good conscience, is their answer to God, of a good conscience, that they have made a profession of faith. That they have identified with his life, death and resurrection. Interestingly though, this is just as an observation, I was raised in one of these types of churches, and this low view of the sacrament, I remember going back and talking to my parents' pastor, and I asked him, what are your views on the sacraments? And he said, we don't call them sacraments, they're ordinances. They're just ordinances, Brian. I thought, okay, that's interesting, flesh it out for me, pastor. And so he did, but what I come to find out is that even though he would say they're just ordinances, he actually had an extremely high view of this ordinance. Right, actually it was so much of a high view of this ordinance that it being nothing more than a memorial was a distinctive of their church. And not just that it was an ordinance, but that even the mode, right, whether you were sprinkled or poured or dipped or dunked, right, how this ordinance was done was absolutely essential imperative whether or not your ordinance was actually true or not. So see, it's said to be a low, but now it's actually a high. Because if you're not actually doing it the exact way we're saying, then it's absolutely wrong, period. And then there's what would rise up as within a group of, and this is a loose group over a painting with very broad brush strokes here, is an Anabaptist view that You must make sure that every single person who is baptized, you know with certainty they are born again. And while that's appealing, what's the problem? I don't know your heart. How do I know if you are truly regenerate or not? There are plenty of people who have tricked themselves thinking that some type of emotional high that they had at some revival or some type of preaching, that somehow they were born again, and then they find out 10 years later, I don't have any love for God. No love for his word, no love for his people. We can't know, we don't have regeneration goggles. One of the things, I remember one of my buddies at Geneva, he held on to this view. I mean, this guy loved the Lord. I was kind of surprised. He moved back down to North Carolina after like sophomore or junior year, something like that. And he gave me a phone call one time, he said, Brian, I got baptized again. I was like, what do you mean you got baptized again? He said, oh yeah, I wasn't a Christian when I was at Geneva, but now I'm really a Christian. And I know I needed to get baptized again because now I know I'm really a Christian. See, what he was wanting in baptism was somehow that the sign of baptism would somehow give his heart assurance that he really was now truly saved. He was looking to the water to give him, or to his profession, to give him some type of assurance that only the Holy Spirit could actually provide for him. Do you see they're ending up at the same place? Whether the high view or the low view, both of them are ending up at the place where there's not assurance of salvation. and looking for baptism to do something that it wasn't designed for. So what's the middle ground? What I believe is a biblical interpretation of this passage. It's coming up from this passage, verse 21, there is also an antitype which now saves us, baptism. What does that mean? How can baptism save us? The word that we use in theology in our confession is the efficacy. How does baptism become efficacious? What's the effect? How does it work? How does baptism save us? Well, we need to unpack a few things first. What in the world? We keep using this word sacrament. What is a sacrament? What does that word even mean? Sacrament just comes from the Latin word sacramentum. And that's Latin, it's not a Bible word, just like Trinity isn't a Bible word, it's just a word the church came up with that they thought would work well. But the point is, a sacrament is a sacred act binding a believer to God and binding God to the believer. So what is a sacrament? There's only two sacraments of the New Testament. A sacrament is a holy ordinance instituted immediately by Christ. It's from the lips of Jesus who said, take this bread, eat this bread and drink this cup. for as often as you do of it." That was Jesus' words. He instituted immediately the Lord's Supper. And he was also the one in Matthew chapter 28 who immediately, he himself, not through any intermediary, Jesus himself told the disciples, go and baptize. So it's instituted immediately by Christ. And every sacrament has two parts. The first is a sensible sign. Something that you can taste, feel, see, touch. There's something that is the word preached through the eyes. That's what a sacrament is. It's got something visible and tangible that we're able to see. In the Lord's Supper this is really easy. We have bread and we have the fruit of the vine. We know that what do these things represent? The body of Jesus broken for us and blood of Jesus poured out for us as the blood of the new covenant. For the remission of our sins. That's what they represent. The signs point to a spiritual reality. But what about water? What's the sign? The sign is water. Just regular water. We get it out of the tap downstairs. I don't buy it from the river of Jordan or something. We don't import it from some iceberg in Alaska. No, no, it's water. It could come from a spring, it could come from an oasis, it could come from a river. It's just water. Just water. No magic, no incantation, nothing special. It's water. Why? Because it's just a sign. The water itself is just a sign. What does the water represent, though? What is it communicating to us? Titus 3.5, through the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. It is a sign of our being born again. The water also represents a purification from sins. That's what Peter's getting at here in verse 21. Not the removal of the filth of the flesh, It's not about, somebody comes up here, they make a profession of faith, we're gonna baptize them because they had dirt in their hair or grime on their face. We're not giving them a bath up here. They can go home and take a bath. That's not what this is representing. It's not the flesh of the flesh, but it's the filth of the heart. It's cleansing us, purifying us from sin, that we might be able to stand before God. Romans chapter six, verses three through four, Galatians chapter three, verse 27, and especially Colossians chapter two, tell us so that baptism also represents us being united to Jesus in his life, death, and resurrection. That's what baptism is representing. But again, more than that, it's not just that, It's also baptism of the Holy Spirit. This water that's washing us on the outside is meant to show that the Holy Spirit comes in us and that our filthy hearts are being cleansed, made clean. Again, Titus chapter three, verses five through six. So baptism is not some type of totem. It's not magic, it's not an incantation. But we still got this problem, don't we? There's also an antitype which now saves us, baptism. How can Peter say that baptism saves us? That's where I'm very thankful I don't have to come up with answers for you. Smarter people than me have been here before. The Westminster Confession of Faith regarding the sacraments says this. There is in every sacrament a spiritual union between the sign, meaning the water, and the thing signified. There is a spiritual connection between these two. There is a sign-grace relationship. There is a spiritual bond between the outward sign and the inward reality. Or to say it a different way, there is an inherent link. and theological distinction between what we see with our eyes and what's happening spiritually in the life of the person. And this is just a natural use of language. When we celebrate the Lord's Supper, and I say to you, take, eat, this is his body broken for you. this sensible person who understands just a common sense language of how language works, is that you're just eating bread. And yet, you know that the Holy Spirit, at times, as you're eating that bread, is able to strengthen you in your Christian walk. The Holy Spirit uses that sacrament, like he does in baptism, to do all sorts of things spiritually in us. And if we didn't think that the Spirit did anything in the sacrament, then why did people get sick and die when they took the Lord's Supper in an unworthy way? It seems like the Holy Spirit surely is working, and God takes it seriously. So no, bread isn't literally his body, and the stuff in the cup isn't literally his blood. We don't have to come up with all sorts of Aristotelian distinctives like, well, it's kind of like his blood, but it's kind of like his body. And it's accidents, and it's substance, right? No, no, no, hold on. No, no, no, no, no. No, it's not literally his body, and it's not just memorial. When the outward sign is true, of the Holy Spirit's working in the inward reality, we can say, baptism saves. It's gotta both be true though. The outward sign needs to meet the inward seal. What the Holy Spirit's doing in the heart of the person, and again, that's the Holy Spirit's knowledge of what he knows is going on. The Holy Spirit is sovereign. I really want to emphasize this here. In baptism, the Holy Spirit is sovereign. Saving those who are gods. He is the one who decides to save. He is the one who decides when in that person's life he will save them. And the Holy Spirit will not be mocked. by thinking that somehow, just because we start pouring water on people, by de facto, they're automatically Christians. Again, you've heard me say this before, if that was the case, if I thought that baptism saves people in the way that like the instant they get washed, they're gonna, or they get sprinkled, right, they're gonna immediately become Christians, on the 4th of July, I would walk down the road with a super soaker and get everyone wet I could. But that's not the case, that's not what's going on here. The Holy Spirit does the washing. The Holy Spirit does the renewal of life. The Holy Spirit gives faith. The Holy Spirit bears testimony to us that this baptism is true in us. The Holy Spirit unites us to Christ by faith in His Son. The Holy Spirit applies the benefits of redemption to us. This is the working of the Holy Spirit, not the dude pouring the water on the kid or the person, or the water itself doing it. This is the work of the Holy Spirit. That's what's happening in baptism. That's why we're able to save. There is an antitype which now saves us, baptism, because the Holy Spirit uses it. The Holy Spirit does it. Now there are going to be some who say, well then I guess the Holy Spirit must have to use it. No, go talk to the thief on the cross who died without baptism and Jesus said, today you will be with me in paradise. No, this is how the Holy Spirit, this is how the triune God decided to both display and work. Now, I know that there are some in the congregation who are less comfortable with this idea that we have of baptizing infants, because you might say, well, hold on, we don't know if they're regenerate. We don't know if they're making profession of faith themselves. We don't know whether these babies, how do we think about them? Well, first, we don't believe in baptismal regeneration. I think that should be very clear from this whole part where we're at right now. We don't believe just because we've poured the water on the baby, thus, the second the water touches them, they are born again. We don't believe that. But then people say, well, hold on, then do we presume that they are regenerate? I say, well, I want to be a little bit careful on that one, too. Because in a real sense they've been baptized so they're added to the number. The number being the church. But we don't treat them like little pagans. Nor do I assume that every single one of my children is automatically regenerate. No. How do we treat them? As disciples. We give them all the benefits of growing up in a Christian home, to hear the word of God, to come to worship, to have people pray with and for them, to be surrounded by all the benefits of redemption, that someday they might hear of Jesus Christ, and in their own hearts, by the power of the working of the Holy Spirit, say, that's my Savior, He's my Lord, and I believe in Him. Children, that is the hope we have for you. We baptize you not because we think that somehow it's going to automatically make you Christians, but you, if you have been baptized, truly are members of this church, and we long for the day that you will profess Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. That is our hope. That's why we treat you like disciples, because until you prove otherwise, we're going to keep showing you the love of Jesus. until you make that profession of faith for yourself. So we take a humble position saying, we don't know. But all we know is God's given us these children, he's put them in our households, and he's shown us in scripture that there are household baptisms, that whole families are baptized, and so we baptize our children, we treat them as little disciples, because Jesus said, do not hinder these little ones that come unto me, for thus is the kingdom of heaven. So we trust that it might even be for them. We get this from Colossians chapter 2. Colossians chapter 2. I'm going to invite you to turn there if you've got your Bibles with me. Colossians chapter 2. We're almost done with this section. Colossians chapter 2, beginning at verse 9. For in him, that being Jesus, for in Jesus dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you are complete in Him who is the head of all principality and power. In Him, that being Jesus, in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands. You see, Paul is talking to Jewish people and he says, when you were circumcised, you were circumcised into Christ, but not in your flesh, in your heart. Because you believed in him by putting off the body of sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. You see, that's what circumcision was always pointing towards. Was towards being united to Christ by putting off sin. And then notice verse 12. Organically, seamlessly, verse 11 goes into verse 12. Same sentence. Buried with him in baptism. in which you also were raised with him through faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead. Baptism replaced circumcision, both of them showing that Jesus is the one we're united to and the only one we have hope in. And so if the children of the Old Testament were circumcised in Christ. So we baptize now our children in Christ. And you're right. Some of my Baptist friends will say, but Brian, you don't know if they're saved. And I would say, absolutely, you're right. And neither did Isaac know if Jacob and Esau would be saved. But yet he still circumcised both. Raised them both in the same godly household. And someday they had to figure out who they were going to be. And we would find out who the Holy Spirit was working in. And so because of that example, and again it's because of Colossians chapter 2 and household baptisms that we see, we baptize our infants. And children are baptized members of church until they make their own profession of faith. At which point, if they come to the elders and they say that this is the time in which they have said, Jesus is my Lord and my Savior. I'm not just riding on the coattails of my parents' faith, but he is my Lord. I can discern his body. He died for my sins. I trust in his resurrection. Then we admit them to the Lord's table. And so baptism, is not regenerating by itself, but it's by the power of the Holy Spirit working in them. And he indeed, the Holy Spirit seals his, he marks them as his own, because the Holy Spirit knows who are his. But the outward sign of baptism must match the inward reality in the life and heart of the person. So yeah, sure, we can say it, because Peter says it. There's an anti-type which now saves us. Baptism. Because the Holy Spirit works. And we trust that He does baptize us. He does cleanse us from our sins. He does unite us to His Son. He does give us new life in Him. And so application time, and this is going to be fast. Don't trust the sign alone. The Holy Spirit will not be mocked. As I think about this, there's these horrible fires going on on the West Coast. I've gotten messages, not from my direct family, but from acquaintances and people I grew up with who have lived in places where their homes are gone. And it's... You can imagine being at a house. And the house is on fire. And as the house is on fire, you see lights in the distance, flashing lights. And you hear sirens. And then you see the trucks. And you've even watched them roll out the hoses. And you think, yes, I'm saved. All the signs are here that salvation has come. But there's no water coming through the hoses. There's no hope. The Holy Spirit must be applied to the fire of sin that's raging like an inferno in our hearts to put out and to cleanse us and to save us. Don't trust just in the sign. God won't be mocked. Look to Christ. Application two, look to Christ. He is the answer of a good conscience towards God. when someone comes up here and they take their Communicant membership vows, we ask them, as you promised to give your account with joy at the last great day, what's your account going to be? Is it going to be that you stand before God and you say, I was baptized? That's not going to cut it. No, as we stand before God, and indeed there is a day of death, And after this, the judgment. Is your only hope Christ? Is He the answer of your good conscience? Are you able to say, God, I don't have a good conscience in and of myself, but you washed me in the waters of regeneration. You made me hope in Jesus Christ alone for my salvation. I don't have the good works, but my risen Savior Jesus Christ does. And because you have united me to Him, and I know He's alive and He's standing here at your right hand, Lord, I don't have a good conscience in myself, but look to your Son at your right hand. I can stand before you because He lives. He paid for my sin and you sent your Holy Spirit and you washed me and called me your own. That's our hope. Look to Christ. Christ lived for you, Christ died for you, Christ rose again for you. My question is, did he really do it for you? Are you trusting in your baptism, just the water poured on you, or are you trusting in Christ? But thirdly, last application, we'll wrap it up with this. Our confession and our catechisms use kind of a weird phrase, but I think it's apropos here. Improve on your baptism. Baptism was meant to be a sign, not the end game. I represent the washing of regeneration, the cleansing of your sin. So don't go roll around like a pig in the mud. Get out of the filth. Stay away from the filth of this world. Go to God again and again and again, confessing your sins. For He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and forgive us of our transgressions. So go to Him and be washed in the blood of Jesus. Remember again and again that you need to be cleansed from your sins only by His work. And walk in a way that your baptism is pointing you towards. Draw strength. Draw strength not just from the water that was pouring on your head, but draw strength because you know that the Holy Spirit is working in you. He's united you to His Son. Endeavor to live by faith. Let your speech be filled with holiness and godliness. Why do we wash our kid's mouth out with soap? Maybe that's like child abuse today or something, I don't know. In a bygone era where people, when your kid coughs, what would you do? Grandma or mom would go in there and they'd wash your tongue off with soap, right? Yuck. Is it because they wanted your tongue to be physically clean because your breath stunk? No, they wanted you to hate something and love something better. Your baptism was washing you, not because you stunk as a baby or as an adult when you got baptized, but because it was meant to point you towards something better. Live for that better. Live for that good. Live for God's glory. For you children in the congregation who have been baptized but have yet not made a profession of faith in Jesus, God has washed you physically with water. And we are praying for you. We are praying for you. That the Holy Spirit will make that good. Because the time of baptism isn't tied to the time in which he's going to necessarily regenerate you. Make you born again and cleanse you. But we're looking forward to that day you'll come and you'll profess Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Ask your parents about your baptism. Ask them what it was like that day that you were baptized. Ask them what it means and what their hopes are for you. Because we're praying for you. And for those of you who your baptism is way gone in the rearview mirror, the Holy Spirit hasn't left you. Remember your baptism. Remember that He has called you to be washed in the waters of regeneration, purified you from your sins, sealed you for the day of redemption, united you to His Son. Give thanks to your Maker and your Redeemer for saving you and giving you a sign and a seal in baptism that He really does save us. Let's pray. God, we pray that you would forgive us. Sometimes we think too much about our baptism and pray that you would forgive us when we treat it like just some type of ritual or even magical thing. We pray that you would forgive us for times that we don't think enough about the amazing work that you have sovereignly done in our lives to make us born again, to make us born of the spirit, to fill us with your spirit, to give us faith, cleanses of our sins. Lord, we pray that you would please let us live lives that are in line with the baptism that you have poured out upon us and what it was meant to point towards. Lord, we thank you for the good conscience that you give us before your throne. because we look to your son. Thank you for the removal, not just of our flesh, of the filth of our flesh, but the removal even of our sins by the power of your Holy Spirit in us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

• Why is human righteousness insufficient before God? Human righteousness is insufficient before a holy God because, as Romans 3:10-12 and Genesis 6:5 highlight, we are all inherently sinful. Our thoughts, intentions, and actions consistently fall short of God's perfect standard. We are prone to evil, and even our best efforts are tainted by selfishness and pride, meaning we cannot achieve a state of righteousness that would satisfy God's justice. This demonstrates the dire need for an external source of righteousness.

• What is meant by 'substitutionary atonement' in the context of Jesus' suffering? Substitutionary atonement refers to the concept that Jesus, who was completely righteous, willingly took the punishment for our sins upon himself. As Isaiah 53:4-6 and 2 Corinthians 5:21 show, he suffered and died on the cross as a substitute, bearing the consequences of our wrongdoing. This act of love and sacrifice satisfied God's justice, allowing us to be reconciled to him. Christ's suffering was not merely a demonstration of love but a means of payment for the penalty that we deserved, hence the "just for the unjust".

• How does Christ's resurrection impact our hope and justification? Christ's resurrection is vital because it proves the completeness and success of his sacrifice. Romans 5:1-5 and Philippians 3:9-11 describe how it demonstrates that God has accepted Jesus' atonement. It signifies not only the forgiveness of our sins but also our restoration to a right relationship with God. Because Jesus was raised from the dead, the believer has been given an "alien righteousness", one that was not earnt by them, but imputed to them by God through faith. It is through Christ's resurrection that we have the hope of eternal life, having been both acquitted of our sin and declared righteous in God's sight.

• What does it mean for a Christian to be "blessed" in suffering for righteousness? According to 1 Peter 3:13-17, suffering for righteousness is a blessing because it means our lives are aligning with Christ's teachings, and we are participating in His suffering. When we are persecuted for our beliefs, it is not a sign of God's disfavor, but rather a testament to our faith and a confirmation that we are following Christ's example. It gives us a unique opportunity to testify to the hope we have in Christ. Instead of fearing such suffering, we are to view it as an honour and an opportunity to glorify God.

• How should Christians respond when they face evil or persecution? Christians are called to respond to evil or persecution not by retaliating, but by exhibiting compassion, humility and love. 1 Peter 3:8-12 says, instead of returning evil for evil, we should bless those who persecute us. We are to seek unity and pursue peace, trusting that God is ultimately just and will avenge us. The focus should be on reflecting the character of Christ, showing grace even when facing injustice. This includes being gentle and respectful when defending our faith.

• Why is the concept of Christ's finished work so crucial for Christians? The "finished work" of Christ means that Jesus' sacrifice on the cross and his resurrection were all sufficient for our salvation. This means our righteousness is not based on any personal achievement, but a gift given freely by God. As the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms point out, Christ's obedience and sacrifice fully satisfied God's justice. Because of this, we can have full assurance of our salvation. There's nothing more we can or need to add to what he has already accomplished. This frees us from the burden of trying to earn our salvation and establishes Christ as the sole foundation for our relationship with God.

• How should the assurance of Christ's finished work influence our daily lives? The assurance of Christ's finished work should lead us to live with a deep sense of gratitude and confidence in our relationship with God. Knowing we are righteous because of Christ, not ourselves, should cultivate humility and motivate us to pursue a life that is pleasing to him. We should seek to display unity, peace, and love in our interactions with others. In our lives, we must seek to give a defence to others for the hope that we have in Christ, in meekness and fear. This should inform the way we approach every aspect of our lives.

• What is the practical application of the phrase "the just for the unjust" in our lives? The phrase "the just for the unjust" highlights the central tenet of Christian faith: Jesus, being perfectly righteous, took the punishment that we, being unrighteous, deserved. This realisation should foster a spirit of gratitude and humility. We must acknowledge we have no merit of our own, and our salvation comes entirely through grace. The just one took our place so that we might be brought into the presence of God. The application is that we can never rely upon ourselves for our own righteousness, and so must place our full trust in Jesus. This should lead to living lives that honor God's grace.

• Justification: God's act of declaring a sinner righteous in his sight through faith in Christ, not through their own good works or merits.

• Imputation: The act of crediting or transferring something, in this context, God credits Christ's righteousness to believers.

• Atonement: The reconciliation between God and humanity through Christ's sacrificial death, which covers the debt of sin.

• Substitutionary Atonement: The doctrine that Christ died as a substitute for sinful humanity, bearing the punishment and penalty for their sin.

• Righteousness: Moral perfection and conformity to God's law. In Christian theology, it's seen both as a standard and a gift of God through Christ.

• Sanctification: The process of being made holy, where God works in believers to transform them into Christlikeness over time.

• Passive Obedience: Christ's willing submission to suffering and death as part of his obedience to God's will, not limited to simply his active obedience to the law.

• Alien Righteousness: A righteousness that is not inherent to the individual but comes from an outside source. In Christian theology, it refers to the righteousness of Christ imputed to believers.

• Reconciliation: The restoration of a relationship to harmony, specifically, the bridging of the gap between God and humans through Christ.

• The Spirit: In the context of this study, refers to the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, who is believed to give life and bring about spiritual regeneration.