Baptism - Theology Sermon

Scripture Reading

We open your Bibles with me to Matthew chapter 28. Matthew chapter 28. We continue to look at the Great Commission phrase by phrase. Matthew 28 verses 18 through 20. If you're using your pew Bibles, you'll find Matthew chapter 28 on page 881. Brothers and sisters, hear now God's word.

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.

Prayer for Illumination

Let's pray. Father, You have given us a job to do. You have called us to get work done. And Father, we pray now that as we get into Your Word, as it is, examined and preached and proclaimed. Lord, we pray that your Holy Spirit would be active and living and moving in us.

Sermon

Lord, that those who have hard hearts might be softened. That those who have forgotten may remember. That those who are downtrodden may be encouraged. And that we, your people, may do as you have commanded. Help us, Lord, to do this, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Well, earlier this year, a young lady had to take seriously what Jesus called His disciples to do, and that was to forsake mother and father, brother and sister. This young woman, I know, was in a closed country, She was not raised in a Christian family, quite the opposite. She was raised in a pagan family, worshiping false gods.

And she came and she heard the good news of Jesus Christ. And I was talking to her pastor, and her pastor was telling me about how she had gone back home. She had left from the city she lived in for a while. She went back home, and the church was afraid that they had lost her. She had gone home and she wasn't baptized. She was considering the things of the scriptures, but nobody really knew where she was. And then, she was reading through the Word. And she realized she needed to stop sitting on the fence. Either she was going to love the Lord and follow Him, or she was going to have to go and just continue on serving her family's gods.

And she left mother and father, brother and sister, went back to the city, went back to the church, went back to the pastor, and was baptized. As a result, her family has disowned her. She shamed the family. She turned her back on their gods. She turned her back on all the ancestral heritage that comes with that. because she found the pearl of great price, Jesus Christ.

And the mark of her being engrafted into Jesus Christ was her being washed with the waters of baptism and then trying your name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. It was a watershed moment in her life. It was a watershed moment in eternity for her. And for every single person who's baptized, There's a moment in their life in which there's a sign and a seal, something that happens that's real.

And so as we look at this, This is a sermon I largely preached a few years ago, and it's a doctrinal sermon. There's a reason why you have a full sheet of paper, front and back, with all sorts of Bible references, because I'm not going to have time to wait for you to turn in the pages there. I'm just going to read them, but you can go look them up later for yourself. But there's going to be a lot of teaching in this sermon because it's important.

And so the first thing we need to ask as we look at this is, why do we even baptize? Why do we pour water or sprinkle water or immerse people in water? Why do Christians do that? Because Jesus told us to. Because our King gave us a command. Matthew chapter 28 verse 19, Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. We baptize because Jesus commanded baptism. That's a simple answer. Jesus told us to. And if Jesus told us to do something, we do it. Well, what is baptism? What is baptism? Well, for that we need to broaden our scope to the whole of the Scriptures and the New Testament. And so we're going to be looking at what is baptism.

And notice letter A, baptism as a solemn admission into the visible church. When you are baptized, you are not just baptized you by yourself alone. You are baptized into a body. That's what 1 Corinthians 12, 13 says. For by one Spirit, we were all baptized into one body. whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and have been made able to drink into the one Spirit." When someone is baptized, they are baptized into a community of faith. They are baptized into one body.

It doesn't matter if they're Jew. It doesn't matter if they're Greek. It's not like God has a whole bunch of little churches here and there, segregated. You know, you have the Greek church over here, and the Jewish church over here, and the free people's church over here, and the slave people's church over there. No!

No, it's one church, one body, one spirit, one baptism, one hope. And so, when we have baptism, part of it is a solemn admission into the visible church. Each and every one of you who is baptized in this congregation is a baptized member of Jesus' church. But it's more than just an admission into the visible church. It's also a sign and a seal of the covenant of grace. Baptism is a sign and a seal of the covenant of grace. When we're baptizers, sensible signs.

There's water. You can feel the water. You can taste the water. It's real water. And it signifies something. And now this is one of the things that we're going to talk about when we get to what baptism isn't, but the water is just water. The water isn't something special. It's not like, you know, there's almost like hocus pocus type, you know, superstitions around baptism. Like, oh, that water is something super special. And the cup that holds it, that's an uber, super special chalice, right? And so, no, it's just a cup or a bowl. It's just water. It's a visible, sensible sign. But it's pointing to something. It's pointing to a spiritual grace and an inward reality. It's not just a sign, but baptism is also a seal. A seal is something that confirms or authenticates something.

If you've ever, you know, needed to make a piece of paper really official. Make sure people know that your signature on there is really your signature. Maybe you've taken out a loan or a mortgage or something like that before. And somebody who has to come around and they have a special stamp and they have to watch you sign it and then the notary stamps it saying, I'm signifying, I'm sealing that this is true.

This is real. The person who signed this really did and this is a valid contract. That's what baptism is. It's both a sign and a seal. But a sign and a seal of what? Well, of the covenant of grace. Okay, but that needs a total unpacking, right? What is a covenant? A covenant is an agreement. A pact between two parties. A marriage is a covenant.

Again, we can go to the language of finance. If you're going to enter into a mortgage covenant with a bank, you're making specific agreements and stipulations. I'm going to pay X amount of dollars with X amount of interest for X amount of years or months. And in response, I get to own this house. That's an agreement. It's an official agreement between two parties.

And we see the first A very glimmer of that covenant of grace in Genesis 3, verse 15. There's a promise that God makes, a statement that He declares in Genesis 3, verse 15, where He tells the serpent that the seed of the woman is going to bruise his head, though the serpent will also bruise his heel. See, God was going to redeem His people. He was going to bring a seed out from the woman who would eventually destroy the one who had tempted them to break the covenant of works. The original covenant was, hey guys, live in the garden, eat all the food, you see all the freedom you have, but there's one thing, don't eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for the day you eat of it, surely you shall die.

What's the promise for that? If they hadn't, they would have had a great life forever. But they broke that covenant. And it's God who, in His grace, they don't die that day. Eventually they will. But He gives them hope. He didn't wipe them off the face of the earth, but instead He promised in Genesis 3.15, I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed, and he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." From this moment on, we find in Scripture a long line of waiting for when was the seed of the woman finally going to come, who would eventually have victory over what was broken in Genesis 3.

And we find that God makes covenants again and again, showing us more and more of how His grace is shown. So there's different administrations of this covenant, and we find that one of them is in Abraham. We find God doing it with Moses, and then we find God coming into covenant with David also. But when we come to Abraham, we see that the Lord didn't just make a covenant with Abraham, But do you remember what God did with Abraham when he made all sorts of promises to him?

When he told him, you're going to be a blessing to all the nations. I'm going to make you into a great nation. I'm going to make your name great. I'm going to bless those who bless you. Go count the stars in the sky. If you can, I'm going to give you more descendants than those.

How did Abraham know that this was real? That God really meant business? God gave him a sign and a seal of that covenant. in circumcision. If we look at the book of Romans, it tells us that in Romans chapter 4 verses 11 through 12. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also. and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while he was still uncircumcised. Abraham believed God. He believed God's promises. He walked in God's ways and God gave him a sign, a seal. to show that his faith was real and the righteousness he had was real. And as we go through the scriptures, we find what eventually happens. This is the cool part.

You become children of Abraham by that same faith. You become children of Abraham by that same faith. That's what Galatians chapter 3 verses 8 through 9 teaches. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, In you all the nations shall be blessed. So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.

Did you get it? Did you hear what Paul said there in Galatians chapter 3? What was preached to Abraham? Did you catch the word? Let me read it again. And the Scriptures, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand. This was the good news. It's in an infant form, it's not fully orbed yet, but somehow Abraham believes God's promises. And so also we who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.

And the signs and the seals in the Old Testament were of the same substance as what we remember now in the New Testament. See, we want to think of circumcision as this old, weird Old Testament thing, right? It doesn't have anything to do with us. But I'm going to propose to you that it has everything to do with us.

Because it's the same gospel he believed, that's the same gospel we believe. That God is building a great nation. And that Jesus is the one who fulfills the Abrahamic covenant. This is what 1 Corinthians 10 verses 1-4 tells us. Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware of all that our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were, notice this, It's talking about crossing over the Red Sea from being redeemed out of Egypt, 1 Corinthians 10, 2. All were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. All ate the same spiritual food, all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that same spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. Do you see that God redeemed them out of Egypt because He was showing them the redemption that was in Jesus Christ?

Baptism in the New Testament has replaced circumcision in the Old Testament. That's what Colossians chapter 2 does for us. Colossians chapter 2 verses 11 through 12. In Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands. by putting off the body of the sin of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism."

Whoa, did you notice that? That was a quick transition, wasn't it? Let me read that again. It was the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.

Circumcision in the Old Testament was this sign that they were walking by faith, trusting in the promises of God of what He would do. Baptism is walking in faith, recognizing what God has done. And both of them are pointing to what Jesus has accomplished. Both were signs and seals of God's covenant of grace. In substance, they both point to Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, they pointed towards their awaited Messiah.

And in the New Testament, it is now pointing to the circumcision of our hearts. This is what Colossians chapter 2 goes on to say. and you being dead, and your trespasses, and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all your trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us, and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. When you're baptized, that's what your baptism signifies and seals. That your sins have been washed away, that you have been united to Christ, and your sins as if they were on the cross and they were nailed there, hung there on the cross, done and dealt with. When we were in our unregenerate state, dead in our trespasses and circumcision, that's when God made us alive in Christ Jesus. It's Jesus who's forgiven us of our sins.

And all the requirements of the law and the curses for the covenants of works have been nailed to the cross. Circumcision was a sign and a seal in God's person and promises. And it's that same God who has now told us that his promises for us are the same true and good. So what does it signify and seal? Well, we've already talked about this psalm.

First Point

First, our engrafting into Christ. We've been united to Jesus. That's what your baptism signifies.

This is what Romans 6.5 says, For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection. You have been united to Jesus by His death.

And your baptism signifies and seals that. It also signifies and seals your being born again. We know we don't write that that's like a type word in our culture today especially amongst those who are far from Jesus right now being born again as born-again Christians right we like to use the fancy word or reform circles right regeneration right but it means the same thing being born again or regenerated right this is what Titus the book of Titus tells us Titus 3 5 not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit Your baptism also signifies and seals that your sins have been dealt with. Brothers and sisters, your sins have been dealt with if you have faith in Jesus Christ. That's what your baptism was pointing towards. This is what Revelation chapter 1 verse 5 gets at.

Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth, to Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. You have been washed. If you have faith in Jesus Christ, you have been washed in His blood. The water is just water. but it's signifying the blood of Jesus Christ that's washing you of your sins.

Baptism also signifies and seals to us that we are being given up to God through Jesus Christ. And that we have hope in His death and resurrection. That's what Romans chapter 6 verses 4-5 teach us. Therefore we were buried with Him. Notice, how were we buried with Him? through baptism into death. That just as Jesus Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of his death, certainly we shall also in the likeness of his resurrection.

Your baptism signifies that you have died in Christ, and just as Christ rose from the dead, so also you will rise from the dead too. But baptism also signifies and seals to us that we must walk in newness of life. We live as disciples, learning to put to death the old man and walking in the newness of life, and this is what the Great Commission teaches us. Notice what Jesus says after being baptized in the triune name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. What does he say? Teaching them to observe all things which I have commanded you.

We're going to talk about that next week, but this looks like... I got to tell you, this is a hard thing. And many of you know, I went to a foreign country this past year, and I had to confront a pastor in that foreign country face to face over this issue. Because this man had bought into large number church. I met this guy in a tiny little village and as we were talking he was boasting and bragging to me of all the hundreds and hundreds of members who were in his church. And then we started talking and he was telling me about one of the ladies in his church and how she would She was baptized.

She said she believed in Jesus. And then he started just excusing her way. Yeah, but she still goes to the temple and she prays to the gods there. She'll still go to the sacrifices and she'll still do that. And she doesn't have to give that up to be a Christian.

I remember having to challenge that man to his face and saying, brother, I hate to tell you, but I think you're raising false disciples. When somebody is baptized in the name of Jesus, when they're baptized in the triune name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, that is a renouncing of all other gods. You've got to encourage her to do what Jesus taught. To put away all that sinful lifestyle. To put away all those other gods. She cannot just have Jesus with a whole bunch of other gods.

It's either the triune God and nobody else, or that triune God is just one amongst a pantheon and God will not accept her as a true disciple. There's a reason you baptize her in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and you as a pastor are failing her by not discipling her and teaching her all which Jesus has commanded.

Why would he do that though? Because it sure is easier. He can have a church full of hundreds of people who show up And she doesn't have to face persecution. Her family is able to just accept her. Okay, yeah, you just add Jesus to your gods. That's fine. Yeah, that's cool. As long as you're still going along with the rest of us and not shaming the family, that's fine. We may not feel the weight of this, but step outside our culture a little bit.

And you find out that baptism for those who are coming, this is why some people in Japan, if they're going to come to Jesus Christ, it takes sometimes decades and decades for them to finally be baptized. Coming to church week after week after week because they know that once they're baptized, there's no Shinto prayers. There's no more going to the temple. It's a turning back on all their ancestors. and all their family and embracing the hope found only in the good news of Jesus.

That's what you said you were doing at your baptism. The question is, are we still doing that? Sometimes we let our baptism fade into our background and we forget what God has signified and sealed in our lives, who we are called to be. But what is baptism not? Well, baptism is not regeneration.

I mean, this is again one of those really fun things, right? I'll talk to people and they'll talk to me about baptism, and what I'll find out is I get this sense that they think that you've got a holy cup and a holy bunch of water, and if you just take that water... I remember talking to a man I worked with, I'm not going to tell you his name, but he was just like, I just want to get baptized so I could finally become a Christian. And he thought if the water was poured on him, then BAM! He'd be a Christian.

That's not how it works. Hell is full. Hell is full of all sorts of people who are baptized, but they had no love for the triune God. No desire to walk in His ways. Baptism does not make you born again. It does not guarantee your place in the kingdom. No. Now, if that was the case, to be honest with you, I'd just, at the Fourth of July parade, go out with a big squirt gun or something and just start super soaking people, right? But that's not what this is. No, baptism cleanses us of our sin, yes, but not in the way that they want to make it out to be. It's by faith that it's made effectual. It also doesn't just clean us of our original sin.

Some people believe that, and this was actually Emperor Constantine's view, right? Did you know that Emperor Constantine, when he became a Christian, he held off baptism until he was on his deathbed. Right? Because there was a commonly held belief among certain people that if you were baptized, what that was doing was washing away all your sins up to that point.

But then you still had to perfectly keep the law after that, or else you would still end up in purgatory or hell. Well, purgatory is made up hundreds of years later, but you would still end up in hell. And so Emperor Constantine thought, no, no, no, I'll just wait to get baptized until right before I die. No, it doesn't just wash away your original sin. It deals with you as a sinner.

The good news is that Jesus's blood cleanses us of our sin. And if we confess our sin, that's a present, by the way, In Greek, 1 John 1, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us of all of our unrighteousness.

Those are present tense verbs. That means it's happening today. Meaning Paul had already told, or John had already told the gospel to the people, and they had believed in Jesus, but they were still struggling with sin. And that's what he tells them. If you say you're without sin, you're a liar, and you make God a liar. We can't do that, so what do we do? We confess our sins and we endeavor to walk in newness of life. So baptism doesn't just cleanse us of our original sin, nor does baptism guarantee our salvation or our kid's salvation. Just take you back to the Old Testament sacrament.

Abraham had two sons. He didn't have one. He had Ishmael and Isaac. Guess which one was circumcised? Both. And yet one was the child of the promise and one was not. One was by works and one was by faith. There are plenty of people who went through in the exodus and walked through the Red Seas and as 1 Corinthians chapter 10 told us, they were baptized as they passed through the Red Sea. And yet, the whole first generation died unbelieving except for Caleb and Joshua. They would rather go back to Egypt, rather go back to the land of slavery than follow God's promises.

No, just because you're baptized does not mean that children, especially for those of you who are baptized, doesn't mean that you just get an automatic pass into heaven. No. There's one way to the Father and that's through faith in the Son. One of the things that's also very helpful for us is that the effectiveness of baptism isn't tied to the moment that it was applied. How the confession says, or the testimony says, the efficacy of baptism is not tied to the moment of administration. St. Augustine, if you've ever read his confessions, he was baptized as a baby. He was baptized as a child.

And it wasn't until his 20s that the Lord seized his heart and he was reborn and had faith and walked in the Lord's ways. But yet the Lord had marked him off and had given him a mother who prayed for him and Monica regularly. And the Holy Spirit chased him down. Luther was baptized as an infant, and yet his soul had no rest at all until finally he read through the book of Romans himself, and he found out that salvation was by faith. And then the Holy Spirit gave life to him.

In my own life, I mean, I was raised in a Baptist background. I even made that profession of faith a false profession, but yet the waters of baptism were still put upon me. And it wasn't until 14 years after I was baptized that the Holy Spirit took hold of my heart and made me alive again. We don't know at what point the Lord is going to make good on the promises that he's given in baptism.

Many of you have experienced this in your own life. That God placed His sign and seal upon you when you were a child, and it wasn't until years later that you embraced Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. That you owned the covenant for yourself. Did God fail you in letting you just grow up? No. No, He's using every instance, every circumstance, every failed relationship, every time that you realize you were going astray to show you your need for Him. That's how God works providentially in His children.

But others of you, I know, were baptized and you can't pinpoint a day of your salvation. You can't say on this day, you know, January 17th, 2000 something or 19 something, that I heard the gospel for the first time. No, for you, for you, you were baptized as a child and Jesus just became more and more glorious to you over time.

As one of our elders said it in a beautiful illustration, I'll never forget at a membership interview, he said, what was your conversion like? Was it a sudden burst of light? Or was it like a slow sunrise? And you never knew what it was like in your life to not know the beauty of the light of Jesus Christ. We don't need to be ashamed of that. Again, growing up in a Baptist church, I was raised in the type of way, and this isn't poo-pooing on Baptists, right?

This is just my experience. In my experience, it was as a kid growing up in that type of tradition, it was whoever had the biggest and baddest testimony won. You were waiting to hear who was the guy who did the most drugs, or who's the guy who came out of jail, who's the guy who did all...

And then I talked to those guys, and they would sit there and go, I hope you never have a testimony like that. I hope my children never have a testimony like mine. I hope every one of you children who are baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, never know a day that you didn't love Jesus Christ. I hope that God spares you like that. Jesus.

Jesus himself told us that the wind blows where it wishes. You hear the sound of it, but you can't tell where it comes from and where it goes. So everyone who is born of the Spirit, we don't know how the Spirit's going to work. We don't know what story God's writing in your life, but we know that God draws his own to himself. And so who should be baptized? I know I'm out of time. I hope that you'll Stay in here with me for a few more minutes. Who should be baptized? Those who profess faith in Jesus Christ. Those who profess faith in Jesus Christ.

We can go to places like Acts chapter 8, verses 36 through 38, where the Ethiopian eunuch, Philip, comes to him, and he's reading the scroll of Isaiah, and he asks him, Philip asks him, do you know what you're reading? He says, how am I supposed to understand this unless somebody explains it to me? And so Philip explains it to him. He tells him the gospel. He tells him the good news of Jesus Christ. And the Ethiopian eunuch says, well, what's keeping me from being baptized? And they stop, and there's some water, and he goes, and he baptizes him immediately, right? Because he professes his faith in Jesus Christ.

And so absolutely, we need to understand that a church like ours, who baptizes infants, also, I plead with God, it's literally in my prayer calendar every single week, pleading with God for adult baptisms. We want to see people come to know Jesus Christ who have been walking for decades not knowing the gospel and never having been washed in the water. We want to see that happen.

It's not, in this congregation, it is not, oh, you have adult baptisms and then you have infant baptisms and we really like infant baptisms. No. No, we plead with God for baptisms, period. But where we differ from our Baptist brothers and friends, As we also believe that children of members of the visible church are also to be baptized.

And you're going to say, but there's no... I know some of you, right? Hold on, there's no verse in the Bible that says, and thus you shall baptize thine babies. It's not there. It's not there. You're not going to find a proof text for infant baptism. But I'm going to encourage you to hold on a second. Because there's all sorts of things that we are able to read by context and see what's going on. I'm going to challenge you a little bit with this.

Did you know that the word sin is not mentioned in Genesis chapter 3? When they ate of the forbidden fruit, the word sin isn't there. So how do we know it's about sin? Because the context tells us it's about sin. If you're wanting to have an absolute proof text for every single thing, and especially with the sacraments, then I need to tell you ladies, you might not be allowed to take communion next time. Because there's also no verse in the Bible that says that women are allowed to take communion. It's just not there. But it's certainly understood in the context. It's certainly understood as we look at the words of Paul to the body of Christ. And so I want to take you to general principles for why we baptize our children.

The first is what we've already seen in Genesis chapter 17. God's sign is put upon those in covenant with Him. Genesis chapter 17 verses 13 and 14. He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised, and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. And the uncircumcised male child who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people, for he has broken my covenant. In the Old Testament, if you were part of the covenant family, you received the covenant sign. We Gentiles are members of that same covenant of grace found in Genesis 17.

The new covenant is better in its administration and more fully revealed with all of its hope. But with that increased clarity comes a new sign and a new seal. It's no longer circumcision, it's baptism. And when we look at the instances of baptism, we see a common theme.

First Point

First, we see that children have always been considered part of the congregation.

Deuteronomy chapter 29 verses 10 through 11. All of you stand today before the Lord, your God, your leaders, and your tribes, and your elders, and your officers, all the men of Israel, your little ones, and your wives. Also the strangers who is in your camp, from the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws your water. Notice the children are included in this. Joel chapter 2 verse 6, gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children and the nursing babies. Let the bridegroom go out from his chamber and the bride from her dressing room.

Jesus also taught that the littlest children were part of his kingdom. Jesus himself said this in Luke 18 verses 15 through 17. He rebuked his disciples because people had brought the children to be blessed by him And they were stopping them, they were saying, no, no, no, don't bring these nursing babies, don't bring these little ones to Jesus. But Jesus called to them and said to him, let the little children come to me and do not forbid them, for such is the kingdom of God.

Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter into it. We also see that parents and their children become disciples of Jesus. When Gentiles became proselytes, professing their faith in the Lord, they were initiated into the congregation as well as the children.

This happens all the time. People would think it was crazy if in the Old Testament, you brought somebody into the Jewish household of faith, and the father was circumcised, but none of the children, no, they're not allowed. No, it's always been the children are brought in. And we find that continued on in Acts chapter 2.

Acts chapter 2 verses 38-39, Then Peter said to them, Repent, let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are far off, as many as the Lord will call. To see this promise of grace was not just preached to the adults, but it was to them and to their children. God had made this pattern. It was just built into the Jewish idea that children were always included in the family, in the congregation. And we see this pattern continuing on in the book of Acts. Acts chapter 16 with Lydia. Acts 16, 15. And when she and her household were baptized, Did you see that? When she and her household were baptized. Now, I got to tell you, I have lots of Baptist friends. I went to a Baptist seminary for two years.

And they'll often say, well, hold on. We don't know that there were children in that house. And I would say, you also don't know that there weren't children in that house. I often have to push back against my friends who will say, well, we don't know for certain that there were children there. And I would say, that is quite an assumption to make, especially considering the context and the culture surrounding. I can't imagine a Roman family without having children and grandchildren and servants. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

This is also what happens with a Philippian jailer in his household, Acts chapter 16. Verses 30-33, I'm just going to read to you a little bit. Verse 31, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your household. Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and all who were in his house. And he took them that same hour of the night and washed their stripes, and immediately he and all his family were baptized. Happens again, just flip over a page, Acts chapter 18, verses 7 through 8, with Crispus, the synagogue leader. Then Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his household, and many of the Corinthians, having a hearing, believed and were baptized. So this is why we baptize our children. Because they're part of our households. They're part of this beautiful picture. But now children, I need to talk to you.

Does your baptism mean anything? Does your baptism mean anything to you? Was it just empty? Or when the water was washed upon you, do you believe that it truly was meant for you? That Jesus washed you from your sin? That He nailed your sin upon the cross. Is that for you? When you were baptized, does it really mean to you that you know that because Jesus lives, you will live? Is your baptism meaningful to you at all?

The only way it will be is if you have faith in Jesus Christ. There's a blessing in covenant baptism. Parents get to profess their faith in Christ. And I'm speaking to myself here, right, in a few weeks. I have to tell you all and Professor Lord that Judah's not mine. Ultimately this is a gift of stewardship. Every one of our children are a blessing from the Lord. And we get to see them admitted to the roles of the congregation. And the family gets to turn around and hear the congregation vow and take promises that they're going to pray for and support and love this child.

They're going to provide for them as much as they can, a culture and a community of Christian hope and encouragement, and that the older men are going to challenge this little boy, and that the older women, if it's a girl being baptized, are going to challenge that little girl to hold on to the faith. Children in the congregation, you have been blessed with something that not all children get. We are surrounded by communities where there are thousands of people around us and their mom and dads aren't taking them to church. I'm sure you have friends where their mom and dads don't pray for them or read the Bible with them. And you get that blessing. You get that blessing of being raised in a covenant home. Don't squander your blessing. Don't sell it. Don't sell away the blessing of eternal life. for the vanity of this world. Follow after Jesus.

For some of you, your baptism is decades and decades old. I'm going to end with this. Your baptism is years and years behind you. Does your baptism mean anything to you? Are you improving upon your baptism? Are you still putting to death your sin? Are you still trusting in Jesus Christ to wash you? Are you still endeavoring to live a life of new obedience? A pastor was killed in India this year for the crime of baptizing new converts.

Closing Prayer

This is serious business we're talking about here. Because the gospel is serious business. Do you take Jesus' command to go and make disciples and baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit lightly? Or do you take it as a serious weighty business as it is? Let's pray. God, this is a way long sermon. Way over what it was intended to be.

Father, I pray that you would please let your people forgive me for that. But Father, I pray that also your Holy Spirit might have taught us and challenged us, pushed us more and more into the heart of Christ. Lord, please let us take seriously our baptism. And we plead with you that you would please, Lord, let us see more baptisms, even in our own congregation, both by covenant children being baptized, but also by adults, professing for the first time that they are embracing Jesus Christ. Lord, please continue to make disciples, even here and around the globe.