Infant Baptism - Biblical?

Welcome to God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in Morning Sun, Iowa. Check us out online at www.sharonrpc.org. We pray that this message will be a blessing to you and that the Lord will use it to transform your faith and your life. Will you please open, and your Bible is with me, to Colossians, Colossians chapter 2. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1st and 2nd Corinthians. And you're going to keep on going. Romans, 1st, 2nd Corinthians, and then General Electric Power Company. Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. Colossians chapter 2, and we're going to read verses 11 through 23. Colossians chapter 2, beginning at verse 11. Let's read God's Word now.

In Him, you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. 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. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of the 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. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbath, which are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance is Christ. Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligament, grows and increases that is from God. Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourself to regulations? Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle, which all concern things which perish with the using, according to the commandments and doctrine of men. These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.

Prayer for Illumination

Brothers and sisters, the grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. Let's pray. Oh Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you. for your Holy Spirit, and we pray now, Lord, that as we have read your word, that indeed you would work in our hearts. Father, would you please teach us? Would you please build us up in our faith? Father, would you please, by the power of your Spirit, make us disciples? In Jesus' name, amen.

Sermon

Well, I need to warn you that today's sermon is a little bit different. So one, I need to make a qualification and two, I need to warn you. Okay, so qualification number one, we've just had a baptism and the sermon is on baptism. This is three topical sermons in a row, which is, as you know, not normal from this pulpit.

But why we are doing this is because there's a number of people who have asked this question. A number of people who have come and asked, why do we baptize children? What does this mean? And how significant is it? And so I thought today was a perfect day as we were getting to see this sign and seal apply to a member, a new child of the covenant, to explore this idea.

First Point

So first, what is, or why do we baptize? By the way, you should have an outline. This is like 16 times longer than any outline I ever give you. But this is a doctrinal sermon. Okay, so I wanted you to be able to follow along with my thoughts of why I think the Bible teaches what it does. So first, why do we baptize? Brothers and sisters, we baptize because Jesus commanded it. We baptize because this is a sacrament that Jesus Christ instituted in Matthew chapter 28. Matthew chapter 28, 18 through 20 is the Great Commission.

Where Jesus says, 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 which I have commanded you, and lo, with you always. I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen."

We baptize. Why do we baptize? Because Jesus is sovereign. We baptize because Jesus has authority. We baptize because Jesus commanded His disciples to go out and to go make disciples of all nations. We baptize because King Jesus commands us to baptize. We baptize because Jesus commanded the disciples to go and to teach everything that He had told them to do. And we baptize because with this disciple-making and baptism tied together, Jesus gives us a promise.

And lo, I am with you always, even to the ends of the age. It is a perpetual sign that Jesus did not just depart to heaven and leave us alone as orphans, but that He is always with His people, generation to generation. So we have to ask ourselves, then, what is baptism? If Jesus tells us to baptize, the question is, what is it? Well first, the Westminster Confession of Faith says it is a solemn admission into the visitable church. By the way, the scripture references are there in your outline. You're more than welcome to open there, but you're going to have to flip fast because I'm not going to take time. I have them printed out here.

But in 1 Corinthians 12-13, God says, For by one spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, we have all been made to drink of one spiritual, and have all been made to drink into one spirit. We have been built together as a body, ligament by ligament, sinew by sinew, a living organism. One of the beautiful pictures that Paul gives in 1 Corinthians is a church as a living body with Jesus Christ as the head. And so if we are to be baptized into one body, that's the exact language of 1 Corinthians chapter 12, then we know that we are being baptized into Christ's body. So we are But what is baptism? It's a solemn admission into the visible church.

This is one reason why I need to encourage you that baby baptism or infant baptism is not just baby dedication. We truly believe that children have a right to the covenant, to all the blessings that flow from it. We'll get there in a minute. But it's not just a sign of admission into the church, but it is a sign and a seal of the covenant of grace. A sign and a seal of the covenant of grace. Let's unpack that one at a time. A sign. The water that is being placed on that child is a sign of their entrance into the body of Christ. The remission of sins. We'll get into all those in a minute. Their union with Jesus. But it's not the substance of the real thing. Right?

If you drive down the interstate and you're going on I-80 and your gas tank is starting to go towards E, You're going to start looking on the right hand side of the road for a green sign or a blue sign that will tell you when a gas station is coming. I beg you, don't stop at the gas station. Or don't stop at the sign. Because you're still going to be on E. Keep driving to the gas station. Right?

It's just a sign saying something is up ahead. Something is real and it's there. That's what baptism is. Baptism is a sign pointing us to the covenant of grace. But it is also a seal. We don't deal with seals very often, but every once in a while you'll maybe go to the bank and take out a mortgage or some other, you'll need something notarized and someone with authority will have to stamp and put their mark of authenticity on it. We believe baptism is both a sign pointing to the covenant of grace as well as an authoritative mark that the covenant of grace is real.

I keep using this term, a covenant of grace, covenant of grace, covenant of grace. What in the world is that? Well, the Bible is broken up into covenants. The regular way in which God interacts with His people is through covenants. He comes into agreements between Him and others. And we find this in the opening two chapters of Genesis 1 and 2. When God enters into a covenant with Adam and Eve, remember He's the sovereign, He's the one who's created them, He places them in the Garden of Eden, He tells them, you can eat of any of the trees, right?

There's a full buffet, take whatever you want, but there's only one tree that you're not allowed to eat, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And the condition was, if you ate of that tree, surely the day you ate of it, you will surely die. What's the assumption there? That if they didn't eat, that they would continue to live.

There are blessings, and there are curses. There's a condition, there's a sovereign, and there are what are called vassals. There are people underneath God. All the conditions for a covenant are there, and this is the covenant of works. Now sadly, we know that our first parents broke that covenant of works. Eve ate. She gave it to her husband. He ate. The floor falls out, and God begins the curses.

But in the midst of all the curses we come to Genesis chapter 3 verse 15. God speaks to the woman and he says, or to the seed and he says, I will put, to the serpent and he says, 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. Somehow this woman was going to have a child. And there was going to be a time, somewhere in the future, in which this child of the woman would finally come and crush the head of the serpent, but the child wouldn't come out unscathed, but would still be wounded.

In the midst of the cursing, God gives the first gospel, the first hint of grace, that He isn't just going to destroy them like that. But He's going to establish somehow a way of redemption, a way of victory. This is the beginning of the covenant of grace.

And the rest of the scriptures from Genesis chapter 3 through Revelation is this unfolding of how this is going to come about. Who would this seed be? How would God continue to care for Adam and Eve and their people? And so we see as we continue to go through the scriptures that God continues to make other covenants within the covenant of grace.

We see He comes into covenant with Noah. He gives him, He promises him after He kept him from being killed with everyone else, He and His family, eight people in the ark, He makes a promise that never again would He destroy all mankind for the sin, or all creation for the sin of mankind.

He gives them a sign of that covenant. the seasons and the rainbow. We see him coming into covenant again, what we read today in Genesis chapter 17 with Abraham. And we see that there's a new part, right? He had given the sign of the rainbow, but now there's a specific sign. And the specific sign he gives for a special people to be his own would be circumcision. And then we see that God makes covenants with Moses and with David. But when it's specifically about Abraham, we see that the Lord just didn't make a covenant, but He made a holy sign and a seal of this covenant of grace.

In the book of Romans chapter 4, Paul picks this up. Romans chapter 4, 11 through 12. And he received, this is Abraham, and Abraham received the sign of circumcision, a seal, a seal of the righteousness. of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believed, 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 who also walk in the steps of faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised. See the pattern that Paul gives in the book of Romans is that we are justified by faith just like Abraham was.

And how did Abraham receive a seal? and a sign that righteousness was truly his, that God had come into covenant with him, it was the sign and seal of circumcision. Abraham believed and it was credited to him as righteousness and God gave Abraham something he could see and know that God was truly in a relationship with him. Now brothers and sisters, I need to tell you that we who believe are the offspring of Abraham. We are that promised seed.

When God said, go look at the stars in the sky. It's almost like He dares him. Like, go ahead, waste all night. Try to count the numbers if you can. Your seed is going to be more numerous than all the stars in the sky. Go outside your tent and go try to count the grains of sand. Brothers and sisters, do you know how many Christians are walking upon the face of this planet? And how many have died in the Lord? Billions upon billions. Count them if you dare.

This is what Galatians 3.8.9 teaches us.

And the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith preached the gospel to Abraham before saying in all the nations you shall be blessed. So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. The signs and the seals of the Old Covenant. in their substance and what they pointed to and what they guaranteed is the exact same thing that the signs and seals today of baptism and the Lord's Supper do. See, in Abraham's day, they pointed to Christ.

They pointed to a righteousness that had to come outside of himself. And today, when we take of the Lord's Supper and when we observe baptism, We look to someone else who provides our righteousness and takes away our sins. This is what 1 Corinthians 10, 1-4 teaches us. Moreover then, I do not want you to be unaware of all that our fathers were under the cloud and passed through the sea.

So remember the Exodus story, right? Everyone went through the sea. God parted the waters and He brought all of His people through the sea. Notice in verse 2, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. All ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual rock.

For they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. So the Old Testament saints looked to Jesus. Moses was looking to Jesus. Abraham was looking to Jesus. They did not know who this seed was yet, but they knew that God Himself was going to save them.

Baptism in the New Testament has replaced circumcision in the Old Testament. Colossians 2, 11-12 teach this. The sign and seal of the Old Covenant was circumcision. The sign and seal of the New Testament is baptism. In Him, you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, 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." They took baptism in our circumcision and they knew that this was teaching them of God's redemption. And now it's replaced by baptism as we look to Christ and we see that Christ has accomplished these works. Both were signs and seals of God's covenant of grace. In substance, they point to Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, they pointed toward their awaited Messiah, the seed of the woman.

And in the New Testament, it is not pointing to the circumcision of the flesh, but what He was meant to do in their hearts. This is why the prophet cried out, O that you would be circumcised in the heart! And it wasn't just about the outward appearance, but it was about what the Lord was intending to do in their souls.

Colossians chapter 2, 13 and 14 expand on this and they say, being dead in your trespasses, in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he has made alive together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of the 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.

Baptism is so much better than circumcision. Because we look to Christ. And we see that all the requirements against us, all the condemnation against us was nailed to the cross in the suffering of Jesus Christ. We were in our unregenerate state, dead in our trespasses and uncircumcision, yet God has made us alive with Jesus. He's forgiven us of our sins. All the requirements of the law and the curses of the covenant of works are gone.

And baptism is that sign and that seal that those promises of truth that God's covenant of grace still stands. So what is baptism signified? We've talked a lot about circumcision, but what exactly does baptism signify? What is it pointing to? What is it signing and sealing first are engrafting into Christ? Us being dead. of being united to Jesus.

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. But it's not just our engrafting and union with Christ, it's also our regeneration.

Fancy word for new birth. Titus chapter 3 verse 5 says, Not by works of righteousness which you have done, but according to His mercy He saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. It is God who has made us alive. And baptism is a sign of that and a seal of that.

Third Point

Third, it also teaches us, it signifies and seals to us the remission of sins. Mark 1, verse 4, John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance and remission of sins. Our baptism is meant to point towards, to seal unto us who believe that our sins are truly washed away. Fourthly, what does baptism signify and seal? a giving up unto God through Jesus Christ.

Romans 6, 4 and 5 say, Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as 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 also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection. Our baptism signifies that we die to our old self. And that even after we die, because we are so united to Christ, that when that last great day comes, when the trumpet blast sounds, and our King returns, we will rise again. For if Jesus is alive, we will live.

And fifthly, what else does it signify and seal but that we walk in newness of life. We live as disciples of Jesus, learning to follow His ways, Matthew chapter 28. Making disciples, that means followers, making people who are actually going to listen to Jesus and live according to His commandments. Obeying everything that He taught. By this they will know that you are my disciples. Yes, if you have love for one another, but also if we keep His commandments. Well, this is where I'm going to enter into a different point here. What baptism is not? And I want to be very clear here. I'm not going to be polemical. I'm not going to be exhaustive. I'm not going to pick after other groups. I just want to make some clarifications that people often scratch their heads.

First Point

First, does baptism save us? Does it cause regeneration? But when that water was poured on baby Judson's head, did that mean that he was automatically reborn?

No. No, we do not believe in baptismal regeneration. Baptism does not save us. And we know that not everyone who has the water of baptism placed on them will be saved, because this is not some magic hocus pocus ceremony that we're doing. The water, it's just water. It's not like if somebody comes up here after the baptism and randomly sticks their finger in it, they're going to be saved.

That's just not what it's doing. If that was the case, man, if that was the case, if all you had to do was spray water on people or sprinkle people or pour water on people and they'd be saved, I'd rent a fire truck at the 4th of July and go down the road at the parade and just super soak everyone. It's not baptismal regeneration. That's not what this is.

Calvin taught that in baptism, the Father causes it, Jesus is the contents and the hope of it, and the Holy Spirit is the one who executes it in His people. It does not work automatically, but baptism, when it is met by the elect person, by His grace, will be saved. What also it does not do? It does not cleanse us of our original sin. This was an early misunderstanding of baptism.

Actually, Emperor Constantine in the 300s, when he was emperor, he waited until he was on his deathbed, because he thought that if he was baptized, and then the next day he sinned, he had a problem with God. And so he waited until right before he was going to die, and then he had a bishop baptize him. Because he didn't want to have any actual sin of his own. The problem is, if he had one misthought between then and there, well, you got an issue.

Our Roman Catholic and Orthodox friends believe that this is what baptism does. It takes care of your original sins, but you still need to take care of the rest of your sins. This is where the idea of penance and things come up. But the good news is, brothers and sisters, our cleansing isn't found in the sign or the seal, but in the blood and person of Jesus Christ. This is why 1 John 1 says, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. Now, the Greek there is important. The grammar is important. If we confess our sins, this is a present active Subjunctive. Meaning, if we are doing it right now, as Christians, admitting that we are those who have sinned, and confess that sin, Jesus is faithful and righteous and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us of our unrighteousness.

Third misunderstanding, what baptism is not, is baptism does not guarantee salvation. We don't have to look very far in the New Testament, or we'll stick in the Old Testament here, in Abraham's own family. If baptism has replaced circumcision, let's look at circumcision for a second.

Who was circumcised in Abraham's household? Well, he's got two sons, Ishmael and Isaac. Both of them are circumcised, and yet one of them is not an inheritor of the covenant, and the other is. We go one generation further and we look at Isaac. Isaac has two boys also, Jacob and Esau. And yet God Himself says in Romans chapter 9, Jacob I loved and Esau I hated, before either of them had done anything good or bad. And so just because the water of baptism is placed on someone does not guarantee that they are saved.

We could even push this further and talk about everybody who went through the Red Sea. I mean, you really had to believe, didn't you? If the exodus came and you had to slaughter the animal and put the blood on the door post and on the sides of the door, and you had to walk through and be chased by Pharaoh's army, and then you saw the water spread apart, you would think everybody who walked through those waters would be like, man, did you see the fire? Did you see the cloud? Did you see the water? Man, this is awesome! We are God's people!

And yet, some of them still complained. Some of them wanted to go back to Egypt. Some of them murmured against Moses and Aaron. Some of them even didn't believe that God would actually give them the covenant land, and they died. Just because someone receives a sign in the seal does not mean that they are going to be saved. Fourthly, the efficacy of baptism or its working is not tied to the moment that it is administered.

It's the Holy Spirit's work to execute and act on regeneration. God's elect from all eternity past, the Father sent his one and only Son to be a propitiation for our sins. Jesus lived the perfect life we could never live and died the death we deserve. Jesus was raised from the dead for our justification.

Now, it is the work of the Holy Spirit who can take out our heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh. It is the Holy Spirit who circumcises our hearts. And we cannot try to force the Holy Spirit into a box of our own time frame. We can't say, oh, the moment someone was baptized, that's when the Holy Spirit regenerated them. That's when God gave them newness of soul and life. No. That's not how it works.

Augustine knew this. He was baptized as a child and it wasn't until his 20s that he finally found the one in whom his soul was longing to rest in. Luther found this as he was baptized as a child and had absolutely no hope for his soul or any hope of salvation until he read the book of Romans. John Wesley himself baptized as a child and yet did not experience new birth until he read or heard read Luther's preface to the Book of Romans. But even those, and I'll point to myself here, who were baptized when they could walk and could talk and make a profession of faith, brothers and sisters, I was not, the efficacy of baptism was not until 14 years after I was baptized when the Lord finally arrested my heart and brought me to Himself.

Many of you have experienced this in your own lives. God places a sign and seal upon you, or He did this when you were still a child, and yet you didn't know God experientially until you were much older. Has God failed each of these? No. God uses all the means of this life, experiences, relationships, our hardness of hearts, our families, our tragedies, even our own children to bring us to Himself.

And yet others of you were baptized when you were children, And you can't pinpoint a day in which you didn't love Jesus. Rather, in your life, the love of Jesus was like the sunrise. You experienced the beauty of God's grace from your earliest years, and your soul has been warmed by His grace more and more as the years have continued. Thank God.

Jesus himself, in John chapter 3, teaching on this rebirth, says, the wind blows where it wishes, And you hear the sound of it, but you cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit, brothers and sisters, works how and when He wants.

So why do we baptize? Jesus commanded it. What is baptism? It's this entrance, admission into the covenant, but it's also the sign and the seal of the covenant of grace upon us. We've said a whole bunch of stuff that it isn't, but the question is, then who should be baptized? Well, first is those who profess faith in Jesus Christ. We need not look any further than the Ethiopian eunuch.

When Philip is brought to him, and they're in the chariot, and he's reading the great Isaiah scroll, and he's reading from Isaiah 53, and he says, well, can you teach? How am I supposed to understand? Teach me this stuff. And then as they're going, there's some water, and he asks him, Here is some water.

What stops me from being baptized? What does Philip say? If you believe with all your heart, you may. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And so they commanded the chariot to be still. And he was baptized. He professed, this adult professed his faith in Jesus Christ.

So how in the world do we Presbyterians get the right or get the crazy idea that children should be baptized? I'm going to go through a series of different ones with you. I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this, but I hope it's helpful for you to take home, chew over, go read the scriptures for yourself, and ask, is this biblical?

First Point

First, children of members of the visible church will be baptized.

I just want to warn you, I'm not going to bring a proof texting litany to you. You will not find anywhere in the Bible a commandment, and thus thou shalt baptize all thy babies. You won't find it. It's not there. This is something we see not by proof texting, but being immersed in the entirety of God's Word.

And I just need to warn you, if that's your standard, you need an absolute command from God to do anything, I say this with some trepidation, we might want to stop giving the ladies in the church communion. Because nowhere in the Bible will you find a scripture passage that explicitly says, and the women are to take communion also. And yet we all know, somehow, that these women are also part of the body of Christ. And have a right to the Lord's sacraments.

And so I'm not going to proof text, we're taking a reasoned position. And so the first is a general principle. God's sign is upon those in covenant with Him. This is what we read in Genesis chapter 17. If someone is in covenant with Jesus Christ, there is a sign of that covenant placed upon them. We saw this in Abraham. It says 17, 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. He has broken my covenant. We Gentiles are members of that same covenant of grace. The new covenant is better administration of the covenant of grace with a more full hope. With that comes increased clarity of a new sign and seal. Baptism has replaced circumcision. The third point there, baptism has replaced circumcision.

This is from Colossians chapter 2. We've already read this before. In him you are also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands by putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. Do you realize every single one of you who believe, you have the mark of circumcision upon you. The circumcision of your hearts. And then verse 12, so what's the outward sign? 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. Now the outward sign is no longer circumcision, but it's baptism. Fourthly, children have always been considered part of the congregation.

Right, from Genesis chapter 29, or Deuteronomy chapter 29, we read, 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, right, all the big guys in the church, everybody make sure you come.

Verse 11, your little ones and your wives too. Also the stranger who is in your camp from the one who cuts your wood and the one who draws your water. And then in Joel chapter 2, verse 16, God is again bringing together the people. He says, 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.

Do you see that the children are included in the congregation? Jesus picks up on this himself. I love when we get to go to Jesus' own words. Luke chapter 18, verses 15 and 17. Jesus taught that children were a part of the kingdom of God. Then they also brought infants to him that he might touch them. But when his disciples saw it, they rebuked Jesus. But Jesus called them to him and said, let the little children come to me, and do not forbid them.

By the way, just so we understand, the Greek there is, these are nursing babies. These are little infants. These are not like eight-year-olds who can walk up there on their own. These are little people being carried by their parents. And what does He say of these little children? 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 it. Jesus says children are in the kingdom of God. Children, this is good news for you. This gives hope to parents. Another principle here is that parents of their children became disciples of Jesus.

And this is just an argument from what would happen in the Jewish world. If you were a Gentile and you came to faith in the Lord, You would go through initiation rites. If you were a male, you would be circumcised. And guess what would happen to your children? They would also be circumcised. And Jesus doesn't repeal this. So we would expect that the initiation rites of children would still come along with their parents.

Maybe this is second to last or third to last here. Is that those to whom the promise of grace was made are to be baptized. I need to be careful with this. The Apostle Peter himself, his very first sermon after Pentecost, he says this, Acts 2, 38 and 39, Repent, and 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 whom?

To you, and to your children, and to all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call. The children are also promised this grace. And if they have been promised this grace, along with their parents, they ought to receive that sign of grace, the same as an Israelite child, eight days old. Lastly on here would be the household pattern of baptism in the New Testament.

If we look to Lydia in Acts chapter 16 where we would find this woman and as she was there beside the water and Paul preaches the gospel to her, Acts chapter 16 verse 15 it says, And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, If you have judged me to be faithful in the Lord, come to my house and stay, so she persuaded us. And there she was baptized, her and her whole household.

You might say, well that's just one time. Well, we don't need to even go to another chapter. Acts chapter 16 verse 30 and 33. Things don't go well for Paul and his friends and Philippi. Actually, they're thrown into jail for preaching Jesus Christ. And there God makes a miraculous thing happen. And the gates open and the Philippian jailer cries out to them. Sirs, what must I do to be saved when they realize that something has happened?

And they said to him, 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 the same hour of the night and washed their stripes, and immediately he and all his family were baptized.

The household was evangelized. The household was baptized. The household, the children, the parents were told of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And then Paul, when he's writing to the people in Corinth, he says about Crispus, their synagogue leader, he says, And he departed from there and entered the house of a certain man named Justice, one who worshipped God, whose house was next door to the synagogue. Then Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his household, and many of the Corinthian hearing believed and were saved. Again and again and again households are baptized.

And so I hope as we look at the blessings of covenant baptism that you realize this is a robust sign and seal of the grace that God has given to his people. Parents have a blessing in their children being baptized because they get to pray for their children to profess faith in Jesus Christ. They get to see and profess that their children are truly a gift from God entrusted to them. Parents, as they bring their children to baptism, get to see their children admitted to the roles of the church. And they also, parents, get to make promises to raise the children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. They get to pray for their kids. read the Bible with their children.

They get to be taught by Sabbath school teachers. They get to worship God. They get to sit under the ordinances. They get the fellowship of the saints. And indeed, they are encouraged to rightly discern the body and blood of Jesus when someday they might come and take of the Lord's Supper themselves. The congregation gets to care for their child. and the parents get to see their children cared for.

Parents are allowed or the congregation gets to do what we got to do this morning and rejoice that God's covenant endures to all generations. The congregation is able to submit their children to the blessing of covenant fellowship for pastoral care, shepherding, prayer, the word, help, encouragement, correction, and even training by other members of the church.

Why do we baptize? Because Jesus commanded us to baptize. What does baptism mean? The full-orbed picture signs and seals of redemption. Who do we baptize? Oh, we definitely baptize adults when they profess Jesus Christ. And we baptize the children of professing members. Because the Lord is gracious. His covenant of grace endures. He's bringing nations to himself. And he keeps his eyes on both adults and on little ones. His love surely endures forevermore.

Closing Prayer

Let's pray. Oh Father, we thank you so much for the work that Jesus Christ has done We thank you that you have given us sensible, visible signs and seals of your covenant. Lord, we thank you that you have brought sinners like us to yourself. And you have even remembered our children. Lord, we pray that you would please wash away, burn away any fruitless or frivolous thing or unbiblical thing that might have escaped my lips today, and that the pure gold might remain. Lord, sanctify your people, watch over them, and may the nations come to worship you.

We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith in your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue, Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.