The waters of baptism

 

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 29 MAY 2022

MATTHEW 3 VERSES 13 – 17

In God’s word we find 2 ordinances or sacrifices laid down for us – one is the Lord’s Table when Jesus said “this do in remembrance of me.”  It is to bring us back to that place of thanksgiving and praise.  It reminds us of the body of Christ broken for us, how he suffered and died.  When we take that emblem we are celebrating the precious blood shed for us – for without the shedding of the blood there is no remission of sins.  The other ordinance is baptism.  What does it mean when we talk about baptism of believers?  It is the total immersion of the believer.  When a man or woman has come to put their faith in Christ then the next step is to go through the waters of baptism.  Let’s take a look at what baptism has to say.  There are false beliefs on baptism.  Everyone has their own slant on it.  Let’s take the word of God and go through and see what the word of God has to say about it.

 

The commission of baptism.  Baptism is not a right or ritual ordained by the church.  We read in John’s gospel of John the Baptist in chapter 1 verse 6 “there was a man sent from God whose name was John.”  He was a unique person in his birth.  His birth was announced and his name proclaimed.  His parents were well past the age of childbearing.  Zacharias was told that his prayers had been heard.  These were a couple in the Lord’s work.  They had been born into a priestly family.  When the angel came down to where Zacharias was he was involved in the ministry of the priesthood.  The angel’s first words were “fear not for thy prayer is heard.  Thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son and thou shalt call his name John.”  Zacharias was in the ministry of prayer on this particular week of service in the temple.  Remember Cornelius who was on his knees when the angel came down and said “your prayers have been heard.”  Zacharias was in the place of prayer.  This announcement surprised him.  He said “whereby shall I know this for I am an old man and my wife well stricken in years.”  It puts power to that phrase ‘with our Lord there is nothing impossible.’  Maybe there are prayers you have been praying day in and day out with no sign of a move at all take heart and courage from Zacharias today.  They were well past the age of childbearing, given up hope of having a child of their own.  These prayers would have ascended to the Lord when they first married and hoped to have a child.  They were seeking the Lord like Anna of old.  She had no children.  She poured out her soul to the Lord.  Eli thought she was drunk but she told him she was not but rather pouring out her situation to the Lord.  Zacharias and Elisabeth had prayed for them to have a child but it did not happen.  Now well on in years and suddenly we are told that prayer had been heard.  Maybe that prayer had not been on either of their lips for perhaps 20 or 30 years.  They were past the age of having children.  Their prayer was as relevant in heaven.  The timing was right.  Take encouragement your prayers are sitting in heaven.  One of these days God might say ‘thy prayer is heard’.  That long lost son or daughter or family member will come to the cross of Calvary one day.  God will answer prayer one day.  With our Lord nothing shall be impossible.  A miracle birth.  A miracle of grace and an answer to prayer.  That takes us to the ministry of John and commission of baptism.  We see his mission.  John came baptising and preaching repentance.  Mark 1 verses 4 and 5 preparing the way for the Lord to come.  Now we see the significance of that phrase “there was a man sent from God whose name was John.”  Baptism came from the heart of God for every child of God not a ritual of the church.  It is a commission from God to every believer.

 

A confirmation of baptism.  Matthew 3 verses 13 to 15.  This ordination commissioned by God was confirmed by Jesus in his teaching and physical example.  When we speak of believers following the Lord through baptism they are doing it in a practical sense.  Jesus himself came to be baptised to the River Jordan and to John the Baptist.  What an example to follow.  “But John forbade him, saying I have need to be baptized of thee and comest thou to me?  And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.  Then he suffered him.”  John watched him stepping down into the waters and baptised him.  John’s ministry was preaching repentance and baptism.  Those who turn from sins were eligible for baptism.  Jesus didn’t have any sin., he was the perfect Lamb of God.  He came into the world to seek and to save that which was lost.  He came to die on the cross to save us from our sins.  Jesus was setting out his Father’s great plan.  He came to fulfil every purpose of the law the Lord had given him, to fulfil his plan at Calvary.  The confirmation of heaven is evident.  Verses 16 and 17.  As Jesus came out of the waters of baptism he could see the heavens opening and the Spirit of God coming down.  Then he heard the voice from heaven “this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”  Mark 16 verse 16 “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.”  The Lord does not say you have to be baptised to be saved.  “By grace are you saved through faith.”  Faith saves us not water.  This portion of scripture speaks of the responsibility of everyone who believes.  To believe the gospel, to be saved and then go through the waters of baptism.  Many are saved but are not baptised.  Think of the thief on the cross.  “Remember when you come into your kingdom” he asked Jesus.  He realised that when he closed his eyes in death there was a great eternity before him,,  He realised he was the prince of that kingdom.  Jesus told him “today thou shalt be with me in paradise.”  He couldn’t be baptised.  He was on the cross and Jesus accepted him.  If circumstances had been different he would have been baptised.

 

A confession of our faith.  Baptism is an outward expression of our inward faith.  If you are saved by God’s grace, going through baptism is giving an outward expression to that faith.  Faith is a personal thing.  Acceptance of Christ is between you and God.  As we do that we realise it is private and personal.  Baptism is making a public display of the inward work of Christ in our hearts.  In Acts 2 when Peter preached, the question was asked by the people “what shall we do?”   Peter said “repent and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”  “Then they that gladly received his word were baptised.”  They were confessing their faith in the finished work of Calvary by demonstration of going through the waters of baptism.  3000 people on that day of Pentecost were saved and added to the Lamb’s book of Life.  Everyone came individually to the Lord, this was not salvation by mass.  Every individual had to make his mind whether they would go through the waters of baptism, it was their own choice.