Today I'm going to pick up on the Westminster Confession of Faith where we last left off. Last time I had covered Chapter 28, Paragraphs 1 and 2. Today we come to Paragraph 3, which is on the mode of baptism. Westminster Confession of Faith 28.3 says, dipping of the person into the water is not necessary, but baptism is rightly administered by pouring, or sprinkling water upon the person. As we look at this today, let us open now with a word of prayer. Gracious Heavenly Father, we do pray for your presence with us. We pray, dear Lord, that your spirit would help us to better understand your word, to understand your truth and practice your truth, and also to have spirits that are gracious and loving to those brothers in Christ who do hold to different views. And we pray, dear Lord, that in all these things, we may see Christ glorified and your salvation magnified. For it's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. Looking at chapter 28 as a whole, we see that it teaches that Christian baptism must be conducted with water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and by a minister of the gospel. And our confession says that If it is done this way, it is Christian baptism. Paragraph 3 teaches that the proper biblical mode for Christian baptism is to pour the water or sprinkle the water on the head of the person. But it allows that baptism by immersion is Christian baptism. Because the Bible does not make an issue of the mode. The Bible does not command that a particular mode be used. If we look at the history of the church, we note from the history of the church that different modes were considered acceptable. And that was true for many centuries in the Christian church. The particular Baptists were the first to require that a particular mode be used, which they did in their 1644 First London Confession. If we go way back to the beginning, a writing that was very early, even as early as the late 1st century or at the end of the 1st century or early in the 2nd century was the Didache. Now, the Didache was not a book of the Bible. It was not inspired. The title, the Didache, means the teaching. The longer title would be the teaching of the Lord through his apostles. And this was a summary that was written by some Christian. It was a summary of the Christian truth taught in the Bible and how they thought it should be practiced in the Christian churches. Now, we don't believe this is inspired. We don't believe that we have to follow everything in it by any means. But it's interesting to look at it and see what was believed and taught at such a very early age on the issue of baptism. And it made a statement on baptism that allowed for the practice of different modes when baptism. It said, and concerning baptism, baptize this way. Having first said all these things, baptize into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit in living water. That means to use water that's running or has the appearance of being alive as a picture of the water of life, which comes from Christ and which is salvation. But if you have not living water, baptize into other water. And if you cannot in cold, in warm. But if you have not either, pour out water thrice upon the head into the name of the Father and Son and Holy Spirit. But before the baptism, let the baptizer fast and the baptized and whatever others can. But you shall order the baptized to fast one or two days before. Now, we don't believe that you have to fast before being baptized, but fasting with prayer is a good thing for this preparation for this very important acceptance into the church as a member of Christ's church. And we note here that it doesn't mention immersion, but it implies immersion in water. And then it also speaks about the pouring out of water upon the head, mentioning two different modes and saying they're both acceptable, they're both Christian baptism. Now, the argument for immersion alone as Christian baptism usually begins with a statement that Greek lexicons say that the Greek verb baptizo, means to immerse. And I may shock some of you by saying this, but I'm going to say this is true. But we must note that this definition is based on its use by the Greeks prior to the time of the New Testament. And so the New Testament apostles chose to use this word, but that doesn't prove that they were using it with the meaning that it had previously. The Septuagint, which is the translation of the Old Testament into the Greek, shows to us that the apostles and even the translators of the Old Testament were often forced to use Greek words in order to translate God's word from the Old Testament Hebrew into the Greek Septuagint. They had to use Greek words that often had a different or somewhat different, slightly different meaning from the Old Testament words. for which they substituted them. One prominent example of this is the word covenant. And the Greeks had two words for covenant, and it was very interesting the one they chose to use in the New Testament because it actually doesn't mean a covenant at all. It refers to a last will or testament. But the other word which did refer to a contract or a pact, the Greek word emphasized that both parties were equal. And in the biblical Old Testament covenants, the parties were not equal. God as a sovereign imposed the terms of the covenant upon those who either accepted them or did not accept them. And so they chose to use the other word because they did not want to give the impression that the parties in this covenant were equal. But when we look at the New Testament, we see that that word is being used not with the meaning of a testament, but rather with the meaning of the Old Testament covenant, the meaning that that word had in the Old Testament. And so when we come to the use of the word baptizo in the New Testament, we cannot assume that this word has the same meaning that it had when it was used prior to this time by the Greeks. To determine whether baptize, that word does or does not mean to immerse in the New Testament, we must make our argument from the Bible and not from its prior use by the Greeks. Next, the argument usually turns to statements on the baptism of Jesus. Mark chapter 1 and verse 10 says, And when he, that is Jesus, came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the spirit descending on him like a dove. Now, here the translation, he came up, he came up out of the water, it is argued that this means that Jesus was immersed. that he went down under the water, that he came up out of the water, and so that shows that immersion was used, but that is actually unlikely. The words came up out of the water, the Greek preposition there is ek, which can mean out of, but it can also mean away from. And it can be translated, he came up from the water, which means that he walked out of the river, not that he was immersed in the water and then he rose up out of the water. And this is very likely true for many reasons. The first is that the parallel text in Matthew 3.16 states, and when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water. And here, the Greek word is apo, which only means away from the water, not out of the water. And secondly, Acts 8, 38 to 39, clearly indicates that this was the practice of the one who was baptizing and the one being baptized to stand in the water or shallow stream or whatever there was there. And it says, And he commanded the chariot to stop and they, that is both Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch, both went down into the water. Notice it says, they both went down into the water. Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they came up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord carried Philip away. Note that the phrase, they both went down into the water, does not mean that Philip immersed the Ethiopian eunuch, because that would mean that they were both immersed. And then after they were both immersed, that Philip then baptized him. And the phrase they came up out of the water does not mean that the eunuch then rose up out of the water, for that would mean that they were both immersed and then both rose up out of the water. Rather, it indicates they were both standing in the water. He baptized them, him there, the eunuch, and then they came from the water and they walked away from the water. So if this is true, then how did John, the baptizer, baptize Jesus? What mode did he use? To understand this, we need to remember that Hebrews chapters 5 through 8 tell us that the father appointed Jesus as a high priest. Question for us, when did God anoint Jesus as a high priest? Answer, when he poured out the Holy Spirit on him at his baptism. Question for us, how were priests ordained or anointed for their service as a priest in the Old Testament? Answer, the Old Testament says that three things must take place. Number one, numbers 447 says that the man must be 30 years old. Have you ever wondered why Luke 3.23 makes a point of telling us, quote, Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about 30 years of age, unquote. That was important. It was indicating that he had reached the age that he could become a priest, and not only a priest, but as indicated in Hebrews, a high priest. Number two, Hebrews 5.4 tells us that the man to become a priest had to be called by God. And Jesus was called by God. God appointed Jesus to be a priest after the order of Melchizedek. Number three, Numbers 8 tells us that the man to become a priest, this is in the Old Testament in the book of Numbers chapter 8, that the man to be anointed and ordained as a priest must be sprinkled with water by someone who was a priest. Was Jesus baptized by someone who was a priest? Yes, John the Baptist was a son of Zechariah, a priest of the division of Abijah. And Numbers 8, 7 says, Thus you shall do to them to cleanse them. sprinkle the water of purification upon them. Those who were being set apart to serve as a priest in Israel had to have the water of purification, the water that purifies, sprinkled upon them. Now this raises another question. Was the baptism by John and the baptism by Jesus a symbol of purification and a symbol of cleansing? John 3 25 to 26 says, Now a discussion arose between some of John's disciples and a Jew over purification. Very interesting that there is contention over purification while John is baptizing. And they came to John and said to him, Rabbi, He who was with you across the Jordan, that's referring to Jesus, to whom you bore witness, look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him. And so the followers of John the baptizer, they were concerned. They were losing all the work they were doing. And John didn't have anyone coming to him to be baptized. They were all going to Jesus because John pointed them to Jesus and said, here is the Lamb of God. And Acts, but the point here is that there was this discussion about purification while they were baptizing. And Acts 3.38 says, and Peter said to them, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. for purification, for cleansing from your sins, for spiritual cleansing, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And Titus 3.5 says, He, that is God, saved us not because of works not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration. How does he save us? By the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. And so here, regeneration is called the washing. It is called that which cleanses, that which purifies us. Water baptism is a symbol of this cleansing from our sins. which takes place through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, as the Holy Spirit baptizes us, as He regenerates us, as He comes to dwell in the believer. And notice, not only that initial regeneration that gives us a new heart and spiritual life, but it adds and renewal of the Holy Spirit that speaks of the renewing work of the Holy Spirit all through our life, our sanctification. And if we go on to 1 Peter 1, we see that this chapter begins and ends by focusing our attention on what baptism signifies, namely purification from sin by the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus. Verses 1 and 2 say, to those who are elect, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood. And so notice these two final phrases and I do want to mention I cut some of the words out in the very beginning of the verse just to make it flow a little better and get to the main point here. But the conclusion says for obedience to Jesus Christ we've been elected We've been sanctified that for our obedience, that we would live in obedience to him and for this purpose, for sprinkling with his blood, for us to be purified, for us to be cleansed from our sins by the blood of Jesus. And then when you come to the end of the chapter, verse 22 combines these two last phrases into a parallel phrase. Having purified your souls, by your obedience to the truth. So water baptism is a picture of this, but here's the spiritual reality. Our souls are purified from sin and the condemnation due to us for our sins by our obedience to the truth, by our trusting in Christ and submitting to him as our savior, by our obeying the truth, the truth of the gospel. And we might also ask this question, what work did the Messiah come to do? What was prophesied about him? Why was he coming? What would he do? And Isaiah 52 and verse 13 sums up that the Messiah will, quote, sprinkle many nations, unquote. Here's how all the work of Christ is summed up. Here's how the gospel is summed up. The coming of Christ, his death, his resurrection, he will sprinkle many nations. In other words, he will purify many from many nations from sin. All of this points to water baptism by John and water baptism by Jesus as a purification by the sprinkling of water, which symbolizes a purification from sin by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. that is, purification accomplished by the blood, that is, by the death of Jesus. This now leads us to consider not the outward sign of purification, which we see as sprinkling, and which is water baptism, but the inward work of purification, which is spirit baptism. Let us now consider this question. What is the scriptural mode of spirit baptism? Luke 3.16 says that John, that is the baptizer, answered them all saying, I baptize you with water. But he who is mightier than I is coming. The strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you. The Messiah is going to baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. This prophecy was fulfilled by Jesus on the day of Pentecost, but it was prophesied many times before it came to pass. Isaiah in about 700 BC predicted this baptism with the Holy Spirit when he said in Isaiah 44 3, for I will pour water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground. Now there's the outward symbol and he goes on to say, I will pour my spirit upon your offspring and my blessing on your descendants. And here he speaks of the land being cleansed. He pictures the land of Israel being cleansed from its sins. And he pictures the hearts of the people being cleansed by the spirit being poured out upon the offspring. of God's people. And Joel predicted this spirit baptism when he said in Joel chapter 2 verses 26 through 28, and it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and daughters shall prophesy. even on the male and female servants in those days. I will pour out my spirit." And we come to Acts chapter 2 and verse 3 describing the fulfillment and it says, and divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. Notice it doesn't say they were immersed in fire. It says the fire was basically poured out upon them and rested upon their heads. And Acts 11, 15 through 16 says, as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them. Not that they were immersed in the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit fell on them, just as on us at the beginning. And I remember the word of the Lord, how he said, John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. The scriptures say that the baptism with the Holy Spirit and with fire consisted of a pouring out, a falling upon, a resting upon them, not an immersion. There are still many important texts in the Bible about baptism, and so we will move on quickly to look at many more of those. Romans 6, 3 through 5 says, do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus, were baptized into his death. We were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. This passage is used to argue that immersion must be the mode for Christian baptism since it is argued immersion alone symbolizes our death with Christ and our resurrection with Christ. While I admit that immersion appears to be a beautiful picture of death and resurrection with Christ, the text never mentions water at all. It never mentions the mode of baptism at all, and it never draws any comparison between immersion and our death and resurrection with Christ. Immersion is not discussed anywhere in the text. It is simply being assumed that It must be the mode because, in the eyes of many, it best pictures our being united with Christ in His death and in His resurrection. While the Christians had received water baptism and thereby been united with the visible Church of Christ, The phrase baptized into Christ refers to the reality that water baptism symbolizes. It refers to believers being identified with Christ. Even more than that, being united to Christ in all that he did for us and thus receiving all the benefits of Christ's work for salvation, being united to him as our head and our Savior and Lord, being united with the body of Christ, which is the church. This was our, that is the true body of Christ, the invisible, the invisible church in which all who are in it are truly saved. And uniting us here with himself, so that all that Christ did for us, all that Christ did has been done for us. And as 1st Corinthians 12 13 says, for in or by one spirit, we were all baptized into one body. Christ's death for our sins accomplished our death to our life of sin. freed us from the demands of the law and Christ's resurrection to new glorified life accomplished our resurrection to a new life in Christ empowered by the Holy Spirit. Next we must look at 1st Corinthians 10 1 through 4 which says, For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. The phrase all were baptized into Moses does not mean that they were immersed in water or that they were immersed in Moses. It was the Egyptians who were immersed in water as they tried to pass through the Red Sea and they all perished. What this phrase, all were baptized into Moses, again means is that all the Israelites became identified with Moses, united with Moses as their mediator and as a type of Christ. They passed through the sea on dry ground with the glory of God above them. And even though they did not get wet, the water was present as a sign that God was cleansing them and separating them From the sin of Egypt and he was making them his people the Church of God in the wilderness They would later hear the Ten Commandments and in Exodus 24 7 they would pledge their obedience to God by saying all that the Lord has spoken we will do and we will be obedient and through their faith In the coming Messiah, through the life that they lived, striving for obedience to God, we can know that some of them did drink of the water of eternal life, which flowed out of the spiritual rock, who was Jesus Christ. Next, we look at 1 Peter 3 in verse 20, which says, God's patience waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared in which a few, that is, eight persons were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this now, saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body. So in other words, he's saying water baptism doesn't save anyone. But what it stands for, what it pictures, does save. And he goes on to say, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Once again, only those who perished in the flood were immersed. All those in the ark were dry, but water was present as a symbol that God purified and separated Noah and his family from the sin of the world. God was washing the world clean of its great wickedness and evil and sin. And God was separating Noah and his family from the sin of the world and taking them to be his church. And those who have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit have received the spiritual reality that water baptism merely symbolizes, namely cleansing from our sins through the blood of Jesus Christ. Finally, we must look at Hebrews 9. Hebrews 9 in verse 9 says, According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, but deal only with food and drink and various washings. Now, the word here for washings is in the Greek baptismoi. And we have just already seen how the crossing through the Red Sea was referred to as a baptism by the Apostle Paul. And in Peter, the washing of the earth clean of its sin and the bringing of Noah and his family to safety was referred to as a baptism. And there, another form of the word baptism, which is the regular form of the word in the New Testament for baptism, for Christian baptism, is used. Here in Hebrews 9, a different form, but a related form of baptism is used. It's been translated washings. And our translations, I think, chose to go with washings because they say, well, this is talking about Old Testament washings. It's not talking about Christian baptism. But we're going to see here very clearly that these washings in the Old Testament are being referred to as baptisms, at least in the sense of a picture of purification, though obviously they are not baptisms in the sense of a New Testament baptism, in the sense of baptism in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. But nevertheless, they are the picture of that Christian baptism. They are that picture of that cleansing from sin that comes by the baptism with the Spirit. And so it is argued that the Greek word baptismois here merely refers to Old Testament ceremonial washings and should not be understood as baptism. We shouldn't translate it baptism, they say. But we have already seen Paul refer to the crossing. of the Red Sea as a baptism, and we've seen Peter refer to the preservation from the worldwide flood as a baptism. And in Hebrews chapter 6, verses 1 and 2, the writer of Hebrews uses this same word, but he places it in the midst of five distinctly Christian concepts. He says, therefore, let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of. Now, he's saying that we've been talking about the essentials of the Christian faith and what is required to be a mature Christian. And he says, we're not going to go on talking about foundational matters. We're going to go on to some more matters. But notice how he characterizes the foundations of Christianity. He says a foundation of, number one, repentance from dead works and of faith toward God. Number two, and well, those can even be two things, repentance from dead works and number two, of faith towards God. And then number three, of instruction about washings. And here this word is used. What Christian washings are being referred to? Well, baptism. That's what's being referred to here. And then number four, the laying on of hands. He's talking about ordinations. And then number five, ordinations of ministers, officers of the church. And then number five, the resurrection of the dead. And number six, and eternal judgment. All of these are Christian concepts taught in the New Testament. And here, this instruction about washings is placed right in the middle of them. And so he's really referring, he's using the word to refer to Christian baptism here, to refer to baptism. The context indicates that this word can refer to baptisms, to purifications by water, which are symbolic of the work of purification accomplished by the blood of Jesus Christ. Verses 13 and 14 go on to say, for if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer sanctify for the purification of the flesh. So here he's talking about the Old Testament symbol, the Old Testament purification by sprinkling. And he says, that sets a person apart. That sets them apart. and makes their body to be considered clean. That's that's a picture of cleansing. He goes on to say in verse 14, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience, not our bodies, but our conscience, our very heart, our very spirit, our very essence from dead works. to serve the living God. And of course, dead works are those works that we're trying to do to earn our own salvation. And they can't cleanse us, but the blood of Christ can cleanse us from all our sins and set us apart to serve the living God. And verses 19 through 24 go on to say, for when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he, that is Moses, took the blood of calves and goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people saying, this is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you. And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood, both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. Indeed, under the law, almost everything is purified with blood. And without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. Now, this may come across to us very strange. Why would you baptize the tabernacle? Why would you baptize all the implements in the tabernacle. That's not a person. They can't have faith. It's a picture of being cleansed, being set apart for God, being dedicated to God. And it goes on in verse 22 to say, Indeed, under the law, almost everything is purified with blood. And without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. Now, they were a picture of the forgiveness of sins, but we know The true accomplishment of forgiveness of sins came through the blood of Christ. And verse 23 says, thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things. That tabernacle and that temple in the Old Testament, they were just copies of the heavenly tabernacle, the heavenly dwelling place of God in heaven itself. just copies of the heavenly things, and it is necessary for the copies, thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites. but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has entered not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf." So Christ is gone into heaven. Christ, having been crucified, having shed his blood, for sin now enters into heaven as the sacrifice standing before God and taking away the sins of all God's people. His death and resurrection, His pouring out of His blood, His sacrifice is what cleanses us from our sins and allows us to enter into the presence of a perfect and all holy God who is so holy that he cannot allow any sin into his presence. And yet through the blood of Christ, we may be accepted in God's sight as sinless and perfect and forgiven through the blood of Christ shed for us, poured out for us. And once again, Isaiah 52.13 says that the Messiah will sprinkle many nations. And again, 1 Peter 1.1-2 says, to those who are elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father in the sanctification of the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood. He elected us to be sprinkled with the blood of Jesus that we might stand in his presence as cleansed and purified. and the children of God. Here we see that Hebrews 9 very, very tightly ties together the Old Testament symbolism of purification through the sprinkling of water and the blood of sacrifices with the New Testament symbolism of purification through the sprinkling of water. And these symbols under both the Old Covenant and the New Covenant point to a spiritual reality. They point to our purification from our sins through our union with Christ. and that purification being accomplished by his blood, that is to say, by his death for us. Let us close in prayer. Gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you and praise you for the amazing salvation that you've accomplished for us through Christ. The life, spiritual life and eternal life that we have because the blood of Christ was poured out and was sprinkled upon us. that we may be accepted as holy and perfect in your sight, not for any righteousness in us, but for the righteousness of Christ placed on our account. For this, we give great glory and praise to you in Christ's name. Amen.