Turn in the Word of God this morning to Isaiah chapter 1, and we'll read verses 1 through 20. Isaiah chapter 1, verses 1 through 20, a passage in which God points out, first of all, in very detailed fashion, the sins of his people, and then his declaration of the forgiveness and covering for their sins in verse 18. Isaiah 1, the vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spoken. I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib, but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. Our sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corruptors, they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. Why should ye be stricken anymore? Ye will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot, even unto the head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. They have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. Your country is desolate. Your cities are burned with fire. Your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate as overthrown by strangers. The daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. Except the Lord of hosts hath left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah. Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom. Give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me, saith the Lord? I am full of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts, and I delight not in the blood of bullocks or of lambs or of he-goats. When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations. Incense is an abomination unto me. The new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with. It is iniquity, even the solemn meaning. Your new moons and your appointed feasts, my soul hateth. They are a trouble unto me. I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you. Yea, when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes. Cease to do evil. Learn to do well. Seek judgment. Relieve the oppressed. Judge the fatherless. Plead for the widow. Come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land. But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. We read God's Word thus far, and it's on the basis of that passage, many like passages in Scripture that were instructed in Lords Day 26 of the Hardaway Catechism this morning, which is treating now the means of grace, and specifically the sacraments as means of grace, and here in this Lord's Day, the sacrament of baptism. Lord's Day 26, answers 69, questions 69 through 71. How art thou admonished and assured by holy baptism that the one sacrifice of Christ upon the cross is of real advantage to thee? Thus, that Christ appointed this external washing with water, adding thereto this promise, that I am as certainly washed by his blood and spirit from all the pollution of my soul, that is, from all my sins, as I am washed externally with water by which the filthiness of the body is commonly washed away. What is it to be washed with the blood and spirit of Christ? It is to receive of God the remission of sins freely for the sake of Christ's blood, which he shed for us by his sacrifice upon the cross, and also to be renewed by the Holy Ghost and sanctified to be members of Christ, that so we may more and more die unto sin and lead holy and unblameable lives. Where has Christ promised us that he will as certainly wash us by his blood and spirit as we are washed with the water of baptism? In the institution of baptism, which is thus expressed, go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. This promise is also repeated where the scripture calls baptism the washing of regeneration and the washing away of sins. Beloved in Our Lord Jesus Christ, as we gather together here this morning as the people of God, there is something that we all have in common, and that is that we have all received the sacrament of baptism. Some of us many, many years ago, some of us more recently. Every confessing member and every child of the members of the church has received the sacrament of baptism. But how often do each of us think about our own baptism? We observe baptism being administered, and we've had the privilege of having the sacrament administered many times in this year, but how well do we consider when we observe the sacrament being administered to a child, do we consider the significance of our own baptism and not just that child who is being baptized? Probably not that often. And yet we should. And we should do so not only when we see the sacrament being administered in the church, as we are often privileged to do, but also many other times in our life as Christians and as believers, because the sacrament of baptism pictures for us, and pictures for us personally, and applies to us personally the truth that is at the very heart of the gospel, our cleansing from all our sin. Christ's work is pictured in baptism. And this work of Christ is pictured in baptism as we read of it and as it is declared to us in Isaiah chapter 1, that though your sins be as scarlet and though your iniquities be red like crimson, you are in the eyes of God white as snow and white as wool. And that's something that every one of us needs often to contemplate and to meditate upon and to consider and to be thankful to God for, as that is pictured for us and declared to us in the sacrament of baptism. We consider this Lord's Day then using as our theme, baptism and cleansing from sin. Notice first what baptism teaches, secondly the assurance it gives, and finally the calling it sets before us. Through the sacrament of baptism, beloved, we are first of all taught something. Baptism teaches. That's not immediately clear from this Lord's Day, but that's what is being referred to in question 69, which asks, how art thou admonished and assured by holy baptism? And that word admonished is literally a word that means instructed. How art thou instructed and assured by holy baptism? It refers to being informed of something. It refers to being taught something. And so the question is really asking this. How is or how does your baptism teach you something? What does it teach you? What does it teach you? Baptism teaches us And first of all, we know that baptism teaches us by means of a picture because baptism is itself a sign, a picture, and that's a good way to teach someone. Teachers and parents know that well. They often use pictures to teach their little children. Such visual instruction of the children is powerful and very effective, a powerful way to reinforce what is spoken, a powerful way to demonstrate and reinforce what the teacher says to the children through words. And that's what baptism is and what baptism does. It is an effective and a powerful way of instructing us through a picture that God gives us in the sacrament of baptism. And when we think of baptism as a picture, then as this Lord's Day points out, and as we know too, the sacrament of baptism pictures for us especially three things. Three things. First thing that the sacrament of baptism teaches us, pictures for us and teaches us by means of that picture, is that we are sinners. The sacrament of baptism is applied to sinners. Sinners are baptized. Everyone who has received the sacrament of baptism, as we all have, received that sacrament because we are sinners. If you were not a sinner, if you were a perfect person, if you were one who was not born with a sinful nature, and if you were one who never committed any sin in your life, then you would have not needed to be baptized. but you are a sinner, and you were already a sinner when you were a baby, and your parents had you baptized because they knew and admitted and confessed that you were a sinner. And in terms of the chapter that we read, Isaiah chapter one, Here is what God tells us about ourselves through the sacrament of baptism. He tells us in verses 2 and 4 that we are rebellious children. We are people who are laden with iniquity. We are by nature a seed of evildoers, not by nature those who do good, but those who do evil. We are, according to verse 3, more foolish than the beasts of the field, more foolish than the animals that some of you have and care for on your farms. Animals that, according to verse 2, at least know who their masters are. They know and acknowledge those who care for them and who provide for them. But we are by nature more foolish than them because we don't acknowledge and remember God. And then in verses 11 through 15, the chapter points out how we are those who by nature are hypocrites, especially now in our worship of God. We appear to worship God faithfully, we bring our sacrifices and our praises to God. but our sacrifices are vain sacrifices. Our prayers are empty prayers to God because so often it is simply words and is not sincere and from the heart. And verse 18 points out that our sins are characterized by the color red and scarlet because so many of our sins are sins in which we have blood on our hands. We have become guilty of committing the sin of murder, killing our neighbor instead of loving our neighbor by thoughts and deeds and words. One who understands his or her baptism will admit by the grace of God that what God says here about us is true, is correct. With a believing heart we say, yes, I am myself by nature rebellious, I am an evildoer, I am laden with iniquity, and it's not simply that I was once and now no longer am this way, but I am still this way by nature because I still have that sinful nature. And so I am still characterized by all of these sins, including this foolishness that characterizes me, that I am more foolish than the farm animals. They at least know who their masters are, but I so often forget God my maker. and my savior, and my father. So often hypocritical in worship. Our baptism declares that we are sinners. It teaches that to us. But then secondly, our baptism teaches us that we are thoroughly, completely cleansed from our sin through Jesus Christ. That cleansing is our justification. We are cleansed from the guilt of sin, and our baptism is a picture of that cleansing from the guilt of sin. Notice how the catechism itself spells that out. I am washed by His blood, that is, by the blood of Christ and His Spirit, from all the pollution of my soul, that is, from all my sins, as I am washed externally with water by which the filthiness of the body is commonly washed away. And then the next question, what is it to be washed with the blood and spirit of Christ? And the answer, it is to receive of God the remission of sins freely for the sake of Christ's blood, which he shed for us by his sacrifice on the cross. We use water to wash away dirt from our hands, from our body. We wash ourselves with water every day, and that cleansing of our physical dirt is a daily picture to us and a daily reminder to us of the spiritual cleansing and the spiritual washing away of our sins through the blood of Christ and in the sight of God. That is to say, baptism is a sign to us of what took place on the cross. Baptism is a sign to us, a picture to us, of the Lord Jesus Christ shedding his blood for us, Christ dying on the cross where he died at the hands of God His Father as the payment for our sin, and accomplished great things for us through His death on the cross. Atonement, satisfaction, covering for us. He attained our justification, our righteousness before God. He attained for us the complete forgiveness of every sin, and baptism declares that to us. Baptism teaches that to us, a picture to us that is worth thousands and thousands of words. This powerful, and comforting message of the gospel. Though your sins be as scarlet, you are now white as snow in the eyes of God." So that secondly, baptism teaches us about our justification. But then thirdly, baptism teaches us about another cleansing that God accomplishes, a cleansing that we don't always associate, at least not so quickly, with the sacrament of baptism. And that cleansing is our sanctification, our sanctification. being cleansed from the pollution and from the power of sin. And the Lord's Day speaks of that and especially speaks of that in the second part of answer 70. What is it? To be washed with the blood and spirit of Christ. It is also to be renewed by the Holy Ghost and sanctified to be members of Christ that so we may more and more die unto sin. and lead holy and unblameable lives. Baptism teaches us about our sanctification, too. So baptism teaches us about a change that takes place by the power of the Holy Spirit in our souls, and because of that change in our souls, a change that takes place also in our lives. We're not only justified and forgiven, but we are also sanctified. We are also cleansed and changed and renewed within. Baptism teaches us that. We're not only freed from the guilt and the punishment of sin, but we're also freed from the pollution and the power of sin in our lives. We're not only cleansed in the eyes of God so that our legal standing before God is that we are white as snow, but we are also made to be actually internally cleansed by the Spirit. Sanctified, as the Catechism says, to be members of Christ. Sanctified to be those who are joined to Christ and to be those who are, by His Spirit, made to be like Christ. A member of Christ who is, by the power of the Spirit in us, no longer controlled by One who more and more hates sin, more and more forsakes sin. One who more and more turns from sin and lives in holiness. Spirit causing us to hate sin so that we hate being the things that Isaiah 1 speaks about. We hate being rebellious children. We hate being those who are characterized as evildoers. We hate being more foolish than the beasts of the field who do remember their master, but we don't. And the Spirit sanctifying us leads us instead to love and to delight in God. to please God and to walk in obedience to Him. To say, Satan is not my Lord. Sin is not my master. I am not the slave of the devil or of my sinful flesh. I have been freed from sin. I am free to serve God." You say that, don't you, beloved? That's true of you, isn't it? Your baptism teaches you that it is. Thankful we are, too, for being taught concerning of sanctification. But notice, beloved, the catechism points out that this sacrament not only admonishes and teaches us, but we're asked, how are thou assured by holy baptism? Assured that the one sacrifice of Christ upon the cross is of real advantage to the baptism also assures us. Baptism is a means of grace that is used for the strengthening of the assurance of faith, the confidence of faith, so that the child of God says, what the Lord Jesus Christ did in satisfying the justice of God and making atonement for sin and providing a covering for sin, He did for me. for me. Assurance that the truths of salvation that are pictured in the sacrament of baptism, therefore, are not made up, are not a lie, but are true and are true for us personally, so that it is true for yourself personally that you are justified and you are sanctified. The sacrament of baptism is a means of grace. to assure the child of God of those things. God adds this assurance as part of the sacrament of baptism because it is very important to God that His people be sure of their salvation. He speaks in the preaching of the gospel words to strengthen our assurance, and then He gives us the sacraments as well as means of grace to also strengthen our assurance. God does not want His people to live in doubt. To live in doubt concerning belonging to Christ, to live in doubt concerning Christ as their Savior, and to live in doubt concerning the forgiveness of their sins, and to live in doubt concerning their sanctification, their life of holiness. God purposes for us to be confident. It provides the sacraments also to accomplish that purpose. God uses baptism, therefore, to assure us, first of all, of our justification. He says to you and me through the sacrament of baptism, just as water washes away dirt, and it certainly does, you all know that it does, so surely Have I washed away your sins? And I have washed away all of your sins. And I have washed away all of them because the Lord Jesus Christ, my Son, was punished for all of them. You may be confident, therefore, that every sin that you have ever committed has been paid for. Your cleansing from your sins is as sure, as certain as the fact that water washes away dirt. Though your sins be as scarlet, they are white as snow in the eyes of God. The sins of you. When you stole or you lied, you got drunk, you disrespected your parents, in the eyes of God you are white as snow in regard to those sins. The sin you committed when You committed adultery either by deeds or by thoughts. That sin has been cleansed, washed away. You are white as snow before the eyes of God in regard to that sin. The sin you committed when you were severely afflicted and you questioned, you doubted the love and faithfulness of God in your affliction. You are as white as snow in regards to that sin. And your frequent sins of hatred and gossip and slander and thus of murder of others, are also forgiven. You are white as snow in the eyes of God for all those sins, and God's purpose is to assure us of that so that we can rejoice in our forgiveness and be thankful for our complete cleansing from sin and need not doubt in our minds at all concerning the forgiveness of any sin whatsoever. Assurance that can be enjoyed by us, assurance that can be enjoyed by faith, and that can be enjoyed with regards to every sin that we confess and repent of, in the way of that repentance and that confession. we can be assured that we are forgiven, the assurance of our justification. But we are also, through the sacrament of baptism, assured of our sanctification. We have been renewed by the Holy Spirit, as the catechism points out, so that we may more and more die unto sin and lead holy and unblameable lives. And the key word in what the catechism says there is that word that we may, we may more and more die unto sin and lead holy and unblameable lives. That word is not referring to us having permission, like you say to your child, you may go outside and play, you give them permission, but that word here refers to ability that we are given. The Spirit renews us so that we are given the ability more and more to die unto sin. The Spirit renews us so that we are given the ability more and more to lead holy and unblameable lies. And through baptism we are assured that we have received that ability, our sanctification, our being renewed and cleansed within, God declaring to us through the sacrament of baptism, it isn't that I justify you and now it's up to you to sanctify yourself. It isn't that your sanctification is your part in your salvation. I've done my part, now you do yours. Not that, but God says, I don't do half a work when I save, I do all of it. My Spirit makes you holy. My Spirit causes you to be more and more godly, more and more spiritually minded, more and more loving, and more and more obedient to me. in thankfulness to me. And it's true, we're not yet perfect. But the Spirit works infallibly. He actually works holiness in the child of God. He empowers us to love God and to love our neighbors. Therefore, beloved, whenever you observe baptism, the sacrament being administered to an infant in the congregation, or even to an adult, and whenever you reflect upon your own baptism at such a time, or at other times, even when you use water to wash away dirt, that's a reminder, Regardless of how many years ago that was, you are reminded that baptism is a blessed means of grace, a means to strengthen the assurance of faith, a means that God gives to assure us more and more of His gracious pardon of our and His Spirit's mighty work of producing holiness in us. The sacrament of baptism implies a calling, a significant calling. And we're not talking about, not speaking of the calling that parents have with regard to the children that they present for baptism. That too is a calling that is set before the people of God, and a serious one. Parents promising to keep vows to bring up their children in the fear of God. But that's not what we're talking about here in this Lord's Day. That's the next Lord's Day when Lord's Day 27 speaks about infant baptism. Here in Lord's Day 26, we're speaking about the calling that every one of us has who has been baptized. The calling of every baptized member of this church, whether that baptism was 10 years ago, or 20, or 50, or 80 years ago. Every member has a calling with regard to his or her baptism. And even the form that we use for the administration of the sacrament of baptism reminds us of that. says this, whereas in all covenants there are contained two parts, therefore are we by God through baptism admonished of and obliged unto new obedience, namely, that we cleave to this one God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, that we trust in Him and love Him with all our hearts, with all our souls, with all our mind, and with all our strength. that we forsake the world, crucify our old nature, and walk in a new and holy life. That's the admonition, the calling that comes to every baptized person. And that's implied in this Lord's Day when the Lord's Day points out that the spirit sanctifies us. The Spirit has done something to us. He has sanctified us to be members of Christ. He leads us more and more to die unto sin, and He leads us more and more to live holy and unblameable lives, and our calling as it arises out of what the Spirit has done to us is to show in our lives that this is true, to strive more and more daily to die unto sin, more and more each day to live holy and unblameable lives, and those words more and more are significant, not staying the same in our life as a Christian, but improvement. The child of God should never be satisfied with being the same day after day after day. The child of God should never be content to stand still with regard to sanctification, satisfied to be tomorrow the same as I was yesterday and last week and last year. The child of God is not one who may say, this is just the way I am. I'm a sinner. I have a sinful nature, and I have my besetting sins, and I'm going to continue being a sinner and to continue committing those sins until I die. I'm going to sin every day. I can't help it. I can't help it that I gossip. I can't help it that I slander. I can't help it that I tell lies. I can't help it that I lie to my parents. I can't help it that I watch Filth on the internet, this is just the way I am. Child of God should not be satisfied to say that sort of thing. You young people here who have been baptized, remember, and are baptized members of this church, young people may not say, well, I'm still young. And therefore, I don't have to work very hard yet at being godly. That can wait until perhaps, perhaps until I make confession of faith. And then when I make confession of faith, then that's when I will promise, that's when I will vow to live a quote, new godly life, which is part of the vow. And therefore my striving to be holy, that can wait, that can wait. Anyone who is baptized may not think that way, and may not say that. The calling we have is to strive as a renewed people, a people who have been justified not only but also sanctified by the Holy Spirit to be what God has made us, more and more hating and turning from sin, more and more leading a godly life, not standing still or declining in our life as a believer, but by the grace of God growing in sanctification. And that doesn't mean at all that our salvation depends on our holiness, our being holy. Our salvation depends solely on the finished work of Christ, and even our holiness is Christ's work in us by His Spirit, but God uses admonition to direct us to live that life of holiness, and God still admonishes and commands His saved people to be holy and to strive to be holy. And that's the implied calling of every baptized person, whether you're six years old, 10 years old, 18 years old, or in your 50s or 60s or 70s. And we strive to live that life out of thankfulness. The sacrament of baptism teaches us that God has been gracious, teaches us that God has been good to us, cleansing us from all our sin through the cross of Jesus Christ, His beloved Son. The sacrament of baptism teaches us that God has given us faith and now strengthens that faith so that we experience the grace of God that has forgiven us. We experience forgiveness. We experience sanctification. And the child of God is profoundly thankful for all of that. And out of thankfulness, he strives to live a holy life. May we then, in gratitude, more and more cleave to this one God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. More and more trust in Him and love Him with all our hearts, minds, soul, and strength. And more and more forsake the world and crucify our old nature. And more and more walk in a new and a holy life as a thankful, saved people of God. May the Lord strengthen us by his word and by his spirit. Amen. Father in heaven, once again we draw near to Thy throne of grace and mercy, seeking the grace and mercy of Thee, our God, the power worked in us by the Spirit already, but strengthened in us by Thy Word, and through that Spirit to live in gratitude before Thee, to be holy as Thou art holy, And when we fail, to seek again Thy forgiving grace and mercy, and to be assured again of our forgiveness in Christ. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.