All right, let's turn to John chapter one, our reading of Scripture this morning. Good not only because it's the gospel account of the advent of Jesus that shows us the pre-existence of Jesus before he's even born. But also, we get a chance to connect this to baptism. I'm going to read the first 34 verses. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, that is, the Word. And without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them he gave power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John, bear witness of Him. and cried saying, this was he of whom I speak. He that cometh after me is preferred before me, for he was before me. And of his fullness have all we received and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses. but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared Him. And this is the record of John. When the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who art thou? And he confessed and denied not, but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, what then? Art thou Elijah? And he said, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, no. Then said they unto him, who art thou? That we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? He said, "'I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. "'Make straight the way of the Lord,' "'as said the prophet Isaiah. "'And they which were sent were of the Pharisees, "'and they asked him and said unto him, "'Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, "'nor Elijah, neither that prophet?' "'John answered them, saying, "'I baptize with water, But there standeth one among you whom ye know not. He it is who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoes latch it I am not worthy to unloose. These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing. The next day, John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, after me cometh a man which is preferred before me, for he was before me. And I knew him not. but that he should be made manifest to Israel. Therefore, am come baptizing with water. John, bear record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and did abode upon him. And I knew him not, but he that sent me to baptize with water The same said unto me, upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw and bear record that this is the Son of God. We read that far in the word of God and turn now to Lord's Day 20. What dost thou believe concerning the Holy Ghost? First, that he is true and co-eternal God with the Father and the Son. Secondly, that he is also given me to make me by a true faith partaker of Christ and all his benefits, that he may comfort me and abide with me forever. Beloved in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the Lord's providence, our consideration of the Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 20, falls on the administration of baptism, which gives us an opportunity. And that is the opportunity to consider specifically the role of the Holy Spirit with regard to baptism. From a certain viewpoint, we are jumping ahead of ourselves because what is presented to you this morning is nothing new. And in fact, if you go ahead a few Lord's Days, 26, 27 others. The Holy Spirit is specifically mentioned, and we're going to teach basically the same thing that's found there, but applying it now directly to baptism, hopefully we remember better, and we can better honor the Spirit. This is a significant thing because we tend to forget that we're baptized in the name of the three persons of the Trinity. And we of course know that the sacraments all point to Christ. That Christ is the focal point of the two sacraments. Everyone knows this. And yet we can also forget that especially with the sacrament of baptism, we are to be reminded of the Trinity. If you look in our own creeds, in fact, if you look at the biblical record, you will notice that when the Trinity comes to its full manifestation, when we're able to see the Trinity according to the doctrine that we know it is, It's especially baptism that does that. You can look at all the Reformed creeds, and look at where they prove the Trinity, where they explain the Trinity, and in almost all of them, they say the same thing, that the doctrine of the Trinity is a bit obscure in the Old Testament. The names of the persons, it's there, but it's a little obscure. And where it really comes to full manifestation is when Christ comes, and specifically when he is baptized. That's the great proof. Baptism is the great proof of the Trinity. Not only in Christ's baptism, for there, if you remember, Christ goes into the water, And there's a voice from heaven, the Father, saying, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And there's the Son in the water, and then the Spirit descends upon Him in the form of a dove, which we just read about. There's all three persons. Then, significantly, when Christ Himself institutes baptism, He goes, go forth and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. There's the other proof. Notice how they connect to baptism. And then we had a form that explained that each of the persons in baptism promises something. It's a sign and seal of what each of them does. So we're going to focus on that this morning. The Spirit himself, but we're going to try to make it connect to baptism in one way or another. So consider that with me, the Holy Spirit of baptism. And we're going to notice, first of all, we're baptized in his name. That's a significant point. Even though we recognize that baptism is the application of water and the water is a symbol of the blood of Christ, We all recognize that baptism is something that incorporates us into Christ. It's a symbol of that, an actual connection to Christ. In other words, everything focuses in upon Christ. Each of the persons is involved. Now, let's again not look at what we're taught in Holy Scriptures. baptism from a personal point of view right now. We tend to do that, but then we overlook the testimony of the scripture, which is that God's salvation of us and everything conducted to it is actually serving the glory of his name, his name, which means specifically it serves to reveal who he is. In other words, we do injustice to such matters as the atonement of Christ on the cross, the shedding of His blood, the application of it to us, without recognizing that Jesus in all that work is revealing God, and God in all three persons. And wherever the church has forgotten that, wherever the church has focused on Christ to the exclusion of the Father or exclusion of the Spirit, bad things happen. And in fact, if you look closely, you'll discover that almost every single doctrinal controversy that the church has had and had to fight over and make formulations called confessions over in one way or another harms, hurts, injures, even blasphemes one of the persons. So when we look at baptism, it's striking how easily it is for us to forget this, but we're to look and say, what's the role of the persons? What are they doing? What are they saying? And our form makes that inexcusable for us because our form points that out. It notices a truth that the Reformed faith itself has noticed, which is whenever you get to that sacrament, it's in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which brings us right there, and we have to ask, what's going on? Now, I don't have time to get into all of who the Spirit is, but the point is that when we're baptized in the name of the Spirit, that teaches us something very important. It teaches us, number one, that the Spirit Himself is being signified. We know the sacraments are a sign and a seal. The water doesn't do anything as such, neither do I do anything when I apply the water as such. They're a sign and a seal of a reality, a spiritual reality. And it's a sign and seal of the spiritual reality of God. All three persons are being represented in that sign and the seal, which means that each of the persons is doing something and each of the persons is signing or being signified the reality of them, as well as assuring or sealing, certifying something. We're going to get into what that exactly is in a moment, but let's just focus on the fact that we're baptized in the name of the Holy Spirit. We're not just baptized in the name of Christ. We're not just baptized in the name of the Son. Although, interestingly, you will find out that baptisms were done in the name of Christ, showing that Christ Himself is the full revelation of the whole triune being of God, which we can't forget. But we can distinguish the Spirit, and let's notice He has a name. So being baptized in that name makes us focus upon Him and who He is and what He does. And let's remember that, again, we make a mistake if we simply focus upon who He is and what He does to us or to the church. We're going to talk about that in a little bit. And from a certain viewpoint, then we have the cart before the horse. But the idea is that when we look at what He is and what He does for us, we learn something very important about who He is and what He does in the being of God. And it's our nature to say, who cares? What difference does it make? And the answer is everything. Because if He isn't that and He doesn't do that in the being of God, then He can't do it and He won't do it for us. Let's look at God. We learned a few Lord's days ago about the Trinity and who God is. And we recognize something that exactly because of who God is and the way He is, That He is a God who is one being, but three persons, has to do with the fact that God is love, and God loves. Now you might say, well, okay, that's a great truth, but understand something. If God is not love and God does not love, then salvation for you and me is impossible. In fact, I would maintain that the whole universe is impossible. The fact that God makes men and women in a relationship of love and gives family and marriage and all those things are impossible. That the whole world and the way it is, the way everything is diverse and yet one, all relates back to who God is. And God could not be a God who loves and love, a God who is love and loves, unless he's three persons. A God of one person can't love. It's not conceivable to such a person to even have someone outside of himself. There's no object of the love. There's no one to love. There's only himself. That's what's so wrong with even so-called monotheistic religions. The God of Allah and others. They're only one person. One being, one person. And such a being and a person can't conceive of love and actually love or save in love. Doesn't know anything about self-sacrifice. Doesn't know anything about what we know love actually to be from the Holy Scriptures. As far as the Holy Spirit is concerned, in that being of God, in the relationship of the three Persons, what we know the Spirit to be specifically, His role, is that He is the bond of love between the Father and the Son. The church noticed a long time ago that only two of the persons have what we call family names, father, son. There's a third spirit. And the church noticed a long time ago that fathers beget sons. That's the relationship of the father and the son. Father begets the son, and the son is begotten by the father. But that doesn't happen to the spirit. The spirit proceeds. He's breathed out. He goes in and out. He's not begotten. And then he has that name that's not a family name as such. And the church pondered that and looked at the record of Scripture, looked at how he functions in regard to ourselves and noticed something. He's the fellowship. He's the bond of fellowship between the Father and the Son. The idea is that the Father begets the Son by the Spirit, through the Spirit. And the Son is begotten and loves His Father in return through that same Spirit. In that Spirit, they're bound together in a fellowship of love. That's how He functions in the being of God Himself. It's why, for example, we sometimes don't notice the Spirit in His work. He is the actual Spirit of the Father. And the Father imparts that to His Son. That's the act of begetting. And with that imparting goes all of His Spirit. And what is that Spirit? That Spirit is the very virtues and qualities of God. It's the grace of God, the mercy of God, the love of God, the wisdom of God, the knowledge of God, the power of God. All of that goes out of Him and creates His own... creates? I may not use that word really. Begets. Eternally begets. A perfect likeness of Himself who, as we read in John 1, is God, but He's with God. He's another beside God that is God the Father, and that's all done by the Spirit. And then in John 1, we read about the relationship of the son to the father, that he's in the bosom of the father. The idea is they live in this perfect love relationship. And you say, what is that love relationship? The answer is the Holy Spirit. It's a personal relationship. That's what's so different about God. Our spirit, we have a hard time imagining our spirit being a personal spirit. It is in us, but we're just one person. In the being of God, there's three individual persons, and one of them functions in a very unique way. That's the Holy Spirit. I could go on and on about that, but that's going to be reflected in how God relates to us, and specifically how, through what person. Because, you see, one of the reasons we don't always see the Spirit or recognize the Spirit is He functions under all those names. He is the grace of God, the love of God, the fellowship of God. One of the reasons why when we're saved, we're saved the way that we are and why that salvation has the character that it does. Now, that brings us to baptism and the role of the Spirit in baptism. Second point is we're washed by His power. Now, I use the word washed deliberately because that's the essential sign and seal of baptism. Everybody knows it. Baptism is the application of water, either by dipping in, dunking, which is often done in Baptist churches, or sprinkling, as it's often done in Reformed churches. The point is, it doesn't matter how the water is applied. It can be a little. It can be a lot. It's the application of water. by an ordained minister lawfully called in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. That's what it is. And we all know the essential sign is it's a washing. And it doesn't matter if your washing occurs in a tub and you're taking what we call a bath, or you jump in the tub and you turn the shower on and you're sprinkled with water. It doesn't matter. We know both of those things are a washing. So that's the essential sign. Now, what's striking is that we also know that the element or the thing that we're washed with is that water, right? The water can't wash away my sins. The water is just a picture of something. And what does the Scriptures teach us it's a picture of? What do all of our Reformed creeds teach us it's a picture of? And the answer is the blood of Christ. It represents Christ crucified. who died, and we all know what that work of Christ is, but now that element of blood, which, interesting, it corresponds with the Lord's table, and the wine, the blood there, but it has a different application here. There in the Lord's Supper, we're drinking it, which has a whole nother meaning. So here, we're being washed in it, washed in blood. And we all know that that represents a washing away of filth and dirt, right? That's why you take a shower and I take a bath. Wash away filth and dirt. Covered in filth, covered in dirt, take a bath, take a shower, wash my hands, whatever. It's the washing away of sins. So we may include what's done at baptism under that simple word. But now what I want to point out is the unique role of the Spirit in all that and what washing really means. First of all, I want to point out that in many places in Scripture, we're said to be washed not with the blood of Christ, as such, but the blood and spirit of Christ." That's significant. There's a lot of references to that, Titus 3, 4 and 5. According to His mercy, He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of, not the blood of Christ, the Holy Ghost. But ye are washed, ye are sanctified, ye are justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ by – not the blood of Christ – by the Spirit of our God. And that's incorporated into our creeds. The Belgian Confession on holy baptism. Notice it says this. that when we are sprinkled with baptism, so doth the blood of Christ by the power of the Holy Ghost sprinkle the soul. Now, that kind of gives away what's going on here. But let's look at the Heidelberg Catechism. It emphasizes this over and over again. How are you admonished and assured by holy baptism of the sacrifice of Christ? This, that this is appointed by Christ that I am as certainly washed by the blood and Spirit I'm washed by the blood and Spirit." You can go on to Lord's Day 27, same thing. Is then the external baptism with water the washing away of sin? Not at all. For the blood of Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost cleanse me from all sin. Notice that. Connection of blood to the Holy Spirit. And it goes on, question and answer 74, same Lord's Day. Are infants to be baptized? Yes, since they as well as the adult are included in the covenant and church of God and since redemption from sin, notice redemption of sin, by the blood of Christ and the Holy Ghost. You say, what's going on here? What am I washed with? Am I washed by the blood of Christ or am I washed by the Spirit? The answer is both. That's what it says, both. What's the idea? The idea is the detergent, if I can think of a better word, the detergent, the thing that actually cleanses, right? In the case of water, it's the water. Water is what washes away the filth. But we all know that the water has to come from somewhere. It has to be applied some way. The water has to come from a faucet. It has to be scrubbed, right? And the answer is the Spirit functions that way. The idea is we're washed by the blood of Christ as it's applied by the Spirit. The Spirit is the one who takes the blood of Christ that comes out of Him, as it were, and He's the one that applies it, and scrubs us with it, and washes all that sin away. That's why they're always connected. The blood of Christ and the Spirit. Blood of Christ and the Spirit. Showing the unique work of the Spirit, especially in baptism. And now, we're going to look at The two main aspects of what washing is. Remember, washing is the main element of the sacrament. And I want to show you that washing also is the great picture of all of our salvation. All of it. Now, we've got to keep in mind a couple of things here. Again, this relates to who the Spirit is. I don't have time this morning to show you But the Spirit is the life of God. The Spirit is the personal life of God. That's His work, that's His labor. You could go into the creation. Go to the creation and look at the special work of the Spirit there, and you'll see that He's a power. He's the power of God, but He's also the life of God. And so one of His great works is to impart life. When God begets His Son by the Spirit, He's imparting a Son who is His replica and living and almighty like God is. And therefore, the work of the Spirit with us is going to have that same nature. It's life-giving, life-imparting, and it's almighty power. That's why the Reformed faith insists that our salvation, which is always imparted by the Spirit, since He's the one that washes, must be irresistible. It's all-powerful. It's a salvation that overcomes the will of man. It's a salvation that raises the dead to life. It takes that which is filthy and dirty and cleanses it. It takes the blind and makes them to see, the deaf and makes them to hear. The Spirit. Deny that and you deny the Spirit. Where you have a salvation dependent upon man, you make the Spirit dependent upon man. You make man God and you make God man. That's what's at stake over so many doctoral controversies. It's the work of God through the Spirit. Now, when it comes to washing, we might be inclined to limit that washing to one particular work as if there's more that somehow we provide or we do. And it's the forgiveness of sins. Close connection with that. The imputing of the righteousness of Christ. Sorry if I get too detailed here. But this is what we call justification. We relate it to justification. And we all know that that has to do with the washing away of sins. The forgiveness of sins. I don't have time, but I could go through the Scriptures and point out over and over again where washing is related to forgiveness. And we notice two parts about that. The justification forgiveness part. There's a forgiveness of our debt. God takes our debt and He cancels it. And the basis for that is the blood of Christ. That's the payment price. That's the ransom money that's paid. But there's another side to that, which is God demands perfect obedience. So He imputes the perfect obedience of Christ to us. His righteousness becomes ours. So God sees us not only as debt-free, but as those who have perfectly fulfilled all the commandments of God, all the righteousness of God, as the Lord's Supper form puts it. And you may encompass that under the washing, the washing that occurs in connection with baptism. That's one of the great pictures. And what's the specific role of the Spirit in that? The specific role of the Spirit is to bring that to us so that we receive it. For example, In the very Lord's Day that I quoted, and in the Belgic Confession, the Spirit is called the author of faith, the author of faith. We all know that we are justified by faith. The unrighteousness of Christ is imparted to us by faith. We simply believe it. So the Holy Spirit's work signified in baptism is to give us faith. Now, how does the Spirit do that? Well, He's given to me. Did you catch that in Lords Day 20? That little short thing about, what do you believe concerning the Holy Ghost? It's, He is given me. That really is the work of God that's first in all of our salvation. It goes by many, many different names. It could be called the mystical union, but God gives us the Spirit. He implants Him in us. Like that, we're alive. We call that regeneration. Like that, we have faith. He's the author of faith. Do you ever wonder why faith is called the bond by which we're united to Christ? Oh, and so is love. Love is the bond of perfectness. Oh, and why we all always speak about communion with God. The answer is, when you're given the Spirit, If He's the bond of fellowship in the being of God, that's what He is with us. He's the bond of fellowship. And you could talk about that bond from a couple of different angles if you want, because the Spirit is multifaceted in His work. He's not just one thing. When He's given to you, you have faith in Christ as the object of that Spirit. The Spirit comes out of Him, so faith comes back. What's the point? The point is, that's one part of the symbol of washing of baptism. But there's another side, and it's often forgotten, and forgotten even in our circles, Reformed circles. And that's the whole work of sanctification. The washing of filth, the washing of dirt, isn't simply the washing of the guilt of sin, which is the whole business that has to do with forgiveness. Sin itself has to be washed away. There's an actual spiritual power that's in you and in me, in my heart and in your heart. It holds me in bondage. It keeps me and prevents me from loving God and my neighbor as myself. Not only must I be forgiven those sins, and not only must I be declared righteous before God, but those actual filth and dirt itself must be washed away. The reason I bring this up is because you will often find there's a sort of reading of the Heidelberg Catechism that goes sort of this way. We had the first part on our misery, which teaches me how miserable I am, my depravity and all that. Then there's a section on my deliverance. And that deliverance consists simply in justification, consists simply and only exclusively in the forgiveness of sins and the imputation of God's righteousness. And then when you get to the third section on my thankfulness, now we're dealing sort of with sanctification. It's not a part of my salvation. It's not part of the work of the Spirit. And of course there's a danger even there too where then that's our work. We produce that, we labor. That's a wrong reading of the Catechism. And it's proven right here. When you get to the work of the Spirit, and then when you especially hook it to baptism, which, don't forget, is the sign of being initiated into the church. It's a sign of our incorporation into Jesus Christ. Notice that it includes not only justification, but sanctification. Not only forgiveness of sins, but renewal of me from sin. And again, if you ask why, the answer is, it's the work of the Spirit. It's what He does. You cannot receive the Spirit And by that Spirit have your sins forgiven and the righteousness of Christ imputed to you without that same Spirit also renewing us. And I'll prove it. Let's look at the Scripture record, first of all, on how baptism, what's it called? It's called the washing of regeneration. and renewing of the Holy Ghost, Titus 3, 4 and 5 that I read earlier. 1 Corinthians 6, 10 and 11, but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit of our God. That's a reference to baptism. Baptism is a sign of our justification and our sanctification as a washing. Belgic confession. Talks about the Holy Catholic Church, which is interesting. What's the church? We believe in one Catholic universal church, which is a holy congregation of true Christian believers, all expecting their salvation in Jesus Christ, being washed by His blood, sanctified and sealed by the Spirit of our God. Notice, that's a reference to baptism. Washed means we're sanctified and sealed by the Holy Ghost. Listen to this. Belgic Confession on Holy Baptism. What does it mean? So doth the blood of Christ, by the power of the Holy Ghost, notice, internally sprinkle the soul, cleanse it from its sins, wash, and regenerate us From children of wrath unto children of God. It transforms us. Regeneration is to give life anew. Then it goes on to say more. What's signified by the sacrament? Notice, the gifts and invisible grace. What gifts and invisible grace? The washing, cleansing, and purging our souls of all filth and unrighteousness, renewing our hearts and filling them with all comfort. Notice again, the washing includes forgiveness and renewal. Lords Day 26, notice this. What is it to be washed with the blood and Spirit of Christ? Notice they're combined again. It is to receive of God the remission of sins freely, forgiveness, and also to be renewed by the Holy Ghost and sanctified to be members of Christ so that we may more and more die unto sin and lead holy and unblameable lives. So more and more dying unto sin, leading holy and unblameable lives, that's signified in baptism. It's part of the work of the Spirit that's signified there. And I could go on, but let's just look at the baptism form. What does the baptism form say the Holy Spirit seals and signifies? What does He do in baptism? He assures us by this Holy Sacrament that He will dwell in us. Now we know how He's given. How is He given? He's given so He dwells in me and sanctifies me to be members of Christ. applying unto us that which we have in Christ, namely, the washing away of our sins and the daily renewing of our lives. That's His work. That's what He does when He washes us by His power. He assures us of something by His grace. Hopefully you noticed that in the confessions that I read. We all know that the Spirit operates significantly under the name comfort. And as soon as we realize the sacrament is a sacrament of sealing and signifying, it's always connected with assurance. It's there to strengthen our faith and assure us. That then is closely connected. The point is the Spirit doesn't just drop off something, throw something at us, but he works it in us in such a way that I become assured of it. That's the function of the sacrament. In a child of God with faith, where the Spirit resides, he hears in himself the testimony of the Spirit. You are a child of God. And part of that testimony is he gives proofs. He gives certification. He tells us again and again. That's one of the reasons we come to church. We hear the Spirit testifying, then our spirit, as the Apostle puts it, that we are the sons of God. Now, some use that as a reason not to baptize children. They say the child is unconscious of that, isn't aware of that, can't know that. Number one, that can be challenged. They should be challenged. I don't think anybody should be putting restrictions on what God can do in an infant child and what they know and what they don't know. It's worth pointing out, especially this time of year, how John the Baptist leaped in the womb of his mother when the pregnant Mary walked into the room and said, peace. That is in scripture for a reason. So I think we should be very careful about what a child knows and doesn't know in their own little childlike way. Not only that, but we know children can be saved and are saved and are in heaven now. But doesn't infant baptism itself teach us something? That the Spirit doesn't need us, doesn't need our cooperation and understanding, but He works assurance itself. That He labors and accomplishes that. And then if we're baptized as a child, that's part of His work as we grow up. He points us to the sacrament. He points us to Christ again and again and again. So we grow in our assurance and strength and faith in Him. So that, briefly as a third point, is the last part of that work. And I only want to stress one thing here. This is why it's important to recognize and understand this is the work of the Spirit. Yes, in the daily renewing of my life, you and I will do good works. We will love God. Not perfectly. But that's why that can have no part and place in the actual work of salvation. It's the outworking of the Spirit. Because if it relies upon you, there's no assurance. That's the thing the Scriptures bring to us again and again. There's two more passages that I quoted. It's interesting that both of those passages that talk about baptism exclude our works. Why? Let me read them first. Titus 3.4.5 again. But after that, the kindness and love of God our Savior toward men appeared, i.e. grace, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. Notice how those two are put in opposition. Why? Because if it's by our works, there's no assurance. If you know yourself and I know myself, you can't place any faith in those things. 2 Timothy 1.9, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given in Christ Jesus, oh, notice this, before the world began. Isn't it a wonderful thing to recognize at baptism? And one of the reasons why it's not unlawful to baptize children is this salvation that's signified in baptism and that we all know we receive in time. There's adults who can be converted as adults in time, yet is said to be before the world began, in Christ Jesus before the world began. It's part of that assurance. If you say, how can that be? Again, we point to the Spirit of God, the eternal begetting of the Son, and the pre-existence of Jesus, as John points it out, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, and the Word was with God. Amen. Let us pray. Lord our God and Father in heaven, we pray that the sacrament of baptism may signify and seal to us the washing away of our sins. That is the washing of the guilt and shame of sin, the forgiveness of sins, the imputation of the righteousness of Christ, as well as regeneration, our conversion, and the daily renewing of our lives. Give us such faith in that work. In Jesus' name, amen.