We open up our Bibles this morning to the book of Acts chapter 16. We'll be reading verses 14 through 34 of this chapter, recording for us a couple of incidents that took place in the city of Philippi during the second missionary journey of the Apostle Paul. Specifically, this passage has reference to the sacrament of baptism as it was applied to households. Acts 16 verses 14 through 34. A certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us, whose heart the Lord opened that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. And when she was baptized and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide there. And she constrained us. And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her master's much gain by soothsaying. The same followed Paul in us and cried, saying, these men are the servants of the Most High God, which show unto us the way of salvation. And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And he came out the same hour. When her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers and brought them to the magistrates saying, these men being Jews do exceedingly trouble our city and teach customs which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe being Romans. The multitude rose up together against them The magistrates read off their clothes and commanded to beat them. When they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely, who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison and made their feet fast in the stocks. And at midnight, Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God, and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bands were loosed. And the keeper of the prison, awaking out of his sleep and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword and would have killed himself supposing that the prisoners had been fled. But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm, for we are all here. Then he called for a light and sprang in, and came trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas. and brought them out and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? They said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house. They spake unto him the word of the Lord and to all that were in his house and he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes and was baptized he and all his straightway. And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house." That's how we read the Word of God, and may God bless that to us and apply it to us too as we consider the Lord's Day that is based upon that passage of Scripture and many other like passages namely Lourdes Day 27, which speaks about and teaches us about baptism. Let's read now Lourdes Day 27 of the Heidelberg Catechism, questions and answers 72 through 74. Is then the external baptism with water the washing away of sin itself? Not at all, for the blood of Jesus Christ only and the Holy Ghost cleanse us from all sin. Why then doth the Holy Ghost call baptism the washing of regeneration and the washing away of sins? God speaks thus, not without great cause to wit, not only thereby to teach us that as the filth of the body is purged away by water, so our sins are removed by the blood and spirit of Jesus Christ, but especially that by this divine pledge and sign He may assure us that we are spiritually cleansed from our sins as we are externally washed with water. Are infants also to be baptized? Yes. For since they, as well as the adult, are included in the covenant and church of God, and since redemption from sin by the blood of Christ and the Holy Ghost, the author of faith, is promised to them no less than to the adult, They must, therefore, by baptism, as a sign of the covenant, be also admitted into the Christian Church and be distinguished from the children of unbelievers as was done in the Old Covenant or Testament by circumcision, instead of which baptism is instituted in the New Covenant. Beloved in our Lord Jesus Christ, a Reformed church and Reformed preaching is and must also be polemical. Yes, Reformed preaching and proper biblical preaching sets forth the truth and teaches the truth positively. but faithful preaching also points out and condemns errors. That is done with significant benefit too. The benefit of the errors clarifying and helping to clarify in our minds what the truth is, that's one of the benefits of polemical preaching. Another benefit of polemical preaching is that it serves to warn us about the errors and thus to protect the church and to protect believers from those errors. And thirdly, polemical preaching has this benefit, that it serves to correct us if we are erring. We are erring in regards to the truth and we are called with the knowledge of what the error is to reject the error and firmly to believe and hold to the truth of Scripture and of the Reformed faith. It's proper as well as beneficial for preaching to be polemical. This Lord's Day of the Heidelberg Catechism is such a Lord's Day, polemical, and it addresses and it condemns two prominent errors in regards to the sacrament of baptism. The first error that it identifies and then condemns is the error of Roman Catholicism. And it does that in questions 72 and 73, condemning the Roman Catholic era that there is power in the water itself to wash away sin, that there is power in the water itself to say that a person is saved because he or she is baptized. And then secondly, this Lord's Day is polemical in question and answer 74, addressing there the era of the Baptists and of all who with them hold to believers only being baptized, believers' baptism. pointing out over against that error the truth of infant baptism, the infant baptism of the children of believers. Over against those two errors, this Lord's Day teaches us the positive truth of Scripture and the Reformed faith concerning baptism, and you will notice That includes the significant truth of the baptism of the infant children of believers, and in that connection, the truth of God's covenant as the basis for that. View of the fact that the Lord has given us many children here in this congregation, then that is a subject that is of vital interest all of us, and of vital interest especially to those who are parents. Consider then baptism and its recipients. We'll notice first of all the spiritual cleansing, then the proper recipients, and finally the covenantal basis. Catechism begins with this question, is then the external baptism with water the washing away of sin itself? And by that question, as well as the following question, which forms the basis for that argument, namely that scripture refers to baptism as the washing of regeneration, and that scripture calls baptism the washing away of sins, By that question and by the following question, the catechism has in mind the Roman Catholic era, the Roman Catholic Church that holds to the view that there is saving power in the water itself of baptism. They say that the water of baptism confers grace to those who are baptized. They say that the water of baptism washes away the sins of those who are baptized. They say that the water of baptism saves the souls of those who are baptized. And therefore they teach that baptism is crucial for one's salvation. If one dies unbaptized, according to the Roman Catholic Church, then one will not go to heaven. The Roman Catholic Church then makes baptism an external thing. One is saved because of physical water and the supposed power that that water itself has to cleanse from sin and to save a soul, a power that it has, according to the Roman Catholic Church because of the priest, the priest who sprinkles the water and the priest who speaks those words when that baptism is administered, which is to say the Roman Catholic Church teaches that baptism has power to save because of a mayor. We reject that. And the catechism itself clearly summarizes our rejection of it when it says, not at all, the water itself does not at all wash away sin. For the blood of Jesus Christ only and the Holy Ghost cleanse us from all sin. We're not washed by water. but were washed by the blood of Christ from sin. But having answered the Roman Catholic view in that way, it's very well possible that they might respond and say to us, and bring really an accusation against us along these lines. Your view of baptism makes baptism to be simply an empty site. If the application of water to a person doesn't do anything for that person, doesn't wash away that person's sins, doesn't save the soul of that person, then why do you even bother applying that water? Why do you even bother baptizing a person with water? That could very well be their follow-up question. And our response to that is, that's not true. And that's not true because we understand that the sacraments are means of grace and they are signs and seals to us. They are pictures and guarantees to us of spiritual realities. and the Spirit works through those sacraments in the hearts of the elect to whom they are applied and sees to it that those sacraments are rich in saving significance for the person who receives them, sees to it that the sacrament is a great blessing spiritually for the person who is baptized. Sacraments are a means of grace. This Lord's Day teaches us that baptism is a means of grace in this way. The Spirit uses it to assure the child of God of this, namely that his sins are washed away. Notice that in question and answer 73, this is what The baptism, the sacrament of baptism assures us of, God speaks thus not without great cause to wit, not only thereby to teach us that as the filth of the body is purged away by water, so our sins are removed by the blood and spirit of Jesus Christ. That's what the spirit assures us of. Baptism is a picture to teach us of our being cleansed from sin. We use water to wash our hands and to get rid of the dirt off our hands, to make things clean, and therefore the sacrament of baptism, as we noted last week, is first of all a picture of our being dirty spiritually, filthy with sin. There would be no need to wash us from sin if we did not have sin. The sacrament of baptism puts before us, first of all, our spiritual filth, but then the sacrament of baptism puts before us the spiritual reality that Christ has washed away all of our sins, that God has washed them away, and it is a sacrament, as is true of the other sacrament, the Lord's Supper, that directs our attention to the cross of Jesus Christ. and to all that He did so that this can be applied to us and this can be true for us. What Christ accomplished on the cross is pictured in the sacrament as something that is now applied to the heart and soul of the child of God by the Holy Spirit. And so the sacrament of baptism, as we noted last week, declares both our justification, our being declared righteous before God, our sins being canceled and forgiven, and our sanctification, the Spirit working in us to die more and more to sin and to lead holy and unblameable lives. Baptism is not simply an empty sign of that, but as a means of grace, the purpose of God through the sacrament of baptism is to assure us of that. The catechism points that out too. Notice in answer 73 that in the second part of the answer it says this, but especially, especially, that by this divine pledge and sign, he may assure us that we are spiritually cleansed from our sins, as really as we are externally washed with water. Note that word especially. Especially this, the Spirit uses baptism to make us sure. The Spirit uses the sacrament of baptism to make us confident. Of what? of this, that what is pictured in the sacrament, namely the washing and cleansing from sin, is true for yourself personally, to make you sure that you are both justified and sanctified by the blood of Jesus Christ. And that does not happen simply at the moment when baptism is applied, because then you would only be assured once in your lifetime by the sacrament of baptism, and then only if you were baptized as an adult, because if you were baptized as a child, then you were not consciously assured. So it's not assurance that is only once, assurance that happens simply at the moment of baptism, and that is it, but it happens throughout our lifetime. It happens whenever we are reminded of our own baptism, as we are this morning, no doubt, reminded of it by means of the preaching. And whenever we are reminded of our own baptism, whenever we read of the sacrament of baptism in scripture and read about the sacrament of baptism in any of our reading of the creeds and of other literature, whenever we think about our own baptism, and whenever we see the sacrament of baptism applied to others, Our sins rise up against us, prevailing day by day. We see that we sin and we know that we sin against God. We know that we sin against each other. And baptism is the assurance from God, your sins have been fully taken care of through the death of my son. But our sins also can rise up against us on account of the troubles that we experience in life. We say, I'm being heavily afflicted by the Lord. He is bringing upon me one thing after another, one thing upon another, piling, as it were, troubles upon me in life. It must be that God is against me. It must be that God is punishing me for my sins. And the message of the gospel through the sacrament of baptism is, no, no. God is not punishing His people when they suffer. God never is punishing them and God never will punish them because what is pictured in baptism is true for them. All of their sins have been cleansed from them by the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Spirit works faith in your soul. embrace for yourself personally what is pictured and what is declared through the sacrament of baptism, and you are comforted. And you are comforted through the sacrament of baptism, especially and specifically because it is a sacrament that declares not what man does, It's a sacrament that declares not what a priest does by sprinkling and by the words that he might say, but it is a sacrament that declares what God has done, what God has done, and what Christ has done for each of His people personally. comforted by a sacrament that declares to us the sovereign grace and mercy of God in Jesus Christ. That raises the question, who are these blessings of cleansing and the assurance of cleansing, who are these blessings for? That is, who may be baptized and assured that what is pictured in baptism is true for them personally. Well, that brings up probably one of the most sticky issues with regards to the sacrament of baptism. It is the view of most, the view of most churches, the view of most confessing Christians, that only adult believers should be baptized. Those who have expressed that they have a conscious faith and belief in Christ. Those who maintain The baptism of infants, as Reformed churches, are very few in number, really, and shrinking. Most hold to believer's baptism, and they make baptism, and therefore salvation, conditional. And the condition for baptism, and the condition, therefore, for salvation, is faith. And in making that their basis for baptism, they forthrightly deny the truth of God's covenant, and deny the truth that God establishes His covenant in the line of the generations of believers, and that God's promise is to save believers and their sea. And the children that God gives to them they view, therefore, as little heathens who must now be converted so that maybe one day they will be children of God, and maybe one day they will confess faith in Christ, and maybe one day they can be baptized. That's in conflict with the Word of God. and in conflict with our Reformed faith and confessions. We must reject believers-only baptism. It's not only adults who are the proper recipients of the sacrament of baptism, but also the children of believers. In answer to the question, question 74, concerning whether children, infant children, may also be baptized, the catechism gives the emphatic answer, yes, yes. And we would say, yes, they may, and they must. But why? That is, why do we as believers baptize our infant children? Think about that. Why do we do it? Is it simply because the church says that we should? Is it because everyone else in the church is doing it, so we better fall in line and do the same thing? Is it because we believe baptism will save our children? If they're not baptized, they won't be saved? Is it because we believe that every one of them is elect, There are no Cain's and no Esau's amongst them. Is it because we presuppose that they are all regenerated? Is that the reason why all our children are baptized? Or is it because God promises salvation, we believe, to every baptized child? And the answer to all of those potential reasons for baptizing our children is emphatically, no, no. Why do we baptize our children? The answer, the chief answer is quite simple. We do it because this is God's command. He tells us to do it. and we must do as God requires. And really, the whole issue of infant baptism, the whole matter of whether the children of believers ought to be baptized or not is really this simple. We do it because God tells us to do it. We do it because we're told by God that we must. Now those who hold to believers' baptism, believers' only baptism, will say, well, show us a text then. Show us a New Testament text that requires it. And they will follow up by saying, you won't find one. Now it's true, there may not be a specific text. But nevertheless, the Word of God clearly teaches us that God requires, God demands, God commands us to baptize our infant children. And He does that in a number of ways. The first way in which God makes it clear in Scripture that the infant children of believers ought to be baptized is through the household baptisms that are recorded in Scripture. We read of two of them in Acts chapter 16. There are many others in the book of Acts too, including the house of Cornelius in Acts chapter 10. But in Acts chapter 16, you have the apostles on their mission journey preaching in the city of Philippi, and there God opened the heart of Lydia. one who heard the gospel as it was preached to the apostles. God saved her, and she believed, and then the sacrament of baptism was applied not only to her, the one who believed, but the sacrament of baptism was applied to her household, her family. Same in verses 30 through 34 of that same chapter, the apostles were preaching to the Philippian jailer, and they preached to his house, they preached to his family. You'll notice in that section his house is mentioned three times at the end of verse 31, and thou shalt be saved and thy house. In verse 32, they spake unto him the word of the Lord and to all that were in his house. And then at the end of verse 34, believing in God with all his house. That was a reference to his family. The Philippian jailer believed and he and all his, verse 33, he and all his, all that belonged to him, all that were in his family, all that were in his household, were baptized. Throughout the New Testament, those incidents of baptism being applied to families, baptism being applied to households, is God's command to us saying, I save believers in families, and therefore families should be baptized, including the children. That's why we could really say, when it comes to our understanding of the sacrament of baptism being applied to infants, that it isn't just that we hold to infant baptism, but we hold to family baptism, household baptism. That perhaps summarizes more accurately our reformed understanding of baptism, household baptism, family baptism. Then secondly, we are commanded in scripture to apply the sacrament of baptism to our infant children because baptism replaces circumcision, as the catechism itself points out. Circumcision was applied in the Old Testament to families. All the males in the families were circumcised, and when the sacrament or the rite of circumcision was first applied to a family, it was applied to all the males in the family regardless of age, from very old to very young. And then the law was set forth for the children of Israel that infant sons of believers must be circumcised on the eighth day while they are still very young children. Baptism replaces circumcision. Colossians chapter 2 verses 11 through 13 point that out very clearly where that passage uses the terms circumcision and baptism, uses those two terms interchangeably even, and then mentions that there is a circumcision that is made without hands, and that's the circumcision that is pictured by baptism. Just as infants therefore received the sign of circumcision in the Old Testament, so must infants receive that which replaces it in the New Testament, namely, baptism. If anyone argues against that, then you could say, well, where in the New Testament are we told not to baptize the infant children of believers? That's the issue. Although infants were circumcised in the Old Testament, there is no command given in the New Testament to say, now with baptism don't apply it to infants but only to adults. The scripture is clear. We are taught that baptism must be applied to the infant children of believers by what Christ said and did in Mark chapter 10. And they brought young children to him that he should touch them. And his disciples rebuked those that brought them. But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God. And then verse 16, And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them. These parents who brought these infant children to Christ, as recorded in Mark 10, were believers. They believed that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, and their desire as believing parents was that Jesus would touch their children, that is, that he would bless their children. And the children that they brought to him were, according to verse 13, young children, and according to verse 14, little children, and then in a parallel passage in Luke 18, they're described as infant children. These were children that were just days and weeks and perhaps at the most a few months old. Parents were still carrying these children in their arms when they brought them to the Lord Jesus Christ, and the disciples tried to stop that. Which is to say, perhaps that the disciples were the first Baptists, were saying, not infants, not infants, only adult believers. Christ rebuked her. He said, suffer these little children to come to me because of such is the kingdom of God. Don't get in the way of these children coming to me. Don't get in the way of parents bringing these children to me. That is, don't prevent these children from receiving my blessing, my salvation, my grace. My mercy, that is, don't prevent these children from receiving everything that is pictured for us in the sacrament of baptism. And that, in effect, is Christ's command to us. Bring your little children to me, he says. You bring them to me in many ways. You bring them to me by bringing them to church. You bring them to me by seeing to it that they are catechized. You bring them to me by bringing them up in the fear of the Lord. You bring them to me through teaching them, through disciplining them. But you also bring your children to me, Christ says, through bringing them to be baptized. suffer your little children to come to me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God has in it also children, the children of believers. So we baptize infants, in the households and families of believers because God commands us to do so. But why does God command us? What is the basis? And the answer to that is the covenant. God's relationship of friendship and fellowship with His people in Christ. And when God establishes that covenant with us, He includes the children of believers in that covenant. He embraces believers and their seed. As He said to Abraham, I will establish my covenant between me and thy seed after thee. as he repeats in Acts 2 verse 39, for the promise is to you and to your children. So as the catechism summarizes that in these words, and does so beautifully, it says, this is why they ought to be baptized. This is the basis of their baptism. Since they, as well as the adult, are included in the covenant and Church of God, and since redemption from sin by the blood of Christ and the Holy Ghost, the author of faith is promised to them no less than to the adult, they must, therefore, by baptism, as a sign of the covenant, be also admitted into the Christian Church. God's covenant and God's church and God's salvation are not only for adults, as really those who hold to believers only baptism maintain, but God's covenant and God's church and God's salvation is also for children. God saves and God is a friend also to our children. They are his. He loves them. And he doesn't wait until they become adults. He doesn't wait until they confess their faith and believe in him that then he saves them and then he is a friend to them. He is that already. to them as infant children because they are part of his church and covenant. And so they must be baptized. And they must be baptized because they must receive the sign of what is already true for them as infant children. If one rejects infant baptism or household and family baptism, then one rejects the truth of God's covenant. One is saying our children cannot be saved yet, yet. God doesn't save them as children, they can only be saved when they are adults and they confess their faith. And their salvation is conditioned upon their faith. That's absolutely not true. Because of the truth of God's covenant, we have great hope and comfort concerning our children, concerning their salvation as children, and concerning God's love for them as children, and concerning God being a friend to them as little children. And if it were not for God's covenant, then why would believers even have children? Why would they even bring children into this world? Because of God's covenant, if the Lord makes it possible for parents to have children, they gladly, gladly have those children, even many of them. with the promises of God encouraging them to do so. And all of this, therefore, has practical application, both to children, as well as to adults, or specifically parents. But first you children here. Baptism means, your baptism means you have been admitted into the covenant and church of God. Becoming a member of the church doesn't wait until you make confession of faith as children, already at baptism. you become a member of the church. Already at baptism, your names were written, and I can assure you they were, into the membership records of the church, because you are already in God's covenant. God is already your sovereign God and Father and friend. And he is always your friend as children, your friend every day of your life, and your faithful friend in every situation in life. That's very significant for all children of the covenant who have been baptized. But secondly, and the catechism points this out too, your baptism is significant, children, because you are distinguished from the children of unbelievers. Baptism is something that puts a mark on you. You have the mark of baptism on your forehead. It's a mark that can be compared to wearing a uniform. If you belong to a certain army, you wear that army's uniform. Or if you belong to a sports team, you wear that sports team's uniform. That distinguishes you from the other armies, the other sports teams. Baptism does that. Baptism is a mark that sets us apart from the ungodly, a mark that distinguishes those who are baptized as being children of God and of His covenant, a mark that shows that such children are different from all others who haven't received that mark, that uniform. It's a mark that shows that you are not unbelievers, you're not ungodly, you're not those who belong to the world, you're not the wicked in this world, but you are the children of God in this world, who belong to his covenant, who have Christ as your Savior and Lord, and God, the triune God, as your sovereign friend. The implication is walk and live and behave as the children of God that you are in all of your life in this world. And then for parents, the sacrament of baptism as we are Commanded not only, but also privileged to apply that sacrament to our infant children makes all the difference in how godly parents view their children. They don't view them as unconverted children. They don't view them as little heathens. They don't view them as merely wicked evildoers who always hate and oppose God, but they view them as children of God, and that makes all the difference in how godly parents raise their children. Understanding that they are the children of God and they are included by God in His covenant and that the work of salvation is also for them as infant children and not only for adults. It doesn't wait to be theirs until they become an adult. Understanding all of that, we understand, therefore, that our infant children are ordinarily saved by God as infants. And therefore, the instruction and the discipline and the teaching and the preaching of the Word is something that will be understood by them as children and will bear fruit in their lives already as children. That encourages parents in bringing their children to church. That encourages parents in teaching their children the ways of the Lord. That encourages parents, too, in seeing to it that their children are taught in catechism and are prepared for their catechism classes. And that encourages parents and all of us as regards our Christian schools, to support them and to maintain them and use them because they are provided by God for children that He has already worked by His grace to save, to work faith and a new life in them so that all of the instruction benefits their soul. And so the Lord gives us encouragement. He is using weak means to fulfill His covenant promises. He is at work saving His church. His goal, His ultimate goal as our covenant God is to bring His church to be with Him in glory, and He will surely do it. And He is faithful in fulfilling what is pictured in the sacrament, and faithful in that in spite of our unfaithfulness at times, because He is Jehovah, our unchanging covenant God. Amen. We pray thou wilt bless us through thy word and write it upon our hearts and give us encouragement. May it urge us onward in our callings as church and as parents and as schools and teachers in the instruction of our covenancy. We rest in thee. and in thy covenant promise to save believers and their children. In Jesus' name, amen.