We're going to start off this morning in Ephesians chapter 4. I thought today I'd step out of Jude just to give some observations from Scripture on what the Bible says about baptism, at least where some of those verses are mentioned. And then we'll be looking at 1 Peter chapter 3 and then Romans chapter 6. But let me have a word of prayer. Let's pray. Father, this morning as we come before you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Father, we're mindful today that your word is powerful. It's sharper than any two-edged sword. It pierces to the deepest recesses of our heart, and it exposes us. And I pray, Lord, that it would always do that. And as it does that, we would quickly come to the place where we realize we're in trouble, and that Jesus Christ is the solution to our trouble, for he's the one who's taking care of our greatest problem, and that is the problem of sin. And so I thank you today that we're able to come to the Word of God and gain and get comfort because of what you have accomplished in behalf of your children. So encourage us today, not only as we look at the scriptures, but as we hear the testimonies of those that you have saved and that you have worked in their lives. And I pray today you would receive all the praise, the glory, and the honor that's due your name and only your name. And I pray this. In Christ's name, amen. Let me just start off by saying this. I grew up, just give a little bit of my testimony, I grew up as a faithful Polish Roman Catholic. I went to parochial school until third grade and then transferred into public school on fourth grade. And right up to eighth grade, I went to my CCD classes. That's the Catholic classes for teaching whatever they taught. So I was baptized as an infant, and then I was galvanized, homogenized, and, of course, in the Catholic Church. I attended every Sunday faithfully, especially with my father. But during that time in my life, I grew very, very dissatisfied with life. Most of my friends were partiers, and all that they wanted to do was work, and then Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, they partied, and I just didn't fit in there. I didn't like that, didn't want part of that, And so my dissatisfaction just grew deeper and deeper. And I really became so spiritually restless in my soul. And I had everything I wanted. I had everything I needed. I had actually a loving family. But I just was empty. And so one day, as I was I was working with heating and air conditioning. I was in this crawl space that was very cold and damp. And I got out that one day from that crawl space, and I got out, got into my truck, went back home, went down to the Marine Corps recruiter, and joined up for the Marines. That's insanity. But the Lord had a plan. Because up until that point, two people had witnessed to me, shared the gospel with me. I didn't really get it. I said, I'm religious. I don't really need that. I wasn't looking for God. I thought I had God. And so the Lord put me in Rota, Spain while I was in the Marine Corps, and I was in nuclear security duty. And he put me there, took me out of my environment, and the only thing I was ready to hear was the gospel. And I heard the gospel, and I got convicted of my sins, understood I never received Christ as my Lord and Savior. And I saw it in the Scripture. I'd never read the Scripture until that time. And I saw it in the Scripture, and I trusted Christ as my Lord and Savior. And then, all of a sudden, to my surprise, my life had meaning. It had a purpose to it. The lights went on. Everything became clearer. And from that day, it has been clearer and clearer. So I knew something happened to me. And then I went to the Word of God, and I opened it up, and I was able to understand it. And I thanked the Lord for that. And then someone said, well, you need to be baptized. And I said, oh, I got that covered. I've already been baptized. And he says, no, no, no. I'm talking about believer's baptism. So on July, actually, December 25, 1977, in Florida, I was baptized as a believer. And that day, from that day forward, then, you know, that's history. God has worked in my life, and he's done the same for many of you here today. And so we're going to listen to testimonies in a minute, but before we do that, I just want to share with you three biblical passages that mention baptism and just give you some observations about those passages, not going too deep into any one of them, just to skim and look at them. And the first observation is from the Epistle of Ephesians. And it's this, that believers' baptism underscores the common experience of all believers. So you are going to hear different testimonies of how the Heavenly Father drew these baptismal candidates to himself. And even though you will hear differences in their stories, they all have a genuine, as genuine believers, they all share a common saving experience. They were all saved by Christ. And one of the realities held in common by all believers is really put forth very directly in this passage of scripture. Notice in verse 4 to 6 of Ephesians chapter 4, it states, there is one body and one spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all who is over all and through all and in all. So if you notice One baptism here designates an initiation rite common by all those who belong to the Church of Jesus Christ. And this one baptism refers to the one immersion of the Spirit, including water baptism, in which is a public identification and confession of Jesus Christ before an assembly of followers of Jesus Christ. So the whole context in Ephesians here is addressing unity that has been brought into the family of God by the Holy Spirit of God and it is maintained and it is to be maintained by believers because it says in verse number 3 of chapter 4, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. So baptism is a common experience for all believers. There's no such thing in scripture as an unbaptized believer, at least part of the church. So one body, meaning that Christ is the head of the church. He is the body, including Jews and Gentiles. That means people from all tribes and nations are coming in to the body. One spirit means unless the spirit be in the church, the church would remain dead. He gives it life. One hope is that we are all proceeding toward the same goal, to share in the established kingdom of God at the time of Christ's coming. We're all heading to the same place. We all have that hope. One Lord, there can be only one master. The true church is in the service of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is one body of truth. That's one faith, the truth once delivered to the saints that I've been preaching on in Jude, that Christians have bound themselves together with one body of truth and have completely surrendered in that truth to love for Christ. And then one immersion in the spirit, one baptism. If it is also referring to water baptism, it is the public identification and confession of Jesus Christ. And then it ends in that passage, that one God who created all things, referring to everything. The one God and Father ties everything together. God the Father, He is the gentle and the long-suffering, the kind, the gracious, the merciful Father. And he is over all, in control of everything. He is sovereign over all things. He has created everything and works everything intentionally through and in all things to accomplish his intended goal for the universe he created. And he is through all. He is providentially working throughout his world, sustaining it and directing it to carry out his eternal plan until completion. He is not complete yet with that plan. We're still in that plan. We're part of that plan. And then it says, in all, that God's presence is in the world and in his church. It occupies a critical place in God's divine plan to display to the world the unity of believers in the church. How will we be known by? We'll be known by what? Our love. Our love for Christ and our love for one another. So this is a common expression of all believers. So then there is no such thing in Christ's church as an unbaptized believer. It is for every Christian, a regular part of becoming a Christian. And that's why in the passage we read this morning, it says, so then who received the word that came first, that means to trust Christ, were baptized. And that day they were added about 3,000 souls to the church. So believing first and then baptism. Not baptism first, but believing first. That's a common experience in scripture. That's the first observation. The second observation is found in the epistle of 1 Peter. So take your Bibles and turn there. And this second observation is that believer's baptism underscores the centrality of the gospel in saving his people. Now, here's a very difficult passage of scripture, but one in which emphasizes for the believer God's intention to save his people, wherein those people, what they do is they make an appeal to God before being baptized. In other words, they ask God to save them. That's all part of God's plan. It doesn't just happen to you. You have to ask for it. Of course, information comes before you're asking. But notice what it says in 1 Peter 3, verse 18. It says, For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that he might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went. and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is eight persons, were brought safely through the water. And then in verse 21, corresponding to that, baptism now saves you, not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience. through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven after angels and authorities and powers have been subject to him. So the survival of Noah and his family in the floodwaters function as a type of baptism. It seems that the waters of baptisms conceived as a raging flood that destroys and kills. So baptism pictures death because submersion underwater actually kills. So death overwhelms and conquers its subjects. So the waters are represent the flood of God's judgment on account of sin. And what was God waiting for during the times of Noah? He was waiting for the world of people to repent. And here, Noah's message, a message of salvation from God, and that message was, listen, God's going to send judgment, and he's building this ark so you can get into it and be protected from his judgment and be saved. And if you don't get into the ark, then you're going to be destroyed and killed and come under God's judgment. So Jesus actually explains to us in Mark chapter 10 where he underwent a baptism in which he absorbed God's wrath on the cross for the sake of his people. And when he said this to his disciples, Do you not know what you are asking? Are you able to drink the cup I drank, or be baptized with the baptism which I am baptized? And they said to him, we are able. And Jesus said to them, the cup that I drink you shall drink, and you shall be baptized with the baptism which I am baptized. So in other words, submerging, being immersed under the water in baptism indicates that the person baptized have experienced God's judgment in Christ Jesus. Like we're going to look at in a minute in Romans where we're baptized into his death. When Jesus died, we died with him. And just as Noah and his family survived the chaotic waters death during the flood so too believers in Jesus Christ have come through the baptismal waters alive and believers would be preserved through the waters of baptism and escape eternal death because Jesus underwent a baptism in which he absorbed God's wrath on the cross for the sake of his people like he started out in first 1 Peter, for Christ also died for sins once for all, for what? For the just, for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. That was God's goal all the time, that he would bring us to God. But someone had to pay the price. Someone had to take the judgment of God for your sin and for my sin. And Jesus did that. So in a sense, we're saved from the judgment of God because of what Christ has done. But if you notice in the text also, there is an appeal mentioned. It says in verse 21, corresponding to that, baptism now saves you. Now, if you leave that statement alone, people will think, well, baptism saves you. No, it doesn't. That's not what he's saying here. Because he says also right after that, not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but then he says, but an appeal to God for a good conscience. So the focus in the passage is on God's saving work based on Christ's cross and resurrection. It naturally leads to what occurs at the inception of the Christian life. And what is that? Forgiveness of sins, cleansing of your sins. In other words, the sinner appeals to God to cleanse him of sins on the basis of Christ's death and Christ's resurrection. So baptism symbolizes sins cleansed because of the sacrifice of Christ in an appealing sinner, someone who appeals to God because they realize he is the answer, he is the way, he is the truth, he is life. And so what specifically does that appeal to God include? Well, it is an appeal to God for a good conscience. In other words, a conscience that is now freed from guilt. Guilt from what? Guilt from our own sin. Sin incurs guilt. We know when we do things wrong, we have a conscience, right? And that conscience tells us we did something right or we did something wrong. So when we do something wrong, every time we do something wrong, we feel that guilt. And that guilt comes from God. He's placed it there, and it's good for us. to feel that guilt. Because if we don't feel that guilt, and of course the Bible does talk about a seared conscience, somebody who has blown off every conviction they had and their conscience becomes like calluses on their hands. It doesn't hurt anymore. They don't feel it anymore. That's not a good state to be in. And some people we know have actually progressed to that state and they at that point can commit the worst of crimes. They have no conscience. Their conscience is deadened by their own refusal to want that guilt to lead them to an appeal before God. So similar language is actually used in the book of Hebrews, where it says in Hebrews chapter 9, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offer himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. So the Bible is concerned that our conscience gets cleansed so we have no more guilt. And it doesn't mean after you become a Christian you don't feel guilty. You do, but you know what to do with your sin, right? You bring it to Christ, 1 John 1, 7, and he's faithful and just to what? To cleanse you from your sin and all your unrighteousness. So that cleansing of the conscience comes in, so we are walking steadily, progressing, growing in Christ. Water baptism does not clean you. The appeal for a good conscience could only be made through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It had to be the full work of Christ. that cleanses us of an evil and a guilty conscience. We have to be washed clean. See, baptism only saves because it is anchored in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is the work of Christ that saves people. So this appeal is asking Jesus, God in the flesh, to save you. to remove your sins, to cleanse your conscience of guilt, so you're no longer guilty before God. Who is guilty? Christ is guilty. Christ is the one who takes our guilt. He's the one who pays the full price for us. He's the one who takes care of everything, nails our sins to the cross, and puts his righteousness on our account. He is the one who does that. So there has to be this appeal. that comes from us to God. And just as Noah and his family were brought safely through the judgment of the floodwaters, we're brought safely through the waters. That Christ's death saves the repentant sinner from the flood of God's judgment on account of our sins. That Christ's resurrection underscores the believer's confidence that Christ is the victor. And if he's the victor, we're on the winning side. And if we're on the winning side, that's good news. And that's how he ends the passage in verse 22. It says, who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers be subject to him. He started out saying in the passage of scripture, he's done this to bring us to God. At the end of the passage, Jesus has gone to heaven. Well, Jesus says, where I go, you'll come also. That's the promise that we have, that Jesus won, and we are saved from God's judgment. Sin is removed. Guilt is removed. so that we may go to heaven. The thing that was keeping us out of heaven is taken care of completely. And so that's an observation and a picture when we think about baptism. Now, that brings me to my third observation in Romans chapter 6. Romans chapter 6, the third observation is that believer's baptism unites believers with Christ's death and resurrection. And notice what it says there, and I'll get there in a second, but we'll look at verse 3 and 4 and verse 5 also. So baptism carries the meaning of identification or the concept of being made one with someone else. It symbolizes union with Christ, and union in which way? In his death, in his burial, and in his resurrection, that Christian baptism is also a public announcement of a bona fide inward change. Something happened to me. Christ saved me. I appealed to him. He offered me salvation. He gave me his spirit. And now what do I want to do after that? I want to obey him. Well, one of the first steps of obedience of a believer is baptism, right? So baptism symbolizes a believer's union with Christ, a symbolic proclamation of what happened to me at salvation. That Romans chapter 6 here includes the thought of water baptism while speaking of the spiritual symbolism behind the physical act of water baptism. and the identity that we now have with Christ Jesus our Lord. So what is that? Look at verse number three. The believer's identification is first in his death. It says, or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Jesus Christ have been baptized into his death? That means we're placed in, we're submerged in his death. When Jesus died, we died with him. That had to be the case. That's why when we're saved, we're saved in Christ. Before the foundation of the world, we were saved in Christ, in God's plan. It had to be that way, because our identification must be in only one person, and that's Jesus Christ. So we're standing outside the water, represents our old life. We go down into the water, representing death. We died. And then burial, in verse 4, it says, therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death. So down under the water is the symbolic of dying to ourself, dying to our old life. dying to the path of sin. If we even went over Romans chapter 6, there's all kinds of passages of scripture that shows the difference between a believer's old way of listening to the master sin in their life and the new way of no longer listening to that rebel voice of sin in us, but now listening to God's voice. Now our desire is for righteousness, not for sin. even though when we do sin, we're very convicted about it and want to take care of it right away. In fact, if you just look there in the text, it says there in Romans chapter 6 and verse number 8, and if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again. Death no longer is master over him, for death For the death that he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life that he lives, he lives to God. Even so, consider yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. All believers have to come to a place where they actually consider, that means they're thinking about this, that, you know what, this is the sin that so easily beset me. And when it called, man, I was there, but now, There's another voice, and it's the Spirit of God saying, you can't go that way anymore. In fact, I've given you the power to say no to that sin and not go that way anymore. And so, see, you and I have to consider that we are dead to sin. And if we're dead to sin, a dead person can't respond to something, right? But we don't often consider that right away, that we're dead to sin. And then when you start practicing it, that sin voice that's calling you It's dimmer. It's hard to hear. And then the Spirit of God's voice gets louder. And you say, yes, Lord. I don't want to go that way no more. That's not the person I am now. I'm different. Christ made me different. Yes. See, that's what happens to us. We died with Christ. We were buried with Christ. So baptism is an acknowledgment that the old man and his ways are dead. dead, and the new believer is freed up to live and serve the Lord in righteousness. That's the Christian life. That never happens to you. You probably don't have the Holy Spirit of God, and you probably don't have a new life. You have a bunch of facts in your head, but you don't have regeneration, right? This happens to all genuine believers, all of us. that happens there in our passage in Romans chapter 6 verse 4 and 5 is resurrection. So coming out of the water means a picture of being reborn, rebirth. It says in verse 4, so that as Christ was raised from the dead for the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. So now, right the day you become a believer, the day you receive the Spirit of God, and now you're exposed to the Word of God and to the people of God, now you want to live a new life, and you begin to see what that is. I know what a new life is, and I know what an old life is, right? I know that. I see clearly those two distinctions. And so when that happens, see, baptism is really a profession. that we are living a new life, a profession that you once served sin and Satan, but now you serve God as Lord and desire to walk in the path of righteousness. Where does that come from? Does that come from the world? Does that come from Satan? That comes from your flesh? No, it comes from the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God gives you an overwhelming desire to do that which is right before God. See, that's where the difference lies. And if that's not there, you're just deceiving yourself. See, being a Christian, people says, well, I want to see a miracle. The greatest miracle is when God saves someone. That's the greatest miracle. Could you realize what God has to do to save people? He has to move heaven and earth and hell to save you. That's what he has to do. See, people don't realize that's the greatest miracle, a new life, a life that went from sinning to a life that went to live righteously and know how to deal with their sin and know who dealt with it and remove that guilt. So who are the proper candidates for baptism? Baptism is only to be administered to a person who has repented of their sins, their sin of unbelief, and received and verbally confess Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. They understand the gospel. They know what they're doing. It's not just the head consent. It's a heart conviction, too. You receive something. It's a wholehearted belief. I believe Jesus is the only way to be saved. There's not many ways to be saved. There's just one, and it's Christ. He's taking care of all of it. That's always been God's plan from the beginning of the council room in eternity to the creation of the earth, to the cross, to the resurrection, to the new heaven and new earth. That's always been God's plan. So who should participate? Only those who are saved. Observably, no one who does not know Jesus Christ can or should profess Him and identify with him in the waters of baptism. To be saved through faith in him is really the minimal essential. And that means at least four things about the person that in their appeal to God for a good conscience and a clean conscience and forgiveness of sins, which goes along with all those, is they have come to grips in their own personal life of the realistic problem of their own personal sin, that their sin is under God's judgment. They are under God's judgment. That has to be the first thing they realize. And then, of course, when they come under that conviction, they realize and say, you know, I'm in trouble. What do I do? Where do I go? See, then Christ provides the answer. So the second thing they do is they seriously take into account God's one and only remedy. And that one and only remedy is Jesus Christ. Run to the cross. Run to Jesus Christ with all your sin, with all your baggage, with all that stuff, and run. Don't think you can clean your life up and then come to Christ. No, come with all of it, because he's taking care of it. So you make that appeal to the Lord. And then what you do is you wholeheartedly submit to the terms for obtaining God's provision for sin, and that's repentance. You're turning from what you're trusting in, and you're trusting in all kinds of things. Everybody is an idolater. They're trusting in something to save them. and you turn from trusting all that, trusting your religion, trusting religious systems, trusting your own philosophy, whatever you're trusting, you turn from it and you trust completely in the finished work of Jesus Christ. So repentance towards God the Father, and what's God the Father's solution? Faith in Christ. I come and I believe you, Lord. I believe you. There's no other way. You are the way. And then after that, They exhibit in daily life evidence of their repentance and faith in Christ. It doesn't just end there. It doesn't end in a profession. It doesn't end in just appeal. The rest of your life is going to change, right? That's what happens. The rest of your life changes, and God begins to guide you and direct you, and you begin to exhibit the evidence of salvation. And you need to know that, too. You need to know you're saved after you get saved. You understand that? You need to know that God's keeping you. He's working in your heart. He's transforming your mind. You need to know that. I need to know that. Because you know what? We do doubt. But I don't know if I'm a Christian. And then God shows you evidence that you are. We all go up and down in this Christian growth pattern. But hopefully, as you grow in your knowledge and wisdom of Christ and the Word of God, your pattern starts going up. instead of down, up, more up, up, up, until you're prepared to go into eternity. So that means that Christian baptism is only to be administered to followers of Jesus Christ who have personally received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. And by inference, infants are not candidates for baptism. You do not find infant baptism in the Bible. Infants may not be baptized since they're not able to believe. And this means also that infant baptism prior to true conversion like my own is not a scripturally authorized baptism. So that person must be baptized following conversion to Christ. So scripture gives really no age requirement for baptism, only that the individual must understand, believe, and profess faith in Christ, and then be baptized. And every time individuals are baptized in the Bible, they are baptized after they believe. Just some examples, Acts 241, after Peter's first sermon, and those who received the word of God were baptized, right? And who received the Word of God in that passage? The Jews. Well, the Jews thought they were good. Hey, we're God's favorite people, right? We're the chosen people. We're good. No. They found out that day they're the ones who nailed Jesus Christ to the Lord. They weren't good. They were under God's judgment, and that's why they cried out after they were pierced in their heart, what must we do, right? And he tells them what to do, right? Believe and be baptized. That's what he tells them what to do. And then Saul, who was became Paul, was converted on the road to Damascus. And Saul probably was the quintessential Jew. He had all the box checked, right? Tells us that in the Word of God. And he needed to get saved. Of course, God had to do a drastic conversion to save him, right? But he saved him. And then the Bible says once he got saved on the road to Damascus, he was baptized. And then, of course, the Gentiles had received the Holy Spirit in the Book of Acts. They were converted. Peter ordered them to be baptized following their conversion. Lydia, a merchant woman who sold purple as her, she probably was the owner of the business. It says Lydia had her heart open to the truth and was then subsequently baptized. And then the Roman jailer and his household heard the gospel. And then what happened? They were baptized. So see, all these things, they were baptized. So remember, baptism does not get us saved or help us get saved. It is an act of obedience after conversion to Christ. Being obedient to God in baptism testifies to our love for him and to the community of believers of the reality of our spiritual transformation. So baptism is by immersion. That means you go into the water. You symbolize the death, burial, and you come up out of the water, his resurrection. It's really a solemn and a beautiful testimony of a believer showing forth his faith in the crucified, the buried, the risen Savior, and union with him in his death to sin and his resurrection to new life. And since it is an integral part of the Great Commission, this church, our church, is committed to administering this ordinance to those who are examined, who are able to give their testimony of their profession of faith in Jesus Christ and evidence of the fruit of repentance in their life. So failure to be baptized is disobedience to God. I don't know. All of you here, some of you here may not be baptized yet. Well, if you have trusted Christ and you believe you have as Lord and Savior and you understand the gospel, then you need to be baptized as soon as possible and be prepared for that. So you need to speak to me or someone else that can help you do that. We do have regular baptism classes here. We should have one coming up very soon. Sign up sheet that you can be part of that. if you're part of our assembly here. So here at Calvary, and we're going to, I can dismiss the people that are going to get baptized this morning, the three people. Here at Calvary, we ask them when they're baptized to present their personal testimony. And so we are part of listening to what they have to say. And maybe you have been part of their life in some way and contribute to where God brought them right now. So if God used you or not, God gets the glory, right? And believe me, if there's evidence that the God who created the heaven and the earth is still working in this world that's really going down the pits, it's when people get saved and are baptized. See, I don't think God reads the local papers or the news, because he maybe changed his plan, right? No, his plan doesn't change no matter what's going on in the world, right? He is preparing his church. He is building his church. Yes, the gates of hell will try to kick against it, but it's doing fine. The Church of Jesus Christ is doing fine. It's right on schedule, right? Now, that doesn't mean that we sit down on our laurels. It means we have to take the responsibilities as believers and do what God calls us to do, right? And as we do that, we're part of the work. And when we are part of the work, we get fulfilled by God as we use our spiritual gifts to build up the body. That's God's plan. There's no greater thing than that. So let's have a word of prayer, and then the people are being prepared to be baptized. And thanks for coming and celebrating this morning with these candidates. Let's pray. Lord, this morning, I do thank you for your kindness to us today, not only to share with each other, but also, Lord, to be witness to the baptisms that we are about to experience and hear their testimonies. And Lord, thank you so much that you are still working in people's lives. We praise you for that. And I ask in Christ's name, amen. One of the mysteries that we see in the Bible is the mystery of prayer.