The Gospel & Salvation: Salvation Produces Obedience - Baptism

Salvation Produces Obedience

Selected Scriptures

 I want to begin by reading Acts 2:37-42. Please stand with me.

This is a special day for Grace Bible Church. We will conclude this service this morning with the baptism of two of our young people. Some of you have come to be with us today to share in this blessed event. Since this is what we are going to do today, I want to share with you a message relevant to both the series we are doing and the specific events of today.

This is relevant to the series we are doing because we have been studying the gospel and the work of salvation since the beginning of the year. We dug deeply into the word of God to understand the sin problem that plagues us all. Our sinfulness alienates us from God. Sin makes us the targets of God’s just wrath. Salvation is the work of God whereby He rescues us from His wrath, a wrath we deserve because we are all sinners. We all fall short of God’s holy standard. Mankind does not like the Bible’s assessment of our spiritual condition, but God’s word does not lie. We can never earn God’s blessings of eternal life by human effort. No amount of righteous deeds performed to please God will ever allow us to measure up to His holiness. 

This is why Jesus came as the solution to our sin problem. He paid the penalty we all owed to God. He bore the wrath of God in our place. Jesus Christ is the innocent substitute who suffered and died, bearing the wrath of God we all deserved. We receive the gift of salvation when we repent and believe. This was the gospel message Jesus preached. Repent and believe in the gospel. Turn from sin and trust in the solution. The best news ever proclaimed among man is the good news that man can be rescued from the wrath of God. By grace we have been saved through faith. It is the gift of God. By grace we become the beneficiaries of a great exchange. We exchange our sinfulness for Christ’s perfect righteousness. We stand before God justified. 

In the past several weeks we have been examining what the word of God tells us about the results of the work of salvation. What does salvation accomplish in the life of the believer? What are the evidences of a genuine salvation experience? We have seen that salvation brings a new birth. We studied John 3 and the encounter of Nicodemus with Jesus and the explanation of Jesus of the need to be born again. We saw from the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel that the work of salvation results in the removal of a heart of stone and the giving of a heart of flesh. We are also given the Spirit of God by which we have a new motivation and desire to obey God.

We saw last week that the one who is genuinely saved is made to become a true worshipper of God. From John 4 we saw that God seeks worshippers. He seeks worshippers who worship Him in spirit and in truth. There is a lot of confusion in the church today about what it means to worship in spirit and truth. That message is currently on the church’s website if you missed it.

Today I want us to understand that the genuine work of salvation makes the true convert into a person who will desire to obey the commands of our Lord Jesus Christ. Those who are born again, who have a new heart of flesh, genuinely desire to obey what Jesus commands for us to do. Just to remind you of what we saw a few weeks ago in Ezekiel 36, in the passage where God promises to remove our heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh, He also, in verse 27 says, “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.” This is a result of God’s salvation. He makes us to become a people for His own possession who are zealous for good works.

Jesus said it like this, “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.” (John 14:21) In verses 23-24 of John 14 Jesus said again, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word…He who does not love Me does not keep My word.” Jesus went on to explain that the Holy Spirit was the Helper who would come to bring to remembrance what Jesus commands. God truly does put His Holy Spirit in us and causes us to walk in His statues.

This message is appropriate for this occasion not only because it fits with this series and explains another result of salvation, making us obedient followers of Christ, it also relates to the decision these two young people have made. They are choosing to obey the Lord’s command to be baptized. Jesus gave the Great Command, or the Great Commission to His disciples at the end of Matthew’s gospel. He said to them, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Jesus commanded His disciples to preach the gospel and make disciples of all the nations. He also commanded them to baptize those who responded to the gospel message in faith. Jesus clearly commanded the disciple makers to baptize those who believed. Therefore, it is clear that the desire of our Lord is for all believers to be baptized. In Acts 2:37, after preaching his sermon on the Day of Pentecost, those who had been pierced to the heart, convicted of their need to respond appropriately, asked, “Brethren what shall we do?” Peter responded, “Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” As we move through this message it will become abundantly clear that baptism doesn’t save us. Peter’s answer communicates the truth that we are to be baptized because of the forgiveness of our sins. If we have learned anything in our series on salvation we have learned that salvation is not the result of works, but rather by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. While baptism does not save, it is one of the first steps of an obedient faith.

Here is something important to understand about those who were baptized on the Day of Pentecost. We have very recently studied this in our study through Acts in the adult Bible study time, so it is fresh in our minds. Peter preached the message and 3,000 believed, and 3,000 were baptized, and 3,000 were continually devoting themselves to the apostle’s teaching and to fellowship, and to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. Compare those results to the results of a large evangelistic “revival” put on today. If it is publicized enough you might fill a stadium. If the speaker is charismatic enough and convincing enough you might get 3,000 to walk an aisle and pray a prayer and claim faith in Christ. These would be congratulated on their new life in Christ and encouraged to find a Bible-believing church. How many would do that? How many would actually be obedient to be baptized? How many would, say, three months later, be continually devoting themselves to teaching and fellowship, and the ordinances of the Lord’s Table, and prayer? Research shows that only a small fraction will be found even a short time later. 

What is wrong with that methodology? We don’t have time for that discussion today. I just wanted to point out that at Pentecost, there was no noticeable loss. There was no noticeable loss in converts because there was no doubt about the genuine nature of the conversion of these converts. They were truly converted. They understood what it meant to repent, to turn from sin and to turn to Christ in faith. They became obedient to the faith.

These new believers knew what they were getting into. They knew they were walking completely away from Judaism and all its religious trappings. They knew they would be rejected by the religious authorities who had killed the Lord. They knew their families would reject them. They were willing to pay that price because they found something of far greater value. They were willing to sell everything they had because they had found the Pearl of great price. They demonstrated the reality of their new life in Christ and the evidence was a willingness to be obedient to the commands of the Lord. The Lord commanded His disciples to baptize, and these new converts were willing to be baptized.

As we learned last week about worship, if we are going to do it, it is important to do it right. What, then, is the right way to baptize? This is an easy question to answer because the words translated from the Greek into English all mean basically the same thing. “Bapto” is used four times and it means to dip into something. “Baptizo” is used many times and it means “to immerse” or “submerge.” The English word “baptize” is not a translation, but rather a transliteration of the Greek word “baptismos.” All those words convey the idea of submerging or immersing in water. The proper method of baptism is immersion in water.

This is important because this is the only method that comes close to picturing the purpose of baptism. I will have more to say about this picture in a few minutes. Some sprinkle water on the one being baptized, some pour water on one being baptized, we immerse in water because that the method the word describes. When John the Baptist starting baptizing, he did so in the Jordan River. Why didn’t he just go to a well? This was because he needed sufficient amounts of water to immerse those who were being baptized. He didn’t sprinkle or pour water on the head of those being baptized. He immersed them into the water of the Jordan River.

A little history will help us understand why the mode is important. Baptism among the Jews got started as a practice for those of non-Jewish heritage who wanted to participate in the religion of the Jews. Converts to Judaism were called proselytes. Anyone who converted to Judaism went through a process. The first step of the process was for the males to be circumcised. Circumcision was the covenantal sign of the children of Abraham. So, regardless of the age of the man, if he wanted to become a Jew by religion, he had to be circumcised. This act was the acknowledgement of the symbolism of circumcision. The cutting away of that which is unclean on the male reproductive organ is really a picture of what needs to happen in the human heart. This is a recognition and confession that man’s sin problem needs to be addressed at the heart level. The work of salvation is really a work of circumcision of the heart.

The second step for the proselyte was to be baptized. This baptism was a baptism of immersion in water. This baptism was symbolic. The immersion in water symbolized the death of the person to the ways he lived as a pagan. This signified the person’s death to his life as a pagan. He died to an old way of life and he was immersed in water as a symbol of this death. He was raised up from the water as an illustration of his new life in Judaism. He raised up out of the water to walk in a new life with a new relationship to God. The baptism you will witness today is, in many ways, a picture of the same thing.

The third thing the proselyte was required to do was to offer a sacrifice. The Old Testament sacrifices were offered because there is no forgiveness without the shedding of blood. We know because we have studied this, these sacrifices could temporarily atone for the daily sins, but they could not permanently deal with the problem of sin in the heart. This could only be done by the substitutionary death of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.

So that was the origins of the history of baptism. It is interesting to note that when John the Baptist started preaching in the wilderness he was baptizing Jews. These were not proselytes, these were people of Jewish heritage who recognized their sinfulness and repented and wanted to be ready for the coming of Messiah. For the Jew to humble himself and submit to John’s baptism of repentance was to show how serious they were about being part of Messiah’s kingdom. John the Baptist was making ready a people for the Lord.

So all who submitted to the baptism of John were confessing their sinfulness and that they were worthy of death and they were worthy of burial and pleading to walk in a new life, and that death, burial, and resurrection were symbolized in that baptism.  It marked the turning point of a sinful Jew who wanted to be ready to face his Messiah, and he wanted to be associated with the others being baptized as a penitent people, forgiven and ready to receive the Savior. 

What is the spiritual significance of Christian baptism?  What is it really depicting?  When we, as a believer, are baptized by immersion into water, we are demonstrating your union with Christ in that death, burial, and resurrection.  We are providing a picture of what has happened in the work of salvation. These young people  being baptized today are giving a spiritual truth in picture form. They are picturing the work God did in saving them. The moment you put your faith in Christ, you become a Christian.  By a supernatural, sovereign, divine, spiritual miracle, God puts you in Christ and you die at the cross and you rise to walk in newness of life. 

The moment we are saved we are united with Christ in His death, resurrection, and we become new creatures in Him.  That’s what is being pictured.  In Colossians chapter 2 verse 12, “Having been buried with Him in baptism,” it doesn’t mean water there, it means you were literally immersed into His death and you were raised up, it says.  “You have been made alive together with Him having forgiven us all our transgressions.”  It’s the immersion into Christ’s death, immersion spiritually into His burial.  The immersion into His resurrection so that we die and He lives in us and Paul says, “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live yet it’s not I but Christ lives in me.  I die in Him, I rise in Him.”

And perhaps the clearest passage of all, Romans 6, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ,” that’s not water baptism there, that’s immersed into Christ, “have been immersed into His death, therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death in order that as Christ was raised from the death through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”  We are dying with Him.  We are buried with Him, and we rise with Him, immersed into Him, and though those passages are not referring to water, it is water baptism that symbolizes that spiritual reality. 

Is water baptism necessary for a person to be saved? There are many who teach that baptism is necessary for salvation. They teach the doctrine of baptismal regeneration. Do they accurately depict the truth of Scripture? I don’t believe they do. The thief on the cross next to Jesus was not baptized but he was promised a place in Paradise with Jesus. We have studied the work of salvation extensively in this series and we should now understand that no human effort added to faith is of any value. Salvation is by grace, not works. Those who teach that baptism is a requirement of salvation are adding an element of human effort to grace.

While baptism is not necessary for salvation, a willingness to be baptized is one of the evidences of the genuine work of salvation. As it was on the Day of Pentecost for the 3,000 and as it was for the Ethiopian who was baptized by Philip in Acts 8, there was a desire to obey, and a commitment to publically identify with Christ and His kingdom. There was a willingness to picture death to an old way of life and a resurrection to a new life. There was a desire to demonstrate publically the union with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. We should want to show the world our identification with the one who bore my sins, took my place, died in my stead, was buried and rose again for my justification.  As Christ went through the reality of suffering in death to secure my salvation, so by my immersion in water and coming out, I publicly declare my identification with my Lord in His death, burial, and resurrection on my behalf with the intention to walk with Him in newness of life.

How important is this issue of baptism? One way to answer that question is to remind you that there were only two ordinances given to the church by the Lord. He gave us the ordinance of the Lord’s Table and baptism. We celebrate the Lord’s Table on the first Sunday of every month. We will do that next week. It is a reminder of the sacrifice of Jesus and His finished work on the Cross. The ordinance of the Lord’s Table is a pictorial reminder of what Christ has done for us to save us. The ordinance of baptism is a pictorial reminder of what Christ has done in us. He has brought us into union with Himself in death, burial and resurrection. So, being only one of two ordinances of the church, the issue of baptism is of primary importance.

Also, we must consider the issue of baptism important because of the misunderstanding and misuse of the ordinance in much of the church. The Church of Christ misunderstands baptism because they see it as a necessary part of salvation. There are several sects, like the Quakers, and the Salvation Army, among others who don’t believe baptism has any place in the believer’s life. Still others, like the Mormons teach that living people can be baptized for the dead. They teach that there is a proxy baptism that confers spiritual benefit to those who have already died. None of these practices can be supported by the Scriptures.

Nor can the Roman Catholic practice of infant baptism be supported by the Bible.  Roman Catholic theology teaches that a baby dies, a baby that dies without being christened or without being baptized, sprinkled goes to the Limbo of the Innocents where they will live forever enjoying a natural bliss without any vision of God.  And so they want to baptize every Catholic baby so that if it dies, it can go to a bliss that has the vision of God and not get stuck in the second-class category known as the Limbo of the Innocents.  They believe literally that that infant baptism has the regenerative capability of ushering that baby into the presence of God. 

Unfortunately, the practice of infant baptism is also practiced among some protestant denominations. Martin Luther, the great reformer, was strong on justification by faith but never disentangled himself from Roman infant baptism.  In 1526 he wrote a book called The Small Baptismal Book, which is the manual for the Lutherans on infant baptism.

There is nothing in the New Testament about babies being baptized.  There is nothing in the New Testament about salvation apart from personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, which comes to one who understands the meaning of the gospel. Babies are incapable of understanding the meaning of the gospel. There is no infant baptism in the Bible whatsoever.  It isn’t commanded, it isn’t illustrated, it isn’t practiced. I think it takes a great deal of hermeneutical wrangling to come up with a support for infant baptism, either as a Catholic or a Protestant.

I may have told you more than you thought you wanted to know about baptism today. I want to close with a challenge. Have you been biblically baptized? Have you been baptized since you believed in Christ and became a born again follower of Christ? This is His will for your life. It is His will for the two children we will baptize in a few minutes. It is the Lord’s will for every true Christian. Do you need to consider your own level of desire to obey our Lord?

Let’s pray.