Automatic Transcript Generated:
Speaker 1
So Daniel asked, what happens in the baptism of water?
Speaker 2
Yes. I love this question. And actually, baptism is one of those many topics that I really like steady to the ground down and just come up with so many more things than what the world really is out there teaching. And it’s such a beautiful symbol. And that’s largely what it is. It’s a symbol that tells us about the entire gospel and what God wants to do in your life. And so I think often almost every Christian thinks that when they’re going to go be baptized, there’s going to be the Holy Spirit coming down is like a dove, and there’s going to be some special output of the Holy Spirit at that occasion. And I don’t know a single person that that’s been the case. Not saying it hasn’t happened, it couldn’t happen. There is this two step process of the water baptism and then there’s the baptism by fire. And actually, sometimes baptism by fire can precede the water baptism. But today we’re talking about baptism of water and what happens? Daniel asks. So first let’s take a look at first Peter, chapter three, looking at verse 21. Now, just if you back up a verse to verse 20, he’s talking about the flood and how Noah and his family were saved through the water.
Speaker 2
And then in verse 21, Peter says, there is also an antitype which now saves us, antitype to the flood. And it says that’s baptism. And it’s not the removal of the filth of the flesh. So baptism isn’t removing filth, it’s not just taking a bath, but it’s the answer of a good conscience toward God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So it’s a response of our conscience to what God has done for us, hearing and learning about God’s love for us, what Christ did on the cross, his resurrection, and then now his call for us to repent. And in fact, if you look at Mark, it says John baptized and his was a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. And then Acts 238, peter gives this whole sermon and people are like, what should we do? Then Peter says to them, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins we see here. It’s repent, then be baptized. There’s got to be this heart change, this conversion, and then you sort of seal the deal with baptism. It’s this moment, this time, the ceremony that you could say, I’m now marking a new chapter in my life and I can wash away my sins of my past, I can leave it buried.
Speaker 2
Kind of like death. It’s like a death ceremony. So Romans 623 says, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. And the same chapter, Romans six, if you go to verse three, Paul says, know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death. Therefore we are buried with him. Buried with him through baptism, into death. That just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in the newness of life. And then if we jump to verse eight, it says, now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dies no more. Death has no more dominion over him. So, as we see, the baptism is part of this whole process of dying. We pay the price for our sins, and we do that through, in a sense, a spiritual death that’s commemorated through baptism. And people always talk about, oh, that’s unfair. Christians get off easy. You don’t die. Oh, no, we do die. We go through that death process in baptism where we acknowledge that we have died through Christ, and Christ paid the penalty for us.
Speaker 2
And that our old, simple self, we let him die or her die, and now we can come out a new person. I love this part. Walk in, newness of life. So you start off like you’re a brand new person, a blank slate. You don’t have to be bogged down by the sins of your past. Be clean, move on. Just don’t fall back to the same way. It’s just such a beautiful message. Does any other religion have it just so many people have so many mental health problems, depression, all these things, because they’re stuck in the past. And the baptism is telling us that you bury the past and you move forward as a new person. And this, again is totally contrary to cancel culture. Right? Cancel culture? Oh, you did something 20 years ago. We’re still going to judge you and condemn you and cancel you for that. Bible says, no, what matters is how you are today, and you can ditch that person you were yesterday. And there’s so many verses on this new creation concept two Corinthians 517. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. The old things are passed away.
Speaker 2
Behold, all things are become new. Now, I want to talk about a special thing like that happens at the time of baptism that nobody is talking about. And this is a big one. Everyone who’s baptized needs to know this. And if you’re considering baptism, you need to know this. So Jesus began his ministry. He became the Messiah through baptism. So it was baptism that marked the beginning of his baptism. Sorry. Baptism marks the beginning of his ministry. Now, if we look at the high priest, Erin, by the way, I apologize for the neighbor’s dog. Wendy, could you go take care of that? If you look at Exodus 40 versus twelve to 13, we see this ceremony that Aaron went through, and it says, and you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the tabernacle of meeting and wash them with water. And you put upon Aaron the holy garments, anoint him and sanctify him, that he may minister unto me in the priest as a priest. And then you go jump ahead to Leviticus eight, four to six, and we see then there’s some ceremony that does take place. And Moses then did it as he was commanded.
Speaker 2
And look, the whole assembly is gathered. So it’s a public event. People are watching and then they are at the door of the attentive meetings. And then Moses said to the congregation, this is the thing which the Lord commanded to be done. And Moses brought Aaron and his sons and washed them with water. Verse six. Aaron and his sons were baptized at the beginning of their ministry. Price was baptized at the beginning of his ministry. And God’s plan for his people, for the Hebrew people, was that they all would be, in a sense, ministers. If you look at Exodus 19 six, it says, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. These are the words, but you shall speak to the children of Israel. So God’s vision for his people, you are all going to be ministers. All of you are going to have a role in reconciling the world back to me and bringing people to Me, representing Me. Here’s the question. So all of Israel was to be ministers. Were they baptized? Answer is yes. Look at one Corinthians chapter, ten, verses one to do, and it reads, moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that our fathers were under the cloud.
Speaker 2
All passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and into sea. So there you go. They were all baptized. Paul says they were baptized. God sent it through the water and he brought them out. And by the way, going through this water process, coming out of the water onto the land, I mean, this is imagery that ties right back to creation. God separated waters, he separated darkness from light, and he separated water from land. And this is how God creates, is often through separation and gathering. And so God is separating his people out, calling them, you’re going to be a new separate people, your mind, you’re not of the world. As God said in Leviticus 20, verse 26, he says, and you shall be holy to me, for I am the Lord, I am holy and have separated you from the peoples that you should be mine. So God separated his people, just like God also separated one day, the 7th day from the rest of the week, and made it holy. God separates his people, makes them holy. And baptism is that symbol of passing through the waters and separating ourselves from the world and entering into the ministry for God.
Speaker 2
And I’m not the first person to come up with this by the way, Martin Luther, great reformer. He says, the fact is that our baptism consecrates us all without exception and makes us all priests. This is Martin Luther himself. So it is our call. So if you’ve been baptized and you haven’t really done anything to minister to people, maybe you haven’t felt you’re empowered to do so. No, you are called to do it. God’s called the great commission of Matthew 28, verse 19. He says, Go therefore and make disciples of all nations. Baptizing them. Right? So you make disciples by baptizing them. And this is what God wants us to do. We’re all supposed to be active, we’re supposed to be all involved. We’re not supposed to be bench warmers, just sitting on the pew. And to me that’s exciting, right? God doesn’t want just a bunch of fans in the stadium, only has just a few people playing. He wants all of us to be players on the team, all of us to be active, all of us to partake in the joy of winning souls, killing people, just whatever it is, all the different ways that we can minister.
Speaker 2
God wants us all to have a part in that. And ministry is that time when you enter into it. So I hope you learn something new and feel inspired. And by the way, if you have not been baptized yet or this has inspired you and now you have a different understanding, would like to be rebaptized, we at our ministry would love to hear with you and some of us would be willing to study with you, even myself. So please let us know if you would like that, definitely invite you to join us.
Speaker 1
Amen. I really appreciate that. And when you said there’s something that people might not know that happens when they give out title, absolutely, yes, they’re called to die, to self and to live for God and to serve others. But one thing I wanted to add to when I was a kid, they used to say whenever someone was baptized that the angels are rejoicing. And so that happens too. And you see that in Luke 15, chapter ten, it says, likewise, I say to you that there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. So when we baptize, you repent of our old life and the angels rejoice. So if you’re not yet baptized and you’re going to be, you can take that promise with you that as you sincerely give your heart to God and are baptized, that angels are rejoicing in heaven because of your decision, man. Also pretty cool.
Speaker 2
It’s the most amazing thing. The whole word baptism comes from the Greek word baptizo. That means submersion. If you study, you’re all in. So yes, you’re not part way going to be God’s minister, you’re not going to partly give up your sin, you’re not going to part way turn around. It’s like it’s all in. You could go on and on. Beautiful symbol. So glad God gave us this.
Speaker 1
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In His Service
BibleAsk Team
