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August 4, 2013
SOVEREIGN GRACE BAPTIST
CHURCH
LOCATION
Rocky Hill Firehouse, 2nd
Floor
150 Washington Street
Rocky Hill, New Jersey, 08553
Clay Curtis, pastor
Telephone: 615-513-4464
Schedule of Services
Sunday 10: 15 AM Bible Class
Sunday 11:00 AM Morning Service
Thursday 7: 30 PM Midweek Service
Order of service, announcements, nursery schedule, etc.,
are in attachment. All articles in the
bulletin are by the pastor unless otherwise noted.
******* A puritan preacher named Thomas
Brooks made this true statement concerning faith in the successful, sin-atoning,
Lord Jesus Christ of holy scripture, “He that believeth shall be saved, let his
sins be ever so great; and he that believeth not shall be damned, let his sins
be ever so little.”
*******
BAPTISM: WHAT IT IS AND IS NOT
Mark 16: 15: And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the
gospel to every creature. 16: He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved;
but he that believeth not shall be damned.
Nothing is more damning for a sinner than to imagine that by an act of their
own, such as baptism, they have contributed to their salvation. Baptism is not salvation; baptism never saved
anyone. The watery grave does not make
Christ’s blood effectual any more than faith does. Sin is not put away by baptism.
Baptism is not how we are born again, dedicated, rededicated, or any such thing.
Christ by himself purged the sins of his people—salvation is of the Lord. (Heb
1: 3; Jon 2: 9) So what is baptism?
A Public Confession of our Sin
By baptism we are confessing that the
Spirit of God convinced us that we are sin. (Jn 16: 8-9) Those baptized by John
the Baptist “were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.” (Mt 3: 6) Believers
confess that we are so sinful, that it is through the gospel that the Holy
Spirit has entered into us and given us life where there was no life
before. (Jn 3: 3; Jn 6: 63) By being
baptized we are not regenerating ourselves; there is no such thing as
“baptismal regeneration.” We are
confessing that we did not choose God, but God chose us and drew us to Christ,
revealing Christ in us by his Spirit through his gospel. (Jn 6: 44; 2 Th 2:
13-14)
A Public Confession of Faith in Christ
By baptism we are saying that we
believe on Christ, our Prince and Savior, who has given us repentance and
forgiveness of sin freely by his grace. (Acts 5: 31; Eph 2: 8) On the cross, with the sin of God’s elect
laid on him, Christ Jesus as the Substitute of his people, was immersed in the
righteous judgment of God in the place of his people by which God himself
satisfied justice for his people (Psalm 69: 1-2; 18: 4; Lam 3: 54; Ps 42: 7;
Rom 3: 24-27) By immersion in the watery grave, we publicly confess that we
believe our old man of sin died and was buried with Christ. (Ro 6: 3-4; Lu 12:
50) When we come up out of the watery-grave we are confessing that we believe
when Christ arose from the grave to the throne of glory we arose in him. (Ro 6:
4-6)
We are confessing that we believe that by his death, Christ
accomplished the purging of our sins by himself and freed us from sin. (Heb 1:
3; Rom 6: 7) “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are
in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Rom 8:
1)
A Public Confession of Commitment to Christ
By baptism we are publicly confessing
our commitment to Christ, to his gospel, and to our brethren. We are confessing
that we are now walking with Christ as a resurrected child of God in newness of
life. (Ro 6: 8-14) When we arise from
the grave of water, we declare publicly “I am crucified with Christ:
nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I
now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and
gave himself for me.” (Gal 2: 20) “For as many of you as have been
baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” (Gal 3: 27) “Therefore if any man be in
Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all
things are become new.” (2 Cor 5: 17; Gal 6: 14-16)
*******
Why You Should Not and Why You Should Be Baptized
You should never be baptized simply because you never have or because
you feel guilty or because someone else is being baptized. Never should you be baptized to please
someone else. Faith is personal. Confessing Christ in believer’s baptism must
be because God has given you faith in Christ.
After Philip preached the gospel to the Ethiopian Eunuch, “As they went
on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here
is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou
believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I
believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to
stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the
eunuch; and he baptized him.” (Acts 8: 36-38)
If God has called you to faith in Christ and you believe that all your salvation
is the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ, apart from your works, then you should confess
him in believer’s baptism. It is the Lord’s will. Christ said, “Whosoever shall
confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels
of God: But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of
God.” (Lk 12: 8-9) Ananias said to Paul,
“And now why tarriest thou? Arise, be baptized.” (Acts 22: 16)
*******
BAPTISM IS OBEDIENCE TO CHRIST
Matthew 16: 16: He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he
that believeth not shall be damned.
Baptism in this verse stands for
obedience. Christ is saying he that believes and is obedient to the Lord Jesus,
beginning with believer’s baptism, shall be saved. Baptism is put there to tell us what kind of
faith—obedient faith—because water baptism is one of the public acts of obedience
the Lord Jesus commands. By baptism, among other things, we are confessing that
we are under the rule of Christ as Lord, walking in newness of life. (Rom 6) Many
have been saved who were never baptized—the old testament saints, the thief on
the cross—but all who have been saved have had a new heart created by God wherein
they were obedient to God our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. If the thief had
not been about to die, he would have been baptized.
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