Sunday, 5/26/13 pm
BAPTISM IN GOD’S PLAN OF SALVATION
There are some who take passages like this as being all
inclusive, meaning that God has done His part and all we have to do is
have faith (i.e. believe).
While in its most general sense that is true, there is much more to the
story. Both grace and faith
need clarification and the New Testament has much to say about both of
them.
In our lesson this evening we want to briefly examine these
two parts. But we want to be
more specific in noting how baptism is a part of our faith.
a.
The term “grace” is
sometimes described as unmerited favor.
It means that even though we do not deserve it, God has bestowed
His favor unto us. By favor,
ultimately we mean salvation.
But what has God done where our salvation is concerned.
b.
John 3:16 tells us that
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.
Numerous other passages also reveal this.
c.
But He has also done
many other things – He has revealed to us His will (through the Bible –
Rom. 1:16-17), demonstrated in times past His power as God, provided an
avenue through which we can approach Him (prayer), delayed His return (2
Pet. 3:9), and numerous other things.
d.
In essence, what God has
done is the things we CANNOT do for ourselves.
e.
When we talk about the
grace of God, it is HIS part in our salvation!
And that is what the context of Ephesians 2:8-9 speaks of.
Vs. 1-10 bear this out.
Especially verses 4-5 which says, “But
God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved
us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with
Christ (by grace you have been saved).”
a.
IF all there were to
salvation was the grace of God, then man would need to do nothing to be
saved. In fact, because of
His grace, ALL MANKIND would be saved.
That is sometimes called universalism.
b.
BUT, in reading God’s
word you don’t have to turn very far to learn that no ALL will be saved.
c.
Romans 3:23 says, “All
have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Romans 6:23 says, “For the
wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ
Jesus our Lord.” Add to
this numerous passages that directly speak of some being lost (Rev.
21:8, Matt. 25:46, 7:21-23, Rom. 16:16b, etc.) it is clear that man has
to do something to receive the gift of God (i.e. the fullness of His
grace – John 1:14,16).
d.
Notice Ephesians 2:8
again, “For by grace you have been
saved through faith, and that
not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.”
In that text Paul notes that man has to have “faith”.
e.
Now the question is,
what is the faith He speaks of?
Is it merely believing in Jesus Christ (and certain other facts)
or does it involve more?
f.
It involves more than
mere “mental assent”. True
faith does what God tells us to do!
That is the point we need to understand.
i.
Negatively
–
Matt. 7:21-23 – notice how
this text addresses believers in Jesus, even calling on His name, but
they are lost! The one who
will be saved is the one who DOES the will of the Father.
James 2:19, speaking about
the type of faith that justifies, James notes “You
believe there is one God, you do well.
Even the demons believe – and tremble.”
Again notice that belief that save is MORE than merely believing
in Jesus. It must involve
more which is James’ point.
IF you do NOT obey God, then you do NOT have a faith that will save you.
In other words, the two cannot be separated.
In fact, notice James 2:24, “You
see then that a man is justified by works and NOT by faith only.”
The only the term “faith only” is used in reference to man’s
salvation is here and we are told that faith alone is NOT sufficient.
2 Thess. 1:8 speaks of
God, “in flaming fire
taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who
do not obey the gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ.”
ii.
Positively
– Hebrews 11 describes the faith of some in the Old Testament.
They are examples of endurance.
In EVERY example, their faith was obedient –
Heb. 11:4, “By faith
offered”; “By faith Noah…move with godly fear, preparing an ark…”
(11:7); “By faith Abraham obeyed…” (11:8), “offered up Isaac”
(11:17);
Moses “by faith forsook Egypt”
(11:27).
Hebrews 5:8-9 speaks of the obedience of Jesus who, “having been
perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who OBEY
Him.”
Acts 6:7 says, “and
a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.”
Romans 16:26 speaks of “obedience
to the faith.”
Romans 6:16, “Do
you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are
that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of
obedience leading to righteousness?”
iii.
And thus we can see OVER
AND OVER, we are expected to OBEY God AND the gospel.
By its very definition, obeying God would mean more than MERELY
believing in Him.
g.
What must I do to be
saved? There are MANY
passages that emphasize different things we need to do.
i.
Romans 10:9-10,
“that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your
heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with
the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession
is made unto salvation.”
ii.
Mark 16:16, “He
who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe
will be condemned.”
iii.
Acts 2:38, on the day of
Pentecost, the day the church began, Peter said, “Repent
and let every one of you be baptize in the name of Jesus Christ for the
remission of sins.”
iv.
EACH of these passages
says something different about what one does to be saved.
My question is WHICH ONE do we need to follow?
Can we pick one and ignore the others or is there another way?
To CHOOSE one passage over the other is to render the others
invalid. We dare not do
that.
I contend, there is ANOTHER WAY – you combine them all and do what
they ALL say to do. In
other words, to be saved you must hear the word, believe, repent,
confess AND be baptized.
This does NOT contradict or invalidate any particular passage and would
satisfy the requirements of ALL of them.
v.
Consider Acts 16:30-34,
the conversion of the Philippian jailer and his family.
This is a good passage because it helps us understand that
believe involves more than mere mental acknowledgment of Jesus as the
son of God and our Savior.
In this account, Paul and Silas are in prison and there is an earthquake
opening all the doors. The
jailer fearing the prisoners had escaped drew his sword to kill himself.
But Paul stopped him.
The jailer then asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
Paul’s simple response was, “Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
WHAT IS INTERESTING about this is vs. 32 says, ‘THEN they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his
house.” NOTEICE the
original statement showed “believe” to be an all inclusive statement for
what was about to be taught.
AS A RESULT of that teaching we read, ““And
he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And
immediately he and all his family were baptized.”
It can be concluded that
included in teaching the jailer about Jesus was the need for baptism.
The jailer and his household complied!
vi.
Another example: Acts 8:26-38 where we read about the Ethiopian Eunuch.
He was returning home from worshipping God in Jerusalem (as a
proselyte Jew) and was reading from Isaiah 53.
At the direction of the Spirit, Philip found him on the road and
joined him. He began
explaining Isaiah 53 to the Eunuch and “preached Jesus to him.” “Now
as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch
said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?” Then
Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he
answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” So
he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch
went down into the water, and he baptized him.”
Vs. 36-38.
NOTICE how preaching Jesus INCLUDED baptism.
vii.
The point is that when
we read in Ephesians 2:8 that we are saved “by grace through faith”, the
term “faith” means more than mere belief.
It includes EVERYTHING God commands us to do to be saved!
a.
But let’s examine
baptism a little closer.
b.
Numerous passages teach
the necessity of baptism, including Mark 16:16, Acts 2:38, which we have
already discussed. WE also noted the examples of the Philippian jailer
and the Ethiopian Eunuch.
In addition to these we might
consider:
i.
Acts 22:16,
spoken of Paul’s conversion, “Why
are you waiting? Arise and
be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.”
ii.
Acts 8:12-13, “But
when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the
kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ,
both men and women were baptized. 13 Then Simon himself
also believed; and when he was
baptized he continued with Philip, and was amazed, seeing the
miracles and signs which were done.”
iii.
Matthew 28:19-20, “Go therefore and make disciples
of all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you…”
iv.
1 Peter 3:20-21, “who formerly were disobedient,
when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the
ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved
through water. 21 There is also
an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth
of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through
the resurrection of Jesus Christ” NOTE: This passage explains how
baptism is related to FAITH.
Baptism is not just about “getting wet”, it must be as a result of one’s
faith – the answer of a good conscience.
v.
Galatians 3:27 says, “For
as many of you as were baptized
into Christ have put on Christ.”
How do we put on Jesus Christ?
Through baptism!
vi.
Romans 6:3-4, “Or
do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus
were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore
we were 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 newness of life.”
vii.
There are other passages
and examples that could be added to these which demonstrate that baptism
is not merely bathing, but an ACT OF FAITH!
c.
Without faith, baptism
is MEANINGLESS! That is why
we do NOT baptize infants!
We must understand that baptism is not ALL we need to do to be saved,
but it IS included in God’s pattern and thus demonstrated over and over!
a.
In our text we have been
discussing, we notice Eph. 2:9, “Not of works, lest anyone should boast.” This is the passage that
causes some to reject the necessity of baptism as a part of one’s
salvation. But I ask, does this nullify doing anything or is it speaking
of a specific TYPE of works?
b.
I contend that Paul’s
point is that our salvation is the gift of God.
That is the CONTEXT!
In this statement, “not of works”, Paul is saying we cannot EARN our
salvation! In other words,
just because you have done certain things, even the things required
in order to be saved, does not MERIT you salvation.
You still don’t deserve it!
It is STILL a gift of God.
But that does not nullify the need for you to reach out and take
it by fulfilling His requirements.
c.
Illustrate this with a
man drowning in the ocean.
He is out too far for one to come after him, but a person in a boat sees
him, casts a lifesaver to him and when the person GRABS onto the
lifesaver, he is pulled to safety.
Question – what saved the drowning man?
Was it the person in the boat, the lifesaver or the drowning man
grabbing the lifesaver? The
answer is ALL THREE! It is
in this way that our salvation involves God’s grace, our faith and our
obedience to His conditions.
But when we obey, we still haven’t earned it.
d.
But what about other
passages that only mention belief?
John 3:16, 8:24, Acts 4:4, “However,
many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of them men
came to be about five thousand.”; Acts 9:42,
“And many believed on the Lord”
in Joppa.
These passages do not NULLIFY the need for baptism. They simply use the
term “believe” in an inclusive sense, (i.e. all that is involved in
believing unto salvation).
CONSIDER THIS: What would
the Bible read like if in EVERY instance dealing with salvation the
entire plan had to be published?
While you might say it would be clearer, the truth is the
scriptures would be very redundant and much thicker, which is out of
character with scripture.
And it wouldn’t say any more than it does right now!
e.
So the point is this:
If believe in every instance means “believe only” or faith means
“faith only” that nullifies many of the other passages we have discussed
this evening. But if the
terms “believe” and “faith” are inclusive (depending upon the text) then
all of scripture COMPLEMENTS concerning matters of salvation.
We need to do EVERYTHING we are commanded to obey.
And thus we can see why we need to be baptized.
God said it is “for the remission of sins”, to “wash away your
sins” and how you “call on the name of the Lord”, and to “save us.”
To be baptized for any other reason is a baptism of ignorance.
I conclude with Acts 19:1-5 where Paul comes to Ephesus and
finds disciples. He asks
them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”
They said, “We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy
Spirit.” They had been
baptized into John’s baptism (i.e. for the WRONG reason).
Paul explained, “John
indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that
they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ
Jesus.” As a result, “when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.”
IF you have been baptized for the wrong reason, what is the
solution? Be baptized for
the RIGHT reason. Then there
is NO doubt about what you are doing.
Are you subject to the invitation? Please come!