 Today we're in Isaiah 43. I'm going to share a few things with you, but it's going to lead to a teaching on baptism but beginning at verse 18, reading to verse 19, Isaiah 43. I want to share a little bit with you out of these two verses. The Lord says in Isaiah 43, 18, do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing. Now it shall spring forth, shall you not know it, I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. If there's any promise in scripture that stands out, it's God's constant promise to do a new thing. And here in Isaiah 43, God is revealing something of himself to the people of Israel. What I have done in the past will be eclipsed by what I'm about to do and will yet do in the future. He's saying I am the God who delivers and I'm the God who does the new thing. He's the one who delivers. He's the one who holds our future in his hand, and he is the God the scriptures teach us over and over again who makes all things new. He does a new thing. God is great at doing new things. Thirty-four years ago today, we began our work in the inland empire. I was an assistant pastor of another fellowship. I was asked to resign my position. Instead of remaining, I knew that it was time to leave and to begin a new work. And so this scripture was our very first Sunday message. We were seated in a home in the city of Ontario. It was a home that was owned by somebody but rented by my sister-in-law, Patty. And Patty knew that I was going to resign. She was aware that I had resigned and she was wondering what I was going to do and what church I was going to go to. And I told her that her sister Marie and I didn't know yet what church to go to. So I said I'm going to be looking for a church to go to. And she said, well, until you find that church, would you teach me? Would you give me Bible studies? You see, Patty would go to church services on occasion with Marie and me. And they normally weren't church services. We would take her to outreaches. And there was more than one time that an invitation was given and we saw Patty go forward. But it never really was something she sincerely was doing. She would admit now at that time she thought it was just the thing she was supposed to do. And so I had seen Patty go up forward maybe once or twice before. I had seen this and all and she wasn't saved. And at a certain point in her life as a young adult she decided to move out of the house and Marie and I opened up our doors to her to come and live with us for a while until she found a place to live. And she stayed with us for a few months and all. And then she rented an apartment. She was gone and all. And while she was at my house, she never came to a single Bible study that we did. She never was part of anything that we were doing. We used to have home studies and Patty was living in the house, but Patty would never come to any of the Bible studies. She would always be gone that night that we're having a study. And so we were having an outreach and we had Odin Fong come and do some music. And I trained several follow up ministers because it was an outreach. We wanted to reach the community that we were in. And it was interesting because I trained more counselors than people who showed up. I mean, I had more counselors than visitors. And I went out there to a very, very small group of people, gave a Bible study, gave an invitation. Nobody came forward. And so I went into the back and I was feeling, well, you know, Lord, we did what we were supposed to do. When Patty comes walking into the back and her roommate, Felicia, and she walks up to me, Patty walks up and says to me, you know, you gave an invitation. Nobody came forward. I said, I noticed. She said, I feel sorry for you. I probably ought to get saved. And so Patty actually gave her heart to the Lord in the back. I prayed with her and she gave her heart to the Lord and kept an eye on her from that point on to make sure she walked with the Lord. So she's been with us from day one. And the church began in her house because she asked me, would you teach me the Word of God? Would you spend time teaching me the Bible? You know, churches are built not on multitudes, they're built on individuals. You know, you go out and you minister not so that you can have hundreds of people show up for the things that you're doing. You go out to minister the Word of God to the person who's hungry. And Patty happened to be hungry. And so we began our work there in her house because when we left and I resigned my position and all, when we left Patty said, where are you going to be on Sunday? I said, I don't really know. We haven't found a church. Will you teach me? And I said, of course. So we've been teaching Patty for 34 years and she still hasn't learned anything, but we're doing the best that we can with her. She's a hard case. So there we are. We're at the house and we have a group of people seated around about 25 or so adults, about somewhere around 10 children. And the very first Bible study that I gave was Isaiah 43, 18 and 19. First Bible study to this church. Behold, I will do a new thing. And God is in the business of doing new things. We've watched the Lord over the years as he's fulfilled this Word to us. He has slowly but surely produced a new work in our midst. The first 11 years were in the city of Ontario. The last 23 years have been here in the city of Chino. I was mentioning today that I originally came into this area in 1974 where I taught a Bible study in Ontario. We eventually moved that study to Montclair. And I finally let go of that study in 1975. But in 1977, we came back and began ministry and in the Calvary until planting this fellowship. And when we started this work, we laid what we would call a sure foundation. Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone that the entire work would be built on. And that sure foundation was something that we used in terms of Jesus as that foundation to develop a philosophy of ministry and that's what those four pillars are that we have. We were going to teach the Word of God. We're going to worship God. We're going to fellowship with God's people and we're going to take His Word out and we're going to witness. And that would all be done in order to emphasize Jesus Christ and our love and our service to Him even as Paul said in Philippians 121, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. I got saved during a time in America's religious history that was called the Jesus movement. The Jesus movement was and remains an evangelistic movement. I got saved and I began to witness. I witnessed to my family. I witnessed to my friends and I still witness the Word of God because the world has to hear good news. The world needs to hear that there is a God who loves them and there is a God who sent his son Jesus Christ to save the lost. And the church is intended to take this message throughout the world. We have been called by God to share this message of salvation with everybody in the name of Jesus Christ. In Matthew 28, 19, and 20, Jesus said it like this. He said go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I've commanded you, lawing with you always, even to the end of the age. Go out and make disciples. Go and make disciples, he said, of all the nations. You see, in the Jewish religion, the temple became the central place of worship. The Jews would gather in Jerusalem to worship God in the temple. But after the resurrection, the temple now goes out to the people, not just to the Jews, and we have a mission, and the mission is to make disciples, and we do that by declaring and teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now some would ask, are we to push our beliefs on other people? Should we not leave them alone? Are not their own beliefs sufficient for them to gain access to heaven? They say, what about sincere Muslims and Buddhists? What about the Hindus and the Jews, the nature worshipers, and all the rest? Is this not sufficient for them to gain entrance into heaven? Jesus would say no. He would say, no, you need to hear the gospel. In John 3.36, the scripture says, he who believes in the Son has everlasting life. He who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. So Jesus says, go therefore and make disciples of all the nations. The commission of the church is to go, and as we go we make disciples, and we make disciples of all the nations. Now as the church goes out and does the work of missions in evangelism, there is fruit that results. So Jesus makes it very clear that alongside of teaching, there is something else that takes place, and that is baptizing. And so the ones who are baptized are the ones who have become disciples. In Mark 16, verse 16, it says, he who believes and is baptized will be saved. So we're not baptized in order to join any church group or any denomination, nor are we baptized in order to be saved, because baptism is not necessary for salvation. In 1 Corinthians 117, Paul said, Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect. In 1 Peter 321, the apostle Peter said, this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also, not the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And so baptism is an emblem, it's a symbol, it's an outward demonstration of an inward work. When you come to be water baptized, it's not so that you can be saved. You are water baptized because you have been saved. So the washing of the flesh by water is not what saves you. It is a washing of regeneration. It is the renewing of the Holy Spirit. It's being washed by the blood of Jesus Christ that saves you. And so when you commit your heart to Christ, you're saved. And if you're on your way to a baptism so that you can follow the Lord in Christian baptism, and you're killed on the way, none of you were by the way, but, and you're killed on the way, you go to heaven, because water baptism isn't what saves you. It's a symbol that you have been saved. It's a representation of the fact that God has washed and cleansed you. The Bible tells us if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ's Son cleanses us from all sin. So it's the blood of Christ that cleanses you. So baptism is a picture of our total identification with the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It represents our new life in the Lord. It represents our taking on our newness in Jesus Christ. The word baptized is the Greek word baptizo. It means to dip or immerse, to plunge under. It was a word, baptizo was a word that was used in reference to the dying of cloth. And so baptism is a visible demonstration of salvation and an identification with the Lord Jesus Christ. And the message of salvation is to be declared by those who have experienced salvation. It is shared by those who've come to faith in God through Jesus Christ and it's a message intended to produce what the Bible calls disciples. Now who is to be baptized? A disciple. Jesus said go out and make disciples. A disciple is a person who is a lifelong follower of a teacher. In the New Testament, when you study your New Testament, you'll see there were certain things that identified a person as someone's disciple. The disciple would decide to follow a particular teacher. The disciple would memorize the words of that teacher. The disciple would learn his way of ministry. A disciple would imitate that teacher's life and character. And then when that disciple was fully mature, that disciple would raise up disciples to continue the chain. That's what Jesus is referring to in Matthew 10.25 when he says it's enough for a disciple that he'd be like his teacher and a servant like his master. And so that's what it means when you become a disciple. A person becomes a Christian because they've repented. A Christian because they receive Christ as Lord and Savior. A Christian because they've chosen to pursue him forever. Jesus in Luke 9.23 said, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself. Take up his cross daily and follow me. So the outer emblem of regeneration is water baptism. Water baptism is immersion in water. It symbolizes our death and our resurrection in Jesus Christ. We are saved by the grace of God through faith and baptism represents our knowledge of this. When you go into the water, those of you who are being water baptized today, when you go into the water, you are visibly identifying yourself as a follower of Jesus. Again, we're not baptized to join any particular local church. We are baptized because we're identifying with the Lord Jesus Christ. And I want to develop that a little bit further by taking you to Romans chapter 6. Would you open your Bibles there? Romans chapter 6 because that passage, the passage I want to look at is going to speak concerning baptism and this is going to be your basic instruction for those of you who are being water baptized today in Romans chapter 6 verses 3 and 4. Paul asks a question in Romans chapter 6 verses 3 and 4. Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? And 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. You're going to go into a pool in just a moment, those of you who are being water baptized. Now some of you perhaps aren't able to go into the pool. There are some who physically can't climb up that ladder. There are others who may have a particular physical condition at this moment that makes it something you can't do. You can't get in the water right now. For those of you who can't enter into the water but want to be water baptized, what I'll encourage you to do is just let one of the guys know we're going to have some ushers who are going to be around the pool. Just let them know you can't climb up, you can't go in the water. What they'll do is they'll bring you to the side to one of us and I'll just take a scoop of water or whomever and we'll pray with you on the side and we'll just drop the water on top of you. You can be baptized that way. The rest of you who can enter into the pool, you'll stand in line, you'll get up, you'll walk in. There's going to be several guys with me in the pool, all of them who serve in one capacity or another here in the ministry. I know you don't have any favorites, so whoever is just waiting there, just approach them and they'll pray with you and ask you your name and then they'll baptize you and what I do is I will say I baptized you in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit and I'm going to hold you by the hand or the wrists and then I'm going to say go down and I want you just to go down on your own. I am going to let go. We were in Israel and one of the ladies on our tour had sprained her ankle and but she wanted to be water baptized and this particular area that we have water baptisms, it's called yard in it, it's real slippery. There's a lot of moss on the rocks and so you really have to plant yourself when you're there because you slip very easily and she walks up to me and she actually hobbles up. She was the first person and she says to me I want to be water baptized and it was not her ankle, it was her knee. I said your knee is injured, you can't go down. I said let me just take a scoop of water and just oh no Pastor David, I want to be baptized like Jesus was. I said you know water's water and you know you're standing in it and I'll just oh no no I want to be water baptized, I want to go in the water. I said listen darlin, your knee is messed up, you're going to fall, you're going to hurt yourself, just let me just no no I want, I said okay all right, all right. I said just go down. I said the minute you feel a twinge though stop because you'll hurt yourself. Okay pastor I will so I'm holding on to her. I say I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. She starts going down and I see her eyes in that moment of pain and I said oh here we go she grabs my wrists and pulls me. When she pulls me she was a good sized gal. When she pulls me she pulls me I try to plant my feet so that I don't go down and I pop my right hamstring. I don't know how many of you have ever popped a hamstring it makes a noise doesn't it like that boom and I oh that hurt and I still remember it so I put it down I held it down. Pop my hamstring and so you know I oh I hurt and so one of the fellas Bob was standing next to me and I turned to him and I said I just popped my hamstring you're going to have to pull him out of the water I'll let him go down you pull him out and so that's what we did we baptized 44 people she was the first one and so one after another I'd say I baptized you so I'm gonna let you go I'm not gonna hold on to you I'm gonna let you go and you'll just slip on in and slip on out and so that is a symbol what is a symbol of is death burial and resurrection death and burial when you go down break in the surface of the water death and burial everybody knows everybody who's lived for a while gone to a funeral everybody knows that when somebody that you love very much has passed on to be with the Lord there's a sense of denial that some can deal with it it's like it's untrue this didn't happen this isn't real but I've discovered over the years that one of the things that has helped helped me to deal with the reality of somebody going on to be with the Lord has been when they have been lowered into the grave and when the dirt has been pushed over that casket there's something about seeing the dirt falling on the casket and them tamping it down that makes you realize it's final it's over it's just it's something that is just so so primal so basic to us it's just the dirt's covered that person is in glory and well when you go into the water death and burial but when you come out of that water resurrection newness of life it's one of heaven's dramas it's a presentation of the fact that in Jesus Christ I have been crucified and I'm buried but I'm alive in him and so when you go into that water and you go under that water it's a symbol of death and burial but when you come back out of that water it's a symbol of resurrection and the newness of life that you have in him and now that you have newness of life you begin to walk in the newness of life you see verse 4 tells us that Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father when it speaks of the glory that refers to the exercising of his power through resurrection that resulted in glory to god and we now walk in newness of life because the same power that raised Jesus from the dead resides in you the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is within you in Ephesians 1 19 and 20 the exceeding greatness of his power towards us who believe according to the working of his mighty power which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in heavenly places the same spirit who raised Jesus resides in us and so we have newness of life you go into that water death and burial you come out resurrection and as you step out of that pool you walk in the Lord Jesus Christ and we're united together in the likeness of his death and certainly are also in the likeness of his resurrection so for us for many of us this is going to be a starting point a benchmark a spiritual experience it's intended to represent the cleansing we receive through faith in Jesus Christ and we're united with him I got saved in December of 1970 I went into the military in March of 71 I was stationed at Fort Ord I made an acquaintance with the chaplain his name was Chaplain Clark I told him I'm born again but I haven't been water baptized and I asked if he would allow me or if he would baptize me and he took me to a little church there in the fort and two friends of mine that I'd been witnessing to came with me and Chaplain Clark put me in the water I dropped down into that water and he was sharing with me you are dead and buried but now as I came out now you're alive the resurrection of Jesus Christ guarantees our own resurrection the power of the Holy Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead dwells within us and so it's more than simply a dramatic symbolism it's a spiritual reality that we are totally identifying with the Lord as we go in and as we come out there are some who who will smile when they come out of the water there are others who sometimes will cry it's just such a significant moment for them you see it's one of those times in your life that you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are being a hundred percent obedient to the Lord it's one of those moments when you get into that pool and you go under that water and you come back out it's one of those times in your spiritual life that you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are obeying God right now because Jesus said that we are to believe and we are baptized and so again what we're going to do is we're going to go out in a moment you'll stand in line we'll invite you into the pool it's probably warm hope it is you'll go to the first person available if you want to go with your husband or your wife your family more than welcome to do that we baptize whole families together it's very special just make sure that when you get in that water that you know what you're doing you're identifying with Jesus Christ you're a new creation in the Lord the water is not saving you it's not washing your sins away the blood of Christ did that you're identifying with him you're going into the water death burial you're coming out of the water resurrection and now you walk in newness of life and it's just a great and a wonderful thing and it's such a blessing that we're able to do that tonight