 So here we are getting water baptized today. Isn't that a blessing? Isn't that a blessing? Amen. Let me share with you a little bit about it. Out of chapter six here in Romans and I'll read from verses three through seven and introduce this with Matthew. But what I want to do is just lay a foundation for water baptism. So as we're about to enter into that pool you have a nice solid understanding of what is about to take place. Paul in Matthew, rather in Romans chapter six verse three says, Or 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. For if we have been united together in the likeness of his death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing this that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin, for he who has died has been freed from sin. Now we're looking at baptism. We need obviously to remember what Jesus said in the book of Matthew when he was giving what has been referred to as the Great Commission and it's found in Matthew 28 verses 18 through 20 how Jesus came and spoke to them saying, 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 of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you in law and with you always, even to the end of the age. And so the Lord Jesus Christ was establishing something that we refer to now as simply the ordinance of baptism. Now we celebrate two ordinances that have been established by the Lord Jesus Christ. We celebrate communion and when you take of communion, when you take of communion it reminds us of Jesus' death on our behalf. Baptism reminds us of his resurrection and the life that we have by his Holy Spirit. When you study your Bible you'll note that there are various rituals that are actual baptisms that are mentioned. We know that for example in the Old Testament the Jews practiced washings. They have what they call a mikvah, a washing, a bathing and you have a variety of things related to that in scripture. They would wash their utensils and the converts to Judaism would actually be water baptized. But you also have in the New Testament, you have different baptisms. You have for example the baptism of John. John the one who was to come before Christ and to be his forerunner. And Matthew speaks concerning him how that he came in the wilderness and he preached repentance and he called people to follow the one who was to come and as a symbol that they were identifying in that fashion they received water baptism. Now Matthew as well as the book of Acts 19 speaks concerning this because John's baptism is referred to as a baptism of repentance. And so you have regular Jewish washings, you have a baptism of repentance and then you also have in the Gospel of John chapter 4 a mention of the fact that Jesus is disciples, baptized people who are beginning to follow Jesus. And so you have various baptisms that you find in both Old and New Testament. After Jesus' death and resurrection though, Christian baptism came into existence and that's what we have here in the passage. When Jesus was speaking in Matthew he said go therefore and make disciples of all the nations. As I've been mentioning recently in the religious history of Israel the people of God actually would come to the city of Jerusalem to worship and the Bible actually commands in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 16 verse 16 that Jewish males above a certain age are to appear in the city of Jerusalem three times a year for certain festivals that they were to be part of. They were to come for the Passover for Pentecost and for the Feast of Tabernacles. But whereas at one time the temple was there in the city of Jerusalem and the Jews were commanded to come to the city after Jesus died was buried and resurrected, the Holy Spirit came, descended upon those who were awaiting him and man began to be the temple of the Spirit of God. So instead of people going to Jerusalem to the temple, now the temple goes to the people. And so this temple that is going to the people is represented by those who are called disciples. So when Jesus Christ was establishing the sacrament the ordinance of baptism what he was doing is he was saying these are the ones who are going to be my disciples. So that tells us something water baptism is to be experienced by a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now a disciple is a learner a permanent learner somebody who has made a determination to follow after a certain teacher or master so that he might learn his words, learn his ways, learn his way of ministry, and be able to repeat those things to other people. And so a disciple is somebody who actually follows after the Lord. So water baptism doesn't make you a disciple. Water baptism is what a disciple partakes in. And so Jesus said go into the world and make disciples. The way a disciple is made is through the teaching of the gospel that's why he said teaching them to observe all things I've commanded you. And so an individual who is going to be water baptized today has to be somebody who is recognizably a disciple, somebody who has understood their their sinfulness, somebody who has understood that God is gracious, somebody who has heard the gospel message of forgiveness through repentance and confession of sin and the receiving of Christ as Lord and Savior, somebody who's been born again. That's why we don't baptize infants. We don't baptize infants because infants don't have the capacity to be able to confess Christ Jesus as Lord. And don't worry in the Bible does it ever teach that I can believe on behalf of somebody else. So I can't stand in proxy for somebody else because that individual has to receive Christ themselves. And so we baptize those who are recognized as a disciple, somebody who is learning the things of the Lord Jesus Christ. Mark chapter 16 verse 16 says he who believes and is baptized will be saved. And so we are baptized in order to be visibly identified as a Christian. Now we are not baptized to be saved because baptism in and of itself is not necessary for salvation. Now there are those who would argue and say that's where you're wrong because you need to be baptized to be saved. No I am saved and therefore I follow that in Christian baptism. I'm not baptized to be saved. I am saved and therefore I'm baptized. And see water does not wash away my sin. The blood of Jesus Christ does. And so when I receive the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and I confess my sin to him, the Bible makes it very clear if I confess my sin he is faithful and just to forgive me my sin and to cleanse me from all unrighteousness. And he does that according to 1 John chapter 1 verse 7 with the blood of Jesus Christ. And so water as it says in 1 Peter 3 21 is a picture of baptism which now saves you but he goes on to say not by removing dirt from your body but as a response to God from a clean conscience. It is effective because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So we aren't washed and saved. We aren't washed by the water we are washed by the blood. And so you're going to enter into that pool in a moment not to be saved but because you are saved. And the water that goes over you is not going to cleanse you from sin because the blood of Jesus Christ his son has already cleansed us from our sin. And so what it is is a drama. It's an enactment. It's a it's a picture of how that you receive Christ as Lord and Savior and how that you are dead buried and now alive in him. So baptism is a picture of our total identification with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And it represents a new life that we have in the Lord and it represents our taking on a newness of life in Jesus. Now when he says here in Romans chapter 6 verse 3 when he says do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death. He uses that word baptized. The word baptized is a Greek word baptizo it speaks of dipping or immersing plunging under. He says when you go under the water you are going to be identified with Jesus's death and burial. So that dramatizes the fact that the old nature was crucified with the Lord Jesus Christ. Burial does that. When my mom went home to be with the Lord last month my mom lived in Albuquerque and I flew out to Albuquerque after she had died. In order that we might have a memorial service for her. But then because she was cremated her remains were brought to California because when my father went home to be with the Lord 12 years ago we bought a plot for my father and a second one next to him for my mom. And so when we brought the ashes here we had a memorial service with their grandchildren and children and our wives and and my sister's husband. And as this was going on at the conclusion of the of the short ceremony I took the urn that contained the ashes of my mom and I walked to the graveside and it had been opened up and I took that urn and there was a gentleman there inside of the the hole that they had excavated and and I held on to that urn for a moment and then I handed him the urn and then he put it inside of some little container climbed outside of that that that hole there and then they closed it up and when that dirt went over that urn and when they closed it up the way that they did and stamped it and then they put some sod over it I was there knowing that my mom is dead and is buried. There's just something about the finality of seeing the dirt covering that helps you understand she's gone. Well when you go in the water you're going to be dead and buried and and and your friends who are watching are going to see that you're going to be buried alive. You're going to go into the water dead and buried you're going to be down there for a moment some of you I'm going to hold for a little longer than others who put a weight on you I see the bubbles you can come up now but you'll be going under dead buried but then you're going to come out and it's a symbol of the life that you have in the Lord Jesus Christ dead buried but alive because of him and that's what baptism is it dramatizes the fact that the old nature has been crucified with Jesus Christ but he says in Romans 6 4 that Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father and so even as Jesus was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we now walk in newness of life by the same power that raised Jesus from the dead you see our baptism demonstrates that we were buried with Jesus so Jesus's resurrection is really coming to mind here and his resurrection because he's alive guarantees our own resurrection and as you go down and you come back up you're symbolizing that you're dead buried but very much alive by the Spirit of God but it also speaks of a walk because baptism makes it clear that we walk in what is called newness of life it's an entirely different kind of life this new manner of living is all because God's grace has been poured out on us we no longer live as we did before we were saved we have a new manner of life that's why it's so very important for us who are water baptized today for you who are water baptized to realize what you're doing you're not giving God a shot to change your life your life has already been changed you're not trying to get something from God now if you're water baptized because you already have it from him newness of life what you're simply doing is admitting it before man you're simply saying I'm confessing Christ as my Lord and Savior and my life is different and people who are here who are going to be watching it take place as witnesses are simply recognizing the reality of this drama that that you are dead you are buried but you very much alive and the life that you're living is by faith in the Son of God who loved you and gave himself for you so there's a new way of living so you're not going to leave this water baptism and go celebrate by going and drinking you're not going to do that you're going to go and celebrate it by living a new way of life you see like he says in verse six our old man was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with now it's obvious that a person who's born again lives an entirely different kind of life it's because a person who's born again has a different kind of heart in a different way of living like it says in Ezekiel 3626 God said I'll give you a new heart put a new spirit within you I'll take the heart of stone out of your flesh give you a heart of flesh and so we have a brand new life because we have a brand new heart and this body of sin is done away with so we're no longer going to be slaves of sin because our old life has been put to death on the cross with Jesus Christ and this body of sin is done away with sin is no longer to have control over us yeah our flesh continues to desire being satisfied but in Christ we can resist those fleshly desires because before we were slaves of sin he says in verse six we're no longer now slaves of sin because this body of sin has been rendered inoperative we at one time were held captive by sin we were enslaved by it but now we're free from its unlimited power over us and because of Jesus we are free from the domination of sin yes that's what I say and so what we do is we live in newness of life I've shared this I share this pretty much whenever I do baptisms I do remember my baptism I was in the military I wanted to follow Christ in Christian baptism I spoke to a chaplain his name was chaplain Clark and I said can you baptize me he said I I can and on a Saturday I took two friends of mine who were with me they're going through basic training with me we went to the little church there Fort Ord and before these two guys who are my witnesses if you will who watch this take place I received water baptism I've never forgotten that moment when you're water baptized it is one of those times in your life when you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you're doing something a hundred percent within the will of God it's one of those times in your life that you don't have to even question you don't have to say Jesus should I be water baptized I'm not quite sure whether it's your will because he said if you believe if you believe then be baptized it's one of those moments you'll go into that water and because it's been so hot lately water's going to be warm you're going to climb into that water and as you climb into that water and you walk up to one of the ministers who'll be there we're going to have a pool full of ministers and I would say this when you climb in the pool don't try and find one special one that you want to be baptized by just go to the first one available you may come by yourself there are times when families get water baptized together dad and mom and and sometimes their kids husband's wives dad and mom sometimes it's been grandma and grandchildren you walk up to the person who's going to be doing the baptism and they will say what's your name and you'll give the name and then they're going to pray for you and they're going to say I baptize you in the name of the father the son and the holy spirit and what I do is I'll just hold your hands lightly and I'll say go down now some people are very uncomfortable with the water going completely over them and so what I do is I let them go down as low as they can without fear and then I just jump on them and shove them the right it works I'll let you go down as far as you want to then you'll come out a lot of times people are crying every time someone they're smiling because there is such a joy now some people today cannot climb up those stairs and climb down those stairs into the pool so what we'll do is they're on the side you can just tell somebody I can't get into the pool for whatever reason but I'm being baptized today they'll bring you to the side of the pool and we'll just cup some water in our hand and we'll just pour it on you that way we'll pray with you in the same way because it's a symbol of baptism that we honor here it's the recognition that you want to be water baptized my father I baptized my father twice I baptized him when he was a new Christian in my bathtub at my house he had come to my house and with my mom and my mom said you know your dad wants to be baptized and I said well there'll be a baptism my dad says no I want to be baptized today so I said well dad we don't you know you want me to squirt you with a hose I mean what do you want so I said why don't you come over here so we took him I took my dad into our bathroom and my dad knelt there next to the tub and I turned the faucet on and I stuck my hand under the faucet and cupped it with some water and baptized my father and then in Israel a number of years later I have a picture of my father and me and a dear friend named Gary in the Jordan River where my dad is being baptized and we're holding him as he's about to go under the water there in the Jordan it's just a beautiful moment where you know that you are identifying with the finished work of Jesus Christ dead buried but now walking in the newness of life so you'll come up and and I'll say or whomever will say I baptized you in the name of the Father the Son the Holy Spirit I'll release you I don't hold on to you I'll let you go down there's a good reason for that I had somebody I baptized to held on to me went down and popped my hamstring so I will not do that for you Jesus died for you but I won't pop a hamstring for you I've already been there thank you very much and so I'm going to let you go and even if you know you're standing next to me you'll say you'll see me do this that's because ah you're not going to knock me down but anyway you'll go down in the water I'll help you come out or whomever will help you come out a lot of times we have a big old hug that takes place after that and then you just leave and God has done this wonderful thing water baptism it doesn't save you your water baptize because you are saved it's a picture of what Christ has done it's it's one of those moments again that you know beyond a shadow of a doubt I'm doing exactly what the Lord has called me to do I'm receiving water baptism I am dead yet I'm alive and this new life that I have comes through faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me