Lesson #31
BAPTISM

Reading: John3
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After he had risen from the grave, and just before he wentup into heaven, the Lord Jesus said to his apostles:

"Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned" (Mark 16: 15-16)

Two things are very clear from these words.

1. Before anyone can believe and be baptized, he must know the gospel that Jesus taught, and understand the good news of the Kingdom of God.

2. No one can please himself about baptism - it is not something that we can do if we feel like it. It is essential. Unless a man believes and is baptized, he is condemned to death and has no hope of a future life.

 

Repentance comes before baptism

When a person hears the Gospel and understands it, it changestheir thinking. They begin to turn from their own way to God's way, theysee a need for a fresh start in life. Baptism is the way God has chosenfor us to make a new start. When we turn to Him and obey His commandmentto be baptized, our sins are forgiven and we are able to start a new life.

Jesus gave us an example

Jesus never did anything wrong. He did not need to be baptizedso that his sins might be forgiven, because he never sinned. Matthew 3:13-17 tells how Jesus came down to the River Jordan, and was baptized inthe river by his cousin John. John knew Jesus had never sinned and saidhe was unworthy to baptize him. This was true, but Jesus said,

"Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness" (Matthew 3: 15)

In being baptized, Jesus set us an example to follow.

What do we mean by Baptism?

Matthew says that Jesus was baptized in Jordan, and afterwardshe "went up straightway out of the water"?

The Greeks used the word "baptize" when theywere dying cloth. The cloth was "baptized" or immersed completelyin the water. No part of the cloth could be left out of the liquid, or thedying would be patchy. In the same way, when the Bible speaks of baptism,it means complete immersion in water. There is a beautiful meaning to thisact of being buried in the water and then rising again, as we shall seelater.

"Christening" babies by sprinklingthem with water is not taught in the Bible.

We are taught quite clearly that belief must come beforebaptism. How can a baby believe, before it is old enough to understand?

"Repent and be baptized"

As we have already seen, this was the message of John theBaptist. The Gospel calls men to change their thoughts and their ways, andto turn back to God. This is what the Bible means by "repentance".

Peter gave the same message to the Jews on the day of Pentecost.They had gone the wrong way; they had not recognised that Jesus of Nazarethwas the Son of God, whom He had sent to them. They had been responsiblefor his death. When they realised what they had done, they said to the apostles,"Men and brethren, what shall we do?"

You can read the answer of Peter in Acts 2: 38

"Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins."

 

The baptism of the apostle Paul

The apostle Paul is a good example of the way in whichrepentance leads to baptism. Paul had been going the wrong way. He had beenpersecuting the followers of Jesus; he did not believe that Jesus was reallythe Son of God. As he was travelling to Damascus to persecute the Christiansthere, the Lord appeared to him and spoke to him. When Paul saw Jesus, hehad to think again. He realised at last who Jesus really was.

When he saw how wrong he had been, he was ready to givethe rest of his life to following Jesus. Jesus sent a disciple named Ananiasto him, and Ananias helped him to regain his sight, and told him to be baptized(see Acts 9: 17-18). So when Paul believed the truth about Jesus, he wassorry for his past ways, and started a new life by being baptized.

There are many accounts in the Acts of the Apostles ofmen who believed, turned to God's way and were baptized.

The story of the Ethiopian eunuch

Read this in Acts 8: 26-40. The eunuch was an importantofficial. He had been to Jerusalem to worship God. As he travelled backhome, he was reading from Isaiah 53, which tells of the suffering and deathof the Messiah. He did not understand when he read:

"He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth: in his humiliation his judgment was taken away, and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth" (Acts 8: 32-33)

Suddenly he was joined by a disciple called Philip, whomGod had sent to help him. Philip asked him if he understood what he wasreading, and the eunuch answered, "How can I, except some man shouldguide me?" So Philip explained the passage to him, and preachedto him about Jesus. Soon they came to water, and the eunuch said: "See,here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?"

Notice the reply carefully. Philip said:

"If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest."

Then they both went down into the water (so it couldnot have been a matter of sprinkling). Then Philip baptized the eunuch.After this, we are told that when they were come up out of the waterPhilip was taken away and the Ethiopian went on his way rejoicing. He hadfound the way of life.

The story of the Roman centurion

Acts 10 tells us about Cornelius the centurion. He wasa "devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, whichgave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway". You mightthink there was nothing more he could do. But there was somethingelse to be done. God sent an angel to Cornelius, and the angel told himto send for the apostle Peter. The angel said, "He shall tell theewhat thou oughtest to do".

Now Peter, being a Jew, would never have gone into thehouse of a Gentile. But God had spoken to him in a vision, and told himto go with the men sent by Cornelius. Up to this time, only Jews had beencalled by the gospel.

When Peter arrived at Cornelius' house, he found the centurionwaiting for him with his family and friends. He welcomed Peter, and toldhim about the angel who had visited him. "Now therefore,"he said, "are we all here present before God to hear all thingsthat are commanded thee of God" (verse 33). Peter told the peoplethere about Jesus; his life and death and resurrection. Before he had finishedspeaking, the special gift of the Holy Spirit which had been given to Jewishconverts fell on those who were listening. This was very unusual. Normallythe Holy Spirit was only given to baptized believers. No one could doubtthen that God had accepted them. So the necessary step was taken. Petersaid:

"Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord" (verses 47ñ48)

The lesson is plain - even good living, God-fearing menand women can only become a member of Christ's church by being baptized.

The message is: - people must first hear the gospel message;
- they must believe it with all their heart;
- they must repent of their past sins;
- they must turn from their own way to Godís way;
- they must then be baptized;
- then they begin a new life in Christ.

When we understand that the Lord suffered and died forour sake, we shall say as the Jews did on the day of Pentecost, "Whatshall we do?" The answer is the same today: "Repent, andbe baptized".

The meaning of baptism

The Lord Jesus was crucified. His dead body was laid ina tomb. Three days later, God brought him to life again.

What is the true meaning of baptism?

As the body of Jesus was buried in the tomb, so in baptismour body is buried in water. We are "buried with him".In this way, we confess that we are worthy to die because of our sins. Beingburied in water is, in a figure, dying with Christ. And as he came out ofthe grave, so we come out of the water. This is a new birth, and a new lifebegins.

Being born again

A Jew named Nicodemus once came to Jesus at night to askhim about his teaching (John 3). Jesus said to him, "Ye mustbe born again". Nicodemus thought that was impossible - and, ofcourse, it is if you take the words of Jesus without understanding his meaning.But Jesus was speaking about the new birth that takes place at baptism.He said to Nicodemus:

"Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (John 3: 5)

Remember the words we started with - "He that believethand is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned."All men and women are sinners, and sin brings death. Death is an end oflife, and there is nothing to look forward to. There is no hope - unlesswe are born again by being baptized.

The new life

Deciding to be baptized is the most important decisionany person can ever make. It is not a decision to be taken lightly.

Before baptism we must understand and believe the true teaching of the Bible.

After baptism we have to fight against our desire to sin, and try to obey God's commandments and serve Him.

We can only do this if we read His Word. We will have tostop doing things which we know will displease God. This will mean spendingless time with people who have no concern for God, even though they mayonce have been friends, because they may lead us away from God. It willbe a daily struggle, but it will bring rich rewards. Jesus once said:

"Everyone that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life" (Matthew 19: 29)

Summary

1. God has commanded us to be baptized.

2. Baptism is a complete burial in water.

3. In a figure, we die with Christ and rise out of the water to a new life.

4. When we are baptized, we begin a new life "in Christ" (see Romans 6: 3, 4)

Chapters to read: Read againthe stories in Acts 8, 9 and 10, and Romans 6.

Good verses to memorise: Romans6:3, 4

"Know ye not that so many of us were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism unto death: that like Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the father, even so we also would walk in newness of life."

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