Is Baptism About You or God

Well, again, welcome to all of you and good afternoon. I want to talk about a subject this afternoon that I hope will be of great benefit to all of us. Now, you could think of a lot of things that perhaps we might cover at a time like this, but I want us to think about baptism. Baptism. Most of you, I would assume, have been baptized. Some of us have been baptized several times. I can tell you I was dunked a couple of times when I was a kid. It didn't count. Actually, I was telling Brian a couple of weeks ago, so it was mid-November at that time, that I was remembering a very special event in my life that occurred November the 15th, 50 years ago, 1968. I was really baptized.

And, of course, that's a special recollection for me. It's one that I should think about probably more often than I should do, but certainly I do at times, and I think perhaps all of us do, think about our baptism at Passover time, at the time when we're in a sense renewing our devotion and commitment to God. And yet, I knew at that time, being a student at Ambassador College, when I even went there, being very new to the college, very new to the church, having never attended a church service of the Church of God before going to college, but I knew I needed to be baptized. I knew I wasn't really ready for be baptized, but I knew I needed to be baptized. Why? Because I needed to be forgiven, and I clearly needed the Holy Spirit of God. And unless you're baptized, you're not going to have God's Holy Spirit. So I knew that at that time. And so I thought about that a couple of weeks ago because it's an annual thing, as far as what I remember on November 15th. It's actually the day before my brother's birthday, one of my brothers. So I could easily remember. November 16th was Charles' birthday, and November 15th was a beginning for me. But I also, thinking about Ramona Warner and the memorial that we're having today, I was thinking about her having come to this area, to this congregation, to live with her family, to live with Tom and Donna, and Annika and Micah, and who, at that time, you know, she was beginning to need some assistance. That's obviously why she would, I guess, agree to come and to be here because she needed help, or she knew that she needed help. And of course, she knew even at that time that she had ALS. She knew as a nurse, she knew having taken care of her sister's decline. So she kind of knew what she might be looking into in the next few years.

And of course, over the three years since that time, you know, that progressive disease continued to take away certain things that she clearly needed and wanted, different losses, and ultimately ended up in her death. Yet, about two and a half years ago, so during this time frame, Ramona was baptized. And she became a member of the Church of God. And in a sense, what I think all of us saw, Tom and Donna, directly because obviously she was living with them, but all of us here in the congregation saw a change. A change that occurred in her thinking, in her view of things. And in essence, I think you could even say that there was a switch of some type that was flipped in her heart and in her mind about her relationship with God. And I don't think that it was just maybe out of crisis. You know, I'm not in good shape here. I'm probably going to decline. I don't think it was out of that at all. Although that could have some bearing if we are in crisis. Sometimes, you know, they talk about people in real crisis having a desire to get close to God.

But see, if we really understand what the Bible tells us about baptism, then we realize that it does take that flip of the switch. It does take God's intervention in our heart and mind and in our thinking, in our outlook. You know, she began to see her sins. Her need to repent, her need to follow God, His instructions to be baptized, and we had her baptism out here in the parking lot in the horse tank. Those of you who were here, most all of you in the local church, you were here.

We were a part of that. And that was a joyous time. And yet, of course, following that, we had the laying on of hands and God performed a miracle. God performed a miracle of granting the Holy Spirit to her. And of course, as we know, she has recently died and is now at peace in the grave awaiting the resurrection when Christ returns.

It's a wonderful blessing from God to have had her eyes and ears open. See, we read that most of the time. And maybe you don't think about how incredible of a miracle that is.

But if you read Matthew 13, it's very clear that Jesus said, you only understand because I've cleaned out your ears and I've opened your eyes. And it says many other people who wanted to know this, but they don't. And you do. And so it's an incredible blessing to have seen that in Ramona's life. And I think it's a wonderful need for all of us to think about that in our own lives. Because, as I said, many of you are baptized. Some of you may yet think about baptism or want to know about it or want to be a part of the Church of God. Well, it takes God helping you want that.

I want to look at Philippians 1. Philippians 1 is an extraordinary verse. As Paul is writing to people in this congregation, he says in verse 6, I am confident. So he's talking to the saints. He says, make up the congregation there in Philippi. He says, I'm confident of this very thing that the one who began a good work, the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day or time of Jesus Christ.

See, what's he talking about? The one who began a good work. See, I fully believe that that's what God did in Ramona's life. And I certainly need to fully understand that as far as my own life. And I would say that each and every one of us have to think about our life in the same context. At one point in time, God began a good work in your life. And it was an important beginning. It was an amazing thing.

So, as we consider what God is doing in the lives of human beings, I want to ask the question, do we think about baptism and particularly our baptism? Or maybe the baptism that is to be for us if we are yet to be baptized. Do we think about baptism as being about us? Or do we think about baptism as being about God?

And what he is offering and doing and actually the incredible gift that he is providing to us. I think it's important for us to think about it. Is baptism more about us? Because often, and I certainly think back in my limited thoughts at the time, it is about me. It is about how bad I am. It is about my sins. It is about I need to be forgiven.

It is about I need to feel better. I need, I need, I need. And yet I also knew, well, God has to provide His Spirit. I can't just work that up. So I guess you could say, well, surely it is about me. It's about my need. But even more so, it's about God. It's about what He is doing. See, this has nothing to do with what most people think about regarding baptism. A lot of people have been baptized. A lot of people are going to find out, well, you didn't have all the information.

You didn't have a calling. You didn't have a transition, a flip, a switch flipped that would enable you to be baptized and then receive a begettle of a Holy Spirit. See, that's important. That's really important. That is incredibly foundational. You know, we read, and of course, I don't need to prove to all of you, baptism is clearly biblical. You know, we're directed as far as the mission the church was given to go and baptize others as they accept the gospel of the kingdom of God, baptize Him in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

That's what we're supposed to do. And, you know, in Jesus' directive again to the church, as you preach the gospel of the kingdom of God, the leaders of that church were to baptize those who believed. And so, those that God would draw to where they understand their need for God. They understand their need for forgiveness. They understand their need for the Holy Spirit to be in them. Not just with them, but in them. To unite with the Spirit in man. So, in a sense, I think we could say baptism is about us some, but it's far more about what God is going to do.

A good work that He is going to do. You know, in Acts 2, you're familiar with the normal Pentecost sermons that would be given about what Peter preached whenever, you know, on the day of Pentecost, right after Jesus had died and was risen from the dead, after He had talked to His disciples for a number of days, the day of Pentecost would come and Peter would preach an inspired sermon and tell them, you know, you just rejected the Son of God.

And, of course, they were touched. They were touched by, some of them were touched by that message. So, some of them, God was beginning to work with. And they said, I believe in verse 37, they said in Acts 2, 37, what do we do?

What do we do in verse 38? Well, repent! And believe the gospel. Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins.

And you will receive, what? The gift from God of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit that imparts the divine nature. And so baptism is clearly not only a necessity, it actually is an agreement that I need help. I need God.

It's amazing as you read this in Acts 2, what Peter told them they needed to do.

In verse 38, Repent and be baptized every one of you, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And in verse 41, it says, those who welcomed this message were baptized.

And so they had to receive the information that was being opened to them from God.

They were baptized, and there were about 3,000 people added to the church at that initial time.

And we're all aware of that. And you read later a couple other thousand, you know, five thousands mentioned different times when God was expanding the base of the church to begin with.

Actually, beginning the church, in a sense, there with that day of Pentecost.

But were these believers, those who welcomed the message, those who were believers that Jesus Christ is the foundation for being a part of the Kingdom of God and the Family of God?

Were those believers perfect?

See, many times we have a misperception that, well, to be baptized, I need to...

I've got to be doing this, and I've got to be doing this, and I've got to be doing this.

Well, yeah, we've got to be doing some things. We've got to be obeying as we...

You know, but did those individuals have the benefit of the explanations of the authors of the books of the New Testament regarding baptism? Like we have? Yeah, that was yet to be written, yet to be available. But what they were doing is they were making a commitment, a lifelong commitment to devote their lives in service to the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

And so, do we have to be perfect to be baptized? No. Do we have to know we need to be baptized, and that we need and want to be forgiven, and that God is going to do a special miracle in my life through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit? Yeah, that's what we have to know.

And so, it's important for us, and I'm not simply just talking about Ramona, I'm talking about me, and I'm talking about you, to fully understand what God did. Because it wasn't just all about you, it was about Him, because He's the Father. He's the originator of the family.

You know, I want to break this down to about four points. I have to throw away my seven point.

I'll break this down to four points. Again, it's pretty obvious, I think, for most of us, what the answers to any of these are. The first one would be, what kind of foundation do we have to have?

We have to believe that God exists, and believe that He sent the Word to this earth as a sacrifice for our sins, and believe that He is the foundation. Here in 1 Corinthians 3, there are other places that you could go, but we will only go to one verse each on these points, because I know you don't want to be here until midnight.

Although, what was His name? Eudicus Atticus. Somebody fell out of the loft.

I can't believe that! Only 20 minutes of listening me talk! He's already asleep!

It never happened before, so many times before!

Anyway, here in 1 Corinthians 3, Paul is talking to, again, the people who were in the congregation in Corinth, and Paul said, you act pretty carnal because you're divided, and you just go your own way, and you do what you think is right. And here, he says in chapter 3, for as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh, not behaving according to simply human limitations? And when one says, I belong to Paul, another a polis, are you not simply carnal? And then he goes ahead to describe how that, according to the grace that God has given to me, verse 10, like a skilled master builder, I laid a foundation.

He said, I laid a foundation for you, talking to the Corinthian church because he was there for 18 months. He worked with them. He taught them. He showed them, most of them being Gentile as opposed to Jewish. He showed them the Son of God had to be believed in. He had to be the foundation for any conversion that would ever occur. And he says, according to the grace of God given to me, I as a skilled master builder laid a foundation and others build on that foundation.

See, this is where you have to start. Each builder should choose carefully how to build on it, for no one can lay any foundation. Verse 11, then the one that has already been laid in that foundation is Jesus Christ. See, if we want to know what our foundation is, then it's because God chose to open our eyes and our ears. He chose to help us see how much we needed Jesus Christ, not only to cover our sins, but to actually live in us through the help of the Holy Spirit.

That was what God was doing. Now, is that what I was doing? Well, I didn't really understand that very well, but I certainly thought that would be the case. And yet, it is. Whether it's 50 years, or whether it's two and a half years, or whatever number of years God might deal with us, that's still the case. The foundation is still Jesus Christ. So, we've got to have that proper foundation. Second thing I'll point out is, even though many times we try to think about, I need to be repentant. And I want to repent of my sins. But see, God needs to lead us to repentance, according to Romans 2 and Acts 11. See, Romans 2, verse 4, he says to the people who made up the congregation in Rome, don't you know or don't you realize that it is the goodness of God?

Romans 2, 4, that leads you to repentance. See, he brings us, and see, I think about it, and I didn't realize God was doing that at the time, because I thought I was doing it. That's why I didn't do too good a job, I guess. But see, the goodness of God leads us to understand our need for Jesus Christ in our lives and our need to be forgiven. Turn from our sins and obey God and have the benefits of forgiveness and the inspiration of the begettle of the Holy Spirit.

That is what's really important for us. In Acts 11, you see Paul reciting how it was that God began to bring not just the Jewish world but the Gentile world to be a part of the church, to make up the body of Christ, to make up the body that he would be working in through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. And he says, I didn't bring this about. God brought it about the way that he wanted to bring it about, and he went through the whole explanation about how God did that. And yet to conclude here, in verse 16, I remembered the Word of the Lord, how he had said that, well, John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. And so he was telling them, well, both Jews and Gentiles have been drawn by God by this flip of the switch and then leading them to repentance. And in verse 17, if God then gave them, Acts 11, 17, if God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God? He says, I didn't do this. In this case, this was Peter, I believe. Yeah, Peter said a poll. I think I said that wrong earlier. But Peter was here in this case saying, well, that's what God did. I didn't do it.

But he says in verse 18, when they heard this, they were silenced and they praised God.

See, they praised God, that God could actually perform that kind of a miracle in the lives of the Gentiles. And God had given even to the Gentiles repentance. He had granted to the Gentiles repentance into life. So the flip of a switch, leading to understand repentance.

And then in a sense, the third point I'll make is simply that you know, them were required to be devoted, committed, in a sense, unconditionally.

Unconditionally committed. Now, in a sense, that sounds like that's probably what I have to do. And perhaps it's more what I have to do than anything. I have to be completely committed.

But what I'm really saying is that we have to be fully on board with God, with Christ as the foundation, and with God leading us to be repentant and to want to be obedient.

Then he expects us to be committed. And actually, you see examples, and I won't take time to go through this in Acts 8. But in Acts 8, you have an example of someone who was trying to fake his way into the church of God. His name was Simon the Sorcerer. A lot of other stuff could be said about that, but for the sake of time, you know, that didn't work. I want us to look, perhaps, at a little bit of this in Acts 8. Philip had gone to Samaria.

He was proclaiming the kingdom of God and Jesus Christ. It says in verse 12, the people there believed Philip, who was proclaiming the good news about the kingdom.

In the name of Jesus Christ, there were baptized both men and women, and even Simon himself believed.

After being baptized, he stayed constantly with Philip, and he was amazed when he saw the signs and munders that took place. He was excited about this power that seemed to be around the proclaiming of the kingdom of God, the gospel of the kingdom that Philip was doing. In verse 14, when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of the Lord, they sent Peter and John, and the two went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For as yet, the Spirit had to come upon them. So in verse 17, when Peter and John lay their hands on them, they received the Holy Spirit. See, this was, in essence, kind of the stages that we are familiar with in our lives. We see and can read, well, we need to be repentant, we need to be baptized, we need to have the laying on of hands, we need to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit that God gives. In this case, he was showing that is given through authorized personnel. And yet, it says in verse 18, when Simon saw that that Spirit was being given through the laying on of hands of the apostles, he offered them money. Now, he was a phony. He was a fake.

He was looking out for himself. He was not devoting his life to Jesus. He was not giving up all his rule over his life and surrendering to God. He saw this as an advantage. That's even better than I would doing before. And of course, Peter said in verse 20, may your silver perish with you because you thought that you could obtain the gift of God with money. You have no part in sharing this, for your heart is not right before God. And so, it's obvious that if we're going to be, as this third point points out, devoted, if we're going to be committed, then it's a matter of our heart. It's a matter of us, in our words and actions, trying to obey God, starting to obey God. But even beyond that, it involves our intent. Our intent of being fully yielded and fully repentant. And then when Jesus says, no man having put his hand in the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God, He's saying that talking about devotion. He's talking about commitment. And we can look as well in Luke 14. Because in Luke 14, Luke 14, verse 25, large crowds were following. He says, whoever comes to me and does not love less in comparison, his mother and father and wife or children, and even brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life. He can't be my disciple. Whoever doesn't carry his own cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

And in verse 33, He says, so therefore none of you can become my disciple if you are not willing to give up everything. See, we have to think about that ourselves because in a sense, that's a part that we have to play. We have to be willing to be unconditionally surrendered. So God flips the switch. God leads us to repentance. He offers the gift of the Holy Spirit, but He wants us to be devoted for the rest of our life.

However long that is. For some, that's shorter. For some, that's longer. But as we heard in the sermonette, we've got to endure under the end, whenever that end is. The last point I'll make is something I mentioned earlier, is simply the fact that when we think about baptism, when we understand what actually is happening, that it does involve us, yes, but more so, it involves God because He is providing the gift. He is the Father and the originator of the divine family. He's the one who has to extend the gift. Now we have to, as we read there about Simon, we have to have a heart that is not deceitful, that is not filled with guile, that's what Simon's problems were. He was greedy for gain. There were a lot of problems that he, he wasn't repentant at all. That was all you could say. But see, we have to think about the fact, well, are there limitations? Jesus in Luke 9, which I didn't focus on much, but in Luke 9, you know, He went through and was talking to people about following me, and then they had to make all these excuses about why I can't follow you. Why that's not is so important to me that I would put away everything. See, that's, that's a part that we have to be involved in. But this last, this last one is simply God is the originator of the divine family. And He does that through granting of the Holy Spirit. And then that spirit has to continue to nurture and grow and expand to where we become more like Him and more like His Son. You know, we know in Hebrews, it talks about how the God is bringing many children to glory. He's bringing many sons and daughters to glory.

Well, I'm not just becoming a son of God because of how good I am. That's certainly not the case.

God is the one who brings us to fully develop a different nature. And in John 3, you're familiar with what Jesus told Nicodemus, because Nicodemus was wanting to learn why Jesus was here and what he was saying, why it was important, and he really didn't get it.

It seems, perhaps, that toward the end of Jesus' life, he was beginning to understand that a little better. But here in John 3, the flip hadn't occurred. He didn't get it. He just didn't get it.

Because Jesus says in verse 3, "'Verily I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born again, born anew, born from above.' And so, he would tell him about, well, in verse 6, what is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Don't be astonished that I said to you, you have to be born from above." See, who is the one who begins the spiritual birth process?

The Father. Who is the one who is going to bring forth children? It's going to be the Father.

And so, we clearly want to appreciate that. And of course, here in John 14, I'll just read one verse. John 14 and 15 and 16 are incredible chapters about how Jesus was working with the initial apostles and trying to help them understand what's going to happen. I'm going to go away. I'm going to send the Holy Spirit, and you're going to have to be guided by the Spirit of God. And yet, that was the spiritual birth process that was going to have to happen in their lives. And that here in John 14, verse 23, Jesus answered, says, Those who love Me will keep My word, and My Father will love them, and we, the Father and I will come to them and make our home with them.

See, that's an incredible, incredible blessing. And that's not a blessing that is because of how good I am or how good you are. That is a blessing that only God can control and that He's involved in and that He is willing to live in us through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

You see Paul writing in his other letters in Ephesians and in Corinthians about how the Holy Spirit is given to us as a down payment. It's kind of the beginning, and it has to expand. Here in Ephesians 1, you see this. I'll read both of these verses.

Ephesians 1, in verse 12, it says, We who are the first, Ephesians 1, 12, to set our hope on Christ might live for the praise of His glory, and in Him also, when we heard the word of truth in the gospel of your salvation, and we believed in Him, we were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit.

See, we were begotten by God. We were blessed with the indwelling of God's Holy Spirit.

That would enable us to overcome our carnal tendencies and even to recognize, because actually we recognize as we go along more how carnal we really are.

But we should recognize that and repent of it and then yield to the fruit of love and joy and peace and long suffering and gentleness and goodness and faith and meekness and temperance. That is what we're shooting for. That's what we need. That's being like God, to have the nature that He gives us. It says in verse 14, this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption at God's own people, as God's own people in the praise of His glory. It's given to us as kind of a beginning and then it's going to expand and ultimately at the completion of His good work.

When's that? That's when we die. Or when Christ returns, one or the other, that He's going to have completed that process of development. But see, I want to be an active participant in that and I want to encourage you to be an active participant.

Now, do we need to pray? Sure. Do we need to study the Word of God? Obviously. Do we need to fast?

Probably more than we do. Do we need to engage ourselves in thinking about what God is doing instead of what we are doing? I think we do. Here in 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, even in this congregation, Corinth, that was quite troubled, had a lot of problems and Paul needed to try to help him get some of that straightened out. But he says, you've been given the gift. You've been given the help. You need to use it. You don't need to overlook it, but here in 2 Corinthians 1, verse 21, 2 Corinthians 1, 21, for, but it is God who establishes us with you in Christ and heals the one. God, the Father has anointed us by putting His seal on us and giving us His Spirit in our hearts as a first installment.

See, so are we involved? Yes, we have to agree with God. We have to yield to God. We have to submit to God, but it is God who extends the Holy Spirit that is our down payment. And here in chapter 5, He says in verse 5, He who has prepared us for this very thing is God. So again, He's pointing to the fact that God is the one who is the originator of the divine family and the one who has to work in our lives for the indwelling of His Spirit to grow in His divine nature. It is God who has given us this Spirit as a guarantee. He's the one who offers that.

And so, I will just conclude this sermon here today by reminding us all that our baptism certainly was important to us, and we were a part of it, in that we were agreeing to devote ourselves to God. But maybe even more importantly, God's involvement in your baptism was far more important than you might have ever imagined. It really was important. Here in 1 John, I'll read two other verses. In 1 John 5, John concludes this little epistle by saying in verse 19, we know that we're the children of God, and the whole world lies under the power of the evil one.

We know the difference between God having involved Himself in our life, having begun a good work, and most are unaware of that. The whole world lies in the power of the evil one, and we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true, and that we are in Him who is true in His Son Jesus Christ. He is a true God in eternal life.

It says we have every reason to be confident. Now, do we have any struggles? Oh, yeah, we do. Do we fail? Yes, we do. Do we stand? Yes. Do we repent? We better. Because that's what He's taught us. He's taught us to request forgiveness and then rely on the only thing that can cause spiritual development, and that is the expansion of the Holy Spirit in our lives. So, whenever we read, as I did earlier here in Philippians 1, I hope that we think about our baptism in a way that is perhaps including the one who brought it about. Maybe more so than anything, the one who brought about our conversion and any of us. If we are converted, then God has brought that about. It wasn't us. It wasn't me. But God brought that about. And here in Philippians 1, verse 1, He says to the saints in Jesus Christ who were in Philippi, with the overseers and the helpers, with all the bishops and the deacons, the people who are to be serving in that congregation. He says, I thank God. And verse 3, every time I remember you, constantly praying for you and every one of my prayers for all of you because that you share in the Gospel with us from the first day until now, and I'm confident of this, that God, the one who began the good work among you, will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ. Brethren, we are a work that is going on. In order to do the work of God, we have to be a work of God. We have to be in submission to God. And we have to be growing in His divine nature. So I hope that we can look at our baptism and others that we see who are whenever we might see someone be baptized. We can see it in a light that truly comprehends the part that the individual has, but more so the part that our heavenly Father has in that providing of the Spirit that will enable us to have eternal life with Him and with His Son forever.