Why the Water? [A]

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Transcript:

We’re going to be in Acts chapter 2 this morning. Acts chapter 2. As we’ve been talking about some of these passages from the Bible that are frequently misinterpreted, there are some that are weightier issues than others.

The one we’re going to look at this morning is one of those matters in life where we can understand what the right thing is to do, and we can even do it, but sometimes if we misunderstand why we’re doing it, it leads to confusion and disappointment. Now this happens all the time in life. It happened this week.

It happened Friday as a matter of fact. I had told Benjamin, excuse me, I told Benjamin that why don’t you come to the store with me? It was after dinner.

I had bought them bubbles earlier in the day for them to play with and he was wanting to play with bubbles after dinner. I said, well, I need to go to Lowe’s and get some wood for a project I was working on. Why don’t you come with me to Lowe’s so I can buy some wood and we’ll blow bubbles afterwards.

Okay, fine. He was all for that. And he was excited to get in the car with me.

I didn’t realize he brought his bubbles along. And I thought he just, when I got him out of the car, I thought he was just excited to have them and didn’t want to let them out of his sight. Well, we’re wandering around Lowe’s looking for the right kind of wood and got it.

And he said, oh, Daddy, it’d be fun to blow bubbles on that aisle, you know, down at the end where they’ve got all the contractor stuff. And I said, oh, that would be fun, wouldn’t it? I’m pretty sure it’s against the rules, though.

So then I had to go look for sandpaper. Daddy, it’d be fun to blow bubbles over there by the washing machines. Yeah, that would be fun.

Kept bringing it up. I said, okay, now I need saw blades. That’s the last thing.

Daddy, it’d be fun to blow bubbles in here by these tools. Yeah, I guess it would be. Daddy, it’d be fun to blow bubbles out there in the garden stuff.

Daddy, it’d be fun to blow. . .

And finally, I said, I’ve told you we’re going to do that when we get home. We’re going to do that with sister. We’re going to blow bubbles.

He said, you told me if I came with you to buy wood, we’d blow bubbles after. I said, when we get home, when we get home, you can blow bubbles. Daddy’s going to go outside and cut wood and work on his project, and y’all can blow bubbles outside.

He was so disappointed. I said, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to mislead you. I didn’t mislead him, but he just inferred what he wanted to.

I said, no, baby, you misunderstood. Daddy didn’t mean we were going to go blow bubbles at the hardware store. He was just devastated.

Because, see, he knew what he was being asked to do. He was being asked to go to the hardware store with me. And he went, and he enjoyed it.

But he completely misunderstood the reason why he was coming. He thought he was coming because I wanted him to blow bubbles. My intention was for him to come and just spend some time with me.

Now, in even bigger matters, we can know the right thing to do and we can even do it. But sometimes misunderstanding the reason why we’re doing it leads to confusion and to disappointment or worse. And what we’re going to deal with this morning is the question of baptism.

And for a lot of people, baptism is just a doctrinal thing. It really doesn’t affect real life. It’s just something that you discuss at church and, you know, baptize however you want.

Don’t sprinkle. I don’t care. Do it for this reason.

Do it for that reason. Folks, it’s not just a doctrinal issue that theologians sit around in their big ivory tower and discuss. The issue that we’re going to look at today with baptism goes to some really important questions for our lives.

Namely, what does our salvation depend on? What do I have to do in order to know that I have God’s forgiveness? Did Jesus do everything that was necessary on the cross?

Or is there something else I’m supposed to do to add to it? And I submit to you that if you think that that’s just an abstract doctrinal question, ladies and gentlemen, there is no question that has a greater impact on your life today than the question, what must I do to be saved? Has Jesus paid it all or has he paid most of it?

which one is correct. Now this morning I want to look at a few verses starting in Acts chapter 2, a few verses that are sometimes I believe taken out of context to teach one thing about baptism. We’ll talk about the dangers, first of all why that’s incorrect and why it’s so dangerous to believe this teaching about baptism.

Then we’ll come back tonight and talk about what baptism is really, what God expects from us here.

But we’re going to look really, first of all, just Acts chapter 2 a few verses here toward the end starting in verse 37 after there at the day of Pentecost there at Jerusalem they’ve heard Peter under the under the power of the Holy Spirit preach this incredible message and it says in verse 37 now when they heard this they were pricked in their heart we talked about that last week with a different story how those who heard Peter and John speak were were pricked to their heart that’s conviction that’s when the Holy Spirit of God that’s when we hear the word of God and the Holy Spirit of God takes that word and just sort of rams it into our hearts and says that’s you you’re wrong now do something about it and it either drives us toward God it drives us to repent or it drives us away from God it drives us to rebel but conviction won’t let us stand still and just ignore it excuse me so now they were pricked in their hearts and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do?

Now their question there, what shall we do, is what do we need to do because of the message that you just preached about Jesus Christ and our sin and his going to the cross and his resurrection, what do we need to do? So the question there is the same one that they ask in other places, what must we do to be saved? And then Peter answers them in verse 38.

In one of the passages, one of the verses of Scripture that is most frequently taken out of context, most frequently misinterpreted. Still a great answer. Then Peter said unto them, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, save yourselves from this untoward generation. So their question is, what should we do now? In other words, what do we need to do to be saved?

We know that we’re under the judgment of God for our sins. We know that Jesus Christ has died because of our sins. What do we do now?

And Peter says, repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. Now, this is frequently, I believe, misinterpreted to mean that we have to be baptized to be saved. Repent and be baptized for the remission of sins, meaning so that you can obtain the remission of sins.

Now, there are a few problems with looking at that verse that way. And I’m not here today to cut down anybody who believes that way. I think they’re wrong.

Doesn’t mean I dislike them or I hate them. You know what? They think I’m wrong too, so can’t really fault me for thinking they’re wrong.

I just happen to think they’re wrong. There are some problems with interpreting the Bible that way. First of all, there are so many passages of Scripture that teach that salvation is fully and completely the gift of God.

That Jesus Christ paid everything that was necessary. That when He said, it is finished, when He said, and the word there in the Aramaic is paid in full. That He paid everything, the work at the cross was finished.

everything that needed to be done for our redemption, for our salvation, was accomplished there at the cross. So how do we take hold of it? The Bible says it’s by grace through faith.

By grace are ye saved, by God’s free gift that he offers, not because we earned it or deserved it, but because he is gracious, because he is kind and forgiving. By grace are ye saved through faith. Unless we confused faith with a work, he clarifies it.

And he says, that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, lest any man should boast. We can’t even boast of, well, I had enough faith. I had the foresight to take advantage of God’s offer. Really?

If I’m drowning and somebody throws me a life preserver, I don’t get a medal for being smart enough to reach out and take it. And that’s exactly what he’s done. He’s thrown us his grace as a life preserver, and by faith we reach out and take hold of it.

So there are so many passages in the Bible that teach that Christ accomplished everything that was necessary on the cross. and that faith is the only thing required. Faith in the grace and the gracious offer that God has made through Christ is the only thing that’s required.

Then it would seem we have a contradiction on our hands to say on the one hand, Christ did everything and now all that’s required of us is faith to then on the other hand say, repent and be baptized. Which we could get into repentance and talk about that. I don’t believe faith and repentance are very far apart.

I think if there’s one, there’s going to be the other. If there’s genuine faith, there’s going to be genuine repentance. And if there’s genuine repentance, there’s going to be genuine faith.

That’s not where I have the issue today. But repent and be baptized in order to be saved. We look at the language here and it says, for the remission or for the forgiveness of sins.

In English, we use that word for in a couple of different ways. And I’ve given you this example before. I am going to the store for ice cream.

in that sense I’m going the word for means I’m going to the store in order to obtain ice cream okay that’s a normal English use of the word that’s the way they’re interpreting it here I’m repenting and being baptized in order to get the remission of sins what about this one I’m taking aspirin for a headache does anybody in here take aspirin to get a headache in order to obtain a headache I’ve never done that but we can take aspirin because of a headache so it’s just as reasonable in English to interpret that word for, and guys, I don’t want to sound too much like Bill Clinton here, what is the meaning of is, but it does matter how we interpret the word for, okay? These things have consequences. What is the meaning of the word for?

Is it in order to obtain or because I have obtained? Am I going for the ice cream or am I taking the aspirin for a headache? Now you might think, well, this wasn’t originally written in English, and you’re right.

You’re right. In Greek, it’s the same thing. The word is ice in Greek.

We would transliterate it as EIS. It means for. And it has those same uses.

It can mean three different things in Greek. It can mean to get, it can mean regarding, or it can mean because of. Either of those last two mean the same thing as the aspirin.

Because I already have a headache, I’m going to take the aspirin. The first one means just like the ice cream. I’m going to the store to get the ice cream.

So in Greek, we have the same thing. We can interpret it either way. Am I being baptized to get remission of sins, or am I being baptized because I have the remission of sins?

Well, I submit to you that if you look at just this verse on its own, you can make a very compelling case, and some churches do. You can make a very compelling case that, yes, you need to repent and be baptized in order to receive the forgiveness of sins. But I’d caution you that if you look at the rest of Scripture, at the clear teaching of Scripture in so many other places that Jesus has already accomplished everything.

And there is a glaring contradiction if you look at it the first way. If you look at it the second way and say, repent and be baptized because he’s accomplished the forgiveness of your sins. That squares with the rest of Scripture in a way that the other doesn’t.

And herein lies the danger, ladies and gentlemen, there are verses. There are verses in Scripture that do sound, I will admit. It’s not very Baptist of me to admit, but I’ll admit it anyway.

There are verses in Scripture that sound like you must be baptized in order to be saved. But when you look at them in context, when you don’t just take an exacto knife and cut out that verse and look at it by itself, but you look at the verses around it, you look at entire chapters, you look at the book, you look at what is the overall teaching of Scripture, what do we know about what Christ accomplished, what do we know about the character of God. We let the clear passages interpret the cloudy passages.

Because sometimes they’re not, sometimes you can look at a passage and go, I don’t, I’m not sure I know what that means. A lot of these that sound like you have to be baptized in order to be saved are kind of cloudy. They leave some wiggle room for interpretation.

So you take the things that are abundantly clear and you interpret the cloudy things through the clear things. When he says, by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, lest any man should boast. I think that leaves precious little room for interpretation. And so many other passages like that.

We’ve got to look at everything in context. Hey, another passage that’s used to indicate the idea that we have to be baptized in order to be saved is in Mark 16, 16. He that believeth, if you want to turn there with me, you’re more than welcome to.

He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned or condemned. see if you believe and you’re baptized you’ll be saved so if you believe if you don’t believe and you’re not baptized you’re not saved that’s not what that says that’s not what that says there’s something that I was taught in college and trust me I don’t go back to a lot of what I was taught in college and interpreting the bible but some you know you you chew up the meat and spit out the bones occasionally there were some good things that were taught I was taught in philosophy class something called the, and you don’t have to remember this, it won’t be on the test, but it’s called the logical fallacy of denying the antecedent.

And that means you’re going to take one part of it and you’re going to, you’re going to assume, basically in layman’s terms, you’re going to assume way too much based on the information you’re given. We have a joke when, when my children are acting up, I’ll say, whose child is that? Somebody needs to come, somebody needs to come get their child.

Say tomorrow at lunchtime, I’m sitting at Chick-fil-A and somebody comes in and says, whose child is that doing whatever in the play area? And I say, oh, if it’s the little boy in orange, that’s my child. Odds are Benjamin will be wearing orange.

If that’s the little boy in orange, that’s my child. Now, am I saying by that statement that there is no other child in that play area that’s mine? No, I could be saying that, but I’m not denying that Madeline is my child by saying, oh, if you’re talking about the boy in the orange, the boy in the orange is mine.

that does not automatically mean to the exclusion of everything else. And for somebody to hear that and say, oh, he said if it’s the little boy in the orange, it’s his. He’s his.

That automatically the little girl in the purple is not his. No, you’re assuming way too much based on the information you’re given. He said, if you believe, Mark says, if you believe and are baptized, you’ll be saved.

Okay. Should we assume then that if we’re not baptized, we’re not saved? No, because he goes on and gives us more information and says, but he that believes not shall be condemned.

The condemnation is not really tied to the baptism. That’s just a little extra piece of information that’s given us there. The salvation or the condemnation is tied to the belief.

Now, if it has nothing to do with baptism, then why in the world would that even be said there? And I think it’s because of a difference of culture in our day. Now, we’ll have people who will trust Christ and never come forward for baptism.

We’ll have people who will wait years before they’re baptized. I know of a man who grew up in a church, was saved at that church, had been there his whole life, eventually was put in a leadership role in that church, and finally they realized, wait, he’d never been baptized. And they had to go back and do that.

It’s a difference in our culture, but in that day to identify with Christ, you had to be all in. you’re either all in because you were quite possibly taking your life in your hands and so you’re either all in or you’re all out and the idea that I’m going to wait years to take this first step of obedience to Jesus Christ was unheard of if I really believe he is who he says he is that I’m going to do what he told me to do I’m going to take that first step of obedience and so the two were so inextricably linked in their minds that if he believes he’s just going to be baptized he’s is going to go through with the whole thing. That’s why they would pair them together, but it’s not because the baptism had anything to do with the salvation.

Another passage, another passage is in John chapter 3. John chapter 3 verse 5, Jesus told Nicodemus, verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Now I’ve heard a lot of, I’ve heard a lot of different interpretations of this passage.

There are some people who say, well, see there, you’ve got to be baptized because it mentions water. Okay. Every time, just wait for it.

Every time the scriptures mention water, somebody is going to pull out an idea about baptism. Noah’s Ark. Folks, Noah’s Ark had nothing to do with baptism.

They were not being baptized on Noah’s Ark. Now, the other two interpretations I’ve heard are that water indicates physical birth or that water is talking about the cleansing of the Holy Spirit. And I have believed either of those at various times.

They both make sense. At this point, the one about the cleansing makes more sense to me, but I’m still not going to say that the one about physical birth is incorrect. But the question is, if this is not talking about baptism, why did he say that?

Ladies and gentlemen, baptism took place even in their day. It may not have gone on for millennia before, but by then, baptism was something that took place publicly. It was something that was known.

John was practicing a ministry of baptism. John the Baptist was practicing. That’s why he was called the Baptist. That’s why we’re called the Baptists today, because hundreds of years ago, we were the ones who were getting burned at the stake or stoned to death or drowned in a river for being re-baptized as adults, believing that it has to follow a conversion.

But he was practicing this ministry of baptism. It was something they were familiar with. It was a symbol of repentance.

It was a symbol of a changed life. And so it was something that Nicodemus would have known about. And I submit to you that not only does the idea that he’s talking about baptism here not square with what he’s talking about the rest of the passage, but Nicodemus knew what baptism was.

And if Jesus was talking about baptism, he would have said so. But he’s talking about something differently. The passage doesn’t even mention baptism.

Folks, none of these three verses, and there are so many others, and I don’t have time to go through all of them today, but there are so many passages in Scripture that are used to support the idea that we’ve got to be baptized in order to be saved. And most of these have nothing to do with baptism at all. There may be a mention of water.

Excuse me. A lot of them are either not talking about baptism at all, there’s just a mention of water, Or they’re not talking about salvation at all. Or if they’re talking about both of them, they’re not drawing a direct link between the two.

Many of these passages are the ones that I talked about that are not so clear. The ones where to even come up with an interpretation, you’ve got to jump through some hoops. And those can be dangerous.

It’s not that we need to ignore them or tear them out of our Bibles. They’re the inspired Word of God. But folks, we all know God’s ways are higher than our ways and God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts.

and I’m not going to automatically understand everything. I mean, the first time I open the Bible, I’m not going to understand everything he’s trying to tell me. Every time I open this book, there’s something new that I learn.

So what I’m saying to you is that there are some passages that are more complicated, harder to interpret. We can’t base a whole doctrine on a few verses that are hard to interpret anyway. We use the plain, clear teaching of Scripture to interpret the hard verses.

There are some things that are plain and clear, some things that folks, even a child can understand. A little harder for adults sometimes, but even a child can understand the gospel. Even a child is supposed to be able to understand the idea that Jesus Christ died to pay for his sins.

So we look to the places where God was just abundantly clear, unmistakable, where what he says is clear and what he means is clear by what he says. And those verses tend to indicate that Jesus Christ paid everything that was necessary for our salvation. Why is this such a big deal?

Why is it such a big deal whether we have to be baptized to be saved or not? Because we’re baptized, you know, if you’ve been baptized, whether you believe that or not, you’re covered. Folks, it is a big deal because Paul taught that anybody who preached any other gospel than what had been received should be accursed.

The New Testament teaches that if you add something to Christ, if you add Christ plus the law, It’s no longer Christ. If you add grace plus the law, it’s no longer grace. Folks, if you add the grace of Christ plus anything else, it’s no longer the grace of Christ. It’s a works-based system. And we need to be on guard against adding anything, any kind of human effort to what Jesus accomplished.

I don’t care if we’re talking about baptism. You have to be baptized in order to be saved. I don’t care if we’re talking about the feasts and rituals of the Old Testament.

you have to follow the Passover to be saved or follow the Sabbath to be saved. I don’t care if we’re talking about you’ve got to get your hair cut a certain way and wear certain clothes to church in order to be saved. It all has the same effect of adding something to the gospel and taking away from what Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross for us.

This idea of being born again through baptism is called baptismal regeneration, whereas the Bible teaches that we’re born again by faith. Not baptism, but by faith. So three things that I want to share with you this morning in just the remainder of the time that we have here are three reasons I think I’ve shared with you some of the.

. . Well, I’ve tried to share with you and hopefully have done so in a way that makes sense.

Shared with you a few of the passages that are sometimes pulled out to say, see, you need to be baptized in order to be saved. And hopefully have made a case for why that’s not true. And I want to share with you a few things about why this is such a big deal. First of all, this idea of salvation through baptism undermines salvation by grace.

As I’ve already mentioned, in Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 and 9, Paul wrote, For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, lest any man should boast. Folks, if there is any scripture that I think you should have memorized, it’s that one right there. That’ll answer a lot of questions in your mind. Well, what about this?

What about this? That is one of the clearest statements of the gospel that we have. That’s probably why I quote it every time I’m up here just about.

If you’re not good at memorizing scripture and think I can’t memorize a lot, you know what? Get that one memorized. Start there.

It makes it clear. We’re saved by God’s grace. It’s a free gift that He gives us.

It’s not something we could earn or deserve. It’s not something that we have to then put into, oh, you gave me most of the gift, now let me go purchase the rest of it myself. It’s not really a free gift at that point anymore.

And it is by works, and I do have something to boast about. And folks, I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with baptism. We’re supposed to be baptized as believers.

Once you trust Christ, we’re going to talk about this tonight, but it’s a sign of obedience. It’s a sign of identifying with Him. It’s all these things.

It’s a great thing. It’s something we’re supposed to do, but let’s make sure we understand why we’re doing it. Let’s make sure we understand the right reasons.

Because if we go into the waters and think that by doing that, that we’re adding something to what Jesus Christ did, we undermine the whole basis of the gospel. This water does not save me. It does not save you.

It does not add anything to what the blood of Christ already accomplished. It’s merely a picture of what his blood accomplished. One of my favorite stories from the whole Bible is the story of the thieves on the cross who hung on the crosses alongside of Jesus.

And just in the last few years, this story, I mean, I’ve grown up being familiar with it, but it just struck me in a new way really illustrating how little we have to offer. And how God really doesn’t need anything from us. And how He offers, folks, He offers salvation.

He offers grace and forgiveness so freely without me having to do anything to earn it or to deserve it. In Luke chapter 29, it says, And one of the malefactors which were hanged, railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. So one of the thieves who’s on the cross, that’s pretty, I don’t understand that.

You’re being crucified, and still you think you’re better than the other guy being crucified, and so you’re going to make fun of him. Yeah, if you’re really Jesus, if you’re really Christ, why don’t you save us and yourselves? Prove it.

But the other one, the other answering, rebuked him saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art also in the same condemnation? He says, You’re about to die just like this man. Are you not afraid of God at all?

Do you not have any fear? Today we might say, Have you no shame that you’re going to stand there and mock him? Are you not afraid of God at all?

He says, And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds. But this man hath done nothing amiss. He says, We deserve to be here.

Well, I mean, in the Roman days, if you weren’t a Roman citizen, they would crucify you for stealing. I think that’s a little harsh for thievery. But he says, we deserve to be here.

We’ve done something wrong. This man has not. And here you’re mocking him when he’s in the same boat you are and he, unlike you, doesn’t even deserve to be here.

And then he turns from the other thief and turns to Jesus and says, and he said unto Jesus, Lord, that’s something, isn’t it? Just that one word. The man’s being crucified on a Roman cross and you’re calling him Lord.

He knew something was different about Jesus. Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. That is such a short statement.

That is such a seemingly insignificant request. Or should I say a significant request from an insignificant person. He’s a thief. He is considered and being treated by the Romans as the lowest of the low.

He’s been crucified. And he looks at Jesus and says, Would you remember me when you come into your kingdom? And most people who were about to come into their kingdom would say, What can you possibly do for me?

You’re nobody. You’re nothing. But this man, in a humble act of faith, acknowledged Jesus as being who he was, who he said he was, acknowledged him, And demonstrated some faith by saying, would you remember me when you come into your kingdom?

We’re not talking about the earthly kingdom that his followers initially thought he was there to set up. He knew that Jesus’ time was limited. He’s dying on the cross too.

He’s talking about a heavenly kingdom. Lord, would you remember me? Folks, that is an act of faith.

He was trusting Jesus Christ that he was exactly who he claimed to be. This man had nothing to offer Jesus Christ. He couldn’t go through baptism. He couldn’t follow Jesus.

He couldn’t spend years in Jesus’ service. He couldn’t even offer Jesus any comfort as he hung there dying on the cross. This man literally had nothing good to offer God at that point.

But the humble heart and the request made by faith, would you remember me when you come into your kingdom? And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. He said, I’ll remember you and you’ll be with me in heaven.

This man had nothing to offer. not a life of service, not religious rituals, not baptism. Folks, he had nothing.

When we started singing Rock of Ages a minute ago, I leaned over to Charla and said, I love the second verse. I love the second verse. I mean, I like the whole song, but I love the second verse of that song.

Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling. We have nothing to offer Jesus that is deserving of salvation. It doesn’t matter if we live 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100 years all or most of that time serving Him.

It doesn’t matter the rituals we’ve gone through. I went to church every Sunday. I was baptized.

I was re-baptized whether I needed it or not. I took part of the Lord’s Supper. I went on mission trips.

I gave to the poor. It doesn’t matter. We really have nothing to offer Jesus Christ that’s worthy of forgiveness of our sins.

But we don’t need to have. He’s already done everything. And to say that we’re born again through baptism.

To say that we’re saved through baptism. Hey, God bless you for putting such a, or God love you for putting such an emphasis on something that Jesus taught that we’re supposed to do. But you’re taken away from what he did.

You’re trying to add something to what Jesus accomplished and by doing so you’re diminishing it. Baptism is merely a sign of o

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