{"id":18505,"date":"2018-12-30T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-12-30T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/ecclesiology-046\/"},"modified":"2018-12-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-12-30T06:00:00","slug":"ecclesiology-046","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/ecclesiology-046\/","title":{"rendered":"Ecclesiology 046"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[85],"series_event":[484],"sermon_service_type":[473],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18505","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-matthew","series_event-ecclesiology","sermon_service_type-sunday-school","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Ecclesiology 046","sermon_date":"20181230","sermon_month":"12","sermon_year":"2018","sermon_notes":6331,"sermon_slides":6332,"sermon_mp3":6336,"sermon_id":"12301817153843","series_or_event":484,"service_type":[473],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":85,"chapter_and_verse":"28:19","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nEcclesiology 46, Matthew 28:19\n\n12-30-18\n\nLet\u2019s pray.\u00a0 Father, we\u2019re grateful for today and it\u2019s always exciting to live this particular time on our calendar, kind of looking back on a prior year and looking forward to a new year.\u00a0 I do pray, Father, that we would become the people that You would have us to be in the upcoming year at Sugar Land Bible Church would be the church that\u00a0 You want it to be in the coming year.\u00a0 And we thank You, Lord, for 2018 and your incredible faithfulness to us as individuals and as a church.\u00a0 And we look forward to what You might do in and through this church in the year 2019.\u00a0 And be with us as we study Your Word this morning. We\u2019ll be careful to give\u00a0 You all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026 Amen.\n\nTake\u00a0 your Bible if you could and open it to Matthew 28 and verse 19.\u00a0 We\u2019re continuing to study the doctrine of the church, getting towards the end of our study, and one of the final things we looked at in the study of the church is this whole idea of the ordinances which basically mean rituals that God expects to be practiced consistently in His church.\u00a0 Foot washing we said is not an ordinance but the Lord\u2019s Table is an ordinance so we spent some time talking about communion and the Lord\u2019s Table, etc.\u00a0 And we said that the right understanding of the Lord\u2019s Table is Jesus said do these things in what?\u00a0 Remembrance, so it\u2019s a way to jog memory where we\u2019re reminded of what Jesus has done for us.\n\nAnd I hope we understand that our salvation is based on what Jesus has done for us, not what we do for ourselves.\u00a0 Amen!\u00a0 I was watching one teacher this week and he said if you\u2019re not willing to take up your cross then you\u2019re not saved.\u00a0 Well my salvation is not based on me taking up my cross; it\u2019s based on Jesus taking up His cross!\u00a0 Amen!\u00a0 I mean, if He hadn\u2019t taken up His cross and died in my place I wouldn\u2019t be saved.\u00a0 So the memorial view basically through the bread and the wine is a remembrance of what Jesus has done.\u00a0 The focus isn\u2019t in what we do and how we pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps because the reality of the situation is we can\u2019t do that; we\u2019re dead in our trespasses and sins, we are lost as descendants of Adam\u2019s lineage, and the only hope we have is what Jesus has done for us.\u00a0 And we receive that as a gift.\u00a0 And just remember that this gift that we have, just remember its expense, the Lord has established the Lord\u2019s Table where we are to do these things in remembrance of Him.\u00a0 So communion is something that the Lord wants practiced in His church, sometimes called the Eucharist, sometimes called the Lord\u2019s Table.\n\nAnd them from there we switched to the second ordinance that the Lord wants practiced in His church and that\u2019s baptism.\u00a0 And sort of like the Lord\u2019s Table, before I gave you the correct view of the Lord\u2019s Table I tried to expose some of the false views.\u00a0 So that\u2019s sort of like I\u2019m doing here with baptism because there\u2019s a lot of false ideas with water baptism out there.\n\nOne of the false views is baptismal regeneration.\u00a0 People think if you don\u2019t get water baptized you\u2019re not going to heaven.\u00a0 And I gave you several reasons why that could not be so last time.\u00a0 Part of the dominant reason is if water baptism gets you to heaven then salvation is by what?\u00a0 Works rather than a free gift from God.\n\nA second view kind of floating around out there, and this is sort of the tradition I was raised in, is infant baptism.\u00a0 This is a view that was taught by Martin Luther and Martin Luther did not make it up, he brought it into the newfound Protestant movement from Roman Catholicism.\u00a0 And probably the dominant argument in favor of this view is Genesis 17.\u00a0 Many people say well,\u00a0 you know, after all wasn\u2019t Abraham and his lineage, particularly his lineage, those who wanted to be affiliated with his covenant, weren\u2019t they circumcised on the eighth day of their life?\u00a0 So people say well since infants were circumcised to become participants in the Abrahamic Covenant, then you have to have infant baptized in water to partake of the New Covenant in Christ.\n\nAnd really what rescues you from that kind of mindset is the idea that we are dispensationalists.\u00a0 That\u2019s why towards the beginning of this series I spent all that time going through the differences between Israel and the church.\u00a0 Unless you recognize that God has separate programs for Israel and the church you\u2019re confined your whole life to making these kind of mistakes.\u00a0 So yes, of course to be a partaker of the commonwealth of Israel circumcision on the eighth day was a requirement for that.\u00a0 Obviously infants were the inductees.\u00a0\u00a0 But that\u2019s God\u2019s program for Israel; it has nothing to do with the church.\n\nSo to take the practice that Israel did and try to kind of recalibrate it (so to speak) so it looks like infant baptism is just not to understand the basic fundamentals you have to have to rightfully divide God\u2019s Word, which is the distinction between Israel and the church.\u00a0 If\u00a0 you can understand the distinction between Israel and the church, that those are separate programs, those are basically two trains running on different railroad tracks, all contributing to the doxological purpose of God in which He glorifies Himself.\u00a0 Unless you understand that you\u2019ll spend your whole life not under\u00adstanding the Bible and making false assertions from the Bible.\n\nSo that\u2019s why I have there Problems with Infant Baptism.\u00a0 \u00a0The first problem is there\u2019s no biblical support for it for the church, unless you want to take passages aimed at Israel and redirect them to the church, which is not a proper method of interpretation.\n\nA second problem with infant baptism is the pattern in the Book of Acts.\u00a0 The Book of Acts is very clear that\u00a0 you receive salvation first,\u00a0 you\u2019re justified by faith alone, and then you\u2019re baptized second; that\u2019s always the order.\u00a0 You never have a scenario in which someone is baptized first as an infant without even knowing the name Jesus and then they get saved later.\u00a0 I mean\u2026 that mindset is completely absent from New Testament revelation concerning the church.\n\nAnd Jesus gave us the instructions on this just before the church was going to start in Acts 2.\u00a0 Jesus outlined the church\u2019s mission in Matthew 28:19, \u201cGo therefore and make\u201d what? \u201cdisciples.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Now it doesn\u2019t even say make believers, it says \u201cmake disciples.\u201d\u00a0 So you bring home a newborn from the hospital and\u00a0 you don\u2019t expect that newborn to help himself to a ham sandwich when they\u2019re hungry.\u00a0 Obviously you have to nurture that newborn until they\u2019re capable of feeding themselves.\u00a0 So the calling of the church is not just to get people to believe in Jesus, as important as that is, but that\u2019s only step one.\u00a0 The calling of the church is to make disciples.\u00a0 \u201cGo therefore and make disciples of\u201d who? \u201cof all the nations,\u201d so the church has a worldwide outreach, and then what\u2019s the next thing it says to do, \u201cbaptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,\u201d\n\nSo you\u2019ll notice that when we baptize people here, and we\u2019ve had several regular baptisms, we have a class, we ask people to take first, it\u2019s only one session, and then we gather over, it used to be at Wayne Pittman\u2019s house, he\u2019s got a big Jacuzzi there, and it\u2019s right by a beautiful lake he\u2019s got there in the back, it\u2019s not his lake I guess, I guess the community shares that lake, but it\u2019s a big lake, so it kind of makes you feel like you\u2019re on the Sea of Galilee a little bit, at least that\u2019s the way I feel when I\u2019m there.\u00a0 And notice I didn\u2019t say the Dead Sea, I said the Sea of Galilee.\n\nSo then we baptize people in full immersion and as we\u2019re putting them under we say \u201cI baptize you in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.\u201d\u00a0 And that\u2019s where we get that from, Matthew 28:19.\u00a0 And we don\u2019t do it with people unless we\u2019re sure that they\u2019re a believer.\u00a0 So Jesus laid out an order here, He says, \u201cGo therefore and make disciples of all the nations\u201d and the next thing He says, \u201cbaptizing them in the name of the Father and the son and the Holy Spirit. So you\u2019ll notice that the disciple, being a believer growing into a disciple precedes water baptism.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t say go therefore and baptize them first, and then make disciples of all nations.\u00a0 He says, \u201cmake disciples\u201d and then secondly, \u201cbaptizing them.\u201d\n\nSo the basic expectation of the Bible is you could not do this with an infant, could you, because how do you know if an infant is even saved, they can\u2019t even talk. How would you get them to explain to you their salvation experience and how they came to trust in Jesus as Savior?\u00a0 So to baptize an infant would be to baptize someone before they\u2019re an actual disciple or a believer and so the order is backwards.\n\nSo the instructions that Jesus gave here in Matthew 28:19 what you\u2019ll start to see is they start to get worked out in the life of the church that started in Acts 2 and the Book of Acts records this pattern over and over again.\u00a0 Someone gets saved first, then they get baptized.\u00a0 That\u2019s the order; it\u2019s NEVER baptized first, saved second.\u00a0 It\u2019s always saved first, baptized second.\n\nSo let me just show you this order so you can understand very clearly why we do not at Sugar Land Bible Church embrace infant baptism.\u00a0 Going into the Book of Acts, I\u2019ve got all the Scriptures there on the screen, Acts 8:12, I just want to show you this consistent unmistakable pattern.\u00a0 Acts 8:12 says, \u201cBut when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike.\u201d\u00a0 So Philip, deacon number two on the list in Acts 6, takes the gospel to Samaria and a miracle happens because there\u2019s a seven year racial conflict between the Samaritans and the Jews.\u00a0 But that gets transcended in the Book of Acts that now the church has started, Philip preaches the gospel in Samaria, Samaritans believed, that\u2019s step one.\u00a0 Then what\u2019s the next step?\u00a0 Then they were baptized, men and women alike.\u00a0 So first occurs salvation, second occurs baptism.\n\nDrop down if you could to another conversion, this is the conversion of the Ethiopian Eunuch, same chapter, go down to Acts 8 and notice verses 35-39.\u00a0 \u201cThen Philip opened his mouth,\u201d and see that\u2019s \u00a0important because you can\u2019t get folks saved unless you open your mouth and tell them about Jesus, right?\u00a0 I mean, a lot of people think you can get folks saved by being nice to them, I know one guy that says can you explain your evangelistic behavior or life, and he says\u00a0 yeah, I go over to this guy\u2019s house and I mow his lawn.\u00a0 And I\u2019m thinking to myself well so what, the guy\u2019s going to hell with a nice lawn\u2026 I mean, what good does that do?\u00a0 Well, I just keep mowing the lawn and one of these days he\u2019s going to ask me why I\u2019m out here mowing the lawn and my thinking is well why don\u2019t you just go up to the door and say I\u2019ve been mowing I\u2019ve been mowing your lawn all this time.\u00a0 By the way, I\u2019ll keep mowing it if you want but let me give you the salvation message.\n\nSo you can\u2019t expect someone to get converted until someone opens their mouth and talks about Jesus Christ.\u00a0 And this idea that I\u2019m going to sit around and wait for the unbelievers to ask me about Jesus, I mean, I would say that works\u2026 what? \u00a0\u00a0One percent of the time?\u00a0 It has happened in my life sometimes but generally speaking we\u2019re called to take the first step and share the good news with people.\u00a0 And we\u2019re so afraid of what they\u2019re going to think of us that we\u2019re so afraid to open our mouth and talk about Christ when we really ought to be afraid of the fact that these people are going into hell.\u00a0 I mean, we\u2019re more afraid of what they think of us and the fact that they\u2019re off to a fiery indignation.\u00a0 And that wasn\u2019t even part of my teaching here, the Spirit just came upon me.\n\nSo, it says, \u201cThen Philip opened his mouth and beginning from Scriptures he preached Jesus to him.\u201d\u00a0 And by the way, what Scripture was he using?\u00a0 If you back up in the passage to verses 32-35 he\u2019s using Isaiah 53 which is a Messianic prophecy given about 700 years in advance.\u00a0 And so he \u201copened his mouth and beginning from Scriptures he preached Jesus to him\u201d this is the Ethiopian\u00a0 eunuch and this is how the gospel got into Ethiopia. This guy got saved and he took it back to where he came from and the church bean.\n\n\u201cThen Philip opened his mouth and beginning from Scriptures he preached Jesus to him.\u00a0 [36] As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, \u2018Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?\u201d\u00a0 Verse 37, the New American Standard Bible, \u201cAnd Philip said, \u2018If you believe with all your heart, you may.\u2019 And he answered and said, \u2018I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.\u2019\u201d Verse 38, \u201cAnd he ordered the chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water,\u201d that looks like full immersion to me, Amen?\u00a0 \u201c\u2026they both went down into the water\u201d I don\u2019t see sprinkling here, put your forehead over and let me put a few drops on it, no!\u00a0 \u201cthey both went down into the water,\u201d we\u2019ll talk about full immersion in just a little bit, \u201cthey went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him. [39] When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him, but went on his way rejoicing.\u201d\u00a0 So here is a second conversion where a person gets saved by faith alone in Christ alone and then the second step is water baptism.\n\nTake a look if you could at Acts 10:43-48, this is how Cornelius gets saved in Caesarea, this is your first Gentile conversion.\u00a0 It\u2019s interesting how the church is developing ethnically as the pages of the Book of Acts unfolds.\u00a0 First\u00a0 you\u2019ve got an Ethiopian unique saved and now we have our first Gentile being saved in Acts 10:43-48 and it\u2019s the identical pattern.\n\nIt says, verse 43, \u201cOf Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.\u201d\u00a0 [44] While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message. [45] All the circumcised believers who came with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. [46] For they were hearing them speaking with tongues and exalting God. Then Peter answered, [47] \u201cSurely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did,<\/em> can he?\u201d [48] And he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay on for a few days.\u201d So here is another conversion, Cornelius and his household apparently his entourage become believers in Christ, their bodies are now indwelt by the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 That\u2019s step one, and then step two is water baptism.\n\nTake a look at Acts 16:14-15 to the conversion of Lydia, Paul\u2019s first European convert and you\u2019ll see the exact same pattern.\u00a0 [Acts 16:14] \u201cA woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.\u201d\u00a0 Now remember what Jesus says in the Upper Room?\u00a0 He said when the Spirit comes He will convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment.\u00a0 Sin because they do not believe, righteousness because I go to the right hand of the Father, and judgment because the prince of this world is about to be cast out.\u00a0 So those are the three things that the Spirit of God is already doing in unbelievers.\n\nRight now as I speak He is convicting them of sin, not sins, He\u2019s not trying to morally reform unbelievers.\u00a0 He\u2019s not saying okay, let me bother these people about the fact that they\u2019ve got earrings coming out their nose and they\u2019ve got a bunch of tattoos, (not that that in and of itself is a big issue in my opinion).\u00a0 He\u2019s not bothering them about the fact that they\u2019re drunken and spousal abusers and sexually immoral, they always vote for the wrong political party, and all that kind of stuff.\u00a0 I mean, those are things that we think about but that\u2019s not what God is doing.\n\nGod is convicting them of sin, righteousness and judgment.\u00a0 Sin, the Greek word hamartia<\/em>, singular, because they\u2019re in unbelief.\u00a0 Righteousness because Jesus has gone to the right hand of the Father, they don\u2019t have, in other words, the transferred righteousness of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 And judgment because they\u2019re in a world system that\u2019s about to be taken down because they\u2019re following Satan without knowing it, and Satan will be taken down, his world system will be taken down and they will be taken down as well.\u00a0 So that\u2019s (I think) what it means when it says \u201cthe Lord opened her heart,\u201d the Lord was already doing something on His end.\n\nAnd all this stuff where people say the Holy Spirit only does that for the elect, that\u2019s just a bunch of nonsense.\u00a0 Take all that theology and throw it in the garbage can where it belongs; there\u2019s not a shred of proof in the Bible for that.\u00a0 It\u2019s very clear in John 16:7-11 Jesus said when the Spirit come He \u201cwill convict\u201d who? \u201cthe world,\u201d that\u2019s a big place, isn\u2019t it, the cosmos,<\/em> where we get the word cosmopolitan) of three things, \u201csin and righteousness and judgment.\u201d\n\n[John 16:7-11, \u201cBut I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. [8] \u201cAnd He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; [9] concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; [10] and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; [11] and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged\u201d]\n\nI mean, even before you open your mouth to an unbeliever you have to understand that they are already being convicted of those three things.\u00a0 So God is already doing something on their end, and then it\u2019s just a matter of you being in the right place at the right time opening your mouth and making known the gospel of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 And if their heart is receptive you have a conversion.\u00a0 That\u2019s what\u2019s happening here with Lydia.\u00a0 \u201cA woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God,\u201d she was religious in other words but she just didn\u2019t have the full understanding of the gospel, \u201cwas listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.\u201d\u00a0 Paul had to open his mouth and verbally articulate the gospel; he didn\u2019t say well, let me mow your lawn for three months and maybe you\u2019ll ask me about the gospel.\n\nVerse 15, \u201cAnd when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, \u2018If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay.\u2019 And she prevailed upon us.\u201d\u00a0 So this is how the church at Philippi got its start.\u00a0 But you\u2019ll notice again the same pattern, she receives \u201cthe things spoken by Paul\u201d and then the very next thing that\u2019s mentioned in verse 15 is that she is then water baptized.\u00a0 On one of my trips I actually went to the river there in Philippi where this baptism it is believed likely took place.\n\nBut again, my point is this is just the simple same pattern, salvation and then what follows is water baptism.\u00a0 Never in the Book of Acts nor anywhere else in the whole Bible is that order inverted.\u00a0 So to baptize an infant would invert the order that God is using in the Book of Acts.\u00a0 And order that Jesus Himself articulated in the Great Commission, Matthew 28:19.\u00a0 [Matthew 28:19, \u201cGo therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.\u201d]\n\nThe same chapter, go down to Acts 16 verses 30-34.\u00a0 This is the conversion of the Philippian jailer.\u00a0 Paul is still in Philippi, he got himself thrown in prison, and it says there in Acts 16:30-34, \u201cand after he brought them out, he said, \u201cSirs, what must I do to be saved?\u201d\u201d Now here\u2019s a case where the unbeliever, the jailor, is actually asking life\u2019s most important question, how am I saved.\u00a0 I think that can happen in your life sometimes as you evangelize, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s the norm though.\u00a0 I think the norm is you\u2019re going to have to take the initiative.\n\nSo he\u2019s asked this question, \u201cSirs, what must I do to be saved?\u201d\u00a0 And they said to him crawl over some broken glass, be really sorry about everything you\u2019ve ever done in your life, and I want to see a lot of tears and I need you to walk this aisle, and I want you to fill out this decision card.\u00a0\u00a0 NO, it doesn\u2019t\u2019 say anything like that does he, because salvation is not based on what we do, it\u2019s based on what He does.\u00a0 We just receive it as a gift.\n\n[verse 31] \u201cThey said, \u201cBelieve in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.\u201d \u00a0I think it sort of presumes that once the Philippian jailor was saved he would go back into his own family and share the gospel with his own family and the whole family would get saved and Luke is documenting this because this is how the church at Philippi started.\u00a0 I mean, you\u2019ve got a jailor, you\u2019ve got a woman (earlier in the chapter) a dealer in purple named Lydia.\u00a0 You\u2019ve got the jailor\u2019s family.\u00a0 And this is how the church at Philippi was born.\n\nVerse 32, \u201cAnd they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house. [33] And he took them that very<\/em> hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was\u201d what? \u201cbaptized, he and all his household.<\/em> [34] And he brought them into his house and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, having believed in God with his whole household.\u201d\n\nSo you\u2019ll notice that the jailor then took his new found faith, shared it with his family, the family apparently was believers and you\u2019ll notice that they\u2019re believers first and what happened second?\u00a0 Water baptism.\n\nGo over, if you could, to Acts 18:8,a lot of people say well, Paul didn\u2019t baptize anybody.\u00a0 Well yes he did, Paul believed in water baptism also.\u00a0 Acts 18:8 says, \u201cCrispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his household, and many of the Corinthians when they heard were believing\u201d and then what\u2019s the last thing it says there in verse 8? \u201cand being baptized.\u201d\n\nSo with all of these examples what you have is salvation occurs first, water baptism occurs second, the order is never reversed.\u00a0 And to baptize an infant would be to reverse this order that I\u2019m explaining here.\u00a0 There\u2019s a big\u00a0 problem with infant baptism.\u00a0 Beyond that can someone point to me any passage in the Bible where an infant is baptized in the church age?\u00a0\u00a0 You can\u2019t find such a passage; that\u2019s why they all build their house (theologically) in Genesis 17.\u00a0 That\u2019s as close as you\u2019re going to get where infants are circumcised on the eighth day but that relates to the Abrahamic Covenant and God\u2019s program with Israel; it has nothing to do with what God is doing for the last two thousand years in the age of the church.\n\nSo there are a lot of churches that baptize infants, I was reared in such a church and what you have to understand is it has a big problem biblically.\u00a0 The idea of infant baptism really goes back into Roman Catholicism; it violates dispensational principles, it violates the very clear pattern in the Book of Acts and you don\u2019t have any examples anywhere in the Scripture of infants being baptized.\u00a0 I was under a pastor once and he put it this way, he says I\u2019ll baptize any infant that can come forward and speak into this microphone up here and explain how they came to Christ through salvation; that\u2019s an infant we will baptize.\u00a0 And I think the gentleman has been pastoring that church for a number of years, I don\u2019t think he\u2019s had any takers on that thus far.\n\nSo we at Sugar Land Bible Church reject baptismal regeneration, we reject infant baptism. So if those are the wrong views what is the correct view on baptism?\u00a0 Baptism is simply this: it\u2019s an outward symbol of an inward reality.\u00a0 The baptism in water itself doesn\u2019t give you the reality; the reality is already present the moment you trust Christ.\u00a0 Well then why be baptized?\u00a0 The water baptism outwardly symbolizes what has already happened in the human heart through salvation.\n\nSo if you want to know what baptism is I would just memorize that very simple expression, \u201cit\u2019s an outward symbol of an inward reality.\u201d\u00a0 So if baptism is an outward symbol of an inward reality then what exactly does water baptism symbolize?\u00a0 It symbolizes several things, I\u2019ve got five here on this screen.\n\nNumber one, is symbolizes obedience to Christ\u2019s command.\u00a0 A lot of people say well, you know, if I\u2019m going to heaven anyway why do I have to get baptized?\u00a0 Because Jesus told you to!\u00a0 Jesus never said well if you don\u2019t do this you\u2019re going to hell.\u00a0 But He said as a newborn child of God if you want to grow in your new found faith then you need to start obeying Me, under the Spirit\u2019s power, and here\u2019s the first thing you need to do\u2014you need to be water baptized because Jesus Himself said, \u201cGo into all the world and make disciples of all nations,\u201d what? \u201cbaptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.\u00a0 [Matthew 28:19, \u201cGo therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.\u201d]\u00a0 \u00a0The natural expectation of a disciple of Christ would be to be water baptized.\n\nWhat else does water baptism symbolize?\u00a0 It symbolizes the fact that we share in Christ\u2019s death, burial, resurrection and ascension.\u00a0\u00a0 Take a look at Romans 6 and notice verse 3.\u00a0 \u201cOr do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?\u201d\u00a0 [4] Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.\u201d\n\nSo you say well, wait a minute pastor, I\u2019m kind of confused; why are you telling us to get water baptized if we\u2019ve already been baptized?\u00a0 Well the answer to that is the baptism spoken of here in Romans 6 is not water baptism.\u00a0 The other passages that I\u2019ve been going through with you are water baptism passages but not this one. This is a spiritual baptism that\u2019s already transpired.\u00a0 So baptism, the verb baptiz\u014d<\/em> in Greek simply means identification.\u00a0\u00a0 The moment you place your personal faith in Jesus Christ for the safekeeping of your soul is the moment you are baptized, not with water, but spiritual, baptized or identified with the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 What does that mean?\u00a0 When He died who else died?\u00a0 You died.\u00a0 When He was buried who else was buried?\u00a0 You were.\u00a0 When He rose from the dead, who else rose from the dead?\u00a0 We did. That\u2019s why it says we\u2019ve been raised to \u201cnewness of life.\u201d\n\nWhen we ascended to the right hand of\u00a0 the Father, which is where Jesus is, Ephesians 1.\u00a0 Who else positionally is right there with Him?\u00a0 We are, Ephesians 2, verse 6, it talks about our position in Christ, that we are seated with Christ in the heavenly places. [Ephesians 2:6, \u201cand raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places<\/em> in Christ Jesus,\u201d]\u00a0 These are things that have already happened to you one time, at the point of personal faith in Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Water baptism, on the other hand, just symbolizes what\u2019s already transpired.\u00a0 So it\u2019s an outward symbol of an inward reality; that inward reality is we are now co-sharers in Christ\u2019s death, burial, resurrection and ascension.\u00a0 That\u2019s what water baptism symbolizes.\n\nWhat else does it symbolize?\u00a0 Look at 1 Corinthians 12:13.\u00a0 Not only have we been baptized into Christ but we have baptized into His body, the church.\u00a0 \u201cFor by one Spirit we were all baptized\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0There\u2019s a lot of people out there that are looking for a spiritual baptism subsequent to salvation and this is what you call charismatic or Pentecostal theology; they are looking for what\u2019s called the second blessing, they teach the doctrine of the second blessing.\u00a0 Yeah, you\u2019re saved and that\u2019s nice but now\u00a0 you\u2019ve got to go on with the Lord and if you really want to be used by the Lord\u00a0 you\u2019ve got to get this additional dose of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 And they call that the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the doctrine of the second blessing, and all of these kinds of things.\u00a0 And a lot of people follow that.\u00a0 The problem is there\u2019s not a word in the Bible that supports that.\n\nIn fact, the Book of Ephesians chapter 1, verse 3 says we have been blessed, past tense, \u201cwith\u201d what? \u201cspiritual blessing\u201d that\u2019s a lot of blessings, right?\u00a0 Going to the Lord and crawling on your knees saying you want something else, God is saying what else do you want, I mean, I\u2019ve given you \u201cevery spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.\u201d\u00a0 [Ephesians 1:3, \u201cBlessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,\u201d]\n\nSo you don\u2019t have to go on and get some kind of second blessing.\u00a0 In fact, 1 Corinthians 12:13 says, \u201c\u201cFor by one Spirit we were all baptized\u201d now notice the baptism has already happened.\u00a0 It\u2019s in the past here.\u00a0 \u201cFor by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, \u201c you don\u2019t have to go on and get a further blessing, that would be a complete waste of your time to get a further baptism of the Spirit because God is saying that already happened at the point of faith alone in Christ alone.\n\n\u201c\u2018For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, \u00a0whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.\u201d\u00a0 So what God did for you the moment you placed your personal faith in His Son, Jesus Christ, is He baptized you already, Spirit baptism, baptiz\u014d<\/em> means identification, He identifies\u00a0 you with the body of Christ; you now become part of the body of Christ.\u00a0 You become a mouth, a nose, an ear, a knee, whatever place God has for you. And this already happened and when you get saved you don\u2019t even know where you\u2019re going to go to church yet,\u00a0 you could be a Metho-Catho-Bapterian or a Bapticostal Fundamatic, or whatever you want to be, but the fact of the matter is you\u2019re part of this body of Christ, the universal church, the moment\u00a0 you trust in Christ.\u00a0 So you are baptized already into Christ\u2019s death, burial, resurrection and ascension, Romans 6.\u00a0 And something else happens, you have been identified with His body, the church.\u00a0 These are things that have already happened.\u00a0 Water baptism just symbolizes those realities, those New Testament realities.\n\nWhat else does water baptism symbolize?\u00a0 It symbolizes the public identification with Christ\u2019s church and His message; that\u2019s what got the early Jews into trouble with unbelieving Israel, because unbelieving Israel, as a nation, rejected Jesus and so Peter in Acts 2, when he spoke to Jews gathered on the Day of Pentecost, he told them to repent, which means change your mind, which is a synonym for believe, so they changed their mind about what?\u00a0 They changed their mind about Israel.\u00a0 Israel has it wrong in rejecting Christ as the Savior, as the Messiah.\u00a0 This little group over here called the church, which is just starting, has it right.\n\nSo when you were water baptized as a first century Jew you were immediately persecuted by unbelieving Israel because you were sending a message that national Israel is wrong concerning the identity of Jesus Christ but the church over here has got it right.\u00a0 So when a person is water baptized they are making a public identification with the message of the church.\u00a0\u00a0 And that didn\u2019t sit well with unbelieving Israel and that\u2019s why one of the greatest persecutors of early Christianity through the Book of Acts was unbelieving Israel.\n\nBut water baptism symbolizes something, it symbolizes public identification with the message of the church.\u00a0 And water baptism symbolizes something else; it symbolizes personal forgiveness of sins.\u00a0 When you trust Christ it\u2019s not just that your past sins are forgiven, it\u2019s not just that your present sins are forgiven, but what else is forgiven?\u00a0 Your future sins! I mean, the whole thing has been paid for and because you have received that pardon from God water baptism is an outward symbol of at least five or so New Testament realities that have already transpired in the life of the believer.\n\nYou can\u2019t get any more forgiven as a Christian than you are the moment you are the moment you take Christ as your Savior. These are New Testament realities you already possess.\u00a0 Water baptism is just a symbolization of those New Testament realities. So when we tell people we\u2019re baptizing you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and we\u2019re doing the thing where they\u2019re holding their nose and we put them under for just a half a second, now some of them we might want to hold under a little longer\u2026. [laughter]\u00a0 NO!\u00a0 That\u2019s a joke, that\u2019s a joke!\u00a0 That\u2019s just kidding around.\u00a0 And we bring them up we\u2019re not saying okay, now that you\u2019re baptized look at all these goodies you get on the screen.\u00a0\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that neat?\u00a0\u00a0 You get five things.\u00a0\u00a0 No, we\u2019re assuming that those things are already a reality in their life.\u00a0 Water baptism is just a celebration of that reality.\u00a0 It\u2019s a symbolization of that reality.\n\nLet me give you a few more if I could, miscellaneous truths about water baptism.\u00a0 Number one, obviously water baptism is for believers only.\u00a0 We covered that extensively.\u00a0 Number two, water baptism contributes absolutely nothing to your justification.\u00a0 Your justification has already been accomplished.\u00a0 I mean, how in the world do you get justified?\u00a0 Well, Jesus answers that question in John 5:24, \u201cTruly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My Word and believes Him who sent Me,\u201d and gets water baptized\u2026. Whoops, I added something there that\u2019s not in there.\u00a0 \u201cTruly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My Word and believe Him who sent Me has,\u201d present tense, \u201ceternal life.\u201d\n\nAnd people today are saying well, I\u2019m not sure if I\u2019m a Christian or not.\u00a0 Well, have you trusted in Christ as your Savior?\u00a0 Yeah, I\u2019ve done that.\u00a0 Well then what\u2019s the problem, I mean, Jesus has made you a promise here.\u00a0 Are you going to live your life based on your feelings, looking at your own frustrations and disappointments or are you going to live your life based on what Jesus has done for you and the fact that He\u2019s made you a promise and He can\u2019t lie.\u00a0 Do you understand that?\u00a0 It\u2019s impossible for God to life, and consequently Christ makes a promise and if that weren\u2019t enough He prefaces it by saying \u201cTruly, truly.\u201d\u00a0 I mean a promise from God would be enough, right, but this is like a\u2026 I don\u2019t know, if you want to call it a special promise, I guess He\u2019s really calling our attention to that promise, \u201cTruly, truly\u201d which is a translation of \u00a0am\u0113n, am\u0113n<\/em>, which means it is certain, \u201cTruly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My Word and believes in Him who sent Me has <\/u>eternal life.\u201d\n\nNow will get eternal life, they have it at that point, present tense verb.\u00a0 \u201c\u2026and does not come into judgment but hast past out of death unto life.\u201d\u00a0 \u201chas past our of\u201d is in the perfect tense which in Greek is a onetime action with ongoing results.\u00a0 You\u2019re not passing out of death unto life,\u00a0 you already have passed out of death unto life the moment you trust Jesus Christ as your\u00a0 Savior.\u00a0 You\u2019re not going to get eternal life, you now possess eternal life at the moment you trust Jesus Christ as your Savior.\n\nJohn Piper is running around talking today about final justification.\u00a0 What does he mean by that?\u00a0 You don\u2019t really receive your justification until God looks at your whole life and makes sure that the good outweighs the bad and then maybe at the end of your life in a final justification sense\u00a0 you\u2019ll receive justification, and maybe then it\u2019ll be determined that you\u2019re one of the elect because you\u2019ve got fruit to prove\u00a0 you\u2019re one of the elect and you\u2019ll go to heaven.\u00a0 John Piper, final justification.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t believe me just type into your Google search engine, John Piper, final justification, and you\u2019ll see everything you need to pop up there.\n\nThe Bible knows of no such doctrine, I mean, final justification, that sounds like something out of Roman Catholicism, it even sounds like something out of Islam where you get to the end and God\u2019s got two scales and I hope the good outweighs the bad or you\u2019re not going to make it.\u00a0 All that stuff is demonic, it is false teaching, it has absolutely nothing to do with the Word of God.\u00a0 It\u2019s got nothing to do with what Jesus says here.\u00a0 And you\u2019ve got to figure out pretty quick in your Christian life which John you\u2019re impressed by.\u00a0 I mean, John Piper, am I more impressed with him or am I more impressed with John the Apostle?\u00a0 I\u2019ll take John the Apostle over John Piper any day of the week because John the Apostle is recording to us the words of Jesus Christ, \u201cTruly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My Word and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life and does not come into judgment but has passed out of death unto life.\u201d\n\nAnd today you ask people do you know you\u2019re saved?\u00a0 And your typical response from a Christian is well, I\u2019m not sure.\u00a0 It\u2019s like the weather report, 20% chance of rain, or whatever.\u00a0 That\u2019s not how to live the Christian life.\u00a0 You live the Christian life with absolute certainty.\u00a0 God wants\u00a0 you to live it with absolute certainty because He\u2019s made for you specific promises in His Word\u00a0 that you trust. And you ask people do you know if you\u2019re a Christian, and they say well, I\u2019m not sure.\u00a0 And I say well why not?\u00a0 Well I<\/strong> haven\u2019t prayed enough. I <\/strong>haven\u2019t showed up to midweek Bible study.\u00a0 By the way,\u00a0 you should show up for midweek Bible study.\u00a0 I <\/strong>allowed this sin in my life, I<\/strong> lost patience with this person or that person.\u00a0 And then at that point I usually stop the conversation and I say do you realize how many times you just used the personal pronoun I<\/strong> in your evidence for why you\u2019re not saved, I<\/strong>, I<\/strong>, I<\/strong>, I<\/strong>, I<\/strong>, me, me, me, me, me.\u00a0 That is not how the Christian life is lived.\u00a0 The Christian life is not lived based on I<\/strong>, and me, it\u2019s based on what HE<\/strong> has done and what HE<\/strong> has promised and the fact that HE<\/strong> cannot lie.\u00a0 That\u2019s how you live the Christian life.\n\nSo if I was sitting around all day looking at myself what a depressing subject that would be.\u00a0 I wouldn\u2019t think I was saved either. But I don\u2019t live the Christian life that way, I look at Jesus, who cannot lie, who has made me very specific promises.\u00a0 So the reality is the moment you place your personal trust in Christ for the safekeeping of your soul you HAVE eternal life, you have crossed from death unto life.\u00a0 You\u2019re not waiting for some kind of final justification.\u00a0 Justification has already transpired.\u00a0 And therefore you wouldn\u2019t water baptize someone who hasn\u2019t received these things because water baptism just symbolizes what you have received.\n\nSo water baptism is for believers only; it contributes absolutely nothing to justification.\u00a0 You typically perform it in a public place because you\u2019re allowing people to publicly identify with the message of the church, just as they did in early New Testament times.\u00a0 Israel was wrong, the church is right.\u00a0 You\u2019re publicly identifying with that.\n\nFor by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. It doesn\u2019t get you to heaven, you can have a heart attack between salvation and baptism and go right into the presence of God.\u00a0 But let me throw this one at you\u2014it does contribute to your sanctification.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t contribute anything to your justification, but it does contribute to your\u2026 let me rephrase that, your practical sanctification.\u00a0 Now why is that?\u00a0 Because it\u2019s a step of obedience and as\u00a0 you take a step of obedience God says okay, take another step of obedience, whatever it is in your life, take another step of obedience.\u00a0 And how can you take those secondary steps of obedience if you\u2019ve never taken the first step of obedience, which is to be water baptized.\n\nSo there is a very tricky passage I want to show you; it\u2019s in 1 Peter 3:20-21, and if you don\u2019t know how to handle this it\u2019ll sort of knock the wind out of your sails because it looks like you\u2019re saved through baptism.\u00a0 So notice what that passage says.\u00a0 \u201cwho once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the<\/em> water. [21] Corresponding to that,\u201d the word \u201ccorresponding\u201d is antitypon<\/em>, where he\u2019s drawing an analogy with the flood, so the flood waters, only eight people in the ark, right?\u00a0 Who were those eight people?\u00a0 Noah, and Mrs. Noah, Noah\u2019s three sons, Ham, Shem and Japheth and their respective wives, so eight total.\n\nAnd they got into that ark, the flood came and as the ark landed (as the flood waters receded) on the mountains, plural, Mount Ararat, the water had broken them from the past world into the new world.\u00a0 The pre flood world was destroyed and now they had come into the new world.\u00a0 So in the same way antitypon<\/em> corresponding to that, look at what it says here, \u201cbaptism now saves you\u2014not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience\u2014through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.\u201d\n\nLook very specifically what this passage says.\u00a0 First of all, \u201ccorresponding,\u201d antitypon<\/em>, he\u2019s drawing an analogy with the flood waters separating Noah and his family from the old world and bringing them into the new world.\u00a0 Then he uses \u201cthat,\u201d if I remember right \u201cthat\u201d in Greek is neuter which would modify the nearest antecedent, \u201cwater.\u201d\u00a0 And then he says \u201cbaptism that now saves you---not the removal of dirt from the flesh but an appeal to God for a good conscience\u2014through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.\u201d\n\nAnd so people think well my goodness, I\u2019ve got to get water baptized or I\u2019m not going to heaven.\u00a0 Well, they don\u2019t understand the nuances of the word \u201csaved.\u201d\u00a0 When we use the word \u201csaved\u201d in evangelical vocabulary today we typically are talking about someone that trusts Christ and is not going to hell.\u00a0\u00a0 But saved is only used in that sense part of the time.\u00a0 Usually saved there, the way we use it is referring to the past tense of salvation, where we are saved from sin\u2019s penalty and at the very bottom of the screen I have the word saved used in the past tense.\n\nHowever, saved doesn\u2019t just mean something that happened in the past; it could also refer to what?\u00a0 Our progressive sanctification, the middle tense of our salvation.\u00a0 And that\u2019s the middle of the chart there, faith can also refer to sanctification, which is not the past tense of salvation but the present tense of salvation.\u00a0 And this,\u00a0 unlike justification which happens in an instant, this one here in the middle is a process.\u00a0 It\u2019s a process that we\u2019re all involved in as God\u2019s children until our dying day where hopefully what is happening is we are being gradually delivered from sin\u2019s power in daily life.\u00a0 It\u2019s not that you become sinless but as\u00a0 you grow \u201cin Christ\u201d hopefully what\u2019s happening is you become aware of your resources \u201cin Christ\u201d as you find yourself in a church that rightly divides God\u2019s Word, etc.\n\nHopefully what is happening is\u00a0 you are not becoming sinless but\u00a0 you\u2019re sinning less.\u00a0 And we\u2019re being delivered from sin\u2019s power gradually.\u00a0 And you\u2019ll notice that the word \u201csaved\u201d is used in that sense in Philippians 2:12.\u00a0 [Philippians 2:12, \u201cSo then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling;\u201d]\u00a0 Then I\u2019m either going to die or the rapture is going to come first, I hope the latter, I can\u2019t promise that, then moved into the third tense of salvation, not final justification the way John Piper is teaching that but glorification, future tense of salvation, where I will be in a resurrected body untainted by the sin nature.\u00a0 And at that point I will be removed from sin\u2019s very presence.\n\nAnd you\u2019ll notice Romans 5:10 uses the word \u201csaved\u201d in the future tense.\u00a0 [\u201cFor if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.\u201d\u00a0 Romans 5:10]\n\nSo the whole picture of salvation is this: I have been saved, which in alterable, at the point of personal faith in Christ.\u00a0 I am being saved which is a process of growth.\u00a0 And one of these days I won\u2019t even have a sin nature to bother with any more, I won\u2019t even be tempted to go back to it, and I will be saved, future tense, glorification.\n\nJustification, sanctification, glorification\u2026 now what does water baptism contribute to justification?\u00a0 ZERO!\u00a0 What does any human work contribute to justification?\u00a0 ZERO!\u00a0 What does water baptism contribute to glorification?\u00a0 ZERO!\u00a0\u00a0 However, water baptism does contribute to your progressive sanctification or your growth in Christ and that\u2019s the point that Peter is making here.\u00a0\u00a0 Peter says,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1 Peter 3:20-21, \u201cwho once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the<\/em> water. [21] Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you\u201d \u201csaves\u201d here is not first tense of salvation, but middle tense of salvation.\n\nJust as the flood waters broke Noah and his family away from the past world into the new world water baptism, because it takes place in public and you\u2019re sending a public message, is something that God will use in your life to break off former ties to the sinful world.\u00a0 Because when a person is water baptized they do it in public, they typically invite friends and family members and people see that happening and they say oh my goodness, this man or this woman, this boy or this girl, is really serious about this Christian thing.\u00a0 And isn\u2019t it interesting that when you become public about your Christianity the unsaved world has a tendency to treat you a little different.\u00a0 Have you noticed that?\u00a0\u00a0 They\u2019re less likely\u2026 you walk into a room, everybody is around the water cooler laughing at a dirty joke at the workplace, you walk into the room and suddenly everybody is like oh, I\u2019m sorry, I didn\u2019t mean to say that.\u00a0 I mean, why are they treating you differently?\u00a0 Because you\u2019re public about your Christianity.\n\nWhy are you public about your Christianity?\u00a0 Because you went through this step of obedience and you were publicly water baptized and that sent a signal to the unsaved world.\u00a0 And instead of them always inviting you out, hey, let\u2019s go club hopping tonight and all these kinds of things, suddenly they\u2019re not asking you to do those things because you sent a public signal through water baptism that you\u2019re publicly identifying with the message of the church.\n\nSo what God does in water baptism is He doesn\u2019t justify you any more than you are already justified, but he will use it as a part of your development in Christ; He will use it as part of your growth in Christ.\u00a0 He will actually use it to cut off former ties that may not necessarily be beneficial for your spiritual growth and your spiritual maturity.\n\nAnd that\u2019s the point that Peter is making here.\u00a0 Peter\u2019s point in this letter written to Christians is not gosh, here\u2019s how to get a bunch of folks saved, justified.\u00a0 He\u2019s assuming that they already are saved.\u00a0 In fact, in 1 Peter 1, early on in the chapter he talks there about how they\u2019ve already been sprinkled, verse 2 in chapter 1, with the blood of Christ.\u00a0 [1 Peter 1:2, \u201caccording to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.\u201d]\n\nThis letter is all about your growth in Christ and that\u2019s why he says in 1 Peter 3:15, \u201cBut\u201d what, \u201cbut sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.\u201d\u00a0 Notice he says \u201csanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts,\u201d when do you start making Jesus Christ your Lord?\u00a0 That\u2019s a process of sanctification.\u00a0 The whole concept of lordship, submission to Christ, is sanctification, the middle tense of\u00a0 your salvation, a salvation you\u2019ve already received as a free gift at the point of faith alone in Christ alone.\n\nAnd then if\u00a0 you just track that down into verse 20-21 that\u2019s how Peter is using the word \u201csaved.\u201d \u00a0He\u2019s saying this is going to contribute to your present tense growth in Christ just as the flood waters cut off the family of Noah from the old world into the new world.\u00a0 Cut off ties that shouldn\u2019t have been there.\u00a0 Water baptism is going to do the exact same thing for you.\u00a0 So that\u2019s why we say water baptism is only for believers, it contributes nothing to justification, it is performed in public.\u00a0 However, God is going to use it for your growth and your developing in Christ; it does contribute to the middle tense of your salvation, your development and that\u2019s what 1 Peter 3:20-21 are talking about.\n\nSo should we sprinkle or should we immerse?\u00a0 And we\u2019ll talk about why we immerse rather than sprinkle next week.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t