Why Baptism?

Well, good morning, folks. It's good to see everyone here this morning.! And I have to apologise before we get started this morning because I do have a frog in my throat and I try not to cough too much this morning.

But it is good to be together again and it's good to be in God's Word. And I wasn't going to share this because we're going to get right in to our topic this morning on baptism.

But I was just sitting on the bench there and I remembered a text message I got a long time ago. And I just read it because it was so encouraging. I had spent a week at a place called Fascaley. I will all know that because we've just been there for our church weekend away.

And spent a week there with some youth. It was on a youth retreat. And we had gone through all the topics that you go through with young folks and one of them was baptism. And at the end of the week, we had taken ourselves off. The leaders had taken ourselves off to a holiday in Spain.

And on Saturday night, I was in my bed and I got this text message from my mum. And she said, I just want to let you know, I came home today. My son was in his bed and he's dog tired, but he had waited up to tell me that he really wanted to be baptised.

And she said, it just made my day to hear that somebody wanted to be baptised. Her son. And she said, not just that he wanted to be baptised. He explained exactly why he should be baptised.

And this is a young lad and still a friend of mine. And he had been saved a number of years earlier. That means he became a Christian a number of years earlier. And he had asked his mum and dad to be baptised.

But at that point, he maybe just didn't fully understand it. And hopefully nothing I say today is going to contradict that. But he didn't fully understand it. And his mum and dad just wanted him to wait a little bit later, just until he fully understood it.

Anyway, he was still just a young teenager. And he said to his mum, I want to be baptised. I want to go and speak to the elders of the church because I want to be obedient to Christ. And I just read that wee text message there and it just really encouraged me. Just remembering that occasion.

And, you know, there's certain moments in your Christian life that are particularly significant. And, you know, the moment that we come to realise that we need, that we are sinners and that we need a saviour.

And is a particular special moment. The moment that we put our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus. And then again, on the Christian journey, that moment, that important step of baptism that the Lord asks us to take.

Are just these important milestones and times in the Christian life. And it's just so encouraging just to remember that this morning. And I wonder, as we explore this topic, whether we will be encouraged this morning.

And as we think about our own baptism, if we're a believer here and we've been baptised. Or if you've witnessed a baptism in Brunsfield over the last few years and we've had a few, which is just an incredible thing. I wonder if we'll just be really encouraged.

But I am aware this morning that there will be those that are here this morning and maybe watching online afterwards who are not baptised. Maybe you've never come across it. Maybe you've never heard of it. And maybe you have all different notions and connotations.

Well, I want to just focus on a few simple things this morning just to help us to see why we baptise. The way that we baptise. Who we baptise. When we baptise. Etc. Why baptise. And our little series on why church.

You know, baptism isn't something that has been invented by the church. And it's not just a tradition, simply a tradition that's been handed down through the generations. Nor is it a ceremony, a kind of religious ceremony that marks someone's association with a particular congregation or church.

Now, baptism is an ordinance that has been given to us by the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And that word ordinance just means it's a practice that's been instituted by Jesus for Christians to observe.

Now, JT was correct this morning. You are going to have to have your Bibles because we're going to look at a few passages. So there'll be no sleeping in the service this morning. But I'm going to ask us to look at a few passages.

Because what I want to do this morning is three simple things. I want to look at the, and you'll have to forgive me, but I've got three Ps. And I want to look at the precept. That just means the divine commandment or the instruction that the Lord Jesus has given us to be baptized.

Then I want to look at the pattern. So what do we see in the early church as a pattern for baptism? And then I want to look at, in a bit more depth, about the picture or the spiritual significance of baptism. And that's what, that's in our passage in Romans 6 that we've thought about this morning.

You know, although baptism is a relatively simple act, its meaning is particularly significant. And as we come to, as we come to study it this morning, we'll see that it's actually quite a profound thing that happens when we are baptized.

You know, when a Christian goes down into the water and is raised again, they're given a visible testimony to some of the greatest truths of the Christian faith. That Jesus Christ died for our sins.

That he was buried. That he rose again. And that through faith in him, we now possess new life. And it's just incredible this morning, even as I haven't necessarily communicated with anyone. But even in the breaking of bread, we had this theme.

And in the songs that we've sang, we've had this theme as well. But this morning, I want us to think about just baptism under these three headings that I've mentioned. And as we consider them, hopefully we'll see that baptism isn't just something for us to, that we ought to understand.

But it's something that we ought to take fairly seriously. So, let's look at the command to baptize. And I want you to turn to Matthew in chapter 28. Matthew in 28.

And I think it's important for us to look at these verses because we want to establish in our hearts and in our heads exactly why we do what we do. Matthew 28. And we begin with the words of the Lord Jesus spoken to his disciples shortly after his ascension.

Verse 18. And it declares this. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. These verses are commonly referred to as the Great Commission.

And they contain the instructions of the risen Savior to his disciples, to the ones that would carry his work forward in the world.

And I want us to look at three things just in these verses. So, keep that open. First of all, notice this line here that says, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

You know, that's quite a remarkable declaration. All authority. This is the one who's speaking. It's the Lord Jesus. He's the one who was rejected by men. He's the one who was crucified on that Roman cross.

The one who was laid in a borrowed tomb. And the one who has now been triumphantly raised from the dead. This is the person who's speaking. He says, All authority has been given to him.

If that's the case. If that's the case. And it is the case. But if it's the case. Then surely, what he is saying to his disciple, he's not offering his disciples a suggestion. But rather, he is giving them a command.

And that's important because sometimes we can approach baptism as if it was some kind of optional extra for the Christian life. We might say, Well, I know I'm saved.

I know I'm a Christian. I know the Lord Jesus is my Savior. So, does it really matter if I'm baptized? You know, surely the question for us shouldn't simply be, you know, is this necessary for salvation?

It ought to be, Has the Lord commanded it? And that's the first point I want to just rest on. And I know I'm going to go off-piste here, but I do want to say this. And the growth group that met on Wednesday, you'll forgive me because this isn't where this comes from, but we did have this conversation.

Some people think that salvation is the core issue when it comes to Christianity. And I'm sure that some of you will have heard this.

And it's been done with good intentions. And it is this. Well, it's a secondary matter. Sometimes you hear that about baptism. Well, the phrase I often say, and those that were at the growth group will smile, and I say this kindly because it's nothing to do with what we were necessarily discussing on Wednesday night, but in whose opinion?

In whose opinion is that secondary? How can we say these things are secondary apart from salvation? And if you read through your Bible, quite often you'll come to a point where believers may disagree.

And what we say is, well, that's secondary. Well, I'm just going to challenge you this morning. In whose opinion is it secondary? And certainly when we come to a baptism, if we love the Lord Jesus, we ought to obey him.

In John 14, it says this, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. And we've just read in the back end of Matthew 28, the Lord Jesus' commandment to go into the world and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

You know, our obedience as Christians does not earn his love. It doesn't secure our salvation. But our obedience is the proper response to the grace that we have already experienced.

And therefore, baptism is not an optional church tradition. It is a command from the risen Savior who has authority over everything. And that is the first point that I want to make this morning, just as we establish this precept, this idea of a command or an instruction that the Lord gives.

Come back with me to the verses here and go into and look in verse 19. The Lord says, Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them. This command is to make disciples and those disciples are to be baptized.

You know, the New Testament understanding of what a disciple is, is someone who has responded to the gospel and has become a follower of the Lord Jesus. That's why in this church and in many other evangelical churches, we practice what we call believer's baptism.

We understand that from the teaching of scriptures and the examples that we're going to look at, baptism is intended for those who have personally put their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

It's not that baptism makes someone a Christian, but baptism is the response of someone who has already become a Christian. And you see that in there. Go therefore and make disciples.

And who are they baptizing? Those disciples. And then keep with me in this little section, and we're just about finished in Matthew 28. In verse 20, it says, I want us to just see there that baptism isn't the end or the conclusion of Christian discipleship.

Actually, baptism belongs right at the beginning, right at the start. The Lord is asking them to go and make disciples, baptizing them, and then to teach them all that he has commanded them, right?

So believers are baptized, and then they continue to grow, they continue to learn, they continue to obey Christ. And I think there's something quite challenging about this, because some Christians wait many years to be baptized.

And I just refer back to the example that I gave you. There are some practical reasons that that may be the case, but it is not the pattern that we see in Scripture. You know, it's perhaps because we don't feel that we are significantly mature enough, or sufficiently mature enough.

And it might be that we feel like we don't understand everything about the Christian life first before we get baptized. But I just want to put it like this. Baptism isn't a reward for Christian maturity, or spiritual maturity.

Baptism is an act of obedience in the life of discipleship. And so, therefore, we shouldn't wait until we've become a perfect Christian, because let's face it, there isn't one.

But before we become baptized, instead we are baptized because we believe we belong to a perfect Savior. And that brings us to my second point this morning, the pattern of baptism.

And this is where you are going to have to have your fingers ready to look up a few passages. So, we turn from the Gospels, where we've seen that the command has been established to baptize.

And what we've got to ask ourselves now, well, what does that look like then? What does it mean to be baptized? So, we're going to look at the pattern or the practice in the New Testament. And where we find the pattern and practice of most things in the early church is turning to acts.

So, again, we see people hearing the Gospel, responding in faith and being baptized. And the first reference that we want to look at is in Acts chapter 2.

Most of you will know that this is at Pentecost, Acts chapter 2 and verse 36. And it says this, Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.

Now, when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brothers, what shall we do? Peter said to them, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.

And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, for the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are afar off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.

And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, Save yourselves from this crooked generation. So those who had received his word were baptized. And they were added that day about 3,000 souls.

And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers. On that day of Pentecost, Peter stood before the crowds in Jerusalem and he proclaimed the Lord Jesus Christ.

He was explaining to them that the one that they had crucified was both Lord and Christ. And the people asked, Brothers, what shall we do? And we see this response in verse 38. Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ.

And then just drop your eye down to 41. So those who received his word were baptized, and they were added that day about 3,000 souls. So I want us to see the order of things.

They heard the message, they received the word, and they were baptized. There was a personal response to the gospel before baptism took place. And I want us to notice something else.

Verse 42, it says this, that these believers then devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, the fellowship, breaking of bread, and of prayers. Here we see a beautiful picture of the early Christian church.

People are saved, they are baptized, and then gathered together as believers to worship, and to learn and to enjoy fellowship with one another. You know, baptism isn't just an isolated religious ceremony.

It forms part of the believer's identification with Christ and with his people. And that's why when I was sitting in the bench this morning, just listening to Sam pray, and the words that we read in 1 Peter, and in the songs that we sang, and it just made me smile that the Bible is just so vast.

And all of the parts just work together. And when you see these different verses, we're only going to cover a few verses this morning. When you see these different verses coming together, you see how beautiful this picture of baptism is.

Turn with me then to Acts chapter 8. Acts chapter 8 and verse 12. Just one verse. Acts chapter 8 and verse 12. And this is the gospel spreading beyond Jerusalem.

And Philip went down to Samaria preaching the gospel. And Acts chapter 8 verse 12 tells us this, Once again, just look at that order of things.

They believed, and then they were baptized. The passage doesn't suggest that baptism produced their faith. And no, it lets us see that their faith led to baptism.

And I think this is an important point for us to note this morning. We do not baptize people in the hope that one day they will become Christians.

That they'll trust the Lord Jesus for salvation. That they will come to an end of themselves, and they'll submit themselves to God. We don't baptize people in the hope that that will happen. But we do baptize people who profess that they have already believed in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Stick with me in chapter 8 and just come down right down to verse 35. Verse 35. And Peter, he encounters an Ethiopian official traveling home from Jerusalem.

And the man is reading in Isaiah 53, the wonderful prophecy concerning the suffering servant. And beginning with that scripture, Philip tells him the good news about Jesus.

Verse 35. Then Philip opened his mouth and beginning with this scripture, he told him the good news about Jesus. And as they were going along the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, See, here is water.

What prevents me from being baptized? And he commanded the chariot to stop. And they both went down into the water. Philip and the eunuch. And he baptized them. And when they had come up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord carried Philip away.

And the eunuch saw him no more. And he went on his way rejoicing. You know, as the question that this Ethiopian official asks is, See, here is water.

What is preventing me from being baptized? And the chariot stops. And both Philip and the Ethiopian go down into the water. And Philip baptizes him. What a lovely picture that is.

Philip has explained the gospel. He's explained the good news about Jesus. And the inferences here is that the Ethiopian has heard the message.

He has believed the words that he has heard. And then he immediately wants to be baptized as a sign of what has happened within him, but as a sign of obedience as well.

Notice he doesn't wait to return to Ethiopia. He doesn't suggest that baptism is for something later in life. He has heard of Christ and he wants to identify himself with Christ.

In this example, actually, and again, it's slightly off piece. I need to watch time. But in this example, we see that baptism is by immersion. And immersion, the word baptizes is a word that means to plunge or to dip or to immerse.

And it just means to be entirely engulfed. And we'll see that when we come to the picture of a baptism. But you see it in here, the method of baptism is to be immersed. Both the men go down into the water and they come up out of it.

And the word, as I say, is for that to be completely immersed or engulfed in the water. And then lastly, just turn to Acts chapter 18.

Acts chapter 18. And verse 8.

Acts 18 and verse 8. Now, perhaps one of the clearest summaries of the New Testament of the pattern that we've seen established in the early Christian church in Acts.

Acts 19 and verse 8.

They'll at some point come and speak to me. But they mean the same thing. The believer is then baptized. You know, we could consider other instances in Acts. And when I thought about the subject, when I was preparing for it, it's such a weighty subject.

Because there is so much in Scripture that we're just never going to get through in half an hour. But you can think about Cornelius in Acts chapter 10. Those who had received the Holy Spirit were subsequently baptized. That tells us that what has happened when somebody becomes a Christian, they receive the Holy Spirit.

All of what has happened when somebody becomes a Christian doesn't happen when they get baptized. I want to make that point this morning. And we'll come back to that a little bit later. Or we could have thought about the Philippian jailer in Acts chapter 16 who heard the word of the Lord and was baptized.

Now, of course, there are some passages that maybe some Christians will disagree on. I still don't think it's a secondary issue. But we may have a conversation about that.

But even in those two passages, we will see. And I mention them because those are two passages that do come up. We will see that it is an individual response of believing. And the Philippian jailer believes.

And his household believes. And together they are baptized. And it's the same at Pentecost. The 3,000 people, it's not one person that believed and they were all baptized. They individually believed and they were individually baptized.

Our dealings with God are very much an individual thing. And we should recognize something else about these accounts. Baptism is not treated as an extraordinary event for some special tier of Christian or Christianity.

It's actually just the normal response of those who have come to faith in Christ. You know, these early believers that we read about in Acts did not regard baptism as something to be postponed or to put off at a convenient time.

They understood that the Lord had commanded it and they obeyed it. And that brings me on to our last point. So we've seen the command. We've seen the command from the Lord.

We've seen the pattern established in the early church in Acts. And I just want to focus a little bit longer here just on the picture. So what is the picture or the spiritual significance that is symbolized in baptism?

And that's when we turn to Romans chapter 6. And don't get me wrong, we're not going to go through every verse in this. That's a whole series in itself. We could be there for several Sunday mornings in Romans 6. We ain't going to do that this morning.

But these verses that we've read this morning provide one of the richest explanations of the spiritual truths pictured in baptism. And it's important to recognize that Paul is not writing some kind of manual or some kind of script of how to perform a baptismal service.

No, he's actually explaining something completely different. He's explaining that our union with Jesus Christ and the implications that has, the union with Christ that has, on holy living.

But what we do see is that when we come to baptism, we see it as a picture. So what we're going to think about in chapter 6 is just actually what happens when somebody trusts in Christ for salvation.

And then when they come to be baptized, we see the picture of that. You know, baptism is a very vivid and it's a memorable picture of that reality. I wonder if you are a Christian today and you have been baptized. I wonder if you can remember your baptism.

Or if you've witnessed a baptism, just the significance of it. So in our passage here, just as our last section around the picture of baptism, let's think about three things from this passage.

First of all, that baptism points to our death with Christ. So we're going to look at verses 1 to 3. You know, Paul begins with a question. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?

And he immediately answers that. He says, by no means. Or if you've read the King James this morning, it'll say, God forbid. How can we who died to sin still live in it?

And Paul has, in the last chapter, in chapter 5, he's been explaining the wonderful grace of God. Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. But someone might misunderstand that teaching and conclude that if God's grace is so abundant, perhaps it doesn't matter how we live.

And there are Christians who are misguided in that sense and they have come to that conclusion. Well, Paul deals with it in our verses this morning. He completely rejects that way of thinking.

And why is that? And it's because if you have become a Christian, you have undergone a fundamental change. And the change is this. We have died to sin.

If you look at verse 3, it says this. Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Here Paul is speaking about our identification with Christ.

You know, when we trusted in Jesus, we were brought into a union with him. His death became the basis of that new standing before God.

And when we come to being baptized with water baptism, then that portrays that identification. You know, we go down into the water. And what we're doing then, we are declaring that the old life that was under sin's dominion has come to an end in and through Christ Jesus.

Well, and again, it's remarkable this morning. This is the point that we were thinking about in the breaking of bread. Does that mean then that Christians no longer struggle with sin? Dead hit, we're no longer under the dominion of sin.

Well, I think we all know from our experience that that ain't the case. But sin is no longer our master. We've been brought into a new relationship with God through the death of Jesus.

And that's a wonderful thing for us to remember when somebody is being baptized. That it's a symbol that they have died with Christ. We then watch them go beneath the water.

And we are reminded of Calvary where Christ died for our sins. So that's the first point. The second point I want us to look at in these verses this morning is that baptism points to our burial and resurrection.

It's not just death, but burial and resurrection. And we see that in verses 4 to 10. Paul says in verse 4, Here we see why baptism by immersion is such a meaningful picture.

By that lowering into a watery grave, as it were, and then being raised to walk in newness of life. You know, it's a picture of burial with Christ.

And it's a picture, again, a rising again picture in his resurrection life. Now, of course, going into the water doesn't actually produce any of these spiritual realities.

Our salvation rests entirely upon the finished work of Christ on the cross.

And we receive these spiritual blessings and these spiritual realities through faith. Now, when we come to baptism, it is a visible declaration of what is true in us as Christians when we trust in Christ.

You know, there's three things that stands at the center of the gospel. And it is this, that Christ died, that he was buried, and that he rose again. And if we were to turn to, in fact, I'll just do this.

You don't need to do this. But if we were to turn to 1 Corinthians 15, because it's not up on the board. But I'll just quickly turn to that. 1 Corinthians 15, verses 3 to 4, it says this.

And in baptism, we are publicly declaring that we are associated with this same Jesus.

Paul takes that a little bit further. If we were to come back to Romans passage there in verse 6, it says this. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

You know, the old self refers to what we were just as human beings. It's what we were in Adam. We were under the dominion, if you can use that word, of sin.

We were slaves to it. And yet, through our union with Christ, that has been dealt with decisively. We're no longer slaves to sin. In verse 9, if we have a look at verse 9, it says this.

We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again. Death no longer has dominion over us. What an incredible saviour that we have. You know, when Jesus rose again, he didn't rise again just temporarily.

He rose again, and he conquered death permanently. He died once for sin, and he lives, and he now lives to God. And we who are believers, we who are Christians, we who have been saved, are united with this risen, victorious saviour.

That means that baptism is not only a picture of something that has ended, that we are no longer under sin, that we have died to sin, but it's a declaration that something new has begun.

A new life with Christ. A new standing before God. A new master to serve, and a new direction for us to walk. And ultimately, we have this wonderful promise, and a wonderful hope of bodily resurrection when the Lord Jesus returns.

Just brings me to my last point then, in this little section. It's verses 11 to 14, and it reminds us to live for Christ. You know, Paul moves from what's true of us in Christ, to how we ought to live.

If you just look at verse 11, it says this, So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin, and alive to God in Christ Jesus. You know, that word either consider or reckon, it's that word, it's an accountancy word, and you find it somewhere elsewhere in Paul's writings, and it is this, it's to consider it as a fact, that we are dead to sin, and that we have been raised to newness of life.

Then if we just finish there, if we continue in verse 12, Let not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

And that's where, this is a challenge for those who have been baptized. This is a really practical point for us to think about. When someone is baptized, we're not simply, we're not simply declaring that Christ died and that he rose again.

We are publicly identifying ourselves with him. That we have died, and that we have been raised to walk a new kind of life, a new way.

And, you know, if you think about it, and I said to Rachel before I got up, I said I'm not going to get too practical today, because there's just so much to cram in, and we will always run out of time. But if you think about that, your hands, even just if you think about the hands that once served ourselves, have now to serve the Lord Jesus.

They are a walk, you know, that our feet, think about our feet as we used to walk in the ways of the world, and just follow the desires of our heart. Again, Stephen read that this morning in 1 John, you know, walk after the things of our mind, our words, our decisions, our ambitions, all the things that we used to just consume for ourselves are now to be yielded to the Lord Jesus.

Paul's teaching is very, very clear. If we've died, and we've been raised, then we have to walk a new kind of life. We have to live differently. And that's not in order to become saved. So our works don't save us.

We don't live a different life in order to become saved. We live a different life because we are saved. We have not to earn God's favour, it's because we have received, already received his grace.

And then you'll see there just in verse 14, for sin will have no dominion over you since you are not under the law, but under grace. This is the incredible thing because we all fail.

There's not a Christian this morning that can say you've got it all figured out and it's all, but Christian life is not to be lived in our own strength. We belong to a risen Christ who has conquered, who has defeated sin, who has conquered death.

And it is God's grace that enables us to live for him. So our little time together thinking about baptism is not the finish line for Christianity.

It should be right at the start as we think about this picture. It's a public declaration of a new life that's to be lived every day for the glory of God. So let's just draw ourselves to a close.

So the three headings, the precept, the command of the Lord Jesus for all who possess, who possesses all the authority in heaven and on earth has commanded it.

What are we to disobey that? If you're not, it's true for every Christian that we should obey the Lord Jesus. And it's the reason that we should take baptism seriously.

And if you're a believer this morning and you're not baptized, then let's be challenged this morning. This is a command from the one who has authority over everything on earth and in heaven.

Secondly, we thought about the pattern. So in the early church in Acts, we'll be thinking about the pattern. And again and again and again, we see the people in Acts hearing the gospel, responding to it, believing in the Lord Jesus, and then being baptized.

That is the order. It's the normal response of those who have become a Christian. And then lastly, we've thought about the picture, the spiritual significance of going down under the water of baptism and coming up.

And Romans chapter 6 reminds us that it points to our identification that Christ, our identification in Christ, in his death, in his burial, and in his resurrection.

And it speaks to us of an old life that has ended. So this is, again, I'm off script, and we're way over time. But the question is this then, if you know somebody who has been, you're laughing, if you know somebody who has been baptized, then, and they're not living that new life, they're not walking according to the commands of the Lord Jesus, they think that this is a secondary issue and you can just live as you please.

Well, maybe just encourage them to read this, that we have been, at salvation, we have been raised to walk in newness of life. No need to wait until you've reached a certain point in your Christian life.

No need to have it all figured out and know all the Bible and whatever else. If we truly belong to Christ, then we, baptism is a wonderful opportunity for us to confess him publicly and to take that step of obedience.

And for us who are, then maybe just challenge ourselves this morning, and are we living in the light of the good of that? Are we living in the fact that we've to reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God?

You know, may God help us this morning, not just to consider the, that we can understand the meaning of baptism, but maybe that God will just speak to us, all of us, to live every day in the good of the wonderful truth that it represents.

The last, that verse in verse 11, I'm just going to finish on this. It says this, so you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

That's what baptism represents. And it's such an incredible thing that we have the privilege to be able to, to witness that time and time again to remind ourselves. And it's so important to remind ourselves there's not that many ordinances that the Lord Jesus left us, specific instructions from the Lord Jesus.

One Ian dealt with a few weeks ago when we take the bread and we take the cup and we have communion. Well, this is another one. It's a visual representation of what has happened to us when we trusted in Christ for salvation.

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we come before you this morning and we thank you for the Lord Jesus. We thank you that he died the death that we deserved.

We thank you that he bore in his own body on the tree our sins. And our Father, we thank you this morning that we have come into the good of that, to know that our sins have been forgiven, that we have peace with God.

And that one day, our Father, we think of this resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Our Father, we thank you for that day when we will be raised and we will see him and we will be like him. And so, our Father, as we have considered your word this morning, we pray that it might challenge us.

We pray that it might have been helpful. And our Father, we pray that it might have just drawn our eyes to the Lord Jesus, what he has accomplished on our behalf in his death and in his burial and in his resurrection.

And so, our Father, we just commit the rest of our time together to you for your blessing. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.