Covenant Baptism (Matthew 28:16-20 & Acts 2:36-42)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.920 --> 00:00:04.719 Want to read it a two passages to you this morning. I'm first from 2 00:00:04.759 --> 00:00:07.910 acts chapter two, or, I'm sorry, Matthew. Then we'll get to 3 00:00:07.950 --> 00:00:12.830 acts to Matthew, the end of Matthew. This is the First Gospel in 4 00:00:12.869 --> 00:00:20.829 the New Testament, Matthew Chapter Twenty eight, the last words there, Verses 5 00:00:20.910 --> 00:00:29.820 Sixteen through twenty. Here we read the Great Covenant Promise that God had been 6 00:00:29.859 --> 00:00:33.619 giving to his people since Abraham and even before, when he said I will 7 00:00:33.659 --> 00:00:37.649 be your God and you will be my people. That promise of presence and 8 00:00:37.770 --> 00:00:41.890 blessing and all of those things are are held out for us here, as 9 00:00:42.009 --> 00:00:47.329 they are also attached to his commission, to his church and how we are 10 00:00:47.530 --> 00:00:52.119 to live our lives. So here are Matthew, Chapter Twenty Eight, Verses 11 00:00:52.240 --> 00:00:59.039 Sixteen through twenty. Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain 12 00:00:59.119 --> 00:01:03.119 to which Jesus had directed them, and when they saw him they worshiped him, 13 00:01:03.520 --> 00:01:07.549 but some doubted, and Jesus came and said to them all authority in 14 00:01:07.709 --> 00:01:11.709 Heaven and on Earth has been given to me. Go, therefore and make 15 00:01:11.870 --> 00:01:17.430 disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of 16 00:01:17.510 --> 00:01:21.900 the son. And of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that 17 00:01:22.019 --> 00:01:26.739 I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the 18 00:01:26.859 --> 00:01:30.299 end of the age. And then, if you turn over to acts chapter 19 00:01:30.340 --> 00:01:34.849 two, we see the way in which the Lord is fulfilling this command through 20 00:01:36.170 --> 00:01:44.530 his apostles. This is after his ascension and the sending of the spirit. 21 00:01:46.530 --> 00:01:52.319 So this the spirit comes upon the disciples. Peter Preaches this sermon and he 22 00:01:52.439 --> 00:01:56.799 concludes with these words. This is acts chapter two, verse Thirty Six. 23 00:01:56.840 --> 00:02:04.030 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him 24 00:02:04.189 --> 00:02:09.789 both Lord and Christ. This Jesus Whom you crucified, and then we read 25 00:02:09.870 --> 00:02:14.509 on. Now. When they heard this, they were cut to the heart 26 00:02:15.069 --> 00:02:17.699 and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brothers, what shall 27 00:02:17.699 --> 00:02:23.180 we do? And Peter said to them, repent and be baptized, every 28 00:02:23.259 --> 00:02:27.139 one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of 29 00:02:27.259 --> 00:02:30.650 your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, for 30 00:02:30.770 --> 00:02:35.810 the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far 31 00:02:35.889 --> 00:02:39.770 off, everyone whom the Lord, our God, calls to himself and with 32 00:02:39.930 --> 00:02:45.520 many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort, exhort them, saying 33 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:51.439 save yourselves from this crooked generation. So those who received his word were baptized 34 00:02:51.680 --> 00:02:55.680 and there were added that day about three thousand souls. Then they devoted themselves 35 00:02:55.759 --> 00:03:00.509 to the apostles teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the 36 00:03:00.629 --> 00:03:07.430 prayers. May God bless his word he may be seated. So the end 37 00:03:07.469 --> 00:03:12.550 of Matthew Jesus gives this commission to the church, what's often called the great 38 00:03:12.669 --> 00:03:17.259 commission. I'm great, probably for various reasons, at least because of its 39 00:03:17.340 --> 00:03:23.620 importance, it's significance in the life of the Church and that commission this way 40 00:03:23.819 --> 00:03:29.370 in which he is in it, way in which he is calling us to 41 00:03:29.490 --> 00:03:32.930 go forward, and then gets we see that played out. Is The history 42 00:03:34.009 --> 00:03:38.090 of the Church continues, and we read of that in acts a, chapter 43 00:03:38.250 --> 00:03:45.240 twenty or acts chapter two. Here the preaching of the word goes forward and 44 00:03:45.719 --> 00:03:50.400 people are cut to the heart. Peter tells them to be baptized, even 45 00:03:50.439 --> 00:03:55.349 as the Lord had commanded, and they were. Then we see as these 46 00:03:55.430 --> 00:04:00.990 people were baptize, these three thousand souls were added the church. What the 47 00:04:00.229 --> 00:04:08.189 life of the church looked like these people that were incorporated into the household of 48 00:04:08.310 --> 00:04:14.300 God, many of them not formally belonging. Now we see what they do 49 00:04:14.500 --> 00:04:19.019 in verse forty two. They devoted themselves to the apostles, teaching the fellowship, 50 00:04:19.459 --> 00:04:26.889 to the breaking of bread and the prayer us. Last Tuesday I started 51 00:04:26.970 --> 00:04:30.810 a new class here at Church called Covenant Life, and for those of you 52 00:04:30.889 --> 00:04:33.689 who came to the class, you know that the title has this double meaning. 53 00:04:34.569 --> 00:04:39.279 On the one hand, it refers to our life in Christ because of 54 00:04:39.360 --> 00:04:43.360 the new covenant that he has made. What is the covenant that that he 55 00:04:43.439 --> 00:04:46.959 has made? How does that affect us as people and in the body of 56 00:04:46.079 --> 00:04:51.319 Christ? This we see described here in acts chapter two. On the other 57 00:04:51.399 --> 00:04:56.750 hand, Covenant Life also refers to the way that that covenantal life, is 58 00:04:56.870 --> 00:05:00.509 lived out in this church, here at Covenant Right. So there are many 59 00:05:00.589 --> 00:05:05.230 different aspects of that. On the baptism, the fellowship, the breaking of 60 00:05:05.310 --> 00:05:10.259 the bread, adhering to teaching prayers, all of these things listed there in 61 00:05:10.339 --> 00:05:15.899 next two today we are focusing on baptism in for in particular, and that's 62 00:05:15.939 --> 00:05:23.370 because we have the joy of a baptizing the newest member of our Church Linda, 63 00:05:24.649 --> 00:05:28.649 and we are going to do that because of the Lord's commands. As 64 00:05:28.730 --> 00:05:30.490 we see that, in as we see these things, we see that the 65 00:05:30.689 --> 00:05:35.000 things that God has done in history, the promises he's made, the covenants 66 00:05:35.079 --> 00:05:41.199 that he has established, has an effect on who we are as a people, 67 00:05:42.040 --> 00:05:46.279 and not just an abstract you know, people with a capital P, 68 00:05:46.680 --> 00:05:53.750 but us here in this room, people with particular names and histories and lives 69 00:05:54.470 --> 00:06:03.029 gifts. We Are United Together in Christ. Baptism is one of the ways 70 00:06:03.110 --> 00:06:08.259 that that is signified. It's not something that we made up, just something 71 00:06:08.379 --> 00:06:10.860 that we thought, well, this might be a kind of a new thing. 72 00:06:11.819 --> 00:06:15.540 No, it's something that Jesus commanded us to do. It's a part 73 00:06:15.579 --> 00:06:25.529 of the Great Commission. Baptism is the ceremony that God uses to signify and 74 00:06:25.769 --> 00:06:30.810 seal a person's incorporation into the body of Christ. For those of you who 75 00:06:30.850 --> 00:06:35.600 know a little bit of Latin, do you hear it in that word incorporation, 76 00:06:38.519 --> 00:06:44.439 that to be inbodied in a way, to be brought into the body 77 00:06:45.360 --> 00:06:50.550 of Christ. The promise of the Covenant is that we can belong to God, 78 00:06:50.670 --> 00:06:57.389 but not just with him but with his people. When Jesus says I 79 00:06:57.509 --> 00:07:00.230 will be with you to the end of the age. He's not just speaking 80 00:07:00.750 --> 00:07:04.300 to Peter or to James, though he is. He is speaking to the 81 00:07:04.540 --> 00:07:11.019 whole church, to these disciples and all who would then devote themselves to that 82 00:07:11.019 --> 00:07:16.569 apostolic teaching. He promised to bring us a together, to unite us into 83 00:07:16.610 --> 00:07:23.329 a communey one that is very large, larger than any of us can imagine, 84 00:07:24.009 --> 00:07:30.600 but is expressed here in our little church. We are a part of 85 00:07:30.800 --> 00:07:34.600 that covenant community. It's one of the reasons that's in Our Name Covenant Orthodox 86 00:07:34.680 --> 00:07:40.879 Presbyterian Church, because God has made a covenant and has brought us together as 87 00:07:40.959 --> 00:07:46.990 a church, and baptism is the ceremony or the sacrament that God uses to 88 00:07:47.629 --> 00:07:54.189 signify and see a seal that work. It's The promise of the Covenant that 89 00:07:54.310 --> 00:08:01.660 we belong to him and he belongs to us, despite the sin that separates 90 00:08:01.699 --> 00:08:07.779 us from God and from one another. That's what sin does, isn't it? 91 00:08:07.899 --> 00:08:13.050 It's a dividing thing, it's separates us from God, even as this 92 00:08:13.290 --> 00:08:20.410 very first sin of Adam separated him and his household from God in the Garden 93 00:08:20.449 --> 00:08:24.689 of Eden. They were kicked out, they were separated from his presence. 94 00:08:24.769 --> 00:08:28.079 And so then when God comes into the world and he says to Abraham, 95 00:08:28.279 --> 00:08:31.559 I will be your God and you will be like people. I will bless 96 00:08:31.600 --> 00:08:37.360 you and your children from generation to generation. This is an amazing thing that 97 00:08:37.480 --> 00:08:43.230 God promises us that we can have union with him again, communion with him 98 00:08:43.230 --> 00:08:48.350 again despite our sins, is a wonderful thing. Baptism pictures that. It 99 00:08:48.509 --> 00:08:56.299 shows how it is possible, and it's possible because God washes us, he 100 00:08:56.500 --> 00:09:03.419 makes us clean. Sin is a polluting thing, sin as a separating thing, 101 00:09:03.580 --> 00:09:09.179 sin as a dirty thing. But baptism shows the work of God, 102 00:09:09.850 --> 00:09:16.570 the washing of God, the bringing us into new life. And so that's 103 00:09:16.610 --> 00:09:22.730 what I want to reflect on some with you this morning. How God's sign 104 00:09:22.809 --> 00:09:28.559 of Baptism plays into our life as a covenant community. Does that mean for 105 00:09:28.600 --> 00:09:33.080 our life as a church? To understand that, we have to think more 106 00:09:33.240 --> 00:09:39.070 about baptism, what it is, what it means. The first thing, 107 00:09:39.230 --> 00:09:41.590 is I've already begun to say, is that when each of us are born, 108 00:09:41.710 --> 00:09:46.470 we are born into an a state of sin and misery. David says 109 00:09:46.509 --> 00:09:50.909 in the Psalms in sin did my mother conceive me, and he does that 110 00:09:52.110 --> 00:09:54.860 even as he is confessing his sin to the Lord. He says this goes 111 00:09:54.899 --> 00:09:58.820 back to the very beginning. I was born into this, he says it. 112 00:09:58.860 --> 00:10:03.899 It's not like it came upon him separately. It's a part of who 113 00:10:03.059 --> 00:10:09.009 he is. He is sinful nature. That's why the Apostle Paul says that 114 00:10:09.370 --> 00:10:16.529 we are by nature children of Wrath. This is the estate in which we 115 00:10:16.610 --> 00:10:22.200 are born into, and that means in order them to become children of God, 116 00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:26.840 in order to be in grafted or brought into his family, to be 117 00:10:26.960 --> 00:10:31.399 members of that household, we need to be adopted. This is the language 118 00:10:31.399 --> 00:10:35.629 of both the old and the New Testament. Now, this adoption language is 119 00:10:35.710 --> 00:10:41.309 very similar to the kinds of adoptions that you perhaps have experienced yourself, for 120 00:10:41.470 --> 00:10:46.470 those of you who are adopted here or as a families who have adopted people, 121 00:10:46.990 --> 00:10:50.500 children into your households, when you adopt someone into your household, they 122 00:10:50.740 --> 00:10:56.980 take on your name. Just one reasons we baptize in the name of the 123 00:10:56.139 --> 00:11:00.940 father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit. It's a sign, 124 00:11:01.059 --> 00:11:05.090 it's an adoption ceremony in a way in which the promises of God are placed 125 00:11:05.169 --> 00:11:09.850 on the child or on the one being baptized. You belong to me. 126 00:11:11.850 --> 00:11:16.409 You are now in my household. But adoption is also different in some ways 127 00:11:16.450 --> 00:11:22.720 than the earthly adoption that we receive. You might adopt a child and receive 128 00:11:22.799 --> 00:11:26.240 them into your home, but I promise you you cannot change their nature, 129 00:11:26.559 --> 00:11:31.519 you cannot Jim modify their genes. They belong to you. That will be 130 00:11:31.600 --> 00:11:35.909 treated by you in such an in such a way. They have certain legal 131 00:11:35.070 --> 00:11:39.830 rights, there are other kinds of benefits and things like that, but you 132 00:11:39.990 --> 00:11:46.590 can't change their heart. Only God can do that, and that's a significant 133 00:11:46.629 --> 00:11:50.620 thing about our adoption to the family of God. He doesn't just welcome us 134 00:11:50.700 --> 00:11:58.259 in as a stranger. He begins to conform us, to change us into 135 00:11:58.299 --> 00:12:03.690 the image of his son, Jesus Christ, the incarnate word of God. 136 00:12:05.210 --> 00:12:11.129 That's an amazing thing. He changes our natures or, to use another way 137 00:12:11.289 --> 00:12:16.440 that the New Testament describes this, he causes us to be born again. 138 00:12:18.440 --> 00:12:22.679 So it's not just a legal kind of adoption. It's certainly that, but 139 00:12:22.799 --> 00:12:28.840 it's much more than that. He changes us so that we actually become part 140 00:12:28.879 --> 00:12:35.590 of him and part of his family. We are united to him in some 141 00:12:35.149 --> 00:12:43.389 amazing and mysterious way. The waters of baptism then point to this reality, 142 00:12:43.500 --> 00:12:48.779 which is why we, by the way, baptize only once and not again 143 00:12:48.899 --> 00:12:52.340 and again and again, because you're not born again and again and again and 144 00:12:52.580 --> 00:12:56.019 again and again. You are at you enter in to the life of Christ 145 00:12:56.220 --> 00:13:01.970 only once, and that is what this is signified here. Through the waters 146 00:13:03.009 --> 00:13:07.809 of baptism, we are brought forth into new life, the washing of regeneration, 147 00:13:09.370 --> 00:13:15.279 Bible says. Rebirth happens. There's imagery here that's connected with the Old 148 00:13:15.360 --> 00:13:18.559 Testament in the Red Sea, in which Israel is is said to be in 149 00:13:18.639 --> 00:13:24.240 a way born out of the darkness of Egypt through these waters to be the 150 00:13:24.440 --> 00:13:31.029 son of God. Imagery that is expressed of Noah as he and his family 151 00:13:31.070 --> 00:13:37.149 are baptized through those waters of judgment and come out on the other side in 152 00:13:37.309 --> 00:13:43.899 the newness of life to establish a new world. That kind of birth imagery 153 00:13:43.019 --> 00:13:50.500 and language is implied here Bor and yes, into in a state of sin 154 00:13:50.620 --> 00:13:54.340 and misery, as our confession and catechism say. But God promises US something 155 00:13:54.379 --> 00:13:58.210 in Christ that is different, to be born into the newness of life, 156 00:13:58.289 --> 00:14:05.690 and baptism points to that. It points to that promise and those who receive 157 00:14:05.970 --> 00:14:11.679 that promise by faith. It's not merely pointed to signified, but it's sealed 158 00:14:11.799 --> 00:14:16.919 to them as well. Baptism points to the washing and the new birth that 159 00:14:18.039 --> 00:14:22.320 we must be received, that we must receive in order to belong to God. 160 00:14:24.389 --> 00:14:28.509 We need to be changed. Ifusians five hundred and Twenty six tells us 161 00:14:28.509 --> 00:14:33.629 that this is exactly what Christ has done with his church. By the washing 162 00:14:33.830 --> 00:14:37.659 of the water with the word, he has cleansed his bride and prepared her 163 00:14:39.139 --> 00:14:43.620 tied us three five says he saved us not because of works done by us 164 00:14:43.820 --> 00:14:50.740 in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration 165 00:14:50.100 --> 00:14:54.450 and the renewal of the spirit. We, in other words, don't come 166 00:14:54.529 --> 00:15:00.009 into the family of God because we worked really hard out on the edges and 167 00:15:00.409 --> 00:15:03.690 he kind of saw us and then said, you know what, I think 168 00:15:03.730 --> 00:15:07.399 you'd be really great here. Let's let's bring you on in test your for 169 00:15:07.480 --> 00:15:09.320 a while, see how it goes and if it goes well, we'll keep 170 00:15:09.360 --> 00:15:13.639 you. If God doesn't place us in this period of testing in which we 171 00:15:13.720 --> 00:15:18.720 then prove ourselves to be worthy of his family, he simply comes to us 172 00:15:18.759 --> 00:15:24.669 when we're as weak, as weak as infants, unable to do anything really, 173 00:15:24.750 --> 00:15:28.309 and he saves us not by works done by us in righteousness, but 174 00:15:28.350 --> 00:15:33.389 according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and the renewal of 175 00:15:33.789 --> 00:15:39.460 the Holy Spirit. Baptism points to this reality, the work that Christ has 176 00:15:39.500 --> 00:15:43.139 done. He points to washing and the cleansing of sins and the newness of 177 00:15:43.299 --> 00:15:48.820 life. But there's one more connection that we have to make if we're to 178 00:15:48.899 --> 00:15:52.730 truly understand what what baptism is, what God is doing as he places this 179 00:15:54.809 --> 00:16:00.850 sign on his people, and that's that these things happen, this washing, 180 00:16:00.049 --> 00:16:07.399 this regeneration, this cleansing, this bro Earth, they only happen in Christ, 181 00:16:10.399 --> 00:16:12.919 and so we have to consider how our baptism is connected to him. 182 00:16:15.840 --> 00:16:22.470 It's connected to him because it's through his righteousness that we are justified, it's 183 00:16:22.509 --> 00:16:26.389 through his work on the cross that we are given the right to inherit all 184 00:16:26.470 --> 00:16:30.149 of these things, and it's through his sending of the spirit that he then 185 00:16:30.509 --> 00:16:37.379 are works in our hearts to draw us into union with himself. The war, 186 00:16:37.700 --> 00:16:45.139 the baptisms that we have, the many baptisms that are represented here among 187 00:16:45.259 --> 00:16:52.009 this church, are ultimately one baptism. How Apostle Paul talks about this way. 188 00:16:52.049 --> 00:16:56.769 You have been united in one faith and one baptism. Well, we 189 00:16:56.889 --> 00:17:02.759 were baptized at different times, different places, by different people. How is 190 00:17:02.840 --> 00:17:07.759 it that we can and each of us were baptized individually as well? How 191 00:17:07.839 --> 00:17:12.839 can we talk about one baptism? We can talk about one baptism because our 192 00:17:14.000 --> 00:17:22.150 baptism is ultimately pointing to and connected to, Christ's baptism, the baptism that 193 00:17:22.230 --> 00:17:26.589 began in the Jordan and ultimately culminated on the cross. Listen to the way 194 00:17:26.670 --> 00:17:32.180 Colossians talks about this, and Colossians to eleven and twelve. In Him, 195 00:17:32.500 --> 00:17:37.019 that is, in Christ. In Him, you were circumcised with a circumcision 196 00:17:37.140 --> 00:17:41.460 made without hands, by the put by putting off the body of the flesh, 197 00:17:41.539 --> 00:17:47.049 by the circumcision of Christ. That's verse eleven. And what he's saying 198 00:17:47.210 --> 00:17:52.210 is that Old Testament sacrament, that Old Testament sign of the Covenant, in 199 00:17:52.289 --> 00:18:02.200 which sin was figuratively stripped away from which the person was made holy and separated 200 00:18:02.279 --> 00:18:06.480 under God through this ceremony. This, ultimately, Paul is saying, was 201 00:18:06.559 --> 00:18:11.960 pointing to Christ, who suffered on the cross, who bore the weight and 202 00:18:11.079 --> 00:18:18.150 penalty of sin so that we could stand before God sinless, so we could 203 00:18:18.150 --> 00:18:23.710 stand before God justified, cleansed, purified. The circumcision, he says, 204 00:18:25.950 --> 00:18:30.940 the ultimate circumcision. The thing which circumcision pointed to was Christ's work on the 205 00:18:30.099 --> 00:18:36.339 class, on the cross. But he connects that work, that that of 206 00:18:36.420 --> 00:18:40.700 Christ on the cross, with us, with what he has done in us. 207 00:18:41.730 --> 00:18:45.410 Notice he's not talking about Christ directly, he's talking about us in him. 208 00:18:47.289 --> 00:18:52.809 In Him, you also were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, 209 00:18:53.329 --> 00:18:57.200 by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ. 210 00:18:59.559 --> 00:19:04.119 Our old fleshly nature was removed by Christ's work on the Cross. When the 211 00:19:04.240 --> 00:19:08.480 spirit unites us to him, we are changed. We become people not of 212 00:19:08.559 --> 00:19:15.390 the flesh but of the spirit. That's what Paul is saying. How does 213 00:19:15.470 --> 00:19:19.109 this happen? He describes it in verse twelve. He says, in him, 214 00:19:19.150 --> 00:19:22.990 you were also circumcised by the circumcision of Christ. Then verse twelve, 215 00:19:23.339 --> 00:19:30.220 having been buried with him in baptism in which you were also raised with him 216 00:19:30.339 --> 00:19:36.059 through faith in the powerful working of God who raised him from the dead. 217 00:19:37.779 --> 00:19:41.609 So Paul says, you need if you want to understand how to think about 218 00:19:41.609 --> 00:19:47.529 your Baptisms, you want to think about the circumcision of Christ that happened on 219 00:19:47.609 --> 00:19:53.000 the cross, when that old sinful flesh was put off and the life of 220 00:19:53.079 --> 00:19:57.880 the spirit was put on in us through his work there for us. This 221 00:19:59.000 --> 00:20:03.079 is what our baptism represents, and this is why the sign of incorporation into 222 00:20:03.079 --> 00:20:07.750 the Covenant, community, circumcision and the Old Testament is connected to the sign 223 00:20:07.829 --> 00:20:12.630 of Baptism in the New Testament, the sign of incorporation, of being brought 224 00:20:12.750 --> 00:20:18.269 into the body, of being people that are now being, people that have 225 00:20:18.390 --> 00:20:25.420 been promised the spirit and the powerful working of God who raised him from the 226 00:20:25.500 --> 00:20:36.569 dead amazing things. Let me read now from a Romans Chapter six, so 227 00:20:36.690 --> 00:20:41.130 that we might understand and go even a little more deeper, a little further 228 00:20:41.289 --> 00:20:45.849 into this truth of what it means that we have been put to death already 229 00:20:45.930 --> 00:20:52.359 in Christ have raised, been raised with him. This new life that Paul 230 00:20:52.519 --> 00:20:57.480 is describing and it he says baptism points to, was described in Romans chapter 231 00:20:57.640 --> 00:21:03.160 six, says in verse one. What shall we say then? Are we 232 00:21:03.359 --> 00:21:07.549 to continue in sin that grace may bound by no means? And here's his 233 00:21:07.670 --> 00:21:12.269 argument. He says, how can we who died to sind still living in 234 00:21:12.349 --> 00:21:17.670 it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into 235 00:21:17.670 --> 00:21:21.819 Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Don't you know that you should, 236 00:21:21.859 --> 00:21:26.619 he says. We were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death, 237 00:21:26.180 --> 00:21:30.220 in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the 238 00:21:30.299 --> 00:21:33.650 glory of the father, we too might walk in the newness of life. 239 00:21:37.490 --> 00:21:40.730 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we 240 00:21:40.849 --> 00:21:45.089 shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that 241 00:21:45.250 --> 00:21:51.119 our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might 242 00:21:51.160 --> 00:21:55.839 be brought to nothing, so that we might be no longer enslave to sin. 243 00:21:57.640 --> 00:22:02.230 He then concludes this and some more thinking in verse eleven, when he 244 00:22:02.309 --> 00:22:07.869 says so you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in 245 00:22:07.910 --> 00:22:14.950 Christ Jesus. And so you see, in the way in which a god 246 00:22:15.069 --> 00:22:18.740 is telling us and teaching us about what Jesus did in the New Testament, 247 00:22:19.180 --> 00:22:22.700 Jesus is set or God is saying, and Jesus says as well. I'll 248 00:22:22.740 --> 00:22:29.140 read in a moment that the cross is the circumcision of God on the Cross. 249 00:22:29.339 --> 00:22:33.690 It is the baptism of God, as Jesus says in Luke Twelve fifty. 250 00:22:33.930 --> 00:22:37.809 I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my 251 00:22:38.009 --> 00:22:45.400 distress? Until it is accomplished, Jesus is going to undergo those waters of 252 00:22:45.519 --> 00:22:51.079 judgment similar to the way that Noah experienced, and he's going to come out 253 00:22:51.079 --> 00:22:56.880 on the other side not merely to establish a continually life in this world, 254 00:22:56.960 --> 00:23:02.309 as it happened with Noah, but to establish, as we heard earlier, 255 00:23:02.710 --> 00:23:10.190 Eternal Life, resurrection life, life in the spirit, a new and better 256 00:23:10.390 --> 00:23:18.380 covenant God is making in Christ. There's this funny seem I don't think it's 257 00:23:18.380 --> 00:23:22.660 not really funny, but there if I'll call it funny. Other's the as 258 00:23:22.700 --> 00:23:27.250 funny seem this thing that happens in the gospels were John and James Go to 259 00:23:27.329 --> 00:23:32.410 Jesus and they say, Hey, when you come into your kingdom, this 260 00:23:32.690 --> 00:23:37.769 sort of new world that you established, this new this new kingdom, we 261 00:23:37.890 --> 00:23:40.609 want to sit on your right and left. That'll be cool, right. 262 00:23:41.640 --> 00:23:45.039 Of course, the other disciples are like what, what are they saying? 263 00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:48.079 We want to be in positions of power and authority. We want to be 264 00:23:48.240 --> 00:23:52.599 your number one and your number two. Guys, these two sons of Zebde, 265 00:23:52.960 --> 00:23:56.269 sons of thunder, these brothers, they they want to be in positions 266 00:23:56.309 --> 00:24:00.789 of power. Here's what Jesus says to them. You don't know what you're 267 00:24:00.829 --> 00:24:06.470 asking, he says, as is Mark Chapter Ten. Are you able to 268 00:24:06.549 --> 00:24:11.019 drink the cup that I drink? Are you able to be baptized with the 269 00:24:11.140 --> 00:24:18.779 baptism with which I am baptized? See Connections there to the sacraments right, 270 00:24:18.619 --> 00:24:22.940 the cop of the new covenant in my blood. That's what Jesus will say 271 00:24:22.299 --> 00:24:27.970 when instituting the Lord Supper. Go and baptize, he says. Are you 272 00:24:29.089 --> 00:24:32.730 able to do this? Will you be able to be baptized with the baptism 273 00:24:32.809 --> 00:24:37.130 with which I am baptized? He's speaking of the cross of this great distress. 274 00:24:37.170 --> 00:24:40.880 He will do her. You want to hear their answer, says in 275 00:24:40.960 --> 00:24:47.839 verse nine. And they said to him, we are able, no idea 276 00:24:47.880 --> 00:24:49.559 what they're talking about. And, as we know, the disciples all ran 277 00:24:49.720 --> 00:24:53.910 and him and fled and denied. When it came to the Cross of Christ. 278 00:24:53.990 --> 00:24:59.950 They were not able. And yet Jesus says to them the cup that 279 00:25:00.029 --> 00:25:03.750 I drink, you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am 280 00:25:03.789 --> 00:25:08.940 baptized, you will be baptized. The thing they don't understand yet is it's 281 00:25:08.980 --> 00:25:15.500 not going to be by their great honor or status or strength that that happens. 282 00:25:15.539 --> 00:25:19.619 It comes all, it comes in the midst of their weakness, of 283 00:25:19.779 --> 00:25:29.289 their freeing, of their sinfulness, of their despising good as they are all 284 00:25:29.450 --> 00:25:36.720 running. Christ is saving them. He is going through the baptism of God 285 00:25:37.799 --> 00:25:40.480 so that he might come out on the other side, and not only with 286 00:25:40.640 --> 00:25:44.559 hit, not only him, but all that he scooped up in his arms. 287 00:25:45.079 --> 00:25:49.670 And he brought with him all of us who were weak and unhonorable and 288 00:25:49.869 --> 00:25:56.269 filled with sin, and we're caught up in his arms. We come through 289 00:25:56.390 --> 00:26:00.990 on the other side. Well, that's why we in a participate in his 290 00:26:00.710 --> 00:26:06.940 death and his resurrection, and that's why Jesus says this is going to happen, 291 00:26:07.180 --> 00:26:11.380 just not in the way you think it'll happen, by God's grace, 292 00:26:11.859 --> 00:26:22.329 not their righteousness. And this is why all of our baptisms ultimately one baptism, 293 00:26:22.289 --> 00:26:29.690 because they connect to Jesus and his work on the cross. We are 294 00:26:29.849 --> 00:26:37.319 reborn by his spirit, through his blood, these things that testify the water 295 00:26:37.119 --> 00:26:45.200 as well. This is covenant life. This is what it means to belong 296 00:26:45.440 --> 00:26:51.150 to him because of his promises, because of his commitments, because of his 297 00:26:51.309 --> 00:26:59.549 saying, yes, you will be baptized with my baptism. The sign of 298 00:26:59.670 --> 00:27:03.619 Baptism, as you see, then, is not ultimately our profession of faith 299 00:27:03.660 --> 00:27:10.180 to God, but it's his profession and his promise to us. This goes 300 00:27:10.220 --> 00:27:12.180 all the way back. This covenant life goes all the way back to the 301 00:27:12.579 --> 00:27:17.970 covenant that began with Abraham, when God said these promises are for you and 302 00:27:18.089 --> 00:27:21.809 for your children and all who are far off. And it continues all the 303 00:27:21.890 --> 00:27:25.769 way up into the new covenant when the Holy Spirit comes and Peter says these 304 00:27:25.849 --> 00:27:29.569 promises are for you and for your children and for all who are far off. 305 00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:36.039 And that's why this morning, as we baptize Linda, we baptize her 306 00:27:36.200 --> 00:27:40.799 because she has a right to the covenant of Grace, because God has said 307 00:27:40.920 --> 00:27:48.069 that she has a right to it. This promise is for her and it 308 00:27:48.230 --> 00:27:55.670 is her it is God not only placing the sign on her, but calling 309 00:27:55.829 --> 00:28:03.220 her, as he does all of us, to believe those promises and if 310 00:28:03.299 --> 00:28:11.339 she does, when she does, she will have eternal life, just as 311 00:28:11.380 --> 00:28:15.210 all of us do when we put our hope and our faith in Jesus. 312 00:28:18.769 --> 00:28:22.410 What all this means, then, is that the Lord Jesus has instituted baptism 313 00:28:22.609 --> 00:28:27.559 is a sign of this promise, of this covenant that he has made to 314 00:28:27.759 --> 00:28:32.119 show to us and to confirm to us what he has done on a cross, 315 00:28:32.440 --> 00:28:36.680 on the cross, and what he has done, I tell you, 316 00:28:37.039 --> 00:28:42.230 is a gracious thing. It's something that we didn't deserve and that and yet 317 00:28:42.269 --> 00:28:47.589 he gives it to us. He gives it to us in baptism, and 318 00:28:47.789 --> 00:28:52.230 that's why we call it a means of grace. It's a means of grace 319 00:28:52.349 --> 00:28:57.099 for the one who is baptized, for the parents and for the whole church, 320 00:28:59.619 --> 00:29:04.980 because the Lord portrays this publicly, and for the whole community. Yes, 321 00:29:06.099 --> 00:29:08.740 it is the baptism of Linda, but it is a baptism that we 322 00:29:08.779 --> 00:29:15.849 all share in, because we all share in Christ. He and grafts each 323 00:29:15.970 --> 00:29:19.210 one of us into him self and in doing so he pulls us together into 324 00:29:19.849 --> 00:29:29.559 his body. And that's why we didn't do a private little ceremony for Linda 325 00:29:29.599 --> 00:29:33.799 and her parents and their home or the hospital or something like that, but 326 00:29:33.920 --> 00:29:41.390 they have come here, our parents have come here to present her for baptism 327 00:29:41.549 --> 00:29:47.789 in the midst of the Covenant Community and before the Covenant. Are Covenant God 328 00:29:49.190 --> 00:29:52.819 who's promised that. When we receive these promises by faith, they're not only 329 00:29:52.980 --> 00:30:00.059 signified to us but sealed to us as well. Our Baptism serves the physical 330 00:30:00.140 --> 00:30:07.170 confirmation that we belong to Christ and we belong to one another through the forgiveness 331 00:30:07.170 --> 00:30:11.809 of sins, that as we have been reborn and washed with the water in 332 00:30:11.849 --> 00:30:15.890 the word, cleansed by the blood and the spirit of Christ, that our 333 00:30:15.970 --> 00:30:19.690 new birth is resurrection life that we all enjoy as his church, as his 334 00:30:19.809 --> 00:30:26.839 people. I will be your God and you will be my people. In 335 00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:32.160 our baptism is a conclude. Now the Lord puts his name upon us, 336 00:30:32.920 --> 00:30:37.869 he claims us as his own and he summons us to assume the obligations of 337 00:30:37.950 --> 00:30:45.029 the Covenant, to enter into Covenant Life, a life lived by faith in 338 00:30:45.150 --> 00:30:51.420 Jesus, a life walking and obeying by the power of His grace and strength. 339 00:30:52.579 --> 00:30:56.819 When we consider our BAPTISMS, we consider what he has done and that 340 00:30:56.980 --> 00:31:02.420 we are to renounce the devil the world and the flesh that we are called 341 00:31:02.579 --> 00:31:08.250 to leave Egypt behind so that we might walk humbly with our God. So, 342 00:31:10.809 --> 00:31:14.410 as Linda is baptized this morning, I want to remind you that this 343 00:31:14.569 --> 00:31:18.759 is a family affair, not just for Linda and her parents, but for 344 00:31:19.240 --> 00:31:25.920 something even bigger than that, the family of God, a people that will 345 00:31:25.920 --> 00:31:33.109 last forever, brothers and sisters in Christ coming together in him. This is 346 00:31:33.789 --> 00:31:40.029 covenant life. And so, as Linda is baptized this morning, and as 347 00:31:40.029 --> 00:31:42.269 her parents commit themselves to raise her in the fear of the Lord, and 348 00:31:44.190 --> 00:31:49.660 as we commit ourselves to her and to them, let us do so as 349 00:31:49.740 --> 00:31:55.619 those who have been baptized, who belong to the body of Christ, who 350 00:31:55.700 --> 00:31:59.980 desire to walk together as a witness to the world, a witness of what 351 00:32:00.180 --> 00:32:05.250 he has done, the promises he has made and sealed by the very blood 352 00:32:05.490 --> 00:32:07.849 of his son. Let us pray