Burchell, Graham: Thoughts on Baptism

What you have seen this morning is a very simple ceremony. Just a tank of water, one person physically carrying out the baptizing, and four people who have the desire to be baptized. Nothing complicated about it. You'll notice, of course, that those who were baptized gave witness to the fact that they had come to know the Lord Jesus as their own personal savior. Now, this may have been the first baptism that you have ever seen. Or you may have seen others, and perhaps they have caused questions to come into your mind, and for some reason you've been hesitant to seek answers. And so for a few moments this morning, I want to deal with a number of questions that come up, uh, when the question of baptism is mentioned. It's interesting, of course, how often things that arise theologically in scripture cause differences amongst Christians, and baptism is no exception. I looked on the internet on Thursday, and I found ten pages with eight items on a page dealing with baptism. All sorts of theories, all sorts of so-called religious beliefs, centering around the simple ordinance, the simple ceremony that you have witnessed today. Such is the mind of man that it's awfully difficult for us to accept something that's simple. I've always been glad that the Lord's given me a simple mind. I, I look at a, at a piece of machinery, and as long as it's working, I leave it alone. I'm one of those people that put things together and always has to have two or three screws left at the end and wonder where they came from. But as human beings, we have the, the sort of ability to take of a simple subject that God intended to be simple and make it confusing. One of the first questions I want to deal with is this: does baptism give personal salvation. Well, a very simple answer to that is that it does not. Uh, some religious bodies, such as the Mormons, and we'll think about that a little bit later on, claim that baptism is for the remission of sins. But they must have a different Bible than I have. Baptism is associated with salvation, but it does not provide salvation. When I say it's associated with salvation, when you read through the New Testament and look at historical instances where people come to know Christ as their Savior, you will find that it is invariably followed by baptism. Now, in our culture, uh, for some reason, we we leave a period of time very often between the moment of salvation and the moment of baptism. And some religious bodies will require you to take a six weeks course in baptism before they will baptize you. And again, if you look at the incidences in scripture, uh, you will find that, that nobody took time to have a course, that it followed very quickly upon salvation. And I think that's a challenge to us. When somebody comes to know Christ, we really ought to say to them straight away, go to your Bible and read what it says about baptism, and when you want to follow the Lord in baptism, we'll gladly fill the tank and have somebody do it for you. But let me s- set aside that one question. Baptism does not give a person salvation. Scripture is very clear, neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given amongst where men whereby we must be saved. And that verse, of course, is talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. And you heard these people who were baptized referring to a moment in their lives when they come to realize that they needed a savior because of their sins, and they found that savior in Christ. So I repeat, baptism does not give a person salvation. The second question then is, why immersion? Now here's another difference. Some people just get a handful of water and sprinkle it, particularly over a baby, and then wonder why the poor kid cry. Other people do what we have done and immerse in water. Why do we practice immersion? Well, the word baptism, the English word baptism, is a transliteration. That means it's an adaption of the Greek word baptizo. That itself comes from a root bapto. And it's always useful to go back to the time of scripture and find out how these words were used. When the... a Greek lady wanted to dye some clothes. She would first dip it in bleach. Completely. None of this tie-dye stuff that young people do today. The garment would be dipped completely, first of all, in bleach to clean it. And secondly, in the color to which it was to be dyed. And that very action tells us that the garment would have to be completely immersed in first the bleach and then the color. Now, why the bleach? Well, that was to clean the garment, and the dye, of course, was to change it. And by the action of immersion, we are, the person who is going through the waters of baptism is first of all saying, I'm cleansed by the blood of Christ. I was, I was in a figure submerged under that blood, and it's cleansed me from all my sin. And not only am I cleansed, but I'm changed. And so it's a beautiful word to use and a beautiful action to take a person and immersion them in the water and let them come up knowing that they've announced to all of us that they've been cleansed by the blood of Christ, and now they're a changed person, as scripture said, raised to walk in newness of life. The third question, and this is posed in very various ways. The first question is the next question is, well, what age should people baptize, be baptized? Now, you know when they're asking you that, they're trying to focus you on infant baptism. Doesn't really matter. Look at the variety of ages we had this morning. Three comparatively young people and one comparatively old person. I mean, relatively old person, sorry. I meant relatively old person. I got my, my English mixed up. But no distinction in age. Now let's talk about infant baptism. In AD four hundred, a man called Augustine started teaching about original sin. Now that's not as complicated as it sounds. He started to tell people that because they were born in Adam's race, they were born with both the ability and the desire to sin. Quite a true doctrine, of course, but one which really hadn't made an impact upon the people of the day until this man started to preach it. Now, in those days, they presented salvation as a four-part thing. First of all, you had to believe. Secondly, you had to repent. Thirdly, you had to confess Jesus as Lord, and fourthly, you had to be baptized. And they taught that those four elements were necessary for salvation. Now, you have a young child, let's take Micah, for example, and suddenly you, you are faced with this doctrine of original sin. Now, I know Micah comes from very intelligent parents, but the poor little fella doesn't know anything about confessing sins, and he doesn't know anything about repenting. He'll soon learn, but he doesn't. And he doesn't know anything about confessing Jesus as Lord. And so parents scratch their head, and they said, ah, but there's number four, So we can baptize him. And that was the reason that infant baptism came into the church, was the realization that three of the elements that they felt were necessary for, for, uh, for salvation, uh, could not be used in the case of a young child, but baptism could. And so infant baptism came into the church, and unfortunately it's carried on even today. Where then in the process of accepting Christ does baptism come in? Well, again, you're faced with a number of questions today. Uh, some people say, now to join our church, you have to be baptized into our church. Other people say you need to grow in grace. In other words, you need to, to be good enough, and when you're good enough, you're ready to be baptized. Others will say that baptism is a just an outward sign of inward grace, and so you can do it whenever you want to. And these are some of the, of the theories that sort of swirl around the question of baptism. Now let's think for a moment of the Mormon Church. They believe, and this is not in any way to knock them, this is merely to explain to you the differences that occurred around baptism. They teach baptism by immersion, but they teach that at that moment you are entering into a covenant with God, where on his side he forgives your sins, and on your side you commit yourself to trying to live a sinless life. And that's the, the Mormon thoughts of baptism. Have you ever wondered why, when you go into an Anglican church, one of the first things that you see is the font for baptizing? Now, this is not an accident. This is not, well, we've filled in everything else and we got no more room, so let's put the font by the door. It's there because they believe that baptism is the means of entrance into the church. And so they are presenting that as an object lesson by putting the font at the beginning of the church. But you know, and that's just an example. I, I read an article on the net by Francis Schaeffer, who has published some helpful literature in the past, and I didn't realize he was a Presbyterian. And, uh, as far as he's concerned, you could do it any way you like. Uh, that makes it a bit complicated, doesn't it? The practice in scripture is by immersion, and I've sought in a very brief way to present you some thoughts upon that question. I said at the beginning, and as I come to a close now, in my preaching class last week, I said to the students, never tell people you're going to close. So there you go, I prove, I'm waiting afterwards for to come down from the platform and have them say to me, what about it? Well, the only reason I'm saying that is because I am going to close. Where did I start? You've witnessed a simple ceremony, intended to present a simple lesson. And that simple lesson is this. That when a person comes to know Christ as Savior, which is the only way for salvation. It's a very easy way. Now, Terry doesn't agree with me because he was pretty nervous, and I think most of us are, but but in a sense, it's an easy way to present the truth of what's happened in your life to people. And the very simple picture is this, that going down into the water is, is indicating that you have identified yourself with Christ in his death, that you know you need his blood to cleanse you from your sins. But just as Christ himself was raised, so we don't leave them in the water. We, we tried to tease them a little bit, and and uh we told Shane that when he saw bubbles coming up, that it was time to sort of bring the people out of the water. But they're brought up out of the water to remind us that Christ rose from the dead, and that while we're identified with him in going into the water, identified with his death, so that coming up out of the water shows identification with his life. And those people who were baptized this morning are telling us that to the best of their ability, and I say that because that original sin placed in the human race by Adam still has its effect in the lives of believer. And sometimes in a believer's life, it's not easy to walk as God would have us walk. But they're saying that as far as they are able and as far as they have the strength to do it, they will walk in a way of life that will commend their Savior to those who see them. Four hundred and sixty. All the way my Savior leads me. What have I to ask beside? Can I doubt his tender mercy, who through life has been my guide? Heavenly peace, divinest comfort, here by faith in him to dwell, for I know whate'er befall me, Jesus doeth all things well.