McKendrick, Jim: Month Of Meetings-2001-01 ~ Heb 8:5-Symbols

Good evening. I'd like to turn with you this evening to the book of Hebrews, the book of Hebrews in chapter eight. The book of Hebrews in chapter eight. I just want to read one verse out of this, um, chapter as sort of an introductory takeoff on what we're going to, uh, try to speak about in the next four Sunday evenings. Hebrews chapter eight and verse five: Who serve unto the example in shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle, for thee, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount. The Lord was very particular that Moses would make the tabernacle just exactly the way he had seen it in the mosque, because it was a shadow, it was an example, it was a pattern of those things in the heavens, and this was to be a visible representation of that which was heavenly. And since it was going to be this visible representation of that which was heavenly, Moses had to be very careful that he made it according to the pattern that he had seen it in the Mount. Otherwise, very simply, we wouldn't have got the point, and that was the whole idea of the tabernacle. Which leads me into the subject, really, that I want to, uh, speak about in these next four weeks, and that is the idea of symbols. Now, I understand the word symbol isn't actually in there, but the, the concept certainly is. We deal with symbols all the time, don't we? It's something that is so common in our everyday lives that we, many of them, we don't even, uh, recognize maybe or realize the symbols. Uh, we see a red light, and we obviously know that we're supposed to stop. Why is it red? Well, red is a signal, a sign, a symbol, if you will, and, uh, in our culture, in many cultures, of the idea of danger or stop or whatever, and we associate red with that which is dangerous, red with that which, uh, we need to stop for, whether it's a red fire engine or a red light, something along the idea of red. It's a symbol. We have, you walk down the street and you, uh, and you, you, you look down the row of, of stores and you see a, a pole outside of one of the stores, and it's, it's got a red and white candy striped circular thing down the side, which doesn't mean a whole lot to you today. Certainly, uh, it doesn't mean today in one sense what it meant two or three hundred years ago, but everybody knows that inside that place there's a barber, and, uh, you can get your haircuts there. And, uh, now, now, and you say, well, that symbol doesn't, well, it does, doesn't it? Even though it may have changed, uh, over the years in one sense, but inside that place, there's a fellow that cuts hair, and it's it's a symbol of the guy who cuts hair, the lady. I guess these days ladies are doing as much as men. But anyway, uh, now now everything's done in one shop. It used to be women went to one place and men went to another. That's all down by the wayside, but the the idea is that you still got this red and white pole out front. Um, you see a a a truck, uh, it's white, and it's got a big red cross on the side of it, and immediately it comes to your mind that this truck belongs to an organization that deals with health and, uh, the disaster or something of that nature, relief. All of these kinds of things come to your mind because you see this white truck with a red, with a red cross on it, because it is a symbol of what happens and what is involved in that particular, in that particular truck. Clothing, um, you know, we all understand is, is symbolic as well, you know, uh, uh, I, I get a kick, maybe it isn't, I'm not sure if it's a kick, but anyway, I- I'm, I'm bedazzled, I think, uh, frustrated when I see ads every once in a while on a and, and uh, you say, what in the world are they advertising? You have no idea. Normally they're jeans. You ever notice jean ads never say anything about the jeans? What they're saying is you make a statement of some sort by wearing this particular brand of clothing. You make a statement because you wear this, these kinds of clothes. I mean, you had to have the Marlboro Man, you know, I mean, the Stetson hat says something. Clothing says something. Like a few years ago, uh, you would see a guy walk down the street, and he had blue jeans and suspenders and Doc Marten, uh, Doc Marten, uh, shoes, and you had a chain, uh, he had chains on the side of his pants, and he had his head shaved. You knew exactly where he was coming from, uh, sociologically. He was connected immediately with the skinhead movement, the neo-Nazi movement. That sort of died out these days. Now it's other things, and in clothing changes, you know, now you wear, now it used to be that the brand name was inside in a thing here, and it said this is what it's made. Now, now it's on the outside. Why? Because, because they put a lot of money, and and it's good to have that particular brand. I mean, you got to have Nike, or you got to have whoever it is on on the back of your clothing, and you wear it on the outside now because it says something. These are symbols, aren't they? Well, what is a symbol? Well, a symbol, by definition, is essentially a a material object which represents or is taken to represent something immaterial or abstract. Consequently, religion is filled with symbols, because in religion you are seeking to visualize concretely something that is abstract. The temporal and the seen symbolize that which is eternal and unseen, and so consequently the Bible, and whether we're dealing with Judaism in the Old Testament or Christianity in the New Testament, has symbols involved in both the Old and the New Testament. Now, in the Old Testament, we have symbolic acts as well as symbolic objects. In the Old Testament, you have an act of circumcision. Uh, that meant something, didn't it? It symbolized the fact that you belong to this particular nation, and in that particular nation, there were certain promises to which you, you have because you belong to that nation. You have the whole sacrificial system of the Old Testament symbolize different ideas. Of course, you also had objects. The rainbow was one of the first big ones, wasn't it? I will put a rain, a bow in the sky after Noah came out from the, uh, from the ark, and it was a symbol to Noah and to all mankind that God would never again overflow, overthrow the earth with a flood. It was a symbol, a covenant, a symbol in the sky, something we could see and be reminded that God will not do that again. And of course, the big one in the Old Testament from which we, we gathered our, our first, uh, verse was the, was the symbol of the tabernacle. And the tabernacle was this object, this what was built in the wilderness and got translated into a temple later on, was the supreme object. It was the place where God dwelled. And certainly we, we preach many, many, many messages, don't we, on the idea of the tabernacle and what it meant and how it points to Christ. In the New Testament, of course, there's, there's those same kinds of things. In the New Testament, marriage is, is brought before us as a symbol of something that is eternal. The Christian marriage is to symbolize the, the, the relationship between Christ and the church. You have the laying on of hands, which we don't do a whole lot of today, but it symbolizes fellowship, being together, identification, those kinds of things. You have, uh, you have the le- you have foot washing, which symbolized the humility and, uh, that kind of idea. And of course, we have objects in the New Testament as well, and that's where we're going to get to. Now my funnel is down to where we're going to go. We have water, baptism. We have head covering, headship. We have the bread and the wine. Symbols, yes, but symbols that are associated with the Lord's Supper, which are to bring to mind certain things that are very important in the New Testament. Interestingly, in the New Testament, uh, as far as objects are concerned, uh, to my knowledge, those are the basic four basic symbol, symbolic, uh, elements, if you will, symbolic objects. Now, obviously, these symbols are very important to God, simply because they are to demonstrate, they are to visualize that which is eternal. They are to s- be able to see in real life what is unseen in the abstract. And so, as Moses was commanded to make all things according to the pattern that was shown in the Mount. I find it interesting when we go back to the, uh, uh, the, the, the last chapter of, of Exodus, there's no less than, I've written them down here, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight— eight times in that one chapter, it says each, as they set up the tabernacle, in each little department, they do a do a couple things, as the Lord commanded Moses, as the Lord commanded Moses, as the Lord commanded Moses, as the Lord commanded Moses. Eight times in something like sixteen or seventeen verses, that particular phrase is used because he wanted to emphasize over and over to us that Moses had done this exactly the way God had commanded him to do it, and therefore the glory of the Lord came down upon that tabernacle. Because here it was in all of its pristine glory. Not much to look at, maybe, from the outside, but it was that which would be the object, the supreme object of Christ in his presence, the the God's presence in their midst. And so these Old Testament symbols were, were very important in the Old Testament. Just so these New Testament symbols are important for us today. As the Old Testament symbols had to be obediently followed to the very last detail, so in the New Testament, the symbols that are given to us today in the New Testament are to be obediently followed to the last detail. Therefore, I would submit at the beginning of these, of this series, that we can never relegate a New Testament symbol to an area of secondary nature, to an area of unimportance. These symbols are very highly important. They are important to God, and he expects us, just as he expected Moses, to follow them and be obedient to them to the very last detail. Interestingly, these symbols have been relegated to an area of unimportance in much of New Testament Christianity, and unfortunately amongst many of the places that I happen to visit. It's unimportant. I was, I was shocked, frankly, going into an assembly in Western Michigan a number of years ago now, and I preached a message, and in the midst of my message I talked about the necessity of baptism. It was fascinating how many people in the audience had never been baptized and had been in fellowship in this assembly for years. And as a matter of fact, they thought it was rather unimportant. As a matter of fact, I was accosted. And I, that was the last place I expected to be accosted about that particular subject. And it was etched in my mind that we should never, ever take these things for granted, that there's people that are sitting in New Testament churches today who may not understand the importance of these very important New Testament symbols. And so at the risk, with the risk of being very ABC-ish, I want to talk about this very first symbol of New Testament importance, and that is a symbol of the water, if you will, baptism. As you know, there are various baptisms in the scriptures. There is John's baptism, there's the baptism of Christ, there's believer's baptism, there's the baptism of fire, there's the baptism in the Holy Spirit. There's a number of these things there, and one can get all messed up, I suppose, as one goes through it, but I have found an easy way, at least in my simple mind, to keep things straight, and I, I always ask myself when I come across these, these passages, well, who is the baptizer? Who's doing the baptizing? And then the second question I also ask myself is, who is being baptized? Who's the baptizee, if you will? And then, and then thirdly, I, I want to ask, for what is the purpose of this baptism? That's very important. And, uh, so, so I need to understand who is the baptizer, who's the baptisee, and for what is the purpose of the baptism. And when you square those things away, then, then suddenly these various baptisms sort of fall into place for you, and you begin to understand them a little more clearly. And obviously, I don't have the time, uh, this evening, and that isn't the purpose of where we're going, is to discuss all these various baptisms, but the bo- bottom line is we're going to discuss one, and that is called, that we will call believer's baptism. And, uh, this is the one that we would like to discuss, and in in basically, uh, to follow that idea through, the baptizer are those men who, to to begin with, and in following down, are disciples of the Lord Jesus. I mean, that's who do the baptizing. The, the people who are baptized are those who, who are, who receive the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. They're believers. And then, uh, fourth, thirdly, the, the purpose for which they are baptized is to identify themselves publicly with the Lord Jesus Christ. And in an a- in a nutshell, that, that, that sort of wraps the thing up. But I'd like to look at that just very briefly, obviously, this evening, to, to give us a handle once again on, on this, on this great truth of baptism. And first of all, I want to say, where do we get our authority to baptize? Obviously, that's very important, isn't it? We need to have scriptural authority to do what we're doing, and if I'm going to baptize someone, I need to have scriptural authority for it, and there is no clearer scripture authority for it than Matthew chapter twenty eight and verse nineteen, where it says in that very famous verse, go ye therefore and make disciples, or teach all nations is the way the King James has it, uh, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. I had a fellow a number of years ago that gave me a nice little outline for this, and uh, he, he has it, uh, he was, he was good at these kinds of things, and I jotted it down, and I've never forgotten it. And uh, and the first thing he says that verse says is, is you make, you gotta make 'em. You gotta make disciples of all nations. That's what we're out after. It isn't seeing, uh, people make a commitment to Christ. It isn't seeing people raise their hand or sign a letter. It isn't those kinds of things. It is, it is receiving the Lord Jesus Christ, making disciples, followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we are, we ought to be in the business of preaching the gospel to every creature that they might become followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. So we make disciples. The second command in that, in that, uh, that passage is marking them with water. Marking them with water. Here we need to have these disciples marked out as those who are followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, identified with him, marked as such. You know, it's one thing, you know, when you, when you join the, uh, the the armed services, uh, I suppose in any country there is a, a, uh, some kind of a ceremony of some sort that you go through. I mean, you sign your name on the dotted line, uh, as my son did a number of years ago. You sign your name on the dotted line, and you're going to be inducted, and come such and such a day, you're going to be hauled off by bus or whatever down to, uh, basic training, and and you get into boot camp. Now, when once he signs on the dotted line, he was a member, he was part of the military. He was in the Navy right then. But when he got to camp, the first thing they did was they gave him a uniform, and he was thus publicly identified as part of the Navy. Now, they had dress uniforms and work uniforms, but believe me, they were, had to be in unit. As a matter of fact, your clothes were hustled away someplace. I'm not sure just where all they went. Maybe they went in the garbage, maybe they came back home. I have forgotten exactly what they did, but the bottom line was that from there on in, he, he, he was in the arm, he was in the Navy, and he was dressed accordingly. In a very real sense, that's what we mean. There needs to be that time in our lives when we receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, but there needs to be that time in our lives when we are publicly marked as those who are followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the symbol that the Lord that that is given to us for that public marking is baptism. It is an important symbol. And thirdly, we mold them with the word. We teach them to observe, not learn, but to observe. Note the difference there. It's not teach them to learn all the things that they're supposed to do. No, no, no, no, no. It's teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. So we make them, we mark them, and we mold them. And that's the three. those are the three aspects of that, of that particular command. And, and when we fall short of that, uh, we fall short, and we need to see all three of those things happen. Now, in the New Testament, of course, in the book of Acts, we begin to look at that, and we unders- we begin to understand just exactly how the disciples understood that command. Because that here, here we have the history. And so how do the the disciples understand that? Well, you get to Acts chapter two and in verse forty one, they they gladly received the word. You don't get far into Acts, eh, do we? Yeah, they they gladly received the word, were baptized. It is those who have received the word who are saved, and they were baptized. And this is all the way through the the the book of Acts. Not only to the Jewish nation in Acts chapter two, which had a significance to the Jewish nation over and above, but but certainly we're dealing with the same symbol, but it was also to the Samaritans. Oh, Philip went down and preached in Samaria in Acts chapter eight, didn't he? And in Acts chapter eight he saw folks saved. Now, what did he do with those folks that got saved? He baptized them, didn't he? And, uh, you know, later on, uh, in chapter eight he he he he leaves the Samaritans, and the Lord is hustles him out here, and he finds this Ethiopian. Here's a Gentile. And, uh, this Ethiopian, uh, is reading Isaiah, and, uh, I'm not sure where he found baptism in Isaiah, but certainly he got it there somehow, and he was a good evangelist. And then the bottom line was that it wasn't too terribly long that, that this Ethiopian received the Lord Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. And pretty soon he's saying to Philip, he says, here's an oasis, here's some water. What does, what hinders me to be baptized, right? And so they, what did they do? They went down, both of them, into the water, and they, they were baptized, you see? And I haven't found baptism in Isaiah fifty three, but, but believe me, uh, the, the good disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ was going to follow along with what the Lord Jesus Christ told him to do. Not only was he going to make disciples, but he was going to mark them with water, and he went beyond that. And we find it nine times, if you will, in the book of Acts. Over and over and over again, this same thing is, is, uh, is, uh, brought forth in Acts eighteen, chapter uh, in chapter eight, where is sort of a, a condensed thing, I like it, and it's dealing with the, with the church at Corinth. They, hearing the word, believed and were baptized. And that's precisely what happened throughout the book of Acts. I would like to suggest to you that in the book of Acts, Baptism baptism is is consistent. consistently identified with the evangelistic message, not the local church. Because baptism is not really, obviously the local church needs to uphold that doctrine and uphold that, that symbol, but, but essentially baptism has to do with evangelism, as opposed strictly with the local church. And in most all the cases, and I suppose you could argue with me on a couple of cases here and there, but the bottom line is that baptism was consistently and constantly associated with evangelism, and it was immediately following evangelism. And thus it was in reality that, that we have these people hearing, believing, and are baptized. And so, essentially what I'm saying here, not only do I have the authority for baptism, but in the way the apostles understood that, I have the people who are the candidates for baptism. Who is baptized? Believers. Consistently, constantly, there's no one else being baptized in the New Testament besides those who have believed the word. It is for believers, it is for disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is for only, it is only for believers, and obviously this particular question, which I trust that we don't have to get into very heavy in this particular crowd. Uh, that particular question has divided the church down through the, down through the ages on whether we baptize, uh, believers or, or if we can baptize those people who have no idea how to believe, and that is little babies. And little babies have never believed, obviously, they cannot, but there's a lot of places that baptize their little babies. And then this has absolutely no support in any way, shape, or form in any point or any part of the scriptures. It is believers who are baptized, those who have received the Lord Jesus, have heard with the understanding, believed in their heart, and ob- in obedience they followed the Lord in baptism. Now, if, if, if it's baptism, if it's believers who are baptized, and our authority for baptizing is the word of God. And then what is the mode of baptizing? Well, consistently, while we don't have a lot of, I, you know, there, there isn't a lot of places here, but the, the bottom line is that the word itself, the definition of the word itself, has the idea to immerse. And without getting into all of the details of the various, uh, words that are used here, but the, the bottom line here, it all has to do with immersion. It doesn't have to do with sprinkling, it doesn't have to do with pouring, it has to do with immersion. The the The the two very prominent passages that we would use would be in in Acts chapter eight. They went down, both of them, into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized them. Now there was a, there was lots of water there, enough water for both of them to get down into, and certainly, uh, they, uh, he baptized him in that situation. And of course, in Romans chapter six, which we're, whoa, I don't know how we're going to get to tonight, but in Romans chapter six, we have this idea that we are buried, which is going to lead me to Romans chapter six, which is where we're going to turn to. Romans chapter six says we're buried with him in baptism. Now, in in baptism, you're going to bury somebody, they're supposed to be all the way under. And, uh, you, you, you can't bury somebody and have them laid up half on the top of the ground. And in fact, you bury somebody, they're all the way in, and thus we have this idea that Paul uses as burial. So we have immersion is obviously the mode by which we are to baptize. Now, what is the purpose of believer's baptism? And now we save the last, the last four minutes. This is probably the most important, but anyway, here we go. Uh, turn up your hearing aids, we're gonna talk fast. But the bottom line is this, that, that, that there is uh three purposes, three, three ideas connected with it. Number one, the very, at the very simplest level. Oh, baptism is simply, if you don't get anything else, it's being obedient to what the Lord has commanded you to do. And if you never get any further than that, you got to get that far. If you are a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, you will desire to be obedient to his simple command, and his simple command is to be baptized. In Matthew twenty eight, it seems to put the onus of that responsibility upon the disciples. If you go to Mark chapter sixteen, it seems like the onus of baptism is upon the person who has received the Lord Jesus Christ. And so therefore, whether the, whether the responsibility is yours as a believer or yours as an evangelist, they got to get together, and in very simple fashion, that the very bottom line is the fact that believers are to be baptized if they want to be obedient to the command of the Lord. And a person who is a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and is not baptized is living in disobedience to the Lord. It's that simple. And that's where I got in trouble before. Secondly, I haven't changed my mind, obviously. Secondly, the the the second aspect of this is identification, is it not? And this is what we find in the book of Acts, this is this identification as a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ in contradiction, contradistinction, rather, to being a disciple or a follower of someone else. This was especially poignant for the Jewish nation, and they became a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. Save yourself from this untoward generation. Publicly, they identified with the Lord Jesus Christ. And how did they identify publicly with the Lord Jesus Christ? In a very significant symbolism in his death, his burial, and his resurrection. This flew right in the face of what they had professed prior to their conversion, that this Jesus wasn't really resurrected from the dead, which was going around the Jewish nation in the, in the, in the early days. But here were people who said, yes, he is not only dead, he is not only buried, but he is raised from the dead. This is the crux of the gospel in the book of Acts, in the resurrection, and they were going to identify with this one by going into a symbol which symbolized death and burial and resurrection. What a beautiful symbol this really is, and in our identification with what he has done. I remember when I went to Japan. I don't have time for this, but I'm going to tell you anyway. I went to Japan a few years ago, and and I had, I was met by three or four believers there, and the and the qua- one of the questions they asked me as they were trying to practice the seventeen words of English that they knew, and that was, uh, when were you baptized? And you know what? I didn't remember. Oh, I knew I was baptized. There was no doubt in my mind that I was baptized. I remembered the event, but I didn't remember the date, and this is what they were. And so I asked the missionary, I says, why are these people so interested in when I was baptized? I mean, people ask me when I was saved, I'll tell you, but, but, uh, b- b- b- b- baptism. And he said, well, you see, when you're baptized here in Japan, that's when they cut you off from the family, because in baptism you have publicly declared that you're following Jesus Christ, and all of the ancestor worship that is involved in Buddhism and Shintoism, you are denying. And that is a very difficult thing for the Japanese believers. The Japanese believers will be saved, and you may not really know whether they're saved or not, because they're not going to be forthright with it until they are ready to come up and say, I want to be baptized. And when you, when a, when a Japanese person comes up to a missionary and says, I want to be baptized, he can be pretty sure that he has come to full circle, and he has come to a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ as his Lord and his Savior, and he is ready to take a public stand which will cut him off from his family. That happens today. It happened in the first century. It's happened down through the years. It is a symbol which identifies us with the Lord Jesus Christ. And I have to make a decision. And I'm going to make this decision, because I can get balled out an awful lot easier for going overtime than for holding over part of this message till the next time. And besides that, I don't want to get into this, this next part of this message, frankly, and try to do it in thirty seconds. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to quit. Because there is, in Romans chapter six a very important section where Paul is not really talking about baptism. That's the bottom line, and yet it demonstrates to us the important doctrinal aspect of what baptism means. And while Paul isn't talking initially about baptism, he's talking about, shall we continue in sin? That grace may abound. That's what he's, that's the question he's answering, and in answering the question, he goes, he turns back to their baptism and said, well, what did you symbolize with that? And it's a very important passage for us to understand. And when we understand that very important passage, we will begin to understand the very important aspect, the a very important, uh, reality of what baptism is. Baptism, a very important symbol, one that we should not put on the back burner, one that we should include, and my wife will say, you don't do this very well in your gospel preaching, one that we really should include in our gospel preaching much more often than we do. Are you ready not only to raise your hand, not are you ready to sign on a, a, a card, are you ready not only to come forward, but are you ready to publicly identify yourself with Jesus Christ in his death, in his burial, in his resurrection. Are you ready to say your past life is done, and a new life is begun? And that's what baptism really symbolizes. And tonight I just have to ask you a very simple question, because unfortunately, this simple question can be asked in many places that you would not expect it needed to be asked, and that is this. If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ tonight, have you ever been baptized? And if the answer to that question is no, I would suggest that you get this tape from Mr. Hanks and listen to it again, and come to an understanding of the necessity, the importance of this great New Testament symbol called baptism. Shall we pray? Father, we thank you this evening that in the New Testament that you have given to us symbols, things that we can see. But they're not just symbols, not just things that we can see, but these symbols point us to very important doctrines of the New Testament. And our Father, we recognize that when we don't put importance upon the symbols, we run the great risk of not putting importance upon the doctrine. And our Father, we would pray that the doctrines that are represented by these symbols will be important to us, and thus the symbols for those doctrines become important to us. That we might not relegate these symbols to some secondary part of your word, but the very basis of the doctrine of the Christ that we profess to follow. And as we look at these various symbols, may they gladden our hearts and cause us to rejoice in what they represent. Lord Father, we just would pray your blessing upon these remarks, and our Father, we would pray that we might continue to follow them through as we meet together from time to time this month. We would ask this in our Savior's name. Amen.