05 Baptism in Water - Part 1

Hi there, welcome back to Start Here. In the previous sessions we covered salvation. In this session we're going to be covering water baptism. Who qualifies for baptism? Why should I get baptized? And what are the effects of baptism? So why don't we jump into this session together.

Baptism is a big concept in the New Testament. The Greek word is *baptismo*, which means to dip, or dye a piece of cloth. So you take a white piece of cloth, you totally submerge it into the dye. The whole piece of cloth, not just part of the piece of cloth.

Who Can Be Baptized?

And the cloth comes out and it's a completely new color. The first question I would like to answer is, who qualifies to be baptized? Who can get baptized in water? In Acts 2:37, we see when Peter preaches on the day of Pentecost to the Jews.

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?" And 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." To answer the question, you have to have a convicting moment with the Holy Spirit under the Word of God. You have to get cut to the heart and you have to ask that question.

What must I do? And the answer is this. You must repent of your old ways. You must realize that you're a sinner, that you've got black in your life. You must accept Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. And we do that by faith. And when we do that by faith, the Bible says that we are quickened.

We become alive in our hearts. Where our spirits were dead, now our spirits become alive. And we get reconnected to the Father heart of God. You have to be able to do that in order to be baptized. You can't get baptized first and then have that experience.

You must first have a repentant experience before you can get baptized. All right, is that clear? So who can get baptized? Anyone that is saved can get baptized. Do they have to go through like a process of discipleship before they can be baptized?

That's not what I see in the Bible. I see in the Bible is that, Peter preaches, there's a repentance that comes, and then there's an immediate response. You have to ask, what shall we do? Repent and be baptized. And they took them down and they baptized them straight away.

Why Baptize in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?

The next question I would like to answer with regards to baptism is this. Why do we baptize in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit? Because Matthew 28:19 it says, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, Holy Spirit."

This is a wonderful picture of our salvation process that we're in. Because salvation is a moment, but salvation is also a process. Let's read some more verses and then I'll answer why we baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

So Romans 6:4 says, "We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Jesus Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk into the newness of life." And so we walk into a newness of life when we get baptized.

Our old man gets buried and there's a new life that comes up. 1 Peter 3:21 says this: "And the water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from your body, but a pledge of a clear conscience towards God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ."

So in other words, when you get baptized, you're not taking a bath. You're not washing off the dirt of your body, but you are washing clean your conscience. And so we get forgiven from our sins the moment that we give our heart to Jesus.

Baptism as Burial and New Life

Baptism can be a very powerful moment that when we go into the waters of baptism. You know that the devil wants to come and accuse you. How many of you have experienced that? Yeah, he wants to pull you back into Egypt. He doesn't want you to be a Christian.

He doesn't want you to live for God. And so he's going to try every trick to try and undermine you and make you think that you're a sinner and pull you back. And so baptism is a wonderful moment where you can say, that was my moment.

I know that I'm saved. And so when the devil comes to accuse you, you say, "No." I would even write it in the front of my Bible to remember, that day I was buried. You can't accuse a dead man. Can you? No. In dead men all accusations are dealt with.

That's what happens to us in baptism. We get buried and we get raised to a newness of life. And so we get raised to a newness of life in the name of the Father, because the Father had a plan for us. And so when we die, we go into the waters of baptism and we step into a newness of life.

What we're acknowledging is that I'm stepping into a newness of life and I will now no longer live my life my way according to my plan. Or maybe even the plan that my parents or someone else had for me. But I'm submitting my will to His plan.

There's such a powerful image. Sometimes when—most of the time when people get baptized—they arrive at the baptismal pool and the first thing they do is they take off their watch. They take out their car keys. They take out their wallet. They take out their cell phone.

They even get dressed into different clothes. And then they get baptized. And then once they come out of the water of baptism and newness of life, they take their wallet, their money, their finance. They don't submit their money and their finance to God.

They take their time. They take their car keys—which resembles where they want to go, where they want to live, what they want to do, where they want to do business. They take their social connections, their Instagram, their Facebook. And we live our lives as if Christ has come to die for a portion of our lives.

How much of Christ did He give to you? He gave all of Himself. He left heaven, came to earth, took on the form of a servant, and died a humiliating, painful, excruciating death on a cross for me and you. And so, Christ is the example for us.

When we get baptized, we leave behind our plans for our time, for our money, for our travels, for where we want to be. And we come up and we say, "Lord, not my will, but Your will be done." And so Jesus says this: If you are truly My disciples, you will take up your cross daily and follow. That's why we get baptized into the name of the Father. There's an acknowledgement that God has a plan. And I'm going to do my best to follow Your plan through the leading and the guiding of the Holy Spirit.

What It Means to Be Baptized into the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

Applying the blood of Jesus when I slip and trying to find out what it is that You have for me—the good works that You've set out for me to do. Secondly, we get baptized into the name of the Son, because Jesus is now our mediator.

He's the one that came to die for us, and He shed His blood for us. And so, like we spoke about yesterday, the blood can be applied to our lives in different ways. And we still need the blood of Jesus to mark us, to consecrate us, and to move us forward.

And so we acknowledge that we get baptized into the name of the Son, because we are now living a sacrificial life. Just like Christ lived the sacrificial life. And then lastly, we get baptized into the name of the Holy Spirit. He is the Paracletos.

He is the one that comes next to us. He's our aid. He's our advocate. He's the one that leads us. He's the one that guides us. And so when we come up out of the waters of baptism, we're expecting the Holy Spirit to lead us on.

So that we can find the will of God for our life. So that we can apply the blood of Jesus in areas where we still need to become better and more like God. And so that we can walk on. And that's why we get baptized into the name of the Father, the name of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Baptism really is like a Trinitarian thing. So we've just finished this teaching on baptism and we're going to be looking at two testimonies now to underline this concept for us. Let's have a look at those.

Baptism Testimonies

"So I've been saved for a number of years now, and recently I had the privilege of baptizing my youngest sister. I had given my life to the Lord a number of years ago. Very recently I really felt the Lord calling me to be baptized. So I decided as soon as the next opportunity arose, I was going to do that. So it was a baptism Sunday for Stellenbosch PM congregation. We had Mike Davies coming to speak to us about what baptism really is, why we still do it, the heart behind it. So I put my name down. I was extremely excited. Then I asked my brother and my COM leader to baptize me. I had the privilege of baptizing my younger sister straight afterwards. The friend that she had brought along also asked to be baptized. I was about to get out of the pool and then I was told by Leonard to stay. I was quite confused."

What was incredible for me to see was that my sister, after being baptized for about 30 seconds, had the privilege of baptizing her friend. It was such an honor, and a privilege. It just goes to show how the Lord works. Just showing that it doesn't have to be an elder that baptizes.

Baptism and the Call to Respond

It doesn't have to be someone who's been saved for 20 years. But all of us can follow the call in doing what the Lord has called us to do. So that was really cool for me. So we've heard about baptism. Now we want to create an opportunity for you to discuss that with your facilitators.

And after listening to the testimonies and to the teaching on baptism, maybe you feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit to get baptized. And I would like to encourage you to do so as soon as you can.