Rodney G. Burke Deaf Missions Council Bluffs, Iowa. Series: Christian Baptism Sermon: 4 of 4 Date: April 27, 2008

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Rodney G. Burke Deaf Missions Council Bluffs, Iowa Series: Christian Baptism Sermon: 4 of 4 Date: April 27, 2008 Baptism saves Hello! I m inspired about studying baptism.

1 Rodney G. Burke Deaf Missions Council Bluffs, Iowa Series: Christian Baptism Sermon: 4 of 4 Date: April 27, 2008 Baptism saves Hello! I m inspired about studying baptism. I recently met a big, Deaf man. We became friends. I shared with him about Jesus Christ. He was convicted and wanted to have a relationship with Jesus. So, I explained to him what to do trust Jesus, repent of his sins, call upon the name of Jesus, and be baptized. Wow can you imagine baptizing a 350-pound man? But, we got him in the water and even though it was hard, we got him back out! He was so happy and excited! What an inspiration! Now, this is the last sermon in this series on baptism. Today, I want to begin with focusing on Colossians 2: Colossians 2:11-13 When you want to plant flowers, you need to look for weeds first. You need to eliminate the weeds, including their roots. Then you can plant good seeds and they will grow. During baptism, circumcision without hands can only be done by Jesus. These verses show us clearly that Jesus does the work of circumcision. This kind of circumcision really means getting rid of our weeds, or sins, and planting good seeds. During baptism, your flesh or sinful nature is removed from you. Jesus removes your sins. How is your flesh or sinful nature removed? Through baptism and only God can remove your flesh or sinful nature. Jesus removes your old past. Then, God gives you new life with Jesus Christ. He truly forgives you of all your sins! As you watch Colossians 2:11-13, I want you to notice: 1. During baptism, Jesus is the one who does the work of removing your sinful nature. 2. During baptism, your old soul is removed. 3. During baptism, God makes you alive in Him and forgives your sins. 1

2 Now, let s watch Colossians 2:11-12: In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. Titus 3:5 Our next verse is Titus 3:5. You will notice the word washing in this verse. This means you must have water when you are born again. But, I don t want to focus on this. I want to focus on mercy. I would like to share with you a true story about sheep. Maybe you heard this from another preacher, Dave Borgaila. This is a story about two mother sheep, both of whom were pregnant. The first mother gave birth, then she died. The second mother gave birth, then her baby died. One mother was still alive. One baby was alive, too. Since the baby needed milk, he was put together with the mother who was alive. However, the mother rejected the baby because he smelled different than her own. The shepherd decided to get the baby sheep who had died. He cut the baby and poured its blood in a bowl. Then, he took the live baby sheep and put him in the bowl of blood. He made sure the baby was covered with blood. Then, he put the baby near the mother. Immediately, the mother smelled his blood. She ran to the baby and started feeding him her milk. Where was mercy in that story? The shepherd had mercy for the baby sheep. In the same way, God has mercy for people. Jesus is like the baby who died and gave of his blood. Jesus died on a cross and sacrificed His blood for us. And, the mother sheep who lived represents the Holy Spirit. Interesting Grace means finding favor and love. During baptism, we find favor with God and experience His love. That s grace. God gives mercy, too. I ve shared with you about Ephesians 2 and Colossians 2. I ve compared both of those passages and found similarities. They both talk about: 1. People that have lost souls. Because of sin, they are dead and have no life. They are spiritually dirty. Both Ephesians 2 and Colossians 2 talk about this. 2. Salvation and being made alive in Christ. 3. Being raised with Christ and sitting with Him in fullness. 4. Spiritual circumcision to remove sins and make you clean. 2

3 Both Ephesians 2 and Colossians 2 talk about salvation. Both talk about being saved by God s Word, in other words, hearing the Word of God. Ephesians 2 talks about God s grace. Then, both talk about being saved by faith. Colossians 12 talks about being saved by baptism, but it doesn t include grace. Ephesians 2 does not include the word baptism, however you can put Colossians 12 and Ephesians 2 together. This means salvation by God s grace happens during baptism. We notice in Titus 3:5 that God s mercy is experienced during baptism. Let s watch Titus 3:4-8a now: But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying. God is wonderful! Now, the last verse I want to focus on is I Peter 3:21. This verse says, baptism saves. It is very clear. Baptism saves. That is what His Word says. This verse also talks about removal of dirt from the body. How is dirt removed from the body? There is only one answer for that water. You will see that this verse does not emphasize water, however, water is included. We know here that baptism saves. In the Greek language, they have not but phrases. In the Greek language, this means the second part of the sentence is more important than the first part of the sentence. The first part is still included. So, we understand that water is not emphasized, but it is included. The emphasis here is calling upon the name of the Lord. When does this happen? During water baptism. Now, it touches my heart when I read symbolizes in this verse. Baptism symbolizes, or shows, a picture of salvation. Others will see that you are saved when they witness your baptism. People cannot literally see forgiveness of sins, however, they will know it has happened when they witness your baptism. People can see you have called upon the name of the Lord when they witness you confessing Him. People see you being raised with Christ when you come up out of the water during baptism. We can see a person s demonstration of faith during their baptism. We learn in I Peter 3:21 that: 1. Baptism saves. 2. Removal of dirt from the body requires water. 3. Baptism symbolizes what is unseen. 3

4 Let s watch I Peter 3:18b-22: He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God s right hand with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him. Really, I am encouraged greatly by God s Word. I love God and trust Him. Maybe you are confused. I want to tell you the history of faith and water baptism. There are three different historical accounts that are in conflict with each other. They are not all the same. The first account is that faith with baptism saves. The second account is baptism without faith saves. The third one is faith without baptism saves. Now, there is writing that dates back to the time of the apostles talking about faith and baptism. This writing states that faith with baptism saves. Now, the second account talking about baptism without faith saves dates back to 150 A.D. Finally, the third account, faith without baptism or faith only saves, was first written in 1520 A.D. This shows that faith only is relatively new compared to the other accounts. This account was written about 500 years ago, not 2,000 years ago. The man who wrote this account is Huldrich Zwingli. He wrote that faith without baptism saves. John Calvin studied under Huldrich s tutelage. Calvin s teaching has become very popular today. The doctrine of faith without baptism saves came to America 200 years ago. This teaching became widely accepted by many churches. But, we need to remember that before 1520 there is no evidence of writing or teaching that faith without baptism saves. So, my question for you is this. Do you trust history? I don t. Instead, I trust God s Word. I put my trust in Jesus. Who do you trust? I hope you trust Jesus. I give credit to a professor at Cincinnati Bible Seminary. His name is Dr. Jack Cottrell. My sermons in this series are lessons I ve learned from him and his teaching. I have been inspired to share this with you. If you want to learn more about baptism, have any questions, or want to discuss this, please contact Deaf Missions. Someone there will be happy to help you. Don t be afraid. God loves you. God wants you to be saved. Go ahead and make your decision today. God bless you. 4

Let s close in prayer. God, please touch our hearts to trust Your Word. We know only Jesus saves. Jesus alone guides us. Jesus grants us eternal life in heaven with Him forever. We pray. Amen.

5 Let s close in prayer. God, please touch our hearts to trust Your Word. We know only Jesus saves. Jesus alone guides us. Jesus grants us eternal life in heaven with Him forever. We pray. Amen Deaf Missions This printed manuscript is the English translation of a sermon presented in American Sign Language. The sermon may be viewed at LINK is a ministry of Deaf Missions. Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permissions of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. The NIV and New International Version trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by International Bible Society. Use of either trademark requires the permission of International Bible Society. Deaf Missions, Greenview Road, Council Bluffs, Iowa

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