The Real Baptism 1 Peter 3:21 Michael Sharrett 1 Peter 3:21-22 "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." Several weeks ago one of our attenders said to me, "Mike, I want to be baptized. I want to be immersed." And I said, "Well and good. But would you allow me to preach on baptism in several weeks hence so that we can talk about that immersion part." I perceive that many of you like this church and like the fact that the scriptures are preached, but when it comes to our baptism practice, you're a little baffled. You wonder, where do these Presbyterians get this baptizing infants and sprinkling and such from the scriptures? Let me say, we're very sympathetic. Perhaps it's a little bit like that magazine for children, "Highlights." Remember that? Do they still have it in doctors' offices? Well, my favorite part was "hidden pictures." In "hidden pictures" you had to find all these little objects that were very subtly blended into a bigger picture, which had nothing to do with the objects. I think many of our Baptist friends feel like our view on baptism is like that. They just can't find the object (infant baptism) in scripture. Where is it? Show it to me! We want to press on and finish our discussion of baptism in this sermon. We believe that the scriptures teach the baptism of infants. What I want to do is address what I've called "The Real Baptism." And we want to begin by looking at the meaning of baptism. Just a reminder, as we saw several weeks ago, baptism is a sacrament. A sacrament is an outward sign symbolizing an inward reality. In other words, sacraments are God's instruments to confirm to us, visually and dramatically, a spiritual, inward, and invisible reality. Sacraments are signs, they are symbols. So we begin with the question, "What does baptism symbolize?" Turn to Mark 1:8, for we want to take our first understanding of the answer to that question "What does baptism symbolize?" from the ministry of John the Baptist. Now the ministry of John the Baptist occurs in every gospel, and in every gospel it is clear that John understands his ministry to be preparatory. He is paving the way for the coming Messiah. In fact, Luke says that he was preaching the gospel. And we understand that because John's baptism, if you remember from the different gospels, is a baptism of repentance and forgiveness of sins. That sounds a lot like the gospel, doesn't it? Repent and receive forgiveness of sins. Mark 1:7-8, "and John was preaching and saying, 'After me comes one who is mightier than I and I am not even fit to stoop down and untie the thongs of his sandals. I baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." John's baptism was a baptism of preparation, a baptism of purification. That becomes very evident later on in a text we'll look at in John 3, and also in Luke, because when John the Baptist deals with the Pharisees who come out to see what his baptism is all about, they refuse it because they know that his baptism is a baptism of purification, and they don't believe they need to be purified, because they don't believe they're unclean. And Luke tells us, consequently, they rejected God's purpose for their lives. What I want you to see here is that John's baptism is a shadow of the reality to come in Christ. That's what he's saying. I baptized you with water, an outward symbol, but Jesus Christ is coming and he is going to baptize you with the Holy Spirit. That is the reality. You might say that John's baptism is ritual. The Holy Spirit baptism is the "real baptism."? In fact, you can be sprinkled as an infant, you can get dunked twelve times as a believer, you can have water poured over you a hundred times, but if you are not baptized in or by the Holy Spirit, you don't have life! The real baptism is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Look at Acts 1, where Jesus brings the two together. John's baptism is a shadow of the reality. Acts 1, this is just before Jesus Christ ascends, it is just before the fulfillment of the promise of the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost, and Jesus says in Acts 1:4, "Gathering then the disciples together, he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait for what the Father had promised, which, he said, you heard from me- (that's of course the promise of the Spirit)- for John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." The real baptism, the one that counts, the one for which John's was a shadow, the real baptism is the Holy Spirit's baptism. It is regeneration. It is the new life that the Spirit brings us through the Lord Jesus Christ-- that miraculous work of the Holy Spirit, raising our dead hearts to life. Now look at 1 Corinthians 12, because we have a direct allusion to Holy Spirit baptism. It is that act of God's grace that actually makes us members of one another, that unites us to the life of Christ. Remember that phrase uniting us to Christ. In 1 Corinthians 12:13 Paul says, "For by one spirit we were all baptized into one body, and were made to drink of one spirit". That is an allusion to the baptism of the Holy Spirit, to regeneration, to new life. That wonder which Peter spoke of in 1 Peter 1:3 where God says, "The Spirit has caused us to be born again." That is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Turn to Galatians 3:27. We have another allusion to the baptism of the Holy Spirit, regeneration, the new life we receive in the Spirit. "For all of you who were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ." I believe that this is what Paul talks about in Ephesians 4:4. Remember how he begins Ephesians 4, alluding to the unity of the Spirit that we are to preserve in the body. He goes on to say there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism. That's the baptism of the Holy
Spirit. The context tells us that he is speaking of the Spirit. There is one giver of life, the Lord Jesus who comes to us in the Spirit. Now, point two, if ritual baptism symbolizes real baptism then how, when we come to the scriptures, do we find baptism portrayed in the scriptures? Let's start with the Old Testament. Please turn to Isaiah 44:3, God promising blessings to his people. There's plenty of weal and woe in Isaiah. But in Isaiah 44:3 he says this, "For I will pour out water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground. I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring and my blessing on your descendants." So the coming of the Holy Spirit that is ultimately fulfilled at Pentecost, is symbolized with what image? The pouring out of water. Look at Isaiah 52:15. Verse 13 tells us of the coming of the Messiah. Jewish theology understood this to be a direct allusion to the coming Messiah. And he says in verse 15, "Thus, he will sprinkle many nations. Kings will shut their mouths on account of him for what had not been told them they will see and what they had not heard they will understand." Here is an allusion to the work of God sprinkling the nations. We will talk a little more about that when we get to the Ethiopian eunuch. This is an Old Testament example, perhaps pointing to the mode of the coming of the Holy Spirit or baptism. Now look at Joel 2. This is another Old Testament allusion portraying for us the coming of the Spirit. Joel 2:28 - "And it will come about after this that I will pour out my Spirit on all mankind. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions. And even on the male and female servants I will pour out my Spirit in those days." What mode is anticipated in that prophecy? Pouring, pouring out of the Spirit. Finally, go to Ezekiel 36:25. We read, "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart, and will put a new Spirit within you. And I will remove the heart of stone of your flesh, and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will be careful to observe my ordinances." In anticipation of the blessings of the coming of the Spirit in the new covenant, the Spirit will write the Law of God on our hearts, the Spirit being sprinkled upon us, as it were, a sprinkling of clean water delivering us from our filthiness. So in the Old Testament we have two allusions, pouring and sprinkling. What happens when we come to the New Testament? Look at Romans 5:5. Paul says, "And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who is given to us." What has Paul done? He has picked up the imagery of the Old Testament, pouring. He has directly connected that with the coming of the Holy Spirit, and he has added to it that this is an indication of the love of God for us. The Holy Spirit poured out into our hearts. Again, this reflects the very imagery of the Old Testament, the pouring and the coming of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps even more directly, look at Titus 3. I'm simply trying to make the point that the New Testament mind-set is very sensitive to the Old Testament mode that has been given concerning the coming of the Spirit through pouring and through sprinkling. Titus 3:5. These are rich and wonderful words. They declare to us the gospel. "He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to his mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Lord." Do you see what Paul has done? He has conflated the coming of the Spirit, he has given us the mode given in the Old Testament- pouring- and he has connected it to the baptism of the Holy Spirit, regeneration. There it is. He has washed us through the pouring out of the Holy Spirit and given us new birth. Now what in fact is the apostolic understanding of that as the Spirit himself comes? Let's look at Acts 2. Acts 2 records for us the magnificent results on the day of Pentecost. Jesus said in Acts 1 to stay put, the promise of the Father will come. They stayed, they were gathered, and then He fell. He fell like tongues of fire, the Holy Spirit. They were mistaken as drunken men because they were so full of the praises of God. How is this interpreted? Acts 2:16-17. Peter interprets it directly out of the prophecy of Joel 2. "For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel, 'And it shall be in the last days, God says, that I will pour forth of my Spirit upon all mankind.'" What's Paul saying? The coming of the Spirit, this initial wonderful baptism of the Spirit of the apostles and disciples is the fulfillment of Joel 2, and he is importing right upon this event the methodology, the mode given in the Old Testament, of pouring. Look at verse 33, "Therefore, having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Spirit, he (Jesus) has poured forth that which you both see and hear." What's he saying? He's saying Jesus has been given by the Father the Spirit, and Jesus has poured out the Spirit on his people. Praise God! What happens in Acts 10:34? This is Peter at the home of Simon the tanner in Caesarea, and Peter is giving an interpretation to what is happening, the conversion of the Gentiles. In Acts 10:44, "While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message." He fell, he came, he was poured, as it were. But the word that is used here is fell. "And all the circumcised believers who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Spirit had been..." What? "Poured out upon the Gentiles also". Contextually, we understand that the early church had a problem. They were racial bigots. They didn't understand that the gospel was for the Gentile, and the early chapters of the book of Acts are unfolding the drama for us of the first apostles and disciples beginning to see that, "Oh my goodness, God is saving all the nations, every person of every tribe
and tongue- that's who the gospel is for." And here they're beginning to see it. For they were hearing them speak with tongues, and exalted God, and Peter answered, "Surely, no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?" Now that's biblical logic: they received the reality, how can we forbid them to receive the symbol? That's his reasoning. Let's look at another example, Acts 11:15, where Peter gives a report of these happenings: "And I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, just as he did us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he used to say, 'John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.'" John's baptism, muses Peter, was a shadow of the reality to come. He remembers that the Lord made this connection. "If therefore, God gave them the same gift as he gave us also, after believing in the Lord Jesus, who was I that I could stand in his way?" What's his logic? His logic is: they received the reality, the Holy Spirit, why shouldn't they receive the ritual, the symbol, the water? Very clear. And in this connection, I might note, it is this idea from Acts10:45 of being poured out. The same language, the same imagery of mode being imported from the Old Testament. The next point is that in other places in the New Testament there is a clear linking of the concept of washing with the Holy Spirit. Remember when Jesus said to Nicodemus, "Unless you are born of water and the Spirit, you cannot see the kingdom of God." That little Greek conjunction can mean 'and' and it can mean 'even'. So Jesus could equally be saying this, "Unless you are born of water, even the Spirit, you cannot enter the kingdom of God." That's a perfectly legitimate translation of that verse. That in itself isn't conclusive. We read in Ephesians 5:26 how Jesus Christ sanctifies the church by doing what? The washing of water with the Word. And we know that in the New Testament, it is the Word of God that the Holy Spirit uses as he brings us life. Paul tells the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 6, where he goes through this litany of terrible sins- neither the adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor the ungodly, nor the such-and-such, will inherit the kingdom of God - he says, such were some of you. BUT, you were washed! You were sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of God. What's Paul doing? He is linking the idea of having the Spirit and being cleansed with this idea of washing. 1 Corinthians 6:11. Let's make a summary statement at this point. Baptism signifies at least the cleansing work of the Holy Spirit whom God poured out upon his people. The mode of baptism. Back to our attender who said. "I want to be immersed." I understand why she feels that way. There is a prevalent teaching in the church in the United States that the only permissible mode of baptism is immersion. And that seems self-evident from the fact that the word 'baptidzo' means to immerse. It seems self-evident from what we see of the different baptisms in the New Testament. I don't blame this believer at all for wanting to be immersed. So let's look very carefully at what the Scriptures teach. Let's go to Acts 8 and look at the story of the Ethiopian eunuch. Hopefully you know the details: this man was sitting in a chariot, Philip was supernaturally transported to him, he hears him reading from Isaiah 53, he says "What are you reading?", the Ethiopian eunuch says "I don't understand this.", Philip teaches him, he becomes a Christian. Praise God! And they get in the chariot and go on down the road- and this is a desert road- and it says in verse 35 that Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this scripture, he preached Jesus to him. Now that, really, every Christian ought to be able to do- preach Jesus from the Old Testament. It's all about Jesus. And as they went along the road, they came to some water. And they eunuch said, "Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?" Why is he surprised? Because you don't expect to find water in deserts. In fact, in that geographical region today, and in the historical record of that geographical region there has never been a report of water. This apparently is one of those springs that comes up seasonally out of the ground. So they saw some water. How much water? We don't know. Probably wasn't a lot; it's a desert. The eunuch is surprised to find water, and he wants to be baptized. Well and good. How was he baptized? The text doesn't tell us explicitly. Here's what is does tell us: verse 38, "He ordered the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he was baptized. And when they come up out of the water, the Spirit snatched Philip away." Look closely at that. Who went into the water? Both of them. So the 'going in' isn't an allusion to going under the water, because they both went into the water, and they both come back out of the water. This isn't being submersed in the water, not according to those words, or else they both went under the water! That's difficult to assume to have happened, since the baptizer doesn't go under the water. The prepositions here are important. It says they went "eis" the water. It's a little Greek preposition that means 'to' or 'toward'. We actually don't have to believe they literally stepped in the water, but presumably they did. The preposition does not imply, linguistically, that they had to go into the water; nor does the preposition that says "they went up out from", the simple Greek 'ek'. That preposition does not mean to come up from under something as if we're having pictured here, the Ethiopian eunuch rising out from under the waters, having been immersed. It doesn't tell us how he was baptized, but the language itself does not lead us to believe there was an immersion here. What did happen? I don't know for certain, but I find this fascinating: the eunuch was reading a scroll from Isaiah 53. Scrolls in those days didn't have chapter divisions. Guess what the last verse of Isaiah 52 is? "He will sprinkle many nations." Isaiah gave him the mode. Presumably. I can't prove that, but isn't that interesting? That Isaiah 53, all about the work of
Christ, is preceded by Isaiah 52:15, which is also about the work of Christ, Jesus sprinkling the nations. Nothing conclusive, but I don't see an immersion in this baptism. Number two. What happened on the day of Pentecost? We're told of the glorious results of Peter's preaching. Three thousand people believed in the Lord, and it says, "on that day were baptized." Where and how? Does it tell us? No. I don't think we can assume they walked twenty-five miles to the Jordan River and came back to Jerusalem. There is no indication that they left Jerusalem. How were they baptized in Jerusalem if they're all immersed? The only conceivable place to be immersed in Jerusalem is where? The pool that they have for the public drinking water. Now can you imagine the anti-jewish authorities and the Roman government officers who were standing watch over that pool allowing three thousand dirty people to be baptized in the public drinking supply? To be immersed in it? I can't imagine that. It doesn't say they weren't immersed; it doesn't say they were immersed. But how do you baptize three thousand people with immersion in Jerusalem in one day? Well, you might do it the way they did cleansing in the Old Testament. The priests took a branch of hyssop and they dipped it in the blood, and they sprinkled it on God's people as a cleansing. I don't know for certain, but it doesn't say there was an immersion. What about Jesus' baptism? Let's look at Matthew chapter 3. We have an interesting comment from Jesus. Jesus comes up to John the Baptist and he says, "Hey John, you've got to baptize me." And John doesn't like the idea. Right? He says, "Heavens no. I can't baptize you. Why do you come to me to be baptized?" Matthew 3:13. How does Jesus answer? He says, "Permit it at this time, for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he permitted him. So according to verse 15, the reason for Jesus' baptism is the fulfilling of righteousness. Look what happens in verse 16. "After being baptized, Jesus went up immediately from the water, and behold the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove." Now we should expect that there would be a connection of water and baptism with the coming of the Spirit. Shouldn't we expect that at this point? We've seen that in the Old and the New Testament. The case is often made that Jesus was immersed because of this phrase "he went up immediately from the water," but notice when he did. After he was baptized. So we don't know whether Jesus was immersed or not, but we do know this: the preposition "to come up from" - "apo" never means to be under something and come up from under it, as if he was submerged under the water and had come up from under it. It never means that. So you can't make an immersion here based on the prepositions used. What might the method of baptism have been? Well, let's think about this phrase, "Permit it to fulfill all righteousness." What would that be an allusion to? I believe this is an initiation of Jesus' priestly ministry. According to the law of God, priests began their ministry at age 30. Luke 3 tells us that Jesus was how old when he began his ministry? 30 years old. Coincidence? Numbers 8: 6-7 says what Aaron is to do when he consecrated a priest for the ministry, when you ordain them: take them at age 30 and sprinkle water on them for a cleansing. My guess is- I can't prove this- but my guess is that Jesus was either sprinkled with the purifying waters or he was poured upon- the waters of baptism were poured out. I can't prove it; I don't know conclusively that there was not an immersion, but I do know that there is a wonderful Old Testament precedent in the consecration of priests for their ministry. We know that Jesus came to be our high priest, and perhaps this is an allusion to the beginning of his priestly ministry. What about the example of John the Baptist. Look at John 3. John 3 tells us that John's and Jesus' public ministries overlapped for a period of time. They were both baptizing. John 3:22, "After these things, Jesus and his disciples came into the land of Judea, and there he was spending time with them and baptizing. And John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there, and they were coming and they were being baptized, for John had not yet been thrown into prison. There arose therefore a discussion on the part of John's disciples with a Jew about purification." So John is baptizing and there is a Jew in their midst who is inquisitive about all of this, and the issue that the baptism has given rise to is purification. We're going to see in a moment that purification is done in the Old Testament by sprinkling, and that would make perfectly good sense, because this Jew understood that. And he sees John baptizing, and in essence the baptizing of John and purification are used here synonymously. So, what's going on? John the Baptist usually does his baptizing where? In the river Jordan. According to the beginning of the text in chapter 3, it's the time of the Passover, the springtime. Typically in the springtime, the river Jordan is muddy and overflowing its banks with the spring rains. For some reason, we don't know why, John is not there. He's gone to the waters of Aenon. The word Aenon is plural for fountain; it's the place called "Fountains." My translation says, "because there is much water." The Greek literally is this, "many waters." If you were to go today to the springs of Aenon, you would be standing in a marshy area where the water is about ankle deep. Why has John gone to the springs of Aenon? Maybe- I don't know- but maybe because he knows that according to the law he needs clean water to perform ritual purification, that is, baptisms. I don't know, it doesn't tell me, I'm speculating, but he isn't at the river Jordan, he's in the springs of Aenon where it says not that there is deep water, there are many waters. Because a lot of people were being baptized by
John; he needed a lot of water. Is there an immersion here? I don't know. I don't think so, simply based on geographical evidence, but I couldn't conclude it definitely. But reflect on this issue of the Jew asking about purification... How was purification done in the Old Testament? It was done by sprinkling- the sprinkling of water, the sprinkling of water mixed with ashes, the sprinkling of oil, and the sprinkling of blood- that's how purification was done. There are one or two instances where a priest- if he became defiled by touching someone with leprosy- had to take a bath. We don't know whether he was submerged in the bathtub or not, and we don't even know if there was a bathtub. But there are one or two cases like that. But by and large, Old Testament purifications were done by what mode? Sprinkling. Not immersions. Perhaps that indicates something of what is going on here. Now let's take it a step farther and ask this question according to Numbers 6. What is the origin of baptism in the New Testament? Look with me at Hebrews 9:10. Here's what's happening in Hebrews 9: the writer is telling us that there is correspondence between what goes on in the earthly sanctuary of Israel, that God set up, and the heavenly reality, the true sanctuary in heaven. And what goes on in the earthly sanctuary has been transformed by the work and the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Hebrews 9:10, he says, "since they (the symbols that are a part of the earthly sanctuary) relate only to food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until a time of reformation (the time of reformation is the coming of Christ, the true sanctuary of God)." What about this word 'washings'? In the Greek, it's the word baptizmois, the plural of baptizmo "baptism". You could translate it, "these are various washings-baptisms." And then the writer goes ahead and he gives us some examples of those various baptisms. So for example look at verse 13. "For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh." There is an example of one of those baptizmois, and how is it done? By sprinkling. How about verse 19. "For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of the calves and goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all of the people." There is an example of another baptizmois. How was it done? Sprinkling. And verse 21. "In the same way, he sprinkled both the tabernacle and all its vessels." The point is that the Old Testament ceremonial cleansings were sprinklings. Now Numbers 7. Does baptizmo always mean to immerse? That's one of the arguments used against our form of baptism. Does it always mean to immerse? I've quoted here from James W. Dale, a scholar who has studied the classic Greek literature. One of the lines of reasoning is that in classic Greek literature, baptizmo always means "to immerse". According to this study, determining how the word baptizmo was used- apart from the Bible, in all the literature of ancient Greece, the word had many different meanings. In means to affect by controlling influence, to sprinkle, to die, to pour, to drink, to dip, to immerse. It means all those different things. Actually, we don't care how it was used in secular literature; we just care how the Bible uses it. That's what's important. Does the Bible always use the word baptidzo to mean to immerse? Let's look at 1 Corinthians 10. We have the word baptidzo or one of its cognate forms in 1 Corinthians 10. Paul says, "I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea." They passed through the sea on dry ground- none of them got wet- so it's hard to imagine that there's a water baptism pictured here. But more germane to the point, baptidzo means what in this context - immersed into Moses? No. The New Testament also uses the word baptidzo to mean 'to be identified with, to have solidarity with.' They were all under Moses' leadership; as God led Moses, so he led his people. It can't possibly mean immerse; they weren't immersed into Moses. They were identified with Moses. Moses was the leader and the "savior" of God's people as a type of Christ at that point. Same in 1 Corinthians 12:13, "For by one Spirit we have all been baptized into one body." Have you been immersed into the body of Christ, as if you've gone under the water somehow and come up? No, you've been identified with the body of Christ. That's what it means to be a Christian. That's the whole context of what Paul's talking about in 1 Corinthians 12. One body. We're united together by one Spirit. The word cannot mean immerse in that context. Neither can that be the meaning in Galatians 3:27. "For all of us who have been baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ." Who has been immersed into Jesus Christ? We have been identified with Christ. We have been united with Jesus Christ by faith, so that what is true of Christ, is true of you. And that's precisely the reasoning that Paul uses in Romans 6, "All of us who have been baptized into his death, have been baptized into his burial and resurrection." If you read those verses, and you substitute the phrase, "united with" or "identified with" for the word "baptize", you will have a perfect understanding of the biblical doctrine of union with Christ. We have been united to Jesus Christ by faith; therefore, what's true of Christ is true of us. You've died with Christ, you've been raised to new life with Christ. There's no mention of water in Romans 6:3-5. So where does that leave us? One observation: if immersion is the only possible mode, that would leave some believers situationally precluded from being immersed. What do I mean there? There are certain parts of the world that are too cold to practice certain forms of immersion, just as there are certain parts of the world that are too dry to allow immersions, and there are certain people
who should be baptized who couldn't be immersed. People on their death beds, paraplegics, people who aren't physically able to move, people who are weak and frail and sick, that come to Christ. Could they be immersed without certain threat to their safety and health? I don't think so. I think what God has given us is a mode of baptism that is rich in symbolism of the meaning of baptism that can be applied to all different kinds of people at any stage in their physical existence, including infants. As we conclude the part on the meaning and mode of baptism, I want you to see that baptism represents the grace of God. It represents what the triune God has done for you. God the Father has united you to the life of Jesus Christ; baptism points to our union with Christ. God the Son, Jesus, has sprinkled your conscience clean by his blood. The sprinkling of the waters of baptism point to that purification. And God the Holy Spirit has been poured out upon you, bringing you life, so that the pouring of baptism is an allusion to the coming and receiving of the Holy Spirit. It is decidedly Trinitarian; that's why Jesus said we are to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and it points to the gracious work of the Trinity. It points not to what I have done, but it points to what God has graciously done in my stead through the gospel. There is a warning here to unbelievers. The simple warning is this: if you refuse to walk in the way of the covenant, God will (I promise) eventually bring upon you the vengeance of the covenant. The water in 1 Peter 3 is the water that destroyed the people of the flood. The water in 1 Corinthians 10 destroyed Pharaoh's soldiers. Jesus said to his disciples, "I have a baptism to undergo." Remember that? And what happened to him? He became deeply troubled. Why? In that context, he speaks of judgement. He says, "I have come to cast fire upon the earth." So there is a judgmental aspect of baptism. But he says to the disciples, "I have a baptism to undergo, and I am deeply troubled." What was he talking about? He was talking about a baptism on the cross which was not an immersion, but it was an identification with the sins of his people. The sins of Christ's people were identified with his body, and the Father poured out his wrath on those sins on Jesus. That was his baptism! And that is our hope; that is your salvation. There is no other way. On the cross, Jesus Christ took in his flesh the circumciser's knife as God's judgement for sin, and you will be judged for those sins unless you flee to Christ TODAY! That's what counts. And you receive the Spirit, which is the REAL baptism. The writer of Hebrews puts it this way, "If you reject or neglect or trample underfoot the Son of God, you have regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant and insulted the Spirit of grace." Beloved and believer, it does not have to be that way. Christ will take you today. All who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Don't leave those doors without claiming his blood for you. To the believer, baptism is a pledge. It is a promise; it is God's word about what Christ has brought to us. Now how many of us wonder, "Does God really forgive my sins? Could he really forgive someone like me?" Of course we doubt that; of course we wonder about that. And in baptism we have a pledge; baptism declares, "God really washes my sin. God really cleanses my heart, regardless of how I feel." We have an outward pledge of an inward reality. You are truly purified and clothed in Christ's righteousness. That is the pledge of baptism. That's why Luther said baptism is a "daily garment to be worn by faith." Calvin said baptism is a "shield to repel doubt." Because of what it points to; because of what it symbolizes. The assurance that we have that Christ has paid it all, that his blood makes the foulest clean. Let me say this in closing. We looked at Galatians 3:27. It said, "all of us who have been baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ." If you're in Christ, you have been clothed with Christ. We could spend hours talking about the implications of that. Let me just exhort you with one. If you have been clothed with Christ, you must cultivate- by all the means of God's appointment- a love for the purity of Christ. A love for the purity of Christ, his love, his motives, his actions, his love for the Father, his devotion. Beloved, would you cultivate today- remembering your baptism, that you've been clothed with Christ- would you cultivate a love for the purity of Jesus. Study him, love him, pray to him, seek him, speak well of his name. And wear your baptism as a daily garment to repel doubt. There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins. And sinners plunged beneath its flood lose all their guilty stains.