Jeff Durbin on Baptism: Part 1

all right if you would open your Bibles to Romans chapter 6 some people call Romans the Gospel according to st. Paul I think that's a good description of it Romans chapter 6 if you really want to get to the nuts and bolts of the Christian message and the gospel you really need to understand and read and put this book this letter really into you into your heart if you're new to the faith and you truly want to understand the gospel and God's purpose in the gospel you need to read Romans Luther who set the spark that lit the Reformation Luther said that Romans should be a part of the daily diet of every Christian Romans chapter 6 after the Apostle Paul explains our condition after he explains what God has done in Christ after he gives us that long collage of verses from the Old Testament to show all of us our condition before Jesus Christ and he explains now what God has accomplished in Jesus and the why and he begins to describe justification through faith in Jesus Christ apart from works of law he goes back to Romans for father Abraham and shows how was Abraham justified before God how was he credited righteousness and shows that the father of our faith Abraham the one God promised to bless the whole world through all the nations are going to be blessed in him shows that he was justified through faith and he was credited righteousness he goes to David and shows what about David David is that blessed man God does not count his sins against him and he actually credits to him a positive righteousness through faith and he'll never count her sins against us again he shows us how there was one man Adam through him death spread to all of us now there's this Christ who's the second Adam the perfect Adam and in him we have eternal life and righteousness he gets into Romans 6 now and this is really interesting because Paul now has an imaginary objector I want you to think about it for a moment he's been down this road before he's had this debate he explains the gospel of God's grace through faith apart from any work of law it's all Jesus it's none of us he's preach this message so much in the synagogue's he's preached it in people's houses he's preached it on the street he knows the objection so he has this imaginary objector in the backgrounds that he's gonna answer because he knows what they're thinking he knows what's between their ears he knows you're gonna hear this message of God's grace and you're gonna think maybe he's saying something that he's really not and so here's Romans 6 here now the words of the living and true God Romans 6:1 what shall we say then are we to continue in sin that grace may abound by no means how can we who died to sin still live in it do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death we were buried therefore with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father we too might walk in newness of life for if we have been United with him in the death like his we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his we know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin for one who has died has been set free from sin now if we have died with Christ we believe that we will also live with him we know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again death no longer has dominion over him for the death he died he died to sin once for all but the life he lives to God so you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to make you obey it's passions do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life and your members to God as instruments for righteousness for sin will no dominion over you since you are not under the law but under grace as far as the reading of God's Holy Word let's pray father we come before you only because of Jesus God we have a week behind us of failure and sin and victory Lord sadness and rejoicing and we come Lord now into your presence to hear your holy word let's pray God with all my heart God as a minister to these people that you would bless the words that I say I pray that you guard my lips from error and I pray God that you'd bless your people for the teaching of your word that this would be a teaching Lord by your spirit Lord that you would get me out of the way that your people would be blessed equipped edified admonished I pray that this message would bring unity in the body of Christ in the midst of diversity afraid of your truth would prevail and I pray that I would decrease Christ would increase in Jesus name Amen powerful passage Romans 6 is one of many passages that we can go to as Christians to talk about baptism as a matter of fact this is a two-part message on baptism next week will be detailed explanations lots and lots of texts and verses I'll be answering some objections and some responses from those who don't hold to our particular view on baptism I'm gonna play some clips for you guys from some well-known believers who don't agree with us to sort of walk through some objections and ask the question what's most consistent because that really is the question we have to ask they face the problem we have it we are fallible human beings with an infallible inspired word before us you have believers Christians who are finite fallible people but it doesn't mean that God cannot speak with perspicuity with clarity it doesn't mean that when God speaks because we're fallible because we're sinners because we're finite that we cannot know truth as a matter of fact I think the whole of Christian history looks like this people are saved by God the redeemed they experienced this right here Romans six they are brought from death to life they're joined to Jesus Christ yet people who have come out of drug and alcohol addiction of Jesus Christ lives transformed people who are haters of God enemies of God hostile to God whose lives have been transformed people who were once enemies now brought near and we're being sanctified God's Spirit is alive in us amen he's changing us we're never not the same today as we were five years ago in Christ and we're not the same we were five months ago hopefully right and here's the thing God sanctifies us as believers individually we all grant that he that began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ God is not done with you as a Christian it's a matter of fact if there's nothing that happens in your life Romans 6 isn't true about you is it so to say the Christians are sin alas it means the Christians do send less and less and less and less and your knowledge of Jesus Christ is increased and as you fall more in love with him you fall less in love with your sin your idols lose their luster and your transforms that's what takes place and so you blew it this week yeah and you only know you blow it because God loves you and he showed it to you and I see so my life has a life of sanctification where God is changing me daily so he does he does it is it to me as a father as a husband as a follower of Jesus he's changing me but that's not all God isn't just changing me individually the Spirit of God is alive and the Bride of Christ and Jesus is washing and cleansing his bride with the word and so the amazing thing about history as we move forward is it doesn't just contain individuals who are being sanctified by God and learning from his word and being corrected believing one thing before and then seeing God's Word something different and having our minds changed it's not just that it's also Christians Universal across the planets who have different opinions and beliefs introduced Shen's and philosophies all of us Christians reformed Anglicans there actually are solid Anglicans in the world believe it or not there in Australia that's where they're all at ok yep reformed Anglicans that haven't fallen and fallen into apostasy that loved the Lord Jesus Christ believe in his word surround his word you got Presbyterians who surround the Word of God Baptists who surround the Word of God the non-denominational denomination of Christians they're surrounding the Word of God right all of us surrounding the Word of God together and all of us are being sanctified as a body Universal as we get around the Word of God we're being shaped by it I actually believe that as history moves forward and and that fulfillment takes place the Tim read up here a minute ago did you catch it Psalm 22 wanted to say all the families of the earth will return to worship the Lord hashtag that post mil ok yes the world's being transformed and being brought to Jesus Christ and as the families of the earth returned to worship the Lord I believe that those Christians of different backgrounds and stripes and colors and flavors they start surrounding the Word of God they get around it and it starts to change them how it happens through argument it happens through healthy loving debate Christians get around the Word of God and we get transformed we get changed I actually am so optimistic about the future that I believe that as the God draws people to himself and the world is transformed brought into the feet of Jesus that one day the whole world will be Baptist to be amazing glorious the truth is is that Christians we disagree on things now it could be large disagreements over things like baptism it's important to many of us it could be disagreements over whether or not Christians should use wine or grape juice and communion it could be disagreements over musical interests and types in our worship experience with music and church it could be differences to the degree of whether or not Christians should be able to smoke a cigar to the glory of God I'm with Spurgeon on that he said tonight before I go to bed I plan to smoke a cigar to the glory of God that's my own thing ok and Christians disagree on that and that's ok we have disagreements that are minor and we have big disagreements but we are surrounded together around the essentials this is what you got to get there is a sin essential unity in the body of Christ that is spectacular an essential unity in the midst of diversity and I want you to hear this because it's very very important to talk about baptism Romans 6 is big so many passages just like it that describe the meaning of baptism what takes place in a person who has been baptized what it means it's it's it's it's symbolic of their union with Jesus death and resurrection it's important stuff we see what we all recognize if we have essential unity as true Christians is the baptism does not save you baptism does not save you from your sin Jesus provides salvation it's his righteousness that we have no activity or or righteousness of our own we get that righteousness from Jesus through faith and all Christians agree on that whether you're presbyterian whether you're Reformed Anglican whether you're Reformed Baptist we believe the baptism does not justify you it's God through Christ and his work through faith that justifies us maybe here's what I want you to get about our essential unity our own story is a church my heroes are Presbyterian I mean most of my heroes are all Presbyterians like the people that I listen to are all Presbyterians and and I say it often if I wasn't already in the truth I'd be a presbyterian I mean seriously we think about who we have to even speak to our church we've had Presbyterians hardcore pipe hitting Presbyterians that have shared this pulpit of apology a church men that we trust then know God and know the gospel men who have done more for the kingdom of God than I ever have and probably ever will they've shared this pulpit and they've brought the Word of God to the people of God at apologia church and they're Presbyterians not Baptists we've had dr. white share this pulpit we've have RC sproule jr. share this polt pulpit we've had dr. Joel McDormand share this pulpit we've held conferences last year's reform reform con III pretty sure that the Baptist's were the minority if you put us all together in reform con think about that a church that puts on a conference a national conference and the majority of the speakers and what's represented they're Presbyterians I think most of people that showed up last year for reform con were Presbyterians there's just a there's an essential unity dr. James White has blessed the ministry apology at church RSV sprawl jr. Douglas Wilson I'm doing a conference at the end of February for about a day or two what Douglas Wilson he's as Presbyterian as you can get I think he's one of the most consistent Presbyterians out there dr. Kenneth Talbots closely connected with our ministry we point people constantly to Whitfield Theological Seminary what fealty illogical seminary is a Presbyterian seminary dr. Talbot we have a bromance together dr. Talbot and I we love each other and he is as Presbyterian as you get and I love the man and he loves me and loves us and he strongly supports our ministry there's an essential unity one of my heroes dr. kay Scott Oliphant the professor of philosophy and apologetics at Westminster Theological Seminary he's a guy I recommend to all of you he's one of my heroes if you want to ask for a book on apologetics I'm gonna give you a book by dr. Gregg Bahnson who's a presbyterian I'm gonna give you a book by dr. kay Scott Oliphant who's Presbyterian and I have absolutely nothing bad to say about those books I don't give the book and say well this guy's not really a Christian but you might wanna go ahead you know or he's not he's kind of like he's kind of like the $20 bill did not like denomination versus the Baptist's or the hundred dollar bill right it's not like that at all my the person who's taught me much of what I know dr. Gregg Bahnson he's with the Lord now but much of what you get from me as a minister I learned from a Presbyterian minister Gary Tamar one of my heroes of the faith big friend of our ministry Presbyterian dr. Kenneth Gentry another one of my heroes of the faith Presbyterian if you look at my bookshelf at home it's it's a who's who's list of Presbyterians in the world so there is an essential unity in the midst of diversity in the body of Christ that we all have to grab hold of you might be asking why spends so much time at the beginning the message talking about this here's why I talked about it because the history of the Christian Church shows that if we do one thing well it's this we like to bite each other's heads off if the history of the Christian Church shows anything well it's that Facebook is a curse for Christians we like to destroy each other we like to neglect the grace of God with one another we like to pretend like we know at all when somebody else's substandard Christian we like to believe that our pet doctrines are the truth of God and the gospel while this person over here that disagrees this person is a substandard Christian and how could they be so crazy as to think something like that we have to recognize as Christians that all of us have what we have only because of the grace of God everything that you have every bit of truth that you have if it is the truth of God it is a gift of God you didn't figure that out on your own think about our salvation is a gift of God you know what else is a gift of God solid theology that's a gift of God we can look across the landscape and see somebody it's often some error or some perceived error and we can act haughty and prideful or we can act loving and humble and recognize that if it is the truth that I believe I only have it because of the grace of God and if I have the truth and I want someone else to know the truth my duty as a believer is to allow the same process to take place with them as what happened to me how did you come into a knowledge of Jesus Christ because you're more intelligent because better parents you're more spiritual than the next person or wasn't the grace of God that shined light into your soul how did how did you learn the truths of reformed theology recognize just how big God is now small you are it's because you were smarter you were more spiritually wise or is because God loves you and he showed you truth and he did so by His grace how did you figure it out and as Chris if you believe you know something that is the truth of God from God's Word you are duty-bound we are duty-bound as believers to share that truth with others and let the same process take place with them as with us how did it happen God loved you into the truth he gave you the truth and he gave you it usually slowly incrementally he gave it that truth in such a ways to let your mind change so that you give him the worship for it how did you get the truth because some Christian beat you up for those you guys that are reformed and you've seen the doctrines of grace for what they are an explanation of the gospel what God does in the gospel how did you how did you become a Calvinist is it cuz someone annihilated you at their Bible and they beat you into submission and you find said okay praise god it's the truth how did you how did you do that is it that somebody gave you truth and you actually said that's kind of compelling and you went home and you thought about it you got into the Word of God you meditate on it and all of a sudden now your soul was crushed seeing really how big God is how small you are and how much God has done for you how'd you know how'd you figure it out did you come into the knowledge of any truth in Scripture because somebody beat you up or because they loved you into the truth and they showed you patiently walked you through it my experience is God always led me in the truth by humbling me and showing me just how great he was and showing me just how clear he is in his word this is important for us to recognize as Christians we do more damage together than apart now listen I want to say something very very important here listen I am NOT suggesting as Christians that we live the kind of lives where when someone says something that is not true we just say well no big deal and we just go about our ways I'm not saying those Christians you shouldn't breathe fire sometimes I'm saying that the whole of our lives should be a testimony to the grace of God and our love for God and I'm saying that as Christians we need to recognize that these things these changes of mind and perspective they take time and it should be the Word of God that is our guide and we ought not destroy one another the history of the Christian Church has many examples of us completely and utterly blowing it with each other you have Christians that actually killed each other over doctrinal issues believe it or not I don't like to talk about it I wish it wasn't part of our experience but yes it's true there have been instances in our past where Christians have actually beaten tortured and killed one another over doctrinal beliefs we're in a new place now or I think we have to recognize none of that is okay and we have to be able to as Christians walk through the Scriptures together graciously and with peace we live in a time now where we have big battles to fight I was outside the abortion mill yesterday preaching the gospel and a social justice warrior I want to highlight that she was a white social justice warrior walk behind me to join her friends who are Planned Parenthood supporters and on the way behind me she said some white guys trying to tell everyone what to do with their bodies a white young college student was talking about me a white guy as though it was something bad some sort of reverse racism going on behind me as though that has anything to do with destroying babies in the womb we have a country that's killed 60 million babies since the start of Roe vs. Wade we have a country now that is through the media and academia telling people that male is not male female is not female in marriage you can have male male female female female female male male dog cats you're not really a woman you're a cats I'm not really a man I'm an aardvark I don't want to marry a woman on a Marriott bridge these are the kind of battles we have to fight right now we have the kind of battles where our neighbors are being stolen from left and right there's sin rampant there are doctrinal distortions taking place widespread in the evangelical church we have bigger battles to fight right now so that we should not divide with those we have essential unity over so here's what I say these debates should take place graciously with patience with a focus on the word of God and we should focus on the big battles first together and when we overcome those obstacles we could spend a little more time focusing on these other minor issues not saying we should ignore them now not saying they're not important now I'm saying what's most important right now in our time for the kingdom of God is essential unity and that we fight these battles together when we slay the Giants that are in the land then we could spend a little more time on these minor issues more effort where are we unified this is important so let's take as an example just to highlight a distinction reformed Baptists us and our presbyterian brothers and sisters where are we unified we're unified on the scriptures as the infallible Word of God without error inerrant infallible when I talk by the way about Presbyterians you know of course I'm not talking about Presbyterian USA PCUs a is in my opinion ultimate an apostate organization at this point there are believers there who are separated and everything else but I'm talking about Orthodox Presbyterians that hold to traditional Orthodox Presbyterianism we believe the Scriptures are infallible without error in Arents we affirm the five SOLAS together Sola scriptura Sola Christus scripture alone is the only infallible rule of faith Christ alone is the only mediator he's the only way we receive salvation we're saved Sola gratia by grace alone Sola fidei through faith alone and it is soli Deo Gloria to the glory of God alone I'll tell you what if you have that kind of unity with somebody that person's your friend not your enemy we have a central unity reformed Baptists Presbyterians around the doctrines of grace we're Calvinists for goodness sake we believe in total depravity unconditional election we believe the 'its home and actually means something that when Jesus died he did it for a particular people and he accomplished something that it wasn't a potential salvation it was a salvation that actually did something listen you can say with the Presbyterian as a Reformed Baptist when Jesus died on that cross he died for me all my sins paid for in that cross in full he had my name written on his heart he knew what he was doing he thought about me the father poured his wrath out in my place on that cross that his death is my death his resurrection my resurrection Presbyterians reformed Baptists unified around the atonement of Jesus Christ irresistible grace that when God wants to save somebody he can save them he can speak life into death he could speak light into darkness and nobody can thwart God unit unity on that aspect their perseverance of the saints what we believe Presbyterians and Baptists that when God saved somebody he actually saves them when God saves somebody it's an eternal salvation when God saves somebody he will by his spirit cause them to persevere to the end he's not going to lose you you can't lose your salvation because it's not your salvation you accomplished it's the salvation God has accomplished and is accomplishing in you I'll tell you what anybody that is has that much unity with you is again your friend not your enemy we believe together in the triune God of the Bible we believe from Genesis to Revelation the Bible's clear about who God is one God the Father is God the Son is God the Holy Spirit is God and yet the father is not the son the son is not the Spirit the Spirit is not the father or the son there are three persons one being one essence one substance God we believe in the Trinity we confess that together there's only one true and living God he is triune we believe that we are justified declared righteous not through anything on our own but through faith in Jesus Christ we believe in the holiness of God the wrath of God against sin we believe in final judgment that Jesus he's coming back he's coming back to judge the world he's coming back to deliver justice on those who do not know God and to bring full and final salvation to those who do know God we believe that jeez is coming back in his physical resurrected body and he's going to raise all of us from dead we're all gonna be raised in physical bodies we're gonna live forever with God on this earth heaven and earth reunite once again fully and finally where they experienced God and one another peace and joy for all eternity why do I highlight it I highlight it because listen we have a natural propensity as sinful people listen closely this is so important if you forget most of what I say in this message don't forget this I highlight this because we have a propensity as sinful people to divide divide divide divide we love to get into a small grouping and then get into a smaller grouping and then get into a smaller grouping and into a smaller grouping and one thing I've seen in the reformed world that's a problem for us is people recognize these truths they're transformed by them they're glorious and all of a sudden they go running off into smaller and smaller and smaller and smaller groupings and it's just sinful we start believing that our particular perspective is the divine truth of God and if anybody else doesn't hold it they don't truly understand or know God and it's just sinful we have this propensity has fallen people to divide into smaller and smaller groupings if it's not theological it's something else it's my particular Talent it's my particular TV show my particular brand of music my particular perspective that's smaller and smaller groupings and here's the thing about the body of Christ listen is that it's diverse and if you don't like it I'm sorry suck it up that's kind of a that's kind of a roundabout way of getting at what Paul says in our New Testaments so many different kinds of of Christians in the body of Christ and Paul essentially has to tell him here's here's how you deal with the guys shut up that's what he basically says he does if you see the conflict that takes place between Christians in Corinth in first grade first Corinthians chapter 8 Christians over here can't eat the meat that's in the marketplaces that were sacrificed to idols why because I used to be a pagan I used to worship that nonsense I hate it it's unholy meet Christians over here going it's meat there's only one God what's wrong with you right and it's just there's only one God it's fake they're worshipping a false god it's not real there's no real God behind that meat God made that meat I'm gonna eat the meat and Christians are back and forth back and forth back and forth and back and forth and Paul is essentially like look don't destroy the weaker brother the weaker brother there is the person actually won't eat the meat it's a little bit of a jab I think don't destroy him and basically he says this look you don't destroy your brother that doesn't want to eat the meat and you over here that is wanting to be don't destroy your brother who wants to eat the meat and there's actually discussions in the scriptures about different festivals and celebrations and days that you see is more important than the other Christians say I like this day I think you should do something on this day other guys say no I don't think you should do that I think you should do this and Jesus fills that and there's a central thing about it all listen you're in Christ shut up you're in Christ there are big issues to get over as believers and there are minor issues that you have to be able to say look is God glorified in your division on this point I'll tell you where you divide somebody denies the deity of Jesus Christ you deny that you get fire you deny justification through faith you get fire you light that false teacher up somebody tries to come into the church and preach false gospel false God you grab them by their pants and toss them out the door we've had people come into apologia Church seven years we had a we had a we had a jewel one day come in he started telling people false prophecies and started preaching some weird kind of woowoo stuff about God and I told him I said you're not to ever walk in this church again you're not to talk to anybody in my church or under my care and everybody at church needs to know this guy's a false teacher and don't interact with them stay away from him you're under condemnation right now he said oh you're so mean-spirited you call it mean-spirited I called the truth and you need to repent so am i saying that we should be the kind of Christians that don't really love truth or care about truth or fight for truth absolutely not there are issues that are essential issues and there are issues where you just don't divide over some Christians think that every Christian should look like them and it's just sinful some Christians think that every Christian should dress the same like the same music do the same things some Christians should look just like them and if you don't you're probably not a Christian that's called immaturity that's called being a Pharisee and that's sin but we have to recognize as Christians is that there are disagreements within the body of Christ we get around the Word of God and let it change us amen that's very very important this issue of baptism is very important do I believe the implications are actually important implications yes do I believe that a bad view on baptism a false view on baptism actually brings damage to the body of Christ yes I actually do I actually think that if you have a bad view of a baptism it does negatively impact your family and I believe that it has implications about how you raise your children and whether or not you really preach the gospel of repentance and faith to them whether you assume they're Christians I believe all those things generally matter but do I believe you should divide as Christians absolutely not our consequences what are some of those consequences of having a bad beyond baptism a false theological system number one here's a consequence of having a bad theology on baptism believing baptism saves people if you teach that you are justified or saved when you enter the waters of baptism you have now destroyed the gospel you have now destroyed faith you've destroyed the meaning of that and I do believe that if somebody teaches that baptism saves you they are preaching a false gospel and I believe that if you preach that take the parallel for a moment just as an example in Galatians chapter 5 Paul addresses Judaizers who did what they said it's faith in Jesus plus you have to keep the circumcision just at least keep that part of the law bring it over let people become Jews first and believe in the Messiah and you're good to go Paul says in Galatians 5 to that message he says Christ has become of no effect to you whosoever of you attempts to be justified by law you've fallen from grace he says look you choose grace or law if you're gonna take circumcision to bring it back over into this thing with Jesus he says now Christ is nothing and now you gotta take the whole law now and you're gonna do it all and how's that gonna work out for you considering the fact that whoever keeps the whole law James says and transgresses in one point is guilty of all of it so what do you want grace our law and then Paul says this listen to people who think that it's faith in Jesus plus baptism for justification he says what I hope that they go all the way with that knife he actually says that Galatians chapter 5 Paul says to those people basically in a nutshell he's like look these guys that are in there telling you to be circumcised and belief in Jesus for justification he says look I hope that since they like to play with knives they just go ahead and go all the way am i coming in clear with that he tells them he hopes they cut themselves off how does Paul feel about adding anything to faith in order to be justified before God he says I hope you go all the way with your knife that's a pretty brutal right what would Paul say then to the new covenant sign for believers baptism if somebody said it's faith in Jesus plus baptism in order to be justified before God what would you say to them I hope you stay under I hope you stay under the whole way think about it so it's important there are consequences to having a bad view on baptism here's another consequence of having a bad view of baptism assuming our children are Christians assuming your children are Christians it's dangerous because if you assume your child as a Christian and do not preach repentance the need to repent of their sin to be justified before God to believe in God and you have the assumption of their Christianity they may go their whole lives banking on the fact that they were baptized as a child I've talked to those people and continue to talk to them all the time I run into people on a regular basis who tell me I'm a Christian why is that was baptized as a baby they believe that because they are baptized as a baby that makes them a Christian that's where I became a Christian when did you become a Christian when I was baptized as a baby and so this person really has no understanding of the holiness of God the work of Christ and need for repentance and faith so there are consequences to having a bad view on baptism I'll give you another consequence of having a bad view on baptism and this is a failure in the Baptist culture I'm talking about a failure on our side there is a tremendous failure in Baptist culture with in terms of how we treat our children we have one standard for how we preach the gospel of repentance and faith to a teenager or an adult and we say repent believe the gospel this is who you are this is who Jesus is this is what he's done repent and believe they repent and believe and all of a sudden may go great let's get you baptized and we get them in the baptism right away right we say look I think I see some life change I think I see a confession of faith and we get him baptized and then all of a sudden in Baptist culture we have our children who are four five six years old and we say who's Jesus they're like God is he perfect yes are you a sinner big time mom tells me all the time right right what did Jesus do he he died and he rose again do you believe in him yes do you trust him yes we go okay maybe about 10 more years will baptize you that's a failure it's just a failure and Baptist culture and it happens widespread across the spectrum it's a failure in the Baptist culture we have one standard for how we baptize and preach the gospel to older people we have another standard for our children we cheat we treat our children sometimes in Baptist culture like there are second-class citizens in the kingdom of God we treat them like the gospel is listen repent and believe yes and then let give me like eight nine years to make sure you fully understand the Trinity the deity of Christ you have a full understanding of the scriptures and you born enough fruit to where I could finally say yeah I think you're a Christian let's go ahead and get you baptized we treat our children as though they have to earn their baptism and that's a failure and the thing is is not to say well Baptists have failed in this area so maybe the Baptist view is not correct no it's a failure in Baptist culture it doesn't mean our doctrine of baptism is wrong it means our tradition and practice doesn't meet our theology so what do I say let's get over that failure one of the greatest arguments Presbyterians have against Baptist culture is how we treat our kids I don't think it's a biblical argument that they muster mostly it's emotional how do you remove it by not failing any longer in this area when your kids have a legitimate profession of faith when you see there is conviction over sin no matter how small and you see faith and an understanding of the gospel and they believe in Jesus Christ baptize them what if they're only three years old baptize them you say well how do they do they really understand the gospel oh I don't know maybe it's kind of like Jesus when he takes little children he says come to me like little children and you must enter into the kingdom of God with faith like that of a what child's we set one standard up for our children about this culture and a different one for adults and that should not be so another failure or consequence listen closely another consequence of having a bad view on baptism another consequence is you could say something like Greg Strawbridge says in his debate with dr. James white we're gonna play it next week a clip of it he is a very consistent presbyterian he loves Jesus I love him there's much to admire in Greg Strawbridge much to admire he's a great man of God I love him but one of the most telling parts of his debate with dr. white on baptism was not necessarily in the debate itself it was after the debate was over when you're doing audience questions and answers and here is what a bad view on baptism will do to you here's where it will get you from the presbyterian side in order to be a consistent presbyterian and he is very consistent as a presbyterian more consistent than many Presbyterians he knows that he needs to draw it out to its logical conclusion if he wants it to be like Old Covenant circumcision then he needs to give it out and deal it out and so he's asked by an audience member dr. Strawbridge would you baptize the unbelieving spouse of a believing husband so think about the scenario for a moment now a Christian minister is being asked would you baptize somebody who tells you I don't believe in Jesus he's not my lord I don't trust in him would you baptize somebody that tells you they're not a Christian because they're married to a Christian and he said yes why because of his view of baptism he has to try to maintain consistency and how do you do so you say I'm willing to baptize somebody and to say that they're part of God's covenant community when they tell me I do not believe in Jesus and you go baptized you're part of God's covenant community any view on baptism that does that to you must be abandoned because that is not New Testament baptism all right so we good now we go to the couple consequences are you a my wedding your appetite now for next week okay next week we'll be getting into more the details scriptures but let me get you to a few things we should know before next week in terms of Scripture let's talk about the how a person is reconciled to God how is a person reconciled to God actually hang on before you get there let me just go ahead do this I don't want to neglect to do this today where do we start what's our standard let's start there what is our standard - getting to the bottom of this how do we know what's true on baptism now this is vitally important to get and I want you guys to remember this singular points it's so important as Christians we constantly testify whether you're Baptist or Presbyterian we constantly testify to the importance of the doctrine of Sola what scriptura and what is that that the Scriptures alone are the only infallible rule for faith and practice in other words the confessions are great Creed's are great but those aren't the standard the Word of God is the standard and so what is the source for us in terms of how to get to the bottom of this how do we know what's true the answer Sola scriptura and I've got to get this across it's so important to get it's finally important to get when we start engaging some of the arguments of our reforms are our presbyterian brethren some of the strongest arguments they have for their case on baptism are emotional and I feel the weight of it I feel the weight of it because I know how Baptists have in many respects not all have failed in with our children and so I feel the weight of the emotional argumentation coming from the presbyterian side they say things like this pastor Jeff do you teach the children your congregation is seeing Jesus loves me this I know how can you teach your children to say that if if they're not part of God's covenant if they're not part of God's covenant community how could they sing jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so here's what I say well I have solid answers to that but first and foremost because the hymnal particularly Sunday school songs are not this divine test of what's true the Word of God is the standard for what's true especially in this respect so I want to say that in this we should not be weighted down by emotional argumentation that drives us away from the Scriptures as a test for what's true so first and foremost methodology to getting the bottom of this Sola scriptura seconds tota scriptura it should be all of the scriptures that speak to this issue not any just one text itself although all God has to do is say something once and it's gospel it's the whole of the scriptures that ought to speak to us on this amen so what does that look like an actual practice what's the hermeneutic what's the hermeneutic here I want to say that we are in fundamental agreement with our presbyterian brothers and sisters in terms of when God says something that settles it and we ought to assume continuity with the Old Testament Scriptures except where the New Testament clearly defines a break away a change or an alteration in the administration in any way so what that means is this I'll give you an example you might say what does that mean I'll give you an example do Christians practice Passover today yes yep Paul says you do but we don't do it in the old rudimentary way where we go in and we start wiping the leaven out of our house and that symbol we don't go slaughtering a lamb we don't put blood over our doorposts we're not doing that ritual anymore why because Christ is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world Jesus was crucified our Passover on Passover he's fulfilled it all so then do we say well now there's no longer Passover it's irrelevant no Paul actually says that we do Passover but now we remove malice from our lives we have the once for all sacrifice no more Passover meals no more representation because we've got the thing the meal itself and that symbol it's F wasn't the thing it was pointing to the thing it was the shadow Jesus is the substance and he's come no more animal sacrifices does that mean there's no more sacrifice no we have a once for all sacrifice that's still relevant hey guess what no more high priests oh so no more high priests no now we have a high priest who sits on his throne forever he will never be dethroned he'll never die again he's our priest once for all sacrifice he's our priest and mediator forever you still have a priest you still have a sacrifice you still have Passover and guess what you still have a temple but it's an eternal temple in the heavenly places we're all little stones Peter says built up into the spiritual house to God Jesus is our temple were united with him do you get it there's continuity but how do I know what's changed the New Testament tells me you see what happens is we assume the continuity because God spoke but we also recognize when the New Testament tells us that there's a change in administration or in the New Testament tells us this is how you do this now the New Testament gets define it's here's what I'm getting at listen closely because this will make a lot of sense next week the Old Testament does not give us the paradigm the New Testament gives us the paradigm we read the Old Testament through the lens of the New Testament I'm not arguing that there's no continuity between the old and the new everyone knows that we are very excited very happy fionna mists we believe the law of God is relevant today that when God spoke he meant it that it sits at his abiding standard but that doesn't mean that the Old Testament now overrides the new and much of the error in the way of baptism comes from a really broken hermeneutic that says ultimately that new Old Testament patterns define the practice of the new the New Testament ought to actually define for us what our practices that's the hermeneutic why do I bring it up there's a debate you should listen to this week if you get a chance on YouTube not my favorite debate on baptism not my favorite but it's it's a good debate it's dr. John MacArthur great man Oh God vs. dr. RC sprawl Wow two heavy hitters right and what they debate baptism infant baptism credo baptism by the way if you don't know the names paedo baptism is infant baptism and credo baptism means only off of profession you have to believe and profess and then get baptized so paid Oh infants credo is on confession only that's the only baptized so here you have dr. John MacArthur a Baptist versus dr. RC sproule paedo Baptist both of them great men of God both of them heroes amen mazie men of God well after MacArthur gives his first opening you'll hear it MacArthur basically says in his in his opening he says no we're in the Bible from beginning to end is there any explicit instance anywhere of infant's being baptized from cover to cover not one reference to explanation of it or an actual instance of it taking place not in the entire Bible not from Genesis to Revelation not a single instance of infant baptism doctor Ric sprawl who's a paedo Baptist believes in infant baptism he says in his opening that dr. MacArthur has said that there is no explicit instance anywhere in the Bible of infant baptism and Sproule says he's right that's coming from a paedo Baptist r/c Sproule one of the greatest Presbyterians one of the greatest men of God of our last generation when we lose scroll we're gonna lose something huge that's the truth and sproule omits it there's not an explicit instance of infant baptism anywhere in the New Testament nowhere it doesn't exist but what he says is this there's also no explicit statement denying the practice of intra infant baptism now I think it's actually a pretty weak position to say it's nowhere in the Bible but nowhere in the Bible speaks against it well maybe none of the authors of Scripture actually imagined that you'd do something like that maybe they never thought it was an issue cuz they never imagined you'd do it but sproule says so our only way here is to actually go to the scriptures and draw out of the scriptures what do we get in this now what I want to say is I agree with Sproule there we ought to go to the scriptures and say what does it actually say in the instances of baptism what's its peak what does it tell us about baptism when it identifies what takes place in a person's life when they are baptized how does it define it I'll give you one example of what I mean Romans 6 I just read it to you Romans 6 what does it say about baptism in Romans 6 it says that I'll read it again it's right in front of me it says this do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death we were buried therefore with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father we too might walk in newness of life Paul's assumption there when he talks about baptism is what if you've been baptized you were United to Jesus and his death and resurrection and therefore you are no longer dead in your sin but alive to God so now don't go on presenting your members of instruments of unrighteousness what's it assume if you've been baptized you have actually changed from death to life why because if you believed in Jesus you've been united to him and your baptism symbolizes your death to resurrection my question is this cannot be said of an eight year old baby that that baby has gone from death to life that they've repented of their sins and believed in Jesus can Paul statement here in Romans 6 be applied to the baby the infant in diapers does it actually apply to them because this is Paul's explanation of what baptism is we ought to think about that what does the scripture say now quickly let's show where we're United sorry Siri I didn't need you to talk to her okay how are we reconciled to God how does God do it I want to focus in upon justification the heart of the gospel Baptists and Presbyterians listen to the Westminster Confession of faith this is presbyterian chapter 11 of justification those whom god effectually calleth he also freely justify if not by infusing righteousness into them that's against Rome but by pardoning their sins and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous not for anything wrought in them or done by them but for Christ's sake alone nor by imputing faith itself the act of believing or any other evangelical obedience to them as their righteousness but by impugning the obedience and satisfaction of Christ unto them they receiving and resting on him and his righteousness by faith which faith they have not of themselves it is the gift of God that's Westminster on justification here's the 1689 London Baptist confession of faith our confession those whom God effectually calleth he also freely justify it not by infusing righteousness into them but by pardoning their sins and by Counting and accepting their persons as righteous not for anything wrought in them or done by them but for Christ's sake alone not by imputing faith itself the act of believing or any other unit you get wait a minute what happened it's the same thing some people are going plagiarism right do you get it Presbyterians and Baptists together on how we're justified read the confessions of faith side-by-side same thing how is a person justified before God through faith in Jesus Christ what do you get when you believe in Jesus Christ the righteousness of Jesus Christ what did Jesus take from you your sin how did you get this faith it's a gif of God that's so much unity but that's how a person is justified before God according to Baptists and Presbyterians now Paul says in Romans 6 that our baptism testifies to our being joined to Jesus death and resurrection reformed Presbyterians and Baptists believe that we are justified through faith the instrument of faith and you get Christ obedient life credited to you he takes your sin God declares you righteous we're unified so what of this issue of baptism I'll point you to some text for a moment now that I want you to read read Romans chapters 1 through 6 read what Paul does read the line of thought he takes us through one God's wrath is being poured out people suppress the truth in unrighteousness they know God they don't glorify God they don't want him in their thinking their thoughts become futile so they switch God for idols therefore God gives them over Romans chapter 2 now you've got this self-righteous Jew that thinks because he has the ball that somehow that justifies him and Paul goes right after them takes their legs right off he says you who say don't steal do you steal you say don't do this but do you do it do you think God is a respecter of persons that he shows personal favoritism do you think that you're gonna have basically says do you think that you're gonna be alright because you simply have the law and then you're circumcised but that does it for you he says what about the person over here the Christian Gentile that has their heart circumcised and they actually do the things that are in the law empowered by the Spirit of God what do you think about that and then Romans chapter 3 goes to everybody says both Jew and Gentile Jew and Greek are all under sin none righteous not even one none who seeks for God no fear of God before their eyes feet Swift to shed blood and he says therefore no one's gonna be justified by the law because through the law comes in knowledge of sin it only increases your knowledge of sin he says what but now apart from the law Romans 3 the righteousness of God has been manifested being testified to by the law and the prophets the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe for there's no distinction all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus he says that Jesus God put him up publicly as a propitiation through faith in his blood why - so that God would be just and the justifier the one who has faith in Jesus and then Paul gets to the final fought Romans 3:28 he says what therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from works of law and then he says what about Abraham what do the scriptures say Genesis 15:6 abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness he says how was it credited was it through works and this is a beautiful thing romans 4 if you don't know it get it in your heart he says this abraham believed god and it was counted him as righteousness verse 4 now to the one who works his wages are not counted as a gift but as what it as is due and to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly his faith is counted as righteousness just as david also speaks to the blessing of the one to whom god counts righteousness apart from works blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count as sin pause pause pause pause baptism discussion put it to the side for a second did you hear that did you hear it whatever was going on in your life in your marriage your work coming into here that changes it completely I don't care what you say I don't care that you say Jeff you don't understand my plight Jeff you don't understand my situation Jeff you understand the struggles that I have right now my family you don't understand the situation right now with me and my my work situation you don't understand the depression I'm dealing with right now you don't understand all this happening in my life I feel like a failure as a husband I feel like a failure as a mom I feel like a failure as a child how can this address that here's how it addresses it God who created you is sustains you at this very moment it says that through faith in Jesus that he counts you as righteous completely blameless your sins as a mother don't count your sins as a father they don't factor in your sins as a son or a daughter they don't matter to God in this respect because he's already counted you righteous and he does not count your sins against you and he never will you're the blessed man you're the blessed woman who walks in forgiveness and stands in God's grace you're washed and you will never be condemned how you like them apples that's that's it what what else do you need what do you what do we need in life to be more full of joy to have more peace what do you need more than peace with God you can have the greatest job the greatest family the nicest car the biggest house the fattest bankroll and still go to hell and not know God and be separated from him for eternity you could know God by his love and grace he could have drawn you to himself and he doesn't see you anymore as sinner he sees you as saint he doesn't see you anymore as rebel and hostile he sees you as child he's washed you there's no more perversion there's no more lies there's no more darkness there's no more sin against him in his eyes you already righteous and blameless he's already dealt with everything and if you kept saying to God but God my sin my God my pass but God my shame he'd say what sin what pass what Sheen it's washed it's absorbed in Jesus 2,000 years ago you've all he died and been raised with Jesus cabe after baptism okay watch Abraham's the father of our faith he's that testimony and model watch is this blessing then only for the circumcised or also for the uncircumcised we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness how then was accounted to him was it before or after he had been circumcised it was not after but before he was circumcised he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised when was Abraham listen please grab it when was Abraham justified when was he credited righteousness was it before or after the sign of circumcision before it was also before what the law he believed God and it was credited him as righteousness and he's the father of our faith only after that faith did he get circumcision as a sign and the New Testament writers say that that sign of circumcision was a temporary sign under that administration and that it was meant to fade away that's how they saw it how are we justified through faith and through faith alone okay I'll do this quickly I know we're over time here but I want to point you to some text I want you to read this week this week this is by no means an exhaustive look this is merely eight skipping across the surface for this week I want you to look at John the Baptist ministry of baptism now pause I am NOT saying that John the Baptist baptism was Christian baptism it was not but a quick question asked is this who came to John's baptism who was baptized answer Jews but it was people who actually did what repented it was not an infant baptism there was no model there it was those who repented they were baptized and again for my Presbyterian brothers and sisters that I love with my whole heart I understand that's not Christian baptism I'm not making that as an argument I'm just pointing out that there's a pattern there in the scriptures of people even in John's baptism of repenting and then getting in the waters of baptism next Christian baptism three examples again read these this next week acts 2 starting in verse 36 acts 8 verse 26 and on acts 10:34 pattern of baptism in a New Testament we're gonna do more next week I'll do this briefly if you have your Bibles go to Acts to quickly Acts 2:36 here's Peters preaching the gospel of Pentecost he says let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ this Jesus whom you crucified now when they heard this these large crowds they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the Apostles brothers what shall we do so this these crowds are hearing the gospel now and they say in response to the gospel they say 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 sins and you will receive the gift of the holy spirits now by the way read one chapter later acts 3:19 he says repent therefore and turn again that your sins may be blotted out it's repentance and faith where the sins are blotted out in the text here the Greek is more clear the forgiveness of sins is attached to the repentance so watch here says this for the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off listen everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself now I want you to hear the response and with many other words he bore witness in to exhort them saying save yourselves from this crooked generation so those who received his word were baptized and there were added that day about three thousand souls questioned in this text Acts - first instance of Christian baptism here Pentecost who was baptized those who received his word those who received his word were baptized three thousand next eight twenty six eight twenty six this is where Philip is with the Ethiopian eunuch they angel Lord says to Philip rise and go towards the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem and what takes place we know the story of Philip in the Ethiopian eunuch he sees this eunuch reading Isaiah and the spirit said to Philip in verse 29 go over and join this chariots of Philip ran to him and heard him reading isaiah the prophet and asked do you understand what you are reading and he said how can i unless someone guides me and he invited philip to come up and sit with him now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this and he quotes from isaiah 53 in verse 34 and the eunuch said to philip about whom i asked does the prophet say this about himself or about someone else then Philip opened his mouth and began beginning with the scripture he told him the good news about Jesus and as they were going along the road they came to some water and the eunuch said see here is water what prevents me from being baptized what took place he hears the gospel he believes and then what takes place next baptism what did you see in acts 2 what happened they heard the gospel and those who believed were baptized next and final one for today acts 10:34 so Peter is now bringing the gospel to the Gentiles a big moment for the Christian Church we go from Jews now to Gentiles large scale so Peter opened his mouth and said truly I understand that God shows no partiality but in every nation anyone who here fears him and does what his right is acceptable to him as for the word that he sent to Israel preaching the good news of peace for Jesus Christ he is Lord of all now he's preaching to these Gentiles and in verse 43 it says to him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness through his name how do you receive forgiveness through his name quickly tell me you believe in him everyone who what believes in him receives what forgiveness in his name and now watch what takes place while Peter was still saying these things the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word and the believers from among the circuit uncircumcised who had come with Peter were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles for they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God then Peter declared can anyone with hold water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have and he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ then they asked him to remain for some days here's what I'm going to get out read the passages in the New Testament that give you the pattern for how baptism is done and what you will see every single time without fail repentance faith baptism repentance faith baptism repentance faith baptism that's the pattern in the model the New Testament gives to us about listen the new covenant sign of baptism the new covenant sign of baptism in this pages of Scripture are never given to anybody who is unbelieving unrepentant the new covenant sign of baptism symbolizes in the scriptures listen without fail without question are you with Jesus Christ his death in his resurrection so you've got this new covenant sign meaning something death and resurrection and you see it given to those who can actually say I've died and risen again that's the New Testament model that's what you see in actual practice in a New Testament however you have to come back and stay tuned for this one next week I want to go through the arguments for infant baptism and I want to show due respect to the brothers and sisters in Christ that believe in it and hold to it and say first and foremost I actually respect them and their position I actually understand what's behind Presbyterian view of baptism I get it I'm sympathetic towards it I actually respect what they're trying to do completely I'm very sympathetic towards it as a matter of fact for some time I committed to staying completely open to it I even made sure I listened to all my heroes on the subject and I have great respect for them but the question is is is it biblical and so what we're gonna do next week is go through all the instances of baptism in a New Testament we can to show what the model was the method was how was done and then we're gonna go through the arguments for infant baptism and we're gonna see if they're consistent with Scripture sound good yes and now let me just cap this off with this who in here has trusted in Christ repented and believed and has not been baptized yet you've repented you've believed you have not been baptized yet okay come see me because we want to get you wet sound good okay all right praise God all right let's pray father thank you so much for today thank you for the message we were able to get through today thank you for you word I just pray God that this would be something that's that continues to foster and help the unity that we have in Christ and at the same time Lord gets to the truth of this matter because Lord we care about what your word says we we know how important truth is we know God that theology matters and it impacts us and so we pray God that you would prepare us as a church God to love you and your word and to be willing God to cast aside anything that isn't consistent with your word we pray God that you continue to bless your church this church in particular God for the glory of Jesus Christ and his namesake among all the nations in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Apologia Studios

Views: 23,175

Rating: 4.77561 out of 5

Keywords: Jeff durbin, apologia church, best sermon, baptism debate, James white, Douglas Wilson, Greg strawbridge, baptism sermon, shocking youth sermon, Presbyterian, Baptist sermon

Id: kw9niVtaw_8

Length: 74min 8sec (4448 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 21 2016