Word of Salvation – Vol. 34 No. 25 – July 1989

 

How God’s Spirit Uses Baptism To Strengthen Faith

 

Sermon by Rev. M. P. Geluk on Lord’s Days 26 & 27a

Reading: 1Peter 3:8-22

 

As we turn our attention today to Baptism, we must keep in mind the overall purpose of the sacraments.  You may recall the scriptural teaching from Lord’s Day 25 that God’s Spirit brings faith into the heart of a person by means of the Word of God.  We pointed to Lydia, about whom you read in Acts 16, as an example of the Lord opening the heart of a person when that person hears the message of salvation from the word.

The same thing happened again with the Philippian jailer, also mentioned in Acts 16.  His heart was also opened by God’s Spirit as he heard the Word of salvation from Paul.  Both Lydia and the jailer, having had their hearts opened, responded to the call from God to repent and believe in Christ.  It’s always through the Word of God that faith is born in the sinner.  The Spirit of God uses no other way but God’s Word.

The Spirit will continue to use the Word to strengthen faith but in addition to the Word He also uses the sacraments for that.

Both baptism and the Lord’s Supper are designed by God, not to start faith, but to strengthen the faith of those who are already believing.  Both Lydia and the jailer received baptism after they had become believers.

But in both cases Scripture tells us that their households or families were also baptised,

It’s not clear from Acts 16 if the other members of the family were present when Lydia or the jailer heard the Word.  Nor are we told how young or old the other family members were.  What is clear is that whole families received baptism.  It’s also clear that the Bible teaches that God promises salvation in Christ to believing parents and their children (Acts 2:39; 16:31).

The Old Testament teaches quite clearly that children born to believing parents were included in the covenant of grace that God has established between Himself and believers.  The first believer to receive a visible sign of God’s promise of salvation in the covenant was Abraham.  He was circumcised when he was 99 years of age.  But on that same day his son Ishmael was also circumcised and he was thirteen.  Then later, Isaac, Abraham’s son by his wife Sarah, was circumcised on the eighth day (Gen.17,21).  And that became the pattern.  Children of O.T. believers received circumcision on the eighth day.

The same covenant of grace between God and His people continues on in the N.T.  but the sign changed.

Circumcision was replaced by baptism.

But there is no reason at all why children of believers in the N.T. should all of a sudden be excluded from receiving the sign.  Baptism as a sign of being included in the covenant of grace is to be received by believers and their children.

It will happen frequently, therefore that baptism is received before faith begins to show, as in the case of children.  For faith to begin, the person needs to hear the Word.

Babies are too young for that, however.  Yet, when they are children of believers then they may receive baptism before faith begins.  When God’s Spirit works faith in them as they grow older, and they are able to hear God’s call and respond, then these children, like their believing parents, will have to have a close look at their baptism, because God’s Spirit uses it to strengthen faith.

We intend to come back to the baptism of children in a separate sermon, but right now We want to see how God’s Spirit uses baptism to strengthen faith in all who are able to hear the Word, whether they be 99 or 13 years of age, or even younger.

1.  In the first place we see that our faith is strengthened by us believing the Word God spoke at baptism, and then a little later on we will look at the Word God speaks about baptism.  But first, the Word God spoke at baptism.

We are familiar with this Word of God for we hear it at every baptism.  This Word of God was also said at your baptism.  If you were an adult when you received baptism then you will remember this Word of God that was repeated at that time.  If you can’t remember it because you were too young to hear or know much about anything at all, then at least you know now that these were the words spoken: “I baptise you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”  The minister of the Word who administered baptism to you said your name and then repeated the same words Christ spoke to His disciples when He instituted baptism.

You find these words in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 28, verse 19.  The Lord Jesus, just before He ascended into heaven, instructed His disciples to go into the world and teach men the gospel of Christ.  “Make disciples”, Jesus said, and as they did so they were to baptise them “into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”  So the words spoken at every baptism, yes, also at your baptism, are from God.  It is the Word of God at baptism.

But what exactly does it mean to baptise someone “into the name of God?”  Some translations have “in the name of…!”  Whilst that is grammatically possible, we must not allow that to have us think that the minister is baptising in God’s name, as though he is doing it on behalf of God.

We should understand it this way.  To baptise someone into the name of God intends to say that there is a relationship between God and the person baptised.  It is important for us to understand what kind of relationship this is because it’s what the covenant of grace is all about.  Let’s take an example from Scripture.  In Chapter 10 of his first letter to the Corinthian church, the apostle Paul makes a reference to Israel at the time of their exodus out of Egypt.  He says all those Israelites were under the cloud and they all passed through the sea (vs.1).  Paul puts it like this: “They were all baptised into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.” (vs.2).  A relationship existed between the Israelites and Moses.  They were all baptised into him.

There was a bond between Israel and Moses.  Israel was not just a loosely connected bunch of individuals who had grouped together under the pillar of cloud that was positioned behind them as they went through the Red Sea.  No, the Israelites were a unity.  As one man they were bound to Moses.  They were united in Moses as they went before the cloud into the sea.  God only spoke to Moses but what He said was not only meant for Moses but for all Israel.  They were all part of Moses, a relationship existed between them.  Israelites were linked to Moses; they were the Moses congregation, united to him as they went through the sea.  The Israelites were under the authority and protection of Moses.

Now, being baptised into God does the same thing.  A relationship, a bond exists between God and those who are baptised.  There is a link there, they are united.  Baptised into the name of God means a belonging to God.  They are the God- congregation.  They come under His authority and protection.

Then note also that baptism is into the name of God.  For us a name simply serves to distinguish one from another.  God’s name means a whole lot more.  The name of God points out what He is for those baptised into Him.

Thus when we are baptised into the name of the Father, and into the name of the Son, and into the name of the Holy Spirit, then we should not merely think that these three names of God are so mentioned in order to point out that God is a triune being.  No, the names of Father, Son and Holy Spirit point to what God is for us, what kind of relationship He has with us, what link, what bond there exists between God and us.  Each name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, has special significance here.  After we understand what that is, then we shall also be able to see how baptism is a sign and seal of God’s salvation promise.

Having been baptised into the name of God the Father, therefore, means that the Father witnesses and seals to us that He makes an eternal covenant of grace with us and adopts us for His children and heirs.  And because the Father had made us His children He will therefore provide us with every good thing and keep evil away from us or turn it to our profit.  All of that is what our baptism tells us about God the Father in His relationship to us.

But we are also baptised into the name of God the Son.  That means that the Son witnesses and seals to us that He washes us in His blood from all our sins, incorporating us into the fellowship of His death and resurrection, so that we are freed from our sins and accounted righteous before God.  Our baptism tells us what God the Son means to us in His relationship with us.

And then we are also baptised into the name of God the Holy Spirit.  He witnesses and seals to us that He will dwell in us, and sanctify us to be members of Christ, imparting to us that which we have in Christ, namely, the washing away of our sins and the daily renewing of our lives, till we shall finally be presented without spot among the assembly of the elect in life eternal.  All that is implied in our baptism into the name of the Holy Spirit.

So our baptism witnesses and seals to us what God is to us; what relationship He has with us.  Baptism tells us that our heavenly Father adopted us and cares and provides for us.  It tells us that the Son is our Saviour from sin.  And baptism tells us the Holy Spirit lives in us in order to have us grow in holiness, so that we become a sanctified people.

Therefore all those who are baptised into the name of God stand in covenant relationship to God.  They are united with Him who is the God of salvation.  God has spoken beautiful words of assurance at baptism.  When that sacrament was administered to us, God said you are my possession, you belong to me.  And to belong to God is to be saved unto all eternity.

Now we have dealt at some length with God’s Word spoken at baptism in order for God’s Spirit to remind you of your baptism and thus to strengthen your faith.  YOU see, when God commanded circumcision in the O.T. times, and when Christ replaced that sign with the new sign of baptism, then God knew that His covenant people needed strengthening of their faith time and again.  The faith of God’s people will be tried, for they live in a world that is rebelling against God’s rule.  Our faith is being attacked, ridiculed, and in danger of being destroyed.  We are tempted in many ways to let go of God, to become worldly minded, to follow the ways of the world and be disobedient to God.  We can become depressed, faint-hearted and lose sight of our goal.  Now God knew all that.  From the fall into sin to the final victory at Christ’s coming again, a great and terrible conflict is raging between God and Satan, good and evil, heaven and hell.  It’s a most difficult battle for the powers of Satan are dark, sinister, subtle and subversive.  God’s people are right in that battle, that spiritual conflict.  If you can’t see this, if you think that it is not as bad as all that, then you’re asleep.  Then you have already slipped further into a state of apathy and spiritual death.

But God wants His covenant people to look again to their baptism and be strengthened in their faith.  Answer these questions, therefore: Are you a child of God?  Is the Father caring for and protecting you?  Is the Son saving you, right up to the very end?  Is the Holy Spirit living within you in order to have you grow in obedience and service to God?

What is your answer?  How do you respond?  Well, you must not doubt, you must believe! Surely, God was not just playing around with you when you were baptised!  If He said in the Word He spoke at your baptism that you belong to Him, that you are the possession of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and therefore share in His salvation, where then do you find a reason to doubt this, or to place a question mark behind His word at your baptism?

You might say that you have failed terribly, sinned grievously, rebelled horribly.  Indeed you may well have!  And God calls you to repent and be obedient again.  But your assurance of salvation lies not in whatever you have done or not done.  If it depends on us, then no one would be saved.  But salvation is of God, it comes from Him and He has given baptism to strengthen our faith in Him.  In baptism God says that you are His, that you stand in covenant relationship to Him, that you belong to Him.

It is so.  Not perhaps’ or ‘maybe’ but *for sure’!  It was God’s sovereign good pleasure to link Himself to you.  He did not wait until you made the first move.  He simply took hold of you.  He decided to do that in His electing love.  He swore by His own name as truly as I live, says the Lord, this person stands in covenant relationship to me, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  God said so at your baptism.

We had better make up our minds now whether or not we are going to believe God’s word at baptism and follow up faith with obedience to God’s will and do works of faith.  May be you would rather not know anything about it.  Maybe you wish sometimes that you were free from God.  But you cannot undo what God has said at your baptism.  By His own words God put Himself into a relationship with you that speaks of salvation.  Even if you don’t believe, or ignore it, you will never be free from it.  You can either believingly accept God’s covenant or break with it.  But if you break with it, a terrible punishment awaits you.  God is not about to let the suffering and death of Christ be treated with indifference or contempt.  It was too costly for that.

But we have not received baptism to make us experience the judgement of God deeper and heavier than the unbelieving who were not baptised.  The purpose of our baptism is to help us believe God.  Our baptism tells us that God will receive us in His grace whenever we repent and turn to Him.

2.  Now God has not only spoken at baptism, He has also spoken about baptism.  And believing what God’s Word has said about baptism will also strengthen our faith.  In Titus 3:5 the apostle Paul is speaking about what God has done for His people.  Among other things, “God,” says Paul, “saved us through the washing of rebirth” (NIV) or “saved us by the washing of regeneration” (NASB).

The washing is a reference to baptism which means then that God’s Word speaks about baptism as a washing of rebirth.

Then in Acts 22 we have an account of Paul’s conversion and of him subsequently being told by Ananias that God wants Paul to witness for Him to all men.  Then Ananias said to Paul who has come to faith,
            “And now what are you waiting for? Get up,
              be baptised and wash your sins away…!” (vs.16).

Note then what God says about baptism.  He calls it the washing of rebirth and the washing away of sins.  A similar experience is found in Ephesians 5:26 where it says that the church is washed clean of her sins.

All kinds of misunderstandings have arisen here.  What God says about baptism has led some to believe that regeneration comes automatically with baptism.  Or that when you were baptised you actually had sins taken from you.  But baptism has no renewing or forgiving qualities, nor did the Holy Spirit in some mysterious way inject renewal and forgiveness into baptism.  The Holy Spirit always uses the Word for that, the Word of God that points to Christ.

Baptism in itself is nothing and by itself does nothing.

But why then does God speak of baptism as the “washing away of sins”?  Is God careless and inaccurate with His Word?  Of course not!  God means every word He says.  Remember, God uses baptism to strengthen our faith.  He says things about baptism with the purpose of really making us sit up and take notice.  Baptism is not just ritual, some meaningless rite.

When a trustworthy person gives a hundred dollar cheque to someone and says, “Here’s a hundred dollars”, then everyone knows the cheque is only a piece of paper.  It’s not the $100.  Yet the cheque is regarded as having the value of $100 because the person who wrote it is known to be reliable.

Now God is absolutely reliable when He calls baptism the “washing of rebirth” and the “washing away of sins.”  A member of God’s covenant of grace is baptised and God says: Here you have the new birth; here you have the forgiveness of sins.  God really wants to emphasize that promise.  God wants to assure us in baptism that our cleansing, spiritually, through the blood of Christ, is as real as a cleansing physically, with water.

But again, baptism as God’s pledge and sign of being born again and forgiven, has to be humbly accepted by the person who has been baptised.  God goes to considerable lengths in order to help us believe the reality of salvation in Christ.  You must simply cling, not to baptism, by itself, but to the words God speaks about it.  There are many people who have been baptised but seldom bother to hear the Word of God.  They think they are right with God, after all, they have been baptised haven’t they!  But when you don’t really know what God says about baptism, then baptism means nothing at all.  It will not save anyone.

Earlier on we read from Peter’s letter about the persecution raging against the early church.  Those Christians were going through much suffering.  Some were quite frightened, not only about having to face evil men, but also about having to face God.  However, Peter reassures these believers by telling them that baptism has saved them (1Pet.3:21).

Does baptism then save after all?  No!  Only Christ can save anyone.  But to those who believe God, who follow up their faith with obedience and serving of God, for them God makes baptism such a forceful sign of what He does for them in Christ, that He simply says: baptism will save you.  Strong language indeed but at least it keeps believers from having a hollow conception of baptism.  God speaks in that way in order to strengthen our faith in what Christ has done for us.

Having then heard God’s Word at baptism and about baptism, you must rejoice in God in wanting to strengthen your faith through the work of His Spirit.  Let the Spirit richly dwell in you by your thinking about what God has said at baptism and about baptism.  Ask yourself: what does my baptism mean to me?  Am I responding to God with thankful obedience?  Is my life such that it reflects Christ’s saving work in me?

People of God, do not forget your baptism.  Remember what it means, what God is telling you through it, and you will find yourself trusting God more.  And when you do that, then there will be more of Christ in you and you will be more Christian.

AMEN