Word of Salvation – March 2025
Washed With Water
Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp on W.C.F. ch.28 & Titus 3:1-8
Reading: Romans 6:1-12; Titus 3:1-8
Westminster Confession of Faith – ch.28:1-4
Singing: BoW.485 Lord You gave the Great Commission
– BoW.211 I love You Lord
– BoW.196 Baptised in water
– BoW.528 To God be the glory
Theme: Coming to terms with the sacrament of Baptism as a ritual that shows our union with Christ.
Introd: It’s sad that one of the things that should unite us as believers actually divides us.
Of course there are many things over which are divided.
But one of the important matters is baptism.
Some Christian groups do not practice baptism at all.
The Quakers and the Salvation Army explain it away.
There are other Christian churches that would not recognise your baptism.
They would require that you be re-baptised before becoming a member.
Christians disagree over the WHEN of baptism.
Some administer the sacrament only to believers who are able to profess faith.
They have huge problems with our practice of infant baptism.
One Baptist Pastor told one of our members (Andy) that it was a pagan superstition.
I’ve just finished a term of studies with the teachers at GCS on the covenant.
We spent two mornings on baptism – not primarily to convert them to our view.
But to help them to understand that it is not a pagan superstition but Biblical.
Christians also disagree over the HOW of baptism.
That’s another reasons why some churches would reject your baptism.
They claim that sprinkling some water over someone is not enough.
You need to be fully immersed if you are to be validly baptised.
I wonder… could you defend our practice as being Biblical if someone challenged you?
If you can’t then you are at risk of giving in and letting yourself be rebaptised.
I’m talking about a situation where you move somewhere where your choices are limited.
A] DISTINGUISING BETWEEN RITUAL & REALITY.
- It’s for this reason that I want to begin with Romans 6 which mentions baptism.
There is some very meaningful language there about being buried with Christ and raised with Him too.
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptised into Christ Jesus
have been baptised into His death?
Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death…!
The imagery seems to be that the water represents the grave.
So imagine that you are being baptised by immersion.
Your going under the water is like dying with Christ.
And you rising out of the water is like rising with Him to new life.
The symbolism is meaningful and many use that as an argument for being fully immersed.
They reinforce this by arguing that the word baptism originally meant full immersion.
A Baptist colleague once tried to argue that out with me. He said:
”John, the Greek word ‘baptidzo’ originally meant going right under.”
But I could show you places in the Bible where that argument just doesn’t hold water (pun!)
For example in the Greek text of Leviticus 14:16 Moses is to put some oil in his left hand.
He is then to dips his right finger (literally ’baptise’ his right finger’) in the oil.
You cannot force that to mean that Moses immerses his finger under the oil.
- But there is another problem with basing our practice of baptism on Romans 6.
When it comes to the sacraments it’s essential that we distinguish the ritual from the reality.
There is an inner spiritual baptism and there is an outward physical baptism.
Those two are closely connected… but we must not confuse them.
The one is the ritual, the other is the reality.
It has always been that way. Let me explain.
In the OT the equivalent to baptism was circumcision.
But God often told Israel that there was something more important than that ritual.
The Lord told them that they had to circumcise their hearts.
So how do you do that? You cannot circumcise your heart physically.
God meant that they were to live clean and pure lives which is what circumcision meant.
The ritual was only a sign and seal of the inner reality.
So what is Paul talking about in Romans 6? The ritual? Or the reality to which the ritual points?
The obvious answer is that Paul is not telling people in Romans 6 how to perform baptisms.
He is talking about the inner reality… the spiritual baptism of the heart.
He is saying that by faith we share a deep union with Jesus Christ.
In fact we are so one with Him that what happened to Jesus happens to us.
We died with Him and we rose again with Him.
A spiritual baptism has taken place in which we are permanently linked with Jesus.
The ritual and the reality are closely connected but we must ask what the ritual really means.
Does the ritual particularly mean us dying and rising with Christ?
The answer is “No!”
The heart of the issue is our identification with Jesus Christ.
That is clearly taught already in the Great Commission in Mat. 28.
There the disciples are told to go and baptise people
…into the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
The language is that of identity and union with the God who is three yet one.
- In fact we know that Christians should never base their arguments on just one isolated text.
We need to do justice to all that the Bible teaches.
When we look at the big picture we see quite a different emphasis in the Bible.
There is much more emphasis in Scripture on washings and sprinklings than on immersions.
In fact in the OT we repeatedly read of many things being washed and sprinkled.
The blood of the sacrifices were sprinkled on the altar and on the people.
Water of purification was splashed on those it was meant to purify.
Some thirty times the OT uses that kind of language.
And the NT picks up on that in the book of Hebrews.
In a very telling verse it says to us in Hebrews 10:22
Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith,
having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience
and our bodies washed with pure water.
All of that led a colleague of mine to preach a sermon with the title:
It’s more Biblical to Baptise by sprinkling than immersion.
We find the same language – not immersion but washing – also in Titus 3:5.
God saved us through the washing of rebirth.
That’s talking about baptism. Not baptism as a physical ritual… but baptism as a spiritual reality.
B] DISCERNING THE TRUE MEANING OF THE RITUAL.
- All of this doesn’t make the ritual unimportant. It’s a very important ritual.
Because this ritual… this sacrament… was given to us by Christ.
And the Quakers and the Salvation Army are wrong in not practicing it.
In fact the W.C.F. shows us just how important the sacrament of Baptism is.
It gives us a total of six different meanings of baptism that it has gleaned from Scripture.
That’s a warning for us not to approach baptism too simplistically.
As if Romans 6 with it’s language of dying and rising with Christ decides it all.
- i) In the first place the W.C.F. speaks of baptism as a rite of initiation.
It was for the solemn admission of the party being baptised into the visible church.
IOW it is a ritual which sets you apart as someone who has been joined to the Body of Christ.
When you were baptised you became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ.
We see that in the book of Acts.
We read that new converts were baptised.
And then immediately after we read that so many were added to their number that day.
We see this meaning of Baptism in 1Corinthians 12:13 where Paul says:
For we were all baptised by one spirit into one body.
Of course he’s talking about the spiritual reality, not the ritual.
But it highlights that therefore a meaning of the ritual is that one is being joined to the church.
It’s not surprising that therefore that baptism is always seen as s the decisive act of committal.
I’ve heard that in some countries Muslims don’t mind if their people mix with Christians.
But if they dare to get baptised then they are cut off by their family.
- ii) Secondly, the W.C.F. says that Baptism is a sign and seal of the covenant of grace.
We’re quite familiar with that language.
It is the language that the Heidelberg Catechism uses.
And it’s the kind of language that the Bible uses in Romans 4.
It’s an important meaning of baptism because it connects us back to Abraham.
Scripture tells us that God made the covenant of Grace with Abraham.
And God gave him the covenant sign of circumcision.
And that helps us to work out also the WHEN of baptism.
Because Colossians 2 tells us that Baptism has now taken the place of circumcision.
And so we believe our children also must be baptised.
Because this covenant of grace means God is the God of parents and their children.
So I cannot treat them as little pagans until they reach the age of accountability.
Instead we administer to them this sign and seal of the covenant of grace.
iii) Thirdly the WCF sees this ritual as a sign of what it calls “our ingrafting into Christ”.
Here it takes the language of Jesus from John 15 that He is the vine and we the branches.
We as branches have been grafted into the rootstock which is Christ.
And the life of Christ (the rootstock) now flows into us who are the branches.
That takes us right back once more to Romans 6.
Because we’re again talking about the mystical union we have with our Saviour.
A union that is so close that it’s as if what happened to Jesus also happened to us.
There is even a sense in which we are (in principle) already seated with Christ in glory.
- iv) Fourthly the WCF speaks of baptism as a sign and seal of regeneration.
What we mean by regeneration is our new birth.
It’s what Jesus talked about to Nicodemus… being born anew into the Kingdom of heaven.
IOW when someone becomes a Christian there is a radical change that takes place in them.
So radical that it is like being born all over again.
That person has been regenerated.
You might like to turn with me a moment to Ezekiel 36.
Because this spiritual rebirth is beautifully pictured there for us.
I believe this was the passage Jesus alluded to when He accused Nicodemus of ignorance.
Let me begin with verse 26 of Ezekiel 36
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you;
and I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
That’s regeneration… being born again.
But now notice the verse before that and how this regeneration is linked with sprinkling.
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean;
I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols.
So there you have a wonderful picture of regeneration linked to God’s sprinkling of purification.
It reminds us that our baptism signifies and seals to us our regeneration.
- v) In the fifth place the WCF also mentions the remission of sins.
Here it picks up on the fact that the Bible often links purification with forgiveness.
It’s as we are purified by our God that He is able to pardon our sins.
It’s as He cleanses us and renews us that we are forgiven.
No wonder then that Peter linked baptism and forgiveness on the day of Pentecost.
We read about that in Acts 2.
In verse 38 Peter links baptism and forgiveness very closely.
So closely that it almost seems as if Baptism in itself removes our sin.
He says: “Repent and be baptised every one of you,
in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins.”
So when the devil tempts you to doubt your forgiveness think of your baptism… that sealed it!
C] THE MORAL IMPLICATIONS OF OUR BAPTISM.
- There is final meaning that the WCF assigns to our baptism.
It’s an important one and it links us back to both our NT Bible readings.
It says that baptism is also a sign of our being given up…
“…unto God through Jesus Christ, to walk in newness of life.”
IOW it marks us as being people who are now different in our behaviour and lifestyle.
If you are baptised you are different.
You are marked as one who follows the beat of a different drummer.
But isn’t that exactly the focus also of Romans 6? Did you notice how Romans 6 begins?
For just a moment Paul plays devil’s advocate.
He says: If we’re forgiven anyway then who cares if we sin?
Actually he puts it even more strongly.
He has argued that our sin is an opportunity for God to be gracious.
Then why not sin a little more so that God has more opportunity to show His grace?
But Paul says: No way… we died and rose with Christ to new life in baptism.
How then can we keep on sinning? Baptism commits us to walking in newness of life.
- For Paul that is also the major issue in Titus 3.
He is encouraging Titus as a young pastor to remind his people how to live Christianly.
So in the opening verses there’s a whole catalogue of things Christians are to do.
They are to be subject to rulers and authorities.
They are to be obedient and to do what is good.
They are to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate and to show true humility to all.
He then admits that this sort of behaviour was not always their practice.
Before they became Christians there was a lot of garbage in their lives.
Sin was a daily reality.
But that all changed when God’s kindness in Christ impacted their lives.
And then Paul goes right to the heart of the gospel.
God saved them… not by what they did… simply because of His mercy.
They were made right with God – not by their efforts – but by grace.
And in this way God made them heirs of heaven.
It’s a wonderful picture that presents to us the Christian story in just a few verses.
We have this problem that we should live a good life but we don’t… and we can’t.
But then God’s kindness comes into our life and we are changed and renewed.
Everything becomes different.
We who know this kindness of God in Christ are now heirs who have the hope of eternal life.
- But now notice the language that Paul uses here.
Paul again uses baptismal language.
At the heart of that saving work that God does is the ‘washing of rebirth’.
He saved us through the washing of rebirth.
There again is that inner reality that the washing water of baptism points us to.
As if that isn’t enough he speaks about the renewing work of the Holy Spirit.
And he adds that this Holy Spirit has been…
…poured out upon us generously through Jesus Christ.
Again that’s the language of baptism: cleansing water poured out upon us.
Again there is that inner reality of cleansing and purification that is symbolised in baptism.
But having said that Paul then returns once more to the theme of behaviour that he began with.
Those who have trusted in God should be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good.
I’ve often taught that we can sum up everything about Christianity under three headings:
Sin, salvation and service… and all three are present here.
In verse 3 it speaks about the foolishness that was once part of our life – that’s sin.
Verses 4 to 7 spell out our cleansing and purification – that’s salvation.
And verse 8 talks about us doing good in response – that’s service.
Sin, salvation and service… and your baptism concerns itself with each of those.
Reflect on your baptism and you are reminded that your sin was washed away.
Those baptismal waters remind you of the kindness of God in saving you.
But those waters of baptism also set you apart for a live lived to the glory of God.
I trust that you value your baptism.
It wasn’t just some meaningless ritual… and certainly not a pagan and superstitious rite.
It always focuses your attention on Jesus and on the blood that sprinkles to make you whiter than snow.
Amen