Scripture Reading: Hebrews 8

Hebrews chapter eight, I'll just begin reading in verse one and read to the end of the chapter. Now, this is the main point of the things we are saying. We have such a high priest who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord erected and not man. For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices.

Therefore, it is necessary that this one also have something to offer. For if he were on earth, he would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law, who serve the coffee and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For he said, see that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain. But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as he is also mediator of a better covenant which was established on better promises.

For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second, because finding fault with them, he says, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their mind and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. None of them shall teach his neighbor and none his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for all shall know me from the least of them to the greatest of them.

For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their lawless deeds. I will remember no more. In that, he says, a new covenant. He has made the first obsolete.

Now, what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. Amen. Let us pray.

Opening Prayer

Father, thank you for the Holy Scriptures. We thank you for this glad and happy day, Father. We thank you that our brother wants to be baptized in obedience to the commandment of Christ. We pray, God, that you would be exalted and glorified in this.

You display your handiwork in the life of this young man. We just ask now that you would forgive us for all of our sins. We come to the scriptures. We come to spiritual exercise.

We know that apart from Jesus, we can do nothing. We pray for cleansing afresh in that blood. We pray for the ministry and the aid of your Holy Spirit. We pray that you would humble us under your mighty hand and cause us to be receptive to the truth of Holy Scripture.

God, we thank you for your grace. We thank you for your mercy. We thank you for the gospel of free and sovereign grace. for the fact that our Lord Jesus came into this world, sinners to save. Help us, Father, to be encouraged by these truths each and every moment, each and every day, to always live in light of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And it's in his name that we pray. Amen.

Introduction

Well, this morning I want to do a topical study of the doctrine of baptism. As you'll all probably agree, there are two broad approaches to the subject of Christian baptism, at least with reference to the subjects or who ought to be baptized. There are those who are paedo-baptists, or those who sprinkle babies, and then there are credo-baptists, those who are baptized by immersion, those who profess faith in Jesus Christ. Now, at the outset, let me just say I have the highest esteem for Paedo-Baptist brethren.

I have a lot of them in that office that I look to for great instruction. They're godly men of the past, godly men in the present, hold that particular doctrine. But as we come to a celebration of baptism, it's always good for us to remind ourselves as to why we do what it is that we do. And to that end, I want to offer up three observations this morning on the doctrine of baptism.

The first is that it is a conspicuous practice in the Book of Acts, a conspicuous practice to demonstrate that belief precedes baptism. In connection with our confession of faith, London Baptist Confession, Chapter 29, Paragraph 2 says, Those who do actually profess repentance toward God faith in and obedience to our Lord Jesus are the only proper subjects of this ordinance. So I thought it would be good to consider the baptism text in the book of Acts and see that it is indeed a conspicuous practice where belief comes before baptism. Secondly, we'll see that it's a practice grounded upon or based upon a specific mandate.

And to that end, we'll look at Matthew 28, the great commission of our Lord Jesus. Jesus told them to go into all the nations, to make disciples and to baptize them. And then thirdly, we'll see that all of this is rooted in the context of God's covenantal promise. And there we'll look specifically at Hebrews 8, which is a citation of Jeremiah 31.

So we'll look at the book of Acts. Matthew 28 and Jeremiah 31 to see why it is that we are reformed Baptists. So

Conspicuous Pattern in Acts

let's look first at Acts chapter 2. We'll move somewhat quickly through these various passages. There will be one I don't deal with. If you took your concordance out and you looked up baptism, you will see that I'm not going to deal with Acts chapter 19 verses 4 to 6.

A lot of people believe that that teaches re-baptism. I don't believe it does at all. I believe that John Gill has a proper understanding of that text. So we won't look at that.

If you're interested later you can ask Pastor Porter and he'll instruct you on the particulars. Just kidding. If you want to talk to me I'd be more than I'd be more than welcome to discuss that particular text. But the several other passages we will look at.

Now most Baptists Credo-Baptists, that means belief, credo, believers' baptism. And then, Paedo-Baptists generally agree that the household baptisms can go either way. Honest, not that there's dishonest, Paedo-Baptists will agree that they don't necessarily teach paedo-inclusion. Now, Paedo-Baptists will use those lines of evidence to try to ground or highlight the fact that there probably were infants involved.

But as a Baptist, I will take the other side and show hopefully that they don't demand the inclusion of infants and most likely exclude infants in those particular contexts. But the first is Acts chapter 2, beginning in verse 36. Remember the contact Peter is preaching on the day of Pentecost. The Lord Jesus sends his spirit a powerful way.

The manifestation of that is that the people of God begin to speak in various tongues, various languages, and what they are communicating are the great works of God Most High. There are people that say that they were drunk with new wine. Peter stands up and preaches, and he says, essentially, this is what was prophesied in the prophet Joel, that Jesus is enthroned at the right hand of the Father, that this is the messianic age. It is already dawned.

It is upon us. And with that reality, he then makes this statement in verse 36. Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now, praise God, the spirit is operating, the spirit is working.

Notice what happens in verse 37. Now, when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said to them, repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for the promises to you and to your children and to all who are far off as many as the Lord our God will call you see the specific or conspicuous order repent and be baptized. Oftentimes in the book of Acts salvation or conversion is viewed either from faith or from repentance.

We know that those are two sides of the same coin and the apostles can use them interchangeably such that repentance includes the idea of faith in Christ. It means coming to Christ, closing with Christ. And the conspicuous order is first Christ, then baptism. When he says that the promise is to you and to your children, he is not speaking there of the promise of baptism.

He is speaking of the promise of the Holy Spirit. He is speaking of the promise of the remission of sin. And his idea is simple. It is for you, your children, all who are afar off, but it's qualified by as many as the Lord our God will call.

So as many as the Lord our God will call from you, from your children, or from those who are afar off, that is the ones who receive the promise of the Holy Spirit. If we take 239 and imply or infer pedo-sprinkling, we ought to indiscriminately sprinkle those who are afar off. to welcome them into the covenant. And then notice specifically the response. Verse 40, with many other words, he testified and exhorted them, saying, Be safe from this perverse generation.

Then those who gladly received his word were baptized. And that day, about 3000 souls were added to that conspicuous. It's not get baptized and then gladly receive his word. We don't make disciples through baptism.

We baptize those who are disciples by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. That's the conspicuous order. Those who gladly received his word were baptized.

Acts 8: Belief Before Baptism

Notice in Acts chapter eight, Acts chapter eight. specifically beginning in verse 9, but there was a certain man called Simon who previously practiced sorcery in the city and astonished the people of Samaria, claiming that he was someone great, to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God. And they heeded him because he had astonished them with his sorceries for a long time. But when they believed Philip, as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized. He said they believed and were baptized.

They gladly received the word, and then they were baptized. And incidentally, even Simon himself, though he proved to be a false professor, fulfilled that particular pattern. Look at verse 13. Then Simon himself also believed, and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip and was amazed, seeing the miracles and signs which were done.

As Baptists, we maintain that a credible profession of faith is the prerequisite for baptism. And it's oftentimes alleged, well, how do you know the heart? You're not omniscient. You're not omnipotent.

You're not sovereign. You don't know who's a genuine believer or who isn't. Well, we see in this instance, they took his profession of faith and they baptized him. even though he would prove to be a goat, a son of the devil. So we see still that conspicuous pattern is upheld or that practice is upheld even in the midst of Simon, the sorcerer, dropping down in chapter eight, beginning in verse thirty six, chapter eight, beginning in verse thirty four, actually.

So the eunuch answered Philip and said, I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this of himself or of some other man? Then Philip opened his mouth and beginning at the scripture preached Jesus to him. Before we proceed, I want to say something. You're not a believer here this morning.

You're not in Christ. You really shouldn't worry about Pato baptism versus cradle baptism at this particular moment. You should be terrified at the thought of being undone in your sins before a holy God. You should be terrified at the thought that you can leave from this place and drop dead and enter into a Christless eternity.

That's not just preacher talk to scare you, James says. Don't boast about tomorrow. Your life is a mist. It's a vapor.

It's here for a time and then, poof, it's gone. You ought to say, if the Lord wills. Notice that as Philip comes upon this Ethiopian eunuch, the eunuch is reading Isaiah the prophet, chapter 53. The eunuch says, how can I understand unless someone explain it to me?

Is the prophet talking about himself? Is he talking about his nation? Who is it that Isaiah is speaking about here with reference to this servant of the Lord? Notice what Philip does.

Beginning with this text, he preaches Jesus to him. You see, if you're not a believer this morning, Paedo-baptism and credo-baptism ought not to be the consuming thought in your mind and heart. It ought to be this Jesus. This Jesus that is the servant of the Lord in Isaiah 53.

This man of sorrows who was acquainted with grief. This one upon whom the Lord laid the iniquity of us all. This one who was bruised. This one who was stricken.

This one who was smitten and afflicted by God and ultimately cut off, not for his sins, but for our sins. That's who you ought to be concerned about this morning, not whether Calvin was right or Gil was right or Spurgeon was right or whether the Free Grace Baptist Church is right or whether the Heritage Reform Church is right or the Netherlands Reform Congregation is right. What you ought to be concerned about is that Christ is in the heavens and he says, believe on me and you shall be saved. That is most important this morning.

That is most crucial. Because quite frankly, if you're a credo or you're a pedo, you can go to heaven, provided you are in Christ. Woe to that man who has his credo-baptist doctrine down and can explain it to the nth degree and yet does not know the saving work and power of Jesus Christ. It's Christ.

It's Jesus. The glorious son of God, the one who loves sinners and gave himself for them. So one who rose again, the one of Acts two thirty six. Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly notice that the disciples, the apostles, the apostolic preaching of the cross wasn't this sort of feeble and weak, suggestive idea that this might be open for your consideration.

They didn't come limp wristed into cities and say, well, you know, here's one option among many. God has stationed him. You can accept this with absolute certainty at his right hand. He has made him both Lord and Christ.

The implication of that is, is that if you refuse him, if you reject him, you will be cut off. It is only in Christ that there is salvation. That's what you need to get this morning. That's what you need to understand.

Jesus lived in obedience to the law. Jesus died to satisfy divine justice. Jesus died as a substitute in the place of, for his people. And he rose again on the third day.

And then he rose into heaven and he led captivity captive and he gave gifts to men. Believe on the gospel and you shall be saved. That's the main idea. It's not what Hebrews 8 starts off with.

This is the point. This is the point of what we're talking about. I love the author of the book of Hebrews. He's a bottom line sort of man.

This is the main point of what we are saying. The Aaronic priesthood served as a time and as a type to the priest who would come in the order of Melchizedek. who would not offer up sins for himself, but he would offer up himself for our sins. That's the point of what he is saying there in Hebrews chapter 8. That is why he then maintains the superiority of the new covenant versus the old covenant.

The bottom line for all of us this morning is that we believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, our Lord, and find salvation therein. What Philip is the first order of business with this man. Verse 35. Then Philip opened his mouth and beginning at this scripture preached Jesus to him.

That beautiful hermeneutics by Philip here. You wonder what Isaiah the prophet is writing about? Philip's going to tell you. You're a eunuch sitting in a chariot wondering about whom Isaiah is writing.

Philip preaches Jesus from this scripture. Now, as they went down the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized? Then Philip said, if you believe with all your heart, you may.

And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and he baptized him. You see, again, the conspicuous order, the conspicuous practice, belief, then baptism.

Acts 9 and 10: Further Examples

Chapter nine, verse 18. Chapter 9, verse 18, the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once, and he arose and was baptized. He met Christ on the road to Damascus.

Christ saves his soul. Christ blinds him temporarily when these scales fall off. He arises and he's baptized as a believer on the Lord Jesus Christ. He is baptized.

Chapter 10, verses 44 to 48. Chapter 10, verses 44 to 48, Peter preaching to the household of Cornelius. This is what we might call the Gentile Pentecost. The way the Spirit comes on the church in Jerusalem in Acts 2 is duplicated in Samaria in Acts 8, and it's duplicated again here in Acts 10.

At critical junctures in the missionary enterprise in the early church, the Spirit comes in a unique and powerful way to attest that Christ is at the right hand of the father, sending the spirit in accordance with the prophets and saving sinners, adding to the church, planting churches and extending his blessed kingdom. So Peter preaches to the household of Cornelius and in chapter 10, verse 44 says, while Peter was still speaking these words. The Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word, and those of the circumcision who believed were astonished as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also, for they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Then Peter answered, Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?

You see this pattern. I hope you appreciate it. It's a conspicuous practice. You repent and be baptized.

You believe, you be baptized. You receive the Spirit, you be baptized. This is where we have some trouble with fatal sprinkling. Are we saying, are we asserting that that infant or all the infants that received this sign have repented?

They have believed. They have received the Holy Spirit. In some ways, with our practice, we are undoing what we preach in other places. We stick to the conspicuous practice and the conspicuous order that flow from the mandate that are grounded in the context of covenant.

We won't go wrong. Peter says, Can anyone forbid water that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then they asked him to stay a few days.

This answers another unfortunate problem that happens in the church. He commanded them to be baptized. He didn't suggest it as an alternate way of higher Christian living. We're not to play games with the ordained means that Christ has given.

Christ commands something. We ought to obey him. If you are a believer in Jesus, you should be baptized. It is a commanded activity.

It is something that carries divine authority. Jesus doesn't say if you feel like it or if you'd like to or if you want to throw your lot in with the extra spiritual among God's people. It is a commanded activity. Peter doesn't feebly recommend this.

Peter doesn't say you ought to think about this in about six years. No, he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. J. Adams, in his book on preaching, makes an interesting observation.

Since there was no altar call in the early church, there was no every head bowed and every eye closed, raise up your hand if you want to be a believer. No, there was the preaching of the gospel, the call to believe the gospel, response by God's grace, and then baptism. That was the response in the early church. They believed and they were baptized.

Peter doesn't say, well, let's just try you out for a while. I mean, after all, you're heathen. After all, you've come out of, you know, paganism. We can't actually baptize you right away.

There's a profession of faith. There's the evidences of the Holy Spirit. There is the fruits of God's having dealt with them savingly. So Peter says, get in the water.

What do we plan around with? If you're a believer, you should be baptized. If you're a believer, you should identify publicly with the triune God. It's not just so that you can proclaim it to the people of God.

It is primarily unto the party baptized. It is primarily for the person. Something we don't often highlight, but our confession states, is that it's a means of grace. Not only in the past that we obeyed God, But in the presence, we ought to think back to that blessed pool.

When we come to a crossroads and we're going to sin, think about the day that you went into that water. I believe Paul appeals to that sort of logic in the book of Romans. How can you continue in sin? You died.

You were buried with him in baptism. As a baptized believer in the Lord Jesus, don't sin. Don't go out and engage in folly. Don't pursue madness.

Don't engage in wickedness. You're a baptized child of the living and true God. It's a means of grace. What a draw off of it.

What a delight in it. What a rejoice in it. I hope you can remember the day you were baptized. I hope it has a fondness in your memory.

I often quote, I was going to quote Spurgeon, I think I did last baptism, so I won't this time. Blessed pool, he says, on that day of baptism, reflecting upon the day that he went into that water in obedience to his sovereign Lord. I've often thought if pale baptism is correct, there's no present effect. You can't appeal to somebody who is sprinkled as a baby and say, remember your baptism.

Live in accordance with your baptism. It's almost like getting married when you're not even there. Remember that wedding day? Well, I was there by proxy.

I wasn't there. How can I remember something I didn't participate in? It'd be crazy. It'd be foolishness.

It'd be madness. Live like a married man to that woman you said I do to on that particular day. Well, I wasn't there. I don't have a context of which to draw upon.

I think in many respects, brethren, and again, with dear respect to my patal Baptist brethren. By the way, my books are over there. That's what I mean. I don't have a bunch of patal Baptists hanging out in that room.

They're sort of chained to the wall. No, no, there are books in there. Some of the brethren in the history of the church refer to them as the venerable dead. My dead friends, my dead brothers.

I think in some respects it gyps people. I hope you think about your baptism. I hope you think about what a blessed day that was. Identifying with the risen Lord coming or going into the water and coming up out of the water.

It's beautiful. It's glorious. It's magnificent. It is a nonverbal declaration of the verbal content of the Christian gospel.

Beautiful. It's not just people. Let's give it to believers at 16, 14 and 15 at 16, 14 and 15. We may just be surveying acts this morning.

Acts 16 verses 14 and 15. Now, a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshipped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul.

And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay. So she persuaded us. Now again, the Paedo-Baptists There were infants there. Not all households contain infants.

They just don't. I asked some of the dear older brethren in our midst and said, does your household contain infants? Well, no. It's an argument from silence.

We ought not to build a doctrine upon an argument from silence. Baptists have rightly seen that she's a businesswoman. She's a seller of purple from Thyatira. She's away from her city.

She's engaged in commerce. Is her household necessarily infants? She's a pretty irresponsible mother, unless she's got them in tow. She's got one of those straps where the baby's hanging off her while she's selling purple.

Maybe she had a purple strap. Or maybe her household included servants, attendants. Adult children. We don't know.

You see, you don't build a doctrine on an argument from silence. But the interesting thing is that God opened Lydia's heart. Are we not to expect that whoever was with Lydia, the same procedure would be in order. That's how the household baptisms go at 1631, another familiar one.

Which, by the way, this is the nucleus of the church of Philippi, isn't it? It's beautiful. Acts 16, verse 31. Remember, Paul and Silas are put into jail.

The doors are open, the ground is shaken with a great earthquake, the prison guards suppose that the prisoners have fled. He's about to kill himself, realizing that would be his lot, that would be his fate if it was in fact the deed that his charge had escaped. So Paul and Silas said, don't do that. What does he say?

Sirs, what must I do to be saved? He knew something about Paul and Silas. Then ask all the rest of the prisoners. And this salvation is probably not just in the physical sense, because he was ready to off himself.

What is their call? What is their command? What is their order? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.

You and your household. Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. They spoke the word to him and to all who were in his house, and he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes, and immediately he and all his were baptized. Now, when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household.

Acts 18, 8, then Crispus, this is in Corinth, the ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his household. And many of the Corinthians noticed the order hearing, believed and were baptized to conspicuous practice. The other incident is in Acts 22 when Paul is rehearsing his conversion. You get the point.

You see the order, you see the practice, you see that it's conspicuous. It is not hidden. It's not kept in a corner. It's not open for debate.

B.B. Warfield acknowledges there's no command in all of the New Testament to sprinkle infants. Cato Baptists acknowledge that. It's why they build their argument on covenant theology.

It's why the last point in our survey will be covenant theology. The reformed Baptist hopefully can answer those suppositions. But you see the practice. You see belief, you see repentance, you see the reception of the Spirit preceding those who are baptized.

You see the urgency of it. For an unbaptized believer today, you need to think in terms of God's holy word. You need to realize that Peter didn't suggest it. Peter didn't recommend it.

Peter didn't say it was a good idea. Peter commanded that they would be baptized. Now, that does not mean you can't go to heaven without baptism. The thief on the cross rejoiced in the Savior.

On that day, he died. Jesus says, today you will be with me in paradise. Again, we base our lives on normative practice. It is the case that you could believe the gospel right now and drop dead and go to heaven.

That's true. But for most of us, it's probably going to be you believe the gospel and you'll live for a little while afterward. Obey Jesus. He has all authority in heaven and on earth.

The Mandate: Matthew 28

Now, we'll turn to that particular passage. Matthew 28. Matthew 28. A brief outline of the Great Commission, it deals with all authority. all nations, all of God's Word, and all the days." All authority, all the nations, all of God's Word, and all the days.

That little word, all, comes up four times and serves as a helpful way to sort of remember what the commission is all about.

Authority Behind the Commission

Note, firstly, the authority behind the commission. Matthew 28, 18. Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. All authority, not some authority, not partial authority, not a little bit of authority.

That's good news for the Christian church. That's good news for the people of God. When we go out and engage in evangelism, when we go out and engage in the missionary enterprise, when we engage in evangelism from the pulpit, we have sovereign authority behind us. Jesus is speaking to his church.

Jesus is saying that every time we gather, every time the gospel message goes forth, the power behind that is him. Hopefully, that encourages us in our prayers for God to save, God to bless, God to prosper, God to advance His kingdom. It's not the strength of the preacher. It's not the ability of the orator.

It's not the power of the Word that the preacher uses. Rather, it's the power of Christ by His Word and by His Spirit advancing His cause in the earth. All authority has been given. to him in heaven and on earth. Notice that the activity of the commission go, therefore, literally going.

Therefore, there's three participants, the going, the baptizing, the teaching, and the one imperative is disciple. Those participants take on sort of a command like nature because of their close connection to the disciple. So Jesus is not suggesting, Jesus is not recommending, Jesus is not saying, if you feel like it, he assumes that we'll be going. He assumes that we'll be teaching and baptizing and doing those things that are consistent with his word.

Matthew Poole said, having declared his power, he delegates it. He tells them, go therefore.

Scope and Order of the Commission

Notice the specifics involved in the scope of the commission. Go to all the nations. How does Matthew's gospel start off? It starts off with a genealogy.

Is that to bore 21st century readers who have the attention span of a gnat? Or is it to connect Jesus to the Old Testament? To connect Jesus to the covenant God? To connect Jesus to those promises made to Abraham and David?

Yes, the third. To Abraham and David. He calls Jesus the son of Abraham. Isn't Abraham the one who the promise was made to look up into the sky and see those stars?

Your descendants will be more numerous. All the families of the earth will be blessed in Abraham. All the nations shall be blessed in Abraham. We start with the son of Abraham introduced and the son of Abraham exalted to the right hand of the father, having received from the father his inheritance.

And he dispatches, he delegates, he tells his church to go to the nations, go and disciple the nations, go and preach the gospel to the nations. Go and tell them what justification by faith is all about. Preach the atonement. Preach the cross.

Preach Jesus and his life, death and resurrection. Preach those grand events associated with the saving religion of God. Go do it. Don't wonder about it.

Don't scratch your heads. Do it. This is what the authority says to the churches. Go and make disciples of that.

We make disciples by preaching. Disciples are made by God's grace. They believe the truth. And then notice what happens.

They are baptized. You make disciples and you baptize, not indiscriminately. You baptize the disciples that you have made. And then what do you do?

You teach them to observe all that I have commanded you. You see the order. You see the pattern, the framework, the basis for church life. Church life, we preach the gospel for conversion.

We preach the gospel for disciple making. We continue to preach the gospel and its implications for all of life, teaching the disciples that have been made and baptized all things that Jesus has commanded. This is the mandate of the church. It's pretty limited, isn't it?

Do you like the thought of a limited government? I think we'd all say, yeah. The Bible presents such a view of limited government. The government is not supposed to be involved in every step of your life from cradle to grave.

That is not what the government is supposed to do. The power of government, the authority of government, the investiture given to government is very limited in its scope. Well, by the same token, the church isn't out to do everything either. What happens when the church does everything?

She doesn't do what she's supposed to do well. Right. What's our task? What's our job?

We are to go. We are to make disciples. We are to baptize those disciples and we are to teach those disciples. We're not supposed to do it for the short term, but it's a long haul, long term project.

This is why Jesus ends with this reference. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. What's the implication that the church till the end of the age? The church, for as long as that may be, with their sovereign authority behind her, with their mission clearly delineated, will preach for disciples, will baptize those disciples, and will teach those disciples, knowing that Christ is with his people, knowing that he is in the midst of the lampstand, knowing that at the position of authority, at the right hand of his Father, he blesses his word, he sends his spirit, and he gives the increase.

It's a wonderful thing, very limited in its focus. It doesn't mean we're not supposed to love, doesn't mean we're not supposed to care. It doesn't mean all of that. I'm simply speaking in broad categories that when we ask the Bible, what's the church supposed to do?

The answer isn't as broad as we're sometimes led to believe. It just isn't. It's not a cradle to grave society or every area of life involved in. How?

Sometimes people treat pastors like they can do everything. They can't. Pastors are supposed to preach the word and pray. Again, very, very narrowly defined.

I'm not trying to get out of work here. I'm really not. But it's not legit. to keep things upon a man or man that the Bible doesn't. It's an excellent little book called Why Johnny Can't Preach by T.

David Gordon. It gives the illustration in there of a man, a ministerial candidate going to a church, being interviewed for, just using the common parlance, for the job. He asked the question, what do you expect from the minister? So they You know, fill out whatever form they had and they hand it to him.

And as he crunched the numbers, he realized that the week that they presented to him was about a 70 to 80 hour work week. That's not a problem. But the 70 to 80 hour work week had no place for study and prayer. May I suggest you'd rather have your pastor in the word or on his knees? than at the women's bazaar.

Not that we even have women's bazaars. May I suggest you'd rather have your pastor seeking to wrap his head around some theological argument and then praying for the sheep of the flock than being the CEO, the corporate exec, the staff leader, the innovator, The razzmatazz man. When we look at the mission of the church is mandated by Jesus, it is delimited, it is narrow in its scope and in its focus, and that is by design. God wants the church to do what it does well.

Not half hearted, not with a divided spirit. Not with all kinds of blemishes and faults, though we have that to be sure, but just do what the instructions say. Don't add to it. Don't take away from it.

Keep it simple. Stupid. The kiss principle applies in the church. Jesus specifies the order.

Go make disciples, baptize those disciples and then teach those disciples all things that I have commanded you. Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Is it a surprise when we survey those various passages in the book of Acts that that's exactly what we see? Do you notice that it is a conspicuous practice based on a specific mandate?

They weren't innovative. They weren't movers and shakers. They didn't have new thoughts for church growth. They stood in front of people.

They said that Jesus lived, Jesus died, Jesus rose. If you believe on Jesus, you will be saved. When people believed, they gathered them together in local churches. They would go elsewhere, come back.

Paul's pattern in the first missionary journey is conspicuous. They go, they preach, disciples are made, churches are founded. They go back through having had some time there. Then they appoint elders in those churches so that those elders can be tasked with the specific activity of preaching and teaching.

It's a beautiful thing. It's great. It's wonderful.

Covenantal Context: Hebrews 8

But notice that it's rooted in a covenantal context. That's Hebrews eight. What we find practiced in the book of Acts, what we find mandated in the gospel of Matthew. Is what we find prophesied in the old covenant concerning the new covenant.

When we get to the pages of the New Testament. We can remain covenant theologians. We can remain sensitive to God's covenant. We can remain committed to that body of theology called covenant theology.

And as Reformed Baptists, we can even maintain that this practice flows out of an understanding of covenant theology. Notice just a few points with reference to Hebrews 8. The Apostle says that the old covenant is done. Hebrews 8, 13.

The Apostle says that the new covenant is a better covenant founded on better promises affording a better hope. He tells us why that is in an appeal to the prophet Jeremiah. Remember, Jeremiah 31, 31 to 34 is an announcement of the new covenant. It comes at a very blessed time in Israel's history, too, because they were in such a mess, such a state of disrepair, in exile, in the Babylonian captivity.

God wants the people to realize it's not over. He is not unfaithful. He is not God. He has a promise to save a people through Jesus Christ, the Lord.

So the prophet comes in that book of consolation, chapters 30 to 33, and right smack dab in the middle, chapter 31, is the promise of the new covenant. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. That's the church. The two groups that were separated in the history of the kingdom are seen together again.

The rest of the New Testament tells us who the Israel of God is. They're believers on the Lord Jesus Christ, sons of Abraham by virtue of faith in Jesus Christ, Galatians 3, 26 to 29. So God, through Jeremiah, says, behold, the days are coming when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, the house of Judah. Not like the covenant I made with them before which their fathers broke.

What's the point? You could break the old covenant. What's the point? You can't break the new covenant.

You see, your eternal security, your safety is bound up in Jesus, right? If you are in Christ, even you can't take yourself out of him. Isn't that great? I must not be making any sense this morning.

Everybody's like frying the eyelids open. That tank preaches these truths. That positive command given to Abraham in circumcision is no longer binding. The positive new covenant command is baptism.

It is for believers. It is for new covenant members. It is for those specified in Jeremiah 31, highlighted here in Hebrews 8, not like the covenant I made with them before which their fathers broke. New covenant religion is unbreakable.

Your perseverance, your preservation is grounded not in your performance or your ability, but in the covenant faithfulness of God most high. And then he specifies the various benefits that people in the New Covenant enjoy. They are given the law of God. It is internalized.

I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. Any wonder why Jesus says, teach them to observe all things that I have commanded you. God internalizes the law, makes us receptive to it, so that when we sit in church, when we sit in Bible study, when we listen to sermonaudio.com, when we've got the iPod going, we are receptive, we are eager, we are responsive to all the law, all the Word of the living and true God. That law has been taken from the stone tablets and let upon our hearts.

Beautiful. Not only that, he says, and I will be their God and they shall be my people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor and every man his brother. This is not undoing the Great Commission.

Jesus says, teach them to observe all things that I have commanded you. Who is he saying to teach the disciples, the one who are ones who are believers? The specific context to Jeremiah 31 and Hebrews 8 is that within this covenant community, you don't have to evangelize a member of the covenant community. You don't have to tell somebody who has the law internalized, who has received the forgiveness of sins to know the Lord because they do know him.

You see, in old covenant Israel, Isaac had to tell Ishmael about Jesus. Jacob had to tell Esau about Jesus. Within the one covenant community in the Old Testament, you had the saved and the unsaved. God, through Jeremiah, says the new covenant community won't be like that.

They shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them. They are in the new covenant. And then he speaks of the forgiveness of sins, for I will forgive their iniquity and their sin. I will remember no more.

It's not to say no one in the Old Covenant had these blessings. They did, but it was not because of the Old Covenant, ultimately because of the New Covenant. You see, this is the New Covenant community.

Who Should Be Baptized

We ask the question, who should be baptized? The New Covenant community. Those who can say, the law has been internalized. My sins, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought.

My sin not in part, but the whole is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. The one who knows the Lord.

The knowledge there isn't catechetical. The knowledge there is experiential. The knowledge there is intimacy. The knowledge isn't, I know what the catechism says about God, but I know the God of the catechism.

See, that's the New Covenant community. So we have a conspicuous practice in the book of Acts that is based on a specific commandment from our Lord Jesus Christ that finds its place in the covenant promises of God most high. That tank preaches a lot of truth. That tank tells us a lot about God and his saving purposes.

That tank points us ultimately to the Lord Jesus Christ. who has the authority, who has the sovereign, who has the spokesman in the new covenant, has declared, believe and be baptized.

Application

So those are the three observations. The new covenant ordinance of baptism is grounded ultimately in the authority of Jesus. When we ask who should be baptized, As New Covenant Christians, our first stop ought to be what saith Jesus. Not saying we don't look at the Abrahamic Covenant, not saying we don't look at Genesis 17, not saying we don't pay any attention to circumcision, but Jesus is the lawgiver in the New Covenant and he has specified baptism for believers.

Our confession says baptism and the Lord's Supper are ordinances of positive and sovereign institution appointed by the Lord Jesus, the only lawgiver to be continued in his church to the end of the world. The brothers Renehans say we should remind ourselves here that baptism is a key component of the covenant as one of the two sacraments of the new covenant. It is not a minor point. It is precisely the type of thing for which you would want to look to the new covenant document.

The new covenant document, the New Testament, ought to dictate how its own sacraments are administered. They then remind us of the larger reform principle of the regulative principle of worship. We don't do anything that isn't commanded. In the absence of a command to sprinkle babies, we ought to be very, very fearful of arrogating that particular right and prerogative.

Baptism isn't going to keep us out of heaven. Kratos and Patos will be in heaven and sit with the marriage supper of the Lamb. But I don't want to minimize it either. We preaching in the sacrament, something contrary to what we preach in the gospel.

That's a big deal. If baptism in the words of a of a baptist of a pedo Baptist scholar is the verbal content of the gospel in a nonverbal form. What do we say when we knowingly? and consistently sprinkle those who have no evidence of faith and repentance. Again, the question is not, can babies be saved?

That's not the issue. The issue is who ought to be baptized? Well, hopefully along the way, in some of those various and sundry ramblings, you got some encouragement about the pain. It is a blessed pool.

It is a wonderful event. It is a wonderful thing that brings us together this morning. Notice it's not just adult baptism. We believe that young people professing faith in Jesus Christ, evidencing the fruits of repentance, are worthy candidates for the waters of baptism.

That is a good thing. And I want to encourage us and I want to remind us of our responsibilities as a local church. This morning, Calvin is going to identify with not only his Lord, but with the Free Grace Baptist Church. We ought to pray for him.

We ought to encourage him. We ought to engage in those mutual obligations that the Church of Jesus Christ has. We ought to remind ourselves that not only Calvin is a baptized person in the life and context of this church, our mutual obligations to one another extend, brethren, their realities. If, as I've mentioned, the primary mandate of the church is to preach the gospel, to make disciples, to baptize those disciples, and to learn all that the Lord has commanded us, then we ought to flesh out what the Lord commands us in the life and context of the local church.

In other words, we love one another. In other words, we pray for one another. In other words, we bear with one another, we forbear with one another, we forgive one another, even as God in Christ forgave us. That's our responsibility in the church.

If you think we just come on Sunday and we sit here and we listen to preaching and then we go off on our own, please repent. Please listen to the Lord Jesus. Please listen to the various one another's throughout the scripture. Love one another.

Sincerity. Be hospitable to one another without complaint. Give preference to one another. Pray for one another.

You see, the responsibilities in the local church are vast and many. Well, her mission is to primarily do this. Doesn't mean she has nothing else to do. As long as our pastors or our preachers are giving the gospel, then we can just sit like dead fish and not do anything.

We need to love each other. Receiving into the midst the sheep for whom Jesus died, pray for him. I hope you guys do pray. I hope you don't just say there's prayer by proxy.

I know that the elders, they pray for the church. That's a good thing. Pray! You're so busy you can't pray for brethren in the church?

Do you realize how blessed intercessory prayer is? A, for the people you're praying for. Well, A, for God, because God delights in the prayers of the upright. We shouldn't jip God if something that he rejoices in.

Pray so that God is glorified. Be for the people that you're praying for. What if you get an email or you get, you know, a word from the pulpit or you're at the prayer meeting or you're mindful of the needs of something, you pray for them. That's good.

A, God's glory, B, other people, and C, it has the blessed therapeutic effect of getting your mind off of yourself for a brief time. That's a good thing, isn't it? Isn't it? We get so caught up in us.

We like it when everybody's praying for us, but me pray for others? Wait a minute. I just don't have the time. Really?

Isn't it amazing? We have so mechanized life that we can, I mean, get angry if our email program doesn't open in five seconds. Or get angry if we have to sit at a red light for more than 15 seconds. It's just infuriating.

We have so made life easier and yet we have no time to pray. I suspect we do have time to pray. I suspect we need to carve time out to pray. I suspect we need to make it a non-negotiable.

I'm not trying to bind consciences, not trying to make you feel bad, not trying to manipulate with guilt. I am simply saying that as the church of Jesus Christ, we ought to pray for one another. And Calvin, you have responsibilities. Our confession says baptism is an ordinance of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ to be unto the party baptized.

That's you. A sign of his fellowship with him in his death and resurrection. That's the symbolism. You go into the water, you're buried in baptism, you come out as a new man in Jesus Christ.

Again, it's the non-verbal content of the verbal gospel portrayed for everyone to see. And then it says of his being engrafted into him. of remission of sins and of his giving up unto God through Jesus Christ to live and walk in newness of life. We're not preaching moralism. Just make a decision, as was brought out in the last hour.

People treat baptism as if it's just this rededication ceremony. I'm going to get baptized, so I'm really on fire for the Lord. That's not it at all. You are going in there as a sign of remission of sins.

God has already done this in your heart and in your life. He's already taken care of that debt. He's nailed it to the cross. He has judged his son in your place.

Your sins are forgiven. As a response to that, you rise up in newness of life and you go and you walk in accordance to that status. You are now in Christ. Live like it.

Don't play games. Don't dishonor the Lord. Listen to the preacher. Fear God and keep his commandments.

Not this preacher, the Solomonic preacher of the book of Ecclesiastes. Because of what God has done in the salvation of your soul, you now live and walk in newness of life unto the glory of God Almighty. That's your responsibility. Be faithful.

Be earnest. All young people here confessing true and saving religion. Be faithful. Be earnest.

Guard against the temptation of vanity. It's interesting. I started the study for next week's sermon on be anxious for nothing or the do not worry passage in Matthew 6. It's a great passage for a worrier.

It's a great passage for a warrior. If you've got a tendency to worry, Matthew 6 is your place. You know, one of the things he says, don't worry about your clothing. Don't worry about what you'll wear.

Now, in that society, it was oftentimes clothing was passed down from generation to generation. It was property. It was something of value within a family. He says, don't worry about something that is a necessity.

How much more? Are you not to worry about something that's a vanity? You don't worry because you don't have that label on your shirt? That stitching on your trousers?

What will my friends think? What does Jesus think? That's what you young people and you children need to think about. What does Jesus think?

What's important with him? What matters most to him? That is what we need to consider. As I mentioned, finally, if you don't know Christ, believe on him.

I'd love it if you became a convinced cradle Baptist. Actually, I mean, it'd be nice. It'd be great. That's, you know, welcome to the world of cradle baptism.

You know, I don't know what to say there, but all that really pales in significance. What's important is Jesus Christ. What's important is importance of utmost importance is your never dying soul. Believe the gospel, believe on Christ, and you shall be saved.

Your view of baptism doesn't save. Your view of covenant theology doesn't save. Isn't God good? If we made the decisions, we'd probably specify, you got to believe the 1689 in order to get to heaven.

So we are very narrow. He doesn't believe like I do. What are the disciples of the Lord saying? You want us to call down fire from heaven against this village?

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. That's the best thing you will ever hear. And my encouragement to you is to take it to heart, to believe it and to know the Lord God Almighty.

Closing Prayer

Well, let us pray. Our Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for its clarity. Forgive me if I've made it obscure or difficult.

I pray that we would appreciate this ordinance of the new covenant, this blessed pool that Jesus has ordained for the good of His people. We pray for young Calvin that You would encourage his heart and strengthen him in the faith and cause him, Lord God, to truly walk in newness of life and to always remember this day Always remember when Christ has saved him even more importantly in this day as a reminder, as a representative of that truth. We just ask as well that you work in the hearts and lives of those who do not know you. We pray that you'd open hearts, cause them to receive the word, cause them to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and to be saved.

And we ask in his most blessed name. Amen.

Scripture References

• Genesis 17
• Isaiah 53
• Jeremiah 30-33; 31:31-34
• Ecclesiastes 12:13
• Matthew 6:25-34; 28:18-20
• Acts 2:36-41; 8:9-13; 8:34-38; 9:18; 10:44-48; 16:14-15; 16:31; 18:8; 22
• Romans 6
• Galatians 3:26-29
• Hebrews 8:1-13
• James 4:13-14