You may turn in your Bibles to Mark, chapter 10. Mark, chapter 10. While you're turning there, I forgot to mention that there is a luncheon following our service. Please feel free to stay for that to enjoy some time of fellowship and some good food.

Mark, chapter 10. This morning, we're going to look at the basis or the foundation for Christian baptism, the basis or the foundation for Christian baptism. When baptism comes up, a lot of Peripheral issues are dealt with. Why do we baptize?

Who should be baptized? Those are all very important to be sure. But the very foundation of it is connected to the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. So we're going to that primary reason, that primary basis or foundation, which is the death of the Lord Jesus.

I'll just pick up reading in Mark chapter 10 at verse 35. Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him saying, Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask. And he said to them, What do you want me to do for you? They said to him, Grant us that we may sit one on your right hand and the other on your left in your glory.

But Jesus said to them, You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They said to him, We are able. So Jesus said to them, You will indeed drink the cup that I drink.

And with the baptism I am baptized with, you will be baptized. But to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared. And when the ten heard it, they began to be greatly displeased with James and John. But Jesus called them to himself and said to them, You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them and their great ones exercise authority over them.

Yet it shall not be so among you, but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant and whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. For even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. Amen. Well,

Introduction

as we look at this particular passage, we notice that the primary emphasis is on humility. The primary emphasis is on greatness in serving. But in order to illustrate this, Jesus mentioned something about his baptism and up and coming baptism. This isn't the first baptism of the physical water baptism that Mark Jesus and his public ministry.

Remember back in the beginning chapters of Mark and in Matthew, we see that Jesus identified or Jesus publicly went into the water with John the Baptist. The Spirit came upon him and then he immediately conducted, he began to conduct his ministry. But here he references or he tells James and John, you do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?

We'll explain that in just a moment. But the two things I want us to consider this morning is first, the basis for Christian baptism and secondly, the instruction given through Christian baptism. So those two things will occupy our attention this morning.

The Basis for Christian Baptism

Notice first the basis for Christian baptism.

Christ's Second Baptism: His Death

I'm calling it the baptism or the second baptism of Christ. It is a clear reference to his death. It is a clear reference to the fact that he will be cut off. It is a clear reference to the fact that he will be overwhelmed, that the wrath of God will come upon him, that he will be separated from the Father in that instance where he will be handed over as a result of our transgressions.

And we're all of God's fury and all of God's anger and all of God's vengeance will come upon him. That's the baptism that Jesus is referring to here. The scene, James and John, these sons of Zebedee come to him. We want you to do for us whatever we ask.

What do you want me to do for you? He says, Grant us that we may set one on your right hand and the other on your left in your glory. And then he says, you don't know what you're asking. You don't know what this is all about.

You have this strange notion, as many North American Christians do, that we should get the crown before ever going through the cross. That we should get all of the benefits and all of the blessings and all of the privileges connected with redemption and never ever have to live in any sort of battle, in any sort of trouble, in any sort of trial or tribulation. The sons of Zebedee here wanted glory. They wanted position.

They wanted to be on the right and the left hand of Christ. And that's when he says, you don't know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup? That's a clear reference, brethren.

Later on, in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus will fall to the very ground. He will be exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death, and he will cry to the Father, Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. You remember that instance? You remember that particular scene?

He's talking about the cup of God's wrath, that cup of wrath that God would mix and pour out upon the nation of Babylon, according to the prophet Jeremiah. That cup of God's wrath that the Psalter indicates is for the enemies of the Lord. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus is not exceedingly sorrowful first and foremost over the physical suffering that he will endure through man, but he is first and foremost exceedingly sorrowful over the wrath of God that is going to be poured out upon him. That's what he's saying to these men.

You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink? You want position. You want prestige.

You want to be in glory. Well, you don't understand. There is a fundamental principle set forth by the Christ Himself, is that in order to get to the glory, there must first be some travail. You know, you ought never to be discouraged, brethren, when you are persecuted.

Paul promises this will be the case. All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. The writer to the Hebrews praises them or not rather praises them, calls them to recall when they were first converted and how they joyfully accepted the plundering of their goods. That doesn't mean they took the armed guards.

That didn't mean they took the mobs and said, hey, come in and steal this. Hey, come in and get this. Hey, I want you to take this. This is my wife's.

I've always hated it. I want it out of here. So go ahead. That's not the position that he's telling them to go back to.

They joyfully accepted the reality that the greater riches of heaven far exceed and stand out in glory than anything this world has to offer. They were able to do simple mathematics. They were able to look at the ledger and say, this is a great asset. In order to get that great asset, I'll gladly endure the loss and probation of all those things.

Jesus says, you don't know about this cup. And then he uses this language of baptism. Again, it's not his first baptism. It's not the physical going into the water and coming up out of it with John the Baptist that he is referring to here.

He is speaking about the cross. This is evident in Luke 12, 50. In Luke 12, 50, he says, But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished. Remember the very context in Mark chapter 10.

Just back up for a moment to verse 32. It says, Now they were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was going before them, and they were amazed. And as they followed and were afraid, Then he took the twelve aside again and began to tell them the things that would happen to him. Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him to the Gentiles, and they will mock him and scourge him and spit on him and kill him, and the third day he will rise again.

I think this context tells us two things. One, James and John really should have checked their hearts. He has just announced that he's going to the city of Jerusalem to be spat on, to be scourged, to be mocked, and ultimately to be crucified. And they come running up and say, can we sit on your right hand and your left when you come into glory?

They're just like us, aren't they? Just like us. How do I know that? Because when the ten heard this, they were greatly displeased with James and John.

Do you think the ten were greatly displeased because James and John had such in noble purposes, such ungodly desires? I think the ten were greatly displeased because they wanted themselves on the right or the left. Jesus just announces that he's going to die by crucifixion. And these two men say, I want to sit on your right and on your left when you come into glory.

They're just like us. How many times can we hear somebody say something very tragic and only think about how it affects us? But what about me? Dude, he just told you something horrific about his own self.

And your question is, what about you? Just like James and John. Jesus announces his impending death by crucifixion, and they want to sit on his right and left. You see why Jesus says, you don't know what you're asking.

I have a cup to drink that you don't know anything about. I have a baptism to undergo that you don't know anything about. He's already specified it in verses 32 to 34. They obviously didn't know anything about it because as he announces his crucifixion, they're still set and bent on where they're going to sit in glory.

This baptism is his death.

Overwhelmed by Wrath for Our Sins

He is overwhelmed by the wrath of God for the sins of all those whom the Father had given him. When we come to the issue of baptism and we ask the question, who should be baptized? It is those who have a specific interest in the death of Jesus Christ. It is those who are, by God's grace, connected to that virtue.

Christ's Death as Baptism's Foundation

The baptism of Jesus is the very foundation for Christian baptism. And interestingly enough, notice what he goes on to say in verse thirty nine, just as we sort of summarize what this passage is all about. You will indeed drink the cup that I drank. And with the baptism I am baptized with, you will be baptized.

There will be a cross before your crown, James and John. How do we know that this was right? Because Jesus said it first and foremost. And everything Jesus says is right because he's the way, the truth and the life.

But I encourage you later on this afternoon, look at Acts 12 and see what happened to James, the son of Zebedee. He had his head chopped off by Herod. I encourage you to look at Revelation chapter one and look at John, the son of Zebedee. What happened to him?

He was on the island of Patmos, not golfing. not sipping iced tea by the resort pool, but he was on the island of Patmos, a little rock out in the middle of nowhere, for the Word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. Historians tell us he was boiled to death in hot oil. They understood ultimately something of this cup of wrath and the baptism of suffering and trial. So that's what Jesus is highlighting here.

It is the death of Christ. And I want to encourage all of us to consider this right now. What do you think of Christ? Where are you at with reference to Christ?

Was he a good moral teacher? Did he have some good ideas on how to be a good family man? Was he right up there with the Buddha? Was he right up there with the other prophets in history?

Or is he the son of the living God? Is he the one in whom all of the Godhead dwells bodily? Is he the one who came into this world and lived in obedience to his father's law? He didn't get rid of the law.

He didn't say the law is a bad thing. Rather, he put himself under the law and he fulfilled it and executed it perfectly. Where we grumble, where we cry, where we tremble, where we are full of shame and rejection and rebellion against God's Word, he always dutifully obeyed his father. Not just externally.

Sometimes we think external compliance is all that is necessary. God looks upon the heart. So when Jesus obeyed externally, the internal heart was in complete union with his obedience. And then he goes to the cross, as he speaks of here.

Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests, to the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him to the Gentiles. They will mock him and scourge him and spit on him and kill him. And the third day he will rise again. That's not a man with an identity problem.

That is a man on a mission. That is a man who set his face steadfast like a flint so he would go to Jerusalem and accomplish all that the Father had given him. You see, when we come to the water of baptism, we need to see that it is connected intimately with the doing and the dying of our Lord Jesus. Whoever goes into that blessed pool, as Spurgeon calls it, has a saving interest in the doing and the dying of our Lord Jesus.

The Lord Christ indicates that he would be baptized, and I submit this morning that that is the very basis for Christian baptism. As we continue on in Mark's Gospel, we'll see Jesus institute the Lord's Supper. We see him in the Garden of Gethsemane. We see him being betrayed. wretched man Judas, betraying the Lord Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, handing him over, giving him a kiss in order to identify him to the opposition so that he could be taken away and so that they would mock him and scourge him and spit on him and kill him.

You see, you need to think about this this morning. What do you think of the Lord Jesus? Remember that instance when Jesus comes into Caesarea Philippi and he says, who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? Well, some say Elijah, some say Jeremiah, some say one of the prophets.

He goes from the generic to the specific. But who do you say that I am? I actually do not care one bit about what sinners outside of this church think of Jesus right now. I do, and I pray for them, and I want the best for them.

But it's easy for us to look at the Middle East. It's easy to look at other churches. It's easy to look at apostates and unbelievers and say, wow, they have a faulty view of Jesus. Who do you say Jesus is?

Right here, right now. Some of you differ with me on baptism. That's okay. It's not the time for polemics.

This is the time for heart searching. This is the time for examination. Do you have a saving interest in the doing and the dying of the Lord Jesus? Have you looked and lived?

Are you able to say, blessed be God for the mercy and the grace given to me through the Lord Jesus Christ. What do you think about him? What do you think about his life? What do you think about his death?

Jeremy is being baptized today. And the rest of us have been baptized because Christ was baptized. Because Christ underwent the wrath of God. Because Christ was overwhelmed with God's wrath.

It's not because we behaved well. It's not because we did good. It's not because we are being rewarded. There is no salvation based on human merit or law-keeping or works.

We need to say with the hymn writer, nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling. I love when he says, foul I chew, the fowl can fly. Wash me, Savior, or I die. We take that and we say, well, I'm not that foul.

I'm not that polluted. I've been a religious person. I've gone to church. I've read the Bible.

I pray. I'm not that foul. You don't understand the Bible then. Jeremiah's indictment is very clear.

The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. You just hear it now if Jeremiah took a pulpit in modern America. Oh, that's bad for our self-esteem. Oh, that's bad for our self-image.

We can't have you saying things like that, Jeremiah. Nobody will come to church. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, he says. He's not saying, oh, you wretches out in Israel.

Jeremiah includes himself in the mix. Paul the Apostle does the very same thing. It is a trustworthy statement. Everybody ought to accept this, that Christ Jesus came into the world, sinners to save.

And then Paul says, of whom I am chief. What do you think of Christ this morning? Not what do you think of paedo-baptism or believers' baptism. What do you think of Jesus?

What do you think of that baptism which is the very basis and foundation for Christian baptism? What do you think about the fact that He was overwhelmed, not for His sin, but for our sin? What do you think about 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21? A most powerful statement concerning the redemptive work of Christ.

It says that God made Him, Jesus, who knew no sin, to be sin for us. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that amazing? What religion or philosophical system has God himself, and her time and space in the likeness of sinful flesh, and yet sin heaped upon Him so that He can bear its punishment in His own flesh?

Christianity is not one among many. It is unique. It alone is the salvation of God. It alone is the preaching of grace through faith in Christ for salvation.

God made Christ who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. For you see, we need pardon of iniquity. We need to be cleansed. We need to be washed.

We need to be purified. Jesus' death answers to that. But we also need a righteousness. We need to be able to stand before God clothed in a righteousness not our own.

Jesus' life answers to that. The Westminster Shorter Catechism puts it this way. What is justification? Justification is an act of God's free grace wherein He pardons all our sins.

He pardons all our sins. You know what a joy that is? If you have a saving interest in Christ today, if your mouth isn't actually smiling, I hope your heart is. He pardons all our sins.

Not some of them. Not a few of them, not the medium-sized ones, but you've got to work off the big ones. Wherein He pardons all our sins. It's a blessed statement.

And then it says, and receives us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone. You see, He answers everything that we need in His doing and in His dying, and in His rising again. So the question here this morning isn't, are you going to leave here a convinced Reformed Baptist? Are you going to leave here a convinced Pado-Baptist?

The question is, where are you in relation to the doing and dying of Jesus? Can you say, Christ is mine and I am His? Can you own Him as Lord and Savior? Can you say with Thomas, I mean, I just heard of somebody recently and it caused me to reflect.

You ever notice when you miss church, that was when the best sermon was ever preached. I'm not saying there's best sermons here, I'm just using a convention. You miss church, wow, you should have been there. I've shared with our congregation, the first church I went to as a new Christian, men and women would serve in the nursery.

So my wife and I would be in the nursery. Inevitably, when I got nursery duty, the best sermons were ever preached. Because everybody would tell me, they'd come to pick up their kids and say, oh, you really missed a good sermon. You should have been there.

And me being as gracious as I am, smiled and said, I was doing it to love you. Actually, in my heart, I'm saying, yeah, you're right, I should have been there. That's what happened with Thomas. Remember, he was absent when the Lord appeared to the disciples on the first instance.

What did they say? They said, Thomas, we have seen the Lord. We have seen him. And then Thomas, who we lovingly sort of call doubting Thomas, wasn't doubting.

Thomas said, I'm an empiricist. That means I have to touch and verify and handle things before I'll ever ascend to the truth of God. That's a wrong position, Thomas. Remember, he makes that statement, lest my eyes see, lest my hand touches.

What happens when Jesus comes to him? Jesus uses the precise language that Thomas did. And what does Thomas say? My Lord, my God.

Christianity is a religion of personal pronouns. Paul in Galatians 2.20 said, In the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and who gave himself for me. People that enter into the waters of baptism are able to say that. They say, He gave his life for me.

The baptismal water is connected to the death of Jesus, not in some hocus-pocus way, not in some magic ritualistic or sacramentary way. But the men and women and boys and girls who go into that water are professing outwardly, are professing non-verbally the very verbal content of the gospel itself. What think ye of Christ? The basis for Christian baptism, first and foremost, is the death of Christ or his second baptism.

And then we have his command. We saw it in Matthew 28. Go, therefore, and make disciples. Beautiful construction that Jesus uses there.

He's not commanding them to go. He's assuming they'll be going. And in your going, you're making disciples of all the nations. And when you're making disciples of all the nations, you're going to baptize and you're going to teach.

And then you're going to keep doing that. You're going to constantly do that. You're not going to look for new ways or new means. You might try to be strategic on how to reach a particular culture, but the fundamental means by which you are to go is to preach the gospel, independence upon the spirit, trusting in the sovereignty of God, to bless and to own that word, and to draw men and women and boys and girls to himself.

And Jesus gives this sure promise in love, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. In Mark 16, he says, go and preach the gospel to every creature and baptize them. Christ commands it. We get to the book of Acts and we see that is precisely what happens.

They preach the gospel in Acts 2 and it says, and those who gladly received his word were baptized. Then they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine, in the fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in prayers. We see a pattern emerge in the book of Acts consistent with Matthew 28. You make disciples, you baptize those disciples, and then you teach those disciples in local churches.

When we think in terms of covenant theology and the larger rubric of scripture, we see this consistent with the announcement in the prophet Jeremiah at chapter 31, 31 to 34, that the new covenant will be different than the old covenant. Though there is continuity, there is discontinuity, as the book of Hebrews 8 and 10 makes clear, that it is a better covenant, that Jesus is the surety of a better covenant, founded on better promises, with a better hope. It wasn't the case that it was a feature of old covenant religion, that everybody in it had the law of God written on their hearts. that everybody in it had the spirit, that everybody in it had the forgiveness of sins or the knowledge of God. Just look at Eli's sons, covenant members, but they did not know the Lord, even though they served as priests.

But a feature of new covenant religion is that they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. I will put my law in their minds and in their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. What one man calls the Immanuel principle, God with us, and they will receive the forgiveness of sins.

Christ's Command to Baptize

So Christ's baptism in death and his command is the basis for Christian baptism.

The Instruction of Christian Baptism

Now, let's move secondly, broadly, to the instruction. What does baptism teach us?

What Baptism Is Not

First, what it is not. We can learn a lot about a subject by asking what it is not. It's not a magical rite. It's not like Jeremy is going to go in that water today and come out a Christian.

It's not like there is some special tonic that we put into that tank. Quite a simple procedure, actually. We go into the boiler room and we turn a knob. The water that you'll drink if you stay here for lunch is the water that's in that tank.

Not mysterious. We don't bless it. We don't change it. We don't make it something that it isn't.

It is emblematic. It is symbolic. It's not a magic ring. Believers are made holy by the power of Christ's blood as communicated through the gospel message.

Believers are blessed as they partake in every spiritual blessing secured for them by their Redeemer. This is not for unbelievers. It's not a converting ordinance. We don't just say, come and be baptized and you'll be saved.

Come and be baptized and you'll go to heaven. There are baptized people that go to hell. There are those who make a profession of faith. There are those who own Christ as Lord for a time.

They may identify publicly in baptism and then end up in hell. There is no magic conveyed by the water itself. And even it is not necessary for salvation. It is commanded by Jesus.

All things being equal, we should obey Jesus. But remember the thief on the cross. He was not baptized. And he was with Jesus that day in paradise.

Uniquely, or interestingly, in March 16, when Jesus says, preach the gospel to every creature and baptize them. He says, he who believes is saved, he who does not believe is condemned. It doesn't say he was believed and not baptized. There's no saving efficacy in the waters of baptism.

Baptism as Act of Obedience

It is an act of obedience. Christians should be baptized. Christians should identify with their Lord. Christians ought to own him and publicly declare him.

Christians ought not to be afraid of them. Interestingly enough, in the first century, when you made this profession, you came and were baptized. There was no sign a card, raise your hand, every head bowed, every eye closed. It was believe the gospel and be baptized.

There was no altar call in the first century churches. There was a call to faith and baptism. It's an act of obedience to the risen Lord. It is an ordinance of the New Testament given by Jesus Christ for the party baptized.

It's to represent certain truths in your life. It's a time and an event when you're to recall. Paul does that in Romans six. He uses the theology of baptism to enjoin upon the readers that they pursue holiness.

They need to consciously remember that act of baptism. He appeals to it as sort of a shorthand statement of gospel blessing. One man, G.I. Williamson, in his commentary or his book, Exposition of the Westminster Confession, he says, baptism simply expresses the verbal content of the gospel in a nonverbal form.

It's beautiful, right? It expresses The verbal content of the gospel in a non-verbal form. It's a great statement.

What Baptism Portrays

The Baptist Confession, Chapter 29, Paragraph 1 says, Baptism is an ordinance of the New Testament ordained by Jesus Christ to be unto the party baptized, a sign of his fellowship with him in his death and resurrection, of his being engrafted into him, of remission of sin, and of his giving up unto God through Jesus Christ to live and walk in newness of life. We ask the question, what is baptism? I think that is a very accurate summary of what the Bible depicts for us. We see identification with the triune God.

Baptizing them in the name singular of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Do a little background study on that. And Deuteronomy refers to the name of God. The fuller revelation of the New Testament indicates that this God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is the one into whom we are baptized.

We are identifying with Him. His ownership is upon us. His seal is ours. And we are telling people.

It also indicates our union with Jesus Christ. Our union with Christ. Paul provides that, as I said, in Romans 6. You died with Jesus.

You were buried with Jesus. And you were raised with Jesus. Now the union with Christ, a lot of people get this mystical idea. It is first and foremost legal.

First and foremost, representative. Christ died. Christ was buried. Christ rose again.

We are legally connected to Him by virtue of God's covenant. That's what we are to reflect upon. The glory of Christ and the saving of our souls, that union with Christ, our head. The Bible says, in Adam all died, in Christ all shall be made alive.

We need to reflect on what they call, or what men call, federal theology. He is our head. We're united to him by a bond called a covenant that cannot be severed. Brethren, it is an indication of union with the Lord Jesus.

Baptism does not provide, but rather portrays the union believers have with Christ. Death, burial, resurrection with Jesus, according to Romans 6. And then the forgiveness of sins. Who's like to talk about the forgiveness of sins?

Because I'm a sinner. And I know you're sinners. It's like talking about a great big glass of water to someone who's really thirsty, but not just talking about it so they can lick their parched lips and start to salivate, but talking about it in order to hand it to them. We're talking about a big piece of meat and some vegetables with somebody who's really hungry.

Isn't the forgiveness of sins one of the chief boons of Christianity? Isn't it beautiful to hear God say, I, I am Yahweh. I am He who blots out your transgression for my own sake. Isn't it wonderful to see Jesus on that cross taking the wrath of God due us?

Isn't it wonderful to see Him raised up for our justification? Isn't 1 John 1-9 balm to your heart? If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us. Have you ever wondered about that?

You would think that a sinner, the last thing a sinner wants is justice. We want mercy. It's justice because we have an advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ, the righteous. He would be unjust to not forgive us.

That's beautiful. This isn't to promote license, this isn't to promote sin, this is not to be what Paul argued against in Romans 6. What? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?

May it never be. But sinner, know this. Saved sinner, know this. There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared.

Psalm 130. Out of the depths I have cried to thee. Out of the debts, the psalm makes it clear what debts he was in. It wasn't physical problems.

It wasn't difficulties and trials in his marriage. It wasn't a wayward child. It wasn't the threat of job loss. Out of the debts I have cried to thee.

He says, Lord, if thou should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? Think about it. God took every one of your sins to account. Could you stand?

I don't care how good you are. I don't care what kind of an upbringing you had. I don't care how much catechism you learn, how many Bible verses you've committed to memory. We all stand justly under the wrath and curse of God most high for every sin.

But the psalmist doesn't stop there. He said, if you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But, it's a great but. It's a great but, Psalm 130, but there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared.

The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sins. Forgiveness is portrayed through baptism. It is not provided by baptism. It is pictured by baptism.

When that brother goes into the water, the symbolism is loud. The symbolism is powerful. Not only death, burial, and resurrection in Jesus, but the washing away of sin, the purging away, the cleansing of our conscience, the blood of Jesus sprinkling and speaking of better things. Brethren, that's what baptism is all about.

Application

In conclusion, Want to make a specific charge to our brother Jeremy? Where's Jeremy? Good. The confession, I touched on union, identification, but it also says, and of his giving up unto God through Jesus Christ to live and walk in newness of life.

Paul does that essentially. Romans 6, 1 to 4 is the foundation upon which he deals with sanctification. He will later say in verse 11, likewise, consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. You'll say, therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal bodies.

Don't present your members as instruments of unrighteousness. Consider the fact that Jesus saved you. Consider the fact that you've been dead, buried, and rose again. Live consistently with that.

And so with that in view, Jeremy, you need to pursue righteousness. You're justified freely by grace, as all those who by God's grace are saved, but we are saved to glorify God. We are saved to walk in holiness. We are to pursue peace and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

The Christian gospel, justification by faith alone, far from providing license, is the only sure guarantor of holiness. When we understand what God in Christ has done, that's the motive, that's the ground, that's the basis by which we pursue Christ-likeness. Faith in Jesus is the one thing needful, always. Live the cross-centered life.

Always be found looking to Jesus. Right? If you all have figured out a better way to live the Christian life, write a book. The scriptures are very emphatic.

The best, nay, the only way to live the Christian life is by virtue of our union with Christ, by looking constantly to Him. How does Paul describe it? God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. So justified by faith, man, that world no longer holds the allurement that it once did by virtue of his union with Christ and his death.

The best way to feed that faith is to read, study, and meditate upon God's word, giving constant attention to the cross. That's absolutely imperative for each of us. speaking specifically to Jeremy, but I hope you all realize I'm speaking to you. The best way to feed that faith is to read, study, and meditate upon God's Word, giving constant attention to the cross. That's so elementary, it seems like it should go without saying.

But I wonder at times if we don't look a bit like Israel in Hosea's time. My people perish. Why? For a lack of knowledge.

We have Bibles. We have books. We have publishers. We have sermonaudio.com.

We have so many resources, and yet there is a biblical illiteracy that is rife and rampant among evangelical and, dare I say it, Reformed churches. Confessions are good insofar as they explain the Scripture. Know your Bible. Prayer is essential in this walk of faith.

Fellowship with other Christians is essential. John Proctor gave me a beanie once, what I call a beanie, you call them a toque here. It's from Liverpool. Liverpool, England.

Their theme song is, You'll Never Walk Alone. So this beanie says, You'll Never Walk Alone. That's how it's supposed to be in the Christian life. You're not supposed to walk alone.

I realize you may be smarter. Not you, Jeremy, I'm not picking on you here. But people think they're smarter, they're more efficient, they've figured out a better way. You haven't.

Being in imperfect churches with imperfect people who have issues and problems and difficulties and trials and who may even sin against you is God's purpose for your growth as a Christian. If anything, it teaches you how to be patient with wretches like me. Praise God for that opportunity for sanctification. You need to be among God's people.

Just want to read a quote from C.H. Spurgeon. This isn't from a sermon. This isn't from his doctrinal writings.

It's a quote probably familiar to some here, but it's an instance from his own diary dated May 3rd, 1850. May 3rd, 1850. He said in the afternoon, I was privileged to follow my Lord and to be buried with him in baptism. Blessed pool, sweet emblem of my death to all the world.

May I henceforward live alone for Jesus. Accept my body and soul as a poor sacrifice. Tie me unto thee. In thy strength I now devote myself to thy service forever.

Never may I shrink from owning thy name. Witness, ye men and angels, now, if I ever, or if I forsake the Lord. I vow to glory alone in Jesus and His cross and to spend my life in the extension of His cause in whatsoever way He pleases. I desire to be sincere in this solemn profession, having but one object in view, and that to glorify God.

Blessing upon Thy name that Thou hast supported me through the day. It is Thy strength alone that could do this. Thou hast, Thou wilt. Thou hast enabled me to profess Thee.

Help me now to honor thee and carry out my profession and live the life of Christ on earth. May that be Jeremy's testimony. May that be all of our testimonies. Interestingly enough, C.H.

Spurgeon's parents believed in infant sprinkling. They were quite happy when Spurgeon got baptized and they said, oh, but we wished you would have come to the Presbyterian church. And he said, well, mother, well, father, God is able to do exceedingly above and beyond all that we ask or think. Not a polemic dig, just a humorous quip.

I hope you take it in the spirit of charity for which I meant it. But that is a sound confession of a man who goes into that blessed pool, resigned and resolved to live for Jesus Christ. Jeremy and Jules are joining our church. We need to hold them accountable.

They in turn us. We need to pray for them. We need to encourage them. The body of Christ needs to love Christ and love each other.

We need to work at this. It does not come easy. We need to go outside of ourselves at times. We need to be a prayerful people.

And then finally, as I mentioned earlier, my concern this morning is that you know Christ. The way that you know Christ is not by getting wet. The way that you know Christ is by believing the gospel. by believing the truth, by believing that Bible, by believing everything it says concerning Jesus, that he came into this world to live in obedience to the Father, that he came as the surety of a better covenant, that he gave himself up at Calvary for the sins of others, for the sins of all those whom the Father had given him. He went into the tomb, he rose on the third day and he ascended on high.

He led captivity captive and he gives gifts to men. He now sits in throne. He pours out his spirit. He blesses the preaching of his word and he calls all men everywhere to believe.

Believe the gospel, repent from your sins and you will have everlasting life. Well, let us pray.

Closing Prayer

Our Father, we thank you for your word and we thank you for the doctrine of baptism as set forth in the scriptures. And God, how we thank you that we have seen your grace and mercy displayed in our local church. We thank you that we have seen it displayed in our individual lives. And we just pray that more and more people would own Christ as Lord and Savior.

This is our genuine desire, God, and we call upon you. the one in whom is all power and glory and majesty to do this great work. And we ask through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Scripture References

• Jeremiah 31:31-34
• Hosea 4:6
• Psalm 130
• Mark 10:32-34; 10:35-45; 16:15
• Luke 12:50
• Acts 2:41; 12
• Romans 6:1-4; 6:11
• 1 Corinthians 15:22
• 2 Corinthians 5:21
• Galatians 2:20; 6:14
• Hebrews 8:6; 10
• 1 John 1:9
• Revelation 1
• Matthew 28:19-20