Bethlehem Baptist Church
Sunday Evening 03/22/26

      • Genesis 1:1ESV

  • Here I Am To Worship
  • Facing A Task Unfinished
  • How Deep The Father's Love For Us
  • Speak O Lord
  • Introduction:
    Many of you are familiar with the song, “Are You Washed in the Blood?” We’ve sang it here for decades and it has been one of those hallmark hymns that gets passed along from generation to generation. Elisha Hoffman wrote the song and it quickly became one of the most popular invitation hymns at meetings all across the country.
    In the song, the question is asked,
    Verse 1
    Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing pow'r? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
    Refrain: Are you washed in the blood, In the soul-cleansing blood of the Lamb? Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
    Every verse of that wonderful hymn asks some powerful questions for us as believers to consider. I would highly recommend you take some time to go through them yourself.
    But, you know, we tend to speak and sing about cleansing a lot as Christians don’t we? Especially for people that don't bathe but once a month! That's because Scripture is full of references to being washed and cleansed.
    God did not just give us a bunch of written instructions about the gospel, but He also gave beautiful pictures that put the gospel on display. Have you ever considere that all of the sacrifices in the Old Testament were not about appeasing God ttrough the sacrifices themselves, but painting a picture for us as worshipers of what Christ had to do for us? Thousands of bulls and goats and lambs have been offered up and we had to keep offering them because they were never enough until Jesus came and washed us clean as the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.
    God has taken away the need for us to have these sacrifices anymore, but He has not taken away all of the pictures of the gospel from the worship services. We still have a few that put the gospel on display, and baptism is one of them.
    Tonight we are going to look at what baptism is, who can be baptize, and what it points to.
    Matthew 28:18–20 ESV
    18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
    Pray

    1. The Direct Command (Matt. 28:19-20)

    Matthew 28:19–20 ESV
    19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
    Make Disciples
    Baptize Them
    Teach Them to Observe

    2. The Right Candidate (Acts 2:37-41)

    Acts 2:37–41 ESV
    37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
    They were convicted
    Acts 2:37 ESV
    37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
    They were repentant
    Acts 2:38 ESV
    38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
    They received
    Acts 2:41 ESV
    41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
    Discliamer:
    Some Christian brothers and sisters teach that the promise is for the children of believers as well and they baptize their children.
    No text teaches plainly that a child was ever baptized.
    The promise is for us and our household (everyone whom the Lord calls to Himself).
    Faith is always a prerequisite before baptism.
    The Philippian jailer is often quoted from Acts 16.
    Acts 16:34 ESV
    34 Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.
    -The household saw his repentance and rejoiced. Nowhere does it say the ages of the household members.
    -Sometimes terms can be used as general terms like household without including every single member parsed out.
    -When we interpret this passage and any ambiguities in light of the rest of Scripture we find that the normal pattern is for people to believe first.
    How else can baptism serve as a testimony?

    3. The Proper Mode (Acts 8:30-39)

    Acts 8:30–39 ESV
    30 So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this: “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. 33 In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.” 34 And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. 36 And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” 38 And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. 39 And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.
    Mode: Emersion
    What prevents me?
    There was understanding
    There was much water?
    The eunuch had water if sprinkling was all that was done
    There was an administrator

    4. The Public Testimony (1 Peter 3:21)

    1 Peter 3:21 ESV
    21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
    Jesus as the pattern
    Jesus tells us that we must be willing to confess Him before men
    Matthew 10:32–33 ESV
    32 So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, 33 but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.
    Paul says baptism is identification with Christ in Romans 6

    5. The Personal Reminder (Rom 6:1-11)

    Romans 6:1–11 ESV
    1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
    Should we continue to sin?
    Paul argues that we must remember our baptism.
    We died to sin
    We were buried with Christ
    We were raise to walk in a new life
    Dying to sin means that we have killed the old nature.
    The reason Christ was buried was to symbolically hide our sins away in the tomb.
    He was raise to a new nature and we are raised out of the waters of baptism to a new life.
    Conclusion
    The question for us to answer is whether we have obeyed the command or not.
    More important that baptism is that we believe and are saved.
    Don’t get the cart before the horse.
  • I Have Decided To Follow Jesus
Bethlehem Baptist Church
info@bbced.org
478-272-7827
https://www.bbced.org
9 members • 9 followers