Acts 9:36 “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.”
Not only here, but we see Baptism throughout the New Testament.
So why do we baptize? Because it’s a picture of what has already happened.
Romans 5:19 states “For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.”
Because of Adam, we have a sin problem. It was Adam that disobeyed God, and through his disobedience, sin entered the human race, and all human beings are born as sinners. It’s because of Adam, that we are born with a sinful nature.
So if by our very nature we are sinners, is there any hope for us? Praise God he provided a way for that to happen! In John 3:3, Jesus said “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God”.
When we are born again, it means that we move from being sinners “in Adam”, to being made new “in Christ”. That’s why we need to be born again.
And this happens by faith. The way we are forgiven for our sin is to trust in Jesus. Ephesians 2:8-9 states “For by grace are you saved through faith. And this is not of your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” The person that believes they do anything to make themselves right before God are mistaken, as it says that it is “Not a result of works, so that no one may boast”.
So…after being born again, and moving from being “in Adam”, to being born into Jesus, the “new Adam”, what happens next? Paul goes on to explain it in Romans 6: Baptism is an illustration of what happens when we are born again. When a believer is baptized he or she is identifying with Jesus.
Romans 6:3-11 “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 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. “
Baptism is a picture of death, burial and rebirth. This is the object lesson to our faith. Baptism does not actually accomplish salvation, because nowhere in the Bible does baptism happen BEFORE faith in Jesus, but only after. When we go under the water, we symbolically “die”, and then we “rise” out of the water.
So have you been baptized? If you are a believer, and you have trusted in Jesus, have you been baptized?
If not, why not? Would you like to be? Please contact Pastor Keith at the church to talk about it. We’ll be doing a baptism Sunday in a few weeks on September 13. We would love to you have you participate.
