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If you would open your Bible to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 3.

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And Jared mentioned a few moments ago that today is Palm Sunday, and I’m not going to be talking much about Palm Sunday today.

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But I do want to say that Palm Sunday, the significance of it is that Jesus entered into Jerusalem at just exactly the right day, the day prophesied in the Old Testament.

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Jesus enters into Jerusalem on that very day.

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That was the day that He was declared to be the King of Israel.

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That’s the point of Palm Sunday.

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And as He enters into Jerusalem riding on that donkey, all the people shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David.

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Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.

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Hosanna in the highest.”

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And it is right for us to acknowledge that day.

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We really should do that day every day.

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Every day should be a day when we acknowledge Christ as the Lord, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, as being our Lord.

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And it is the day when we should proclaim Hosanna, which is joy, joy to the Lord, joy to us, because Christ our Savior has come into the world.

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So He should be our Lord.

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We should recognize Him and praise Him every day of our life.

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And every Sunday should be an Easter Sunday.

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Every Sunday is a day in which we commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

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The reason we meet on Sundays, week after week, is to remember the resurrection of Christ.

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It’s because Christ rose from the dead on Sunday.

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And so we need to recognize that.

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Sunday is actually a memorial marker of the great day of Christ’s resurrection.

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Last week we were talking about memorial markers.

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We closed up the book of Esther, and as we were looking at the last two chapters of the book of Esther last week, we recognized that they set aside a day a year, the Feast of Purim, to celebrate this great deliverance of God, which transformed that day which would have been tragic to the Jews into a day of rejoicing and celebration.

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And so they marked that by making a memorial day for it, making a day set aside on their calendar once a year to remember that precious day.

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And so we talked about various ways, memorials that we set up, memorials in the Old Testament, markers that would mark a great event of God’s deliverance, or markers that marked His covenants.

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So we didn’t talk about all of them.

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You have the rite of circumcision, for example, which was a mark on a human being, on every male child of Jewish descent in the Old Testament.

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God instituted that Himself when He made a covenant with Abraham, and so that every son of Israel, every son of Abraham, is to remember that covenant that God made and to remember it throughout his life because he has that mark made on his body to cause his remembrance of that great event.

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So you have that type of marker.

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You have the Sabbath, which is instituted as a covenant marker for the Mosaic covenant.

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It was particularly given to them, as we looked last week, to remember the deliverance that God brought about for the people of Israel from Egyptian bondage and how He brought them out of that, how they crossed the Red Sea, the great deliverance that God made for the people of Israel.

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And they remembered that by keeping the Sabbath.

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That was a memorial marker.

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We have memorial markers today to celebrate the gospel of Jesus Christ and the covenant that He has made with us with His blood.

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And we talked about one of those last week when we talked about the Lord’s Table.

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It is a memorial marker.

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It is to remember Him and what He has done for us.

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“This is My body, which is broken for you.

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This is My blood.”

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So the idea of remembering Christ as we do these things.

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So this morning, I want to talk about another New Testament marker, a reminder that marks out the gospel message and our relationship with Christ, and that is the practice and rite of baptism.

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I want us to think about baptism this morning.

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Not that very many need to be baptized, but every one of us can learn something as we reflect on this ordinance that Christ has made for His church.

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Both the Lord’s Table and baptism, water baptism, is an ordinance that is given to us by Jesus Christ Himself.

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We do it because Jesus instituted it Himself.

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And so that’s why it is practiced.

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So let’s give some thought to that.

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I’m going to try to center this around God’s Word.

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So we’re going to look, first of all, at a passage in Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 3.

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And I’ll read through that part in a moment.

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We’ll read a few different passages today.

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But water baptism is a symbol of something else.

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Something symbolizes something.

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And what we want to think about today is what water baptism actually symbolizes.

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What is the reality that the baptism reflects?

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We want us to focus on that ultimately today.

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So in Matthew chapter 3, we’re going to begin reading probably in verse 11.

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But let me just say that the chapter begins with John the Baptist and the message that he was preaching.

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John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

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He’s preaching a message of repentance.

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He is calling all of the nation of Israel to repent because their King is coming.

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It’s an appropriate message, really, for Palm Sunday in that sense.

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Their King is about to come.

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They need to make ready the way of the King.

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Turn from your sinful condition.

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Turn back to the Lord because the King of kings, the King is about to enter this land.

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And so that’s the message.

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And so he preaches that message.

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People turn to the Lord, and they reflect that through the baptism of John.

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So I’m going to read, beginning in verse 11, I’ll read to verse 17 at the end of the chapter.

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This is God’s holy and inerrant word.

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“As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I’m not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

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His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

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Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan, coming to John to be baptized by him.

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But John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?”

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But Jesus answering said to him, “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”

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Then he permitted Him.

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After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, and behold, a voice out of heaven said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

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Let me ask God to bless the reading of His word thus far.

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Father, we thank You for the richness of Your word, the blessing of this wonderful testimony of Christ’s baptism and of the baptismal ministry of John the Baptist.

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We ask, Father, for grace this morning to help us understand the significance of this historical event, what took place here, what it means for us.

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Father, we pray that beyond that, that You guide us into the truth and meaning of what baptism symbolizes.

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Father, that we may understand rightly not just the importance of physical baptism, Lord, but the vital relationship that it symbolizes with Christ, what spiritual baptism really is.

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Help us, Father, to gain clarity of thought today.

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Help us, Lord Jesus, to understand and to rest in Your word and to find comfort and grace and blessing today as we reflect on Your precious words.

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May You open Your word to us by the power of Your Spirit.

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We pray in Christ’s name.

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Amen.

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When John came preaching a message of repentance and baptism.

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And so they started coming out to him.

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They came out to him from all over Judea, and even from as far in the south as Jerusalem.

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All the people of Israel and all the cities, they came out.

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They emptied them out, and he literally baptized thousands of people in the Jordan River.

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An incredible, remarkable ministry.

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And among those who came out to John was our Lord Jesus Himself.

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What was John’s baptism all about?

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Well, we don’t have to be in a great deal of doubt about it.

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It was a baptism, he tells us in verse 11, “As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance.”

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He was calling people to repent, to turn from their sins back to the Lord.

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He’s talking to the Jewish people, calling them to turn back to the Lord in repentance.

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Their heart was to turn to the Lord.

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Now, you can’t see a person’s repentance.

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You might see a person weep over their sin, or maybe weep over the consequences of their sin.

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Just because they’re weeping, you don’t really know exactly what’s in a person’s heart, do you?

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We can’t see inside a person’s heart.

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The evidence of the repentance for them was their submission to water baptism.

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For those people who repented, the people who came to him in repentance, turning from their sin, John baptized them in the water.

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They went down into the Jordan River, and he immersed them into the water and brought them out as testimony to the fact that they had truly repented.

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My baptism, he says, my baptism is for me.

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“I baptize you with water for repentance.”

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But he says that’s not all there is to baptism.

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That’s not all there is to this.

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That’s as far as my baptism goes.

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But there’s something more about this that you need to know, and that is that the one who is coming after me will baptize.

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He’s going to baptize.

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“The one who is coming after me is mightier than I.

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I’m not worthy to remove His sandals.

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He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”

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We kind of get that first part.

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We know who he’s talking about, the one who comes after John the Baptist.

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John the Baptist was the forerunner of the Christ.

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Jesus is the Christ.

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Jesus comes.

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John is the one who levels the ground so that the King can arrive, and Jesus is the King.

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He’s talking about Jesus, and he’s saying that Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

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Well, we kind of get that part.

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Maybe Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit.

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We can kind of understand that somewhat.

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What about that second part, with fire ?

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What is that a reference to?

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Is that maybe a reference to the tongues of fire that come down on the apostles and the disciples on the day of Pentecost when they were baptized by the Holy Spirit of God on that day?

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Is that what he’s talking about here?

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And I have to say, no, it’s not likely that that’s what he’s talking about.

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And the reason that that’s not likely is because he explains what he means in the next verse.

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If you look at the very next verse, He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

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And so he gives us a clear explanation of what he has in mind.

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“His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

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That’s what he’s talking about.

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Do you know what a winnowing fork is?

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It’s a farmer’s tool.

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A winnowing fork is a lot like a pitchfork.

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It’s quite a bit like a pitchfork.

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And they would take that and they would gather the grain.

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They’d harvest the grain from the field, they’d gather that grain, put it on a nice flat surface so that you could keep the grain there.

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All the grain, all those sheaves of grain there, they’d take the winnowing fork and they would scoop it up and they would toss it up into the air, a portion of the grain.

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And when they did that, the grain would separate from the chaff, and the wind would catch the chaff and blow it, and the grain would fall down on the threshing floor to be gathered up for their harvest.

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The chaff would blow away, and that would be ultimately burned up because it’s worthless.

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And so here you have a metaphor, a picture, a figure that John gives of what Jesus Christ is going to do in the world.

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He’s going to harvest grain.

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He’s going to take people and take the good people, and He’s going to make a separation with people.

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Some He will baptize by the Spirit of God.

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And for those who aren’t baptized by the Spirit of God, all those who are not baptized by the Spirit of God on the day of judgment will be immersed into the fire.

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That’s what he’s talking about here.

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He’s talking about ultimate judgment for all those who are not redeemed and who are not saved and who are not immersed by the Spirit of God.

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So the rite of baptism is a rite of something else.

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And that something else is the spiritual work of Christ.

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Here you have this portion.

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We’re going to come back to this passage, but I think it might be good here to think about what Jesus says in Matthew 28.

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Matthew 28, Jesus says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.

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Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them” So far, that’s what He says in Matthew 28.

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It’s a commandment of the resurrected Jesus to His disciples for them to baptize with water.

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The commandments to the disciples, they baptize with water, which symbolizes something else.

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They baptize, and they do it because the One who has all authority asked them to do it.

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Thinking about that verse, let’s skip to Acts so that we can get the flow of this as it unfolded historically.

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Acts.

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Jesus has given the instruction to His disciples to baptize, to practice this baptism, to make disciples, to teach them, to baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

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But there’s something else going on, and that is this transition verse in Acts chapter 1.

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Acts chapter 1, verses 4 and 5.

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Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard from Me.”

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And listen, He says, “for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

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And so you have that promise of God, the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

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And you know what happens in the day of Pentecost.

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Peter preaches his amazing sermon and the Spirit of God falling on the people as they waited, and how the people heard them all speaking.

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The people, all the Jewish people and the people gathered around from all the various nations, from the Parthians and the Medes and the Elamites and the dwellers in Mesopotamia and all the rest of them, having unique languages, and they all spoke in those unique languages because it was an amazing display of a baptism, of a spiritual baptism that took place on the disciples as they waited.

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God baptized them, immersed them by the power of the Spirit of God.

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And Peter preaches, and as he preaches, many thousands are converted to Jesus Christ, put their trust in Jesus Christ.

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They shift from trusting whatever they were trusting before, and they recognize that Jesus Christ is the Christ.

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Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, the One who is the Savior of the world.

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And they put their trust in Him.

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And thousands come and are gathered into the church of God.

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So you have that.

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So what is it?

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What are we talking about?

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So, not many days hence, and then you have this outpouring of the Spirit of God.

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And then, listen.

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I’m just going to read it to you.

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1 Corinthians 12, 12 and 13, very familiar.

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For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.

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For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, Jews, Greeks, slaves or free, and we’re all made to drink of one Spirit.

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See, what John is talking about back in Matthew chapter 3 is that Jesus Christ is going to baptize people with the Spirit of God.

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And that is what water baptism symbolizes.

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The symbol is for the saving work of Christ as we are immersed into Him based on what He has done for us.

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And I hope this becomes clearer as we go along.

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But baptism, the rite of water baptism, symbolizes this spiritual baptism that takes place when a person puts their trust in Jesus Christ.

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When you hear your great need of Christ, when you’re recognized by the power of God’s Spirit, you’re convicted of your sin, and you recognize that you are worthless before God in yourself, and there’s nothing that you can do, but Jesus Christ has paid that price for you, and so you turn to Him and you trust Him.

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When you do that, the Spirit of God immerses you into Christ.

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As that verse in 1 Corinthians says, By one Spirit, we were immersed into one body.

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Let me just say, immersed is a better word to use here.

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Baptism means to immerse into.

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That’s what it means.

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It doesn’t mean to sprinkle.

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It doesn’t mean to pour water on.

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It means to immerse into.

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It doesn’t mean to dip, even.

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It means to place into.

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Now, we practice baptism by placing a person into the water and bringing them back out, which has rich symbolic meaning in both directions, right?

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But baptism means to place into.

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That’s what it means.

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It means that you are immersed into it.

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And when we’re baptized by the Spirit of God, we are immersed into the very person of Christ.

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We’re identified completely with Him.

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We’re placed into Jesus Christ spiritually.

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We become a new spiritual creature.

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We are placed into the person of Jesus Christ.

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It’s the most amazing thing.

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It doesn’t matter what your background was.

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It doesn’t matter whether you were Jewish or whether you were a Gentile.

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It doesn’t matter what part of the world you came from, what language you spoke.

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It doesn’t matter what your economic status is, whether you’re a billionaire or whether you’re a slave.

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All are made to drink of the one Spirit.

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We’re all immersed by the one Spirit into Jesus Christ.

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And if you are in Jesus Christ, you are part of all of those who are in Jesus Christ.

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It is His body, the church.

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So that’s a crucial thing.

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That’s what we’re talking about when we’re talking about spiritual baptism.

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Let’s look at it in another passage.

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In Romans chapter 6, beginning in verse 3.

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Do you not know that all of us who have been, and I’m going to use the word immersed .

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You see, the word baptism , baptizo in Greek, means immersed .

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That’s what it means.

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Immersed into.

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Baptizo .

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Why didn’t they just say immersed?

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Because by making it baptizo instead of immersed , then you don’t know what it means.

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So you can dip or you can do whatever you want to do.

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You don’t have to immerse.

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That’s probably why it’s translated this way.

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Transliterated instead of translated.

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It’s much clearer if you just translate it.

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I’m going to read it that way, if you don’t mind.

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Do you not know that all of us who have been immersed into Christ Jesus have been immersed into His death?

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Or you could read the word identified there, completely identified in.

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If you were identified into Christ Jesus, don’t you realize that you were identified with His death?

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When Christ saved you, you were identified with Jesus Christ, and that means that you’re identified with what happened to Christ historically, with His death.

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Jesus Christ identifies with you, and He pays for your sin.

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You are in Christ when He died, and you’re in Christ when He rose from the dead.

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And so because of that, all that Christ accomplished on the cross in the payment of sin is yours.

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It’s yours.

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It’s just for you because He did that for you.

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You’re identified with that great work.

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That’s what spiritual baptism is.

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This passage in Romans 6:3 is talking about not the rite of water baptism.

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It’s talking about the spiritual work that Christ has done for us, the spiritual work, spiritual baptism.

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Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?

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Therefore we’ve been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead to the glory of God the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

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So it is all of that.

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That’s what our confessional statements, when they affirm baptism, they understand it to mean this.

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It’s a symbol for what takes place when we are spiritually baptized when we come to faith in Jesus Christ.

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We are immersed into Jesus Christ.

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We are identified with Him.

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The Baptist Faith and Message of the Southern Baptist Church 2000, which is the doctrinal position of this church, is that Christian baptism, I’m just going to read it, Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

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It’s an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior, the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Jesus Christ.

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It’s a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead.

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Being a church ordinance, it’s a prerequisite to the privilege of church membership and to the Lord’s Supper.

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In the London Baptist Confession of 1689, baptism, I’m going to not read all of that, but I’m going to break it up into a couple of things.

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Baptism is an ordinance of the New Testament.

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It’s ordained by Jesus Christ.

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It represents the forgiveness of sin, the remission of sin.

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The person who is spiritually baptized, their sins are washed away by the blood of Christ.

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And baptism symbolizes that.

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Baptism, the next point that I’m mentioning from there is of his being engrafted into Christ.

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That’s the language they used in 1689.

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In other words, that’s what I’m talking about, that you are in Christ, you are in Christ Jesus.

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If you’re not in Christ Jesus, you are none of His.

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If you don’t belong to Christ, if you’re not immersed into Jesus Christ, you’re not a Christian.

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If you haven’t been immersed into Jesus Christ, you don’t belong to Him.

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No, being engrafted into Him.

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Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized are immersed into Christ Jesus?

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That’s the text.

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It’s a sign of fellowship with Christ, and in particular, the fellowship that we have with His death and resurrection.

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We read it again in Romans 6, Having been immersed into His death, therefore we’ve been buried with Him through baptism into death.

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That’s what it’s symbolizing.

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We’ve been identified with Jesus Christ.

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And giving up unto God through Jesus Christ to live and walk in newness of life.

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Again, from Romans 6.

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All these things.

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This is the historic teaching of the church.

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It’s very clear.

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The rite of baptism, the physical water when we immerse, symbolizes what has happened to us spiritually.

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So it is those who actually profess repentance in God, faith and obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ.

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You put your trust in Jesus Christ, then you have the right to physical baptism.

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You have the right to do it.

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So, if that’s the reality, and if we enter into faith in Jesus Christ, and if anyone who exercises faith in Christ is by that very act baptized by the Spirit into the body of Christ, then do you really need the symbol anymore?

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Is that very important?

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Isn’t it possible to experience the reality without going through the symbol of water baptism?

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Well, let me answer that question.

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The answer is, is it possible to be saved and not have been water baptized?

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Well, the answer is yes, it is.

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And usually when you’re talking about that, the technical answer is yes, you don’t have to be water baptized to be saved.

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Everybody mentions the thief on the cross.

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He was saved, but he wasn’t baptized, was he?

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But you can only take that so far.

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This didn’t exactly relate, but it reminds me of a story.

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Back in the 1800s, there was a preacher, his name was George Lorimer, and he met a man who claimed to be a Christian, and he asked him what church he belonged to, and he said he didn’t belong to any church.

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He says the thief on the cross never joined the church, and he went to heaven.

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And Lorimer said, well, do you support the work of missions in the world?

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And that man said no.

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He says, I don’t contribute to missions.

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The thief on the cross didn’t contribute to missions, and he went to heaven.

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And Lorimer says, yeah, well, you’ve got to remember, he was a dying thief, and you’re a living one.

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You can only go so far with that argument because Jesus commanded us to be baptized.

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He instituted the rite of baptism Himself as a memorial marker so that we could visibly show what has taken place in us.

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And He did it having said, “All authority has been given to Me from heaven and earth.”

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Think about authority.

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Think about all authority.

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You’re driving in another state, and you happen to be exceeding the law just a little bit, and a police officer pulls you over, and he says, I’m sorry, we don’t have reciprocity with the state of Virginia, so I’m not allowed to release you on a summons.

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Follow me to the magistrate’s office.

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Are you going to follow him to the magistrate’s office?

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You bet you will.

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And the reason you will is because he’s got the authority to command you to do it.

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And if you don’t do it, then you’re going to suffer the repercussions of the law.

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That’s no authority at all, though, compared to all authority that Jesus Christ has.

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And He institutes this commandment, and He tells us to do this, to make disciples, teaching them to be obedient to Him, baptizing them.

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You think that’s not important?

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You think you can say, look, I’ve come to the Lord and I trust Him as my Lord.

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I don’t believe what He says.

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Not about baptism.

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It’s not important.

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Do you see any inconsistencies with that?

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Now, if Jesus commanded us to do it, for that reason alone, it’s really important.

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It’s vitally important.

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We do it because Jesus commands it.

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Let me close this out.

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And I meant to talk about Jesus’ baptism here.

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I’m not going to be able to do it with detail, but I’m going to do something just in closing.

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Back in the preaching of John the Baptist and Jesus coming to him for baptism, and John says, me baptize You?

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It’s a baptism of repentance, and Jesus has nothing to repent of.

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Jesus is sinless.

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He comes to John, John says, do I baptize You?

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I should be baptized by You.

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And Jesus says, permit it, so that we can fulfill all righteousness.

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What is going on?

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At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, the beginning of His life, Jesus identifies with you , with all those He redeems.

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He identifies with you.

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He is doing all these things as if He were you.

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You are a sinner.

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He’s not.

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He’s being baptized here because sinners need baptism, and He’s identified with you.

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It’s as if He has taken your place.

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And whatever sins you’ve committed, it’s like they’re already on Him.

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He identifies with you throughout His ministry.

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On the cross, He suffers on that cross to take your place.

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And the burden of sin that you owe, He bore on that cross.

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It begins at the very beginning with His baptism.

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He does it all for you.

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He identifies with you.

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We identify with Him.

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And so, in all these things, we identify with the Lord Jesus.

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He says, “In this way it’s fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”

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And so John baptizes Him.

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In the Jordan River, he immerses Him down into the water.

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And this text says at the end of this chapter, After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him.

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And behold, a voice out of heaven said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I’m well pleased.”

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You need to get David to tell you the story he told last Sunday evening to us.

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I’m not going to tell you that story.

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Precious.

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I’m not going to give you the detail.

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I’ll give you the gist of it, though, and that is David was talking about when he was baptized, 11 years old.

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He’s baptized at Mount Pleasant Baptist Church.

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And he says, yeah, it was vivid.

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He remembers all the details.

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He remembers the place.

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He remembers all the way the whole place, all the way it looked.

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He remembers when the pastor baptized him.

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He comes up out of the water, and he walks up out on the left side into his father’s arms, and his father embraces him.

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And he says, I remember my father’s embrace.

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What a great memory.

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Isn’t that a great memory?

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One of the things that struck me this week when I was thinking about this is that Jesus Christ, when He was baptized, comes up out of the water, a voice comes from heaven and says, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I’m well pleased.”

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And the thing that gripped my attention was that last phrase.

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Oh, yes, God loves His Son, the Lord Jesus.

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But if you paid attention to that last phrase, in whom I am well pleased , baptism, spiritual baptism immerses us in Jesus Christ, and we are in Him.

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We are identified completely with Him.

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We’re identified with Him.

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Are you in Christ?

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If you are in Christ, God the Father is pleased with you.

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He’s pleased with you because you are in Him.

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Ever hear that?

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Ever thought of that before?

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That’s here.

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That’s why the language is the way it is.

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“In whom I’m well pleased.”

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The love that God has for His Son, the Lord Jesus, is the love that God has for you if you’re in Christ, if you belong to Him.

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It’s a great note to leave on, isn’t it?

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Is there a better one?

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Let’s look to the Lord and ask His blessing.

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Father, we thank You for the great love that You have.

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We thank You for the wonder and the beauty of the gospel.

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We thank You for what it reveals about Yourself and how gloriously wonderful You are.

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Help us, Father, to appreciate Your great love for us.

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And thank You, Father, that by the work of Christ, we, being united so perfectly with Him, being immersed into Him, Father, we have all the benefits of Your love to us.

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All the glories, all the inheritance that belongs to Christ is shared by us.

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We thank You for that precious truth.

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We ask, Father, that You bless us.

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I pray, Father, that You help us to appreciate what we have in You more because when we see this rite of baptism practiced, that it would stir our hearts to greater love to You.

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And, Father, if there are any who need baptism, we pray, Father, that You would encourage their hearts to be obedient to their Savior.

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Help us, Father, in these ways.

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Bless us, we pray.

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In Jesus’ name, Amen.