Baptism signifies our death and resurrection with Christ, symbolizing the crucifixion of our old self and the new life we live in Christ. The sermon emphasizes that baptism is a command of Christ, a practice of the New Testament church, an act of obedience, an expression of love, and a public witness to our faith. It clarifies that only born-again believers should be baptized, and that baptism is performed by immersion, representing our burial with Christ and subsequent resurrection to walk in newness of life. The core lesson is that through baptism, we reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God, yielding our members as instruments of righteousness and obeying Christ as our new Lord.
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Now shall we turn for our reading tonight to Paul's Epistle to the Romans, Chapter Six. Romans, Chapter Six. And we'll read from verses thirteen through, from verses three through thirteen. Romans six, verse three. Know ye not. that so many of us, as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death. Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over him.
For in that he died, he died unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise, Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God. as those that are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
May God bless those who are reading this precious word. Shall we pray? Blessed God, once more we bow before thee and ask for thy blessing on our meeting. We pray, Lord, that the Holy Spirit might take these holy things the holy writings of the Bible, which is thy word, living and powerful, and apply them to our hearts. We pray, Lord, that we might be able, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to make things very clear tonight, and we might see thy will for us in this great matter of baptism. We seek thy blessing in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen. Now our subject tonight is baptism. Next Sunday afternoon in the will of the Lord, we're hoping at three o'clock to have a baptism down at the lake side. This will be the first baptism we have had in connection with our little church group here. It will be the first one since we came here. I've been looking forward to this day. And I'll tell you how it all came about. Before I went to England, which is now about six weeks ago, Debbie, Mr. and Mrs.
Meyer's daughter, said to me, Mr. Willie, will you baptize me? Will you baptize me? And so I had a little talk with Debbie, and I found out that she's really accepted the Lord Jesus as her Savior. And I said, why do you want to be baptized? Because she said, I've been reading my Bible. and I find out that the believers in the Lord Jesus were baptized and I want to be baptized. I said, now as soon as I get back from England, we'll talk about it. When I came back a week ago, Friday, Debbie was sitting at my side Sunday morning at the Lord's table, and as soon as the meeting was over, she said, when are you going to baptize me?
So here we are. We're not wasting too much time and we're going to have a baptism next week. Now, since we mentioned it, Several people, I think about a half a dozen, have told me that they also want to be baptized next Sunday. So I thought it would be very fitting and good if tonight we talk about this subject of baptism. Our talk this morning was a kind of foreground to what we want to say, a background I mean, to what we want to say tonight. We talked this morning about baptism. the subject Adam and Christ. And we found in the Roman Epistle, there is a section in the middle of the Epistle, starting with chapter five, verse twelve, and running on to about the thirteenth verse of the eighth chapter, the center portion of Romans, which deals with our nature, our sinful nature.
The early part of Romans, I mentioned it this way this morning and it's easy to remember this way. The first five and a half chapters of Romans, down to verse eleven of chapter five, deal with the subject of freedom from the guilt of sin. And then the next section, chapter five, verse twelve, through Chapter eight, verse eleven, twelve, twelve, thirteen around there. Some say eleven, some say thirteen. I would say Romans eight to eleven. Eight to eleven deals with the subject of freedom from the power of sin.
And then the eighth chapter from verse thirteen onward is freedom from the presence of sin. Let's just say the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses me from the guilt of sin. I'm a sinner. And it makes it very, very, very clear in the Roman epistle that all have sinned, whether it be the heathen Gentile or whether it be the religious Jew, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is no difference, says the Apostle Paul, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Then he says, being justified freely by his grace.
And he tells us how God can take a guilty sinner And because of what Christ did on the cross, bearing our sins in His own body on the tree, and cleansing us from our sin by His precious blood, that if we trust in Him, by faith, by faith, we are justified. And when we're justified, God reckons us. I'd like to explain justified this simple way. Just as if I had never sinned. Just as if I had never sinned. My sins are put away forever. because the Lord Jesus bore them in his own body on the tree. Now when we get to the next section, God is not dealing, as I said this morning, with the question of our sins, sins, S-I-N-S, with the S on the end.
But he's dealing with our sin, S-I-N. There's a subtle difference. Sin is the root. That's our sinful nature. which we inherited from Adam. So we read this morning, For as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon all men, for that all sin. And in this section he's dealing with sin. In the earlier section he dealt with our sin, our transgressions, our iniquities. But now he's dealing with our sinful nature, our sinful nature. We were born, as I said this morning, with a sinful nature which we inherited from our great-great-great-great-grandfather, Adam.
He sinned. He disobeyed God. And because he sinned, sin entered into the world through him, and death, the consequences of sin, the consequence of sin, death passed upon all men. Now, When the Lord Jesus went to the place called Calvary, he went there for us. He took our place. Death had no claim over him whatever. He was without sin. He, I love the way Paul puts it, in St.
Corinthians five, twenty-one, he who knew no sin. He was sinless. He was made sin. The wages of sin is death. Death passed upon all men. But death had no claim upon the Son of God because he never sinned. He wasn't born with a sinful nature like us. The Holy Ghost said to Mary, That holy thing we shall be born of. These should be called the Son of God. That holy thing. Not that sinful child that should be born of these. Oh, I listen. We spend a... A few days down in France with our nephew down there, who's working with Literature Crusades in the city of Lyon.
And they've got two boys, lovely little chappies. We just love them. But, brother did I find out they find out they have a sinful nature? They just want their own way, their own way. And the word they love to use most is no. They do that? No. That's their answer. No. Rebellion is written right in their hearts, rebellion. That's sin, rebellion against God. God said to Adam, thou shalt not. And Adam and Eve together said, yes, we will. God, no. That's the answer, no. And that's what's wrong with the world today. That's the sinful nature. Now that's what we're dealing with tonight, the sinful nature. When the Lord Jesus died upon the cross, he died for me.
And he who knew no sin, he died. He bore the penalty of sin. he dies. Now what we're going to find out tonight is this, that when he died as my substitute, I died with him. That's the whole meaning of baptism. But let's come back to that as we come to it. In order to talk about baptism tonight, I want to ask Four questions. I believe they all start with a... No, they don't. I'm going to say they all start with a W. They don't. First of all, why do we baptize? The first question, this little word, why.
And the next one, who? Who should be baptized? The next one, how should we baptize? And four, what does baptism symbolize? Is that clear? Why? Who? How, what? Why should we baptize? And by baptism, I mean New Testament baptism. I'm not going to take your time tonight to talk about the baptism of John, John the Baptist. That was right in its place. But we're in a new dispensation which started at the day of Pentecost, and I'm talking about Christian baptism, not the baptism of John.
There's a little book and I put some of them at the back there. If there's not enough, I'll put some more there. It's called Baptism. And it's written by August Van Ryan, whom we all know, I believe. And he says there are at least six baptisms mentioned in the New Testament. And he spells them out here. Baptism done by the Lord's disciples. And John the Baptist. Baptism with the Holy Ghost. Baptism of Fire, Christ's baptism, the baptism mentioned in Romans six, four. He mentions all these. I want you, if you've not read this book and you'd like to, I put some there, I think I put eighteen of them, and there's plenty more if you want them, and they're in the back, just pick one up and read it on the way out, because it spells out the meaning of baptism very clearly.
But I don't want to talk about anything except tonight Christian baptism. Why do we baptize? Now I've got five reasons why we baptize. The first of all, the first one is this. Matthew twenty-eight, the last chapter of Matthew. The last chapter of Matthew. Verse nineteen. And this is the Lord Jesus just before his ascension. After his death and resurrection, verse sixteen, he says, The eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.
And when they saw him, they worshipped him. And Jesus came and spoke unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of their Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. First of all then, it is a command of the Lord Jesus Christ, commanded them, saying, Go ye therefore, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
This is a command of the Lord Jesus Christ. As far as I know, there are only two ordinances in the church. Now men have made all sorts of ordinances, but in the Scripture there are two. One is baptism, the other is the breaking of bread, the Lord's Supper. Baptism is a command. The breaking of the bread is a desire. The Lord didn't command us. to remember me, you can't command a person to remember you. But if you love that person and that person is going away from you and he says, remember me, that's not a command, that's a desire of his heart, because you love one another, remember me.
And when the Lord Jesus went away, he gave them bread and gave them wine. He said, as often as he do this, did you do it in remembrance of me? To show forth my death till I come. That was a desire of the Lord Jesus. But here is the command of the Lord Jesus. He commanded them to go into all the world, make disciples of all nations, baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. Now next, it was a practice of the New Testament church. And I want to read several scriptures. I have been asking you... on Sunday and again on Thursday.
I don't know if you've done it, but I asked you to read the first sixteen chapters of the Acts of the Apostles to get some idea about baptism in the New Testament. The first sixteen chapters of the Acts of the Apostles. We'll refer now to some of these chapters. Acts two, verse twenty-one. This is the day of Pentecost, and Peter preached When he preached, the Holy Spirit, remember the Holy Spirit came down at Pentecost and then Peter preached. And verse forty-one says, Then they that gladly received his word were baptized.
A practice of the New Testament church. They that gladly received his word were baptized. And the same day they were added unto them about Three thousand souls. What a baptismal meaning that was to be, eh? Three thousand baptized. There's no need for me to comment on it. They that gladly received His word, that's those that believe received Christ, they were baptized. Let's go down. Acts eight, verse twelve. There was a great persecution in Jerusalem. And the Christians were scattered everywhere by this persecution.
Of course, the Lord had told them to begin at Jerusalem and go to Samaria, Judea and the other most parts of the earth. And they didn't do it. They stayed at Jerusalem. And God found it necessary to send a great persecution just to make them do what he told them to do. He said, going to Samaria and Judea. Now listen to what it says. At that time, verse one of chapter eight, there was a great persecution in Jerusalem against the church, and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of where? Judea and Samaria. That's where he told them to go. But he had to send the persecution to make them. To Judea and Samaria, except the old apostles, they stuck there, you know, old stick in the mud.
They said, we're going to stay in Jerusalem, although he's the very man that the Lord said, go into all the world. And they stayed there. By and by he had to raise up another man, Saul of Tarsus, to go and do what they didn't do. I can't criticize him because I don't go far enough myself. Verse four, Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word. And Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them. And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. Verse eight, there was great joy in that city.
Verse twelve. But when they believed Philip, preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized both men and women. And little babies. Oh, no, it didn't say little babies. It didn't say that. They were baptized both men and women, very significant, men and women, not babies. We'll talk about that later. So Philip went down to the city of Samaria. People believed were saved. They were baptized. A New Testament practice. The same chapter. The Lord called Philip out of Samaria, and he said, go down to Gaza, which is desert.
And he went down there and a certain eunuch, the treasurer of the Queen of the Ethiopians, was coming down from Jerusalem where he'd been to worship. He hadn't found what he wanted. He was still searching, sitting in his chariot, reading the Prophet Isaiah, searching for the truth. And the Spirit of God said, you go and join this man. And the Greek word says, go and stick to him. The same word stick to him. And he got up into the chariot and stuck to him, you know. And he said, do you understand what you're reading? He said, no, how can I except some man show me? And he found out he was reading from the Scripture, he was led as a sheep to the slaughter, like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so openly not his mouth.
In his humiliation his judgment was taken away. Who should declare his generation for his life was taken from the earth? Isaiah fifty three. And Philip, the eunuch answered Philip and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophetly, of himself, of some other man. And Philip opened his mouth and began the same scriptures and preached unto him Jesus. Lovely sermon that day. He preached unto him Jesus. The title of his sermon was Jesus. What happened? Philip accepted the Lord Jesus as his Savior. I mean, the eunuch accepted the Lord Jesus as his Savior and was saved.
Now let's follow on. As they went on their way, they came unto a certain water. And the eunuch said, see, here is water. What does hinder me to be baptized? Verse thirty-eight. He commanded the chariot to stand still, and they went down both into the water. Mark how this is done. They went down both into the water. Both Philip and the eunuch. And he baptized him. And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away.
A New Testament practice. He led a man to Christ. And immediately he took him down into the water and baptized him. Now he didn't take a few drops and sprinkle on it for it. They went down into the water. Significant. We'll talk about that in a few minutes. Let's go on. Chapter ten, chapter nine, verse eight. The Acts of the Apostles, chapter nine, verse eight. Here's Saul of Tarsus, and the Lord Jesus, in a miraculous way, meets him as he's going down to Damascus to arrest the Christians and put them to death.
And the Lord shone down with a light brighter than the midday sun. Saul was struck blind, but he looked up, and in his blindness and that bright light, he saw the Lord Jesus Christ. He said later, Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen the Lord? What a wonderful way to be saved, to see the Lord face to face. And when he saw him, the very one whom he'd been persecuting, whose name he tried to stamp out, He bowed at his feet. He said, Lord, what must thou have me to do? And he said to him, Go into the city, and it should be told thee what thou must do.
And he went to the city and met Ananias. And Ananias took him, and in verse eight it says further down. In verse eighteen Saul arose from the verse eight, When his eyes were opened, he rose from the earth, saw no man, but they led him by the hand and brought him to Damascus. And he was three days without sight. Then he met Ananias. And the Lord said, then Ananias answered verse thirteen, or rather verse fourteen. Well, Ananias talks to the Lord.
He's afraid to talk to this man Saul of Taths. He knew that he'd come there to put him to death. But the Lord said, don't worry, he's a chosen vessel. And verse eighteen, when Ananias talked to him, immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scaled. He received his sight forth with and arose and was baptized. So Paul the Apostle, at that time Saul of Tarsus, was baptized by Ananias. That was in chapter nine. Chapter ten, verse forty-seven. In chapter ten, Peter went to speak at the house of Cornelius, a Gentile.
And there in his house he preached to all that were in his house, all his friends and relatives. And it says in verse forty-three, bringing his address, his talk, to a conclusion, he says, to him, to the Lord Jesus. give all the prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive the remission of sins. And while Peter yet spake these words the Holy Ghost fell on all them that heard the word. And the Jews which believed were astonished that many as came with Peter because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. And then what did Peter say?
Verse forty six Peter answered, Can any man forbid water? that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we, and he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. A New Testament practice. In the house of Cornelius, he led Gentiles to Christ, Peter, and he baptized them. Now very quickly, chapter sixteen. Paul now, the great missionary Paul, on his third missionary journey, he comes over into into Macedonia. He lands at Philippi.
And he lands at Neapolis on the Sikh shore there, a place today called Kavala. And he went up to Philippi and there was no synagogue. Normally he went into the synagogue first. As his manner was, it says in verse sixteen, he went to the synagogue first. But here there was no synagogue. In chapter seventeen, I meant, at Thessalonica, as his manner was, he went into the synagogue. But there was no synagogue at Philippi. But it seems to me that when there was no synagogue, they met by the riverside and had a prayer meeting on the Sabbath day. Do you remember when in Babylon, when they were prisoners in Babylon, taken away by Nebuchadnezzar?
They said, sing us a song. These Babylonians people said, sing us a song. And they said, how can we sing the song of the Lord in a foreign land? And they hung their hearts on the willow trees. And the willow trees grow by the riverside, you know. And down there they hung their hearts on the willow trees and said, we can't sing about the Lord in a foreign land. Like that Christian, when he gets into the world, he can't sing about the Lord. His mouth is shut. So down by the riverside, Paul went out, verse twelve. They came to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony, and they were in the city abiding certain days, and on the Sabbath day we went out of the city by a riverside, where prayer was wont to be made.
We sat down and spake unto the women which we saw at the dinner. There were no Jewish men there, but the Jewish women got together there, and had a prayer meeting. And a certain woman, named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, which worshiped God, heard us, whose heart the Lord opened. She attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul, and when she was baptized in her household. She besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide there. She was baptized, a New Testament practice.
Now in the same chapter, Paul is now in prison at Philippi, with his back bleeding having been scourged and his feet in the stocks, and there was an earthquake at midnight, and all the prisoners were loose. And the jailer came out with a sword and would have killed himself, and Paul said, Sir, do thyself no harm. We are all here. And the jailer, what did he say? God had spoken to his heart. He said, Sir, what must I do to be saved? And Paul said, verse thirty-one, chapter sixteen, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. And he accepted he and all his house believed.
Because some people say that the babies in his house were baptized. They were wonderful babies because they were old enough to believe. I never found a little baby yet that can believe, have you? But let's read it. He spake unto him the word of the Lord and all that were in his house. They were old enough anyhow for him to speak to them. And he took them that same hour of the night, washed their stripes, and was baptized, he and his all straightway. So the Philippine jailer was baptized. Have I read enough of these New Testament incidents to prove that not only was this a command of the Lord, but the New Testament apostles, the preachers of the gospel, in that first century, put this into practice.
Whenever they led a person to Christ, they baptized that person in the name of the Lord Jesus, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Now number three, it's an act of obedience. John fourteen and verse fifteen. John fourteen, verse fifty. If he loved me, he will keep my commandment. This was his command that we should be baptized. It's an act of obedience to be baptized.
Fourthly, it's an expression of love to him, verse twenty one of John fourteen. He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me, and he that loveth me shall be loveth my Father, and I will love him and will manifest myself to him. If you love the Lord Jesus, you'll keep his commandments, and by being baptized you're expressing your love to him and the fact that you, because he says, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. He that doeth my commandments, he it is that loveth me. And five, it's a witness. When I am baptized, I witness to men and women around me that I am a Christian, that I am born again, that I am saved.
Now in some countries today, where it's a very difficult thing to witness for the Lord Jesus. Now I have lived, I live four years in Egypt. And there are many secret Christians in Egypt. They dare not mention that they're saved. Because if they did, they'd be poisoned. I knew one Christian man, an Egyptian, he had actually been poisoned four times and nearly lost his life. By his own relatives, his mother and father and brothers and sisters. Because they found out he was a Christian. The Muslim religion is against Christ. And they try to stamp out anyone who names the name of Christ.
And there are many secret disciples. I have known missionaries. I used to associate for quite a bit with the Egyptian general missions. Now I've gone out of existence, but the Egyptian general mission. And I met missionaries who've labored forty years in Egypt and never saw one convert. And yet they knew there were converts. But they dare not confess Christ. It meant death. Now there are other countries. The Jews, most of the Jews. If you accept Christ as your Savior, they may let you go. But once you get baptized, that's the act that cuts you off. And they say, from now on, you no longer belong to us. Some of those Jews have some money to leave to their relatives.
But if they get baptized, that's the end of it. They cut off the will. They're dead. It's a witness. We don't suffer when we're baptized. But we should, by our baptism, witness to the fact. Everyone that's going to be baptized next Sunday will be telling us by an act that I am born again, that I'm a believer in the Lord Jesus, and I own him as my Lord. Why baptize? We baptize because the Lord commanded it. We baptize because it was a New Testament practice. We baptize because it's an act of obedience. We baptize because it's an expression of love to the Lord Jesus.
We baptize because it's a witness. that we belong to Him. Who should be baptized? Who should be baptized? The Bible makes it clear, only born-again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. If it's anything otherwise, baptism does not mean what the Bible says it means. If we talk about that in a minute, only born-again believers should be baptized. They, they gladly received His word, Acts II, verse forty-one, they they gladly received his word were baptized. And all those incidents that I read so carefully and so took up so much time about tonight, in each case they accepted the Lord Jesus and were saved before they were baptized.
So if you tonight are saved and you're not baptized, then I hope God will exercise your heart to obey him in the question of baptism. But if you're not saved, you need to get saved first. Only believers. Some raised the question, well, suppose I was baptized before. Now, I've had people come to me and say, well, now, I remember one incident, a lady, I was preaching one day, and she told me after, not at the time, but later in the same day, she said, as you were speaking this morning, I was saved. And...
She'd spent her whole life in the Anglican Church, the Episcopalian Church of England. And as a child, she was what they call baptized. They make the sign of the cross on their forehead and they call that baptism. And of course, they have an erroneous teaching which says, My baptism, wherein I was made a child of God and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven. That's a lie. Because baptism does not make you a child of God or an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven. And she said to me, I was baptized in the Church of England. Can I be baptized again? Certainly. Certainly.
She was not baptized as a believer. She was baptized when she didn't know her right hand from her left as a little baby. Well, it wasn't baptism, but the priest made a sign on her forehead. They called it baptism. You see, in the Acts of the Apostles in chapter nineteen, there were certain men at Ephesus, and they talked about baptism. They said, and Paul said, well, what baptism did you have? They said, John's baptism. John the Baptist. But they were baptized again in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you have been baptized as an unbeliever, you better be baptized again as a believer if you're a true believer. How do I baptize?
Now, I had the great privilege of living ten years in Greece. Well, whilst I'm not a Greek scholar by any means, I can talk the Greek language, the modern Greek, and read it and understand it to some extent. And there's a Greek word, vaptizo. Do you know what it means? To dip. To dip. Vaptizo, to dip. There's another Greek word, rantizo, to sprinkle. But never in the New Testament you get the word round Tiso, not in connection with baptism. It's always the word baptism. Today, Paul, Philip and the eunuch, they went down, both of them, into the water.
Went down into the water and came up out of the water. It's very clearly put there in the eight chapters. I like that. They went down into the water and came up out of the water. We baptize by immersion, total immersion under the water. That's how we baptize. Now then, and this is all important, what does baptism symbolize? Let's go back to our chapter, Romans chapter six. And let's read verse three again. Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death, into his death.
As I said this morning, this section of Romans is not dealing with the blood of Christ, but with the death of Christ. The blood of Christ is not mentioned in this particular section of Romans. It's in the earlier part, but not in this section, but always the death of Christ, the death of Christ. The blood of Jesus Christ planted from all sin. But the death of Christ deals with sin and not sins. It deals with my sinful nature. Now Adam's sin By one man sin entered into the world and death by sin. And the Lord Jesus died. He never sinned, but he died. And he was buried.
And he rose again. Now when he died upon the cross, he died as my substitute. I don't know whether you've ever had the vision the Apostle Paul had. You know, he gazed for years upon the cross. and he saw the Lord Jesus hanging there. And then in Galatians two, verse twelve, he says, one day I was gazing at that cross and I saw a wonderful thing. Instead of the Son of God hanging there, I saw Saul of Tarsus hanging there. In Galatians two, verse twelve he says, I am crucified with Christ. He saw himself on the cross.
That's actually what happened. In the reckoning of God, I died in Christ. As my substitute, he died. Let me tell you a simple story, which I love to tell to illustrate this point. When the great French Emperor Napoleon was at the height of his power, and he was going to wage one of his great campaigns, what they call the Peninsular Campaign, down in Spain and Portugal, he needed more So he sent out a great edict calling all the men to the army, and they had to go. And one young man got his draft papers, you know, and his mother was very sick and so on, and he said, how can I go?
And a friend of his came along who had not received the draft papers and was not called up. He said, tell me what, I will go for you. And it was all arranged with the government, and this man went instead of this man. He was trained, he went down to the peninsula campaign, and he was slain in battle. He gave his life and died. Now Napoleon is going to wage another war. He's going to march right across Germany and go to Moscow. Disaster, it all came to, but that's his next campaign. He now sends out another edict calling up all young men to the colors. And the man who was called first, he got his calling up notes, his newspapers. And what do you think he did?
He took a pen and he wrote, I am dead. He signed it. He put in the envelope and sent it back. And they got the papers at the Army headquarters. He said, this man's crazy. He was dead. He couldn't write his name. How crazy. So they sent the papers again. So he just wrote again, I am dead. Send it back. And they sent for him. They said, what kind of a crazy thing is this? How can you be dead if you can sign your name? He said, well, this is the story. You called me up once before. And my friend so-and-so went, and he was killed. He was my substitute. He died for me, therefore I'm dead. Well, they said nonsense. He said, no, that's what it is.
He died for me. And they went to the judges, and the judges said, we can't settle the point. And finally, they went to Napoleon himself, the emperor. What do you think he said? Judiciary. This man is dead, and we've got no claim on him. And they wrote him off, and he was freed, because he was dead. Now this one, what happened to me? I am dead. Paul says, I am crucified. I'm dead. Every one of us here in the Lord Jesus saved tonight, we're dead. You say, I can write my name. I can eat my food. I can talk. Oh, yes, that's right. But judicially, judicially, legally, I'm dead.
In God's reckoning, Since the Lord Jesus died for me, I died in him, and legally I'm dead. I mean, in God's holy reckoning, I am dead with Christ. Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death. Did you see that? Now just don't go out there next Sunday afternoon and say this is just a commandment and I'm obedient to the Lord and obeying Him. That's true. I've said that already. But baptism is far more than that. I wish they had taught me this when I was sixteen when I was baptized.
I wish they had taught me this. Probably they did. Then I'd have it baptized. I remember so well. And it may be that the man who gave the talk, I don't remember anything he said that night. Probably he told all this. I don't know. But I'm trying to tell you. Baptism means you're dead with Christ. You're dead with Christ. Now tell you something about a dead man. You can step on a dead man's toes, and he won't say a word. You can punch him in the nose, and he's not going to hit you back. You know that? And we're dead with Christ. And tomorrow morning somebody's going to say something is just like a punch on the nose, and it hurts.
What am I going to do? Hit back? Oh, no, I can't. I'm dead. This is what it means. This is practical, you know. Baptism has a practical effect in my life. If I'm dead with Christ, it won't be I, I, I, I, I'm dead. I'll be the very last on the roster because I'm dead. No dead men put in no claim to anything. There may be a fortune for them, but they never have it. They're dead. They don't want it. You'll ask for it. I am dead with Christ. That's what baptism means. Oh, that we might need, understand the solemnity. Dead with Christ. Let's go on a little further.
Verse four. Therefore, we're buried with him by baptism into death. Buried with him. Do you know what the best thing to do? The best thing we can do with a dead person and do it quickly is bury them. Barry them. God has so made these bodies that when the life goes from it, they soon go to corruption. And the only thing you can do with a dead body is bury it. And if I am dead with Christ, when I accept him as my Savior, the best thing and the quickest thing is to bury me. And to bury me means I must be baptized.
You see, when we baptize people, we put them down into the water, right in the water. Now under. I tell you something. We'd only have to hold them there about five minutes, and they'd be dead all right. We're very near to it, you know. They'd be very near to it. And that's what it means. I go down into death. That's the grave. That's the burial. That's what it means. I'm going down into the grave. The body of the Lord Jesus was put in the grave. He was thrown along to the door. And here in the symbol, I'm going into the grave where the beloved Son of God died for me. And then what happens? Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in new ways of life.
Thank God we don't hold them down in the water, but we quickly pull them out again. What does that mean? Raise with Christ. Raise with Christ. That means that the power of the resurrection Christ is in my life. that like as Christ was raised up from the dead. So in Christ, not in my own power, but in Christ I am raised up from the dead. What for? To walk in newness of life. Verse five. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection. And the Lord Jesus when he rose from the dead, He says, all power is given unto me, going to all the world and preach the gospel.
And that mighty power of the resurrection Christ dwells in you and me. And it's all symbolizing this simple act of baptism. Oh, what men and women we ought to be. Walking in the power of a resurrection Christ. Dead with Christ. Never get offended. Never get hurt because we're dead. And living a new life for him. This is what baptism means. I heard someone put it this way once, and it's got great meaning to me. After I have been baptized, for the rest of my life, I carry the marks of Calvary.
Think of that. I carry the marks of Calvary. Through all eternity the Blessed Son of God will have... male marks in his hands and seat and feet and a mark of a spear in his side. For all eternity he'll carry the marks of Calvary and he's granting us the great honor and privilege here on earth in the scene where he was rejected to carry the marks of Calvary. I have been crucified with Christ. Oh may God write it on our hearts that we might be different men and women for his glory. Now there are three words that I want to give you. Verse eleven, likewise reckon, mark that word, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin.
Do you know what dear Brother Bell said to me this morning? Brother Bell said here, they're on the way to California, I think they've already left. He said to me this morning, as we went out, I enjoyed your talk. He said, we were born in Adam and now we're in Christ. That's right. He said, we are in Christ. Let me ask you a question. Is Adam still in us? It's a good question. Is Adam still in us? Now we were born with an Adamic nature in Adam all die.
And now when we accept Christ, we get a new nature in Christ all made alive. But here's the remarkable thing. As long as we are here on earth, although we have a new nature, we still have an old nature. And this is what baptism is talking about. We have an old nature. The new nature cannot sin. The old nature can't do anything but sin. And when I think evil thoughts, and when I say wicked things, and when I do wrong things, it's that old nature in me that's doing it. Now what can I do with that nature? Oh, if I could get rid of it. I feel sometimes I'd give my right hand if I could get rid of it. Listen, reckon, verse eleven, reckon ye yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God.
Mark that word, reckon. Every morning when we get up, let's reckon ourselves dead. And when the tempter comes and when thoughts come and evil desires come in our lives, are we going to speak some hasty word that we shouldn't, reckon yourself to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God. The next word is in verse thirteen. Neither yield. Reckon yourself dead and then yield. neither yield ye your members, the members of your body, your hands and feet, and all of our body, neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness.
Now one more word. We had the word reckoned, we had the word yield. Look at verse fourteen. Know ye not to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, obey his servants ye are whom ye obey. Now here are three words. Reckon yield obey. Reckon yourself to be dead, to sin, alive unto God. Don't yield the members of your body to unrighteousness but to righteousness and obey the one who is our Lord and must. One thing that baptism does, as I witness, is to witness that the Lord Jesus Christ is my new master and my new Lord.
And Paul is saying, you obey him. Reckon yourself dead, yield your life your members to righteousness, not unrighteousness, and obey the Lord who brought you by his precious blood at Calvary's Cross. So then, Why baptize? We gave five reasons. Who should be baptized? True believers. How do we baptize? By immersion. What does it symbolize? Death with Christ and resurrection with Christ. May God help us as we go further with this question of baptism that we all, even those of us that were baptized years ago, might have fresh put it into practice.
Maybe during the week some of us could get together. I certainly would like to have a talk with some of you who want to be baptized. And if, as you're going out tonight or during the week, if you have not been baptized and you want to be, please let me know. Or let Brother Speck know, or Brother Meyer, any one of us here. And we'll gladly get together and arrange for this baptism next week. But I certainly think we ought to try and get together and have a little talk about these things, so we quite clearly understand, if we can, more and more, what it means. Now, I think it's going to be a fitting close that tonight we're going to sing a hymn, number three hundred and ninety-one, trust and obey.
And we've asked our brother, Mr. John Meyer, to come and sing two verses of this as a solo, and then he'll close the meeting for us with this hymn, three ninety-one. Thank you. I'd like to sing the first verse and the third verse, and then have you join with me on the last verse, please. When we walk with the Lord, in the light of his word, what a glory he shed on our way, while we do his good will, He abides with us still, and with all who will trust and obey.
Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus. but to trust and obey. Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share, but our toil we do not quickly repay. not a grief, not a loss, not a frown, nor a cross, but it's blessed if we trust and obey.
Trust and obey, for there's no other way. To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. Everyone, let it be all just sweet. We will sit at His feet. or we'll walk by His sight in the way.
What insist we will do, where insist we will go. Never fear of victory and obey. Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. Shall we pray? Our Heavenly Father, thou hast spoken to our hearts tonight through thy word.
We thank thee for our Lord Jesus Christ, and what a joy it is to trust him. What a great joy it is to obey him. And our Father, thou hast spoken to each of our hearts tonight. We realize that many times we are not obedient children. Even those of us who have professed faith in Christ as our Savior, and have followed him in the waters of baptism, we realize, our God, that there are times when we are not obedient. Grant that we may have renewal of commitment to our blessed Savior this very night.
O God, that we might indeed trust and obey. and walk in ways well pleasing to him. We thank thee for thy word. To those who have trusted Christ and never followed in baptism, wilt thou speak to their hearts tonight in such a way that the way will be made very plain and easy to understand. Now, Lord, we commit us to thee as we separate the one from the other. Bless thy word that we have heard. Bless us in thy service throughout the week that has commenced, we pray, that we may live for thine honor and glory, and should there be any here without Christ, may they not leave until they know him whom to know his life eternal.