Baptism Week 4 • Romans 5:18-6:4

Show Notes

Sunday, October 3rd 2021 • Beau Bradberry

"We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life." — Acts 6:4

–
Podcast: https://pod.link/willowridgechurch
Website: https://willowridgechurch.org
Instagram: https://instagram.com/willowridgechurch
Facebook: https://facebook.com/willowridgechurch
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@willowridgechurch

Creators and Guests

Host

Beau Bradberry

Senior Pastor

What is Willow Ridge Sermons?

Sermon audio from Sunday services at Willow Ridge Church.

Hi, and welcome to the Willow Ridge Church weekly podcast.

This is where you can find audio for our current and past sermons.

We hope that you enjoy this week's installment, and be sure to check back next week to hear

the latest message.

Thanks for listening.

Well, good morning.

Glad that y'all are here with us.

If you've got your Bibles, open up to Romans chapter 5.

As you turn there, I want to welcome all of our first-time guests.

We are privileged and honored to have you here with us.

There on the row that you're sitting on, I believe at either end, you'll see one of these

Welcome to Willow Ridge cards.

If you're a first-time guest, if you wouldn't mind filling one of those out, and then as

you leave today, you can either drop it off in the basket right here as you leave, or I

will be standing up here by our welcome table.

You can bring this to me.

I'll be honest with you, my preference is that you'd hand this to me, because what I'd like

to have the opportunity to do is to meet you face-to-face, to learn your name, and to have

the opportunity to thank you for worshiping with us.

And then if you have any questions about us as a church, who we are, what we do, all those

announcements we just went over, it's a great place to get those questions answered as well.

But on behalf of all of us that call this place home, for our first-time guests, thank

you so much for being here.

I want to emphasize a couple of our announcements that we have up there on the screen.

First is our coat drive that we are doing that started this Sunday, and it is for New York

City church planners.

Now, it's kind of cool how this has happened.

We've got our Celebrate Recovery ministry that meets on Thursday nights, have taken this on

as a mission trip and an opportunity for them.

And so we're going to be collecting the coats for them, along with other churches all across

the state of South Carolina.

And then there's going to be a team that are going to be leaving from South Carolina to fly

up to New York to partner alongside these church planners.

And so you got the long list of items that we're looking for, the heavy winter coats are

the main ones, the hats and the gloves.

And you'll see we have racks set up in the lobbies of both buildings.

And so you can come in on Sunday morning, put them on a coat hanger, set them right there,

and we'll get them processed and up into New York City.

And so it's a wonderful reminder about how we as South Carolina Baptist churches can have

an opportunity to partner not only with each other, as other churches in our state are doing

this, but that we can be a part of the work that is going on in other states.

And so I want to really encourage you to do that if you could have the opportunity.

Go ahead, clean out your closets.

If you haven't worn it in a year, guess what?

You ain't going to wear it, right?

And I'm saying that to myself just as much as I'm saying that to anybody else.

Also, I want to point out on October 31st, this time of year, and you guys know you've been

a part of this with us for a long time.

We typically do a fall festival partnered alongside White Knoll Elementary.

And then over the last three years, it's been a series of events that have happened from

thunderstorms that have come through to COVID, which hasn't allowed us to be on campus and

do those things.

And so this year, with the 31st falling on a Sunday, we've decided as a church, let's

just kind of have an opportunity to get together and to hang out.

And so maybe for just for this year, we don't know, but we're calling our Harvest Hangout

on Sunday, October 31st from 4 to 6.

And we're going to have games, activities, and food, and hear me, for all ages, all right?

So this isn't just something for the little kids.

Definitely things for them to do.

But there's going to be opportunities for all of us to come and to fellowship and to

have a good time.

And so we would love for you to be with us.

We will be outdoors.

And so to have the opportunity to be with us on that evening, and then you've got time

to get to all your parties, to get back to your neighborhood for everything that's going

to happen for you that night.

Also, we took a team up to Black Mountain this past Friday to kind of see everything that

our men's ministry team is going to be doing in November.

And so if you signed up to go on the Black Mountain men's missions trip, or if you didn't sign

up and you're one of the guys, and you're like, man, I'd like to be a part of that, right

after this service is over with, okay?

Walk down this hallway to the left, and in room 102, we're going to be there.

Informational meeting, we'll be able to answer all of those questions and go with that.

And then lastly, I know you're like, whew, right?

Lastly, we are wrapping up our series on baptism.

And so we're going to have a time of celebration and worship next week with baptisms and with

the Lord's Supper.

And so if you would like to get baptized, or maybe you're a parent and you've been talking

to your kids about this as we've gone through this series, I want to encourage you to sign

up on the sign-up sheet, which is out in the lobby, and we can celebrate what God is doing

in your life in baptism.

So this is the last week of this series.

Next week, we're going to start a series in the book of Psalms that I'm excited about.

We're going to do some different creative elements with our band is going to be performing some

of the Psalms that we're going to be studying.

And so it's going to be an exciting time for us as we go through that.

Well, as we've talked about baptism, this will now be week four.

I hope one of the themes that comes across about baptism for you is that baptism in its

intent tells a story.

Baptism tells a story of your life, of what Christ is doing.

When we look back and we saw from the very beginning in John the Baptist, when he baptized,

we see the story of what is being told as it's before the public ministry of Jesus.

And John's baptism tells the story of both repentance and the coming Messiah, the future kingdom.

And so as John's baptizing his converts, it tells that story.

And then the story goes in there with Jesus comes to get baptized.

And the story that it tells of Jesus's baptism is what it looks like in full obedience of God,

right?

God the Father sending God the Son.

And Jesus in his baptism of repentance, right?

Jesus didn't have to seek forgiveness of sin, but part of repentance is also saying that I'm fully in in the obedience plan, right?

And that's what he's doing.

And we see that.

Full obedience that led to his death on the cross.

Last week we looked at the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch, and it tells a wonderful story.

Not of what it looks like of a pastor, not what it looks like of a church leader at a depth at that time,

but Philip as the deacon that's there being noticed by the fruit that's in his life.

And the eunuch who was coming to a place of worship, who was searching, who had questions,

but who displayed, put his faith in Christ, and simply obeyed what God called him to do.

It's the beautiful picture of what baptism tells us.

I was thinking about this this morning, and that God in his word and God in our lives gives us so many wonderful opportunities

to tell other people our story, and to tell the story by the things that we do.

We don't just gather in this building to sing songs, and to read words, and to hear words,

but instead as we do what we do, we are telling the story of what God has done in our life.

And we see that all throughout Scripture, especially in areas what God calls us to.

I think what's important for us to know and understand that in the Christian context of marriage, it tells a story.

It's what Paul's pointing us to in Ephesians.

That in the Christian context of marriage, what we see is that it tells the story of Christ and the church.

Christ's burden for the church, and the church's response to him.

Next week, as we partake in the Lord's Supper together, it tells a story.

It tells a story of what God's done for us.

So as we all gather in here and take those little plastic cups and peel it back,

and take that little stale, hard-to-eat, hard-to-chew cracker, y'all know what I'm talking about, right?

It's the story of the bread, but it's the story of the body, the body of Christ that was punished for your sins and mine.

And that you and I, we don't have to be hung on a cross because Jesus did that for us.

It tells a story.

And as we drink the juice that's in the cup, it's a story.

It's a story of the cup, just as Jesus did at the Passover when he said there's a new covenant.

And it's going to be found in my blood.

Not the blood of a lamb that's brought off of your land.

Not the sacrifice that you bring or that I bring, but the sacrifice that Jesus brought.

And through his blood and his blood alone is the atonement, the payment of our sins.

It tells a wonderful and beautiful story.

And the story that baptism tells is the story of the gospel.

That's why I love baptism.

It tells the full story.

The story of baptism starts in Genesis and ends in Revelation.

It's the theological unlaying of everything that we come in to do.

Of a person who's dead and lost in their trespasses and sins, but who finds life through Christ and who's raised to new life eternally.

And so baptism tells the story of the gospel.

And so this morning, I just want to kind of wrap up everything that we've been talking about over the last several weeks.

And so let's look at Romans 5, starting in verse 18.

The apostle Paul writes and says,

Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness led to justification in life for all men.

For as by the one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience, the many will be made righteous.

Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.

Praise God.

So that as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness, leading to eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Chapter 6.

What shall we say then?

Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?

By no means.

How can we who die to sin still live in it?

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

We were buried, therefore, with him, with him, by baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

Baptism tells a story.

Baptism shows something.

And the first thing that we see that we're reminded of here is that baptism shows that we got a problem.

Baptism shows our problem, the problem of man, the problem of all of mankind.

Now, if we were to take a moment and go around the room and say, how many of us got problems, right?

We could all raise our hands, right?

We all got problems.

My problems might be different than yours, and your problems might be different than mine.

But the reality is, we've all got problems.

We've got problems that we brought on ourselves, which is usually where most of my problems come from.

And then we've got problems that we inherit from those around us, right?

Usually, those that we love the most, right?

Like, we're just walking around a just dysfunctional group.

Let's all admit, amen, praise the Lord, we all got problems.

But Scripture teaches us, while we all have problems, plural, we, mankind, everyone, has the same problem.

Has the same problem.

Look back at verse 18.

We're going to kind of read and stop a little bit as we go.

Paul says, therefore, as one trespass, one, one, led to condemnation for all men, right?

What's Paul talking about?

This is the sin of Adam in the garden, right?

And in this one act of rebellion against God,

created an avalanche of sin that you and I, we cannot escape from.

It started a process that would continue on in the lives of his kids in every generation since,

other than Christ.

That you and I, we have a problem, and the problem is sin.

Psalm 51, because you're like, well, maybe I can escape it.

Maybe I can avoid it.

I don't know.

Maybe we can take, like, the Tom Hanks approach and grab a volleyball and go live on an island, right?

Like, we can do that.

Then we're good.

Nope.

Nope, we're not.

Psalm 51 tells us that we were born and conceived in sin, right?

And that this is the life that we found.

And that from this sin, it brings something.

It brings something to all of us.

It brings spiritual death.

Ephesians 2 tells us that we were dead in our trespasses and sin, right?

We weren't alive and struggling with them, it tells us.

But Scripture teaches us that spiritually speaking, the life that we're going to talk about for you and I,

that we are found our condition before Christ, we're dead.

We're dead in our trespasses and sins, and so we need someone.

I'm going to ask a really simple question.

What can a dead person do?

Nothing.

Nothing.

A dead person cannot save themselves, and so they need someone to save them.

And so if Paul wrote, therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, period, end of the story, we're done,

then you and I are people of no hope, no solution to the problem.

But he continues on, and he says, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men,

for all of mankind.

So through Adam's act, we get death, and so now through Christ, through the one act, we gain life.

Now, interesting question, which act of Christ gave that to us?

Which one?

All of them.

All of it.

You see, you and I, we have the ability to look in our life and say, I had good days and bad days.

Can you say that with me?

Like, yep.

Like, some days we walk closer to the Lord, and other days we don't, right?

So we have acts of faith, but we also have acts of disobedience.

We have acts of obedience, but we also have acts of rebellion.

And that's the journey that you and I live in.

But for Jesus, his life was not defined by different acts of obedience that were also sandwiched in between acts of disobedience.

His entire life, every part of it, was one continual act of obedience.

This is who he is.

And so Paul says, so one act of righteousness, one part of it, one part, all of it together, leads to this.

And so he says, so verse 19,

For as by one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience, the many will be made righteous.

Right?

So you and I, we have a problem.

We have a problem that we inherited, right?

But we also had a problem that we fed.

And so we took it on, and it was who we were, and it was given to us, and it was dirty, and it was filthy, and it was nasty.

And then in our pride, and in our self, and in our self-righteousness, and who we were, we just kept throwing a fire on the flame, fire on the flame, fire on the flame.

And so the hope of the gospel is that Jesus came and made a way through his life to find a solution to the problem.

And as we look at baptism, that's what we're celebrating.

We're celebrating the solution to the problem.

We're celebrating where we were, but we're celebrating who he is and what he's done.

The second thing that baptism is going to show is baptism shows simple faith.

Simple faith.

All right?

Here's what I want us to grasp and understand a little bit about really our journey in life.

Let's understand that maturity in Christ is a process, not the end goal.

Okay?

Maturity is what we are doing.

Maturity is what the Spirit is doing.

Maturity is what is happening continually in the life of the believer.

God is the goal.

Jesus is the goal.

It's not that when I arrive, here I am.

And so when we look at baptism, how saved does a person need to be to get baptized?

They need to be saved.

In simple faith.

When a person gets saved, they get saved.

Christ saves them fully and completely, grants his Spirit, and takes them on a process.

And so when Jesus describes saving faith, Jesus says, if anyone would come to me like the faith of a mature elder pastor, they inherit the kingdom, right?

No, that's not what he says.

Jesus says, if you come to me with the faith like a child.

That's what the kingdom looks like, right?

The beauty of the kingdom oftentimes is more reflective in the hope of your five-year-old than it is in me.

Right?

So what's faith like child?

What's the childlike faith?

Think about a child.

What do they do?

They trust.

They trust.

The harshness of the world that we live in is kids who don't trust.

They don't trust because of the world we live in.

They don't trust because it's been broken.

Childlike love, or childlike faith is found in childlike love.

Faithful, unconditional, reckless love.

Right?

Child-saving faith looks like childlike obedience.

Right?

I know it's hard as your kids get older, but I promise, and I'm reminded of this and still see it oftentimes in my kids.

It's like, right?

Like, they want to please mom.

They want to please dad.

Like, and then there's the heart of obedience.

Right?

And this is what Jesus is pointing us to.

And so I have people, like, we want to have conversations.

It's why we're doing this series so that we can understand and talk through.

But Philip didn't take the Ethiopian eunuch to the side and make him pass a systematic theology course before he could step foot in the water.

Right?

He understood that the maturity was a process and that in us, what you and I have to embrace is the power, simplicity of faith in Christ.

All right?

Next, what I want us to see is baptism shows accountability and a new path.

Accountability and a new path.

Verse 20.

So that as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

What shall we say then?

What shall we say then?

Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?

By no means.

How can we who died to sin still live in it?

Right?

This is the public statement of who I am.

It's why we do this.

It's why we do this together.

It's why we do this publicly.

It's why we say invite people.

It's why it's a part of the testimony.

Because when we're walking into those waters, when we're standing before our congregation, when we're standing there in front of our lost friends and family, as well as our saved friends and family, it is publicly saying, this is who I am.

This is who I am moving forward.

When you are saved, things change.

And when you are saved, people need to be brought into that process of change for you.

Here's what I like.

So you guys know this.

If you don't, if you're new here, I want to kind of share with you.

My story goes I was raised in church, right?

My mom and dad were good and faithful followers of Christ who prayed and continue to pray for me and over me.

And they had me in church, right?

We were the Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night crowd, all right?

We were VBS, RAs, right?

I don't know if any of you know what RAs, but I was RA.

I was a royal ambassador, right?

Had all that stuff going on.

I was in the children's ministry, Christmas productions, and choirs.

I remember being Joseph one year and a grasshopper the next.

Still not sure how grasshoppers are working in the whole Christmas narrative, but that's where I was, all right?

And we were in that.

But I didn't get saved until I was 22.

I didn't get saved until I was 22.

And when God saved me, man, things began to happen.

Things began to change.

And because I was the kid who was raised in church, I'll be honest with you, I was even a little skeptical about my own salvation.

I'm like, eh, I've seen people go on this journey.

Let me kind of walk this out privately for a little bit, right?

In my skeptical nature and what I began to see and experience within myself as I went on this journey

is God began to change things about me of who I was, right?

I began to find that I responded to things, I looked at things, I saw things differently.

And one of the things that from the time that I was saved, I remember it was like my eyes were open, things were changed.

What would God change immediately in my life was the way that I saw people, the way that I viewed people across the board.

My heart was one of high levels of judgment on many different levels.

And God began to open my eyes to see people the way that he saw people.

But also there was other areas of my life that God was going to work on and change.

And it wasn't going to happen in that way.

It was going to happen through faithful men and women in Christ as they now know that I'm a believer

and seeing the blind spots in areas of my life or the open areas of disobedience and speaking truth into that.

So there were things that God was working, but then also God graciously gave me others to point things out.

One of them, I'll never forget this conversation.

I was sitting there with my youth pastor at the time.

His name is Mark Owens and God blessed me with a wonderful relationship with him.

He's now the executive pastor at Lexington Baptist Church right down the road.

And Mark brought me into his office and we were just talking about different things that were going on in my life

and what God was doing and the different mission trips and different opportunities in the Bible studies

that I was leading in my relationship with my new girlfriend that I just met that would become my wife.

And we're talking about all those different things.

I'm like, man, like here's what God's doing.

Here's what God's doing.

Here's what God's doing.

I told him, I said, I was even really stupid.

Like on the first date that I ever had with Erin, I looked at her and said, you know,

you're the only person that I've ever dated as a Christian, right?

So I know the right things to do and you're going to have to hold me accountable as we walk through this together.

And she's like, amen, let's do this, right?

And so we're talking about those things.

And then he looked at me, right, as this 22-year-old college student trying to figure some things out

and trying to walk and navigate through that.

And he said, well, can I ask you a question as we work through this?

And I said, sure.

He said, how is your giving?

It's like, that's like for old people, right?

Like, I don't make that much money.

And he's like, oh, well, great.

That's not what I asked.

I didn't ask what you make.

I asked, what does that look like?

Because he needed to speak some truth.

What he saw and what he knew.

And I'll never forget.

Here's what he told me.

He said, man, God can't have the whole of your heart when you keep holding on to what's yours.

Right?

God can't have the whole of your heart while you're trying to hold on to what's yours.

Did I know?

Yeah, I knew.

Do I still know of areas?

Absolutely.

This is what Paul says.

What shall we say then?

Are we continuing in sin so that grace may abound all the more?

By no means.

How can we who died to sin still live in it?

Right?

Here's what I want to caution you.

Here's an area of your heart that I pray for often.

If there's sin in your life and you just don't care about it.

I've got to ask the question.

Has God invaded all the spaces of your life?

Are you flirting with him but not married to him?

Right?

Paul says, what shall we say then?

We continue in sin so that grace may abound?

Well, there's no greater tale of God than the fact that I can be how I want to be and do what I want to do.

And God's just still going to forgive me anyways.

Paul says, by no means.

By no means.

How can we who died to sin still live in it?

That doesn't mean we struggle.

That doesn't mean we don't struggle.

It doesn't mean that we don't fail.

But is it in this?

Right?

And it's a beautiful picture of what God continues to do.

Right now, personally in my life, man, God is working in a way that is wonderfully uncomfortable.

In my quiet times with him and in my conversations with others, I'll share with you what God's really working on

and kind of the 10,000-foot view of what God's doing in my life right now.

He's like, man, do you trust me in areas of sufficiency in your life?

Like, am I sufficient enough?

Period.

End of story.

It's hard.

It's hard.

And what Paul says is that when we see these areas of our life,

we can't just say, well, Jesus has it covered.

Well, Jesus has it covered.

And the beautiful picture about baptism when we step into those waters

and when we walk down into them and we sit there and we're professing that in front of our church family

and from those around us, number one, we're saying that God's done and God's doing something,

but that I'm inviting you into that process as well.

Right?

It's called discipleship.

So that it's not a one and done and I've punched my ticket and I can move on from here.

But it's continuing on in there, right?

Verses three and four.

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

We were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead

by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

Baptism also shows Christ died our death.

Right?

Christ died our death.

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15, 55,

Oh, death, where is your victory?

Oh, death, where is your sting?

Let's talk about this verse for just a second.

We still die.

And death still hurts.

Paul's not talking here that death's not a reality.

I've never lived in a point in time in my life

where death has been more prominent of a conversation.

It floods social media.

It floods conversations.

It floods the news.

It floods everywhere where we are.

We can't escape it.

And so what Paul writes here is,

Oh, death, where is your victory?

Oh, death, where is your sting?

What is he talking about?

What is he doing?

And here's what I want us to get to,

that in baptism, what baptism shows as we're looking at the death of Christ,

that death is no longer our punishment.

In fact, just the opposite.

We're going to do a series.

We're going to jump all the way forward to 2022.

It's coming, all right?

Quickly, all right?

Christmas is like in two weekends, it feels like, okay?

But we're doing a series starting in January entitled All Things New

and talking about what does that mean that he makes all things new?

Here's what God does in making all things new.

Death is no longer the punishment for those of us that are in Christ

because there's a newness that's going to be about that.

Just a few weeks ago, many of you know Bruce and Cindy Amick.

And Bruce's dad passed away.

And the day that he passed away, I called Bruce and we talked on the phone for a little bit.

And I never will forget what Bruce told me.

Bruce said, Bo, I'm going to tell you right now,

my dad's service is not going to be some somber, mourning, sad place.

It's going to be a time to celebrate.

And then last Sunday, Bruce, who wonderfully spoke at his dad's service,

and I think Bruce and Cindy are in here, and I'll just say this.

I hope my son can say the things about me that Bruce said about his father, right?

It was a celebration.

Doesn't mean that there wasn't tears.

Doesn't mean that death isn't painful and that death doesn't hurt.

It doesn't mean that we don't mourn.

It doesn't mean that there's not a loss.

It does, it matters, it affects you.

You walk through this.

But the truth is, is that in this, that Christ died our death.

Death for the believer is no longer the punishment.

In 2 Timothy, Paul writes to Timothy and he says,

I fought the fight, I finished the race.

Now what awaits me is a crown of righteousness.

He doesn't say an executioner.

He doesn't say cancer.

He doesn't say a murder.

He says, what awaits me is the crown of righteousness.

Because death, where is your victory?

Death, where is your sting?

It's gone.

And so now for the believer, when we experience death, it's the entry into our eternal reward.

And when we see an individual walk into that water, and we see them sit down, and we see them slowly begin to lay down into that water,

what they're acknowledging and what they're showing is that Christ died my death.

Truth is, for me, right, cancer, heart attack, it's going to get me, right?

And I pray that it happens before Aaron's, because I can't go through that, right?

She's stronger than me.

I told her that.

Most selfish statement, I've got to go before her, all right?

All right?

It's going to get me.

And she's going to cry, and the kids are going to cry.

And they're going to mourn, and it's going to hurt.

But in the context of eternity, right?

It's gone.

It's gone.

Baptism also shows united that we are united with Christ.

We are united with Christ.

Galatians 2.20, I've been crucified with Christ.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

In the life I now live, in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God.

Who loved me and gave himself up for me.

When we step foot in the water, and we sit down there, and the pastor lowers us beneath the water,

it symbolizes our death.

And that when we come out of the water, that we identify with Christ in his death.

That before, what it shows is that before we were walking in our sin, and our trespasses,

and what the Bible tells us that we were, were enemies of God and the objects of his wrath.

But now we have died, and we are no longer defined by that, but we are defined by Christ.

What identifies you?

What identifies you?

Is it your political affiliation?

Is it your education level?

Is it your marriage status?

Is it your work ethic?

Is it your socioeconomic standing?

We could continue on and on and on of reading a list of things that you and I feel that identify us.

But for the follower of Christ, what identifies us, what defines us with who we are is now Christ.

It's Christ.

And lastly, we'll conclude with this.

What baptism shows is that Christ gives us life.

Colossians 2.12.

Having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith,

in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.

So, baptism, that pool of water comes out.

The saved person who was saved before that day gets prepared to enter in to tell the story.

To tell the story of who they were, but now also to tell the story of who they are.

And so they come in, and they sit down.

And the beautiful picture of what's going to happen and unfold over those few moments that they're in there.

They walk in symbolizing that they were dead, and they were lost, and their trespasses and sins.

And they've now been crucified with Christ.

They identify in his death.

And so they're there, and they're lowered into the water.

And they identify as Christ died on the cross and was placed into the tomb.

They identify with that.

And the beautiful symbolism of the water, that it washes away their sins.

Because what we know is the blood of Christ is what washes away our sins, of what makes us new.

But then, here's the beautiful picture, as they come out of the water.

Whenever we have a baptism service, I always ask the individuals and their families who are going to get baptized to come,

and we're going to have a conversation before.

Because it might be comfortable for me.

It might be comfortable for you.

But for a lot of people, let's just be honest.

It's a little weird.

And they've got questions.

And so we'll come, and we'll talk.

We'll let them touch the water.

I'll explain that it came out of a hose pipe in the mop closet right over there.

That's where it came.

We don't buy it from Lifeway, all right?

We get it from the city of West Columbia, all right?

And then I show them.

It's a little hot tub.

It circulates the water.

Keeps it a little warm.

You got a little bench that you can sit down on.

And then I always say, and I promise I won't leave you under too long, right?

Now, if it's a husband getting baptized, the wife usually says, eh, just a couple seconds longer, right?

Like, let's make sure this takes, right?

And I say, no, no, no.

We're just going to take you under really quickly, and then you're going to come out of the water.

We're going to sit you right up.

And then I tell them, like, just pause in that moment.

Just sit there.

And here's what you're going to hear.

You're going to hear the celebration.

You're going to hear the clapping.

You're going to hear, I believe we've even had a few, like, woo-hoos, right?

Because we're in South Carolina.

We can do stuff like that, you know?

What you're going to hear is the celebration of the saints.

Because what they understand is you've been buried with him in baptism, but we didn't leave you under.

That we raised you up, and just as God has raised you spiritually from the dead, right, you can now walk in the inness of life.

And then here's what's really cool.

The moment that you got saved, the moment that Jesus saved you, what happened in your life is the Holy Spirit came and then dwelt inside of you.

And over years, you're going to find out more and more what that means and what that looks like, that the Holy Spirit lives in us.

But here's the thing that I think we all need to be reminded about, okay?

The same Spirit of God that raised Christ from the dead indwells all of us who are found in Christ Jesus.

That's what we have in us.

And so in that, God gives us life.

All from him.

Not from me.

Not from you.

You and I, before Christ, dead in our trespasses and sins.

But Jesus, because of his love for us, his love for the Father, and the obedience for him, came and did one act.

One act.

The act of his birth.

The act of his life.

The act of his death.

The act of his resurrection.

The act of his ascension.

All one.

So that when God looks at us, that are found in him, he doesn't see every failure of your life.

He doesn't see it.

What he sees is the newness, because you and I have been covered by the blood of the Lamb.

And so it makes sense.

Shall we continue to live in sin so that grace may abound?

Absolutely not.

Why would we who died to sin continue to live in it?

And so go and be like Jesus.

Let's pray.

Lord, I thank you so much for who you are, what you've done, what you were doing, and what you will do.

Lord, I thank you that you are the God who loves us and who saves us.

Lord, I thank you that you give us the beautiful picture of baptism to remind us all of what you've done.

Lord, that through salvation, death for the believer is real.

But the victory of death is gone.

Lord, I thank you that in our salvation, Lord, that we've been crucified with Christ.

Lord, it is no longer in my life and in my pursuits.

It's no longer what I'm going to do, what I'm going to figure out, what I'm about.

But Lord, it's that I have life and I live in you and that you live in me.

And I live by faith and that's who defines me.

And God, the beauty of what you give us, Lord, that you give us life and that you give us hope.

That you give us meaning.

That you give us purpose.

Lord, you take all things that are old, all things that were broken,

as you make it new.

You restore.

You bring back.

With every head bowed, every eye closed.

This series has been on baptism.

That's been the theme.

That's been the topic.

It's been the passages that we draw from.

But if you're in my class on Colossians on Sunday night,

you know, we've been talking the last couple weeks,

that the whole story of Scripture is not about us.

It's about God.

So as we talk about baptism,

as we conclude this series,

I feel pressed to remind us that this journey doesn't begin by putting your name down on a piece of paper.

This journey doesn't begin by walking into some water and performing a religious act.

This journey begins by individuals who recognize and who acknowledge that they're lost and they're broken and they need a Savior.

That they're dead in their trespasses and sins.

And that they are not their Savior.

They cannot save themselves,

but is only found in Christ and Christ alone.

And then acknowledging all the things that we will,

that we pursue.

All the sin and shortcoming of our lives and

seeking repentance and

brokenness before Him.

Requesting Jesus Christ as our Savior.

And so today my prayer is that there will be some of you

who will go out of the lobby and sign up for baptism.

But my prayer also is that there is any one of us in here this morning

who does not know Jesus.

That today would be the day that you put your faith and your hope and your trust in Him.

And in Him alone.

Lord, I pray

for the drawing of hearts.

For the repentance of spirits.

For it's that you would be glorified and magnified.

And it's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

I'm going to walk off stage in a minute, I promise.

We've got prayer encouragers on either side of the auditorium.

When I walk off the stage,

I'm actually going to go ahead and head back to the back.

I'll be over here by the welcome table.

This morning,

if you want somebody to pray with,

we want to pray with you.

But also this morning,

if you want to talk to someone about a relationship with Christ,

come see one of them,

come see me.

All right?

We'd love to talk with you.

We'd love to pray with you.

We'd love to celebrate what God is doing in your life.

And so as the rest of us respond to what Christ has done,

we'll be waiting.

Don't leave here thinking next week.

Don't leave here thinking later.

Missing out on the life that Christ has for you.

Would you stand as we worship Him?

Thanks again for listening to the Willow Ridge Church weekly podcast.

We hope that you enjoyed listening to this week's message.

If you'd like to learn more about who we are or explore additional resources,

visit us online at www.willowridgechurch.com

or by searching for Willow Ridge Church on Facebook and Instagram.