Baptism Week 1 • Matthew 28:18-20

Show Notes

Sunday, September 12th • Beau Bradberry

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," — Matthew 28:19

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Beau Bradberry

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Thanks for listening.

We are in Matthew chapter 3.

Before we go there, one more thing I want to talk about, remind y'all.

We've got a couple of mission trips that we are doing as a church.

One is our men's ministry.

Not only are they doing the wonderful Low Country Bowl and oyster roast, but we will be doing a mission trip to Black Mountain Children's Home November 7th through the 13th.

This is a construction slash chainsaw crew.

And so if that's you, if construction and chainsaws is your love language, there's a wonderful opportunity for you to go and be a part of this trip.

Some of the details that I left out last week that I want to give to everyone, that's a Saturday to Saturday, I believe.

But if you're like, I can only give a couple of days or three days or four days, but I'd like to go and be a part of that, then we have a place for you on that trip.

All right?

We understand to get a whole week off right now at work might not be feasible for you, but if you're thinking you might want to be a part of that, there's a sign-up out in the lobby.

Please put your name down.

You are not committing, but it gives us an opportunity to begin to build a communication team so that people can make their decisions.

I was telling Kevin Schultz this morning, as I've been talking with the Black Mountain team, I do want to throw this out there to all the guys that are thinking about going.

Here's what they told to me as I've talked to the head of maintenance and construction for Black Mountain Children's Home.

He said every team that comes to Black Mountain Children's Home, whether it's an adult team, a men's team, a women's team, a high school team, every team that comes to serve, the standard of perfection that they hold them to is our Willow Ridge Middle School Ministry.

All right?

What they said is every team that comes on the last day is scrambling to get their work finished and sometimes doesn't finish what they said that they were going to do.

They said on the other hand of that, the Willow Ridge Middle Schoolers show up every time and on the next to the last day, they're like, we're done.

What else you got for us?

All right?

So that is the standard that you're going up against, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade middle school boys and girls.

So that's the level I want to challenge you.

I'm putting my money on the middle schoolers, but I do want to challenge you to see if you can come up and see if you can rise to the occasion for that.

All right?

But then also another team that we've got going on is November 13th through the 20th.

We're going to be taking a team of about six to eight out to Utah.

A little bit different trip.

We're going to be going out there with Hope Valley Church, with Dustin Stopman and his family to help them.

That's going to be more of a relational evangelism, discipleship opportunity.

One of the things that they've talked to us about that they love to do is they love to create environments where they can send their staff and their church to mobilize, to share the gospel, and invite people to their church.

And so when teams come in, that's what they do with us is they use us in those opportunities.

And so we're going to be doing some evening park ministry during that time.

And so I want to throw that out there.

Now, I did ask Dustin, I said, hey man, can I ask you a question, right?

Because in South Carolina, we get like this much snow like every 10 years, okay?

So here's the question that I have for you.

What is the likelihood of seeing some snow November 13th through the 20th?

He said, Bo, highly likely.

And some of the ski resorts may be open, right?

So when he said that, I said, well, what's the chance?

He goes, oh, we definitely can get y'all out there for an afternoon, all right?

So if you would like to go skiing, that would be a great opportunity to partner with that, right?

We're going for Jesus.

But if skiing comes out of that, right, God will bless that, I fully believe.

All right.

So Matthew 3, let's jump into that.

Oh, you can sign up for that in the lobby as well.

So Matthew 3, that's where we're going to be this morning.

And we are beginning a four-week series on baptism, all right?

We are Baptist, baptism is in our name, so I feel like it's important that we talk about it.

Now, a lot of people have questions about baptism.

And what is remarkable about the questions that I get from people about baptism is this.

They got people from different denominational backgrounds, people who have been in church

for a long time or a short time.

But I find it really doesn't matter how long you've been in church.

I found out it really doesn't matter what denomination you're a part of.

Most of us have questions, honest, good, sincere questions about baptism.

And what I love about that is there's a million different questions about it.

And so as I've really been praying through that, one of the things that I felt like God

was leading me to this summer was to do a series on baptism, where we just kind of stop and

pause for a minute as a church and talk about that.

You heard in the announcements we're going to be doing a baptism service on October the

10th.

And so as you go through this, if you feel like that's what God's speaking to your heart,

we would love to have you be a part of that day as we are celebrating what God is doing.

And so what we're going to do the next four weeks is we're going to look at baptism.

We're going to talk about baptism.

I want to say this.

Each week is not going to give us an all-encompassing, this is baptism, this is done.

And to be honest with you, even in four weeks, we're only scratching the surface about baptism,

what God is doing in baptism, what God is communicating in baptism, and why we are called to be baptized,

but also to go and baptize.

All right?

So we're going to talk about that.

So the first thing that I want us to kind of get to before we get to Matthew 3 is this.

Why is baptism important?

Why is baptism important?

You know, regardless of the denomination that you come from, regardless of when people do baptism,

baptism is a part of every mainstream Christian denomination.

It's a part of it.

Everybody feels like they do it, you know, more correctly than the other,

and we're going to get in through that of why we do it the way we do it later.

But it's a part of it.

And here's the thing I want us to get, all right?

Baptism was not man's idea.

Man wasn't sitting around one day and thinking like, hey, what can we do?

Oh, let's baptize, all right?

Let's do this.

This will be something that we can bring in and implement it in the church, right?

This isn't like how we utilize social media.

Like this isn't something like how can we figure this to leverage us.

The exact opposite.

Baptism was created by God.

So here's what I want you to think about.

The illustration that I often use in weddings is we need to understand we're not trying to figure out how to do marriage our way.

Like that's when we complicate marriage, right?

Marriage is God's idea.

Marriage is God's creation.

So we do it God's way.

It doesn't matter what my feelings are about it.

It doesn't matter what my opinions are about it.

We do marriage God's way because God created it.

So who are we to say it should be done our way, all right?

And the same thing with baptism.

As God gave marriage to mankind, God gives baptism to mankind as well.

And so what we want to do with that is to try to understand, all right, God, why do you value this so much?

What are you calling us to do in this?

And then as individuals in our response to baptism, but also as a church, as those who baptize, we recognize that when we do this, we are falling into obedience to the Lord.

All throughout this, we're going to see we're doing this not because we want to, we do.

We're doing this not because it's exciting, it is.

We're doing this because God tells us to.

It's God's creation.

So why is baptism important?

Number one, Jesus was baptized, all right?

Jesus was baptized.

Now, we're going to look at that later today, so I'm not going to really speak to that.

That's going to be the main part of the message here in just a minute.

Jesus was baptized.

Number two, why do we baptize?

Baptism was a part of Jesus's ministry.

So as Jesus's ministry is going on, baptism's a part of that.

John 4, 1 through 3.

Now, when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John,

although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples, we're going to talk about that later, too,

he left Judea and departed again for Galilee.

So in the earthly ministry for about three to three and a half years of his earthly ministry here,

Jesus baptized in his ministry, or even better,

Jesus had his disciples, gave the commandment,

and they baptized the followers of Christ while he was walking around this earth before his crucifixion.

So baptism was a part of Jesus's ministry, so it needs to be a part of ours.

Number three, why is baptism important?

Jesus commands baptism, all right?

We've been talking about this for a long time, all right?

The Bible is filled with the commands of God, not the suggestions of God.

Jesus commands baptism, a verse that we know that we've heard many times,

and if you hadn't, make special note of this.

Matthew 28, 18 through 20.

And Jesus came and said to them,

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

And then verse 19, he imparts the mission of God to the church.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

All right?

So we've heard this many times.

And the two words that we focus in on, which are very important words, are what Jesus begins with.

Go, leave here, and make disciples.

But then Jesus gives us the formula.

This is what this looks like.

What are we to do?

We're to baptize and we're to teach.

These are the things that happen.

Now evangelism is woven in there in the process of discipleship, but baptism is a part.

It was Jesus' parting words, his commands to the church and to us today,

that what we are to be about, what we are to do, is to go and make disciples.

And we do that by baptizing.

And we do that by teaching.

And so not only did Jesus have this in his ministry, but he commands it to the church.

So Jesus and Acts, he ascends.

Do they exhale and say, whew, we're done doing that?

No, no, no, not at all.

Number four, why do we baptize?

The early church baptized.

Acts 8, 12, and there's numerous ones that we can see in the book of Acts.

But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ,

they were baptized, both men and women.

It continued on.

And I can get super nerdy and dive into church history and talk about all the way through

how the church has continued on with this.

Now, a little precursor for where we're also going to get to in a different week.

It's important for us to know that belief led to baptism.

All right?

Belief led to baptism, not baptism to belief.

All right?

So that's important for us to understand, especially while we do things the way that we do things.

So people would come, they would confess, they would profess Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Salvation would be given to them by God.

And then as a response of what God was done, they would be baptized.

And so it's why when we bring out our baptistry and we set it up right here

and we have men, women, and children go through it, it is not that in the hopes that they will be saved,

but it is done out of a heart that has been saved.

And so they are baptized.

And then what is interesting in here, that this was something that all converts were baptized, right?

What we see instantly and throughout the book of Acts, over and over again.

Look back at verse 12.

Kevin, if you can pull that up.

But when they believed Philip, as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ,

they were baptized.

Right then.

All converts were baptized.

And the importance and the value of that.

So that kind of brings us into why baptism is so important.

Each week, starting this morning, we're going to dive through and try to understand and try to see,

what does this mean for my life?

I want to be honest.

I hope some of you are wrestling within this dynamic within yourself of,

well, I'm a shy person.

We're going to get through some of those things.

Well, I've been a believer for years and it would be embarrassing for people to know that I've never done that.

We're going to work through some of all these things.

I mean, there's a million different reasons.

There's a million items on the list for people to say, well, this is why I haven't been baptized.

But what I want to urge you is through the leading and the drawing of God's spirit in your life

is to recognize that Jesus was baptized.

Baptism happened in Jesus's ministry.

Jesus commands it to us and of us.

And as the church has failed in many different ways throughout the years,

the church has continued on in baptizing.

And so we see the value and know the importance of it.

And so this morning, what we're going to do is we're going to stop and look for just a few minutes

about what happens concerning Jesus's baptism.

And we're going to start reading Matthew chapter 3, verse 1.

And I'm going to read a little bit, stop and talk.

And then at the very end, we're going to hit four points pretty quickly, okay?

All right, verse 1.

In those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea.

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,

The voice of the one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

All right, so let's pause here for just a few moments.

So John is the prophet that was promised by God.

He's the cousin of Jesus in Isaiah who would come to the Jews, and this is important, to make way for the Messiah.

So in the Old Testament prophets, it's just the scripture to them, but it's the Old Testament prophets.

For us, they've been continually reminded of the Messiah that God is going to send to save his people.

Well, in Isaiah, God says that he's going to send one before him that will announce and that will prepare the way.

And so God sends John to the Jewish people to proclaim this message.

Now, this is really important, guys, for us to get this and understand the importance of baptism.

Because the Jewish people were God's outwardly ethnic chosen people.

They were the historic people of God.

And so God sends John to them to proclaim this message.

As God's people, there's the Messiah who is being sent, who will save you.

And that's important.

And they were part of God's covenant.

And they had taken on the symbol of God's covenant, the meaning of God's covenant.

But God is going to send Christ.

Now, let's look back at verse 4.

Now, John wore a garment of camel's hair and had a leather belt around his waist.

And his food was locust and wild honey.

And then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him.

And they were baptizing him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

Now, really quickly, John's kind of a weird guy socially, all right?

So he's the guy, like, out, the wild man out in the wilderness.

And he's got a different diet than others.

And he's got some different things that are going on.

And we don't really want to focus on that.

We want to focus on the two things that he is doing that really matter for us concerning baptism.

He's doing two things.

Number one, John's preaching a message of repentance.

That's all John's talking about.

So, like, every time you hear him, same thing over and over and over again.

That this is what his message is going to be.

Repent, confess.

And then the second thing that he's doing is he's baptizing people.

When you respond to the message that John is proclaiming of repentance,

and then John says, all right, let's baptize you.

Let's take care of this.

Let's do this.

And what we see in this, remember back from before, right?

It's not the Gentiles who are coming to John.

This is important.

It's the Jewish people who see the need for repentance, and they are coming to John.

Now, for a Jewish person to receive John's baptism was radical.

Was radical.

This is making a statement.

This is dropping a stake in the ground of saying what is going on.

God's ethnically chosen people are responding to John's message of repentance and then being baptized.

And here's what's going on.

They were saying in this that they now, they don't belong to God based on the fact that they were born into the nation of Israel.

But in their baptism, they are saying they now belong to God based off of their confession and repentance.

This is huge.

This is huge.

It's not because now where I was born and the family that I was born into and the lineage that I was born into.

They're moving from that and they're saying, no, no, no.

It's now based off of faith through confession and repentance.

And this is marked by baptism.

And these people were already God's chosen ethnic outward people.

But now John's saying you've got to get right with God.

And just because you're Jewish does not mean that there's the guarantee of salvation.

And this is profound for these people.

And people are responding.

And what baptism is, was they're renouncing their old dependency on their ethnic Jewishness.

And now they are relying on the mercy of God to forgive those who have repented.

It's where we see the heart of the gospel begin to rub through and come out in the ministry of John even before Christ.

It's why we can look forward to Hebrews chapter 11 where it goes through the list of all the Old Testament people.

And it's not by their name that they were saved.

It's not by their ethnic nature that they were saved.

It was by faith that they were saved is what we find in Hebrews chapter 11.

And so this is what we see taking place at a larger scale as they are coming to John.

In verse 7.

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them,

You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

Bear fruit in keeping with repentance and do not presume to say to yourself,

We have Abraham as our father.

For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.

Verse 10.

Now, even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees.

Every tree, therefore, that does not bear fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Right?

There's a lot of what we see in these words of John that we will see in the teachings and the words of Christ.

Right?

There's a lot of overlap that's happening there.

And this is the introduction in a lot of ways of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

And it's not just Jesus that's going to have this conflict with them.

We see that John has this conflict with them as well.

All right?

And so the Pharisees and Sadducees, if you don't know, they were not only the ethnic Jewish people.

They were ethnically Jewish.

But they were also the spiritual Jewish leaders of the time.

And I love John's words.

I'm going to kind of put them in Bo's words.

Hey, who told y'all y'all needed this?

Right?

They're kind of his enemies.

I don't know that I really want to see you here at this point in time.

Right?

Who told you you needed this is what he said?

But John wants them to understand of what he's demanding, of what he's asking.

You see, if anyone could be saved because of their ethnic origin, it should be the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

It should be these guys.

They should be the ones that have it.

But instead, John says, who told you that you were objects of God's wrath?

Who told you that you're the ones standing in the way of the wrath that is going to come?

And they would say, well, but it wouldn't be us because we have our father Abraham, so we have salvation.

And John says, no, no, no, no, that's not it.

Because what God is doing is God is raising up children who will repent.

This is the nature of what is happening here.

It's not just this religious exercise that's being done.

It's not people trying to earn their salvation.

It's not another religious act to just get right so that we can check the boxes.

That what's coming and what is based out of these teachings of John very early on is establishing.

No, no, it's faith.

It's faith.

Not in me.

Not in what I've done.

Not in what I've been born into.

It's not faith in me at all.

Instead, it's faith in God because I'm a sinner who needs to be saved.

And then baptism will be the response of that.

And so now in verse 11, John begins to talk about Jesus.

Verse 11, he says,

So what John's doing here is, John says that he baptizes with water.

That this is the response.

Largely what we do.

John does what we do.

But Jesus will baptize also in a different way.

In a way that you do not do.

In a way that I do not do.

I've never baptized and not able to baptize any this way.

Only Christ.

That Jesus will baptize with Holy Spirit and with fire.

And so I want to talk about that really quickly this morning.

Read a commentary that referred to it as spirit, fire, baptism.

And my old school roots of going to my grandparents, charismatic church growing up that I love so much.

It just feels to roll that back up on me, right?

Like spirit, fire, baptism.

Love it, right?

Right?

And so here's what John means.

Here's what is meant by spirit, fire, baptism.

Is that when people are saved, we are filled with the Holy Spirit of God.

Right?

Like largely seen in Acts chapter 2.

But then the spirit does something.

So you're baptized in the spirit of what John is talking about.

But then also, there's also a baptism of fire where God refines you.

Refines you.

Don't look at fire here as the fire that destroys.

Look at fire here as the fire that was used with metal that brings out the imperfections of the metal.

So that what's left on the other end of the fire is perfection and purity.

And so John says that's what Jesus does.

And that's what we see in our life.

When we are saved, what God does is he fills us with his Holy Spirit.

And spirit, fire, baptism begins to be what happens within us.

That over the course of our life, whether you are saved for five minutes and then pass,

or whether you are saved for 80 years and pass,

what happens is through spirit, fire, baptism,

this Holy Spirit is working in you and I to refine us,

to mold us, to shape us into the person that God's called us to be

so that we are growing in our faith more obedient,

more dependent, and more in love with Jesus.

And so John is just laying it on in this moment.

And then verse 13.

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John to be baptized by him.

Verse 14.

John would have prevented him saying,

I need to be baptized by you.

And do you come to me?

You ever felt like there's been a point in time in your life where you don't need to be the person

giving the presentation, but that everybody else does, right?

You don't need to be the person doing the job, but the person who you're doing the job for does it

because they're a little bit more qualified than you, right?

I feel that way all the time, right?

And this is what John is doing.

John's like, no, Jesus, I don't need to baptize you.

I need to be baptized by you.

And then verse 15.

But Jesus answered him,

Let it be so now,

for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.

And then he, being John, consented.

And when Jesus was baptized,

immediately he went up from the water,

and behold, the heavens were opened to him.

And he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove

and coming to rest on him.

And behold, a voice from heaven said,

This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.

And what we see here is the baptism of Jesus.

And so, really quickly, we're going to wrap up with these four things.

What can we learn about Jesus' baptism?

And why was Jesus baptized?

It's always been a funny thing.

Most people have those questions, right?

Like the questions of the Bible that we hope to answer.

Why was Jesus baptized?

What can we learn from this?

Well, I hope we can draw some things from it this morning.

Number one is this.

Baptism is about a profession, right?

Because baptism comes for us after salvation,

we understand and know that baptism doesn't save.

But what baptism has been for,

for you and I,

is a public profession of faith in Christ

to our church family.

It's why we do baptism the way that we do it.

It's why I prefer that we do it the way that we do it.

Because what we have is a massive group of brothers and sisters in Christ.

Some who know you, some who don't.

And we are professing to one another that I am saved.

I'm a part of the family of God.

That I may have said a prayer.

I may have gotten saved at a conference.

I may have gotten saved having a conversation at a coffee shop.

But in this moment, what I am doing,

I am professing my faith in God publicly to everyone

and identifying as his through baptism.

Now, does this mean, right, that Jesus was not saved?

No, no, no, no.

That's not what this means at all.

Here's what Jesus is professing.

Here's what Jesus is sharing.

Here's what Jesus is making known, right?

We're reading this on the early onset of the gospel.

Because what's going to happen from here,

next we're going to see the temptation of Christ in the wilderness.

And then we're going to see the public ministry of Christ.

And so what Jesus is professing here is salvation.

And it is not his in that he got saved,

but it is his salvation.

Right, do we get that?

It's salvation in him and in him alone.

And the profession that Jesus is saying

is his ministry of seek to save the lost.

The public ministry of Jesus, in a lot of ways,

begins in this moment.

So baptism is about a profession.

Number two, baptism is about repentance.

All right, now let's walk this back a little bit.

If baptism is about repentance and Jesus never sinned,

then why is Jesus performing an act of repentance?

That's a fair question.

John's calling people to repent and to be baptized.

So if repentance is solely about confession of sin

and acknowledging that you're a sinner,

then why in the world is Jesus getting baptized?

Because Jesus never sinned.

Not one time.

So here's what I want us to get.

Repentance is two parts.

It's two parts.

The first part is yes.

Repentance is a confession of sin

and is what you and I, what we are called to do.

We confess, we repent,

and in our repentance we are saved

and we continue on in that with our life.

But repentance is more than that.

Right?

Repentance is not just acknowledging where we messed up.

Repentance is a commitment to the Lord

to obey Him in everything moving forward.

So it's not just enough to say,

you know what, I shouldn't have said those words.

I shouldn't have done that thing.

I shouldn't have thought about that.

I shouldn't have watched that.

It's acknowledging that we did

and then making a turn to understand

that we were choosing our own way

and now we are choosing the way of the Lord.

We are committing our obedience to Him.

And if you're like me,

you're starting that cycle over

before you realize it over and over and over again.

And so repentance is confession of sin

and choosing obedience.

And so why is Jesus getting baptized?

And He's declaring to everyone

His full obedience to the will of the Father.

An obedience that's going to lead Him to the cross

and to the grave to pay for the sins of man.

You see, in baptism,

when you go into those waters,

you're publicly saying two things to people.

This is what I was saved from.

This is what God saved me from.

Every sin that you had committed,

every sin that you are currently committing,

every sin that you will ever commit.

This is what God saved me from.

Repentance.

But then there's also

the other part of repentance that says this.

And this is what God is saving me for.

This is what God was saving me for.

Because God didn't save you.

God didn't save me

to say, I'm good.

I'm done.

I finished.

Let me just go here

and wait for Jesus to call me home, right?

No, that's not it.

Repentance is saying,

this is what He saved me from

and this is what He saved me for.

And so when you step into those waters,

it's the public profession of faith.

Man, I'm on board.

I'm obedient in every area of my life.

It's what we see as,

it's why it's a part of discipleship

to say, come alongside me,

challenge me,

help me grow in my walk with the Lord.

And so baptism is about repentance

and what Jesus shows us.

But also baptism is about newness.

It's about newness.

For Jesus, it's gonna be a new ministry.

Not new for Him.

He knew.

He knew while He was sent.

But we're gonna see the newness of Jesus

can continue on.

And as you look

and you flip through the Gospels,

we're gonna see the Sermon on the Mount

that's gonna happen

and continue on in Matthew 5.

We're gonna see Jesus call Matthew.

We're gonna see Jesus heal two men with demons.

We're gonna see Jesus calm the storm.

We're gonna see Jesus do all of these things.

None of these things that Jesus was doing before.

Now He's doing them.

And it's a newness of ministry.

There is an old where He was,

but now there's the new

as He's been showing the world who He is.

And for us, it's the exact same thing.

Baptism about newness.

This is who I was.

This is who I am.

Like if there's a phrase

that I wish we could purge

from the lips of Christians

is this.

I'm just a sinner.

I'm just a sinner.

Because what we mean by that

is we're just trying to excuse away

the things that we do.

We're just trying to excuse away.

You know, I still got these issues

that I struggle with.

You know, I'm just a sinner.

It's like it's a get out of jail free card.

Like wipe the slate clean,

but the Bible doesn't identify you

when you're in Christ as a sinner.

He identifies us as saints.

And that's who we are.

That's why when we're baptized,

we're acknowledging,

we're showing that the old has gone

and the new has come.

All right?

That's why when we baptize

the way that we baptize,

actually the word baptism

means to immerse underwater.

And so that's why we do it

the way that we do it.

But there's a symbolism

that happens in that as well.

There's a symbolism.

And what I want you to get

the picture of

is when you look at the baptism,

I want you to picture a tomb.

I want you to picture a tomb.

And you do what with a tomb?

You put a body into a tomb

when it's dead.

And Jesus died.

He wasn't asleep.

He wasn't unconscious.

He wasn't in a coma.

He wasn't tricking everybody.

Jesus was dead.

And he went into the tomb.

And when we're baptized,

when we baptize others,

we're identifying

with the death of Christ.

That the old you,

the old me is now dead.

And that just as Jesus

three days later

came out of the tomb,

that you and I,

when we come out of the water,

the symbolism that's there,

the story that we're communicating

is the newness of life.

This was who I was,

but this is now who I am.

There's the newness of life.

For the old is gone,

the new has come.

Paul talks about

that he was the old man,

but now he's the new man in Christ.

You see,

there's a newness

that's there.

There's the newness

that we're declaring.

But then lastly,

and this will conclude on this,

baptism is about relationship.

I love this.

Matthew 3,

verse 16 and 17.

I want to read those

again.

And when Jesus was baptized,

immediately he went up

from the water

and behold,

the heavens were open to him

and he saw the spirit of God

descending like a dove

and coming to rest on him.

Now,

verse 17,

really quickly.

Some people believe

that what verse 17 says

was that this was something

that is internally heard by Christ,

but that is not the words

that are used.

What this means is,

maybe bad illustration,

but I'm gonna use it anyways, right?

Have you ever like been

at a Walmart

and lost your kid

for a minute, right?

I was the kid

that was lost repeatedly.

Not because my mom

was irresponsible,

because I like to hide, right?

That's what I did.

And I knew

that it was okay

as long as I could see her feet

or hear her voice.

But all of a sudden

when I realized I couldn't

and I heard,

Bo Bradbury,

would you please report

to the front counter?

Like I knew

it was getting real then, right?

I knew that I was in trouble.

The voice that I could not see

was now reporting

of who I am

and my mother

was waiting for me, right?

So when people read this verse,

there's people that like,

well, it's just a spirit thing

that was felt.

No, that's not

what scripture tells us.

Scripture says

for all of those

who are around,

there was a voice

from heaven

that spoke.

That said,

this is my beloved son

with who I am well pleased.

And in that moment,

God the Father

is drawing the relationship

between him

and God the Son.

And that when you and I

are baptized,

there's so many of us

who spiritually speaking

are trying to be

ethnic Jewish.

Well, it's about somebody else

and I'm just doing

what I have to do.

But it's about identifying

I was lost

and now that I'm found,

I was an enemy of God

but now I'm a child of God.

And he's my father.

And he sent his son

to save me.

And this baptism

is letting everyone know

that I was lost

and now I'm found.

I was a rebel

but now I'm redeemed.

And that he is mine

and I am his.

The beauty of the hope

of the gospel.

We're going to talk about baptism

for three more weeks.

What I encourage all of us

to do

during these three weeks,

whether you're watching online,

whether you're here

with us on Sunday morning,

is just ask yourself

and evaluate.

And begin with this.

Not do I need

to get baptized.

That's important.

It's important.

Don't begin with that.

Ask yourself the question.

Am I a sinner

or am I a saint?

Am I old

or am I new?

Am I lost

or I'm found?

Begin with the gospel.

Baptism doesn't save you.

Jesus does.

Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you so much

for who you are

and what you've done

for us.

Lord, we thank you

for the beautiful picture

of baptism.

Lord, I thank you

for the privilege

that it has been

for my 18 years

of ministry

to have the privilege

of baptizing men,

women, and children.

Lord, I thank you

that we as a church

get to be a part

of that.

Seeing the profession

that people are making.

That understanding,

Lord,

that they're walking away

from their sin

and choosing to obey you

with their life.

Lord, they understand

that the old is gone

and the new has come

and that they're

a child of God

saved

by the blood

of the Lamb.

Lord, as we meet

over the next

several weeks,

as we battle

all that we're facing,

Lord, could we remember

that it is through you

and you alone

we have hope,

meaning, and purpose.

It's through you

and you alone

that we have life.

And, Lord,

it is through you

and you alone

that when our heart

stops pumping,

when our lungs

stop breathing,

Lord, that that is

not the end,

but it is simply

the beginning

of eternity

with you.

Let's in Jesus' name

pray.

Amen.

I want to read

a verse.

This is a

little something

extra.

It's the power

of God

to save.

I feel like

right now

we're reminded

continually

about death.

One of the battles

that I'm talking

with a lot of people,

what I hear

in their voice

is a lack

of hope.

Yesterday,

I was out

in the backyard

doing what I do.

I was listening

to a podcast.

And a man

came on

and he was

talking about

hope

and he read

a verse

in Revelation

chapter 12

verse 11.

And it says

this,

and they have

conquered him,

him being Satan,

they have conquered

him by the blood

of the Lamb

and by the word

of their testimony.

For they love

not their lives

even unto death.

So in death

what they find

is their victory.

Not because of

what they've done.

Not because of

what they've achieved.

Not because of

some religious act.

But what it says

is by

by the blood

of the Lamb.

by the blood

of the Lamb.

And church,

in this world,

I'm going to say

amen and go sit down

in a minute,

but in this world,

can we stop

being a people

of no hope?

Because we have hope.

We have hope.

Regardless of what

the numbers

climb to,

regardless of

the many

that we lose,

we have hope.

and we have hope

because of the blood

of the Lamb

and because of the word

of our testimony.

And this testimony

is not what you,

it's not our list

of mission trips.

It's not the sins

we've committed,

but it's the testimony

that Jesus Christ

has saved us.

It's the gospel

of Christ.

Not of you

or not of me.

So we're going to

respond

in song.

I love the song

we're about to sing.

But as we go

from here,

and I'll go sit down

in just a second.

Be a people

of Revelation 12-11.

They have conquered

Him.

Conquered all

that this world

can throw at us

because of the blood

of the Lamb

and the word

of their testimony.

All in Christ.

Would you stand

and respond?

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,

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Thank you.