A mother looked out a window and saw Johnny playing church with their three kittens. He had them lined up and was preaching to them. The mother turned around to do some work, but soon she heard meowing and scratching on the door. She went to the window and saw Johnny baptizing the kittens. She opened the window and said, “Johnny, stop that! You’ll drown those kittens.” Johnny looked at her and said with much conviction in his voice: “They should have thought of that before they joined my church.”

Do you remember your baptism with blessings and delight? The first time that I can remember seeing a baptism is when I saw my mother baptized when I was a child. We went down before church on a Sunday morning in February to Pope’s Pond. This was in South Georgia so the weather was mild. I can see the minister wading out into the pond. There was moss hanging from the cypress trees, and it looked like a good fishing spot. I remember that my mother went down into the pond and her pastor baptized her on that chilly morning. As soon as she came up out of the water, they put a blanket around her and she got into the car and went back to the church to change her clothes.

The second baptism that I remember is my own. I was baptized as a fourteen year old boy on a cold January evening in the First Baptist Church in Quitman, Georgia. Following the evening service, they moved the pulpit and opened up the floor to reveal the baptistery.

I can remember what a tremendously high moment this was for me. Dr. field and I came from the dressing room out into the water in which I was to be baptized. He explained to me that I was qualified to be baptized because I had received Jesus the Christ as my personal Savior. He explained that baptism is a picture of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus and of me. He said that when I went under the water it meant that I was burying the old life and when I was raised it meant my new life. The white robe that I wore symbolized the purity of my soul being cleansed by the blood of Christ on the cross. He said to me after the baptism, “You are now officially a member of the church, a part of the congregation.” That was a very proud moment for me. He further explained that my baptism would have implications for the rest of my life, and that I was to live the new life in Christ which my baptism symbolized.

I wish we had time for you to tell about your baptism for I am sure that in this congregation there would be many interesting stories.

Baptism is one of the two ordinances of our church. The other is the Lord’s Supper.

My good friend and seminary professor, the late Dr. William Lumpkin, in his book THE MEANING OF CHRISTIAN BAPTISM, said, “The many spiritual ills of the modern church can be traced to baptismal inadequacies.” What he is saying is that many of the spiritual problems that a church faces is at the point of having a qualified candidate with a proper understanding of what baptism is all about.

Dr. R.E.O. White in his work, THE BIBLICAL DOCTRINE OF INITIATION, says, “An Impoverished baptism means an impoverished Christian life and inevitably, an impoverished church.”

Today, I want to give you a brief account of the development of our method and use of baptism. Baptism is pre-Christian. Before there were Christians there were baptisms. The Jews used baptism as an initiation rite for Gentiles who became believers. It symbolized the complete break with the old life of unbelief and it was a symbol of the new faith when a Gentile would embrace Judaism.

The earliest form of baptism in the New Testament is John’s baptism. Skipping across thirty years, Matthew takes us from the Nativity of our Lord to his baptism. He named John “the Baptist” because of his emphasis on baptism, just as we Baptists were named because of our insistence on Believer’s baptism.

John was the forerunner of Christ. He was sent to prepare the way by calling the nation to repentance. Those who understood that Messiah’s coming was imminent prepared themselves through a baptism of repentance.

The earliest account of baptism in the New Testament is the baptism of Jesus. Why would Jesus at the beginning of his ministry come to a man who was preaching repentance to be baptized? Jesus walked into the waters of the Jordon River and said to John, “I want you to baptize me.”

“Wait, you are the Lamb of God.” John had already said, “Behold the Lamb of God” referring to Jesus. “You want to be baptized?” “Yes,” “Why?” “Because I am beginning my ministry and I want to identify with sinners for whom I am going to die. And because I want to fulfill everything that is required of me.”

It may be that you have not settled everything in your own mind regarding your baptism. Or it may be that you are not quite satisfied with your baptism. It is something that you can’t drop, for it is of vital importance. Jesus set the example for us. He talked about it when he gave the commission to his disciples to go into all the world and preach the Gospel, making disciples, teaching them, baptizing them, in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The reason that we place so much emphasis on baptism is because Jesus commanded us to do so.

The most complete explanation of Baptism in the Scripture is in the sixth chapter of Romans. “Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death that just as Christ was raised up from the dead through the glory of the Father, we, too, might live a new life.”

As the church was being formed and the theological beliefs were being stated, the Apostle Paul said, in effect, “Your Baptism is your outward and inward identification with Christ. You identify with his death. You identify with his burial. You identify with his resurrection. You embrace the new life that he gives you.”

How has baptism been understood through Christian history? The early church used immersion as the mode of baptism until the Middle Ages. The Roman Catholic Church practiced immersion until they introduced the modes of sprinkling and pouring. The Catholic theologian, Thomas Aquinas, who lived from 1225-1274 said, “In immersion the setting forth of the burial of Christ is more plainly expressed, in which this manner of baptizing is more commendable.”

We visited ancient cathedrals in Europe that were built in the 12th century and they had baptisteries just like we do. The Catholic church did not recognize other modes of baptism until the Council of Ravina, held in France in 1311. The Church of England did not begin the practice of using modes other than immersion until 1645. The Eastern Orthodox Church today does not permit and other mode except immersion.

We have scanned the centuries and have looked briefly at baptism. Now I want to narrow it down to you, to yours. Let’s ask several questions about your baptism.

WERE YOU QUALIFIED FOR YOUR BAPTISM?

You say, “Pastor, what do you mean by that?” Did you, of your own free will understand who you were in God’s sight? Did you understand that you were lost and needed to be saved and for this reason God sent Jesus to die for your sin. Did you of your own free will choose to become his disciple by repenting of your sin and receiving him into your life as both Lord and Savior? Did you have assurance that God had accepted you?

Perhaps you did not grow up in a Baptist or Evangelical tradition. Were you baptized as an infant? That practice was not introduced into the church until the year 381 as the bishop of Constantinople became concerned about children who became ill and died. By that time, they believed that baptism had saving power. In our Baptist tradition we do not baptize infants with the belief that it saves them. We dedicate infants to God and pray that at the earliest time in their lives when they can come to an understanding of salvation that they can choose it for themselves.

DID YOUR BAPTISM EXPRESS YOUR DEEP REPENTANCE AND FAITH IN JESUS?

John A. Broadus, a great Baptist Greek Scholar, said, “Whenever the word “repentance” is used in the New Testament, the reference is to changing the mind from sin to holiness.” This means a conviction and sorrow for sin that lead to a change of thinking, a change of desire, and a change of conduct in life. Did your baptism express your deep repentance and faith?

DID YOUR BAPTISM EXPRESS BOTH THEN AND NOW A NEW NATURE IN YOUR LIFE?

In Galatians 3:27 we read: “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” Do you have the glorious assurance that your relationship with God is settled? You know, you can go through the motions of joining the church and being baptized as an unqualified candidate simply because someone else wanted you to do it. In this case, your faith is not a strong force in your life. Many people in the church fall into this category. I have baptized deacons and church leaders who said to me, “Pastor, I realize that I have never been saved and have just been going through the motions. There is no spiritual power in my life.” Others have said, “I have not had believer’s baptism for I was baptized as an infant and it has no meaning for me.” Still others have said, “I have come to believe that immersion is the biblical directive and I want it.” I once baptized a 90 year old lady in the ocean at Myrtle Beach who had been dissatisfied with her baptism for most of her life.

DID YOUR BAPTISM EXPRESS A NEW POWER IN YOUR LIFE?

In Colossians 2:12 we read, “You were buried with Him in baptism in which you also were raised with Him through the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.” Paul is saying that the resurrection power that brought Christ forth from the grave has brought you out of your old life and into the new life and that your power to live it is the same power that raised Jesus from the tomb
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John said, “I baptize you with water. But after me one will come who is more powerful than I. He will baptize your with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” The Holy Spirit living in the believer is the power and the fire is the purifying force.

DOES YOUR BAPTISM EXPRESS YOUR FUTURE HOPE?

“The saying is sure, if we have died with him, we shall also live with him.”
The testimony of baptism is expressed in a hymn by W. W. Sydney:
Buried with Christ, our glad hearts say,
Come to the place where once He lay.
Risen with Him, allured by love,
Henceforth we shall seek the things above.

Walking with Him, the life held blessed,
Strengthened with might, girt round with rest.
In Him abiding, living by Him,
We too would bear fruit divine.

Are you satisfied with your baptism? Baptism expresses the inward change, the new life, the daily walk, and the future hope of the Christian.
Praise Be to his Name!