What the Bible says about baptism… Our kids have a splash class when they start inquiring about baptism. Tonight is kind of a splash class for adults. Sundays message will complement this, but will be a different presentation. (However you get a sneak preview of some baptism fun at the beginning.)
Preacher wrestler 
It might be a good idea to start with why care about this. Let me read you the last words of Jesus!
Matthew 28:18-20 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
This discussion is vital if it’s about Jesus. This discussion is useless, if it’s just about a ritual act of being dipped in water. What makes baptism beautiful is that it unites and identifies us with Jesus!
Eph. 4:4-6 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
The beautiful gift of baptism was meant to bring unity. Two extremes to avoid: 1. clubbing people over the head with truths about baptism. 2. Minimizing or compromising truth about baptism.
So here’s the plan tonight. Not a bunch of personal opinions, creed statements, or church positions or debate. Mostly tonight we will just lay out the Scriptures on this subject. Because the best way to approach the question-“What is baptism?”, is to let Scripture itself answer the question. “What is baptism?”
4 avenues:
Acts 2:37-41 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”
Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
Acts 8:12-13 But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
Simon himself believed and was baptized.
Acts 8:26-38 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.”
So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian[a] eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “queen of the Ethiopians”).
This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship,
and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet.
The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.” Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet.
“Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading:“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth.”
The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?”
Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.
As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?”
And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.
Acts 9:17-19 Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus,
who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized,
and after taking some food, he regained his strength.
Acts 22:6-16 “About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me.
I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, ‘Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?’
“‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked.“ ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied.
My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me.
“‘What shall I do, Lord?’ I asked.“ ‘Get up,’ the Lord said, ‘and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.’
My companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had blinded me.
“A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there.
He stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very moment I was able to see him.
“Then he said: ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth.
You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard.
And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.’
Acts 26:15-18 He just tells of Damascus Road and his mission. Deleted slide
Acts 10:47-48 Then Peter said,“Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.”
So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.
Acts 16:13-15 On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there.
One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth.
She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home.
“If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.
Acts 16:29-34 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”
Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house.
At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized.
The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.
Acts 17:34 Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.
Acts 18:7-8 Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God.
Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul believed and were baptized.
Acts 19:1-5 While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them,
“Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”
They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?” “John’s baptism,” they replied. Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance.
He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” On hearing this,
they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Do you see the consistent pattern? Message, belief/faith, confession repentance, baptism…chart
We have formed our thinking based on what we have been taught or what we have read or heard from preachers and teachers. Even when we start to see something in a different way we turn to a trusted preacher or teacher. But I’m asking you to form your approach by the trusted Apostles and Scripture.
Gal 3:26-27 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
Colossians 2:10-14 and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority.
In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ,
having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,
having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.
John 3:3-5 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked.
“Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.
I Cor. 10:1-4 For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea.
They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.
They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.
I Peter 3:20-22 God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water,
and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.
Titus 3:4-5 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.
He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior,
so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
Romans 6:3-8 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.
For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—
because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
Luke 23:43 Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
The dying thief died under the Old Testament Law. The command for baptism in Jesus Name had not even been given yet. It would have been impossible for him to obey-not to mention that he was hanging on a cross. Jesus can grant salvation whenever, and to whomever He wishes and that’s exactly what He did.
Eph 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.
We unequivocally affirm that salvation is by grace. At the same time we also affirm that submitting to baptism does not trust in the work of man but in the working of God,
Col 2:12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
If I write you a check for 1 million dollars. Certain bank certain teller certain time did you earn it?
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
As we saw earlier-often one component of the Gospel response can stand for the whole. “There may be more that one component of our response to the gospel than appears in any one verse-but no less.”
James 2:19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
Obviously faith is more than mere mental assent. Repentance, confession and baptism accompany our believing.
All baptisms in Scripture were preceded by belief. There are no examples of infant baptism in Scripture.
That is Gods domain. (Illustration pay taxes with 5 pieces of gold) (ratio bag of silver 400oz).
The greek word for baptize is “baptizo” to plunge dip or immerse.
1. to dip repeatedly, to immerse, to submerge (of vessels sunk)
2. to cleanse by dipping or submerging, to wash, to make clean with water, to wash one's self, bathe
3. to overwhelm
“Down in to the water…” “much water” is embedded in the language of Scripture.
There is no need to be re-baptized every time you sin, however if you doubt your original decision or were not baptized scripturally- the fact that the Bible describes baptism as “A plea to God for a good conscience”, might indicate that you should be re-baptized.
In summary: We believe that baptism in Jesus Name is a part of the process of accepting Christ and receiving the free gift of eternal life. We do not believe in baptismal regeneration, making the act of baptism function as some magic water. Water does not wash away sins. The blood of Christ does. We believe that we are meeting Jesus where He asks us to, when submitting to immersion. Scripture does not present baptism as a human work, but rather the work of God through the resurrection of Christ. Colossians 2:12.
Scripture shows that baptism is….
These and other Scriptures show that baptism is more than just an option or a good thing to do, but rather baptism is an integral part of the beautiful God-prescribed surrender of a sinner coming to Jesus in faith and obedience, trusting Him and receiving the free gift of Salvation and eternal life.
Baptism is something that accompanies a person placing their trust in Jesus as the one who saves them from their sins and the one they want to follow as the leader of their life. Baptism links the one being baptized with Jesus Christ in His death, burial and resurrection.
Consequently we believe that baptism is more than merely a symbol or an outward sign of an inward act. Something really happens when a repentant believer submits to baptism into Christ. The great commission includes baptizing those who are becoming disciples, even before they learn to observe all the other commands.
That is why we unashamedly include baptism as part of the process of calling on the Name of Lord and receiving Christ (Acts 22:16) These are just a few of the many reasons that Scriptural baptism is a requirement for membership at Mt. Gilead.
We value both the beauty and purpose of water baptism. And as we endeavor to point everyone to Jesus, we also guide them to baptism as He and His Apostles instructed. Baptism should take place when someone believes in their heart that God raised Jesus Christ from the dead and they confess with their mouth, “Jesus is Lord.”
Rom 10:9-13 “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—
the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Acts 22:16 And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.’
Best baptism question? “Here’s water what hinders me from being baptized?”
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