The Importance of Baptism - David Eells - UBBS 8.11.2024

The Importance of Baptism 

(audio)

David Eells (8/11/24) 

There is a great disconnect in the church today concerning baptism and it is so important! If a person just looked at the Scriptures and read all the verses, you'd know this. When I first became born-again the first thing that the Lord began to impress us to look at was baptism. So we looked up every verse concerning baptism and printed them out. With them all written out on pages before us, we just knew, “Yep, we have to do it. There is no choice. We have to do this.” So we looked for a church to do it. 

Well, a lot of Christians today don't read their Bible, so they just wouldn't know unless the preacher emphasized what the scripture emphasizes. We noticed in the Bible, that as soon as someone believed, the next emphasis was to be filled with the Spirit. Once in a while, being filled with the Spirit got ahead of the baptism, but baptism was right there always when someone first believed. And there's a reason for that. It's because it's important. Some churches do not even mention it, as though it's not important.  

So, I thought we'd look at a few scriptures and study what the importance of baptism is. Remember, it's not just what they say about baptism, it's the emphasis they put on it and that should be our emphasis too. I mean, if it's that important to Jesus and the apostles, we don't care that others don't think it's important. It should be just as important to us as it was to Jesus and the apostles. 

I’d like to start in Acts 22. Well, you remember how Paul was converted and then got himself in trouble with the religious folks and he was recounting to them about his conversion in Act 22:12-14 And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well reported of by all the Jews that dwelt there, 13 came unto me, and standing by me said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And in that very hour I looked upon him. 14 And he said, The God of our fathers hath appointed thee to know his will, and to see the Righteous One, and to hear a voice from his mouth. 

As important as Paul was to the Lord and to God's plan, he still needed to be baptized. 15 For thou shalt be a witness for him unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard. 16 And now why tarriest thou? (I.e., What are you waiting for?) arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on his name. (Amen. Do you hear that? He is saying, What are you waiting for? Get baptized and wash away your sins. That sounds very important, doesn't it?) 

So baptism has a key work in doing this. People argue about what is that work. But I think we can cover that a little bit today. So yes, baptism is important in washing away thy sins. It is an act of faith that God recognizes and it’s our obedience to our Lord. You know, faith without works is dead. Some people say they have faith, but they don't have works. So, obedience is important in the Kingdom.  

Well, it says in 1Pe 3:19-21 in which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison, (Speaking of Jesus.) 20 that aforetime were disobedient, when the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water: 21 which also after a true likeness doth now save you, even baptism, (That sounds very important, doesn't it?) not the putting away of the filth of the flesh (In other words, it's not the water washing your skin, that makes you clean), but the interrogation of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ; It is through the resurrection gift of Jesus Christ given to us and it is given to us through baptism, as we'll see in Romans chapter 6. When we come up out of the water, we claim His resurrection life.  

So you see, baptism is very important. You know, tell your children; tell your lost loved ones, “Yeah, believing in Jesus is important, and so is baptism.” It’s a command from God and any command from God is important. Sad to say, but some people don't read their Bible to find out these things and the poor preachers don't know enough either. 

Another great example is in Act 16:25 But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns unto God, and the prisoners were listening to them; 26 and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison-house were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened: and every one's bands were loosed. 27 And the jailor, being roused out of sleep and seeing the prison doors open, drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here. 29 And he called for lights and sprang in, and, trembling for fear, fell down before Paul and Silas, 30 and brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?  

31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house. 32 And they spake the word of the Lord unto him, with all that were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night, (And that's just how important it was. Most people today would make excuses; they would say, “Well, wait till the preacher preaches on baptism. Next month I think we're going to have a baptism…”, and so on. Well, they thought it was so important that in the middle of the night, they were going to go and baptize this person because you have to start your Christian walk with baptism as an act of faith. It's an act of faith that gives you the good confession that you make before Satan and before the world that now you don't live, Christ lives in you.) and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, immediately. This shows how important baptism is. I've done the same thing in the middle of the night. When people believed, we started looking for a pool in the middle of the night. And it's just that important to God. Our emphasis needs to be God's emphasis in this regard. Jesus said in Mar.16:16  He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned.

Now it says in 1Co 10:1 For I would not, brethren, have you ignorant, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 2 and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; Look at that, “all of them” It must have been important to do that right? God wants to show us through this type and shadow that it's also important to us. So what can we say? We're warned not to add to or take away from the words of the Book, or He'll take away our part in the tree of life. We're warned to obey, just as they did. 

So it’s important because it says in 1Co 12:12 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ. (We are a many membered body of Christ.) 13 For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, (Baptized into the body! My goodness, that makes baptism very, very important. We're talking about one body, and we're supposed to be a member of it. Some people say this is “spirit baptism”. Folks, the overwhelming majority of Christianity out there have never been spirit baptized, so none of them would be in the body. No, this is talking about being baptized into Christ, which is what the baptism verses say. It never says that about spirit baptism.  

Now we all need spirit baptism too, because as we just read, Moses and the children of Israel were baptized in the cloud and in the sea. And that represents our spirit baptism and water baptism. We’re just saying what the Bible says. Now some people say, “Oh, David, you’re preaching baptismal regeneration.” I don't care what you call it, I'm just saying what the Bible says. It doesn’t matter what you call it. Regeneration is not something you do when you step over a line somewhere. Regeneration is something that's carried out in your life as you repent and believe.) 

It goes on to say, 13 For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free; and were all made to drink of one Spirit. Wow, sounds kind of important, doesn't it! Many people are missing God on this regard here. There's a lot of people I've run into that have been Christians for a long time and yet they haven't been baptized. And God's even brought it to their attention, but they just hardened their conscience against it because nobody else around them thought to be baptized. We're not following the people around us, folks. We're following the living Word of God. We dare not follow men. They have been so foolish over the years and they've forgotten baptism and you can see how very important it is! We need to tremble before the Lord.  

It sounds pretty important in Mark 16:15-16, the Great Commission. Well, if He sent them out to do this, we have to go do the same thing. If we talked to somebody about salvation, baptism is supposed to be a part of it, every time; immediately as we just read. If a person gets saved and they don't want to get baptized, well, we'll find out what the Bible has to say about that.  

Here's the good word in Mar 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to the whole creation. 16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned. Notice, He said two things here. “He that believeth and is baptized”, So it's not just believing, it's actions that go with that believing. Baptism is the New Testament sign of the Covenant. The sealing of the Covenant. Just as circumcision was the sealing of the Covenant in the Old Testament, according to the apostle Paul. And so, He said, preach the Good News to them. And then those that believe it and are baptized shall be saved. 

Well, now I'm just going to say a few words about this before we go on. I know a lot of you out there may have been sprinkled and they call it baptism. But really, not anywhere in the scriptures is there sprinkling when dealing with baptism. There is a word, rhantizō, which means sprinkling, like sprinkling of the blood. However, the word baptism is the only one that's used for baptism, and we're told in Vines, it says it's a process of immersion, which means submersion and emergence. And submersion is going under and emergence is coming up. And it comes from the word baptō, which means to dip or plunge beneath, which is exactly true. Strong’s, for instance, says that to make overwhelmed. In other words, he says, fully wet. And it's from the word baptō which means to cover completely with fluid, Strong’s says.  

So, it's a pretty strong emphasis on being plunged beneath, the waters. There is no such thing as “sprinkling” in baptism. And there’s no such thing as sprinkling babies in the scriptures, because the Bible says, repent and believe and repent and be baptized. We’ll look at that in just a minute. So babies don't repent and they haven't done much that they're held guilty for. Basically, if you've only been sprinkled, you need to get baptized. Who can baptize you? Well, our examples in scripture are men who baptize. Can women baptize? The scripture doesn’t say.  It has to be done. I would say in most cases people say, “Well, go find a preacher.” Well, that's a possibility to go to a church to get somebody to baptize you, but most preachers don’t believe it is necessary and may put you off until they have more people who want to be baptized. Baptism is very important concerning your faith. It's an act of faith.  

People think it's just joining a church. Well, it's joining the Church. It's being baptized into the body of Christ. But it's not talking about joining a local assembly. And it's not just a thing of naught, you know, it actually has an effect upon you. I've seen people that couldn't overcome certain sins until they got baptized because they just weren't obeying; they weren’t washing away their sins. I mean, it's an act of faith for you, that you believe your sins are washed away when you get baptized, and we will study this. 

No, there's no such thing as infant baptism or sprinkling. Because obviously sprinkling is dead wrong and even the dead church used to teach that. And if I remember correctly, it was Constantine who ordained sprinkling as baptism because on his death bed he just wanted to be baptized. He thought if he was baptized just before he died he would be okay, which was totally false. So, he got sprinkled over and over until he died. Silly stuff that people want; they want some kind of magic to make sure they can get into the Kingdom of heaven. But without repentance and faith you just get wet when you get baptized. Notice this progression: Act 2:38  And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Just obey the scriptures and you will be safe. Trust in men and you will not.

Now let’s look at Mat 28:19 Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name (Now listen to this. You're not baptizing someone in a name, you’re baptizing them into the name. You know, when you get married, you wives out there, you took on the name, right? And thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. When you take His name, you need have faith to live up to it. 

God's given principles whereby you can do that if you believe the gospel. Baptizing them literally, it says into the name, so it's not talking about using a name over someone. It’s talking about baptizing you into the name of someone. Who is that? Well, this is the only place in the Bible that uses this term, so you need to understand it in regards to the other places in the Bible where it says being baptized into the name of Jesus. Because some people think these are formulas. And then they pick and choose which formula they think is the right one. But that's phony, and it's wrong. There is no scripture that contends with other scriptures. It all fits together. So therefore we need to understand how “this and that” go together.  

Well, it says you baptize them into the name, that is, …baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: Notice that if you understand your English here, there's only one name here. It’s baptizing them into the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and notice also that Father is not “a name” and Son is not “a name” either, and neither is Holy Spirit “a name”. Those aren't names. He's telling you to baptize them into the Name. So what is this name? 

Let me read the next verse first in Mat. 28:20 teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Notice that we not only baptize, we tell them to obey everything Scripture says. But when they baptize into the name, what is the name? Some people nowadays are very confused about what the name is. I just want to point out to you one thing that's very important to you Judaizer out there. That is, you folks who want to go back and be Jews. Now the Lord was so fed up with the Jews that He wrote the New Testament in Greek, and we have absolute proof of that. The Old Testament Hebrew has a numeric pattern that won't let you add a letter or take a letter in the original Hebrew without ruining the Hebrew pattern in the text. And we've written about that, if you'd like to go and read it. This book is available on our website, The Numeric English New Testament. Here’s a link: NGNT 

And here’s why God put His signature in all of the scriptures. So in the Old Testament He used the Hebrew and in the New Testament, He used the Greek. That's a fact, because the New Testament Hebrew texts that are out there don't have a numeric pattern in them. And I'm talking about not just the pattern here and there, like you can find in War and Peace, which have little bits and pieces of things that accidentally come up to have a little bit of a numeric pattern with just a few letters. I'm talking about every letter of every word being a part of a numeric pattern and that's in both the Old Testament Hebrew and the New Testament Greek. So when you talk about “name” in the New Testament, you're talking about the word, onoma and it means character, authority, and nature. In the Old Testament, it’s the word Shem, it was the chosen lineage back after Noah, because he took the name. He was the name. So in the New Testament, when you're baptized into the Name, you're baptized into the nature, character and authority of Jesus. We'll see that even more as we go on. So, it’s into the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit which is spoken here. These three agree it’s only one name, Jesus.  Act 4:12  And in none other is there salvation: for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, wherein we must be saved.   

Also, I want to point this out to you that are caught up in the Judaizer thing. I’m going to read Jer 3:17 At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah; and all the nations (Gentiles) shall be gathered unto it, to the name of Jehovah, (Notice that the name of the Lord is synonymous here with gathering unto Jerusalem, and the apostle Paul said that “you have come unto the Heavenly City, the New Jerusalem”, meaning those Christians then who were baptized and filled with the spirit, and believe what the Word of God said. This is talking about Gentiles coming to it. Now, so this is not the Old Testament Jerusalem, but the New Testament, born-again Heavenly Jerusalem that he said we had come to. And all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord. Now we know the name of the Lord in the New Testament. That is my own new name.) We'll talk more about that in just a minute.  

So going on here, … shall be gathered unto it, to the name of Jehovah, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart. (Now, so this is a born-again experience because they were certainly stubborn!) Jer 3:18 In those days the house of Judah (You know, by the way, folks, I got to tell you that just as there were 12 tribes back then, there's 12 today. Many have received that revelation from the Word. And there is a Judah; Judah was first. Judah means praise, and Judah represents the spirit-filled people.) … the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I gave for an inheritance unto your fathers.  

19 But I said, How I will put thee among the children (This is the true children of God here), and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of the nations! and I said, Ye shall call me My Father, and shall not turn away from following me. Now, these Gentiles that came to the Jerusalem, he said, “you shall call me my Father.” And Jesus taught in the New Testament for us to call Him, My Father! All you need do is get out your concordance and look up the word. It'll be two pages. Father. Father. Father. Father. 

This is the relationship the Lord wants us to have with Him in the New Testament. Not an Old Testament name that is not in the New Testament or covenant. The only thing you can see Jesus calling Him is, Father. Amen. He said it again in Jer 3:4 Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My Father, thou art the guide of my youth? So forget all these Jewish names. You're not Jews, at least most of you aren't. And even if you were, you've got a New Covenant and the anointing is in the Greek. The New Testament Greek has the numeric pattern, which is God’s signature.

So, the name of the Lord; what is the name of the Lord? Jesus. Why does He say of the Father? Because it's the same nature, character and authority in the whole family; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is the same name. You understand? We're not talking about a title, here. We're talking about the nature, character and authority that's passed on from generation to generation. Now in the natural you inherited a name from your parents and in the spiritual you inherited a name from your spiritual parent, so we have to pay attention to that. We inherited the blood of Jesus. He is called “Everlasting Father” in Isa 9:6. Neither the Father nor the Holy Spirit have blood.

So if you want to see this, for instance, you look in Gen 3:22 And Jehovah, or Yahweh, as some people say, or other names they put in here. But the truth is, that was what was in the Tetragrammaton, which is YH, or VH if you hold to the Jewish, or WH if you hold to the English translation YHWH, and YHVH. Now how can you baptize somebody in the name of YHWH when you can't even pronounce it? Because that's not what it's telling you to do. It’s telling you the name, the nature, character and authority. And Jehovah God, Yahweh Elohim, it is translated in this Bible. Yahweh or YHWH, Elohim; and did you know Elohim is plural, never singular?  

And so He says, Behold, the man is become as one of us (So we're talking about why YHWH is plural here. Who is he talking about? “…has become as one of us.” The Lord and the Angels know, in fact all through Genesis, He uses this terminology. I'll just point this out to you. So YHWH or YHVH, if you prefer, that's plural. Yes, it is in Gen 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, (Oh my goodness. Now you know He's talking about God, right?) after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish… so on and so forth. And we see in Genesis, by the way, we see that Jehovah God translated from YHWH, Elohim is used quite often. For instance, Gen 2:4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that Jehovah God (YHWH Elohim, so He's plural, the family name.) made earth and heaven.  

And here’s another example. Gen 2:7 And Jehovah God formed man of the dust of the ground,… So there's the name. However, not in the New Testament, because now it was written in the New Testament as Greek, you understand? For instance, in the Greek it's something like, Iésous, and Spanish it’s Jesús “hay-SOOS”. Some Jews use Yeshua, but that doesn't come from the Greek, it comes from the Hebrew. There's no numeric pattern in the Hebrew NT. It's in the Greek. Some people say, “Oh, you can't use ‘Jesus’.” Well, why not? I've been using the name of Jesus to cast out demons and see miracles for over 50 years now. And you know what? He works. He doesn’t care if I use the name Jesus. So they're just trying to drag you back under the Law and into the Old Covenant, which the Bible says passed away in Christ. Now, not one jot or tittle will pass away until all is fulfilled, because the Law is the letter that has to be made spirit, and that's the fulfillment. The New Testament is a fulfillment of the Old Testament. But God didn't make the Old Testament with you, He only made it with the Jews. Psa 147:19-20  He showeth his word unto Jacob, His statutes and his ordinances unto Israel.  20  He hath not dealt so with any nation; And as for his ordinances, they have not known them. Praise ye Jehovah.

So the Lord turned away from their covenant and language. All but a remnant rebelled up unto the end. We know they even crucified the Christ, and they crucified the prophets and the apostles. So does that mean they can't be saved? Nope, we're supposed to be believing for a remnant of them to come into the New Covenant and of course, the Lord will do that. Oh, praise be to God! 

So we understand that the Lord accepts these names in the New Testament, the transliteration of Iésous is Jesus into English, and He certainly answers to that. And if you go to Spanish and use Jesús, He will answer to that, and if any other translation He will answer that. Because it's not the word that you're speaking over someone. Notice you're not baptizing them in a bucket of Jesus. You are baptizing them into the Name and the Name is His nature, character and authority. Praise God! 

So we see that we are also to do all in the name as it says in Col 3:17 And whatsoever ye do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. It's not that you have to “say” the name to do it in the name. You do it in the nature, character and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the scripture says. Because the Lord Jesus Christ is a name. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not a name. They have a name, they have a nature, character and authority, and it's always the same. But it's not that you speak, “the Father, Son, Holy Spirit” over someone and there's something magical about that or a particular formula of doing it. It's that they're baptized into the Name. 

Now Jesus is a name and everywhere else in the Bible it uses the name Jesus because you're baptized into His death, burial, and resurrection. That's what baptism is. So if you want to say the name of Jesus, that's fine. It's still not a formula to say over someone. I hope you understand that because we are ambassadors for Christ, as it says in 2 Co 5:20. It means we are sent forth to do and to speak with authority in His name. Do you have to “say” His name every time you do anything? No, but you have to be in His name. The scripture says you “do all in the name.” In the name means, in the nature, character and authority. That's what it means. It doesn't mean, “say” the name. Now, can you say the name of Jesus? Yes, I do it all the time because I want everybody to know who Jesus is. And it's His authority, it's His power! Praise be to God. But I'm an ambassador on behalf of Christ to this world from His Kingdom and I'm coming to the Kingdom of this world. And so everything that I do in His name has authority you see. I hope you understand that.  

And I'll point out something else to you in Acts chapter 2. We see here that Peter is preaching the Gospel to these Jews, and they were convicted of their sin, so we read Act 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brethren, what shall we do? 38 And Peter said unto them, (This is a very important answer here. Thousands were converted here you see) Repent ye, and be baptized (Babies can't do that. Now just understand babies don't need to be baptized. Those that need to repent need to be baptized.) …Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you (Did he say, “some of you”, or “if you want to?” No. Did he say, “you need to and another doesn’t?” No, every one of you.) in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  

Maybe that's why some people don't get the Holy Spirit, because they're not even being obedient unto baptism. Well, that's clear. Notice, he said “every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ.” And can you say the name of Jesus Christ? Definitely you can, you know, because it is a name; Father, Son and Holy Spirit is not a name. There's just one name there, you understand one nature, one character and one authority. And we're baptized into Jesus Christ. So if you're going to say the name, you need to say the proper name here. It is the name. It's Jesus. It means “Jehovah is salvation,” or “YHWH is salvation.” 

So who was in Jesus? The Father! The Father was in Jesus. In fact, let me just read to you, Joh 5:43 I am come in my Father's name, (Oh, praise the Lord! So, what did that mean? Was the Father's name, Jesus? That's kind of the oneness doctrine. Generally it’s the oneness doctrine or Trinity doctrine and neither one of them are quite right. Because if you just read the scriptures, you don't have to make up formulas that don't quite fit anything, and neither one of them do, actually.) But notice, He said, I am come in my Father's name and you received me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. Now, what did He mean by this? He came in His Father’s, nature, character and authority. Another person can come in their own nature, character and authority, and they will listen to them, but they won't listen to somebody who is an ambassador of Christ. That’s what He was saying. 44 How can ye believe, who receive glory one of another, and the glory that cometh from the only God ye seek not?  

Let's look at Act 4:7 And when they had set them in the midst, (The Jewish were calling the apostles on the carpet. The Sanhedrin really didn't have any authority from God. They had failed and gone their own way.) they inquired, By what power, or in what name, (Not by what name, it’s in what name. We have to do all in the name, in the nature, character, and authority of Jesus. You can say things using the name or “by the name” and nothing will happen. Have you ever noticed? But if you do something in the name, well then the authority of heaven is behind you because you're an ambassador for the Kingdom.) By what power, or in what name, have ye done this? 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders, (We have the same problem today.) 9 if we this day are examined concerning a good deed done to an impotent man, by what means this man is made whole; 10 be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ (In the name, not by the name) in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even in him doth this man stand here before you whole.  

11 He is the stone which was set at nought of you the builders, (And this is still happening today.) which was made the head of the corner. 12 And in none other is there salvation: (Can you “say” the name of Jesus and still not have salvation? Of course, and a lot of other things you won't have if the only thing you're doing is “saying in the name of Jesus,” you'll be without a lot. But you can't do anything in the name and not see results. You’re in the nature character and authority of Jesus Christ.) for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, wherein (not “whereby”) we must be saved. (That's what it says in the original, “wherein.” Salvation is in Him.” And to have salvation, you must abide in Him. If you don't abide in Him, you're cast forth as a branch and picked up and thrown into the fire.) 

Another example is in Gal 3:27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ (There it is again. We're baptized into the body. Doesn't that make it very, very important? Absolutely. So why aren’t people doing this? Well, because they don't mind just filling churches up with people that tithe, then they come and listen and they become “cookie cutter Christians.) For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ. (So when you're being baptized into the nature, character and authority of Jesus, you are putting on His acts. What you put on represents your actions, or works. Is the fruit of the Spirit those actions? Yes, of course it is. The fruit of the Spirit is the manifestation of being in Christ. We are first in Christ by faith. You accept everything that Christ gave you, and your faith is accounted as righteousness. But while you walk in that faith, God's going to be manifesting it. And if you don't see any of it manifesting, guess what? It's not faith in what the scripture has to say. Because there's definitely always going to be fruit of faith in what the scripture has to say.)  

28 There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither bond nor free, there can be no male and female; for ye all are one man (man was added in there) in Christ Jesus. 29 And if ye are Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, heirs according to promise. Baptism is very, very important. You see that? Glory be to God! It’s the truth. 

Let’s read another one. Let’s go to Col 2:11 in whom ye were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ; (How were we circumcised? We as Gentiles don’t’ get circumcised as Paul said in Galatians chapter 5. If you trust in circumcision, you are separated from Christ. You're not, naturally speaking, but if you do it in order to be justified, you’re separated from Christ. Circumcision has a different meaning in the New Testament.) 12 having been buried with him in baptism,… (We see here that circumcision in the New Testament is baptism. How do you fulfill Old Testament circumcision? “Having been buried with him in baptism.” Cutting off the flesh from sowing our seed has the same meaning as cutting off the flesh man in baptism.    

He tells you very plainly in Galatians that seeking to be justified by the works of the Law, Christ won't profit you anything. In Gal 5:2 Behold, I Paul say unto you, that, if ye receive circumcision, Christ will profit you nothing. 3 Yea, I testify again to every man that receiveth circumcision, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. (You're not to go back under the Law. You're supposed to be obeying what it points to.) 4 Ye are severed from Christ, ye who would be justified by the law; ye are fallen away from grace. 5 For we through the Spirit by faith wait for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith working through love.  

And all the rest of the Law is the same way. It's all a type and shadow of something in the New Testament, and all you need to do is start reading the New Testament and you'll find out what it is. In this case, circumcision equates to baptism. Now, if you were in the Old Testament and you didn't get circumcised, you were cut off. Now, if you're in the New Testament, you don't have to get circumcised because you have a New Covenant, but there is also a baptism that equates to circumcision, which is the sign of the Covenant. Let me explain that to you. Let's go back and read Genesis 17 and we'll see the type and the shadow of what baptism was, and we'll see how important it is!  

Gen 17:10 This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee: every male among you shall be circumcised. (So, that's the sign of that Covenant. And what is the sign of the New Testament covenant? Baptism.) 11 And ye shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of a covenant betwixt me and you. 12 And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every male throughout your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any foreigner that is not of thy seed. 13 He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.  

So some people say, “Oh it's everlasting!” Well, yeah but except for one thing, it's being interpreted when you come into the New Testament. You're still keeping it, but you're keeping it because you're keeping the Spirit, not the letter. You're actually fulfilling it with baptism. If you get circumcised in the New Testament and you're not fulfilling it, you're going back to keeping the Law. But if you understand that it's being translated from letter understanding to spiritual understanding, you get the real understanding. The letter kills but the spirit gives life, according to what the apostle Paul said.  Every jot and tittle of the Old Testament must be fulfilled in the New. Now continuing 14 And the uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant. So that was true about circumcision if you are under the Old Covenant. Now that you're under the New Covenant, this shows the importance of baptism!

So let's look at Romans now. Rom 4:8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin. 9 Is this blessing then pronounced upon the circumcision, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say, To Abraham his faith was reckoned for righteousness. 10 How then was it reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision: (Because he was reckoned righteous by his faith before he got circumcised. Is it same truth for baptism? Yes. He was reckoned righteous, not righteous, but reckoned righteous.  We are also reckoned as righteous when we obey the commandments on baptism.

Now, I want to also say this regarding, opportunity. See, some people say, “Oh, the thief on the cross, he wasn't baptized, so we don't have to be.” No, wait a minute, the thief on the cross had no opportunity to be baptized. The Bible says also, you need to pay attention to this. Speaking of baptism Paul said, We become united with him in the likeness of his death, we shall also be of his resurrection. (Rom 6:5) Now the thief was united with him in the likeness of his death. So he fulfilled what baptism and Romans 6 says, because if he “died with Christ, we shall also be raised with him”. He died with Christ, so he fulfilled it in that way. So now, you are not like the thief on the cross. You have opportunity to obey this word. If you have faith without works, how can that faith save you? You say, “Do we have to do this? Do we have to do that?” If you're just trying to get your toe in the door, you've got nothing. You have not yet become a disciple of Jesus Christ. What do I have to do? You have to do everything He tells you. Because He bought you with a price. You are not your own. You have the privilege to do everything He and His apostles told you to do in this New Covenant.  

And the proof as we read on here is in verse Rom 4:11 and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while he was in uncircumcision: (So faith came and works came and those works of obedience sealed what he received by faith.) that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be in uncircumcision, that righteousness might be reckoned unto them;

(So when you believe, righteousness is reckoned unto you, but if you don't obey, you're not getting sealed. If you believe without obedience, that's faith without works. James said, Can that faith save him? No. Why do you become a disciple of Christ and don't do what He says? “Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do what I say?” How can you call him Lord if you don't do what He says? It just can't be.  

So their argument about the thief doesn't count for them because they have opportunity, and he didn't. Of course, if a person dies after becoming a believer, and they had no knowledge of a need for baptism and there was no opportunity, I believe their faith would be “accounted as righteousness”. But when you have opportunity, you need to do it. Notice that all through the Book of Acts, when they baptized people, they did it immediately. Why? Because it was important! It was an act of faith that washed away sin. Wow! You see, it's important! 

So let's go on to look at the baptism chapter, Romans 6. It’s so good, so full of power! Rom 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? (Well, there's a lot of people that believe that. A lot of dead religion out there that believes that. The “Once saved, always saved” love that. They don't understand what grace is, grace also brings obedience.) 2 God forbid. We who died to sin, how shall we any longer live therein? (That should be our attitude towards sin. We've been made free from sin. Why should we serve it anymore?) 3 Or are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? (Yes, many people get baptized and they are ignorant. They don't even know what it's for. They just think it's a ceremony so they can join a church. It's a ceremony, all right. But it's one that acts by faith and causes you to enter the church. The church, not a local building.)  

…we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? (So therefore if you were baptized into Jesus, you're dead. You're dead to sin. How shall you any longer live therein, he says. Do you believe that you're dead to sin? Or do you believe you're always going to be a sinner, like most preachers say? They’re like the spies with the bad report. By the way, if you listen to them you won't enter the promised land. It says this very plainly. You were baptized into his death, you’re dead by faith when you get baptized, you're dead to sin. You don't have to serve it anymore.) 

4 We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death: (Now if you're not being buried, it's not baptism. If you're being splashed in the face, that's not baptism. It says buried and that’s what baptism is. The only difference here is, he’s using water instead of dirt. When a person dies they’re buried in dirt. But we die when we are buried in water, representing the washing of the Word of God, which puts to death the fleshly life. Every day that you walk in the water of the Word, it washes you clean.

The water of the Word is to put to death your old man. When you obey the word, the old man who wants his own way dies. This is a type of being buried in the Word of God. Being overwhelmed as we studied what Strong’s says about baptism. When you're overwhelmed by the washing of the water with the word, it's washing you clean. If you're ignoring God's word, don't bother getting baptized. Don't waste God's time and yours. You're committing to the death of self when you go down into the waters of baptism and you reckon it to be done.

We're told how to do this. 4 We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. (Now why do we get baptized into death? So that we get resurrected to walk in newness of life. You can see here that it’s not just a ceremony. Notice the condition.) 5 For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, (baptism) we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection; (Notice the condition to have His resurrection life is going down in baptism by faith.

Well, have you noticed there's good promises that come with baptism? Why are you tarrying? What are you waiting for? Get baptized and claim Jesus’ new life and you will have it. That's why I'm sharing this with you today. What's the benefit of baptism through faith? The benefit of entering into the body of Christ. The benefit of washing away thy sins. People will try to pick this apart but I am just saying what the Bible says here. If they emphasized this and thought it was so important that they would bring people down in the middle of the night and dunk them, then you ought to do the same thing. You ought to not go on in your Christian life and not be baptized. You're taking a chance, aren't you? Yes, and you have opportunity. You're not thief on the cross.)  

Rom 6:6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away, (So you see the purpose of baptism? That the body of sin is done away since the old man was crucified with Him. This is just awesome! Praise be to God!) …that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin; (The purpose of baptism is so we are no longer in bondage to sin! What about the preachers out there that say you're always going to be in bondage to sin. Well, they're separating the people from the benefits of the Kingdom! They don't know what the Bible says, and they have no faith.) 7 for he that hath died is justified from sin. (When you go down and you come up, and you believe that your old man was crucified with Christ and buried, you’re justified from sin, which means accounted righteous from sin. Is there an advantage here to baptism? I’d say so. Would you like to be justified or accounted righteous from sin?) 

8 But if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him; 9 knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; (So that's part of eternal life. It's part of the obedience you do with your faith to receive eternal life.) death no more hath dominion over him. (So now think about this, baptism is an act of faith which is fulfilled the rest of your Christian life. It can be just getting wet if you are not holding to faith in the purposes we have looked at. See when the Lord tells you in His Word to do something, what He's telling you is for your own good that you may prosper in the fruit of His Kingdom.

Rom 8:11-13  But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwelleth in you, he that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead shall give life also to your mortal bodies through his Spirit that dwelleth in you.  12  So then, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh:  13  for if ye live after the flesh, ye must die; but if by the Spirit ye put to death the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

Your spiritual man must be obeying this word, and disobeying the flesh-man. The flesh says, “No, I don't want to do that.” And the Spirit-man says, “It doesn't matter; I’m a disciple of Jesus Christ and I will walk in His steps. I have the authority to do it because you are dead. Therefore, I can do this.”  

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. It says who strengthens me in all things. When God gives you a command to “resist not him that is evil”, for instance, and “love your enemy”, for instance and so on, and you ignore it because you think nobody else does it? Or you ignore it because you don't want to do it? Then the water of the Word is not putting to death your old man. Don't waste God's time. Don't take His name in vain. Your baptism means nothing. Do people get baptized for nothing? Yes, they do because they're not planning on walking in it. In fact, quite often “they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies”, speaking the lies of the Pharisees and dead religion.)  

So going on to Rom 6:10 For the death that he died, he died unto sin once: but the life that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Amen. When you went down in those waters, friend, you died. When you came up, that’s Jesus, that's not you anymore! When you go down in the water, the “old you” died under those waters. It’s the same thing with the Word of God. You read this Word in order to be a disciple of Jesus, which is a learner and a follower. And it puts to death your own life in the water of the Word. You have the ability to do it because you received this by an act of faith at baptism. You're “calling the things that be not as though they were.” Jesus said, “all things whatsoever you pray and ask for believe that you received them and you shall have them”. So what happened at baptism? You believe you received it, God gives you the power to walk it out. You're walking out your baptism as you read this Word daily.  

It should be the most important thing in your life, to read this Word. Do you love Jesus? Well, it'll be proven if you do. If you love Him, He said you would keep His commandments. There's no salvation if you don't love Him. The Bible says if you don't love Him, the Father won't love you. There’s no salvation if you don't love Him. 

Verse says 11 Even so reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, (Which means, consider it done. This is faith. This is totally contrary to what's being taught in most churches. They're taking away your faith. They teach you to walk by sight, and that you're always going to be a sinner saved by grace. No, grace saves; it really saves so they’re liars.) 11 Even so reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus. (Oh, praise God! You’re alive unto God. You are now alive in Jesus! Now you can follow Him. You're baptized and your old flesh is dead. But the flesh is going to say, “No I’m not.” And the devil's going to say, “No, you’re not.” But you say by faith, “Yes, I am.” When the devil tempts you, you tell him, “You can't tempt me because the one you can tempt was the one who died back there in those waters of baptism”. Jesus did that against the devil. He used the Word. He slapped the devil right in the face every time he tried tempting Him, He said, “It is written.” He was using the water of the Word. You got to fight the good fight of faith here. You need to see the “new man” Who is Christ in you, in the mirror and you will be changed into His image from glory to glory. Amen.)  

Rom 6:11 Even so reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus. (What power will this faith give you?) 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey the lusts thereof: (So how do you not let sin reign? You use verse 11, you are dead to sin and alive unto God. You use your faith in this verse and you can do verse 12. Now can you see why baptism is so important and it needs to be at the beginning of your Christian walk?) 13 neither present your members unto sin as instruments of unrighteousness; (Now you don't want to go and foolishly tempt yourself either. You don’t want to hang around with drug users or sit and watch T.V. and all that garbage available these days in the Media.  

Don’t put yourself into a position so that you're presenting your members to sin.) but present yourselves unto God, as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. (You say, God, here I am! I'm alive from the dead and Jesus lives in me. How do you do this? Don’t put yourself in a position to be tempted. When you're tempted, the first thing you feel is the old man's power. Now, if you're not doing it on purpose, you might receive grace from God, but if you're purposely going because you desire these things, you're presenting your members as instruments of unrighteousness.  

Be not deceived, evil companionships corrupt good morals. (1Co.15:33) That's why when there's a little leaven in the church, you cast it out because a little leaven, leavens the whole lump. You don't want to fellowship somebody that's going to feed your soul through the devil. Ministers, you are commanded in 1Co. 5 to cast them out. You have to obey the Word of God if you want a holy church!) 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under law, but under grace. (So, if you are truly under grace through faith sin has no power over you. Grace is not permission to sin; its power over sin.  See if you're under the Law, you're going to a place where you won't receive any help from God. Remember the Old Covenant was a type and a shadow of the new. The Law was the letter, and “the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life”. The spirit is given to those who receive grace through faith.) 

So he goes on to say, Rom 6:15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under law, but under grace? God forbid. (We know that sin no longer has power over us and we don't have to sin. That wasn't true under the Law, because the Law could not make perfect. That's why God saw need for a New Covenant based on better promises. You believe and reckon yourself to be dead to sin and that He will rise up in you and He will do the work. That’s what grace is, it's the unmerited favor of God.)

16 Know ye not, that to whom ye present yourselves as servants unto obedience, his servants ye are whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? (You can obey the flesh if you want, you’re free! You never were free before you came into faith. You can still go back and serve your flesh if you want to. Or you can obey Jesus Christ calling upon the Lord to give you grace and His help. He wants to help you. He wants you to overcome.) 

Going on in verse 17 But thanks be to God, that, whereas ye were servants of sin, (Notice: You're no longer a sinner.) ye became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching whereunto ye were delivered; (So we need to be overcome by the truth that sets free! There's no power under the Law. Faith gives power. People always want to do something so that they can feel justified. But that's self-righteousness, and that’s not going to work and the Lord won't permit it.) 18 and being made free from sin, ye became servants of righteousness. (Do you believe it? Because you have to believe it before you can receive it. We no longer live in sin. We need to see it put on Jesus on the cross. Like the serpent on the pole in the wilderness. Everyone who got their eyes on the serpent on the pole were healed of the snake bite, which is sin. Now anything under the curse is the snake bite. But when we see the curse put on Jesus we can be free of it. It already happened back there at the cross.  

You apply what you received at the cross at your baptism. If you haven't been baptized, you need this act of faith. There’s something about humans that we're able to apply things when we do things. In other words, your faith becomes effectual when you act it out. Faith without works is dead. Now one of our works is baptism. Is that a work that saves you? It's a work of God. He saves you, His work saves you. By grace have you been saved through faith, and that's not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works; (that’s your works), lest any man should boast, for in Christ Jesus, were we created for good works. (Eph 2:8-10) Oh, praise God!  

Back to Rom 6:19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye presented your members as servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity, even so now present your members as servants to righteousness unto sanctification. 20 For when ye were servants of sin, ye were free in regard of righteousness. (So when you were a servant of sin, you had no ability to be righteous.) 21 What fruit then had ye at that time in the things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. (You know, if you're not ashamed, the end of those things is death; remember that.) 22 But now being made free from sin and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto sanctification,  

(I will say it again, the reason you get baptized first is so you can look back at that and say, “It was done.” And every time you're tempted, you tell the devil it was done. Every time your flesh tempts you, you tell it, “It's done, you're dead. You have no authority over me anymore.”) and the end eternal life. (Notice and the end eternal life. So you're claiming eternal life by faith. How do you get manifestly eternal life? Well, he's telling you to walk in faith and because of that faith, God empowers you to walk in righteousness, and that is eternal life.) 23 For the wages of sin is death; but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (It's freely given to you, accept it by faith, stand on the Word of God. Speak faith. Don't let the devil talk you out of it, and don't walk by sight.) 

Let’s read next 1Ti 6:10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil: which some reaching after have been led astray from the faith, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows. 11 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith, (Obviously you can't do verse 11 unless you do verse 12. Fight the good fight of the faith; these things are yours! They’ve been given to you in Jesus Christ. You were baptized into His nature, character and authority. Fight the good fight of the faith.  

Faith is believing you've received something that you can't yet see. He says to Christians;) lay hold on the life eternal, (Notice that you manifestly lay hold of the life eternal by fighting the good fight of faith and laying hold on these attributes. You're laying hold on Jesus Christ.) whereunto thou wast called, and didst confess the good confession in the sight of many witnesses. (Confess means “to speak the same as.” Speak what Jesus Christ says. He said, if you confess me before men, I will confess you before the Father. He says your old man is dead and the new man lives and you've been made free from sin.) 13 I charge thee in the sight of God, who giveth life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed the good confession; 14 that thou keep the commandment, without spot, without reproach, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ:  

He says if you love Me you will keep My commandments. Now you understand that you can keep His commandments by faith. You can't keep them as long as you don't understand. You live in Christ and the old man has passed away. You're a new creature in Christ. Remember your baptism, the one that went down under the water was you and the One that came up out of that water was Jesus Christ. When you devour this Word, it overwhelms your old man and puts him to death. The Word is Jesus Christ. Ask Him to give you a hunger for His Word. So fight the good fight of the faith and lay hold on life eternal!  

You're saved from the old man. You're saved from the devil, saved from the world, saved from the curse. That's what the Bible says. It doesn't say you're saved so you can continue on in your sins. We just read Romans 6, right? Oh, this is Good News! It's the Good News that makes you holy; it separates you from this wicked world. It delivers you from the power of Satan and the power of the flesh and the power of circumstances around you. Glory be to God! So lay hold on life eternal. Lay hold on the attributes of Jesus Christ! He set you free!  

Okay, let’s go to 2Pe 1:2 Grace to you and peace be multiplied in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; (We looked at some knowledge today that empowers people to overcome sin.) 3 seeing that his divine power (Your baptism helps you to be able to apply this.) hath granted unto us all things that pertain unto life (Life here is Zoē’ It's God's life.) and godliness, through the knowledge of him that called us by his own glory and virtue; (When you read the Bible, it gives you knowledge of what is yours. God knows if you think it's valuable to read the Bible and get the knowledge that gives you the power of God, godliness, and holiness.)  

4 whereby he hath granted unto us (You have to see that He’s already given all this to you by faith.) his precious and exceeding great promises (These will give you faith. Are they precious to you? If they are then you're going to spend time with them because they're valuable and because you like to spend time with Jesus.); that through these ye may become partakers of the divine nature (The divine nature is Jesus. Faith in your baptism just gave you His divine nature!), having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by lust. (The apostate preachers do not offer escape from lusts.)

5 Yea, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence in your faith, (I put the coma after faith here and not behind diligence because you really don't have any power to be diligent without faith.) supply virtue; and in your virtue knowledge; (I’ve shared before that each one of these attributes of Christ are inside the previous one, and it's inside of faith.)  

6 and in your knowledge self-control; and in your self-control patience (If you have patience in your faith, you'll lack nothing James 1:4 says.  When the answer doesn't come immediately, you have to be patient in your faith. He wants your faith to grow so He's going to try you.); and in your patience godliness; 7 and in your godliness brotherly kindness; and in your brotherly kindness love. (That's really the end result because God is love.) 8 For if these things are yours and abound, they make you to be not idle nor unfruitful unto the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Notice this, it starts with knowledge and it ends with knowledge too, because you accept the knowledge you walk by faith.  

God gives you the gifts of what you read there, and it enables you to gain more knowledge. Why is that? Because we walk in the light as He is in the light. And thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. See it tells you where you're walking and where you should go. So if you will walk in the light that you have, God will put more light in front of you. The more knowledge you get, the more holiness you can have.) 

9 For he that lacketh these things is blind, seeing only what is near, having forgotten the cleansing from his old sins. (Remember, that old man is dead. He has no power anymore. You don’t have those sins anymore. People forget that and they can't bear this fruit that we just talked about.) 10 Wherefore, brethren, give the more diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never stumble: 11 for thus shall be richly supplied unto you the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.  (Notice that you should be leaving the kingdom of this world and entering the eternal Kingdom of God where he rules.  Oh Hallelujah! Believe in your baptism, Saints! Glory to God! Thank you, Father!