Well, good morning. This morning we're going to be in Matthew, chapter 28. We're going to look at verses 18 through 20. A study I've entitled Biblical water baptism. Really, it's more of a topical message.
Typically, we go verse by verse, chapter by chapter, through books of the Bible. But I felt I'm pressed upon my heart, I believe, by the Holy Spirit to do a message on baptism and water baptism. Look at that. This morning at the topic of water baptism. And so there's, I think, really a lot of questions that come up with baptism.
And so I came up with a list of nine. The first is, why get baptized? The second is, what is baptism? The third is, what doesn't baptism do? The fourth is who should be baptized.
The fifth is when to get baptized. The 6th is where to be baptized. The 7th is how a baptism is done with water. And the 8th is what is said when getting baptized. And then lastly, the 9th is what to wear when getting baptized.
So we will look at that, and lord willing, if we have enough time at the end, we will open up to some q and a. So if there are questions, write them down and ask them at the end. And I will do my best to answer your questions regarding water baptism. But with that, let's take a look at what Jesus has to say regarding biblical water baptism at the end of the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 28. Here in verse 18, Jesus says, and Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen. We know this passage as the great commission. And oftentimes when I have taught this, the emphasis is on discipleship, is that he calls us to be disciples and then to make disciples and to teach the word of God, teach people what Jesus has said.
But there's also another aspect here to this aspect of discipleship. And it's baptizing. And he tells us it's baptizing them in the name of the Father, in the name of the son, in the name of the Holy Spirit. So that brings us to our first question, why get baptized? And a simple answer is, because jesus told us to do it.
So it's an act of obedience. And since we are believers of Jesus Christ and we call him Lord, which means he's the boss, we should want to do what he says. There's a passage in Matthew where many people come to Jesus and say, Lord, Lord. And he says, I never knew you depart from me. And so we want to make sure we have that personal relationship with him, and then that we follow his direction.
We follow what he has for us. So if we call Jesus Lord, it's only reasonable that we should want to obey his commands.
And I think that applies to kind of two aspects of disciples. One aspect would be those who are baptizing people. And as a minister of the Lord, the reason that I baptize is because jesus told me to do it. He wants us to make disciples and baptize. And so I know there's some groups that don't do that.
I know there's some division in the body over baptism, but Jesus commands us to do it. And so therefore, I want to be obedient to Jesus and do it. And then the other aspect of a disciple would be those who have been saved who haven't been baptized. They want to be obedient and be baptized themselves. And so that was me.
And I recall giving my life to the Lord and then going and getting baptized. And so we want to be obedient to Jesus Christ. The Bible says to repent and be baptized, to believe and be baptized, and then to receive and be baptized. So once a person trusts in Christ as their savior, really that next step should be water baptism. And we see it throughout the scriptures.
So that leads us into the next question, well, what is baptism? What is it all about? Because in the jewish culture, it was very well understood. In our culture today, we don't really see a lot of that going on in our american culture. And so really it was three things.
The first is that it was an act of obedience. It was a response to what Jesus has said and that he saved us. And so the first is that act of obedience. Jesus says, get baptized. Okay, I want to be obedient.
I'm going to get baptized. The second is that it's a public testament testimony. It's a public act of declaring and really identifying with Jesus. So it's a public witness or testimony to acknowledge what God has done is, yes, I'm a sinner, but I'm a sinner saved by God's grace, and I want to testify what he's done in my life. And so a baptism is simply an outward expression of this inward change that has taken place.
And that's for someone who has received Jesus Christ as their savior and lord. Then the third aspect of what is baptism is our spiritual identification. It's a statement of your identification with Jesus Christ, your association with him. And so it's really your identifying with Jesus in his death, burial and resurrection. We looked at this in our studies of Romans and in Romans, chapter six, verses three and four.
It says, or do you not know, that as many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death. Therefore, we are buried with him through baptism and death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, we also should walk in the newness of life. And so baptism is also symbolically a picture for us. And that is really our spiritual identification. It's identifying with Jesus in his death and his burial as we go underneath the water, and then we're identifying with his resurrection as we come up out of the water.
And so it's a beautiful picture of us dying, really, to our old way of life. I am crucifying the old man. I'm no longer living for myself and my sinful pleasures and my sinful lifestyle. I know that I'm going to sin, but I'm following Christ now. I'm not following my own heart.
I'm not on the throne of my heart. Christ is. I want to follow him. And so it's us dying to our old way of life and then rising into our new life with Jesus Christ. So what doesn't baptism do?
And we might spend a little bit more time on that. I think there's a lot of confusion about baptism. And so I've really got four kind of parts of what baptism doesn't do. And the first is that baptism cannot save you. It doesn't make you a Christian.
And we see that very clear in the scripture. In Romans ten 910, it says that if you confess with your mouth, o Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with a heart one believes unto righteousness and with a mouth, confession is made unto salvation. So very clear in Romans that it doesn't mention baptism there at all. It's simply confessing, agreeing with God that we're a sinner.
We need him to save us. We need his saving grace. We need his power to forgive us of our sins and to heal us so we can have fellowship with him. And then also in Ephesians two eight nine, it says, for by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
So therefore, baptism can't save, it's simply our trust in Jesus Christ that saves us. And so I don't want there to be any confusion thinking, well, I get baptized, I get saved. And historically, there was a movement in that it was called baptismal regeneration. And so they believe that by baptizing people that people were getting saved. And the scripture makes it very clear.
I believe that it's our simple faith and trust in Christ that saves us, not baptism. And we'll look at an example of that in a minute. The second aspect is baptism cannot cleanse from sin. And I've heard confusion over that with baptism. And both the Lord's Supper and both of those ordinances are given to us by Jesus Christ.
One of them with baptism, we're supposed to do as obedience. And I believe once communion, we're supposed to do regularly in remembrance. And neither of those cleanses us from our sin. We do it in response to what Christ has done. So the cleansing of our sins takes place when we believe and accept Jesus Christ.
We ask him to cleanse us from our sins. Baptism may be a witness to the cleansing that has taken place, but the water itself is powerless to cleanse us from our sins. In fact, one John one nine says that if we confess our sins, that God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, that's past sins, present sins, and future sins. And so when we become born again, we can never lose our salvation. We are secure in Christ now.
We continue to sin, and we have that fellowship with the Lord. And when we sin, we distance ourselves from the Lord, but we're still connected with him. We just say, Lord, I am dumb. I made a terrible mistake. Please forgive me, cleanse me, help me not to do that again.
And thank you, Lord, for forgiving me of my sin. And then we have that restored fellowship. And just as if we had offended somebody else, we go to them. We want that restoration, and we have that intimate relationship again. So baptism can't cleanse us from sin.
The third is that kind of goes right off of that, is that baptism cannot free us from sinful habits. I wish there was something that we had that we could do where we would never sin again, but that's not the case. And so baptism alone will not automatically free us from a sinful lifestyle, only true repentance from our sins. And really what I believe is a dependence upon the Holy Spirit, is we need him to help us and empower us to be a victorious Christian walking with Jesus Christ. But baptism does tell others that we have willingly submitted ourselves to Christ into this process of the spiritual growth and that we want the Holy Spirit to change and transform us so it doesn't free us from our sins and our lifestyle.
If we're living a lifestyle of sin, only repentance and dependence upon the Lord will. So again, we're going to continue to be sinners until we get to be with the Lord. And the only way that we can be cleansed is through confessing our sins to Christ. And then fourthly, what baptism doesn't do is it's not a proof of salvation. It's not a proof of salvation.
And I recall we were in a home fellowship setting and we were talking about baptism and our church was doing a lot of baptisms and so we had someone from a denominational background, I won't say which one, but they were asking some questions and it was a husband and a wife. And she said, well, you know, actually I believe the thief on the cross next to Jesus was baptized. And I said, well, I don't think so. I think the scripture is pretty clear that baptism isn't needed for salvation because the thief on the cross couldn't get off and get baptized. And then Jesus said, I tell you the truth, today you'll be with me in paradise.
And her response to that was, well, I really think he got baptized. And I said, well, when was that? And she said, well, when John the Baptist was baptizing people, I think he probably got baptized by him. And I said, what was John's baptism about? Well, it was to get people ready for the messiah.
Yeah, it was to call him out and say, hey, you're a sinner. You need this baptism of repentance to get your hearts ready for the messiah to come and start walking in that direction towards the Messiah. And so if he had truly done that, don't you think that he wouldn't have been on the cross next to Jesus as a thief? Well, I never really thought of it that way. And so, you know, the thief on the cross next to Jesus was never baptized, but he was saved.
So baptism is not a proof of salvation. I know there's many people on their deathbed never been baptized and they realized in their last breath, I need Christ. And God hears and heals and saves them without ever getting baptized. And so it's not a means to salvation, not a proof of salvation. I think if baptism could save, I don't know about you, but I would frantically be running around grabbing people and baptizing them.
Hey, you're saved. Hey, you're saved. If it was that simple that we could do some sort of work to save people, I would do that. But we can't. Salvation comes to us simply when we believe in Jesus.
And so for those who get baptized who aren't saved, all they're going to do is get wet. That's all they're going to do. And unfortunately, sometimes for people, they begin to trust in that work as their salvation, and that can be dangerous. And we'll talk a bit about that as we press in. And so Paul the apostle reminded us in one corinthians 117, he said, for Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
So I think it's wrong for us to think that a person is not saved until they're baptized. We're simply saved the moment we trust in Christ. And Paul, he said his mission from the Lord wasn't simply to baptize, it was to preach the gospel. And later he says, well, I can't remember really if I baptized anyone I know baptized this person and that person and that person, but I can't remember if anyone else I baptized. And he's basically saying baptism is the obedience to the Lord.
It's not our primary mission, but it goes with this great commission. We make disciples, and then we baptize the disciples. Another aspect that some people try to use is mark 1616, which says whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And they like to take that first part of that verse out of context and not give you the second part. Notice, it doesn't say that if you don't believe and are not baptized, then you're condemned.
It doesn't say that. It just simply says that whoever does not believe will be condemned. So the condition is really on the belief in Christ, not on the baptism. And so again, baptism is not a proof of salvation. Well, the fourth aspect of the topic of baptism is who should be baptized?
And I think the answer there is clear is, well, anyone who has repented of their sin, they've turned from their sinful lifestyle, they've turned to God as the solution and need that cleansing, and they've put their faith or trust in Christ, then they're a candidate for baptism. And so they received the Holy Spirit at that moment when they put their trust in Christ. Certainly the only requirement for a person to be baptized is that they believe in Jesus Christ. They're born again. And I think probably also that they understand what baptism is about.
And so, again, baptism is for those who receive Christ as their savior. It's not for unbelievers. All theyre going to do is get wet. And when we look at all the accounts in scripture that we have, we always see its a believer in Jesus Christ getting baptized. We see that throughout the scriptures.
So an unbeliever whos baptized doesnt receive anything from the Lord. Now, theres no biblical prohibition against a Christian being baptized more than once. For instance, if you were baptized as an infant or as a small child, theres nothing against scripture saying that you can't be baptized again. And often that happens. People are baptized as a child and later they open their heart to the Lord and have a relationship with them.
And they've got a clean conscience now. And they wonder, should I get baptized again? I mean, I was baptized as an infant and I would encourage people to get baptized because when you're an infant, you don't really understand what's going on. You don't really understand. I'm a sinner and need of Christ to save me.
I need to repent for my sins and trust in Jesus. You probably cant even talk at that point.
I think that if youre baptized as an infant, you should be baptized as an adult. Now, if youve already been baptized as an adult Christian, you dont need to be re baptized over and over again. And I would encourage you not to make a habit out of it again. It doesnt cleanse us from our sins. I know sometimes people feel that way when an invitation is given.
I need to give my life to the Lord again. I need to get baptized again.
Sometimes we can try and look to those tangible things as evidence that we're walking with the Lord. And really it just comes down to confession of our sins and allowing the Lord to cleanse us and to walk by faith and not by sight. And so if you want to get baptized, there's nothing against getting baptized again. I would just discourage you from doing a monthly or making a habit out of it. Now, we do discourage very little children, and I say that because it can scare them of the water.
And we don't want baptism to be a scary experience for them. We don't want them to be scared of the water and really to have this negative experience. And so the biblical model we see for infants and children is really that always of a baby dedication, never a baptism. And you can take a look at the Old Testament with Hannah and little Samuel coming to the temple of the Lord, dedicating another great example I believe you can look at in the gospel of Luke, Jesus coming to the temple and being dedicated there. And so we see these dedications of the little ones and so we follow that example.
We believe that baby should be dedicated to the Lord. And really it's the family coming around and being accountable, saying, yes, we see this couple up front that they're dedicating their child to the Lord. And theyre basically saying, if you see us raising our kid in an ungodly way, we give you, the church family, the right to call us out to help us be accountable. And so we do baby dedications and we plan to do one soon in a few weeks for our little Caleb. And so its exciting time for the family to come together and declare that were going to raise this little one and the ways of the Lord.
Now at some point, I do think, though, that kids are older or they have a desire to be baptized, then we encourage parents, ask them questions, such questions as, hey, when did you give your life to Christ? How did that come to be? And if they fully understand the gospel message, then ask them questions about baptism. What does baptism mean? Why do you want to get baptized?
Is it because your friends are telling you to do it or what's the motive behind it? And so when they can fully answer those sort of questions, I believe that then they are a candidate for baptism. And so we want to make sure they fully understand the gospel message, understand what baptism is. Now, sadly, some churches and some ministries don't allow people to get baptized until they go through a certain class or become a certain age. And I think that can be discouraging to kids who have truly given their life to the Lord.
I think Jesus made it clear, he said not to forbid the little children to come to him and to allow them to come to him. And so I want to go with what Jesus says and I want to make sure I'm not forbidding kids to come to him, but I want to have wisdom in that as well. And so I think children really need to make the choice on their own. And when they fully understand baptism, I don't think kids should ever, ever be forced into getting baptized. I think it needs to be their own independent decision to do it.
And I fully, wholeheartedly believe that we don't want to force people into things, so we want it to be their decision. And so if I can talk someone into getting baptized, well, I can talk them getting out of that, getting baptized. It needs to be from the Lord, that impresses that upon their heart. So that's who should be baptized. The next is when to get baptized.
Well, I think the sooner the better. As soon as you can to be obedient to the command of Jesus. If you trust in Christ as your Lord and your savior, then you should be baptized. And again, this act in and of itself will not save you. All it is, is an outward sign of that inward change.
And so I remember baptizing people out in California, and sometimes I've been walking with the Lord 20 years, 30 years, 40 years, 50 years, and I just really felt now is the time I need to get baptized. And so they were baptized and others. I've been a Christian for a day, two days, a week, two weeks, and they're obedient. And so as soon as you can, I would encourage you to get baptized. Where to get baptized?
That's a good question. Anywhere there's enough water and preferably warm water. But I know of a brother up in Maine that in the winter, they'll drill a hole in the ice and they'll baptize people in the cold water. I would prefer warm water. Where I came from in California, there were a lot of people who go to the ocean to do that.
We were a little more inland, so we had a pool and we used that. But anywhere there's enough water, you can get baptized. That really comes into the next question, how a baptism is done with water. And there are really three main thoughts and methods that are used on how to be baptized with water. The first is immersion, and that's where a person is completely lowered and submerged underneath the water.
The second is pouring, where the water is ladled or poured over a person's head or body. And the third is sprinkling, which the person is lightly sprinkled with water. But the word baptize, if you take a look at the greek word for it, is baptizo, and it means to immerse or submerge, to overflow or cover with water. What is fascinating is there are really two pictures that we get from the greek language of this word baptized. One of them was about a ship.
And so when the ship would be sailing on the ocean seas and a storm would come and it would sink to the bottom of the ocean, they would say, well, that ship has been baptized. Now, that's a good picture. But I think the second one is a bit better because we don't leave you at the bottom of the pool. We take you back out. And I remember one time we were baptizing a guy, and we were telling, you know, this is the end of the road of your old life.
This is the beginning of your new life. And, you know, the old man is going to be dead and buried. And his wife said, well, hold him down. He's got a lot to bury. Like, well, I don't want to hold him down too long.
I want to bring him back out. And so the second picture, and I believe Paul would have been very familiar with this as a tent maker. It was used, speaking of dye. And so they would take a cloth and they would put immerse it and submerge it into a dye, and it would just be totally covered by this dye, and they'd bring it back out of the dye, and it would be changed and transformed. It would be a different color.
And I think that's a good picture, is what this greek word is describing, is that when we're baptized, we're going completely underneath the water and then coming up out of the water. And so I think there's other examples in scripture we can take a look at. In John, chapter three, we're told that John baptized in the Jordan river because there was enough water there. And if you go to Israel today, there's a beautiful baptismal site there on the Jordan river. And back in the day, when Pastor Chuck Smith from Calvary tropical Costa Mesa used to take people over there, there wasn't anything.
It was just the Jordan river and this muddy bank. And they were having difficulty getting people in and out and up this little hill. And so the church decided at that time, let's build a site. And so they built a beautiful baptismal site there. You get baptized.
I've been there. It's beautiful. And so the water, though, is a little smelly and stinky, but it's a beautiful site, a beautiful way to know that this is where our lord and savior was baptized as well, there on the Jordan river. And so John baptized people because there was water there, enough water. Then later in acts chapter eight, we're told that the ethiopian eunuch believed the gospel that Philip had told him, and it says that he wanted to be baptized, and they found enough water.
And then it says that they went into the water and came up out of the water. And so, again, that's a great picture, too, of where it's talking about this full immersion, a submersion into the waters. So, you know, that's the reason. Therefore, we practice baptism by immersion for those who have been born again through faith in Jesus. Christ.
Now, there's some passages in acts that people bring up that mention that people are baptized. It says they were baptized in the name of Jesus, and it doesn't mention the Son or, excuse me, it doesn't mention the Father and the Holy Spirit just mentioned it's the Son. And so they say, well, you're only supposed to baptize people in Jesus name. And so which way is the right way? Well, jesus told us here in the Gospel of Matthew how to do it.
If you got a Bible like mine, it's in red letters. He says to baptize them in the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, in the name of the Holy Spirit. And really, when you get to those spots in acts where it says they baptize them in the name of Jesus, that name is referring to the manner of Jesus. It would come right back to his command. And I know some people want to argue over that, and I think we got to go with what Jesus said.
Better to go with what Jesus said always. And I think better to go with a clear command and stick with what he says. Then other people, they want to divide on the method of baptism. And I am learning more and more that a servant of the Lord must not quarrel. And so we don't want to be divisive on this.
We want the Lord to deal with their hearts. And I think, at the same time, we don't want to go around with pride in our hearts and say, well, I don't know about you guys, you're the sprinkle baptizers, but we're the full immersion baptizers. You know, we know really what the Bible is saying, and we do it the right way. We don't want to be that group either. We don't want to go around and be full of pride.
And I don't think it's worse dividing the body of Christ over a matter that won't matter for eternity. There are some things that we're to fight and contend for. There's other things that we can agree to disagree agreeably, and I think that's one of them. And so better to be wrong, I think, and full of grace on these minor differences than right and full of pride. And I believe that wholeheartedly because God is looking at our heart and simply wants us to respond to him.
He wants to see our obedience to him. And I believe that because there's time where people are in the hospital and they're unable to get out of the hospital and get baptized, and so at that point, if you want to do a pour of water on them or a sprinkle, God's looking at their heart. He just wants them to be obedient to what he's commanded to do. But as much as possible, we want to be as close to the biblical scriptures as we can always want to be. And I believe that's full immersion.
And so God's looking at the heart, though. And so with that, well, then what is said when getting baptized? I'll ask you when you gave your life to Jesus Christ and how long ago that was. And so we kind of have a little bit of this, of your story, your testimony. If you're willing, you can share that with the group, kind of your story, your name, how long you've been saved, and kind of how you came to Christ.
If you're not comfortable, then I'll share that with the group so they kind of know who you are and can celebrate with you as you're being obedient to the Lord. And so what else is said? Well, typically I will say, well, because of your decision to follow Jesus Christ and your desire to be obedient to him, I baptize you in the name of the Father and the name of the Son and the name of the Holy Spirit, and that I'll dunk you in the water and take you back out. And it does help if you bend your knees going in as you go backwards into the water. But we want to just do what the Lord says, keep it simple.
So that's what we say when we baptize people and then what to wear when getting baptized. I wasn't going to put that on here, but, but as culture shifts and changes, I thought that would be important. I remember John Corson shared a story up in Oregon. When he first started as hippies were coming to Christ, he was doing his first baptism there, and he had prayed with them and turned around to make sure his towel was there and to take off his shoes. And as he was turning back around towards the ocean, towards the water, and heading out to do the baptism, he realized that people started taking off their clothes and people were completely naked.
And so from that point on, hes always talked about, what do you wear when you do a baptism? I dont think thats going to be issue here in Fergus Falls, but just to put it out there, what do you wear when you get baptized? I suggest wearing shorts or pants or modest swimwear, preferably with a dark t shirt. And I think darker clothing is better. Going into the water again, we dont want to stumble someone.
We don't want to cause anyone to be stumbled by what we're wearing. And so I think we want to dress appropriately when we get baptized. And again, we don't want to really draw attention to ourselves. We want to draw attention to the Lord. A testimony isn't what we've done, it's what Christ has done.
And so getting baptized isn't what we've done, it's what Christ has done in us. We simply trusted him and he did everything else. And so it's really his story working in us and through us. Now, I encourage you to bring a change of clothes, a towel and probably a plastic bag to put your wet clothes in. As a guy, I will tell the guys if what you're wearing is inappropriate because guys typically won't ask other guys where gals typically will ask the other gals, hey, is this okay to wear?
But if that doesn't happen, gals, you can tell the other gals that they need to put something else on to wear. So those are kind of the main nine things. Why to get baptized. Jesus told us to get baptized. What is baptism?
It's the outward expression of the inward change response to what Christ has done. What doesn't it do doesn't save us. That's the main thing is it does not save us, doesn't cleanse us from our sins. Who should get baptized? Anyone who believes in Jesus Christ as the Lord and savior.
When to get baptized? As soon as you can. Where? When there's enough water. How should it be done?
With water? We believe by full immersion as much as possible. We want to stick as close to the scriptures as we can. What is said. We follow what Jesus has told us, how to do it in the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, and in the name of the Holy Spirit.
What to wear? Appropriate clothing. So with that, I'm going to open up for questions. So we've got time. And so if you have a question on baptism, go ahead and ask and I will repeat it so it's recorded and I will do my best to answer your question.
Okay. Well, I think, you know, there's a few that I think may come up from some people. I think one of them is probably, why was Jesus baptized? I've heard that people want to know. John's baptism was a baptism of repentance, of really confessing that you're a sinner and you're confessing that you need to follow the Messiah.
You need Christ. Well, we know Jesus was without sin, he never sinned. So why was he baptized? I think you look at Matthew chapter three, and Jesus says to permit it to fulfill all righteousness. And I think what Jesus is saying there is that he was baptized in obedience to the father.
I think he really gives us a clear example to follow, is that we should follow his example. And so I believe that's why Jesus was baptized.
I think another one that comes up sometimes very rarely, but when you're dealing with cults, I've gotten a few discussions with them, or one corinthians 15 where it talks about the dead being or the people being baptized for the dead. And so some people will get off this tangent and say, see, we can be baptized for so and so, and somehow they're saved. Well, again, baptism doesn't save us. It's us making that obedience, making that choice to be obedient to the Lord. And so baptism doesn't save.
I think what one corinthians 15 is really talking about in the context there, if you look at it clearly, is that Paul is saying that there were christians who were being martyred for their faith and there were nonbelievers that were looking at that and going, this person just died for something. They gave their life voluntarily for something. What is that? And they come to faith in Christ. And then they would go and get baptized and say, hey, I'm getting baptized because of so and so.
I'm getting baptized because of their death, because of what they did. Now, I am a Christian. I believe what they died for. And so I think what the context there is people saw a sacrifice of others and who became a martyr and being cut to the heart to follow their example and be saved and then baptized. So I think that's what the Bible is saying there in one corinthians 15 about the baptism of the dead.
And so questions on baptism. If not, we'll close in prayer and we'll wrap up and then we'll get ready for the baptism. Okay, well, let's close in prayer and just ask the Lord's blessing upon the rest of our time. Jesus, we love you. We thank you for this time that we could spend in your word and really look at biblical water baptism.
Lord, thank you for your scriptures and thank you, Lord, that you've given us a clear command to follow here in Matthew 28. Lord, I pray that we would be following what you would have for us, Lord. Again, I pray you'd help us not to divide the body over minor things, Lord, but that we would just have your heart your heart of love and your heart of unity. And, Lord, we thank you for baptism, the wonderful expression of this change you've done in us. And, Lord, we just want to be obedient to what you'd have for us.
And, Lord, I believe your word says that this is probably the simplest thing we can do. To be obedient to you is just to do what you tell us to do is to get baptized. And so, Father, we want to follow you. We want to surrender everything that we have to you. Help us, Lord, to do that.
Help us to follow you, and that we would be less of us and more of you. And, Father, I pray if there's anyone who has not committed their life to you, that by your holy spirit, you'd be convicting them of their sins and then convincing them of your love. And as every christian here is praying and every head is bowed, if you're here this morning and you want to give your life to Christ, I want to simply encourage you to do that. I'll lead you in a prayer where you declare that you are a sinner and want God to save you. And you want him to come into your heart, forgive you of your sins, to make you that new person he desires to make you.
And if that's you, I just want to encourage you to pray after me. God, I realize that I am a sinner. I realize that my sin separates me from you. And I see that you provided a way for me to be forgiven through Jesus Christ, that I can have forgiveness of sins and life eternal. I ask Jesus, that you would come into my heart, that you would cleanse me from my sins, that you would make me new, and that you would help me to follow you the best that I can.
I thank you for dying on the cross for my sins, that you were buried with my sins in that tomb and that you conquered the grave and you rose the third day. I believe you, Jesus, and I trust in you. And I pray that you would just help me, Lord, to be obedient to the call upon my life that you have for me. I thank you for loving me. I thank you for saving me.
I thank you for being my lord and my friend. And I love you. And pray this in Jesus name. Amen.