Romans 6:1-10; Zechariah 13:1
So in Zechariah chapter 12, verse 10, we have a prophecy of the coming of the Lord Jesus and a provision being made for the sins of Israel. And in Zechariah 12, beginning at verse 10, God says, I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, a spirit of grace and please for mercy. So that when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him as one weeps over a firstborn. On that day, the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad-Rimon in the plain of Megiddo.
The land shall mourn each family by itself, the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves. The family of the house of Nathan by itself and their wives by themselves. The family of the house of Levi by itself and their wives by themselves. The family of the Shemites by itself and their wives by themselves. And all the families that are left each by itself and their wives by themselves. On that day, there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.
And now Romans chapter six, Romans chapter six, verses one through 10. I’m sure you recognized in that last set of readings, the inspiration for the song, there is a fountain filled with blood which we’ll sing later this evening. Now Romans chapter six, verses one through 10, Paul asked this question. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means, how can we who died to sin still live in it?
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again. Death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
And now back to the gospel of John, John chapter three, verses one through eight. John chapter three, beginning at verse one says, there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these things that you do unless God is with him.
Jesus answered him, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born? Jesus answered, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes and you hear it sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the spirit. Amen. This is God’s great and gracious word for us. So, you know, over the last several weeks, we’ve been cleaning out my dad’s house and it’s very interesting. We thought we knew everything he had and we keep finding things and it’s very interesting to go through.
Mom and dad were very eclectic people. They enjoyed a little bit of everything from every walk of life, every style. And so they, for the last 18 years, have lived in a modern sort of house, but it’s filled with older or antique kind of furniture. And we found clothing, clothing, clothing, and clothing. Lots of clothes, and most of y’all know Dad from his larger size, but there was a day when he was like me, and so I’m being very careful, as you can imagine.
But we found some wool coats and some wool sweaters, and we even found one of those Russian, I don’t know what you call the babushka hat or something, I forget what they’re called, but the big thing in the late 1960s. snuck over to Russia without telling my grandparents. He just said, send money, and they did. So he snuck over to Russia. I think it was during a revolution, but that’s just the way he was.
But we found all kinds of sweaters and coats and different things in a trunk from years and years back. And I found a few items of interest that were my size, perhaps my style. And so this one blue sweater I found, Duke blue, navy blue, royal blue. Found it, brought it home, but I found it had a big red stain right in the middle of it. And I thought, can’t wear that. But then I got to thinking, I’ll take it to the cleaners.
For sure there’s somebody there who knows how to get a red stain out of a blue wool sweater. And you know, you can’t just do any old thing. You’ve got to use the right chemicals, the right processes. You’ve got to do all the right things so that the sweater remains blue. but the red spot is gone.
And perhaps when it comes back, it will be just that. But what about our lives? What about sin? We sing a song from time to time. Sin had left a crimson stain, but Jesus washed it white as snow. How did we get washed white as snow? How did our sins get washed away? We ask and answer that question in a gospel song. What can wash away my sins?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. And so tonight, as we think of baptism or as the Heidelberg calls it, holy baptism, we need to be reminded that baptism is a thousand things. Some of you men and women in the various iterations of the Westminster Confession of Faith class will remember that in the blue G.I. Williamson study guide for the Westminster Confession of Faith, G.I. Williamson says that baptism is a moving picture show. It’s lots and lots of things. But tonight we want to think in particular about our sins being washed. by the grace of God and Jesus Christ. We don’t want to get into mode and method and who should be baptized and who shouldn’t. Well, we’ll say a little bit about that.
In fact, here goes. Remember that the fundamental reason for baptism At least I think in the Old Testament and in the new and in the reformed tradition, the main reason for baptism is it is a sign or it is a sacrament that shows inclusion into the family of God.
Remember when God told Abraham in Genesis 15, you shall circumcise every male born or bought. Now there was that first round of circumcision where Abraham is an old man. Uh, and those born and bought at that time in his house were, were many, uh, remember when Abraham needed to go rescue lot, how many fighting men did he have to take with him? I think it was like 317, some odd number, but you can imagine that Abraham’s house was full of men born and bought. who needed to be circumcised. And so then after on the eighth day, anyone born into the house of the family of God needed to be circumcised and he male born.
And so circumcision was a sign of inclusion into the covenant community. When Isaac was baptized, when, or circumcised, same thing, When Isaac was circumcised and when Ishmael were circumcised, did either of them profess faith? No, they were, well, Ishmael probably a little older, Isaac on the eighth day.
No, but it was a sign of the parents presenting their children to God and claiming the covenant promises. And you see that all throughout the life of Israel. You see it into the beginning of the New Testament when people came to faith, what did the apostles do? they presented the whole household for baptism, those born and those bought.
And so one of the fundamental things we’ve got to remember is baptism, simply put, is a sign of inclusion into the covenant community. And so we think of how circumcision was a casting off of the flesh. If you did not cast off the flesh, then you were cut off from the covenant community. And in the same way, we see that inclusion in the covenant community comes not through, but the sign of baptism is a sign of that. We never want to say, well, once you get baptized, now you’re in, because that would be kind of Catholic or something. But we want to think of being regenerated. We want to think of being cleansed and included believers and their children.
So we got three questions tonight and these huge answers that go with the first question. How does holy baptism, how does it remind you and how does it assure you? So two big things. How does holy baptism remind you that Christ won sacrifice on the cross? Cross benefits you personally. And how does holy baptism assure you that Christ’s one sacrifice on the cross benefits you personally? And the answer is simple. In this way, Christ instituted the outward washing and with it promised that as surely as water washes away the dirt from the body, so certainly his blood and his spirit wash away my soul’s impurity, that is all my sins.
So how are we reminded and how are we assured? First thing to consider from this is do you remember your baptism? Now, some of you were baptized as believers and you actually may remember it. Some of you were baptized as little ones and perhaps you don’t remember it. But we wanna use the word remember in a little bit different way.
We want to remember our baptism. We want to remember that we are baptized, we are included in God’s covenant community. And being in God’s covenant community, there are promises, there are assurances, there are obligations, there are stipulations. But as children of the living God, as those adopted as sons, by the work of Jesus on the cross, we want to always be reminded and always be assured that the water washed away the dirt, but that the blood and spirit washed away the soul’s impurity.
Now, I don’t know how you do reminders. You know, sometimes we have a ring, you know, we’re married. Sometimes we have a necklace with a cross. I’m a Christian. Sometimes we tie a ribbon around our finger I don’t know what this means, but I’ve noticed that some men wear a wedding ring on both ring fingers. I was with a friend the other day and I noticed he had his gold wedding ring from 40 some years ago, but he had one of those rubber, you know, those silicone rings that are popular these days for active folks. He had one of those on this hand. I didn’t ask him, I’m probably going to next time I see him, why a wedding ring on both hands, and I’m very sure it has some significance.
But we have ways of reminder. Our phone will tell us, take out the trash. Our phone will tell us, take out our pills. We have all kinds of ways of being reminded. We have pictures on our walls, we have sticky notes, all the rest. But do you have some reminder that as a baptized person, you are clean, you are cleansed.
I’m sure every one of you takes a bath at least a few times a week. I don’t wanna get into your personal hygiene. I do hope and pray that you take a couple at least, that you’re not British. Take a bath on Saturday night, whether you need it or not. And trust me, I’m not gonna go very far on this, but when the water of the shower hits my head, Uh, I think every time of, of baptism, I think every time of being cleansed. And I think every time of how dirty I am, not just physically, but how dirty my soul is as it’s stained with sin. And I think it’s good for us to have reminders frequently in our lives that remind us, uh, maybe it’s a physical place, a physical activity for sure. Uh, as a, as a church.
It’s good for us to see visibly the bowl, the basin, the water. Next Sunday we’ll baptize Nora, Jonah, and Judah, the Farentino children. And that will be a good reminder of what God has done for us in our baptism. We’ll remember our baptism in theirs. But it’s good for us to have some way, shape, or form for us to remember.
If you go to some churches in some traditions, you can’t help but walk in the building and at the entrance to the nave, which for us would be in the back, you walk by the fountain. And I don’t know, it feels to me like the rocket clumps and all the football players touch when they go down the hill into the football field. But as you walk past the baptismal font, you remember that you’re a child of God.
So how does holy baptism remind you? And how does it assure you? Well, the water, the washing reminds us that as dirt is removed from the body with the cleansing water of everyday life, so certainly by his blood and his spirit, he has washed away our souls impurity. And so as often as you can be reminded, as often as you can remember and be assured of God’s washing you through the one sacrifice of Christ on the cross. So the next question, number 70, asks us, what does it mean to be washed in Christ’s blood? What does it mean to be washed with Christ’s spirit?
In the old covenant, read through all the blood and sacrifices, rituals and washings and all the rest. Some of you Wednesday nighters remember when we went through Exodus and Leviticus and Numbers, there was lots of ceremonial washings, there was lots of killing, and there was lots of collecting of blood, and there was lots of spattering that blood on different things to cleanse it, to make it holy, to set it apart, all sorts of things. We don’t often think of sprinkled blood, but the book of Hebrews, says that we have been sprinkled clean by the blood. Most of us, if we got sprinkled with blood, we would want to get cleaned as quickly as we could. We would be thinking of death and disease and ickiness and those sorts of things. But blood would have been splattered on people, on things to make it holy, to cleanse it.
And so what does it mean to be washed with Christ’s blood? Well, it means that God by grace has forgiven you of your sins because of Christ’s blood poured out for us in his sacrifice on the cross. I just mentioned to you Hebrews chapter 12. It’s by the blood of Jesus.
We’ve been sprinkled clean. And then at the beginning of our service, when we had the apostolic greeting, the grace to you in peace, we had revelation one, five grace to you in peace from him who is and who was and who is to come. That’s God, the father. And from the seven spirits who minister before the throne of God, there’s the Holy Spirit. And then from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from among the dead and the ruler of all the kings of the earth. And then right after there’s that statement in Revelation 1 5 to him who loved us and who has washed us by his own blood.
It’s kind of icky gross, isn’t it? To think I got washed by blood, but we sing that old gospel song. Are you washed in the blood, in the soul cleansing blood of the lamb? Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow? Have you been washed? In the blood, it’s no wonder people think we’re strange. Usually we want blood out of our things we wash, not to be washed with it. But how or what does it mean to be washed with Christ’s blood?
Remember that sin can only be covered. It can only be paid for with death. And death symbolizes that the lifeblood has been removed from something. And so the only thing that can cleanse our dead consciences is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then it asked how, or what does it mean to be washed with the spirit? To be washed with the spirit means the Holy Spirit has renewed and has sanctified us to be members of Christ so that more and more we die to sin and live holy and blameless lives. Remember when John was baptizing in the river, He said, I’m baptizing you with water, but one will come after me, one whose sandals I’m unworthy to stoop down and untie, and he will wash you with the Holy Spirit.
And so here we’re thinking of regeneration here. We’re thinking of renewal here. We’re thinking of an internal cleansing from a dead heart here. We’re thinking of giving people a new life, a new disposition, a people whose hearts beat. to do the will of God and no longer seek their own pleasure. So to be washed with the spirit is renewal. It’s new life. It’s new again. To be washed with the spirit is to be sanctified or holified or set apart for a purpose that is God’s purpose.
And when he sets us apart for his purposes, he makes us part of his church. It’s where baptism comes in as an initiation, right? And he sanctifies us or sets us apart. And then he sanctifies us further. There’s the positional sanctification. You’re made holy, brought into the church. And then there’s the progressive sanctification that says we died a sin and we live holy and blameless lives.
You know, people say, um, I’m not coming to your church, uh, because it’s just a bunch of. hypocrites. And the answer is no, we’re a bunch of sanctified people getting more sanctified. We’re a bunch of sanctified people who continue to do unsanctified things.
And yes, we look like hypocrites and we know because Martin Luther told us that we are, what is the Latin simul justus et peccator. We’re at the same time, righteous and sinners. We know our position before God, the heavenly father. We are justified by grace alone in Christ alone, through faith alone, by the work of Jesus alone. Uh, we know that, but we also know that we have remaining sin, remaining corruption. We love the world and we do indeed sin. And so we’re not hypocrites. We’re just sanctified and being sanctified people. And we need more, uh, to come along for the ride, but we daily die to sin that sanctification. We daily strive to live a holy life and a blameless life.
Remember way, way, way, way, way back when we started our Sunday morning series in first Corinthians and in first Corinthians chapter six, I think Paul is yelling at the Corinthians because, well, they’re not being nice to each other. They’re, you know, remember the whole thing at Corinth, they’re eating communion without each other.
Some are getting drunk. There’s a dude that’s, sleeping with his father’s wife. I think that’s a big thing. And Paul is talking about forgiveness. He’s talking about warning. He’s talking about judgment, but he reminds them not to think too much of themselves.
And he says something like this, such were some of you, but you have been washed. You have been renewed. You have been cleansed and you have been sanctified and you have been justified. Paul’s going to say the same thing in his letter to Titus in chapter three. He’s going to talk about the, I don’t know, the nastiness of the people of the world.
And he reminds them not to be so hoity-toity about their, you know, their sanctified selves. And he says, remember that you too were once foolish, led astray, and you were into the passions of this world, but then the kindness and goodness of God, our savior saved us.
And we’ve been washed and renewed by the power of the Holy spirit. So what does it mean to be washed with Christ’s blood? There’s the atoning sacrifice that pays for our sins. What does it mean to be washed with the spirit? We are given a new lease on life. We are cleansed by the blood. And we are cleansed by the spirit in order to live a life before the holy and living and true God. Now, the last question, where does Christ promise that we are washed by the spirit and by the blood as surely as we are washed with the water of baptism? And the Heidelberg appeals to the great commission. the institution of baptism, where Jesus says, go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.
And then what’s the last thing? It’s not included in the catechism here, because it’s not necessary as a proof text, but there’s one more component of the Great Commission. It’s teaching everything that Jesus has commanded. And so the Great Commission is a, It’s a go, or I’m sorry, it’s a make disciples commission.
Our job as the church is to make disciples. And then three, I don’t know, supporting verbs give us the great commissions actions. So our job is to make disciples, so we got to go. Our job is to make disciples, we’ve got to baptize. And our job is to make disciples, and so we’ve got to teach. And so the disciple making ministry of the church includes going baptizing and teaching. And so if we are not going, if we are not sending, if we are not baptizing and we are not teaching, then we are not fulfilling the great commission. And it’s interesting to see in our day and age how baptism has really become a customer’s choice. Have you thought about that? Well, I’d like to be sprinkled. I’d like to be dunked. I’d like to be poured. I’d like to wait until thus and such.
I was so encouraged and it was a bit of an abnormality, I think, but it was very encouraging that Luke and Miranda presented Obadiah for baptism. It was about as close to the eighth day as possible. I think he was not quite two weeks old, but it was a great witness.
I think to the church to see a family, not wait for chicken salad and sweet tea. And, you know, because in the South, that’s really what baptism is all about. You know, we’re, we’re, we’re sometimes Catholic about it where, you know, or we think our child is, you know, having their coming out debutante presentation or something. And so there’s gotta be chicken salad and new clothes and, and, and all the rest. And I think that’s great. I tell people when they have a child, you know, make sure the family can be here.
Pick a Sunday that’s not communion Sunday and tell me some of your favorite passages and songs, and we’ll see what we can do to make the day special. And yes, usually there is chicken and salad involved, but those are the lesser things. Those are not the important things.
But the institution of baptism is where Jesus in Matthew 28 tells the church, make disciples. You gotta go, you gotta baptize, and you’ve got to teach. And then Jesus in Mark chapter 16 says this, whoever believes and is baptized will be saved. Whoever does not believe will be condemned. I know we could get into the whole quagmire of believers, baptism and all the rest.
I’ve read the arguments. I don’t buy it. I’ve seen the Sproul-MacArthur debate and I think Sproul whooped him. And they’re probably in heaven discussing it more clearly. And I think MacArthur has probably come a long ways. since he went to glory last year, but there’s just this whole debate of, must you believe in order to be baptized? And we’re not going to get into it.
Uh, how fun, but Jesus says, whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And so, uh, the promise is repeated when scripture calls baptism, the washing of regeneration, that’s Titus three. And he calls it the washing away of sins. That’s in Acts chapter 22. And so how are we to be reminded? How are we to be assured? How are we to understand the meaning and the promises? Well, we simply go to the scriptures. And I love what R.C. Sproul says years ago when he first read the Bible as maybe a teenager or young adult in college. He read the Bible through in a couple of weeks And his first impression was God plays for keeps.
And you think about Adam and Eve in the garden, how they had everything they needed fellowship with God. They had God’s revelation. They had everything they needed for life. They had all the daily bread they wanted. Life was perfect. Life was grand. And God simply said, obey me perfectly and you will live. Disobey me once and you will die. Well, they disobeyed and they ate.
And so God, giving promise of the gospel, kills an animal, enclothes Adam and Eve, covers their nakedness, covers their shame with the skins of an animal that gave up its life for them. And all that was pointing to one day something greater will give up its life, will give up his life in order that we might be washed and our alienation from God will be undone.
And so every time you think of baptism, what it means, every time you think of baptism, what it assures you of and promises, remember that God plays for keeps and he has made a way for you to come back to him. And that is through faith in Jesus, believing that you’re a sinner and he has given you. everything you need in Jesus to cleanse you of your sin and to wash you and to make you righteous in his sight. Let’s pause now and give thanks. Lord, thank you for the great blessing of knowing you and loving you and walking with you. And anytime we feel overwhelmed by our sin, anytime we feel overwhelmed by the temptations or even the accusations of the devil, May we be reminded that we are baptized people washed and cleansed. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.