An Everlasting Covenant
The sermon explores the significance of Jesus Christ's sacrifice and the establishment of the second covenant, highlighting the spiritual meaning of water baptism and its representation of the Holy Spirit.
G.W. North emphasizes the transition from the first covenant to the everlasting covenant established by Jesus Christ through His sacrifice. He explains that Jesus' life and ministry marked the end of the Old Covenant, culminating in His death and resurrection, which inaugurated the new covenant and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. North highlights the significance of baptism, illustrating how it symbolizes forgiveness, newness of life, and the deeper spiritual realities brought forth by Christ. He asserts that while water baptism has its place, it ultimately points to the greater work of the Holy Spirit in believers' lives. The sermon calls for a deeper understanding of baptism as a commitment to live in the eternal life offered by Jesus.
Text
The end of the preceding age was bound up with the appearing of Jesus Christ on earth for the purpose of putting away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Coming into the world, He spoke words which virtually ended the first covenant in order that He should establish the second (Hebrews 10:1-9). His life-span on earth marked the period of time which lay between the removal of the first covenant and the establishing of the second; during that period He finished all the work which remained to be done, finalising all by death and resurrection. Following this, He ascended to heaven and presented Himself in perfection to His Father in preparation for the commencement of the second or the new and everlasting covenant.
As the former age was drawing to its close, God sent John Baptist into the world to be the forerunner of His Son Jesus. John brought in baptism with water as a means of forgiveness by remission of sins upon the condition of repentance. So we find the documents of the last days of the Old Covenant commencing with the introduction of water baptism. These documents are each one called a Gospel, for they set forth primarily the good news of Jesus Christ. At the end of His life, that is at the very end of the interim period, through death and resurrection He accomplished, brought in and established the true Baptism, later called by Paul (the) One Baptism.
Having accomplished this, Christ returned to heaven and inaugurated the new age by pouring forth the Holy Spirit. This was absolutely necessary, for it was in the Spirit that His own true, personal baptism had been accomplished and is now for ever established for men.
Unto Newness of Life
Nothing is established in water as of itself. But if water be allowed its proper place and be given its true spiritual meaning, when used in baptism it will speak to us of greater things from God than those of which it speaks in ordinary use:
(1) By John's word the water represented the stream of remission of sins by which a soul may find forgiveness.
(2) By Paul's word it represents the immeasurable and unplumbable ocean of Christ's death and burial from which the person who is baptised rises to newness of life.
(3) (The whole spiritual meaning and content of which Paul writes and which could not be typified in the baptism which John ministered, was put into baptism by Jesus, namely His own personal baptism into death, followed by His resurrection from it). By His work and ministry the water represents the Holy Spirit, into whom we all must be baptised in order that we may live in the eternal life of the Son. This He accomplishes in us by immersing us with definiteness and total despatch into all the particular work He accomplished for us when He was personally baptised into death and rose again from it, as being singularly and solely God-unique there.
Beside these things, water baptism carries other meanings as well, such as discipleship or personal allegiance to Jesus Christ, but these which we have considered are by far the greatest of them all.
Sermon Outline
- I. Introduction to the End of the First Covenant
- A. Jesus Christ's sacrifice and the establishment of the second covenant
- B. The life-span of Jesus on earth as the period between the removal of the first covenant and the establishing of the second
- II. The Forerunner of Jesus Christ
- A. John Baptist and the introduction of water baptism as a means of forgiveness
- B. The documents of the last days of the Old Covenant, the Gospels
- III. The True Baptism
- A. Christ's death and resurrection as the accomplishment of true baptism
- B. The Holy Spirit as the true baptism
- IV. The Spiritual Meaning of Water Baptism
- A. Representing the stream of remission of sins
- B. Representing the ocean of Christ's death and burial
- C. Representing the Holy Spirit
Key Quotes
“Nothing is established in water as of itself.” — G.W. North
“By Paul's word it represents the immeasurable and unplumbable ocean of Christ's death and burial from which the person who is baptised rises to newness of life.” — G.W. North
“By His work and ministry the water represents the Holy Spirit, into whom we all must be baptised in order that we may live in the eternal life of the Son.” — G.W. North
Application Points
- Water baptism is a symbol of our personal allegiance to Jesus Christ and our desire to follow Him.
- The Holy Spirit is the true baptism, bringing us to eternal life and immersing us into the work of Christ.
- Our understanding of water baptism should be rooted in its spiritual meaning, representing the stream of remission of sins, the ocean of Christ's death and burial, and the Holy Spirit.