Controversies Surround Water Baptisms

Here tonight, I want you to turn with me to Acts chapter 2, and we're on this short mini-series that we've inserted dealing with water baptism. We've called this The Importance of Water Baptism, The Importance of Water Baptism. On Sunday morning we dealt with Christ's doctrine of water baptism.

His words are authoritative. His words are simple. They are clear.

You cannot confuse them, and you've got to allow His words to be the foundation of what you believe. But I want to go a bit further here in part two, and I've called this Controversies Surrounding Water Baptism, because I believe there's many arguments, many debates, many controversies, much disputing around the issue of water baptism, and I believe that a lot of it is inspired of the devil to take our focus, our understanding, our revelation of the true meaning of water baptism. If you get caught up in debates, side issues, false doctrine, you can actually lose the revelation of what it really means, and that's very dangerous.

See, in the next three messages in this series, I want to go into a deep dive of the real revelation, our understanding, our biblical teaching on what is water baptism. But here tonight, we've already had on Sunday this simple proclamation, this simple command, this simple teaching of what water baptism is, but I want to remove all the debris out of the way. I want to deal with some of the issues that stir up controversy, because I believe it's used to minimize the real central teaching of water baptism.

And while you have your eyes on those little side issues, do you know what doesn't get taught in the church? The real meaning of water baptism, and I'm fully persuaded it is rare to hear messages, teachings, series, or proclamations on the real meaning of water baptism. But let's read here Acts chapter 2, reading from verse 38. Then Peter said unto them, Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.

And ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost for the promises unto you and your children and to all that are far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did he testify and exhort saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. Let's pray together.

You know, listening to those prayers that have already ascended from here, I feel almost embarrassed or out of a job to even pray. You know, when the saints begin to pray, my heart rejoices. When the saints lay hold of the throne of God, I delight in that.

I rejoice. As a preacher, my heart is gladdened. But let's pray together again for the Word of God.

Father, I do pray that even tonight that you'd settle every argument, every question, every dispute of men. Lord God, we want no issue in the hearts or the minds to hinder even this act of water baptism. We don't want to get caught up with these side issues that are stirred up in the church.

We don't want to get caught, Lord God, by false doctrines, extremism, or dogmatism that isn't biblical. Father, we want to come back to the very heart of the doctrine of water baptism, what it means, O God, what your Word teaches about it. And Lord God, tonight, Lord God, let many things be laid to rest, many arguments, many thoughts, many imaginations.

Lord God, deliver your saints, deliver this church. Lord God, all those that listen to us online, Lord God, deliver them, O God, from every controversy of men. Bring them to the Word of God.

Make them very careful about what they hear, about what they get drawn into. Lord God, of every false interpretation of the Word of God. Father, we're asking that the Spirit of truth would bless us tonight.

All we desire is the doctrine of Christ on water baptism. We desire to experience its power in each one of our lives. In Jesus' mighty name.

Father, lead us and guide us and keep us from every false understanding of your Word. In Jesus' mighty name. Amen.

Amen. As we come to the Word of God tonight, we want to deal with this vital issue, part two, controversies surrounding water baptism. What do I mean about controversies? I mean fights, disputes, arguments, false teaching.

That's what I mean about controversy. Two different people having different opinions and fighting over what the Bible says. Or two different denominations, churches, preachers.

But usually it's not two. It's multiplied hundreds and thousands, all arguing about what the text of scripture means. We want to take heed to this.

Listen to what it says in 2 Peter 3 and 16. And just after this, he begins to talk about water baptism. But listen to what he says.

He says, in which, talking about the scriptures or the letters of Paul, in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned, in other words, untaught, are not taught correctly. So they're unlearned and unstable. So it's talking about certain kind of people in the church, even in Peter's day, when Paul was alive, Peter was alive, John was alive, and all the disciples, the apostles trained by Christ.

This was an issue in the church. Peter is saying here that some things written in the Bible, in the epistles, can actually be taken by those who are unlearned. They haven't been taught.

They're not taught correctly. Or they're too immature to understand what it means. They can read it.

They have thoughts about it. They hear opinions about it. But they're called unlearned, concerning the actual text of the Bible.

Also unstable. Unstable means one moment they're going this direction. The next minute they're going this direction.

One minute they believe this. The next minute they believe something else. They are constantly unstable, concerning the scripture.

They're always changing their opinions, always finding something new, always making mistakes on it. Do you see the danger? It's not enough to have an apostle teaching you. It's not enough to have the letters of Jesus Christ before you.

That isn't enough. You see, there's a danger that those who aren't grounded or established in what the Word of God says, they're unlearned. They're ignorant.

They don't understand what certain verses mean. But also there's those, they keep meaning, or sorry, they keep moving around about what those things mean. Listen to what happens then.

It says, those that are unlearned and unstable, they rest them. That means twist them or remove them from their context. Pull them out of the right place.

So there's a danger if you're untaught in the church and you could have sat under a Peter or a Paul, but you're untaught, it doesn't mean that you haven't been taught. It doesn't mean that. Neither does that mean that you don't have the Bible before you and you can't read it and understand it in English.

It doesn't mean that. But it talks about those unlearned and unstable. They have good teaching.

They've got a Bible in their hands, but they're always moving. And really in their minds and hearts, they don't really understand what it means. It says they are in danger of resting these things as they do also with other scriptures onto their own destruction.

Do you know if you take the word of God and believe the wrong thing about it, you could destroy your soul. It's not only wrong lifestyle that could damn you, but wrong belief of scripture. If you believe the wrong thing about scripture, it could send you to hell.

It could be a very important thing, a very influential thing in your life to send you to an internal hell. You know why? Because you're unlearned. You don't have a right understanding of it.

You keep moving all over the place concerning it. You begin to pull it out of its true meaning. You get carried away with false doctrine and you could end up damned because of believing wrong doctrine.

And so Peter here, he actually deals with this or gives such a warning. My message here tonight, controversies surrounding water baptism. Some of the things I mentioned aren't damnable.

It's not that every time you get something wrong in scripture, it's damnable. It's not. You could be wrong in many things in your understanding, but it won't damn you.

But there are other things if you get wrong, your soul is in danger. So I want to help you tonight. Just as we look at baptism briefly, I want to move away just a few of the arguments, the controversies that are all through the church.

I want to help to settle these so that we can get on and then deal with the important things. See everything I deal with tonight, most of it is not essential. Some of it's very essential, but I want to clear the ground so that we can go back and look at what the actual teaching of Jesus is.

The apostle Paul is in Romans six and we're going to do that over a few messages. So let me give you a few controversies in the church that are going on right now that are widespread, being promoted. And I believe the false ideas are gaining prominence and I don't like them.

I want to warn you about them. The first thing, and I'm going to ask you questions. Each one of these, you've got a choice between two things.

And so it's a controversy all about water baptism. I'm not asking you to respond. I'm just asking in your heart.

I'm not even asking you to answer it in your heart. I'm asking you, give me your ears. I'm asking you to understand what I'm saying here tonight.

The first thing is sacramentalism or a biblical practice. Now you may wonder, why would I make such a statement? Sacramentalism or water baptism? Do you know why it is? It's because of many evangelical Bible believing churches. There is a teaching being pushed all across the internet on videos by people who ought to know better.

And they have started to call water baptism a sacrament. Have you ever heard that word? A sacrament. And they're calling it sacramentalism.

Now this is very important because those who give heed, who study the word of God, talk a lot. They talk about water baptism. They talk about being a sacrament.

They talk about communion or breaking bread, being a sacrament. I want to tell you the word sacrament is a Catholic word. You cannot exchange sacrament for another term for water baptism.

I do not believe water baptism is a sacrament. The word sacrament is never ever used in the New Testament. And you know I'm a stickler.

Why use words that are not in the New Testament? We've got lots of words. Use biblical words. And so this term sacrament is a Latin word.

It goes right back to the time of the Roman Empire. The Latin language was the Roman language. It was the language of the Roman Empire.

And when the Roman armies used to march across the Middle East into Europe, each of the soldiers as they are being brought into the army, they took an oath, a solemn oath of allegiance to the emperor, to their service, to do their duty, to the empire. Do you know that was called a sacrament? A vow of solemn obligation, commitment, and obedience. Now people have taken that word sacrament and that's what baptism is.

No it's not. You're taking from a foreign language. But you know what? I don't call water baptism a sacrament.

I don't call the Lord's table a sacrament. It is a Catholic word. It has got Catholic connotation.

Heresy is connected to it. So as soon as our preachers, teachers, and churches start using the word sacrament, immediately you're on dangerous ground. What do you mean by that? Because I tell you what most of the church means by a sacrament.

A sacrament now is something that can save your soul. That's what the Catholic church think about it. A sacrament is a very sacred thing.

It is a religious term. So I don't want to be confused here. And this is where I'm starting tonight.

Is water baptism, is it a sacrament or is it a biblical practice? Do not call it a sacrament. Same with the Lord's table. In this hour, in this generation, they begin to give names to the Lord's table that are Catholic, that are ecumenical, that are denominational, that come out of church history, that come from the Latin language.

But our Bible, the New Testament, is written in the Greek language. That's why baptizo is the word given to baptism. Why replace that with calling it a sacrament? It's not a sacrament.

Baptism is an immersion. Baptism is an utter, utter baptism into something. And so we're going to stick with the biblical word here tonight.

We don't want Catholic words. What they do as well, they call the Lord's table the Eucharist. It's just the Eucharist, our Lord's table, our communion.

No, it's not. Eucharist is a Catholic word. It is a Latin word.

Stay with biblical language. And so what they begin to say, and great teachers in this hour, they're beginning to say, well, we need to get back to sacramentalism. There's those that are all into experience, but we need to come back.

And these actions like taking the Lord's table or water baptism, this is sacramental Christianity. I'm going to tell you, that's a load of tripe, okay, to put it nicely. It isn't sacramental Christianity.

Every true Christian is going to get baptized in water. Every true Christian believes in the Lord's table and the breaking of bread and the emblems of bread and the fruit of the vine. That's what they believe.

That isn't sacramentalism. You know, I've heard a lot of them talk in recent days and they say, well, evangelicals have a low view of baptism and the Lord's table or Pentecostals have never had a high view of the Lord's table or water baptism. That is not true.

Don't believe propaganda. I absolutely radically believe in the Lord's table. I can remember the first time I ever took of this table of bread, of juice in remembrance of the death of Jesus.

I am a great believer in water baptism, of its physical action, of obedience to Christ. That has always been part of the real church. So don't tell me that you get the sacramentalist and then you get the rest of us that have a low view of this.

I want to tell you, there are those out there who have a low view of water baptism, but not us in this church. You must believe, you must repent, you must be baptized in water. It's not an option.

It's not a choice. It is a biblical command, but we're not becoming sacramentalists. We're not becoming Catholics.

We're not becoming ritualistic because you know what happens with that? It then becomes water baptism instead of being a simple act of obedience, a simple symbolic thing that we do that has real meaning, that has an entire biblical teaching. Do you know what it becomes? It becomes a thing of words, ceremony, religiosity. Now you're into feelings, the five senses, what you say, how you do it, how you move, what you wear, the smells.

That's the direction of religion. Where you see religion, ritualism, sacramentalism, it's always pulling you towards Catholicism. So that's the first thing.

I just had to get that bee out of my bonnet. I had to get that out of the way first of all. Sacramentalism or biblical practice, don't come to me with Catholic words or Latin words.

Don't do that. Let's stick to the words of scripture. You'll spend the rest of your life just trying to understand the simple repeated words of scripture.

And so you don't get the word sacrament used for these things. Water baptism is baptizo. It's a simple act of being plunged beneath the water.

Second of all, and this is where I left you on Sunday morning, but let me bring you back to it. Second of all, Trinitarian or Unitarian. Should you use a Trinitarian formula or a oneness formula in the words when baptizing you? In other words, should I say, I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, or should I say, baptize you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ? What should I do? Does it matter? Does something hinge on it? What does the scripture say? Listen, and this is where I left you on Sunday.

It says in Matthew 28, 19, this Jesus speaking, go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. That seems very plain, doesn't it? Go baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. What words should we use? What baptismal formula? Does it matter the words that we say when you go to be baptized? There's a group in our world called UPC, the United Pentecostal Churches International.

They're a group that started in America. They split from the assemblies of God in 1916. There was a revival, a Pentecostal revival.

It went worldwide. It was very evangelistic. It was very fervent.

There was real power in their midst. And in 1916, the movement called Assemblies of God, which in history over the past 100 years became the fastest growing spiritual movement in our entire world. It was a dynamic revival missionary movement.

But at an early stage in 1916, it split right down in the middle for this one issue. Were you baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ or in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? And one of the most important men in that dispute who saved the assemblies of God, who stood strong, who taught biblically was a man called Robert A. Brown from Fermanagh in Inneskillen in the north of Ireland. He had moved to New York.

He was a man of the Word of God. And he preached repeatedly, water does not save you. Formulas do not save you.

It is the blood of Jesus Christ. He was a great man. But out of that dispute, when they finally dealt with it, these other churches were produced called Oneness Churches.

They began to say, you are not truly baptized unless you've been baptized only in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. They went further, said if you're not baptized in the name of Jesus and speaking in tongues, you're not born again, you're not saved. So unless the right words are said over you when you're baptized in water, you haven't been saved, you're not born again.

And they no longer said, we saw five people saved. They began to say in their churches, we had five people baptized in water because that's what saves a man. Now I'm telling you, about this thing of, is it Trinitarian or Unitarian? Not all people who emphasize being baptized in the name of Jesus believe that.

There's lots of people just dispute, well, it's more biblical to baptize in Jesus' name. This is what they actually say. They say, only once in the New Testament does Jesus say, be baptized in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, only once.

And this is what they say. They say, baptize in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Notice what they say.

They say, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not name. What is the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit? They said, Father is a title, not a name. Son is a title, not a name.

Holy Spirit is a title, not a name. Do you see how cunning controversy is? It begins to argue and debate over small issues like that, where you had no question before. Suddenly I've raised a question in your mind, simply through what I've said, something that you haven't even thought about before.

But I'm well-versed in this for 30 years, I want to tell you. And so they begin to look at the text and they say, what is the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit? Because Father isn't a name. So what is the name of Father, Son, Holy Spirit? Said, it's a name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

You may say, oh, I can see through that. Okay, let's go a bit further in their arguments. They say nowhere else in the entire New Testament are we told to baptize in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit.

Every single other time is only in the name of Jesus. Do you believe me tonight? Do you believe what I'm saying? Do you know what the answer to this is? Listen carefully to what the Bible says. Acts chapter 2, 38.

And Peter said unto them, repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ. Or what about Acts chapter 12? Listen carefully again. It says, for when they believe Philip's preaching, the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus, they were baptized, both men and women.

For as yet the Holy Ghost was fallen upon none of them, only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Do you see what I'm saying here? Then what about Acts chapter 10, 48? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Acts chapter 19, verse 4 and verse 5. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying that they should believe on him who should come after him.

That is on Christ Jesus. So when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Am I giving any of you some problem yet? So all through the book of Acts, you get this said very clearly every time.

And this is what they argue. Not just the UPC, but other people who believe that it's not saving you, but they just say that's more biblical. That's the biblical way.

Only in the name of Jesus. And I'll tell you where they're correct. They said baptism in water isn't a baptism into the father.

The father didn't die for you. He wasn't buried. He didn't rise again on the third day.

Neither did the Holy Spirit. So baptism is into the person of Christ. They are absolutely correct on that.

Absolutely 100% correct. And I agree with them. But listen.

So what's my answer to them? First of all, why are they pitching two scriptures against each other? They're pitching what Jesus says in Matthew 28 against every statement in the book of Acts. Why are they doing that? They're setting aside Matthew 28 and Jesus saying baptized in the name of the father, son, and Holy Ghost. And they say, let's follow all of the examples in the book of Acts.

That's what they say. Never set aside one scripture, ignore it, or minimize it in order to emphasize others. Never do that.

You've got to find an answer in this. Another thing that they say, they actually say that you get the command in Matthew 28. Then you get the practice in the book of Acts.

So they say every time in the book of Acts, you're seeing how they obey Jesus' words. How did they obey his command to baptize in the name of the father, son, Holy Spirit? Well, you see it all through the book of Acts. They've done it in the name of Jesus.

That's not true what they say. All through the book of Acts, not once do you have a baptismal formula. Never once do you say, do you read, Peter said, be baptized in Jesus' name.

Not once. What you read all through the book of Acts, every time you get word of baptism, it was done in the name of Jesus. They're not giving you the words that they spoke.

They're giving the authority. Now listen closely. In Matthew 28, baptize in the name of the father, the son, and the Holy Ghost.

In the previous verse, Jesus said, all power, remember the word, all power, exousia, authority or right was given unto me. Now he says, go baptize in the name of the father, son, Holy Spirit. What does name denote in the New Testament? It denotes authority, representing someone.

Do you know in water baptism in the great commission, he said, go baptize in the name of the father, son, Holy Ghost. Do you know what he said? Go with the authority. I've received power.

I've received authority from the father. I've received that authority. Now I give the same authority to you.

He's shown you the complete authority structure. That's what he's shown, that father, son, and Holy Ghost has given you the authority, the power, the right to go baptize people in water. Do you know all three are at work in water baptism? The father commands it.

The father teaches it. The father organizes it. The father calls men.

Then Christ, we're baptized into Christ, into his death, his burial, his resurrection. Then we see the work of the Holy Spirit coming and confirming. Remember the Holy Spirit came down when Christ stood in the river? All three are there.

The heaven's open. The father says, I'm well pleased in my son who's getting water baptized. You have all three at work in water baptism.

Now when you come to a book of Acts, it often, it says, go do all things in the name of Jesus. There's no exclusion of the father and of the Holy Spirit, never. But you're to heal in Jesus name.

Remember what Jesus even taught. You're even to give a glass of water in my name. You're to do everything in the name of Jesus.

Heal the sick in the name of Jesus. Cast out demons in the name of Jesus. It's not saying to use the word.

You don't even need to say the word in Jesus name. Here's a glass of water. I'm doing this in Jesus name.

Very important I say the formula. If I don't say the formula, there's no magic there. Do you see the danger of beginning to bring this down to words? Your baptism is not a real baptism if I don't say the right words.

Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? No way. Do you see how this has become a worldwide dispute? The UPC now have about 5 million church members worldwide and they're even in Ireland. And they'll argue, how were you baptized? What formula? What words were used? Some of them just want to see if your water baptism was authentic.

Others want to see if you're saved, if you're born again. If the right words weren't saved over you, then you're not born again. You're not saved.

You're not forgiven. You're still going to hell. And you know what they'll do? They'll re-baptize you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and say, now you're going to heaven.

Now you're right. Now you've been baptized into our church. This is a very dangerous thing.

And so I'm warning you of sacramentalism, of ritual, of Catholicism. I'm also warning you about extreme Pentecostal groups that are caught up in manifestations. They'll say you even have to speak in tongues and the words have to be right or you're not baptized in water.

When you come back to the word of God, you see it's in the authority. It's clear, Jesus says, it's in the authority of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. That's where the authority is.

It's in the name of God. That's where it is. We see it played out in the book of Acts, that it's in the name of the Lord Jesus.

And let me just note this once, that one of the times in Acts 10, it says, in the name of the Lord. The other places say, in the name of Jesus. So what, which is it? Obviously, even the book of Acts doesn't give an exact statement of baptismal formula.

Do you see how you've got to be careful? You could be caught up, and some have here, and I was even brought into confusion over it at a point. You can be caught up in that controversy. What about Romans chapter six that teaches you on the true meaning of water baptism? Do you see how you get caught up in that? Titles, names, controversy, and they're not teaching Romans chapter six.

I would rather someone come to me and say, are you experiencing Romans chapter six? Do you know about Romans six? But they're not saying that. They're saying, what name did you get baptized into? So I'm just warning you. I'm warning you about that.

It says in 2 Timothy 2.14, strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers. In other words, turning them upside down. It's like a tree planted in the ground, and if you turn it upside down, you pull it up by the roots, you destroy the tree, utterly destroy it.

This is talking about by arguing about little words, things that don't matter. You could destroy new Christians. Beware.

Number three, infant baptism or adult immersion. Now the simple statement is, let me give this simply. Infants, little children, cannot hear the gospel.

They don't understand the gospel. All through the teaching of Christ, Peter, Paul, the early church, the teaching is hear the gospel, believe the gospel, repent, and then be baptized. Repent and be baptized in water.

Believe and be baptized in water. Hear the gospel, receive it, and then be baptized in water. Infants can't do that, and yet when you look at the world and the church today, you'll see there are billions who believe that infant baptism actually is real baptism.

That if you weren't baptized as an infant, that if you get re-baptized after having been baptized as an infant, you've destroyed yourself. Your baptism is no baptism. They'll call you re-baptists, those who get re-baptized.

No, not at all, because this baptism was no baptism at all. The biggest movement in our world that believe in infants being baptized is the Catholic church. They have about 1.4 billion people, members, so at least one out of eight people in our world belong to the Catholic church and have been baptized or sprinkled as infants.

At least one out of eight people in our world that you may have experienced this, so you've got to know what the Bible actually says. What the Catholic church teaches is when they sprinkle a baby with water, baptizing it, they believe that it is washed from original sin. All you mummies that grew up in Catholicism or had your babies baptized, were they cleansed from original sin? I'm going to tell you not.

They definitely weren't. Don't tell me that this city of Limerick with all its water baptisms of little babies actually has given us a pure and a cleansed city. Not at all, but the Catholic church teaches that when that little baby is sprinkled with water, original sin is forgiven.

It receives a new nature. It is regenerated by the word spoken. It is birthed at that second by the Spirit of God.

It enters the kingdom of God. It becomes enlightened in its mind and understands the gospel. It becomes a son of light and it becomes a member of the body of Christ or a member of the Catholic church all by sprinkling water on this little infant.

Suddenly all these miracles take place. How? By the words of the priest, by certain words spoken by him, by this ceremonial sacrament, this little baby goes through all these transformations. The only problem is as they grow, you know and I know, they're no different than the vilest sinners out there.

In fact, the worst sinners in Limerick were all baptized as infants in the Catholicism. There's no power in it. There's no cleansing.

There's no new nature. There's no membership of the church. There's no faith, no repentance, no belief in the word of God.

Now the Catholic church believed that and have for some 16 to 1700 years. They believed in infant baptism and that it saves a soul. It makes you fit for the kingdom of God.

That's what they teach. Also the Eastern Orthodox church is a massive movement that's not much different than the Catholic church. The Eastern Orthodox churches, when they split, they also kept infant baptism but they submerged the baby.

They said, baptize the baby. So don't sprinkle the baby. They're more accurate.

They're more correct. They plunge the entire baby under the water. Sometimes several times per baby.

That's what the Eastern Orthodox church done. When the Reformation happened and the Protestants came out and the word Protestant doesn't mean to protest. It means to be true the word of God.

Those that came out of Catholicism were true scripture. That's what Protestant means. Don't let anyone tell you it means to protest.

It doesn't. That's a myth. It means that you believe in the scripture.

That's why they did protest against the Catholic church radically. But look at the churches that came out of the Reformation. The Lutheran church, the English Anglican church, the Presbyterian church, the Reformed or Calvinistic churches, the Methodist church, all these churches baptized infants.

Even though they began to preach you must be born again. You're justified by faith. You're saved by grace alone.

They all kept the practice of infant baptism. Martin Luther actually said he recognized that it wasn't biblical but he'd already upset the apple cart so much he decided to leave that alone. The Anabaptists who arose in Zurich in Switzerland, a bunch of young men under Zwingli.

Zwingli wouldn't get rid of infant baptism but he knew and believed that it was unbiblical. So did Luther. So did many of them.

But the Anabaptists were his students and they created the Anabaptist movement. They went back those young men sitting under Zwingli. Zwingli kept his infant baptism but his students went back and began to baptize full immersion.

As a believer you must have repentance. Now what's one of their arguments? They have a few arguments. They talk about in the New Testament household salvation or household baptism.

Listen to what it says in Acts chapter 16 14 concerning Lydia. And a certain woman named Lydia Sellar Purple of the city of Thyatira which worshiped God heard us whose heart the Lord opened that she attended on to these things which were spoken by Paul. And when she was baptized and her household, do you see that? She gets born again.

She gets saved. But when it comes to baptism it says her entire household was baptized. If you go back to Acts chapter 10 we read about the same about Cornelius's house.

Remember that centurion? Remember that man who called for Peter. Peter come preached and it says his entire household got baptized. We also read here in Acts 16 in Philippi about the jailer's house.

It says he believed but his whole household was baptized. So they begin to say look at this entire households, entire families with all their children and their infants were all baptized. If the leader of that home got born again came to faith in Christ the entire household got baptized in water.

There's a few problems with this. It says that all those that heard the word of God got baptized. Infants can't do that.

Saints of God you have to break the word of God. You can't take a statement like the entire household got baptized and assume when it doesn't say there the babies must have got baptized in water. That's a dangerous assumption.

You can't go beyond scripture. It's like all this prayer to the Holy Ghost, prayer to Mary, prayer to saints. How did Jesus teach? He says when you pray, pray like this.

Pray to the Father, our Father. He says don't pray to me, don't ask me anything in that day. You can talk to Jesus, you can worship him, you can do many things but he says don't ask me anything.

Ask the Father in my name. The Bible shows we should pray in the power of the Holy Spirit. Why do people pray? Why do they start saying oh Holy Spirit? Why do they do that? Why don't they stick with the words of Jesus? It's the same with the words of Jesus and Peter and Paul.

Repent and be baptized. Why are we saying infants can be baptized? Do you know what they do? They go back into the Old Testament and many of these folks, the ones who are born again, who practice infant baptism, they say oh it's the equivalent of circumcision in the Old Testament. Israel, the children were circumcised.

Then in the New Testament circumcision gets carried over to be baptism. Listen to what it says in Colossians 2.11, and whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands and putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, buried with him in baptism. So verse 11 he's talking about circumcision.

You experiencing spiritual circumcision. Then in the next verse he says you're buried with him in baptism. Here's Paul writing saying for you to really experience the equivalent of Old Testament circumcision, it's in your heart, it's spiritual, it's by God in your heart.

He circumcises your heart. Then he calls it buried with him in baptism. To be buried with Christ in baptism is spiritual circumcision.

From this they say, I don't say, they say. They say see the equivalent. What are baptism in the New Testament is the same as circumcision in the Old Testament.

No, it's not. First of all, every child in Israel was not circumcised. It was only the male, not the females that were circumcised.

So you can't carry that over. Also you had to convert to be a Jew to be circumcised. Also we know the fact that that was the mark of the covenant of law given through Moses but also to Abraham.

But it did not save Abraham. It was not a necessity. Here in the New Testament what it's talking about is the real spiritual meaning of circumcision.

He's not saying it's the literal act of water baptism. He's not saying that. He's saying it's the spiritual experience of being buried with Jesus Christ.

When you begin to look at the verses, the arguments that they make for infant baptism, remember this. Not one single infant is ever visibly baptized in water in the New Testament. Not one, not one clear example.

Whereas in the Old Testament with circumcision, we're given all the information. Circumcised the eighth day. You have incident after incident, Abraham being baptized, his children being baptized.

We're given about Moses and his child being circumcised. We have exact clear teaching of circumcision in the Old Testament of children time and time and time again. Exact information on the eighth day.

Why is it the eighth day? Your blood congeals to its highest extent on the eighth day. That's a medical fact. That's why God was saying it.

People couldn't have known that. God knew that. So he said the eighth day.

Nowhere in the New Testament are you given any of that information. What you are told is repent and believe and then be baptized in water. It excludes every infant, every child, every person who cannot understand the word of God.

Let me come to the next one. Inward cleansing or outward symbol. I'm giving you the main controversies here.

You know what I'm doing? I'm just giving you the things that billions are caught up with. You may say here, none of us believe these things. I know.

I know. I'm very happy about that. You may say, none of us are prone to fall into that.

Praise God then. You're blessed by God to understand the word of God. You're not unstable and you're not untaught then.

And you're not going to rest the scripture to your own destruction. Praise God for that. But I'm telling you billions, billions of people, more than a quarter, have been caught by the things I'm telling you of here.

And it's destroying them. And it's destroying the truth of God's word. It's leading them astray.

So you've got to know clearly. This next one, inward cleansing is water baptism. Is it an inward cleansing or an outward symbol? You may be here say, oh we know it's an outward symbol.

It doesn't save you, does it? It doesn't cleanse you from sin, does it? Or does it? You see, you may be so shallow in your biblical understanding, you don't even know the scriptures. Let me give you some of them. And then I want you to think on this.

I want you to consider this because these are the things that are actually confusing people. If I can actually find my notes on it here. Let me just give you a few of the scriptures.

Does water baptism save? Does it forgive? Does it cleanse? Is it saving or is it merely symbolic? You may think you're very clear on this. Let me give you the verses. Let me challenge you because this is how these people will argue.

Acts chapter 2, and Peter said unto him, repent. Clear? Be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. Do you see what I've just quoted to you there very clearly? For the remission of sins.

Or listen elsewhere what it actually says. In 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 21, reading from verse 20, which sometimes we're disobedient. When once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the ark was preparing, wherein few, that is eight souls, were saved by water.

Saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism does now also save us. Not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

You're going to find several verses in our New Testament that say, be baptized for the remission of sins. They actually teach from these verses that you need to be baptized in water to experience remission for sins. What's the word remission means? It means pardon, forgiveness, deliverance, the cancellation of your debt.

It's talking about freedom, liberty, release. Can I ask you, what would you answer someone who says you've got to be baptized in water in Jesus' name for the remission of your sins? Without being baptized in water, in the name of Jesus, you have no remission of sins. I wonder if you can answer that here tonight or online.

I wonder if you have this settled or does that cause you confusion? Peter also said baptism saves. What does that mean? Do you see how careful you have to be? You could sit here and say, I don't believe that. Well, why don't you believe it? What is your answer to that? You've never been confronted by it.

You've never had answers. Do you see how false teachers, false prophets, false movements can move in on you? And if you're not careful, you better be careful how people come in sideways to begin teaching. Listen, it says for the remission of sins.

The word for is the Greek word ais. It's used some 169 times and it can mean into or unto. And actually this word is used 16 different ways in our New Testament.

So you may say for the remission of sins. In other words, get baptized for the remission of sins. Then you will experience this remission or this forgiveness after water baptism.

See how just twisting one little word, one little word could depend where you put remission before or after water baptism. You've got to be very, very careful. That's why you need to know the word of God.

That's why you have to be very slow on what you listen to, even on YouTube. Listen, this Greek word, it means in reference to or in relation to, in regards to, concerning, in connection with, on the basis of, on the ground of. So listen again, be baptized in the name of Jesus on the basis of remission of sin or because of remission for sins.

It's actually saying the opposite. Be baptized because you've been redeemed, you've been forgiven, you've been set free because of redemption, blood redemption. Remember this ties into scriptures elsewhere in the New Testament.

How are you redeemed? What redeems you? Water? Does water? Do you have a clear verse that says you are redeemed by water? Absolutely not. It says in Hebrews 9.22, and without the shedding of blood is no remission, no forgiveness. It says in Matthew 26.28, for this is my blood in the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

Or Romans 3.25, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare the righteousness for the remission of sins. See how I state what they say and it confuses you. You don't have an answer.

You actually go, I've never seen this before, but then I immediately give you the answer. I'm not going into this thoroughly. I'm just touching on it because I'm showing you the controversies, the dispute around water baptism.

They take your focus away from it. I want to warn you, you can get caught up in all of these disputes and you know what? You miss the real essential emphasis on water baptism. You've got to be extremely careful with all of these things.

I've got much to say, but I want to finish with two brief statements. I've been dealing with the controversies surrounding water baptism and you know why? I want you to be very focused on what we're going to teach on water baptism. Don't be focused on the words that are spoken over you.

Yes, it's important. If someone baptizes you in someone's name, in the name of Keith Malcolmson, you better worry. That's really in the name of Joseph Smith, you better worry.

We're not talking about being stupid. Of course the doctrine matters. Of course it matters very importantly that you know you're being baptized into Christ, but it's not words that save you.

It's not even the person who baptized you in water makes your baptism real. There was a big dispute in the church about that. What if they backslide? What if they weren't a real Christian? Well, was your faith real? Did you believe in him? So you've got to be careful, but I've got two brief things here.

One is being baptized into the church. Does water baptism baptize you into the church? Listen to the scripture. 1 Corinthians chapter 12, 13.

And this is a teaching in the reformed churches. The churches that don't believe in the baptism and the Holy Ghost as a separate experience. That's how you usually teach this.

Or Baptist churches that say, unless you're baptized in water, you can't be a member of the church. You can't take of communion. You're not a functioning member unless you've been baptized in water.

Listen to what it says. For by one spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jew or Gentile, whether we be bond or free and have been all made to drink into one spirit. On the basis of this one scripture, they say you've got to be baptized in water to become a member of the local church.

They say it's obvious by one spirit, we are all baptized into one body. And so you've got to be baptized in water. They say the baptism here spoken about is being baptized in water.

No, it's not. The word is by one spirit, we are baptized into one body. It's not water that makes you a member of the body of Christ.

Never. It actually says here, it is the spirit that baptizes you into the body of Christ. In other words, the Holy Spirit takes you and immerses you, drenches you into it.

It's the Holy Spirit who does that. Not water. It is literally a work of the Holy Ghost.

Not a man baptizing you, but the Holy Spirit. And look, it's not baptism into water. It's baptism into the church.

That's very different. This is one of the most important scriptures that gets neglected in the church today. Because when it's not understood, it gets confused.

The Baptists and the Reformed folk, they also use this scripture to say, this is the baptism in the Holy Ghost. It's not a separate, distinct baptism like Acts 2. This is. The baptism in the Holy Ghost is here.

And it is to make you a member of the body of Christ. No, it isn't. What is the baptism in the Holy Ghost? It's Jesus baptizing you in the Holy Spirit.

That isn't water baptism. It's the preacher baptizing you in water. So, what's this verse? It's the Holy Spirit, not Jesus.

The Holy Spirit baptizing you into the church. So, you need to see here. And look what it says.

For by one spirit are we all baptized into one body. One body. It's not a membership day when you join the church.

It's talking about a work in the heart. That the Holy Spirit works in your heart to make you a member of the local church. That's an inward work of the Holy Spirit.

And so, this scripture is often used. You're not a member and you can't take communion unless you've been baptized in water. That is not true.

They use this scripture. You'd be welcome to take a communion if you weren't baptized in water. And I hope those who are going to be baptized in water on Sunday have been breaking bread.

Have been taking communion prior to this. But let me finish with one last thing. Baptism for the dead.

I can't deal with the controversies without just finishing with this. It's not a controversy amongst you. Us are born again Christians.

But the Mormon church, if you ever speak to them, they speak about this. And in fact, their whole teaching of baptism. Baptism for the dead.

They go to scripture 1 Corinthians 15 29. And there's Paul speaking. Else, what shall they do which are baptized for the dead? If the dead rise not at all, why are they then baptized for the dead? The Mormon church, the church of the latter-day saints, they say this verse.

And they're the only church in the entire world who say this. They say, they as a church get baptized for the dead. Do you know the Mormons do that? They practice.

They go back into the genealogies. That's why some of the best genealogy sites are going to be Mormon run. They go back through the generation.

They have entire armies of people on the internet searching out dead people, their names, their details of their birth and their death. They never met them. They were never Mormons.

But what they're doing is in Salt Lake City or somewhere in Ireland, and they go through this process. They're being baptized for this dead person. Some of your relatives, they've been baptized for them.

They never asked your opinion or your permission. And they say, no, this person is a member of the Mormon church. So their Mormon church membership is exploding because they're going back into the past, the 20th century, the 19th, the 18th, 17th, 16th, and they're being baptized for dead people on their behalf.

And the Mormons, they believe many false doctrines, many. They're not Christian. You know that thing, what is it, the film on Jesus' life on The Chosen? It's Mormon backed.

It's to unify Mormonism with the born again evangelical church of the world. That's the purpose behind it, to unify with Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and with Mormons, all unifying. I want to tell you, Mormonism from top to bottom is heretical.

Not one of their doctrines is correct. We met, there was, I think, six of them come in here one night. I think Ian tricked them into coming in.

There they were. I won't tell you how he done it, but he got them in here and then left them. He'd done that a few times, getting the Mormons, prayer Mormons in here.

Then he'd leave and said, there you go, Keith. You deal with them or someone else deal with them. Those Mormons who came in the last time, haven't visited recently, so we must be on the bad list.

But they sat there and they tried to say, I said, what's different between your church and my church? I mean, what do you have that we don't have? They said, baptism. And I said, I've been baptized. I said, oh, but not apostolic baptism.

I said, well, what does your apostolic baptism look like? Oh, it's got to be by an apostle. I said, that's strange. They said, what? Said, well, in Acts chapter eight, it was Philip the evangelist who baptized hundreds, if not thousands.

They had no answer. We just began to discuss. And they said, by the end of the first century, real baptism was lost.

I said, so you're telling me for 1800 years until Joseph Smith come along, nobody got correctly baptized. Yes. 1800 years, no one baptized correctly apart from Joseph Smith and the Mormon church when they began.

Yes. I want to tell you, there are false teachings about water baptism. You need to know what you believe.

You need to know it's those redeemed by the blood of Jesus that get baptized in water. You only get redeemed by blood, not by water. Your baptism isn't real because of phrases and terms and words spoken that we try to have a biblical statement.

I always say when I'm baptizing someone, I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Ghost, into the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So I've just tried to stay as biblical as I possibly can. But I tell you, it's not water that saves you.

It's not words that save you. It's the blood of Jesus that saves you. And when you go to Peter and he begins to say that Noah's ark was a type and a picture of being saved and that waters of baptism save you.

Listen to what he actually says. He says, that's a figure. And he says, it's not the water.

It's not the washing away of the filth of the flesh or of the old nature. It's not that that saves you, but it's the answer of a good conscience towards God. And he emphasized it's the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Saints, we need to be careful about controversies. Or else, do you know what you could find? You could spend years embroiled in thoughts, doubts, questions, losing the power of this, and you spend no time in Romans chapter six. You don't even know what the real symbolic meaning of your actual water baptism is.

You so lose it that you're caught up in all these things. Infant baptism, sprinkling, all of these ancient church doctrines, traditions of men are the latest newest movement that begins to say you get washed, cleansed in that water, and you lose the power of the biblical teaching that we're experiencing. We're in obedience, obeying the command of Christ.

It is symbolic. Symbolic. What's happening Sunday isn't the finality of it.

When we do this water baptism, it's a symbol. It represents something. It's an act of obedience.

But do you know what? There's a teaching, an entire body of teaching in Scripture all about what that three-minute water baptism means. And you know what? You'll spend the rest of your Christian life living out water baptism. It's real meaning.

You may not even remember your experience of water baptism. You may not have understood what it meant when you're baptized in water. That's fine.

It's an act of obedience. But you spend the rest of your Christian life coming to the doctrinal teaching of water baptism. Let's pray together.

Father, we love you. We thank you, O God. We don't want to be confused.

We don't want to be in error. Nor, God, we don't want to be resting the Scriptures, pulling them out of their context. We don't want to, nor, God, be unstable.

We don't want to be untaught. But, O God, we want to be those that are grounded in Scripture, established in the truth of God. We want a clear understanding of what the Bible teaches.

And, Father, we want the teaching of the Holy Spirit that was given by Christ and Paul and Peter and the apostles and the New Testament writers. Nor, God, I ask of you, establish these saints of God. Nor, God, anchor them in the revelation of Christ, knowing they've been washed and redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, that water can never forgive.

Water can never change the nature of a man or cleanse him or make him a part of the body of Christ. But, O God, it's a wonderful act of obedience filled with symbolic meaning. Nor, God, with doctrines and teachings about it.

In the word of God, Father, help us to understand this simple biblical action of being baptized in water in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We praise you and we worship you here tonight in Jesus' name. Amen.