Questions No.8 Who can be Baptised?

I was greeted very warmly at the door and shown to my seat at the back. I could never explain the feeling that I felt when I came in here. Eventually I realized that there are people after all, you know, and just entirely different from what I think it would be.

That first evening seems to enlighten me a bit and I realized that the people around us are very happy and I decided, well, I'll give it a try. I was invited to tea and biscuit in all and I enjoyed it very much. I met Cathy again for the second time, which seems to bring back something that I'm actually looking for, people you could talk to and share and laugh and feel at ease with.

I thank the Lord for that very much. I was invited to the coffee bar in a Wednesday night. I met Tony there.

I was very full of myself, confident, but that feeling I wanted to feel, it wasn't there up to now, up to that time. Tony came in and I went in the next room with him and was talking to him and I tell him a couple of things about myself and he started to explain to me and asked me to read John chapter four, I think it was. I read through it and after reading it, he asked me, what have you learned? So I says, well, I read it, but it just went through my mind completely.

So Tony seems, you know, like he'd want to grab me by the collar. He just said, well, sit down there. And he started to read with me and he explained it to me very well.

Afterward, he asked me to pray and I said to myself, well, what am I going to say? Because I haven't been praying before. So he said, say anything. So I started to pray and after I pray about, well, just say a couple of things, I says to him, is that enough? So Tony looked at me like to say, I wonder what we have here.

That's the way I felt at the time. And the chaotic wall, the prayer in the back, he says, should repeat it. So I repeat the prayer and I realized that every verses I finished, my voice started to go.

And when I finish, Tony says, I should sign it. I did sign it. And he put, I remember he put in his arms on my shoulder and it was like, what would you call a electric shock? That would be the only description.

But the feeling that go through my body from head to my toes, my hair was standing on end and my inside started shaking. And he left and Kathy bring me a cup of coffee. And I realized that I couldn't drink the coffee then.

I was shaking too much. And eventually Kathy leave me because she realized what had happened to me. Not because your story isn't fascinating, it is, but just tell the folk now briefly why it is that you're going to be baptized this evening.

I am going to baptize this evening because God says, believe and be baptized. And you've confessed Jesus Christ as your Savior. And I have confessed Jesus Christ as my Savior.

Thank you very much, Ken. Thank you. Martin, Martin Goodall.

Good evening. Good evening. My first experience with Jesus Christ was about eight years ago.

In those days, I used to take a lot of drugs, LSD being one of them. And I had a very bad experience on the LSD. And what I could do all night long was pray to Jesus to come into my life and save me.

Save me from that night, which he did. He helped me to go to sleep. And when I woke up the next day, just to be alive and sane was a really fantastic experience.

But I didn't carry it through. I went for eight years, just drifting. And about six months ago, I came down to the tab and heard Tony, which really got me interested.

And I went to Abundant Life meetings in Brighton, which there I came to the Lord. I really came to the Lord. And I was blessed in the Holy Spirit.

And I still feel the joy of the Lord now. I'm here to confess that I know that Jesus loves me. And I'm here to be baptized in obedience for Jesus, because I want to obey him in everything I do.

Thank you for listening. Now, David Hill. I was brought up in a non-Christian home.

The only time I ever went to the church was at Christmas with my family. I always thought God was there, but he seemed very distant, not to be involved in everyday life. I had this idea when I left school and joined the Navy.

I can't remember why I joined. I think it just seemed an idea at the time. I didn't really know what to do with myself.

I arrived at Plymouth and joined HMS Raleigh. After a few weeks, I realized what the Navy life was all about. The main aim in life seemed to be to drink as much as possible when you went ashore and enjoy yourself.

The thought, I thought it was stupid, and it seemed just to be escaping the reality of life, what it's all about. I knew there was something more to just going out and enjoying yourself, living for tomorrow. It really made me think, what am I living for and what's the point of my life? Three months later, I left the Navy and found myself back home.

My father was very upset that I'd come out of the Navy, as he really wanted me to be in there. I went through a few temporary jobs before returning to education through college. My brother had become a Christian a few months before and started to tell me of the gospel, but I had now become totally absorbed in my studies.

And I put all his words away, seeping my brain in the books. Soon the course was over and I found myself unemployed again, and unable to get a job. I had a feeling of deep desperation.

My brother kept on about this church, and in the end I gave in and came in so he wouldn't keep on about it. The first time I came, I found it a little interesting, but I didn't really listen, and decided to come again the next week. I sat by myself the next time.

I can't remember anything of the sermon, but I remember feeling there was something missing from my life. There was a great chasm missing. At the end, I was sitting by myself and everybody else had walked past.

One of the stewards saw I was sitting there and came over to talk to me. And straight away he asked me if I was a Christian. We got talking and he eventually had to go, so he sent me to Tony.

He asked me this question. If you died tonight and went to the entrance of heaven, what reason would you give Jesus to let you in? I had no answer. Tony told me of the barrier between man and God, which is sin.

And if I wanted to get to heaven, I must be pure and have no sin in me. He told me all I had to do was to pray to Jesus, asking him to take my sin and to come into my life. At the time, I didn't really understand that.

I prayed, asking him to show me. And a few days later, he did this when I was walking home one night. I wasn't really thinking about God, but it came into my mind.

And I just knew I had to do it. So in the middle of my Broadwater cream, I got on my knees and prayed to God to come into my life. I was filled with a great joy which I never felt before.

And I now know that Jesus is Lord and that he rules my life and my life should be serving him. And that's why I want to be baptized in him. St. Mark chapter 7, verse 1. The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and saw some of his disciples eating food with unclean that is, ceremonially unwashed hands.

The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.

So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with unclean hands? He replied, Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, hypocrites, as it is written. These people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain.

Their teachings are but rules taught by men. You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men. And he said to them, you have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions.

For Moses said, honor your father and mother and anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death. But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban, that is a gift devoted to God, then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down and you do many things like that.

And again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, listen to me everyone and understand this, nothing outside a man can make him unclean by going into him. Rather it is what comes out of a man that makes him unclean. And after he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable.

Are you so dull, he asked, don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him unclean? For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach and then out of his body. In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean. He went on, what comes out of a man is what makes him unclean.

For from within out of men's hearts come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man unclean. May God help us to understand that reading of his word.

Now I want to read a couple of verses from the first epistle of Peter and the third chapter. And towards the end of that rather interesting chapter, you discover a reference is made to to baptism. And also a reference is made to a man by the name of Noah.

1 Peter chapter 3. And the 20th verse speaks of God waiting patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water. And this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also.

Not the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God's right hand with angels, authorities, and powers in submission to him. Now keep your bibles open at that passage please.

And let's just pray for a moment. Father, we ask that as we have already sensed your presence this night, that you will continue to speak to us as in a simple fashion we look into your word and try to establish more pointers as to the reason why we should commit our lives to Jesus Christ and give evidence of that commitment through water baptism. And this we ask for his sake.

Amen. I want to speak for a while this evening on who can be baptized. Who can be baptized? And in answering that particular question, I will also have given information that is vital for any who perhaps are seeking a way in which they can find peace, the way in which they can find peace with God.

I'm reminded of a story that I was told by a missionary on the Seychelles who came from America, and the story amused me. Though whether I can get the point across as well as he did, I'm not so sure. But he was referring to the days in the southern states of the U.S. when in some churches, although it sounds incredible now looking back down the years, segregation was practiced.

And only whites could attend some Baptist churches and blacks others. Well, according to this story, there was one negro and having come across to America, he went to one of these churches and ultimately he found himself in heaven. And he was interviewed by Peter.

And Peter, wishing to establish his church connection, asked him to which fellowship he'd gone. And this colored brother said, well, I went to that Baptist church there in the southern states. And Peter was surprised.

You went there, but they don't allow colored men. Well, they said, I went there and there's no problem at all. You went there and you took part in the hymns and nobody turned you out.

No, no, nobody turned me out at all. In fact, he said, I was baptized in that church. And Peter said, you were baptized in that church? Yeah, he says.

In fact, come to think of it, that's the last thing that I do recall being baptized in that there church before I came here. Well, so much for the stories that missionaries tell on the Seychelles. But perhaps in a humorous fashion, and that can be forgiven in an attempt to gain the attention of people.

There is a very real reason why you and I should consider this whole business of baptism and what it is to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Just before Peter makes reference to the necessity of baptism in this somewhat difficult chapter, from which I've just read two or three verses, he tells us of an occasion early on in human history when eight souls committed themselves to the ark, Noah and his family of seven. And they were saved from the waters that flooded the earth by the flood inasmuch as the ark sailed on top of the water.

Now, says the apostle Peter, that ark represents in one sense the salvation which Jesus offers. Water stands for the death which caused Jesus to go to the cross. Plunged into it, into that death, we identify ourselves with the Lord Jesus.

Raised with him on the third day after he had been crucified, we discover the benefits of salvation. And therefore, the apostle makes it very plain. The reason why a person follows Jesus Christ is that in and through his death and resurrection, he may float away ultimately into heaven's own harbor and know eternal security while he spends his remaining years here on this earth.

Well, again, Peter faces this question. Who then should be baptized? And it seems to me, when you look at the 21st verse of 1 Peter 3, that the first thing that really hits you is this. Not those who are nominal ought to be baptized.

Not those who are nominal, I'll justify the point in a moment or so from the text. You are looking at a nominal supporter of Sheffield Wednesday football team. I selected to support Wednesday simply because I had an older brother and he supported Sheffield United.

All my life, I have been tried to be somewhat different from him in trying to outdo him in some degree, at least in earlier years. But my support was utterly nominal. I have argued as a teenage boy that Sheffield Wednesday were supremos as far as football is concerned.

And to tell you the truth, to absolve myself of guilt for nominal supporting of Wednesday over the years, I've never even seen them play football. You can't be any more nominal than that. Now, can you? In the south of India, there are millions of people who claim to be Christian.

Yet their claim is based on the very, very slender thought that they bear a literal Christian name. There's no other commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ at all apart from that slender one. And here the apostle tells us about the salvation which Jesus offers and what it does.

And he says it does not affect the removal of dirt from the body. In other words, committing yourself to Jesus Christ, being baptized as a result of that commitment has nothing to do with being nominal or superficial at all. You remember the chapter that Ian read? And this justifies my point.

Here was our Lord and he was confronted with a group of people who should have known better. They were the religious elite of those days, the religious leaders. And they had a lot of rules and regulations, particularly on how to wash up cups and saucers and things like that.

Now, you may feel that that is quite removed from anything that has to do with religion and to some degree perhaps you will be right. But these folks had so got themselves entangled with things that didn't really matter. They got a tradition that was as long as your arm and there were rules and sub-rules and sub-sub-rules which they had made up.

And when they saw the disciples of Jesus not washing their hands before they had a cup of, I was going to say tea, but obviously they couldn't have drunk tea, so whatever they did drink in those days before they did that, then they criticized the disciples and they came to the Lord Jesus and said, look, here are your people, your followers. And they don't follow our traditions at all. And Jesus in effect cut right through their criticism and says, look, you're just nominal.

You're bothered about what's cosmetic, what's superficial. You're bothered about such practices as washing your hands and how to wash your cups and so on and so forth. But what you don't understand is that your heart is stained by sin.

And unless somebody exposes your hypocrisy and the nominal aspect of your religion, then you can never make heaven. You can never be forgiven before my heavenly Father. You see, the point our Lord was making, and he has to make it time and time again, is he's not interested in nominal disciples.

I once saw a cartoon, it was rather cynical. It was of monks in a monastery. And they came down obviously to their washroom one morning and there was a picture of the monks washing their hands.

But there were three taps over each sink. And they were labeled hot, cold, and holy. Well, as I say, it was quite a cynical picture of monks.

And there are those who feel that somehow or other by superficial application of a religious rite, even to the extent of holy water, though that perhaps is not the best example, superficially they can commit themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ. But you can't. Those who are to be baptized cannot be nominal, because Jesus Christ is not interested in nominal Christianity.

And you can take that from me as being something that's illustrated throughout the Gospels. Jesus did not cling on to every potential convert. It's only modern evangelicals, to a large extent, who have introduced that practice.

Jesus said, look, before you follow me, work it through. On one occasion, there were a number of would-be followers of Jesus. And before they would absolutely commit themselves to him, each one gave the same excuse.

Lord, I want to be your disciple, but let me first go and do this. Let me first go and do something else. Let me first do the other.

And Jesus said, no way. Me first is ridiculous, if you're going to be my disciple. Me must always be second, or third, or not come into the picture at all.

You see, Jesus Christ is concerned about those who will not just be nominal. And he cuts through any sort of superficial commitment to himself. So, I repeat, those who are to be baptized, certainly are not amongst the nominal.

And it seems to me that that is what Peter is getting at, when he says that baptism has nothing to do with the cosmetic removal of dirt from the body. It's nothing to do with nominal and superficial approaches to the Christian faith. Neither, secondly, can a person be baptized if they are amongst the ranks of the skeptical.

Listen again to Peter, and I'll justify the point. This water symbolizes baptism, that now saves you also. Not the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a good conscience.

What's that got to do with denying the skeptical from following Jesus? Well, let's take that word pledge for a moment. In the Greek language, it's, In the Greek language, it's stipulatio. And that gives us the English word stipulation.

If, for example, you enter into a contract, shall we say, with a solicitor, or maybe you get a solicitor to act on your behalf. You want to purchase a house. There may be certain stipulations.

There may be certain things that you have to agree to, before that particular contract can go through. Now, that's exactly the same with following the Lord Jesus Christ, and making him your savior. There are certain stipulations.

There is a pledge that is undertaken. Do you accept the terms of the contract? When Roman soldiers joined the army, not only was there a stipulatio, a contract that was voiced to them, they made a response. And that response gives us our word sacrament.

And with their fist over their heart, they would say with the rest of the regiment, as they responded to the pledge, that they would serve Caesar and defend the borders of the empire. That goes for me too. That goes for me too.

And all the way down the regiment, one man after another man after another man, when the stipulatio was read out, the sacrament would follow. You could not be a skeptical member of the army of Caesar. The might of imperial Rome was vested in its military force.

It was too important. Men had to pledge themselves and respond to the pledge in terms of a sacrament. And that forever put to flight those who were timid and weak-hearted.

They could not be members of the forces of any of the Caesars. Now that's precisely the word that Peter uses when he talks about baptism. Baptism not only excludes those who are nominal, it excludes those who are skeptical.

Those who have got any reservations whatsoever regarding the necessity to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. But what is the nature of the pledge and the response that is made? Not the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. Do you know what it is to have a conscience that's freed from troubling you? Do you know what a conscience is? Well, a cynical definition is a conscience is that still small voice which tells you what other people should do.

But an accurate definition is that a conscience can be God's voice speaking to you about certain things that you did that were wrong and certain things that you didn't do that you ought to have engaged in. On one occasion, an Indian was asked what he understood about the word conscience. And this is his response.

Oh yes, I know what my conscience is. It's a little three-cornered thing which is placed in my heart. When I am good, it stands still.

When I do wrong, it spins round and hurts me. If I do wrong repeatedly, year after year, the corners are ground down and there's no longer any pain. That is brilliant psychology and it's also brilliant theology.

Do you know why people commit themselves to Jesus generally in the earlier years of their lives? Because then the conscience is that three-pointed triangle which spins round and hurts. Thank God for the relative innocence of youth. But when you constantly do wrong and you pitch your standard at less than the standard your conscience would give to you, you wear the edge out.

And the Bible talks about a seared conscience. That means one that's been made numb. It no longer registers.

You ask me why there are men in their fifties and sixties in the pornography trade in the United Kingdom exploiting womankind let alone the weaknesses of other men and my response is this. They have a conscience that once existed but the edges have been taken off and they no longer feel the pain. And when a man gets into that condition, then he's really in trouble because he's almost out of the reach of the sovereignty of God.

And that is a possibility according to scripture. Jesus had nothing to say to Herod. Jesus had nothing to say to Pilate.

These were men whose consciences had been so infected over the years that they were out of the reach of the sovereign God. And here the apostle when he makes reference to the pledge of a good conscience is saying that the person who can be baptized is the one whose conscience is clean, is clear towards God. You say that's impossible.

I've done so many things that are wrong in my life. And my friend, you're dead right. You have done things that are wrong.

But this is the beauty of the Christian message. It's the blood of Jesus that forgives us from our sins. Shall I tell you one of the most amazing passages of scripture? At least one of the most incredible verses without going into it as time is rapidly passing by.

It's found towards the end of the Acts of the Apostles and Christian folk can look this up later on. Paul says on one occasion that his conscience is clear. Of the blood of all men.

I find that an astonishing comment. Why? Well you see Paul had been an accomplice in murder in years gone by. Before he was a Christian he had put his signature that was required for the death of believers in Jesus in Jerusalem.

And he was with murder in his heart moving towards Damascus when Jesus arrested him, unhorsed him, and ultimately compelled him to acknowledge who he was. Now what does Paul do? Well he confesses his sin. He asks that Jesus will forgive him.

And this is the amazing thing that the Lord Jesus Christ can do. Not only for Paul but all the Pauls of the 20th century who are guilty also of infamous crimes. He can repair the conscience.

He can absolve us from our guilt. So that we can enter into the forgiveness of Jesus Christ and enjoy being forgiven. Oh I tell you if there's one emphasis that I don't put on my preaching sufficiently enough and I'm sure there are many others.

It is the enjoyment of being forgiven. To know that your sins have been nailed to that old rugged cross. To bask in the joy of being a child of God.

To put your head on your pillow at night and go to sleep knowing full well that if the heart refuses to beat in the middle of the evening you'll be carried away into the presence of Almighty God and have no fear. I tell you you could take all that I possess in my life away from me and leave me with that and I can continue. But remove that from me and you've broken me.

There's no, there's nothing left within my personality that wants to continue. You see the point? This is the emphasis in case you've lost it. I've been emphasizing to you the sort of person who cannot be a follower of Jesus.

The sort of person who cannot offer himself for baptism. He can't be nominal. He can in no way be skeptical.

He is someone who has pledged that he has a good conscience towards God. And why does he know that his conscience is clear? Because finally he's been a teachable person. He has placed his trust in Jesus Christ.

And Peter goes on to say that it is Jesus who saves us by his resurrection. I praise God for the time when that was implanted in my mind so that I could never forget it. Why am I saved? Basically I'm saved by God's grace because he made my heart pliable and caused me to be teachable.

And I accept that Jesus's death and resurrection are the twin bases on which I can know sin's forgiven. And if these three things, negatively and positively, are part of your attitude, then you can be a Christian. You can be baptized.

The two negatives, you can't be nominal. Jesus has no dealings with nominal people. You can't be skeptical.

If you pledge that you have put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, it has to be an absolute pledge. And what's more, you must be teachable. Sitting at the feet of Jesus and allowing him, by the power of his spirit, to make his life come to meaning and understanding within your mind as you read it through.

And so I put it to you again. My message has been relatively simple. Easy enough, I dare to boast for anyone, however young, if they've given me some attention, to understand.

Noah was saved as he entrusted himself to the ark with the rest of his family circles. And the very water that should have destroyed Noah became the sacrament by which he was physically redeemed. The ark floated on the water that should have drowned him.

As I place my trust in Jesus Christ, I identify myself with his death. Death that I should have died, he has died. And he embraces me in his death to the extent that all the benefits of that death are now credited from his account to my account.

And I believe that. I'm not skeptical about it. And because I believe it, I'm teachable.

And I'll sit at the feet of Jesus. And open my heart and my mind to him each day. I put that in the first person singular.

I'd like to put it in the first person plural. Is that what we're all doing? Does that sort of describe you? Are you following Jesus? Have you shown through the sacrament of baptism that he is your Lord and your Master? Well, if there's a negative on either question, let's turn it by God's grace into a positive. As we just bow for a few moments in his eternal presence.

Gary Benson repeated a prayer and ultimately it became meaningful to him. As did the other two fellows from whom you've heard. I'm going to repeat a prayer which I'm asking you to say within your heart.

If you want to ensure that the benefits of the Christian gospel are applied to your account, it's a simple little intercession. Heavenly Father, I acknowledge that I am a sinner. I recognize that I should be condemned for all that I have done that is wrong.

But I do believe that Jesus died for me. I do not want to be a nominal Christian. I want to commit myself absolutely to him.

I am not skeptical. I believe he is the Son of God. That he died and was raised again for my salvation.

I commit myself into his care. And I ask you to forgive me for all my sins and make me teachable. As I look into your word day by day.

Amen. Father, bless all those who repeated that prayer. And may Jesus Christ be real to them for his sake.

Amen. There's a little verse or hymn of commitment with several verses that follow, I think, from what I've just suggested that you should do. I hear thy welcome voice that calls me, Lord, to thee.

It's a 369 in the supplement. For cleansing in thy precious blood that flowed on Calvary. I am coming, Lord, coming now to thee, trusting only in the blood that flowed on Calvary.

Don't sing this hymn if you don't mean it. But if you do mean it, then sing it from the depths of your heart. And if you're singing it for the first time in such a fashion as that, then I'd like you just to come to the exit where I'll be standing on my right by the door there.

And will you receive from me just a little booklet that I want to give you with my compliments? Be glad to talk to you. But if you just want the booklet, that's fine. But read it and it'll tell you a little bit more of what I've been sharing this evening.

And we invite you all back to our service, our Christmas service next Sunday night. Now, Father, we thank you for our time spent together this evening. And as we go our homeward journey, we pray for safety, particularly for some of our older friends on these slippy pavements.

We ask, oh God, that you will throughout this week continue to bless us, whether we're at school or at college, on holiday, engaged in any gainful employment. We pray, Lord, that we might know your presence and that you will minister to us for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.