term with me and your Bible is Romans chapter 6 beginning with verse 1. We are in the second week of a three-week series called God Encounters and last week we talked about encountering God in the Lord's Supper. This week we're talking about encountering God in the sacrament of baptism and a few issues have been so divisive in the church as these two and particularly recently in the recent history of the church, the issue of baptism. It's a debate for century, who is to be baptized, how are they to be baptized and all these great matters and people argue with a great deal of passion and we're going to look a little bit at that debate but more than that in the midst of the debate over how and who has been lost, why and what, what does baptism mean and what significance doesn't have and so the question is for us what does baptism mean and really how can you encounter God in a baptism service? We have baptism is quite regularly here at UPC and you see a child in the child that looks cute when they're baptized and you're moved by a fact when an adult or a teenager professes faith through their baptism but there's more to it than that. There's a greater significance than that that should not be lost on us and so we're going to look at that a little bit this morning and seeing how our faith can be nourished through the sacrament of baptism in the life of the church. So with that in mind, turn with me to Romans chapter 6 beginning with verse 1. What shall we say then, shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase by no means? We die to sin, how can we live in it any longer or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised in the dead to the glory of the Father we too may live a new life. This is God's holy and inspired word was we look at this morning we're focusing on just a certain parts of this passage but the first thing we're going to see is the meaning of baptism, the meaning of baptism. Now baptism with water in and of itself accomplishes nothing. baptism does not make a person a Christian. If I Christian you mean one who's entered into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. Baptism is an outward sign of an inward reality, St. Augustine put it this way, St. Augustine said that that baptism is a visible form of an invisible grace or a visible sign of a sacred thing. It's an outward sign that God has ordained and commanded us to do as Christians but it's to symbolize something that is happening on the inside, happening within the spirit. In this passage we just read, we see the primary meaning of baptism, its primary significance is it showing our union with Jesus Christ. It says we have been baptized into Christ Jesus and therefore we have been united to Christ. In this text we see that the sign which is baptism and the reality our union with Christ are so identified with each other that the terms can be used interchangeably. It talks about us being united to Christ and it talks about our baptism as if that's baptism is our union with Christ but really we see that baptism is a symbol of our union with Christ. It's a both a sign and a seal of our union with them. And last week as we talked about the Lord's suffer we talked about the importance of having a sign and a seal and the way we illustrated it was this way. For example this next Saturday I'm going to perform a wedding and as I often do and so this next Saturday as I perform the wedding the bride and the groom are going to be there in the chapel and they are going to make a covenant enter into a covenant with one another and as they enter into that covenant they're going to make certain covenant promises. They're going to promise and say I will be your faithful loving and faithful wife or loving and faithful husband as long as we both shall live in sickness and in health for richer poor so on and so forth by making those promises they have now entered into a covenant relationship with one another but then it's not all there is to making of that covenant. As they make that covenant there are signs and seals of that covenant first they'll be a sign of the covenant at the wedding ceremony they will exchange rings and that ring will signify that they are married as they look at that ring they'll say by looking at the ring they'll say I belong to someone else I'm no longer my own and they will also see that they are loved by someone else that they are loved by someone who's committed to love them till death. After the wedding ceremony a little later on we'll sit down and sign the marriage license and I'll sign it and they will sign it and they will put their seal the seal of their signature on the marriage license and that license is in a sense an effect but the covenant it's a promise that they are going to love one another until death do they part and so you have a sign which is the ring a seal which is their signature on the covenant promise and the covenant is I'll be your loving and faithful husband or wife. In the same way when we come to Christ he gives us a sign and a seal and baptism and the Lord's Supper are each signs and seals of that covenant that we have been united to Christ we have been joined together just as the husband has now been joined to his wife and they become one we have been joined with Jesus Christ so that we become one in a wedding two people become one when you marry you know when you get married to someone else your wealth becomes their wealth your your car becomes their car your debt becomes their debt and the same thing all of their stuff becomes yours their money becomes your money their debts become your debts their idiosyncrasies are now your idiosyncrasies you get to own those their psychoses are your psychoses you get the whole package everything there is about them is now yours you share in that you can't say well I'll take you for this part but I won't take you for that you're taking the whole kitten caboodle and the same thing when you when you are united to Jesus Christ you're united to everything there is about him and so Paul says when you are that we are baptized into his death that you have been united to Jesus Christ into his death that means that the death that Christ died when he died on the cross for sins you're united of that you you died with Christ you were with him when he died when he rose again from the dead you're united to him in a mystical way and you're with him in that resurrection and so what that means is you have died to sin which means you've died to the penalty of sin you're no longer guilty of sin and as Paul also loads to hear we'll talk about towards the end as you've also died to the power of sin you've been united to Christ and so here's where the good news the gospel lies this is how we who are sinners can be called saints it's were saints because you know which is a remarkable thing think of this if the Bible calls us saints that means you are a holy one you know you're sitting next to holy people if you're if you're spousing your children or Christians they are saints they are holy and you're sitting thinking that just can't be I know them and they're thinking this same thing about you I'm saying you know you know I know this person they are not a saint they may be nice at times they may be saintly at church but they are no saint and you say what they are and you are in Christ because in Christ you have died to sin you you've been united with him which means the penalty for your sin has been paid in full you've paid the penalty through Christ death and therefore you are no longer guilty of sin at all you truly are holy you truly are blingless in Christ even though you're a sinner you truly are a saint and that's that's the gospel so so baptism is a sign of this it's a sign of our union with Christ it's God's covenant symbol it's like the wedding ring that God gives to his people and and as we think about this here here's how it blesses us as we come and we watch baptism we're reminded that we too have been baptized that we are baptized ones and when we remember that we remember the gospel it's it's another way that we preach the gospel to ourselves on a regular basis we come and we remember because what happens is we we feel so overwhelmed by the guilt of our sin at times we live such weak and powerless lives because we forget that we truly are holy in Jesus Christ we truly are loved and accepted in Jesus Christ and our baptism is a reminder of that just like I can look at this ring and I say well you know somebody loves me you look at a baptism you say wow God loves me God loves me it's a reminder of his covenant promises so baptism is our sign of our union with Christ is the sign of the covenant relationship we're in with them but but just as we saw last week the Lord suffer the covenant that God has established between us is not merely a covenant between God and an individual God has established his covenant between God and his people we are not just Christians living independently in a relationship with God as our Savior we are Christians living corporately in a relationship as God as our Savior and so in the Lord suffer that we talked about last week we celebrate that we're in a covenant relationship with the church and the same way baptism is not just about us individually being united to Christ it's also a sign that we're part of God's covenant community which is the church you look at 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 13 first Corinthians chapter 12 verse 13 the word of God says this says we we were all baptized by one spirit into one body whether Jews or Greeks slave or free and we were all given the one spirit to drink he says when you consider your baptism what you're seeing is not only does your baptism symbolize that your baptized into Christ but you're also baptized into the church into the body that we have a connection with one another and as you think about the church I think there's a there's a lot of misunderstanding about what the church is people will often talk about the visible church and the invisible church as if they are two separate entities the invisible church is as all the believers of all time who have been united to Jesus Christ the visible church is the local congregation the local expression of the church on the invisible church is never truly invisible the church universal is always expressed locally you cannot be part of this nebulous invisible church unless you're part of the local visible church if you look again it just do a quick study if you have like the Bible on your computer if you have a computer you've got to put the Bible on there it is you put it in the body you just do a study the word church and you look at what the church is and most of the cases it's a local visible body as a local it has it has a government structure their elders and deacons and so to be a part you can't say well I'm just part of the church there's no such thing as the church out there without being a part of the church locally and what baptism is symbolizing is not only that you are part of Christ it's not just that you have this individual one-on-one relationship of Christ it's saying you're part of a body and that's the whole point of 1 Corinthians 12 you you have connections with one another which means we have obligations to one another to serve one another to love one another to bear one another's burdens and so baptism is a symbol is a symbol of that union with with the church you're part of your part of a body you're connected with other members you're part of a mission which is God's great purpose and bringing salvation to the world and baptism symbolizes all of these things and so when you see a baptism occurring you're reminded that you're in a covenant relationship with God I am loved but you're also reminded that you're in a covenant relationship with other people who are called to serve you and you're called to serve them as well I am loved and I'm part of a body and part of a mission I'm part of a purpose so that's the meaning of baptism well secondly the method of baptism the method of baptism and what just as that we saw last week the sacrament of Lord suffer has its roots and the Old Testament Passover so also the sacrament of baptism has its root in the Old Testament as well and particularly in the right of circumcision you know as Christians we do not view Christianity as having begun with the coming of Jesus Christ Christianity is God's covenant relationship with this people that we see throughout the history of humanity we see we see it particularly in God's covenant with Abraham and what we see as Christians we don't see the church beginning with the New Testament but we see ourselves as heirs of the people of God we are the spiritual heirs the Abraham Isaac and Jacob the book of Romans makes that expressively clear to us that that is our heritage and therefore the Old Testament is not just the book of stories but it's a book of the covenant and it's a book of our covenant the covenant relationship that we as God's people have entered into it with him and so that leads us then if that's the case if there is one people of God the church throughout all ages then that leads us to two controversial issues and we're not going to spend a lot of time on these but the first one is who is to be baptized and the for who is we believe would be believers and their children now again we don't have time to go into great detail here if you'd like to know more about this on our website you got a ministry and click on resources there's a brief paper on these these issues that you can read but to do want to go into a little bit about this why we believe believers and their children should be baptized let me give you a couple of quick points about this well just as there connection between the New Testament sacrament of the Lord's Supper and Passover we see connection between baptism and circumcision if you turn back in Romans to chapter four verses nine through eleven you see there that with Abraham circumcision is a sign of faith you know the question was how was Abraham saved was he saved by faith or by works was he saved by faith in God or by being circumcised and the apostle Paul's point is he believed God and that was credited to him as righteousness and then later he was circumcised and that that circumcision is a symbol of the faith that he had and that's of course what baptism is if you go to Colossians chapter two verses nine through eleven you'll see that baptism and circumcision both symbol of symbols of the same thing it says that circumcision is a symbol of the cutting away of the simple nature that that we are now free from that the simple nature has died and it's been cut away in the same way baptism is a symbol of of the washing of being cleansed up from the simple nature by being united to Christ and his death and his resurrection and so the symbols of circumcision and baptism are used interchangeably now in the Old Testament the covenant sign of circumcision was given to Abraham and then he said he used the give it to his sons on the eighth day even though that son had not yet come to faith that son was still to receive the sign of the covenant the sign of faith the sign of the cutting away of flesh on the eighth day and so children of believers were to be given the sign of the covenant the Old Testament then it makes sense that they'd be given the sign of the covenant in the New Testament in fact the New Testament rather than being less inclusive is actually more inclusive in the sign whereas in the Old Testament the sign of the covenant was only given to males and the New Testament we see a change and then the sign is given to women as well and Acts 8 chapter 8 verse 12 Luke makes a special point he talks about those being baptized and he says here's what he says he says but when they believe Philip was preaching the good news of the kingdom of God the name of the Lord Jesus Christ there are baptized and then he adds his note both men and women what's his point he's saying that the covenant sign has been expanded to include men and women it's not being narrowed down it's being expanded and so what we see then that that both men and women were to receive the sign of the covenant and the Old Testament believers and their children were to receive the sign of the covenant if you say that only those who believe and a professed faith in Jesus Christ should receive the sign of faith which in the Old Testament circumcision the New Testament baptism the question then becomes what do you do with circumcision if you say no one should receive the sign of the covenant unless they have faith then my question is how do you reconcile the fact that God commanded children to receive the sign in the Old Testament if you ever problem with children being baptized you have a problem with babies being circumcised and obviously God made it clear that's what's his intent but that's still raised the question why do children who do not yet have the cognitive ability to have faith in Christ why are they given the sign of the covenant and and the reason is that children unbelievers are in a special relationship with God that is different from children of the world now children of believers and children of the world are both born into sin they are both born as Paul says elsewhere children of wrath they're born with a sin nature David says and sinned in my mother conceived me we are all conceived that way we are all we are all born as children of sin far from God but children of believers though have a special blessing that is different this came up in 1 Corinthians chapter 7 there were some some people who were were became Christians who were married in this case particularly women became married and their husbands weren't Christians and the question that that they had is well what about our children should I divorce my husband because then so that my children can receive the blessings of God and Paul says do not divorce your husband stay in the marriage relationship that you're in but he says the children of believers are holy and so what does that mean children of believers are holy in other words children of believers he's saying are different from the children of the world they are holy now that does not mean that the children of believers are automatically Christians but it does mean that they have they've been set apart they are special they're in a special relationship of God they're considered part of God's covenant people and therefore because they're part of God's covenant people then it only makes sense that they would receive the sign of God's covenant people well that's the first one and I know many of you who have different views that probably don't answer all your questions but at least it gives you some place to go look but that's why we we don't take the baptism of children lightly if God has declared them holy and as he has done in 1 Corinthians 7 then it's only right that they should receive the sign of being part of God's holy people and that's that brings up the second controversial question as it relates to baptism how should people be baptized what's the mode and again we don't have time to go into detail here but how we baptized is important as well and the question is should we be dunk or should we be sprinkled and and and again this has been an issue that's divided Christians over the ages and and frankly probably more division has been caused by this than than is necessary but but there is a reason why I think sprinkling is the more biblical mode and here's why many people say well look in Romans chapter 6 what you just read it says that water symbolizes that that we are are buried with Christ and baptism therefore shouldn't someone be immersed because we're buried with Christ and baptism and there were raised to new life and baptism symbolizes are are being buried with Christ and raised to new life and so it doesn't that do it better than sprinkling or first of all the point of Romans 6 is not how water is applied in baptism baptism here is not a symbol or sign of our burial and resurrection but our union with Christ it's it's a sign that we are part of Christ the word translated burial and many ways is unfortunate because it gives you the impression in our culture of putting someone in a hole but you have to think about how did they bury people in Jesus' day Jesus didn't if you think of the burial Jesus anything of being symbolized by baptism that immersion that doesn't work because when Jesus was baptized he was not put into the hole when he rose against the dead he did not come up out of the ground where did he go where was he buried his buried in a cave and when he rose what did he do did he come up now he came out and so immersion doesn't picture that any better than sprinkling does neither mode of baptism picture the death and the burial and resurrection of Christ what Paul is saying here is what baptism symbolizes are being funeralized with Christ are dying with them and then our being raised against new life it's the death and the resurrection not the burial and the coming out of the grave that are being symbolized it's our it's our union with them and so many will say well I want to be baptized the way Jesus was baptized and we know from all the pictures that Jesus was immersed in the Jordan River there were no cameramen there but I think there's a good reason to believe that Jesus was sprinkled and here's why again when John the Baptist was baptizing the Pharisees thought that his baptism was a sign that he was the Messiah you can see this in John chapter 1 verse 25 and they said the reason they're expected John was the Messiah was because he was baptizing now why did was the fact that John was baptizing caused people to think he was the Messiah well the reason is isn't the Old Testament it predicted that the Messiah would come and baptize Isaiah chapter 52 verse 15 in Ezekiel 36 25 said that the Messiah would sprinkle his people and so and so there it says so John the Baptist if he's going around immersing people that would not make them think of Isaiah if if John the Baptist is sprinkling people then it's clearly appointing to the book of Isaiah to what the Messiah would do and so it seems to be that John most likely was not immersing people but was sprinkling people in fulfillment of the prophecies of Isaiah 52 in Ezekiel 36 furthermore we say no baptism is a symbol of our being cleansed and therefore you know what symbolize that people say is being immersed I mean if you're going to get clean you know you get wet all over you don't just sprinkle a little water on your head now when you're a child you might have tried that you know did you wash yes you know kind of did this thing but that doesn't work we know if you're really going to get clean you got to get wet all over so in our culture a better symbol of cleansing seems to be immersed in the sprinkling but you can't read the Bible from a 20th century perspective and in Jesus' day sprinkling was a more common sign of cleansing because cleansing was not so much a matter of dirt as it was the cleansing of sin for example and Hebrews chapter 9 verse 10 the book of Hebrews talks about various ceremonial washings the word there for ceremonial washing is a form of the word baptism baptismose if you want the actual Greek word the serum and these are ceremonial washings now what follows and the rest of chapter 9 are a bunch of Old Testament badtisms Old Testament washings every one of those are washings and the method of being washed was by sprinkling every single one you can go through Hebrews chapter 9 and see that if you look up the word sprinkling on your computer Bible on every form of sprinkle you'll find it occurs 84 times in the Old Testament seven times in the New Testament most of the Old Testament examples are connect with ceremonial rights sprinkling the altar sprinkling the mercy seat sprinkling the bowls or cleansing by sprinkling and in the New Testament you have of course the section here in Hebrews chapter 9 as well as one in Peter and so because of this the heritage the Old Testament there's a good reason to believe that the the proper mode of baptism was by sprinkling in other words we don't just we don't just decide how we want to do these things we have to look at scripture within its own context and what a scripture actually say and and and the reason scripture we use particular modes is because they do symbolize certain things because there is a history of scripture that goes along with this so again if you have different views on this you may not be convinced but hopefully at least you'll see this biblical rationale for why we baptize the way that we do had that leads us to our third point the response to baptism the response to baptism now while every Christian has to decide if they believe baptism is for believers only for believers and their children or whether you believe it's more biblical to sprinkle or immerse those really are not the most critical issues the question is how do you respond to baptism when you see someone being baptized you know how do you benefit from that how do you grow from that and here let me give a couple of suggestions first of all when you come and there's a baptism ceremony number one remember God's covenant promises to you remember God's covenant promises to you when you see someone being baptized take that opportunity to thank God that you have been baptized into Christ that you you have been united to Jesus Christ and because of your union with Christ you have God's covenant promises God has promised he says that you are now holy he has promised that he will never leave you nor forsake you he has promised that you are an adopted son or daughter he has promised that you are going to receive a great inheritance and when you come and you look at the sea of see baptism it's an encouragement to us because as we go through life on a daily basis we begin to forget those promises we begin to doubt and we begin to question is God for me is he committed to me and and again like the married man looking in his wedding ring it's a reminder of God's great love for you so remember your covenant God's covenant promises every baptism should be a reminder to you that God has promised to love you forever well secondly remember your covenant obligations to one another remember your covenant obligations to one another as you see someone being baptized it's reminder as we read in first Corinthians that we're all baptized by one spirit into one body there's one Lord one faith one baptism and it doesn't matter if you're sprinkled immersed or poured we are all part of one body of Jesus Christ and therefore we have an obligation to one another and we are in this together it's a sign of unity it's it's it's like you know if you go on to college campus back you know at least used to be in in my day and in all the certain days of the week all the guys in the same fraternity would wear their fraternity shirt and it was a sign of solidarity we're in this together your baptism is that same sign it's a sign that we are if you're a baptized person then you're connected with every other baptized person you're united to them in the body of Christ and therefore we are committed to one another and this particularly applies to youngest members of our covenant community when a child is baptized we we take a vow we pledge ourselves to that child you know we don't have God parents in our tradition and the reason for this is that that in the church every parent is the God parent every child is your God child you have a spiritual obligation to every child in this covenant community as part of this community and so it's a reminder of that and then when the questions we have to ask ourselves is am I keeping my vow am I am I am I making is my baptism just an empty sign where a son I was baptized into the body of Christ or it doesn't really mean something am I living that out as part of the body as God has called me to live so as you watch a baptism remember your vow and what your baptism symbolizes and being connected to one another and finally baptism should be a reminder of your covenant obligation to live for God to live a holy life now here's what Paul says in Romans chapter 6 this this is the whole point of Romans 6 he says what shall we say then shall we go on sinning so the grace may increase by no means we die to sin how can you live in it any longer or do you not know that all of us who are baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death your baptism is a symbol that you have died to sin and that's why it's Christians that for us to continue in a lifestyle sin it is a contradiction of our baptism you it's baptism is not an event merely that happened to you long ago whether it's months ago or years ago baptism is an event that has continuing application it's kind of like you know I can say well I was married in 1986 well I was married in 1986 but because I was married in 1986 I am married today and because you were baptized whenever you were that date was when you were baptized you are a baptized person today and therefore you're to live in light of that you're to live as one who lives a life that is to God you're to live as one who is free from sin and so Paul goes on to say because you've been baptized because you've died to Christ you're no longer under the power of sin that sins show no longer be your master for you're not under law but under grace and so it's a calling to live a godly life so as you see a baptism happening again the question is not merely does that child look cute or are you moved by the fact that this adult or teenager has professed faith the question is am I keeping I'm not keeping my baptism and am I living up to the covenant that God has entered into with me and am I living a life that is pleasing and holy to him so our hope is that as each time you come to the baptism you'll be reminded both of your covenant blessings and your covenant obligations that we have in Jesus Christ let's pray our Father we thank you that in Christ Jesus we have all things that we've been united to him in his death which means we're free from the power of sin in his resurrection we're free to live a new life for your glory well we pray that as we come and see those being baptized and in the times ahead that we would not merely see this as an empty right or a symbol that is cute or tried or special but instead we would come and see it as a covenant ceremony and be reminded of your great love for us and our great desire to serve you or use it to feed us use it to nourish us may it truly be a means of grace for all of us we pray this in Christ name amen I have to highlight it just a few announcements for you this morning in the beginning with this just in this inside row which you please