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Amen. Good morning. You can be seated if you'd like.

Pastor Mark said I'd tell you why we're wearing shorts. We're wearing shorts because it's San Diego and it's hot. We have a beach baptism coming up this week, and it's Father's Day. Happy Father's Day, dads! We are blessed to have some great dads in our church. Really, it is a blessing, and I am thankful for the dads of our church. As an expression of our thanks, we have a gift for the dads.

Do you remember those little vacuum tubes when you used to go to the bank and use the drive-thru? We got one of those vacuum tubes for you. Inside, there's either a payday, because who doesn't need another payday, or a hundred grand, because I'm sure you could use a hundred grand. So when you guys leave today, those are for you dads.

On top of that, we'd like to pray a blessing on our dads. Dads, would you stand up? All the dads in our church, please stand up. While you're standing, let's pray.

Father, we thank you for the dads of our church. Lord, we thank you that you are our Father in heaven. You are our great Father, the best Father we could ever ask for. I realize that there are some people who may have had, unfortunately, not a great earthly example of a dad. That can be a hard concept, and this might be a difficult day for them. But I thank you for the dads of our church. I can't think of a better example for kids than to see that their dad loves and follows Jesus.

I thank you for these men who do that. They love their families, love their kids, and they love you. They seek to follow you. I pray, God, that you would use them to be an example and a blessing to their kids. Would you pour out a blessing upon them? We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Again, you can be seated.

We've been studying through the book of Hebrews since about February of this year. This week, we're going to take a one-week detour because of some important happenings—one that happened this last week and one that is coming up this next week.

If you've been a part of Cross Connection Church for a year or more, then you know that we are an independent Bible church associated with a larger family of churches. For the last 32 years, we have been associated with a larger family of churches called Calvary Chapel. Calvary Chapel has had a really strong and good history here.

Especially in Southern California, Calvary Chapel has had a great impact on the Christian church throughout the world, particularly in America, over the last 50 years. It has significantly influenced the American Christian church during this time. There are about 1,700 Calvary Chapel churches in the United States and abroad, and God is doing a great work. I count it a blessing to be a part of that larger family, the Calvary Chapel family of churches.

A couple of years ago, we added to our Calvary Chapel identity another association or affiliation. We entered into a dual affiliation with the Southern Baptist Convention. As we looked at the landscape of Christianity in our nation and the world, and as I got to know some other Southern Baptist pastors in our area, I started to realize that these brothers and sisters within the Southern Baptist Convention have a doctrine of faith that is almost identical to Calvary Chapel. They share the same philosophical perspective and a desire to reach people for Jesus. They want to fulfill the Great Commission. We saw this as a great partnership, an opportunity to team up and join arms with what God is doing through the Southern Baptist Convention and within Calvary Chapel.

There are 45,000 Southern Baptist congregations nationwide, which is absolutely astounding. It is the largest evangelical Christian denomination in the United States, and God is doing some amazing things through the Southern Baptist Convention.

Last week, something significant happened. When we entered into this dual affiliation a couple of years ago, it was quite unique. In fact, I didn't know of any other Calvary Chapels that had a similar affiliation. I reached out to my friends Brian Brodersen and David Guzik to get their thoughts on it. They both said it sounded good and that they didn't see any problem with it. However, it was still a unique situation, and I will be very honest with you: I lost some good friends in the process, as some people had strong objections to it.

As we moved forward, I had several Calvary Chapel pastors reach out to me afterward, expressing interest in how this had come about. Then, last Monday, one of the most well-known Calvary Chapel pastors, who leads one of the largest Calvary Chapel affiliated churches and is undoubtedly one of the most recognized Christian evangelists in our nation today, besides Billy Graham, announced that his church is also entering into a dual affiliation with the Southern Baptist Convention. This is really big news. We feel like we were a little ahead of the curve, but you know, God is doing a remarkable work.

Great thing! Now, the reason this is happening, I think, is really important. This is a big change that's occurring in American Christianity and Western Christianity. As Christian churches and pastors look at the landscape of our culture, they recognize something very important: we, as a church—the large, big C church—are not doing as good of a job reaching our culture here in the Western world as we should be.

As we look at that, there is a recognition that one of the reasons for this is that we don't work together very well. We don't know how to get along and collaborate. About five years ago, when I was reflecting on this situation and praying about it, that led us to change our name from Calvary Chapel of Escondido to Cross Connection Church. We have nothing against the name Calvary Chapel; we just felt that a new name would enable us to reach across the lines, if you will, and link arms with other brothers and sisters who may not be part of Calvary Chapel.

So, we changed our name in 2012 to Cross Connection Church, and we entered into this dual affiliation a couple of years after that. I believe God has blessed it and continues to do so. More and more churches and pastors are expressing a desire to reach our culture and share the gospel. They are saying, "Hey, you know what? You guys believe almost identically to us." You may not play the same songs in worship, and you may not necessarily have the same instruments, but we want to reach people with the gospel, so we're going to join arms to do that.

I think you're going to see this more frequently in the Christian church. I believe it's a good thing. We are moving into what I would call a post-denominational time in Christian history, and I think God is going to bless it. I'm looking forward to God doing great things.

I've received quite a bit of correspondence this last week from many Calvary Chapel pastors asking for more information about this development, especially now that one of the biggest Calvary Chapel churches has entered into a dual affiliation as well. Some great things are happening! I would encourage you to pray for Pastor Greg Laurie, as he is receiving significant pushback over this decision. I'm sure you can imagine that would happen, so please keep Pastor Greg Laurie in your prayers.

God is doing some amazing things. Amen? Good Southern Baptist! Come on, amen? Just kidding.

Okay, third, this week we have a baptism. Since we are having a baptism on Wednesday, I thought it would be helpful to address the issue of baptism, especially because I receive two or three questions about it every month.

I received quite a few questions about baptism, so I thought I would share very much the same thing that I share at baptisms. However, I've never actually shared this for the whole church, and I think it can be very helpful to answer some questions about baptism.

As I mentioned, we're going through the book of Hebrews, and right now we're in Hebrews chapter 8, though we're not going to be there today. Hebrews chapter 8 begins to talk about the issue of covenants. If you read through the Bible, you know that covenants are a big deal. In our modern 2017 vernacular, we don't necessarily use the terminology of covenants too often, unless you're a lawyer, working with contracts, or buying a house that has a homeowners association. In that case, you might receive a big stack of papers called a CCNR, which stands for Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions. You might wonder, "What on earth is this?" That's your covenant. You might think, "Oh, I didn't know about this whole thing. What do you mean I can't paint my house?"

You don't see the word "covenant" too often in everyday life, but when you get into the Bible, there are lots of covenants. In fact, in the Old Testament, which makes up the first two-thirds of the Bible, there are covenants like the Edenic Covenant, the Adamic Covenant, the Noahic Covenant, the Abrahamic Covenant, the Mosaic Covenant, the Aaronic or Priestly Covenant, and the Davidic Covenant. You may wonder, "What in the world is that all about?" Don't worry; there's not a pop quiz at the end on the covenants of the Bible. As we go through the scriptures, we will talk about these things, and there are great explanations about what they are all about.

There are conditions and restrictions associated with every single one of those covenants found in the Bible. In the Old Testament, most of what is written in the first 39 books of the Bible, from Genesis to Malachi, centers around one of those covenants called the Mosaic Covenant. This is the covenant of God with the nation of Israel, which was mediated by a man named Moses. This all really took place beginning at Exodus chapter 19, the second book of the Bible, when the nation of Israel, the descendants of Abraham, were at Mount Sinai. If you've seen "The Ten Commandments" or "The Prince of Egypt," you might understand some of the events that occurred there.

God entered into a covenant with the nation of Israel, and the mediator of that covenant was Moses. That's why it's called the Mosaic Covenant; it was through Moses that God entered into it. There were conditions and restrictions associated with that covenant, which is referred to as the Law of God or the Law of Moses. You can read a lot about it in Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy in the Bible. Much of what you read will elaborate on these laws and their significance.

In the Old Testament, the covenant was worked out between God and the people of Israel. The term "testament" is another word for "covenant." Therefore, the Old Testament refers to the old covenant, while the New Testament refers to the new covenant. This new covenant is introduced in the New Testament.

Each of these covenants has conditions and restrictions, as well as elements known as sacraments. Sacraments are ceremonies or religious rites associated with a covenant. Under the Old Testament, some of these sacraments included the observance of Passover, which was a significant religious ceremony. Circumcision was another sacrament related to the Old Covenant. Additionally, the offering of sacrifices and various offerings made at the temple were also considered sacraments. These ceremonies were observed to fulfill the requirements of that covenant.

Under the new covenant, there are sacraments as well. If you come from a Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox background, the term "sacrament" is likely familiar to you. In the Roman Catholic Church, there are a number of sacraments—specifically, seven. However, as Protestants, we will not delve into the seven sacraments of the Catholic or Eastern Orthodox traditions.

Within Protestant churches, we observe only two sacraments. You might wonder why there are only two. While simplicity is appreciated, that is not the primary reason. The two sacraments observed by Protestant Christians are based on the principle of sola scriptura, which means "scripture alone." This principle, established during the Protestant Reformation 500 years ago, emphasizes that scripture should guide our beliefs and practices.

When we examine the scriptures, we find that only two new covenant sacraments were explicitly instituted by Jesus and practiced by the early church. These are the two covenants that the church followed, instituted by Jesus and practiced by the early church.

What we practice, He instituted directly. When did He do that? Well, the first of those sacraments, actually both of them, are baptism and communion.

Jesus instituted the sacrament of communion, interestingly, on the very night that He was observing the sacrament of Passover under the old covenant with His disciples. As He was gathered with His disciples on the night that He would be betrayed by one of His own disciples, and the next day He would be crucified, Jesus was in an upper room in Jerusalem. They were observing the Passover, the sacrament of Passover under the old covenant.

As they were gathered, Jesus did something interesting. He took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying, "Take this, all of you, eat it. This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me." He commissions and commands them to do this in remembrance of Him.

On a regular basis, we partake of the bread, a little cracker. When we do, we remember Jesus's body that was broken for us on the cross. In the same way, after He had done that, He took a cup of wine, blessed it, and gave it to His disciples, saying, "Drink this, all of you. This is my blood, the blood of the new covenant. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me." There, He institutes a new covenant. The first sacrament of that covenant is the act of partaking of the bread and the cup.

This covenant is intangible; you can't see the covenant, but it is illustrated, exemplified, and symbolized in the bread and the cup. His body was broken for us to begin this new covenant, and His blood was shed for us to enter into this new covenant. We regularly partake of the bread and the cup, which is what we do here at Cross Connection. Every seven weeks, we partake of the bread and the cup. The church has been doing this for 2,000 years.

Now, someone might ask, "Why do you do it every seven weeks?" We respond, "Well, it's just the way we do it." Is there some reason for it? No, there really isn't any specific reason. We do it regularly. Some people get upset and say, "Well, at my old church, we used to do it every single week." That's the way some people traditionally observe this sacrament; they partake of it every single week. Others might say, "In my church, we used to do it the first Sunday of every month."

The way you do it is important. Some people partake of communion differently, and that's perfectly fine. You can do it however you want, but we practice it regularly. The frequency can change, but the regularity is important. As often as you do this, Jesus says, do it in remembrance of Me.

Do you realize that some Protestant Christian churches partake of communion once a year? That's regular. It may not be as frequent as you have experienced in the past, but it is still a way to regularly remember Jesus's body that was broken and His blood that was shed. I guarantee that if you've been here for a while and we've done this every seven weeks, and then we suddenly changed to doing it every first Sunday, you would likely say, "Hold on a second. That's not the way we do it."

If you were to visit another church that practices communion every single week, you might think, "Wait a minute, this is not the right way to do it." Why does this happen? Because we get into these little traditions, and then we create denominations. We might not say it outright, but we often think, "Those people are evil or bad; we are good."

The point is that the sacrament is simply an outward ceremony, a visible sign of the inward divine transformation of grace that has taken place. We observe communion regularly here at the church because that is what Jesus instituted as one of the sacraments.

The second sacrament that we observe is baptism. What is baptism? It is an outward expression of an inward transformation or commitment that has taken place. When we start to talk about this, some people may say, "I don't understand. What is it?" It is just that—an outward expression of an inward transformation.

What is communion? It is an outward expression in the bread and the cup of something that Jesus did for us. His body was broken, and His blood was shed. We symbolize that in the bread and the cup.

When we get to the issue of baptism, it is also an outward expression of an inward transformation. This implies something very important, which we will discuss more in a moment. The baptism we practice, as an outward expression of an inward transformation, suggests that the inward transformation precedes the outward illustration or showing expression.

There is something that happens first in us before we commit ourselves to the act of baptism. We will talk more about that in a little bit, but it is simply an outward expression of an inward transformation.

Transformation is an activity that individual followers of Jesus engage in to visibly display or express their faith and their commitment to Jesus. Some people like to use the illustration of a wedding ring. Baptism is similar in this fashion. This wedding ring represents an external expression; it symbolizes a covenant relationship that I have with my wife, Andrea. It is not, in and of itself, the relationship. If I happen to lose this ring—some people have lost their wedding rings—I don't lose that covenantal relationship. The relationship is still there. This merely illustrates or shows to other people that I am in this covenant relationship with my wife. That's the whole point of this outward expression of an invisible, intangible, covenantal relationship that you can't see if you don't see my wife with me, holding my hand or whatever it may be.

In the same way, baptism fits with that. So, what is baptism? Baptism is an outward expression of an inward transformation. Well, how is one baptized? The word "baptism" itself gives us some insight into how one is baptized. The terms baptism, baptize, or baptized come from the Greek word "baptizo," which means to immerse or to dip something in some sort of liquid for the purpose of washing or purification. It involves immersing something into something else.

The first appearance of the word "baptize" is found in the New Testament as it relates to an individual known as John the Baptist. John the Baptist was quite a character. He shows up on the scene in the early chapters of the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—just before Jesus's ministry begins. John the Baptist was a fiery figure who ate crickets, locusts, and wild honey. He dressed in unusual clothing made of camel's hair and was out in the wilderness of Judea, near Jerusalem, down by the Jordan River, preaching. Multitudes came to hear him preach, amazed by the things he had to say. He preached a message of repentance, urging people to turn away from their former conduct, or shall we say, their misconduct, their sin. He told the people that they should bear fruits worthy of repentance and that they should show.

forth their repentance in some way. What was the way that he was having them show forth their repentance and their confession of sins? The opening chapters of the Gospels tell us that people were going down into the water of the Jordan River, where John the Baptist was, and he would immerse them in water. As he would, they would confess their sins. They were displaying in this activity, this action, their repentance and their confession of sins there at the Jordan River.

So how is one baptized? One is baptized when they are, we believe, fully immersed in water, in the same way that John the Baptist fully immersed people in water. You may ask, how do you know John the Baptist fully immersed people in water? The Greek word "baptizo" is very clear; it means to immerse in water. When we look at Jesus's baptism, which we'll examine in a moment, recorded in Matthew's Gospel, chapter three, he came up out of the water, which implies he was in the water. There was some immersion taking place in this whole picture of baptism.

So what is baptism? Baptism is an outward expression of an inward transformation. How is one baptized? They are fully immersed in water, some sort of water, wherever it might be: the beach, the river, a pool, a spa, wherever. That's how.

This brings us to the important question of why. Why do we do this? This is something that I share at every baptism that we conduct. Why are we involved in this activity called baptism? It's not just because we're Baptists. Understand that all Calvary Chapel people are Baptists too. We all have this view of baptism, Believers' Baptism.

So why do we do this? I believe that we do this, and I teach that we do this for three primary reasons. These are points number two, three, and four. A little confusing, but there are three reasons, points number two, three, and four, that I want to explain with the time we have here this morning.

Why do we baptize? Point number two, reason number one: we baptize in obedience to Christ's command. Where do we find this command to baptize? It's found at the very end of the Gospel of Matthew, in the last chapter. If you take out your Bibles, open to the Gospel of Matthew. If you don't have a Bible, you can raise your hand, and one of our ushers will bring you one. Matthew is found about two-thirds of the way through your Bible, right before Mark, Luke, and John, and right after a little book called Malachi. He's the Italian prophet, Malachi, actually. So, Matthew chapter...

Matthew 28 is the last chapter of the book, and it's right next to the opening of the Gospel of Mark. We read this in Matthew 28, verse 18: "And Jesus came and spoke to them." The "them" here refers to His disciples. Jesus came and spoke to His disciples, saying, "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even until the end of the age. Amen." This is commonly referred to as the Great Commission.

Interestingly, a few years ago, the Southern Baptist Convention gathered at their annual meeting and voted on changing their name from the Southern Baptist Convention to Great Commission Baptists. Some people were trying to figure out the implications of the name "Southern Baptist." They wondered if it meant you needed to be in the South to be a Southern Baptist. If you were in the Midwest, maybe you weren't really a Southern Baptist. So, they wanted to change their name to Great Commission Baptists. Why? Because they said they were committed to this commission, which we in Calvary Chapel are also committed to. I believe that every faithful Christian has been committed to this commission because Jesus commissioned and commanded His disciples to go into all the world to make disciples of all nations.

We don't discriminate. We don't segregate against anybody when we're preaching the gospel to people. We want all people to come to faith and to receive forgiveness of sins through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Therefore, we preach to all people, and we want to disciple them. We want to make them followers of Jesus. That's what disciples are. We want to help them come into a faithful and obedient following of Jesus as their Lord.

One of the issues of obedience is baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Why do we immerse people in water, this outward expression of an inward transformation? We do this in obedience to the command of Jesus in the Great Commission to go and make disciples and baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

So, point number two: we baptize in obedience to Christ's command. The second reason we baptize, point number three, is that we baptize in identification with Christ's baptism. What does that mean? Well, you're in Matthew chapter 28. Turn to the left to...

Matthew chapter 3. I'll give you a chance as I take a drink of water. Swipe left on your device. You can't hear the pages ruffling on iPads, but it's all good.

Matthew chapter 3, verse 13 says, "Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him." John tried to prevent him, saying, "What in the world's going on here? Jesus, the Son of God, God incarnate, came to John the Baptist, just a man, and he said, 'I need to be baptized by you.'" John responded, "Whoa, hold on a second. I need to be baptized by you, and you're coming to me?" In another one of the Gospels, he said, "I'm not even worthy to unlatch this guy's sandal." Yet, Jesus insisted, "I want you to baptize me."

So, Jesus answered and said to him in verse 15, "Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then John allowed him. When he had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water. This implies immersion in water. He came up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him. He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Jesus. Suddenly, a voice came from heaven saying, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased."

In an act that was pleasing to God the Father in heaven, Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist by full immersion in the Jordan River. In the same way, we baptize because we are identifying ourselves with Christ in his baptism and going down into the waters of baptism. I believe that this is pleasing to our Father in heaven, just as it was pleasing when Jesus was baptized there in the Jordan River.

Now, that doesn't mean you need to be baptized in the Jordan River, although you can be. You can come with us to the Jordan River. Next time we go to Israel, we'll baptize you there if you'd like to be. But there he was, immersed in water, a pleasing act to the Father, as God expresses, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased."

We baptize in obedience to Christ's command. We baptize in identification with his baptism. What exactly is it? It is an external expression of an inward transformation whereby an individual is going down into the water, fully immersed, baptizing, and identifying with the Lord.

Baptism is significant for several reasons. The fourth reason we baptize is in association with Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. Where do we get that? Romans chapter 6. If you are in the Gospel of Matthew, go to the right. You will pass Mark, Luke, John, and Acts until you come to the big book of Romans. Romans chapter 6 was written by one of Jesus's followers, the Apostle Paul.

We read in Romans chapter 6, verse 3: "Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore, we were buried with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." The third reason that we baptize here at Cross Connection Church is that we baptize in association with Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, exactly as the Apostle Paul is saying.

You see, when you put your trust in Jesus, if you have put your trust in Him, there is an invisible born-again experience that happens in that instant moment as you trust in Him for your salvation. Jesus spoke about this with a man named Nicodemus in John chapter 3 when He told him, "You must be born again." Nicodemus couldn't comprehend this; he couldn't figure it out. Jesus explained that it is a supernatural act of the Spirit of God. You can't see it with your eyes, but when you put your trust in Jesus, you are baptized into Jesus. You are immersed in Jesus.

You can't see that, and you don't necessarily feel it, but by faith, you trust that God has baptized you into Christ, immersing you in Christ the moment you put your faith in Jesus. We symbolically show that through the act of baptism. This actual physical, tangible activity of going down into the water is spiritually significant and symbolic.

As you go into the water, you are associating with Jesus's death. While you are under the water, you are associating yourself with His burial. When you come up out of the water, you are associating yourself with His resurrection to walk in newness of life. If anyone is in Christ, immersed and baptized in Christ—which happens spiritually when you put your trust in Jesus—you are a new creation. All the old things have passed away; they have died.

They've been buried, and everything has become new. You rise to walk in newness of life. This is a wonderful, awesome thing that God does by His Spirit because He baptizes us. Jesus does this by His Spirit. We baptize, showing forth very tangibly, in a very real and expressive way, that this event has happened in your life by grace through faith.

So, what is baptism? Baptism is an observable expression, an external expression of an inward transformation. How are people baptized? They are fully immersed in water in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Why are we baptized? We are baptized in obedience to Christ's command, in identification with His baptism, and in association with His death, burial, and resurrection.

This leads to a very simple and logical question: When should one be baptized? To answer that, turn from Romans to the left and go to Acts chapter 8, the book right before Romans. As you're turning there, here’s a little background. In Acts chapter 8, there’s this great evangelist by the name of Philip who is going around and preaching the gospel near Jerusalem, in the area of Judea, and in a place called Samaria.

As he is preaching the gospel and people are coming to faith, one day God speaks to him. Some sort of impression comes to Philip, and God impresses upon him that he needs to walk along the route, the road between Jerusalem and Gaza. These are two names that are still in our vocabulary today. We know where Jerusalem is; you've all heard of the Gaza Strip.

Philip is walking along the highway because God impressed upon him to go walk this route. As he is walking, he comes upon a man riding in a chariot. Clearly, this man is pretty wealthy. He is referred to in Scripture as an Ethiopian eunuch, which suggests that he is part of the royal household or the royal court of Ethiopia. He is on his way from Jerusalem on that road towards Gaza, riding along in his chariot, which is in perfectly mint condition for the year 32 AD.

He is cruising along, and it seems he has it on autopilot. We know this because he is reading from the scroll of Isaiah. The Scripture tells us that the scroll of Isaiah is the book of Isaiah that you have in your Bible. However, he didn’t have a book like we have; the scroll of Isaiah is 11 feet long. This is not a pocket edition scroll of Isaiah. The man is reading through it.

The scroll of Isaiah. God impresses upon Philip to go attach himself to the chariot. He trots up there and asks, "Hey, what are you reading?" The man replies, "I'm reading through the scroll of Isaiah." Philip then asks him, "Do you understand what you're reading?" The man responds honestly, "I don't have a clue. How can I understand unless someone tells me?"

Philip does what pastors do; he gets up and starts to explain the Scriptures. He climbs onto the chariot with the man, and as they are going, he begins to explain what the man is reading. Coincidentally, the man is reading from the passage we know as Isaiah chapter 53. This is an amazing passage written 700 years before Jesus came, detailing His death for us. It states, "He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon Him. By His stripes, we are healed." What an awesome passage that this man just happens to be reading!

Philip says, "Let me tell you what this is all about," and he preaches the gospel to him. We know that he preaches the gospel because at some point this takes place in Acts chapter 8, verse 36. As they went down the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, "See, here's some water. What hinders me from being baptized? What's keeping me back from being immersed in this water?" Philip replied, "If you believe with all your heart, you may."

Quick side note: if you have a New International Version or some other version, that may not be in your text because it has been removed due to some ancient manuscripts lacking it. However, it is in many manuscripts. Philip continues, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." The eunuch answers, "I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God."

That statement is what we call the bedrock, the foundation of our faith as Christians. How so? In Matthew's gospel, chapter 16, Jesus is with His disciples and asks them this great question: "Who do men say that I am?" His disciples respond, "Some say that you're Elijah the prophet, come back from the dead. Some say that you're one of the other prophets." Jesus then asks, "Who do you say that I am?" Peter speaks up and says, "You're the Christ, the Son of the living God."

Jesus replies, "Peter, flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. And listen, on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it." Now, the rock is not Peter; the rock is that declaration of faith.

You're the Christ, the Son of the living God. Here is this Ethiopian eunuch who has been reading through the prophet Isaiah. He has gotten all the way to chapter 53, scrolling along through this eleven-foot-long scroll. Then Philip, the evangelist, preaches the gospel to him, and he trusts in Jesus.

The eunuch sees some water and asks, "What's keeping me from being baptized?" Philip replies, "Listen, if you believe, you may." The eunuch responds, "I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God." So, in verse 38, he commands the chariot to stand still. Both Philip and the eunuch go down into the water, and Philip immerses him, baptizing him.

When they come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord catches Philip away, so that the eunuch sees him no more. This is interesting. It probably won't happen on Wednesday, but it could. They come up out of the water, and when they do, Philip just disappears. Gone. The eunuch was probably thinking, "Okay, that was phenomenal." So what does he do? He goes on his way rejoicing. You think? He was certainly amazed by this.

Did you know that there is still a Christian witness to this day, an ancient Christian witness in Ethiopia? I wonder if he was not the first evangelist to Ethiopia—the man who heard the gospel from Philip's mouth to his ears and was baptized by some body of water on the way down from Jerusalem to Gaza. Amazing. He was baptized because he believed in Christ.

"What hinders me from being baptized?" If you believe with all your heart, you may. If you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and you've never been baptized, you can and should be baptized.

Point number five on your outline: We baptize believers as a first act of Christian obedience. When the church was born, on the first day of the church, it's recorded in Acts chapter two. The apostle Peter was preaching the gospel to a gathered multitude of thousands. As he preached the gospel of Jesus dying on the cross for our sins and raising for our justification, the people listening to him were cut to the heart.

Acts chapter two, verse 37 says, "When they heard this, they were cut to the heart." They were convicted and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what should we do?" Peter replied, "Repent, every one of you, and be baptized." We baptize believers as a first act of Christian obedience.

So, if you've never been baptized and you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, that he died on...

The cross for your sins is significant, and you should be baptized. Hopefully, you'll come out this next Wednesday as we're down at Cardiff State Beach. Come on down in the late afternoon; we're going to have a baptism. The information is in your bulletin. If you've been baptized, come down and rejoice with those who are going to be baptized as we make this public declaration, this outward expression of the inward transformation that took place when you put your trust in Jesus.

As you are fully immersed in water, you identify with Christ's baptism, associating yourself with His death, burial, and resurrection, and obeying the command that He gave to go and be baptized. Now, real quickly, you've got a few minutes. I want to address some frequently asked questions that I get from people about baptism, just to answer some of these on the front end, because you might be thinking about this.

First, what about infant baptism? There are probably a number of you here this morning who were baptized as infants in the Presbyterian Church, maybe the Episcopal Church, or perhaps the Catholic Church. You were baptized as an infant, and so you're kind of wondering, "What about that whole thing?" It's a good question, and I fully understand that there are very good Christian brothers and sisters who baptize infants. We don't do that because we believe in the principle of sola scriptura, and we don't see that practice in the Scriptures.

We may have something similar in our baby dedications, as we dedicate small children to the Lord, but we believe in what's called believer's baptism, or credo baptism. This means that as you have put your trust in Jesus, you are baptized as a sign of your faith to other people. To really give fuel to your faith, you are baptized just as the man in Acts chapter 8, the Ethiopian eunuch. So, we practice and believe that credo baptism is the illustration given in the Scriptures, the principle that we find in the Scriptures.

Secondly, there's a question that sometimes comes from people who are coming out of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Mormon Church. As they're coming out of that, they know of a practice that, quite honestly, I will say clearly, is heretical. It is anti-orthodox and does not fit with what the Scriptures teach, which is called baptism for the dead, or baptism by proxy. In fact, one of the reasons that the Mormon Church is so interested in genealogies is that they want to baptize for dead relatives.

Why don't people do that? Why don't we believe that is right? Well, number one, it's not taught in the Scriptures. But number two, you cannot believe for someone else, so you cannot be baptized by proxy for someone else.

As much as you'd like to believe for your kids, you can't. You can't be baptized for other people, whether they are dead relatives or others. It doesn't fit with Scripture and is not in line with the teachings of Christ or the Church.

The third question I get a lot is, "Is baptism essential for salvation? If I'm not baptized, am I not saved?" The answer is no. You might ask, "How do you know?" The greatest illustration of this is the thief on the cross next to Jesus. When Jesus was crucified, there were two thieves on either side of Him. One of those thieves put his trust in Jesus. He had a deathbed conversion right there on the cross. As they conversed, he said to Jesus, "Remember me when you come into your kingdom." Jesus replied, "Today you will be with me in paradise." They didn't come down off the cross; there was no baptism. He put his trust in Jesus, and he was saved.

Baptism is an outward expression of the transformation that takes place on the inside. If baptism were essential for salvation, it would be explicitly stated in the Scriptures.

Finally, another question I often receive is about "Jesus only" baptism. You may have never heard of this, but there is a group of people in the church who question your baptism. They ask, "When you were baptized, were you baptized in Jesus' name?" You might respond, "I think so. I don't know; I was under the water." They insist that if you weren't baptized in Jesus' name, your baptism is not valid. They may even claim that if you weren't baptized in their church, you're not a Christian. We don't believe that. If you were baptized as a believer at another church, praise the Lord; that's awesome. You don't need to be re-baptized regarding this issue.

However, this group asserts that if you're not baptized in Jesus' name, your baptism is insufficient. You might wonder, "Who are you? What name were you baptized in? Were you baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit?" They would argue that if you were baptized in that way, it is not enough.

Where do they come up with this? There are four passages in the Book of Acts where people are baptized in the name of Jesus. This leads them to claim that if you're not baptized just in the name of Jesus, then your baptism is not right. The problem with this is that Jesus commanded us to go and baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, if you were baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit because of your faith in Jesus, that's just right. It's all good. And if you were baptized in the name of Jesus, praise the Lord, as long as your trust is in Jesus for your salvation.

Hold to this Jesus-only baptism; they have a very strange view on the triune nature of God. They are kind of Unitarian in their view, and they have some much bigger issues with their doctrine than the issue of baptism, which we could talk about in an apologetics class, but not necessarily for today.

Here's the simple point: baptism is an outward expression of an inward transformation whereby an individual is immersed in water in obedience to Christ's command, an identification with Jesus's baptism, and an association with his death, burial, and resurrection. This is for those who have put their trust in Jesus for salvation. If that's you, you should be baptized. Amen?

Let's stand and close in prayer.

Father, I thank you for the clear teaching of the Scriptures that you've given to us so that we might know how we ought to seek, serve, and follow you. I pray, God, that you would help us to be faithful in our trust in you. Thank you that you have given us very tangible sacraments, the bread and the cup, to remember your body broken for us and your blood shed for us.

The act of baptism, going down into the water, shows forth in a very tangible and experiential way what took place in a very invisible and intangible way when we put our trust in you. God, thank you for these things that we have been given by you to fuel and give passion to our faith. I pray, God, that this church would have a passionate, on-fire faith for you that would be seen in our lives.

It may be that as we stand here this morning, not only have you not been baptized, but you've never put your trust in Jesus for salvation. Maybe after hearing this message, you're saying, "I think I might want to be baptized. What hinders me from being baptized?" If you've not put your trust in Jesus, if you've not confessed him as your Lord, I want to give you a chance to do that.

So if that's you this morning, would you just lift up your hand? Is there anyone here this morning who has never trusted in Christ for salvation but would like to today? Just lift up your hand so I can see it.

Praise God. Lord, we thank you so much for the work of grace that you're doing here in our midst, and we pray, God, that you'd continue to amplify that work for your namesake.

Light to shine in the darkness of this world. We praise you and thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.