See The Word

1:06God did. In Genesis chapters 6 through 8, God floods the earth in response to man's wickedness and sin. And God says in Genesis chapter 9, he makes the promise never to flood the earth again, and he says, I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and all the earth. You see, this The sign of the rainbow isn't supposed to point us to any movement. It's not supposed to point us to people at all. It's supposed to point us to God and to what God promised after the flood.

1:47It might be the best example that we have of a sign whose meaning is no longer rightly understood. And maybe in the church, we could say the same thing about the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper. These two signs that God has entrusted to the church. Over the past few weeks, we've been getting back to the basics of Christian worship. Why do we gather together on Sundays? What are we supposed to do when we gather together? We're trying to answer those questions.

2:18And so we've spent time talking about why we preach and what we preach on Sunday mornings. Why we pray and what we pray on Sunday mornings. Why we sing and what we sing on Sunday mornings. And today we're going to take a look at seeing the word through baptism and the Lord's Supper. Now, if you grew up in church, then you are at least somewhat familiar with these two signs of baptism and the Lord's Supper, even if your church did not practice them the exact same way that we do. But my hope is, no matter what your experience is with baptism and the Lord's Supper, that this morning you will walk away with the Biblical understanding and fresh appreciation for these ordinances and how we are called as the people of God to participate in seeing the word together through baptism and the Lord's Supper. And if you're not a follower of Jesus Christ yet, my hope is that understanding what these signs mean will point you to Jesus and his person and work that's symbolized in baptism and in the Lord's Supper, and that God would grant you faith in him, the same faith that he's granted to us who believe.

3:37So let's take a look now at Matthew 28, 16 through 20. This passage is known as the Great Commission. And you notice right here at the outset, verse 16, Matthew sets the context. Jesus has risen from the dead, and he sent his disciples to this mountain in Galilee, which is the northernmost part of Israel. It's where Jesus began his ministry. And verse 17 is a real encouragement to me. Jesus' own disciples are there on the mountain with him after he has risen from the dead. They saw him arrested, they saw him crucified. They know that he died and was buried because the women followed him to the tomb.

4:16And after his resurrection, Jesus appeared to them on many occasions. He taught them, they touched him, he continued training them for ministry. They interacted with him many times over 40 days after he resurrected. Resurrected from the dead, and yet we find this in verse 17. And when they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted. Like, I don't know. I don't know. I've seen this trick before. You know, the wonderful thing about the gospel accounts is that the writers never sugarcoat anything. They tell the truth even when it makes them look foolish.

4:55And they end up looking foolish over and over again. So let's pick up here in verse 18. Take a look there. And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Now, that's really important because Jesus is about to issue some commands. And in order to issue commands, you have to have authority. Without authority, commands are just suggestions, right? So Jesus has authority. In fact, he has all authority in heaven and on earth. Jesus is king, and every knee is going to bow to him in heaven and on earth and under the earth.

5:34And so what follows are not suggestions, but commands. Let's pick up in verse 19. 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 that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. Now, according to Jesus in Matthew 19 here, we are commanded to go and make disciples. If you've heard anyone teach on this passage before, you may have heard it taught. This is the only verb in that first sentence, make disciples. That's the thrust. That's the main focus of this verse. Go and make disciples.

6:18And as we make these disciples, we're supposed to do two things. First, we're supposed to baptize those disciples. And second, we're supposed to teach them to observe all that Jesus has commanded. So Jesus is commanding the disciples to go and multiply themselves. As he taught them to follow him, they are to go and teach others to follow Jesus as well. Because, see, a disciple is a student who learns not only to obey his teacher, but also to obey them, rather imitate them in every part of life, what they say, how they think, how they react in certain situations.

7:00And that's what Jesus is commanding us to do. To go and make disciples that can speak and think and react in the same ways that Jesus, our rabbi, our teacher, would speak and think and react as well. We're supposed to go and do that. And as we go and do that, we baptize them and teach them to observe all that he commanded. Now, for our purposes today, we're not going to be going through everything that Jesus commanded, but we're going to be talking specifically about the Lord's Supper, this ordinance that he commanded us to observe. So we're going to start with baptism and then move into the Lord's Supper.

7:35So the first and most important question here is, what is baptism? Well, the Greek word baptizo means something like to plunge, to dip, or to immerse. Plunge, dip, or immerse. It does not mean to pour or to sprinkle. It never has, it never does in any context outside the Bible or inside the Bible. There are different Greek words that mean pour or sprinkle. So baptism is immersing someone in water. And that becomes really evident when you take all of Scripture into account.

8:13It doesn't really leave it vague or undefined. In fact, the Apostle John, when he's writing his gospel account, he says that John the Baptist was baptizing in and around the River Jordan because water was plentiful there. He actually says that. You need a lot of water to immerse people in it. And Jesus' own baptism shows us this. When he is baptized himself, he goes to see John. He goes down into the water. He is baptized. He's immersed. And then he comes up out of the water. I think one of the best examples that we find in Scripture is in Acts chapter 8.

8:50There's this Ethiopian eunuch who's traveling across the desert by chariot, and God sends, supernaturally sends Philip, one of the original deacons, to go to him. And this man is reading the scroll of Isaiah, and Philip shares the good news of Jesus Christ with him. And you have to keep in mind: if you're traveling by chariot through the desert, you are for sure going to have some water with you. You're not going to be able to make that kind of journey in the first century without bringing water with you. And yet, the text notes: Luke says, when they saw some water, the Ethiopian eunuch says, Look, here is water. What prevents me from being baptized?

9:30And so he says they go down into the water, he's baptized, and they come up out of the water. So there's so many examples like this in Scripture, but my point is simply that baptism is immersing someone in water. We don't baptize people by immersion in the Baptist church because we like that best or because we think that that's traditional, and so we've always done that, and we're going to keep doing that. We think that this is what baptism is from scripture. It's not anything other than immersing someone in water. And that's really important because baptism is a sign, it is a symbol, and the sign points to the things signified. So that brings up the next question: what is baptism symbolizing? Take a look on the screen at Romans chapter 6.

10:21Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried there. With him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. So, there it is, right there. Paul gives the symbolism, he explains the sign to us. He says that baptism is a symbol, it's a symbol of being buried with Christ and being raised to walk in a new life, just like Jesus was.

11:00So, sprinkling or pouring some water on someone that might symbolize a kind of cleansing from sin, and certainly that is part of what baptism pictures. But sprinkling water on someone or pouring water on someone does not capture the symbolism biblically of being buried with Christ and then being raised to walk in a new life. Only immersion does that. Take a look at Colossians chapter 2 on the screen. This is a very instructive text, which adds further meaning to the symbolism of baptism.

11:37In him also, you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God who raised him from the dead. I want to leave those scriptures up for a few minutes as we think about this together, because I think this is really instructive for understanding baptism. What Paul is doing in these verses is he's explaining how baptism, the sign of the new covenant, of belonging to God's people, replaces circumcision, which was the old covenant sign of belonging to God's people.

12:25So, think about this just for a second. In the old covenant, God's people were a physical people. They were literally descended from Abraham. They lived in a physical place, the promised land of Israel. And they had a permanent physical symbol marking them out as God's people, circumcision. But in the new covenant, God's people are a spiritual people, those who have the faith of Abraham. God's people don't live in one particular place, like the nation of Israel. We live all over the world. There are believers in Jesus from every tribe, tongue, and nation. And the symbol that marks us out as belonging to God's people is no longer a permanent physical symbol, but rather baptism. That's what shows that we are part of God's people. And so, the key element in all of this is faith, faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

13:30Look at what Wayne Grudem wrote about this. He says, the means of entrance into the church is voluntary, spiritual, and internal. One becomes a member of the true church by being born again and by having saving faith, not by physical birth. It comes about not by an external act, but by internal faith in one's heart. It is certainly true that baptism is the sign of entrance into the church, but this means that it should only be given to those who give evidence of membership in the church, only to those who profess faith in Christ.

14:15So we are not commanded to baptize the spouses of believers or the children of believers. No, we are commanded to baptize those who place their faith in Jesus Christ because that's what baptism symbolizes: faith in Christ and the death and resurrection that takes place through that faith. And we baptize when the church gathers together because baptism isn't only a public proclamation of our faith in Christ, it is that, but it's more than that. It is Jesus' chosen rite of initiation into the family of God.

14:54So think of it this way: when God saves us, he saves us individually, right? He doesn't save groups of people. He saves individuals. And he calls us by name when he does that. But although God calls us and saves us individually, he doesn't call us to a solitary life of faith. No, instead, he calls us into his family, the church. So according to both Jesus and Paul, the church is entrusted with preserving and proclaiming the gospel. We proclaim the gospel. We go and make disciples of all nations and we baptize them and then teach them to observe all that Jesus commanded. But part of the church's work in preserving the gospel is holding believers accountable to living in a way that glorifies and honors God with our lives. That's why we live in such a way that we don't allow hypocrisy in our own lives or the lives of each other. We call each other to respond in repentance and faith on a daily and ongoing basis. So Jesus and Paul say, look, if there is a baptized believer among you who is walking in unrepentant sin, they're not living in a way that honors the Lord, what are we supposed to do? We're supposed to patiently and lovingly confront them and call them to repent of that sin. If they won't, we're supposed to discipline them, to remove them from fellowship with the church, so that they will be warned about their unrepentant sin and the consequences of that, but also so that the watching world around them. us understands that Christians are not hypocrites. We are those who have confessed our sin and are seeking to walk in obedience to Christ. We're not claiming to be sinless. We're not claiming to be perfect. We are sinners. The difference is we're trying to walk in repentant faith. So connecting that back to baptism, if the church is responsible to say who is a part of the church and who is not, then logically it follows that the church has to have a say in who gets baptized in the first place, right?

17:03So it's our stewardship together to make sure as much as we can that everybody that's baptized has made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ and is seeking to walk in a way that honors him. So baptism is immersing a believer in water, and that's the symbol, the sign that God has given to us of our death and resurrection through faith in Christ. But friends, I don't want you to lose sight of the fact that baptism is a sign, and the thing signified is so much more important than the sign itself.

17:37You may know someone, you may have a story yourself of being baptized before you had saving faith in Jesus Christ or before your friend had saving faith in Jesus Christ. Remember, the key issue here is internal faith in the person and work of Christ. Because apart from that, you're just taking a bath in front of everybody with your clothes on. It's all about the internal faith. So when we observe baptisms, we should reflect on our own baptism and the fact that we have died to sin and we should not live in it any longer. Every time we see somebody baptized, it should be a reminder to us that we were buried with Christ and that we were raised to walk in a new life. And so we should live our lives in a way that brings honor and glory to the Lord.

18:29Baptism is the symbol of our entrance into God's family through faith. We get born again once, and so we get baptized once. But the Lord's Supper is different. It's not something that we do only one time. We do it over and over again. And so to help us think through baptism, I want to look at the seminal text on baptism in Scripture, 1 Corinthians 11. Take a look on the screen. Paul says, For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, also, he took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

19:30So, what is the Lord's Supper? It's called communion, that means fellowship. It's called the Eucharist, which means thanksgiving in different traditions. But what it is, is explained to us very clearly by Jesus and Paul in the Word. It is taking bread and breaking it, symbolizing Jesus' broken body for us. It's taking the cup, reminding us that Jesus' blood was poured out for us for the forgiveness of our sins. Every time we do it, we are proclaiming Jesus' death. It's a reminder to us, and it's also a display to non-believers who are with us that Jesus did die and rise again, and that he is coming back again one day soon.

20:17And I think maybe unlike baptism, the Lord's Supper is something that seems even stranger to outsiders. And it's not just that way today. It was something that was almost inconceivable to people in the first century. I want you to take a look at John chapter 6 and look at the words that Jesus says. And if you're familiar with these, let it hit you like you're reading this or hearing this from Jesus for the first time. So Jesus said to them, that is the crowd, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Yes, this is in the Bible. Jesus really said that. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will. Raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.

21:33So I think one of the things that's just kind of an interesting coincidence, the chapters and the verses, they were added much, much, much later, but John 6, 6, 6, John chapter 6, verse 66 says that many who heard him say these words turned away and followed him no more. They said, this is a hard saying. Who can accept something like that? This guy is telling us to eat his flesh and drink his blood. It's a hard saying. But friends, that's what communion represents. It represents us feasting on Christ through faith. Clearly, Jesus did not literally mean that we have to eat his flesh and drink his blood. If that were possible for anybody, that would have only been possible for those people right then and there. And of course, he was not teaching that. No, he's saying that we are to feed on him through faith. And that's such an important concept because it drives home the point that this is all about the internal spiritual realities. It's all about the. Heart. So when we take the Lord's Supper and we chew and swallow the bread, when we drink the wine, it is a reminder that we are internalizing the person and work of Jesus. It's not a set of facts that we know in our heads and we can recite. It's something that has come to live inside of us. The person of Jesus Christ through His Holy Spirit has come to live inside of us. It's an internalization of the faith.

23:02Paul says that whenever we observe the Lord's Supper, it not only serves as a reminder to us that Jesus is coming again one day, but it serves as a reminder to everyone else. It's a proclamation of the Lord's death until he comes. So because of what the Lord's Supper symbolizes, non-Christians should not take the Lord's Supper. But Paul did think that the Lord's Supper was a great proclamation of the gospel, of Jesus' body broken and his blood shed for us, and that every time non-believers gather among us, our friends, our co-workers, our neighbors that you've invited, not to mention all of our children who are here week in and week out, they are getting to see the word. They're getting to see a picture of what Jesus did for us on our behalf. It's a reminder of Christ's sacrifice and his promise to return.

23:54So we observe the Lord's Supper regularly with the church. Jesus and Paul, neither one of them said, here's how often you need to do it. Jesus just said, do this in remembrance of me. Paul said, as often as you do it, you do it in remembrance of the Lord. You proclaim his death until he returns. But I think for a lot of people, you know, they think to themselves, well, if we do this every week, it's going to be rote. It's going to lose its meaning. It's going to lose its significance. And maybe some of you have thought that. Maybe you've wondered why we take the Lord's Supper every week. But I want you to know that's not a new question for the church. That's a question that the church has wrestled with for hundreds of years. When Charles Spurgeon was preaching 150 years ago about this same topic, because people were complaining about taking the Lord's Supper too often, look at what he said in a sermon. That guy didn't care. He'd say whatever.

24:49Spurgeon says, My witness is, and I think I speak the mind of many of God's people now present, that coming as some of us do weekly to the Lord's table, we do not find the breaking of bread to have lost its significance. It is always fresh to us. Shame on the Christian church that she should put it off to once a month and mar the first day of the week by depriving it of its glory in the meeting together for fellowship and breaking of bread and showing forth the death of Christ till he come. They who once know the sweetness of each Lord's Day celebrating his supper will not be content, I am sure, to put it in the breast of the Lord. Off to less frequent seasons. Beloved, when the Holy Ghost is with us, ordinances are wells to the Christian, wells of rich comfort and near communion.

25:46So we should observe the Lord's Supper regularly, but we should also always observe it with the church body gathered together. Many people ask the question: you know, can we or should we take the Lord's Supper by ourselves? Can we or should we take it in a small group in our home? Well, I think what's really significant is when Paul is talking about this ordinance, when he's talking about communion and our common union that we have together in Christ in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, the main problem that he was confronting and dealing with wasn't so much that people were sinning during the week and then coming to the Lord's Supper. Sometimes I'm sure that was happening, no doubt. But the main problem that he was confronting was disunity in the church. Cliques were forming in the church at Corinth, and people were dividing up into small groups of people who are in and people who are out. And Paul knew he had to nip that in the bud because that does not tell the truth about the gospel. You see, the world divides us into categories: rich and poor, educated and uneducated. Educated, liberal and conservative. It divides us by skin color. It divides us by ethnic background. In all of these ways, the world divides us, but there should be no division in the body of Christ because we are all one in Christ Jesus. When we come to the Lord's Supper together, it is a picture of the unity that we enjoy with God, but just as much, it is supposed to be a picture of the unity that we enjoy together. That's why we take it together. And that's why, when we take the Lord's Supper, our pastors always encourage us to consider whether we have any unrepentant sin in our life, but specifically any disunity with other Christians in the body. Because if that's the case, then we're not taking it in a way that honors the Lord. We're telling a lie about what the gospel actually is and does for us as Christians.

28:00Now, I want to address some of you with more sensitive consciences because I think this is a real issue. If you've sinned in the past week, the Lord's Supper is meant to be a great comfort to you. Jesus is your mediator and your friend. He is not your accuser and your enemy. That's Satan. So I'm afraid. That some believers, and maybe this is you, some believers hear us saying up here that you need to examine yourself before you take the Lord's Supper and see if you've got any unrepentant sin in your life. We're very careful with those words: unrepentant sin.

28:46And what you hear when we say that is: if I've sinned at all this last week, I can't take the Lord's Supper. Friends, all of us sinned in the last week. You sinned this morning. I know you and your roommates. I sinned against my roommates all the time before coming to church. I sinned against my roommates probably today. My wife and kids. If what that meant is we can't have sinned in the last week if we're going to take the Lord's Supper, no one could ever take the Lord's Supper. That's not what that means. All of us have sinned in the past week, but Jesus is the friend of sinners. Anyone who is willing to confess their sin and repent of it is welcome at his table. Listen to me. The broken bread and the wine are supposed to remind you of Jesus' success, not your failure.

29:44So that warning to examine yourself isn't for anyone who comes with a humble, penitent heart. It's only for those who think they can go on sinning and be okay with God. And that brings us to a final consideration. About the Lord's Supper, which is our emotional posture when we take it. I've had good conversations with many of you in our church body about this over the years. How should we approach this emotionally? Are we supposed to be somber, even sad and sorrowful? Are we supposed to be joyful? Emotionally, how are we supposed to partake of the Lord's Supper?

30:24Well, I think the place to begin is that the Lord's Supper is a memorial of Jesus' brutal death on our behalf for our sin. So, how do you conduct yourself when you're at a memorial? I mean, we have Texas AM right here in our community. There are memorials on campus that are dedicated to those who gave their lives and sacrificed for us. How do we conduct ourselves around those memorials? There is an appropriate somberness, there is an appropriate amount of respect and reflection that takes place as is appropriate for that great sacrifice.

31:02And then you couple that with Paul's command to examine ourselves, and I think it is appropriate at some level for us to approach the Lord's Supper with a somber, emotional tone, because it is sad that Jesus had to die for our sins. It is a somber moment where we reflect on what his death cost, what our salvation cost, rather. But at the same time, The whole point of communion is to remind us that the work is finished. The price has been paid. We have been ransomed by Jesus' sacrifice. And friends, that is a cause for great rejoicing. So I want you to just look at and meditate on these couple of passages from Galatians. Take a look at Galatians chapter 3: Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree, so that in Christ Jesus, the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.

32:16Now look at chapter 4. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. So you are no longer a slave, but a son. And if a son, then an heir through God. Friends, we have a lot to celebrate. And so every time we take the Lord's Supper, it's an opportunity to reflect on the fact. That the blessing of Abraham has come to us, that the rights of the firstborn son, Jesus, have come to us, that Jesus has ransomed us from sin, and this world we're redeemed and not under the curse any longer through faith.

33:20So, when you take all of that together, our emotional posture when we come to the Lord's table should probably be similar to the emotional posture when we go through many other things in this beautiful, wonderful, broken, sin-torn world. Which is to say, we should approach it with both sorrow and joy in an attitude of somberness and reflection, but also incredible thanksgiving in our hearts to God who has accomplished this on our behalf. So, friends, if you're here and you're already following Jesus Christ, my hope is that the past few weeks have been very helpful to you to see that when we come to worship the Lord together, we aren't coming to a concert and a TED Talk.

34:14We're coming to see the word in baptism and the Lord's Supper. We're coming to sing it, we're coming to pray it, we're coming to hear it preached. That's why we're gathering together. And so, if you're still wrestling with some. Questions about the Lord's Supper. We've got a great book that we'd love to give to you. It's called Why is the Lord's Supper So Important? It's on a table as you leave. If you'd like one, you can pick one up today. But my hope and prayer is that you guys would feel that you have a better understanding of what these signs point to, and as a result, that you can participate more fully in them as acts of worship, both for you and along with the rest of the church.

35:01And if you're not yet following Jesus, I hope that thinking about the signs of baptism and the Lord's Supper and what they point to would show you your own need for salvation. That what you need most isn't another chance, it's not an opportunity to make more and better efforts to change your life for the better, but that the problem is that you are dead in sin, you're unable to change yourself, you need to be born again, you need a new heart, and that only comes from the Lord. You need what is pictured in baptism to be raised to walk in a new life.

35:47And for that to happen, you need the person of Jesus Christ and his work that he accomplished in his life, death, and resurrection. That's what's pictured in the Lord's Supper. His body broken for you, his blood shed for you. Because your efforts were never going to be enough. Your religion was never going to be enough. Your attempts were never going to be enough. It required the death of God's one and only Son in order to redeem you from the curse of the law.

36:14And so this morning, I hope, and we hope and pray as a church that you will turn and place your faith in Jesus Christ and in Him alone. And if you're like, I don't know what that means, I don't know what it means to start following Christ. We've got some cards on the back of the seat in front of you. Fill one out and check the box. It says, I want to know more about Jesus. We would love to talk to you about that. We've got this other book that's out there for free. I know it looks just like the other one. It's actually different. It says, What should I do now that I'm a Christian? Just a little short book to help you get started in following Christ. We hope that you'll take advantage of that. Because, see, friends, there is such great confusion about what a Christian is and what the Christian life is. But we want to help you know what that means. And we want to help you follow Jesus Christ. So that when you come to worship, it won't be out of tradition. It won't be out of obligation. It won't be out of guilt. It'll be because you want to hear the word preached and prayed and sung and symbolized in baptism and the Lord's Supper.

37:21Let's pray. Father, there are so many things that we've just learned to think about in terms of tradition. These are just kind of the things that we do. We don't really know why. A lot of symbols have lost their meaning. And I think that's true in particular for baptism and the Lord's Supper. And so, our hope and prayer is that you would restore first and foremost in our own hearts, our own minds, the significance of those ordinances that Jesus gave to the church.

38:31We pray that every time someone is baptized, that we would be able to reflect on the amazing miracle that you have done in our lives in bringing us from spiritual death to spiritual life, raising us to walk in a new life. And that every time we take the Lord's Supper, it wouldn't be a time to wallow in guilt and shame. It wouldn't be a time that we just kind of go through the motions because that's what we do, but it would be a time of reflection, worship, because of what you've done through your Son, Jesus, on our behalf. God, we thank you for these signs, and we pray that we would interact and engage with them more fully, more worshipfully, more meaningfully as a church because of what your word has taught us.

39:28Help us to glorify you. In Christ's name, we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to the sermon audio from New Life Baptist Church in College Station, Texas. For more information or to support our ministry, visit us online at newlifecs.net.