Think of Baptism as Preparation - Biltmore Baptist Church

Scripture: Matthew 3:1-17; 28:16-20 (NIV)

Introduction

Today, is about the most important thing that we do as Baptists
Today we celebrate with young people who have chosen to make Jesus their Savior
For us, this is a highly personal thing because we believe that Jesus died on the cross PERSONALLY for each of us.
And in His resurrection, He conquers physical death and returns to heaven to make a place for us to live for all eternity
All He asks from us is that we ACCEPT Him, BELIEVE He is God, and Confess we need Him
In Luke chapter 15, Jesus teaches in parables about rejoicing when someone repents.
In verses 4-7, Jesus uses a lost sheep as an example:

Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

And then in verses 8-10, Jesus uses the example of a woman who lost a coin:

Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

The rest of Luke chapter 15 is the story of the Prodigal Son who was lost and returns home to a great celebration by his father
Repentance or “to repent” simply means to turn around; make a change; change your path
If you were running headlong through the woods and couldn’t see that you were about to go off the edge of a cliff to certain death below and I yelled out REPENT, what would you do?
God and all the angels in heaven rejoice when someone makes that turn; away from the cliff; and towards the safe and loving arms of Jesus Christ
As we celebrate these young people making that change and turning their lives towards Christ, there are two things I want you to think about:

It all began with Baptism
We are called to Baptize the world

1. It all began with Baptism

What was the first thing that happened to kick off Jesus’ 3-year ministry? His Baptism
Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist, who was only months older than Jesus, had come to establish the Baptism process to get ready for Jesus
Right away, this establishes Baptism as the beginning of God’s plan for Jesus
The process that John used to baptize was to dunk people under water in the Jordan river
Symbolically, this was to publicly hold people accountable for their sins; to cleanse them
To better understand the authority and purpose of John the Baptist, it can be seen in the words of John’s father Zachariah in Luke 1:76-79:

And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.

John the Baptist was called by God, personally, to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah from over 700 years Isaiah calls him:

A voice of one calling in the wilderness, Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him

John was sent to get people used to the process of ritual purification from sin
Baptism is a type of purification and cleansing ritual common in ancient Judaism and even today amongst Orthodox Jews.
Usually, water purification was used for physical cleansing; and it stops spread of disease
Even today we see the benefit of hand washing for example to stop the spread of COVID
But John was Baptizing people to cleanse them from sin and TURN them back to God
What about Jesus? Did He need to be purified from sin? NO, He was without sin
This is probably why John was so reluctant to baptize Jesus; he was very uncomfortable
But Jesus told him to do it anyway – and he did baptize Jesus. And then what happened?

As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

This is where the story begins of the many miracles and healing and preaching and teaching that Jesus did throughout the Jewish countryside
It all started with the baptism of Jesus and for our young people who were baptized today, it started when they accepted Jesus into their hearts.
We don’t believe any magic happens in the baptismal waters; nothing supernatural.
Actually, the only magic is when I fill up the baptismal without flooding the fellowship hall
The real magic; the real supernatural conversion; is what has happened in their hearts
Jesus came to rescue the world from death and it all started with Baptism.

2. We are called to Baptize the world

The very end of Matthew’s Gospel leaves us with Jesus giving the Great Commission
Jesus said I am giving you salvation for your sins and eternal life, now get out there and do this for others
First, in verse 18, He establishes that He has the right and authority to hand this off to us:

He says: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

ALL authority belongs to Him and now He is passing the baton to us
What does He expect from us? Get out there and do it. He is serious about this stuff

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Three things to pay attention to here:

How does He want us to reach out to others? MAKE THEM DISCIPLES
Who does He want us to reach out to? ALL nations – EVERYBODY
What does He want us to do with these disciples? BAPTIZE THEM

If we preach the Gospel, teach the Gospel and live the Gospel before others, God will do the rest and make them disciples.
If we reach out to everyone and meet them wherever THEY are; not necessarily where WE are, God will do the rest and make them disciples
Jesus is introducing a new kind of Baptism as well; different from John’s water purification-only process
He now gives us the authority; and the responsibility; to baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
It all begins with baptism for these new disciples, but it is only a beginning
Jesus expects us to follow up when He says in verse 20 to: “teach them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
We have accepted these young people into the faith and celebrate this most important decision they will ever make and now we have a commitment to teach them
And Jesus, “will be with them always, to the very end of the age.”