How Baptism Saves
Text 1 Peter 3:21 Time 25 06 17 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church
Well, it is a great joy to be here
tonight and to have the baptistery open again after such a long
spell. There are only two ordinances or sacraments for believers –
baptism and the Lord’s Supper. It is important that whenever there
is a baptism or communion that we remind ourselves exactly what they
are all about. If you simply go through the motions then the meaning
can easily be forgotten and the whole thing can turn into a
meaningless ritual. That is why we make a point whenever we have
communion or a baptism to say something about what is going on.
What I want us to do now then is to
consider the verse about baptism found in 1 Peter 3:21. This verse
and those that surround it are not easy ones to interpret in some
ways and there has been some discussion about certain elements such
what it means when it speaks of Jesus going and making
proclamation to the imprisoned spirits - to those who were
disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah
while the ark was being built. I’m sure that what
Peter is saying there is that when Noah preached to the people of his
day it was the Spirit of Christ who was patiently pleading with
people even then through Noah.
Peter goes on to say to believers
(in verse 21) that the water of Noah’s flood
symbolises
baptism that now saves you also - not the removal of dirt from the
body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
He is drawing a parallel then
between the flood and baptism. If Peter were here tonight to witness
this baptism and we asked him to speak he might say ‘This is a
little like another Noah’s ark’. Now do note that he does not say
of the ark, In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved from
water, rather he says they were saved through
water. Of course, they were saved from the water – unlike all
those who perished, they escaped from the great flood. However, Peter
says that they were saved through water. It was by means of
the flood that God rescued them from the wicked world in which they
had been living. One can see several connections between Noah’s ark
and baptism. For example, one commentator mentions how
- Just as the ark was God’s way of saving Noah not man’s invention, so baptism is God ordained.
- Just as Noah appears to have been mocked when building the ark, so some people mock baptism as a means of salvation.
- Just as Noah and his family were shut up in the ark and seemed buried in it so baptism can be seen as a sort of symbolic burial. (See Romans 6:4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death … Colossians 2:12 having been buried with him in baptism …)
- Just as Noah and his family were surrounded by water from above and below, so when a person is baptised he or she is immersed in water.
The most important connection between Noah’s
flood and baptism, however, is that there is a sense in both cases in
which it is by means of water that salvation comes. So we see
how he has come to the matter of baptism. However, when Peter says
that baptism saves believers, what exactly does he mean? He
himself clarifies by including both a negative and a positive
comment.
1. Understand how this baptism does not save
1. Understand how this baptism does not save
Having said this water symbolises
baptism that now saves you also – Peter adds not the removal
of dirt from the body. Literally he says it is not the removal
of dirt from the flesh. The word flesh has at least two
connotations in Scripture and so we can say two things in light of
Peter’s statement.
1. Baptism does not literally save
by washing dirt from the body
Obviously when a person is baptised
it is a little bit like a bath. We are aware of the fact that water
is very good for washing dirt from our bodies. Not only is it healthy
for our bodies to be regularly washed but it can be very refreshing
generally. Many a person enjoys nothing better than a good soak in
the bath or alternatively an invigorating shower – hot or cold.
More than one religion makes a great deal of such purification rites. I remember reading about George Harrison of the Beatles, how when he first embraced
Hinduism he described how good it felt to get up early in the morning
and to begin with meditation and a shower. I remember too once
meeting a Sikh gentleman who had travelled to India where he had felt
renewed by standing under waterfall. Now Christian baptism is
nothing like that. It is something that can only take place once in a
person’s life and it has nothing at all to do with washing dirt
from the body.
If you have been baptised.
Remember that when you were baptised you weren’t washing dirt from
your body.
If you’ve not been baptised,
realise that no amount of washing can make you clean. Washing, like a
new set of clothes or new resolutions can only affect you outwardly.
You need something inward to happen to you.
Roslin, as you’re about to be
baptised, recognise that this water is not like bath water. It isn’t
designed to get you clean. That is not its purpose!
2. Baptism does not literally save by
washing sin from the soul
It may be that Peter is also
underlining the fact that in and of itself baptism cannot wash away
sin from the soul either. The reason why people need to be saved is
because of their sin. It is because of sin that we die and deserve to
be sent to hell. The only way we can be saved is by having those sins
washed away but that is not something that baptism can do. There is
nothing special about this water. There is nothing that being
baptised can do to take away sin.
There are people who believe that
somehow baptism can wash sin from your soul. You have heard perhaps
of people making quite a fuss about getting sick babies baptised
before they die. Why? Because there is a belief that baptism can
somehow literally wash sin away. Sometimes children in Roman
Catholic Schools are taught how to perform what they call an
emergency baptism, based on the idea that there is no way into heaven
without baptism.
Now I’m sure that no-one believes
that the power is in the water itself but there is the idea that the
ceremony itself can somehow save. And yet everything else we know
from Scripture warns against taking such an idea. For example, in
Hebrews 10:4, 11 it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats
to take away sins … Day after day every priest stands and performs
his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices,
which can never take away sins. There are many things like that
in the Old Testament too. There is no way that any ceremony can take
away sin. It doesn’t matter how sincere we are or how genuine our
belief in such a thing may be, it cannot do it.
If I thought that Roslin was under the impression
that she could wash away her sins by baptism then I would refuse to
baptise her. The idea that any mere ritual can save is utterly false. I suppose it’s a little like supposing that a marriage ceremony
can make a real marriage. Sometimes people go through a form of
marriage in order to gain British citizenship. The government are
wise to such things, however, they know that a mere paper marriage is
not a real marriage and they want evidence of a real marriage.
Similarly, baptism is not a matter of a mere form. Like a marriage
ceremony it must rather be the seal and sign of something much
deeper.
If you have been baptised,
remember that when you were baptised it wasn’t that act that made
you a Christian. No. it was something else that washed your soul
clean. The day you were baptised was just the day when you publicly
declared that God had changed your life. You may not remember exactly
when you were converted but hopefully you can remember when you were
baptised and it was then that you made your public profession of
conversion.
If you’ve not been baptised,
realise that there is no ritual on earth that can make your soul
clean. There is no religious rite that can deal with your sin.
Baptism won’t do it. Taking the Lord’s Supper won’t do it.
Praying five times a day can’t change you. Ritual purifications and
religious ceremonies are all worthless in themselves. Rather, as we
have said, you need something inward to happen to you. Unless God
changes you then there is no hope for you.
Roslin, as you’re about to be
baptised, recognise that this is not like a ritual purification. This
act isn’t designed to purify your soul. As you know, you are being
baptised on the basis that this has already happened. This baptism is
designed to strengthen you in your convictions not to do something
that has not happened yet.
2. Understand how baptism does save
2. Understand how baptism does save
So what does Peter mean when he says
that baptism saves? In what sense does it save? It is clear that
Peter is speaking symbolically. Symbolically speaking, baptism saves.
The way such a ceremony affects us is by affecting our conscience and
teaching us.
1. Baptism symbolically saves as it
implies the pledge of a good conscience towards God
So we come to Peter’s positive
statement. He says not the removal of dirt from the body but the
pledge of a good conscience towards God. The words are understood
in a slightly different way by different writers. Is it the pledge
towards God of a good conscience towards God or the pledge of
‘a good conscience towards God’ or even baptism that now
saves you towards God also - not the removal of dirt from the body
but the pledge of a good conscience?
There is some argument about the word translated pledge
too. Answer is not quite right pledge is
better. It is the demand or enquiry of a good
conscience or possibly the appeal. Peter may well be thinking
of the way those who are baptised are often asked to first give a
word of testimony or to answer questions - as we will do tonight. The
question then is whether Peter is speaking subjectively of the person
being baptised having a good conscience or objectively of them
appealing to God for a good conscience. It is probably the first.
Whichever way we understand it, it is clear that the focus is on the
person's conscience.
How is it with your conscience tonight?
What about you baptised believer? Do
you remember your baptismal pledge? Are you conscientiously living
aware that only Christ can forgive your sins? We must never forget
that he is the only one who can deal with our guilt. An event like
this should remind you once more of how indebted you are to him. Cf
3:16. I say to you tonight (Hebrews 10:22) let us draw near to God
with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts
sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience
and having our bodies washed with pure water.
What about you unbaptised
unbeliever? Do you realise that is your great need - to give yourself
to God, to commit yourself to him entirely. There is no way to get
rid of your guilty conscience except by trusting in him. He alone can
cleanse you. Gifts and sacrifices … are not able to clear
the conscience (Hebrews 9:22) only Christ can. Go to him,
therefore, and find complete cleansing.
Roslin. I trust you recognise that
what I am saying is true. By coming to be baptised you are saying
that you are guilty of sin. It is the testimony of your conscience.
However, your conscience also testifies that whereas a ceremony can
only at best make you outwardly clean the blood of Christ, who
through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, can
cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we
may serve the living God! (Hebrews 9:13, 14). And so your
conscience is resting only in the blood of Christ. It is on that
basis that we baptise you.
2. Baptism symbolically saves as it
points to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who now reigns in heaven
Finally, Peter says that baptism
saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into
heaven and is at God’s right hand - with angels, authorities and
powers in submission to him. The New Testament speaks very often
about the resurrection of Jesus and when it does so it almost
invariably has in mind his death as well. Peter has mentioned the
death explicitly already back in 18 For Christ died for sins once
for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He
was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit. Why
did Christ die? Peter is clear. Christ died for sins. It was
in order to deal with sin that he died. It was the death of the
righteous for the unrighteous – the Son of God, the only
Saviour, died taking the punishment deserved by sinners like you and
me. He did it, Peter says to these believers, to bring you to God.
By nature we are all sinners and we have no access to God,. We
cannot come near him. However, a way back to God has been opened up
by Christ’s death as a substitute for sinners on the cross. There
is a way back through trusting in him and what he has done. Baptism
symbolises union with Christ in his death and resurrection. That is
why Paul says (in Romans 6:3-5) Or don’t you know that all of us
who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death? We
were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order
that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of
the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with
him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him
in his resurrection. (Also see Colossians 2:12 having been
buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in
the power of God, who raised him from the dead.
So baptism cannot literally save
anyone but it is a symbol of a good conscience towards God and
of the death and resurrection of Christ. It is by these means that
people are saved – by committing themselves to god and trusting in
Jesus Christ and what he has done.
Are you a
baptised believer? Remember your baptism then – that symbolic
uniting with Jesus Christ in his death and resurrection. That is what
saves you – the fact that you are united to him. There is no
salvation anywhere else is there?
Are you
unbaptised? Realise that the only way to be saved is by looking to
the Lord Jesus and what he has done. He alone can cleanse you. To be
baptised without being joined to him in faith would be a meaningless
charade. But if you really are joined to him there is no better
symbol of it.
Roslin. Are
you looking only to Christ and what he has done for forgiveness?.
Then we are willing to baptise you.
Someone may
be thinking, ‘Can you be saved and not be baptised?’ The answer
is yes. The dying thief is proof enough. That is the exception.
Normally, it is a matter of believing and then being baptised. If you
have a good conscience toward God – one that bears witness both to
your guilt and to the blood of Christ. If your are looking only to
Jesus Christ and what he has done then I urge you to be baptised.
