Brethren, I count it a privilege to be present in this fellowship meeting, but feel my inability to properly present this subject in the presence of so many able ministers of the gospel. The task is the more difficult because so much has been spoken and written that tends to hinder rather than help our understanding of the place of baptism. The place of baptism in gospel preaching can only be determined by the recorded gospel messages of men inspired of God to proclaim the good tidings of Him who commanded them to preach the gospel. Certainly gospel preaching is very important, for it has pleased God by the foolishness of preaching (the gospel) to save them that believe. Just what place baptism holds in gospel preaching is the thought before us now. It seems well to note that almost all Christian believers include baptism, or what they term baptism, in their religious systems. The baptism under consideration here is baptism in water. The place of baptism in gospel preaching may be seen in the following scripture statements.

      In the preaching of John the Baptist this is seen, for John baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on Him that should come after him, that is on Jesus. The baptism of John involved faith in Him who was [84] to come. (Acts 19:1-7.) Also under John's preaching, the people and the publicans justified God, being baptized of John, but the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected for themselves the counsel of God, not being baptized of him. (Luke 7:29, 30.) The publicans expressed faith, the Pharisees expressed unbelief. The publicans accepted the counsel of God, being baptized; the Pharisees rejected the counsel of God not being baptized. We are not told why these were not baptized, but being not baptized they rejected against themselves the counsel of God. It is a serious thing to reject the counsel of God, the whole counsel of God--whether in His Law, His History, His Poetry, or His Prophecy. To reject God's counsel is to reject God, and also run the risk of being rejected. It was said of King Saul: "because thou hast rejected the word of Jehovah, He has rejected thee from being king." (1 Sam. 15:23.)

      In the Great Commission or Christ, baptism is set forth, as in expression of faith. He said go make disciples (believers), baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (Matt. 28:19.) "Go preach the gospel to the whole creation, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." (Mark 16:15, 16.) Jesus certainly intended baptism to have a place in gospel preaching--not the central place of course, but a place nevertheless. The whole gospel was to he preached to the whole world, with the promise--"he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned."

      In the preaching of the Apostles and others, baptism is seen as expressing faith in Christ. After [85] Peter's great sermon on Pentecost, they that received his word were baptized. (Acts 2:41 .) Philip preached at Samaria, but "when they believed Philip preaching good tidings . . . they were baptized both men and women." "And Simon also himself believed: and being baptized he continued with Philip." (Acts 8:12, 13.) Lydia "gave heed to the things spoken by Paul and was baptized, and her household." (Acts 16:14, 15.) "The Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized." (Acts 18:8.) The Galatians were made sons of God by faith in Christ, for as many as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ. (Gal. 3:26, 27.) All these expressed their faith by baptism. Faith without baptism falls short of God's plan in conversion. Baptism without faith is not in God's plan. Baptism holds the same place in gospel preaching to the Jews as to the Gentiles--there is one gospel for all. (Rom. 1:16, 17.) There is no distinction, both are justified by faith, obedient faith. See Rom. 3:30 and 1:5. Neither is there any conflict between baptism and grace. Grace provides the way and faith accepts it. And as we see in all the above cases, faith is expressing itself in baptism. Comp. Titus 2:11 and Rom. 4:16.

      Here the human will is surrendered to the divine will, a surrender because baptism does not appeal to human wisdom. "God chose the foolish things of the world that he might put to shame them that are wise." (1 Cor. 1:27.) On one occasion, Jesus anointed a blind man's eyes with clay, telling him to [86] go wash in the pool of Siloam. This seemed a very foolish thing for a person to do in order to receive his sight. But he went, he washed, he saw. (John 9:6, 7). I think baptism occupies a place somewhat like that. The Lord Jesus has said do it and that ought to be enough said. On another occasion Jesus said to his tired disciples who had fished all night and caught nothing, "put out into the deep and let down your nets for a draught." Simon said, "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing; but at thy word I will let down the nets." Then they enclosed a great multitude of fishes. "At thy word I will" brought the results. So it will now.

      I wish now to relate a personal experience with Miss Abbie D. Cartland, of Portland, Maine. I was in a meeting there years ago. This woman attended near all the services. She was a member of the Friends church or a Quaker and very strong in that faith, but her faith had been shaken a year before by the preaching of R. H. Boll. She was trying to escape from the Bible teaching on water baptism. She was a teacher, had a good mind, and was well acquainted with much of the word of God. She sought many opportunities to talk this matter over. She repeatedly said, "I am not going to be baptized, if I can help it." One day when she had repeated her arguments against water baptism, (the Friends do not observe any outward ordinances) the chief argument being that she had been baptized in the Holy Spirit, and did not need water baptism; I thought of the experience of Cornelius and his household--how that after he and others had the baptism of the Holy Spirit, Peter said, "Can any man forbid water, that these [87] should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit as well as we, and he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ." (Acts 10:44-48.) I said to her, "What will you do with this, for it fits your case according to your own contention?" She said, "We will go back now and see what Paul says." I said, "No, we will stay right here." The next day she surrendered her will to the will of the Lord Jesus, and I baptized her. I think she was the happiest person I ever baptized. She never ceased to thank me for helping her. She praised God for granting her light and time to take the step she had strongly rebelled against. I am glad to say that she helped me to a better understanding of the office and power or the Holy Spirit. The baptism of this woman is a beautiful example of the surrender of the human will to the divine will.

      Many years ago I heard David Lipscomb preach a sermon on "moral and positive law." He impressed the lesson that more faith is expressed in obedience to positive laws (that do not appeal to reason) than in obedience to moral laws. Baptism would come under the head of positive law, and is a test of faith.

      The writer of the Hebrew letter speaks of having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience; and having our body washed with pure water. (Heb. 10:22.) Paul said that Christ cleansed the church by the washing of water with the word. (Eph. 5:26.) Not the water without the word, nor the word without the water, but the water with the word. These [88] washings clearly refer to baptism in water. Jesus used water as a symbol of cleansing when He washed the disciples feet. Peter at first refused to allow his Lord to wash his feet, but when Jesus said, "If I wash thee not thou hast no part with me;" Peter then asked to be washed. Baptism has a literal and a spiritual significance. Just as circumcision to the Jew was not simply an outward performance, but was of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter, (Rom. 2:28-29) so is baptism to the truly penitent believer. He is washed outwardly and inwardly.

      In identification with Christ, we are also identified with His church. Paul says we were baptized into Christ, baptized into His death, buried with Him through baptism into death, united with Him in the likeness of His death, and shall be raised with Him in the likeness of His resurrection. It is in baptism we become united with Him in His death, in His burial, in His resurrection. (Rom. 6:3-5.) In Scriptural baptism, we have a picture of the gospel of Christ: His death, His burial, and His resurrection. It is in the baptismal ceremony that the Bride and the Bridegroom are joined together--baptized into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. This makes certain the time of the union and identification with the Lord.

      Note--In baptism we come:

Into the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. (Matt. 28:19.)
Into the remission of sins. (Acts 2:38.) [89]
Into the name of the Lord Jesus. (Acts 19:5.)
Into Jesus Christ, into His death. (Rom. 6:3.)
Into Christ and put on Christ. (Gal. 3:26, 27.)
Into one body. (1 Cor. 12:13.)

      Baptism humbles even unto death and burial (of the old man). Here we obey from the heart the form or pattern of doctrine whereunto we were delivered, and are made free from sin and become servants of righteousness. (Rom. 6:17, 18.) This is obedience of faith of Rom. 1:5. Baptism is a decree given by divine authority. It is our business to humbly subscribe to that decree.

      Two simple examples serve to make this point clear. One is that of General Naaman of the Kingdom of Syria. He had leprosy, and there was no cure for it in his country, even as there is no remedy for sin in or of the world today. The testimony of a Jewish maiden led Naaman to Samaria seeking a cure of this awful disease. He went first to the wrong person; later he found the right person, but came in the wrong attitude. He came as General Naaman. He must humble himself and come as Naaman the leper, hence the command by the prophet Elisha, "Go wash in the Jordan River seven times and thou shalt be clean." (2 Kings 5:10.) He rebelled at this requirement first and went away in a rage, but he went away a leper. His servant said, "If the prophet had bid you do some great thing you would have done it. Why not wash and be clean?" Then Naaman humbled himself, dipped himself according to [90] the command of the prophet, and his flesh came again like unto the flesh or a little, child and he was clean.

      The other example is the falling of the walls of the city of Jericho. God gave a strange command that Israel walk around the wall of the city once a day for six days and seven times the seventh day, and the walls would fall down. The armed forces and all the rest put away their ideas of taking a walled city. They did just what the Lord said, and in their humility of action which was by faith, the walls fell down. When our Lord and Christ says to the sinner, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved," let him trust and obey and He will save, no matter how sinful he may be. He is able to save to the uttermost.

      James M. Stifler, in his commentary on Romans, chapter 6, says, "The New Testament writers never separate it (baptism) from the faith which it embodies and expresses." He says "Faith so far is not one thing and baptism another; they are the same thing; the faith that accepted Christ in Paul's day was the faith that showed its acceptance in baptism; believers were baptized into Christ or they were not considered to be in Him."

      Salvation is not by faith plus baptism, but by faith, expressed in baptism.

      While baptism carries with it a deep significance, the command may be obeyed in simple, child-like faith. D. H. Friend tells of a grandmother who was deeply interested in a series of gospel messages, but rebelled outright when Bible baptism was presented. When he explained that Jesus wanted her to be [91] baptized, she replied, "Well, if Jesus wants me to do that I will do it." Bible examples show the Lord Jesus will honor such faith. In his personal ministry He honored every expression of faith. Many brethren will not do this.

      It is refreshing to know that we can obey our Lord's commands without understanding all the blessings that flow from their observance. When a person sees the need of salvation, and that Christ is his only Savior, and comes to Him humbly, he will not be contentious about the terms on which salvation is offered him.

      The place of baptism in gospel preaching should, of course, be the place the Lord gave it. Men are treading on very dangerous ground when they omit it or change it in action or design. Let Christ have His say on baptism and on everything that pertains to life and godliness. [92]

[LM 84-92]