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Welcome to Walk in the Truth podcast. Have you ever looked back in time and considered

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how certain defining moments have shaped your life in future? Today, John Metter, lead

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pastor of Cross City Church, looks at the importance of defining moments and how we

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can recognize what God is saying through them. Well, I'm so glad to be with you this morning

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with the scriptures today. Isn't it great to have a copy of God's Word in your hand

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or on your phone or on your tablet? The whole of the Bible, all 66 books. What a blessing.

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If you have your Bibles, take them and turn to Matthew chapter 28 today, beginning in

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verse 19. Let's stand together as we talk about what I call defining declarations. You

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know, we're in our defining moments series and we've been each week this summer talking

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about different moments in our lives that are different from the average experience.

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We all experience a thousand things, but only a few things are defining moments, moments

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that change the course of our lives. Sometimes defining moments change the course of the

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past part of our lives. We're able to shut the door on things in the past. Sometimes

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that changes for the present, but almost every defining moment changes your future. So these

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are big moments, moments that actually affect our lives. And we've talked about a number

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of those, but today this one is called defining declaration. It has to do with baptism. It

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has to do with being baptized after you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Let's

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look at these two verses in chapter 28 of Matthew verse 19. Jesus says in the great

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commission, the very final commandment, so to speak, before his ascension, he says, go

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therefore and make disciples of all the nations. And by the way, as you read this with me,

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keep in mind the phrase make disciples is the only verb. It's the only command in all

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of this passage. The rest is something that follows from making disciples. So it says,

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go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the

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father and the son and the Holy spirit, teaching them to observe all that I command you. And

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lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Father, in Jesus' name, speak

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to us about this subject today so that every person in the room could know where they stand

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with this defining declaration moment of baptism that you've given us as the church, the charge

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to go and make disciples. But as we do it, baptize and teach and help people know everything

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that you've taught us. So Father, today I pray it will be personal. I pray it will be

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instrumental in our lives today in Jesus' name. Amen. Please be seated.

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Baptism is a defining moment in a person's life. In fact, it's so defining sometimes

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we record it in the margins of our Bible. We know the dates of it. Sometimes we have

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pictures of it. When someone is baptized, at least in the churches I've been involved

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with, there is a baptism certificate that's signed and you receive that after you are

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baptized. So it's a defining moment. It's a big deal. We make a big deal about baptism.

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And I want to answer the question today, why do we make such a big deal about baptism?

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And more importantly, I want you to walk away from this day understanding the why of baptism.

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Why do we do that? Why did Jesus say that we're to make disciples and as we do that,

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to be sure we baptize them and then teach them to observe everything that he commanded

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us. But let me take a little poll this morning. How many of you remember your baptism experience?

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Would you raise your hand if you remember your baptism experience? That's a lot of us

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in the room remember our baptism experience. And that's an important thing to remember.

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And we're going to talk about that today for just a few moments. And if there is an absent

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understanding of baptism in your life or if you've never been baptized after you've come

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to faith in Jesus, then we want to talk to you about what that really means and looking

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at the scripture helps us to do that. By the way, baptize, the word baptize is actually

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a transliteration from the Greek language. The Greek word baptizo is just exactly transliterated

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into English and it literally means to immerse. It's most often used with the word into following

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it to connect the act of baptism with a purpose or a person. For example, in the book of Galatians,

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Paul talks about the fact that we are baptized into Christ. It's not just about getting

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wet. It's not a religious observance. It's not something that we just commemorate because

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we want to have walked through that act in our lives in church somewhere, but it really

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is a significant, meaningful, defining moment in our life. And I call it a defining declaration.

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Now I remember my own baptism when I was seven years old. I came to Christ at about

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six years of age. I remember being ready to be baptized and I was all excited about it.

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We were in a small town in Oklahoma. There was no swimming pool in our town and I saw

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that baptistry as a chance to get in the water, in the cold water. I also thought it was a

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pretty cool moment because my father was the pastor of the church and I wanted to be baptized

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with him. I felt very comfortable with the whole thing. But I also remember in the preparation

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for that having my mom and dad explain to me very carefully what baptism was and the

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fact that I was only being baptized because I had placed my faith and trust in Christ

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as Lord and Savior. That it was not a relevant act at all apart from our salvation experience.

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So I really understood that well, but I was still looking forward to having fun in that

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baptistry, right? But I remember when my father baptized me, he did what we all as pastors

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do. We raised our hand before we baptized and we said, I baptize you in the name of

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the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. And when my dad did that, that baptism experience

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took on a whole different level of meaning for me. All of a sudden I realized it wasn't

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about the water and it wasn't about my dad. All of a sudden I realized this is about me

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following Jesus. You know, you can know that at seven years of age. You can know that it's

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about you following Jesus Christ. And that baptism experience to me was a meaningful

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moment, a moment that I look back at. And I recently visited the church in Oklahoma

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in that small town and actually looked at that baptistry again as a way of just remembering

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all that had taken place during that time. But you know, I've always had this question

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I think you may too. Why is it that such a strange and unusual experience of allowing

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someone to lower you backwards into the water and then bringing you back up, why is it that

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we do that that way? I mean, that seems like a weird thing to invent, doesn't it? I mean,

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what's really behind that? And why when someone is baptized do they come up with smiles on

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their face, sometimes with hands raised? Why is it such an accelerating experience? It's

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not about the temperature of the water. It's not about how clean the water is. Other people

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have been in there before you were. It's not about any of those physical aspects of it.

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It's not about the crowd cheering you on, but it's something intensely personal between

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you and God. And that's why that baptism is such an incredibly important thing. You know,

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baptism is not a standalone act. It's not something that you just one day decide to

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get up and go do. It's connected to and signifies something extraordinary and nothing else compares

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to it. So let's look at baptism for just a few moments. First of all, go back to Matthew

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chapter three. And in Matthew chapter three, we began to see the scriptures talk about

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baptism. And I want to point out first of all, that baptism signifies life change, life

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change. The very history of baptism in the New Testament format is that people were coming

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to be baptized because their lives needed changing and they wanted to change their lives.

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And before Jesus' public ministry began, there was a man named John the Baptist. He was baptizing

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in the River Jordan. And in Matthew chapter three, verse one, it says this, now in those

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days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, repent for the

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kingdom of heaven is at hand. And they were being baptized by him, it says in verse six,

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in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins. Now I'm going to take a little bit of

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a walk today because I want to get down on this level of the stage and remind you that

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the act of baptism was not a religious act. It was something done outside in the dirty

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Jordan River. I was disappointed the first time I saw the Jordan River. I anticipated

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it was like those pictures on the back of the Babishree walls, you know, crystal clear

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water with nice beautiful trees in the background. But when I went to the Jordan River, it was

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nasty dirty and had varmint swimming around in it while we baptized people in that river.

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Well, there was John the Baptist out there in that Jordan River. The Bible says all of

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Israel was coming to him, religious leaders. Others, he were not religious leaders. Coming

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to meet this man who was preaching repentance and life change. He was pointing to a Messiah

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that had yet to be revealed. Jesus was alive. He was present, but he had not revealed himself

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as the Messiah yet. So John was pointing to someone that was going to be coming and going

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to be revealed. And he was in that river and people were coming to be baptized.

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Now the reason I want to create that word picture for you for just a moment is because

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almost everything we understand about baptism today is in a church building with air conditioning

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and with chlorinated water. It's got this trough kind of thing that people walk into

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and the temperature of the water. We try to get it just right so it's not uncomfortable

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for you, but the idea behind baptism is none of that and it's all about life change. Why

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would all these religious leaders come outside of the temple, outside of Jerusalem to find

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John the Baptist? I assure you it wasn't a flippant moment. It wasn't a casual moment.

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It was a serious moment where they realized my life needs to change and this man is preaching

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in such a way that I need to respond to. So the very first aspect of baptism that we hear

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about is that it's this experience. It's not a church experience. It's not a religious

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experience. It really is about life change. So when you approach the idea of baptism,

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you want to approach it with the idea that I would want to be baptized because my life

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is changing. Changing for the better. Changing in the direction of God. But John's role was

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twofold. It wasn't just to baptize. He was also there to point to Jesus. John's message

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was there was a greater one coming and a greater baptism coming. In fact, if you move on further

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into Matthew chapter three, you find in verse 11, John preaching, he says, as for me, I

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baptized you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than

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I and I'm not fit to remove his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and

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fire. That's when Christ comes and when we come to Christ that this real baptism in the

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spirit takes place. Jesus literally baptizes us in his Holy Spirit and water baptism symbolizes

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that. So baptism has its roots in life change. Baptism also signifies identification. You're

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still in Matthew chapter three. Look at verse 13, 14, and 15. Then Jesus arrived from Galilee

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at the Jordan coming to John to be baptized by him, but John tried to prevent him saying,

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I have need to be baptized by you and do you come to me? But Jesus answering him said,

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I'm permitted at this time for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness

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than he. That is John the Baptist permitted Jesus to be baptized, literally baptizing

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him. And it says that in Matthew chapter three. So let's go back to the Jordan river. Here's

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John the Baptist still in the river and Jesus comes and sees all these religious leaders

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and all these others that are coming to be baptized because of the need for life change.

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Now Jesus is coming and saying, I want to be baptized. And John the Baptist's response

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is predictable. Why? Why do you want me to be baptized? Why do you need to be baptized?

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You are the son of God. Many of you remembered John's first statement whenever he saw Jesus

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for the first time. Here's what he said, behold the lamb of God that comes to take away the

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sin of the world. That was John's first statement about Jesus publicly. So clearly John the

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Baptist knows Jesus doesn't need to have life change. Jesus doesn't need to have his

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sins washed away. He's the son of God and God the son. He is a perfect God man. But

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Jesus baptism was not an act for repentance, but an act of obedience and an example to

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follow. That's why we have the record of Jesus baptism here. He was both identifying with

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the father and identifying with those who would later follow him. And if Jesus was willing

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to be baptized, why would we not be willing to be baptized? Sometimes I talk to people

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and they're a little reluctant about being baptized. I don't know. I might be a little

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embarrassed to be out there in front of all those people. I don't know about getting wet

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and coming back. I think it's weird that you drop people in backwards and bring them back

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up. All kinds of things that people say. My response is listen, if Jesus the son of God

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and God the son was willing to be baptized in order to obey his father, why would you

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not be willing to be baptized to obey your heavenly father? Now there's something interesting

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that happened when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. And it's recorded in Matthew

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3 verse 16. It says this, after being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water and

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behold the heavens were opened and he saw the spirit of God descending as a dove and

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lighting upon him and behold a voice out of the heavens saying, this is my beloved son

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in whom I am well pleased. Now that's pretty impressive, isn't it? I can tell you that

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did not happen when I was baptized at seven years of age or at any other time in my life,

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not like that. Nor would it happen to you or would it have happened to you. But what's

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going on here is Jesus' obedience and the crowd that had gathered to observe that were

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given this amazing affirmation from God the father about the life of Jesus. I mean this

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is a huge movement because Jesus was identifying with us who would later follow him and he

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was identifying with his father who had called him to do this work of redemption and this

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work of bringing people to faith. In fact his statement was let's do it to fulfill

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all righteousness. Do you know that Jesus lived a perfect life and fulfilled the law

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on your behalf? Do you know that Jesus was perfectly righteous and never did a wrong

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thing? In fact he said I always do all things that please the father on your behalf. In

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addition to that Jesus died and shed his blood to pay for sin, not his. He did that for your

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sin on your behalf. So here's Jesus being baptized in the river by John the Baptist

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and it signifies identification backwards towards us. And now when we are baptized after

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following Jesus as Lord and Savior we are identifying ourselves with Christ. Whenever

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I baptize someone they are not there to declare anything about themselves, they are there

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to declare something about what Jesus has done. Jesus is my Lord and Savior and I'm

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not ashamed of that, it's the declaration. And that's why when we baptize we say buried

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with Christ in baptism into death, raised with him in newness of life. We're not really

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saying so much about ourselves, we're identifying with Jesus. You know I've got some favorite

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baptism experiences over the years as you might imagine. I've been in ministry nearly

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forty years and over those forty years I've had all kinds of incredible and fun and crazy

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stories. I've got some of the funniest stories of baptism I will never tell. But I remember

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one great day, I was pastoring in Tennessee, preached on baptism and a Presbyterian lady

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walked down the aisle at the end, she was about eighty-six years of age, she had been

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attending our church for years. She had come to Christ as a young girl but was sprinkled

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as a child and I never had a baptism experience that we call believers baptism. That is you

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are baptized because you placed your faith and trust in Jesus and you are a believer

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in Jesus Christ therefore you identify with him by faith. She had never had that experience

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and I preached on baptism that day and she came down and talked to one of our castles

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and she said I've been walking with Jesus for dozens and dozens and decades and decades

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of years and I've never been fully baptized. I've never been immersed and I want to do

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that and I want to do it now. I want to do it today. So here's an eighty-six year old

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lady saying this is going to happen today one way or another. Is your baptistry full?

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Is it not? And so of course we made arrangements and she was baptized in an evening service

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that day and it was an incredible experience for her and I wish you could have seen her

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face as she came up out of that water knowing that that was something she needed to do for

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years and years and years. Knowing she wanted to identify with the Christ that loved her

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and saved her but this was her first opportunity to do it and so what an incredible amazing

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moment and really it moved many other people to make that same decision. I remember a young

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woman years ago here at this church who was a follower of Islam. Was brought up Muslim.

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Her family was Muslim. She had never read the Bible until introduced to it. And as she

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read the Bible she realized that the Bible spoke of a God of love and the Koran did not

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and so she began to dig into that and realized that the God of the Bible is one that pursued

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us with his love and that the culmination of that is to trust him, believe him and put

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your faith in him and that's exactly what she did. And when it came time for her to

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be baptized she was obviously concerned for all of her friends and all of her family members

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who might disown her, who might be angry because she was converting from Islam to being a follower

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of Jesus Christ but when she made that commitment and then was baptized it was really amazing

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how the family actually respected her decision and it wasn't quite the traumatic experience

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she thought it might be but rather an incredible experience of really knowing who she worked

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up and why she worshiped Jesus Christ. Of course there are countless numbers of young

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men and young women who have gone to camp or to a vacation Bible school or to a kids

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craze and you watch them make those decisions of faith and watch them follow the Lord in

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baptism it's such a special treat to watch that unfold. Some of you have kids that have

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been baptized and you know the reality of that in their lives as well. But I remember

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one service a number of years ago. We were having a not ashamed day. For those of you

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that have never seen that we baptized those that have made decisions to follow Christ

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but we also give others an opportunity to follow them as they follow Christ and we had

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a guy stand up and follow me down to the front and then we later baptized him and I later

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got his story. Here was a guy that had just gotten out of prison two weeks before and he

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came to this service that particular Sunday didn't know what was going on watched it happen

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then decided because he had decided to follow Jesus he needed to fully identify with Jesus

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and with the body of Christ. And then this guy walked forward I don't think I've ever

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seen a more heavily tattooed guy in my whole life. Man he was eager he was ready to go

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you could not have kept that guy from being baptized on that particular Sunday he was

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going to do it. What an incredible thing to watch his life begin to unfold as he fully

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identified with Jesus. Here was his statement his statement was I've identified myself with

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the crime in this world and with all sorts of evil people my whole life it's time for

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me to identify with Jesus Christ once and for all and he did and he has. Man what an

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incredible thing. Baptism is not a religious observance please clap please do it be committed

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to it be committed to it. I don't know it's worth more than three little claps when somebody

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comes to faith in Jesus right. Some of the most interesting baptism experiences I've

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ever seen are in India where people could literally be killed in response to their baptisms

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because the culture does not want them to be. This last week I read the account of a

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guy named Josh Tease who is an evangelist and who is often in India and he wrote something

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that was very familiar to me because I've seen it several times I'm going to read it

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to you. He said it was a rural village and it seemed the entire village was on high alert

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the local church had planned a special church service to celebrate recent conversions of

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several villagers. These former Hindus had been reached by the love of local Christians

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in their heart subsequently were open to the gospel of Christ. Now was the moment for their

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public declaration of faith it was their moment of declaration. The new Christians were ecstatic

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but the Brahmin priests were not. They stood like statues upon the steps of the local Hindu

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temple as we walked by on our way to the baptistry. The baptism is at a well. They were angry

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and they were not afraid to show it. The pastor spoke passionately about baptism and the importance

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of this public statement and although his message was helpful this man says it was not

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the most powerful sermon that day the baptism was the most powerful sermon. I watched as

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the people of Jesus closed in prayer stood to their feet and marched to the well. There

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they were on one side of the concrete trough with the Brahmin priest village leadership

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if you will. They were flanked on the left and right with scores of large men all with

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arms crossed all grimacing and angry. Surrounding these were their women and what seemed like

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hundreds of children not one person was smiling in this group. On the other side in contrast

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a smaller group of Christians the tension was high and the moment was real. I was told

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later that the men and women who chose baptism would undergo public ridicule, loss of business,

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family betrayal, no longer be able to shop at the local market, sell their crops or attend

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family functions. To publicly identify with Jesus Christ was tantamount to the rejection

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of your entire former life. So they step into the water. The pastor asks for final confirmation

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of their faith in Jesus and they verbally acknowledge the faith in Jesus and at this

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point one particular man was dunked into the water completely emerged symbolizing the death

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and burial and resurrection of Christ. When he came out of the water he didn't just come

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out of the water he leapt out of the water. His hands were raised on the air there was

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a smile broad on his face and words of praise pouring from his lips. He was so much more

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aware of the eyes of God than he was the eyes of all the others in that audience. And the

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last thing the pastor did before the new Christian exited the waters was to wipe off the red

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bendy religious mark that was on his forehead and in its place put the mark of the cross

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and that man walked out of the baptistry with a cross on his forehead and a new direction

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in life because of his faith in Jesus Christ. What a story. We can't fathom that kind of

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response. We're used to the applause, the smiles, people pat us on the back, good job,

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good decision. But my point today is to say identifying with Christ cost us if not in

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the room then outside the room. And so it's a very serious thing that we do when we say

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we step up to be baptized because we put our faith in Jesus Christ. But one of the greatest

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pictures of baptism in the New Testament is in Acts chapter 8 and it shows us that baptism

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signifies faith. It's the story of the Ethiopian eunuch being witnessed to by a man named Philip

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and it's in Acts chapter 8 verse 35. And what I want you to see in this account, this very

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brief account is how the practice of baptism had become very clear and widely known. Everybody

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knew John the Baptist was doing a baptism under repentance and everybody knew the identification

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of the father for Jesus and the identification that Jesus had with the father in his baptism.

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But what became very clear as time went on was the whole idea of baptism signifying faith.

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That is we are baptized because we have faith in Jesus Christ and because that faith saves

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us we want to tell everyone, declare to everyone in the world we are now followers of Jesus

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Christ and as we said my name is John Middard, Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior and I am

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finished with me. I am not ashamed. That's what we say. And I want you to see in Acts

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chapter 8 this was a well developed and clearly understood idea 2000 years ago. So Acts chapter

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8 the Ethiopian eunuch is in his chariot in the desert reading a scroll of the book of

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Isaiah. God the Holy Spirit leads Philip into the wilderness. In fact his command is to

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go south on the road to Gaza and if you knew the area you would know it simply means walk

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into the desert Philip. So Philip does that and encounters this chariot. He sees the Ethiopian

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eunuch reading the scroll and comes up to him and says do you understand what you are

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reading? And the man from Ethiopia says how can I know this unless somebody explains it

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to me? And beginning in verse 35 we pick up the story then Philip opened his mouth and

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beginning from this scripture he preached Jesus. Now I've got that highlighted on my

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text and the reason I have is because I want you to notice that when he begins to preach

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he doesn't preach about baptism. He doesn't preach about religion. He doesn't preach

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about a whole host of other things he could preach about. He doesn't preach about end

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times or anything like that. He preaches about Jesus from the book of Isaiah. He preached

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Jesus to him. And as they went along the road they came to some water and the eunuch said

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look water what prevents me from being baptized? And Philip said if you believe with all your

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heart you may. And I've highlighted that one because that's the message that Philip had

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for this man and the message of the church is that baptism doesn't mean anything apart

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from believing with all of your heart. And so he gives that answer and he answered him

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and said I believe that Jesus Christ was the son of God. And so he ordered the chariots

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to stop and they both went down into the water. Philip as well as the eunuch and he baptized

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him. Let's go back to our little river here. This is the river right? Well now it's a pond

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out in the desert. And the point is not how pure is the water, how clean is the water

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but the point is it's all about personal intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. You've got

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to identify with faith in Christ and that's what Philip is getting ready to do with this

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Ethiopian eunuch and baptize him in that water in the middle of the desert because this man

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put his faith and trust in Jesus. Now you read that text it's pretty obvious Philip

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didn't preach baptism he preached Jesus. It's obvious the eunuch knew that baptism

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meant repentance and faith and he was ready to put his faith and trust in Jesus. So Philip

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lay down the requirement if you believe with all your heart and they both went down into

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the water this big body of water and the reason he had to go down into the water is because

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baptism is immersion and it symbolizes buried with Christ in baptism raised to walk and

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need to survive. So all that is being enacted in a well understood clear way of responding

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to your faith in Christ with a step of obedience and baptism. And you know the New Testament

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church has been doing that ever since that day. So when you see troughs on the stage

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or when we begin to have a baptist service it's not religious it's about life change

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it's about identifying with Jesus it's about signifying your faith in Jesus Christ. As

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when we do that the heavens may not seem to open up and you may not hear a voice saying

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this is my beloved son whom I'm well pleased but you can know that you're doing an act

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of obedience following faith in Jesus Christ that we have practiced for two thousand years.

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Here's what I know. I know God blesses the obedience that we follow him with and he'll

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bless in a great way when we respond in that way. Let me finish with this one verse. Let's

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go back to Acts chapter 8 verse 36. Here's a man in this area who says after this faith

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conversation about Jesus out of the book of Isaiah look water what prevents me from being

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baptized. Let me just say this today nothing prevents you from being baptized if you have

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faith in Jesus Christ. Only you prevent you from being baptized if you have faith in Jesus

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Christ. My question to you is twofold today as I close this message. Number one do you

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have faith in Jesus Christ? Have you put your trust and your confidence in him? And number

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two since that decision of putting faith and trust in Jesus Christ has been made have you

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since that time trusted him with believers baptism that is following him in believers

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baptism the same way Jesus did it as an act of obedience the same way the Ethiopian eunuch

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did it after he said I believe with all my heart have you had that experience and if

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not would you be willing to follow the Lord Jesus in believers baptism. You know at the

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end of our service as always we have decision stations that are at the back and there are

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people there that are ready to answer the question about salvation they're ready to

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answer the question about baptism and if you have that question let us help you with that

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answer. I'm going to pray in just a moment to dismiss us. I'm going to invite you to

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the guest reception center which is just outside the center exit doors and across the hallway

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if you're new here I would love to shake your hand and say thank you for being with us today.

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Would you stand with me today? Father what an important thing we've talked about today.

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So many in the room indicated that this moment this defining moment of their life of baptism

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was real to them. They remember that moment. It was significant to them. Father there may

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be some in this room today that have never experienced that do not have that but Lord

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I pray that you would speak to their hearts bring conviction draw them cause them to want

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to follow you in believers baptism. Cause them to want to do what for two thousand years

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true believers have done. Father I pray that you will bring them the joy and the affirmation

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I pray that you will bring them the confidence and the boldness that comes from making such

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a decision. Father I pray that you would bless their lives as a result of that. Father today

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I know there are many people in the room from very from many many backgrounds and Lord I

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know that many have heard the message recently and some may have not have heard about the

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message of faith in Jesus Christ until today. But Lord I pray that you would give them the

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courage and the boldness to make the decisions today to follow you. Thank you Father for

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all you have done for us. I ask this in Jesus name. Amen.