Welcome to Walk in the Truth podcast. Have you ever looked back in time and considered
how certain defining moments have shaped your life in future? Today, John Metter, lead
pastor of Cross City Church, looks at the importance of defining moments and how we
can recognize what God is saying through them.
Matt, I'm telling you there's nothing more fun than watching that. Would you go ahead
and be seated for just a moment. So this will be the wettest I've ever preached in, I'll
tell you right now. It's kind of wet. And so you just have to forgive the wetness, but
that's really cool water out there. I mean it's warm, but it's cool at the same time.
You know what I'm saying? Because it is the water into which people are baptized. It's
the water where they profess Christ. That's always so powerful. A very powerful moment
that we have today. So I want to talk to you about a baptism for just a few moments and
I want to be able to explain everything that you've just seen. I want to also challenge
you and your understanding of baptism. I want you to take this very personal. And here's
why I want you to take it personal. The act of baptism is a personal kind of statement
that nobody can make for you. And if you've never made it, you miss the opportunity of
walking in the obedience of what God calls you to do after salvation. Okay? So if you
have your Bibles, open them up and I'm going to bring the shortest message. And I know
I've made that threat several times and never fully delivered on it, but this will be a
short message out of Acts chapter eight, beginning in verse 35. And an example that we read about
all the time. And that is the name of the people in this, in this passage, Philip, who
meets in Ethiopia and eunuch. He talks to him about Jesus. Now this, this encounter
happens in a desert road that the Holy Spirit has led Philip on the South of an area called
Gaza. So there's nobody there except Philip who crosses paths with the Ethiopian eunuch.
And then by the time you read this story, you know, there's nothing coincidental about
this meeting. God has orchestrated ordained for this meeting to take place. So Philip
says, do you understand what you're reading? This man has been reading off a scroll and
the old Testament prophet Isaiah. And the man says, how can I understand if, if nobody
explains to me what it, what it is? Verse 35 picks up the whole text and says, Philip
opened his mouth and beginning from this scripture, he preached Jesus to him. And as they went
along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, look, water, what prevents
me from being baptized? And Philip said, if you believe with all your heart, you may.
And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. And he ordered the
chariots to stop. And they both went down into the water, Philip, as well as the eunuch
and he baptized him. Say, pastor, why do you keep coming back to this text? Why do we hear
about it pretty frequently? And there's a number of reasons for that. Number one, it's
very early in a church life. Number two, it's very personal for this Ethiopian unit. Number
three, there's all kinds of supernatural things happening in Acts chapter eight. I mean, God
just brings this witness to this man who's been reading about Isaiah and he learns about
Jesus. And because baptism was so important to what Philip said, put your faith in Christ,
be willing to be baptized as a public testimony of your faith, then the Ethiopian unit wanted
to be baptized. Now we have two ordinances in the church and the New Testament church
there are two. In communion, we proclaim his death, Christ's death. We talk about the bread
being the body and the juice being the blood of Jesus. But in baptism, we proclaim his
life. The phrase every time is buried with Christ in baptism into death, raised to walk
in what? In newness of life. So we're proclaiming his life. What we're saying is there's life
after Jesus that's very different from life before Jesus. That is not just eternal life.
It is the life he promises, abundant life. And so this baptism represents all that. So
let's talk about the who and the when and the what and the where and the why of baptism
today. First of all, the who of baptism. Verse 37, he answered and said, I believe that Jesus
Christ is the son of God. So as Phillip was preaching, he made it very clear that what
the Ethiopian unit thought about Jesus Christ was incredibly important. And when he came
to the point of understanding that he was the son of God, then he also had to have shared
with him that that public way to proclaim that is through baptism. And so he baptized
him right there on the spot. Now that's very consistent with Peter's message at Pentecost
in Acts chapter two, verse 37 and 38. That same day, 3000 people were baptized. So it's
really, really something that happens close to our salvation or it should be as close
to our salvation as possible. But the who of baptism is those who have put their faith
and trust and confidence in Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone. Baptism doesn't save us.
Baptism proclaims that we trust Jesus. So that's the who of baptism. If you put your
faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone, you fit the bill of the who of baptism. Number
two is the when of baptism. The Bible says in verse 38, he ordered the chariot to stop
and he baptized him. Now if I'm going through a desert, I don't want to stop unnecessarily,
but this baptism was pretty important. So he stopped. The biblical practice for baptism
is immediately upon conversion. In Acts chapter two, verse 41, that's what happened. They
came to faith in Jesus and they immediately baptized them. So we baptized the person as
soon after they profess Christ as we possibly can. When they know beyond doubt that's true
and when we can make all the arrangements or family comes in, whatever it might be,
we make those arrangements to baptize people as soon as possible. And I know there are
some out there that say, but what about those that have come from a really rough background?
How do we know that we're sure that they're ready to be baptized? And I look at the Apostle
Paul, a religious terrorist before he came to faith in Christ, killing people, right?
That's pretty bad on anybody's scale. But when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus,
the scripture says that he was to be baptized immediately. In fact, in Acts chapter 22 and
verse 12, it says, why are you delaying? Be baptized now in the name of Jesus. Okay. All
right. If Paul's a religious terrorist and he doesn't have to wait a six week time period
to make sure he's serious about this, that I think it's fine for people who put their
faith and trust in Jesus immediately after that salvation experience. We don't need to
delay. We just need to define very clearly, who are you trusting? Who have you put your
faith in? And if you put your faith in Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone, then it's time
to be baptized. That's the win of baptism. You know, I wear on my hand every day a ring
that I received at my marriage ceremony. My father actually did the ceremony. He's a pastor.
He was a pastor. And so my wife and I did the vows and we were up there at the front
and I put the ring on my wife's finger and then she put the ring on my finger. What if
I'd said, wait a minute, I'm going to wait about six to 10 weeks before I wear that ring
to make sure that this thing's going to work out okay. Now obviously I didn't do that.
I was making a commitment to my wife at that moment. I wanted to wear that ring from day
one and that ring is the public profession. If someone didn't see my wife standing next
to me, a public profession, I'm a married man to my wife and baptism is that public
profession that you're married to Christ. You've put your faith and trust in him. And
so I want to do that as soon as I put my faith and trust in him. That's the win. Now the
water baptism in the verses that we read, verse 30, he baptized him. The water baptism
is by immersion. The word baptism is an exact transliteration. Baptized is baptizo and the
word means to dip repeatedly, to immerse or submerge. That's why we baptize people the
way we do. Listen, it'd be more convenient just to sprinkle them as they walk by. More
convenient just to pour water over them. That'd be super simple, but that's not symbolizing
anything that baptism is supposed to symbolize. Baptism is supposed to symbolize death to
an old way of life and a brand new life coming up out of that grave. And that's why we baptize
the way we do. The word baptism or baptizo actually is in a recipe, an ancient Greek
word. And in that Greek language they used that word to describe a cucumber that was
submerged or immersed in simmering vinegar and it came out something different. What
did it come out as? A pickle. How many of you know that that's the way you make a pickle?
Some of you in the room know that. But every time you eat a pickle you just keep in mind
that it's been baptizoed in vinegar. That's a good reminder for you. So the symbolism
of baptism is that we are buried with Christ and raised to walk in the midst of life and
the fact that it's by immersion meant that everywhere in scripture where people were
baptized they had to find much water. They had to go to a place where there was enough
water to do that. You see that in the baptism of Jesus. Mark chapter one verses nine and
ten, John chapter three verse 23. Jesus went to John who was in the river Jordan. They
were both in the water. They both went down under the water. Jesus did he come back up
out of the water. All that phraseology is in the words in Mark and in the book of John.
It's not convenient but it's a powerful confession that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. Years
ago there was a young lady in a church I pastored in Oklahoma and she had spinal muscular atrophy
and once she put her faith and trust in Jesus it wasn't going to be easy for her to be baptized.
By then she was a young girl in a wheelchair. I baptized her I think she was at the age
of 16. In fact she may be even watching today because we still sometimes correspond and she
does watch our services sometimes. When Kimberly was baptized it wasn't simple it wasn't easy.
It would have been so much easier just to sprinkle her with water. No. Kimberly wanted
to follow what the scripture said and so we got her in that baptistry. We baptized her.
You've never heard such a celebration as when she came up out of that water because everybody
knew this is not convenient for you. This is not easy for you but you just wanted to
obey Jesus and she did. So the water baptism is something that we do no matter how inconvenient
it is because of the power of this testimony. Then the water baptism. The Bible says in
verse 36 as they went along the road they came to some water. So this Ethiopian man
was baptized in the desert in a place where there was much water in the desert. Jesus
was baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist and the New Testament people were
baptized in rivers, streams and ponds. Churches began building baptistries after they built
churches. My point is that baptism is not a religious act. It's not a religious act.
It's not something that just happens in churches and when someone is baptized it's not a religious
act just because it's in a church. It is a public profession of faith in Jesus wherever
it's done. That's so important because we're really talking about Jesus. Now I've baptized
in churches. I've baptized in truck stops. I've baptized in cool mountain streams at
church camps and in swimming pools. I've even baptized in the Jordan River. I, John the
Baptist, have done that before. But the always best greatest thrill is the next one that
gets baptized no matter where because I know they're taking a courageous stand to identify
with Christ. Then the wire baptism. The Bible says that Eunuch went on his way rejoicing.
He had done something significant in his life because it was a public profession. Basically
he said, I belong to Christ now. I belong to Christ. I don't belong to anybody else.
Secondly, it's an act of obedience. It says I will follow him. Thirdly, it is an unmistakable
picture of the gospel. I will proclaim him. Now listen, at baptism we believe and in baptism
we walk with God in obedience, in salvation I mean we believe. Let me say it again. In
salvation we believe. But in baptism we walk with God in obedience. We follow him. That's
why this Ethiopian Eunuch had great joy. He said, I will follow Christ. I believe in him.
I will follow him and I will obey him. I will proclaim him. That's part of what baptism
says as well. I'm going to proclaim Jesus everywhere because I'm willing to do it here.
Now you've seen the baptisms today. When I baptize people I say these words to them because
of the public profession of your faith in Jesus Christ our Lord, in obedience to his
command and then I put my hand on the back of their neck and I'll hold their arms with
the other hand, buried with Christ in baptism and to death raised to walk and to survive.
Romans 6, 4 is something that we've shown you today and that basically is a simple translation
of what I've just said. For we died and we're buried with Christ by baptism and just as
Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live
new lives. Friends that's what we appeal to you to do today. There are those who have
already been baptized and they're doing that and you've seen the gospel preached every
time and that's why it must be on the forefront. That's why we like to baptize people because
it shares the gospel over and over again. It reminds us over and over again that being
buried with Christ is powerful enough to wash away our sins and being raised with Christ
is powerful enough to give us new life. My piercing question to you today is have you
done this? Have you done this? Now some of you are here today and you may say, you know
at some point in my life I decided to follow Jesus and I know beyond doubt that I followed
Jesus and put my trust and faith in Him and I can see in my life that I am a Father of
Christ today because of fruit, because you're thinking differently, you're living differently.
But if you've never been baptized there's a step of obedience that you do not want to
omit or miss. I firmly believe that when we take that step of baptism God blesses us in
even greater ways and I walk with Him. So if you put your faith in Christ but you've
never been baptized, why would you not want to do it today in front of a group of people
that will applaud and cheer you on and pray for you all the way through it? That's number
one. But number two, maybe today you realize you've never had the opportunity or never
taken the opportunity to actually trust Christ. The fact that He died on the cross and paid
for our sins by doing that, the fact that He offers the gift of eternal life and forgiveness
to all those who have put their faith and trust in Him. Have you never heard that before
or have you never trusted that before? And given your life to Jesus, maybe today that's
the decision you need to make but one of those two decisions can be made right now. I'm going
to walk the room. That means I'm going to get off the stage and I'm going to walk through
the building. And if you need to make one of those two decisions today, here's what
will happen. I'm going to ask that you stand up and follow me through the room. If someone
stands up today, if many someone stand up today to follow me there will be much applause,
we will rejoice. We'll be praying for you the whole walk. I'll walk around the room,
we'll gather here at the front and then I will pray with you. And as I pray with you
afterwards, I'll send you over to this corner of the building and we'll prepare as the congregations
worships for you to be baptized after you talk to someone about that decision. We will
not baptize you quickly. We don't rush this thing. We make sure that you know the decision
you're making is accurate and right and clear. We want it to be crystal clear. Are we clear?
We want to be clear. I'm going to walk through the room. I have the courage, if you will,
to stand with me at the file of Christ. For some reason I always walk this way first.
It's been such a blessing over the years to walk through this room and I always say
this, if nobody stands and comes with me, it's fine. Because the bottom line is I believe
I'm being obedient to the Lord by making this walk and by inviting people to come. So Jesus
would not ask anyone to follow him without personally walking with him. I would not ask
you to make a decision without me personally walking with you. So if I walk by and it's
time for you to make a decision, you stand up right now. I'll walk kind of slow and if
it's you that needs to make the decisions, you go right ahead and stand up and follow
me. And I promise a celebration when anybody's ready to do that. I wouldn't miss anybody
is this young lady coming my way? Are you coming my way? Wow. Now not all of you can
see this young lady, but she's got as much courage as anybody in the room. All right.
All right. How about, how about anybody in this section? You want to come with me? You
want to follow Christ and this young lady in professing Christ and following him in
believer's baptism. If you want to do that, you can get up right now and follow me. As
you can tell people will celebrate. We'll be excited about it. Don't let me walk by
without you responding personally. If that's what you need to do. Anybody else in this
section here? We're going to, you're going to have the longest walk because you started
first with me. We're going to walk back this way. Anybody want to come and walk with us
today as we ask people to follow Jesus. We're going to get a counselor to go right with
us here. Thank you so much. All right. We're going to walk back this way. Stay with me
here. Not too fast yet. Anybody here take the time to think through the decision I'm
asking you to make. Somebody coming? Come on. Hi. So glad you're here. Come with me.
All right. Not too fast now. We want to give everybody an opportunity. Sometimes I walk
fast and run fast, but not on this day. I don't do it on this day. All right. Anybody
in this section here? Never too late for you to stand up and come. How about anybody on
the side or the other? People are praying for you right now, by the way. Those that
have been in these services before know it's an important time where the Holy Spirit is
working in people's hearts. And we want you to respond if that's what's going on. Are
you coming? God bless you. So glad you're here. Stay right here for just a second. How
about anybody in this section? I'll be back around in a second, but think through it.
Okay. Now we're going to be in this section right here. Y'all come on down here. Anybody
on either side here that wants to follow Christ or follow the Lord in believer's baptism.
We're just wait. We're determined to wait for you to be here. We're determined to be
present for you and make this decision. Anybody else? Would you come? In this section? Here's
a man. Come on, sir. Good courage. Thank you so much. All right. We're going to keep walking.
Okay. I'm going to keep you with me. Come on. Don't, don't leave us. There's going
to be a gentleman come and stand alongside you right now. All right. We're coming back
this way. Now anyone comes, you're going to walk with me. We're going to help you with
the decision. We're going to counsel you through it. We're going to make sure you know what
you're doing today. Anybody else is going to stand and come? All right. How about this
group right here? You knew I'd be this way. Didn't you? You've been thinking about it.
There's somebody over here. Okay. She's trying whichever side you want to go on. Y'all let
her out. Amen. Let's celebrate it. Celebrate it.
Top her over here, Elizabeth. That's great. So glad that you came and make this decision
today. So glad. All right. We're going to keep walking. All right. We have the section
right here. Anybody? They want to stand and follow Christ. Do it now. We're here. Anybody
else? Come on. So glad that you've done this. Stick right with me here. All right. Anybody
else here? We're going to move up into the section. Are you coming with us? Come on.
Come on. Look at this young lady. So glad you're making this decision. Come on. All
right. Anybody else up here? Are you coming, sir? Praise the Lord. Come on, man. He gave
me the biggest handshake in the world right here. All right. Anybody here in this section?
We're going to make our way through this section right here. And again, just let the Holy Spirit
move you. You know this decision needs to be made. You're willing to make it today.
We're willing to help you today. Everybody in this room is eager to see what God may
do in your life. How about anybody in this section or this one right here before we head
to the front? Anybody at all? All right. All right. This section now. If this is the decision
that any of you need to make today, stand up and join the rest of us as we make our
way to the front right now. Anybody here? Anybody here need to make a decision? We won't
be laborer, but it's never too late. Never too late. I've seen people walk from the other
side of the room. They've watched the whole process and then actually one year someone
ran across the room and that's very appropriate to run in church when it comes to that. Right?
Anybody here? All right. Come up here. We have a young man coming. Elijah, coming. All
right. Come on. Y'all come up here. All right. Come up here. Listen, let's give him a hand
as you do that. I'm so thankful. This gentleman here, when I ask him, are you doing this?
He goes, I'm doing it. I'm doing it. Amen. Come on. Come on. You okay? We want you here.
We want you here. I'm getting ready to pray for them, but if you need to come today, would
you just get up and come right now? Don't wait any longer. Don't wait any longer. Are
you coming? Come on. Glad you're here. Glad you're here. Is there anybody else? Anybody
else? I don't want to miss anybody. Are you coming, sir? You coming up here? All right.
All right. You're in the right place. You're in the right place. Right here. With dad.
Come on, man. That's a great decision to make with your father. That's an awesome thing.
Come right here. All right. In just a moment, I'm going to have a word of prayer with them.
We're going to have them go this way. Jack Terrell will lead them that way. Get plenty
of conversation in. We're going to worship together because we have a lot to celebrate.
Wouldn't you agree? It's always a time to celebrate, but it's not too late for those
that haven't decided to do it, but believe they need to do it today. You shouldn't do
it because somebody else is up here. You should do it because you feel that Christ is calling
you to do it. Are you coming, sir? Come on. He's coming. You just keep on coming. Come
over here. There you go. Now, when I get through with my prayer, they're going to lead them
that way. If you feel like that the opportunity has been given and you did not take advantage
of that, instead of looking for me, just look for that door. We're going to leave it open.
We're going to leave the porch light on for you. When you walk through that door, somebody
will meet you and say, we're so glad you've come. You'll get the same counseling that
they do. We'll be preparing to baptize you if that's the decision you're making today.
All right? Never too late. It's always time to follow Jesus. Can we pray? Let's bow together.
Let's bow together. Father, I want to thank you so, so much for these that have responded
today by faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, Lord, today I know some of them have
already given their lives to you and now are following in baptism. Some of them today are
giving their lives to you for the first time. Lord, I pray that your Holy Spirit will make
it clear in their hearts and in their lives what the decision is and what it means to
follow you in baptism afterwards. Father, thank you so much. I pray that you'll continue
to work in a powerful way as we, your people, shout and rejoice and worship you because
you're worthy of all these things. Lord, we ask this in Jesus' name and our God's
people said, stand up and let's worship the Lord.