Adrian Rogers Special – Bible Baptism

There are two common misconceptions people have about baptism: that it is either necessary for our salvation, or that it is not important at all.

Adrian Rogers says, “This is a church, not a club; we don’t make up our rules as we go along. Jesus has all authority, and He is the one who tells us about baptism.”

In order to grow as Christians, we cannot minimize what the Bible has emphasized, which is starting right with biblical baptism.

Matthew 28:18-20 says, “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ Amen.”

First, we must recognize the biblical method of baptism. In Mark 1:9-10, Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. The word used, “baptizo,” means, “to immerse.” Therefore, the biblical method of baptism is by immersion: placing a person underwater and bringing him out.

Second, we must be sure of the meaning of baptism. Baptism symbolizes the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, as well as our death, burial, and resurrection with Him. It is a picture of the saving work of Jesus Christ. Romans 6:4 says, “Therefore, we are buried with Him by baptism into death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”

Jesus had a brief ministry. Little more than three years.
That’s all public ministry. How did Jesus begin his ministry?
Jesus began his ministry by being baptized by John in the river Jordan.
How did Jesus conclude his ministry?
Jesus concluded his ministry by commanding baptism for over 50 years.
Pastor, teacher and author, Adrian Rogers preached to audiences and touched lives all over the world with his unique brand of solid biblical teaching.
His teaching has been described as profound truth stated.
So simply a five year old can understand it and yet it still touches the heart of a 50 year old.
And you’ll hear that in these messages on the basics of the Christian faith.
Have your bibles ready and join us for today’s message before we begin.
Remember, you can follow along with pastor Rogers outline and notes on today’s message at L W F dot org or the my L W F app.
Now, let’s join Adrian Rogers. Would you be Finding Matthew chapter 28?
Very familiar verses, verses 19 and 20. This has been called the Great Commission.
But alas and alike many times, it is the great omission.
We need to find out what the Lord Jesus Christ gave to the church when he gave the church, her marching orders, her great commission.
And let me tell you about the ministry of the Lord Jesus. Jesus had a brief ministry.
Little more than three years. That’s all public ministry. How did Jesus begin his ministry?
Jesus began his ministry by being baptized by John in the river Jordan.
How did Jesus conclude his ministry? Jesus concluded his ministry by commanding baptism. Now notice the scripture right here.
He says in verse 19, well, let’s begin in verse 18.
And Jesus came and spoke unto them saying all power in the word power literally means authority is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Go ye therefore and teach all nations that literally means disciple all nations baptizing them in the name of the father and of the Sun and of the Holy Ghost.
Teaching them to observe how many things say it louder.
How many things teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have requested you. Is that what it says?
Requested? You suggested to you teaching them to observe how many things whatsoever I have commanded you.
Now, who said this? The one who says all authority is given unto me.
Now, folks, when you come to something like this, the only thing you can reasonably say is I’ll say yes, Lord, yes.
Now look at it again, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever. I have commanded you and low.
I am with you all the way even to the end of the world.
That is literally the end of the age. He is here today. He is still speaking.
He is still saying the same thing he has not changed. There’s no stutter, no stammer, no apology, no equivocation.
It is there in the word of God, God, we’re to lead people to Christ, we’re to baptize them and teach them to observe everything he has commanded us.
Now, that’s what the word of God says. That is black print on white paper.
I wanna talk to you about baptism today, not Baptist baptism, folks.
I’m not one wit interested in Baptist baptism.
If we have any Baptist Doctrine, we need to get rid of it.
And Presbyterians need to get rid of Presbyterian Doctrine and methods need to get rid of Methodist doctrine and Episcopalians need to get rid of Episcopalian doctrine and assemblies of God need to get rid of assembly of God doctrine and Catholics need to get rid of Catholic doctrine and all of us need to come back to Bible doctrine.
Is that not right? I mean, we need to understand what does the Bible say?
Not this, this is a church, not a club and we don’t make up our rules as we go along.
Jesus has all authority. He is the one who tells us about baptism.
Now, what I want to do is to ask you to look therefore, into the word of God.
Now, if I tell you something is not in the word of God, challenge me on it.
If I tell you something that is in the word of God, then it’s not uh me that you’re listening to.
Really, it is God. I hope that makes sense to you. Let’s talk about the biblical method of baptism.
What is the biblical method of baptism put in your margin? Mark chapter one verses nine and 10.
And we’re gonna find out how the Lord Jesus Christ, our example was baptized.
It says here and it came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized of John in Jordan.
Now, do you know how far that was? Do you know how far that was?
That was 60 miles one way to be baptized?
You say, well, it’s a little inconvenient for me to be baptized.
If I got baptized, I’d mess up a $20 hair do.
Oh, Jesus came 60 miles from Nazareth to Jordan and was baptized of John in Jordan, not near Jordan, not by Jordan, but in Jordan, Jordan was a river and straightway coming up out of the water.
Now, if he came up out of the water, where was he down in the water?
He saw the heavens open and the spirit like a dove descending upon him.
That’s why you see that dove back there in our baptistry.
When that screen is up you’ll see that dove because that symbolizes the Holy Spirit.
It is obvious that Jesus was baptized by immersion. Why did Jesus come all the way out to Jordan?
Why was John Baptizing in Jordan? Good question. I’m glad you asked it.
Now, let me, let me see if I can answer that question.
Turn to John chapter three and verse 23 turn to it. John chapter three and verse 23.
And you’re gonna find out why John was baptizing in this particular spot and the Bible says, and John also was baptizing in Amen near to Salem because it was so beautiful there because it was so convenient.
That isn’t what it says, folks listen.
And John also was baptizing and hanging into Salem because there was much water there and they came and were baptized literally the word baptized as you’ve heard means he, I the reason that John went out there to the river, Jordan is not for the scenery, not for the convenience.
Folks. It just takes a lot of water to baptize.
If I baptize the way some people call baptism, I could baptize everybody in this auditorium with a wash tub full and have plenty left over, but no baptism takes a lot of water.
Jordan was a muddy old river and it wasn’t convenient but there was water there.
I went to Kenya and then in uh East Africa went out, I mean past ostrich and zebras and wilde beast and galls out in a land rover out to the back side where this uh noble tribe of Masai warriors were I went out there with missionary Jim Hooton.
He was leading those Masai warriors to Jesus Christ. How is he gonna baptize them out there?
They took a shovel and dug a grave line, that grave with this queen.
And then on his land rover, he hauled in water and filled that grave with water.
And those Masai warriors were laid in that muddy water in that grave symbolizing that they had died with the Lord Jesus Christ and were buried with the Lord Jesus Christ.
It’s not easy to baptize. I remember the first person I ever baptized.
I led Willie to Christ and the first uh little church I pastored in fells near Florida.
I went over to see Willie on a Saturday night and witnessed to her.
She’s a lovely lady, but she says, pastor, I, I, I wanna be safe but I just don’t know how to believe.
I don’t know how to trust. I said, well, just trust and she said, well, I want to.
But how you do it. I said, I don’t know how to tell you to do it. Just do it.
Trust the Lord. She says, oh, I want to, but she says, I just can’t trust.
I didn’t know what to tell. I said, will, I’m gonna pray for you. I’ll see you tomorrow.
You just tell the Lord ask him to help you to trust him.
The next day she came, her face was like the noonday sun.
She said, oh, Pastor God saved me last night, God saved me. Last night she came forward.
I was a young preacher. Only 19 years of age pastoring a church.
I didn’t have any business pastoring that church except that God had called me and told me to do it.
I mean, as far as experience, I didn’t know how to baptize.
I didn’t even know where to lay of a person to baptize them and I didn’t know how to do it.
You know, I paid no attention to my pastor uh when he was baptizing, but we didn’t have a baptist in that church.
Folks. We didn’t have running water in that church.
Uh We much less a Baptist and uh we didn’t have a rest room in that church.
I mean, we had a floor and walls and a two by eight to sit on a two by eight to lean back on, put together an iron bracket.
But God was in that church and uh little church out there on the edge of the Everglades in Florida.
We had a canal out there called lateral a canal where they to drain those sugar cane fields.
We went out to a canal and uh I went out there and then, and our little church gathered, I went down that slippery muddy bank and uh Willie followed me down there, the water is about this deep in a canal and I remember, uh, it was cold for Florida.
It was cold. I can still hear it right now.
When Willie’s feet hit that water, she said it, it was cool.
Uh, what, like we have today folks, I mean, there wiggle tails and everything else in that water.
POWs and maybe a center or two.
But we, we went out there and, and I laid that gracious lady back in that water and raised her up.
I’ll never forget it. Why do that? It’d be so much easier to put a little water on her head.
Why do that? Why? Because the same reason that Jesus went all the way uh to, to Jordan because there was much water there.
We had to find a place, place where there was water.
One time in my church in Florida, I had announced a baptismal service.
And when I got there, the Baptist was empty.
We had AAA pipe about as big as my thumb that filled that baptistry folks.
It took forever and then a day to fill that Baptist and I looked in and the janitor forgot to turn it on.
I said, oh, what are we gonna do?
We had people who come from out of town to see folks baptized.
I had an idea, I believe, divine inspiration. I called the fire department.
I said, I’ve got an emergency center, send the pumper truck over and you know they did it and people thought the church was on fire.
They saw that big fire engine out there and that hose running in there.
Uh, we, we filled that baptistry up Kety split, uh, with that big bumper truck and I baptized those people.
Now, why go to all that trouble?
Why when we built this building, what did we build this beautiful baptistry back here?
Because Jesus said, teach them to observe all things whatsoever.
I have commanded you because it’s not easy, but it is glorious. It is wonderful.
We’re not looking for a convenient religion. Uh Listen, folks, it’s not a matter of convenience.
Let’s just find out what the Bible says. Bible baptism is by immersion. Now, some people wanna make it easy.
You know, churches are getting so lax today, I expect to see some churches start taking members in on the telephone and baptizing the photographs.
Uh baptism, baptism is by immersion.
The very word baptism is basically an untranslated Greek word bao means to dip to submerge, to immerse.
Ran means to Sprinkle means to pour. But God’s word that he uses, he says take them and baptize them.
If you were to take the word baptize, it is a word that is transliterated, taking out the Greek language put into the English language.
But the word literally, if it’s translated means to dip to immerse, that’s what the word means.
And did you know in the early years, all Christians baptized the way we baptized by I.
As a matter of fact, if you go to Europe and you look in some of the great cathedrals that were built before the 13th century, you find out they had baptistries like we have in our baptist churches.
I have gone and stood in some of those baptistries.
Uh and, and these old cathedrals because uh in the early years, everybody baptized just like the Bible teaches us uh to baptize.
And so uh that is the biblical method of baptism. It is by immersion. That’s the method.
Now, the method and the meaning of baptism are inextricably interwoven.
Uh The reason that the method is so important is the method is necessary to the meaning and the meaning dictates the method.
Now, we’ve talked about the method and we’ve seen that the Lord Jesus was baptized by immersion by John in the river Jordan.
And, and uh but now what is the meaning?
Well, the meaning is baptism pictures, the saving work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now take your Bibles and turn to Romans chapter six with me if you will please Romans chapter six, and look if you will in verse four.
Therefore, we are. What’s that next word? Well, I didn’t give you time.
Go ahead, say I knew ahead of time. So I was ready. OK.
Romans chapter six verse four. Therefore, we are what buried with him by baptism into death.
Now, folks, baptism is a burial that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of God, the Father.
Even so we also should walk in newness of life.
For if we have been planted together in the lightness of his death, we should be also in the lightness of his resurrection.
Uh So the Bible says, knowing this verse six, that our old man watch it.
Our old man, the old Adrian that Rascal is crucified with him, that is with Jesus.
That the body of sin might be destroyed. That’s the old man.
I used to be that henceforth, we should not serve sin for he that is dead, is freed from sin.
You see what does baptism picture, baptism pictures the Gospel. What is the Gospel? First Corinthians?
15 tells us the gospel. Is this that Christ died for our sins? He was buried.
He was raised again the third day folks. That’s the gospel, the death barrel and the resurrection of Jesus.
Do you understand that? Do you understand that? That is the Gospel? What does baptism picture it pictures the gospel.
We are buried with him by baptism unto death.
That like is Christ was raised from the dead even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Can you understand why the devil would like to destroy that symbolism?
If there’s one message, if you were the devil, what one message would you want to take out of the church?
The Gospel? What one message. Would you want to obliterate the gospel?
What one message would you want to make sure? Was not seen over and over again.
It is the gospel, the death Barre and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Now, some people say, well, the method is not important. It only pictures. Uh Salvation. Any picture will do.
Suppose. You’ve never seen my wife Joyce. And you say Adrian, you have a picture of Joyce.
I said, I sure do. And I pulled out a picture and there’s a race car or there’s a waterfall or there’s a coffee table.
You say that’s Joyce? I said, well, any picture will do doesn’t make any difference.
Well, you know, I didn’t know your wife looked like a race car.
I didn’t know she looked like a waterfall. I didn’t know she looked like a coffee table.
Oh, well, a any picture will do.
Hey, folks, baptism is a picture of a death, a burial and a resurrection.
I mean, God wants it to be clear. God wants it to be plain.
And that’s the reason that we picture uh what Jesus did to save us, the devil would love to remove that from our church, but we want to keep it there living.
He loved me dying. He saved me buried. He carried my sins far away, rising. He justified freely forever.
One day he’s coming. Oh, glorious day. That’s in baptism.
My folks, it shows first of all that we believe that and we identify ourselves with it.
Look in verse five, you’re in Romans chapter six, look in verse five for if we have been planted together in the lightness of his death.
When I go under the water, when I’m baptized, that says I am in the lightness of death, I died.
The old Adrian died because when Jesus died, he died for me.
When I trust him, his death has my name on it. He died, my death.
He took my place upon that cross. So, so my death with the Lord Jesus Christ is pictured in baptism.
That’s the reason if you were baptized before you got saved.
Hey, folks, you weren’t really baptized to be baptized before you’re saved is like having your funeral before you die.
Baptism is a picture of your death. Always in the Bible.
Always baptism follows salvation, dying to the old way. Just put these scriptures down.
I’m gonna hurry through because we’ve got to hurry. Then they that received his word were baptized.
You see, you’ve got to receive the word before you baptize. That’s why we don’t baptize little infants.
Acts 10 verses 46 47 for they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God then answered Peter, can any man forbid water that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we uh in this transitional period.
The mark that these gentile believers had received the Holy Ghost was the ability to speak in foreign languages.
It was a supernatural gift of God to confirm that the gospel was going to the gentiles.
When Peter saw that, he said, why, why these can be baptized also? Because they have received the Holy Ghost.
It’s necessary that you be saved and receive the Holy Spirit before you’re baptized.
Acts chapter 16 verses 31 through 33 Paul and Silas were in prison.
There was an earthquake, The jailer came to them and wanted to know what he had to do to be saved.
And acts 16 verse 31. And they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house, that doesn’t mean they’d be saved because he believed, it means if they believe they’ll be saved just like you’re saved.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved in thy house and they speak unto him, the word of the Lord and to all that were in his house and he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes and was baptized.
He and all his straight away. Now, in all of these scriptures, I’m showing you is that baptism follows belief.
The Bible never says be baptized and believed, but vice versa.
Uh believe even be baptized because real baptism follows real salvation.
It pictures what our death verse five, but it also pictures our resurrection with Jesus. Look in verse four.
This is Romans six verse four. Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism unto death.
That like us, Christ was raised up from the dead, by the glory of the father.
Even we also should walk in newness of life.
So when I went down up beneath that water, that was a liquid tomb, the old Adrian died with Jesus.
The old Adrian is buried. It was a funeral. The only mourner there was the devil.
He hated to see me die. I am buried with Jesus. His death had my name on it.
He died for me. I died with him.
Baptism says, I believe that I, the old man is dead and this world is crucified to me and I’m dead to this old world.
And then the Bible says that like is Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the father even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Good by old world, good by old man. Hello, new world. Hello, Jesus. Hello. Resurrection life.
And that’s what it’s about. Well, when, when Jesus died, I died, when he rose, I arose, he did that for me and I did that with him.
But it also pictures the fact that one of these days, one of these days I’m gonna die physically if Jesus Tas and they’re gonna lay me in the grave.
I don’t want to invite you to my funeral.
It won’t be polite to invite you to something when I won’t be there.
I’ll be up in heaven looking down on you.
But my body will be in the good clean earth until the trumpet sounds and the resurrection comes and just like I came up out of that Baptist tree when I was baptized, I’m coming up out of that grave.
I mean, my body is going to be raised and you see what does baptism picture, friend.
It pictures Calvary because we died with him. It pictures Easter because we rose with him.
It pictures the second coming because one of these days we’re gonna be raised up out of that grave to live with the Lord Jesus Christ in a resurrected body.
Don’t you think the devil would like take that picture out of the church?
Now, folks, that’s the biblical uh meaning of baptism, the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, here’s the last thing and to listen quickly, not only the method and not only the meaning but the method and the meaning now are tied to the motive.
Why be baptized? Three reasons. First of all, there is a master to confess the Lord Jesus.
We are baptized in the name of the father, the son and the holy ghost.
We take the name of Jesus. He is now our master.
The Bible teaches, look if you will uh in verse six, knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed.
That henceforth, we should not serve sin.
You see, we, we have a new master, uh uh uh a new life.
I’m a new man with a new master. I’m identifying myself with Christ. Do you know what baptism is?
Baptism is your way of saying? I am not ashamed of Jesus Christ.
I thank God for what he did for me on that cross.
Look up here, I don’t know where you can see that. Do you see that thing on my finger?
You know what that is? That’s a wedding ring. You know who gave me that sweet Joyce?
You know why I wear that?
Because I love her and I’m not ashamed of her.
I want everybody to know that I belong to one woman. Her name is Joyce.
Now this ring doesn’t make me married.
I could be married and not have a wedding ring or I could go down the dime store and buy one and not be married.
She didn’t buy this in the dime store.
I don’t think I’ll ask her but, but, but now listen, folks, listen. What does that mean?
That means I belong to Joyce. What does that mean? It means I belong to Jesus.
I belong to Jesus. That, that, that it doesn’t, it doesn’t make me a Christian.
It shows I’m a Christian friend.
There is a, a master to confess little boy got saved in the, in the children’s church and they said go over the big church.
And tell him you’ve been uh saved and you need to get baptized. He didn’t understand baptism.
He went to the big church. He told the pastor I’ve been saved. I need to get advertised.
That’s it. That’s it. Folks, you’re getting advertised.
Now, there is a, there is a, there is a master to confess. Listen.
Secondly, there is a message, there is a message to convey.
Did you know that every time when you get baptized, you’re preaching the gospel.
Every time when you get baptized, anybody who gets baptized, he’s preaching the gospel, the death barrel and resurrection of Jesus Christ, a master to confess a message to convey.
It shows what happened when you got saved. It shows what Jesus did many times.
I’ve seen people get under conviction of sin and save because of a baptismal service.
The very things that baptism pictures is what brings conviction in the hearts of people.
And they say I need a savior. I need somebody to have died for me. I need a new life.
I need what that pictures. But last of all friend, it is a mandate to complete.
Now, listen, go back again. It is a master to confess.
It is a message to convey, but it is a mandate to complete Jesus said, go there, teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son of the Holy Ghost.
Now watch this, teaching them to obey all things whatsoever I have commanded you whatsoever.
I have commanded you. What is your response to that? I’ll say, yes, Lord, yes.
Now some of you, if you’ve never yet received the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal savior, what you need to do today is when we sing an invitation to him, you need to be down one of these aisles.
You need to say, listen, I am trusting Jesus as my personal savior and Lord, and we’ll make an appointment for your baptism and get you baptized others of you.
You may be church members.
But if you would be judgment day, honest, you would say pastor, I was baptized before I really understood the gospel.
I had my funeral before I died and I, I wanna get the order right? I want believers baptism.
The Bible says, believe and be baptized.
And so you wanna come and say, I, I know I’m saved, I’m not coming to be saved.
But I, I wanna come and get this, this thing, right? You say, well, pastor, what difference does it make?
It’s not, it’s not necessary for salvation.
It’s necessary for obedience and obedience is necessary for joy and fruitfulness in the Christian life.
If you ever been reading a passage description, you say, Lord, I just don’t understand that.
Lord, show me what that means. Please. Lord, I won’t understand what that means.
God says, why should I show you what that means?
Why should I show you what this means when I’ve already showed you something else and you won’t do that.
So why should I show you what, why should I show you this?
If I’ve already shown you that and you won’t obey that friend, listen, the way to understand the part of the scripture you don’t understand is to obey the part you do understand to him, the ha shall be getting just began to obey.
There’s no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey.
May I ask your personal question?
Do you know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior? Is he real to you? Are you absolutely certain?
If you died today, you would go to heaven now, friend, there’s no one so good.
They need not be saved, no one so bad.
They cannot be saved and salvation is not a reward for the righteous.
It is a gift to the guilty.
If you know you’re a sinner, tell God that you are cry out for mercy and trust Him to save you.
And if you do, would you write to us and let us know we will rejoice with you and we’ll send you some literature to help you get started in your Christian life.
We hope that today’s message has been an encouragement to you as we explore these fundamentals of the Christian faith with Adrian Rogers.
You can stream this message again and download Pastor Rogers outlines and notes on this message all at L W F dot org or the my L W F F while you’re there.
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The Bible says in John, speaking of Jesus, and the word was made flesh and welt among us.
But that word literally is the word was made flesh and it Tabernacle among us.
So Jesus was a Tabernacle in which the Shakaa glory of God.
We all scripture is a picture of Jesus Christ, even the Old Testament Tabernacle, all of its vivid glory.
Adrian Rogers shares the meaning of the intricate details of the Tabernacle and how they reflect Jesus, our Lord and Savior.
In this new book from Love Worth Finding Seeing Jesus in unexpected places, based on a series of 13 messages from Adrian Rogers, seeing Jesus in unexpected places allows you to read along as the Bible reveals the beauty and symbolism of the Tabernacle and its significance to our faith in Jesus Christ included in the book are links to the original audio messages from Adrian Rogers for your gift.
This month, we’d love to send you seeing Jesus in unexpected places.
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