Untitled - November 25, 2025

00:00:00 Speaker: Chapter five. Chapter four. We are studying. If you're just joining us on our evening services, we are studying the Nicene Creed together. And as we've been going through it, we're near the end. The Nicene Creed, if you recall, is broken up into couplets and about really over three quarters of those couplets, three quarters of the Creed is about God. But then the end, you have a couple little lines tacked on, and that's where we find ourselves, um, the last, last week, tonight, and then next Lord's Day. And what I've been doing is we've been going through the Creed. I've been trying to connect each of the declarations the Creed makes to a Bible passage. So tonight we're looking at the phrase and the creed that we believe in one baptism for the forgiveness of sins, which is a phrase drawn from Ephesians four verse five. Um, I'll read that for us now. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. That's the verse one Lord, one faith, one baptism. Let me pray for us and we'll begin our time of God's Word together. Lord, would you pray for your spirit to be conforming our thoughts and our understanding to the image of God? We want to think like him. I want to think like Christ who is the perfect God man. We are his body. Here on church, the church gathered the church militant or the church going against the world, the church victorious, the triumphs over the world. Tonight we are the church equipped, looking to your word to strengthen us as we put on the armor of God through it. So help, Lord, we need your help to do that in your spirit, as he ministers to us, will cause us to think like you. Act like you would have us to act. Believe what you'd have us believe. We pray that your spirit would apply the word to us tonight. And we ask this in Jesus name. Amen. Ephesians four, verse five again one Lord, one faith, one baptism. This is a refrain in the New Testament and the Nicene Creed. Last week in the Nicene Creed, we looked at the declaration that we believe in one holy, Catholic, apostolic church. The week before that, we looked at the declaration The spirit speaks through the prophets. And so there's a progression here in the Creed. The first majority of the creed is about God, God being triune, father, Son and Spirit, father, son and spirit, each possessing all the attributes of God. The very essence of God communicated from Father to Son to spirit. Then that God had breaks into the world. That's the middle of the Creed. As Jesus Christ is incarnate, the eternal logos takes on a human nature. And so the Triune God, the invisible, majestic Creator God, comes into time and into his creation. God made the world. And there's a great gulf fixed between the creator and the creature. We could never see him or reach him, or hear from him, or perceive him in any way unless he revealed himself to us. And he does that in a few ways. He reveals himself to us through creation. But of course, creation can't save. Creation can only condemn because creation shows how hardened our hearts are. And so then God reveals himself to his creation by speaking. Remember he the first thing that happened in the fallen world when Adam and Eve had fallen and they were hiding from God. The first thing that happened is that God spoke to them and called them, and that becomes the prototype, that God is the hound of heaven, that he calls his children by name. He calls out to them, he goes looking for the lost, and when they hear his name, they respond in faith. And God begins creating order out of the fallen world by calling his people one at a time. And this happens through the ages. It happens to Adam after the the fall. He is then clothed by God with the sacrifice, and his sins are forgiven. It happens to Noah, who responds to God's voice with faith and is led into the ark. It happens to Abraham, who responds to God's voice by faith and has his name changed, and is sent off to be the father of many, many nations. A blessing to all the world. And it happens to Moses, who responds to God's voice from the burning bush and leads Israel through the water. It happens to David, who responds to God's voice, to the prophet Nathan, and believes and becomes the really the the father of the line that will lead to the Savior. And then, of course, it happens to us when we're exposed to the Word of God, and we are drawn to faith in Christ. That's all the way God calls her name and builds his people. But something else happens in the Nicene Creed about the middle of it, that Triune God no longer is content to merely speak into creation, but he comes himself. The Son of God robes himself with a human nature, robes himself with human flesh, takes on a human soul and a human identity, and is born of the Virgin Mary. And so that's the Triune God breaking into time. Of course, it would be the Son of God who does it rather the father or the spirit, because the son is obviously the son. It's fitting for him to be the human son. He is the image of God. And so for God to reveal himself in a visible way, it would make sense. It would be the image of God, the Son of God, that would carry that revelation. And so Jesus comes to be born in Bethlehem, and he lives his life on earth for thirty three years, if not longer. A sinless life. And then, of course, he's crucified under Pontius Pilate, bearing the sins of all who would ever believe in his own body, writing our sins and nailing him to the cross and canceling them out, paid by his own death. His body is put into the grave, where his human soul descends into Sheol and triumphs over the grave. His soul and his personhood then rejoins his dead body, and it is animated by the Holy Spirit and comes back to life in a glorified form, and the stone is rolled away. Not so he can get out, but so the women can get in. And he comes out, teaches for forty days about the kingdom of God, and then ascends into heaven, where he's sitting at the right hand of the father even now. So then the obvious question Is what happens to his body between the resurrection and now. If you're reading the Nicene Creed like a story, that's the missing piece right there. Where did Jesus go? Especially because he's been saying out throughout the Gospel of John, he's been saying that he's got to go away and it'll be better for us if he goes away. And we think, that can't be. We would choose having Jesus here over, over not having here. That's obvious. But he says no, it's in fact better for him to go away. And that's where the Creed answers. He goes away, and then the spirit builds the church. And it is better that he's gone, because the spirit builds the church by drawing people to faith. And the church now takes on, in a sense, a new identity. The church itself is a is a new thing. God's identity or God's redeemed people take on a new identity as a church, which is the body of Christ. And so this is why the New Testament refers to the church as the Body of Christ. Christ's body is in heaven. But there's another sense in which his body is here on earth. Now the New Testament builds up to this. You understand the word church is never used in the Old Testament. The concept of the church. There might be a type of the church in Israel, and Israel has elders and it had circumcision. You know, the covenant promise for the covenant people, so to speak. It had a meeting place. It had a seven day week, and they would meet on the Sabbath for worship. So it had that kind of prototype, you could say, that way. But then when the church comes, it comes very much as a new entity with a new name. As I mentioned, the word church isn't described in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament, Jesus affixes a new name to it. He's going to build his church. Future tense. In Matthew sixteen I will build my church and the gates of hell will not overcome it. And that's all it says in Matthew sixteen. He gives you the means he's going to build it. It's going to be people called out from the world. And the means of it is the preaching of Peter. The confession of faith in Christ as the Son of God. That's the means by which he builds the church. He tells Peter, upon that confession, I will build my church. Your name is Peter. You're the rock. And that's what happens in acts two. The church begins on Peter's preaching and it's launched into the world. Matthew eighteen is the next description of the church by name, where Jesus says he's going to build it and he's going to guard it with the with church discipline, that the holiness of the church will be paramount. This is the very second thing the the Bible teaches about the church. First, it's the body of people who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Second, it will be protected through discipline by holiness. In fact, he says there will be the keys to it that are given to the leaders of the church. They will lock the front door and the back door. The front door. They open to those who have faith in Christ and who are welcomed in. The back door is for those that are promoted to glory in heaven or exercised removal by discipline. It's a guarded institution. And then Matthew twenty eight is his third teaching about it. The disciples are unleashed into the world to go and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey all that he's commanded to us. Matthew twenty eight is the Great Commission. Training day is over. And I had lunch today with a lady who is a fairly new pilot for an airline. I won't say which airline right now. You'll see with this illustration. And she told us that she was so surprised that she graduated flight school and everything and was certified in the simulators and all that, and her very first time flying one of those airlines airplanes. There's two hundred people in it. Like, don't you get to fly an empty plane a few times and practice this? Oh, nope. Nope. Here's the keys. I know there's not actual keys, but here's the keys. Training day is over. The simulator is over. Get in the plane and fly. And that's Matthew twenty eight. Training day is over. Matthew thirteen sketch the church a place with wheat and tares together. Matthew sixteen defines the church and the preaching of Christ. Matthew eighteen protects the church with holiness. Matthew twenty eight commissions the church to go into the world. Training day is over and preach the gospel, teaching people to obey all that he's commanded us. There's one more description in Matthew twenty eight, isn't there? Baptizing them in the name of the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit. And so that's the logic of the creed that God comes to the world in Jesus. The spirit then builds the church. Jesus brings the image of God to earth. The spirit then builds the church through the ministry of the word, spoken by the prophets, spoken through the Holy Spirit. That's the phrase the Creed uses. This is what verse five has in mind. There's one Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. There's one faith that Matthew twenty eight. Great commission. The people become disciples by believing the gospel. Matthew sixteen. They profess faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior. That's the one faith. And this leads to one baptism. It is in the heart of the Great Commission. The church goes forward by baptizing disciples. Baptizing baptism becomes the crux of the Great Commission. It might strike you as odd that there's two ordinances in the church baptism and communion. Where's communion in the Creed? Why isn't communion called out? Where's communion in Ephesians four, verse four, or verse five, or verse six? I mean, in this whole section, communion is not addressed. The New Testament teaches communion, of course, but when the identity of the church is called out, the focus goes in on baptism. For example, in first Corinthians one, there's division in the church. And Paul says, listen, you Corinthians, I'm so happy I never baptized any of you, any of you clowns, except for the six of you who I did baptize. But we don't need to talk about that. I don't even remember half of your names. I've joked before, that's one of my most encouraging pastoral verses right there. I didn't baptize any of you. Except maybe those ones that I did. I barely remember. Let's go. That's Paul. Notice he says that he does not say, I'm so glad I never gave the Lord's table to any of you. Baptism has this unique role in the Christian life because the front door of the church is locked and it's not unlocked with communion. It's unlocked with faith in Christ as expressed through baptism. That's what the Creed means when it says one holy Catholic, apostolic church, one church that is pursuing holiness, Catholic, meaning the part of the whole. Remember the universal church, the Christian church, Apostolic meaning built on the the news given to the apostles that they take into the world. And then one baptism, not one communion, obviously not one communion, because we take communion all the time. Communion is the food of the body. Baptism is the birth of the body. It happens once. It happens once. God is triune, the son brings the gospel, the spirit builds the church, and baptism is the visible representation of addition to the visible church. You remember we talked last week about Catholic being part of the whole. There's not a good English word for it. That's why many times we just keep the word Catholic in the creed. We believe in one holy, Catholic, apostolic church. But we recognize it's confusing because we don't mean Roman Catholic. We don't mean universal either, because universal sounds like universalism. That's not a good word for it either. Christian is probably the best way to translate it, I guess, but that's still missing it. The the Greek word katolikus. And I said this last week, but the Greek word katolikus, it has a specific meaning. It means a part of the whole. And it's the word for the whole. So it's not whole in opposition to the part. It's the whole as made up of the parts. And you can't have a whole without the parts. And that word katolikus means you can't have the parts without implying the whole. That's the idea. The Greeks had a word for that. We barely can articulate it in English. We stumble over trying to explain it in English. I could diagram it if I could draw it at all. It's one of those concepts that is built into the Greek language that we just don't really have the right words for. But the idea is that there is a church, an invisible church that every believer in Christ is a member of, but they're not a member of it. Independent from being part of the visible church. That's the idea. And that's what baptism represents. You come to faith through spirit baptism or spirit regeneration. We talked about that this morning. That's acted out through water baptism. Visible baptism. That's why baptism is here and that's why it's in the Creed. And that's why it's in Ephesians four verse five, one Lord, one faith, one baptism. Baptism is such a fitting ritual to demonstrate all it's designed perfectly for what the Lord has in mind. Of course, let me walk you through an outline of why it's called one baptism. There is one baptism. Let's walk through this first. The one baptism demonstrates the church's creation, the church's creation. Perhaps you noticed this when I walked you through my little overview of Bible history earlier, but did you notice that in every phase where God speaks and God gives life, he was doing it through through water? That God creates the world and he separates light from darkness? Of course, that's the creator creature distinction. And then he separates dry ground from water. And he does that because he's going to bring life through the water. The fish are going to occupy the water. He brings life into the world through water. The Holy Spirit, before he did that, hovered upon the water. God created through water. Yes, there was dry ground, of course, but the spirit is hovering there over the water. It says, not over the dry ground. Just like he wasn't in the darkness. God didn't create through darkness. He separated darkness from light. And he is light. And then he creates through water. He brings order to the chaos. Genesis one. It's very evident in the Hebrew. It kind of is brought through in the English. But the Hebrew words in Genesis one are chaotic words tohu and bohu, kind of cool words. I think that'd be a good name for a rock group, by the way. Tohu and bohu, which means formless and void and dark and chaos. Then God comes to the water with his spirit. Remember, he creates by His word. His word is the son, and the spirit applies the word. And so the father speaks. The son is the creation agent. All things are made through him. But the spirit is the one who's affecting creation by bringing life from the water. This happens with Noah as well. God calls Noah to come to him and to believe, and to build the ark and to be saved, and then leads Noah through the waters. And Noah is saved, and salvation comes to the world. They're going to come off the ark and repopulate the world through water. Life is brought back through water. And you see it again, of course, with Jesus as he brings the gospel. Baptized, very visible presentation. The Holy Spirit descends upon him, the voice from above. It's reenacting Genesis one. The voice says, this is my son. The voice is spoken by the father, spoken to and through the son who is the Word of God. And the spirit descends upon him in a cloud through the water, bringing the ministry of Christ. And so it makes sense that when the church is created, the church likewise would be brought through water. Even Moses. Remember, Moses listens to the Word of God to lead the Israelites out of captivity. But where do they go first? Stop! Number one, the water. And this made no sense to them, right? I mean, they start complaining right away. Like what? You could have just killed us back in Egypt. Why'd you have to bring us to the water? Now we'll get either trampled or drowned or both. They didn't understand the pattern that God was saving them through water. The Lord does the same with his church. And by the way, he does the same with you. When you come to faith in Christ, it's because the Lord washed your heart with the water of his word. This is the language the New Testament uses. Titus three verse five, he saved us not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy. By check out the word the washing of Of her generation. He saves you through water renewal of the Holy Spirit. Not literally water. You're not washing your heart. This is what first Peter three means. That baptism now saves us not by washing your heart, not by washing the the dirt off of your heart or the dirt off of your skin. Baptism saves you by purifying your heart on the inside. But it's the it's analogous to water washed. So much so that Paul even calls it to Titus. Here the washing of regeneration. Regeneration is new life, new birth and the washing of regeneration. Jesus said the same thing. Paul is just borrowing it from Jesus in John chapter three verse five. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. So notice the birth of water. It's very common for some people to argue this speaks of human birth and then spirit birth born of the water, meaning the natural birth and the born of the spirit, meaning the regeneration. But that's just that's not how the Bible uses this figure of speech. It comes from Ezekiel first, that God will purify you with the washing of the water of the word. It comes from David. Cleanse me with hyssop. It's this purification in the Old Testament. If you were defiled, you went and washed in the river and then presented yourself to the priest. That's the image. Only now it's not a river. Now it's the Word of God that showers your heart through faith. And unless you are washed with the water of the word, you cannot go to heaven when you die. This is Peter where remember Jesus kneels down to wash Peter's feet and Peter's like, no way, no way. I'm so. I'm such a sinner, Lord, I can't let you wash my feet and remember what Jesus says. Unless I wash you, you have no part in me. Jesus is acting out the sanctifying effect of the Word of God, using Peter's feet as an illustration. And Peter didn't get it at first. And then when he got it, Peter's like, I'm all in, Lord, a whole bath. And Jesus says, no, not that either, Peter. Not because you don't need to be fully washed. You remember what he says because you only have to be fully washed once. Once one baptism and you're sanctified the rest of your life. The bottom line from creation through Israel, through the church, God brings life and he brings order through the exercise of His Spirit, bringing life by his word, demonstrated by the purity through water. Baptism re-enacts that. This is why baptism is one. It only happens to you. One time the Israelites crossed the river or the the Red sea one time God creates the universe. One time he starts his church. One time you're added to his church one time. You know, people will sometimes want to get baptized because they had some kind of spiritual experience. You know, this is common when people discover Calvinism. They read a book about soteriology or the five points of Calvinism. It's like they get saved all over again. They want to get they want to get baptized. The second time the Scripture comes alive, put me in the water again. I think I just got saved. No you didn't. You just read a good book. Calm down. You know the God of Israel. I want to get baptized again. This is where Jesus got baptized thirty miles to the north. But it's where Jesus got baptized. You know, I just had a great spiritual experience. I got back from mission trip. I've just found victory over sin in my life. Should I get baptized again? These are real questions, and the answer is no. There's one baptism. You can disagree about all kinds of questions about baptism. Is Roman Catholic baptism valid? I would say no. There are Christians that say yes. But notice, even behind that debate, the supposition is that there is only one baptism. If you say yes, you wouldn't rebaptize somebody saved out of the Catholic Church, does baby baptism count? I would say no. There are Christians who would say yes, but in that we can disagree on that and still be brothers in the Lord. Because in that difference there is still the granting of the idea that there is one baptism. If you say yes, baby baptism is valid, then you don't get rebaptized later in life. And I would say it's not valid, which is why you should get rebaptized later in life. Is pouring valid or sprinkling? What about that? And notice you can disagree on that, but the presupposition you cannot disagree on is that there is one baptism. It's in the Nicene Creed, and the point is less numerical than it is theological, by the way. It's less about the number one than it is about the theology. There is one body that's where it's functioning in the Creed. There is one holy, Catholic, apostolic church that is marked by entrance through one baptism. Not the same method of baptism, obviously, but by a triune baptism marking a singular event in your life. Jews and Gentiles don't have different baptisms one. Baptism. Men and women don't have different baptisms one. Baptism rich and poor don't have different baptisms one baptism slave and free don't have different baptisms. They are one body in Christ and this is the foundation of so much Christian unity. It's the foundation of Anismus in Philemon's relationship, slave owner and runaway slave, the relationship is transformed, transformed by the one baptism the union they have in Christ. So this is the church's creation. God makes a new visible entity in the world. Again, baptism prefigured in the Old Testament, in a sense, by circumcision in some sense, in a sense, by the washing rituals in the Jordan River with Naaman and whatnot. It's prefigured in some ways, but it is a new New Testament event marking the inauguration of the church, the creation of the church. Secondly, the church is salvation, the church is creation, and the church is salvation. Baptism, the creed said, is for the remission of sins. Sin merits death, but Jesus Christ gives life death to everyone. Life to those with faith in Christ and spiritual life comes with it. Forgiveness, spiritual life and forgiveness are train cars that are joined. They're not separable. Those with spiritual life have it because their sins have been forgiven. You can't have spiritual life without the forgiveness of sins. And so baptism is for the Creed says, the forgiveness of sins. First Peter three twenty one says it this way baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you not as the removal of sins from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So notice the the confirming nature of this verse. This is a powerful verse when you talk about baptism, because the person who's being baptized here, this is not some some kind of lowest common denominator profession. And I know it's very common to say, you know, even with with children that make a profession of faith in Christ. Is the profession valid. And if so, they should be baptized. First. Peter three twenty one challenges that head on. We're not talking about a minimum profession here. We're talking about an appeal to God with a clean conscience, like an awareness of who you are, an awareness of your sins, an awareness of the reality of Christ accounting. The cost kind of language that you don't build a wall unless you recognize all the stuff. You got to build it and it's all there and you got the time to do it. Believe me, it's foolish to start a project like that and not carry it through. Yikes. Go look at my front yard right now. Bad. Bad mistake. Mistakes were made. You don't send your army to war unless you know what your enemy has. There's accounting of the cost. An appeal to God with a good conscience. And when that is there, this verse is true. Baptism now saves you. It's not again. Don't mishear me. Not saying that the actual water on your body. People hear this verse and like you'll often hear Christians say this verse all the time, but just put the word not in front of it. Baptism does not save you. That's not what the verse says. Baptism saves you. But don't mishear that and think the going under the water in that baptismal right there is what saves you. No, it's the appeal to God with a good conscience. Peter says it. That's what saves you. Baptism is the proclamation or the re-enactment of that appeal. So in what way is going under the water? A re-enactment of an appeal to God? Because you're dying to sin and rising in life, baptism is the sign and seal of the forgiveness of sins. Submersion under water indicates death. Noah's ark. Everyone outside of it died. Baptism. You go under like Noah went into the water and you die. Noah lived though, right? He comes out the other side. I've done a lot of baptisms and I have never lost anyone in there. And I'll tell them that beforehand, too. There's. There was one, though, a couple of months ago. Perhaps you remember it at the nine thirty service. That was close. That guy. That guy was a tall drink of water that was close. You go under and then you come up in newness of life, in newness of life. So you die to sin. The old is passed away. Anyone who is in Christ, the old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. Colossians two twelve. You're buried with Christ in baptism. Romans six three. Don't you know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? But again, you don't stay there. You rise from the water because Jesus rose from the grave. And this is what it means that you're baptized into Christ not only to his death, but also into his life. Jesus didn't stay dead. Colossians two twelve again, you were raised with him. You're baptized, lowered with him into death, raised with him in new life through the wonderful, powerful working of God who raised Jesus from the dead. Philippians calls this resurrection power. The same spirit that united Jesus's soul back to his human body, and then energized it and brought it back to life. The God-Man resurrected from the grave by the working of the Holy Spirit. That same spirit is the one that regenerates us through faith and baptism illustrates that. Sometimes people will baptize people forward. I love baptizing people backwards because then they come up facing the congregation, facing the church, and facing their future to walk in new life. Paul says in Romans six verse four, all those who are baptized into Christ have been raised from the dead by the glory of the father to walk in newness of life. That's Romans six four. The point is that there is a future for the baptized one. As Jesus was resurrected. So you will be too. Not just in this life, but in the next. You die and Christ will resurrect you. So that's why baptism is an appeal. Lord, don't forget me, man. Don't forget me. God, please don't forget me. Based upon faith, the saving power of baptism is rooted in the resurrection that is prefigured in the ark. The waters that save Christians are not the same waters as saved Noah, but the waters of saved Noah prefigured the waters of saved Christians. Noah was trusting in God. Trusting Jesus is trusting God. This is why baptism is not a mere mechanical act. It is not a fleshly act like circumcision. That is a fleshly act and it is a ritual. It is not a rite. Baptism is not a ritual like that. It is not a rite like that. It is an appeal to God with a good conscience. Baptism looks back to Noah. It looks back to Jesus. It looks forward to our reunion with Christ. That's why it's baptism for the forgiveness of sins. Don't forget that part. For the forgiveness of sins. And here at this point, I have to say, Presbyterians and Baptists whom I love and respect tremendously. This is the part of the Nicene Creed. I know Presbyterians believe the Nicene Creed. I know that, obviously, but this is the phrase in the Creed. I don't understand their answer for baptism, for the forgiveness of sins. And the common answer is yes. Baptism of babies is for the forgiveness of sins. But it doesn't mean that faith has to be present at the moment of baptism. For that it can still be a baptism that is looking forward or prefiguring the forgiveness of sins. I mean, that's the answer they give that maybe it's the Presbyterians say it's the faith of the parents that are energizing the work. But the normal answer is that faith. It is baptism for the forgiveness of sins. That doesn't mean faith has to be present at the baptism. And that just that's that's that's an Old Testament ritual right there. That's something prefiguring a future event. That is not the Christian baptism in the New Testament. Christian baptism. The New Testament is not prefiguring future faith that you really hope you get. It's a proclamation of active obedience that you are dying to your old way of life and rising in newness of life. Here I stand, I can do no other. And I recognize the irony of quoting Luther. And don't think this means you have to be baptized to have your sins forgiven. The English expression that is helpful is you get a medal for bravery. That doesn't mean that getting the medal makes you brave. Of course not. It doesn't mean you don't have the mettle. You weren't brave. Now hopefully you were brave. And the mettle indicates that. Baptism for the forgiveness of sins functions like that. It represents the reality of the person's appeal to God from a clean conscience. And then finally, The church's association. So we've seen the church's creation that God brings life through water. We've seen the church's salvation that he forgives sins through baptism. And now we've seen the church's association baptism baptized into Christ. In fact, the the creed is the word baptism. Baptizo ice is like into the forgiveness of sins, and you're baptized into something. Baptism is one of those transitive words. You have to go from one thing to the other. That's kind of how the verb functions. You're baptized into something. That's just the way the world works. The physical act of baptism is obviously you're baptized into water. You go. You go into the water, you're baptized into it. But it has a spiritual representation, of course, that you were baptized into the body of Christ. Israel, for example, in the Old Testament when they crossed the Red sea, it says they were baptized into. Do you remember baptized into Moses? That's kind of cool. What does that mean? They were baptized into Moses, you know, surrounded by floating Egyptians and horse hooves everywhere. But they're baptized into Moses, meaning that their identity is hidden in Moses. Now Moses is their leader. They will follow him. And of course, Moses follows the Lord. Moses hears from the Lord. The New Testament Jesus speaks of baptism into judgment, baptism by fire. John the Baptist says, Jesus will baptize by the Holy Spirit. The church is then baptized into the body of Christ. It's association with the body of Christ. First Corinthians twelve thirteen. You don't need to flip there because I can. I can read it, but I'm going to flip there. So don't get it wrong. First Corinthians twelve thirteen in one spirit we were all baptized into one body. Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, and all were made to drink of one spirit. So first Corinthians twelve thirteen makes this declaration that everyone who's been baptized into Christ has been baptized into his body. Galatians three twenty seven says that both Jews and Gentiles are baptized into Christ. Baptism represents our association with him. Jesus didn't merely claim to be greater than the temple, although he did claim to be greater than the temple, but he didn't merely claim to be greater than the temple. He also said, if you tear the temple down, I'll build it back in three days. And then John lets you know that the people listening to him were like, it took us decades to build this thing. What are you talking about? Because they did not understand. He was talking about his body. He dies. He's resurrected. He is the temple. But he ascends to heaven. And here we're back exactly where we started. Here the Creed comes full circle. Jesus is in heaven. Where is his body? That was the question. I said. Remember, where is his body? There's a sense in which he physically is located at the right hand of the father, who is spirit. So I don't understand that. And don't ask because I don't get it. But his body is still in his creation as well. In the church. The church is the body of Christ. We are all members of the Body of Christ, hands and feet and eyes and our gifts all work in the body of Christ. That phrase, the body of Christ. It is a metaphor, but it's a metaphor for the body of Christ. The church is the body of Christ. You've heard it said a hundred times, the church isn't the building, it's the people. And that is true. But the people, then, are the body of Christ as they're joined one to another. And that's why baptism is a visible expression to the body of Christ. There's a spiritual baptism that happens at conversion That manifests your relationship to the invisible church. And there's a physical baptism that happens where you take that conversion and you put it on display to the visible body of the church. The body of Christ, then, is an organic, living and growing entity. It is the New Testament church or the New Testament Tabernacle. It is the regathering point of God's people. The tabernacle moves to the wilderness and the Israelites followed it. The temple was built. The Israelites revolved around it. The temple is torn down. The Israelites scatter. The temple is rebuilt. Now in the church. It's the regathering of God's people in the church. Invisible regeneration joins us to that invisible church. But like I said, it's acted out in the real world with visible baptism, which represents the joining of that visible church. And this is where you have to remember what the word katolikus meant. It meant a part of a whole. There is a difference between the invisible and the visible church, but it is an error to think of two different churches. It's not like you have the visible church over here and the invisible church over there, and somebody can be a member of one without being the member of the other. That's not how this kind of language functions. The universal church is made up of the parts. There's differences between the visible and the invisible church. The invisible church doesn't grow. Think about that for a second church church growth movement. Put that in your pipe and smoke it. The invisible church does not grow. It has the same number of people from all eternity. There is no church growth in heaven. The visible church grows and shrinks. People are added by conversion, subtracted by promotion Or discipline various expressions of the visible church. Ebb and flow according in style. New. New. Visible churches. Start. Others close. Some grow, others decline. A lot of the reformers, and even some of the Church fathers, did not like the visible, invisible language because it said it implied two different churches. And instead they said it's probably better to argue. And this is the common language that Puritans used was the church, as God sees it, versus the churches. Men see it, and you can see how that is almost a more helpful distinction. The visible churches changes when people are added and the public profession of them being added. Is baptism baptized into association with Christ? So just as God created the universe out of nothing, and then he brought order and life to it by his spirit and water in the word, just as he rescued Noah, as he judged the world and brought order and life to it by water and his spirit and the word, just as he led Israel out of the wilderness and brought order to them by water, and his spirit and the word. So he reconstitutes God's people in the New Testament, and he makes a new thing called the church, a new body, the body of Christ, which once incarnate, crucified, buried, ascended into heaven, remains the God-Man, even right now, but also present spiritually in this world. Baptism is the proclamation to the church, and my faith is in that Christ. That's what it means when it says, there's one baptism that every believer has gone through the same waters as you. Maybe not this tank, maybe not this church. Augustine was baptized. Different than you. Different continent. You. Different water than you. Same baptism. All of God's people are brought into order through the spirit and dwelling of the church. Lord, we're so thankful for the church and the ordinance of baptism which you gave us. It proclaims the loud voice that your body is present and it is resurrected from death to life. From Noah to Moses to Jesus. All those who are part of your body are gifted by you to serve in your body. We're so thankful for that. As your spirit put in order of the world, it puts an order to church. And so we yield our church the working of your Spirit as he indwells in each and every member. We're thankful for his working. Pray that you'd use this message and the words tonight from Ephesians five verse four to continue that work in our hearts. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen. And now for parting word from Pastor Jesse Johnson. If you have any questions about what you heard today, or if you want to learn more about what it means to follow Christ, please visit our church website. If you want more information about the Master's Seminary or our location here in Washington, DC, please go to TMZ.com. Now, if you're not a member of a local church and you live in the Washington, D.C. area, we'd love to have you worship with us here at Emmanuel. I hope to personally meet you this Sunday after our service. But no matter where you live, it's our hope that everyone who uses this resource is involved in their own local church. Now, may God bless you this week as you seek Jesus constantly. Serve the Lord faithfully and share the gospel boldly.