Water Baptism

Bro Koay Kheng Hin

There is a water baptism in December and pastor has asked me to share on water baptism.

I am taking this message from the books of Acts and decided to look at it in a narrative way.

There will be real stories and some of you may not realize the issues and difficulties in water baptism until you hear them in real life.

I have four stories.

The first encounter was in 1994. My father accepted the Lord and at that time he said this: "I want to get baptized but I need to settle some things first." He was a religious man.

I told him no issue. So what's the issue? Does a man who accepted the Lord have to be baptised immediately?

The second incident, I have a cell member who came to me. The wife just accepted the Lord and growing. The husband said he has been a Christian for a long time. After half a year, I asked if he wanted to be baptised. And he said it was not important at that time. Later, over the phone I asked him would he like to be baptised this time around. He said it was not necessary for salvation, so he is not interested.

So the second issue, if baptism is not necessary for salvation, why baptised?

The third was in church where I was fellowshiping with one of the cell leaders and he said until they are baptized, we are not sure if they are saved.

Then this year, someone asked me about something to do with the big party. He asked how do we do baptism? He said some of them were baptised years ago but when he died he wanted his children to do the "Tong Tong Chiang". He don't want Chee Keong to sing. Haha...I already got permission from Bro Chee Keong about this (laughs).

I have raised four issues concerning baptism. And the question is who is to be baptised, when to be baptised and why do people get baptised? I won't talk about how to be baptised. The bible says full immersion so we won't talk about that.

I have this four real life stories. How I learn have always been like that, when people ask me questions. I go buy books and find answers to them. That's how I learn.

Acts 8:34-38 So the eunuch answered Philip and said, “I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. 36 Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?”
37 Then 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.”
38 So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him.

The passage before verse 34, verse 32-33 was taken from Isaiah. Who is this eunuch? The technical word is someone who has emasculate himself. The word eunuch is a common term used for a high official. This person talks to Phillip. He was ministering up North and he was called by God to move down south. Here we know he was most likely a god fearing gentile that subscribe to Judaism.

Those people at that time can be very committed. And they had the book of Isaiah.

Isaiah 53:7-8 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

This passage made sense to the eunuch and he believed. This is when Phillip talked to him about Jesus and he believed. Verse 37 tells us very clearly that he became a believer. And he asked to be baptised.

1. Who are candidates for baptism?

The candidate must first and foremost be a believer.

2. When should the believer be baptised?

It was just a short time after he believed. Phillip didn't ask him, he asked Phillip. So when? As soon as possible. But you must understand that is a loaded question. He understood Judaism. He knew he should be baptised. And it is him who wants to be baptised. We are to teach what baptism is all about but the person is the one who must say he wants to be baptised, unless it is a logistic problem. Like if the person come midnight and ask for baptism, you may only have a small bathtub and may need more time to find a suitable place.

The passage tells us that it is a full immersion baptism. Why do we in church teach about baptism?

Romans 6:3-5 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,

Here we have the full teaching of water baptism. Roman 6 is the beginning of Paul's teaching on sanctification. And here appropriately, he begins with baptism, which is not by accident.

Baptism is a symbolism of us being united with Christ in His death. We go down as in we die to our old self. I checked with a commentary as I have to be very careful here. Jesus' death becomes our death. One key word in our Christian word is "in Christ". It is in Christ that we become a new man, it is in Christ that we become a saint. There is some form of union. And it begins when we become a believer in Christ. And the agent is when our spirit is regenerated by the Holy Spirit.

If you are saved and have accepted Christ and if you do not get baptised, you are saved but the baptism makes your identification with Christ vivid. It's a public profession of your faith in Christ.

You identify with Christ in his death when the pastor immersed you and you coming out of the water, you identify with his resurrection. This is a symbolism. An identification. Is such an identification important? This is a key question.

We have two ordinances. The Roman Catholic Church uses sacrament. We don't use that. Because they use the sacrament as tied to your salvation. Where else we use ordinances as an expression of you being already saved.

Why ordinances like that? No matter how close you are to God, you are finite, he is infinite. We need a symbol to make a connection because we are dealing with a transcendence God.

You will find that early on in the church, a profession of faith is easy to say. Not easy to do. Walk your talk. NATO (No Action Talk Only). Right from Judaism to Christianity, there is a place to make a public declaration of your faith. Here is where the baptism comes in. Jesus is the head of the body and when you have baptism you come into the fellowship of the body.

What is in your mind when you are baptized? Some people tell you when you are sick you pray for healing, you go in and come out healed. If you read Romans it has nothing to do with that.

It is the gospel call preached, accepted and actualised. And you are identifying with that. This is what your focus should be. Can God heal during the baptism? Yes. In God's presence it can happen but that is not the purpose and focus of baptism.

If you go into baptism without knowing that identification with Jesus, then you have missed out. In this you become incorporated into the body.

The next part I want to ask this question.

Is baptism necessary for salvation? The answer is NO. But salvation is necessary for baptism. Here I have to be very careful. I walk a tight rope. Baptism is not necessary for salvation but is necessary. That is a safe statement.

I give you one instance in the bible. The criminal on the cross. Luke 23:43 And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”

I like this, it answers a lot of theological questions. Today you will be with me in paradise. Saved? Yes. Baptized? No. He believed. Not baptized. He is in heaven.

This story was 7-8 years back. He was telling me he is doing bible study. I said very good. Which church I asked. What have they been teaching you? Oh, he said he has to be baptized in that church to be saved. I told him to come see me. My friend was being taught: baptism is necessary for salvation. Which is quite okay. But only if he is baptized in this church. That's not. I asked how many members in his church? He said about 60. I said only 60 will go to heaven in Penang? He said ya, don't make sense right?

Look at the following;

Romans 10:9-10 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Is there a mention of water baptism in these two verses?

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Acts 20:21 testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

Luke 24:46-47 Then He said to them, “ Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

There are no mention on water baptism in all these verses. Check the sinner's prayer. It is believing in Jesus and repentance of sin. No baptism mentioned. That is salvation.

Back to the four stories.

My father. He told me he wants to be baptized but give him some time. My father is saved. Very important. He has the desire to be baptized. My aunties were not happy my father accepted the Lord. The contention is my father is not baptized so how can he have a Christian funeral. They are saying he is not saved. But praised the Lord, some time back my father told this influential auntie that he is a believer. He told her that he believe Jesus is the one true God.

This auntie came to me and told me it is good that you young people believe but let the old believe what they believe. Usually, me being me, I would be very polite and just avoid the issue. But this time, I don't know why but I was very firm.

I told her my father wants to believe is because he himself wants to believe because he do not want to go to hell. I told her if he dies a Christian I will bear witness that his soul going to heaven. I told her if you do not believe and deny him a Christian funeral, then you bear witness that his soul will be in heaven. She quickly said cannot cannot. Probably she's afraid my father's spirit will come back to visit her (laughs).

The second story, this person do not have the desire to be baptized. A person who is regenerated, he will have a lot of desire for that which is godly. That is why we say a tree is known by its fruit. So if a person do not desire to be baptized, is he regenerated or saved? There is a question mark. I am not saying baptism is necessary for salvation. But I must say baptism is the fruit of your salvation. If a person is not baptised after many years, the issue is that, at best he is a baby in Christ and at worst he is not saved.

In case number 3, baptism is not necessary for salvation, it is already answered.

And the one about "tong tong chiang" funeral at the Hokkien service, we must be careful not to coerced a person into baptism. It must come from the person.

Matthew 28:19 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,

Here is the first thing a young believer must do. It is a first commandment given. Make disciple and then baptism. It is an obedience to a commandment.

And here is a perfect example.

Matthew 3:13-16
John Baptizes Jesus
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. 14 And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?”
15 But Jesus answered and said to him, “ Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him.
16 When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.

Jesus himself was baptized. How much more us.

And to end with my own example. In my heart I wanted to be baptized but in my early Christian understanding is that, if I baptized no one will take my father's "Tong Huan". I told my father, my two brothers were already baptized and I told my father they "bo akai", don't think. I told my father I will do the right thing. And my father was so proud of his youngest son, who seemed wiser.

But the conviction came and in Dec 1993 as I was marking papers there was a still small voice, go get baptized. Until I put down all my papers and I said Lord, I cannot get baptized because of my father. Settled. The Lord left me alone.

Then I went to church and when I saw Sis Sandy, I wanted to say good morning but the words that came out was "I want to be baptized". "Tong Huan" went down the "Tong Sampah", rubbish bin. I asked whether I can be baptized now. But she said now cannot. But after a while she said wait, she try check with pastor. But after a while she said why not in two weeks as the church has a baptism session. I was baptized at Swimwell. I had that strong desire.

I want to end on a good note. When I was baptized I told the Lord, if I take that step of faith, I don't want my cousin to carry the "Tong Huan" for my father. But praise the Lord, my father accepted the Lord. The commandment of the Lord is not burdensome.

Acts 8:39 Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing.

Baptism is a joy. If you cannot catch that, you have missed it. After Swimwell I was full of the Spirit. I want to impart this to you, if you are a believer, make a public acknowledgment of your faith by taking baptism and it will be a joy.