Every Nation and Tongue

Doug Batchelor: Did you know that when a human baby is born, about 78% of its body is made up of water? Our water ratio drops somewhat as we age, but water remains an essential part of our survival. In fact, a mere 2% drop in body water can cause fuzzy short-term memory, difficulty with basic math, and trouble focusing on a computer or a printed page. If the water in your body drops 5%, you'll no longer be able to see, a 10% drop takes away your ability to hear. Water plays a crucial role in almost every body function, but some researchers estimate that 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated. Insufficient water increases the risk for obesity, fatigue, and a host of common diseases. Water is essential not only to our physical bodies, but our spiritual survival as well. As the living water, Jesus is the ultimate thirst quencher for our souls, and we receive him in a special way when we enter the waters of baptism. So, join me now, friends, for today's program, as we take a closer look at this very important subject, how we can be born of the Spirit and the water.

Doug: There is a place in Austria, up in the mountains, it's called Grüner See, or Green Lake, and it's nestled in a beautiful valley there. They've got a park, it's got benches, and bridges, and flowers, and trails. And every spring, because of the melting snow, it is baptized in 40 feet of water, and it's the whole park is immersed in water, and it gradually drains off. Here's a picture of someone scuba diving in the park, and you can see there's a trail and a tree, and there'll be benches off to the side. But all that water drains away and it explodes with flowers, then, in the springtime, after this, what do you call it? Massive immersion in water.

You know, water is a central teaching in the Bible. First, let's talk about our scripture here, Revelation 14, verse 6, "Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth--to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people." Now, we've talked about the everlasting gospel, now I want to emphasize, "Every nation, tribe, tongue, and people." Where do we hear that? When Jesus says His parting words, Matthew chapter 28, "All authority is given to Me in heaven and earth. Go ye therefore into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." He says in the book of Acts chapter 1, go, "To the uttermost parts of the world."

Jesus wants us to go everywhere, to every tribe, tongue, and people with the gospel. And what else does He say? "Baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit." The very beginning of the New Testament, it's in the Gospel of Mark, and even the Gospel of John, it begins with John the Baptist baptizing. The last thing Jesus says before He ascends to heaven? In the Gospel of Mark, and Luke, and Matthew, is to go to teach and baptize. First thing that happens in Acts chapter 1? "Repent," Peter says, "And be baptized." You would think the last words of Jesus should be a first priority for believers, amen? If it's important to Jesus, it should be important to us.

So, what does the word "baptize" mean? Baptism, Colossians 2, verse 11 and 12, "In Him you were...buried...through baptism." It's a symbol of death. Now, in the world, today, there are a lot of counterfeit baptisms, and some people sprinkle, and technically that is not a baptism. The word 'baptize' means to immerse, to submerge, it's a word they used in Ancient Greek literature when they were dying cloth, they would plunge the cloth in the vat of dye and get it completely under so the dye would penetrate all the fibers. And so, the very word "baptize" means to immerse. And all the churches used to practice baptism by immersion. In our church, just right beyond that wall there, we've got a baptistry. A lot of churches, Baptist churches and others, have baptistries built in, because we think that it's very important to the ceremony, that it has meaning.

God wants us to follow the pattern, because it represents a new birth. It's like when a baby comes into the world, it comes out of an envelope of water and takes a breath, like when that person comes up. And when someone dies, they pause their breathing, they go down, and they momentarily hold their breath. You know, when we baptize people, we don't hold them under, we just say, "In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit," and we put them under and we bring them up again, and they take that new breath and it's like a whole new life.

Number three, what does baptism symbolize? Romans chapter 6, verse 4, "Therefore we are buried with Him through baptism into death, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in," a what? It should be a, "Newness of life." And it tells us that the person is buried, and what does it symbolize? Acts 22, verse 16, Ananias said to the Apostle Paul, "Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord."

So, what's happening when you're baptized? How many of you have ever wished you could go back, start over, knowing what you know now about life? My father used to say, "Youth is wasted on the young," I'm sure he's not the first one that said it, that we wish, "Oh, if I could go back and live my life over, knowing, having the experience I have now, I wouldn't repeat certain mistakes." Baptism is a chance to get a new birth, to start a new life and a new beginning, and have all your sins washed away. What is more beautiful than that, to be born again, have that new beginning?

Number four, what other ceremony does the Bible compare to baptism? Galatians chapter 3:27, "For as many of you as we're baptized into Christ have," say it with me, "Put on Christ." It's talking about, it's in the context of, "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loves the church." The church is called the bride of Christ. The New Jerusalem, Revelation, coming down out of heaven, it's like a marriage to Jesus. Now, this is maybe a little easier for the ladies out there to relate to than some of the men, but it's really, we are being married to Christ. Now, what would you think if a man, asking the ladies again, if a man said to you, "I'd like to get married, but do we need to live together?" Would you accept that proposal, or would you think there's something wrong? When people say, "I want to get baptized, but I don't want to join a church," that's suspect right there. So, if you want to understand these principles, you can often just say, "What would it be like if you applied that to marriage?" And it'll give you the answer.

Number five, what biblical qualifications must precede baptism? So, if a person is going to get baptized, how do they prepare for that? It says in Matthew chapter 28, verse 19 and 20, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations." This is what our verse was there in Revelation chapter 14, that says to every tongue, tribe, and people. "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit."

Now, do you stop with baptism? "Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you." So, you teach the Word of God, teach what it means to be a Christian, to follow Jesus, and then you're baptized. There's teaching that comes first. Now someone's going to ask the question, "Pastor Doug, why in so many churches is there this time of teaching and indoctrination before baptism, but I look in Acts chapter 2, Peter preaches, and bingo, they get baptized that day, or again in Acts chapter 5?" It's because these were Jews that already had Bible studies, they already knew about the 10 Commandments, all they didn't know about was Jesus, and when Peter preached to them about Jesus, that was the last piece they needed. But most people don't have nearly the foundation those Jewish people had when they were baptized, so there needs to be some teaching that happens in advance. Does that make sense?

You know, often I'll do evangelism where maybe Christians of other faiths will come, and they learn some of these truths they don't know, and they want to be baptized or even re-baptized. And that's a lot easier to present than when I go places like China, and I'm preaching to people who have grown up atheists. Karen and I did meetings in Russia right after the iron curtain fell, these people had not heard about God their whole lives, except, you know, maybe just in a peripheral way, and you have to start from scratch. People say, "Who's Moses, David, Goliath?" They have no idea what you're talking about. In a secular culture like America, people at least get some of that. So, they need to be taught.

You can also read in Acts 8, verse 36, "And the eunuch," there's this Ethiopian eunuch that was baptized by Philip, "He said, 'See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?' And Philip said, 'If you,'" what? "If you believe with," how much of your heart? "'All of your heart, you may.' And he answered and said, 'I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.'" And he was baptized. By the way, he was not baptized in a river, he was baptized in maybe the sea, because he was down by Gaza, or it may have been an oasis. So it sometimes could be the ocean, it could be a river, it could be a baptistry, as long as you're immersed in water and you follow the Bible principle.

What else needs to go along with baptism? It says in Acts chapter 2 that people heard Peter preach, and they said, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" We've crucified the Son of God, what do we do? What did Peter say, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins." That means the forgiveness, the washing away. Jesus said, John chapter 3, verse 5, "Except," He was talking to Nicodemus, "Except you are born of the water and the Spirit, you cannot enter the kingdom of Heaven."

It's talking about water baptism and Spirit baptism, we need both, but you need to repent. And what does repentance mean? A sorrow for sin and a willingness to turn away from it. The Bible says repent, "Turn ye, turn ye from all your evil ways." So, people, if they're just saying, "Well, yeah, I'm sorry," but they don't make any life change, if you say, "Lord, I'm sorry that I borrowed my neighbor's rake and I never brought it back," and you don't bring the neighbor's rake back after you pray that prayer, you know, you got to bring it back then, right? It's not just enough to say you're sorry, give him back his rake.

So, you need to right all the wrongs you can, but most of the wrongs in our life it's hard to go back, you can't unscramble scrambled eggs, amen? But as far as possible, if there's something, if you've offended someone and you've been unkind, part of repentance means you write a letter and you apologize. And you can maybe be reconciled, maybe not, but you do your part to right whatever wrongs you can right, because God has forgiven you and giving you a new heart, amen? That's what real repentance is. John the Baptist says, "Bring forth fruits meet for repentance." There should be evidence in the life that your heart has been changed.

Number six, according to the Bible, how many varieties of baptism are acceptable? What does it say in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 4 and 5? "There is...one Lord, one faith, one baptism." There's one true God, there is one true faith, there is one true mode or method of baptism, and I think it's important for us to stick with what the Bible says. Can you say, "Amen"? The devil's got the counterfeits and modifications of everything that God says, and people drift away from the foundational truths, and they miss the beauty of it all.

Baptism is a symbol of a death, a burial, a resurrection, a new life, a new birth, a washing away, a cleansing. All of that is wrapped up in this right of baptism by immersion, where you go under and the sins are washed away, and you come up, and God has promised that, He says, "Repent, and be baptized, and He will give you the gift of the Holy Spirit." When Jesus was baptized, the Spirit came down, but today, some churches, they just sprinkle.

Do you know that even in the Catholic Church they baptized for the first thousand years of their history? It wasn't until the Council of Ravenna they accepted sprinkling or pouring, and that happened little by little over hundreds of years. Sometimes the kings and the royalty and the monarchs, they would get baptized, and they said, "You know, we weren't baptized as babies and we're going to get baptized, but we don't want to take off our royal robes in front of all the people and become, you know, humiliated like that. Maybe you could just, since it's a symbol, just pour some water on us, or sprinkle a little water." Or someone was sick, and they couldn't make it for baptism, so the priest would come, and they'd dip a sheet in water and then they'd wrap them up in the sheet. And it just slowly modified, until they said, "Well, it's a lot easier to just sprinkle." And I took a picture of Karen and I, earlier this year, we were in Ephesus, Turkey, and this was a church that, oh, the church must be 1,000 years old. And there in the middle of the church was the baptistry, and you walk in, and you walk out, they believed in baptism by immersion. You'll see these baptistries all over the ancient world, this is a change that came in hundreds of years, if not over 1,000 years after Christ.

Are there examples in the Bible of people being baptized? The answer is, emphatically, yes. "Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John," by the Jordan River? "In the Jordan River." Why did Jesus need to be baptized? You can read in the Gospel of John, Mark, Matthew, Luke; Jesus is baptized.

Now, if baptism is a symbol of washing away sin, why was Jesus baptized? Well, there's three reasons. One, Jesus is baptized as an example, I heard someone say, for us to follow. He's also baptized on behalf of those who could not be. You know, when Jesus was hanging on the cross, there was a thief hanging beside Him, or two thieves, but one of them turned to Jesus and said, "Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom." And Jesus said, "Verily, I say to you today, you will be with me in paradise." He promised he would be in paradise, Jesus didn't say, "If you can get off the cross and get baptized, you'll be with Me." But if baptism is important and he couldn't be baptized, I think in the same way Jesus died for our sins there are people who get credit for Jesus's baptism because they couldn't be baptized.

I remember going to a hospital, visiting a young man that was dying of AIDS, several years ago, they didn't have the medications for it. And he thoroughly repented of his sins, and he wanted to be saved, he said, but he's hooked up to all these machines and apparatus, and there's just no way the hospital could accommodate a baptism. And I reassured him, I said, "Jesus will give you credit for His baptism," and he died soon after. I was able to lead him to the Lord. And do you think baptism will be an obstacle to his salvation?

So, Jesus was also baptized not only as an example, not only in behalf of those who were baptized, His baptism demonstrates what we should expect in our baptism. "Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, 'I need to be baptized by You, and You're coming to me?' But Jesus answered and said to him, 'Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting to fulfill all righteousness.'" He was fulfilling the prophecy that we read about there in Daniel chapter 9, it says that the Most Holy would be anointed. When Christ came out of the water, the Holy Spirit came down as a dove, He then began his public ministry. Can you point to any miracle that Jesus performed before His ministry? No, nothing in the Bible, you might find some apocryphal writings, but nothing in the Bible, He began his ministry at 30 years of age with His baptism, another reason for it.

Number nine, doesn't the baptism of the Holy Spirit replace baptism by immersion? Some people say, "All you need is the baptism of the Holy Spirit, that's the most important thing." Well, you do need that, and if you only had one of the two, you'd want that, but by all means, you need both.

Notice, when Cornelius, who is a Roman Centurion, and his family were filled with the Holy Spirit after hearing Peter preach, and they haven't been baptized, what did Peter say? Well, first of all, he says, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." That's Acts 2, verse 38, both go together. But now, while Peter is preaching, this is in Acts chapter 10, the Holy Spirit fell on Cornelius and those who heard the Word of God. And Peter answered and said, "Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received," what? "The Holy Spirit." Peter could have said, "Look, they got the Holy Spirit, no sense for water baptism." Peter said they need both, isn't that clear? Just as we have, "He commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord." John the Baptist said, "Indeed I baptize you with water unto repentance, but He was coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire." And we need that baptism as well.

Is rebaptism ever necessary? People ask me this question, they say, "Well, you know, I was baptized." Now, there's three reasons you might be rebaptized, first let me give you our verse. In Acts chapter 19, Paul is traveling through Ephesus, he encounters 12 Ephesian men, these are Gentiles. Very interesting, Jesus had 12 apostles that were Jews, that were baptized, filled with the Spirit, now Paul runs into 12 Gentiles. He asks him, "Were you baptized?" They said, "Yeah, we are baptized by John's baptism." And Paul says, "John preached the baptism of repentance, saying that they should believe on Jesus who was to come." They had been baptized by John the Baptist, they went back up to Ephesus, they had not heard about the baptism of Jesus, and says, "We haven't even heard if there be any Holy Ghost." And he said, "In what then to were you baptized?" They said, "John's baptism." Paul said to them, "'John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.' When they heard this, they were," what? "Baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus." They were rebaptized, both baptisms were by immersion. And here they are, living up in the Greek cities, and they're baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke with tongues just like the apostles did at Pentecost. So, it's almost like a parallel Pentecost that happens up there in Ephesus.

Three reasons to be rebaptized, one, maybe your parents baptized you as a baby, that's not baptism, that's a baby dedication. Jesus was dedicated as a baby, but He wasn't baptized until He was an adult, so that's something separate. Babies cannot repent, be taught, and believe. So, if you weren't baptized biblically, that's another reason to be rebaptized.

If you divorce yourself from the Lord, and that doesn't mean if you slip and you sin, that's why churches have an ongoing communion service, you can renew your commitment if you make mistakes, as you will. But if you just stop going to church and you separate yourself from the Lord, you should get remarried, and you may need to be rebaptized, talk to your pastor about that and they'll explain that. If someone's coming back to get rebaptized every year, there's something wrong, it's supposed to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but there are occasions where you are rebaptized. Some are baptized as children, they say, "I had no idea what I was doing, now I understand." I heard about a Baptist minister, came to a seminar like ours, and he said, "I'd like to get rebaptized." We said, "Well, you're Baptist, right?" "Yeah." "You believe in baptism by immersion?" "Yep," said, "But I was only baptized into nine commandments, I want to get baptized into all ten now." So, if you're in doubt, do the same thing, he was rebaptized.

And then the third reason for rebaptism is like these 12 Ephesian believers, they came into a whole new understanding of the truth, and they realized that they needed to get baptized, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit. Is baptism connected with joining the church? Absolutely. "For by one Spirit we are all baptized into," what? "One body." And again, you can read where it says, "And He," Jesus, "Is the head of the body, the church." You can read in Acts chapter 2, verse 41, "Those who gladly received the word were baptized...and added to them." And it says, "The Lord," in verse 47, "Added to the church." They are baptized and added to the church. God has no "Rambo" Christians out there to get baptized and just are mavericks out there by themselves, you are part of a family when you're baptized.

Number 12, is baptism required to be saved? We've talked about this, "He who believes and is baptized will be saved." Who said that friends? That's Jesus, Mark 16:16, "He who does not believe will be condemned." The most important thing is, "Believed," but notice, He puts baptism right in there. And again, Jesus said, "Unless one is born of the water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven." Baptism is as important to a Christian as a wedding is to a marriage, it is the ceremony by which we make that commitment to Jesus.

Well, friends, in behalf of Jesus, He is proposing to you, He says, "I love you, will you marry Me?" That's what baptism is, he's saying, "I love you; I want to live eternally with you, I want to be joined together with you, I want to fill you with My Spirit, I want us to be fruitful together." And He's wanting to know, what's your response? You will hear God speak in a way that you have not heard Him speak before. Trust me, friends, I experience all these things. Christ was baptized as an example of what we can expect, He came up out of the water and the heavens were open, the heavens are open for you when you bring Christ into your life, you have new access to the Father through Christ.

Doug: Baptism, how important is this Christian right, is it essential to go to heaven, and if so, is there a right way and a wrong way to do it? Can you get baptized on behalf of another person? The answers may surprise you. We have a wonderful free resource we'd like to share with you called, "Baptism, Is It Really Necessary?" In this book, you're going to find all of the balanced and biblical answers you need about the purpose and meaning of baptism in the life of every Christian, straight from God's Word. To get your free copy, call the phone number on your screen and ask for "Offer #165," or visit the web address. And after you read this incredible resource, make sure to share it with a friend.

Doug: Friend, God came to earth 2,000 years ago in the form of a man, His name was Jesus. He came for three reasons, to show us what God is like, to show us how to live, and finally to die for our sins that we might be forgiven. But this only works if you choose to accept Him as your personal Savior, confess you're sorry for your sins, and invite Him to be the Lord of your life. His arms are open wide, why don't you ask Him now?

Girl: Mommy, Daddy, help me.

Male: No, I don't think so, you didn't do very well on your report card this last quarter, so, no.

Female: You haven't been pulling your weight around here lately. You want help? Well, I wanted help with the dishes last night. Help yourself.

Girl: Huh?

Male: Honey, did you bring the marshmallows?

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