“Symbols of the Good News”
Sermon Series: “The Gospel”
“Symbol of the Gospel-Communion”
When we observe the Lord’s Supper, it is a time of:
1. Unification (v. 17-22): God does not want any divisions in His Body, the Church (10:16-17). Observing the Lord’s Supper should remind us that we are the body of Christ that He purchased with His precious blood on the cross, and we should be motivated to restore any broken fellowship we have with a brother or sister in Christ.
2. Thanksgiving (v. (24-25): Notice that Jesus gave thanks when he was taking the Passover meal with his disciples. If He gave thanks, how much more should we express thanksgiving? When we take the Lord’s Supper, we are to thank Him for the wonderful, incredible sacrifice He made on our behalf.
3. Remembrance (v. 24-25): The Lord’s Supper is a memorial feast that reminds us of what Jesus did for us on the cross. This teaches us that the Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act. Dr. Paige Patterson has written, “The Lord’s Supper is purely a symbolic feast established as a memorial to the most significant event ever to transpire in the history of the race – the atonement of Jesus.”
4. Proclamation (v. 26): By observing the Lord’s Supper, we visually preach the truth of the atonement. The Lord’s Supper is evangelistic because it pictures the sacrifice of Christ.
5. Identification: The face that we are internalizing the elements depicts that we are identifying ourselves with Christ and His crucifixion. It shows that we are trusting in His death and nothing else for our salvation.
6. Examination (v. 27-32): We are not to take the Lord’s Supper flippantly or with sin in our hearts. Paul tells us that taking the Lord’s Supper wrongly will bring the discipline of God upon us. He tells us that some people have become sick or even died because they took the Lord’s Supper wrongly. We should confess all known sin before we participate in Communion.
“Symbols of the Gospel-Baptism”
Introduction: Most religious groups practice some type of baptism. Baptists were given their name because of their method of baptizing people. There are different viewpoints in various denominations regarding the method and meaning of baptism. However, the issue is to be biblical-not denominational. Therefore, we will attempt to come to a correcting understanding of baptism by studying the Scriptures. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” We are going to briefly look at the passages in the book of Acts (ch. 2, 8:12, 8:35-38, 9:18, 10:43-48, 16:10-15, 16:25-34, 19:1-5) and attempt to answer four key questions about baptism.
Question #1-Does God want me to get baptized? These Scriptures indicate to us that God definitely wants us to get baptized, but He wants us to become a Christian first by repenting of sin and trusting Jesus. Baptism is a symbol of our salvation, but it does not give us salvation. Jesus is the only Savior.
Question #2-When does God want me to get baptized? Based on the Scripture that we read, it seems very obvious that God wants us to get baptized as soon as possible after we become Christians.
Question #3-How does God want me to get baptized? By immersion (being made fully wet) in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit because Jesus said, “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” (Matthew 28:19). The following are reasons that we baptize by immersion:
A. The New Testament Example –Let me share two examples of this. First, when John baptized Jesus in the Jordan River (Matthew 3:13-17), “Jesus immediately came up from the water,” and this clearly pictures immersion. Second, when Philip baptized the Ethiopian eunuch after his conversion (Acts 8:26-40), they “went down into the water, and he baptized him.”
B. The Meaning of the Word – Baptism is the English transliteration of the Greek word, baptizo, which literally means “to make fully wet” (Strong’s Comprehensive Concordance of the Bible). According to Dr. Gerald Cowen, examples of the use of this word in secular Greek literature include sinking a ship, sinking into sleep or intoxication, a person drowning himself in wine, drawing water from a vessel by dipping a cup in it, someone who is head over head and ears in debt, and someone who is drowned with questions. Therefore, if a person has not been made fully wet when baptized, he or she has not been baptized in the biblical sense.
C. The Symbolism of the Act – According to Romans 6:3-5, baptism is a symbol or picture of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ; and it is also a picture of the fact that the believer has died to sin and been raised to walk in the newness of life through Jesus Christ. Only the act of being taken under the water and raised up again can accurately symbolize these biblical truths.
Question #4-Why does God want me to get baptized? In other words, what is the meaning of baptism? What am I doing if I get baptized?
A. Imitation (Matthew 3:13-17)-We are following the example of the Lord Jesus Christ.
B. Confession of faith in Jesus and testimony of a personal relationship with Him. Throughout the book of Acts, people were baptized in the name of Jesus, confessing their faith in Him. Jesus said, “Whoever confesses me before men, him I will also confess before my Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32-33).
C. You are preaching a visual, symbolic sermon. Baptism pictures:
1. The Holy Spirit baptizes the believer into the Body of Christ, the universal church (1 Corinthians 12:13), at the moment of salvation, and water baptism pictures this truth.
2. Water baptism pictures the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. In a sense, we are preaching a visual gospel sermon when we get baptized. W.A. Criswell said, “The gospel message is portrayed in the ordinance of baptism.”
3. Baptism pictures the fact that when we were born again we died to sin and were raised to walk in newness of life in Christ (Romans 6:1-6).
4. Baptism pictures the washing away of sin that comes through the blood of Jesus (Acts 22:16).
5. Baptism is a time for the church to celebrate new life (Luke 15).
D. It is an act of obedience (Acts 2:38).
Conclusion: Please receive Jesus through repentance and faith today. Be obedient and publicly confess your faith in Christ through baptism.
