We have much reason for rejoicing this morning, for immediately following the service we are going to be able to witness the baptism of Steve Svebbaken. It is a cause for much delight and rejoicing. However, it is also an opportunity to look at baptism, what it is, and why we do it. For why do we do it? Why is it that this afternoon I will lower Steve into the water and bring him back out of it again? By itself, it may seem quite meaningless.

We could say (rightly) that the reason we baptize people who have placed their faith in Christ is because the Bible tells us to do it. For Jesus did say in Matthew 28:19, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (emphasis added). So we may quite rightly say, “We baptize because it is commanded.”

But let’s try to get behind that a bit this morning and ask, “Why is baptism commanded? What does it do? What is its purpose?” And I think we can answer that question this morning by saying that baptism is a worshipful proclamation of the glorious work of Christ for us and in us.

Therefore, my goal this morning is to sketch this proclamation out for you so that when we witness Steve’s baptism following the service, it may be a time when your minds are filled with truth and your hearts with affection in order that God might be magnified above all else. Thus, let’s look at the proclamation that baptism makes. And we will see it this morning from Romans 6:1-14.

According to this text, I think we can say that baptism proclaims the following:

We have died to sin through Christ’s death (1-3)

Paul writes in these first three verses: “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?”

Thus, Paul tells us that we have “died to sin.” But what does that mean that we who are believers have died to sin?

You could answer this question by starting from an analogy: “A dead person is affected by nothing; therefore, if we have died to sin, then we will never be affected by it.” However, I think that is a wrong interpretation. There are at least two reasons why. First, it doesn’t fit with life. All of us are affected by sin, through temptation, disobedience, and the sins of others. Thus, it doesn’t fit with reality. Second, if we understood this phrase as meaning sin no longer has any chance of affecting us, then it makes Paul’s exhortations in verses 12-13 unnecessary, for he says, “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness.”

But what does it then mean?

I think we can answer this question by first identifying what it means in verses 9-10. In these verses Paul writes, “We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.”

So we see here that as Christ died to sin, death no longer had dominion over him. And if we understand that death is the wage of sin (Romans 6:23), then I think we rightly understand that to say Christ died to sin means that he did away with the penalty and condemnation of sin so that it should no longer “have dominion over him.”

Therefore, now we can apply this to ourselves. For verse 3 reminds us that “all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death.” That is to say, when Christ died to sin, we who are his children died in him. For Christ did not die for himself, for he had no sin, but as my substitute paying for my penalty.

Therefore, as children of God, we have been unified with Christ, and as he died to sin, paying for the penalty of our sin, we died to sin as well having its penalty removed through the death of Christ.

So when Steve goes down into the water this afternoon it will be a proclamation of the death and burial of Christ but also of Steve’s death to sin through Christ by which he no longer bears sin’s penalty and condemnation.

We will live with Christ through his resurrection (4-5, 8-10)

However, there is another proclamation baptism makes, for our death in Christ was not a death that would leave us that way, for just as we were united with him in his death and therefore died to sin, so we have been united with him in his resurrection and will therefore live forever with him.

Paul writes in verses 4-5, “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”

This then allows us to live through Christ, even though we died to sin.

An analogy that might help to explain it would be someone who committed a crime punishable by death and was sentenced to die by the electric chair. Suppose this individual was killed but then was raised from the dead. Then you would have someone who was completely guilty of a crime punishable by death but that had paid that penalty and was still able to live. This is the state of a believer. We’ve died through Christ yet we still live. And we live not just now, but forever so that even when we die, though we will be absent from the body, we will be present with the Lord.

Paul writes, “Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but he life he lives he lives to God.”

Therefore, when Steve comes out of the water it will be a proclamation that Christ was raised from the dead to live forevermore, but it will also be a proclamation that Steve, through his union with Christ, has been raised and will live forever with his Lord.

We are not enslaved to sin and must battle sin accordingly (6-7, 11)

The proclamation has great effects, and one of them is that we are no longer enslaved to sin. Paul writes, “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin” (6-7).

Since the penalty for sin has been dealt with, it no longer has the power over us it once did. Now to that one may say, “Well, sin is still pretty powerful.” However, as a believer, sin no longer has its condemning power over you. Therefore, you are able to overcome sin.

As a believer, you can fight sin because your sin’s penalty has been cancelled. It is as Charles Wesley wrote in “O For A Thousand Tongues to Sing,” “He breaks the power of cancelled sin” (emphasis added).

Again, going back to the example of someone dying for a crime punishable by death and being raised from the dead, this person no longer lives under the enslavement of the condemnation for the crime. That is to say, that person needs no longer walk around and think, “I should die” and let that thought drive him to be enslaved to his sin’s condemnation, for truthfully this man has already paid for his sin.

In the same way, we need to realize as we battle sin that we do not fight sin as ones who are condemned by sin but as those who have been justified. Many believers fight sin, seeing themselves enslaved to its condemning power when such is not the case. Again, Paul writes in verse 11, “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

Thus, not only are we dead to sin, but we “must consider” ourselves dead to sin and alive to God. The battle is in our minds. If you realize that you are no longer condemned by sin, I think you will find your mind more renewed to battle temptation. And one great reminder that will allow us to renew our minds to this reality is the baptism that will visibly portray this truth to us this afternoon.

We are now to offer our lives to God (12-14)

Paul writes, “Let not sin reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace” (12-14).

Therefore, because we are dead to sin and yet still live, we must realize that we are alive to live unto God. We are to live to his glory. Therefore, do not simply fight sin but also pursue righteousness. For our life is no longer ours; we have been bought through the death of Christ. So live to him.

But why does Paul bring up the law in verse 14?

I think Paul brings up the law simply to reiterate the point he has been making in these verses. For why was the law given? It was not given to give us righteousness but to condemn us and push us to Christ so that we might be made righteous through faith in him.

Therefore, when Paul reminds us that we are no longer under the law it is another reminder to the children of God that we are no longer under the condemnation of our sin but that it has been paid through Christ. In him we have died to sin and live to him. Therefore, as he exhorts us in that verse, do not let sin reign over you. It’s condemning power has been defeated through Christ. That is a cause for rejoicing.

And it is this proclamation of what Christ has done and of what he has done in us that will be made in the baptism this afternoon. May our hearts be filled with this truth that it might be a worshipful reminder to all of us of the grace of our Lord. To him be glory forever. Amen.

BAPTISM: THE WORSHIPFUL PROCLAMATION OF CHRIST’S WORK