By

Jeremy B. Stopford, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Earlville, NY

BAPTISM SERVICE

Shiloh Family Retreat Center, West Eaton, New York

August 26, 2018

TODAY’S “SPECIAL”: MY FAVORITE BAPTISM “FUNNY”

The new pastor, fresh out of Bible School, was officiating his very first baptism service.

He gets the candidate into the water. He asks the candidate if he loves Jesus and what his favorite verse is.

Then he asks the candidate, “do you now yield yourself to be baptized?” The candidate excitedly said, “Yes!”.

The nervous pastor says to the candidate, “It is my joy to baptize you in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Drink ye all of it.”

INTRODUCTION

Why do we do what we do?

Do we baptize because our constitution says so?

Do we baptize because we have to build up the church coffers?

Do we baptize because the candidate won’t go to heaven if he or she isn’t baptized?

Where do we find the answers to these questions?

One of the best places is Acts 8:26ff.

There we discover several important points:

1. Both Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch were led of God to be where they were when they were. Why? Because the Ethiopian had an hunger for God that had never been met.

And so do you! The Bible says that God has put eternity in our hearts, I.e., an eternal hunger for Him that can’t be met until we come face to face with His Son…at the cross. The eunuch went to the “church” of his day, the temple in Jerusalem – BUT WAS NOT SATISFIED. It was not the church building nor the church service that would satisfy.

2. When Philip arrived to met him on his way back to Ethiopia, Philip noticed that the man was reading…the OT Scripture of Isaiah. Why? BECAUSE HE KNEW THAT IN GOD’S WORD HE WOULD FIND HOW TO HAVE HIS HEART’S HUNGER SATISFIED!

Philip asked what he was reading, and he learned, Isaiah 53:7-8.

3. The eunuch had questions! And this one is an important one: was the prophet talking about himself or of some other man? Most Jews think that this passage talks about the suffering nation of Israel. But this eunuch, a non-Jew, reading Isaiah perhaps for the very first time, knew that the passage was talking about a Person.

4. Philip then starts with that Scripture and shares with the eunuch that the passage directly refers to the Savior, the Lord Jesus.

The 19th century preacher, Charles Spurgeon, said that EVERY verse in the Bible talks about Jesus! We should read the Bible that way.

5. Here is where the story gets fascinating. We are not told any more about the interaction between the eunuch and Philip. We are not told how the eunuch responded to what he read.

But perhaps he is still thinking “religion” rather than “relationship”. We know that when they come to water. He is familiar with the fact that early church disciples were baptized.

He needed to have his final heart’s hunger answered: do I need to DO something to please God in order to enter into His heaven?

He asks, “what hinders me from being baptized?”.

6. Philip could have lectured him. Instead, he says, “if you believe with all your heart, you may.” Outwardly, that doesn’t look like great theology. But we know differently by the eunuch’s response: “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” He believed in the Messiahship (Jesus “Christ”) and the Deity (“the Son of God”) of the Lord Jesus!

The eunuch’s salvation was not based upon outward show but upon inward know!

But he was baptized INTO the water to show outwardly his identity with His Savior’s death, burial, and resurrection.

7. One final point: After the baptism, Philip was caught away to Azotus, preaching until he got to Caesarea. (v. 40).

But the eunuch “went on his way rejoicing”. Tradition says that he was one of the founders of the Ethiopian church.

CONCLUSION

What is the great moral to this story?

The hunger of the heart was met at the cross.

The proof of the hunger met was shared by the baptism.

And the long-range proof of that hunger met was his rejoicing and being used where the Lord wisely planted him.

Our candidates today share similar testimonies with the main character of today’s lesson. They will tell us of how their hunger for the Lord was met.

And they could ask each of us: “are you identified with the cross as meeting the hunger of your heart?” Why not come to the cross today! And why not be baptized to show that you are identified with His death, burial and resurrection?

Close in prayer