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For three Sundays we have examined three essential marks of a true believer—faith, hope and love. Although all three are evident in a believer’s daily life, they are basically internal graces.  Water baptism is an outward, visible testimony of an inward work of grace.  Water baptism does not save a person, but it is essential to a life of obedience to our Lord.  

A father and mother were being baptized in water.  Their little son proudly announced, “Mom and Dad are going to be advertised.”   His word choice was close.  All believers who obey our Lord’s command advertise their Christian faith.  Through water baptism believers declare to the world that they have died with Christ and that they also have been raised with Him to walk in newness of life.   Is water baptism important?   Here are several reasons why I believe in water baptism.

1. I believe in water baptism because Jesus was baptized.   When Jesus was baptized in the Jordan by John the Baptist, He declared: “It is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15).                        

2. I believe in water baptism because our Heavenly Father endorsed it.  As Jesus rose out of the water, God spoke from heaven, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22).

3. I believe in water baptism because the Holy Spirit endorsed it.   The Holy Spirit descended upon the Lord Jesus in the form of a dove as He was rising out of the waters of baptism (Matthew 3:16).  This moment of Christ’s baptism is one of the scriptural accounts of the Triune God manifesting Himself in three persons: Father (in heaven), Son (in the water), and the Holy Spirit (descending upon Jesus from heaven). 

4. I believe in water baptism because Jesus included it in the Great Commission.  Jesus said “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19).  Here is another reference to the three Persons of the Trinity.

5. I believe in water baptism because it was practiced from the beginning of the Christian church.  Peter proclaimed it in his sermon on the day of Pentecost: “Repent and be baptized, every one of you” (Acts 2:38).  Throughout the Book of Acts baptism always followed conversion.  The Ethiopian official was baptized immediately (Acts 8:36-38).  Paul was baptized by Ananias within hours after conversion (Acts 9:18).  Cornelius and his houseful of friends obeyed the Lord in baptism the day that saving faith came (Acts 10:47-48).  The Philippian jailer and his household were baptized “that same hour” (Acts 16:33).   New Testament scholar F.F. Bruce states that “the idea of an unbaptized Christian is simply not entertained in the New Testament.”  Baptism, he says, ought to be the “first of all outwardly duties” of the new believer.

6. I believe in water baptism as an ordinance of God to be observed by every born-again believer.  Note the important sequence: “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mark 16:16).  Believing always comes first.  The ordinance of water baptism is for believers—not for infants or for unbelievers.   The new birth requires a conscious act of confession, repentance, and receiving Jesus Christ as personal Saviour.  Water baptism requires a conscious act of obedience to our Lord’s command and following His example to fulfill all righteousness.  This morning we need to ask the question of the Ethiopian eunuch to Philip: “Look, here is water.  Why shouldn’t I be baptized?” (Acts 8:36)                                                                  

                                                       Repent and be baptized, every one of you!