Romans 6

No one had a Bible. Just pause and think about that for a moment. In the New Testament church, no one had a Bible. No one came to church clutching their leather bound copy of the scriptures. No one could afford a copy of the scriptures. And so when these letters would come, this letter from the apostle Paul, when it showed up at the church, it would be read for all the believers to hear in its entirety in one's sitting, because it was meant to be read like that, it was written like that. And so in order to understand the argument properly, in order to understand the way Paul is thinking, it would be very important to at least read it through and follow along. Now we don't have time to do that, but what we can do is recognize what's happened up to this point. That in chapters one and two, Paul is introducing the idea of sin and guilt, not just for the gentile world, but also to the Jews. In chapter three he brings this point home, this idea of sin and guilt, and he introduces the idea of justification, justification by faith. And then in chapter four we have Abraham, who is our example of justification by faith. That Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Then in chapter five we have this theological explanation of how sin came into the world and then how sin was dealt with. In chapter five we have this picture of the first atom and the last atom. The first atom, Sin enters the world because of the first atom because he disobeyed God, and then the last atom brings deliverance from sin because of his obedience. Then we come to chapter six and we get this instruction on the question of baptism. So we have to remember that in the sort of narrative context. Another thing I want you to see if you'll look back, for example, in chapter three. In chapter three, we have the beginning of a series of questions. These questions are not just rhetorical questions. These are questions that people often ask when they are confronted with the truth of the gospel, because the gospel just doesn't make sense to a man who doesn't have the mind of Christ. Amen, it's foolishness, it's folly, Paul says in First Garanthians one that it's folly. It however, makes sense to those who are being saved, those who grasp it, and so to individuals who don't understand the essence of the Gospel. There are questions that come when you hear about Christ dying for sin, When you hear about Christ dying a substitutionary atoning death for sin, when you hear about faith in Christ being the answer to our sin problem, people have questions. So in chapter three, verse one, connecting to chapter two, he says, then, what advantage has the Jew? That's a great question from his especially from his Jewish audience. If chapter one and chapter two make it clear that everyone is guilty before God, then the Jew would naturally ask, right, what advantage then, is there to being a Jew? He says that there are many, but he explains why it's significant, and it's not because of anything according to the flesh. Then and verse five, what shall we say that God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? In other words, people hear about being guilty, They hear about being guilty for sin, but having a sin nature that causes that sin. And if you've had a conversation with anyone who's outside of the faith about this theological truth, they've probably asked you this question, well, it's God. Is God wrong? Then why would God hold me guilty if he made me this way? A classic example of this question being asked today is with homosexuality and transgenderism. God made me this way, So how can you Christians condemn me for being this way? If God in fact made me this way. That is a modern version of the same question, and the essence of the question is to impune God's character, to say that your God, the God that you read about in your Bible, is an evil, wicked God, because essentially he may be this way, and then he calls me sinful. Again, Paul answers that, And then in verse nine, what then, are we Jews any better off? He answers that. In the coming verses Chapter four, verse one, he does it again, What then shall we say was gained by Abraham our father according to the flesh? Again? If this is true, right, that is justification by faith, as he says in chapter three, then what was gained by Abraham? This is a very important theological question as well, because there are many, even many Christians, even many good solid Christians, who actually believe that in the Old Testament people were saved by keeping the law. But in the New Testament, after Christ comes, they're saved by faith. Nothing could be further from the truth, and Paul demonstrates that here in Romans chapter four. Abraham was not by anything he did. No one in the Old Testament was saved by anything that they did. There is only one way to be saved. There's never been another way to be saved. Salvation is by faith alone. Amen, somebody. It is by faith alone. Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. Folks. If Abraham was saved by anything other than faith, he ain't said because he was. He was not the most obedient man. Amen. Last time I checked. If you lie and tell somebody that your wife is your sister when she's actually your wife, that's not righteousness. That's a lie. Amen. Last time I checked. If you go into a woman who's not your wife and have a child with that woman who's not your wife, that's not righteousness. That's adultery. Amen, somebody. So, Abraham was a lying adulterer. He was not saved by keeping the law. He was not saved by being good enough. He was not saved by doing more good than he did bad. Because none of us does more good than we do bad, not when you recognize the fact that you are judged for every thought and deed. So no Abraham and no one else has ever been saved by their own personal righteousness. And Paul makes this clear in Romans chapter three, where he says there is none righteous, no not one, all have sinned and falls short of the glory of God. That's when we get to this question, what then, shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? That's the question, and the answer to that is he was saved by faith and by faith alone. Now with that in mind, let's get to our text here in Romans chapter six, which begins with another one of these questions, What shall we say, then, are we to continue in sin that grace may abound again? You may not have been asked that question exactly like that, but you've been asked a version of that question, a version of that question that may go something like this, Well, you know, if you believe in Jesus, does that mean that you can just live anywhere you want to live? Anybody ever had that question or a question like that asked of them. That's the question that we're asked, and Paul deals with this question here in Romans, and he deals with it by addressing the issue of baptism, because baptism happens at the intersection of sin and grace. We know that we are sinners, and if we're sinners, how has that sin dealt with? And one question that we want one answer that we want to give to that is it seems to make sense, right if sin is the problem, then then not sinning is the answer. Amen, that's the legalist response. Okay, you're a sinner, so what do you need to do? Well, I need to keep all of these laws, you do all of these rituals. Again, that was the trap that Israel often fell into, believing that their salvation was tied up in these things, these outward things that they did, which is where you get legalism from. I don't know if I've told you this before, but even if I did, it's worth telling again. But I've been an Israel number of times, and one of the things that strikes me often there is the bondage of legalism. And nothing, nothing brought that home to me more than one day when I got on the wrong elevator on the Sabbath Shabbat is very important in Israel. It's huge, it's everything. I mean, it's so important that if you go into a restaurant, there are two sets of dishes. There's one set of dishes for all the other days of the week and one set of dishes for the Sabbath. You don't even use the same dishes, okay, And and and on the Sabbath. There's what's there's the Shabbott elevator. Shabbat is seventh, and there's the Shabbot elevator. And one day I got on the Shabbot elevator in my hotel, didn't realize it. And what happens in the Shabbott elevator is the elevator opens on every floor. So here I am waiting to get up to my floor. But at every floor we had to stop. Doors open, doors close, next floor, stop doors open, doors close, next floor, stop doors open, doors close. Until you get off the elevator and learn your lesson. Don't get on the Shabbot elevator anymore. The reason you get on it is because it's the one sitting down there with his doors already open. But why why does the Shabbat elevator open its doors on every floor so that observant Jews don't have to do the work of pushing the button that is the heart of legalism. You can ride the elevator, just don't push the button. That's the answer of someone who says that that that the way you deal with sin is with not sin, that the way you deal with with breaking the law is with keeping the law. That's a person who does not understand the essence of what it means to break the law. And Jesus deals with this and the Sermon on the Mount. You've heard it said don't murder, and you think you're not a murderer because you've never taken someone's life. But I say to you, if you hate your brother, you've broken that commandment. You've heard it said don't commit adultery, and you think you're not an adulterer because you've never actually engaged and physically consummated a relationship with a person who's not your spouse. But I say to you, if you've looked at someone and lusted after them, you violated that commandment. Jesus makes it clear that we break the law in our hearts first, and that breaking the law in our hearts is enough to make us guilty. So the answer to sin can't be not sin. The answer to sin has to be something else. And here we see the answer to sin is grace. It's the only possible answer, because when it comes to righteousness, you and I can't get there from here. So let's read this beginning in verse one, and then come back and make some observations here about baptism, about what we witnessed earlier. 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 were baptized into Christ Jesus, were baptized and to his death. We were buried therefore with him by baptism and to 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. 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. 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 the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Now there's a lot to unwrap there. But as we unwrap it, you have to understand a couple of things. That this is symbolic language and simultaneously literal language. The reason it's literal language is because it's literal language about an event that is symbolic in nature. So we have these two things happening. Number one, we have baptism, which is symbolic in nature. But it's a symbol that points to something that is real, just like all symbols do. But what is it a symbol of. It's a symbol of a number of things. Number one, it's a symbol of our union with Christ. We see that there in the text. We see that there in verse five. So the beginning here is in the middle verse five. 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. We're united with Christ. That's why I look there at verse four. We were baptized, or 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. We're united with Christ. So baptism is a symbol of our union with Christ. Now, baptism doesn't create our union with Christ. It is a symbol of our union with Christ. Our union with Christ is actually a mystical union. And when I say mystical, I don't mean like sort of New age mystical. By mystical, what I mean is something that God does that is real, but we don't necessarily see. That's what I mean when when I use that term. By the way, this is not something that's odd to us. We see this in ceremonies all the time, don't we. Let me give you a couple of examples. A graduation ceremony. A graduation ceremony, does anything really happen at a graduation ceremony. I mean in terms do you do you become another person and when you when you graduate, you know I oftentimes graduates will give the same testimony. Right you. You go to your graduation, you go through the ceremony. After the ceremony or during the ceremony, they call your name, you walk up, they hand you your diploma, you shake hands, you go sit down, you put the tassel on the other side. Then there's this proclamation that's made and you stand there going, I still feel like the same person, or you say out Nobody asks me a question about what I just got a degree in because I don't necessarily know all the answers, so nothing actually happened to you or did it. It's a ceremony that has real meaning. And forever after that ceremony, when people ask you when did you graduate, you will tell them not the day that you passed your last exam, but the day that you had the ceremony. Amen. I mean another example military service, military service, what do you do? You go and you sign up and then there's a ceremony where you raise your right hand and you repeat an oath. It doesn't necessarily I mean you don't you know the skies don't part, and you know and that the no, none of these things happen. However, from that moment on, if you leave your post, you're a deserter. If you do it during wartime, you get shot. Because the ceremony pointed to something that's real. I'll give you the ultimate example, when you put a ring on it. Amen, when you get married, it is a ceremony when we make our oaths and our vows. Does does does you know? Does does something just come over you? Or does something? No, it doesn't. But from that moment there is a mystical union between you that an incredible thing happens. My next of kin is not related to me by blood. Wrap your head around that one for a moment. My closest living relative is not related to me by blood. My closest living relative is not my mother, it's not my father, it's not my brother, it's not my sister. My closest living relative, and my next of kin is my wife, who, by definition and by law, is not related to me by blood. Amen, So we get this idea. So baptism is a ceremonial recognition. However, there's something else, like other ceremonies. It is an outward picture of an inward reality. It is an outward picture of an inward reality. So when we watched people being baptized today, we didn't watch them being saved. And there are some people who argue that right. They argue for what's called baptismal regeneration, that that that that that that baptism itself is the salvafic act, which again number one, well, there's several problems with that. Okay, let me just give you a couple of problems with that. Problem. Number one is that the scriptures make it clear that salvation is by faith. Amen, salvation is by faith. If it's by baptism, then it's by definition not by faith. I'll give you. Another problem is that one of the most famous salvation stories is a story of the thief on the cross, whom Jesus said, to whom Jesus said, today, you'll be with me in Paradise. Now. Unless they let him down off there and baptized him and then put him back on the cross so he could finish dying, then he wasn't saved by baptism. Amen, it doesn't work. And even in our text, if you pay attention to our text. It makes it clear that we're not talking about baptismal regeneration. Look at it again. What shall we say, then, Are we to continue to send that grace may bound by no means? How can we who died to sin still living it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him, with him and by baptism into his 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. What is this here? This is symbolic language about what we do because we are in Christ. Notice here that in the first part of this he's not talking about what happens in the water verse three. Look at it again. Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus, we're baptized into his death. That's the spiritual reality that happens by faith. We are baptized into Christ Jesus. We are united with Christ in this spiritual baptism, and then the physical baptism is an outward expression of that inward spiritual reality that has already taken place through faith. Interestingly enough, these other ceremonies that we talk to talked about are exactly the same. Graduation is just in anard expression of an inward reality. It's an outward expression and a public ceremony telling people about something that's already happened. Amen, your military service, you raise your right hand right and swear your oath. You've already signed the paper. When you get married, right, you've either already signed the paper or you've already essentially committed yourselves to one another, which is why you're there at the altar in the first place. Amen. If there's no commitment that's taking place and you're standing there, I mean, weddings would be a lot more interesting. Amen. Baptism is the same. There is a spiritual union that has taken place by faith, through repentance and faith that has united you with Christ. And this physical expression is an outward expression of an inward reality that is already taken place. That's why, when we're there in the water, the question is asked, right, the question is asked about repentance and about faith. Have you repented of sin? Have you placed your faith in Christ? In other words, has what we are about to symbolize really taking place in you, because if it hasn't already taken place in you, then we don't need to be symbolizing it here. So it's an outward expression of an inward reality. It's so not only does it symbolize this union with Christ, but it's also a symbol of cleansing from sin. Baptism is a symbol of cleansing from sin. You know, it's a powerful pastive scripture. In the New Testament, Peter preaches his Pentecost sermon. They're the temple and thousands are added to the church. Thousands are baptized. Here's a question, how do you baptize thousands? I mean, you see, we had to do just to get four. Right, we get up, we go out there and there's four. I mean, how do we what would we do if we had to baptize thousands. Well, interestingly enough, before you go into the temple, there are these pools. There's the pools. They're called mikfuhs, and they're all around the temple in Jerusalem. Because what happened is before you went to the temple, you would cleanse yourself through baptism. Baptism is not a new thing. The Jews would cleanse themselves through baptism before ascending the stairs up to Solomon's porch and then going into the temple where sacrifices were made, which again were about sin and cleansing from sin. So baptism is symbolic of cleansing from sin. But there's an amazing thing that happens because of the person and work of Christ. You see, before Christ comes, you come to the Temple, and outside of the temple you go into the and you're baptized, so that you can then go up into the temple and see the sacrifices that are made for sin. And you do that over and over and over again in Jerusalem at least three times a year, over and over and over again. But when Christ dies for sin, it's once for all. So we were the process. So now Christ dies for sin. Notice that the veil of the temple is torn in two when he dies, because that's where the Holy of Holies is, where the high Priest, one day a year goes to make a sacrifice for the people. Well, when Christ dies for sin, now sin is atoned for. So no longer does anyone ever have to go into the Holy of Holies, because Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, has a tone for sin. Not only that, but now we get baptized after this work that he does, and we don't do it every time we go into the temple. We only do that one time as well, And it's symbolic of the cleansing that has already taken place because of the sacrifice. Look at our text again, verse six. 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 when it was died, has been set free from sin. So we were crucified with him to deal with sin. Turn with me, if you will forward and look at Hebrews chapter ten. Look at Hebrews chapter ten. The author of Hebrews is going to tell it's the same thing that I said earlier about saints before Christ. For since the Law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year make perfect. Those who draw near the Law can't save you. Sacrifices can't save you. No one in the Old Testament was ever saved by keeping a law or making a sacrifice. No one ever salvation has always been by faith alone. In the Old Testament, they had faith in the Savior who was to come, and what they did was a shadow of what was to come. Now that the Savior has come, we have faith in the Savior who has come. But it's the same faith Verse two. Otherwise would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshippers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins. But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year, For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins again. Let me reverse four one time, one more time. It is impossible for the blood of bulls and ghats to take away sins again. If you feel like I'm belaboring this point, it's because I am. Because I meet Christians all the time who have been Christians for decades, who still believe that the saints in the Old Testament were saved by keeping the law and making sacrifices. Hebrews, chapter ten, verse four, it is impossible for the blood of bulls and ghats to take away sins. Five. Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, sacrifices and offerings you have not desired. But a body have you preserved for me? And burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, behold, I have come to your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book. When he said above, you have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings, and burnt offerings and sin offerings, these are offered according to the law. Then he added, behold, I have come to your will. He does away with the first in order to establish the second, and by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all, Amen, Hallelujah, Praise the Lord. All of those things merely foreshadowed and pointed to the coming of the Lamb of God, who is the only one who could take away the sins of the world. God made a promise in Genesis three and verse fifteen. Right after the fall. His promise came in the form of his curse to the serpent, when he said to the serpent, I'll put enmity between you and the woman, in between your seed and her seed. Your bruise is ill, but he bruise your head. There is a promise that one was going to come to crush the head of the serpent, that one was going to come to deal with the fall that was the result of Adam's disobedience, and that one is none other than Jesus Christ himself. So baptism is symbolic of cleansing from sin, but it's cleansing from sin by the blood of Christ, not by the water itself. Thirdly, it's a symbol of freedom from sin. It's a symbol of freedom from sin. Back in our text verse seven, for one who has died has been set free from sin. 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 the life he lives, he lives to God. So you must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God. In Christ dead to sin. There is this death that happens, this death to sin. Now, again, we have to remember that this is symbolic language, right, because what people want to do is they want to take this symbolic language and then define their theology as though this language is not symbolic. So being dead to sin, people will argue that, well, that should mean that that you never sin again. Amen, that should mean that you never sin again. Actually it doesn't. Our salvation is an already not yet reality. In other words, there are three aspects of sin that we have to deal with. We have to deal with the penalty of sin. We have to deal with the power of sin, and we have to deal with the prisons of sin. Now, the penalty of sin is physical death and also spiritual death separation from God in hell. Now, the way we deal with that penalty of sin is through justification. That's what we saw in Hebrews chapter three, that we place our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and we are justified, we are declared righteous. In chapter four what happens with Abraham. Abraham believed and it was credited to him as righteousness. He was declared righteous even though he was a lying adulterer by faith, he was declared righteous. Now there's a second issue, and that is the power of sin. Now, the power of sin is progressively broken in our lives through what's called sanctification, where we are conformed to the very image of Christ. We see that in Romans chapter eight, where Jesus is the first born of many brethren, and that we are conformed to his image. Turn there with me, if you will, to Romans chapter eight and look at verse twenty nine Romans eight twenty nine. For those whom he four knew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the first born among many brethren. Those whom Me predestined also called those of me called He also justified those of me justified, He also glorified. So this is a process predestined, called justified, glorified, and in the midst of that conformed to the image of Christ, which is sanctified. It is sanctified. Then there's the third issue, which is the presence of sin. In this we experience in glorification. And ultimately, when ultimately we are with Christ in glory, and we shall be as He is, when we shall literally be resurrected as Christ was resurrected, when our bodies shall literally be made new as Christ's body was new, And then we will be saved not only from the penalty of sin in the power of sin, but also so from the presence of sin. In the meantime, there is this ongoing process of being conformed to the image of Christ, day by day, better today than yesterday, better tomorrow than today, amen, never achieving perfection in this life, but only in the age to come, when we are ultimately united with Christ in the consummation of all things. And so baptism is symbolic of our freedom from sin. And finally, baptism is symbolic of our new life. We've seen it there several times in the text. Look at it again. Verse six. We know that the 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. There's old and new. Look at verse nine. 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 you must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God. In Christ. You have a new life. In your new life, you're dead to sin. You're no longer a slave to sin. You are free in your new life. You are alive to God. You are free. Is this easy? Is it automatic? Well, one very familiar Bible story I got to answer that question for you. Moses goes to Pharaoh and says, let my people go. Pharaoh won't do it. Ten plagues come. On the tenth plague, Pharaoh agrees, he lets the people go. The people are delivered out of Egypt. Not only are they delivered out of Egypt, but they're delivered across the Red Sea. And after they're delivered out of Egypt. And this is the picture of salvation. Amen, this is symbolic of salvation. They're delivered out of Egypt, They're delivered through the Red Sea. God has delivered them. They sing a song of praise to God who has saved them, and men. Within a matter of days, Moses is up on the mountain. He's taking too long, and they build a golden calf, just like they had in Egypt. Why because it takes longer to get Egypt out of Israel than it did to get Israel out of Egypt. You lived in Egypt for much of your life. You were born in sin and shaped in iniquity. Sin was all you knew and all you loved. Your flesh desired sin so much that you didn't even recognize it as desires. It was just life. And then you come to faith in Christ and you live in that same body, and you live in this same world. So you are simultaneously a new creature in Christ and a creature who is at war with your old self. By the way, that's Romans chapter seven. That's where Paul goes in Romans chapter seven, new life not a perfect life. Again, I'll go to the other examples. Military service. You sign up, you raise your hand, you take your oath, and then what immediately happens basic training. Why because you took your oath and you have now been initiated. You are now a part of that body, and that ceremony is real. But you still have to learn how to live in your new reality. Amen. Now let's go to the wedding. In marriage counseling, I tell people, your first big dust up is probably gonna happen somewhere within forty eight hours one side or the other of the wedding. If you can't say amen, you ought to say ouch. Why because this union is not real? No, because it is, and it's spiritual warfare. Amen. So you don't get all that you need to get as a husband or a wife on the day that you say I do. On the day that you say I do, people often cry. Why do they cry? One because they're happy, and two because they know that you have no idea what you just did. And yet thirty forty fifty sixty years later, by God's grace, finishing each other's sentences, amen, or one of you can't finish their own sentences anymore and the other one will do it for you. There's an amazing reality that has no scientific explanation, but it has a theological one, and that is this. Oftentimes, people who've been married fifty sixty seventy years will die within very close proximity to one another. One will go, and shortly after that so will the other, almost as though their lives had been so inexorably joined together for so long that the other can't stay once that union is broken. It's just real but listen, it's the same union that happened on day one, but it grows and matures and deepens over time. Amen, Listen, you have to understand that's what we see in baptism. And some of us have horrible theology because we don't just look what's obviously before our face. What's obviously before our face is that this is an outward expression of an inward reality. Yes, it is real. It's real immediately, it's real progressively, and it's real ultimately. So No, baptism does not mean that you'll never sin again, hear me those who are baptized today. Baptism does not mean that you won't have those thoughts ever again. Baptism doesn't mean that you won't necessarily fall into things again. But just like a soldier or a graduate or a spouse can have a bad day and still be a soldier and a graduate and a spouse, a Christian who has been transformed and united with Christ by faith, saved from their sin because of His person and work, justified, sanctified and ultimately glorified, glorified, can you can have those days. You can even have those weeks and not negate the reality of who you are in Christ. Your sanctification is progressive. So when people come to me and they say, you know what, you know, I've sinned, and I worry if I'm, you know, really saved, because I sin almost inevitably, the first thing I say is I'm not worried about you. And I said something like, wait, no, you don't understand. I haven't even told you what I did. No, you haven't told me what you did. But what you told me is that you're concerned about it. What you told me is that it breaks your heart. What you told me is you don't want to live like that. The person I'm worried about is not the one who sins and then comes and is broken over it and worried about it and hates it. The one I'm worried about is the one who sins and then justifies it and never loses any sleep. That's who I'm worried about, because that's a person who's living like they have not been united with Christ, like they have not died to sin. Baptism is beautiful symbolizes our union with Christ. It symbolizes being being cleansed from sin. It's this outward expression of an inward reality. It symbolizes our freedom from sin, and it symbolizes the new life that is ours in Christ. And because of that it is praiseworthy among those who belong to Christ. We should be grateful that the Lord is still saving sinners. Amen, we should be reminded. Every time you witness baptism, you should be reminded of your own and what it symbolizes, and what it means, and what its significance is. And every time you see baptism, it should encourage you to pray and work all the more so that Christ might indeed have the fullness of the reward for which he died. Let's pray. Father, we praise you, and we thank you for the glory and the beauty of baptism. For its glory and its beauty only exists because of the glory and the beauty of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And the glory and beauty of his death, burial and resurrection is in the fact that he conquers sin and death on behalf of all of those who place faith in him. Grant by your grace that we might rest in this truth and that we might proclaim it. We ask this in Christ's name for his sake. Amen.