Ready to Give an Answer (Part 1)

Welcome to Built on God's Word, the preaching and teaching ministry of Highland Park Baptist Church in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.! Pastor Mike Scrivani teaches on Acts 21, verse 37 through Acts 22, verse 29.

We're going to continue tonight in our study in the book of Acts. Tonight we're in Acts chapter 21, verse 37, where we left off last Wednesday. And I know it says that we're going to go through chapter 22, verse 29, but we are not going to make it that far tonight.

I'll just let you know. We are going to end at verse 16. But let's go ahead and read that whole passage together, beginning in Acts 21, verse 37.

As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the tribune, May I say something to you? And he said, Do you know Greek? Are you not the Egyptian then who recently stirred up a revolt and led the 4,000 men of the assassins out into the wilderness?

Paul replied, I am a Jew from Tarsus in Sicilia, a citizen of no obscure city. I beg you, permit me to speak to the people. And when he had given him permission, Paul, standing on the steps, motioned with his hands to the people.

And when there was a great hush, he addressed them in the Hebrew language, saying, Brothers and fathers, hear the defense that I now make before you. When they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew language, they became even more quiet.

And he said, I am a Jew born in Tarsus in Sicilia, but brought up in the city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel, according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God, as all of you are this day.

I persecuted this way to the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women, as the high priest and the whole council of elders can bear me witness. From them I received letters to the brothers, and I journeyed toward Damascus to take those also who were there and bring them in bonds to Jerusalem to be punished.

As I was on my way and drew near to Damascus, about noon a great light from heaven suddenly shone around me. And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And I answered, who are you, Lord?

And he said to me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting. Now those who were with me saw the light, but did not understand the voice of the one who was speaking to me. And I said, what shall I do, Lord?

And the Lord said to me, rise and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all that is appointed for you to do. And since I could not see because of the brightness of that light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me and came into Damascus.

And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, came to me and standing by me said to me, brother Saul, receive your sight.

And at that very hour, I received my sight again and saw him. And he said, The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see the righteous one, and to hear a voice from his mouth. For you will be a witness for him to everyone of what you have seen and heard.

And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name. When I had returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance and saw him saying to me, Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.

And I said, Lord, they themselves know that in one synagogue after another, I imprisoned and beat those who believed in you. And when the blood of Stephen, your witness, was being shed, I myself was standing by and approving and watching over the garments of those who killed him.

And he said to me, Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles. Up to this word, they listened to him. Then they raised their voices and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he should not be allowed to live.

And as they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, the tribune ordered him to be brought into the barracks, saying that he should be examined by flogging to find out why they were shouting against him like this.

But when they had stretched him out for the whips, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, Is it lawful for you to flog a man who is a Roman citizen and uncondemned? When the centurion heard this, he went to the tribune and said to him, What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman citizen.

So the tribune came and said to him, Tell me, are you a Roman citizen? And he said, Yes. The tribune answered, I bought the citizenship for a large sum. Paul said, But I am a citizen by birth.

So those who were about to examine him withdrew from him immediately, and the tribune also was afraid, for he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had bound him. We're in the midst of football season, college football, professional football, high school football.

While some of us feel optimistic about our team's chances thus far, while others, and I won't call you out, you know who you are, are already looking to next year.

Whatever the case, whether your team is doing well or not, even the good teams aren't perfect teams. Most teams tend to be stronger on one side of the ball as opposed to the other.

Either they're stronger on offense or they're stronger on defense. If your team fails to win a championship, we might blame it on the defense, saying something like defense wins championships.

If your team fails to win a championship because of the other side of the ball, you might blame it on the offense, saying the best defense is a good offense.

The reality is that offense and defense are important, and the best teams, the teams that end up winning, typically are strong on both sides of the ball.

It's important to have a good offense. It's important to have a good defense also when it comes to the Christian faith. Offensively, we are to go.

We are to share the gospel with our neighbors and the nations. We are to go and make disciples. Defensively, though, we are to be, as Peter said in 1 Peter 3.15, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks for the reasons for our hope in Christ.

For the last decade of his life, Paul has been, in a way, on the offensive. During his three missionary journeys, he's entered and reentered various cities, preaching the gospel as many were saved through faith in Jesus Christ.

But beginning in our text this evening, we see Paul playing defense as he becomes a prisoner, giving several defenses for his hope in Christ as he appears to different people, now on his way to Rome, where eventually he will appear before Caesar.

In Acts chapter 21, verse 26, we will read about five different defense speeches that Paul gives. In the first two speeches, Paul defends himself, we see here in Jerusalem, before the Jewish crowd.

And then in chapter 23, he'll do so again before the Jewish council. And then his next three defenses will be to Felix in chapter 24, Festus in chapter 25, and then King Agrippa II in chapter 26.

And so because we too will face opposition, because we too must be good defenders of the faith like Paul, these chapters are relevant for us as well.

Because we are called, like him, like all believers, to contend for the faith, to share the gospel. And as we do that, we'll face opposition to the truths that we believe. And so we need to know how to defend the hope that we have in Jesus Christ.

We need to stand firm on our convictions. We should be prepared to answer questions. And at all times, we should be unashamed of the gospel. So the main idea for our study tonight, again, this will be a two-part study.

Christians are called to faithfully testify about Christ by sharing how God has transformed their lives and by standing firm in the truth, even when facing opposition.

Christians are called to faithfully testify about Christ by sharing how God has transformed their lives and by standing firm in the truth, even when facing opposition.

Again, this passage marks a transition in Paul's life and ministry. Since his conversion on the road to Damascus, he had ministered freely for the most part, excluding some short imprisonments.

However, Paul's arrest does not end his ministry here. Though he's no longer free to travel as he once was, he became now an ambassador in chains, as he says in Ephesians 6.20, for Jesus Christ.

Though he was a prisoner, again, that didn't end his ministry of sharing the gospel. It just changed who his audience was. Paul also wrote Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon during this time of imprisonment.

So as we go through this passage tonight, we'll see four principles for a good Christian defense, and tonight we'll cover two of those four principles. The first, Paul seizes the opportunity to testify.

He seizes the opportunity to testify. If you remember how Paul came into this situation, he was back in Jerusalem.

On his way back to Jerusalem, he was warned. He was told by the Holy Spirit he was warned several times by believers of the persecutions that awaited him once he arrived in Jerusalem. But he knew this was God's will for his life, and so he went.

And so he gets to Jerusalem, and he agrees to this plan to pay for the expenses of four men who had taken a Nazarite vow. James and the other elders of the Jerusalem church hoped that this act would pacify the Jews who had been spreading the rumor, spreading the word that Paul was teaching Jewish converts to Christianity to forsake Moses.

And as we saw last week, that plan did not go as they had planned. A riot broke out in the temple. Roman soldiers quickly came to get control of the situation.

And as a result of that, they seized Paul, and they were bringing him, they were on their way to bring him to the tribune in the barracks. And again, the tribune was a high-ranking military officer in the Roman Empire who was in charge at this point while the governor was in Caesarea to keep law and order.

And so they were there. They see Paul. He's at the center of this thing. They grab him, and they're bringing him out of there. And then in verse 37, we read, As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the tribune, May I say something to you?

And he said, Do you know Greek? So up to this point again, Paul hadn't said anything. But when he reached the top of the stairs, as they were about to bring him into the barracks, he spoke to the tribune in Greek, asking him if he could say something.

And this startled the tribune that Paul spoke Greek. Greek was the language of the cultured and the educated at this time.

And he assumed that Paul, I think, was a troublemaker, a common criminal. And so as we see in verse 38, the tribune also was under the assumption that Paul was somebody different.

So verse 38, the tribune says, Are you not the Egyptian then, who recently stirred up a revolt and led the 4,000 men of the assassins out into the wilderness? Palestinians primarily spoke Aramaic.

Greek was the language used by Roman officials in the cities east of the Mediterranean. So Paul addressed the tribune in Greek and his upbringing in Tarsus meant that he would have learned Greek and then also his Jewish descent meant he knew Hebrew.

And he also obviously spoke Aramaic. So Paul spoke to the tribune in the language that that man best understood. But the tribune thinks that Paul is the Egyptian who was active in being a political insurrectionist.

So the tribune either doesn't know that many Egyptians spoke Greek or maybe he had information that this Egyptian who he was looking for didn't speak Greek.

We don't know. We learn what he does know. He says to Paul, The Egyptian in question instigated a revolt by leading a group of terrorists into disturbing the peace.

This had taken place recently. And then the Egyptian led 4,000 terrorists into the desert after this revolt.

The word assassins in Greek derives from a Latin word, syca, which means dagger. And so apparently these men would target their victims in large crowds and they could hide their dagger.

They could bump up into them, stab them, take them down, whatever, and then melt away back into the crowd. They were especially active during Jewish festivals like Pentecost as it was here because there was a lot of people, a lot of places for them to hide.

The early Jewish historian Josephus wrote about an Egyptian who was a false prophet. Around this time, he gathered maybe this man, 30,000 people, whom he led into the desert with the promise that the walls of Jerusalem would collapse, allowing them to enter the city to defeat the Romans, that he would then establish himself as ruler in Jerusalem.

And so whatever the case, whether, you know, this is the same guy Josephus is talking about, the tribune believed Paul was this guy and that he was trying to overthrow the Romans and their occupation in Jerusalem.

And obviously Paul was not this person. He had been falsely identified, which made me think of a friend. He wasn't falsely identified, but my friend in high school's name was John Smith, which is the most common name that anybody could have, most common first name and last name.

I remember one time we were in the cafeteria. We were just being rowdy. And one of the teachers came over and said, what's your name?

And she didn't know who we were. We went to a large high school. He said, my name is John Smith. She's like, no, it's not. No, it's not. You think I'm going to believe that? And he's like, it's John Smith. And he pointed at her, he's like, his name's John Smith.

And she's like, I don't believe you guys. You're all lying. You're all in trouble. And so he produced his school ID, which said John Smith. And he didn't end up getting in trouble. I think she felt silly for making such a big deal out of it and accusing him of lying about his name, which he didn't.

Anyhow, Paul is falsely identified here. Verse 39 says that Paul replied, I am a Jew from Tarsus and Sicilia, a citizen of no obscure city.

I beg you, permit me to speak to the people. Paul first identifies himself as a Jew, meaning he had a right to be in the temple. And then he says that he's also a citizen of Tarsus.

The tribune may have known that Mark Antony and then Augustus rewarded the city of Tarsus for remaining faithful to Caesar in the battle against Brutus and Cassius.

And they granted them, they were a free city and they were tax exempt and they were made citizens of Rome. So Paul had rights as a Jew.

He had rights as a citizen of Rome, though that will come out later on. So obviously the tribune didn't catch that point at this point in time, but he will later on when Paul makes it explicitly clear.

And he takes advantage, Paul takes advantage of his rights here to speak to the crowd. In verse 40, we see that the tribune grants him this request. And when he had given him permission, Paul, standing on the steps, motioned with his hand to the people.

And when there was a great hush, he addressed them in the Hebrew language, saying in verse 1 of chapter 22, Perhaps the tribune thought giving Paul an opportunity to speak would pacify the crowd that maybe they had wrongly assumed, as he had, that Paul was this Egyptian in question, that this was all a misunderstanding.

If that's what he hoped, he was soon disappointed. Paul's speech to the Jewish crowds begins with a brief introduction. He addresses them as brothers and fathers, which is also the way that Stephen addressed those who eventually martyred him in Acts 7-2.

So Paul begins by showing respect to his listeners, despite the disrespect that they had shown him. Here in the Greek is an imperative, and so Paul is asking them to listen, to give attention to what he's about to say to them, to do so favorably.

The word defense in Greek is apologia, from which we get our term apologetics. I don't know if, like me, the first time you heard that word apologetics mentioned in the church.

It's like, what are we apologizing for? But that word means defense. And so here Paul is giving his defense. And it's also a term that was used in Greek rhetoric for speeches, and often speeches given in a court of law.

Paul's not on trial here, not yet, but he takes his opportunity, this opportunity that the Lord gives him to defend himself and to defend the message he proclaims. So now chapter 22, verses 2 through 3.

When they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew language, they became even more quiet. And he said, I am a Jew born in Tarsus in Sicilia, brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel, according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God, as all of you are this day.

So he begins with a statement about the facts of the case. And again, in Greek rhetoric, this part of the speech is called the narratio. Paul chooses to speak about himself because he has been charged with teaching against the law, against Israel, and against the temple.

In Greek rhetoric, the character of a person, that's their ethos, was of importance. If the objective is to persuade the crowd, then the speaker must present themselves as someone who is a trustworthy source of information.

So he's wanting to establish common ground to show them that he is a Jew as well and is seeking to persuade them that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the Son of God.

Often this was achieved by, again, establishing common ground. Paul does this by stating that like them, he is a Jew. He already began doing this by speaking to them in their native tongue.

Paul's reputation was important to establish his credibility, but also functioned to establish his ministry to the Gentiles. Paul's ministry to the Gentiles was not a betrayal of his Jewish roots, but was the fulfillment of God's promise in Scripture.

And so Paul mentions that he is an educated man and that he was taught by this guy named Gamaliel, who was a well-known and highly respected rabbi.

No doubt such a teacher would teach his pupils the law of Moses and encouraged strict guidance to Scripture. And so Paul was. James described many in the crowd as being zealous, and so too Paul was zealous for the same things.

Thus Paul further established common ground with his audience. Paul shares more about who he was before his conversion in verses 4 through 5.

Again he says, I persecuted this way to the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women as the high priest and the whole council of elders can bear me witness. From them I received letters to the brothers.

I journeyed toward Damascus to take those also who were there and bring them in bonds to Jerusalem to be punished. Paul gives his testimony and he describes who he was prior to his conversion when he persecuted followers of Jesus Christ.

Though Paul had established common ground with his audience, his goal is not to appease them. We have to keep that in mind. His goal is not to appease them but to demonstrate that he did not begin at this point in favor of Christianity.

In fact, he had opposed it. He had opposed it with consent from the highest ranking officials in Jerusalem, the high priest and the council of elders.

If the crowd didn't believe him, his story, well then they could check with these men who he mentions here. And so I think it's good for us here to remember that in sharing the gospel, it's good to establish common ground with unbelievers.

And what is the common ground that we have with unbelievers? It's one word, it's three letters. All have sinned.

Sin. We are all sinners in need of a Savior. But our testimony and what we testify to is who we were before our salvation.

And that's not to suggest in any way that sin is okay, but the opposite. That sin separates us from God and that we all are sinners.

We all need a Savior and Jesus Christ is that Savior. Luke records Paul describe his actions prior to his salvation that first he persecuted the way.

Christians didn't call themselves Christians at this point in redemptive history. They called themselves followers of the way, which probably is in reference to Jesus saying that I am the way, the truth, and the life in John 14.

Paul was also willing to inflict the death penalty on followers of Christ, at least in some cases as we see him first at the martyrdom of Stephen approving of what was going on.

Paul arrested followers of Jesus. He bound them in chains. He delivered them to prison, both men and women. This underscored Paul's relentless efforts to eradicate Christianity.

He didn't just break up families by arresting husbands and fathers. He sought a complete end to Christianity to arrest everyone who followed Jesus Christ.

and then he would have delivered these Christians to the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem to be tried. Paul received letters, he says, from the high priest and the Sanhedrin.

He acted as their official agent and he was doing that as he was on his way to Damascus, which was about 170 miles, is about 170 miles from Jerusalem.

Paul would take Christians again back to Jerusalem to face punishment, which could be imprisonment, flogging, and potentially death.

Paul's conduct prior to his conversion refuted the false accusations that were being made against him. Far from being an enemy of his people, he had at one point been on their side, but all that changed when he met Jesus.

And so next we see Paul shares how Christ transformed his life. Paul shares how Christ transformed his life. So he's established common ground, but now he's done that in order to get to this.

Verse 6, As I was on my way and drew near to Damascus about noon, a great light from heaven suddenly shone around me. This begins the second part of Paul's speech. It's the longest part of his narratio.

Verse 7, And 8 he says, And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And I answered, Who are you, Lord? And he said to me, I'm Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.

So the blazing glory of the resurrected Jesus Christ outshone the noonday sun. Here Luke adds in Paul's testimony that Jesus appeared to him about noon and that the light was great.

Paul's conversion is recorded in Acts 9 and in, again, in Acts 26, 4 through 18. In each of those accounts, more or less detail is given, but the words that Jesus spoke to Paul are recorded verbatim in all three accounts of Paul's testimony in Acts.

Kind of like when you give your testimony. You might share some details about the time and the circumstances in one situation, maybe a little bit more or less in another situation, but the core message should be the same.

Jesus called you to salvation and you were saved by grace through faith in him. Verse 9, Now those who were with me saw the light but did not understand the voice of the one who was speaking to me.

So here we have pretty big discrepancy between the reaction to the Jews who accompanied Paul from Jerusalem to Damascus here and then what's recorded in Acts 9, 7.

Here Paul's companions saw the light but did not hear the voice of Jesus while according to Acts 9, 7 they heard the voice but saw no one. So I want to share Eckerd Schnabel.

He, I think, had a pretty good, gives good understanding about how we rectify this. He says, These differences can be explained in two ways. Luke followed classical usage using the verb here with a genitive object in the sense that someone had heard someone or something probably without understanding.

The kuo with a direct object in the accusative is connected with understanding. In other words, in 9, 7 Luke reports that Paul's travel companions heard the sound of the heavenly voice while Paul reports in 22, 9 that they did not hear the intelligible words of the voice that Paul himself understood.

A second explanation emphasizes the importance of the qualifying participle phrase in verse 9. Paul relates the companions heard a voice that was speaking to me while Luke relates in 9, 7 that the men heard a sound i.e.

heard a noise but did not comprehend the conversation. So, think about Charlie Brown. Remember Charlie Brown? Not the comic strip but the cartoons?

Somebody already knows where I'm going. They're in class and you hear the teacher. We hear the teacher and it's wah, wah, wah, wah, wah. But they understand what the wah, wah, wah, wah, wah means.

Maybe that'll help you here. Maybe, maybe it won't. That's some kind of tongue.

That's the kind of tongues that they speak in many places in many churches today. It's just wah, wah, wah, wah, wah. There's no interpretation for it. Verse 10.

And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said to me, Rise and go into Damascus. And there would be told all that is appointed for you to do. Paul's question acknowledged the authority of Jesus who had risen from the dead and who was alive.

Jesus' answer focused on Paul's next step. Paul's testimony here underlines two facts for his audience. First, he received divine orders.

And second, he was faithful to obey them. verses 11 through 13 say, again, Paul, giving his defense, and since I could not see because of the brightness of that light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me and came into Damascus.

And one Ananias, a devout man, according to the law, well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, came to me and standing by me said to me, Brother Saul, receive your sight. And at that very hour I received my sight and I saw him.

So Paul here describes Ananias to his zealous Jewish audience as a devout man according to the law.

This is another subtle way I think that Paul demonstrates that those who truly observe Old Testament scriptures are those who receive the Messiah that they promise.

And that Messiah is Jesus Christ. Ananias was well aware of Paul's past to this point, that he hated Christians. His mission, he understood, was to go to Damascus and to put an end to the faith there.

But like Paul, and as all believers should be, he was obedient, Ananias was obedient to go and to do what the Lord commanded him to do even though he had some reservations.

Ultimately, he went and he did what the Lord commanded him to do. So, for us, sometimes the Lord calls us to go places and do things that we don't want to do.

In Paul's case, it was other believers who didn't want him to go to Jerusalem because of what he now faced. In Ananias' case, it was going somewhere within his own city to meet with a man who hated him and who sought to harm him.

Whether the Lord calls you to go far or near, our response should model the response of these men. Verses 14 through 15. And he said, The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see the righteous one, and to hear a voice from his mouth.

For you will be a witness to him and to everyone of what you have seen and heard. Again, a few important things for us to see here. First, God's appointing Paul to know his will.

The Lord chose Paul just as he chose his disciples, so he chose Paul to serve him as an apostle. Paul saw Jesus. He was specifically called to this by the Lord.

Here we further see fulfillment of Christ's word to Paul. He is bearing witness to many of what he has seen and what he has heard. Paul's boldness and his courage are rooted in his trust in Jesus.

And he continues sharing his testimony about his time with Ananias in verse 16. And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins calling on his name.

Rise and be baptized. So this is a good time for me to be a good Baptist and talk about the importance of baptism. First, baptism is not necessary for salvation.

We use scripture to interpret scripture and Paul's recounting Ananias' instructions for him to be baptized does not support baptismal regeneration, which means you are saved once you come out of the waters of baptism.

It also contradicts the belief that baptism is required for salvation. We know that can't be the case because the thief on the cross who trusted in Jesus as his Savior was told by Jesus today, you will be with me in paradise.

He could not be baptized because he was on the cross. Now, if he could have been baptized, he would have been, but that obviously wasn't possible.

Second, Paul didn't teach baptismal regeneration. Romans 10, 8-10 says, again, this is Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, but what does it say?

The word is near you in your mouth and in your heart. That is the word of faith that we proclaim because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

For with the heart one believes and is justified and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. Another thing that we see here and that's important for us to understand is that baptism does not precede salvation.

Baptism doesn't save you and it should not come before your salvation because again, as we go through Acts, there's a pattern that we see.

First of all, in Acts 2, 37-41, in the 3,000 who were saved on the day of Pentecost, Peter preaches to the crowd in Jerusalem. About 3,000 people repent and are baptized after they repent.

They are baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin. Then we see this again with the Samaritans in Acts 8, 12-16. Philip preaches the gospel in Samaria. Both men and women believe and then are baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Continuing in Acts 8, 36-38, we see the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch. Philip explains Isaiah's prophecy about Jesus to the Ethiopian official who confesses his faith and is baptized in a body of water along the road to Gaza.

I'm just kind of speculating here and I could be wrong, but you know, they're in a chariot. Guessing this is a journey, there's probably a jar of water or something in there if sprinkling or pouring was good enough.

They wouldn't need to look for a body of water for him to be baptized in. We have the example of Saul, of Paul. After his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus and recovering his sight, Saul is baptized by Ananias in Acts 9-18.

And here we see him talking about this again in Acts 22-16. We have the example of Cornelius in his household in Acts 10-44-48. Peter preaches to the Roman centurion Cornelius and his gathered family and friends.

They receive the Holy Spirit first. They're saved. And Peter then orders them to be baptized in water. Acts 16-14-18 we see this with Lydia and her household.

In Philippi, the Lord opened Lydia's heart to listen to Paul and she and her household are then baptized. Acts 16-30-34 we see another example with the Philippian jailer and his household.

After an earthquake and a late night conversation about salvation, the jailer and his family believe and then they are baptized immediately afterwards. Acts 18-8 Crispus and the Corinthians.

Crispus, the synagogue ruler in Corinth believes in the Lord along with his entire household and many other Corinthians here believe and are baptized. We see this with the example of the disciples of John the Baptist in Ephesus in Acts 19-1-7.

Paul meets 12 disciples who previously knew only John the Baptist's baptism. They are re-baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus after which Paul lays hands on them and they receive the Holy Spirit.

Baptism, that word is a transliteration of the Greek word baptizo which means to immerse. So that word was intentionally left untranslated because of the problems that it would create in the church because they were baptizing infants.

they were sprinkling infants. So that word was purposely left untranslated. Baptizo means to immerse. Not sprinkling, not pouring, it means dunking.

Baptism is also for believers as the examples that I've shared from Scripture have already indicated. They believed and then they were baptized.

No Scripture provides an example of infant baptism. We don't know the ages of those who were in the household of Cornelius or the Philippian jailer but based on the other examples that we do have that I've shared it's safer, much safer I think to assume that they were of the age to understand the gospel and believe it than to assume that members of the household must have included infants.

Those who support infant baptism do so based on passages like Romans 4.11 and Colossians 2.11-12 they see baptism as a sign of the new covenant equivalent of circumcision in the Old Testament.

Why would you put so much emphasis on such a crucial thing and only have whatever your proof for that coming from just a few short verses in scripture when you have all of these other examples of baptism being by immersion and baptism being of believers.

You're saved you're baptized you're immersed. Jesus commands baptism so it's important Matthew 28 go therefore make disciples baptize them in the name of the Father Son and the Holy Spirit.

It frustrates me when men I know who went to Baptist seminaries have conceded this point to join other churches who don't teach this about baptism and the guys I know they've done it because they're upset with the SBC.

Okay be upset with the SBC. There's things about the SBC that I'm upset with but that doesn't mean that I'm going to completely throw out the doctrine that I've taught and believed and convicted that this is what scripture teaches about baptism.

Now you also know that I love R.C. Sproul. I love a lot of other great Presbyterian pastors and ministers and so I'm also not going to throw them out because we don't agree on what the Bible teaches about baptism but for us as a church this is what we see and I think it's pretty clear in scripture this is what we teach.

Again baptism comes after your salvation. It comes after your salvation and so what I want you guys to think about and I hope is the case for you is that your baptism is on the right side of your salvation.

That you were saved and then you were baptized and if it isn't in obedience to the Lord we need to get it on the right side of your salvation. So if that's the case come and find me and look nobody should be ashamed of this nobody no matter how old you are no matter what the case is it's best it's always best to obey the Lord and his instructions for us.

Baptism should come after our salvation and if your baptism is not on the right side of your salvation then let's get it there. It's not a salvation thing but it is an obedience thing and that matters and it's important.

I was a youth pastor in a United Methodist Church when Jack was born and he was a baby we had him about for three or four months before we ended up going to the church where I was at before I came here and they do infant baptism and sprinkling and so all of our kids were asking Danny and when are you going to baptize Jack?

It's like well not until hopefully after the Lord saves him and he confesses Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior and then he'll be baptized in the way that scripture commands and I wasn't in their face about it but it was a good opportunity for me to teach them about what the Bible says about baptism and encourage you all to do the same to have these conversations in a way where we're sharpening one another using the Bible to settle our disagreements in the hopes that we will do what the Lord has commanded us to do.

So we will cover the next couple of points next Wednesday Lord willing I encourage you to come Sunday night to hear from our missions team.

Talk very briefly to host in this afternoon and they were in Atlanta on their way here. received some text messages they've given us a list of names of people who they've talked to to be praying for and so I know that they've got some great stories to share so I encourage you to be here for that at 630 and you know it's also we want to hear what the Lord has done but it's also a way for us to continue to support them.

You know they went from our church they represented our church they took time away from work from friends and family to do that so you know it's encouraging whenever people show up to hear you give a report and hear you share what the Lord has done in your life so I encourage you to come and be a part of that alright let's pray.

Heavenly Father thank you for this time that we've had tonight to be in your word again as we're following the Apostle Paul and now in Jerusalem and facing a harsh and hostile crowd but Lord we see his example of being confident of being bold and doing so in a way that honors you in order that people would hear that he'd have an audience so that he can share the gospel and so Father we pray that we would follow the same example that Lord we would be bold and we would be confident on ourselves or anyone or anything else but in you and the hope that we have in you and that when we share the gospel Lord that we would be honest with those who we share with about who we were before you were gracious to save us and then Lord make sure that we testify to who we are now and that you get all the credit and all the glory for that

Lord for anyone here whose baptism maybe isn't on the right side of their salvation I pray that this would be something that they would wrestle with until they do it the way that you come in for it to be done and that we would celebrate that with them Lord we love you and Lord we're thankful for the hope that we have in you that endures all things in Jesus name we pray amen to learn more visit us in person or see the website at highlandparkbaptist.net you