Kootenai Church: Special Sermons

Welcome to our baptism service today. We have a number of believers who are obeying the Lord in believers' baptism, so we're taking a break from our study in 2 Peter in order to orient our mind and our thinking and our hearts toward what it is that we are about to witness here. We want to understand what it is that you're going to see and why we are doing what it is that we are doing so you can appreciate the symbolism of this event as well as appreciate what this event proclaims quite loudly.
Our passage today, this morning, is not about water baptism, which might come as a surprise to you. We're not going to deal with a passage that deals with water baptism, but it is a passage that deals with another subject, and that subject is what water baptism symbolizes. So in your Bibles today, turn to the book of Romans, to chapter 6. This passage is about the spiritual realities that baptism symbolizes. Romans 6, and we're going to read together verses 1–7, and then we are going to look at all seven of those verses here this morning. Romans 6:1–7. Paul writes,
1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?
2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?
3 Or do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,
6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;
7 for he who has died has been justified from sin. (LSB)
You'll notice that the word baptism appears three times in that passage. And to understand how and why Paul is using that word, we have to appreciate a little bit of the context. And this morning, since we don't have the benefit of having gone through the first five chapters of the book of Romans in our normal Sunday mornings, we're kind of parachuting into the book. So I want to set up a little bit of the context so you can understand the argument that Paul is making as he speaks about being baptized into Christ and thus baptized into His death.
Now, Paul isn't teaching about baptism. He's talking about and teaching about living in ongoing sin. And he is answering the question, Is it possible and can a Christian live perpetually in the sin that he has been delivered out of by Christ? That's the question that he asks—should we continue in sin that grace may abound? Then he talks about baptism, but he's not describing here water baptism, but he is describing that which baptism symbolizes.
So let me take you back to chapters 1–3, and I'll kind of give you an overview of each chapter so you can see how this thought sort of develops through the book of Romans. In the first three chapters of the book, the apostle Paul condemns all of humanity. We are all under sin, he says. We know that God exists through the creation that has been made. The invisible attributes of God since the foundation of the world are clearly seen, being displayed through what has been made. So there's no such thing as an atheist. There are just people who deny the truth and suppress it in unrighteousness. They deny what is obviously true to everybody—that things require a thing maker and that there is a thing maker. So the people who deny that there is a thing maker while they enjoy all of the things are doing nothing more than holding down the knowledge of God, suppressing it in their unrighteousness and their sin.
Now the Jews are condemned because the law of Moses was revealed to them and they sinned against that law. The Gentiles, that is the non-Jews, are condemned because, though they didn't have the law of Moses, the moral precepts of the law were written on their hearts and they violated those moral precepts, and their conscience bears witness to that fact. Even without ever reading Scripture, we know—because we are born with the law of God written not on tablets of stone but the moral law of God written upon our hearts—that lying is wrong, that blasphemy is wrong, that adultery is wrong, that lust is wrong, that stealing is wrong, that hatred is wrong. We know instinctively that these things are wrong because God is revealed not just in creation but also in our conscience.
So the Jews, having the law of God, disobeyed it, and therefore they are condemned. The Gentiles, having the law of God written upon their hearts, not on stone tablets—the Jews had it on their hearts as well, by the way, but the Gentiles had it not on stone tablets but on their hearts. They disobeyed that, and their conscience therefore condemns them. So Paul can say in chapter 3, verse 9, “What then? Are we [that is, Jews] better? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin.” Romans 3:23: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” So that is condemnation upon all men. That's chapters 1–3.
And now here’s the question. If that's my sin guilt, if I have violated those commandments and I stand therefore under sin and under the wrath of God—here's the pressing question—how can I be made right before God? How can I have my sin debt taken away? That's answered in chapter 4. Paul says in verse 5, “But to the one who does not work [that is, not try to earn their salvation through their good works], but believes upon Him who justifies [that is, to declare righteous] the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.”
And Paul gives two examples, Abraham and David. Abraham believed God and it was credited to him for righteousness. In a simple act of faith, Abraham, once an idolater, believed the promise of God, and God credited his faith to him as righteousness, and Abraham was declared righteous even though Abraham was still a sinner and at that very moment had done nothing, could do nothing, to earn God's favor. God declared him righteous on the basis of faith. Then the apostle Paul in chapter 4 argues from a quotation from Psalm 32 where David said, “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute [that is, to charge] iniquity” (Ps. 32:2). David knew because he had written, “If God should count our iniquities, if God should count our violations of His law and our sin, then who among us could stand before Him?”
So how can a man be made right? If his sins are innumerable and the weight of that sin is so heavy that we cannot bear it, and it is, how can a man be made right in the sight of God? It cannot be by works, Paul says, it has to be by faith like our father Abraham. You believe in Him who justifies the ungodly, and your faith is credited to your account as righteousness.
So what is the result then of that crediting of righteousness? That’s Romans 5:1: “Therefore, having been [past tense] justified [that is, declared righteous in the sight of God] by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Those who are in Christ have been forgiven. By virtue of our faith in Him, God credits to us the righteousness of Christ and takes away our sin, blots that out, because Christ has paid the penalty for that sin. Christ lived a righteous life so God can credit the righteousness of Jesus Christ to the believing sinner so that the sinner is seen as righteous in His eyes, even though he is still a sinner, practically speaking. He's seen as righteous in God's eyes, so those who are in Christ have been forgiven.
Those who are in Adam, they still have their sin debt because they do not have a substitute. Their sin has not been taken away. They haven't been given the righteousness of Christ. So those who are in Adam have Adam representing them in the garden, and his disobedience plunged our whole race into sin and destruction and death and depravity. And if you are in Adam, then you are going to get what Adam deserved, which is death.
But if you are in Christ by a work of God through faith in Jesus Christ, you get what those who are in Christ deserve, as if they were Christ, because they have His perfect righteousness. They have all that counted to them, to their account, by faith. God treats you as if you had done no sin and in fact had only done that which is perfectly righteous in His eyes because that's what Christ did in His life.
So Christ acts as our representative on the cross, Adam acted as our representative in the garden. If you are in Adam, you get death. If you are in Christ, you get life and you have peace with God. Romans 5:19–21:
19 For as through the one man's disobedience the many were appointed sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be appointed righteous.
20 Now the Law came in so that the transgression would increase, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,
21 so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (LSB)
Now it's not difficult to follow Paul's argument. You are condemned. You are in sin. The weight of your sin is more than you can bear. Here is good news. God will justify you if you place your faith in Jesus Christ because He lived a life in your place, He died a death in your place, and He rose again. By virtue of faith in Him, you can have His righteousness and He will take away your sin. And if you have that, then you have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, maybe you're wondering, “But what about the weight of my sin? It is really heavy. Jim, you don't know how many horrible things I have done.” If your sin is this much, the grace of God is enough to cover all of that. You say, “What if my sin is this much?” Guess what. God's grace is this much. But what if my sin is this much? God's grace is this much. Sin reigned in Adam, but the grace of God abounds even more through Jesus Christ.
So now the—it seems logical, but it's blasphemous—question is, If grace is given and abounds over and above sin, and then the more sin I have, the more grace is given to forgive that, shouldn't I just continue living in sin so that grace may be piled on? And every time I sin, there's more grace. And I sin some more, and there's more grace. So if I want to receive lots and lots of grace, I should sin lots and lots. Right?
So that's what Paul's answering in chapter 6, verse 1: “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?” Verse 2: “May it never be!” May it never be! God forbid. That is the strongest idiom for a repudiation that was possible in the Greek language. A thousand times no, a million times no, oh heavens no, God forbid. May it never be! Inconceivable that this could be the case. That may seem logical, but the apostle Paul says that is not how it works at all. Verse 2: “How shall we who died to sin still live in it?” See, this is Paul's subject. Should a believer and can a believer continue to live in the very sin from which Christ has redeemed him? And Paul says no, because you have died to sin. May it never be! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
And now you might be asking, “Hold on a second. Died to sin? When did I die to sin? Was I there for that? Because if I died, I would think that I would know that I had died. That seems like a significant event, something you might not forget. Where was I for that? Was I awake? Was I alert? When did that happen? Suddenly I died? Suddenly I'm dead? How is that even possible that even though I live, I am now dead?” Romans 6:3: “Or do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?” Now here's the reference to baptism. This, by the way, is not a water baptism. This is a different kind of baptism.
It's unfortunate that the Greek word baptizo is transliterated rather than translated. If it had been translated, it would read something like “immersed” or “dipped in” or “dunked” or “submerged under” because that's what that word means. It doesn't mean sprinkling. It doesn't mean pouring. It means immersion. It means to submerge under something, to overwhelm it, to push it down, and to be consumed under something, overwhelmed with something.
We who have died to that sin have been baptized into Christ Jesus, and in being immersed into Christ Jesus, we have been immersed into His death. Now when did that happen? When were you overwhelmed, submerged in, overcome by, pressed down, and completely submerged into Jesus Christ and into His death? See, this is not describing water baptism. It's not saying that at the moment of water baptism, you were baptized into Christ Jesus. This is what we would call a dry baptism. This is a baptism or an immersion that takes place apart from you even understanding what had happened.
When I trusted Christ in 1985, I was entirely unaware that I had been placed and immersed into Jesus Christ. It wasn't until a full three years later when I was water baptized that I realized what had taken place. What had taken place was that, before the foundation of the world, when the Father gave us to the Son, He immersed us into the Son so that everything that the Son would do when He came into this earth and lived and died and rose again would be done on behalf of those whom the Father had given to the Son. By a work of the Spirit of God, you were submerged into Jesus Christ so that He would act as your representative.
Water baptism is an expression outwardly in our realm of that immersion. That is why we immerse. We are expressing in the physical realm what took place in us spiritually, that we were placed into Jesus Christ and He acted as our representative.
This type of baptism is described in a number of places in the New Testament. Galatians 3:27 says, “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” You were baptized first, and then you clothed yourself with Christ by faith.
First Corinthians 12:13: “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body.” We were immersed into the body of Christ, placed in there, overwhelmed, submerged into His body.
First Corinthians 10:2 says that all Israel was “baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.” And when Paul says all Israel was baptized into Moses when they came out of Egypt, does he mean that before they crossed the Red Sea they put out some little baptistries there and they baptized in the name of Moses all the Jews who crossed through the Red Sea? Is that what Paul's describing? No, instead Paul is saying that all of Israel was placed into Moses so that as God dealt with Moses in the wilderness, He was dealing with those Israelites. Moses acted as their representative and their head.
John MacArthur in his commentary says this,
Paul spoke of Israel's being baptized into Moses, symbolizing the people's identity or solidarity with Moses as God's spokesman and leader and placing of themselves under his authority. By that identity and submission, they participated in the leadership and consequent blessings and honor of Moses.
In other words, God dealt with Israel through the representative Moses. So Israel was placed into him in a symbolic, spiritual sense so that as God dealt with Moses, so He was dealing with Israel.
Similarly, you were placed, if you're in Christ, into Jesus Christ so that as God deals with His Son, He deals with you. So God poured out His wrath on His Son. Guess whose wrath it was. It was your wrath. God buried His Son. Guess who was buried with Him. You were buried. God raised His Son from the dead. So guess who was raised with Him. You were raised with Him to newness of life. That is Paul's argument in Romans 6.
And water baptism symbolizes that identification. Like dipping a cloth into a dye to alter it or to change it, to make it represent the dye in which it was immersed, so it is you have been placed into Jesus Christ. And your relationship to God has been changed by virtue of God doing that, placing you in Christ.
So we are taken out of Adam and we are placed into Christ. Adam once was our representative in the garden. By the way, you don't have to be baptized into Adam. You're born into Adam. So nobody has ever been baptized into Adam. You were born this way, alienated from God, hostile, opposed to Him in your mind through your wicked works. Your sin has separated you from God. That is how we are all born. We must be taken out of Adam and given a new representative, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so we are placed into Him, and by virtue of being placed into Him, He then, in all that He does, acts as our representative, our substitute. So His death was your death. If you were immersed into Jesus Christ, then you were immersed into His death. And if you were immersed into His death, you were immersed into His burial. And if you were immersed into His burial, then you were immersed into His resurrection as well. Look at verse 4 of Romans 6: “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”
So here's Paul's answer. Should we continue in sin? God forbid, no. Since by your union with Christ Jesus, through your immersion into Him—you were immersed into His death, and you were also buried with Him, and you were also raised with Him—therefore walk in that new life and not in the sin that you were taken out of. You died to that sin when Christ died on a cross. So how then will you walk continually in that sin?
Ephesians 2:4–6: “God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” You are united to Him if you are in Christ.
Romans 6:5–7:
5 If we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,
6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;
7 for he who has died has been justified from sin. (LSB)
Paul was using the analogy of water baptism in Romans 6 to describe that spiritual reality that you are united with Jesus Christ in His work for you.
So, I am sorry, my covenant brethren, I love you, but baptism does not symbolize the inclusion of unbelievers into the new covenant or hopeful future believers into the new covenant. It does not symbolize the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. It does not symbolize the sprinkling and the purification from sins. Those things are results of you being identified with Jesus Christ. You are included in the new covenant because Christ, who inaugurated the new covenant with His own blood, acted as your representative and brought you into that covenant. You are purified from your sins because Christ, who acted as your representative by virtue of your union with Him, has purified you by washing you clean with His blood. You have the Holy Spirit because Christ, as your representative, lived and died, was buried and rose again, and has poured out to you His Holy Spirit. Those things—our inclusion in the new covenant, the purification of sins, and the giving of the Holy Spirit—those are the results of what Christ has done.
So we do not take baptism and make it a symbol of the “therefore.” We have those things because of what Christ has done. Christ has done these things, therefore we are included in the new covenant, we have the Holy Spirit, and we're purified from our sins. We don't take baptism and make it a symbol of the results. Baptism is a symbol of the cause. We have those things because of our union with Christ. So baptism symbolizes the very thing that has brought us all of those blessings. It does not symbolize the blessings themselves, any particular one of them.
Therefore, baptism is only for believers. Now does that mean that we have never baptized an unbeliever? I'm sure that we have, but I have never willingly or knowingly baptized somebody who is an unbeliever because baptism isn't for unbelievers. Baptism isn't a symbol of hopeful future faith. Baptism is a symbol that this person being baptized has been united with Jesus Christ in His death, His burial, and His resurrection. And therefore, by virtue of that union with Him, what Christ has done for him, it is as if that person had done it himself. It is as if, in the eyes of God, you, dear believer in Jesus Christ, hung on that cross and suffered the wrath of God on your head because of your sin. You didn't do it, but He did it for you two thousand years ago. And it is as if you, believer in Jesus Christ, were laid in that tomb, and as if you, believer in Jesus Christ, were raised from the dead three days later. Because of what He did on our behalf, we have all of those blessings.
Jesus Christ operates and functions as the substitute, the representative, the head of all those who are in Him. And baptism represents our union with Him and therefore our identification with Him. So when somebody comes up to be baptized, they are proclaiming, “I died with Him, I have been raised to newness of life with Him, and therefore I walk in newness of life.” That is the good news of the gospel.
The bad news is that if you do not have a representative, then you, sinner, will stand before God and give an account for your own sin in His eyes. And one single, solitary lie is sufficient to damn you everlastingly to eternal Hell, to merit that justice. But you haven't just told one lie, have you? You've told more lies than you can count. One act of stealing, taking something that doesn't belong to you, warrants an eternal judgment. One taking of God's name in vain means that you are a guilty sinner and you stand under His wrath. God “will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain” (Exod. 20:7). All your lust, your greed, your lying, your stealing, your idolatry, your covetousness, your breaking of the Sabbath, your violating of God's law by bowing down to idols and not having God as the primary affection of your heart every moment of your life has all warranted you a heaping helping of God's wrath that you cannot possibly bear. But I promise you, you will bear it all on judgment day if you do not have a substitute who stood in your place and suffered that wrath and paid that penalty for you.
And if you're in Christ, then you have a substitute. If you don't have Christ, you do not have a substitute. But your sins will be paid for either upon the head of your substitute or upon your own head everlastingly. That's the bad news, that you will perish in your sin. But the good news is there is a Savior whom God has given in His great love for sinners.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
“He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” (John 3:36).
God made Him, Christ, who knew no sin—He was pure and holy—to be treated as sin on your behalf so that you might be made the righteousness of God in Him. If you're in Christ, God has heaped upon you the righteousness of His Son. And if you are not in Christ, you are outside of that, and God's command to you this day is to repent, to turn from your sin, and to believe and trust in the One who has promised that if you come to Him, He will not cast you out. He will save you, He will forgive your sin, He will give you His righteousness, and He will take you to Heaven to be with Him forever. That is the good news of the gospel.
And that, my friends, is the very thing that we are picturing here today. Baptism is a picture of this reality, that I died to sin, that I was buried with Him, and that I've been raised again to newness of life. And the One who is baptized is proclaiming to the watching world and to everybody who witnesses it their personal faith in Christ and their share in that work that He did on their behalf. He rose on behalf of you, believer, as your substitute, and so you will rise from the dead on that final day, and you will be gloriously resurrected to live with Him forever.
Now, each person who's going to be coming up here to be baptized is going to stand at this microphone by this stand right here, and they are going to read to you a testimony, something that they have prepared, to proclaim their own union with Christ and their own participation in His work by faith and their trust in Him. Josh is going to take a couple of minutes to set something up.
ANNA: Hello, I'm Anna Cave. Despite being raised in a Christian household and exposed to good biblical teaching at a young age, I was not truly saved until very recently. The exact date I am not sure of, but I know it was within the last few months. As someone who has always been seeking approval from whoever was willing to give it, I fell into the ways of the world much more quickly and easily than I would like to admit. But thankfully, by the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I was saved.
I don't pretend to be sinless now, nor will I be in this life, but for the remainder of my time here, I will strive to be more like Christ. I am not worthy of the titles disciple, daughter, bondservant, or bride, and yet He has called me to be all of these. I am seen as blameless to a truly blameless God, and that I can hardly comprehend but am infinitely grateful for. I cannot wait to be in the New Earth fellowshipping with you for eternity. This is the greatest blessing and the greatest love I have ever received.
JIM: Anna, have you repented of your sin and placed your faith in Jesus Christ for salvation?
ANNA: Yes.
JIM: In obedience to the command of Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
LENA: Hi, my name is Lena Cates. I have grown up in a Christian home with parents that made it a priority to raise me to become a believer in Christ. I, however, was not concerned in the least about my spiritual well-being. I would watch the clock constantly at any Bible study or church service. Then I would go home and not be able to tell you anything about the message. However, as I got older, I started listening to sermons being taught from the pulpit.
Just over a year ago, I realized that I didn't believe any of this. What proof did we have that there even was a God besides the obvious answer that creation proves it all? Over the next several weeks, I did my own research. After much prayer and reading, along with encouragement from family and friends, God led me to the realization that I am a sinner with no hope of redemption except through His Son, Christ Jesus. And I stand here today grateful that I am one of His elect, chosen before time to be a child of God. I'm getting baptized today to proclaim this faith.
JIM: You said you didn't remember any of the messages, like nothing, really? Lena, have you repented of your sin and trusted Christ for salvation?
LENA: Yes.
JIM: In obedience to the command of Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
JORDAN: Hi, my name is Jordan Zmuda. I'm seventeen years old. I was born here in Sandpoint and grew up in a Christian home. Throughout my childhood, I claimed to be a Christian but did not live like one. Sixth and eighth grade were particularly hard for me, and I spent from twelve to fourteen years old consciously disrespecting the Lord and my parents and hanging out with the wrong friends.
In 2022, I started doing school with the Cates family. I started to change the friends I hung out with and began to live a more Christlike life. Isaiah 40:31 says, “But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” To me this means that when you put your trust in the Lord and His will for you, He will give you peace and strength. I have put my trust and faith in Christ. And to the Cates and so many others who have welcomed me into this community, in the Lord's grace I can now confidently say I'm saved.
JIM: Jordan, have you repented of your sin and placed your faith in Jesus Christ for salvation?
JORDAN: Yes.
JIM: In obedience to the command of Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
CARL: My name is Carl Hamilton. This is really emotional for me, so bear with me. My mom was Roman Catholic, and we had to go to church with her until we were sixteen. A large part of this service was in Latin, so I did not learn much and left as soon as I turned sixteen. Sometime in my early twenties, I lost my faith. I sinned often and wondered if God existed. Through a series of events, I believe the Lord brought me to Kootenai Community Church to expose me to the gospel. I came to understand that I am a sinner and Christ died for me. I placed my faith in Him and am being baptized in obedience to Him. John 14:6: “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’”
JIM: Carl, have you repented of your sins and placed your faith in Jesus Christ for salvation?
CARL: Yes.
JIM: In obedience to the command of Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
GLORIA: My name is Gloria Hamilton. I was baptized in a different church when I was young, and I didn't really understand what I was doing. I didn't know God or the real Jesus Christ or what He did for me. I believed that I was OK because I was doing the things that the church wanted me to do and I was baptized. As I got into my teen years, I became rebellious and I committed many sins. I didn't believe that I was going to make it to Heaven. I carried guilt and shame, burdened by my past mistakes. There were a lot of things expected of me to get to Heaven, and I didn't ever feel like I was doing enough. I married young, and I had a large family, and I was trying to live closer to the way I was taught, but I still had a lot of doubt. Later in my life, I divorced my first husband, and I didn't go back to the church I was raised in. I knew that I was a sinner, and I wanted to get closer to God and do what I was supposed to be doing. I prayed a lot that God would direct me to find the correct path.
I credit my son for helping me to leave the false church. My son invited me to go with him to a Bible church in Utah, and that is when I found God. My life was completely changed. I knew Jesus was close to me, and I knew at that time that I was going to be OK. I know that through God's forgiveness and redemption in Jesus, I am set free. Today I walk in His grace and share His love with others. Because of my human frailties, I know that I will continue to sin, but I now know that I have a strong desire to follow Jesus. I am grateful for His sacrifice made for me, a sinner, and I am excited for the day that I will be with Him. Today, I declare that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior.
JIM: Gloria, have you repented of your sins and placed your faith in Jesus Christ for salvation?
GLORIA: Yes.
JIM: In obedience to the command of Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
ANDREW: My name is Andrew Pranaitis. I do not have a specific date that I was saved. I remember being taught about the Bible at a young age. I remember being told about how God created the world and about the sins in the garden of Eden. For me, then, it wasn't hard to accept that I sinned. But as I got older, I began to realize how deeply I was entrapped in sin. I was filled with anger, jealousy, and strife. I stole constantly. I always tried to be a good person on the outside, but inside I was a filthy sinner, and I could never change that by myself. I continued to try to fix all of this by myself. I would tell myself that I would do better, but it never happened. I would fall right back into my sin patterns.
My parents continued to share the gospel with me. Over the past few months, God has been calling me to the good news of the gospel. Recently, I have seen a dramatic change in my life as God has worked through me for His glory. I realized that I was in complete, willful rebellion against the Creator and Ruler of the world, who came down onto His creation and died for unworthy sinners like me. I now know that I am one of God's children destined to worship Him for eternity. Now I want to obey God and Jesus Christ by being baptized.
JIM: Andrew, have you repented of your sin and placed your faith in Christ for salvation?
ANDREW: Yes.
JIM: In obedience to the command of Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
LIZZY: My name is Lizzy Pranaitis. When I was younger, I didn't think too hard about if I was a Christian. In my mind, I just was because my parents were. I told my neighborhood friends I was and acted like I was better than them because they weren't. Romans 3:10 says that “there is no one righteous, not even one.” I came to understand this verse as God drew me closer to salvation. The night I was saved, everything I had been taught became clear. I couldn't fall asleep because of a sin I had been in. God used my sin and guilt, and I had a conversation with my mom. We prayed together that God would save me.
After that, I started to understand more and more about Christ, salvation, and baptism. I knew better than ever that Jesus died for my sins, and baptism became something more than just getting dunked under the water. It became a command from God to believers that I wanted to obey. I started to pray, and family Bible reading became a joy. My favorite verse is Luke 12:32. It says, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.” I chose that verse shortly after I was saved, and whenever I think of it, I am reminded not to fear anything in this world, and I look forward to living in the kingdom that my Savior will gladly give to me.
JIM: Lizzy, have you repented of your sin and placed your faith in Christ for salvation?
LIZZY: Yes.
JIM: In obedience to the command of Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
EZRA: My name is Ezra Duchow. Growing up in a Christian family, I always believed that God was real, but I didn't have a saving faith. But at some point about three months ago—I don't know the exact day or week—I was born again. My heart was changed from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh. The Lord gave me new desires, changed from the desires of this world to a desire to serve Him in all that I do and say, and gave me a saving faith and trust in Jesus Christ and His death, burial, and resurrection.
JIM: Ezra, have you repented of your sin and placed your faith in Christ for salvation?
EZRA: Yes.
JIM: In obedience to the command of Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
MATTIE: I'm Mattie Lynch, and this is my testimony of faith. The moment I could understand speech, I was hearing the gospel, both in Sunday school and at home. From a young age, I sorrowed over my sin nature but didn't hate it. I still didn't understand the gravity of my sin when I asked Christ to be my Savior at the age of six or seven. I don't know whether that was a true conversion. However, I do know that at age eleven or twelve—Miss Taryn's class at least—something changed, and I was truly convicted of my sins. In Sunday school, I learned I needed to take my faith seriously, and I wasn't. In the services, I learned how sinful I was. In youth group, I learned I needed to stay rooted in God's Word, and I wasn't. Worst of all, in Bible study I saw a woman full of love for God, and I knew I had never loved God that much.
So this became the scariest season of my life, in which I knew without a shadow of a doubt that God was real and powerful and full of wrath. I was uncertain if I was still under that wrath. Surely I had tested His patience too much.
But God is good. He did not leave me in that place for long. Through a Sunday school class taught by Mr. Liam Osman, God brought me an unwavering assurance for my faith. He shared a quote I no longer remember the wording or author of, but basically it was, “Do you love God as He commands, with all your heart, soul, and mind?” I had never loved God that much; I never will on this earth. But then it asked, “Do you want to?” And I knew I did want that. I had for a long time. This summed up my gaping imperfections, but it also assured me of my faith. Would I as an unbeliever care about loving God and keeping His commands?
I know now that I am evil to the core, but at my core the Holy Spirit lives and convicts me of my sin, so I no longer want to live with it. Ezekiel 36:26–27 says, “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.” It is because of nothing that I've done that God has mercifully chosen to save me from myself, and I want to publicly proclaim that by being baptized.
JIM: Mattie, have you repented of your sin and placed your faith in Christ for salvation.
MATTIE: Yes.
JIM: In obedience to the command of Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
RACHAEL: Good morning, my name is Rachael Hammond. Last year I found out that my friend Cleo was dying of lung cancer. That night, I thought that if I died, I would go to Hell because I was a sinner and deserved to go there. About a year earlier, I made a false profession of faith, which was quite troubling to me. And since then, I had been talking to my faithful mom and dad about how to become a Christian.
My dad explained the gospel to me in a way that I never thought about it before. All you are doing is deciding not to trust yourself to save you, and to not follow your sin, and to trust that Jesus has done the work in us and He cannot mess it up. We just get to participate in our salvation. After thinking about it this way, it did not seem as hard as I thought it was. So that night, I repented and believed that Jesus did what He said He did, that He is God’s Son, that He lived a perfect life, that He died for our sins, and that He rose from the grave. Romans 10:9 says, “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.” Jesus has done this great work for me. I am a horrible sinner who was in need of a Savior. Now I know that Savior—Jesus Christ. It is such a relief to know that my salvation is not dependent upon my perfection, but my perfect Savior Jesus has saved me.
JIM: Rachael, have you repented of your sin and placed your faith in Christ for salvation?
RACHAEL: Yes.
JIM: In obedience to the command of Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
NICHOLAS: My name is Nicholas Zaubi. I was raised in a religious household. I picked up on small things here and there but never really got the big picture. I used to believe that good people went to Heaven and bad people didn't, that if your good deeds outweighed your bad ones, you were a good person. It wasn't until I was handed a small New Testament Bible while at a random event that I began to understand the truth. Curious, I started reading it on and off and eventually got around to the Old Testament and listening to online studies. This passion in my heart has led me to finally know the truth about this world, humanity, and God Almighty. I am certain it was the Holy Spirit that led me here. I am filled with joy to admit that I am a believer in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. It is through Him alone that I was saved on the day I believed in my heart and confessed with my mouth the truth that Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose again three days later. His spilled blood redeemed me as a sinner through faith, repentance, and God's grace.
JIM: Nicholas, have you repented of your sin and placed your faith in Christ for salvation?
NICHOLAS: Yes.
JIM: In obedience to the command of Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
ELI: Hello everyone, my name is Eli. I am fourteen years old. I am being raised in a Christian household, and I do not know the exact time of my conversion. Before I was saved by Christ, I was selfish, self-seeking, disobedient, envious, lustful. I wanted to live a life of idolatry, sensuality, and ungodliness. I have lied, stolen, and committed murder and adultery at heart. All I wanted was my own way, and I rejected God's truth countless times, and I must face a holy God on judgment day. According to Revelation 21:8, my portion was the lake of fire. But because God is faithful, loving, merciful, gracious, He bore my sins on the cross and He defeated death by being resurrected from the dead. He changed my heart and gave me new desires and has helped me grow in self-control, courage, and the fruit of the Spirit. I'm being baptized in obedience to Him and as a testimony to the incredible act of love He has done to me. And I'm confident of my salvation because John 3:16 says that “whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
JIM: Eli, have you repented of your sin and placed your faith in Christ for salvation?
ELI: Yes.
JIM: In obedience to the command of Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
BRENT: Hello, my name is Brent. I remember the first thing that God used to draw me toward Him was my fear of Hell. As a child, this fear led to a false conversion that was accomplished via the sinner's prayer. I never gave salvation a second thought after my false conversion. However, thankfully, God wasn't done with me. Years passed, and as I hit the age of twelve, I started to doubt my salvation. Recent discoveries through my Bible readings and church sermons awoke my fears of Hell again. I doubted that I was saved or even if God was real. It took me four years to battle these doubts and truly ask Jesus into my heart. Now I want to serve Jesus for the work that He has accomplished. My sin is something I constantly struggle with, but I believe that with the sanctifying work of the Spirit, I will always work and grow to the glory of God. When I fail, I know that God isn't harsh. Grieved, yes, but harsh, no. His love is the second thing that ultimately drew me to Him, and I aspire to love like Him. I constantly thank Jesus every day as I remember His work on the cross, which paid the price that I never could.
JIM: Brent, have you repented of your sin and placed your faith in Christ for salvation?
BRENT: Yes.
JIM: In obedience to the command of Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
MORGAN: Hello, I'm Morgan. I didn't grow up hearing God's Word, and my idea of God, when I rarely gave it any thought, was very vague. I didn't connect the few Bible stories that I had heard with God, and I didn't even think He existed. It was not until the school I had been attending closed and I found myself at Selle Valley Carden School that I actually learned anything about God. Every day, we did online Bible classes. We would sing songs and do some other things, and the teacher would tell a story from the Bible. We also had to memorize many Bible verses. It was the first time I had actually been exposed to His Word and given a chance to realize what was meant by the vague idea of God that I had occasionally heard.
It was sometime in December or January of my sixth grade year that I came to ask Jesus to forgive my sins because I am a sinner and only deserve His wrath. Yet He died an awful death on the cross to ransom me. One of the immediate products of my conversion was that I had a lot more control over how I behaved to my family and I stopped being quite as rude to my parents. I also started to actually want to read my Bible. Some months later, my family started attending this church, and since then I have had many chances to grow in my faith and learn more about God and His Word. At first, I only went to church sometimes, but as I grew, I started trying to attend church every week. I am also trying to read His Word more so that I might be obedient to God and add to moral excellence, knowledge. However, those things and the other ones that come in that list need a lot of work.
JIM: See, Lena, this is what listening to sermons will do for you. Morgan, have you repented of your sin and placed your faith in Christ for salvation?
MORGAN: Yes.
JIM: In obedience to the command of Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
GRACIE: My name is Gracie Adams, and this is my believer's testimony. As a twelve-to-thirteen-year-old, I regularly attended church with my family. One Sunday, our teacher spoke to our class about the death of Jesus, but that was putting it too simply. At the time, I didn't know I was hearing the gospel. This Man I'd never met died on a cross and was resurrected for me, a measly sinner who doesn't deserve the forgiveness from guilt and sin from Jesus, as well as eternal life through faith in Him. I was fascinated, and the fire sparked. I was asked if I was ready to be baptized. Hurriedly, I said yes. At the time, baptism meant I would be spared from Hell. All I had to do was be dunked, so dunked I was.
After a while, I started to have questions about the way things were happening in the church. For example, I've always had debilitating migraines. On more than one occasion, I had a migraine and the whole church would put hands on me, and they would pray to rebuke the demon or my migraine. I'd be frustrated that my migraine wouldn't go away, disappointed that Jesus, who was supposed to love me so much, never healed me. My questions got bigger, and my trust in God dwindled.
After a short time, I was invited to the youth prayer before the church sermon. I'd always wanted to go to the prayer. Boy, was I surprised. The youth pastor prayed, and then everyone in the room except for myself started making random sounds. They progressively got louder, and not a single one of them made any sense. Seconds turned to minutes, and I realized they were “speaking” in tongues. I was so defeated that again the Lord hadn't given me the same gift. My heart was certain that the Lord hadn't chosen me to be His. That was the last time I attended that church. I didn't go to church again for many, many years, living deep in my sin and selfish ways, joyfully forgetting the Man Jesus. My belief never dissipated, but my faith was an ember that was smothered by the [deceit?] of what I know now is a mixture of the charismatic movement and the prosperity gospel.
In the fall of 2018, I walked into Kootenai Community Church a baby Christian. The sermon I heard Jim preach was Hebrews 5:11–14.
11 Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.
12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.
13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant.
14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern both good and evil. (LSB)
After the sermon, I felt a light bulb moment. I soon realized that I had been led astray from God's Word and was loving my depravity. God always loved me no matter what my heart or men led me to believe. I know my dunking as a teen wasn't a true confession of faith and obedience but a desperate attempt to keep myself from Hell. But today I come before you, God's children, my brothers and sisters in Christ, to proclaim myself to Him because, in obedience, I know Jesus died and rose again to take away my sins. First Peter 2:24 says, “And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed,” and that is the most beautiful thing I have ever heard.
JIM: OK, Gracie, though you're pregnant, this only counts for you, right? This isn't a baby baptism, just so we're all clear. Have you repented of your sin and placed your faith in Christ for salvation?
GRACIE: I have.
JIM: In obedience to the command of Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
All right, I'll close us in prayer and then Josh will come up and lead us in music. Let’s bow our heads. Father, we are grateful that we get to be here to witness the testimony of Your grace in the lives of these who have obeyed You in believer’s baptism. We thank You for the proclamation of this truth: because we are in Christ, what He has done on the cross for those who are in Him is enough to satisfy Your wrath everlastingly, and we can have eternal life through Him. Thank You that we have a substitute. Thank You that we have a representative who has done this on our behalf so that we could have life with You and receive the kingdom. Thank You for Christ. Thank You for this joyous occasion. May You be honored and glorified through us as we walk in holiness and in newness of life to which we have been raised. We ask in the name of the one who made that possible, Christ Jesus. And all God’s people said? Amen.