Sermon Audio: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ministrybymail

Dear fellow redeemed in Christ Jesus, who have been baptized into Christ and have put on Christ, grace and peace are yours through Him.

Here is a wrong statement about baptism: “Baptism is a public declaration of your personal decision to follow Jesus. We believe that baptism is an outward sign of an inward change and an act of obedience in your relationship with Jesus.” (Turning Point Church) Maybe you’ve run across this catchy statement about baptism before. I first heard it about 10 years ago when one of my members had questions about a local campus ministry. A quick Google search finds that this is a common statement made by Assembly of God congregations as well as some Baptist and non-denominational churches.

Let me repeat what they say again: “Baptism is a public declaration of your personal decision to follow Jesus. We believe that baptism is an outward sign of an inward change and an act of obedience in your relationship with Jesus.” What is the focus of baptism in this statement? The focus is on you—your public declaration, your personal decision, your act of obedience in your relationship with Jesus.

Rather than focusing on our actions, our decisions, and our declarations, let us instead focus on the declarations God makes in baptism. When Scripture speaks of baptism, God says things like, “Be baptized…for the forgiveness of your sins.” (Acts 2:38) God says, “Baptism now saves you.” (1 Peter 3:21) Scripture says, “God saved us—not by righteous works that we did ourselves, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and the renewal by the Holy Spirit.” (Titus 3:5—EHV) More than just an outward sign, through the Word of God in baptism, God is at work with His amazing grace, forgiving sins and giving us rebirth.

As we think about the declarations God makes to us in our baptism, we turn to Isaiah 43, verses 1 through 7. Here, God is not directly speaking about baptism, even though water is mentioned in verse 2. In the immediate context, He is addressing His people who will be forced to leave their homeland and be taken into captivity in Babylon—that’s why He speaks of passing through water and rivers (like the Jordan or Euphrates) and fire (like the three men in the fiery furnace). And that is why He also speaks of gathering His people together once again.

But the promises of God here in Isaiah 43 extend beyond the Babylonian captivity and speak to all believers of all time. These precious promises of the LORD tie into baptism and the promises God has made to you. Having been born again of water and the Word, listen to the personal and precious promises God has made to you!

¹But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
²When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
³For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
I give Egypt as your ransom,
Cush and Seba in exchange for you.
⁴Because you are precious in my eyes,
and honored, and I love you,
I give men in return for you,
peoples in exchange for your life.
⁵Fear not, for I am with you;
I will bring your offspring from the east,
and from the west I will gather you.
⁶I will say to the north, Give up,
and to the south, Do not withhold;
bring my sons from afar
and my daughters from the end of the earth,
⁷everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made.”

This is the word of God.

YOU ARE MINE

We are all naturally inclined to value things that we claim as our own. While you might enjoy watching baseball or basketball, we cheer especially loud for “MY team.” While we might love talking to, interacting with, and teaching children in general, our own children are especially important and cherished.

Think about that truth when it comes to God and you. God loves the whole world with a perfect love. God so loved THE WORLD that He gave His only begotten Son. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin OF THE WORLD. Jesus has called us to “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation,” (Mark 16:15) and make disciples of “All nations.” (Matthew 28:19)

While God loves the whole world, in baptism the good news of God’s love becomes very personal. In baptism, the good news of Jesus taking away sins comes to you personally. Your name is the name the pastor spoke as he said, “I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” At that moment God was speaking to you personally, calling you by name, and putting His name on you.

Therefore, in baptism the LORD says, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you, I have called you by name, you are mine.” In baptism, the Triune God has called you by name and put His name on you. You belong to Him. You were redeemed, purchased for God by the blood of His Son.

Why would God do this for sinners like me and you? Why did God form faith in your heart and make you His child? Listen to what the LORD says to you personally, “You are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you.” You are precious, valuable in the eyes of God. What happens to you matters to God. You are so precious that God gave His Son into death to rescue you from your sins. God honors you by giving you the righteousness of His Son. And God loves you.

But He also says in our text in verse 7 that He created you for His glory. God gets all the glory for saving us. HE sent His Son to die for our sins. HE called us by name. HE created and formed us as His people.

Having been called out of the darkness and into His marvelous light, we can now glorify Him. As we heard in our reading from Romans 6, having died to sin in baptism we live for God. We want to glorify Him in our homes, in our marriages, in our school, in our work. We are created for His glory.

These are the declarations God is making to you in baptism as He calls you by name and puts His Triune name on you, saying “You are Mine.” These are the personal and precious promises of God to you in baptism.

I WILL BE WITH YOU

So if God knows us by name, if we belong to Him, if we are “precious” and “honored” by Him, why doesn’t God stop bad things from happening in the lives of His children? As some struggle with these questions, they can be tempted to get angry with God. Others despair, thinking that these trials are evidence that they are not precious, honored, or loved by God. But Jesus never promised us a life free from pain and hardship as we follow Him. In fact, He said the exact opposite. He spoke of taking up our cross and following Him. Jesus warned us that if the world treated Him in such a harsh way, we should expect the same as we follow Him. Paul told the Christians in Asia Minor that we must through MANY tribulations enter the kingdom of God.

Even though we belong to God, though He knows us personally, and we are precious to Him, we still suffer. We endure the fiery trials that come from the unbelieving world or family members that mock us as being backward and bigoted. We feel like we are barely keeping our head above water as one wave of emotional or mental suffering hits us after another. A loved one is suffering financially or with serious illness and things seem to be getting worse, instead of better. Or maybe the waters are pretty calm right now, but you can see storm clouds gathering on the horizon.

During such trials, return to the personal and precious promises God has made to you in your baptism. You have been baptized into Christ, you belong to Him. You are precious, honored, and loved by Him. And remember verse 2 where God says to you, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.” What a precious and personal promise from our God! The LORD our God and Savior is with us in our trials—no matter how high the waters come or how fiery the trial is.

In your trials, remember what God has done for suffering believers throughout the Bible. Think of those three young Christians in Babylon who wouldn’t worship Nebuchadnezzar’s idol. Though the king literally threw them into a literal fiery furnace, God was with them. They were not burned. The flame did not consume them. Their clothes didn’t even smell of smoke.

God is with you too. God your Savior has shown He is with you by rescuing you from the great, eternal fires of hell. You have been baptized for the forgiveness of sins. Your sins have been thrown into the depth of the sea, never to be found again. You have been baptized into Christ and put on Christ. Christ has sanctified and cleansed you through the washing of water with the Word. Through faith in Christ the gates of hell cannot prevail against you.

In your baptism, God promises that He is with you. The waters shall not overwhelm you and the fire shall not consume you. You belong to Him. You are called by His name, you have been created for His glory, He has formed and made you His own. So fear not, God personally promises in your baptism that He is with you.

I once saw in the bedroom of a friend a sign that read, “Have you thought of your baptism today?” What a great reminder to think again and again of what God has declared to us! In baptism He calls us by name, that we are His and that He will be with us. Praise God for His personal and precious promises in baptism! Amen.

—Pastor Nathan Pfeiffer

Berea Ev. Lutheran Church
Inver Grove Heights, MN

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All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version® (EHV ®) © 2019 The Wartburg Project. All rights reserved. Used by permission.