Sermon for Sunday, July 12th, 2026 at First Presbyterian Church at Unionville, NY (BPC)
Old Testament Reading:
[Genesis 17:9-14 ESV] 9 And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. 10 This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, 13 both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. 14 Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
New Testament Reading:
[1 Peter 3:18-22 ESV] 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20 because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. 21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.
Gospel Reading:
[John 3:1-8 ESV] 1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Sermon Text:
[Acts 16:25-34 ESV] 25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, 26 and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened. 27 When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” 29 And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. 34 Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.
Introduction:
I have a simple premise for today’s sermon: one can only understand Baptism properly when one understands that it is the Lord’s Work. REPEAT: we can only understand Baptism properly, when we understand that Baptism is the Lord’s Work.
This is the simple truth that is so important: Baptism is not primarily something WE DO, it is something of God.
Baptism is about HIS PROMISE.
Baptism is about HIS WORK.
And Baptism is for HIS GLORY.
I. Baptism, The Promise of God
It was GOD who instituted baptism as a sacrament for His church.
And through Baptism the sign and seal of HIS promise is put upon the one being baptized.
This is the promise (as Paul and Silas said to the Philippian Jailer): believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved; you and your household. REPEAT: believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved; you and your household.
The promise of God in baptism is the promise of His “covenant of grace.”
We often speak of Baptism as a “sign and seal” of the covenant of grace.
The sign is that Baptism It points to God’s covenant promise.
And the seal is Baptism reaffirms and guarantees God’s covenant promise.
What is that promise?
Our Westminster Confession of Faith explains that the promise is (at least) four things:
(1) of ingrafting into Christ,
(2) of regeneration
(3) of remission of sins
(4) and of giving up unto God, through Jesus Christ to walk in newness of life.
THESE are GOD’S PROMISES.
The covenant is not OUR PROMISE, it is HIS.
The promise of being “ingrafting into Christ” is the promise that He is the vine and we are the branches; a promise that we have life in Him and through Him. It is a promise of UNITY with Christ. Where He goes (to Heaven) we shall go also.
The promise of regeneration is the promise that new spiritual life comes only by the Holy Spirit. If you are “born again” that is only by the Spirit. So all who believe in Jesus Christ ought to know that the Spirit has worked that faith in you.
Then the promise of remission of sins is the promise that of forgiveness through the cross of Christ. It is the promise Christ took your sins and nailed them to the cross.
Then the promise of “giving up unto God to walk in newness of life” is the promise of sanctification, the promise that God will follow through with the work he began in you.
These are the promises OF GOD, that are seen in Baptism. The promises of the Covenant are His promises. And God follows through, because unlike us, he never changes and He is holy, and just, and right, and true. So we can trust in those promises.
Very importantly, this is NOT a promise that all who are baptized are saved; nor a promise that that act of Baptism itself saves. Rather, the promise is that all who have faith in Jesus Christ are recipients of the Covenant of Grace.
If Baptism itself saved, then what of the Cross of Christ?
And if Baptism itself saved, then we’d get out the firehouse from the tallest building.
Some argue that Peter in his first epistle says “Baptism now saves you,” but what he actually says is “Baptism, WHICH CORRESPONDS TO THIS — that Chris suffered once for sins — THIS saves you.” Not Baptism, but Christ. Indeed “Jesus saves!”
When I say “Baptism is a Work of God” I’m not saying that it is at that moment of Baptism that one necessarily comes to faith. God’s “work” is baptism is in that through the sacrament we are pointed to the place where the REAL WORK was done for us; the cross of Christ.
Baptism reminds us of the promises of God, but it is not JUST a reminder. Baptism also is a “means of grace” through which a person may be blessed to come to faith or to have their faith strengthened as they hear (and see) the promise of God. The Sacraments along with the Word of God are “means of grace” wherein the Gospel is displayed and faith may come to the hearer or viewer or participant. And this is all a work of God.
So, that is our first point: “Baptism is a promise of God.”
Then, “Baptism is the work of God.”
II. Baptism, The Work of God
In our passage, what led to the Baptism of the whole household — the entire family of the jailer — was this question:
The jailer asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
And Paul and Silas responded, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
This is the same question posed to Jesus in John’s Gospel. There a Rabbi asked him “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus had spoken of working not for food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life. So when the Rabbi asked what kind of work this is, he was asking how to be saved, how to have eternal life. And there Jesus says “This is the work OF GOD, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” And this answer is the same as in our passage in that the emphasis is on faith, on believe in Christ. But what it so great also about Jesus’ answer is that he says this is the work OF GOD. Not man’s work, but God’s. The Holy Spirit of God himself works in you to believe the Gospel, so it is truly the work of God, not just aligned with God, but His very work.
Now, I’m not doubting that the minister actually pours the water upon the person in baptism, but the actual WORK accomplished which Baptism points to is the WORK OF GOD; the work of Christ washing away our sins with his precious blood.
Now the question comes to Paul and Silas. “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
And it is indeed a desperate situation. The magistrate will certainly put upon him the punishment due to the captives. And if he was going to have Paul and Silas put to death, then the jailer would get the same fate. So the jailers reaction was just to do it himself, to kill himself with his sword rather than suffer the punishment and disgrace publicly.
But then comes Paul and Silas’s answer. And from this comes the Jailers spiritual and physical salvation.
They say: “believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
It is nothing of their doing; it is simply “have faith.” Trust in the Lord. And as we know from Ephesians 2:8-9 among other places, that faith itself is a gift of God.
Baptism is a Work of God.
Martin Luther said, “to be baptized in God’s name is to be baptized not by men, but by God Himself. Therefore, although it is performed by human hands, it is still truly God’s own work.”
Perhaps there is some symbolism to the fact that we don’t baptize ourselves, but another (usually a minister of the Gospel) performs the Baptism. For to be born again requires outside intervention.
Baptism is the promise of God, and it is the work of God, and it is for the Glory of God.
III. Baptism, The Glory of God
I make emphasis of Baptism being “of God” because there are so many errors that arise when that truth is lost sight of.
The error of some is to make baptism to be about the person — their statement of faith — rather than about God and His promises. But in all things — and certainly in this sacrament — we are to give glory to God. It would be a great shame to boast “I CHOSE this day to be baptized.” Instead we ought to humbly say “though I am a sinner, the Lord CHOSE ME and I received His promises through Baptism in His name.”
The error of others is to say that Baptism is not for children or the mentally incapable. But it is exactly in INCAPABILITY of man that requires us to have GOD’s Baptism. We ALL need the promise grace of God; from the least to the greatest of us. Children too need the promise of the forgiveness of sins, unity with Christ, the new birth, and sanctification.
When faith comes to a person, it is the work of God. It is the work of the Holy Spirit. We cannot believe on our own. A leopard cannot change his spots. But the Lord works faith in us that we may believe and have eternal life.
Just as your birth (its location and time) are not in your control,
So likewise is your being “born again” not in your control. It is the work of God.
Especially when we baptize an infant (or an adult covenant family member with significant mental limitations), THEN do we see most clearly that Baptism is “of the Lord.”
31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family.
This is one of the “households baptisms” of the Scriptures, and notably IN NO CASE is there any limitation on those in the household who are baptized. Never does it say “DON’T baptize the infants.”
Other “household baptism” verses include:
1 Corinthians 1:16: Paul says “I did baptize also the household of Stephanas.”
Acts 16:14-15 says, “One who hears us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her hear to pay attention to what was said by Paul. And after she was baptized, and her household as well, we urged us, saying ‘if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.’”
And of course, Children were always included in the Covenant of God in Old Testament times. Naturally, they would continue to be in the Covenant in New Testament times. Jesus did not kick the children out, but said “let the little children come to me.”
And the Bible speaks positively about “faith like children.”
So let us not think that children cannot have faith.
But, as in all things, baptism is to the Glory of God. It is HIS Baptism on us.
And since it is His baptism, WE are to be humble. Who can boast in themselves, when the self is a sinner in NEED of the washing of baptism! No, we are to boast only in the Lord. And to give him glory. And say “thank you God for the promise of Baptism, and for your work in my salvation.”
Conclusion:
This idea — that Baptism is the Lord’s work, and his promise, and to his glory – is just ONE of a number of subjects on which we must have the same mindset.
I preach this sermon not primarily that you might know details about the nature of Baptism, but so that you will PUT GOD FIRST IN ALL THINGS; that you will “seek first the kingdom of God” at all times, thanking Him for what He has done for all who believe.
So today we remember our own Baptisms as we have seen also the baptism of “baby Dean.” And in remembering our Baptisms, above all, we remember the Lord’s promise: believe in Him and you shall be saved, you and your household.
A great promise that is, from our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.