We often hear of people "selling out" to satisfy a momentary lust at the expense of future blessings. What a terrible exchange people, churches, and nations have made, and are making!

Adam and Eve were the first to do this by trading life for a bite of fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Man has been tempted to nibble on that fruit ever since.

In the life of Jacob and Esau we witness this bad bargain of exchanging a blessed birthright for a bowl of bean soup. Esau was a covenant child by birth. In a time of great hunger he agreed to trade the blessings of being first-born in order to satisfy his hunger. What he received in exchange was a bowl of soup made of reddish-brown beans. In Gen. 25:30 he literally says, "Feed me, I beg you, with the red, the red!" Even his heathen descendants bore the name "red" (his nation, Edom, means "red.")

Later in life, he still desired the blessing of his father with tears, but he never repented in tears for selling it to Jacob. We know that the sovereign grace of God accounted for Jacob's salvation and Esau's rejection. Yet, Esau is held responsible for his actions. He is not rejected because of his works (even though sinful), anymore than Jacob (a tricky deceiver) is saved because of his works. The blessing is by grace alone. But, Esau's actions show the depravity of his heart. "He despised his birthright" (Gen. 25:34) and despised the grace of God. To him his covenant birthright was worth no more than a bowl of soup.

How much do we value the blessing of being a covenant child of God? The aroma of soup-immediate gratification-fills the air around us. Temptations abound. What looks like a good momentary trade can have everlasting results.

A birthright for bean soup-that trade is often prevalent in our society. Many salivate for gratification no matter what the cost. Many are later sorry for the life they endure, but not for selling out to acts of immorality, drugs, or crime. Many tears are shed, like Esau, for the situation, but not for the sin. By nature, we all have a taste for bean soup instead of righteousness. By the grace of God alone that appetite is changed.

In the life of God's people we see covenant people of God bargain away the truth of the Word of God, for acceptance in the world they live in-a quick fix for a fleshly fixation. In the church, whole denominations, hungering for acceptance, have fallen from the blessed truth of God's promise only lose the blessing and become covenant-breakers. They're eating bean soup now; but without repentance, they will later be begging for just a drop of water.

Jesus warns us, "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matt. 16:26) How much is the everlasting salvation of your soul worth? Think about it before negotiating a trade with anyone or anything.

The temptation to sell out is there for all of us, just as Satan dangled false promises before Jesus in the wilderness. Our Savior Jesus did not yield, so He would not sin against His Father and could be the perfect satisfaction for our sin.

Look at some positive examples from other mere mortals. Moses could have sold out his faith, but instead, "by faith . . . refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward." (Heb. 11:23-26)

The Apostle Paul already had all the Pharisaical perks, but later, as a committed Christian, he assessed the damage: "... what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ . ..." (Phil. 3:7-8) Being faithful to the Lord he had lost nothing, and gained everything.

The choices between our Christian covenant birthright and bean soup is always before us. Think carefully of the blessings that are ours as covenant people-to us and our children. Don't ever sell it short. Children, think of the blessing of being taught the glorious promises of God at home and in church. Never despise these blessings or take them for granted. They are a gracious gift from God!

If you have made some sinful bargains, there is still hope. Seek forgiveness with tears, for God is merciful. He gives the promise to all who repent and believe in the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ, that they shall be the sons of God and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven. This is the blessing of God to all who keep God's covenant.

It is free. It is satisfying. It is forever.

Baptism and the Lord's Supper, Part I

The purpose of this article is to point out that while there are two sacraments, both commemorate union with Christ for our salvation Baptism commemorates union with Christ by the work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration, while the Lord's Supper commemorates union with Christ by personal faith in Christ and the continuing work of the Holy Spirit in us. There are two sacraments because regeneration is entirely a work of God, man in no way regenerates himself. On the other hand, faith is an action of man, and not of God. God works faith in my heart, but I am the one who believes, God does not believe for me. Regeneration and faith are inextricably bound up in each other so that they are like two sides of one and the same coin. No one truly believes who has not been regenerated, nor can anyone who is regenerated not believe (1 Cor 12:3). Nevertheless these actions are distinct. One is the sovereign action of God (John 3:8), while the other is the dependent and imperfect action of man (John 6:65). For these reasons, Baptism is once for all commemorating a perfect and completed action, while the Lord's Supper is repeated, ministering to an imperfect but continuing and growing faith.

There is a good deal of confusion these days, even in Reformed Churches, about the sacraments. The historic practices of Reformed and Presbyterian Churches are being overthrown and changed here and there with little or no respect for the teachings of our Reformed fathers in the creeds which they still claim to hold. Churches that used to observe the Lord's Supper four times a year, or monthly, are now doing that weekly. Others are inviting children and even infants who have never been instructed in the faith or made a public profession of faith to participate in the Supper. People off the street who have no real connection with the Church may have their children baptized in many places-something unheard of not very long ago. And much of this is being taught and tolerated in so-called "Reformed" seminaries.

What has happened? Have the theologians of today discovered new truths that our fathers somehow missed? Are the Christians of today sanctified at a higher level than that of our parents? Not surprisingly, the truth is quite the opposite. The theologians and seminary professors of today, and thus the pastors of the churches, often are fuzzy themselves about the Bible's teaching on the sacraments and so have been unable to recognize a drift back to Roman Catholicism that is going on right under their noses. In fact, a number of graduates of Reformed and Presbyterian seminaries in the United States have joined the Roman Church. No wonder the people in the pew find themselves defenseless.

Baptism and the Lord's Supper Compared

It is clear from Scripture that the Lord Jesus Christ gave His Church two sacraments, baptism and the Lord's Supper. Sacraments are ceremonies given by Christ to commemorate His own work of saving us, but the form of these ceremonies is also specifically commanded by Christ. Thus the Church has always recognized that Baptism must be administered with the words "in the Name of Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," with the intent of following Christ's commandment. Other washings (the word "baptize" means "to wash" in New Testament Greek) simply are not Christian Baptism. The same thing, of course, is true of the Lord's Supper. Christ's words commanding the Lord's Supper are to be used, and the form is always believers eating bread and drinking wine together in remembrance of Christ's death for our sins.

Notice that there is already a difference between the sacraments. The form of the Lord's Supper requires the mental exercise of "remembrance" on the part of the sacrament's participants, something not required of the person who is baptized. Why this is, we will explain below, but this is a clear difference. Indeed, the apostle Paul emphasizes and explains this difference by saying, "Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of this bread and drink of this cup."

Many other things could be said about the two sacraments, but we need to get to the heart of the matter.

Baptism Commemorates Union with Christ by Regeneration

Both Baptism and the Lord's Supper are signs and seals of God's saving work for and in us. They both commemorate union with Christ because it is by uniting us with Christ that God makes us participants in His saving work. We are baptized spiritually into Christ's death and resurrection (Rom. 6:3-5, notice that it is not, as the Baptists claim, into His burial and resurrection), and therefore we participate in His death for our sins, and in His resurrection to new life. This is the work of the Holy Spirit in spiritual baptism as Paul says in 1 Cor. 12:13, "For by one Spirit we have all been baptized into one body...."

We know that this spiritual union with Christ is not effected by water baptism because the Bible specifically rejects that idea. Paul says, "Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel...lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect" (1 Cor. 1:17). When we trust water baptism to save us we miss the point and indeed miss trusting in Christ. The apostle Peter likewise denies saving efficacy to water baptism. He says, "The like figure (anti-type) also now saves us, even baptism (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience toward God)." This "putting away of the filth of the flesh" would be water baptism which does not save us, whereas "the answer of a good conscience toward God" would be the result of baptism with the Holy Spirit, which does save us. This is why the Heidelberg Catechism so clearly says, "Is then the outward washing with water itself the washing away of sins? No..."

The other spiritual washing that baptism commemorates is our washing from sins by the blood of Christ. This is specifically taught in Heb. 10:22, "Let us draw near in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water." It is obvious here that having "our bodies washed with pure water" refers to water baptism, which commemorates our washing from sins by the blood of Christ. Notice also that we are inwardly "sprinkled" with the blood of Christ, not dipped in it. This is one of the reasons that biblical baptism is accomplished by sprinkling with water, not by dipping in it. The other reason for the sprinkling or pouring of water on the person to be baptized is that we are washed by the Holy Spirit into union with Christ by the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon us, not by being dipped into the Holy Spirit. Every New Testament reference to the giving of the Holy Spirit is by "descending upon," "falling upon," and being "poured out" (Mat. 3:16 and Acts 10:44,45 are good examples). Immersion is simply not a biblical form of baptism.

Nevertheless, water baptism is important as a sacrament, that is, as a sign and seal to us of our inward cleansing with the blood and Spirit of Christ. The Heidelberg Catechism handles this difference between spiritual and water baptism in two subsequent questions and answers. Question #69 asks, "How is it signified and sealed to you in Holy Baptism that you have part in the one sacrifice of Christ on the cross? Question #70, on the other hand, asks, "What is it to be washed with the blood and Spirit of Christ?" One speaks of the significance of the sacrament, while the other speaks of the inward reality signified and sealed to us by the sacrament. Furthermore, there is a clear distinction between the inward reality and the outward sign. Spiritual baptism is to be "washed with the blood and Spirit of Christ" and is to actually "have the forgiveness of sins from God through grace," and "to be renewed by the Holy Spirit." On the other hand, to be baptized with water is to have "this promise, that I am washed from the pollution of my soul, that is from all my sins as certainly as I am washed outwardly with water...."

Now we must distinguish between having a promise of something, and actually having that which is promised. Not only does the Catechism (and all truly Reformed theology) specifically reject the idea that water baptism can in any way cleanse us from sin or regenerate us, the whole of biblical teaching again and again makes inward regeneration and true faith the conditions for receiving the things promised by the sacraments. For example, the Heidelberg in #20 says, "Are all men then saved by Christ as they have perished in Adam? No, only those who by true faith are united to Him and receive all His benefits." It is a confusion between the sacrament as an outward sign and seal, and the inward reality of union with Christ by regeneration and faith that is the heart of the Roman Catholic heresy. Martin Luther rightly called this confusion, The Babylonian Captivity of the Church, the title of a booklet about the Roman Mass written in 1520. Unfortunately, some in the Reformed and Presbyterian churches today want to takes us back to Babylon.

Thus the Sacrament of Baptism is to be used "not out of custom or superstition," as the Reformed and Presbyterian forms declare, but out of faith that the spiritual cleansing and renewal promised by them are just as real and certain as the water washing we can see, feel and touch. Since sin is a spiritual evil, and cannot be sensed with physical senses, so cleansing from sin is also a spiritual matter not to be touched with physical senses. Therefore our gracious God gives us physical signs and seals of that spiritual reality, the forgiveness of sins. But to confuse the outward sign with the inward reality is actually to change God's way of salvation. Luther and Calvin's vigorous condemnation of the Roman Church was well-deserved by Rome, and still is today as is shown by the present Pope's statement that Rome alone is the true Church and alone has the "means of salvation." Indeed, their "only means of salvation" turns out to be their idolatrous and sinful "Mass," that denies the one sacrifice of Christ (see Heb. 9:25-28).

- RG, Vermillion, SD

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Belgic Confession, Article 34

We believe and confess that Jesus Christ, who is the end of the law, has made an end, by the shedding of His blood, of all other sheddings of blood which men could or would make as a propitiation or satisfaction for sin; and that He, having abolished circumcision, which was done with blood, has instituted the sacrament of baptism instead thereof; by which we are received into the Church of God, and separated from all other people and strange religions, that we may wholly belong to Him whose mark and ensign we bear; and which serves as a testimony to us that He will forever be our gracious God and Father.

Therefore He has commanded all those who are His to be baptized with pure water, into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, thereby signifying to us, that as water washes away the filth of the body when poured upon it, and is seen on the body of the baptized when sprinkled upon him, so does the blood of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit internally sprinkle the soul, cleanse it from its sins, and regenerate us from children of wrath unto children of God. Not that this is effected by the external water, but by the sprinkling of the precious blood of the Son of God; who is our Red Sea, through which we must pass to escape the tyranny of Pharaoh, that is, the devil, and to enter into the spiritual land of Canaan.

The ministers, therefore, on their part administer the sacrament and that which is visible, but our Lord gives that which is signified by the sacrament, namely, the gifts and invisible grace; washing, cleansing, and purging our souls of all filth and unrighteousness; renewing our hearts and filling them with all comfort; giving unto us a true assurance of His fatherly goodness; putting on us the new man, and putting off the old man with all his deeds.

We believe, therefore, that every man who is earnestly studious of obtaining life eternal ought to be baptized but once with this only baptism, without ever repeating the same, since we cannot be born twice. Neither does this baptism avail us only at the time when the water is poured upon us and received by us, but also through the whole course of our life.

Therefore we detest the error of the Anabaptists, who are not content with the one only baptism they have once received, and moreover condemn the baptism of the infants of believers, who we believe ought to be baptized and sealed with the sign of the covenant, as the children in Israel formerly were circumcised upon the same promises which are made unto our children. And indeed Christ shed His blood no less for the washing of the children of believers than for adult persons; and therefore they ought to receive the sign and sacrament of that which Christ has done for them; as the Lord commanded in the law that they should be made partakers of the sacrament of Christ's suffering and death shortly after they were born, by offering for them a lamb, which was a sacrament of Jesus Christ. Moreover, what circumcision was to the Jews, baptism is to our children. And for this reason St. Paul calls baptism the circumcision of Christ.

Heidelberg Catechism, Q.'s 72, 73

Q72: Is, then, the outward washing with water itself the washing away of sins? A. No, for only the blood of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit cleanse us from all sin.

Q73: Why then does the Holy Ghost call Baptism the washing of regeneration and the washing away of sins? A. God speaks thus with great cause, namely, not only to teach us thereby that just as the filthiness of the body is taken away by water, so our sins are taken away by the blood and Spirit of Christ; but much more, that by this divine pledge and token He may assure us that we are as really washed from our sins spiritually as our bodies are washed with water.