Why The Urgency?

Introduction

Deedra and I had a friend, and you had a brother in Christ in Joplin, Missouri, who was an Army airborne paratrooper in World War II. And he told me about his training when he first enlisted. Training how to jump out of an airplane. And as you might guess, much of the training of how to jump out of an airplane has to do with parachutes. And Martin said that the training went kind of like this, and excuse me if I get some of the details, not exact. But he said they told them that when you jump out of the airplane, your body will rush with adrenaline, but don’t panic. With your right hand, reach over to your left shoulder and pull that ripcord away from your body.

If things go as they ought to, the main chute will deploy and fill with air, and you’ll gently glide to the ground. But if when you reach with your right hand to your left shoulder and pull, nothing happens, again, don’t panic. With your left hand, reach over to your right shoulder and take hold of the reserve chute’s ripcord and pull it away from your body.

If nothing happens, he said, don’t panic.

You’ve got the rest of your life to figure it out. Some things are more important than others, aren’t they? And we attach a level of importance or priority to certain matters. And in fact, we may say of those matters, they’re at the top of my to do list. But other matters are even more important that we attach to them not simply priority, but a sense of immediacy, a sense of urgency. So much so that we don’t even have time to put them on a to do list. They must be done now. When we read from the book of Acts, and there’s your hint to be turning to the book of Acts, starting in Acts chapter 2. When we read from the book of Acts, which sometimes has been called or subtitled the Book of Conversions.

Obeying the gospel. And a few things, when we see that list of conversions in the book of Acts, that many of these items have certain things in common.

We’re going to notice that this morning.

1. In Every Account, Baptism As Soon As Possible

And without exception, it was administered as soon as possible. The question of the hour is why? Why the urgency? Why the immediacy? We might instantly know that, well, that’s something we would want to put on our to do list. Maybe even high on our to do list. But why was such a sense of urgency assigned to it? Have you turned with me to Acts chapter 2? Look in verse 41. On the day of Pentecost, that great commission is now being carried out. The apostles are going, starting in Jerusalem. They will go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. They preached it there. Those people were cut to the heart. They cried out, you remember, what shall we do? And they were told, repent and be baptized.

And then look at verse 41. Then those who gladly received his word were baptized, and that day, in your mind at least, underlined those words, that day, about 3,000 souls were added to them. Have you ever tried to picture that? You’ve ever tried to think about the mechanics of that. Of immersing 3,000 people in one day. Now, those of you who are logistically minded, you might have said, why didn’t they spread that out a little bit? You could have assigned certain days based upon maybe the first letter of their name. If your name starts with Alpha, we’re going to baptize you on Monday. The Veda’s on Tuesday, and we’ll go through the Greek alphabet, and by the time that we get to Omega, maybe a month from now, we’ll have you all baptized.

Logistically, that would have been easier than trying to baptize 3,000 people on one day. But there seemed to be a sense of urgency. And that sense of urgency passes throughout the scriptures. Look in Acts chapter 8. You remember the story of the Ethiopian. He’s riding down on his way home from Jerusalem back to Ethiopia, reading from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. The evangelist comes to him and says, Do you understand what you’re reading? And he says, How can I except someone guide me? And he goes up into the chariot and starts from that passage in the book of Isaiah and preaches Christ to him. And as they go along, look in Acts chapter 8. And pick up in the reading in verse 36, as they went down the road, they came to some water.

And the eunuch said, See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized? We might make this side note somewhere included in the preaching of Christ. Must have involved the preaching of baptism. Because he says, here’s baptism, here’s water. Why don’t I be baptized? So he commanded the chariot to stand still. Both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and he baptized him. Why? Right now. Why did we stop the chariot in the middle of the road and get out and go into this unknown body of water to baptize him right then? Why the urgency?

As we trace further, we see in Acts chapter 9. Saul, who we’ll later know as the apostle Paul, receives his sight in Acts chapter 9, verse 18. Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once, and he arose and was baptized. Right then. You’re detecting a pattern. In every account of conversion, there was baptism, and it was administered as soon as possible. Think about the Philippian jailer in Acts chapter 16. Paul and his companion had been thrown into prison, and he and Silas are singing and praying. And an earthquake. Remember the story? Earthquake, the jail doors are open. The jailer comes in, he’s about to commit suicide because he’s going to be punished for allowing the prisoners to escape.

But Paul says we haven’t escaped. Notice this one with me. In Acts chapter 16. Start in verse 25. But at midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God. I want you to note that the story starts at midnight. Praying, singing, earthquake happens, conversation happens. All of this is after midnight, what we would call in the middle of the night or early morning. Then we get down to verse 33 of this text, and he spoke the word to him there in verse 32, he and all of his house. Verse 34, he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes, and immediately he and all his family were baptized. In the middle of the night. We didn’t wait until the next morning till the sun came up.

2. They Recognized Their Guilt Before God

We didn’t wait until a more convenient season. Somewhere between midnight and what you could call daytime, everything had to be put on hold. Because this man needs to be baptized. Why? The sense of urgency. In every account. Well, let me offer maybe some possible reasons as to why in every account of conversion in the book of Acts that baptism is administered, it is done so with immediacy. Surely those who insisted upon their baptism being administered immediately, they recognize their guilt before God.

Day, we dare not soften it. Because good gospel preaching must first bring about the recognition that someone is lost and dying in sin. That paratrooper who is plummeting at increasing speed to the ground recognizes the urgency of the moment. A receptive sinner, having been pricked by the truth of the God, the uncomfortable truth of the gospel, recognizes the urgency. Because they learn, maybe for the first time of their guilt before God. And gospel preaching does that. Gospel preaching must first convict us of our sins. And to understand the state in which we are in, apart from Jesus Christ. And we understand that we are lost and we know why we are lost. We’re not lost, and please listen carefully. We are not lost because we have not been baptized.

We are lost because we have sinned against God.

Look over in Acts chapter 2 again. Why were 3,000 people baptized in one day?

Acts chapter 2. Look there at verse 23. Him, speaking of Jesus Christ, the fulfillment of those old Testament messianic prophecies, him being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and have put to death.

Peter, and I can deceive him, can’t you? Peter and the other apostles pointed their finger at this point and said, You have crucified the Son of God.

And verse 36. Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. What was verse 37 then say? And they heard this, they were cut to the heart. And cried out, Men and brethren, what shall we do? We’ve killed the Son of God. What are we going to do? And then Peter says, Here’s what the Lord says you need to do. Can you envision them in that state of recognition of their guilt before God? Say, okay. I’m going to get around to that.

3. Baptism Was the Point of Forgiveness

Is it any wonder? That they would have surely insisted this day. I don’t care what letter of the alphabet my name begins with, I’m going to be baptized today. I don’t care how it inconveniences you, how long this takes, we’re not leaving until I have killed the Son of God. They recognize their guilt before God, and surely the unmistakable conclusion of gospel preaching was this that baptism was the point of forgiveness. The religious world does not recognize this. To my knowledge, every church who would consider themselves a Christian church in some way practices baptism. If you know of one that doesn’t, let me know. It’ll be the first I’ve heard of that doesn’t in some way, in some mode, in some fashion, practice baptism. Because they cannot avoid it completely.

It is so prevalent in the scriptures. And I don’t mean this to be flippant, and I don’t mean to make fun of my religious and your religious friends and neighbors. But to many in the religious world, I think baptism is like this.

To make room for all of these pieces of the new furniture. And I start putting those pieces together, and I get it. What to me looks put together. But here’s this piece. And that piece looks important. In fact, I surveyed the instructions and they say, don’t use this product unless that piece has been installed. And so I take that piece and say, it’s important. I got to put it. And so I do what a good man does, I get duct tape. And I duct tape that piece to the back of the furniture. It had to be in there somewhere because it’s so important. Isn’t that what some people do with baptism? I can’t deny it. It’s in there and it seems to be important. And so I’ve got to attack it on there somewhere.

And so we’ll do it. But what I should have done is said, I better reread these instructions. If it’s that important. Even if I have to take this whole thing apart and start over, I better put it where it belongs. And so I read passages such as Mark chapter 16, familiar passages. And I try to read them with fresh eyes. Because maybe I missed it the first time. And maybe it’s not just to be put in there somewhere, maybe it’s to be put in there in the right place. And I hear Jesus, who would send these men on the Great Commission that is carried out in the book of Acts, in which every case baptism was administered in every case of conversion. Baptism was administered and it was done so immediately.

And I go back and I read the instructions that these men received when Jesus said, He who believes, Mark 16, verse 16, he who believes and is baptized will be saved. He who does not believe will be condemned. And I say, why were those people baptized? With some sense of urgency? That’s why.

And they recognize that these men were teaching what Jesus had told them to teach. That baptism was the point of forgiveness. And what this was all about was forgiveness. And so I want to be baptized.

When were those people forgiven? At what time of day, on that day of Pentecost, were they forgiven? When Peter started preaching in Acts chapter 2, verse 2. Or were they forgiven later in the chapter at about verse 14, when Peter really got to the meat of the sermon? Or maybe they were forgiven in verse 37 when they were cut to the heart and cried out.

4. They Recognized the Uncertainty of Life

But then I’m drawn to chapter 2, verse 40 again. And I say, when were these people forgiven given? What did they recognize that I need to recognize today? Acts chapter 2, verse 40 says, and with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, Be saved from this perverse generation. Then those who gladly received his word were baptized, and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. When were they forgiven? They knew when. And that’s why there was a sense of urgency. That’s why in the same hour of the night. That’s why immediately. That’s why on that day, people were baptized. Surely they were baptized because they recognized the uncertainty of life. James compares life to a vapor. I don’t know what James means by that.

He may mean two things by that. Number one, a vapor doesn’t last long. At its longest, that trail of vapor from that boiling pot is not going to last long. It dissipates pretty quickly. But also because of the elusiveness of that, that at any time, if you try to grasp it, it’s gone. Newspapers, the printed word is becoming a thing of the past. And I miss that. I miss the newspaper. I speak as if it’s already gone, but to many of us it is. But you know, there’s some value in getting that newspaper out every day. And doing that practice of what you do when you get a little bit older, you turn over, you don’t read the news first, you don’t read the sports first, you go to the obituary.

My dad used to say, I just go see if my name’s there. If it’s not, I’m going with my day. But there’s some value of looking at that because when you study that abyss you, and you don’t have to study them long, that you’re going to find out that those obituary pages are not just filled with people who died at the ripe old age of whatever you consider a ripe old age. But there’s people middle aged, teenagers, college age, children. Almost every day. Life is but a vapor. I grew up in a small congregation in rural North Alabama at its peak, we’re probably about a hundred, hundred and twenty members. But by the time I had reached my last year of college, six young people from that one small country church had died.

Three from disease, one from an automobile accident, one from just a freak accident at home. And the closest one that I graduated high school with was brutally murdered. The uncertainty of life. Maybe they recognize that. And so the same hour of the night took on some urgency because there was some urgency. And we need to recognize that. Do not. Do not misunderstand the concept of our modern day custom of singing an invitation song. To think that that’s when you can obey the gospel. You’ve got to wait till then, and if you missed it, we sang the last word of the last verse. You missed it till maybe Wednesday night we’ll do it again and come back then. Don’t misunderstand me. I like the custom. But if we’ve given that notion, we apologize.

That if somewhere in the sermon you were cut to the heart, cry out. What shall I do? Now we’ll be a little shocked at first. But Greg or I or whoever’s up here, we’ll stop. We won’t say, sit down, we’ll get to you later. I’m going to tell you about real quick. We’ve got time. Tell you about the shortest sermon I ever preached. I was preaching in Joplin, Missouri, and we’d been studying with a young man who, quote, didn’t grow up in the church. So he didn’t, he was just learning some of the things that we do. And so he came to me one Sunday morning. I think it was a Sunday morning. His name was Scott, and Scott came to me before service, as he says, now, Ken, he said, I want you to know when we sing the invitation song, I’m going to come forward.

I want to be baptized. This was before service. I said, Scott, no. We’re going to do it right now. Scott was a little bashful and he didn’t want to draw attention. He says, No, no. I just wanted to let you know so you wouldn’t be shocked. I’m going to do it, I’m going to wait until the invitation song. And I said, Scott, I preached the sermon I just preached to you. I’m sorry if we’ve given you that mistaken notion. And he said, No, no, I want to do it. I’m going to. Two or three times of urging, I realized I wasn’t gaining any ground with Scott. And so I said, Scott, okay. You win. But you give me your word. That when that invitation song is sung, you will come forward.

Yes. You’re not going to change your mind. No matter what happens, you’re not changing your mind. Scott said, I promise. As soon as that song is sung, first verse, I’m coming forward. I said, okay.

I’d given the song leader a heads up. I wouldn’t do that, Jim, without some kind of notice. I got up and said, now get your songbooks out. If there’s anybody here who needs to respond to the gospel call, would you do so now as we stand and as we sing? And I was staring a hole through Scott the whole time. He knew what I was telepathically saying. You keep your word.

5. Delay Is Addictive

Because Scott may not have lived through that service. And he needed to understand what these people understood. And possibly, possibly they recognized, and so there was some urgency to their responding to the gospel, because possibly they recognize that delay is addictive. Paul to Timothy in 2 Timothy talks about those who have seared their conscience to where they’re past feeling. I hope that’s not you. Maybe at one time when you heard a gospel sermon that talked about what you need to do to be saved, you you may have had to literally grip the back of the pew in front of you to keep from stepping out. But then the next time you didn’t have to grip it quite as hard, did you? And then the third time you barely had to hold that pew.

And maybe today, as we saying, you can say, look, no hands.

Conclusion

I’ve said no so many times that now the no is implied. And maybe that Philippian jailer, that Ethiopian, that persecutor of the Lord’s people, said I may not have the rest of my life to figure this out. And so let me do it now. Now. Today is the day of salvation, that same Saul would later say. And so there was some urgency. Because they understood their guilt before God. They recognized that baptism was at the point in which they would be touching the blood of Christ and their sins would be washed away. They recognized the uncertainty of their life, and maybe, just maybe, they knew, you know, if I put it off, I might not do it again. You’ve jumped out of the airplane. Actually, if we’re accurate, your mom and dad pushed you out of that airplane the day you were born.

And ever since you’ve been plummeting to the earth.

Why not today? Why not now? There is a sense of urgency. And it’s on you. Would you respond to that gospel call? Would you do what these people did and cry out, what shall we do? And then do it now. Do it now, as together we stand and as we sing.