The Gospel Project® for Adults

Leader Guide CSB, Unit 19, Session 3

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POINT 2 THE HERALD POINTS TO THE SON (MARK 1:7-8).

7 He proclaimed,
“One who is more powerful than I am is coming after me.
I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of his sandals.
8 I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you
with the Holy Spirit.”

Explain:

Verses 7-8 bold words fill in blanks in the DDG):

John knew that Jesus’s baptism would be greater
because it would symbolize the work of God’s Spirit
to transform the heart.

Discuss:

• What does baptism do?
• (the act of baptism doesn’t actually do anything
  in regard to our salvation;
• people are saved prior to being baptized,
  but baptism does do something in the sense
  that it communicates our salvation publicly;
• baptism proclaims the work of God in our life;
• baptism serves as a standing reminder in our lives
  of what God has done to change us;
• baptism unites us to God’s people in the church;
• baptism visually pictures the gospel;
• baptism unites us to Christians throughout the history of the church)

Explain:

Use the baptism commentary to emphasize the following
key doctrine (the bold words fill in blanks in the DDG):

Key Doctrine #91:

Baptism:

Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water
in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith
in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior,
the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life,
and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus.
It is a testimony to the believer’s faith
in the final resurrection of the dead. Being a church ordinance,
it is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership
and to the Lord’s Supper.

Transition:

Not only did John practice baptism and not only did he point forward
to Jesus’s baptism, a baptism of the Spirit,
but curiously, he also had the privilege of baptizing Jesus Christ.

VOICES FROM CHURCH HISTORY

“The baptizing work of the Spirit is the means of associating us
with the crucifixion of Christ (Colossians 2:12
and especially Romans 6:1-10)
in our dying to the old life. Being associated by baptism
unto His death, burial, and resurrection is the basis
for the crucifixion of the believer’s sin nature and his victory
over sin.” 1

– Charles C. Ryrie (1925-2016)