Abounding Grace: Belonging, New Birth

Sunday we’ll continue looking at the Scripture’s teaching on baptism, focusing on how it communicates that we belong to God. Remember, the sacraments (sacred rites) are demonstrations of God’s pledge to make us his own by grace. Last week, moving from the Old Testament into the New Testament, we learned that baptism communicates the cleansing grace of God for his people. Unclean because of our sin, we need to be washed clean to have fellowship with God. This washing is something God does for us, symbolized by sprinkling us clean.

The cleansing work of God is accomplished by the Spirit’s work of regeneration or the new birth. Paul says, “He saved us…according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,” Titus 3:4,5. In the Old and New Testaments, the Spirit’s work is a pouring out, as Paul says, “whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,” Titus 3:6. The Spirit is poured out, giving us new life, so that we might become children of God, belonging to him. It’s a beautiful presentation of the Spirit’s work to wash us through new birth. Join us Sunday as we consider this truth and worship our Savior.