Two words about the Holy Sacrament of Baptism

The Holy Apostle Paul, speaking about the holy Sacrament of Baptism, compares its hidden power with the death and resurrection of the Lord. By plunging, he says, into the font, we die; Coming out of the font, we are resurrected. We die in the font for a carnal and sinful life, and we rise from the font for a spiritual, holy, godly life. “Or do you not understand, just as we were baptized into Christ Jesus, we were baptized into His death? We were buried with Him through baptism into death, so that just as Christ has risen from the dead in the glory of the Father, so we too will begin to walk in newness of life... our old man will be crucified with Him, so that the body of sin may be abolished, for no one will work against sin for us” (Rom. 6:3,4,6). Just as the risen Lord is bright, so our nature becomes bright, being renewed in the bath of rebirth by the grace of the Holy Spirit. But let us not think, brethren, that grace alone produces here, and that it produces only externally or somehow mechanically. No. Its saving action takes place invisibly - inside. The grace of the Spirit flowing in baptism captures a series of internal changes of the heart and movements of the spirit and from them forms a new one in us, the “hidden heart of man” (1 Pet. 3:4). Why does the holy Apostle Peter call baptism “a good conscience by asking God” (1 Pet. 3:21), the formation of a special, grace-based, strong moral character. What and how it happens and should be here, I will explain to you with a few thoughts. The All-merciful Lord, having created man in His image and likeness, thereby showed him the final goal in internal communication with Himself, protecting it with known conditions at hand to man. God laid the path to achieving this goal in the zealous fulfillment of His holy will, which He imprinted on the pure and immaculate conscience of man; but he did not bind him in the direction of his activity, but gave him the freedom to act as he wants, at his own discretion, so that he would arbitrarily and self-willingly determine himself to steadily walk in the known will of God. In order for man to have the opportunity to cope with his freedom, He, in the same spirit in which freedom dwells, introduced the fear of God, or the feeling of comprehensive dependence on God Almighty, All-Provider and All-Rewarder. These are all the elements of our spiritual life according to the original dispensation. Combining into one, it formed the most moral spiritual person, whose life was built and carried out in such a way that a person, feeling his complete dependence on God, self-willingly determined himself to steadily walk in the holy will of God, interpreted by conscience, in the confidence that through this he would remain in inner communion with God, the source of life, and bliss in Him. This is what man is destined for, and this is how his life would always go, just as it always goes like this among the holy angels, if not for the fall. The fall upset the internal order of spiritual life. Man fell away from God, and direct communication with Him ceased; the feeling of dependence on Him froze or weakened, and man no longer had the strength to cope with freedom itself, which did not rush after the will of God, especially since conscience either completely stopped interpreting the will of God, or began to interpret it crookedly. Thus the elements of spiritual life disintegrated, and there was no more spiritual life. Meanwhile, the nature of man remained the same, and his purpose remained the same. Why could his restoration be accomplished no other way than through the restoration of his original spiritual powers and their elevation into a predetermined mutual relationship. This is what the Sacrament of Baptism accomplishes after first preparing a person for a number of moral changes. Let me give you one example to explain this. The Holy Apostle Peter preaches on the day of Pentecost. Those who listened, after listening to the sermon, exclaimed: “What should we do?” The Holy Apostle answered: “Repent” (Acts 2:37–38); and in another place: “Repent and believe the Gospel, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ... and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). Let's break it down here. The sermon enlightened the conscience, the enlightened conscience resurrected the feeling of dependence on God, or the fear of God, and now - a cry from the heart: what should we do? This is to repent, believe, accept grace through baptism. To repent means to decide to leave deeds contrary to God, to turn to God (Acts 3:19) and to determine one’s freedom again to walk in His will, as it was originally determined. The repentant would be ready for this, but how to proceed to this when he feels, on the one hand, his moral powerlessness, and on the other, unpeace with God, whom he has always angered, and with his conscience, which he has always offended. In the healing of these main infirmities, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is given to him as the only means to peace and reunification with God and the grace of the Spirit as the support of moral strength. Do you notice how here, in the new grace-filled dispensation, all the former elements and forces of spiritual life, weakened and disintegrated in the fall, are raised again to their meaning and union! The feeling of dependence on God is resurrected in repentance, conscience is enlightened by the word, freedom is strengthened by grace, communication with God is mediated through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the only Intercessor of God and men... Thus all the elements, each with its own special revitalizing medicine, come to life. All that remains now is to merge them together, to collect them, like rays, into one focus. This is done in the font of baptism, which in this regard is, as it were, a gracious crucible, where from the previously restored elements of spiritual life, through all-effective grace, “a new creation in Christ Jesus” is created (2 Cor. 5:17), “the hidden man of the heart” is formed (1 Pet. 3:4). We emerge from the font new in precisely this sense; We feel like we have tasted a new life and begin to feel blissful. Look what is said about those who converted to the preaching of the holy Apostle Peter. “Having received the word...,” it says, “they were baptized” (Acts 2:41), and it is immediately added: “they began to remain in teaching, fellowship, prayer, they were all together, they had everything in common, as if they were one soul and one body, remaining with one accord in the church, constantly praising God, living in joy and simplicity of heart” (Acts 2:42, 44, 46). As soon as they were baptized, they began to live a new life. This new life is recognized by all those who are baptized and is their destiny and inheritance. Having now collected into one thought all the principles of spiritually grace-filled life, corresponding to its original structure, we will see that everyone who is baptized in his inner mood is as follows: by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, having reconciled himself and receiving grace-filled power from Him, the Christian feels determined and strong to steadily walk in the will of God, about which he is zealous with readiness for all kinds of labor or sacrifice, feeling here also temporary joy in communion with God and anticipating the endless joy that will be in eternity. This is the “questioning of the conscience for good” (1 Pet. 3:21), or the formation of a Christian moral character. I bring this to you so that you do not forget that the power of baptism consists not only in the grace-filled renewal of the natural powers of the spirit, but also in a moral change of character or both. According to God’s dispensation, moral changes first take place in a person’s spirit, and then grace, indwelling a person through the sacrament, imprints them on him and thereby renews his very nature. A Christian no longer has only nature, but also grace. In appearance, he is the same as all non-Christians, but in reality he is a dissolution and confusion of nature and grace. Copper, for example, alone produces a dull sound, but when combined with silver it sounds cleaner and louder, although the difference is not noticeable in both. Copper alone is our nature; copper combined with silver is the same nature blessed in baptism. Take an apple from a wild apple tree and a garden apple. In appearance they may be completely similar, but the inner dignity of both is completely different. Thus, a Christian and a non-Christian seem to be the same in appearance, but their inner character is not only different, but also their composition is different. All the strength of Christians lies within. Christians themselves cannot help but be aware of this difference and change - not to the detriment of their humility, but to give glory to God who saves them. Not everything in a person perishes by falling. Traces of the former beauty remain on all his forces, only they are scattered and disintegrated. It's the same as a broken mirror. When the inner structure of spiritual life is resumed, then it is the same as a whole mirror, which clearly reflects all the features and parts of the face of the beholder. Turning inward, can a Christian fail to recognize within himself this wholeness given to him? Even before baptism, a person is the same as a paralytic in all his parts: neither standing nor moving. After baptism, he is the same as the healed paralytic about whom the Gospel says that he walked around jumping and rejoicing (Acts 3:8). So, can the feeling of vigor and strength inherent in a Christian blessed in baptism not be evidenced in consciousness? And one more image. Telescopes have three compositions. When these compositions are pushed into one another, the tube does not show things properly; and when they are moved apart in proportion, everything is clearly visible in them... The pipe is an image of our three-part structure: spirit, soul and body. In the fall, the spirit submitted to the soul, and the soul and spirit to the body, and man began to see his relationships poorly and behave badly in them. In a new, grace-filled birth, the spirit is elevated to its rights, holds the soul in its rank, and through it the body. Man then receives a predetermined order of the parts of nature, clearly recognizes his relationship to Heaven and earth and behaves with dignity in these relationships. Can such a restoration be hidden from the eyes of the mind and conscience?! Do you see now what the power of holy baptism is and how its saving effects in us cannot hide from us?! Now go inside yourself and decide for yourself whether what holy baptism gives is there or not. If there is, let us thank the Lord, without self-exaltation, however, for everything is from Him; if not, we will expose ourselves, and reproach ourselves, and hasten to make up for this through the Sacrament of Repentance, in which sinners are again baptized not in the font, but in tears, although they receive a new life the same as that given in the font. Amen. Remember my last conversation. There we saw that the believer must come out of the baptismal font zealous exclusively for pleasing God, with a readiness to do anything for the sake of that sacrifice. This heat of zeal for God, with love and self-sacrifice, constitutes such an integral feature of Christian life that whoever has it lives, and whoever does not have it is either dead or frozen and asleep. This is the seed of life and together the life force. It is the fruit of the combination of grace and freedom. Man completely surrenders himself to God's guidance; grace, having come, receives it, fulfills it, combines with it, and from this hidden treasury of life emerges “a man of renewal” (1 Pet. 2:9), “zealous of good works” (Titus 2:14), chosen to be “holy and blameless before God in love” (Eph. 1:4). When adults are baptized, they really become such immediately after baptism, for they immediately, on their own behalf, represent all the necessary dispositions of the heart to be combined with grace. Regarding those who are baptized as infants, the Divine economy of our salvation has deigned to establish such an order that everything that depends on the grace of God for the beginning of Christian life in us is given immediately, and renewal is accomplished by grace; that which depends on our freedom is postponed until age, until the first confession and communion, when a person self-consciously and self-willingly surrenders himself to grace, and then the renewal that was previously accomplished, as if independently of him, by grace alone, is assimilated to his person and begins to take place together with grace and freedom. Then he, too, becomes a strong zealot for Christian pleasing God, through the grace of God, exclusively with complete self-sacrifice. Everyone knows that up to this moment, so decisive in life, everything almost depends on parents and successors, and then on them, and on our freedom; further - and from those diverse combinations in life into which an incomprehensible combination of circumstances puts everyone. From the impact of all these influences on our consciousness and freedom and from how we use them, it turns out that for some it is all light, for others it is all darkness, for others it is neither light nor darkness... What I mean by this is that some, after a wonderful childhood and adolescence, having come to consciousness, love Christianity with a strong love and are zealous for it unswervingly, ascending from strength to strength and striving to achieve “to the extent of the age of the fulfillment of Christ” (Eph. 4:13); others soon deviate from the Lord into the path of passions, into slavery to the spirit of the world and its prince, and live in oblivion of God and ungodly orders; Still others do not know who they belong to - either Christ or the world: outwardly they participate in all the orders of Christian life, but turn their thoughts and hearts to another area and place their joy, pleasure and happiness in other objects - these are Christians who do not have the spirit of Christ! Their concern is not about the Lord, but about one thing: how to live peacefully and comfortably on earth, among all the orders into which the random situation of temporary life places them, without, however, revealing themselves to be alien to the Christian order and without declaring themselves to be outspoken fighters against God and Christ. So, if, turning back, we want to conscientiously determine what we are in relation to the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom we exclusively served in holy baptism, then some will turn out to be zealous lovers of the Lord and Christian life; others - devoted to the world and passions, Christ-fighters; still others are outward Christians with peace-loving hearts. Which of these should I address now? The first ones do not require a word. We can only, following them, glorify the Lord and please them. Blessed are you, having heeded the calling of the Lord! You walk “in the light of His countenance” and “rejoice in His name” at every hour (Ps. 88:16, 17), crying out: “My heart is lost in You, O God, God of my heart and my God” (Ps. 72:26)! Why extend a word to the latter when they are not here and never are? They completely strayed onto the path of destruction. We can only regret them and pray. So, my word comes to you, external Christians, without the spirit of Christ, without a heart completely devoted to the Lord, without zeal to please Him alone! Or not to you alone, but to us together, for I am the first from you. What will we tell ourselves! Ah, brothers, let us force ourselves to rise to a feeling of fear for ourselves and our eternal fate. Think about what all the true lovers of God say about us, both those who are still here on earth and those who are already in Heaven. What else can they say other than the following: “These are people who, it seems, are from us, but are not ours.” It seems simple, but what a terrible word! For if we are not theirs, then they are not ours and nothing more than theirs is ours. It became not our Christ, not ours, all His promises, not our paradise and eternal bliss. And if it’s not ours, we ourselves know that it must be ours... You see, what a disaster! Meanwhile, look around: everything here is almost Christian - Christian orders, Christian concepts, Christian speeches, many Christian rules and deeds! What's missing? The Christian heart is missing. It is directed in the wrong direction. His goodness is not in God, but in himself and in the world, and his paradise is not in Heaven, but on earth. What is missing is this strong, like death, zeal for pleasing God and salvation. It’s as if we fell asleep and froze and move as the flow of life moves us. Let us arouse this jealousy in ourselves, for who will do this except us?! We ourselves have become attached to the world, but we ourselves will tear ourselves away from it. Войдемте же к сердцу своему – холодному, нерадивому и беспечному – и начнем его дружески уговаривать образумиться наконец, стряхнуть узы страстей и мира, самовольно на себя наложенные, и устремиться ко Господу. Let us say to the soul this way: “You were created in the image and likeness of God. Беспредельный Бог так благоволил устроить тебя, чтоб светиться в тебе с совершенствами Своими, как солнце светится в малой капле воды, и быть видиму в тебе и тебе, и всем видящим тебя, земным и небесным. А ты отвратилась от Бога и обратилась к миру, восприяла его мерзкий образ, чрез то стала носить зверообразное подобие князя века сего. Remember your great and incomparable first nobility, regret your present disgrace and turn to the Lord to be renewed in the image of the One who created you. God is looking for you and, searching, surrounds you with all His mercies and care: your life is His, and everything you need for life is His - light, air, food, clothing, shelter, and everything that is in you and you is His. And what else is this? For your sake, He descended from Heaven, suffered, died on the Cross, resurrected, ascended to Heaven, sent the Holy Spirit and established the Church on earth, in which He combined everything necessary for your salvation, and, most importantly, through birth and the order of your external life, He introduced you into this treasury of spiritual blessings! Видишь, сколько любви! And for all this He demands from you one heart of yours. And a drop of water, warmed by the sun, rises to grief. Why are you hesitating to turn to the Lord, warmed on all sides by the warmth of His love?! Don’t you see, everyone around is coming to the Lord, the poor, the ignorant, and the unlearned. Why are you standing there, allowing everyone to precede you into the Kingdom? Like you're worse than others? Are you concerned about anything?! Are you deprived of something that is given to everyone?! Why are you standing there?! Move, hasten, before the door is closed and opened to receive all those who turn now. Why are you standing? Turn to the Lord and start working hard for Him. Time flows - the forces grow old, become coarser and approach immobility in their wrong direction. Meanwhile, today and tomorrow is death. See that you don’t remain completely in this ossified coldness towards the Lord. Remember the terrible end, when God will finally turn away from those who do not turn to Him, will reject those who reject Him, and be moved by fear to rush to the Lord. Seek the Lord! God or the world - there is no middle. Or are you sleeping so carelessly that you don’t see anything?! Everything is there - nothing here; there is truth - here is a ghost; there is peace - here there are painful worries; there is contentment - here there is unceasing languor; there is joy and joy - here there is only sorrow and anguish of the heart. You know all this, you have experienced it all, yet you remain in the same vanity of mind and heart. Do you want to create heaven on earth? The eighth thousand already, the peace lovers are running out of means to create paradise on earth. And not only is there no success, on the contrary, everything is going for the worse. You won’t have time either, but you will only be exhausted, chasing the illusory good of the world, like children chasing a fleeing rainbow.” With such and similar speeches, we will persuade our souls to love the Lord, to turn completely to Him - to finally become resolutely zealous for their salvation. Will the same thing happen to us that happens to balloons? Being filled with gas, the finest element, with what speed they rush upward! Let us also fill our souls with heavenly truths and convictions. They will penetrate into the heart, attract desires, and there they will direct our entire being to Heaven and everything heavenly. However, what soul does not know all this? We all know that we must belong exclusively to the Lord in our hearts and turn everything towards pleasing Him alone - both small and great. But when we need to get down to business - to renounce everything - we begin to use various excuses in order to remain with our addictions. “Where are we! - They say. – This high life belongs only to the chosen ones. We, at least somehow... He who is chosen is especially called. Here is the Apostle Paul and others, apparently called like him...” To this I will say this: didn’t these chosen ones themselves follow the call of the Lord? Were they bound, as it were, attracted by grace? They heard the word, submitted and rushed to the Lord. Let there be, however, special chosen ones - and everything is special for them. But there is also a common path for everyone... We will follow this common path. In general, we are all chosen. As soon as the word of truth has touched our ears, it means that we are chosen - the Lord is calling us, and we are unresponsive if we do not follow Him. Look how others treated... One heard: “Do not hide treasures on earth for yourselves” (Matthew 6:19) - and left everything. Another read: “A man is troubled in vain! Treasures, and no one knows who I will gather” (Ps. 39:7) - he left vanity and entered on a solid path of pleasing God. The third looked at the crucifix with the inscription: “This is what I did for you; What are you doing for Me? - and surrendered to the Lord with all my heart. What is this, are these all extraordinary callings?! Yes, every day we hear and read a thousand such truths. After this, can we consider ourselves uncalled? No, brethren, it is not a calling, but a matter for us. How were these converts converted? They realized that there is no life except in the Lord, and they changed their unlike life. This should be the case for everyone. Internal change, or turning point, depends on conscientiousness in relation to the conscious truth. And this conscientiousness is always from us. Let us apply it and we will overcome ourselves. No outsider will enter the inner sanctuary of the heart. There, everything is decided by a person with his conscience and consciousness. Let us stand within ourselves before the face of God and, having more vividly reproduced everything that God wants, and having realized the inevitability and urgency of that for salvation, let us place this covenant in our hearts: from now on I will begin to belong to the Lord with all my heart and to Him alone to work with all my might. And our election will be accomplished, for election is the combination of our determination with the calling of God. “The Lord is near” (Phil.4:5). It comes to everyone and pokes at everyone’s heart, won’t anyone open it? If the heart is a closed vessel, who is to blame?! The fault is our lack of conscientiousness towards the learned truth. If it weren’t for this, everyone would always be directed towards the Lord. And how much is required?! After all, we are not completely alienated from the Lord. Only pleasing Him is not in the first place for us - it is not our main business, but, as it were, an accessory. Our business is to please people and worldly customs. Now put pleasing the Lord in first place and rearrange everything else according to the demands of this single goal - and your inner mood will change. Everything will remain the same, only the heart will become new. That's it! Is this too much?! I would like to tell you much more about the same things, but I see that I have tired you... You can tell your soul the rest yourself. For who, besides ourselves, will help the Lord take possession of our hearts? Oh, that we would submit to Him and surrender our hearts to Him and contemplate Him face to face in ourselves, and all would revolve in His light, around Him, as all the luminaries turn around the sun, turned towards it and illuminated by it, forming their own special harmonious choir! Amen. You might be interested in: