(1860) John Winebrenner, The Three Ordinances
Posted by Pastor Kurt | Filed under My Faith, Web Clips
OUTLINE
of
THE ORDINANCE OF BAPTISM
Text:Mt 28:19
I. The Administrators, Form and Law of the Ordinance of Baptism
A. The legal administrators: ministers of the Gospel
B. The Scriptural form: in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit
C. The established law, or rule, of Christian baptism
1. Negatively
a. Not the doctrine and commandments of men
b. Not the practice of men
c. Not the feelings of men
2. Positively, The Word of God
II. The Subjects of Baptism
A. Not infants and minor children
1. They have no entitling qualifications
2. They can derive no benefits from it
3. There is neither precept nor example in the New Testament
4. Arguments for infant baptism are unscriptural
B. Not carnal or unconverted adults
C. Believers are the only proper subjects
1. The command of Christ
2. The practice of the primitive church
3. The history of the Church during the first centuries
III. The Scriptural Mode and Manner of Administering Baptism
A. Not by sprinkling or pouring or washing
B. By immersion, or dipping
1. From the meaning of the word baptism
2. From the typical and figurative baptisms mentioned in the
Scriptures
3. From several places chosen for the administration of baptism
4. From the example of Christ
5. From the practice of the apostles
6. From the design of the ordinance
7. From the history of the Church
IV. The Real Design and Benefits of This Sacred Rite
A. The design or intention
1. Negatively
a. Not to confer the right of church membership
b. Not to create or affix a public sign or badge of
discipleship
2. Positively
a. For a visible putting on of Christ, or as an open and
public confession of Christ
b. To show forth and commemorate His burial and resurrection
c. To represent the Christian’s interest in Christ
B. The Benefits
1. Negatively
a. Not the remission of sins
b. Not regeneration, or the renewal of the heart
2. Positively
a. The answer of a good conscience toward God
b. The privileges and immunities of the kingdom of God
C. Answers to objections against immersion
1. That baptism by immersion is often inconvenient and
impracticable
2. That immersion cannot be reconciled with the baptism of
three thousand converts on the day of Pentecost
3. That is one has been baptized by one mode, it is sinful to
be re-baptized by another
4. That there is no explicit text stating that the apostles
baptized by immersion alone
5. That the Greek prepositions en, apo, eis, and ek
can be variously translated
6. That Paul, Cornelius and his friends, the jailor and his
family, were all baptized indoors
7. That immersion is dangerous to health
8. That immersion is indecorous or indecent
9. That it would have to be repeated in all cases of
restoration of backsliders
10. That baptism is non-essential
OUTLINE
of
THE ORDINANCE OF FEET WASHING
John 13:13-15
I. Feet Washing Is an Ordinance of the New Testament
A. The positive precept and example of Jesus Christ, as are
baptism and the Lord’s Supper
B. Christ’s commission to the apostles: “teaching them to observe
all things whatsoever I have commanded you”
C. The apostles’ teaching of feet washing
II. The Proper Time and Manner of Observing Feet Washing
A. Time
1. Not at Bethany, two days before the feast of the passover.
2. At Jerusalem, at the beginning of the passover supper
B. Manner: Take a towel, a basin of water, and wash each other’s
feet, and wipe them dry with the towel, in the example given by
Jesus
III. The Object and Design of the Institution
A. Negatively
1. Not because it was necessary
2. Not because they desired it
3. Not because it was a Jewish custom
B. Positively
1. To give Christ’s disciples an example of His deep humility
2. To test the implicit obedience of His disciples
3. To symbolize or represent the two cardinal graces of the
Christian character–humility and love
4. To erect and teach us the true standard of happiness
IV. The Obligations Incumbent Upon All Christians to Perform This
Service
A. By the command of Christ: “Ye ought to wash one another’s
feet”
1. <I>Ought</I> is a command, or at least equivalent to one
2. The text carries the authority and force of a command
B. From the example of Christ: “I have given you an example”
1. <I>Example</I> denotes a precedent for imitation
2. Power of example above precept
a. Expresses nature of Christian virtues and duties
b. Assure that certain virtues are attainable and duties
possible
c. Urge to imitation by secret and lively incentive
C. From the promise of Christ: “If ye know these things”
1. If one knows, he ought to obey Christ’s precept and follow
His example
2. True happiness is the result of faithful performance of
duty, not of knowledge of it
D. The practice of the early Christians
1. From <CITE>1Ti 5:10</CITE>
a. Beneficiary widows required to have washed saints’ feet
b. Washing the saints’ feet was literal, not spiritual
2. From early Church history
V. The Benefit Accruing from a Proper Observance of Feet Washing
A. Christians are benefitted by a proper observance of this
ordinance, because it commemorates the humility and love of
Christ
B. It represents and impresses their minds with the great
importance of humility and love in the formation of their own
Christian character
C. Because thereby they are reminded of the fact, that the vows of
God are upon them to be faithful
D. Because they humble themselves and obey Christ
VI. Answers to Popular Objections
A. That feet washing was an ancient Jewish custom
1. It cannot be shown that it was a prevailing custom
a. Guests washed their own feet
b. Feet washing was not customarily performed by servants or
hosts
2. Even if Jesus created an ordinance out of a custom, that
does not excuse us from obligation
B. That feet washing, as performed by Christ, was a mere act
of civility
1. There is no proof that Christ’s washing the disciples’ feet
was such a necessary act
2. If Christ’s washing the disciples’ feet was as useless as
giving water to a man who is not thirsty, then giving bread
and wine to saints who are neither hungry nor thirsty is
just as useless
C. That it does not typify Christ, like baptism and the Lord’s
supper
1. Baptism represents the burial and resurrection of Christ
2. The Lord’s supper represents the sufferings and death of
Christ
3. Feet washing represents the humility and love of Christ
D. That its chief design was to enforce certain moral duties, and
therefore must be taken figuratively, and not literally
1. Jesus did want to teach and enforce the duties of humility,
kindness and love
2. He intended to teach and enforce these duties through a
visible, memorial and symbolical ordinance
E. That we have no evidence that the apostles and first Christians
practised feet washing as an ordinance
1. The example of the apostles and primitive Christians is not
necessary to the validity of a religious duty
2. There is proof that feet washing was practised (<CITE>1Ti 5:10</CITE>)
F. That it has a formalizing tendency
1. The same can be said of unscriptural ceremonies such as baby
sprinkling, confirmation, love-feasts,
2. The objection comes from the “church of the catechism,” with
its formalizing and Romanizing tendencies
G. That no church receives feet washing as a sacrament
1. True, but many receive it as a divinely instituted and
symbolizing ordinance
2. Feet washing is practiced by different denominations
H. That it took place under the law, and therefore passed away
like passover, John’s baptism, tradition of elders
1. These are not needed, having been fulfilled or replaced by
Christ
2. Christian baptism and the Lord’s supper were also instituted
while the law was in force
I. That it is not essential
1. Question is not “What is essential?” but “What is the will
of God?”
2. Feet washing, as an ordinance, it part of the will of God;
as part of the will of God, it must be observed
VII. Application
A. Preachers, teach whatever Christ has commanded
B. Membership, walk in Christ’s ordinances and keep His
commandments
OUTLINE
of
THE ORDINANCE OF THE LORD’S SUPPER
1Co 11:23-29
I. The Import and Nature of the Ordinance of the Lord’s Supper
A. The import or meaning of the Lord’s Supper
1. Negatively
a. Not a sacrament, that is, an oath of allegiance
b. Not a sacrifice, that is, an oblation of Christ’s body
and blood
c. Not a eucharist, that is, a giving of thanks
2. Positively, it is a symbolical and perpetual Christian
ordinance
B. The nature of this ordinance
1. The elements
a. Bread–the kind is immaterial
b. Wine–the kind is immaterial
2. The nature of the elements
a. Not changed into the real body and blood of Christ
1) Transubstantiation–change of bread and wine into body
and blood of Christ
2) Consubstantiation–a union of the real body and blood
of Christ with the bread and wine
b. “This is my body” and “This is my blood” are to be
understood figuratively, not literally
3. The manner of observance
a. Consecration of the elements before distribution is
proper and scriptural
b. Administered by ministers of the gospel, assisted by
officials of the Church
c. The proper time is in the evening, the time of supper
d. The frequency is at least quarterly, if not oftener
e. The posture most befitting is sitting-table posture
II. THE LEADING DESIGN AND PURPOSES OF ITS INSTITUTION.
A. To commemorate the sufferings and death of Christ for the
redemption of the world
B. To show forth the Saviour’s death
C. The confession of Christ before men
D. Union and communion with the Church
III. THE QUALIFICATIONS NECESSARY FOR A WORTHY OBSERVANCE OF IT.
A. A Christian state and character
B. A reasonable knowledge of the nature and design of the
ordinances
C. A state of peace and reconciliation with the people of God
D. A suitable frame of mind
IV. The Right and Duty of All Accredited Christians to Partake of This
Holy Ordinance
A. A just right and claim to the Lord’s table
1. Not on baptism
2. Not on feet washing
3. Not on confirmation
4. Not on church membership, but
5. Upon Christian character
6. Upon sonship and heirship
B. The duty and obligation resting upon all Christians to partake
of the Lord’s supper.
1. Because Christ has expressly commanded it
2. Because it is one way, openly to confess Christ
3. Because it shows the Lord’s death
4. Because it is a means of doing good
5. Because it is a means of grace
6. Because it glorifies God
V. The Benefits Resulting from a Worthy Participation of the Lord’s
Supper
A. The extremes
1. Those who expect too much, that is, a saving ordinance
2. Those who expect not enough
B. Benefits from a right reception of the Lord’s supper
1. Communion with Christ
2. Communion with saints
3. Growth in grace, and soul-prosperity
4. A pledge and foretaste of future blessedness.
VI. The Terrible Guilt and Condemnation of Those Who Profane This
Sacred Institution
A. Those who commune from sinister and unworthy motives
B. Those who come to the Lord’s table, without discerning the
Lord’s body
C. Those who neglect to examine and prepare themselves, before
they eat the Lord’s supper
1. To ascertain whether they are Christians
2. To know whether they understand the nature and design of the
Lord’s supper
3. To know whether we are in charity with all men
D. Those who willfully sin and live in open rebellion against God
VII. Counsel and Exhortation
A. To those who habitually neglect this sacred ordinance
1. Neglect of a positive ordinance involves one in great sin
and danger
2. The sinner’s only escape from the predicament is to prepare
himself to observe the duties God has given him
B. To those are perplexed as what to do–to receive or to abstain
from this ordinance
C. To all brethren in the Christian ministry, to keep up a regular
system and uniform practice of administering the Lord’s supper
D. To all Christian and faithful brethren in Christ Jesus, to
maintain their integrity and righteousness before God
Tags: Baptism, Feet Washing, John Winebrenner, Lord's Supper, Ordinances, Sermon Outline
