Holy baptism.
As the sermon preached by St. Peter on the day of Pentecost was the first sermon preached in the Church of God, so the baptism of which we have here an account was the first ministration of that sacrament. Our Lord's last command to his apostles was, "Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost", and now for the first time that command was carried out. A few points of special interest and importance are brought out in the narrative of this first Christian baptism.
I. ITS CLOSE CONNECTION WITH PREACHING. Here St. Peter preaches the Word with power, the hearers are pricked in their heart, and by his direction they are baptized, and so put in possession of the promised salvation. In like manner, in Mark 16:16, faith comes by hearing the gospel preached, and baptism is the complement of faith. The first baptism of Gentile believers—that recorded in Acts 10:48—was the fruit of St. Peter's sermon to the house of Cornelius.
II. ITS DISTINCTIVE FEATURE as the "one baptism for the remission of sins." So Ananias said to Saul, "Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins" (Acts 22:16). And St. Paul teaches that we are baptized into the death of Christ, and so are freed from sin. And so in the Baptismal Service we pray that the water may be sanctified to the mystical washing away of sin, and that those who come to it may receive remission of their sins; and St. Peter speaks of those who turn away from the holy commandment delivered unto them as having forgotten that they were "purged from their old sins" (2 Peter 1:9). The clement of water points distinctly to this characteristic feature of the sacrament of baptism, as appears in the prophecy of Ezekiel, "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you" (Ezekiel 36:25).
III. THE NECESSITY OF REPENTANCE AND FAITH ON THE PART OF THE BAPTIZED, as it is written, "Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ," where repentance is expressly named, and faith is necessarily implied in the phrase, being baptized "in the Name of Jesus Christ." And this is exactly the teaching of the Church in the Catechism, where the answer to the question, "What is required of persons to be baptized?" is, "Repentance, whereby they forsake sin; and faith, whereby they steadfastly believe the promises of God made to them in that sacrament."
IV. THE GREAT GIFT PROMISED TO THOSE WHO, HAVING TRULY REPENTED AND BELIEVED THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM, have been baptized into Christ, viz. the gift of the Holy Ghost. "Repent, and be baptized … and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." Upon this promise we shall all do well to fix our thoughts, and to put in our own individual claim to its fulfillment. To have the Holy Spirit of God dwelling in us is our birthright, as we are Christ's. Our common likeness to Christ as the Head of the Christian family depends upon our possession of the portion of the one Spirit which is given to all that are Christ's. He is the Fountain of all true wisdom, holiness, and love in man; and the great Christian rite of baptism is manifestly incomplete unless we actually possess the great gift which is promised to us in that sacrament. We shall have read in vain the inspired history of the first Christian baptism on the day of Pentecost, when the gift of the Holy Ghost to the newly baptized was surrounded with such striking incidents, and its connection with holy baptism was made so visible and apparent, if we disconnect in our own thoughts the grace of baptism with such an actual indwelling of the Holy Spirit in our hearts as shall make us holy in thought, word, and deed. Rather this striking and, one may say, awful narrative should fall upon the ear of the whole Church as a message to urge us who are "afar off" to be at one with those who were "near," in surrendering ourselves to the Holy Ghost to dwell among us and in us as in the holy temple of God.