Believer’s Baptism ― This gospel ordinance was established by our Lord as a clear line of separation between his church and the world. By our immersion in the watery grave, believers confess their faith in Christ’s substitutionary sacrifice (his death, burial, and resurrection in our place) as our only basis of hope before God. Rising out of the watery tomb, we confess our hope of the resurrection and our consecration to Christ, our resolve to walk with him in the newness of life. Thus confessing Christ as our Lord, we declare that all our former religion and religious works were but the uncleanness of idolatry, identifying ourselves with Christ, his people, and his gospel.