The name of the sermon is Baptismal Regeneration Refuted.
There are those churches and those people that believe a person must be baptized to go to heaven.
And then there's others that say, well, you don't have to get baptized to go to heaven,
but if you're really saved 100% for sure, you're going to get baptized, right?
Which is essentially the same thing.
Obviously, we do not believe that.
We do not believe baptism has anything to do with salvation.
It is merely a picture of salvation.
But what I want to do in this sermon is first just prove to you salvation by faith alone,
and then we're going to look at the 10 most popular, most common,
biggest arguments by those that say you must be baptized,
and we're going to disprove all of those.
So this is very similar to when we talked about repentance,
and we talked about alcohol, and we went through their arguments and refuted them.
So this might be the sort of sermon where you want to have a pen out and take notes.
Because we'll go through some of them.
Some of them are some complicated verses and some complicated passages, okay?
Now, first off, why is it we do not believe baptism has anything to do with salvation?
Well, because of the fact there's a multitude of verses that say it's by faith alone.
I mean, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds.
And Romans 4 is an example of pretty much a whole chapter,
pretty much a whole book that teaches this, right?
Romans 4 verse 1,
What shall we say then that Abraham our father as pertaining to the flesh hath found?
For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God.
For what sayeth the scripture Abraham believed God,
and it was counted unto him for righteousness?
And the Bible says that if Abraham got to heaven by his works, he could glory.
Remember the Bible says lest any man should boast in Ephesians 2 9,
nobody will be able to boast about how they deserve to go to heaven.
None of us deserve to go to heaven.
And so it says he believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
It doesn't say that he was righteous because the Bible says, you know,
but by faith, he was imputed with the righteousness of God,
not because he was righteous, but because Jesus Christ was righteous, okay?
Now, Abraham, correct me if I'm wrong, but he's Old Testament, right?
So this also shows that in the Old Testament, they weren't saved by doing sacrifices.
They weren't saved by obeying, you know, the Ten Commandments and all of the rules.
No, they were saved by faith because it's the same gospel.
It's just they look forward to the coming Messiah.
We look back at the Messiah who already came and died and rose again, okay?
Verse 4, now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.
But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness.
People say, well, you can't have faith without works.
What about Romans 4, verse 5?
I mean, it talks about someone who does not work, but believes.
That sounds to me like you're able to believe without having any good works.
I mean, it's pretty clear in Romans 4, verse 5,
and that should make common sense as well, because we believe lots of things.
It doesn't mean that we actually do what we should do, right?
I mean, we believe that we should not lie, and yet we still lie sometimes.
We believe we should eat healthy, and we still eat junk food sometimes.
We believe we should do a multitude of things.
We believe that we shouldn't spend too much time on social media,
and yet we don't always have the actions to back that up, right?
Just because you believe something doesn't mean you're going to have the actions to do it, okay?
You can have faith without works.
Verse 6, even as David also described it,
the blessedness of the man unto whom God impudeth righteousness without works.
Now, David's Old Testament too, right?
I just want to double check in case, you know, my Bible knowledge is lacking, right?
David's Old Testament also, and he talks about how salvation is by faith alone.
And it says in verse 7, saying blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven
and whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
And here's the thing.
David was a man who was a man after God's own heart,
but he also committed some pretty bad sins.
But you know what?
They had eternal life in the Old Testament.
It's righteousness without the works of the law, so he did not lose his salvation.
He got judged in this life like a father would do to their children,
but he did not lose his salvation because he had eternal life in the Old Testament, okay?
So the first reason why we believe that you don't have to be baptized
is there's just a multitude of verses that say it's by faith alone.
And I didn't even go to the most common verses.
I went to these to just show you in the Old Testament also that it's by faith alone.
Now go to Romans 11, Romans 11, Romans 11, Romans chapter 11.
Now another thing you need to realize is this,
that we did just look at a few people
that were saved in the Old Testament by faith alone, the Bible teaches.
But I want you to realize something.
The service of God has changed here in the New Testament,
but salvation has never changed.
And when I mean the service of God,
in the Old Testament, if you really wanted to live for God,
you kind of had to relocate
because the Levitical priesthood belonged to God's specific people.
And you know what?
If you got saved in Nineveh, you could believe on Jesus Christ,
but if you really wanted to serve God, you're going to have to relocate.
Now in our modern day, the application would be the local church.
You can get saved and never come to this church,
but if you really want to serve God, don't you have to be part of a good church?
So the service of God has changed, but the salvation has never changed.
What's my point?
Here's my point.
There was no baptism in the Old Testament.
I mean, I get the fact John the Baptist practiced baptism
before the resurrection of Jesus,
but I'm saying from Genesis to Malachi, show me the baptism.
Okay.
And look, just because Naaman went in water doesn't mean that was baptism.
You're not going to see the baptism.
Now some people say, well, here's the thing, Brother Stuckey.
You're ignorant.
You don't understand.
Baptism is like the new circumcision.
I'm ignorant.
Because last I checked, men and women get baptized.
Last I checked, women don't get circumcised.
So how is that a replacement for circumcision?
I mean, does this make any sense?
Because here's the thing.
If men had to get circumcised in the Old Testament,
there's an extra step of salvation for men.
It's like God is not a respecter of persons.
Salvation has always been the same.
So I'm sorry, baptism is not the same as circumcision.
It's not a replacement.
Because what baptism is, is you picture the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.
Okay.
That's what the purpose of baptism is.
And you're showing the world that you believe that Jesus died and paid for your sins.
It's a public profession of your faith.
Okay.
And so that is not a replacement for circumcision.
So here's the thing.
If they didn't get baptized in the Old Testament,
then why would we have to do that today for salvation?
Because salvation has never changed.
He said, Well, I think salvation has changed because I'm a dispensationalist.
Well, we just looked at Romans 4 that disprove that.
But let's look at Romans 11.
That's even more clear about this.
Romans 11, verse 2.
God hath not cast away his people, which he foreknew.
Why he not what the scripture sayeth in verse 2 of Elias?
How he make the intercession to God against Israel, saying.
Now, Elias is referring to Elijah.
You can tell from the context here.
This is Elijah.
Elijah was Old Testament, right?
I just want to double check here today, because, I mean, I've been told so long
how salvation just kind of changes every couple of years or whatever.
Elijah is Old Testament.
Verse 3.
Lord, they have killed thy prophets and dig down thine altars, and I am left alone,
and they seek my life.
But what sayeth the answer of God unto him?
I have reserved to myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.
Now, Paul is speaking about Elijah.
Paul is New Testament after the resurrection of Jesus.
Right?
Elijah is Old Testament long before Jesus ever was even born.
Right?
So we have Old Testament and New Testament, and Paul is bringing up the Old Testament.
And what he says in verse five is this.
Even so, then at this present time also, meaning after the resurrection of Jesus in my day,
even so, then at this present time also there is a remnant, according to the election of grace.
Do you see how Paul is saying that in the days of Elijah, it was election by grace?
In my day, it's election by grace.
He said, Brother Psyche, I thought it was election by race.
And that's why Elijah was saved.
No, it's always been election by grace.
Okay?
I mean, it is possible you have a Bible where you've used this so much,
the G got kind of, you know, smudged off, and it looks like,
look, it's election by grace in all time periods.
The only difference is we look back toward the Messiah who died for us.
They look toward the coming Messiah.
But verse five clearly says, even so, at this present time also,
also means in that day as in this day.
Okay?
It's always been election by grace.
So look, in the Old Testament, they didn't have to be baptized to be saved.
They didn't have the baptism.
They didn't do that.
So why would we have to be baptized today when salvation is the exact same?
Doesn't make any sense, right?
Go to Luke 23.
Luke 23.
And look, I know we know this, but, you know, there's always new people and everything.
We need to be reminded of stuff.
And I just want to look at this topic very comprehensively here today.
Another thing is this.
So number one, when it comes to why we don't have to be baptized,
well, there's a lot of verses that say it's by faith alone.
He that believeth, whosoever believeth.
What must I do to be saved?
And they said, believe.
They didn't say get baptized.
Number two, because the service of God has changed, but salvation is the same.
It's always been the same.
Okay.
Number three, because there's people in the Bible that got saved without getting baptized.
So if you can get saved without getting baptized,
that's a pretty good indicator that you didn't have to be baptized to be saved.
It says in Luke 23, verse 39.
And one of the malefactors, which were hanged, railed on him, saying,
If thou be Christ, save thyself in us.
Luke 23, verse 40.
But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God,
seeing thou art in the same condemnation?
And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds.
But this man hath done nothing amiss.
And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
So this man, beside Jesus on the cross,
he changes his mind about what he believes as he's up there.
And he changes his mind, and then he says to Jesus,
Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
This is like calling upon the name of the Lord.
It shows what's actually inside of his heart, what he believes.
And Jesus said, Jesus said unto him,
Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise.
Okay, so look, he clearly got saved and didn't get baptized.
And we're going to look at some other examples
of people getting saved and not getting baptized.
There's actually a lot of people in Acts 2 that got saved without getting baptized.
But here's a very clear example.
Some people would say, Well, that's before Jesus died.
Well, it is, but then Jesus died and he was still alive.
So it is before Jesus rose again, and I'll agree with you on that.
But see, salvation hasn't changed, though.
So look, he didn't have to get baptized
because baptism is a show that you believe this.
And guess what?
It's kind of hard when you're on the cross to get baptized.
Okay, if you believe in immersion for baptism.
Okay, so he got saved and he didn't get baptized.
Now go to Acts 10.
Acts 10, I'll show you one last place.
And then we're going to look at the arguments they use.
So from my experience, it's usually like the Pentecostals that believe
you have to be baptized to go to heaven.
And then in America, the cult we call Church of Christ,
which is not the same as INC, but it's like a homegrown American Church of Christ.
They're very big on baptism, baptism, baptism, right?
And I got so many stories about that because there's
I don't know if we'll have time to get into it,
but those are usually the denominations.
But then what you see is other churches and denominations.
Well, we're not saying you have to be baptized to go to heaven.
But if you're really saved, you're going to get baptized, right?
I mean, you can read John Calvin saying,
no, no, baptism has nothing to do with salvation.
But and look, I've read a lot of John Calvin's commentary just to preach against it.
People that say I'm ignorant on Calvinism.
I'm sure I've read more about John Calvin than them.
I've read his commentary on Romans and other books.
And he says, well, I'm not saying you have to be baptized to go to heaven.
But every single person that does believe will get baptized.
That's the same thing.
I mean, there's no difference.
And see, there are a lot of churches that teach that.
Well, if you have faith and you're going to have works, right?
I mean, you got all these people saved, Brother Stuckey.
You know, I don't really know if they're saved because I didn't see them get baptized.
Right.
Salvation has nothing to do with baptism.
Acts 10, verse 43.
To him, give all the prophets witness that through his name
whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.
In Acts 10, verse 43.
So if you believe, you have your forgiveness or remission of sins.
Verse 44.
While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.
And they of the circumcision which believe were astonished, as many as came with Peter,
because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.
For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God.
Then answered Peter, can any man forbid water that these should not be baptized,
which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?
Isn't it very clear here they already have the Holy Ghost and they haven't been baptized?
You know what that shows you?
You don't have to be baptized to be saved.
Now, should they get baptized?
Absolutely.
That has nothing to do with being saved.
And somebody might think, you know, if somebody comes from a different background of a church,
they might think, well, you're Baptist.
So you must think baptism has part to do with salvation.
No, we don't.
We believe it's a sign that, you know what?
A person does believe it has nothing to do with actually being saved.
Okay, so the Bible is just very, very clear.
And then it says, and he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord,
then pray they him to Terry certain days.
Now go to Matthew chapter three, Matthew three, Matthew chapter three.
I mean, literally all the verses we use out soul winning.
John three 16, John three 36, John one 12, Roman six 23, whatever verses you use.
Those all disprove the need for baptism because they say all you have to do is believe.
But we're going to look at the 10 biggest arguments that they use.
The 10 biggest arguments that I've found or I've heard or I've read online.
I'm sure there's some other argument that I'm not aware of,
or maybe I just didn't put it in the top 10 because this is already going to be a long sermon.
And you know what?
I'm not going to spend five hours just proving something that is very clear in the Bible.
We're just going to look at their biggest arguments and disprove those.
So we're going to go basically in order from Matthew to Revelation.
Now the books are not always chronological, but I'm just saying from Matthew to Revelation,
we're just going to go in order, except for one exception for a certain reason.
So the first argument is in Matthew.
And what this argument is, is, well, Jesus was baptized.
So therefore you need to be baptized to go to heaven.
Now that is a common argument.
I didn't say all of these 10 are good arguments.
I said, we're going through the most common arguments because this is a really bad argument.
Okay.
And you say, well, what makes it a really bad argument?
Because here's the thing.
If baptism, if the purpose of baptism is to forgive your sins or wash away your sins,
guess who would not have been baptized?
Jesus Christ.
You say, why?
He's perfect.
If the purpose of baptism was to wash away your sins, why was Jesus baptized?
So let's just take their argument and throw back to them because that doesn't make any sense.
It was a picture that he was going to die and pay for our sins and rise again.
And we show that we believe that.
But if the purpose was to forgive your sins, which they're saying,
Jesus would not have been baptized.
Matthew 3, verse 14.
But John forbade him saying, I have need to be baptized of thee and comest thou to me.
And Jesus answering said onto him, suffered be so now for thus it become with us to fulfill
all righteousness.
Then he suffered him.
And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straight way out of the water.
And lo, the heavens were opened on him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a
dove and lighting upon him.
And lo, a voice from heaven saying, This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.
So look, there's no question Jesus was baptized.
And I believe he was baptized as an adult just to show that you need to believe first.
I mean, he could have been baptized when he was 10 or 12, but he got baptized around the
age of 30 just to show that it's done after you believe.
And he went out of the water, indicating he was actually in the water because baptism
is immersion.
Now I've seen pictures where they basically go out in the middle of the water waist deep.
And then there's like a table, right?
A table.
And then they just dump water on his head.
And it's just like, why did you get the rest of your body wet if it's just a little bit
of water on the head?
Right?
Because you know what?
My hair is naturally kind of curly.
So when I wake up, oftentimes it's like all over the place.
So you know what I try to do if I'm not taking a shower is just kind of get my hair wet.
There's no point in getting the rest of my body wet if I'm just trying to fix my hair,
right?
If all baptism was was just a little bit of water on the top of the head, why would they
just walk out in the middle of the water?
It doesn't make any sense, right?
Baptism is by immersion and it's done to show that you believe.
So look, they say Jesus was baptized.
So what's your point?
Jesus spent the night in prayer before.
I've never done that.
Does that mean I have to do that to go to heaven?
Jesus died on a cross.
Do I have to die on a cross in order to go to heaven?
Jesus did a lot of things I'm never going to do.
He was tempted by the devil.
He fasted for 40 days.
Do I have to do those things to go to heaven?
Just because Jesus did something doesn't mean that I have to do that to go to heaven.
That just means that He did something, okay?
And look, there are a million things that Jesus did that we're never going to do.
And one thing that's great is we're never going to go to hell, right?
And Jesus died and went to hell to pay for our sins and He rose again after three days.
There are things Jesus did that we're never going to do, okay?
Go to Mark 16.
Mark 16.
I mean, it just seems like there's a lot of people.
They believe every single verse is directly about salvation.
It drives me crazy.
They'll show a verse and says,
Well, see, He tells you to keep the Ten Commandments.
What does that have to do with getting to heaven though?
It doesn't say it has anything to do with getting to heaven.
But it just seems like people that are either not saved or just ignorant of the Bible,
they think like every verse, how do we relate this to salvation?
You don't.
Because not all of it has anything to do with salvation.
A lot of it is just about serving God.
And since the Bible is written to believers, quite honestly,
there's more in the Bible about living a holy life than about being saved.
Because we figured that out a long time ago when we heard the gospel from someone and we believed.
Argument number two is in Mark 16 verses 15 and 16.
And it says,
And he said unto them,
Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.
It says in Mark 16 verse 16,
But he that believeth not shall be damned.
So they'll say,
Well, see, notice how it says you must believe and be baptized to be saved.
That's their argument.
Okay, now this is one of their more common arguments.
This is probably one of their better arguments,
but it's not really that hard to disprove because I want you to realize it doesn't say
you must believe and be baptized to be saved.
We have Acts chapter 16 that says,
What must I do to be saved?
And they said,
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
If you had to be baptized, it would have said baptism also in Acts 16.
All this says is this.
If you believe and you get baptized, you're going to be saved.
But here's the thing.
There could be a million things put in there that if you do all of these things, you'll be saved.
It doesn't mean all those are required.
I mean, he that believeth and goes to church and starts reading the Bible and prays and
gets baptized shall be saved.
That's a true statement.
But you don't have to do all those things to be saved.
The only thing you have to do to be saved is believe.
And you could add in 50 things afterwards.
And look, as long as it doesn't say you must do this.
Guess what?
There's no problem with it.
So, yeah, if you believe you'll be saved.
If you believe and get baptized, you'll be saved.
If you believe and get baptized and eat a Jollibee, you'll be saved.
If you believe and get baptized and eat a Jollibee and, you know, whatever, play Mobile Legends.
I don't know.
You'll still be saved.
Okay.
That doesn't mean you have to play Mobile Legends to be saved.
All you have to do to be saved is believe.
And we have hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of verses that say that.
You say, well, why does Jesus mention baptism?
Well, he mentions it because of the fact he's trying to just motivate the members to say,
don't just get people saved, but get them in church, get them baptized, get them in church,
get them to start obeying the things of God.
So he mentions baptism.
But here's the thing.
Jesus is talking to people that have been soul owners for years.
Look, if somebody's new to church or they've never been to church or we talk to them and,
you know what, you mentioned baptism in a statement like this, they're probably going
to be confused.
But, you know, if someone's been a soul winner for years and I talk about how, hey, you know,
let's get people saved and get them to come to church and get baptized, you're not going
to be like, oh, wait a minute.
They got to come to church to be saved.
I thought it was by faith alone.
I'm confused now.
He's speaking to people that are soul winners and he's trying to motivate them, get them
saved and get them to come to church and get baptized.
But he does not say they must believe and be baptized.
He just says, if you believe in your baptized, you'll be saved.
But notice the key of what sends you to hell, but he that believeth not shall be damned
because what sends you to hell is not believing.
Okay, so the key in this verse, once again, when you closely look at it, does come down
to the believing part, because if somebody doesn't get baptized, that doesn't damn them.
That doesn't send them to hell.
But what sends someone to hell is that they do not believe.
But what Jesus is trying to do is motivate them.
Hey, preach the gospel and you know what?
Get him saved and also get him to come to church and get baptized and start serving
God.
Okay, that's the reason why it mentions believing and being baptized.
It does not say you must do both those things.
I could certainly see how someone could be confused about this who was not saved.
Because that verse, just reading it without thinking about it and without thinking about
the rest of the Bible, I could see how you could be deceived by that.
But let me tell you something.
I saw an invitation a long time ago from the Church of Christ, not that Church of Christ,
but the American Church of Christ, and they had Mark 16, verse 16 in the gospel tract,
and they just ended it at he that believeth in his baptized shall be saved.
Why didn't you put the rest of that verse in?
Is it because it would disprove what you believe?
It's like, talk about being misleading.
See, the Bible teaches you must get baptized, dot, dot, dot.
They just avoid the part that says it's just by believing, right?
Even they know it's not a great argument.
Go to John 3, John 3, John 3, John chapter 3.
It's probably in their top three best arguments, though.
It's probably one of the top couple most common arguments, to be honest.
I really don't.
I mean, this isn't really a confusing topic in the Bible, though.
Like the Bible is very clear.
It's by faith alone.
And look, I don't want to leave any stone unturned.
I want to go through all these verses, and I want us to be able to prove false doctrines
wrong.
So that's why we're going through this.
And we'll do future sermons about eternal security and any manner of topic, speaking
in tongues or whatever topic under the sun through the years.
Okay, this is not a complicated topic in the Bible, though.
It's very, very clear in the Bible that salvation is by faith alone.
Argument number three.
So argument number one.
Well, Jesus was baptized.
What's your point?
Argument number two is Mark 16 verses 15 and 16.
And then argument number three is John chapter three, verse five.
Okay, it says in John three, verse five.
Jesus answered, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of
the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
And so it talks about being born of water and of the spirit.
And unless you're born of water and of the spirit, you cannot enter into the kingdom
of God.
And look, the Bible mentions both these things.
So he's talking to Nicodemus.
You need to be born of water and of the spirit is what he tells him.
Okay, well, whenever you have a verse, if somebody throws a verse at you and it seems
to go against what you believe, what you want to do is look at the context, right?
Look at the verses around it, because a verse could be taken out of context and seem to
teach one thing.
Let's look at the verses around it.
Now, first off, my Bible didn't say except a man is baptized.
It says born of water.
Okay, it doesn't say baptism.
It just says born of water.
Okay, they assume everything.
Every time the word waters mentioned is baptism.
Like John four, you know, Jesus, you know, asked to get a drink of water.
He's just baptizing himself, right?
I mean, it just says water.
It doesn't even say baptism, but it says in John three, verse three.
Let's look at the context.
Jesus answered and said unto him, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus saith unto him, how can a man be born when he is old?
Now, what is Nicodemus thinking about in verse four?
He's thinking about the physical birth, right?
It's like, can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born?
He's saying, you're saying I have to re-enter my mom's womb and get born, right?
And look, it doesn't matter how much religion, you know, or whatever.
If you're not saved, just concepts are all way over your head, right?
He's like, do I have to enter the second time into my mom's womb?
How do I do that, right?
Well, I have no idea how you would do that.
That's a good question, right?
So he's thinking of the physical birth.
Now I want you to realize that there are many things we don't always discuss out so many.
For example, you know, the reprobate doctrine is really doesn't have much to do with salvation
in a normal conversation.
However, if somebody brings up the reprobate doctrine,
we just talked about this in a soul winning tip either last week or the week before that.
If they bring it up because it's a hindrance to them getting saved,
then you might have to discuss it.
So here's the thing.
Nicodemus is confused about the concept of being born again,
and he's thinking about a physical birth.
So Jesus must explain this so he understands it.
He can't just skip over it because this is obviously a hang up for Nicodemus about being born.
He's saying being physically born.
So Jesus says in verse five, Jesus answered verily, verily,
I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit,
he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
You say, Brother Stuckey, it sounds like baptism.
Well, let's read the next verse as he explains verse five.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit of spirit.
So that which is born of the spirit of spirit is being born of the spirits, right?
That which is born of the flesh is flesh is being born of water.
That's the physical birth because Nicodemus is confused about the physical birth.
So Jesus explains the physical birth.
You say, Brother Stuckey, you know,
what does being born of water have to do with a physical birth?
You don't have any kids, do you?
Because the water breaks in a woman.
It's kind of a big part of the pregnancy process.
That's kind of like the moment where the guy starts.
He passes out.
He's scared and everything, you know, like, oh, what do I do?
What do I do right?
That's the moment where it's like, oh, man, reality has hit me right in the face, right?
Once the water breaks, okay, it's game time, right?
And so, look, being born of water, you could see how Jesus would use that
as a way to explain the physical birth, couldn't you?
That's a large part of the process.
So if you look at the context here, this is non-debatable in John 3
because he explained what he was talking about.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh.
Unsaved people don't get this, right?
Like, I made a video on YouTube a little while ago because I had my friend from grade school
who's like a hardcore church of Christ person, and he's explaining John 3.
He's like, well, everybody believed this was baptism, so John Calvin taught it.
It's like, well, not if you're saved because John 3 verse 6 clearly says
that which is born of the flesh is flesh.
He explains it.
He doesn't just leave it up to your interpretation.
No, he explains it.
There's really nothing to debate about this passage.
Water is the physical birth.
He says that.
Now turn in your Bible to Acts 2.
Acts chapter 2.
Acts 2.
Acts chapter 2 verse 38.
When you think of Bible faith in Christians, kind of the verse that you think that kind
of represents us is like John 3 16 is the most famous verse.
But when you run into people that believe you have to baptize, their verse is Acts 2 38.
That's the big one, right?
And another story about the Church of Christ.
Okay.
I remember and I've mentioned this story before.
This is the Church of Christ.
Remember where I'm not going on this door and this guy was in a wheelchair and he had
like a caretaker and I was talking to him kind of from a distance.
He's coming to the door because his caretaker opened the door and I asked him, you know,
if you went to church and asked him, you know, what do you think you have to do to get to
heaven?
Acts 2 38.
And he's saying that as he's willing himself closer.
And I'm out of here.
But it's like that's their verse.
It's like funny you pick a verse that mentions nothing about believing, right?
That uses the word believe and that's your verse to prove what you believe.
It's just Acts 2 38 is what they say.
So let's look at Acts 2 38 and then we're going to explain it.
And let me just also say this, that some of these verses are kind of tricky and you know
what?
Good people could have different interpretations of them and that's perfectly fine because
here's the thing.
As long as you believe that baptism is just a picture of salvation and it has nothing
to do with salvation and it's after salvation by immersion, then you know what?
We believe the same doctrine.
If you interpret a verse differently, that's perfectly fine.
Good people interpret stuff differently.
This is why it's supposed to have like a Bible study.
Well, what's your opinion?
What's your opinion?
Because we're gonna have different opinions and here's the truth.
I'm not always going to be writing my opinion because I'm not perfect.
I could look at something one way and I could be wrong about this.
That's why I encourage you to read the Bible for yourself because you know what?
If you're safe, you've got the Holy Spirit truth inside of you that teaches you all things
and as you read, you can learn things from the Bible.
You know, I listened to all the sermons on Wednesday night and I learned things from
the sermons that are preached.
It's not like I've arrived at this state where I know everything in the Bible.
No, I'm still learning myself.
Okay.
And what?
Acts 2 38.
I've heard a lot of good people have different opinions.
I'm just giving you what my opinion is on what's being said here.
Okay.
Acts 2 verse 38.
Then Peter said on to them, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus
Christ for the remission of sins and he shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Now, first off, whenever you have a verse that seems to contradict what you believe,
realize that you already have hundreds of verses that show it's just by faith.
So you don't just say, well, maybe I'm wrong about John 3 16 and every other verse.
No, maybe you're just interpreting one verse wrong.
Okay.
All the other verses you're right about.
Now, one thing I want to mention just from a grammatical standpoint, I wish I had like
Pastor Sheldon is the whiteboard.
I wish I had that would help out.
But you know, when you have commas in a sentence, oftentimes what happens is what's in between
the commas gives extra clarification.
For example, I had a sentence like this.
Matthew is a preacher.
That would be a pretty vague sentence, wouldn't it?
What if you said Matthew comma who lives in the Philippines comma is a preacher that narrows
it down to be more specific on who Matthew is, right?
Or Matthew who lives at such and such street.
Then it would make it very clear to talk about me, right?
Sometimes what's in commas is giving extra clarification, but if you remove what's in
the commas, the sentence will still make perfect sense.
So Matthew Stuckey who lives in the Philippines as a preacher is a sentence.
Matthew Stuckey is a preacher is also a sentence, right?
So you can remove the part of the parentheses in commas or parentheses commas in this case
and a sentence should still make sense.
You say, what are you talking about?
Then Peter said onto them, repent and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Isn't that a sentence with a verb and a noun that makes perfect sense, right?
Repent and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Now notice it does not say repent of your sins, receive the Holy Ghost.
Now I'm not preaching about repentance here today, but I don't want to avoid it.
What it's saying is because in Acts chapter two you got people from all over the place
and Peter's preaching the sermon while all these soldiers are out getting people saved
and they didn't believe on Jesus Christ.
And so Peter's telling them to change what they believe and believe on Jesus.
So repent of your false belief and believe on Jesus Christ.
And if you change what you believe and believe on Jesus, you shall receive the gift of the
Holy Ghost.
It'd be like if I was in, I don't know, India or Thailand or wherever and I said repent
and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
I'm saying quit worshiping Shiva, quit worshiping Buddha, quit your false religion and believe
on Jesus Christ.
Okay.
So I believe when he's saying repent and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost,
he's saying change what you believe and then you'll receive the Holy Ghost.
And isn't that exactly what happens when you get saved?
You receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Now realize when you're seeing verses in the Bible, the other thing you have to understand
is with a soul in conversation, you're not reading the entire conversation.
I mean, if you had a 30 minute conversation, that would take up quite a bit.
Do you ever see a soul in conversation that's 30 minutes?
You see, by the second, that's why my soul in presentation is 30 seconds because that's
not the whole conversation, right?
I mean, in Acts 16, what must it do to be saved?
They said more than just believe.
Obviously, they explained what they're talking about, right?
Here you're seeing this verse.
He's already explained how it's by faith alone and it's kind of like a closing.
Hey, repent of what you believe.
Change what you believe in order to receive the Holy Ghost.
And see, the repentance takes place before the baptism according to this verse because
when you change what you believe, that's when you receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
You say, why does it say be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for
the remission of sins?
Because it sounds like you have to be baptized to get the remission of sins.
I mean, doesn't the word for mean in order to obtain or in order to get the remission
of sins?
Well, let me ask you a question.
If I told you take paracetamol for a headache, are you taking paracetamol in order to get
a headache?
Is that why people take paracetamol or do you take paracetamol because you have a headache?
Because you have a headache.
Take paracetamol for a headache.
See, words like for can be used.
If you ever look up the definition on words like for that are just a couple of hundred
definitions because they're used in a variety of different ways and those things never
translate perfectly to another language.
That's why sometimes I say these wrong.
My wife's like, no, that's like the opposite of what you're trying to say.
Right?
The word for can mean in order to get.
It can also mean because you've already gotten.
Okay, take paracetamol because you already have a headache or want it for her.
You're wanted because you already committed murder.
You're not wanted because in order to obtain murder, that doesn't make any sense, right?
So he's saying be baptized for the remission of sins will get baptized because you have
the remission of sins not to get the remission of sins.
So you repent of your false belief.
You believe on Jesus Christ to get the Holy Ghost, which is also gives you the remission
of sins.
And because you have the remission of sins, get baptized.
What job can it be baptized?
If thou believe this was all right and hard, right?
So that's what I believe has been said here in Acts 2, change what you believe, and that's
what's going to get you the remission of sins or Holy Ghost.
And because you have that, get baptized because you have the remission of sins.
Another reason why I believe that is in Acts 2 verse 41 in the context.
Notice what it says.
Then they that gladly received his word were baptized in the same day.
They're added under them about 3000 souls.
Now a lot of people take this verse and say, well, see, 3000 people got saved in the day
of Pentecost.
No, that's not true.
A lot more than 3000 got saved.
We don't know the number, but at least 3001 based on the grammar here, because he says
they, they gladly received his word.
Do you have to gladly receive the word of God to be saved?
What does the Bible says?
Say, but as many as received him to them, as many as received, not as many as gladly
received in the parable of the sower talks about receiving the word of God with joy and
the joy or gladness versus are basically synonyms saying you don't just receive salvation, but
you do something with it.
Look, people come to this church because they didn't just receive the word of God, but they
gladly received it.
And I don't want to go to a church where people are going to mock this church and criticize
this church, but I'm coming here because I want to learn the word of God and I want to
serve God.
You say, why?
Because you gladly received the word.
We get a lot of people say that just received the word and praise the Lord for that.
I mean, if you got 10 people saved this past week, praise the Lord for that.
That doesn't mean you're all going to get baptized.
So you say, why?
Because the ones that gladly received the word get baptized, but most don't gladly
receive the word.
They just received the word, but receiving the word with joy, according to the parable
of the sower, or gladly receiving the word.
Those are the ones who get baptized.
So Peter preaches and some people believe and get forgiveness of sins, but they choose
not to get baptized even though they have the forgiveness of sins.
3000 got saved, baptized and basically joined the church and just regularly became members.
Now that's probably something we're never going to recreate.
And quite honestly, I would love that to take place, but you know what?
I don't think this building can fit 3000 people, right?
I mean, I guess we can try, but it's probably not going to happen, right?
And so, but what you see here in Acts 2 verse 38 is he talks about believing on Jesus or
any of your false belief in receiving the Holy Ghost.
And then you're getting baptized because you have the remission of sins.
And some people gladly receive the word according to Acts 2 verse 41 and some don't.
And those that gladly received his word are 3000.
And what says we're added on to them, it doesn't say added on to heaven.
It says added on to them meaning that they were actually with them.
This doesn't mean we should question if somebody got saved because they didn't come to church,
right?
That has nothing to do with being saved.
It's just by believing, okay?
Go to Acts chapter 8, Acts 8, Acts 8.
I mean, most people just aren't that interested in coming to church or their interest is very
low, but just not enough to actually do it.
Okay.
They're kind of interested as long as like many things in their life, you know, work
themselves out or whatever.
It's like, well, you know, you're probably going to fail at it.
That's reality.
And you know what?
That's fine because our job as a Christian is to serve other people.
So our goal here on earth is to get people saved and serve God.
And you know what?
The truth is, though, that if we have lots of people in this room that didn't actually
want to live for God would come to destroy what makes this church great.
It would be exciting at first, but everything would be different.
So it's good.
The fact that when people come to a church like this are actually people want to serve
God, right?
Argument number five is that throughout the book of Acts, when people are getting baptized,
when people believe they always get baptized now, first off, that's not true because if
you look at Acts two, we already disproved that.
I mean, very clearly by the wording, people can get saved without getting baptized.
But honestly, it makes sense that most people that we get baptized to say why, because in
our modern day, people that we generally don't get baptized, but this makes sense.
You say, why does this make sense?
Well, let me give you a couple of examples and I'll show you a few verses.
Okay.
Let's say, for example, that we were to write down the most significant, so many stories
in your life.
And you live to be, let's say, a hundred years old and write down every significant
story.
We probably write down the stories where you got somebody saved that came to church and
got baptized.
We probably wouldn't write about just a random person who got saved where there's nothing
significant.
You're going to write about significant stories.
Somebody from a very unique religion who gets saved.
Somebody comes to church and gets baptized.
I mean, think about this.
I mean, when you think of just an athlete, think of Michael Jordan.
I mean, people remember game six, Utah Jazz, NBA finals.
He shoves Byron Russell and then drains the job privately.
But what happened in game two of the regular season in 1997?
Does anybody know?
Nobody knows.
I mean, I remember as a kid watching.
I was in Utah Jazz.
It's like he shoved him.
Right.
But I was also an Indian, an Indiana Pacers fan.
And right here, I clearly shot Michael Jordan.
So I guess, you know, but here's the thing.
Like no one remembers game 22 of a regular season because it's not that significant.
I mean, one win or one loss is not that big of a deal during a regular season.
Right.
But at the NBA playoffs, game six.
Well, that's something you remember.
Right.
Well, here's the thing.
It's writing the most significant events that took place.
So the things that's going to write about are the biggest events.
So it's going to talk about people that got baptized.
Right.
But this doesn't mean this is the only soloing they do.
I'm sure you did lots of soloing where they just got seven people saved and none of them
came to church.
But hey, they're excited.
Right.
Ask eight verse 12.
But when they believe Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God in the
name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized both men and women.
And so it talks about people believing and getting baptized.
Okay.
We'll go to ask eight verse 35.
Acts eight verse 35.
Then Philip opened his mouth and began the same scripture and preached on it with Jesus.
And as they went out of their way, they came out of a certain water and the unit said,
see here is water.
Interview.
So the unit says, well, here's water.
What's stopping me from being baptized?
And Philip said, if I'll believe this with both my heart and I'm asked the answer and
said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God.
So Philip says, well, you got to make sure that you believe first.
Okay.
If you believe you can get baptized and he commanded the charity to stand still and it
went down both into the water.
Hello.
Ask eight.
This is one of the most exciting stories of the Bible.
I don't have time to go into it, but Phil wants to reach him.
I mean, can you imagine we're going soul winning and then all of a sudden you're so
many Parker, you just hear him just like running and it's like chasing somebody down and
it reaches the gospel to them.
That's probably something, a story that you tell people about.
It's pretty significant, right?
This is a big story, but you know, it doesn't even say in the story that you have to be
baptized.
It just says he got baptized.
It's a great story.
It's an exciting story, but where does it say you have to be baptized?
He doesn't say.
Okay, so look, yes, most of the instances in acts, they are getting baptized.
That's because it's writing about the significant solving stories, not just the normal everyday
ones.
Okay.
Go to Acts 22.
Acts 22.
And here's the thing.
You know what?
If you're, if you're a soldier for your life, you're going to have some exciting stories
of somebody who got saved and came to church or somebody greatly impacted, but you know,
the reality is most times when you go so many, nothing major is really going to happen.
I mean, you're going to get people saved and that's obviously major, but I'm saying nothing
where you're like, man, this was like earth shattered.
Like, can you believe this took place?
Right?
That doesn't happen that often.
And you know what?
It is what it is.
Don't just go solely for the excitement of just doing something crazy.
It's like, we should be happy just getting a normal person saved.
It never comes to church and praise the Lord today.
We try to get them to come to church, but you know what?
They probably won't.
Okay.
Acts 22 verse 16.
Now, this is another instance in Acts, but I want to mention this one because this is
one of the big arguments.
Acts, Acts 22 verse 16.
This is their sixth argument.
And now why Terry is out, arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins, calling on the name
of the Lord.
Now what you realize here that once again, this is giving you a small snippet of the
soul winning conversation.
I mean, it doesn't really mention a whole lot here in the soul winning conversation,
but he's obviously preached the gospel in him and obviously Paul believes this and he
says, arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.
Washing away your sins is actually linked toward calling on the name of the Lord.
It's not linked to being baptized.
I understand why people think, oh, it's baptism because it says wash, but actually most of
the time the word washes in the Bible has nothing to do with baptism.
I get the fact, yes, there's water involved, but you know what?
Washing away thy sins is linked to calling on the name of the Lord.
Because when you believe on Jesus Christ in your heart and call upon him, your sins are
washed away.
And what you do afterwards is you get baptized because you have salvation.
Okay, now I will admit this verse by itself is tricky, right?
The wording is very unique.
Okay, but it's part of a long soul winning conversation and I would just highlight once
again that we have hundreds of verses of what we already believe.
So just because you have one verse that sounds awkward, that doesn't mean that you overall
overhaul hundreds of verses.
The wash away thy sins is linked with calling on the name of the Lord.
And obviously Paul was a special case that wanted to serve God.
And Ananias is saying, okay, you believe on him, call upon him and then get baptized.
That's what's going on in Acts 22 verse 16.
Now go to Titus 3 verse 5.
Titus 3 verse 5.
I'm going to go out of order for this one because I want to look at that phrase of washing
because their seventh argument is Titus 3 verse 5.
I mean, for us, we believe salvation by believing, so we have lots of verses that talk about
believing.
If people think that baptism is required for salvation, every time they see the word wash,
see baptism, every time they see the word wash, see baptism.
Like they just take everything and just apply it to baptism because they don't have a lot
of verses to support their belief.
Titus 3 verse 5.
This is one of the arguments they use.
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy saved us
by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost.
Now, first off, if the washing of regeneration is talking about baptism, does it make any
sense to start the verse by saying it's not your verse, it's your baptism?
I mean, I quote this verse sometimes, not by works of righteousness, which we have done
even when I preach the gospel.
It's a great verse on salvation.
But it's like, it's not by works of righteousness which you have done, but according to his
mercy saved us by your baptism.
That doesn't make any sense.
That contradicts itself.
The washing here that's mentioned is the regeneration, the washing of regeneration.
The regeneration is the washing.
What is regeneration?
That's when you're born again.
And when you get born again, your sins are washed away symbolically.
The washing here is being born again because when you get saved, your sins are forgiven.
Right.
This is a really bad argument because that's easily turned around.
It's like, oh, actually it teaches the opposite of what you're saying.
Right.
And so, but what you notice here is washing is not always referring to baptism and it's
symbolically talking about water, but it's not literally talking about water.
So the word washing is not always referring to water or referring to baptism.
Okay.
I don't want to go to it for sake of time.
The Bible says the washing of water by the word.
This is not literally washable.
Okay.
Now the word of God will cleanse you because if you adhere to it, you get your life cleaned
up and everything.
And you know what?
Even after you're saved and you clean up your life and it washes away your sins symbolically
washing the water by the by the word.
Or how about this?
Wash this from our sins and his own blood.
When I got saved, I didn't have blood poured upon me.
Okay.
Like literally here in this body, you know, but obviously the blood of Jesus
washing away our sins.
I have no problem with symbolism.
Okay.
But that's not talking about baptism.
Right.
I mean, washes from our sins in his own blood.
See that baptism.
Blood is baptism or washing of water by the word.
That's baptism has nothing to do with baptism.
So just because you see the word wash doesn't mean it has anything to do with baptism.
Okay.
Go to Romans six, Romans six argument number eight.
We got three more.
Eight, nine, and ten.
And ten is the most difficult.
God saved the best for last.
Romans six, verse one.
Now this is a very famous passage here in Romans six for when you baptize people because
you talk about how, you know, buried with him in the likeness of his death or buried
him by baptism of death, raised the law in the midst of life.
Oftentimes people will quote that or whatever.
But that's what it says in Romans six, verse one.
What shall we say then?
Shall we continue in sin that grace may amount?
Paul was dealing with a hypothetical question.
Since God's grace covers us and we have eternal life, should we just sin?
So God's grace is going to abound even bigger.
Kind of like the hypothetical is, man, God's saving us by grace and I cannot lose my salvation.
So I should sin as much as I can.
So God's grace is even greater.
But these are the sorts of hypotheticals people are going to ask you.
And you know, we go out so many and people ask us dumb questions that are similar to
this, right?
Well, you're saying I should just go out and be a drug dealer.
It's like, you know, who would get that from saying salvation by being alone?
But those are the sorts of arguments they use, right?
But here's the thing.
If you look at that word, that does show, yes, grace will abound even if we do sin.
And that's why this hypothetical is being thrown there.
It's like, well, you're saying that we sin.
God's grace is going to cover it and it's going to abound.
Yes, that is what we're saying.
Salvation is eternal life.
It's like you got the message here in Romans six.
And here's just a dumb hypothetical question to try to mock what we believe.
Verse two.
God forbid.
How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer there?
And so Paul talks about living a holy life.
Okay.
It's like you're saved.
Live a holy life.
No, he not.
So basically, I'm not aware of this.
Do you not know that so many of us as we're baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into
his death?
And the phrase baptizing the Jesus Christ, we're going to look at another place here
in which is the ninth argument.
It's actually a phrase of when you believe on Jesus Christ because baptism is immersion.
So when you put your full faith in Jesus Christ, you're putting 100% faith in and you're fully
immersing yourself in the belief on Jesus Christ.
Okay, so we'll get another instance here later on.
But I also think it's like a dual application.
It's kind of talking about salvation, which is what he just talked about, but also baptism.
The reason why is because water baptism is a picture of the salvation.
It's not the salvation, but it's a picture of the salvation.
So there's no problem with him basically segue into water baptism.
It's kind of like a dual application.
Verse four.
Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism in the death that, like as Christ was raised
up from the dead by the Lord and the Father, even so, we also should walk and do this in
life.
When we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in
the likeness of his resurrection.
Getting saved means you should walk in newness of life.
But quite honestly, the one who gets baptized water baptism is the one who doesn't walk
and make changes in their life.
Right?
So I mean, he was talking about salvation, but I also think it definitely a positive
water baptism because getting saved doesn't require you to make a public stand.
You can believe on Jesus Christ and nobody's aware of it.
There are Muslims who get saved and still pretend to be Muslims because they live in
a certain country or they don't want to spend their life or whatever.
And then when the person who's getting baptized that is making a public stand.
So basically what you're showing is I believe this, but also I want to walk the walk.
I want to try to live a good life and live a godly life.
But is there anything in these verses that say you have to be baptized water baptism
to be saved?
There's nothing.
Okay.
This is one of the big arguments that they use.
But you know what?
They take verses that people can determine different ways.
They say, well, here's our doctor.
Look, we have clear verses that support what we believe.
He that believed on the sun had everlasting life and he that believed not the sun shall
last in life, the wrath of God, the light of God.
Very clear.
Okay.
Go to Galatians chapter three.
Galatians three.
And in Galatians three, we're going to see this phrase of being baptized in Christ.
I want to show you that being baptized in Christ is a phrase that references salvation.
Now, if you're familiar with the book of Galatians, it obviously is all about salvation
pretty much, right?
Because it's a church that allows false teachers to kind of confuse them.
And then in Galatians three verse 26 for you're all the children of God by faith in Christ
Jesus.
It's a great verse there, right?
Galatians three verse 26.
But then notice verse 27 for as many as you have been baptized in Christ and put on Christ.
The word for is a connecting word.
It connects what's in verse 26 with what's going to be said in verse 27.
And he says, you're all the children of God by faith for as many as you have been baptized
in Christ and put on Christ.
So I will be putting your faith in Jesus Christ links toward being baptized in Christ.
That's not water baptism.
It doesn't say water baptism.
There's nothing in this chapter about water baptism.
It's saying you put 100% of your faith in Jesus Christ in the references being baptized
into Jesus Christ.
Okay.
Just like in Romans chapter six, he's not referring to water.
And when you get baptized into Christ, you put on Christ, it's not referring to water
baptism.
It's saying when you put 100% of your faith, you fully immerse yourself in that belief
of Jesus Christ.
You put on Christ and you have eternal life and you're born again because we're saved
by faith for 26.
It wouldn't make any sense to then say, well, you're saved by baptism.
Is that unless your interpretation was just symbolic, it's mentioning water baptism.
Does that picture salvation?
And that's an okay interpretation.
That's not the interpretation I would take, but I do agree.
Absolutely.
Water baptism pictures the actual salvation because you're trusting that Jesus was buried
and goes again.
And when you get water baptized, it's not just it's you're showing you believe Jesus
died and was buried and goes again.
Okay.
So I'm going to praise God to the crisis reporting to basically put your faith on Jesus Christ
and you're saved.
Okay.
Here are the first Peter three.
First Peter, first Peter chapter.
Whenever I preach a sermon like this, you know what?
I encourage you to look at the verses for yourself in your free time and you might have
a different interpretation.
I'm perfectly fine with that.
It's not a big deal.
We can have different interpretations and for dead sure.
In chapter three, there's people with a lot of different interpretations because this
is one of the darkest.
I mean, this might be the most confusing passage and we got five minutes to cover.
It's going to be a little bit longer probably, but this is, I mean, I've heard people preach
whole sermons on just these couple of verses because it is very tricky.
It's confusing.
Anyway, I'll give you my interpretation, but I forgot the pastors.
First Peter three, verse 20.
Which sometime were disobedient when once the long suffering of God waited in the days
of Noah, while the ark was preparing, were in few that his eight souls were saved by
water.
The light figure rare to even baptism also now save us, but not the funny way to go to
the flesh, but the answer of the conscience toward God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Okay.
This is a very dark passage.
I mean, when you're looking over this, you're like, what is he even talking about?
Okay.
Once again, let's look at the context.
Let's go back to verse 18 and let's look at the context to get an idea about what's
going on.
Okay.
For Christ.
First Peter three, verse 18.
For Christ also have once suffered for sins.
Not complicated, right?
The just for the unjust.
He was just for unjust, right?
That he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the spirit.
Okay.
So he died of the cross, obviously, and quicken means made alive.
So he's made alive by the Holy Spirit.
Okay.
Now, Jesus prophesied that he would resurrect himself from the dead versus say, God, the
father would resurrect him here.
Talk about the Holy Spirit resurrecting him.
And that doesn't mean that they're all the same, that God, the father and the Holy Ghost
are the same.
It's just that Trinity obviously works together.
Okay.
We believe in three persons in the Godhead.
That's actually part of the next sermon.
So I don't want to go on that.
But he's made alive by the Holy Spirit.
Okay.
Then in verse 19, it says by which what is by which what's saying by the Holy Spirit
is linking back to verse 18.
So the same Holy Spirit that resurrected Jesus Christ is the same method by which also we
went and preached some of the spirits in prison.
Because when we go soul winning, it's the Holy Spirit of God that we pray to will give
us boldness that we can preach the word of God.
Even before I preach sermons, all pray.
One of the person reading the chapter will pray, give rather special boldness and clarity
to deliver your message.
Right?
And it's the Holy Spirit of God that is basically the ministry of God.
One of the ministries.
And so the same Holy Spirit of God that resurrected Jesus is the same Holy Spirit by which you
went and preached on the spirits in prison.
Now the spirits in prison is referring to unsafe.
Now, a lot of people believe in this doctrine called Abraham's bosom, and I don't have time
to preach the whole time.
But let me just say this.
They say spirits in prison.
They say, Well, Jesus Christ, they believe we believe that in the Old Testament, when
you got saved, you went to heaven.
Just like Elijah.
I don't believe Elijah was just floating up there and got up.
There's Elijah, you know, just kind of hanging out.
No, they got saved in the Old Testament.
They went to heaven because Jesus was the land slain from the foundation of the world.
Okay.
But what a lot of people teach, especially Baptists, is they teach that hell had a good
part and bad part.
And the good part was Abraham's bosom.
I mean, a bosom, deep, deep.
That's a body function.
That's a weird name for a place, right?
It's like, Oh, I'm going on vacation.
What's the name of the place?
Abraham's arm.
What kind of a name is Abraham's arm or Abraham's chest?
I mean, it doesn't make a lot of sense, right?
But this is weird because if you talk to people on the street, hey, do you believe there's
a good part to hell?
No, I'm talking about everybody's aware.
There's no good part to hell, but they say, well, the spirits in prison are those.
They say Jesus Christ, basically, you know, he's preaching on to the unsaved people.
Here's the thing.
Jesus is so into hell.
So he was preaching on him.
He would have been in the plane preaching on them, right?
But here's the thing.
When somebody dies, how do you know if somebody is dead?
First, the body without the spirit is dead.
The body goes to the ground and the spirit shall return under the Lord who gave you,
whether you're saved or lost.
He doesn't say preach to the souls in prison.
Look up spirit in hell.
You're not going to find a verse that has both of those words together, but you're going
to find soul in hell together because it's your soul that doesn't have the hell to die.
So if that was referring to preaching to unsaved people, it would say the souls in heaven or
souls in prison, I should say.
But that reference, if you look at Isaiah and other places, it's a reference to people
that are unsaved because here's the thing.
Unsaved people are basically in prison, meaning they have no hope of getting out unless somebody
preaches the gospel.
And that's the magic key if they believe that.
So they're basically in prison and they're not even aware of it.
It's like, where are their hopes?
So I understand the terminology, all I'm saying is Jesus preached to unsaved people and then
it says verse 20, which sometime were disobedient.
So now it's going to be referring to a different time period.
Unsaved people.
There was a time where they were disobedient.
Now, of course, they're always disobedient, but specifically it's going to talk about
before the flood, which they are extra disobedient, right?
Which sometime were disobedient when once the long suffering of God waned in the days
of Noah.
So the unsaved people in the days of Noah were very disobedient.
That wouldn't make any sense if you're saying people that are in hell were disobedient.
It's referring to unsaved people living were very disobedient in the days of Noah.
While the ark was preparing, where a few, that is eight souls, were saved by water.
See Brother Stuckey, how were eight souls saved by water?
Because we know that there was eight people inside of that ark.
Noah, Shambam, David, and the four wives, right?
How are they saved by water?
They were inside of an ark.
Here's how they were saved by water.
It was a very wicked world and the water killed the bad people.
That's what it's saying.
I mean, look, we are coming to a country and a world that is obsessed with the LGBT and
guess what?
God's wrath upon this wicked world is going to destroy me as the days of Noah and the
days of Lot that's referenced in the end times.
And guess how we're going to be saved during the end times.
God's wrath is going to be poured out upon those people.
We get raptured and God pours out his wrath.
I mean, how was Lot saved in Sodom and Gomorrah?
God's wrath saved Lot.
I mean, those people wanted to kill him and rape him and whatever, right?
And he was saved by God's wrath.
And so these eight people were saved by water.
How?
Because the world was wicked.
They were very disobedient in the days of Noah filled full of reprobates and wicked
people.
I mean, look, our world is wicked today, but God hasn't destroyed it yet.
How bad was it in the days of Noah?
Pretty bad.
I mean, look, we are going to be the enemy one day.
That's part of the next sermon here today.
It's like, you know what?
The world does not like our message.
You know what saves us?
God's wrath on the unsaved world and the water killed the unsaved people.
That's nothing to do with baptism in verse 21.
Verse 21.
The like figure where unto even baptism God also now saves us, not the putting away the
filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience for God by the resurrection of
Jesus Christ.
Now, once again, you can take out the part in parentheses and the statement should make
sense dramatically.
It should make sense.
The parentheses of giving extra clarification, which we'll talk about, but without the parentheses
that reads the light figure where to even baptism also now save us by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ.
I don't believe the word baptism is always referring to water baptism.
I understand water was mentioned in verse 20.
That is nothing to do with water baptism and being saved by water means that the wicked
people are destroyed.
And so we are saying baptism also now saved.
It's like basically being baptized into Jesus Christ by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
because we're not saved by water baptism.
We are saved by the resurrection of Jesus.
So when we put our faith in Jesus Christ, we're baptized into Christ because his resurrection
is what saved us.
That's what I believe is being referred to in this verse.
I don't think it has anything to do with water baptism.
The part in parentheses says this, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but
of the answer of a good conscience for God.
And I say, brother second, why does it say the light figure?
What does this have to do with verse one?
Well, in verse 20, basically the wicked people were put away.
They were destroyed by the water for us.
Our salvation is not us putting away our wicked sins of the flesh.
It's not us getting rid of our sins and living a holy life.
Because in verse 20, the wicked people were destroyed by the water for us.
Our salvation is not us putting away the sins of the flesh and putting away the wickedness,
but the answer of a good conscience for God.
You say, why does it say the answer?
Well, the answer is basically the response.
And it just talked about in verse 19, Jesus preaching the gospel, which I'm sure no one
is doing in verse 20 as well.
And you know what?
We preach the gospel and we wait for their answer or response.
Some believe, and because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, they're saved and some don't.
It's not them putting away the flesh, but it's the answer when they hear the gospel
preached to them.
And once they believe on Jesus Christ, they have eternal life and they're saved.
So they're not putting away the flesh.
It links back to the being saved by water because the wicked people were destroyed.
And for us, though, he's clarifying, hey, it's the resurrection of Jesus Christ, not
you putting away your sins or putting away your bad lifestyle.
Okay.
Now go to Genesis chapter six real quickly.
Genesis six.
This is a deep passage.
Okay.
This is what I believe it's referring to.
And I'll show you another another reference, which I believe adds to that.
But I don't believe it's water baptism in verse 21.
Now, maybe you do, and that's fine.
And I've heard good people that have that opinion.
And I'm not saying for sure I'm definitely right because I've heard other people.
Their explanation sounded pretty good, too, but I didn't necessarily arrive at the same conclusion.
This is one of those things where there are some deep and complicated things in the Bible.
Genesis six, verse 11, because we were talking about the days develop.
The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
And God looked upon the earth and devoted was corrupt for all
flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
And see, it mentions his flesh, and they were corrupt or filthy would be a pretty similar
word, right?
Corrupt or filthy.
And it says it's not putting away the flesh.
So I believe that went back towards the days of Noah.
The filthy, wicked people were put away by the water that killed them.
But for us, it's a life figure.
But the thing is, he's clarifying, but it's not you putting away your sins.
Basically, it's not you repenting of your sins.
But that's okay.
Now, look, when I go, so even though that's what I believe it's referring to, I don't
bring this passage up because it's confusing.
There's a lot of clear verses about salvation, but I do believe that's what people refer
to.
But here's the thing, though.
You know what?
If people say this has to do with being saved by water baptism in first Peter three, well,
this is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
It doesn't say water baptism in verse 21 just because it mentioned water in verse 20.
I mean, the water saved Noah and his sons and their wives by killing the wicked people.
What other explanation can you give of the water saving them?
I mean, the water killed the wicked people.
It's not like that water saved them in any other way, except they got rid of the wicked
people.
So I don't know how you can use it and say, well, see, there's water baptism.
It's not a very clear reference.
It's a complicated passage.
And look, we form our beliefs off clear passages.
When we preach the gospel, we go to John chapter three, not Ezekiel chapter three, not Isaiah
chapter three, not Zachariah chapter three.
You say why?
Because none of us know what every single verse is talking about in those chapters.
I mean, they're deep things.
They're complicated things.
And I'm happy that we have a Bible that you know what?
There's the things that are on the surface level, and then there's other things that
force us to really study our entire lives.
So there are some verses in some passages on baptism that are a little bit tricky, but
the key I would say is this.
There are hundreds of verses that make it clear.
But let me say this, though.
The last thing I would want you to do in this sermon is take it and just say, all right,
now I can smash this person in this debate.
That's not the purpose of the sermon.
You're wasting your time.
Look, if somebody brings up first people three and they want to debate you on it, you're
not getting saved today, right?
If somebody in a wheelchair acts to 38, you're not getting saved.
Okay.
Use wisdom.
Because here's the thing about this.
I don't get in in arguments very often about baptism at the door because people get saved.
They just be shown versus and then they just make sense to them.
Now you might run into some religious people that might have a question like I've heard
them saying in Mark 16 and use wisdom and discernment.
Do they sound like they want to argue with you?
Or are they literally confused where you need to actually just explain it?
And so these are my explanations for these.
But what I would say is this.
I give you a brief explanation on those passages and just say, well, you know what?
There's hundreds of verses though that I'm showing you that is a gift that is just by
believing.
But if it's someone who just wants to argue with you, you know what?
Then don't waste your time.
It's like it's great that you didn't win a debate versus some call for person or whatever.
You know what?
That's that's a waste of time.
Okay.
That shouldn't be why you're studying the Bible.
99% of gospel presentations or 90 some percent.
All you have to do is go through your basic plan.
You might have to add a couple verses, but you don't have to get into a debate about
like some random verse in first Peter three.
Like what about this?
Okay.
The reality is most people that we get saved have never even read first Peter three.
Then we know what it says.
Okay.
So just stick to your simple doctor presentation.
But you know what?
Going back to the story tip we had recently, if somebody has a sincere question about
something, you might need to spend a couple of minutes just to try to help them out.
So let's go to one more term.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and getting to see these
verses on this topic.
And now I'm not saying every one of my interpretations is correct.
A lot of people have interpreted stuff differently.
But the key is that we believe salvation is a free gift.
That baptism is a symbol or a picture of salvation.
And it is by immersions pictured the burial of resurrection.
But it's not something that is required for salvation.
It helps us just know our Bibles and continue to love to study our Bibles with the greatest
needs.