For the time being, can you just come with me to Psalm 8, please?
Psalm 8.
And I just put a quick sermon together on the way here.
Just this is an entree.
I'm going to give you an entree sermon and then we'll finish up Acts chapter 2, okay?
But let me give you, I'm going to give you two sermons tonight, okay?
You get your bang for your buck tonight.
But in Psalm 8, I just want to preach something else, completely unrelated.
But Psalm 8, Psalm 8, please.
Psalm 8.
Psalm 8, the Bible says,
O Lord, O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth,
who has set thy glory above the heavens.
And so, you know, our Lord's name is excellent and his glory is above the heavens.
And the reason I wanted to meditate on this is just as a Christian was driving the van,
I got to stop and just look at the moon.
You guys see the moon, the full moon on the way to church today?
And how massive it looks, how bright, how round.
And then you look at the craters and go, how in the world?
These massive craters on this moon.
And then it continues here because, you know, his name is above the heavens.
Like, we look at the moon and it's like, that's amazing.
Like, that looks great.
You know, I took a photo and, you know, it's like, wow, look at the moon.
And then I think, hold on, that's the moon.
What about my Lord?
What about my God?
Just his name alone is above the heavens.
It continues, ever since the two out of the mouth of babes and suckling,
has they ordained strength because of thine enemies.
That thou mightest steal the enemy and the avenger.
Look at this, the Psalmist says, when I consider thy heavens,
the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained,
what is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou visitest him?
So the Psalmist says, man, I look at the moon and I'm assuming, you know,
is it David, the Psalmist here?
I'm not sure.
Psalm 8, Psalm of David, yeah it is.
When David looked at the same moon that we've looked at,
he then considers, what is man?
Like when you look at the creation of God,
this heavenly body and the brightness of the moon on a full moon night like tonight,
you're just like, what are we then?
Like when you think about who God is and then you think about his creation,
his mighty creation, what are we but dust?
That he would consider us, that he would think of us,
you know, that thou art mindful of him.
Isn't that wonderful that our Lord God has his mind on us?
Say, who are we for you to think about us, Lord?
And the son of man that thou visitest him, Lord, you've even come to visit us.
You've come to this earth, you've come to this creation.
And then verse number five,
for thou hast made him a little lower than the angels
and has crowned him with glory and honour.
Of course, we know that's a reference to Christ.
So when did God come and visit us?
When God manifest in the flesh, right?
When the word became flesh and Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem's manger
and the same God that put the moon in the heavens is the same God that died for us.
It says verse number six,
thou made us him to have dominion over the works of thy hands,
thou hast put all things under his feet.
All things under the feet of Christ.
And actually, this does tie in a little bit
to what we're going to look at there in Acts chapter two.
But I was just thinking about it, like on the way to church,
look at the moon, wow, like who am I?
Who are we, Lord, that you've come to visit us?
Who are we that you've come?
Or that you think about us, you know, your mind is upon us.
You know, isn't it wonderful that we have such a great and powerful creator
and you'd think he'd be too busy for us, but he loves us so much.
He knows as much as he knows how the moon orbits the earth
and how the creators got there or whatever it is, right?
That caused all that damage on the moon.
His mind is still in us.
He loves us.
You know, the moon doesn't have a soul.
Jesus Christ didn't come to die for the moon.
He came to die for us and what a wonderful savior we have.
But anyway, that's the entree.
Let's get into the sermon.
Acts chapter 2, please come with me to Acts chapter 2.
We will look at one passage later on in Romans chapter 3.
But Acts chapter 2.
Acts chapter 2, verse number 38 says,
Then Peter said unto them,
Repent and be baptized, every one of you,
in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.
The title of the sermon tonight is the remission of sins.
The remission of sins.
Now let's backtrack a little bit.
We've done two sermons so far on the book of Acts chapter 2.
This will be our third and final sermon on this chapter.
I hope not to have to do that again.
Hopefully the other sermons will just be one sermon per chapter.
But anyway, let's start there in verse number 33.
Let's backtrack a little bit.
This is kind of where we left off last week.
Just very quickly, we're dealing with the day of Pentecost
when the power of the Holy Ghost came upon the believers.
120, they're going out preaching the gospel
and God has given them the ability to preach in other languages.
And you know, there are Jews from all other nations coming on this holy day.
The feast of weeks or the day of Pentecost to come and celebrate.
And of course, Peter then explains how Christ came to this earth
and that he was rejected of men and that his soul was not left in hell,
but he rose again from the dead three days later.
And then we get to verse number 33.
Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted.
So now he's talking about when Christ ascended to heaven
and he's sitting there in the right hand of God and it says,
And having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost,
he has shed forth this which you now see and hear.
Now that's important.
He says, what you now see and hear is the promise of the Holy Ghost.
You know, when Jesus Christ went and ascended to heaven
at the right hand of the Father, he received the promise of the Holy Ghost
and have shed forth this.
This is what Jesus Christ has shed forth, which you now see and hear.
Once again confirming that this work that is being done on the day of Pentecost
is the power of the Holy Ghost.
Very quickly, look at verse number three again.
It says, Have received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost.
Now what is that associating with?
Come back with me to Acts chapter one, Acts chapter one and verse number four.
Acts chapter one and verse number four.
It says, And being assembled together with them,
commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem.
This is Jesus Christ.
They are not to depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father,
which safe here ye have heard of me.
So that's the promise.
The promise of the Father is what Christ received in the Holy Ghost.
And this is what's been taking place on the day of Pentecost.
And then it continues in verse number five,
For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost,
not many days hence.
So being baptized with the Holy Ghost is the promise of the Father.
And now Peter is saying in Acts chapter two, what you're seeing on the day of Pentecost,
this miracle of being able to talk in other languages, the gospel of Jesus Christ.
They say, this is the promise.
Like this is what's been fulfilled there in Acts chapter one.
So this is again confirming that as they were filled with the Holy Ghost,
this is what Acts chapter one speaks of as the baptism of the Holy Ghost.
And come back with me to Acts chapter two.
Look at Acts chapter two, just come to me.
Look at verse number four.
Acts chapter two, verse number four.
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.
So there's again, being baptized with the Holy Ghost has been filled with the Holy Ghost.
Drop down to verse number 17, Acts 2 17.
And it shall come to pass in the last day, say of God,
that I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh.
So the pouring out of the Spirit is the baptism of the Holy Ghost.
It's the filling of the Holy Ghost.
All of these things are one and the same.
And it's the promise of the Father that he had left for the believers.
So what we see here, when you look at all these passages,
we see that the ability to preach the gospel in the power of the Holy Ghost,
we talk about the, you know, where is the Holy Spirit?
Where is the Holy Ghost?
Well, that is the power of the Holy Ghost, being able to get out there,
open your mouth boldly, preach in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
That is the power and the work and the filling and the baptism
and the pouring out of the Holy Ghost upon the saints.
But I want you to notice that the entire Trinity is at play here.
He says it's a promise of the Father.
The Father bestows upon Christ that Holy Ghost promise.
And then Christ gives that promise to his believers on the day of Pentecost.
Like, oh, the Father is the one who has the power.
Jesus Christ is the one who's almost like the mediator to pass this on.
The Holy Spirit comes upon believers to be able to preach the gospel.
And so not only are we doing a power by the power of the Holy Ghost,
when we preach the gospel of Jesus Christ,
you know, the triune nature of God is in effect and given us that power and ability,
this promise to be able to see a wonderful soul saved.
And so, you know, what happened in Melbourne?
Praise God.
Brother Oliver, maybe on Sunday you can give us a five-minute update on how things went in Melbourne.
You know, why did 29 souls receive Christ?
Because of the power of the Holy Ghost.
That's what it is.
Like what they're doing in the book of Acts is the same thing we're doing,
brethren, at New Life Baptist Church.
Though we're doing that in English.
It doesn't matter.
It's a universal language these days.
It's a very good language to be able to reach many people.
And, you know, thank God for that.
But let's continue then verse number 34.
For David is not ascended into the heavens, but he saved himself.
The Lord said unto my Lord, sit down on my right hand.
So once again, Peter here is quoting the words of David or the words of the Psalm.
So the Lord said unto my Lord, sit down on my right hand.
We saw earlier that it's God.
God the Son is seated at the right hand of the Father.
Until I make thy foes, or foes means enemies,
until I make make thy foes thy footstool.
You know, footstool is where you rest your feet.
So it's essentially speaking about until, you know,
Christ is going to be seated at the right hand of the Father
until all enemies come under the authority of Jesus Christ.
Then verse number 36 says, therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly
that God had made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
So it's pinpointing the problem with these Christ rejecting Jews,
or at least these Jews that really, maybe they didn't really play a part necessarily themselves.
You know, they came from other nations and they come in for the Day of Pentecost.
They're traveling and it's showing them how, you know,
the Jews of this time took Christ, killed him, crucified him.
And so they're Christ rejecting Jews.
He's identifying their problem that they have with God.
The same Christ that came for them to save them is the
same Christ that you crucified.
I mean, that's a scary thought.
And you know, what's wonderful about that, it says the Lord said unto my Lord.
You know, and so what is revealing to them?
And we'll look at that.
In fact, come with me to Hebrews chapter 10.
Come with me to Hebrews chapter 10.
Keep your finger there in Acts chapter 2.
Come with me to Hebrews chapter 10.
What Peter is expressing to them is that you've crucified the Lord.
Like you didn't just crucify a man, you've crucified the Lord.
The Lord said unto my Lord.
That same Lord is the one you took and crucified.
Look at Hebrews chapter 10.
This is an important doctrine.
This whole idea of enemies under thy footstool, under your feet is also quite an important doctrine.
Maybe not so much for us.
We might not think much of it, but in terms of just the, you know, the world of Christendom
and the different positions that exist out there on the coming King of Christ.
You've probably heard of ourselves as the church being a pre-millennial church.
There are other places, churches that would say they are millennial or post-millennial.
And I'll explain a little bit further what that means in context to understanding
the enemy is being put under the feet of Christ.
But in Hebrews chapter 10, verse number 12,
I want you to notice this because again, this is an important doctrine in the Bible.
I think we might overlook it because we don't, it doesn't really affect us like so much.
Like generally in our church practices.
But again, it is an important doctrine here in Hebrews 10, 12.
Hebrews 10, 12 says,
But this man, speaking of Jesus, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever,
sat down on the right hand of God.
So that's confirming the same thing.
From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.
All right.
So when you read that from henceforth, so we know Christ ascended to the heavens.
You see to the right hand of the father.
And right now he's at the point that the book of Hebrews are written.
Henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.
So let's take the writings of the book of Hebrews when that was being written.
Could we conclude that the enemies of the Lord had been made the footstool of Christ?
We couldn't conclude that because he's still expecting that to happen.
You know, at least from the writing of Hebrews, it has not yet happened.
It's something Christ is waiting or expecting to take place at some time in the future.
So I want to show you those references.
Okay.
Now come with me to the actually the Psalm that this is written in.
Come with me to Psalm 110.
Psalm 110 please.
Whoever brought me the water.
Thank you.
But Psalm 110.
So we're going to look at the actual Psalm where this is written.
Psalm 110.
Now the, if you ever, you know, visit other churches one day or you're wondering, you
know, you get challenged on doctrine and there are many that do not believe that there is a
literal thousand year kingdom coming on this earth that is being ruled by Christ.
There are many that say that kingdom that we talk about is being fulfilled right now
or was fulfilled immediately as soon as Christ ascended to be with God in heaven.
And so that position means there is no literal thousand year kingdom to come.
The kingdom is now and therefore all enemies in their context
are under the feet of Christ right now.
They'll conclude that.
Okay.
But I want to show you here in Psalm 110 verse number one, it says,
So sit down at my right hand until I make this happen.
Like it sounds like again, this is something that's going to take place.
Not right now in immediate, but sometime in the future.
And then it continues,
So we see once again that Christ is going to rule over these enemies.
Then it continues in verse number three,
The beginning of verse number three is important.
So it says here that people are going to be willing or hoping for
desiring for Christ to be the ruler over the entire earth.
Now that hasn't happened yet.
Now thy people could be believers, but even now,
but most believers even struggle to just do the basic things,
you know, in their general Christian walk.
But when we consider all enemies under the foot of Christ, we would say,
This earth is still rebelling against the Lord.
You know, like it's still something to be expected.
It's still something to be hopeful for.
But the post post millennial or our millennial positions is
that this is occurring right now.
Christ has his kingdom.
And I do believe there is a kingdom right now, a spiritual kingdom,
that when we get saved, those people enter into that kingdom,
that the kingdom is within you, that it's not made and drink.
I believe in that spiritual kingdom exists right now.
But I also believe in a literal kingdom where Christ is going to rule
on this earth for a thousand years.
Now, why is this important?
Well, I want you to come with me to another passage.
Now come with me to 1 Corinthians 15.
1 Corinthians 15, please.
1 Corinthians 15.
Now I'm not an expert at our millennial post millennial positions.
I kind of get the gist of it.
I get the gist of it.
And anytime that I've tried to sort of read into it,
I almost immediately notice inconsistencies, not with my position,
but just inconsistencies with the Bible.
That's the general thing.
So 1 Corinthians 15, verse number 22.
1 Corinthians 15 is famous for, you know, speaking about the resurrection,
the resurrection of Christ and by that same power,
the resurrection of believers.
You know, it's a very famous passage on the rapture.
Well, let me just show you a few references here in 1 Corinthians 15, 22.
It says, for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
So one day we're all going to be made,
like these bodies are going to be made alive once again, right?
Verse number 23, but every man in his own order,
Christ the first fruits, afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.
So that's what we would call the rapture.
Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God,
even the father, look at this, when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power,
for he must reign till he have put all enemies under his feet.
So again, when 1 Corinthians 15 was being written,
could we say that Christ has put all enemies under his feet?
No, he must reign till that happens, okay?
All under his feet.
Now what we get here in verse number 26,
is at least it tells us once all enemies are under his feet,
because it says in verse number 26, the last enemy,
the last enemy, so there's no more enemies after this, right?
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
Death or the power of death.
That is the last enemy that's going to be destroyed.
All right, so we can't say that right now, all the enemies are under the feet of Christ.
We can't say this kingdom, you know, Christ has done that,
and therefore the kingdom has been handed over to the father at this point in time.
That has not yet occurred, okay?
And so where is the final end of death?
You know, it's a very famous verse that we often quote.
It's in Revelation 20 14, that says,
and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire.
This is the second death.
So death itself, the power of death, whatever that means, you know, in the laws of God,
you know, death is cast into the lake of fire.
It's the end of death.
That's the last enemy.
And that's in Revelation chapter 20.
And before that, in Revelation 20, we have the great white throne judgment.
And in Revelation 19, guess what we have?
The thousand year reign of Christ.
So then we can understand when are all enemies put under the feet of Christ?
After the resurrection, we saw the resurrection being mentioned,
after he reigns for a thousand years,
after the great white throne judgment,
and then finally death is destroyed.
Death is cast into the lake of fire.
This is the second death.
And that is the end.
That's the last enemy that is put under the feet of Christ.
So it is at that point, still future for us,
that we can say that all enemies have been made the footstool of Christ.
All right?
Again, you say that doesn't seem that important to you pastor,
but I'm just telling you in the Christian world,
it actually is quite an important doctrine.
You know, if you don't understand just these little things here,
you might be tempted to think that maybe the kingdom is operating right now,
the millennial kingdom, and that there is no,
even some people don't believe there's really a resurrection
in the same sense that we understand it.
And so this is why there are so many different churches with different doctrines.
And I think it's always important,
even things that might not seem that important that we understand,
especially when God mentions it like a number of times in different passages,
there must be an importance.
And it highlights the fact that all enemies have not yet been put on the feet of Christ
until these future events take place.
Let's go back to Acts chapter 2, Acts chapter 2 and verse number 37.
Acts chapter 2 and verse number 37.
So remember, Peter just told him, you've killed the Lord.
You've killed God.
You've killed the Christ.
I mean, whoa, what an accusation.
You think about how that could be received.
What?
God who created all things, the Lord, you know, we took him and we crucified him.
And this is why verse number 37.
And when they heard this, they were pricked in their hearts and said unto Peter
and the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do?
I understand.
What shall we do about this?
We've killed the Lord.
We've crucified the Lord.
What shall we do?
You know, what I love about this is it demonstrates the mercy and the love and the compassion,
the long suffering of our Lord God.
You know, look, there were obviously reprobates involved in the crucifixion of Christ,
but the vast majority, they just went along with society.
They just went along.
Later on in this chapter, it speaks about the untoward generation.
They just went with society.
Like the popular, it's popular.
Let's just, yeah, let's just kill Christ, whoever this guy is.
And now they're being pricked like, you know, Peter's been preaching a powerful sermon,
being filled, being baptized, being, you know, the Holy Spirit being poured upon him.
And they're like, wow, being moved.
What do we do?
What shall we do?
And then verse number 38.
There's so many false doctrines that come out of verse number 38.
That's why Acts chapter 2 just can't be preached in one setting.
But let's read it.
Verse number 38.
And Peter said unto them, repent.
It doesn't say there, repent of your sins.
Turn over a new leaf, clean up your life.
Look, we have to repent.
That's like, yes, repent and be baptized.
Every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.
What?
So we'll say, well, see these teachers, if you want to have your sins remitted of,
you need to be baptized.
But it does sound like that.
It does sound like that.
Okay, so people read this.
So you've got to turn from your sins, you've got to clean up your life,
and you've got to get baptized in order for you to be saved.
It says, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
I'm assuming it's the same gift that they're speaking about,
that they've been empowered of.
You know, they can do the same works if they too become people of God.
They too will have the power to be able to preach the gospel.
I believe that is essentially the reference there.
But as many of you guys know, you know, they're asking a question.
What shall we do?
And yet, if this was the gospel, if we could take verse 38 as the gospel,
then we're not saved.
Because we're not trusting our baptism as a means of salvation.
We're not trusting, you know, the works of our efforts or our flesh
in any way, shape or form.
So how do we answer this?
What shall we do?
And you guys know, one of the easiest ways, one of the easiest ways is to look at Acts 16.
So come with me to Acts 16 and verse number 30.
Acts 16 verse number 30.
You know what?
That is not, it's not actually a confusing verse in reality.
It's not confusing at all.
What shall we do?
But in Acts 16 verse number 30, you guys know this.
The question gets asked this once here.
Clearly black and white in the book of Acts, Acts 16 verse 30.
And brought them out and said, look at this question.
Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
Now that's different from what shall we do to a very clear question about salvation.
What must I do?
What must versus what shall I do to be saved?
Now let's just, you know, I've used this illustration before.
I'm pretty sure I have.
You know, if my kids wake up in the morning, or it's usually mum anyway,
maybe they go to mum and they're like, mum, you know, what must I do to complete my chores?
So Christina will look on the fridge and she'll say,
Jonathan, your chores this week is to dry the dishes, whatever it is, right?
That's a very specific question.
What must I do to complete my chores?
Very specific.
You dry the dishes.
That's what you're doing this week.
But if Jonathan wakes up one morning and says, mum, what shall I do?
It's a very general question.
It's not necessarily about the chores.
So it could include that, it would include that.
But Jonathan will wake up, mum, what shall I do?
Mum will say, hey, make your bed, clean up your room, eat breakfast, do your schooling,
dry the dishes, have a shower, get ready for church, feed the dog, whatever it is, right?
And then maybe you can have an hour of playing video games or something like that.
You know, that's a very general question.
What shall I do versus what must I do to complete a certain task?
But the Bible is very clear there in Acts 16, what must I do?
The compulsory thing that we must do to be saved is
to simply believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
And thy house, if your family also believe, they too will be saved.
So we have the clarity of Acts 16.
You know, not only should we compare Scripture with Scripture,
this is a wonderful way that I often teach.
When we want to compare Scripture, let's start with a narrow funnel.
We're staying in the same book, much larger, like largely here, right?
From Acts 2 to Acts 16.
But the question they ask is, what shall we do?
It's a much more broad, it's a much more general question.
And yeah, like if someone were to come into our church and say,
hey, what must I do to be saved?
What do we say to them?
Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who had given the wonderful gospel message
of Christ's death, crucifixion, burial, resurrection,
and their faith alone on what Christ has done.
But if someone walks in and goes, man, I've been living a horrible life
and I've barely messed up and I'm an alcoholic, what shall I do?
We'd say, well, you need to get saved first and then get baptized,
then clean up your life and come to church every week.
We're going to keep going down the list, right?
And read your Bible and make sure you pray to the Lord
and seek his help and we're going to keep going down this list
and we're going to give them a whole bunch of things they should do in life.
But those other things that we've added beyond believing on Christ
plays no role in their salvation.
But let's understand this passage on its own there in Acts chapter 2 and verse number 38.
First of all, it says, then Peter said unto them, repent.
Now again, it doesn't say repent of your sins.
It just says repent.
So you say, well, repent what?
Like repent from what?
Repent to what?
I mean, it's not that hard because in the previous verse,
or verse number 36, remember?
Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly
that God have made the same Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
So what is it that they have done?
Currently, where they stand?
As Christ rejectors.
They reject Jesus as Lord and Christ.
What shall we do?
Repent from that.
You are rejecting the Lord and Christ.
Now repent from that, obviously, and receive the Lord and Christ.
Receive Jesus.
Repent from where you are currently in your faith and repent to Jesus,
who is the Lord and Christ, because salvation is for him.
Well, that makes sense.
Step number one is to repent from your false belief to true belief.
On who Christ is and what Christ has done for you.
Remember leading up to this, they explain the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.
So you can repent.
That's the one you've got to trust.
Stop rejecting him.
Stop hating him.
He died for you.
Repent.
And then we know that once you've believed on Christ, once you receive Christ,
we often say the first step of a believer or the first step of obedience is to get baptized.
That makes sense.
What about that baptism does not save?
What if baptism does not save you?
What is it again?
It's symbolic of the fact that you have believed on Christ.
You know, it's an outward demonstration that you have believed and you identify with his
death when you stand out of the water, his burial, and his resurrection when you come
out of the water.
And you're doing a public declaration.
I have trusted Christ's death, burial, and resurrection.
But then he says here, I'll be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ
for the remission of sins, for the remission of sins.
Now, if you're not sure what the word remit means, did I?
I don't think it's in my notes.
Remit.
Here it is, remission.
The cancellation of a debt, a charge or a penalty.
That's what remission means.
The cancellation of a debt, charge or penalty.
We often sometimes use this even in the medical world when someone is suffering from cancer
and then they go for tests and they don't find cancer in the body.
They'll say you're going through remission.
Right now, the cancer is not there present any longer.
It's been remitted of from your body.
And so the remission of sins is something we want.
We want sins to be taken away from us.
We don't want to be held accountable to God for our sins and die in our sins.
Those sins need to be remitted of.
We need the cancellation of the debt, the charge or the penalty.
We need that to be taken place.
And so it says here to be baptised, every one of you for the remission of sins.
So the question is, what does that mean?
Do you have to get water baptised to have your sins remitted of?
Well, immediately, you know, again, I'm thinking as a child,
and as a child, my mind immediately goes to the thief on the cross.
Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
And Jesus says, well, you better get baptised.
You better get off that cross before you die and get baptised.
Then you'll have remission of sins.
No, it says today thou shalt be with me in paradise.
As soon as the thief put his faith on Christ, he had remission of sins, didn't he?
So what does it mean?
And again, this is where English can sometimes be a little challenging and not challenging to me.
I get what it says.
But I can see how those that have a false doctrine might come to this
and think they've found a verse that supports their false doctrine.
But the word for, you know, be baptised everyone for you,
of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.
The word for in English has two, can be used in two ways.
Okay.
Now, the most common way is as a preposition.
The most common way in our modern English vernacular is that the word for is a preposition.
But the word for can also be a conjunction.
Okay, now I don't want to speak over your heads.
I want to speak over your heads, but essentially we need to identify
is this for a preposition or is it a conjunction?
All right.
So as a preposition, the word for would mean for the purpose of, for the purpose of.
So we would read it this way.
If it was a preposition for the purpose of, we would read it this way.
It says, be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ
for the purpose of the remission of sins.
So that would be a preposition, okay, for the purpose of.
So to have your sins remitted of, you need to get baptised.
Okay.
That would be a preposition.
Or we can read it as a conjunction and the conjunction would be because of, because of.
All right.
So then we read it again and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ
because of the remission of sins.
So because you've had remission of sins, you should get baptised.
That would be the conjunction.
Okay.
Now again, you say, well pastor, you're choosing to be a conjunction
because it lines up with your doctrine.
Well, that's true to some extent.
Okay.
But you know, if you're like, well, I'm not sure which one it is.
That's where again, we want to be able to compare scripture with scripture
because anytime the Bible will now speak, like if you had to get water baptised
to have remission of sins, then anytime the Bible speaks about having your sins remitted of,
it must be talking about water baptism, where it should be if the Bible is consistent.
So let's turn to another passage.
Come with me to Acts chapter 10.
So again, we're just staying in the book of Acts.
All right.
Let's just get some immediate context here in Acts chapter 10 and verse number 43.
Acts chapter 10, verse number 43.
To him give all the prophets witness that through his name,
whosoever is baptised shall receive remission of sins.
Is that what it says?
No, that would be a corruption of God's word.
That's not what it says.
It says to him, give all the prophets witness that through his name,
whosoever believeth in him shall have remission of sins.
So according to Acts 10, how do we have remission of sins?
The moment we believe in Christ, repent.
You were Christ's rejectors.
Now receive Christ.
All right.
I believe in him.
He's my Lord and Christ.
He died for me.
All right.
Now you have remission of sins.
And because of that, get baptised.
Because of the remission of sins.
Now for the Bible to have been consistent, that should,
like if you're going to take the argument,
you need to get water baptised to have remission of sins,
then that verse should be saying that.
Otherwise it's not true.
You'd have an inconsistency in the Bible.
No.
You know, the moment you repent and you believe in Christ,
you receive Christ, you have remission of sins.
And now that you have remission of sins, get baptised
because of the remission of sins.
For the remission of sins.
It's just like that.
You know, guys know that, that wanted poster back
in the wild west days in the United States.
You know, little, I've mentioned Johnny already,
but I'll mention Johnny again.
There was a time where he started making wanted posters
and put, you know, used to just stick it on the,
in the house walls or a picture of himself,
a picture of Johnny.
It says wanted for, that was it?
I can't remember.
Wanted for, you know, I don't know, what was it?
For murder, you know, $50,000 or something like that.
All right.
Yeah.
Wanted for murder.
You know, and that idea is that you don't want
that man to commit murder.
You want to take him.
You want to apprehend him and arrest him
because he has committed murder.
Okay.
It's the same idea.
It's that conjunction for, rather than a pre-position.
Let's look at another reference.
Let's go to Romans chapter three.
Romans chapter three, verse number 25.
Romans chapter three, verse 25.
Confirms the truth that it's our faith or our belief
that brings remission of sins.
In Romans 3 25, Romans 3 25, the Bible says,
whom God has set to be a propitiation.
Look at this, through faith in what?
In his blood to declare his righteousness.
Look, for the remission of sins that are passed
through the forbearance of God.
So once again, how do we receive remission of sins?
Through faith.
Through faith in what?
In his blood.
Now that's important.
Okay.
In his blood.
Now, if you had to get physically baptized
to have remission of sins, we now add a further complication
because it's not a baptism of water.
It's a baptism of blood.
If you're going to take that approach,
that in order to have remission of sins,
you must be baptized.
Well, what is it that takes away your sins?
The blood of Christ.
Okay.
Water.
Getting baptized in water.
There in the Karamandi Lake is not going to take your sins away.
It's the blood of Christ that does that work.
All right.
And I'll just, if you guys can come with me to Hebrews 9.
Come with me to Hebrews 9.
And while you're turning to Hebrews 9,
I'm going to read to you from Matthew 26 28.
Matthew 26 28.
You go to Hebrews 9.
Matthew 26 28 says,
for this is my blood, says Jesus.
For this is my blood of the New Testament,
which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
So what is it that gives us remission of sins?
Once again, straight by the mouth of Jesus,
His blood, His blood of the New Testament.
So if you have to get physically baptized for remission of sins,
water's not going to do it.
You're going to have to find a pool of Jesus's blood.
If anything is left in the Middle East somewhere, right?
And get dunked in that because water's not going to do it.
It's His blood.
It's His blood that gives you remission of sins.
You're there in Hebrews 9, Hebrews 9 22, Hebrews 9 22.
And almost all things are by the law purged with blood.
And without shedding of blood is no remission.
There is no remission of sins if there is no blood.
And that blood of course was the precious blood of our Lord and Savior and Christ, Jesus Christ.
And so remission of sins very clearly.
Multiple passages in the Bible, what cleanses us from our sins,
what cancels the debt?
It's His blood, it's His blood.
And so when we talk about being baptized for the remission of sins,
it's because the person has already received remission of sins.
They've already received Christ.
They have trusted His death, His burial, His resurrection.
They've put their faith in the blood of Christ.
Their sins are remitted of.
Now what?
Get baptized for because of the remission of sins.
Because you have your sins remitted of, because your faith is in His blood,
now it's time to get baptized.
That's why we're called a Baptist church.
Yes, we are.
Okay.
And if you have not yet been baptized or scripturally baptized
and you have put your faith in the blood of Christ, then you need to get baptized.
That's something you shall do.
What should you do?
This is something you definitely should do.
But getting water baptized is not what must you do to be saved.
All you need to do to be saved is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
All right.
So there's that.
There's the, um, yeah.
I mean, a lot, there's a lot of false churches that use Acts 2, 38
as their prescription of being saved.
I've got no problem with that verse.
I think it's a wonderful verse.
But they wanted to say something that obviously biased to their doctrine,
but also completely inconsistent with the rest of the Bible.
All right.
Let's continue verse number 39.
For the promise is unto you.
So this promise that if they were to do this, they'll have the sins remitted of,
and they'll 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.
And with many other words, did he testify and exhort saying,
save yourselves from this untoward generation?
Remember because it's a generation of the Jews that they're not doing well.
You know, they're following Judaism.
You know, the high priest, they're haters of God.
And so, you know, he's like, look, you know,
remove yourself from this untoward generation.
This generation is going to hell.
It's right.
Be different from this generation.
Don't follow the path of society.
Save yourself from this generation.
Verse number 41.
Then they that were, look at this, and this is so important.
Then they that gladly received his word were baptized.
Now, before you get baptized, you're meant to repent.
Okay.
So here we have an idea of what it is they did to repent, right?
Repent and then be baptized.
Well, before they got baptized, what do they do?
They gladly received his word.
So before Peter preached, they hadn't received the word.
They were Christ rejecters, right?
Now they've got to repent.
Peter's preaching to them and, oh yeah, I got to receive.
Yes, Peter, I believe the words that you're preaching.
I accept the words that you're preaching.
I'm gladly receiving the word.
What have they done?
They've repented.
Okay.
They put their trust on Christ and now they're getting baptized.
So, you know, I've had the accusation thrown at me in our church.
Oh, you don't believe in repentance.
Of course we do.
Every week we have church members going out and knocking doors,
trying to cause our neighbors to repent, not repent in their works,
because salvation is not of works.
We're not saying stop doing your bad works and start doing good works to be saved.
Repent from your sins and keep the commandments.
That's not what we teach.
Salvation is by faith alone on Christ alone.
Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
We're saying, hey, receive the words that we're preaching unto you.
Receive the gospel and repent in your faith.
Your faith was placed in the wrong thing.
Your faith was placed in a false religion or your faith was placed on being a good person
or your faith was on atheism and now you're going to repent from that.
Repent from false beliefs.
Receive the word that we're giving you
and repent and put your faith on the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Of course we teach repentance.
You know, they say, oh, you guys just teach one, two, three, repeat after me.
Of course not.
You know, just even in Melbourne, just the last salvation I had, the lady there, Roman Catholic,
you know, you're sure you're going to heaven?
Yeah, I'm sure I'm going to heaven.
Why?
I'm a good person.
And I said, look, you're probably a good person.
I mean, you look better than me.
And I gave her the gospel and I showed her that it's faith on Christ alone.
And I asked her, can you see the difference from what you said?
And I've shown you you're a sinner.
I've shown you you're not perfect.
I've shown you that you're on your way to hell.
Can you see that it's different?
And she's like, yeah, you're right.
It is different.
You would trust in your goodness.
I'm telling you, you need to trust on Christ alone.
Can you see that?
I'm preaching the word to her.
You know what happened?
She gladly received the word.
She repented in her faith.
She said, yes, I want to call upon the name of the Lord.
I want to be saved.
I want to put my faith on Christ alone.
I want to be sure not because of me, because I fail every day.
I want to be sure because of Jesus.
And I was able to lead her in a word of prayer.
We know that it's not magic words.
It's what she believes in her heart.
She repented.
She repented from the Roman Catholic teaching
and she received the word that I was giving her.
And she said, I want to believe that.
And then she called upon the name of the Lord.
But she's in Melbourne.
I may never see her again in this life.
And since I'll never see her again, I'll never see her step into church.
So I guess she wasn't saved.
No, she was saved.
I don't care if she never steps foot in church.
I know she's going to step foot in heaven.
That's vastly more important.
She's sure of her salvation because she repented.
What must I do to be saved?
Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved.
What beautiful words.
Beautiful gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And Brevin, as much as I would love to be able to one day spontaneously just speak in Russian.
The power of the tongues.
We're doing the work every week.
You know, we're proclaiming God's word every week.
The power of the Holy Ghost.
Being fuel to the Holy Ghost.
That's happening every week here at New Life.
That's happening every week at Blessed Hope Baptist Church.
We would hope one day would happen every week at Port Macquarie.
We would hope that it'd be happen every week one day in Melbourne.
Who knows what the Lord has in store for us.
And this is what we're left to do.
To be empowered by our Lord to preach the good news of Jesus Christ.
I'm sorry for getting riled up and speak loud.
It's the best thing in the world.
What's better?
Well, salvation.
I mean, I know I can't preach salvation.
I know I can't preach salvation every week, but it's what gives me the greatest joy.
You know, I just remind myself, man, I don't deserve this.
It's grace.
It's free.
It's a gift.
No one deserves it.
It's a free gift.
The love of Christ.
Now I've lost my place.
Where am I up to?
Oh yeah, verse 41.
I didn't quite finish it.
And they that gladly received his word were baptized.
And the same day they were added unto them about three thousand souls.
That's a, that's a big conversion rate.
3000.
You know, if one day we went out and got 3000 souls saved in one day, you know, there'll
be people that don't believe that.
We've got 2000 saved in one week.
Some people don't believe that.
This is 3000 in one day.
Like we haven't even come close to those numbers.
I know brother Michael wants 10 in a week and brother Locky wants a hundred in a week.
You know, when are we going to start praying for 3000 in one day?
But, um, you know, I sort of asked myself this question, you know, is this because they
are added, they're added to the church and sorry, I've lost my place again.
About 3000 souls, about, about 3000 souls.
So maybe it was 2999 or maybe it was 3005.
I don't know, but about that number.
Okay.
And, um, what I like about that is it's about, you know, and even though we have numbers
and, you know, we say this many people would say at the end of the day, Lord knows the
Lord knows.
And I always like to count, uh, modestly, you know, if I have doubts about someone who
I may have felt is just going for the motions that they weren't really there, you know,
I won't count their salvation.
If I don't see them call upon the Lord, I'm not going to count their salvation, things
like that.
But at the end of the day, the Lord knows the Lord knows those exact numbers.
And of course, the reason we share numbers is not because we need to keep a scorecard
or something, right?
The Lord knows the scorecard.
We do it to encourage, you know, one another, you know, and, uh, you know, even if we had
zero salvations in Melbourne, to me, the trip was still a success because we did the work.
We encourage the brethren, we develop friendships and there's so much more work, but you know,
29 salvations, praise God, the cherry on top, you know, it's the good, good news.
And it's there to encourage us.
It's to encourage the friends and the brethren that we've met in Melbourne, you know, reminding
us of the numbers that we've been able to save together, working together for the cause
of Christ.
But yeah, on the same day they were added unto them 3000 souls.
Now, does that mean this church was 3000 big?
It's hard to really know.
Okay.
Because remember, people are traveling from all across other nations to the, to Jerusalem,
you know, they're there for the feast.
You know, it's a one day feast, the day of Pentecost.
Now they're probably going to stay there for a week.
I assume if you're, if you're making a long trip, I doubt you could just make a long trip
and then you're staying for one night.
You're probably going to stay there for a couple of weeks.
Who knows?
You know, but I, the way I understand this, like the Bible doesn't give us the real details,
but I would assume once the celebration, the feast were over, people eventually started
going their own way back to their own nations.
And so did it continue as 3000?
It's hard to kind of know.
It's a big number.
But anyway, let's continue there.
It says in verse number 42, and continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine.
And all of this is important for our church brethren doctrine, you know, yet doctrine
is important, you know, and I want to highlight doctrine teaching, you know, the truth of
God's word is something important, but there are other things that are important with church
doctrine and fellowship.
If we want to grow our church, we need fellowship.
Fellow, like looking at each other fellow, forming friendships, caring for one another.
You know, I've always shared that, you know, people come to our church for the doctrine,
but people are going to hang around for the fellowship.
If they feel like I'm not forming friends, if people don't care about me, they only care
about what doctrine I believe, they're going to leave eventually.
Now, all of these things are important, the doctrines of fellowship, and in breaking of
bread, so they're, you know, sharing a meal together.
I also believe this has to do with the Lord's table.
And in prayers, they're praying one for another.
That's why on a Wednesday night, we stopped to pray for one another, because it's something
that builds a church that encourages one another, as we take people's petitions to the Lord.
These are all important things.
And then verse 143,
And fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.
And all that believed were together and had all things common, and sowed their possessions
and goods and parted them to all men, as every man had need.
Now, I haven't had this question very often, I do remember once being challenged.
I won't name who it is, but someone who refused to work.
And I said, Well, what's the point of working?
I'm just gonna have money, and I'm just gonna buy things.
And the Bible says that they just sold their possessions and their goods, and they just
shared it amongst one another.
So what's the point of, because the Bible says to work.
That's why, you know, it's not about the possessions.
It's something that God has commanded us to do as men, especially.
But what we read here is, you know, people often say about the book of Acts, and I agree,
I agree, you know, and I kind of shared the chat, one of the challenges of the book of
Acts is that it is, it is a historical book.
You know, we read about what they've done.
Not necessarily that God is commanding them to do one thing or another, but rather it's
just capturing what they did.
And so, you know, the, the phrase that is commonly used is the book of Acts, prescriptive
or descriptive.
So it is descriptive, it describes, it's telling us what they did.
It may not necessarily be prescriptive, as in commanding us to do things a certain way.
But, it's, you know, the way I look at it is this.
You know, we have the laws of Moses, and the laws that we read about, you know, the first
five books of the Bible are prescriptive.
They're telling us what to do, what is right and wrong.
They tell us about the law of God.
It teaches us what is holy and unholy.
And in the laws, we see that God instructs kings not to multiply wives, very clearly
prescribed in the Bible not to multiply wives.
They had to have one wife, but then you read the history books.
And what did the kings do?
Many times they took multiple wives.
So that's descriptive.
It describes what they did.
And then some people try to justify the kings.
Oh, that was the culture of the day.
Oh, you know, God was fine with that.
No, he wasn't because he prescribed, you know, in the law that that's not what they
had to do.
But just because God tells us to do something doesn't mean that every single human being
that's saved is going to do it.
We're sinners, right?
All of us, even the greatest men in the Old Testament.
Abraham had multiple wives.
King David had multiple wives.
Solomon, they messed up.
So when we look at that, we say, okay, we see kings have multiple wives, then we have
God commanding not to have multiple wives.
So then what decision are we going to make?
We're going to make the decision on what is prescriptive, not descriptive.
Okay, now what we're looking at here about them selling their goods and selling their
possessions and sharing that amongst themselves.
Would we say this is prescriptive or descriptive?
We'll say it's descriptive, right?
And the question is, well, you know, then what do we do?
Well, I mean, we know that I don't have time to go through this.
That's another.
But ideally, you know, the Bible tells us that we are to work men, that we are to provide
for our families.
We're to take care of the people that God's put over us.
I mean, those things are clearly descriptive.
And not only that, but as you continue reading through the book of Acts, people aren't just
not, it's not like every believer is just selling the house.
Sometimes they're meeting in their house.
Sometimes they're using the house as the place to meet for church.
And so what we're seeing here is just what people are, they're excited.
So they have Pentecost, they got saved, 3000 saved.
And this is very much the very first New Testament church.
The very first New Testament church in Jerusalem.
And they're excited, right?
And it's, you know, it's, yeah, people are excited.
They're selling things.
And I assume they're, you know, considering one another who's lacking, who has need.
I'll help you out, brother.
I'll help you out for this family and this sister.
And, you know, to the work of God as well.
Make sure that we can continue spreading the wonderful gospel of Jesus Christ.
These people are selling.
Nothing wrong with that.
Can you come me to a passage in Acts 5?
We're going to quickly look at Ananias and Sapphira.
Ananias and Sapphira.
I want to hear the full story because we'll cover that when we get there to Acts 5.
But Ananias and Sapphira decide to sell their house.
And they give an amount to the apostles, to the work of God.
And they decide to keep a certain portion for themselves.
But they lied to the apostles.
They say, hey, we sold it for $100,000.
Not literally, but you know, we sold it for $100,000 and we gave you all the $100,000.
When maybe they gave $80,000 and kept $20,000 for themselves.
And there's nothing wrong with that in of itself.
You know, Acts 5, verse 3 says,
And Peter said, Ananias, why have Satan fueled thine heart
to lie to the Holy Ghost and to keep back part of the price of the land?
He says, you're lying Ananias.
Why did you lie to the Holy Ghost?
You know you kept a portion of the price.
Now, was it wrong that they kept a portion of the price?
No, it's not wrong because it continued in verse 4.
He says, while it remained, was it not thine own?
So while you had your house, it's not yours.
You guys can decide what you want to do with it.
And then, and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power?
Because even after you sold it and you had the money, you can see it's in your own power.
Like God's not telling you what to do with it.
It's up to you to decide what you want to do with the funds of the selling of the property.
Why has thou conceived this thing in thine heart?
Thou hast not lied unto men but unto God.
Now, we'll get into that story later on in Acts 5.
But I want you to see the lesson here.
If you say, Pastor Kevin, I've got this property out there somewhere in the middle of nowhere.
I want to sell it all and give it to the House of the Lord.
Praise God for you.
But you know what?
It's in your power.
It's your decision to make.
You know, this is not something God is telling you.
This is what you must do.
The Bible says it is in your power.
It's your decision.
And if you've got some little land out there and you say,
Pastor, I don't want to give it to the House of the Lord.
I want to keep it to myself.
Praise God.
It's in your power.
Do whatever you want with it.
Let's just not lie to the Holy Ghost.
Let's not lie to the church.
You know, so when it comes to our funds, of course, we teach tithing here in this church.
But besides that, if you ever want to give above and beyond,
I always want you to remember it's in your power.
It's in your control.
It's your decision.
You know, Christian liberty once again.
And if you decide one day, Pastor, I'm just going to sell my house
and give it to the House of the Lord.
And then no one else in the church sells their house.
Don't look down on them.
Are you doing it for the Lord?
It's in your power.
It's in your control.
You do what you want to do with it.
And then everyone else decides what they want to do with what's in their power.
But I just wanted to address that because I've had that question thrown at me before.
What's the point of working then?
Because God tells you to.
God tells you to.
And you're worse than infidel if you can't provide for your own.
Anyway, back to Acts chapter two.
Maybe go back there.
Acts chapter two, verse number 46.
And they continuing daily with one accord in the temple.
So again, they're continuing every day.
So again, it's hard to know.
Like, yeah, there were 3,000 you would expect if they came, they got saved.
They would continue for a while, you know, enjoying their holiday in Jerusalem
before they went back to their home nations.
So they continue daily with one accord in the temple.
Where were they meeting?
Where was this church meeting?
In the temple.
All right.
I guess in the public areas, that's a lot of people.
3,000 people getting together, hearing about the preaching of Christ.
Not only that, and breaking bread from house to house.
Yeah, that makes sense.
I mean, you can't have 3,000 people in one person's house.
It makes sense that probably apostles, all 12 of them were going out, maybe, you know,
maybe 12 different kind of places with, you know, let's break up our 3,000 at least,
like in different people's houses and share one another.
It says, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
praising God and having favor with all the people.
Haven't that's important.
Having favor with all the people.
They weren't like troublemakers.
All right.
I'm just rejoicing the Lord.
They're just everybody that came across these new believers.
They found favor with them.
It says, and the Lord added to the church daily, such as should be saved.
So what a wonderful day, the day of Pentecost.
You know, 3,000 souls saved and daily.
They continue the soul winning.
So again, in my head, we don't know.
I'm just giving you my opinion here, a little bit of speculation.
You know, as the 3,000 from different countries, probably heading off back to the homeland.
They're still preaching the gospel every day.
Even more people have been added.
There's probably a bit of a revolving door happening in Jerusalem until things kind of
stabilize, you know, with the people that actually are the people that actually live
in Jerusalem or in that surrounding area of Judea.
All right.
Acts chapter two, the remission of sins.
I'm thankful for the remission of sins.
Are you?
Man, I'm so thankful.
You know, I don't even know what, I don't like to think about my worst sins that I've
ever committed in my life, but I'm just glad I don't have to stand before God.
You know, with my sins.
I'm just glad that Christ already was judged for that.
He took my punishment.
He took my place and he shed blood remits me.
Praise God for faith alone, salvation.
What a wonderful gospel.
Gospel, good news.
That's what's wonderful about it.
No strings attached.
Our savior came and died in our place, rose again from the dead.
What a wonderful blessing we have, the remission of sins.
Let's pray.