(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you amen alright great singing this morning at this time we're going to go through our announcements not have a bulletin looks like one of these and slip your hand up real high we'll make sure that we get one out to you keep your hand raised up until you get one if you open up to the front page you'll see there in the first page the service times is always Sunday morning at 1030 Sunday evening again at 5 p.m. Wednesday night 7 is our Bible study we just finished the book of 2nd Corinthians last week so we are starting up a brand new book we're going to be going through the book of Malachi so last book of the Old Testament go through verse by verse one chapter a week so come on out and join us this Wednesday for Malachi chapter 1 we've got the soul winning opportunities listed there as well as the salvation and baptism for month of February as well as for the year if you're not certain what soul winning is it's where we go out and we knock on doors we talk to people and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and try to lead them to Christ by showing them the gospel showing them the scriptures and just showing them the truth of salvation through Jesus Christ so that is what this church is all about we would love to have you join us for that everybody is welcome to come and join us as we go out soul winning you don't have to even do any work if you're brand new to it you just go out and you just can be a silence partner and just kind of yoke up with one of our other church members and go out and see how we preach the gospel of people so we'd love to have you come and join us for that we've got time immediate well almost immediately after the morning service 1 30 in the afternoon to give you time to get some lunch get back here we'll meet up and go out and knock on some doors this afternoon let's go ahead and count up if anyone had any soul winning numbers to report for the week just slip your hand up real quick and we'll get those counted up yes sir what on Saturday cool awesome anyone else all right very good down at the bottom of page we got the offering totals through the month of February and that's an announcement so we are gonna have a baptism after the service this morning so if you'd like to stick around we're gonna be performing a baptism just outside this door on the sidewalk under there it's a nice day so that should work out really well and then anyone else if you're here and you're saved and you have not been baptized we've got everything set up we've got garments for you to to change into if you'd like to get baptized today's a great day to do it just come and talk to me after the church service and we could get that worked out for you continuing on with the announcements we've got the prayer requests we've made a couple of additions to the prayers please pray for of course everybody who's on this list but as we go down towards the bottom of the list misty lions it's miss mrs. Courtney's mother and she's been having some issues with alcohol and her Courtney and her sisters her family has been been dealing with this so just pray that everything will go well with her and she'll be able to just completely quit that and deal with her with their family situation as it stands right now without going into too many details so please pray for her and her for her mother also will crane is seeking employment he's they live a little bit farther away it's making it more difficult so pray that he'll God will lead him to a good job that will help him to support his family and then does anyone have any updates on anyone who is on the prayer requests list right now all right we added the retirement home prayers there to the list as well and this week we're praying for holdfast Baptist Church in Fresno California pastor Jared Pazarski pray that their ministry goes well on the next page the February challenge we're halfway through the month of February it is to unplug from all digital things devices phones tablets computers what-have-you TVs just just unplug okay obviously if it's needed for your work or for education that's not not a problem but the whole goal is to not just spend mindless time getting involved with all the all the distractions digitally and hopefully will free up some time that you could use just much better continuing on here and I preach a sermon on that if you're interested in that if you haven't heard of this yet I preach at the beginning of the month or at the end of last month and kind of went over a lot more in detail what the purpose of that challenge is we've got a ministry luncheon today we've only got a couple of meetings left so this today is for just the soul winning captains which are the people who are listed on that first page that have a scheduled soul winning time published by the church I'm going to take you out to eat we're going to talk about that ministry about the soul winning campaigns and make sure we're on the same page with that if someone is interested in starting up their own time that you can dedicate to be there all the time this is whatever the schedule is then you could you can join us to this afternoon as well and then the security team is the last the last meeting it could be one week from today next week we'll be going out for that and anyone who's interested that's it that's a new thing no one here has been on a security team yet we haven't had any problems I don't want anyone to feel like oh man what is this security team struggle back with church is this like unsafe whatever no it's not at all unsafe but we're just trying to be wise and be proactive on making sure that if there is any situation especially as the church grows it gets bigger you know we have random people walking through the parking lot especially at night we just want to make sure that everybody here is safe that that there won't be any issues even going forward and that we could just be ahead of anything that might happen so that will be that meeting will go next week and then I will get back to everyone who is joined us for any of these meetings individually on where where I'm gonna want to place everybody who have who have volunteered so almost done with that then we've got the the new Bible memory passage Hebrews chapter 7 so we've split this I've split this one in half there's 28 verses in chapter 7 so we're gonna do 14 verses another 14 verses after this who has finished Hebrews chapter 6 quoted it and did everything you needed to do for the Bible memory so if you have real high so we get a good count one two three four five six seven eight you're behind a tree over here I'll make sure I don't amen all right thank you for that and once again it's not a big shock I am behind on the prizes man we blew through I bought a whole bunch of prizes at once and I thought that was gonna last a while now we got some random things we still have some some battery daddies or whatever they're called I don't know if but I don't want to just keep giving the same things away kind of old so we'll get caught up here real soon on all the prizes you do end up getting it so it's just this is just really my ploy to keep people coming back to church so you get the prize and you're like I haven't gotten that yet so just keep on coming back and eventually you do get it though if you memorize chapter 7 here you also get a prize if you're able to quote that word perfect without making any errors okay we've got the upcoming birthdays and anniversaries listed there as well as all the upcoming events you can see that deadline of 214 that is passed already so lots of things coming up there's still some sign-up sheets over on that little table over there if you want to come to our camping trip in May it's awesome camping trip we provide the space for you to camp you just have to provide food for yourself and your equipment if anyone needs help with equipment you could let us know we do have sure the church owns a little bit of camping equipment to be able to help people who don't have anything in my family personally we also have some extra camping gear that we could help supply people and outfit them with if you if you don't have anything of your own but you'd like to come and join us on this camping trip so just make sure the most important thing is you sign up so I can make sure you have a space reserved for yourself this is a very popular event and it's growing in popularity and I people from outside of our church that have been asking me on the getting a place reserved for them so I need to get back to them but I can't do that until I get you taken care of first because of course this is our church event and our church gets the top priority on getting spaces and then we open it up for other other people to join us as well all right that's about it for our announcement so I am going to turn the service back over to brother Peter who lead us in our next song Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh in church one offering plates for being passed around open up your Bibles chapter 6 that is the book of Romans chapter 6 as we do customary here at stronghold Baptist Church that was Romans chapter 6 what shall we say then shall we continue in sin that grace may abound God forbid how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein no ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of life for if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin for he that is dead is freed from sin now if we be dead with Christ we believe that we shall also live with him knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more death hath no more dominion over him for in that he died he died unto sin once but in that he liveth he liveth unto God likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in the lusts thereof neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God for sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the law but under grace what men shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace God forbid no you not that to whom you yield yourself servants to obey his servants er to whom you obey whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness but God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered to you which was delivered you being then made free from sin you became the servants of righteousness I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness for when you were the servants of sin you were free from righteousness what fruit had you then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed for the end of those things is death but now being made free from sin and become servants to God ye have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life for the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord brother Keith can you pray for us please it's time to be in your healthy hands. Lord I just pray for you and I ask you to fill in with your spirit and if I will bid we would all have ears to hear your word and we will give you thanks and praise. Amen. All right this morning I'm going to be preaching on the subject of baptism. I like going through doctrinal sermons from time to time just make sure that we keep the fundamentals secure and we know exactly why we believe what we believe and since we were having a baptism after church service this morning so it just kind of prompted me to think like hey I might as well teach on this and preach on this you definitely need to keep hitting things so you know many of you this may not be brand new at all it should be something that hopefully already solid in but but we like I said you ought to be able to especially with the fundamentals be able to explain exactly why you believe what you believe people have differences of opinion about these different things and I'm going to be talking about what baptism is and what it is not and I'm going to start off you could keep a bookmark in Romans 6 we're going to go back to that chapter later we read the entire chapter out loud because almost the entire chapters just gives us a lot of the understanding of baptism so we'll get to that later but I want to start off by saying that what baptism is not in primarily what baptism is not is not required for salvation baptism is not a requirement for salvation at all okay and no not even you know people say oh we be baptized in the Holy Ghost no that is not required for salvation what's required for salvation is exactly what the Bible says is required for salvation where it says they brought them out and said sirs what must I do to be saved and they said believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved for whosoever believeth on the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved the Bible says in John 3 16 for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life and we can go on and on and on and on and on and on with all the verses that explain that salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ that is what saves it has nothing to do with a water baptism whatsoever the Bible says in Ephesians chapter 4 verse number 4 there is one body and one spirit even as ye are called in one hope of your calling one Lord one faith one baptism one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all and one of the things I find kind of interesting is the same people that want to tell you that you must be baptized in order to be saved are the same people that believe that you could lose your salvation and then you could get it back and you could lose your salvation you get it back well if so if baptism would be necessary then why is there just one baptism right and you know there ought to just be there is just one baptism Bible teaches that there's one baptism we don't need to get baptized over and over and over again just like you don't need to get saved over and over and over again okay you get baptized once now there is a prerequisite for baptism turn if you would to Acts chapter number eight Acts chapter number eight we're going to read near the very end of the chapter there the last few verses story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch so there's a man riding in a carriage and he's traveling along and Philip sees this carriage and the Lord's like telling Philip to hey go go and talk to this person that's in that carriage so he's prompted of the Holy Ghost to go and speak to this person he ends up catching up with him and it says there in verse number 35 then Philip opened his mouth and began at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus this guy was unsaved he didn't know what he was reading he didn't understand it he was trying to figure out what the Bible was saying Philip shows up to open up the scripture to him and he started preaching unto him Jesus because that's what he needs to hear about to get saved right the first 36 and as they went on their way they came unto a certain water and eunuch said see here's water what does hinder me to be baptized so he's saying well what there's water right there why can't I be baptized now the reason why he's even asking about baptism at all is because he already knew that there's a there's these people that are called Christians that are getting baptized right it was something that's well known even today in modern society if people don't you know non-believers these people out in the world they know that baptism is a thing by and large right most people understand that there's this thing called baptism even if they don't understand all about it they don't really understand what it means they know that it exists and they know that Christians do this and they get baptized so it's not it's not weird to think that there may be someone out there who's gonna say well hey well I want to be but you start hearing all this stuff about Jesus and he's going well hey that sounds great hey I want to be baptized why can't I be baptized right and at this point he's receiving what Philip is saying so he's going great day there's water right there I want to get baptized well there's a prerequisite what what hinders me what is it that's gonna prevent me from being baptized Philip verse 37 and Philip said if thou believeth with all thine heart thou mayest and he answered and said I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God so there is a prerequisite to getting baptized you have to be saved you have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ with all of your heart as your personal Savior that is the prerequisite this is very important on what baptism is what it isn't baptism it's a believer's baptism it's something that only we perform on those who believe so everyone who gets baptized by me in this church I'm going to ask you about your salvation before I do any baptisms so because the point is well hey if you if a person doesn't believe then why would I baptize them that's just gonna give them some false ideas if someone's not even trusting Christ or if they're believing in a workspace salvation or they think they could lose their salvation things like this that's not gonna that's not gonna do any good okay and what we'll understand a little bit more about that when we see the full picture of baptism anyways but what else is interesting about this passage particularly right here you know we just read the answer in verse number 37 and if you ever wonder if you're new to our church if you're visiting and you say you notice that we're reading from the King James Version of the Bible the these and the thousand say well what does hinder me I go that just sounds funny pastor burzins I don't think I can understand that well that's why I'm up here preaching and help explaining it to you first of all second of all it's not that difficult to understand it's not that old and any parts of the Bible are difficult understand you know you can pray to God you could you could ask you could get some help on that but here's why it's so important here's why I make it a big deal out of it I don't do have an I have a non inspired version right here also known as the NIV and this is why this is important okay and and look I am mocking and I'm gonna ridicule these other versions of the Bible because they're not God's Word they falsely put Bible on here or Holy Bible okay that that is a misnomer that is not accurate that is not correct they are perversions of the Word of God because they have changed the Word of God in very very very significant ways not just a minor oh well this says death and that says does and this says thou and that one says you that's the way the sellers of this book want to sell it to you but that's not that what actually is the case when you look at it and the reason why I'm stopping and taking so much time on this right here is because I'm teaching on baptism look this is a critical point verse in verse 37 there if you believe with all thine heart number one because we have tons of people out there who are baptizing babies they're baptizing babies now you tell me can a newborn a one-week-old a six-week-old a six-month-old can they put their faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ they don't understand anything about it they don't know right from wrong they don't know good and evil they don't know these things and I'll tell you this much too they don't need to be saved because they haven't commit sin yet they are innocent they are pure okay and if an infant dies they go straight to heaven but see when people who get their their salvation wrong they also get the a lot of other things wrong too so when you start thinking like oh man well what's my baby gonna do they didn't do any of these sacraments or they didn't do this other stuff so they introduced it all let's just baptize them to make sure that they go to heaven when they look that's not that's false that's false you must believe in order to be baptized now in this non inspired version that I have I'll read this for you could look down at the real Bible and the always they don't have the verses ever in these in these modern versions it's like paragraph style so you've got these numbering all throughout it's kind of hard to even see the numbers whereas the King James Bible I mean I know there's other additions that may put them as paragraph style but by and large they are the traditional you've got each verse number going down to be able to reference and easily reference the scriptures you know people who actually use the Bible and study the Bible and want to teach the Bible it's great to have an easy reference to be able to find a verse that you know oh I know what this verse is I know where that verse is it's a lot harder in these other paragraph style ones but it's also easier to obfuscate or to cover up what has been done and the verses that have been removed when it's in a paragraph form and in this book that I'm holding in my hand there verse 36 says as they traveled along the road they came to some water and the eunuch said look here is water why shouldn't I be baptized that's almost the same thing as what we just read and I'm gonna keep reading and he ordered the chariot to stop then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him I didn't accidentally my eyes didn't skip over verse 37 it's it's just not there okay if you could see this for yourself after service if you don't believe me it goes and it's numbered 36 38 isn't it funny that they're following the King James verse numbering if you didn't think it belongs there why don't you change the numbering why would you number a verse that way what you read is important but look okay I'm gonna get back onto the baptism side of things because this is really important but what the Bible that you read it's a whole nother sermon for another day but it's very important and this is just one of the many many many examples as to where there are major significant problems with the modern versions that that's a key you can't just take away from God's Word and it doesn't even make sense to ask a question and then not have an answer because he has a question say well hey why can't I be baptized and then you just baptized them so apparently there is no reason why a person can't get baptized and that's ridiculous you mean to tell me that Phillips they're preaching the gospel to him and this guy asks him a question says hey why can't I be baptized and Philip just doesn't say anything and he says stop the chariot and then just baptizes them he doesn't even give him an answer like that's ridiculous those modern perversions are ridiculous though so we see here Philip baptizes them and then and then he leaves and turn turn view of the mark chapter 16 because I wanted to show you look there's a condition for baptism that's part of what it is I want to go back to cuz I didn't cover this really well what it is not and I mentioned before about salvation there are those verse after verse after verse that talks about believing being the requirement for salvation and baptism isn't even mentioned anywhere in the passage. John 5 24 my favorite verse in the whole Bible Jesus said verily verily I say unto thee hear with my word and believe with thy name that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death unto life. No word of baptism there but it gives us that clear hey if you believe you have everlasting life you have eternal life you will not be condemned in the future you shall not be condemned you're not going to go to hell you've already passed from death unto life past present future you're saved done sealed amen but those that want to try to teach that baptism is required for salvation note they may turn to a passage like Mark 16 which again just on that that other side note of the modern scriptures so called the the modern perversion of the Bible they'll tell you that basically almost the entire last the entire last portion of the book of Mark just shouldn't even be there that it's not reliable but then they're going to turn to this passage to try to prove that you need to be baptized right they pick and choose when is it convenient to have this as part of the Bible when is it not but look at verse number 15 powerful passage and he said unto them go ye into all the world and preach the gospel every creature amen verse 16 he that believeth in his baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned amen okay that's a very true verse a very true statement the problem is that people want to butcher this and change this into meaning something that it doesn't when it's simply a true statement and part of this has to do with just understanding logic and reasoning and just understanding how things make sense and just kind of using reasoning to understand what this says and what it does not say now he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved is that a true statement yes yes does this say you must be baptized to be saved it does not say that it just says he a person that believeth and is baptized well hey I'm I believe and I'm baptized so I'm saved right yes I'm saved he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved here's the logic part of this if you have a true statement because elsewhere in the Bible you have he that believeth shall be saved as I just quoted from John chapter 5 verse 24 and many verses where it's just believe the believing is what saved you could add anything after that and it's still a true statement and it's not misleading and I'll get to that in just a second not misleading at all when you just read this hey he that believes his baptized shall be saved he that believes and goes to church shall be saved he that believes and praise the God shall be saved he that believes and stands on their head shall be saved because he that believes shall be saved you could add anything to that the problem comes in is when you start trusting that no you must I must believe in my baptism to save me that's a problem because how does the rest of this verse go but he that believeth not shall be damned no mention of baptism on the damned part people are either saved or damned okay so even within the context of this one verse well he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned so what does that mean for the person that believes and is not baptized are they damned well no because he that believeth not shall be damned so he does believe so he can't be damned the verse answers it itself he that believeth and you say well I'm not baptized but I believe you're still saved because we could point to many many other passages that prove that also clearly as well John chapter 3 turn to John chapter 3 I just want to briefly cover some of these points that people will try to make when they try to teach the false doctrine of baptismal regeneration is what it may be called by some or just the fact that you would need to be baptized in the New Testament in order to be saved it is a falsehood it is a lie and anyone who's trusting in their baptism as part of their salvation is not saved this is why I teach as a preacher because it's that important if you're trusting that your baptism plays some part in your salvation that is a work that is something that is you know you that meet what that means is you're not trusting in Christ with all of your heart because one part of your heart is trusting in that baptism that you did also we need to trust Jesus 100% not any aspect of keeping the law not any you know and ultimately baptism is a commandment by the way to they commanded people to be baptized after they got saved no ordinance no no nothing else is required for salvation other than faith in Christ John chapter 3 we're sorry in verse number 3 this is Jesus speaking with Nicodemus John chapter 3 verse 3 the Bible says Jesus answered and said unto him verily verily I say unto thee except the man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God amen now I'm going to point out here there's three places in this passage that talk about this new birth okay first of all verse 3 except the man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God so you are not saved if you are not born again now by virtue of being born again that means you must have a first birth in order to have a second birth right born again implies there's a first and a second birth keep that in mind as we continue this conversation that we're reading between Jesus and Nicodemus Nicodemus says unto him how can a man be born when he is old can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born he's just thinking physical completely I have one birth sure we all have one birth I have a birthday my birthday is April 23rd yeah everyone has a different birthday so he's saying but I'm a grown man how am I gonna be born again this is physically impossible right so Jesus clarifies in verse 5 Jesus answered verily verily I say unto thee except the man be born of water and of the spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit so he clarifies first of all I think this should be obvious everyone that the born again is a spiritual birth not a physical birth but what's also important understand is that he's continuing to compare a physical is first spiritual second physical first spiritual second we all in this world have a physical birth but not everybody has the second birth the spiritual birth which is what you must have in order to see the kingdom of heaven so in verse 5 where he says except the man be born of water and of the spirit that's a first birth and a second birth there are people out there want to tell you well being born of water means that's baptism why is that baptism people want to teach that's because they already have a preconceived idea that you must be baptized to be saved you don't get that understanding from this passage just by reading it born of means born from if you're born from the spirit right the spirit is what brings you life rights a spirit of God when you get saved when you have that spiritual birth being born from the water is that passage through the physical birth canal into this world when a mother's water breaks and then out comes the baby it's very simple and this can be proven by that next verse in verse 6 where again he says that which is born of the flesh is flesh and I was born of the spirit of spirit flesh spirit water spirit flesh spirit water spirit born again physical birth always comes first born of water means born of the flesh it's clearly in scripture anyone with spiritual discernment should be able to see that that's that's what this is teaching this is what this is saying now maybe you've been deceived in the past I understand that people are good at taking things out of context but when you compare it with continuing going through the context it makes sense now we're going to keep reading this passage here verse number seven says Marvel not that I said unto thee you must be born again the wind bloweth where it listed and now here's the sound there but can't not tell once it cometh and wither it goeth so is everyone that is born of the spirit Nicodemus answered said Adam how can these things be Nicodemus doesn't understand this at all well how can this even be verse 10 is the last point I want to make here Jesus answered said Adam art thou a master of Israel knowest not these things the concept of being born again should not have been a new concept for Nicodemus otherwise why would Jesus rebuke someone for not knowing something if it was impossible for that person to have even have known of those things right I mean why would he do that why would he rebuke someone else how could you not know what these things are how could you not know this already you're a master of Israel why do I make a point of that because people will try to tell you that while salvation was different in the Old Testament and New Testament and baptisms a New Testament thing well he's explaining to him being born again which this isn't about baptism this is about being born again but he's showing him that salvation is there's that second birth it's it's a new birth it's being born again and the Bible says as many as received him to them gave you power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name in John chapter 1 verse 12 that second birth comes by believing on Christ that's when you're born again people in the Old Testament they didn't know the name of Christ but they still believed in the Savior to come they believed in a Messiah they believed in he that would come and take away the sins of the world that New Covenant was already professed in the Old Testament that it was coming and they put their faith in that for their salvation they put the faith in a Savior even though they didn't know his name now we know the name now we know it's Jesus Christ so we confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in our heart that God hath raised him from the dead why am I bringing that up because we have examples even of someone being saved in the Bible that clearly was not baptized when we look at the thief on the cross very clear evidence and he said unto Jesus Lord remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom and Jesus said in and verily I say unto thee today shalt thou be with me in paradise oh well that's an exception oh look we don't God doesn't make exceptions it's not like oh well the rules are okay for you but not for good for everyone else but not for you either either baptisms required for everyone or it's not and they just want to throw that verse away and throw that whole story away oh he's just showing extra forgiveness or something that's ridiculous how is that just see justice is you keep everyone to the same standard and you're not a respecter of persons if Jesus were just offering this extra special forgiveness on the thief on the cross well you don't need to be baptized well what why would he be any different than anyone else then how could you hold anyone to that standard well why don't you show me that forgiveness why don't you know like no God is a God of justice God is the perfect holy judge and he's going to judge things appropriately at the other time the only way that people get it can escape that judgment is by being saved through Christ also I mean if if baptism was required for salvation why would one of the greatest apostles that's ever walked the earth the Apostle Paul in my opinion one of the greatest used mightily with all the revelations of God giving us so much of the New Testament through his epistles to these churches why would he say this in 1st Corinthians 1 17 for Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the gospel well apparently God doesn't really want people getting saved he just wants them hearing the gospel that makes no sense if you have an evangelist going around to preach people the gospel so that they could be led to Christ and get saved why wouldn't he also be baptizing if if the baptism was required for salvation it's not required for salvation that's that's the easy answer that's the most obvious answer that's a truthful answer people are saved the same way the Old Testament is new but the figure of baptism was present I want to touch on this also in 1st Corinthians chapter 10 we flip over to chapter 10 we're going to understand the most of the Old Testament is a foreshadowing of the new the old covenant while it was a glorious covenant was completely outshined by the New Covenant we covered that when we went through a Bible study in the book of Hebrews Hebrew shows a lot of the differences between the Old and New Covenant and how much better it is but the the things that are written in the Old Covenant the things are written the Old Testament Bible says they're written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come there's a lot of great learning teaching doctrine many things we could learn from the Old Testament but what we see most of all probably most importantly are all the foreshadowing of the things to come all of the prophecies first Corinthians chapter 10 verse number 1 the Bible reads moreover brother and I would not that you should be ignorant how that all our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea this is talking about when Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt out of the house of bondage from slavery into freedom it says they were all under the call they all passed through the sea because remember God appeared unto them at a pillar of fire by night and a cloudy pillar by day verse 2 says and we're all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea and did all eat the same spiritual meat to remember that manna and did all drink the same spiritual drink for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them and that rock was Christ all of the spiritual teachings now are being shown from the events that literally happened when Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt but they were all done to show a greater spiritual meaning behind the actual physical events that happened and he's showing how you know they were delivered from Egypt when Moses led them out of Egypt but then they were still being pursued by the enemy and then they get to the sea and they were baptized by the cloud and the sea when they when they passed over into the wilderness and then continued on their journey to the promised land but it's showing that spiritual meat that manna that they got is also representative of the body of Christ the the drink that they drank it's it's just like Jesus was talking to woman at the well saying hey you know I've got water to give you that if you drink you'll never be thirsty again and he's talking about the same spiritual drink just as the children of Israel the Bible says that they drank up and they did all drink the same spiritual drink for they drank of that spiritual rock of album that rock was Christ further illustrating salvation in the Old Testament even through Christ even though they didn't know his name Christ was that rock that brought forth the living waters now physically these events happen to them but it's showing that greater truth 1st Peter chapter 3 let's turn there real quick hopefully we're clearing up any if there's any misunderstanding even about just one particular passage especially the ones that that refer to baptism that we get this straight but we understand we've done a lot of teaching on what it's not we're going to get to know what it is we're starting to see the picture unfold from 1st Corinthians 10 1st Peter chapter 3 verse number 20 is we're going to pick up and I know this is in the middle of a verse middle of a sentence it's a really long sentence I just want to pick up here in verse number 20 Bible says which sometime were disobedient when once the long-suffering of God waited in days of Noah while the ark was a preparing were in few that is eight souls were saved by water the importance of what we're getting into context here is this is the reference back to Noah and the ark and the people who were saved from the water because they were in the ark verse 21 says the like figure were unto even baptism that also now save us so what he's saying is that the the ark salvation was a picture of salvation and he says that's even how like like how baptism saves us but then it's clear to put in this parenthetical statement here just so that no one would get the wrong idea of going huh see I told you baptisms required for salvation for your soul being saved no not the putting away of the filth of the flesh it doesn't save you from the sins of your flesh doesn't say from that you need Christ to redeem you from those sins of your flesh but the answer of a good conscience toward God and then it says by the resurrection of Jesus Christ so if we get rid of that parenthetical statement the like figure were unto baptism that also now save us by the resurrection of Jesus Christ who has gone into heaven and is on the right hand of God angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him and now to go back if you were to Romans chapter 6 baptism will give us a good conscience toward God which was the second part of that parenthetical statement in second Peter first Peter chapter 3 Romans 6 now is going to describe a lot about how we ought to live okay the first thing that happens that needs to happen for a Christian is to believe and be born again okay once you're born again which was the prerequisite the requirement in order to get baptized now you ought to get baptized okay you have this new birth and Romans chapter 6 starts off and in fact let's just get the tail end of Romans chapter 5 just for good measure let's start reading verse number 18 therefore is by the offense of one judgment came upon all men the condemnation even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men and a justification of life for as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous moreover the law entered that the offense might abound but where sin abounded grace did much more abound so you said the law was given to show us that we're unrighteous to show us that we're sinners to highlight that and even though offenses have abounded and it says where sin abounded grace did much more abound God's grace forgiveness of sins is is able to cover all sins and no matter how many sins a person has no matter how many sins are committed grace goes beyond the boundary of sin it covers all so this is clear at the end of chapter 5 hey Christ's payment that by one man you know forgiveness or grace can be shown unto all his payment is sufficient for all to be able to cover all sin all people for all ages going everything grace covers all grace abounds but right away immediately now as we go into chapter 6 it's going to deal with this the subject end of well I mean then I guess we could just sin and it's okay who cares right hey we're free in Christ God's grace just covers all of our sins so let's just keep sinning why should we even bother and worry about anything if I'm saved then who cares wrong bad attitude not right but it's clear that grace covers all sin and just going to abound so that is a true statement but let's read and read that last verse of verse 21 and in chapter 5 that a sin hath rained unto death even so might grace rain through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord verse number one now chapter six what shall we say then shall we continue in sin that grace may abound hey let's just bring in more grace by sinning more my grace is a good thing let's just keep on adding up the grace and sin should we just do that well what is next verse say God forbid God forbid of course we shouldn't do that of course that's ridiculous and it's interesting because when we go out and talk to people about salvation oftentimes one at one of the one of the most objections one of the most common objections I hear when you try to explain that hey you're saved by faith in Christ and it's not your words not going to church and that even if a person does sin and continues to sin and continues to habitually sin after they're saved they're still saved because we're sinned it about grace did much more abound well that just means you could go off and do whatever you want look it means you're still saved is what it means but it's we're not teaching that well just go ahead and do whatever you want it's not the same thing shall we continue in sin a grace made bound God forbid how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein we're dead to sin because we have Christ because Christ died on the cross for our sins verse 3 and I'm going to get ahead of myself here so I'm going to just keep reading know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of life and this covers what baptism pictures because baptism is a representation it is a picture of Jesus Christ and his death and his burial in his resurrection and I didn't cover this in depth I'm not going to go in depth on this but baptism is by immersion it's full submersion in water it's not pouring or sprinkling or you know doing any of this stuff with a few drops of water it's immersion and it's so it's super important for many reasons one that's just where the the word we even get derives from the Greek word which means to immerse which there wasn't a word for was transliterated into English for baptism to give us a word that didn't exist that had to be transliterated but it's immersion also we could know that and understand it because this is a picture of being baptized into his death when Jesus was on the cross he was vertical upright right when a person gets down into the water whatever body of water that is to get baptized they're standing upright when we baptize a person they go under water well Jesus was buried in a tomb under the earth right in a grave and then the third day what happened he rose again from the dead now thank God baptism lot quicker than that we don't hold you under water for three days and three nights we pull you right back up again just in an instant because it's just a picture right it's just a representation we're not reenacting a death burial and resurrection fully with the time frame but we're showing you and what the person is doing is they're showing outwardly their faith by that baptism I believe in the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ for my salvation so what you're doing is you're outwardly expressing that faith by getting buried in baptism brought back up representing the resurrection from the dead and what this is teaching in Romans 6 is that hey we are living for the resurrection we know there's a resurrection we're done with the old life we're done with the old man we're done with that first birth with that carnal birth with that first with the flesh we're done with that we're gonna walk now in the spirit because we're born again we've got a new man we've got that new spirit we're gonna walk spiritually we're gonna do what's right and that baptism shows the picture of that but it's also a reminder not just for a person getting baptized but for every single one of us on how we ought to live our life so as we see a new life come in this world a spiritual life that's getting baptized we ought to be able to say hey I need to walk in newness of life I need to remember my spiritual birth and get back into walking in the spirit and not fulfilling the lusts of the flesh baptism is important so it's important for everybody not just a person being baptized but for all of us around to continue doing the baptisms as a reminder and I'm going to teach on this I teach this on a yearly basis at least making sure we're all clear what baptism is because it's super important I mean we're called Baptists it's important we're of the Baptist faith let's keep reading so I notice there in verse 4 what will read verse 4 therefore we are buried with him by baptism in the debt that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of life and I want to point out it doesn't say you automatically will walk in newness of life it says we should every day we have a choice to make we still have the old man we still have the first birth we still have the flesh that war is against the spirit and we have to choose whether we're gonna walk in the spirit or walk in the flesh every day which is why we still sin because we falter we we end up finding ourselves in the flesh you know that we need to walk in the spirit but there's no guarantee that you're going to be walking in the spirit afterwards we should be walking in the spirit though we should be continuing to think about these things and choosing these things and people want to try to tell you all well if you do this sin or you do that sin or you if you're if you're still a drunk after you got saved and you didn't really get saved you know what hogwash if a person puts their faith in Christ and is trusting them as a Savior alone they're saved and you know what from that moment forward they should walk in newness of life they should but until we leave this corrupt wretched body that we have this sinful body that drives us into lust we won't be without sin we won't be free from the bondage of this own body that wants to drive us into sin but thank God being born again you have a spirit not only do you have your new the new man which is that born-again spirit inside of you you also have the Holy Spirit to help lead you and guide you and direct you into all knowledge and wisdom so that's a kind of a double bonus there let's keep reading a little bit more here verse number five for if we had been planted together in the likeness of his death we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin that the crucifixion of Christ on the cross his physical body is is the destruction of our body of sin remember he became sin for us the Bible says and that bodily flesh died on the cross now the resurrection gives us a transfigured or a transformed or a changed body we will have a body at the resurrection but it's going to be updated upgraded right it's a body 2.0 it's gonna be a much better body that is not sinful that is not weak that is not of our current carnal flesh verse 7 for he that is dead is freed from sin because we're dead in Christ we're free from that corruption of the body under God's law because Christ satisfied the penalty of the law verse 8 now if we be dead with Christ we believe that we shall also live with him knowing that Christ being raised from the dead diet no more death hath no more dominion over him for in that he died he died on the sin once but in that he liveth he liveth unto God you know the fact that Jesus Christ died on the cross he died once he died once that one death covers all sin he doesn't need to die over and over and over again to pay for our sins you don't need to receive Christ over and over and over and over again to pay for your sins he pays for your sins the one time you put your trust in him that covers all of it you should walk in newness of life as a daily thing but that death it was a one-time payment that covers all and we're sin about it grace death much more abound verse 11 likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed on the sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof again if it was an automatic thing he wouldn't tell you not to let it happen it just makes sense right that also shows us it is possible for sin to reign in our mortal bodies if you allow it to we need to strengthen our spirit and weaken our flesh mortify our flesh neither verse 13 yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God baptism is a great point to get right in your life to get right with God to say hey I am going to put my flesh to death and I'm gonna walk in that spirit and walk in that resurrection and walk in that newness of life after getting baptized and if you haven't been baptized yet I encourage you to do so I know for myself personally you know I got saved when I was 20 years old it was about six or seven years later by the time I was actually baptized but the baptism was a pivotal moment in my life where I was saying hey you know what I'm gonna just do I'm gonna try to do what's right from now I'm gonna actually make a concerted effort and focus on serving the Lord getting in church and doing what's right and that happened man after the baptism it was like that's when I really got plugged in and that kind of helped cement it for me of having that that carnal death and the spiritual walk that spiritual rebirth I was saved when I was 20 and you know even if I never got baptized I'd always be saved but it's it's a moment that is significant it has spiritual power okay that baptism you ought to get baptized if you haven't been so a couple more verses and we'll wrap it up here neither yield yourselves for 13 members instruments on the righteousness and the sin but yield yourselves unto God as those are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God for sin shall not have dominion over you for you're not under the law but under grace what then shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace God forbid against brings up the same thing again should we continue in sin no shall we sin but I look God forbid know you not that to whom you yield yourself servants to obey his servants you are to whom you obey whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness but God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you being then made free from sin ye became the servants of righteousness and this is the reminder which is in the baptism the death to sin death to carnality death to the old life and walking in newness of life through the Spirit this is why we baptize people what it's a commandment to it's got a lot of spiritual implications in its meaning it is not required for salvation but rather is a picture of our salvation and what we ought to do as born-again believers we need to daily be what making the serious effort to walk in the Spirit not giving in to the lusts of our flesh if you're not if you are not saved today please speak to me one of the ushers after service we would like to show you how to be saved if you are saved and have not been baptized after your salvation and I didn't cover this in the sermon I'll just say this real quickly Iris I was baptized as a baby I wasn't saved as a baby I told you I was saved when I was 20 that baptism doesn't count I didn't even choose that baptism is just done for me okay the prerequisite as we saw in Acts chapter 8 was to believe hey I'm not gonna baptize you unless you believe if you were an unbeliever if you were mixed up if you didn't understand salvation in the past and maybe you went to other church other what just some other place and you got baptized and you're believing and what they were teaching you're believing in their doctrine but their doctrine told you that hey you you could lose your salvation or you know if you weren't right if you weren't saved by completely trusting in Christ then anything that happened before that doesn't count okay get baptized and if you have any doubt about it in your mind there's nothing wrong with getting baptized again now we don't need to if you if you were saved and you got baptized one time after salvation that's all you need that's sufficient but if you have your own doubts and going man I don't really know I know I was saved but I got baptized under this circumstance or that circumstance it's not a big deal to get baptized again at all especially if that's a personal conviction for you I always instruct people hey even if the person's unsaved is baptizing if you got baptized after you were saved I still think that's fine and that's good and that works because it's all about your submission obedience and demonstrating your faith even if the person because what do we ever do we ever see anything about the person actually performing the baptism that they have any importance at all in that process other than someone has to do it not really I mean so that they don't have this image or representation of anything in what we're doing with baptism so if that were to happen I would still say hey your baptism stands but no get back if you need to get baptized let's get baptized today we've got plenty of garments hopefully that water is warm we've had a lot of issues with the water heater by possibly me saying that right now I'm trying to encourage you get baptized so come and speak to me immediately after service if you are not the one individuals getting baptized today but you would like to get baptized come and see me right away we're closed with the word of prayer let's bow our heads please dear heavenly father Lord we thank you so much for your word we thank you so much for these great teachings we thank you for salvation and the simplicity in Christ dear Lord I pray that you would please help us to lead more people to Christ pray to please help us all to reflect on our spiritual man that's inside of us that spiritual birth that we have dear Lord and that you would help us all to just in our own hearts and minds be convinced to walk in our spirit and to move forward that way and that as we as we see one more profession of faith by by the representation of Christ that we're going to see today that we would also just renew our own willingness to walk in the newness of the Spirit dear God we love you it's in Jesus name we pray amen all right we're gonna sing one more song before we're dismissed brother Peter will you please lead us Oh God needs his dear children of all. Where the water, the clear sea, God needs his dear children of all. Some through the water, some through the flood, some through the fire, but all through the flood. Some through grace or other, God gives a soul. In the night season and all the day long. Sometimes on the mountain where the sun shines so bright, God needs his dear children of all. Sometimes in the valley in darkness of night, God needs his dear children of all. Some through the water, some through the flood, some through the fire, but all through the flood. Some through grace or other, God gives a soul. In the night season and all the day long. The storm was before us and stayed to the close. God needs his dear children of all. Through grace we can conquer, defeat all our foes. God needs his dear children of all. Some through the water, some through the flood, some through the fire, but all through the flood. Some through grace or other, God gives a soul. In the night season and all the day long. Away from the fire, away from the clay, God needs his dear children of all. Away from the glory, eternity's gain, God needs his dear children of all. Some through the water, some through the flood, some through the fire, but all through the flood. Some through grace or other, God gives a song. In the night season and all the day long.