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

Yeah, I was trying to hit it all on the piano yesterday, I was like, ugh. The practice is happy. Yes, it is. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Yeah, I think everyone's getting better, like knocking off the rug really fast. Yeah. Yeah. I know I can't feed y'all up in that and I can't feed it to your forehand. Good morning. Welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church. You can turn your song books to song number two, Glory to His Name. Song two in your hymn books, Glory to His Name. Song number two, Glory to His Name. Song number two. Down at the cross where my Savior died, Down where for cleansing from sin I cried, There to my heart was the blood applied, Glory to His Name. Glory to His Name. Glory to His Name. There to my heart was the blood applied, Glory to His Name. Song number two on the second. I am so wondrously saved from sin, Jesus so sweetly abides within, There at the cross where He took me in, Glory to His Name. Glory to His Name. Glory to His Name. There to my heart was the blood applied, Glory to His Name. O precious fountain that saves from sin, I am so glad I have entered in, There Jesus saves me and keeps me clean, Glory to His Name. Glory to His Name. Glory to His Name. There to my heart was the blood applied, Glory to His Name. On the last. Come to this fountain so rich and sweet, Cast thy poor soul at the Savior's feet, Plunge in today and be made complete, Glory to His Name. Glory to His Name. Glory to His Name. There to my heart was the blood applied, Glory to His Name. All right, let's have a word of prayer. Lord, thank you so much for this day and thank you for Steadfast Baptist Church. Pray that you bless every single person here and also those that are sick and can't make it this morning. Pray that you help them to feel better and be back in the house of God soon. Pray that you bless this day and these services, and in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, for our second song, we'll go to 379, Bringing in the Sheaves. Song 379, Bringing in the Sheaves. Song 379. Song 999. Bringing in the sheaves. We shall come rejoicing. Bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves. We shall come rejoicing. Bringing in the sheaves. Sowing in the sunshine, sowing in the shadows, Fearing neither clouds nor winter's chilling breeze. By and by the harvest and the labor ended, We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves. We shall come rejoicing. Bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves. We shall come rejoicing. Bringing in the sheaves. Going forth with weeping, sowing for the Master, Though the law sustained, our spirit often grieves. When our weeping's over, He will bid us welcome. We shall come rejoicing. Bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves. We shall come rejoicing. Bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves. We shall come rejoicing. Bringing in the sheaves. We shall come rejoicing. On the inside we have our service and soul winning times as well as our church stats. And also on the right hand side we have our list of expecting ladies. Please keep all of them in your prayers. We also have our prayer list which we have several prayer requests if you'd make sure to please keep them in your prayers. If you have any additional prayer requests please submit those to us so we can try to add those in the bulletin. And go over those on our Bible study on Wednesday night. Also we have a couple upcoming events. We have Brother Deacon, I always call him Brother Deacon, but it's just Deacon Oliver Gonzalez. And he's from Verity Baptist Church and he's a really great guy. And so it's exciting that he's going to be coming out here and preaching for us. We're actually going to be having a luncheon that day as well. And we've ordered some guest cards. We should be getting those hopefully Monday or Tuesday. So on Wednesday and next Sunday you can get a special handout. There's just kind of an invitation for that service. And we're going to be having a luncheon right after following the morning service. And so please stick around for that. Please invite people if you'd like to. And then also we have our Solemnity Marathon in Shreveport, Louisiana September 11th. Also October 6th to the 10th we have our Firebreathing Baptist Fellowship. So lots of exciting events there. On the back we have the best announcement. Congratulations to the Urbanic family on Titus Jackson. He was born 7-21 at 2-24 p.m. That's interesting. Afternoon baby. And he was 6 pounds 13 ounces and 20 inches long. So congratulations to them. And that's pretty much all I have for announcements at this time. We'll go ahead and go to our third song. Song number five. When I survey the wondrous cross. Song number five. Song five. When I survey the wondrous cross. Song number six. When I survey the wondrous cross. On which the prince of glory died. My richest gain I count but loss. And pour contempt on all my pride. Forbid it Lord that I should boast. Save in the death of Christ my God. All the vain things that charm me most. I sacrifice them to his blood. See from his head, his hands, his feet. Sorrow and love flow mingle down. Love and sorrow mean. Or thoughts composed so rich a crown. Were the whole realm of nature mine. That were a present far too small. Love so amazing, so divine. Demands my soul, my life, my own. While the offering plates are being passed around, please turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter three. That's Matthew chapter three. Matthew three, the Bible reads. In those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea. And saying, repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken by the prophet Asias saying, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight. And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair and a leathern girdle about his loins and his meat was locusts and wild honey. Then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region round about Jordan. And were baptized of them in Jordan confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth their four fruits, meet for repentance, and think not to save within yourselves. We have Abraham to our father, for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now also the axe is laid under the root of the trees, therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire, whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor and gather his wheat into the garner, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he suffered him. And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water, and lo, the heavens were open unto him. And he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him, and lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Father, we thank you for Matthew chapter 3 and for the story here in this chapter. I pray that you fill Pastor Shelley with your spirit now and give him clarity of mind so that he can preach his sermon for us boldly this morning, and I also pray that you help us to pay close attention to the message so we can apply it to our lives. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Let's look back at verse number 16. The Bible reads, And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water, and lo, the heavens were open unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him. So we have a story here in the Bible where Jesus Christ is being baptized by John the Baptist, and the title of my sermon this morning is just simply baptism. It's baptism, and I want to talk about baptism from the biblical perspective here, but a lot of people have different ideas as far as what baptism truly is, but the Bible is very clear on what baptism is, and we see here in the Bible that Jesus Christ is coming out of the water, picturing a very important aspect of baptism, that baptism is by immersion, and that's what we believe as Baptists, that baptism is by immersion, and this is a picture we find in the Bible over and over, yet there's so many Christians today that really don't even believe this just very simple point that baptism is by immersion today, and what I want you to do is go, if you would, to 1 Corinthians chapter number 10 for a moment. I'll go to 1 Corinthians chapter number 10, but I have three points this morning. The first point I have is the practice of baptism, and we want to understand how we're supposed to practice baptism according to the Bible, not what the world says. Now, if I look up the word baptism, baptize, or some similar term in a dictionary today, they'll say, oh, it's the practice of a religious baptism, which can be by immersion or christening or sprinkling, and really you can tell that the dictionary has been heavily influenced by the fact that there's so many Christian denominations today that don't actually believe that baptism is by immersion, but baptism can only be by immersion whenever you let the Bible define the word for you, because we see as a very clear picture in the Bible of what baptism truly is, and so I reject the idea that it could ever be christening or sprinkling. That's simply not baptism, and you can find in the Bible many times where the Bible uses the word sprinkling to denote sprinkling, so it would be silly to say that God really meant sprinkling in the Bible whenever he said baptism when he actually does use that word in other places. No, they're just two different words. To sprinkle is to lightly throw some water on you or something like this, whereas baptism is a picture of a full immersion where you're completely surrounded by water on all sides, and many churches, like the Catholic Church, do not practice baptism by immersion today. Now, I'm sure you could find some random Catholic that does it. I've seen these weird videos where they sprinkle and then dunk the baby all at the same time, and they do it three times, because they're grabbing little babies, and they're like, in the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, and the kid's just wailing, and it's just weird. A lot of stores sell christening outfits and things like that, and really, the majority of Catholics, though, don't practice a full immersion baptism. Also, Anglican or Episcopal churches, they don't practice immersion by and large. Lutherans do not practice baptism by immersion in large. Methodists do not practice baptism by immersion. They sprinkle, and many Orthodox do not as well. Now, I'm sure you could find a random Methodist, Orthodox, Lutheran, whatever. I'm just saying, by and large, these denominations do not baptize by immersion, and yet the Bible pictures this full encompassing of water consistently throughout the Bible. Now, I want to first show you a few pictures that the Bible brings up about baptism to illustrate this. Look at 1 Corinthians 10, verse 1. More were brethren. I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. So the Bible brings up baptism, and it's specifically talking about Moses and the children of Israel. Now, what's the event that they're alluding to, or is being brought up here, is their parting of the Red Sea and them walking through. They're passing from Egypt into the wilderness, and the Bible is saying that they have water on what? On the sides, which is the sea. But not only they have water on the sides, it has a picture of water above them, which is the cloud of God. The Bible talks about God being this cloudy pillar, and how he was passing over and leading them by the day. So they basically are covered by water on all sides, picturing baptism. Because that's what baptized means, is to be fully immersed or to be fully covered. Now, go, if you would, to 1 Peter, chapter number 3 for a moment, 1 Peter, chapter number 3. Now, baptism, I'll say this, is not only water, because baptism, if you just look, just kind of take it as a basic word, it just really means to be fully immersed. You could be fully immersed, though, in all kinds of different things. It could be water, it could be dirt, it could be fire. You know, the Bible brings up these three things as possible baptisms. You could be full of the Holy Ghost. The Bible talks about a baptism of the Holy Spirit, or of the Holy Ghost. The Bible also talks about the baptism of repentance, and we're going to get there and talk about these things. But when it comes to water baptism, and what we believe as the practice of Baptists today, is that it is a full immersion, otherwise you're destroying the picture that God clearly gives us throughout the Bible of being baptized. 1 Peter, chapter 3, look at verse 20. Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God weighed in the days of Noah, while the ark was a-preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water. The like figure, whereinto even baptism, doth also now save us, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now, what's important about this is, first of all, the Bible talks about baptism being a figure. Figure meaning a picture. You know, this is some kind of a picture here. And it talks about the world that was covered in water, and really, what's that a picture of? It's a picture of baptism, because the entire earth was literally immersed in water, was completely covered in water. The Bible says all the high hills, even up to the highest point, the highest peak, it was 15 cubits above, is what the Bible describes as the entire earth was baptized by water. And so, here's another picture of the word baptism, being used in the same context of a full immersion. You know, it wasn't just a sprinkling. It wasn't a light shower. Obviously, it did rain, but it rained so much, and the fountains of the earth were bust open so much that the entire earth was fully submerged, fully immersed in the water. It wasn't just a light sprinkling or a little shower that came by. No, the entire earth was covered in water. That's what baptism is. Go to 2 Peter, chapter 3, just flip the page. And look how it describes it in 2 Peter, chapter 3, verse 5. It says, For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water, whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished. So notice how the Bible describes it in this place. It's saying it was overflowed. So we have a picture of baptism, and in fact, some baptists, baptisteries or baptisms, they overflow. Hey, when I was at Pure Words, Brother Sampson overflowed the tub, okay? And you know, even when we were at Red Hot Preaching Conference, a couple people, you know, whenever they dip them down, it kind of overflowed the tub a little bit. Why? Because it's a picture of full immersion. That's why you want to fill it all the way to the brim, because you're putting a person all the way down into it, right? Go to Colossians, chapter 2. Go to Colossians, chapter 2. But the Bible makes it clear that baptism is a full immersion. Every picture we have about baptism, bringing up baptism, is a full immersion. So it'd be silly to look at all the clear pictures the Bible's painting for us, illustrating how everything's covered with water completely, to then say, oh, let's just sprinkle. Oh, let's just christen, or let's just, you know, drop a little bit of water, let's get a water gun and just shoot them or something. You know, it's silly, and again, it also said it was a like figure, meaning what? That this is picturing something. There's something about why you would be fully emerged or fully submerged that's important and it's to picture Christ's death. Because the Bible, you know, has that picture of his death, burial, and resurrection. Now fortunately for us in baptism, we bring them back out of the water, okay? It's not just a dunking down in, no, it's a bringing them back up, showing what? The full picture of the gospel, the death, burial, and resurrection. Whereas sprinkling, a water gun, christening, all these, that picture's completely destroyed. You don't now have the picture of being buried with Christ, and this is what the Bible clearly teaches, is the importance aspect of the figure of baptism. Look at Colossians chapter two, verse 12. Buried with him in baptism, wherein also you're risen with him through the faith of the operation of God who hath raised him from the dead. So again, the Bible's bringing up the whole purpose, the whole picture of baptism is what? That you would be buried with him and that you'd be risen again. Again, that's the whole picture or figure of baptism. Go to Mark chapter number one, go to Mark chapter number one. Now, again, I don't want to say that any doctrine we believe is solely based on pictures because we want clear statements as well. However, the pictures are really clear. I mean, the pictures are abounding right now and they make perfect sense and they fit perfectly together with our dialogue. And show me the sprinkling picture, show me the christening picture in the New Testament, show me where it brings up the word baptism and then illustrates a picture of a sprinkling or illustrates a picture of a christening that just doesn't happen. It's always a picture of a full submersion, immersion, something like that. Look what it says in Mark chapter one, verse number nine. And it came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth the Galilee and was baptized of John and Jordan and straightway coming up out of the water he saw the heavens open and the spirit like a dove descending upon him and there came a voice from heaven saying thou art my beloved son and whom I am well pleased. So again, it makes it clear that Jesus came out of the water and why is it that they would be going into a river if all they had to do was sprinkle? If all they had to do was christen? Like it seems pretty inefficient to have to go all the way out in the wilderness into a river and then get into the river so as to get baptized. Yet it's funny because there's movies where they'll illustrate Jesus you know this long-haired hippie they call Jesus it's not what he really looked like but in those movies they'll go into the water and then John the Baptist will just pour some water on his head or like sprinkle him while he's in the water and it was like couldn't you just done that standing on the shore? It was like that was kind of weird why would you get all the way in the water and then not just go ahead and dunk him? Or they'll do both they'll like kind of sprinkle and then they'll dunk and it's just like we want to be friends with everyone you know? But this is an important doctrine and this is a part of separation when it comes to our church you know I don't want to be yoked up with churches that don't baptize correctly go to John chapter number 3 go to John chapter number 3 I want to show you again the emphasis of baptism being with lots of water you know? And again there's lots of different viewpoints out there and there's lots of different doctrines out there and not everyone is worthy of separating on but I believe baptism is hence the name Baptist there's a reason why we're called Baptist I mean if you go into a Baptist church you should expect something that they're going to baptize by immersion I mean God forbid they would ever get to a point where Baptists don't even believe in this doctrine but you know it's important that we teach this even if it's a really basic or a fundamental truth so as that we teach the next generation the importance of baptism so we show them why that we get baptized and the importance of it because so many people have been sprinkled or they've been christened yet they weren't biblically baptized growing up I mean who was sprinkled or christened or something as a child or whatever I mean it seems like almost a third of the people here were christened and sprinkled I know lots of people that were and you know it's a pretty common thing to happen but it's not biblical John chapter 3 look at verse 23 and John also is baptizing an anon near to Salem because there was much water there and they came or baptized it's not only John baptizing in the river, Jordan also in this other place why? because there's much water there now again if you're doing this sprinkling ritual if you're doing this sprinkling tradition or christening you don't need the much water but if you're dunking people you have to have much water you know some people are big and tall you know Pastor Aaron Thompson I mean you need much water you can't just do that in the kiddie pool I mean that's not gonna work you gotta have a river or a lake you gotta have something where there's a lot of substance of water here not a little puddle or something like that and at the end of the day the importance here is the fact that they have much water go to Acts chapter 8 let's see another instance here but you never see someone getting baptized where they say you know what I have a cup of water here hey see here's a cup of water what what does hinder me to sprinkle you what does hinder me to christen you or whatever that never happens whenever they want to get baptized they're like let's go find a river let's go find a lake let's go find some body of water you say well why are they doing that because they have to be immersed that's why otherwise it would make no sense as to why they would have to travel all the way in the night or something or going way off to get baptized look what it says in Acts chapter 8 verse 36 and as they went on their way there came unto a certain water and the eunuch said see here is water what doth hinder me to be baptized so he's like saying well I want to be fully immersed here's the water what's stopping me 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 and he commanded the chariot to stand still and they went down both into the water both Philip and the eunuch and he baptized them now again what's the point of going into the water if you're not going to be immersed I mean riddle me this yet you watch Catholic services where they do these christening services they just have a little you know fountain or something or they have a little thing where they just have the water they get a little cup or they get some kind of a pitcher or something and they get a little water and they sprinkle and they drop it on there you could do that anywhere you wouldn't need the much water if that was the purpose or if that was the point and look it's not holy water okay they didn't do any they're getting it from a garden hose okay but at the end of the day you know they do need much water it's not so much about the water being special or it happened to be a particular it could be salt water it could be fresh water it doesn't really matter the mattering is the fact that it's all of it there to encompass you for you to be fully immersed or submerged into the water and notice they had to go down into the water to get baptized look at verse number 12 also I want to show you another verse here it says but when they believed Philip preaching things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ they were baptized both men and women so we have earlier in the chapter it's saying hey once people believed then they got baptized then we also have later in the chapter a guy saying hey what's stopping me from getting baptized and he's saying well you got to believe first because that's the whole point is that you're pitching the death, burial, and resurrection the gospel what benefit is it for someone who does not believe the gospel to then get baptized and yet churches all over you know what they do is they sprinkle and baptize babies but a baby cannot understand the gospel it can't believe the gospel yet and so therefore it's meaningless to sprinkle or even immerse in water at that point you need to wait until the person believes the gospel to then baptize so you have two requirements faith and enough water I mean basically once you have those two elements now it's possible for someone to be baptized but without those two it's not a real baptism according to the Bible and when it comes to the practice of baptism we baptize people that are already saved and we have to dunk them in water now another aspect of our practice though go if you would to Matthew 28 for a moment is what we would say when we baptize someone now you say well how do you determine what to say is it just as the spirit leads no I just look to what the Bible says I look to what Jesus Christ told us about baptism look at what it says in Matthew 28 verse 19 go ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost so Jesus told us that we should baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost now some people get really superstitious about the wording when it comes to baptism and they get confused about what this even is saying or what this is even meaning and typically the people that are really screwed up on this are one that's been a Costals but go if you would to Acts chapter 19 go to Acts chapter 19 I believe that it's biblical to invoke the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost when you baptize that's an important aspect of baptism that's why when we baptize we baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost or if you want to say Holy Spirit I think that's a fine substitute but as long as you're referencing all three but again the importance of Matthew 19 is not so much the exact name per se it's more like the authority and the power of because really we're doing this in the authority of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost He's the one that gave us this authority and it's not so much naming the name because the name of the Son is Jesus and when I baptize I don't say Jesus necessarily I don't say I'm baptizing the name of the Father and the name of Jesus Christ and the name of the Holy Ghost I'm really referencing more their authority their position I'm doing it on their behalf is really what that's emphasizing and is bringing up now in the book of Acts many times it'll say that someone was baptized in the name of Jesus Christ or they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus and so people get superstitious about that wording and they'll say, have you been baptized in Jesus' name? but here's the thing that's kind of a weird straw man argument because number one nowhere in the Bible does it have a clear instruction as far as saying you must be baptized in Jesus' name it doesn't say that it did tell us to baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost and when you go through the book of Acts again it doesn't ever say the exact same phrase every single time it doesn't say, and they baptize in Jesus' name and then they baptize in Jesus' name no, it's like, and they baptize in the name of Jesus Christ or they baptize in the name of the Lord Jesus or they baptize in the name of the Lord meaning it wasn't a verbatim quote that he's referencing there it's more the fact of the authority and the fact that it's representing or on the behalf of Christ or the fact that these people have trusted in Christ that's what's really being referenced and brought up now I'm going to point to a verse where I believe it helps us understand what they were saying, though whenever they would baptize because if baptism is as opposed, Matthew 28, verse 19 in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost then it would make sense if you've been baptized, that you've heard the words, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost right? Because you heard it right before you got baptized or as you were being baptized in the practice but look at Acts chapter 19 and look at what it says in verse number 1 And it came to pass that while Apollos is at Corinth Paul having passed through the upper coast came to Ephesus and finding certain disciples he said unto them have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? and they said unto him we have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost and he said unto them unto what then were ye baptized? now he's saying like this doesn't make any sense how can you be baptized and you've never even heard of the Holy Ghost ever because he's saying that's incompatible he's like what baptism did you have? and then they bring up the baptism of John now that kind of makes sense because we don't really see Jesus Christ giving the commission of Matthew 28 until after John the Baptist after John the Baptist has died so it stands to reason that whatever John the Baptist said at his baptism may not have been the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost but for sure Paul is thinking if anybody's been baptized any time recently they've heard the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost and especially when he's going out here through Gentile areas you know this isn't the group that came to John the Baptist's baptism necessarily or you wouldn't be thinking that's the group that necessarily came you're thinking this is the group of the Gentiles or Jews that were there amongst the Gentiles living dispersed or something so it was kind of a weird phenomena where he says oh you've seen these people have been baptized or you've been baptized yet you've never even heard of the Holy Ghost that's again to reference the fact that I believe we should say in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost when we baptize and that's what I do say and I try to say that every single time to the best of my ability and some people would say well what about saying the name Jesus? but here's the thing it's not about the specific name or the specific title there's a lot of names to God too you know you could call him Jehovah God Almighty there's the Holy Spirit, there's the Holy Ghost it's not so much about saying a special incantation or a special name it's really that you're doing it in the authority of these three persons and we're giving reference to those three distinct persons that's the real emphasis here people that are one to Pentecostals though they don't believe in three persons they don't believe in the Trinity they believe they're all the same so that's why they just say in the name of Jesus because they think that the name of the Father the name of the Son and the name of the Holy Ghost is Jesus which really just takes the Bible and just turns it upside down and just like ruins all of the Bible now go if you would to Mark chapter 16 Mark chapter 16 I'm not going to spend a lot of time debunking that that's a different sermon that would be more about the Trinity specifically but if you believe in the Trinity you can't just baptize in Jesus' only name because now you're leaving out the Father now you're leaving out the Holy Ghost and you say well why why do you reject that one is Pentecostals? because they're unsaved they believe you can lose your salvation they're a bunch of toddler talking demonic acting, unsaved heretics is what they are going around on stage it's like you're not saved you don't even know what you're saying my toddler sounds more American than you do it's like these people just get up and they say weird junk and either number one they're faking it or they're possessed with the devil but in both cases I want to reject that I want nothing to do with the person that's getting up and faking it and when it comes to the most fraudulent people that have been caught with all these embezzling schemes and all these money laundering schemes it's all these televangelists who are charismatic that's who it is that's the group that's the people that are doing this it's funny how the people who fake being a godly person and fake it on TV to make a bunch of money are the same people who are faking all these tongue experiences and all these charismatic gifts and whatever because it's the same person that's a faker it's the same person that gets up there and pretends to be something that he's not and look the Bible nowhere in the Bible does it say talk like a toddler you know the Bible emphasizes wisdom and instruction and understanding and in fact when people did speak with other tongues everybody was amazed not sitting there thinking like these guys are drunk and idiots I mean they did say they were drunk but that was because they didn't understand their language but I'm saying when they would come and talk to somebody in another language and that person did understand they weren't saying they were drunk they weren't saying that these persons weird they were saying wow the wonderful works of God now obviously if I got up and started speaking in Chinese it could sound like that to you or you'd be like what happened to Pastor Shelley but it'd be blasphemous to say someone was drunk when they're filled with the Holy Spirit preaching in another tongue or another language now it says in Mark chapter 16 in verse 16 this is what it says he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned now point one was the practice of baptism and I want to emphasize this again we baptize people that are saved we baptize them by fully immersing in water and we invoke or are under the authority of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit but one thing that's clear about the purpose of baptism is that it's not to get saved yet people believe this all day long and they'll point to this verse they'll point to Mark chapter 16 verse 16 and look they kind of have two verses in the Bible where it kind of on the surface looks like maybe baptism might be a part of salvation I mean if I'd never heard anything in the Bible if I'd never seen anything in the Bible, read any verses and you showed me this verse in isolation I would say well it kind of sounds like you need to be baptized to be saved so I kind of see where they're coming from from that perspective but then when I've read any other parts of the Bible or seen any other salvation verses I'm noticing that baptism is never a part of it and it'd be silly to say well there's a hundred verses on how to be saved one of them brings up baptism therefore it must be necessary whereas the other option the more logical conclusion is that baptism is not a part of salvation and it just happens to be included in this one particular verse now I'll explain why I believe it's in this verse and explain how this is not part of salvation though back up one verse look at verse 15 and he said unto them go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned so he's telling them to preach the gospel then in the next breath he's saying the person that believes and is baptized is going to be saved but the one that doesn't believe is going to be damned well first of all you do have to believe the gospel to be saved that's heavily emphasized in the Bible and when we think about baptism why would he even bring this up in his breath well he's not saying that you must be baptized he's just saying someone that believes and is baptized is going to be saved now here's the thing that's a true statement if you believe the gospel and you've been baptized you're going to be saved I mean is there anything wrong with that statement I mean are you going to really argue with me and say people that have believed the gospel and been baptized are not going to get to heaven for some reason they're for sure going to heaven so the statement in and of itself is true now what's the second statement but he that believeth not shall be damned now notice it does not bring up a person who believes and is not baptized it only brings up a person who is not believed that's also true someone who's never believed the gospel is not going to be saved so really we have a third person that we don't know about what about the person that believes and is not baptized what would happen to this person well go if you would to first corinthians chapter number one now go to first corinthians chapter one but remember he's bringing up the gospel you say well why would someone you know add you know baptism into that statement well you got to think about at that time you know what would be a good indication or what would be a public way to make it known that you've trusted in Christ isn't baptism like the best way to let that be known I mean if you're going to say hey I'm converting from all these pagan gods to christianity what would be the most obvious sign of that wouldn't it be being baptized and you know the bible emphasizes baptism now some aspects of the bible are not emphasizing the gospel okay as far as how to get saved some parts of the bible are emphasizing other things they're emphasizing other important factors some parts of the bible are emphasizing following all of God's commandments some parts of the bible are emphasizing how to raise a godly family some parts of the bible so again when it comes to Matthew, Mark, and Luke I'll say this I believe that what's being emphasized is really the whole package you know think about Matthew 28 19 verse 20 the great commission the great commission is not just getting saved it's getting people saved and baptized and teaching them the whole bible it's kind of emphasizing the whole package and everything there are parts of the bible though that do make it clear the minimum requirements of salvation or what's the very minimal thing that you have to do to be saved or what must I do to be saved it's called Acts chapter 16 verse 30 and 31 when he asked what must I do to be saved and they said believe on the lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved he didn't say also get baptized now that would have been confusing if when he said what must I do to be saved then he brought up baptism that would be confusing because that's not what the other verses in the bible emphasize or say or bring up but again you know if someone came to me and said hey pastor Shelly you know what should I do in my life and I say well you should believe the gospel you should get baptized you should join a church I'm not going to just sit here and say you should only believe in Jesus that's it you know obviously you should that's the most important thing but if someone was kind to me and saying like what should I do in my life I might add more things than just getting saved wouldn't I because that's just logical that you may bring that up but that doesn't mean that's a requirement to get saved and you also have to be careful sometimes when you knock on the door someone asking them about salvation they may get confused and add stuff to the gospel not thinking it's what's necessary for salvation they're just bringing up anything they're just like well you should go to church you should read the bible you should be a good person that's why you have to sometimes clarify like well is that necessary for salvation or is that just stuff we should do you know because sometimes they just bring up anything and everything you should do right but let me prove to you that whenever he says go out and preach the gospel to every creature it's not baptism like what it says in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 17 for Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the gospel now what sense would it be in Mark chapter 15 when he says go into the whole world and preach the gospel to every creature if what was necessary to be saved was baptism for Paul to go out and preach the gospel and not do baptism then he's like not getting people saved then he's not getting them all the way to salvation but basically what he's trying to say is hey my main goal my main purpose is to go out and preach the gospel and get as many people to believe as fast as possible not to worry about wandering out into the wilderness and making sure they all get baptized not making sure we find much water and get them all baptized rather than doing that myself I could let someone else follow up and do that and I can just keep working on getting as many people saved as possible going around preaching the gospel getting them saved because admittedly baptism is a slower process than preaching the gospel it's a lot easier for us to go out and get a lot of people saved than to get them all baptized too think about if every door after you got them saved you now thought okay instead of going to the next door we're going to wait until we get you baptized wouldn't that slow down the process a little bit? and when we have so many times it's not pastor Shelley sent me out to baptize pastor Shelley sent me out to preach the gospel it's not to say that baptism isn't important it's not to say that baptism isn't the best step after getting saved it's saying that it's just not part of the gospel but obviously if you believe and you're baptized you're saved why? because whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life is what the bible makes very clear go to Mark chapter number 1 go to Mark chapter 1 so in Mark chapter 16 it said he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but you know earlier in the book of Mark it also brings up what you have to do to be saved now let's see if it brings up baptism in the early part of Mark Mark chapter 1 verse 15 and saying the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand repent ye and believe the gospel so what was Christ going around trying to get people to do? believe the gospel he didn't bring up baptism though did he? he wasn't saying you have to do this in order to get saved go to Romans chapter 10 for a moment go to Romans chapter number 10 and I'm kind of dancing around a little bit but I want to show you a few different verses here so before we discover what the real purpose of baptism is I want to make it clear though baptism does not save because that's what a lot of people will teach that's what a lot of people emphasize, believe I've met Baptists at the door I've met other denominations at the door that say you have to be baptized to be saved and the Bible makes it clear that the only thing you have to do to be saved is believing the gospel now obviously getting baptized isn't going to change if you're saved or not isn't going to stop you from being saved or if you believe but don't get baptized you're not going to not get to heaven so baptism, while it's very important has no impact on whether or not you're saved but if you believe that baptism is necessary for salvation that's actually a problem when you start trying to say that baptism is necessary to be saved or you believe you have to be baptized to be saved that's where you start changing the gospel message you start adding some kind of a work to salvation and now no longer are you believing the right gospel now what it says in Romans chapter 10 verse 16 but have they not obeyed the gospel? now I bring up this verse for this reason the people that add baptism as a necessary requirement to salvation they never stop there the people that really believe this heavily are the church of Christ and there's other people that believe this but a church of Christ will teach you have to be baptized to be saved but they never stop there and then they bring up all these other verses about stuff like, well, you've got to obey the gospel and they'll say you've got to be faithful unto the gospel and the Bible does say you have to obey the gospel but you know what? it defines what obedience to the gospel actually looks like what did it say? it said, who hath believed our report? so notice what obedience to the gospel is believing it! that's why it says in the next verse so then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God so you hear the gospel and then what's obeying the gospel? believing the gospel putting your faith and your trust in the gospel it has nothing to do with then getting baptized it has nothing to do with then being faithful for the rest of your life no, obeying the gospel is strictly believing on the Lord Jesus Christ that's why it also says in verse 9 that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine art that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved now where in this verse did it say get baptized? where did it say here go to church? where did it say here be a good person? where did it say here repent of all your sins? it didn't say any of that because none of that's necessary for salvation so we must believe all the verses of the Bible not just the ones that fit our doctrine you know, someone that believes baptism is necessary for salvation yeah, they could look at Mark 16 16 but then how do they believe this verse? you know what they'll say? they'll say, well you have to take the whole of scripture brother and it's like I am but my doctrine believes all verses your doctrine rejects 99% of verses about salvation that's why it's a dangerous heresy and it says very clearly in verse 13 for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved it didn't say whosoever gets baptized whosoever comes up out of the water because that would be unfortunate for a lot of people the thief on the cross I mean how is he going to get baptized? and it's funny because you bring that up and they're like, oh well that's an exception you bring that up to the church of Christ and they're like, well he would have gotten baptized you know, it's like how do you know that? I mean, well then is it really necessary if he didn't have to and he still got to heaven then? and again, it's like, well we believe it's really important okay, so do we I think everybody should get baptized hey, and if there was a way to get that guy baptized on the cross you know, while he was hanging there, do it but if not, you know, you don't have to and again, it's weird because when you bring up the fact that you don't have to people are like, oh you're really de-emphasizing baptism look, the name of our church is called Steadfast Baptist Church I'm not really de-emphasizing it but I am putting it in its proper role, in its proper place the fact that it has nothing to do with being saved go to Acts chapter 2 and we'll see another verse that people bring up now, Acts chapter number 2 you could look at it a few different ways but I think the easiest way to look at it is just like Mark 16 16 whereas Mark 16 16 is saying hey, if you believe and your baptizer is saved but did you have to get baptized? no, he's just bringing up another thing so in Acts chapter number 2, when Peter is talking to Jews and he's trying to get them to actually believe in the Christ that they just crucified they ask him this question like, what shall we do? and you have to think about it again was that question in reference to just going to heaven? or just like, what should we do? and Peter is going to bring up all the things that they should do ok, it says in verse 38 then Peter said to them, repent and be baptized to everyone even in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost now, I'll say this you don't have to be baptized in order to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost but you do have to repent now what was that repentance? that repentance was the fact that they crucified Jesus now they actually have to believe in him now they actually have to put their trust in him because their repentance here is in reference to changing their mind about who Christ was and deciding to put all their faith in that death, burial and resurrection as their means of salvation but again, if someone came up to me and they're like hey Pastor Shelley, what should I do? I'm like, well let's get saved and then we'll baptize you that makes logical sense I mean if someone came to church and said hey, brother Dylan, what should I do? and he's like, you should get saved and you should get baptized and he could say, you should repent and you should get baptized and then, you know what, let's go soul-wanting and then someone will accuse me you believe that people have to go soul-wanting to be saved you say, that's silly I literally had someone tell me that because they're just not, you know taking the whole of what I say, right? because again, I don't believe you have to be baptized or soul-wanting to be saved all you have to do is trust Christ and again, Peter believes the same thing look at verse 21 in the same chapter and it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call in the name of the Lord shall be saved does that sound like a different gospel than what we read in Romans chapter number 10? or the exact same? again, it's the exact same but when they bring up this question they didn't say, sirs, what must I do to be saved? they didn't say, what's necessary to have eternal life? they didn't say, what's the only requirement to go to heaven? they said, hey, what shall we do? you know, now that we've killed Jesus, what do we do now? you know, and it's like, well repent and then get baptized and receive the holy gift I mean, if you go to Acts chapter number 10 you see a group of Gentiles believe on Christ, start speaking in tongues and then they're like, well now we should baptize these guys illustrating the fact that you don't even have to be baptized to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit once you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit you're going to heaven I don't care if you get baptized or not you've been sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise you're on your way to heaven the Bible makes it clear you have everlasting life there's no way to lose that go to Acts chapter 13, I'll show you a verse here Acts chapter number 13 the Bible is clear that salvation is by faith alone now, should you get baptized? yes you should do you want every person saved to get baptized? yes I do but if every person I got saved or preached the gospel to never got baptized I will still see all of them in heaven even if they were sprinkled sprinkling can't take away your salvation it's just getting wet if someone throws a water balloon and hits you in the face it wasn't baptism hopefully it was wet and not frozen Acts chapter 13, look at verse 38 be it known unto you therefore men and brethren that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins so he's going to bring up the forgiveness of sins which is necessary for salvation verse 39, and by him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses so notice he's saying if you believe you're justified from everything what else could be necessary then? you don't need anything else it was just you believed, now you're justified from everything and he says specifically how you could not be justified by the law of Moses meaning what? no matter how much works you try to add it's not going to help it's not going to benefit and if you believe though in works you're not going to be saved now I alluded to this, I'm going to bring up a specific example because you can go to a lot of different Church of Christ websites and you'll find what they believe about salvation and unfortunately people say oh they just add baptism but here's the thing, every time I look it up they add a lot more than just baptism because as soon as you add one work you usually just unload the truck and add them all I mean it's just like in Acts chapter 15 when they bring up circumcision but then they come back and they're like oh yeah and you have to keep the rest of the law too because you never just have somebody say it's just like faith in one work it's always faith in all the works or all the commandments or being perfect or faithful to the end or some nonsense like that and the Church of Christ are no different now what you have to understand about Church of Christ is they're kind of like independent fundamental Baptists in the sense that they have a little bit of autonomy and they all vary a little bit in what they believe and how they operate but a common denominator is baptism is necessary for salvation and then beyond that a lot more now if you go to their steps of salvation I went to this particular Church of Christ steps of salvation they had six a lot of them have seven just depends on which one you're looking at but this is what they say number one you have to hear the gospel you have to hear the word of God now I agree with that you do have to hear the word because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God they say number two to be saved you have to have belief or faith in the gospel I agree again third you have to repent or have repentance now depending on you to define repentance I agree the repentance that was brought in Acts chapter number two amen if what you mean by repent is stop trusting your works or in a false religion and believe in the gospel that's exactly what repentance means for salvation but that's not what they mean let me give you a quote from their article unfortunately and this is talking about someone that gets baptized without repenting of their sins says unfortunately such a person goes down into the water as a dry sinner and comes up a wet one there is no deep lasting heart rendering rendering life-changing response from the heart brings up a lot of the heart heart rendering response from the heart you know this sounds like Bo Ballard's type of salvation here but he's saying look here's the thing if you believe in Christ you are dead and you basically died to sin at that moment anyways so you didn't go down a sinner and come back up a sinner you know what and your new man you were already born again so you were a new man and he went down and you came back up a new man okay and it's silly to say well I was a sinner all my life and then I got baptized and now I don't sin anymore because isn't that what that would be implying hey you went down to draw a sinner but you came up a wet one that's a problem look no one comes up not a sinner anymore at least in their flash in their old man I mean what person could get up and say you know what I don't lie anymore that's a lie to say I've never had a foolish thought I've never looked upon someone with lust I've never been covetous I've never you know and again we're talking about minor things how about major things people still steal and cheat and lie and commit fornication and do drugs and drink alcohol I mean the list goes on and on and on and on I believe everybody sins every day unless you're unconscious or something but even then you probably had a bad dream you know I don't know I mean it's so foolish to get up and say well I repented of my sins brother no you didn't you just added arrogance and pride to the list of your sins is all you did and foolishness you know there's no person that gave up all their sins now look we should try you know if you're drinking alcohol give it up hey if you're committing fornication stop hey if you're doing wicked things or evil things stop doing it but at the end of the day you're never going to repent of all your sins you're never going to be perfect you're never going to have that work in your heart where no longer you want to sin or something ridiculous like that that's why we have to believe in Christ that's the whole point that you can't get there for all of sin and come short of the glory of God we have to put our trust in Jesus Christ that's what really saves us now go through a dilute chapter 3 I want to show you a few verses here on repentance because they're bringing up repentance as a necessary requirement to salvation they're saying you got to hear you got to believe you got to repent but when they say repent the church of Christ doesn't mean change your mind and believe the gospel what they're saying is you know give up your sin or feel really bad about your sin and some people they try to like play both sides they'll say well you don't have to give up all your sins to be saved but you do have to feel really grieved in your heart brother I mean there's got to be this just deep just burning in your heart where you just feel so bad I just I committed so many sins brother and I just don't deserve that heaven and that's how I know I got saved you see I feel so bad about it look I don't care if you're deadpan when you get saved you don't have to sit there and have this emotional experience it's not a country music song when you get saved you know it's putting your faith in Christ no matter how bad you feel about it I mean Esau felt really bad about it but then God didn't you know give him his repentance you know Judas felt so bad about it he killed himself yet he still went to hell I mean plenty of people feel really bad about their sin Pharaoh felt really bad about it when his son died you know it's not about how bad you feel and some people have this weird idea they think that wicked people can't feel bad look wicked people feel bad about their sin all the time that's another punishment it's just feeling like a piece of crap for doing all the sins that you do I mean Pharaoh felt horrible he's like you know the Lord's righteous I and my servants are wicked is what he said he realizes that he was evil he realizes that he was a bad guy you know when I run out to people soul winning I ran into other people and they're really sinful they'll say it they'll say like I don't deserve that because I'm really sinful you know I've been to jail and I've done all these wicked things or whatever you know it's not like the wicked don't know that they're wicked or something or they can't feel bad about their sin sometimes they do a lot of times they feel bad I mean even Jeffrey Dahmer the guy that was just like one of the worst psychopaths ever I mean when he's in jail and he's on death row and all that kind of stuff he's saying all kinds of stuff about how bad he feels about what he did and you know what he did he became Church of Christ and people say oh look there's a picture of a reprobate getting saved and it's like sorry he didn't and you know what he felt really bad about his sin he was really apologetic he believed that Jesus you know was the Lord but you know what he never got saved because he didn't trust Christ as his savior alone he believed in his baptism and turning over a new leaf and in fact he wanted to die when he got interviewed he said please kill me because if you let me out I will continue to do this and you know what he was a raging sodomite who went around killing other sodomites and eating them and all kinds of weird nonsense or whatever and he says even though I feel really bad about it and now I've turned to Christ or whatever he says you let me out I'll still do it you say why? because he's a reprobate because he's implacable okay being a sodomite and it's not that he didn't feel bad about it he did but you know what he's burning in hell because he didn't believe the right gospel he didn't have the true baptism of repentance look what it says in Luke chapter 3 verse 3 and he came into all the country about Jordan preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins and this is talking about John the Baptist he was preaching the baptism of repentance now go to Acts chapter 19 let me prove to you what this means actually but if you go back to the beginning of my sermon if you think about what I said baptism doesn't have to be just water it could be dirt it could be fire or it could be repentance as the Bible describes now what would be fully immersed in repentance? well in the context of salvation for the remission of sins because that's what John the Baptist was preaching about that repentance has to be a what? stop trusting in anything other than Christ turn from that and believing only in Christ this is also why it's important when you're talking to a Catholic or to any person that's Christian so-called and they say well I believe in Christ and works so I'm safe because I believe in both wrong you must have a baptism of repentance you must reject all of the dead works you must reject everything else that you're trusting in and have a full immersion and believing it's only in Christ a full turning away from everything else and only unto Jesus Christ and believing in Him alone for salvation you can't just you can't be believing in yourself or your catechism or your pope or your other religion no, you have to have a full repentance a full baptism as it were not a sprinkling of it but a full turn and believing only in Christ and you say well how is that what that means? well let's let the Bible define it for us Acts chapter 19 verse 4 then said Paul John verily baptized with a baptism of repentance saying unto the people that they should believe on him which should come after him that is unto Christ Jesus so notice what he said you have to do believe on Jesus Christ that's what baptism of repentance even means so properly defined I agree with repentance the problem with the church of Christ is they say repentance is turning from your sin giving up your sin which is impossible no one could ever do that go if you go to Luke go if you would to Romans 5 you know there's another baptism that the Bible refers to Luke chapter 12 verse 49 I'll read for you Jesus speaking I am come to send fire on the earth and what will I if it be already kindled but I have a baptism to be baptized with and how am I straightened till it be accomplished so Jesus said he had a baptism to be baptized with but what was that baptism? it was his burial that's what he was referring to so Jesus Christ was buried in well dirt quote unquote but it's really in the tomb in the cave okay as it were in the rock tomb but that's where he was fully immersed where he was fully surrounded where he was baptized he was baptized in death his soul descended into hell but after three days and three nights it rose again and so again baptism is a full immersion it's a full submerging and it's not a turning from your sin that gets you saved it's a full trust in Christ but the people that add baptism they say you have to hear the gospel you have to believe you have to repent then number four they say you have to confess now I believe confession is part of believing okay and in fact that's how I describe it I'll tell people this is how you believe call upon the name of the Lord and that's what Roman chapter 9 or Roman chapter 10 verse 9 even said that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus why would it bring that up if you don't need to confess and really how do you separate the person that's gone from understanding the gospel to believing because some people can understand the gospel and reject it some people can understand the gospel and decide not to believe in it so how do I separate two guys both have understood it fully from the guy that believed it and the guy that didn't the one that confessed it and the one that didn't by thy word shalt thou be justified and by thy word shalt thou be condemned okay and even if that you know confession is only from the heart okay but you might as well use your mouth you know out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh that's what the Bible teaches okay open your mouth but why not just like whenever I say hey when we've got so many whosoever believes and calls upon the name of the Lord publicly is going to be saved but it's like well you have to call upon the name of the Lord publicly you do have to call upon the name of the Lord you know it doesn't have to be in front of me per se it doesn't you know you could be privately in your room you know there's plenty of people that pray in the Bible and they don't even open their lips they don't even make their mouth move and God hears their prayer okay so I'm not saying that God can't hear a prayer from the heart but what I am saying is this that confession is a part of believing okay but it's not a different it's not an extra step it's just how you believe five according to the Church of Christ is baptism and you say oh okay well they're just adding one thing they're just adding baptism how's that harmless nope because here's what they say at the end of the article they have a sixth point here's their sixth point on how to be saved be faithful unto death oh man that's intense I guess Demas didn't get saved then didn't he because he forsook him and went on so again it's like they don't just add a little bit that's the most hardcore extreme version of work salvation I've ever even heard because imagine you were like a faithful Christian your whole life but then you just chickened out at the last moment like you didn't want to be faithful unto death or something and then you go to hell it's like what in the world but obviously we should be faithful unto death hey we should confess Christ and we should follow his commandments and we should do all these things on a regular basis on a daily basis but the Bible makes it clear that the salvation is so free even if you denied him he would still go to heaven even if I looked at the Antichrist and I said no I don't know him but I had already believed in the past I would still go to heaven because you know it's just a free gift that you can't lose now I'm not saying you should do that you should tell the Antichrist to go back to hell but you know the whole point of baptism you know makes it clear that salvation has to be a simple one time event anyways because baptism is a one time event would it make sense all these people that were baptized went to hell it's like now you don't even believe Mark 16 16 because if you're saying you have to now be faithful unto death or you say that salvation is not a moment in time if you think about it right then you're saying people that believed and got baptized then went to hell you don't even believe Mark 16 16 now but we actually do believe that salvation is a moment in time it's the new birth it's once you believe now is the day of salvation it didn't say now is the lifetime of salvation because it's not a lifestyle it's not a lifetime it's a moment in time that you believe and you're saved now you say well what's the point then if it's not to be saved why would I ever get baptized well it's very clearly articulated in Romans 5 and 6 Romans chapter 5 look at verse 19 for as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous notice it's the obedience of Christ that saves us not ours verse 20 moreover the law entered that the offense might abound but where sin abounded grace did much more abound that as sin hath reigned unto death even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord so it's saying no matter what sin you commit grace will cover it God's grace is bigger than your sin that's why you say God's grace is greater than our sin why would we sing that song well first of all it's straight from the Bible second of all it means no matter what sin you commit God's grace will cover it now obviously what's the logical question after hearing that I don't know verse 1 of chapter 6 what shall we say then shall we continue in sin that grace may abound saying well if God's grace will cover no matter what sin I do Pastor Shelley then why should I not just sin as much as possible because I just want his grace to you know really be magnified you know some of you really magnify the grace of God in your lives but the question is should you do that well what does it say God forbid obviously we're not supposed to sin that's foolish and it's silly you'll teach people hey no matter what sin you commit God's grace will cover it they're like oh you're teaching people to sin no I'm not I'm just teaching you how great God's grace is but that doesn't mean do it that doesn't mean sin God forbid how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein no you're not that so many of us as were baptized in Jesus Christ were baptized into his death therefore we are buried with them 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 now I'll say this the moment you believe I believe from a spiritual perspective you have been baptized into his death in that moment the moment you believe you're baptized into his death okay because you're already dead in trespasses and sins it's already the spiritual operations already been performed well then why do baptism well baptism is an outward sign of what happened on the inside it's outwardly picturing the fact that you trusted Christ that you're believing his death bearing resurrection as the payment for salvation it pictures the fact that you believe that one day you will be risen again and thirdly and most importantly that you want to walk in newness of life that you no longer want to be the old Jonathan the old version of yourself the old man but now you want to walk in a new way you don't want to be the same simple person that you've been your entire life you want to now make a change that's why it's very clear people who are not changed and their actions and behaviors and they're not serving God are typically just not baptized obviously someone's baptized can be backslidden too but I'm saying this the people that I look at and know that are serving God are always baptized it's always hand in hand the people that are truly serving the Lord and doing right and they're walking in a new way are the ones that get baptized because it's the first step of obedience that's the whole point the essence of getting baptized that's why we should encourage people to get baptized and you say well I want to serve God well then you need to get baptized that's why we're Baptists look at verse 6 knowing this that an old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed and that henceforth we should not serve sin instead of serving sin for the remaining portion of your days why don't you serve Christ and that's the point that's the essence of getting baptized first of all it's a commandment of God but what's the whole essence is that you're signifying how you do want to be obedient to Christ and you want to be different now go to Mark chapter number 1 Mark chapter number 1 the Bible also talks in 1 Peter 3 that it's the answer of a good conscience towards God if you want to be right with God if you want God to be pleased with you you need to be baptized you say well I've not been baptized but I've been saved well here's the thing you still need to get baptized if you want God to be pleased with you God is displeased with people that are not baptized so I've explained a couple things I've explained the practice of baptism I've explained the purpose of baptism but now I'm going to explain quickly the policy because some people would have questions surrounding how do we do baptism or should I get baptized who gets the baptized all these kind of things that people kind of throw out there and I believe that the only people that should baptize are ordained leadership now that is not a verse I can point to in the Bible and say here's a clear statement that says only ordained leadership can baptize but I also can't find a clear statement that says morning services at 10.30 a.m. I also can't find a clear statement that says meet at 700 West Bedford-Euless Road for church I also can't find a clear statement that says have great cheers I also can't find a clear statement there's going to be certain aspects of the church that we have to decide it also doesn't say have a baptistry on here maybe we go down to Lake Lewisville some of these things we have to decide ourselves the church has to decide what it's going to do, how it's going to function and as for me and my house we're going to say that ordained leadership can baptize only now while I don't have a clear verse I do believe that's the clear picture given by the Bible and everybody that baptizes is ordained and if you say that it's not necessary that we have an ordained leadership baptized now you're going to create a lot of confusion right? because does that mean, if it's not ordained leadership does that mean that my seven-year-old Clayton can baptize people? can your five-year-old little girl baptize people? because she saved? I mean, what requirements are you going to put on it? can women baptize? can young men? is there an age requirement? now all of a sudden, again, you're going way outside the Bible you're not going to have any verses on that you're not going to have any verses saying it's this age, this person they have to be saved for so many years now it just gets really confusing and God's not the author of confusion everything in the house of God should be decent and in order and it only makes logical sense that you would have ordained leadership baptized but this is what people will say well, if only ordained leadership can baptize then there's going to be a lot of people that can't get baptized because there's not an ordained leader around them or something or it's more difficult or it's taking so much more effort or something like that well, God forbid you'd have to actually do a little bit of effort to serve God I'm also not going to drag every single person to church you all drove your own vehicles it's going to cost a little bit of effort and energy to serve God today and it's not like in the Old Testament or in the New Testament it was any different look what it says in Mark chapter 1 verse 5 and there went out unto him all the land of Judea and they of Jerusalem and we're all baptized of him and the river of Jordan confessing their sins oh John, why are you making it where only you can baptize? but they had to walk all the way out in the wilderness where John was to get baptized you want to get baptized back then? go find John and it wasn't like there was another option there wasn't a Methodist down the street it was John the Baptist praise God and it was Baptist or nothing because the Methodist will sprinkle you because the Catholic will sprinkle you there's only one guy baptizing, it was the Baptist but you know what, it did take effort now in the Bible, this is who you have baptizing John the Baptist Jesus' disciples who later become apostles so you see Peter and John doing this Paul Philip which Philip is an ordained evangelist or deacon, however you want to look at that either way he's ordained he was one of the seven in Acts chapter number six that's ordained and then you have Paul and Silas now when it's Paul and Silas it just says like they, they so who knows if Silas did the baptizing or Paul, it doesn't matter, they're still both ordained then there's one other person that people will bring up Ananias go to Acts chapter nine this is the last place I'll be turning this morning Acts chapter nine but I believe the policy is that we should have only ordained leadership baptizing now again, it's for a lot of reasons first of all, it's the only biblical precedent number two, it's decently in order number three, you know, to some degree you kind of want the person baptizing to ensure whom they're baptizing is saved so it makes sense to have someone that has a little bit of experience or maybe has a little bit more understanding maybe is going to be a little less biased you know, because if it's like baptize your own children you know, sometimes parents get all excited thinking they're kids saved when maybe they're not quite there yet or something like that so it's better to have someone that's less biased someone that's not, you know they just care about the ministry they just care about the work of the Lord they're not just trying, they're not trying to like see how many people can baptize either because I know there would be people that would make it a contest they'd be like, oh, I've baptized ten people this week or they'd be sad that they didn't win the Baptist contest or something that month or something like that it's out there so, but again I don't, you know some of the ministers that I know have said, like, they don't like baptizing they would rather someone else baptize because it's not like to them that they care like Paul didn't care Paul was like, I thank God that I baptize you know, none of you he's like, except a few he's like, he wasn't sitting here like oh, I got all these rewards in heaven for baptism you know, or whatever but some people say, well, Ananias is not ordained I believe that he clearly is, okay and let me show you why it says in Acts chapter number 9 look at verse number 10 and there was a certain disciple at Damascus so he's at least the disciple okay named Ananias and to him said the Lord in the vision Ananias and he said, behold, I am here, Lord and the Lord said unto him, arise and go into the street, which is called Straight and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus for behold, he prayeth and has seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him that he might receive his sight then Ananias answered, Lord I have heard by many of this man how much evil he hath done to the saints to thy saints at Jerusalem and here he hath authority from the chief priest to bind all that call on thy name but the Lord said unto him, go thy way for he is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel for I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake and Ananias went his way and entered into his house and putting his hands on him said brother Saul, Lord even Jesus that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me now let's just pause for a second if God himself tells you to go do something isn't that being ordained? isn't that being sent? I mean that's just point one I have a few other reasons why I believe you say he hath sent me that thou mightest receive thy sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost and immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scaled and he received sight for with and rose and was saved and was baptized so Ananias comes unto him he basically helps him call upon the name of the Lord he gets saved he receives his sight he helps him get baptized and he's filled with the Holy Spirit sounds like in Acts chapter 2 verse 38 he repents believes the gospel receives the gift of the Holy Spirit all those things, right? so the whole package deal and the whole point is so that he's going to get him saved and help him to end up being the great apostle that he's going to be he got to see the Lord Jesus Christ before he got saved and so he has that ability to be that but here's an important point in verse 17 it says that he was filled with the Holy Ghost now here's the thing not everybody could give the Holy Ghost at this point in time this special gift and we know the Apostle Paul he says in verse Corinthians that he spake with tongues more than they all so he had the gift of tongues how did he get that gift? through the laying on of hands and you say, how did he know that? well look at Acts chapter 8 before this chapter it says in verse 14 now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God they sent in them Peter and John who when they were coming down prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost for as yet he was fallen upon none of them only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus then laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Ghost so notice in Acts chapter number 8 the Bible talks about the church being dispersed abroad and how lots of people are going out and preaching the gospel and Philip goes out and preaches the gospel to a lot of people but the apostles tarried at Jerusalem is what the Bible says yet when they get all these people saved they send back and say hey we're getting people saved here in Samaria now where's Damascus? in Samaria, okay and so what do they do? they send out apostles into these areas and who is the only person that can give them this gift of the Holy Ghost? the laying on the hands of the apostles so then why would I say in the next chapter when someone's laying hands on the apostle Paul and he's receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit or whatever that Ananias is not an apostle and you have in Luke chapter number 10 that Jesus Christ appointed 70 others also and we don't know all their names stands to reason Ananias could have been one of them but I believe he's clearly an apostle I mean he's getting visions from the Lord Jesus Christ he's laying hands on the apostle Paul and he's giving him the gift of the Holy Ghost and what sense would it make that Ananias is just a random dude that Jesus is like you know what? I want to give the apostle Paul the Holy Ghost I'm just going to pick a random dude to do it today or wouldn't he pick like an apostle that just happens to be in that area? that's probably why he picked Ananias because he was there he was present what did it say in verse 10? and there was a certain disciple at Damascus well isn't that convenient? he's exactly where Paul is so then that's why he's choosing this particular man but notice he's picking this guy probably because he's an apostle I believe he's an apostle even though I don't have a clear statement on that necessarily but for sure he's sent by God so again I believe our policy for this church is what? that only ordained leadership can baptize so some people ask this question should I be baptized? well here's the thing if you're saved and you've never been baptized yes okay if you've been baptized and it was not someone who was even ordained at all like they're just like I got baptized by my brother in the river you know or I got baptized by Duck Dynasty the guy what is that guy's name? what's the dad's name? what is it? Robinson Phil Robinson yeah he says anybody that comes to his land he just goes down the river and just dunks him in the water or whatever and baptizes him or whatever like if you just got baptized or Joseph Smith if you baptized yourself that didn't work either now I'll say this though some people would ask this question well what if the person that or you know baptized me they were ordained but they were a bozo or something and basically I don't know if this is true or not but it's possible since the disciples of Christ baptized them maybe Judas baptized somebody I don't know you could believe that he didn't you could believe that he did hypothetically if someone got baptized by Judas I don't think later after he hung himself they're like I need to get re-baptized again okay they were baptized in the authority of Jesus Christ that person was doing their operation on their behalf so even if the person was theoretically a bozo I don't believe you have to as long as you were saved before you got baptized and you were scripturally baptized meaning you were fully immersed you fully came out it was in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost you know that person was theoretically an ordained leadership or whatever then I believe it's fine but I will say this if someone feels weird about their baptism for whatever reason I will re-baptize them just so they can feel good about it because the whole point was again having a good conscience toward God so this is my rule of thumb if you feel good about your baptism and it meets all the criteria I said you should feel good about it if you were not scripturally baptized though you need to get baptized period or if you feel weird about it maybe, you know, Adam Fannin baptized you I don't know or maybe you got, like I'll say this about myself I was baptized in a charismatic church when I was a teenager okay and whenever I joined a Baptist church they said we don't accept your baptism even though I had been saved they said you need to be baptized by a Baptist and so I got re-baptized and you know I didn't really feel that bad about it but that was what my ordained leadership told me at the time that was the church I was going to I just submitted and I had no problem with it and I'm glad that I did and you know at this point I was baptized, you know, again by an ordained Baptist you know, someone that was saved and everything like that so I feel good about my baptism but even if I hadn't I don't feel like I had to necessarily but if you just want to, you know, make sure that that is something that you take care of we always have this stuff ready we have change of clothes, towels and we'd love to baptize anybody at any point and we should emphasize baptism to people because it's such an important thing you know, what's the practice of baptism? being fully immersed to picture what Christ did for us the purpose is that you can walk in newness of life and our policy should be the policy that God lays out for us not what we dream up not some kind of sprinkling or whatever or tradition but rather what the Bible clearly says let's close in prayer thank you Father so much for your clear instruction that you've given us thank you for the picture of baptism that we can realize that one day even though we will shed this physical body that will be raised up again not only that, that we've been passed from our sins that we're dead to our sins now that we've been crucified with Christ I pray since you've performed such an incredible spiritual operation in our soul and in our heart and you've given us the new man that those of us that have not been baptized would be compelled to be baptized to be baptized as an outward sign in a public profession of their faith in Christ and not only that, but they'd want to serve you that they want to walk in newness of life and I pray that we would make sure that we're following your commandments to your preference not our own and in Jesus' name we pray Amen Amen and make sure to stick around after the service we do have a baptism after the last song let's go to song number one Jesus I my cross have taken song number one Jesus I my cross have taken song number one Jesus I my cross have taken all to leave and follow thee destined to despise forsaken thou from hence my all shall be perish every fond ambition all I've sought and hoped and known yet how rich is my condition God and heaven are still my own let the world despise and leave me they have left my savior too human hearts and looks deceive me thou art not like men untrue and while thou shalt smile upon me God of wisdom love and mine foes may hate and friends may shun me show thy face and all is bright man may trouble and distress me twill but drive me to thy breast life with trials hard may press me heaven will bring me sweeter rest oh tis not in grief to harm me while thy love is left to me oh twere not in joy to charm me were that joy unmixed with thee grace thee on from grace to glory armed by faith and winged by prayer heavens eternal days before me God's own hand shall guide thee there soon shall close thy earthly mission faith shall pass thy pilgrim days hope shall change to glad fruition faith to sight and prayer to praise go ahead and sing another song here let's go to song let's see let's go to song 27 the old rugged cross the old rugged cross song number 27 the old rugged cross on a hill far away stood an old rugged cross the emblem of suffering and shame and I love that old cross where the dearest and best for a world of lost sinners was slain so I'll cherish the old rugged cross till my trophies at last I lay down I will cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it someday for a crown on the second oh that old rugged cross so despised by the world has a wondrous attraction for me for the dear Lamb of God left his glory above to bear it to dark Calvary so I'll cherish the old rugged cross till my trophies at last I lay down I will cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it someday for a crown amen good singing we have brother Jonathan coming for baptism this afternoon brother Jonathan have you trusted Christ as your savior? then I baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost buried in the likeness of his death raised to walk in newness of life congratulations thank you all so much you all are dismissed you